8 Incidents in 1 Week

EIGHT INCIDENTS THAT CAME TO
MY ATTENTION LAST
WEEK

Last week I heard that a well known and influential Christian
leader said that the first chapters of the Bible in Genesis were
not literal - that God actually did not create the earth in 6
days.
In the same week I heard that a couple in church leadership
in another influential church had been living together for
several years but weren’t actually married.
Again - in the same week, another Pastor in a solid,
scripturebased church said that Peter the apostle had been done a
great disservice by the Protestant church because Jesus was
really referring to Peter as the rock when He said –
"...flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My
Father who is in heaven. And I also say to you that you are
Peter, and on this rock I will build My church,
and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it."
Believe it or not, in the same week, another man requested
New Christian material to teach his home group. This same
"Christian" man sleeps with his girl friend (not
his wife ) and doesn’t see anything wrong with that.
Yes - still the same week, I learned 2 pieces of news: a.
That yet another public Christian leader now does not believe in
the Virgin birth and b. That the largest group of people seeking
help from a large Christian family ministry - was Pastors hooked
on internet pornography.
The very same week (it was a big week) - another influential
man of God, with a big church, publicly dishonoured his own
father (a minister of the gospel) in front of his
congregation.
Earlier in the week, I had lunch with a man of God who heads
up a well known cross-denominational Christian ministry. While we
ate and conversed, he swore twice without even blinking - quite
normal it seemed.
OK - the last one for the same week - a Christian man had a
Christian band and felt ‘from the Lord’ to play in
night clubs. But gradually, the Christian members of the band
have been replaced by non- Christians, the music has become
non-Christian, and the body piercings and tattoos of this
Christian man have increased to make even the worldly people
wonder whether he has gone too far.

A SIGN OF OUR TIMES

This is not to speak anything of the wave of acceptance of
social drinking, open flirting over SMS and email, pornography,
lack of honour and respect for authority, violence, litigation,
foul language, a move away the absolutes of the Word of God and a
lack of holy fear of God. I am speaking about Christians, not
about those who don’t know the Lord.

We are now witnessing an acceptance of a social gospel of love
without holiness; a swing away from preaching the real gospel of
Jesus, of healing the sick and the broken hearted, and
deliverance from demons. A flood of Churches are overlooking the
solid teaching of the Word of God and observance of the commands
of Jesus. Instead, they are embracing the false gospel of glossy
Power Points, elaborate lighting, smoke machines, personal
development, soft messages and entertainment.

I hardly see people even carrying Bibles to church anymore -
perhaps because it is hardly opened anymore. Less time is being
spent than ever before in prayer or reading the Word - let alone
teaching about the Great Commission in making disciples of the
nations, taking care of the widow and orphan, or preaching the
gospel of Jesus Christ.

I don’t know whether you are one who has been drawn into
this type of living, but I want to appeal to
you, that if you have - please
reconsider!

SOMETHING FROM THE LORD

Here are some fundamental truths from the New Testament to
help you if you one who is feeling the pressure of taking the
route of this NEW TYPE OF "CHRISTIANITY". In Matthew 13, Jesus
taught in a parable about a man who sowed seed. One bunch of
seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked
them. He explained:

"Now he who received seed among the thorns is he
who hears the word, and the cares of this
world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the
word, and he becomes
unfruitful."

In Matthew 24, Jesus taught that in the end days
-"…Many false prophets will rise up and
deceive many. And because lawlessness will
abound, the love of many will grow
cold. But he who endures to the end
shall be saved.

The saddest part of that verse is the part about the love of
many growing cold - these are ones who loved the Lord - but whose
passion for God became - not just luke-warm - but cold, because
of the lawlessness of the times. It’s a bit like a husband
gradually growing cold towards his wife - not intentionally, but
for the reason he doesn’t focus any of his time or love on
her.

Again in Matthew 24 the Lord Jesus says –

"But if that evil servant says in his heart, ‘My
master is delaying his coming,’ and begins to beat
his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with
the drunkards, the master of that servant will come on a
day when he is not looking for him and at an hour that he is not
aware of, and will cut him in two and appoint him his
portion with the hypocrites. There shall be weeping and
gnashing of teeth."

1 John 1:5-10 says –

"This is the message which we have heard from Him and
declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no
darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with
Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do
not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as
He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the
blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.
If we say that we have no sin, we deceive
ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we
confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our
sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we
say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is
not in us.

1 John 2 continues –

"Do not love the world or the things in the
world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the
Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the
lust of the flesh, the lust of the
eyes, and the pride of life—is
not of the Father but is of the
world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of
it; but he who does the will of God abides
forever. Little children, it is the last
hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is
coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we
know that it is the last hour. They went out
from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been
of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that
they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us.

Finally, James 4 teaches us –

"Do you not know that friendship with the world is
enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a
friend of the world makes himself an enemy of
God."

What I am saying here is this. It is a sign of the times of
the end of the age, when Christian men and women, who once loved
the Lord with all their heart, begin to gradually turn cold
towards Him as they get sucked up by the things of the world.

The really good news about those days, is what Jesus says in
Matthew 24 –

"And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached
in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and
then the end will come.

That’s great news for those who are seriously involved
in the work of preaching the gospel.

AN ENCOURAGEMENT TO YOU

I would like to encourage you and challenge you, that the days
we live in are the type of days described by the Lord Jesus in
the Bible. Why don’t you allow the Spirit of the Lord to
search your heart to see what your status is with the Lord? Psalm
139 shows us what to pray – "Search me, O God, and know
my heart; Try me, and know my anxieties; And see if there is any
wicked way in me, And lead me in the way everlasting."

Then make a commitment - an old fashioned commitment - to
serve the Lord with all your heart - to remain hot and on fire
for your Saviour. Don’t go cold in these days -
there’s too much to do. And get back to basics - Love God -
Love man - and preach this gospel of the kingdom until Jesus
comes back.

If you need help doing this - drop me a line at
[email protected] If you,
like me, want to live a no-nonsense
type of Christianity, and not be ashamed when the Lord returns,
drop me a line too! God bless you in your strong, hot walk with
the Lord Jesus.

Greg Cumming lives in
the Gold Coast in Queensland
and is the Director of the missions organisation, Mozambique
Outreach