“Let no one deceive you, for it will
not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is
revealed, the son of destruction” (2 Thess. 2:3).
Hey Gang,I
am writing this morning message from a
beautiful resort in near Clermont, Florida, while also keeping my ears tuned
into the storm that is approaching our palatial palace in ‘Big Rapids. It is hard to get a mental image of 45 miles
per hour winds, ice and snow when it is 82 balmy degrees here. Today is Sunday. We attended our home church viva
livestream and heard a neat message on Agapa love.
At the
conclusion of the message a program came on that was telecast from a huge
football stadium in Orlando. It was bulging at the seams with young people who
have come from the four corners of this world and are committed to taking Jesus’
great commission very seriously. The group is called “The Send” and they appear
to mean what they say. It was a very
exciting thing to see that God is very much alive in the hearts and souls and
witnesses of these young people.
Satan has
done a masterful job of penetrating the Press of our nation who listen to the
smut dealers and not to those who have their heads screwed on in the right
direction. I have learned, sadly in the past several years, that one must check
out even what the so-called religious writers are peddling to the public - with
two or more witnesses.
The message of the day, beware! Jesus put it very clean in Matthew 24:4 and
5, “See to it that no one mislead
you. For many will come in My name,
saying, I am the Christ, and will mislead many”. In verse eleven of the same chapter He
warned, “Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many”. John also warned “Children, it is the last
hour; and just as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now many
antichrists have appeared; from this we know that it is the last hour” (1 John
2:18).
In the
morning Scripture, Paul warns, “The end
will not come unless the apostasy come first and the man of lawlessness
revealed, the son of destruction” (2 Thess. 2:3).
An article titled “The Dying “Church” appeared
on my computer. The headline “A Hundred
Churches Will Close This Week. It further
stated in the United States of America, founded on Judeo – Christian principles,
will see as many as 10,000 church’s close their doors one last time this
year.
Think about that my friends! There will be no choirs singing Silent Night
as the nativity reenacted, when Jesus Christ came to earth to be our
sacrificial lamb, our Savior- the Savior
who came to walk in our shoes and take our sins to the cross.
One of those
churches is just down the road from my home.
Each time I drive past it, it speaks of the sadness in its heart- the
voice of God has been silenced within its walls. No more souls saved for eternity, no more
messages of salvation and hope from the pulpit, no more sounds of Jesus Loves Me This I Know, just cold- silent walls.
My friends,
I believe in my heart that Father God sheds a tear for every church that closes
its door for the last time. When you add
to those depressing realities the rapid growth in the number of pastors and shepherds
who have said, ‘enough’ and placed their pastoral garments away for the last
time, it does not take a super-charged intellect to realize, the apostasy is
upon us and gaining speed every day.
Can it be
reversed? Only if God’s people, “Who are called by His name humble
themselves and pray and seek His face and turn from their wicked ways, then I
will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land” (2
Chron. 7:14).
Blessings,
Gramps
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