“Finally, brethren, pray for us that the word of the Lord will spread rapidly and be glorified, just as it did also with you; and that we will be rescued from perverse and evil men; for not all have faith. But the Lord is faithful, and He will strengthen and protect you from the evil one. We have confidence in the Lord concerning you, that you are doing and will continue to do what we command. May the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the steadfastness of Christ.” (2 Thessalonians 3:1-5 NASB1995)
So, who are these “perverse and evil men” today? (And they
aren’t just men.) And why do we need to be rescued from them? How are they
impacting us who are serving the Lord Jesus with our lives and who are
spreading the truth of the gospel of our salvation to the people of the world? Well,
depending on where we live, it could be different from one another. But if
these people are perverse and evil, they are against God and his word, and they
are opposed to all of us who are speaking the truth of God’s word.
I don’t know about other nations, so I can only speak for
the USA, which is where I live. But I was brought up from birth to attend
church gatherings, and the gatherings I attended were very focused on the truth
of God’s word and on holiness and godly living and repentance and obedience to
the Lord. They had their issues, too, but they were very God-focused and truth
focused, and that is where I received my biblical foundation. They did have
some things wrong, though, which I discovered much later in life.
But in the past 26 years of my life, I have had my eyes
opened to a slow transition which was taking place within the gatherings of the
church, I believe in the majority of them, for they had now incorporated
(merged) with the state (the ungodly world) and they were now marketing their
gatherings to the people of the world. And so they were focusing their
attention on attracting the world to their gatherings, and so they began
altering the character of God/Christ, his church, and his gospel message.
Now this had been going on for a long while, but this is
when I became aware of it. For the church had now partnered with the ungodly,
which God forbids, and they had turned the church gatherings into a place of
business, which God also forbids. And in an effort to grow their numbers, and
to “draw in large crowds of people from the world,” they diluted the gospel
message to make it less offensive to the ungodly and much more acceptable to
human flesh. And many gatherings were turned into “stage productions.”
[Matthew 21:12-13;
John 2:13-17; Acts 5:27-32; 2 Corinthians 6:14-18; Philippians 3:18-19; Revelation
2-3; Revelation 13:5-8; Revelation 18:1-5]
The church, the body of Christ, let “the state” into their
gatherings to influence their gatherings and their messages. And by altering
their gatherings, the character of God, and the truth of the gospel to attract
the ungodly to their gatherings, they invited the ungodly into their gatherings
which were designed by God for the purpose of followers of Christ using their
spiritual gifts given to them by God to encourage and to exhort one another in
our walks of faith in obedience to our Lord and to his commands.
In the USA, so many of these gatherings called “the church”
have become very flesh-driven and very market-driven to the point to where they
have pushed the Holy Spirit right out of their gatherings. So many preachers
are preaching these “canned” sermons they get off the internet or via their
church denominations, some of which they pass to one another. Thus they are not
being led of the Spirit in what to preach, but they are being led to preach
what will attract the people to their gatherings. God forbid!
And so many of them are now opposed to those of us who are
still teaching the truth of the Scriptures and of the gospel of our salvation,
as best as we understand them, as being led by the Spirit in what to say. And
they are challenging us in what we are teaching and/or they are just ignoring
us and hoping that we will go away. And if we happen to still be a part of one
of their gatherings, some of us may be invited to leave and to go “someplace
else where you will be a better fit.” But we don’t fit in such gatherings.
Now if we are those who share the gospel on the internet, we
are going to face opposition from those who are following after this altered
gospel message, who believe that a confession of faith in Jesus Christ is
enough to secure them forgiveness of all sins and heaven as their eternal
destiny. Or if we are in a church gathering where they have diluted the gospel,
we will also face opposition from those who are believing the lies and who are
rejecting the truth. For not all have biblical God-persuaded faith in Christ.
So we need prayer that we will continue to have an open door
to share the truth of the gospel and that we will not be hindered from being
able to share the gospel with the people of the world. We also need wisdom in
knowing how to respond to those who oppose us or whether to respond at all. And
we need people to pray for us that the perverse and the evil people of this
world, some of whom are within the gatherings of “the church,” will not be able
to prevent us from continuing to share the truth of the gospel.
For Jesus Christ taught that to come to him we must deny
self, take up our cross daily (die daily to sin), and follow (obey) him. For if
we hold on to living in sin and for self, we will lose our lives for eternity.
But if we deny self, die daily to sin, by the Spirit, and we walk in obedience
to our Lord and to his commands, in his power, then we have eternal life with
God. For not everyone who calls him “Lord” will enter the kingdom of heaven,
but the one DOING (obeying) the will of God (see Luke 9:23-26; Matthew
7:21-23).
[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 1:12-13; John
6:44; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 2:6-8; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; 1
Corinthians 10:1-22; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32;
Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-13; Hebrews 12:1-2;
1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:5-10; 1 John 2:3-6; 1 John 3:4-10]
Seek the Lord
Based off Isaiah 55
Musical Instrumentation by Mark
Bradley
An Original Work / July 20, 2012
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love
“Come to Me all you
who thirst; come to waters.
Listen to Me, and
eat what’s good today,
And your soul will
delight in richest of fare.
Give ear to Me, and
you will live.
I have made an
eternal covenant with you.
Wash in the blood of
the Lamb.”
Seek the Lord while
He may be found; call on Him.
Let the wicked
forsake his way, in truth.
Let him turn to the
Lord, and he will receive mercy.
Freely, God pardons
him.
“For My thoughts are
not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My
ways,”
declares the Lord,
our God.
“My word that goes
out of My mouth is truthful.
It will not return
to Me unfulfilled.
My word will
accomplish all that I desire,
And achieve the goal
I intend.
You will go in joy
and be led forth in peace.
The mountains will
burst into song… before you,
And all of the trees
clap their hands.”
Need Rescued from Evil People
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