Study – Grow – Know

The Growing Footprint of Evil

March 26, 2012 at 11:22 AM

In his letter to Timothy, Paul says the following:

“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires…”

That’s found in Paul’s second letter, chapter four, verse 3.  This has been and continue to happen and we see it throughout society.  We also see it in the church.

This past weekend my pastor taught on the Laodicean church mentioned in Revelation 3.  You’ll recall that this is the church that was neither hot or cot and because of that, Jesus said He was going to spew them out of His mouth.

The idea here is that this particular church in Laodicea made Jesus so disgusted, that He was going to vomit.  Those are extremely harsh words.

Here are the exact words from Scripture:

“I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! 16So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. 17You 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. 18I 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.”

That’s Revelation 3:15-18.

I believe that the churches in Revelation represent SPECIFIC churches of that period of time.  They all had some connect to the apostle John, the human writer of the book of Revelation.

However, I also believe that each of the churches mentioned in Revelation 2 and 3 represent a unique period of time in Church History.  I’m not the first to think that and I am also aware that not everyone agrees with me.  If you’re one that does not agree with me, that’s fine.  I’m sure – or at least I hope – that you would agree that there are characteristics of each of the seven churches mentioned in Revelation that characterize each period of time in Church History.

In other words, in today’s period of time, as we approach what I believe to be the last seven years of human history, we see many things happening both inside and outside of the church.  Some areas of the church are represented by the things that Jesus said to John that were specific to Ephesus, or Thyatira, or Pergamum, or some other church.

However, the overriding problem with the church today is its willingness to ignore sound doctrine.  Too many Christians are way too concerned about materialism, wealth and prosperity.  They want to go to church to hear good things, to learn ways to think positively, to feel good about themselves.

People do not want to go to church today to hear about anything bad in their life that they may have to extricate themselves from.  They don’t want to hear anything uncomfortable from the Bible.  They want to laugh and be giddy.  They want to feel really good about themselves as Christians, in spite of the darkness of the hour.

There are too many ministries today that are focusing only on the things that are designed to make Christians FEEL good.  In this way, many within the church have come to the point of not wanting to hear anything that makes them feel as though they need to do some inner searching.

People want the things that itch their ears.

People want to surround themselves with other Christians and teachers who preach only the positive from God’s Word.

And yet, what we have in society is a projection of evil that is becoming so vast and so egregious that it is extremely difficult to ignore.

Daily, we can spend time reading about all of the problems or ills of society.  We watch as the media plays it up for us, though they are too often one-sided in their portrayal of news because they have an agenda.

We read about Trayvon Martin, a 17-year-old kid who was killed by George Zimmerman and many people want Zimmerman’s blood.  The New Black Panther Party has literally put out a bounty of $10,000 on Zimmerman’s head.  No word on where they got ten grand…

We hear about all of the injustice and inequity throughout society and within politics and we begin to close our ears to it because it becomes overwhelming.

I know people who hate Mr. Obama so much that they are beside themselves.  They spend their waking hours digging up as much dirt as they can about the man.

Others are focused on “Fast and Furious” and the problems of that situation and are also besides themselves because they want Attorney General Eric Holder gone.

The problem though is that in spite of all the things we know, there seems to be little justice in the world.  This only encourages our anger and frustration.

So what are Christians supposed to do about it?

Even in the realm of Eschatology or prophecy there is so much that is sensationalized that we find ourselves being drawn into areas that are truly extra-biblical, but because it scratches an itch within us, we are drawn to it like a moth to a flame.

I have written numerous books on aspects of prophecy and yet it continues to boggle my mind just how many people out there take the time to get into arguments about this theory or that one.  In doing so, we miss the entire point for the reason we should be studying prophecy in the first place.

There are essentially TWO reasons for studying prophecy.  One is so that we will become better equipped to evangelize the lost.  If we truly believe that Jesus could Rapture His church at any moment, or that the Tribulation is not that far away, should this not grow within us a greater concern for those who do not KNOW Him? It should.

Even if your view of prophecy is different – maybe you don’t believe in the PreTrib Rapture or the Tribulation, studying prophecy should STILL create within you the desire to see the lost saved.  Eventually, the Lord is going to return to this planet and reign.

Close to 150,000 people die every day.  That’s 150,000 people! Many do not know the Lord and enter into eternity without Jesus.  Their chances to know Him through being in relationship with Him are over.

So the first reason we should endeavor to study prophecy is so that we will become far better equipped to preach the gospel to the lost of this world.

The second reason has to do with our own mindset and the way we live our lives.  We are told in 1 John 3:2-3, “Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is. 3 And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.”

So because we learn more about prophecy, we tend to focus on His return, whenever that will be.  Because we focus on his return, we purify ourselves in our minds, our thoughts, and even our actions.

The things that are unimportant fall away and the truly important things remain.  This is why the study of prophecy is important because it helps us focus on the things that are eternal, not temporal.

Our life as authentic Christians – and remember last time, I discussed what it means to be an actual Christian, as opposed to simply someone who SAYS they are a Christian – is meant to glorify Jesus in all things.  That means ALL things, not merely some things.

Have you ever got caught up in focusing on things that really don’t matter?  They can become all-consuming if we allow them to be.  It takes something outside of ourselves to help us refocus our mind.

As we study prophecy and learn that one day Jesus is returning to this planet and we don’t know when that will be, the things that are not that important tend to fall away, leaving us to focus on the things that have real meaning.

Is that why you study prophecy? Too many people argue or debate about the various issues of prophecy.  They get caught up into making sure that they let people know how wrong they are regarding certain issues, whether it’s the Rapture, Daniel’s 70 weeks, the Tribulation, the Millennial Kingdom or what have you.  These people are far more interested in winning the debate than they are in winning souls to the Lord.  Their focus is completely wrong and here in 1 John 3, John is doing his level best to set the record straight.

John wants us to remember that when we see Jesus, we will not only see Him as He is, but we will be LIKE Him!  This is a tremendous truth that needs to be stated and understood.

It is because of this that we can truly judge what is important and what is not important.  There are things that are recognized as being completely unimportant when compared to the spectacular day of the Lord’s return and because of that, these things will fall away.

Focusing on His return helps us to do what is right and it’s as simple as that.  Jesus even teaches a number of parables to this end.

One parable is found in Luke 12:42-48.  Let’s take a moment to read through that, shall we?

“And the Lord said, “Who then is the faithful and sensible steward, whom his master will put in charge of his servants, to give them their rations at the proper time? 43 Blessed is that slave whom his master finds so doing when he comes. 44 Truly I say to you that he will put him in charge of all his possessions. 45 But if that slave says in his heart, ‘My master will be a long time in coming,’ and begins to beat the slaves, both men and women, and to eat and drink and get drunk; 46 the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know, and will cut him in pieces, and assign him a place with the unbelievers. 47 And that slave who knew his master’s will and did not get ready or act in accord with his will, will receive many lashes, 48 but the one who did not know it, and committed deeds worthy of a flogging, will receive but few. From everyone who has been given much, much will be required; and to whom they entrusted much, of him they will ask all the more.”

The concept here is simple.  In verse 45 the slave erroneously believes that the master’s return is a long way off.  Because of that he does whatever he wants, even beating the other slaves.  He then eats and drinks as if he has no cares in the world.

Had that slave realized and believed that the return of the master was sooner rather than later, he would have lived accordingly.

But let’s say you still see little to no value in studying prophecy.  All right, then I would encourage you to look at things this way…do you know when you will die?  Do you believe that you have plenty of years ahead of you; plenty of time to live correctly and to do what’s right?

If you believe that, then there is an excellent chance that you are living only for today and not for tomorrow.  You are not concerned about your potential death and the fact that you are always merely one breath away from dying.

Rather than being morbid about it, understanding that our death is ALWAYS imminent should create within us the desire to live our lives according to what brings glory to God.  People who don’t think about the imminency of our death tend to live any way they want to live.

We have plenty of people within the visible church living this way and all it does is bring disrepute to the Name of Jesus.  The world laughs and wants to see more of that.

There is a huge difference between being an authentic Christian and being a Christian in name only.  Most of the world has no ability to see the difference.

I’ve mentioned a particular show on ABC before, but it’s probably a good idea to mention it again. “GBC” – otherwise known as “Good Christian Witches” with a “B” is a show that people are loving.

I wrote a blog about it a short while ago and received a number of comments that disagreed with my take on the show.  People love it.  They laugh at it and one women commented that she believed all TRUE Christians would laugh at the show.

Here’s an audio clip from the show that will give you an idea of what type of situations and dialogue are built into the show.  I wish you could see the clip as well as simply here it, but if you go to Youtube and look up GBC, a number of clips will come up where you can get a great idea of what the show is all about.

Here’s the clip:

  (2:39 minutes)

In that clip we learn that the main character – Amanda – has to move back to live with her mother in Texas.  Apparently, when she lived there and went to high school, she was a terrible person and the women that she tormented have not forgotten it.

There are any numbers of problems with GBC.  First of all, authentic Christians do not intentionally act like the characters in the show.

Authentic Christians are not intentional hypocrites, but merely accidental ones.

Professing Christians are often INTENTIONALLY hypocritical and they have few if any qualms about being such.

The women in the show are concerned about work they need to have done on their bodies.  They’re concerned about sex and there are even gay men on the show.

The show contains one insulting comment after another, all in the name of comedy.  The “Christian” women (using the term loosely) in the show are calculating, despotic, denigrating and castigating toward others.

In point of fact, there is nothing that resembles authentic Christianity in the show at all.

At one point, the main character’s mother is seen heading into church with the her daughter – the main character.  After realizing that her daughter did not really raise her child to become a Christian, the mother says, “Cut the commie crap. My grandchildren are going to church so they can go to heaven. End of story, Amen.”

While I realize that there are a lot of people who believe that being a Christian is all wrapped up into what a person does, the truth of Scripture reveals that a true or authentic Christian is one based on a new birth that Jesus speaks about in John chapter three, in His discussion with Nicodemus.

When a person has experienced a new birth, their life changes for the better.  That then begins a process of becoming more Christlike and less like the world for the remainder of our lives.

There is no such thing as a perfect Christian.  However, the women of GBC are very worldly and as far as one can get from being an authentic Christian.  Comments for the show vary accordingly, however, one thing seems consistent.  Because people know of women like those represented in the show, they make the mistake of thinking that these are how authentic Christians actually live.

In response to my comments on my blog, one women wrote me to say the following:
“Having watched several of the episodes of the tv show in question, I think any true Christian would laugh along with the show.

The core values of the show are respect, family and love. How is that un-Christian? You’re upset because they also include hypocrites who use Bible verses to justify bad behavior? Well d’you know what? Plenty of Christians are exactly like that.

“So how about tackling real issues. When was the last time you volunteered at a soup kitchen, donated to a charity or improved someone else’s life? That’s what *true* Christians do.”

This is what the average person thinks about Christianity.  Yet, if the tables were turned and this show was about Muslims, you can bet that it would not only NOT survive, but a movement to have it removed from TV would be well underway and most would side with Muslims.  It would be deemed offensive, repressive, inaccurate and ungodly.  Muslims would be up in arms over the show and would threaten death to the infidels who created it!

A show like this – if it were about Muslims – would never make it onto the airwaves in the first place, but a show about women who are gossips and yes, dare I say “sluts” makes the news and non-Christians come out of the woodwork to defend it.

My response to the women who wrote me – whom I quoted above went like this:

To quote myself, I said,

QUOTE:  Glad you like the show and you’re certainly entitled to your opinion. However, I fully disagree that any “true” Christian would laugh along with this show.

“You think Jesus would laugh? Read Revelation 2 and 3 for how He speaks to a variety of churches during the apostle John’s day and what He had to tell them. Laugh? Hardly.

“What upsets me is that the world already has a bad opinion of Christians because there ARE so many hypocrites within Christendom who do outlandish things, who fleece people of hard-earned money and all the rest. A show like GBC capitalizes on the tawdriness of those who profess to be actual Christians, but are likely not Christian at all (John 3).

“Volunteered at a soup kitchen? Donated to a charity? Improved someone else’s life? You know nothing of me, so please spare me your judgment. I regularly give to my church as well as other charities. I don’t volunteer at soup kitchens, but I do plenty of other things to help improve people’s lives, including ministering to those in jail.

“However, for me, the greatest improvement for someone comes from knowing Jesus as Savior and Lord. It has eternal rewards. I evangelize because I believe the best gift a person can be given is eternal life. One of Jesus’ last commands was for all of His true disciples/followers to go into every nation and preach the gospel, making disciples of people from all nations. THAT’S what true Christians actually do. They don’t gossip. They aren’t willing hypocrites, but merely accidental ones. They endeavor to emulate the life of Jesus, loving as He loved and abhorring evil as He did.

“Sorry I can’t join you in laughing at GBC. It’s just not my cup of tea. Close to 150,000 people die every day; most without knowledge of Jesus and having no relationship with Him. They enter eternity lost. The visible church is most definitely filled with the “tares” that Jesus spoke of in Matthew 13; those that resemble wheat but are not nor will ever be wheat. It is the tares that give the wheat a bad name because few (like yourself) make the distinction between the two.

“GBC portrays individuals who do not KNOW Jesus, are not in relationship with Him, and are biblically categorized as “tares.”

“The reason folks like yourself enjoy the show is solely due to the fact that it portrays the WEAKNESSES of professing Christians and in doing so, denigrates all Christians and Christ Himself. No Christian is perfect, but that’s just it – the indwelling Holy Spirit chastises those who continue to deliberately live on the outskirts of Christianity. The “b**ches” on GBC are neither “good” or “Christian.” They are merely another attempt at the world to portray Christians as evil.

“The core values of Christianity are not “respect, family, and love.” The core values of Christianity are to know Christ, to make Him known, and to worship God in spirit and in TRUTH. UNQUOTE

The reality is that GBC should not exist but it will likely continue to exist and even grow in popularity because people like it when Christianity and Christians specifically are castigated.  This is the world we live in and it is only going to get worse as evil’s footprint continues to grow unabated.

Evil is growing throughout the world and its assault on God and Christians is becoming exceedingly pervasive.  If you are an authentic Christian, are you prepared for it?

If you are not, you will be washed away with it.  In 1 Peter 5:8, Peter tells us that we need to “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walks about, seeking whom he may devour:

This is the reality that Christians face in this world today.  We cannot kid ourselves into thinking that this is fleeting, that it’s only going to last for a short amount of time and then it’ll get better.

We are facing a world which is growing in its abject hatred of Christians.  We must rely on God’s grace, strength, and love to help us stand against it.  There are too many people who need salvation and if authentic Christians shrink from spreading the gospel, who will do it?

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