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I kind of have a problem with that. Where do we read that in the Bible -- that we're supposed to base our whole walk with God on "studying God's Word on our own"? Everything in the New Testament seems to be based on things that the Apostles taught firsthand and then appointing pastors (shepherds) and teachers -- and presbyters (elders) and bishops (overseers) -- to follow after them and continue teaching the faith. That doesn't sound like it's meant to be an "on your own with Jesus" kind of situation at all. Jesus Himself gives us the illustration of a flock -- and sheep in a flock aren't supposed to wander away on their own, but follow their shepherd.
I tend to think we have been in the last days since Jesus ascended to heaven and said He was coming back soon.
Good afternoon Mary.
I hope you are well in the Lord, and that your family is doing good.
Anyways, to get down to the business at hand:
Well, if a person was totally clueless who Noah was, and they were to stop at reading Genesis 6, they might think they would need to find Noah and get onboard his Ark before the flood comes. But by what they know from what others have said about Noah, and the global flood, and by reading all the Bible, they understand that Noah and the global flood narrative happened in the past. I say this because when you accept certain truths in the Bible, you then understand how things are.
My case I was trying to make before is that we are in the last days (Which is a "last days" that is different from the time of the early church, which Peter thought was the "last days" See: Acts of the Apostles 2:17). 2 Timothy 3:1-9 and many other verses lays it out for us. Also, observational evidence by looking at the real world around you helps us to confirm this truth, as well.
2 Timothy 3:1-9 says,
1 "This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.
2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
3 Without natural affection, truce breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,
4 Traitors, heady, high minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;
5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.
6 For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts,
7 Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.
8 Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith.
9 But they shall proceed no further: for their folly shall be manifest unto all men, as theirs also was."
It says in the last days bad times are going to come. Men will be...
(a) Lovers of their own selves.
(b) Covetous.
(c) Boasters.
(d) Proud.
(e) Blasphemers.
(f) Disobedient to parents.
(g) Unthankful.
(h) Unholy.
(i) Without natural affection.
(j) truce breakers.
(k) False accusers.
(l) Incontinent (lacking self restraint).
(m) Fierce.
(n) Despisers of those that are good.
(o) Traitors.
(p) Heady (willful, or rash).
(q) High minded.
(r) Lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God.
(s) Having a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof.
(b) Covetous.
(c) Boasters.
(d) Proud.
(e) Blasphemers.
(f) Disobedient to parents.
(g) Unthankful.
(h) Unholy.
(i) Without natural affection.
(j) truce breakers.
(k) False accusers.
(l) Incontinent (lacking self restraint).
(m) Fierce.
(n) Despisers of those that are good.
(o) Traitors.
(p) Heady (willful, or rash).
(q) High minded.
(r) Lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God.
(s) Having a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof.
This is not really describing unbelievers because it says they have a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof. It also says they are lovers of pleasures more than they are lovers of God. So this indicates to us that these are believers and not unbelievers who deny God's existence or who believe in a false god (that really does not exist). For when the Scriptures talk about God, it is talking about the only one true GOD (i.e. the Trinity; For the Lord our God is one God, and He exists as three distinct persons: The Father, Son, and Holy Ghost - See: 1 John 5:7).
The point here is that it telling us that there is going to be a time when men (Men of God) will generally be lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God, and that they will have a form of godliness, but they will deny the power thereof. What power are they denying? God's ability and power to help them to overcome grievous sin in their lives. Like helping to stop them from lying, lusting, swearing, hating, and not forgiving, etc. Sure, many of them will not endorse murder, rape, theft, the abuse of children, etc. But the other grievous sins seem to be something that I hear mentioned on occasion as... "everyone does it" kind of a thing. This belief is most common among Protestantism. But you will see it in all denominations. You will see the list above as things as being a natural thing within many churches today.
Nobody is training others to actually follow Jesus. Meaning: Nobody is training to go out on the streets, hand out tracts or to talk about Jesus or to pray for lost souls. Nobody is fixing to help the poor on the streets, or in signing up with helping a poor child online, etc. Nobody today is training others to live holy. It's all about putting on a show. Making you feel good. Looking religious either by preaching a really good message, or by dressing up to look holy and doing a bunch of chants. But what about the love of God? What about loving others? Loving your enemies? Jesus taught we are to love. Jesus taught that our love of others is a reflection of our love for God. We need to be like a King David and be a man (or woman) after God's own heart. To love the way God desires us to love and not our own terms by just singing a few songs every week and dropping some money in the collection plate. Our love for the Lord is a daily, hourly, every second kind of thing and not just on Sundays. Our every fiber of our being has to love the Lord with everything we have. This can be by praying in secret behind closed doors to be more righteous for the Lord and to not be led into temptation. This can be loving others by giving the poor guy on the street some food or water (with a gospel tract). There is so much that the body of believers are not doing today. Some are. But not many. There are only a few who appear to be even sort of close to what the early church followers were doing.
Most are singing kumbaya or some spiritual song and looking to feel good on their own terms. This is not how it is supposed to be. Jesus said to the scribes and Pharisees,
"Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves." (Matthew 23:15).
The thing is that while people may not think of themselves as the devil or as bad as this, the thing is that if they are not concerned about lost souls, or spreading the gospel in some way, and they are not helping the poor in some way, and they are caught in what they think are minor sins that everyone does like lying, lusting, indulging in sinful worldly things, hating, not forgiving, etc. they are being like a child of hell (in God's eyes) and they can teach others this and their new recruits can be even worse than they are. They think of themselves as "Sinners's (in the present tense) saved by grace." Why can they not be saints like the Bible says when it refers to believers?
I want to ask you a few questions: Do you think we are in the last days? Do you think we are getting close to the return of the Son of Man? Granted, no man knows the day or the hour, but based off how bad things are in the world (morally speaking), I can say that the Lord is close to coming back. Maybe it is today, or tomorrow or 20 years from now. I don't know. But it feels so close. Especially with talks about the building of the Jewish temple.
Jesus said, "...when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?" (Luke 18:8).
Meaning, does anyone truly believe? Does anyone truly follow the words of Jesus? Jesus is not saying that nobody is going to be following Him, but what He is trying to say here is that it is not going to be many.
When I have looked at finding that right church, they have all failed to measure up to doing the basics in what we see the early church doing. Spreading the gospel to all as a whole body, loving the poor, loving the brethren, loving one's enemies, training the brethren to live holy, etc.
It's all just a show in a big building these days with programs.
Many times you can walk into a church and they will not even know that you were there.
We have sermons guilt tripping you to give more money.
We have sermons that involves politics.
We have church time that involves watching movies like the Chronicles of Narnia that promotes the sin of witchcraft (as being okay to watch and enjoy as part of our entertainment) just because it is fantasy. But what did God do with sorcerers in the OT? He had them killed. Men who worked sorcery or the dark arts were condemned by God; And God has not changed. Granted, we do not go around killing witches, etc. We are under a New Covenant that seeks to love our enemies now. But the point here is that we do not see what the early church did. We do not see large groups doing what the early apostles did. We see them creating their own strange traditions not found in the Bible. But we do not see them doing what the early apostles did. We see many (or most) justifying sin on some level.
Even John MacArthur who appears to be for holiness with His Lordship Salvation teaching is not teaching true holiness according to the Bible. His Lordship Salvation doctrine is a trojan horse. For he believes and has always believed that a believer can commit suicide and they can still be saved. Is this a wonderful thing to teach our children? John MacArthur also believes in Once Saved, Always Saved. Granted, he believes a saint will generally live a holy life, but one or two grievous sins that do not go unconfessed will not keep them out of God's kingdom. This is a huge problem because Hebrews 3:12-13 says that we can harden our hearts by the deceitfulness of sin and depart from the living God. Meaning: Sin can harden our hearts and we can depart from God without even realizing it because of our justifying sin. God cannot agree with grievous (or serious) sin that we do.
Anyways, the point here is that the bishops, pastors, and other spiritual leaders mentioned in Scripture is primarily in reference to the early church days whereby they are not in the "last days" time period that we are in where believing men will be lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God.
Maybe there are a few groups out there who are spiritual leaders. Maybe it is the underground churches in China who are being persecuted for their faith. Maybe it one or two small churches out there who are for holiness and who train their people to actually to follow Jesus instead of just putting on a show and not knowing who you are (even though you may have attended that church for months or years). But what I can say is that not many are following Jesus like we see with the early church (Hence, that means there are not many who are actually bishops, pastors, etc.). They are not your standard street corner church who is not helping you to actually follow Jesus. Most churches are not really helping you to follow Jesus. They just want your money and they want to make you feel good as part of some show or by partaking in some religious ritual by men who love to parade about in holy garments. Jesus said, "Beware of the scribes, which desire to walk in long robes, and love greetings in the markets, and the highest seats in the synagogues, and the chief rooms at feasts;" (Luke 20:46).
In any event, I say this not with hate towards anyone, but I say this with love towards all and with the hope that the brethren in the Lord will wake up and start to follow Jesus and to teach others to do so in love.
I hope this helps you to understand where I am coming from.
May the Lord Jesus Christ bless you this fine day.
Sincerely,
~ Jason.
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