When you see the list of the kings written down and the sin that they led Israel into, it is astounding. It is easy to say those stupid Israelites, with all that God did for them, why don’t they believe but they are no different than the church of today. Judges 2:10 said, “After that whole generation had been gathered to their ancestors, another generation grew up who knew neither the Lord nor what he had done for Israel. 11 Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord and served the Baals. 12 They forsook the Lord, the God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of Egypt. They followed and worshiped various gods of the peoples around them. They aroused the Lord’s anger 13 because they forsook him and served Baal and the Ashtoreths. 14 In his anger against Israel the Lord gave them into the hands of raiders who plundered them. He sold them into the hands of their enemies all around, whom they were no longer able to resist. 15 Whenever Israel went out to fight, the hand of the Lord was against them to defeat them, just as he had sworn to them. They were in great distress.” God in his amazing grace answered them in their distress. Judges 2:6 Then the Lord raised up judges, who saved them out of the hands of these raiders. 17 Yet they would not listen to their judges but prostituted themselves to other gods and worshiped them. They quickly turned from the ways of their ancestors, who had been obedient to the Lord’s commands. 18 Whenever the Lord raised up a judge for them, he was with the judge and saved them out of the hands of their enemies as long as the judge lived; for the Lord relented because of their groaning under those who oppressed and afflicted them. 19 But when the judge died, the people returned to ways even more corrupt than those of their ancestors, following other gods and serving and worshiping them. They refused to give up their evil practices and stubborn ways. “
In our day we think that no matter how we live or what we believe, as long as we go to church and say we believe, God’s grace covers a multitude of sins and unbelief. 1 Peter 4:8 Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.” Yes God loves us but scripture shows us that we must remain in Him and not sin. John 15:5 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. 5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.”
All of scripture shows that if we do not remain in him, disobedience always leads to defeat and a remnant of people. How is it that many think it is well with my soul when they do not believe the whole word of God nor do they even repent because God’s word is not alive and active in their hearts? Hebrews 4:11 “Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience. 12 For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. 13 Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.” If we follow their example of disobedience we will perish no matter how much you stand on the doctrines’ of man. This is why the word of God has been set aside; people do not want to be cut the heart with guilt for their sin. Jeremiah 5:31 “The prophets prophesy lies, the priests rule by their own authority, and my people love it this way. But what will you do in the end?” Somewhere along the line, man started to believe once again the lies of satan that if they eat the fruit they will be okay. The truth is this has been happening ever since the Garden where the serpent deceived Adam and Eve. Eve said to God, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” What we need to remember is that the serpent is still very crafty and people are still eating the delicacies. Satan is still operating the same way. Genesis 3 “Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” 2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’” 4 “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” She knew as did Adam the commands of God but did it anyways and this has been the same sin ever since.
People are still turning away from the word of the Lord and sinning. This idea that you can live for God without believing the whole counsel of the word of God is a lie from the serpent and many are falling away. Many do not believe the verse above from John 15:7 “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” Did you know most Christians do not believe this, just as most do not believe other passages about the power of the Holy Spirit? Then there is the group that believes that what they see is the Holy Spirit but do not test the spirits and are so deceived. Psalm 4:2 “How long will you people turn my glory into shame? How long will you love delusions and seek false gods?” Jeremiah 14:14 “Then the Lord said to me, “The prophets are prophesying lies in my name. I have not sent them or appointed them or spoken to them. They are prophesying to you false visions, divinations, idolatries and the delusions of their own minds.” 2 Thessalonians 2:4 “He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God. 5 Don’t you remember that when I was with you I used to tell you these things? 6 And now you know what is holding him back, so that he may be revealed at the proper time. 7 For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way. 8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming. 9 The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with how Satan works. He will use all sorts of displays of power through signs and wonders that serve the lie, 10 and all the ways that wickedness deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. 11 For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie 12 and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.”
This is the abomination that causes desolation. Matthew 24:15 “So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’ spoken of through the prophet Daniel—let the reader understand— 16 then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. 17 Let no one on the housetop go down to take anything out of the house. 18 Let no one in the field go back to get their cloak. 19 How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! 20 Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath. 21 For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equaled again. 22 “If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened. 23 At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Messiah!’ or, ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. 24 For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. 25 See, I have told you ahead of time.”
One of the great deceptions of our day is the deception of the church growth movement. People flock to those who have broken some numbers barrier but remain insubstantial (small and weak) in the fruit area. People are deceived by thinking filling up a building is the same as the gospel message of salvation. Wow they have 500 or they have 1000 or they have 14000, so people herd towards them to glean some truth supposedly God has shown them. They buy their programs because every one thinks that because they have numbers, they are sent by God, because God forgot to give us a plan in the New Testament. That’s weird as I thought there was a plan but yet these men and women say follow me as God has given me a different gospel so that you find the way. (Proverbs 1-9 tells us that way leads to death in the end.) In the end these men and women are simply charlatans selling snake oil. (See Genesis 3- crafty serpent)
I am amazed at how often men and women chase after man’s ideas and dreams (read Jeremiah) so that they clone what they are doing so they too can have a big church. It has always been from the beginning that we bear fruit and multiply not just have numbers. What differences does it make if we are multiplying and making our fruit apart from the vine? This great deception is from the angel of light as this is a form of signs and wonders. These leaders mesmerize people but they forget to check their theology and see if it lines up with scripture. As I said before; how can these be men and women of God when the gospel message does not line up with the gospel they are preaching? It is easy to see because their churches look nothing like the gospels or the book of Acts nor are they doing greater works. John 14:12 “Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. The scary part is no one seems to care. They say this is the most important purpose to see the lost saved. But we have to ask what are they saved into. Jesus said to the Pharisees, Matthew 23:15 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a child of hell as you are.” Now they do it via some form of global media like the Internet, TV.
The fruit of the gospel needs to be the same as the gospel of Jesus Christ. The branch apart from the vine will be thrown in the fire. If you are not checking like the Bereans, you will be deceived. How many people go to church on Sunday yet remain untransformed? How many “unconverted Christians are there that do not even know they have been deceived. These people are dying and will have to be judged not knowing they have been deceived.
So I return to the Kings. Look at how many kings led Israel away from God. Now look carefully at how many leaders have led the church away from the Word of God. Now anyone in an effort to return to the word, you are considered nuts because what you are saying is so opposite to what the church is doing. Calling for revival does not make sense because the church is so entrenched in the delusion. The question remains; what will you do in the end? The only way to keep the charge and to stand before the Lord Jesus Christ blameless is to remain in his word. John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.” Believing in Jesus also means you believe in his word. You are not a believer if you do not remain in his word. John 14:21 “Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.” According to Jesus our mission is also Matthew 28:20 “to teach them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” In order to have Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit with us we must obey His commands.
