Spirit Alone Can Stop the Decline of the Church

Love of the Truth

Ken

The clarion call of the Christian is we love the Truth. The difference between a scientific principle, a mathematical fact, or an accurate record of a historical event being true and the Truth, is only the Truth can save us. History is full of discouraged baseball players, scientists, mathematicians, and historians who pursued the World Series, science, mathematics, or history, without changing society for the better. Why? Only the love of the Truth can save us. Too long have we allowed ourselves to be satisfied with substitutes for the Truth to satisfy us in our quest to navigate life, build families, pursue employment, advance our education, seek our leisure, establish a framework of government, balance our footprint on the earth, police our streets, defend our nation, pursue the boundaries of scientific understanding, right the inequities of society, all this and more. 

Every Christian will rightly agree the Truth is none other than Jesus Christ. “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6 NKJV). The only reason the Truth can save anyone is because Jesus is the Truth. “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32). We love the truth because Jesus is the Truth, and we love Jesus. “We love Him because He first loved us” (1John 4:19). 

Why such significance to loving the Truth? “10 And with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. 11 And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, 12 that they all may be condemned [Greek, krino, judged, damned] who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness” (2Thessalonians 2:10-12). Paul describes the circumstances of those who are left behind at the Rapture. 

Does this mean those left behind at the Rapture are forever condemned to Hell, if they were stubbornly resisting the Truth, when the Harpazō (Rapture) took place? If that were so, we should back away from evangelism to give people a chance for their repentance after the Rapture. Not hardly!

Let’s evaluate the Scripture. 

The Greek word krino in 2Thessalonians 2:12 can be correctly translated as “condemned” (2:12 NKJV), “judged” (2:12 NASB), or “damned” (2:12 KJV). Because we commonly think of damned as an eternal condition, e.g., Eternal Damnation, it gives us cause for interpreting 2Thessalonians 2:12 with this viewpoint; but, Scripture does not demand such a dire interpretation. 

How is this so? 

Possibly the most popular verse in the New Testament is John 3:16? “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16 NKJV). Two verses later, Jesus said, “He who believes in Him is not condemned [Greek, krino, damned]; but he who does not believe is condemned [Greek, krino, damned] already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God” (John 3:18 NKJV). 

How can anyone ever be saved, if they are damned? Evidently, you are condemned or damned, while you are not believing, but you are not condemned or not damned, while you are believing. If this were not so, then there is no Good News in the Gospel. And, we are Eternally Damned forever. 

But, there is still something profoundly different about the rejection of the Truth (2Thessalonians 2:12), or loving not the Truth (2:10) at the moment of the Rapture. Just as the coldest temperature is normally recorded immediately before the rising of the sun in the morning, the coldest reception to the Truth will come directly before the Rapture. 

Paul uses the words “strong delusion” (2:11). “Strong [Greek, energeia, superhuman power]” (2:11) refers to the supernaturalness of energy displayed by God in sending the “delusion [Greek, plano, deceit, delusion, error]” (2:11). This combination of words means it is not just any delusion, but the delusion made possible in the one time of human existence, when the Spirit indwelt humans are universally and instantaneously removed from the earth, taking away all restraint to the working of the wicked one. A floodgate of wickedness will be opened. “For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He [the Holy Spirit] is taken out of the way” (2Thessalonians 2:7 NKJV). 

Paul also uses the Greek word dunamis or “power” (2Thessalonians 2:9), when referring to the supernatural power being exercised by Satan at the time of the Rapture. By the way, this dunamis is also the supernatural power (but even greater) manifested by God in our salvation — “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power [Greek, dunamis, supernatural power] of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek” (Romans 1:16). 

We need to pay careful attention to the use of the word “power” in NT Scripture. This is much like the symbols around electrical currents announcing “Danger Electrical Shock Hazard.” Just as we may hear stories of some electricians touching hot electrical wires without damage, others may become profoundly dead. Pay attention, when Scripture uses the word “power.” 

How often have we experienced a sense of powerlessness in our day-to-day lives, much less in our spiritual life? We need to reconnect to the truth of the Scriptures regarding supernatural or superhuman power. We need God’s supernatural power flowing through us by our love of the Truth. We need to adjust our expectation of God performing the Truth of His Word by demonstrating His power according to our love of Him, who is the Truth. 

In this instance, we prefer not to be insulated from God’s power: 

(1) By the resistance of sin in our lives, i.e., “Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much” (James 5:16). 

(2) By the predominance of supernatural opposition, i.e., “And when He had come into the house, His disciples asked Him privately, Why could we not cast it out? So He said to them, This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting” (Mark 9:28-29). 

His power is a superhuman, transforming, subduing power. 

“Who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working [Greek, energeia, superhuman power] by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself” (Philippians 3:21). 

His power is a superhuman, death overcoming, resurrection power. 

“Buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working [Greek, energeia, superhuman power] of God, who raised Him from the dead” (Colossians 2:12). 

Love of the Truth 

We need to stay alert to the enemy’s significant supernatural power by maintaining our love of Jesus, who is the Truth. That will not only overcome the wicked one, but will draw us closer to Jesus. “So Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation” (Hebrews 9:28). Prophecy is not intended to frighten us, but to appropriately warn us of what to expect from the enemy. “The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power [Greek, dunamis, supernatural power of God or Satan], signs, and lying wonders” (2Thessalonians 2:9). 

We are not attempting to promote the Apostasy in order to see the return of the Lord. That will take care of itself. We are to go about our normal lives, but with the expectation of the imminent return of the Lord — by Rapture, if we are still here, or by Resurrection, if we have already gone Home to the Lord (1Thessalonians 4:16-17). 

You will note the Truth to be loved is things will overall, progressively get worse and worse, not better and better. That is not pessimism but prophecy. “But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived” (2Timothy 3:13). 

All of the defining epochs of humanity’s existence have ended in man’s failure. 

(1) Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden of Eden because of not trusting our Creator, but setting into motion the Messiah, who will be the seed of the woman (Genesis 3:15).

(2) The world was destroyed with a worldwide flood because of our wickedness, but punctuated by rainbows, reminding us of God’s faithfulness (Genesis 9:13). 

(3) The world was divided into different languages and disbursed to overspread the world at the Tower of Babel because we defied the Living God, but the Almighty set apart faithful Abraham, who would be the spiritual father of Israel (Genesis 11). 

(4) The nation of Israel, who gave us the Scriptures (Romans 3:2), saw the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in 70 AD because they rejected the Messiah, but God has given Himself the Church, a called out assembly, to evangelize the world with the aid of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:8). 

(5) The Church has wrestled with periods of hot for the Lord and cold indifference to the Truth to the point of a lukewarmness that sickens the Lord, where the Lord is outside the Church, knocking on the door seeking entrance (Revelation 3:20). 

UPDATE: Since I posted this blog entry, “Love of the Truth,” I have modified my thoughts about the overall progress of the Church in a world of “evil men and impostors [who] will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived” (2Timothy 3:13). I still believe overall, humanity and the world is getting worse and worse. I still believe the Church is characteristically lukewarm – “you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot” (Revelation 3:20) – BUT I believe the Church will open the door to Christ knocking. “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me” (Revelation 3:20). The Church answering the knocking at the door is the Rapture. Proof of that is found nearly immediately after in the text, where only the Church can answer the door, and it is “a door standing open” (4:1). Also, the Trumpet Voice commands, “Come up here” (4:1), which is the Rapture. “After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place after these things” (Revelation 4:1). All of this demonstrates the Church’s Laodicean lukewarmness will end on a note of hot and not cold. This will be the fulfillment of Christ’s words to Peter, “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” (Matthew 16:18). Hallelujah!

Is this all part of the prophetic plan? 

Yes, because we are constantly being reminded of the truth of why we were created to glorify Him (Revelation 4:11) by our constant abiding with Him (22:3). 

Summary

Why do we love the truth of prophecy? 

The true purpose of prophecy is to bear testimony to the Person and Work of Jesus. “The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy” (Revelation 19:10).

Father, cause us to love the Truth of Your Word, as we are strangely attracted to it because of Jesus. Magnify Yourself by the fulfillment of Your Word, promises, and prophecies. May Your Kingdom come and will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven. Lord Jesus, return quickly. In Your name, we pray. Amen and amen.

Confessions: Why Did the Church Decline?

Ken

Why has church attendance dropped so dramatically in America, if the Bible is the most read book in the world? Faith comes from the Word of God. “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17 KJV). Hearing or reading the Word of God is essential for faith. But, unless loving obedience is required for one to wear the name of Christian, then Christianity will become a hollow shell of itself and the churches will become abandoned. “For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified” (Romans 2:13). The solution to the desertion of the churches is to bring back the practice of Christianity that requires the Holy Spirit to be obeyed, in order to claim you have faith. “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves” (James 1:22). 

Christianity has been so rapidly absorbed by the secular community that no longer does the world become more like the Church, but the Church has become more like the world. The youth of the Church will not notice this transformation, but the older members can remember the difference. Unfortunately, we, the older members, were responsible for the Church losing ground. “So shall they fear the name of the LORD from the west, and His glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him” (Isaiah 59:19). 

(The following is a longer read, but hopefully, not too long. Scan ahead to preview.)

What Happened for the Church to Decline? 

First, may God forgive us for the shipwreck of the Church. It would be dishonest to blame anyone other than self. Claiming not to know what happened is like the captain blaming the crew or passengers for a shipwreck. Just as you dare not take your hands off the steering wheel of your car and expect it to drive itself home (2024), we must assume responsibility for the Church’s catastrophe. “If My people, which are called by My name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land” (2Chronicles 7:14). 

Second, we extinguished the collective influence of the Holy Spirit by dissipating Him, like momentum lost when a rolling object comes to a halt. “Quench not the Spirit” (1Thessalonians 5:19). We underestimated how crucial obedience to the smallest Spirit led action is for the progress of the Church, so we look back longingly to yesterday, when we saw “great and mighty things, which thou knowest not” (Jeremiah 33:3). 

Third, we abandoned our First Love, which is Jesus. If we love Jesus first and foremost, then we would rightly love our neighbor as ourself (Matthew 22:37-39). We would not have allowed ourselves so easily to dissipate our energy and resources supporting actions, where Jesus is not the central focus. “Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent” (Revelation 2:4-5). 

Fourth, we allowed ourselves to be drawn into unequal unions or illicit relationships with the world, because our fleshly desires were stronger than our attraction to the Lord Jesus. This was Balaam’s advice to Balak to corrupt Israel by encouraging Moabite women to attract Israelite men. He deviously understood, Israel’s set apartness to Jehovah is the secret of their success. Moabites had no such limitations. “And Israel abode in Shittim, and the people began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab. And they called the people unto the sacrifices of their gods: and the people did eat, and bowed down to their gods” (Numbers 25:1-2). Balaam rightly concluded, The best way to defeat Israel is to use Jehovah’s faithfulness in blessing friends and cursing enemies, by promoting Moabite women to attract Israelite men, thereby causing Israel to become the LORD’s enemy. “But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication” (Revelation 2:14). 

Fifth, we quit looking for Jesus to return at any moment. “So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation” (Hebrews 9:28). Failed estimates and predictions of His appearing have made us practical skeptics about His imminent return. “Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned: behold, the judge standeth before the door” (James 5:9). “For yet a little while, and He that shall come will come, and will not tarry” (Hebrews 10:37). “Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:13). 

Sixth, we delayed His speedy return by not promoting it. “Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat” (2Peter 3:12 KJV). Converting the world, discipling all nations, teaching them to observe everything He commanded us, would be fulfilled, if we prayed, and He answered the prayer to come quickly. “He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus” (Revelation 22:20). 

Seventh, we practiced lukewarmness by devoting ourselves to the Lord, only to turn around and lose all our ground to coldness, legalism, or worldliness (Revelation 3:16). Back and forth in a lukewarm dance. We did not rightly handle our spirituality with the affairs of the world, riches, and prosperity. “Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked” (Revelation 3:17). We did not continually consult the Spirit’s guidance in the smallest things. 

In conclusion, we have a door opened to us, Repent or Else! “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me” (Revelation 3:19-20). Accept accountability for aiding the decline of the Church. Embrace the solution that everything is our responsibility, so Spirit filled action can be the only solution. Expect to be overwhelmed by the LORD with His response. “For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones” (Isaiah 57:15).