(2 Th 2:2-4 NKJV) "not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come. {3} Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, {4} who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God."
(1 Tim 4:1-3 NKJV) "Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, {2} speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron, {3} forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth."
(2 Tim 3:1-9 NKJV) "But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: {2} For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, {3} unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, {4} traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, {5} having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away! {6} For of this sort are those who creep into households and make captives of gullible women loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts, {7} always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. {8} Now as Jannes and Jambres resisted Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, disapproved concerning the faith; {9} but they will progress no further, for their folly will be manifest to all, as theirs also was."
Terms:
1. Professing Christians: As opposed to possessing Christians. Anyone can say that he or she is a Christian, but the proof is in the fruit. Profession is a claim—possession is nine-tenths of the law.
2. Professing church: As opposed to the possessing Church. The apostate church and the Real Church are at odds with each other. Just as there exists a vast difference between God and Satan, there is also a critical difference between the professing and possessing churches. All that the former has is claims, the latter has the indwelling of the Holy Spirit with truth.
3. Great Apostasy: The final mass apostasy of the last days. Professing Christians will depart from the true faith by the millions. The professing church will become so worldly that one will not be able to discern when they crossed the threshold from the world system into a church. This is the apostasy that will provide the atmosphere for the revealing of Antichrist.
I have written this article as a warning to those in error and as a confirmation to those who are seeking the truth. Most people will not find this an inspirational article that will make them happy. But for those who are discouraged and frustrated by the lack of discernment in today's church it will hopefully be an encouragement. The encouragement comes from realizing that there are others who see the current apostasy, that all are not blind and deceived. When I was an evangelist, I preached revival meetings in various churches that were almost totally apostate. However, there would always be a small remnant that would come to me after the service and thank me for preaching the truth. Most of them said it was a relief to finally hear someone who saw the creeping apostasy and would publicly denounce it while challenging people to come back to their first love (Rev. 2:4). As a result of the opinions stated here, I realize some people will get angry when they read these words. They will accuse me of judgmentalism, of having a critical spirit, and of having no love and toleration. They are partially right since I do not love falseness and have no toleration for the destructive doctrines that pervert the gospel and point souls to hell and I'm always critical of the devil and all he does. It is my opinion that most professing Christians need to check their spiritual compass and make certain they are headed the right direction. Many who claim Christian status need to reprioritize their endeavors, purify their motives, and clear their minds that have been polluted by false doctrine. Although this article does have many negative things in it, negative is not all bad. Warning signs are negative things with positive results when heeded. Most warning signs are blunt and unappealing, yet they are necessary if we are to navigate life without disaster. Consider the fact that a red light may at the same time both inconvenience and save your life.
Those who commit crimes against God and bring apostasy into His Church should be challenged. When Charles Finney was chided for openly exposing peoples sins he replied, AWhen you sin privately, I will rebuke you privately. When you sin publicly I will rebuke you publicly.@ Since the current great apostasy has not operated in secret, there is a need for open rebuke. Many people today have no shame in the way they have mishandled God=s word and gifts. They arrogantly resist any attempts to challenge their error and descend into more excess and rebellion without any check or balance from God=s word. I am not so naive as to believe they can be turned around by warnings since history proves most people reject warnings about apostasy. Yet the warning is my responsibility, the change is theirs. Warnings are also necessary because they instruct as they rebuke. They sharpen the distinction between good and evil. The line of distinction is so blurred by the great apostasy that many cannot discern what is or is not of God. A few days ago I watched a report on the "Christian" music industry on television that lauded the fact that many top "Christian" musicians had finally blurred the line of distinction between "Christian" and secular music. The reporter predicted that separate charts for Christian and secular music would soon be unnecessary because "Christian" music was topping the secular charts. An example given was the "Christian" music group D. C. Talk that was in the number three position on the secular charts right between KISS and Marilyn Manson. This was presented as a great achievement and a virtue. I count it as evidence of malignant apostasy that has cheapened and degraded the gospel to the point Satan enjoys it. Christian music that is palatable to the world has been without a doubt vomited from the mouth of God, along with the musicians who produce such a demonic stew (Rev. 3:16).
I truly believe we are currently in the Great Apostasy prophesied in God=s word that would settle upon the sleeping Church like a snare in the last days. I could be wrong and there may yet come another revival and then another apostasy in the future. We may not be in the last days, but it is my opinion that we are. The church slumbers and sleeps without oil in the hour when Jesus is coming. Sin has invaded with full force. Like carbon monoxide, the silent killer, deceit is coming from the old, worn out, exhaust of the religious system that has failed to renew itself with mighty revivals. It=s tired old pistons puff out the endless refrain, Aman first@ and AGod last@ on every backfire. The dying spirituality of the professing Church fostered a desire for sensationalism and carnal excitement. The atmosphere became increasingly ripe for the "angels of light" (2 Cor. 11:14-15) to creep into houses, leading gullible people into the captivity of deception (2 Tim. 3:6-7).
The result of the professing Church's venture into the broken cisterns of carnality was they began to prostitute themselves to the god of this world system. Holiness and sacrifice, along with many other valid truths such as suffering and commitment, became dead words, even hated words. A new version of demonic love was accepted. Satan has false copies of most everything God offers us and demonic love is one of those false copies. Demonic love is love that makes people feel good about themselves even though they are wicked and in total rebellion against God. The prevalent pattern in modern religion of covering up the cancer of apostasy is not real love. Real love tells you the truth. Many false prophets are masquerading as loving individuals who never say anything negative and who tell people what they want to hear. The truth is that there is an organized Satanic madness today that is destroying the discerning powers of the Church. Although it is called faith, truth, a move of the Holy Spirit, new revelation, and various other false titles, it is not of God. It is drawing many deceived souls into the false church and ultimately to their doom.
One of the most vivid examples of this is found at the following link, http://www.awesome-sites.com/list.php3. The advertisement is "Awesome Christian Websites," but the number one site that was on the top ten list, Blondie's Blondesundrop, is neither awesome nor Christian. References are made repeatedly to "God," but the god presented is not the God of the Bible. The god presented loves James Brown and Prince music and loves to watch His people shake their rear ends on a dance floor. Is this is what Christian's believe God is all about? Can such blasphemy be promoted and accepted without a hint of conviction? It certainly can and is being promoted and accepted because the quality of intimacy with God has been reduced to a feeling, an emotion that is caused by secular means. Anything with a religious label on it that stirs the emotional system is thought to be God. Therefore, football is "god." All forms of music, fun, pleasure, and etceteras, is "god" as long as it wears a religious label.
The truth that has the distinctive characteristics of righteousness is rejected by the current apostate, religious system. Anything is allowed and applauded by those who have been lured into apostasy, but righteousness and truth. Another AJesus@ and another gospel has replaced the originals. This is a deadly game being played that will end in destruction just a few seconds before those deceived by it cross the threshold of reality. Reality is waking up without oil.
It is difficult to expose the activities of satanically anointed, inspired, or possessed people to the deceived because of their lack of discernment. To present the problems, the solutions, and the exhortation to turn back to God and His divine word is to invite a flood of angry words. Not many want to hear the truth because they have been programmed to reject all negative input. Those who have their sight fixed on personalities, lying signs and wonders, and who constantly feed on the river of manipulation and deception flowing out of religious television will not understand. Their minds have become callused and senseless from following lying spirits. Many in this desensitized, mindless stupor excitedly agree with and hungrily accept the poison that's destroying them. They furiously reject any attempts to inform or correct them. It is extremely difficult to penetrate such a wall of self-deception.
I have viewed videos of the so-called Toronto Blessing, as well as several other religious meetings that have been held recently. I also listened to several audio's of certain men, such as, Kenneth Copeland, who aspire to be a god and believe they in fact are gods. To view these video's and hear the blasphemous statements is a very sad experience, but not a surprise. I predicted in messages I preached years ago that the result of charismatic errors would lead to this low state of affairs. On one the video, a demonic preacher, John Scottland, reels drunkenly about while he makes degrading remarks about God's word. He also crows like a rooster while reading the Bible and does other bizarre things that are indicative of demon possession. His biggest mistake was in attributing those actions to the Holy Spirit, which is unforgivable blasphemy. The crowd is also culpable in his blasphemy since they joined this errant man by crowing, mooing as cattle, barking, growling and otherwise manifesting satanic activity. The following link will lead you to a web site that I do not necessarily agree with doctrinally, but has the means to present some of these video's for anyone to view.
http://www.bible.ca/tongues-audio-video-documentation.htm
As one can see for themselves, there are some grievous errors committed by the people presented in these video's. The terrible truth is that these are not necessarily isolated incidents. Multitudes are being swept up in the deception. I will not state that all Charismatics and Pentecostals agree with these errors because I know for a fact that many do not. However, the majority are involved in some of these grievous errors and are sinking deeper into deception. Eventually, they will reach the level of depravity that the folks in the video's have arrived at and they will all go even deeper into satanic activity before judgment comes.
Although there have been many apostasies, I do not believe the world will survive this one. Even strong Christians will have a battle surviving it. In my opinion, this is it—the deception that prepares the religious society and the world system for the coming man of sin. This is the big one—the final rebellion before the coming of Christ—the great apostasy. The people who are snared in this apostasy are those who have rejected a love for the truth (2 Thess. 9-12) and hated those who tried to present truth to them. Most of the current top "Christian" recording artists are under the great delusion. They have believed a lie and are damned. Most will not listen and change. They present a form godliness without power and attack everyone who points that error out to them. "Power" to such people is the right to sin without the consequences or penalty. It is the liberty to be unholy with a righteous covering. The status of being completely wicked on the inside with a thin religious facade covering it all is considered revolutionary and the highest spiritual level. What it really is must be labeled antinomianism or religious licentiousness.
1 Thessalonians 2:1-12
The Great Apostasy is Athe great falling away@ mentioned in the above scripture. It begins to form when the majority of Christianity becomes addicted to superfluous things. The current addiction was caused by religious junkies selling emotionally enticing, sensual, doctrines and practices via televisions, magazines, books, and through their personal appearances at conventions, conferences, and seminars across the nation. The professing church was ripe for it. For years it has been playing with the gifts to the extreme on one end or denying them at the other end of the spectrum. Pentecostals have been idolizing and worshipping ritual and dead forms of its revival roots for some time. They shouted, danced, talked in tongues, when God was not present. The reason they did so was because those things were to them the outward proof of spirituality. It was hypocritical because many of them were not spiritual inwardly. They fought among themselves, caused church divisions, ran off pastors, and sinned wickedly in secret. I know about these things because my wife was raised in a Pentecostal church that had extreme manifestations of so-called gifts and moves of God, yet was plagued by schisms and divisions and frequently changed pastors. Most of the Pentecostal churches about her hometown did the same thing. I spent most of my ministry preaching and pastoring Pentecostal/Charismatic churches. I=ve seen an incredible amount of excess and hypocrisy in the Pentecostal/Charismatic church.
On the other hand the non-Pentecostal church has fought every move of God. It denied the gifts of the Spirit, healing, miracles, and every other aspect and fruit of the Spirit-filled life. You could find more life at a lecture on the life of a cockroach than at many of these churches. Their rejection of God=s Holy Spirit intensified when Pentecostalism was born during the turn of the century. Many of their leaders are not even saved. Most of their pastors are hirelings that kowtow to the wealthy, influential, members who make sure everything is religion their way or no way.
Something had to give. The Church was set up for a satanic take-over. Many in the Pentecostal church were ready for something false that would take the place of the old style Pentecostalism. They were ripe for something that would move them, excite them, give them a honest reason to perform their religious exercises. The new generation that came into leadership didn't understand grandma=s dancing and shouting to some old song. They did not understand how the same old doctrines repeated over and over again, and the old preaching style that was more form than substance, could cause such a reaction.
Most high energy praise and worship music with popular rhythms and sensual beats was adopted from the world. It blended well with the popular doctrine that informed people that they could have it all, sensuality. carnality, every form of worldly pleasure and God too. All of this was backed up by pseudo-biblical Pentecostal/Charismatic gifts and experiences. With a few deceptive miracles here and there, great emotional outpourings, showbiz style church services, a few religious superstars, and the transition was complete from the old paths to the new false ways. It was given a name, Charismatic renewal, yet no matter what name it went under it was the same old false religion of flesh with a fresh new wardrobe.
At the same time there were many sitting in the old-line, spiritually dead, denominational churches asking themselves, AWhy am I here?@ I=ve talked to many lost souls who left these churches because of the deadness who declared they were better off in the world. Some of them were deacons, Sunday school teachers, and even ministers. These people grew up in religion. The only reason they attended church was because their moms and dads did. They never understood God or the Bible. The one=s who stayed in these denominations inherited a religious institution they had no idea what to do with. Some turned it into a political institution. Others got involved in all kinds of social issues. Most of them became even more spiritually dead than their ancestors were. Membership in these denominations has dwindled and purpose is getting harder and harder to define.
When the Charismatic Renewal came along with all its energy and spontaneous excitement, it was very appealing to those bound in dead religion. It made some sense of things according to carnal logic. After all wasn=t that what life was all about? Having fun? Enjoying your salvation? Getting an emotional charge for your investment of time and money? It is not hard to move from a football game to a Charismatic church service without missing a beat and many of its leaders say, AThat's good!@ However, certain things had to be eliminated to create this sort of environment. They had to avoid causing the conviction of the Holy Spirit. I have heard several top Charismatic leaders declare that conviction is improper in the church. They had to also avoid preaching the Word that pierces like a sword? Repentance with tears, calling solemn assemblies, sanctifying fasts, rebuke and exhortation, real fruit, and all else associated with the true Church had to be dismissed in the new church of fun, pleasure and excitement.
All of the things a church was suppose to be were ignored and the modern church styled itself after the mechanisms of the world system that churn out excitement and sensationalism. Somewhere between the slide into ritualistic, dead, form and the addiction to sensationalism, the professing church decided that what Christianity was all about was having fun, being happy, getting rich, and staying healthy. Nothing could be further from the truth. The fruit of the Holy Spirit was not and is not evident in most Charismatic meetings. Many would disagree with me by pointing to their barking, laughing, growling and crowing. Some would also point out that they had increased in wealth since they began following Mr. Copeland or Mr. Hinn. In my opinion, it would not matter if the false prophets, teachers and preachers could cause it to rain Mercedes Benz's in the parking lot at every charismatic/Pentecostal church service, it would not be fruit. Nor would it be evidence that God was blessing them. Jesus did not entice people to come to Him with promises of health, wealth, and happiness. He promised them freedom from the bondage of sin in this life and eternal life after this life is complete. In fact, when He called Paul he showed him what great things he must suffer, not how wonderful and exciting his life was going to be.
The truth is that the charismatic/Pentecostal church contributed to the apostasy by their excess, hypocrisy, and mishandling the gifts of God. They brought a form of music rooted in the flesh that stirred the emotions more than the spirit. This gave the current generation validity for their satanic music that masquerades as Christian music. The denominational church contributed by their prideful, arrogant, rejection of the Holy Spirit. Their denial of the power of God has produced men such as John Spong, who denies the virgin birth of Jesus. Both stand guilty of creating the spiritual climate where apostasy could germinate and grow to fruition. Now the great apostasy is a runaway passenger train that defies all attempts to stop it. Those on board are having the thrill of their lives and don=t want it to stop. In fact you won=t find anyone on board putting on the breaks. If you think it is bad now with all the wicked, openly demonic doctrine, wicked practices and toleration, you=re going to be really shocked at what is to come in the future.
At the time of this writing the current vogue is the laughing, barking, growling, drunken, animal noise movement. This is manifested by whole church swept up in laughter animal noises for hours each night. Service have gone on for years six days per week with people mimicking drunkenness, animal noises such as barking dogs, roaring lions, owls hooting, are mingled in the uproar of laughter. This is just the current fad in a series of bizarre movements that have plagued the church. Sooner or later these false movements will escalate into brazen sexual promiscuity. They descend into deviate and wanton sexual acts committed either on stage or in the audience or in side rooms. This has historically been the final state of false worshipers who reject God for satanic forms of worship. Homosexual acts seem to be the pinnacle of false worship. We have all seen this in the individual actions of highly visible as well as local false people in the historical as well current professing Christianity. What makes us think that people will not one day do as a group what they practice individually, especially since they already do so in the spiritual tense? Can you imagine entire denominations engaging in sexual orgies in the church in the last days?
When these people have sinned away conviction, rejected God from their knowledge, accepted another Jesus and another gospel, they will have no power to resist the lure of the sexual spirit now so powerfully affecting the World System. It is what they want to do now but are afraid of the consequences or of being rejected. Thus, many are practicing in secret what they intend to do publicly in the future. When it becomes popular, they will rush to commit such wickedness with no conviction. People will do in a crowd what the rest of the crowd does, all they need is a leader or leaders.
I have no doubt that we will see church services in the near future where men and women will slip out of high energy praise services or preaching services to copulate sexually in small rooms set aside for this purpose. Each service they may have a different partner. Then some day it will be man with man and woman with woman committing homosexual acts. Eventually, it will spill out into open sexual promiscuity in the sanctuary. Sexual promiscuity is right now being promoted as sensual women dance provocatively while "Christian" music is being performed. At the time of this writing, our nation is in a crisis of conscience as we watch the consequences of our president's obsession with sex played out in full view of the world. Who would have ever thought that our nation's president would be having oral sex while he talked on a phone about the nations business? But then, who would have ever thought we would see people barking, growling, crowing as roosters, and committing other bizarre acts in a Christian church service? I never though when I first came into the church that the day would come when blatantly satanic music would be presented in the church as righteous and true music from heaven. In my estimation, "Christian" death metal music is on par with the animal noise movement.
2 Timothy 3:1-9 give us a character assessment of the last days church. These scriptures are not written about those who are in the world system, but in the professing church. They have a form of godliness and are ever learning but unable to come to a knowledge of the truth. They are disapproved, or reprobate, which is impossible for the unsaved to become since they have not known God. The same word is used to describe apostates in Romans 1:18-32 who once knew God. Jesus prophesied that this would be the nature of the last days people in Luke 17:28-29.
How can this all happen with all the religious material available, all the preaching, with a Bible in almost every home? It happens because people by nature are like sheep and must be led by a shepherd. Although God never intends for us to follow blindly, He has set leadership in the Church for the purpose of leading us to maturity and the fullness of Christ (Ephesians 4:11-16). If we stay in right relationship with God and stay submissive to His authorities on earth, we will not be deceived. However many people sit watching religious television for hours at a time, saturating their minds with a smorgasbord of false doctrine. They do not know the lives of the men and women they sit under, and further more, they do not care. They receive as truth everything that is presented. They are inundated with religious material from these people yet have no one to explain truth to them and no criteria to judge what they are receiving. There is a religious bookstore in almost every small town. Religious television and radio stations pour out doctrine twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, all year long. Tapes, video=s, and even computers link us to the doctrine machines that seem to never run out of ideas to get your money. They are teaching people how to learn without coming to a knowledge of the truth. People are in love with and mesmerized by the process of learning. Conventions and conferences draw thousands who go back home and forget what they learned. They remain the same. A. W. Tozer said, AThe worst thing that can be said about them is they are what they will be.@
Many of the false ministers on religious television make you feel guilty if you do not support them or if you question what they say or do. To have an actual thought that one of them may be guilty of false doctrine is counted as a downright sin. Those who have made attempts to clean up religious television have been castigated publicly and excommunicated from favor. I heard Paul Crouch who heads Trinity Broadcasting Network say with mock humbleness, AIf any of you do not like the way we are running your TBN, please feel free to let us know.@ However, when a qualified man such as Hank Hanagraff did that very thing, he was threatened with violence and smeared with one vile innuendo after another. So it is like saying AFeel free to speak up, but we=ll make you wish that you hadn't.@ Any group, person, or ministry that cannot accept criticism or rebuke has just set itself up for a fall. God does not grant immunity from accountability to anyone. Accountability is not having a group of Ayes men/women@ who are in bondage with you that rubber stamps everything you do. Yet that is just what many charismatic/Pentecostal ministries consist of. When will they ever learn that such a policy is a road to inevitable destruction and many will lose their souls each time disaster strikes? They will not change until disaster strikes, then their shame will be spread all over the Body of Christ. None of them can say truthfully that they have not been warned. They should not only read Jim Baaker's book, "I Was Wrong," but they should apply it to their hearts and ministries.
Their are so many ministries under the protection and support of TBN now that are in falseness that the spread of apostasy is very rapid. At this point I have to question the validity and the discernment of any ministry that is joined to that network. The supposed good that they may be able to do via television is nullified by the harm they do when a viable ministry gives its approval to a major tool of satanic apostasy.
Country music was on the decline when TBN helped to revived it. Continual promotion of fading country music stars and the religious glazing of others who kept one foot in the world while tapping around in the church with the other foot gave country music the boost it needed. TBN shows from Nashville, Tennessee and Branson, Missouri mingling gospel music stars with country music stars began to blur the line of distinction. Paul Crouch said, ANever trust anyone who doesn=t like a little country music.@ Then came the "Silent Witness" fraud. Scorning men and women of God who gave up sin to live a righteous life for the cause of God, Ricky Skaggs and his troop filed in front of the cameras to promote the doctrine of salvation without evidence, without righteousness, without fruit, promoting a crown without a cross, the unscriptural lives of the "Ashamed of Christ." With this "silence" they proclaim that Jesus wasn=t good enough to give up a life of sin for. That He died to give them the right to promote and condone wickedness without the penalty for their rebellion and rejection of Him, a free get-out-of-hell ticket, and a license to sin. According to the "Silent Witnesses", they are God's people who only want to be silent in witnessing to the world, not in convincing and convicting the lost of their sin. They never expect to manifest the "new man renewed in righteousness," or to come out visibly with new desires, new goals, new heart, and mind renewed to prove what the good, acceptable, perfect will of God is. They have denied that Christianity is about rejecting the the world system and carrying the cross. The @Silent Witnesses@ have blurred the line of distinction between right and wrong, good and evil, saved and unsaved, righteous and unrighteous, holy and unholy. That blurred line is the reason people cross over into Apostasy and anyone or anything that blurs the line is of Satan. God declares in James 1:5, that He is light and in Him is no darkness at all. This means there are no gray areas in God. With most every light there are gray areas as you proceed out toward the darkness, yet with God's light it is not so. There is no middle ground, no gray areas, no compromise, no friendship with the world and at the same time friendship with God.
Ricky Skaggs sits under the ministry of Paul Cain among others. Paul Cain is a false prophet famous for his excesses and willingness to support the new age apostasy of the Charismatic movement. I read an article written by him in Charisma magazine describing a prophesy God supposedly gave him a few hours before the last presidential election informing him that Bill Clinton was God's man and would win the election. So he wrote the prophesy down and sent it to a friend just before the first returns came out on election day and declared this to be the evidence that God had indeed spoken to Him. I thought to myself, ADoesn=t anyone have discernment here?@ What person didn=t know that Bill Clinton was going to win with the exception of a few people who didn=t care one way or the other? A true prophet will prophesy when the obvious is not present.
There will come a time when the prophets of the great apostasy will prophesy and their words come to pass, yet their doctrine will not be according to godliness and the divine word of God. In Deuteronomy 31:1-4, it says, AIf there arise among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams, and he gives you a sign or wonder, and the sign or the wonder comes to pass, of which he spoke to you, saying, >Let us go after other gods which you have not known, and let us serve them, you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams, for the Lord your God is testing you to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. You shall walk after the Lord your God and fear Him, and keep His commandments and obey His voice, and you shall serve Him and hold fast to Him."
Why can=t they discern? Why doesn=t the masses stand up and cry Afoul?@ Why do they not at least quit supporting these promoters of falseness? Its one thing to be poisoned by deceit but what=s worse is to finance the delusion. If the professing church is so blind and deaf that God cannot speak to it about these obvious excesses, no wonder that we are now seeing bizarre manifestations of the demonic in church services. It is the last days Great Apostasy that is prophesied in God=s word. You can wake up now while there is still time to get oil, or wake up later without oil and without hope.
With all that is available to the professing church in this modern time, still they have fallen into great apostasy. Their altars are barren, demonic manifestations are occurring in the pulpit and pews, yet few are concerned. Division, strife, and open sin riddles the faith and trust once given the church and not many understand that Satan has gained control. The church is fat with false teaching and preaching, drunk on emotion, deceived by self-righteousness, and stubbornly addicted to new fads and revelations, while no one knows how to be holy and approach God in intercession for the lost. Few want to win souls, fewer want to do ministry that is not highly visible and applauded by everyone and financially rewarding. Messages of total surrender, commitment, obedience, faithfulness, holiness, sacrificial service, and exposing sin, are met with a mixture of scorn, rebellious arrogance, and even violent rejection. Paul says it best in Romans 13:11-14, AAnd do this, knowing the time, that now it is time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put of the armor of light. Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in licentiousness and lewdness, not in strife and envy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.@
In other scriptures concerning the Great Apostasy, God=s word declares that an influx of teachers who teach damnable heresies and frivolous doctrines will come in the last days (2 Timothy 4:3-4 and 2 Peter 2:1-22). These self-willed teachers have a common by-word, AGod told me.@ This statement is used to validate every foul, demonic, or just plain silly doctrine under heaven on earth. It is characteristic in the great apostasy when the church is too weak and too ignorant to defend and purge itself from such obvious error. Like a homeless person wandering from garbage can to garbage can the church has left the table of the Lord to feast from the refuse piles of error. Its not new error but old error recycled in a fresh new face. So much error is tolerated today that new converts have to wade through a minefield of deadly doctrine to find scriptural reading material. For this reason I always council new converts to read the Bible only for the first few years of their Christian experience. Many new converts have a problem finding sound teaching and preaching. Pastors who truly love the Lord should instruct new converts to refrain from watching religious television and ordering literature that is not approved by themselves or a trusted elder. Instead, many pastors are teaching and preaching what they have gleaned from religious television and various false periodicals instead of God=s word. This is also promoting the great apostasy. It may be done in ignorance and in even in sincerity sometimes, but it is still helping to promote error. Many churches even have bookstore where false material is sold. Libraries that make available false doctrine to new converts help spread the lies of the great apostasy.
I Thessalonians 2:3 is the most popular reference in the New Testament to the Great Apostasy but it is by no means the only reference. 1 Timothy 4:1-2 describes the method by which Satan will engineer the Great Apostasy. Seducing spirits and doctrines of devils sear the consciences of Christians turning them into great seducers. They will present and promote lies with no convictions or remorse. Although their distortion and perversions of the truth is evident it is concealed from their victims by a great delusion.
Soloman said, AOf making many books there is no end, and much study is wearisome to the flesh. Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether it is good or whether it is evil.@ (Ecclesiastes 12:12-14) Even this article should not be needed. If it prevents you from spending your allotted time in God=s word then stop reading it now. The truth needs little explanation. Its piercing light will make people run, hide, or deny, but seldom does it needs its brilliant, sharp, two-edged power honed by volumes of books.
Every "new" idea that the professing church comes up with has a flood of material that is sold to promote it. An example is the latest fad called "Promise Keepers." What=s so deep or confusing about Ado not lie?@ that needs a multibillion dollar industry to explain it? Why do Christians need to spend this inordinate amount of time, energy, resources, explaining to them how to be true Christians with all the fullness of the Divine nature? The religious system today has forgotten the great commission in favor of pampering itself with gaudy doctrines that promote its excess while ignoring its sins. The lack of winning the lost is a terrible price to pay for all this religious foolishness.
I believe television was meant by God to reach the lost. The printed word was meant to reach the lost also. Although there are some benefits realized by the uses of these two mediums to inspire and teach the believers, the greater responsibility for this duty should be on the leadership of the local church, and for sure each believer has the responsibility to grow and mature. It is easy to sit in front of a television and let other people do your work for you but it doesn=t stick. You can parrot the word of others who are sound in doctrine but your never appropriate the truth in your heart until you actually search and discover it for yourself. Then it has to be applied in practical, everyday, living. Not only are people being fed by television ministries, they are being fed things that they cannot possibly apply in their everyday life. The music reflects the doctrine. People get charged up singing, ALet=s go up to the high places and tear the devil=s kingdom down!@ Then they hear highly emotional sermons encouraging them to do that very thing. How are they going to do it? Where are these Ahigh places@ and where is the Adevils kingdom?@ Is this a command to get physically violent like Gideon or is it a metaphor for getting spiritually militant? In either case, our wild Christian America is getting wilder and Satan's kingdom is growing stronger each day. So when is this doctrine going to take effect? I=d estimate that it will take effect as soon as the promoters of it repent over their falseness and recant each point of wickedness before the people. After that they can instruct the people that judgment begins at the house of God. That the devil=s kingdom must be ripped out of our hearts and lives before we can expect God to answer our prayers to change our world. Then they can acknowledge God=s way of ridding the world of wickedness and that is by winning the lost. For every lost soul you bring to Jesus there is one less soldier in Satan's army. At this point one has to wonder what good it does for God to save souls only to have them become blind victims of deceit in dead or error-ridden churches?
It does little good to rent helicopters, fly above cities to swing toy swords through the air as some deceived people are doing, since Satan is walking to and fro on the earth seeking whom he may devour. If we rend our hearts instead of our garments, our inward appearance instead of our outward appearance, God would anoint us to reach the lost. If you want to see our government changed, pray for the leaders that they will be saved and under the influence of righteousness. Pray for the souls of abortions doctors, for radical liberals who confront and persecute the church, for homosexuals who are blindly following their master the devil. By the same token it does little good to demonstrate in front of abortion clinics when the church has become a hissing, a laughing stock, and a scorn to the world because of their error and excess. When we win our respect and authority in the world system by prayer, fasting, living righteously, and without avarice, we will once again see a sensitivity toward morality return to the world even if many are lost.
This is not likely to happen if this is the great apostasy as I believe. For the world has went to far toward one world government and the information age has made it possible for Antichrist to rule. Too many prophesies concerning the last days have been fulfilled. The religious world has gone too far into apostate deception to return to the way of truth. It will take a major disaster for things to change, one of world-wide proportions to prevent the inevitable plunge into the great tribulation, which follows the great apostasy. A bomb destroying a federal building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma caused many to run to the altars. The reality was short-lived and soon it was back to unfaithfulness and sin as usual. There is some security in religious blindness since those stricken by it cannot see the coming judgment, but what a false security it is!
Some may wonder why I even bother to warn people about the Great Apostasy if so many will not hear? Because I believe there are still people who are hungry for the truth but are frustrated by the abundance of falseness around them and the isolation they feel. I know that feeling. They do not understand what it going on. The religious leaders are lying to them and not many are warning them about the Great Apostasy. Many do not even know what it is or when it will be coming on the religious world. When I meet someone or hear about someone who is seeing what I=m seeing and feeling what I=m feeling it is a source of great comfort. I do not consider the message of God's coming judgment a doomsday message for me or any true Christian. The end of the word is not doomsday for the righteous, only for those who do not know God and who do not obey the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. The hard times for believers will not be the end of the world but the last days which are filled with error, lying signs and wonders. During this time it is important that true Christians do not allow their faith to become dimmed, but to encourage and exhort one another daily. Thus, do I exhort every true believer to stand in the armor and oppose the great apostasy.
(Heb 3:12-15 NKJV) "Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; {13} but exhort one another daily, while it is called "Today," lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. {14} For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end, {15} while it is said: "Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.""