Sunday, November 8, 2009

Do you feel it too?

For the past week or more I have felt a terrible burden to work even harder to show people God's Truth; to warn them of false prophets, teachers, and churches. In a way, it feels similar to my "mother's instincts" toward my own children. I feel this terrible concern that people are being deceived by the millions and because of that will wind up in hell. More and more I see the truth of what Jesus said when He asked if He would even find any faith left when He returns. There are more people out there that think they are saved but aren't then there are true Christians. They are the ones who are either pretending to be Christian or who perhaps actually think they are Christian and serving Him, but they have been deceived. One awful day will soon come when they will have the shock of their lives. Instead of hearing, "Well done my good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your Lord," they will hear, "I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!"


You can see by the very fact that this passage says that they "prophesied in His Name”, that they either really think they are Christians because they have been deceived or they were pretending in order to deceive others. They were never saved, consequently our Lord says, "I never knew you!"


Matthew 7:21-23 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’

My heart breaks for those who are being deceived and I burn with out right rage for those doing the deceiving. Words really cannot describe the emotions I've been feeling and the "push" to do as much as I can to protect as many as I can from these awful people, and to draw away from them the people who can still really be saved, as well as baby Christians who have begun to listen to them instead of to His Word.


I keep asking the Lord what more can I do? How do I reach them? If I started right this second and tried to list every single false teacher and prophet who is currently out in the world trying to prevent others from being really saved, I couldn't complete it even in a few years there are so many, and every day there's more. Besides which, just a list of them wouldn't be enough. People are very stubborn, they want you to prove it to them--rather then doing the work for themselves as they should have done to start with, and that also takes time. So I felt led to do the only other thing that was possible and was also what the disciples did. Yes, they pointed out error and they pointed out false teachers etc., but at the same time they discipled believers so that they too would become mature and that way would be able to discern error for themselves.


As I told the Lord, I'm already doing both of those things to the best of my ability, and yet I still feel this awful burden and like time is running out. I feel as though I'm trying to beat the clock even though I know the clock is going to win.


I want to stand up a scream at people to "Wake up!!!" the way Jesus does in His letter to Sardis. To me this letter shows part of what's going on today. It shows the false teachers, prophets and churches who are teaching a different gospel and cause people to falsely believe that they are saved when they aren't.

It also shows
those of us who are really saved and really walk with Him. I have literally been in tears at times over this past week, wondering what I could do to wake people up to this...the time is so very short!


Revelation 3:2-5 Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of my God. Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; obey it, and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you. Yet you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes. They will walk with me, dressed in white, for they are worthy. He who overcomes will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out his name from the book of life, but will acknowledge his name before my Father and his angels.


When I say the time is short, I realize that our Father could hold off sending Jesus to get us until long after I'm dead and buried if He so chooses, however, I honestly don't think He will wait much longer.


I see people today all wrapped up in their daily lives, getting their kids off to school, getting themselves to work, getting home and getting supper, cleaning the house, getting kids to bed etc; there are doctor appointments, dentists, birthday parties, holidays to celebrate, duties to perform, bills to pay etc., day after day, with little time taken to seek the Lord while He may be found. Even those who are or who profess to be Christians...I don't see them slowing down or hear them speaking of the Lord throughout their daily activities, or seeking His Will when a decision needs to be made the way scripture tells us to.


Deuteronomy 6:7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.

Instead I see people who are afraid to "rock the boat" so they don't say anything when they see a loved one is living in unrepentant sin; they don't say anything when they see that someone who professes to be a Christian is following after a false teacher or church. What will they say to the Lord when He asks them why they allowed those people to go to hell when they could have told them the Truth? How will they feel when they see those loved ones being sent to Hell on judgment day, all because they didn't want to "rock the boat", they didn't want to speak up and be perceived as a radical Christian, or a "holy roller" or "bible thumper" or "heresy hunter", or any of the other derogatory names that the world has for us who try and do God's Will.


So who are they really showing love for? Not for those loved ones that's for sure, because they may well wind up in hell because they're not told; not for the Lord, because He told us that if we were ashamed of Him, then He would be ashamed of us.


Mark 8:34-38 Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.


Part of me wants to shake people and yell at them to wake up and smell the coffee and the other part--probably my flesh--wants to throw up my hands in disgust and walk away. Yet I know that the reason there's so much false teaching is because the body of Christ has been infiltrated by a huge number of false teachers who serve as so called "pastors" in our churches, and they don't teach people how to be saved, or what their responsibilities are once they are saved, or disciple them so that they can become mature believers. In fact, I'd be willing to bet that if every single person on this board walked into 2 churches today and announced to the congregation that everyone who is saved has certain responsibilities, that they'd either wind up with everyone thinking they'd lost their minds, or be told to leave! I bet there's very few churches left that teach the whole Truth. Most people seem to think that once you're saved that's the end of it and there's nothing left to do but wait till you die and go to heaven.


Since I was too sick to do anything about what the Lord had laid on my heart so hard this week, I've seen a large number of His children talking about this very same thing. For me that's confirmation that we're all hearing the Lord correctly. Time IS short. We need to work harder and longer to try and save those we can from the clutches of these false teachers and churches, and we need to help our fellow brothers and sisters to grow into maturity so that they too can join the fight and so they can spot the errors for themselves. Soon our Lord will return for us and when He does, I want Him to see that I've done my best to do His Will, as I'm sure everyone else here does as well.


Luke 18:7-8 And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”

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