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Imagine
sitting in church on a bright, sunny Sunday morning. The
invocation was nice, the singing was particularly uplifting,
and you managed to stick an extra couple of dollars into the
collection plate. Your pastor steps to the pulpit, arranges
his notes carefully, and takes a sip of water. He smiles
warmly at the congregation, holds up his Bible, and
announces, “Before we begin, I should let you know that I’ve
found the Bible to be far too depressing and outdated. We
shall no longer be using it in our services!” Your lower
jaw is still in mid-drop when your pastor banks his former
Bible off the wall and into the wastebasket. Frightening
thought, no? Yet this event is happening in more and more
churches around the world today; perhaps not with as much
suddenness or casual flair, but the effect is the same.
According to
Bible prophecy, there will be a great apostasy from Christ’s
church. This apostasy – the apostasy – will occur
before the rapture, the tribulation, and the rise of
Antichrist, and will involve a departing from the faith by
those who call themselves Christians. Regarding the second
coming of Christ, Paul said in 2 Thessalonians 2:3, “Let
no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not
come, except there come a falling away first, and
that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition.” The
Greek word apostasia is used here for the “falling
away.” It is from this word that we derive the English word
“apostasy.” Apostasy is defined as “a defection from the
truth,” or “a departing from that which was given at
first.”
In spite of
its phenomenal growth, Christianity has had apostate
tendencies throughout history. But Paul speaks of a
particularly significant departure from sound doctrine.
This apostasy will be the climax of all previous apostate
tendencies, and will be worldwide in scope. Paul continues
his description of this apostasy in 1 Timothy 4:1-2, “Now
the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some
shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing
spirits, and doctrines of devils; Speaking lies in
hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron.”
As the
consciences of men become seared, and their hearts hardened
to the truth, they will clamor towards doctrines that sound
nice, but do not have the ring of truth. These doctrines
are “doctrines of devils,” that entice the human nature with
teachings that deny the true gospel of Christ Jesus. In 2
Timothy 4:3-4 Paul says, “For the time will come when men
will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their
own desires, they will gather around them a great number of
teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They
will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to
myths.” (NIV)
Are we in
such an apostasy now? Sadly, it seems evident that we are.
Sound biblical teaching is slowly being usurped by doctrines
that place inclusiveness above truth. Mainline protestant
denominations are not only denying that homosexuality is a
sexual sin, many also ordain gay clergy and perform
homosexual marriages. The Anglican Church in Canada is on
the verge of a split over such an issue, as are the
Methodists and Episcopalians in the United States. In a
recent conference in England, Anglican bishops voted to
affirm the deity of Jesus Christ. I find it disturbing not
only that such a vote is even necessary, but also because a
significant percentage of bishops voted no!
The new and
heretical doctrines are based on a social gospel rather than
a theological one. Episcopal Bishop William Swing founded
the United Religions Initiative in the mid-1990’s. Under
the banner of uniting the world’s faiths in a spirit of
cooperation, the URI places the gospel of Jesus Christ on
the same level as every other religious belief. Apparently
assuming the belief that “all roads lead to Rome,” the URI
seems poised to play a significant role in ushering in a
single, global religion such as was prophesied in the book
of Revelation.
Retired
Episcopal Bishop John Shelby Spong is another clergy of note
that is leading an apostate movement away from the true
gospel. Spong believes that scientific advances in the last
two thousand years place the Bible in the category of a book
of fables. In his address to the 124th
Convention of the Episcopal Diocese of Newark, New Jersey,
on January 30, 1998, Spong said, “So the mythical
religious language of a finished creation, the fall,
original sin and the need for a rescuing God becomes
language out of touch with our present perception of
reality. The loss of this mythical framework has also
rendered meaningless the normative portrait of Jesus as the
divine rescuer, and the story of the cross as the sacrifice
designed to pay the price of sin. Those concepts are rapidly
becoming all but nonsensical.”
As if that
weren’t enough, Spong goes further. In his article “A
Call for a New Reformation”, Bishop Spong submits twelve
theses. They are:
1.
Theism, as a way of defining God, is dead. So most
theological God-talk is today meaningless. A new way to
speak of God must be found.
2.
Since God can no longer be conceived in theistic
terms, it becomes nonsensical to seek to understand Jesus as
the incarnation of the theistic deity. So the Christology of
the ages is bankrupt.
3.
The biblical story of the perfect and finished
creation from which human beings fell into sin is
pre-Darwinian mythology and post-Darwinian nonsense.
4.
The virgin birth, understood as literal biology,
makes Christ's divinity, as traditionally understood,
impossible.
5.
The miracle stories of the New Testament can no
longer be interpreted in a post-Newtonian world as
supernatural events performed by an incarnate deity.
6.
The view of the cross as the sacrifice for the sins
of the world is a barbarian idea based on primitive concepts
of God and must be dismissed.
7.
Resurrection is an action of God. Jesus was raised
into the meaning of God. It therefore cannot be a physical
resuscitation occurring inside human history.
8.
The story of the Ascension assumed a three-tiered
universe and is therefore not capable of being translated
into the concepts of a post-Copernican space age.
9.
There is no external, objective, revealed standard
writ in scripture or on tablets of stone that will govern
our ethical behavior for all time.
10.
Prayer cannot be a request made to a theistic deity
to act in human history in a particular way.
11.
The hope for life after death must be separated
forever from the behavior control mentality of reward and
punishment. The Church must abandon, therefore, its reliance
on guilt as a motivator of behavior.
12.
All human beings bear God's image and must be
respected for what each person is. Therefore, no external
description of one's being, whether based on race,
ethnicity, gender or sexual orientation, can properly be
used as the basis for either rejection or discrimination.
As prophesied,
false prophets and false christs are appearing in rapidly
increasing numbers. They pervert the gospel of Christ, and
substitute for it one that replaces the longstanding truths
of sin and redemption with inclusiveness, universal
salvation, and a complete release from accountability. This
is the message that many “itching ears” have wanted to
hear. Instead of man being inherently sinful, he is
inherently good. There is no condemnation, therefore no
divine salvation. Man is killing God, and replacing grace
with self-reliance.
The church today
is ripe for such an apostasy. Many of the mainline
denominations have lost their zeal and faith, and are
relying more and more upon the wisdom of man. Church is
less about faith and fellowship, and more about religion – a
tepid, cream colored, non-intrusive, undemanding religion.
In Revelation
chapters 2 and 3, John is instructed to write to seven
churches. While these churches existed in the literal,
physical sense at the time, many dispensationalists also
equate these churches with periods of time during the church
age (the time between the crucifixion of Christ and His
second coming). If this interpretation is true, I believe
the church of today is represented by the last of the seven
churches – the church in Laodicea. John records the words
of Jesus to the Laodicean church in Revelation 3:14-22:
"To the angel of the church in
Laodicea write:
These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true
witness, the ruler of God's creation. I know your deeds,
that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either
one or the other! So, because you are
lukewarm--neither hot nor cold--I am about to spit you out
of my mouth. You say, 'I am rich; I have acquired wealth and
do not need a thing.' But you do not realize that you are
wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. I counsel you to
buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become
rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your
shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you
can see. Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be
earnest, and repent. Here I am! I stand at the door and
knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will
come in and eat with him, and he with me. To him who
overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my
throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on
his throne. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit
says to the churches."
In the passage
above, Jesus could be speaking to many churches today.
Their faith has become stale, and their creature comforts
are of higher importance than doing the work of the Lord.
Archeologists have revealed much about ancient Laodicea and
the surrounding areas. In Ephesus, they have found numerous
writings of scripture and other evidence of evangelical
outreach. Not so in Laodicea. This area was a center of
commerce, and its churches were very wealthy. Unlike the
church in Ephesus, no evidence has been uncovered to
indicate any active role of the Laodicean churches. The
church existed there, but it did little more than simply
exist. Many of today’s churches share the same disease. Of
the seven churches Jesus addressed in Revelation, the only
church that received no commendations was the one in
Laodicea. The Laodicean Syndrome that plagues churches
today has made them susceptible to the siren song of false
gospels. It has made them ripe for apostasy. The enemy of
our living Lord is clever. He attacks Christ’s church from
within, as well as without. He has “sown tares among the
wheat” (Matthew 13:25). Bishop Spong calls it a “new
reformation”. I call it apostasy.
Do you notice
the Laodicean Syndrome in your church? Have you spoken out
to your pastor or your congregation? We cannot afford to
idly stand by and allow a social gospel to replace the true
gospel of Jesus Christ. In Matthew 7:22-23, Jesus said, “Many
will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy
in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform
many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew
you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ ”
We cannot let this happen, and we are instructed not to.
Jude 3-4 says, “Dear
friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the
salvation we share, I felt I had to write and urge you to
contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the
saints. For certain men whose condemnation was written
about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are
godless men, who change the grace of our God into a license
for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and
Lord.” We are ordered to contend for our faith – to defend it
against those who would pervert the gospel. Paul’s
instructions to Timothy are just as applicable to all
Christians today, “Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke
and encourage--with great patience and careful instruction.”
(2
Timothy 4:2)
Are you prepared
to contend for your faith? To do so carries risks. You risk
being labeled a “fundamentalist,” “intolerant,” or
“divisive.” We must accept the risk, and be soldiers for
Christ. The alternative is to face Him and hear Him say, “I
never knew you.”
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