Post by Les Brewer on Mar 30, 2012 16:45:51 GMT
"He who has an ear to hear,let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches." (Rev.2:7,11,17,29;3:6,13,22).
Time as we know and understand it is quickly drawing to a close.The apostasy foretold in II Thess.2:3 is upon us.The only thing witholding the revelation of the man of sin,the anti-christ,is the hindering force of the remnant church.Of the seven churches mentioned in Revelation chapters two and three,only one did not receive words of chastisement or correction from the Lord through the Holy Spirit.The Church of Philadelphia received words of encouragement from the Lord,words of comfort in knowing,that even though they were small in number by comparison,they still had a little strength,have kept His word,and have not denied His name.
With the appearance of the "Purpose Driven Church" and the "Seeker Sensitive Church" and the "Government of Twelve Church" and the "Word of Faith" movements,if it is to be noticed,there has been a fundamental shift from the foundational principles of the true Gospel of Jesus Christ also.By that I mean that there has been an increase in catering to the desires of the people,rather than the desires of the Holy Spirit.As the day of the Rapture gets closer,we will continue to see the increase in the numbers of people flooding into these churches where there is no longer the presence of the Holy Spirit.
When an organization with seeker sensitive ideas wish to start a new work in an area,they will take surveys and do the demographics of the area in question,to see what the people of that area would want in a church.Invariably it boils down to less preaching against sin and ungodliness,no mention of the Cross,or the Crucifixion,no mention of the Blood of Jesus,no more alter calls for people to receive Christ as Savior and Lord and certainly no more singing about the joys of salvation through the blood of Jesus.Instead they want a church where they can feel free to come into the "presence of God" in shorts and t-shirts,and sit down in a coffee house type of atmosphere,carry on their conversations with their friends during the service,do their e-mails,or finger nails,talk on their cell phones,or maybe just catch a little of the watered down message of the preacher who just got back from the golf course,rather than the prayer closet.They want positive,uplifting messgaes that tell them what a champion they are,or that you only need to realize that you are a "little god" and everything will be alright.They love their so called " contemporary" rock/gospel music.They see nothing wrong with so called gospel artists who openly admit that they receive their inspiration from secular rock and roll artists,rather than the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.They don't want to hear or believe in anything that would make them feel uncomfortable in their sin.
They don't even realize how far from God they have really strayed!!!
By the way,the word "contemporary" means "like the world".My Bible tells me in II Cor.6:11-7:1,that we are to live a holy seperated life from those who live according to the ways of the world.We are not to yoke ourselves to the world or the things in the world.We are to "come out" from amoung the world,and be seperate,and not touch anything unclean (the world).We are not to go into seclusion as the cults do,but we are to live free from the bondages of the world and it's system.
The church of Philadelphia had a little strength,but that strength came from not forsaking the word of God or the name of Jesus Christ as so many it seems have in these last days.The church of God,the body of Christ,is not to become an entertainment center where people can gather to be entertained by the "Super Bowl" or the latest movie from Redbox or Blockbuster.The church is to be a bright light of hope in a very dark and dying world that shines forth the truth of Jesus Christ and Him crucified.People will not be saved by entertainment ploys that present little if any true gospel,to attract the masses.Sure the numbers will grow,to be sure,people will flock to churches who have stopped preaching the true Gospel,in favor of a social gospel.But then these types of churches are the types where the people never experience the delivering power of the Holy Spirit either.Very few are being saved and transformed by the blood of Jesus.I made up my mind long ago,to hold to the Cross of Christ and to tell others of His saving grace,even if they don't like it,or if it offends their sensibilities.Let us,who are of the Philadelphian church take a stand against the flood of the spirit of the world in the church,and come back to telling it like it really is.This is the only thing that will set the captives free.........Love in Christ....JW
