“in later times some will turn away from the faith” – 1 Timothy 4:1-2
It amazes me that, the minute conservative Christians speak-out against evil — other so-called Christians speak-out against speaking-out. What what what?!
Condemning Christians for speaking-out
In fact, there are whole churches doing that – condemning Christians for speaking-out for Jesus. Don’t they know we are to be outspoken as His ambassadors? (2 Corinthians 5:20) Sounds like they do not.
- They condemn Bible quoting!
- They accuse conservative members of creating divisions – when liberals are the ones deviating from Bible parameters!
- They want conservative Bible-believers to remain quiet in the church!
I saw these accusations when, in 2023, I went to Amazon to review the unbiblical Andy Stanley book: Not in It to Win It. A huge percentage of the commenters there are rabid supporters of Stanley and his new pro-gay preaching.
I ended-up doing a review of reviewers (!) titled: I’m in it to win it. Check it out.
See: I’m in it to win it
Remain silent! – ya’ll
Are Christians to remain hog-tied and silent in the face of evil? I think not.
* When little girls and young women are traded as sex slaves? Remain silent?
* When sex shops are opened next to schools? Remain silent?
* When drug dealers open shop in your neighborhood? Remain silent?
* When a very explicit homosexual agenda is played-out at a world-wide Olympic sports event? Remain silent?
________________
Legitimate biblical calling
All of us have it. Pewsitters in the rows and pastors today — we all have (and priests back in the Old Testament had…) a legitimate biblical calling to share God’s message to the world – our Hope in Christ.
We should not become hog-tied and silent in the face of evil. Peter warned about “the error of unprincipled men [who distort doctrine]“:
verse 17 “be on your guard so that you are not carried away by the error of [a]unprincipled men [who distort doctrine] and fall from your own steadfastness [of mind, knowledge, truth, and faith]….” – 2 Peter 3:15-17
_______________
Christians who actually “follow” what Jesus taught have a legitimate biblical basis for speaking-out. We are morally obligated to speak up. We must speak with compassion and love (Ephesians 4:15). We must boldly stand for God.
“…compassion doesn’t mean surrendering our moral judgment. It doesn’t mean minimizing the seriousness of crimes either as a moral issue or as a scourge on society.”
– Source: “Truthful, impartial, merciful… Christians should avoid simplistic rhetoric about crime”| wng.org |
_______________
We are to reach toward maturity in Christ,
“the measure of the fullness of Christ [manifesting His spiritual completeness and exercising our spiritual gifts in unity].”
– Ephesians 4:13
The whole chapter of Ephesians 4 speaks about our gifting by God to serve Him according to truth and righteousness. Not speaking-out about evil… is to not serve with truth.
Speaking the truth in love
Speaking-up is a direct directive from Jesus! The standard of living as Christians is to be always “speaking the truth in love” – “expressing His truth” daily with what we say and with how we live.
“…speaking the truth in love [in all things—both our speech and our lives expressing His truth], let us grow up in all things into Him [following His example] who is the Head—Christ.” – Ephesians 4:15
_______________
Truth-telling. wrote “Truthful, impartial, merciful…”
“…the task of all justice, including punishment, is ultimately that of truth-telling.
A society must be able to publicly speak truth about what is good and what is evil; it must be able to name a crime for what it is: a violation of the moral order God has inscribed upon creation, and a violation of the rights of our fellow image-bearers.
It is an abomination to hold the innocent guilty or the guilty innocent, and not only in God’s eyes—nothing proclaims the reality of a “law written on our hearts” (Romans 2:15) more than our visceral revulsion at seeing a demonstrably guilty person walk free.”
– Source: “Truthful, impartial, merciful… Christians should avoid simplistic rhetoric about crime”| wng.org | Post Date: 1.5.2024
Grow up!
We are always to be growing up! Like on The Vine in John 15, we daily “grow…into Him” as a healthy branch – in Ephesians 4:15.
In John 15 Jesus is the True Vine and we “grow…into Him”.
“[a]I am the Vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in Me and I in him bears much fruit, for [otherwise] apart from Me [that is, cut off from vital union with Me] you can do nothing.”
Paul said this about that:
“live a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called [that is, to
live a life that exhibits godly character, moral courage, personal integrity, and mature behavior—a life that expresses gratitude to God for your salvation], 2 with all humility [forsaking self-righteousness], and gentleness [maintaining self-control], with patience, bearing with one another [a]in [unselfish] love.
3 Make every effort to keep the oneness of the Spirit in the bond of peace [each individual working together to make the whole successful].“
The deceitful scheming of people
In the midst of exhorting and teaching about the Christian life, Paul inserts a warning about “the deceitful scheming of people“. The deceitful churchy folk are those in the church who are misunderstanding God. They are the tares growing up with the true wheat. They deviate from Jesus, and go against what Jesus taught. He warns:
Ephesians 4:14
14 So that we are no longer children [spiritually immature], tossed back and forth [like ships on a stormy sea] and carried about by every wind of [shifting] doctrine, by the cunning and trickery of [unscrupulous] men, by the deceitful scheming of people ready to do anything [for personal profit]. – Ephesians 4:14
Who they are
Many churchy folk are claiming to know Jesus – but they don’t truly know Him. Too bad Jesus is not here physically to warn them, as He was there back in the day — and warned the rich young ruler!
Right? “One thing you lack“, He warned them. Today – would they also all go away from Him sad like that rich man? I think so.
Who are these naysayers these days? They are the tares among us. The unsaved. We are not to value their words as if they are biblical. They are not biblical! We value all peoples, but not their values.
See the parable of the Wheat and the Tare, the “weeds [resembling wheat]“. Read: Matthew 3:12, and Matthew 13:24-30.
“They were not really of us” — or they would not have left!
1 John 2:18-19
18 Children, it is the last hour [the end of this age]; and just as you heard that the antichrist is coming [the one who will oppose Christ and attempt to replace Him], even now many antichrists (false teachers) have appeared, which confirms our belief that it is the last hour.
19 They went out from us [seeming at first to be Christians], but they were not really of us [because they were not truly born again and spiritually transformed]; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out [teaching false doctrine], so that it would be clearly shown that none of them are of us.
– 1 John 2:18-19 AMP
This what Scripture says about these naysayers of today who reject the clear word of God:
1 Timothy 4: verses 1-2 AMP
But the [Holy] Spirit explicitly and unmistakably declares that in later times some will turn away from the faith, paying attention instead to deceitful and seductive spirits and doctrines of demons, 2 [misled] by the hypocrisy of liars whose consciences are seared as with a branding iron [leaving them incapable of ethical functioning]….
1 John 2:19 NASB
19 They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, so that [a]it would be evident that they all are not of us.
Scary thought – that: “they all are not of us.” Terrifying. Hebrews 10:31 type terrifying!
Advertising for evil
Should Christian business owners purchase advertising at events that promote sexual perversions, gay sex, lascivious dancing, demonic activity?
Some events are all that! As was the recent Olympics Opening Ceremony.
See:
The ‘View’ co-hosts condemn critics of Olympics Last Supper drag show after Candace Cameron Bure called it ‘disgusting’Rev. Murray: Olympics’ Drag Event Mocked Christianity | Paris Olympics Appease LGBTQ Community | Riley Gaines: Last Supper Parody ‘Blasphemous’.
As one who follows Jesus: Would you pay somebody to do any of that? Would you pay anybody to depict any of that? Advertising pays for that. Why would a Christian pay for that?
So then: we have much of that actually blessed by some churches, giving their blessings upon the evils creating havoc in our country! For example: the newly separated Methodist denomination trains, ordains and appoints gay pastors.
See: United Methodists lose a fifth of US churches in schism driven by defiance of LGBTQ bans, Methodist church announces split over gay marriage, clergy .
They totally disallow God’s instructions in Scriptures about the sins of the flesh: (Galatians 5:19-21, Romans 1:18-32, Ephesians 4:17-32; The Bad Fruit list). Their end will be like that of dead branches:
6 If anyone does not remain in Me, he is thrown out like a [broken off] branch, and withers and dies; and they gather such branches and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.
Scripture says:
“26 Be angry [at sin—at immorality, at injustice, at ungodly behavior], yet do not sin; do not let your anger [cause you shame, nor allow it to] last until the sun goes down. 27 And do not give the devil an opportunity [to lead you into sin by holding a grudge, or nurturing anger, or harboring resentment, or cultivating bitterness].
– Ephesians 4:26-27 AMP
______________
– Expanded Bible version:
26 When you are angry, [or Be angry, and] do not sin [Ps. 4:4; C there is a time for righteous anger, but it must not result in sin], and ·be sure to stop being angry before the end of the day [L don’t let the sun set on your anger]. 27 Do not give the devil a ·way to defeat you [foothold; opportunity]. – Expanded Bible
______________
“Not speaking-out
about evil…
is to not serve
with truth.”
Conclusion
As we live our lives in these End Times, Paul exhorts us to be carefully diligent to live “a life of obedience to Him“, and be “inwardly calm with a sense of spiritual well-being and confidence“:
“…be diligent and make every effort to be found by Him [at His return] spotless and blameless, in peace [that is, inwardly calm with a sense of spiritual well-being and confidence, having lived a life of obedience to Him].” – 2 Peter 3:13-14
Throughout Scripture we are warned to not fall for twisted teachings of men and doctrines of demons. Paul says here “[let me warn you]…be on your guard”. Look here:
“…our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given to him [by God], 16 speaking about these things as he does in all of his letters.
In which there are some things that are difficult to understand, which the untaught and unstable [who have fallen into error] twist and misinterpret, just as they do the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction.
17 Therefore, [let me warn you] beloved, knowing these things beforehand, be on your guard so that you are not carried away by the error of [a]unprincipled men [who distort doctrine] and fall from your own steadfastness [of mind, knowledge, truth, and faith]….”
We must not be intimidated by evil doers and the tares (Matthew 3:12, Matthew 13:24-30). God’s message is to be solidly held onto. Stand for Jesus. Speak out. It is natural in the Spirit to share our Hope in Christ.
_______________
“It is an abomination to hold the innocent guilty or the guilty innocent, and not only in God’s eyes—nothing proclaims the reality of a “law written on our hearts” (Romans 2:15) more than our visceral revulsion at seeing a demonstrably guilty person walk free.”
– Source: “Truthful, impartial, merciful…”| wng.org |
FOR MORE:
How do you feel when pure evil is pushed into your face – like at the Olympic gay show? How do you react? What should you do? Brad Littlejohn wrote, “A society must be able to publicly speak truth about what is good and what is evil.” Is that part of our role as His ambassadors on earth?
Oh my! How could I be so uncool.
People of Faith and What They Did – Based on Hebrews 11 The Triumphs of Faith
The power of now | – | World Magazine.
_______________
* What about ministries like Chuck Colson‘s Prison Fellowship or Angel Tree? They serve to help people in need. Are they creating divisions by sharing the love of Jesus? No. Quite the contrary. They are actually “doing the deed”. They are true ambassadors for Jesus.
__________________
There comes a time to stand for Jesus, or deny Jesus
Actually act on what you know
Excerpt: “What do you know about your faith in Christ? I ask myself:
Self: Are you actually acting on it… acting on your faith? Are you purposely stepping out upon the stepping stones of faith as you make your way along the pathway of your life?
It behooves each of us
to review what we know
of our faith in Christ,
and reconnoiter 1
what’s up ahead
– so we can
make decisive decisions
for our life.
Put down sinners with compassion and love?
The sins around us and the sins we do
Replace simplistic rhetoric with compassion
wrote: “…we should resist the temptation to dismiss criminals as the scum of the earth, contemptible people whom we can’t wait to see locked away or worse. “There but for the grace of God go I” may be a cliché, but that doesn’t make it any less true.
Our hearts should be moved with compassion not only toward petty offenders who are just down on their luck, but even toward the most hardened criminals, whose darkened souls deserve our pity.
But compassion doesn’t mean surrendering our moral judgment. It doesn’t mean minimizing the seriousness of crimes either as a moral issue or as a scourge on society.” – Source: Truthful, impartial, merciful… Christians should avoid simplistic rhetoric about crime| wng.org | Post Date: 1.5.2024
Leave a Reply