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Sunday, November 15, 2009

Apostasy in Today's Churches

I Timothy 4:1-5 says, "Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth. For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused , if it be received with thanksgiving: For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer." This passage of scripture is talking about apostasy which is a falling away from God's truth. II Timothy 3:1-7 also mentions about the coming apostasy in the last days. Apostasy is departing from the truth. It talks about those in the church that once stood for the faith but now have compromised and departed from the faith. We have different cults and religions that preach heresy such as the Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormonism, and Catholicism, for example. But this passage is not talking about those denominations or "churches" that have always preached and practiced false doctrine.

Since the advent of the early church there have been false religions everywhere. However, the problem here is that there were some churches that once stood for the Bible but now have allowed false doctrine to creep into their churches. You read that in the New Testament. Paul had to rebuke the church at Corinth for some of their false teachings. The church at Galatia had mixed law and grace together. There's always false teachers and preachers that creep into the church and preach doctrines that are contrary to scripture. In the book of Jude the writer told the Christians to "earnestly contend for the faith." In Jude vs. 4 it says, "For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ." The heretical doctrine of Gnosticism was preached to the church that Jude was warning about. He told the Christians to contend for the faith that was once delivered to the saints.

It's very important in every generation that a group of Christians contend for the truth. The Devil is a roaring lion seeking whom he may destroy. There's all kind of religious confusion in America today. Much of that is due to the diversity of religious teachings in our mainline denominations. When it comes to the central doctrines of scripture, many pastors have diluted the Word of God to adapt it to today's culture. Many churches have used "user friendly" methods in their churches to draw crowds into their churches. They've substituted programs for the drawing of the Holy Spirit. John 6:44 says that no man can be saved apart from the drawing of the Holy Spirit. Churches are using worldly methods to draw sinners into their churches. As a result, we have church members that are no more than a "twofold child of hell." The preaching of the Word is the only solution to America's problems.

Not only is there religious confusion in our mainline denominations, but you also find many heretical teachings in the Southern and Independent Baptist churches. You can't find many Independent Baptist churches that stand for the pure unadulterated Word of God. As a result, there have been many splits and schisms in the Independent Baptist movement. There are a couple of areas where Independent Baptists have strayed: One area is using other translations besides the King James and another is preaching a salvation with no repentance. There was a time when the Independent Baptists used to preach and teach out of the King James. Today there are numerous translations that Independent Baptists use. These modern translations come from corrupt texts. The King James came from the Textus Receptus, which was a pure text. In these modern translations, they'll remove the reference to the "blood" in Colossians and in the Gospels they refer to Mary as a "young woman" instead of virgin. That changes the meaning of scripture. There's also heresy being preached when it comes to the Biblical doctrine of salvation.

There's been a group of Independent Baptists over the years that have preached "easy-believism" or hyperevangelism which teach a salvation without repentance and Lordship. There's no such thing as a salvation without repentance and Lordship. If there's no repentace, there's no regeneration or change. Many church members have been deceived as a result of that. There have been scores of Baptists sitting on pews unsaved due to the propagation of "easy-believism." Any gospel that compromises on salvation is heretical. You don't have a true gospel when the truth about salvation is tampered with. Today it no longer means anything to proclaim oneself an Independent Baptist. It has no more meaning to it than referring to yourself as a Republican politically.

We not only have apostasy when it comes to the perversion of scripture, but we have apostasy concerning the preachers in our country. There have been countless preachers that have fallen by the wayside over the last twenty-five years. One example is Billy Graham. Billy Graham has been one of the most influential evangelists in America for over 50 years. Tragically, he's fallen into apostasy. I know that's controversial, but it's sadly true. I have listened to a couple of his 1957 sermons on YouTube clips and they were good. He preached a lot straighter when he first started out. Today he's denied the importance of the blood in salvation, and that Jesus is the only way to Heaven. He made that statement in some interviews on YouTube. He's one of many. The late Jerry Falwell started out straight. Years later when he started forming the Moral Majority and got heavily involved with politics, he compromised on his stands. He definitely compromised in 1990 when he allowed Liberty University to accept federal funding to keep the university afloat. Since then everything went downhill. There have been scores of Independent Baptist preachers that once proclaimed the Gospel and preached it straight when it came to preaching the authenticated Word of God. Today many of them have either quit the ministry or are now preaching open heresy.

Apostasy is what the Bible predicted would be happening in the church prior to the rapture of the church. It's very critical in this day that we're living that we be aligned with a Bible-believing church that preaches the King James Bibles and practices what they preach. We also need the presence of God in our churches. It's important to have a man of God that cares for his sheep. It's very difficult to find a man of God that's grounded in the Word that will preach without compromise. There are many pastors that are nothing but hirelings. Then there are some pastors that have not been under a sound church with a man of God that was anointed of God. It's very serious to not take for granted churches that stand for old-time gospel truth. Hebrews 10:25 says "Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another; and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching." In this age of apostasy, we need to be faithful in the House of God because Jesus is coming back. Don't fall prey to all the heresy that's taught in many churches today!

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