The Erosion of Truth is Now Upon Us

[Gideon]

Greetings, all. With the posts that have been made in the last few weeks, ever since we began to look at the place our obedience has in our walks with God, I think it is clear that the dividing lines are coming more clearly into view. I am not talking people, but beliefs. Tenants of our faith. Foundational truths. And I will be honest, it has been eye opening to see how far the enemy has advanced, and made inroads into our minds and hearts.

I am reading a good book right now, called The Awakening Church by Charles Swindoll. In it, he talks about our great need in the church to examine whether or not spiritual erosion is happening in our lives, both corporately and individually. He states that to truly get truth back as our foundation, it requires a reverence for truth above comfort... or what WE think is right. If one has to re-shape his theology to fit what God says, so be it. We can no longer fit God into our spiritual outlook by embracing certain scriptures and totally closing our eyes to others, for it is this very practice that is placing the church on the precipice of a massive falling away.

He shares the same observations that I do, that at some point in the walks of many, the Bible no longer is our ultimate authority. We are. He remembers that 20 years ago, almost without fail, every Christian carried a Bible to church, and sermons were often a teaching based upon many inter-threaded verses. But over time, we have elevated the role of pastor to an unbiblical superstar level and want motovational messages that make us feel good about where we are. Sadly, we made relegated teachers of truth to a lower level, and most have become an unappreciated and unwanted person in our midst. We simply have adopted the world's "I want it all... now" attitude to our spiritual walks. Few have the patience to sit down and dig for truth. We want it now too. All positive. No negative. Warning, rebukes, corrections, instruction in righteousness..... these have all been for the most part a rarity in most of our churches.  

Thus, little by little, truth has eroded from under us, so slowly and subtly that we are not even aware we are drifting from God's truths. Although outwardly, we may look the same, our foundation, our unseen foundation has weakened, and to such a state that when persecution and real hardships come, and it is,  and it really costs to be a follower of the Lord, many spiritual houses that look so secure and steady will fall, and the results could be catastrophic, no matter what we are being told to the opposite. 

We have a Christianity without a shield in place, and thus, we have little protection from the deception of the enemy. We now see teachings that state that sin is unavoidable and that because of grace,  God now winks at our sins. We learn that repentance is nice but certainly not required,  and that actually making effort to be fully obedience to the Spirit He has given us is actully being "sin minded" and will rob us of our peace. Multitudes of ministers now instruct the sheep in their care that anything that actually asks anything of us is legalistic and is trying to put us back under law. Somehow, giving our all to obey our Lord is “working for our salvation”. May God deliver us from our blindness. 

Now, with the Bible simply a source book to support OUR views, rather than our views bowing the knee to what the word of God clearly teaches, we are both shieldless and swordless. Do we really think satan is not smiling and thinking how smart he is? We arm ourselves with a few pet verses where it matters not that our understanding of them totally contradicts huge portions of the New Testament. 

It is time we acknowledged how far we have fallen from truth, and bow before our God seeking Him to restore to us real faith and real desire to obey Him in all things. It will amaze us when we do, for God will open our eyes to the full truth of just how deep His grace goes, if we will but submit and cooperate. 

This call for deep seeking of the face of God has no exceptions. I need it. You need it. The entire church needs it. We as God’s church are on the precipice of the great falling away, but here is the scary thing. Many of those that fall away will not do so from walking away from church. They will still claim Jesus as Lord. They will be totally assured that they will make heaven their home. And yet, in the end, many of these will come face to face with the truth that they truly never knew Him or really wanted to be His friend, proved by the lack in their heart desires of total devotion to obeying and following Him, no matter the cost. And the weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth shall begin. 

Now is not the time to proceed without a real heart examination, under the guide of the whole counsel of God found in the Word of God. It is not good enough to assure ourselves that all is ok, because we believe Jesus is our savior, because if He is not Lord, we are not His friends. We are His enemies. 

Blessings,

Gideon

 

[Gideon]

2 hours ago, Yowm said:

A lot of generalizations and sweeping statements there bro. Some may be guilty, some are not and the weaker in faith will surely incur unnecessary guilt. Do you have any thing specific in mind?

BTW, Jesus comes to us as a complete package...Savior and Lord.there's no such thing as half a Jesus.

You are correct. There is no getting saved by Him without abdicating our throne of self rule and giving Him our complete surrender. Jesus was well aware of the mindset  some would try to adopt. That is why He said :

”Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and do not do the things I command you?”

If Jesus is not your Lord, He is not your savior.....yet. That is why John said:

”He that DOETH righteousness is righteous, even as He is righteous.”

In the parable about the man who made no gain with what he had been given, the angry master took back that which was given, and gave it to another. Why do you think the Lord would say such a thing? And after this terrifying turn-about, the master then says these sobering words. 

“Then bring all those who would not have me to reign over them, and slay them before me.”

                     Luke 17

As wonderful as it is to say a prayer of salvation, if it is not backed up by a life seeking Him and His will above ours, hating the sin that overtakes us and longing to be freed from its grip, we walk on dangerous ground and we need to MOVE!

Certainly, I would agree with you that the statements I have made are sweeping, but is the erosion of sound Biblical teaching not sweeping as well? When was the last time any of us in the church we attend heard a stern warning about sin and its catastrophic effects that it can have on our standing with the Lord?  When was the last time any of us were exhorted to lay aside anything that hinders and run our race the way we were plainly instructed to? With ALL of our hearts. 

Even in our sounder churches, erosion of the truth is happening, for we have competition for tithers to support our church business model. Thus, ‘itching ear’ preaching is required so as not to  offend, for if we do, the sheep will simply go down the street to a more “grace centered” minister. A massive wake up call is called for,but many are simply enjoying their slumber too much. 

 I agree Yown, it is not everyone.. Thank God for those who hunger and thirst to live their faith and are always hungry for more. But certainly, it is plain to any with spiritual eyes that these conditions are far too prevelant, is it not?

Why in the world would any object when someone does sound a warning simply on the grounds that it is not everyone? Are you saying that people young in the faith do not need fully balanced teaching early on in their walk to get them solidly grounded in the faith? Shall  we let them get used to a watered down  gospel that has no warnings, no correction, no exhortations, and no instruction in righteousness for fear of offending them? The truth is that they desperately need it to ward off the tactics of the enemy. .

No, as a whole, especially here in the United States, we are quite content with 90 minute services as long as the sermon is short, and the worship is professional. It matters  not if we live it during the week.it.  After all, grace makes up for our shortcomings. We are only human, right?

. It is the classic Laodecian mindset and whether we like to be associated with that mindset or not, the shoes fits far too well to simply play like all is ok, so why sweat it? 

This is Jesus’s warning to them out of the Message Bible. I fully realize it is a paraphrase but it takes no Biblical scholar to realize the two versions pretty much say the exact same thing, and we don’t like either one. 

“I know you inside and out, and find little to my liking. You’re not cold, you’re not hot—far better to be either cold or hot! You’re stale. You’re stagnant. You make me want to vomit.

You brag, ‘I’m rich, I’ve got it made, I need nothing from anyone,’ oblivious that in fact you’re a pitiful, blind beggar, threadbare and homeless.

“Here’s what I want you to do: Buy your gold from me, gold that’s been through the refiner’s fire. Then you’ll be rich.

Buy your clothes from me, clothes designed in Heaven. You’ve gone around half-naked long enough.

And buy medicine for your eyes from me so you can see, really see.

“The people I love, I call to account—prod and correct and guide so that they’ll live at their best. Up on your feet, then! About face! Run after God!

                       Revelation 3:15,18-19 

I pray more Christians sound the warning that the enemy has infiltrates our midst and that we all open our Bibles, fall on our faces and tell our God. “Thy will, not mine, be done.”

Blessings,

Gideon

Edited April 12, 2018 by Gideon

[ejected]

The erosion of truth has been set in stone for 1700 years now. Even Paul said that wolves would RISE UP (the cleric system) after the last shovel full of dirt was thrown on his face. 

I think its time to try the biblical guidelines for our gatherings. See: 1Cor 12 and 14, Ephecians 4, and Romans 12. Also 1Peter 5 to see that a plurality of elder shepherds are in view, the single salaried executive pastor paradigm is no where in scripture. And Acts 20 where all the shepherds/elders in a given body are to work jobs, not lord it over His heritage, 1Peter 5, and not to serve for financial gain.

All this mess is because of the traditions of men, Mark 7, that nullifoes God's word, and placing the folks under man made law, mainly tithing, which incurs a curse, Galatians 3:10.

So lets try things according to God's instructions for a change. If it dont work out after a couple of months, go back to man's designs. Im just saying.

Edited April 12, 2018 by ejected

[Neighbor]

 

Hi,

Just a personal commentary:  "We" seldom carry a Bible anywhere, for "we" have smart devices, cellphones and tablets even laptops that have parallel Bible versions, commentaries, Strong's Concordance, some have entire Accordance Libraries, all at the fingertips at most all times, including worship services where by the way fast WIFI is readily available.

Why "we" could turn off the house lights at worship and be lit up in blue tone screen lighting. Almost all of us the great "we" here use today's devices more than hard copy printed Bibles. Plus "we" have the Big Screens overhead where all the passages pertinent to the message appear all the time. "We" also have smart boards in classrooms and internet connection both hard wire and wifi.

"We" also model our church body after the first century church as much as "we" can. "We"have elders. "we" have deacons, "we" have deaconesses.

"We" read through entire books of the Bible verse by verse and  word by word all while learning to apply the teaching to our daily life. "We" have encouragement for one another. "We" help our widows. "We" help the orphans, adopting many. "We"are cheerful givers. "We" raise up our missionaries, and "we" support them from our own local home church body. "We" go throughout the world with the gospel of Jesus. "We" even have an understanding of Matthew eighteen's church discipline processes, and "we" follow them.

And somehow I just suspect, and in fact I know, that God has many  such places established as local bodies of Christ throughout the world, with some areas of it  just exploding with new saints, all the time.

So not to worry God has it under control, Chuck's concerns not withstanding.

Enjoy and rejoice God is sovereign!

[Gideon]

2 hours ago, Yowm said:

Ok, we'll start here. 

Where in the preaching of the Gospel in Acts or the teaching of the Gospel in Romans do we read this? You seem to be appealing to Christian discipleship, not to sinners to admit their sin and to come as they are to Him for salvation from their sin.

And there, on a nutshell, is our problem. We see them as two completely different things. They are not. Jesus said:

“He who tries to save his life will lose it, but he who loses his life for my sake shall find it unto eternal life.”

In the early church, to become a Christian, a Jew literally had to lose everything that was their life previously. They lost their religion, they lost their family, they lost their friends, they lost their culture.They went from being accepted to being hated and then persecuted, in one fell swoop. It was what it cost to follow Jesus. All were disciples.  The cost remains the same today and Jesus was not mincing words when He warns us to count the  cost of following Him.  

There was no tier level of commitment in the Christian walk. If you were a Christian in the early church, you were a disciple. You hated the old you, your carnal nature, and longed to be holy and to walk pleasing to Him. Poor Ananias and Saphira must have mistakenly checked the discipleship option instead of the “All I want is forgiveness” box.  We have made this a multiple choice option as to the level of commitment we would like to commit to. There is no such thing. It is a lie we have swallowed hook, lime and sinker. It is time we truly examined ourselves whether we be in the faith.  

All our pearls. What about that is so difficult to understand? It is not difficult, but it is a level many refuse to commit to, thinking their forgiveness makes their double mindedness and worldliness a moot point. It is not. And because so many are content to have their names written in the book of life, and to be able to call Heaven their future home, with no thought whatsoever as to walking in true holiness and righteousness before Him ALL the days of our lives, the church now languishes in mediocrity. All that is about to change.

The sad part is, we think such a step extreme, even legalistic, when in fact, it is this willful choice we make, absolute surrender, just as the prodigal did, that allows the Father to bestow on us full sonship where the joy of our salvation is real and palpable, with our victory assured. 

The coming awakening will start for many with deep conviction, md massive repentance and brokenness, when they realize their future is still very much uncertain and the ground they now stand on is drifting further and further from the truth.  But praise God, many shall light their lamps and clothe themselves with their new natures, natures that find doing the will of God not only possible but the key we have been missing to a joy filled life. 

Blessings,

     Gideon

[MorningGlory]

4 hours ago, ejected said:

The erosion of truth has been set in stone for 1700 years now. Even Paul said that wolves would RISE UP (the cleric system) after the last shovel full of dirt was thrown on his face. 

I think its time to try the biblical guidelines for our gatherings. See: 1Cor 12 and 14, Ephecians 4, and Romans 12. Also 1Peter 5 to see that a plurality of elder shepherds are in view, the single salaried executive pastor paradigm is no where in scripture. And Acts 20 where all the shepherds/elders in a given body are to work jobs, not lord it over His heritage, 1Peter 5, and not to serve for financial gain.

All this mess is because of the traditions of men, Mark 7, that nullifoes God's word, and placing the folks under man made law, mainly tithing, which incurs a curse, Galatians 3:10.

So lets try things according to God's instructions for a change. If it dont work out after a couple of months, go back to man's designs. Im just saying.

Are you going to start up your anti-church rating again? 

[Heleadethme]

6 hours ago, Gideon said:

Greetings, all. With the posts that have been made in the last few weeks, ever since we began to look at the place our obedience has in our walks with God, I think it is clear that the dividing lines are coming more clearly into view. I am not talking people, but beliefs. Tenants of our faith. Foundational truths. And I will be honest, it has been eye opening to see how far the enemy has advanced, and made inroads into our minds and hearts.

I am reading a good book right now, called The Awakening Church by Charles Swindoll. In it, he talks about our great need in the church to examine whether or not spiritual erosion is happening in our lives, both corporately and individually. He states that to truly get truth back as our foundation, it requires a reverence for truth above comfort... or what WE think is right. If one has to re-shape his theology to fit what God says, so be it. We can no longer fit God into our spiritual outlook by embracing certain scriptures and totally closing our eyes to others, for it is this very practice that is placing the church on the precipice of a massive falling away.

He shares the same observations that I do, that at some point in the walks of many, the Bible no longer is our ultimate authority. We are. He remembers that 20 years ago, almost without fail, every Christian carried a Bible to church, and sermons were often a teaching based upon many inter-threaded verses. But over time, we have elevated the role of pastor to an unbiblical superstar level and want motovational messages that make us feel good about where we are. Sadly, we made relegated teachers of truth to a lower level, and most have become an unappreciated and unwanted person in our midst. We simply have adopted the world's "I want it all... now" attitude to our spiritual walks. Few have the patience to sit down and dig for truth. We want it now too. All positive. No negative. Warning, rebukes, corrections, instruction in righteousness..... these have all been for the most part a rarity in most of our churches.  

Thus, little by little, truth has eroded from under us, so slowly and subtly that we are not even aware we are drifting from God's truths. Although outwardly, we may look the same, our foundation, our unseen foundation has weakened, and to such a state that when persecution and real hardships come, and it is,  and it really costs to be a follower of the Lord, many spiritual houses that look so secure and steady will fall, and the results could be catastrophic, no matter what we are being told to the opposite. 

We have a Christianity without a shield in place, and thus, we have little protection from the deception of the enemy. We now see teachings that state that sin is unavoidable and that because of grace,  God now winks at our sins. We learn that repentance is nice but certainly not required,  and that actually making effort to be fully obedience to the Spirit He has given us is actully being "sin minded" and will rob us of our peace. Multitudes of ministers now instruct the sheep in their care that anything that actually asks anything of us is legalistic and is trying to put us back under law. Somehow, giving our all to obey our Lord is “working for our salvation”. May God deliver us from our blindness. 

Now, with the Bible simply a source book to support OUR views, rather than our views bowing the knee to what the word of God clearly teaches, we are both shieldless and swordless. Do we really think satan is not smiling and thinking how smart he is? We arm ourselves with a few pet verses where it matters not that our understanding of them totally contradicts huge portions of the New Testament. 

It is time we acknowledged how far we have fallen from truth, and bow before our God seeking Him to restore to us real faith and real desire to obey Him in all things. It will amaze us when we do, for God will open our eyes to the full truth of just how deep His grace goes, if we will but submit and cooperate. 

This call for deep seeking of the face of God has no exceptions. I need it. You need it. The entire church needs it. We as God’s church are on the precipice of the great falling away, but here is the scary thing. Many of those that fall away will not do so from walking away from church. They will still claim Jesus as Lord. They will be totally assured that they will make heaven their home. And yet, in the end, many of these will come face to face with the truth that they truly never knew Him or really wanted to be His friend, proved by the lack in their heart desires of total devotion to obeying and following Him, no matter the cost. And the weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth shall begin. 

Now is not the time to proceed without a real heart examination, under the guide of the whole counsel of God found in the Word of God. It is not good enough to assure ourselves that all is ok, because we believe Jesus is our savior, because if He is not Lord, we are not His friends. We are His enemies. 

Blessings,

Gideon

 

Amen brother, it's good to know that others are awake and seeing the sad condition the church is in now.  The church at large in the west has lost the concept of the cross....where Jesus said to deny yourself, take up your cross and follow Him.  Cross-less Christianity is not Christianity.......it's a form of Godliness but denying the power thereof.  We are in the time of the end, and the bride needs to make herself ready............or miss the wedding.

[Gideon]

5 hours ago, ejected said:

The erosion of truth has been set in stone for 1700 years now. Even Paul said that wolves would RISE UP (the cleric system) after the last shovel full of dirt was thrown on his face. 

I think its time to try the biblical guidelines for our gatherings. See: 1Cor 12 and 14, Ephecians 4, and Romans 12. Also 1Peter 5 to see that a plurality of elder shepherds are in view, the single salaried executive pastor paradigm is no where in scripture. And Acts 20 where all the shepherds/elders in a given body are to work jobs, not lord it over His heritage, 1Peter 5, and not to serve for financial gain.

All this mess is because of the traditions of men, Mark 7, that nullifoes God's word, and placing the folks under man made law, mainly tithing, which incurs a curse, Galatians 3:10.

So lets try things according to God's instructions for a change. If it dont work out after a couple of months, go back to man's designs. Im just saying.

Brother, it is not church organization that is the problem. It is that we are trying to walk as children of God while still living in our old natures. Unless we reckon ourselves as dead, and put on our new natures by faith, and yield ourselves to God as those who are alive from the dead but  those who still need to die a little more, we will continue to walk in lukewarmness and contentment without godliness.

Blessings, 

Gideon

[Marilyn C]

7 hours ago, Gideon said:

Greetings, all. With the posts that have been made in the last few weeks, ever since we began to look at the place our obedience has in our walks with God, I think it is clear that the dividing lines are coming more clearly into view. I am not talking people, but beliefs. Tenants of our faith. Foundational truths. And I will be honest, it has been eye opening to see how far the enemy has advanced, and made inroads into our minds and hearts.

I am reading a good book right now, called The Awakening Church by Charles Swindoll. In it, he talks about our great need in the church to examine whether or not spiritual erosion is happening in our lives, both corporately and individually. He states that to truly get truth back as our foundation, it requires a reverence for truth above comfort... or what WE think is right. If one has to re-shape his theology to fit what God says, so be it. We can no longer fit God into our spiritual outlook by embracing certain scriptures and totally closing our eyes to others, for it is this very practice that is placing the church on the precipice of a massive falling away.

He shares the same observations that I do, that at some point in the walks of many, the Bible no longer is our ultimate authority. We are. He remembers that 20 years ago, almost without fail, every Christian carried a Bible to church, and sermons were often a teaching based upon many inter-threaded verses. But over time, we have elevated the role of pastor to an unbiblical superstar level and want motovational messages that make us feel good about where we are.

Hi Gideon,

It seems you are talking about people who go to man`s public meeting by an organisation of man. It (man`s organisations)has eventually shown its true colours - power and control. Now did you know that thousands and thousands of believers have left man`s organisations and are meeting together in many and varied ways. These believer`s have not lost their faith when they left man`s organisation but actually learnt to trust the Lord more, mentor others in daily life and gather together with other believers to pray and study God`s word. There is more appreciation of each other, and God`s giftings among them.

The Lord Jesus Christ is still the Head of His Body which He is building and maturing. If you see error then maybe, just maybe the scaffolding is suffocating the very life of the believer.

Marilyn.  

[Gideon]

48 minutes ago, Marilyn C said:

Hi Gideon,

It seems you are talking about people who go to man`s public meeting by an organisation of man. It (man`s organisations)has eventually shown its true colours - power and control. Now did you know that thousands and thousands of believers have left man`s organisations and are meeting together in many and varied ways. These believer`s have not lost their faith when they left man`s organisation but actually learnt to trust the Lord more, mentor others in daily life and gather together with other believers to pray and study God`s word. There is more appreciation of each other, and God`s giftings among them.

The Lord Jesus Christ is still the Head of His Body which He is building and maturing. If you see error then maybe, just maybe the scaffolding is suffocating the very life of the believer.

Marilyn.  

I can certainly appreciate your points and they are well taken. However, the problem goes far deeper than most have thought. What was it that brought about the situation with Ananias and Saphira in the early church? God was protecting the holiness and purity they all walked in, amen? But we know that after Paul’s death, wolves in sheeps clothing entered the flock, and the early rain came to a close. A long hot summer  ensued, with just enough showers to keep the church from dying. And as the harvest approaches, the first clouds of the latter rain can be seen gathering. 

What is it that made the early church different? Style of  organization? Perhaps. But if God does not change, and He does not,  then the standard He had for the early church will be raised again, amen? If God applied the same standard to us right now as Ananias and Saphira were held to, even our best churches would be decimated. 

So what was the difference? The early disciples were told to put off their old nature, not just improve their old nature’s outer behavior. And how is this  accomplished? By an act of faith, we reckon our old nature dead, not needing to die. And in the same way, we put on our new nature, and praise God, He then starts to ‘cause us’  both to will AND to do of His good pleasure!

This is completely contrary to what we now preach, but in order to have the standard lifted back up, which we have lowered in order to not feel guilty, we have to be re-introduced to the HOW of holiness.

Our answer is not trying harder. It is not being more sold out. It is coming to the point we WANT to obey, and yet it finally dawns on us that our old nature cannot..... CANNOT.... walk the walk He has for us. And when we do, and cry out for God to change us, and free us from the desire to sin and to deliver us from love for the world that we are told not to love, to our amazement and delight, we will be lifted up to meet... and exceed that standard. 

We are the bride of Christ, but we, collectively and individually, are in no way ready to meet Him. Thank the Lord that we are about to be awakened and the true sheep will light their lamps, and mount up with wings as eagles. 

God tells us through Ezekiel this wonderful promise and we are the generation who will fulfill it, leading a multitude into the kingdom at the last harvest. 

”...and the heathen shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall be sanctified in you before their very eyes. “

Buckle your seatbelts, this are about to get glorious!

blessings,

      Gideon