Becoming Prey

Prey: A person who is the aim of an attack (especially the victim of ridicule) by some hostile person or influence.
Isaiah 59:15, “So truth fails, and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey.”
Throughout every generation the truth has survived. It has been consistently within reach of those who desired to know it, receive it, appropriate it, and live it. This however does not mean that truth has not had its detractors and enemies, or that truth has not been stifled, dismissed, rejected, attacked and butchered to fit neatly into the box that is man’s preconceived notion of what the truth ought to be.
Although truth was, is, and always will be, the word tells us that truth can even fail. Truth fails not because it is powerless, impotent, or irrelevant but because the hearts of men grow so hardened against it, the conscience of a generation becomes so seared, and the predisposition to do evil is so all consuming, that truth is repelled and rebuffed at every turn.
The hour is upon us when the words spoken by Isaiah against the people of God, (Israel) will be made manifest in our present generation. The hour is upon us when he who departs from evil makes himself prey!
So how did we get here? How is it that a once Christian nation has come to have its hands defiled with blood, its fingers with iniquity, its lips with lies, and its tongue with perversity? Why is it that no one calls for justice anymore, no one pleads for truth, our feet run to evil, and our thoughts are thoughts of iniquity?
Because the watchmen stopped watching, the shepherds stopped feeding the sheep, the intercessors stopped praying, and the truth, the absolute, undefiled, regenerative truth of God’s word stopped being preached from most American pulpits.
The representatives of Christ in this present generation have made for themselves crooked paths, they have abandoned their Savior, marginalized and minimized the cross, and now look for light finding only darkness. Because we have strayed from truth, because we have allowed ourselves to be seduced by the siren song of an all inclusive plurality when it comes to the One true God, we grope for the wall like the blind, and stumble at noonday as at twilight. We are as dead men in desolate places, unable to offer life because we have no life ourselves, unable to offer light because we ourselves grope as if we had no eyes, unable to offer truth because the truth has been sacrificed on the altars of tolerance, humanism and relativism.
Because we have laid down the standard, because we have abandoned our posts, the power and the glory of the Almighty no longer resides in us, and so we growl like bears, and moan sadly like doves, we bark like dogs, laugh like fools, and mimic epileptic seizures, all the while mocking God by our actions, and bringing shame to His house.
We can no longer be bothered to preach the unabashed, undefiled Word of God, we can no longer be bothered to admonish people to depart from evil, because those who would support the truth financially are too few in number to meet our budgetary needs, and besides, preaching truth will only cause the world to think us backward, stuck in antiquity, clinging to teaching that can only with much difficulty be applied in our progressive age.
Let’s face it, it’s just more expedient to do away with the truth, so the world can more clearly see us for what we are, cutting edge, and ultra modern brave souls who have bridged the gap between the world and the church. We may have bridged the gap, but it is not the world who gave up ground, it is not the world who acquiesced, it is not the world that has become more like the Church, it is the Church that has become more like the world.
Having betrayed their conscience, having abandoned the truth, having denied the Christ by their deeds and action as the one sure way, the one sure truth, and the one sure life, these selfsame souls now look for justice but there is none to be found, they look for salvation but it is far from them. Their transgressions and iniquities are multiplied before God, and testify against them.
Because they do not hear a fresh word from God, many have taken it upon themselves to conceive and utter from the heart words of falsehood crying out to all who would hear that the seasons of peace and prosperity have not ceased, they are just in intermission, that God will bless us in spite of our sin and disobedience, that the signs of the times which are all around us are mere chance, flukes, serendipitous events that the fear mongers are exploiting to stir the Church from its slumber.
Jeremiah 5:12-13, “They have lied about the Lord, and said, ‘it is not He. Neither will evil come upon us, nor shall we see sword or famine. And the prophets become wind, for the word is not in them. Thus shall it be done to them.’”
Those who still contend for the faith, those who still insist on standing on the truth of God’s Word are being bullied into silence, because to the enemies of truth silence is just as good as consent or compliance. The most tragic thing of all however, is that it isn’t the world who is doing the bullying, it is men and women who call themselves children of God, who have by default become the leaders and ambassadors of Christendom in our present generation. In their blind zeal to be embraced by the world and find acceptance therein, they have become the predators of God’s own house, striking down those who would depart from evil, silencing anyone who would dare ask the questions what about Jesus, and what about the truth?
It took so little to make so many useful lackeys, an invitation to a breakfast, a mention during a speech, an inaugural prayer, but what they do not realize is that when they have outlived their usefulness, when they are no longer needed, when the truth has been utterly stifled and silenced, they too will fall out of favor, they too will be dispensed with swiftly and permanently.
We must purpose in our hearts now, as never before that come what may, we will stand for truth, by truth, and in truth. The season of our testing is upon us. May God give us the strength to persevere.
Jeremiah 4:7-8, “The lion has come up from the thicket, and the destroyer of nations is on his way. He has gone forth from his place to make your land desolate. Your cities will be laid waste, without inhabitant. For this, clothe yourself with sackcloth, lament and wail. For the fierce anger of the Lord has not turned back from us.”

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea Jr.