The Last Days Of The Church L

 It’s easy to gloss over the fact that all the epistles Paul penned, except for the two letters to Timothy and the lone letter to Titus, contained in the New Testament, were written to existing churches, dealing with issues they were currently being confronted with at the time. The devil didn’t commence his scheming and conniving in the twentieth century; he’s been at it since the very beginning of the church. What has changed is that it has become easier by far to disseminate deception in our day and age than ever before, and the enemy is making full use of the technology at hand to ensnare as many unstable souls as he can in his net of deceit. 

Paul could not have foreseen the advances in technology two thousand years later, nor did he have any reason to think the world would be any different during the time his prophetic writing would be fulfilled. It’s one of those overlooked nuggets that makes one realize how vivid and intricate God’s foreknowledge is. When He says He knows the end from the beginning, He means it. It’s not broad strokes or an outline. The Bible is not some Rorschach inkblot test where everyone sees something different. The details are explicit, and although those tasked with delivering the messages couldn’t process how such things could come about, they were nevertheless faithful in doing it, knowing their origin.

It’s not my job to try to intuit what God meant or how I see events unfolding to facilitate the fulfillment of a particular revelation. My job is to deliver it verbatim, and with that, my task is done, and I move on to the next task God has for me. That would be akin to being hired as a dishwasher in a restaurant and spending eight hours washing the same plate over and over again while the dirty dishes pile up around me. There’s always work to be done. Given ten lifetimes, there will still be work to be done, so rehashing one thing over and over again makes for inefficient use of the most precious resource we’ve been given, which is time.

Paul could have spent the rest of his life wondering how so many would be deceived or why they would turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to fables, but that was not his duty. His duty was to pen the warning regarding the last days of the church and paint a picture of how things would be. He didn’t say there would be a possibility, probability, or likelihood that these things would occur, but with the certainty that could only come about by divine revelation, he declared that they would be.

Fables are for children. Believing that something diametrically opposed to scripture is about to occur within the church just because a certain individual or denomination insists it will demands that you ignore the written Word and all the warnings contained therein. The question isn’t whether or not we would prefer a different outcome but whether or not our beliefs are aligned with what the Word of God says will be. It’s the only way to keep from being disappointed, disillusioned, and disheartened when what men have promised does not materialize and every attempt at manufacturing it falls short and crumbles into dust.

You cannot manufacture revival. You cannot fabricate an awakening. All the flashing lights, smog machines, and overly emotional crooning will be of no avail if God doesn’t stir the heart. Even if there is an emotional response, it’s only temporary and will fade as soon as the individual returns to his daily life.

Such things are wholly dependent upon God. Not only is it His arena, it’s His game and His rules. The only question one needs to answer when contemplating whether or not we will see what many have coined an end-times revival is whether the church, the household of faith, and those calling themselves sons and daughters of God are living out their faith and walking in righteousness as the Word of God insists they must.

The Christian walk begins with the denial and death of self. It begins with the renunciation and rejection of what was, for the high honor of knowing Him, replacing our will for His, and making certain that Christ and no other is on the throne of our hearts. We do not serve Him in the hope of gaining some earthly treasure or material thing. Rather, we forfeit all for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord.

2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”

Being in Christ isn’t being a better-dressed version of your old self; it’s being a wholly new creation wherein the old things have passed away. By this metric alone, we can gain a clear understanding of how many are walking about today with the Lord on their lips but nowhere near their hearts.

It’s neither legalism nor being nitpicky; It’s what the Word of God says must happen if we are in Christ. To be as we were, to do as we did, to walk as we walked, and to practice what we practiced after claiming to be in Christ as before we were in Him proves that we are only pretending to be a new creation and have not truly become one.

So, what is the point within the broader discussion of the last days of the church? As with most simple points, it is profound in its implications. A carnal man cannot show other carnal men how to be spiritually minded. An old creation cannot teach other old creations how to become new creations. One who only claims to be in Christ cannot tell others how to truly be in Him.

If the modern-day church were as strong, righteous, powerful, and full of the Spirit as it thinks itself to be, perhaps I would hold out hope for a glorious resurgence of righteousness that would sweep the nations from sea to shining sea. Sadly, it is not. We think we are just as the Laodiceans did, and just like the Laodiceans, we are too proud and stiffnecked to acknowledge our spiritual frailty and lukewarm attitude toward the will of God.

If all the modern-day church has to point to as God’s favor and blessing are mega-churches and overflowing coffers, what will they have when these things are stripped away, and the faithful will be forced to revert to meeting in secret and going from house to house to have fellowship? If our identity is in the things of this earth, will we have any identity to speak of when those things are snatched away?

The question of the hour isn’t whether there will be an earth-shattering revival but rather how much of what calls itself the church will survive the coming storm.

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.