“Now
I urge you, brethren, note those who cause divisions and offenses, contrary to
the doctrine which you learned, and avoid them. For
those who are such do not serve our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly, and
by smooth words and flattering speech deceive the hearts of the simple.” –
Romans 16:17-18
The Apostle Paul says to avoid those who serve
themselves, use smooth words, and deceive the hearts of those who are not
grounded in God’s word and promote false doctrine and are offensive. They bring
division in the church because error divides. Those who do not want to join in
with false teachers or who warn others not to support them are labeled by the
majority as the divisive ones, but Scripture commands us to note them and avoid
them. The division is caused by those who flatter to gain an advantage over
others, not the voices of opposition to their pernicious ways.
Any Christian with spiritual eyes to see the signs of the
times does not doubt that we are in the final minutes of the Armageddon Clock.
The countdown actually began as soon as the Church was birthed. The Apostle
John in his second epistle said “it is the final hour” and that was almost
2,000 years ago. In Romans, Paul tells us “that knowing the time, that now it
is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when
we first believed.”
We’re fast approaching the perilous times the apostles
said would happen before the rapture of the bride and the judgment of the
planet. There are perils increasing on every front: political, social, moral, economical,
technological. Wars and rumors of war, earthquakes, famine, pestilence – you
name it, we’re seeing it. These birth pangs are increasing and there’s no
turning back until they run their course.
But as the church in the last days, we’re in collective
denial of the dangers on the spiritual landscape. The ten virgins in the
parable of the coming of the Bridegroom were all asleep when He came –
reminiscent of how the apostles slept while Jesus sweat blood in the Garden of
Gethsemane. Even enthusiasts of eschatology can see clearly the signs of the
times all around us, but when it comes to the prophesied condition of
Christendom before the Parousia, many cannot connect the dots. Those who do not
believe in a Premillennial view of Bible prophecy and deny we’re in the end
times, by virtue of their blindness to the fact, are sitting ducks for the
deceptions the Bible warns us about regarding these perilous times.
Reality
Check
"Hypocrites!
You can discern the face of the sky and of the earth,
but how is it you do not discern this time?” – Luke 12:56
but how is it you do not discern this time?” – Luke 12:56
Therefore, if we believe that we are living in the time
of the end, then we have to accept certain prophetic pronouncements and apply
them to real life. Many Christians have their own systematic theology and
creeds, but don’t make the connection to the world they live in. They pay lip
service to their beliefs, but can’t seem to see the world through the prism of
Bible prophecy. God gave us His prophetic Word so that the generation who sees
all things coming together can be inoculated against deception. So if the
Lord’s return is near, then these things must also be a fact:
- · Many false teachers and doers of lying signs and wonders are leading many people astray. [Matt 24:11; Matt 24:24; Mk 13:22; 2Pet 2:1; 1Jn 4:1]
- · A great apostasy of professing Christians is underway in which the object of our faith – the life, death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ – has been replaced with a man-centered devotion. [Lk 18:8; 2Thes 2:3; 2Tim 3:1-5; Acts 20:29-31; 1Tim 4:1-2; Rev 3:14-18]
- · Bible-believing Christians are being persecuted by those claiming to be believers. [2Pet 3:3; Jn 16:2]
- · A false church is being built that is in spiritual adultery to Almighty God and is therefore branded by God as the Great Whore. [Rev 17; Rev 19:2]
- · Believers who aid and abet the false teachers are displeasing to God and in disobedience to His Word. [Rev 18:4; Eph 5:11; Rom 16:17; 2Thes 2:9-12; 1Cor 5:11-13; Gal 5:9; Rom 11:21]
- · The forerunner to the antichrist is at work, preparing the minds of the people to condition them to be in awe of him when he arrives on the scene.
The Bible tells us as Christians that we are not to be
ignorant of the devil’s schemes. By studying eschatology we can see the end
result of the god of this world’s agenda against the professing church of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Just read the 7th chapter of the book of
Revelation for a sneak preview of the devil’s vision of a mutant bride. To
accomplish his agenda he first has to eradicate any clear witness of the true
church. He has done a pretty thorough job of that by replacing faith in the
Triune God of the Bible with a false faith in a god of forces or universal laws
(Daniel 11:38).
The very foundation of the most prominent “Christian”
television networks was built on the belief that believers can operate
spiritual principles to create their own reality. God is not supreme on the
earth, but according to the word/faith adherents, He has turned all power and
authority of the earth over to them. God can do nothing without their
permission. As they operate their force of faith, the power of the force itself kicks into action
on their behalf. So many books have been written about the occult idea of the
law of attraction as promoted by the likes of Oprah Winfrey, Deepak Chopra, and
all the mind-science cults, that there is no need to go over that again and
again.
The seed-faith principle made popular by faith healer
Oral Roberts is the seedbed utilized by these networks to raise money at their
raise-a-thons. This idea of give-to-get has made the network owners rich and
pushed many already financially stricken viewers further into debt and poverty.
Thanks to the work of discernment ministries and the use of the Internet, the
more educated Christians are finally catching on to the scam and holding back
their support of this wholesale fraud upon the church. But sadly, the less
educated, who are lured by the message that if they give to the networks they
will reap a hundred-fold return, are still sending in their pledges, hoping the
god of forces will be forced to operate on their behalf.
The prosperity deception is widely taught by TV preachers
out of sheer necessity to keep the money rolling in since overhead is high in
the satellite-television business. They
adopted the god of forces who can be controlled by the words of their mouth and
what they decree since that puts the power to prosper into their own hands. No
need to wait for a yes or no answer from the Sovereign Creator of the Universe.
He might not see things their way and His will might conflict with their own.
There’s power in numbers – both people and dollar signs. “Christian”
broadcasters must therefore attract the widest audience possible in order to
stay in business. This need plays right into the vision of the antichrist to
eradicate the true Gospel and replace it with a man-centered, world-loving, power-hungry
faith that believes it can change the world through unity. Oral Roberts used to
host an annual ecumenical gathering in Tulsa with the banner over the platform
that read, “Love and Unity Through Signs and Wonders.”
Paul Crouch Sr. has been a major player in unifying the
professing church while playing his numbers game needed for expansion. From the
start TBN has featured various Catholic priests both on their Praise the Lord
program and in their line-up of broadcasting clients. He has slammed the Protestant Reformation as a
tool of Satan and proudly proclaimed, “I’m not protesting anything.” Those in
disagreement, he labeled Pharisees. He even hosted the late Pope John Paul II’s
visit to America, carrying the Catholic youth rallies live on TBN.
While the management of most “Christian” networks are
word/faith heretics, their quest for unity of the professing church, both true
and false, is a major money-raising success strategy they all use. They might
not realize they are playing into the hands of Satan and the spirit of
antichrist to blur the lines between the holy and the profane. However, the
spirit of antichrist must bring apostasy to the church in advance of forming
the Great Harlot.
For this reason, all the apostate networks welcome the
involvement of sound doctrinal teachers, just so long as they don’t point out
the condition of their fellow broadcasters or use their network to teach the
distinction between true and false teaching seen on TV.
The Crouches and the Lambs and the Alecs see sound
teachers as useful idiots who give the rest credibility. And the so-called
solid ministries think they can be lights in a dark place by proclaiming truth
where only error has been promoted. But by doing so they lead the many astray
and do more harm than good. Here’s a verse that applies to this sin they are
committing against those who trust them:
“For
if anyone sees you who have knowledge eating in an idol's temple,
will not the conscience of him who is weak be emboldened to eat
will not the conscience of him who is weak be emboldened to eat
those things offered to idols?
And through thy knowledge shall the weak
brother perish,
for whom Christ died? But when ye sin so against the brethren,
and wound their weak conscience, ye sin against Christ.”
- 1 Corinthians 8:10-12
The end certainly does not justify the means. They are
playing right into the hands of the spirit of antichrist when there is no line
of demarcation between the true Bride and the Bride of Frankenstein these
networks are producing.
In these last days battle lines are being drawn. The
separation of the sheep and goats is being seen. It’s time for every believer
to take a stand against the encroaching evil and be faithful to the end. Those
who compromise with evil will end up being defeated by the very evil they wink
at. Those who buy airtime from so-called brothers and yoke themselves unevenly
with them will be held to account for all the baby believers they feed to the
wolves in sheep’s clothing.
The mixture is creating a mutant church that is powerless
to preach an untainted Gospel. It is looking more like the Laodicean luke-warm
so-called church that Jesus promises to spew out of His mouth. Those who don’t
separate from it now, will not be able to do so when Jesus comes for His
faithful Bride. The word-faith leaven is leavening the entire lump with the
assistance of well-meaning compromisers.
“Clean
out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump,
just as you are in fact unleavened.
For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed.”
1 Corinthians 5:7
just as you are in fact unleavened.
For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed.”
1 Corinthians 5:7
