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The Apostasy of the Church: The Great Christian Identity Crisis.

"You do not need to believe in God to be a Jew" said the Rabbi. I quickly shut my mouth before he noticed it was wide open. My reaction was not such because the concept was new to me, but in response to his apathy towards it. My son and a few of his classmates were at a synagogue on assignment from their Christian school to explore other faiths and find some common ground. I was there, as I was with my daughter's school visit to an Islamic mosque, to assure they didn't miss the differences. The Rabbi went on to explain that these unbelieving Jews still observe many of the feast days, as it is part of their cultural heritage. My heart sank as my measly human brain tried to grasp how disappointed God must be. Then it dawned on me just how many Christians there are today in that very same boat. 

Not surprisingly, this very deterioration of the Christian faith has been predicted in the bible. The apostle Paul clearly states that there will be an apostasy, or an abandonment of the gospel, prior to the return of Jesus Christ. "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;" -2 Thessalonians 2:3. Who could possibly deceive a Christian into denying their Savior?  What possible lie could someone or some group feed us that we would partake in?

How about the lie that your faith is as valuable and viable as other people's faiths? How about the lie that in order to include as many people in the goodness and mercy of our creator, that we should ease up on some of the doctrines that exclude them? How about the lie that unifying our religions into one is a good idea?  

Now is not the time to be oblivious to the world around us, as this apostasy has indeed already begun. It is time to wake up and open our eyes and hearts to discern the age in which we are living. This isn't something we should just have our spouse, parent, or even church leader take care of for us, simply because they always have. The only person responsible for your soul is you! Christ tells us that in this Laodicean age of the church we are now in, He will be knocking at our door. It is our individual responsibility to not only hear the knock but to respond to it. "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne." He goes on to say, "He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches." Revelation 3:20-22 

If you are a Christian...

• It is important to know that you ARE the church - it is not a place you go, or a group of people who lead in this place you go. The different churches spoken of in scripture refer to different groups of believers throughout time. 

• It is important that you do not follow a "cause" or "leadership" without question. It didn't work for the Israelites; it won't work for us. (1 Kings 14:15-16) Back up even further - it didn't work for Adam and Eve either! Paul warns us of churches that have become careless to the truth and tells us to reject them. "A man that is an heretick after the first and second admonition reject;" -Titus 3:10. Anyone who represents Jesus as “a god but not the God” or who claims He was merely a good teacher, simply a human, or even a super-human is a deceiver. NOTE ALSO: Anyone who leads you to unite with other religions that believe these lies about Jesus is also a deceiver. The apostle John gave us a simple formula to identify such a purgerer in 1 John 4:2-3…"Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world." Question everything and everyone, and pray that your church leaders return to the authority of Scripture for every issue of faith. I love my pastor but if he ever teaches something that contradicts the bible I'll take it as a red flag. Remember, "For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;" - 1 Timothy 2:5. This man Jesus Christ wrote a book we should read called "The Holy Bible". 

• It is important that the perplexities of the Bible do not intimidate you from reading it! There is no excuse not to read God's word. Even if the internet and the multitudes of books that make it comprehensible disappear, the true teacher of His own word, the Holy Spirit, will NEVER leave us! "But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you." - John 14:26

• It is important to come to terms with the fact that you may have already been deceived, over the years, into believing a watered down or embellished gospel.  If so, get over it quickly so that you can begin to seek the truth, without ceasing. 

• Finally, of utmost importance, if you have not yet done so, you must accept God's gift of salvation. It is not enough to only believe it - one must receive it! Aloud, tell Jesus that you accept him as your Savior.

The desire to hang with the 'in' crowd does not exist in teenagers alone; we all want to fit in. Yet this emerging church, or united religion, which we must separate ourselves from, will surely appear to be the cool as well as the smart crowd. This crowd's desire to unite humanity and protect the environment it lives in will project them to be not only kind and giving, but wise and enlightened. We know from Paul what will become of us if we fall into this trap… "Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools" - Romans 1:22 Fools for sure, as some will even buy into the idea that aliens are coming to bring us closer to God. Of course we can coexist with people of other faiths, but it is a very dangerous thing to think that we need to worship with them. We need to take a stand and forever proclaim that Jesus is, as Simon Peter put it when our Lord himself asked him, "The Christ, the Son of the living God." (Matthew 16:16) Where will we put our trust - in an intact dinghy or a grand ship full of holes?  Let us take the leap of faith now, while we still can, into the unsinkable, complete and unaltered gospel of Jesus Christ! 

Please remember, BIBLE BAIT is written by a novice Bible study student, not a Bible scholar. If something doesn't look quite right to you, dig into God's word. The one thing I promise you is that you won't get bored! Many thanks to my friend Renee Driscoll, who helps me keep Bible Bait Biblically correct.

 Anonymous said...

Wow! Love the artwork, Tamara. You need to print this out and give it to everyone with a COEXIST bumper sticker on their car. Or give it to all the people who believe that every religion is right and they all lead to heaven. Jesus said I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. John 14:6 . Jesus was either a liar, a lunatic, or was and is indeed the Son of God. If you believe in many ways to get to heaven, then you just called Jesus a liar. Kick this to Oprah!

May 25, 2013 at 6:40 AM

 

What a Little Faith Can Do (Hebrews Chapter 11)

“Increase our faith” the apostles said unto the Lord. (Luke 17:5) Isn’t that funny - even the apostles who walked daily with the son of the living God needed to revive their faith now and then. For without faith, it is impossible to please our God. He told us so through the apostle Paul… But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. (Hebrews 11:6) Oh boy is He ever a rewarder! God decided He would make it easy for us to study these rewards and the people who earned them by making Hebrews chapter 11 the ‘SparkNotes’ of faith. Take ten minutes today to read this short chapter, and my guess is you will find yourself asking God to increase your faith as well!

An Easy Way to Glorify God

Glorify God today - it's easy! When someone asks you how you are doing, respond with, "God has blessed me more than I deserve!" If things are not going so well, you can still use the same response, or say, "Not so well, but God will get me through it - He always does!"

Jesus is the Anchor of the Soul!

God has put it on my heart to memorize more of His words, and since I am a visual learner, I make graphics like this and the last post and put them on my refrigerator. I thought maybe you would want to do the same!

Fear Thou Not!

Please pray for all the Christians being persecuted all around the world. God really is with them, He told us so...

How Can You be Sure the Bible is the Real Deal?

Once upon a time, I used to believe in the New Testament, but not the Old. The Old Testament to me was a collection of significant yet fictional stories. Incredible stories actually, like the one where just two people populate the entire world, or the one where a five hundred year old man builds a boat big enough to hold two of every animal and cruise the flooded Earth. For some reason I could wrap myself around the fact that God could create the world out of nothing, but not do with it what he wanted. 

This view changed with one trip to the Creation Museum in Petersburg, Kentucky. As you walk in there is a sign that says, "Prepare to Believe". Quite full of myself I shouted out, "I'm already there, baby!" I wasn't so audible walking out the same door. In several hours I had become a true believer. 

Whether you fully regard the Bible as God's Word, are in total disbelief, or fall somewhere in-between, let's look at some FACTS…

• 150 million Bibles are printed every year. To put this into perspective, the third best selling book of all time, The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien has only sold as many to date. I realize this doesn't prove the Bible's authenticity, but don't you wonder why so many people are reading it?

• Although the Bible is a collection of 66 books, written by some 40 authors, over a period of 2,000 years, it has perfect unity and consistency throughout. There is a remarkable structural and mathematical pattern throughout that could not have been by chance, or conceived by humans.

• No one has ever been able to identify a single historical mistake anywhere in the Bible.

• There have been more than 25,000 archaeological finds relating to the Bible, and not one has contradicted anything in the Scriptures. Did you know that all fossils found have been either fully ape or fully human? Evolution has more holes in it than a bone with osteoporosis, and has been disproved by the scientific community.

And last but not least..(Warning: Do not read if you do not want to believe.)

• The Bible has hundreds of detailed prophecies, of which every one of them has come true in the minutest detail. (The only ones that haven't happened yet are those that are foretelling in detail Christ's return, which looks to be right around the corner!)

A friend who obviously loves me once told me this: The Bible is the Mouth of God - just open it to hear Him speak!

The Case for Christ by Lee Strobel

Is the Bible True? by Jeffery L. Sheler

http://creationmuseum.org/

Please remember that BIBLE BAIT is written by a novice Bible study student, not a theologian.

Am I Saved? What does it mean to be Born Again? Who are we REALLY?

Are you a good beeber, or a bad beeber? This is what my daughter asked everyone when she was four. We never found out what a beeber actually was, because all anyone could do was to quickly and wholeheartedly respond to her question with, "A good beeber, of course!" 

We all want to be good. It's just so hard sometimes. Up until recently I would typically cut myself a break, because my belief was that deep down inside, I was only human. I thought that if I reached far enough outside of who I am, I could get ahold of a better me. My reach always came a bit short. 

Recently and thankfully, the Bible has brought to my attention how dead wrong I was about who we really are. We don't have to reach out to be more like Christ, but in. Better yet, we just have to 'be'. We became our better selves the moment we first believed. How precious did that Grace appear indeed! 

We were born into sin, as we were born in the image of Adam. (Adam and Eve were the only ones born in the image of God, but lost God's image in the fall; hence the need for a rebirth.) Unbelievers are blinded by the lies of satan who is the god of this world, (2 Corinthians 4:4) and lovers of darkness rather than light. (John 3:19) 

Once we are saved (believe with all our heart that God sent His Son Jesus to die on the cross for our sins, and raised Him from the dead) God indwells us with His Holy Spirit and we are born again. (John 3:3) By doing so, He opens our heart so that our eyes can see and our ears can hear the truth. (John 16:13) The truth swallows up the lies (John 1:5) and is so awesome that we want to come out into the light to see more.

As believers born again in Christ, we are God's adopted children, whom He has given the same eternal and perfect love He had for his Son Jesus. Our new identity is forever flawless! (Romans 6) No longer do we have to strive to be precious in his eyes…we already are! What we do does not make us people of God, being people of God should make us do what we do. Most unfortunately we still have our humanity with all of it's temptations and lies hanging around. Yet the truth of who we really are is ample fuel to give our human engines all the love, joy and peace we need while still here on this Earth. 

Which brings us to the best part yet…when we shed our decaying bodies at our death, and get to finally live in eternal bliss with our Lord and Savior. (1 Corinthians 2:9)

I like to think my daughter was actually a child evangelist, who would ask people if they were a good believer, or a bad believer. I know I want to be a good believer, and am very happy to have learned that it is not only within my reach, but if I truly rest in Christ, it is within me.

Please remember, BIBLE BAIT is written by a novice Bible study student, not a Bible scholar. If something doesn't look quite right to you, dig into God's word. The one thing I promise you is that you won't get bored! 

Many thanks to my Bible study friends who proof-read BIBLE BAIT every week.