What is happening in the modern-day church didn't happen overnight. It didn’t happen instantly, but it required decades of incremental decline and a pattern of the young having fewer and fewer noble examples to look up to and take cues from. Rather than model themselves after Jesus, they picked men they deemed successful, men they wanted to be like one day, and emulated them rather than the Christ.
I don’t want to be hated, rejected, persecuted, or martyred.
Therefore, I will emulate the characteristics, mannerisms, doctrine, and
teachings of those whom the world seems to accept, love, and embrace. The
reason so many came to this conclusion was that the desire of their heart was
never righteousness or sanctification but rather success and, more importantly,
success as defined by the world.
Paul offered his life and ministry as an example for Timothy
to follow. He was able to do this because He, in turn, imitated Christ. His
desire was never for Timothy to imitate him in lieu of Christ. It was that
Timothy looked upon his life and ministry, knowing that he himself had been
faithful to the calling to which he’d been called and walked in obedience to
Jesus.
1 Corinthians 11:1, “Imitate me, just as I also imitate
Christ.”
How many pastors, preachers, evangelists, and teachers can
say that and mean it? How many can say that and know it to be true in our day
and age? We are where we are because, with each new iteration of leaders and
spiritual luminaries, we’ve strayed further and further from the truth and have
now come to the point that, in most cases, there is no discernable difference
between those of the world and those of the church.
The rot begins at the head and spreads to the rest of the
body. It’s always been the case, but even so, those who continue to sit under
the teachings of such individuals are not exempted from accountability because
it is the duty of each of us as individuals to study the Word and conclude
whether what we are hearing from the mouths of men is in harmony with
Scripture.
1 Timothy 4:1-3, “Now the Spirit expressly says that in the
latter times, some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits
and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own
conscience seared with a hot iron, forbidding to marry, and commanding to
abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those
who believe and know the truth.”
A warning is only effective if those being warned heed it.
Its function is to make you aware that a specific action will have inherent
consequences or that there is danger afoot, such as touching a live wire, which
will likely kill you, or pouring a scalding cup of coffee on yourself, which
will likely burn.
If the Spirit expressly warns that in the latter times, some
will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of
demons, it is a warning we must take to heart and acknowledge. We should be
beyond debating whether someone can depart from the faith, because the Bible says
they will. Whether that clashes with your denomination’s doctrine is of no
concern to me. The warning was given. Whether we heed it or ignore it is solely
up to us as individuals. What is clear is that we will have no excuses or
loopholes we can point to when we stand before the Almighty and give account.
The consequences of not heeding this warning are grave, and we must be mindful
of this as we navigate our journey of faith.
If we believed something contrary to Scripture, it was a
choice we made as individuals while ignoring the warnings, teachings, and
instructions of the Word of God. Men are not without fault for believing lies.
All they had to do was go to the Word of God and defer to it in all manners
spiritual, ignoring and rejecting anyone or anything that would sound
discordant and be in contrast to what the Bible says.
Can it really be that simple? Can it really be that cut and
dry? Most things usually are when you strip away the artifice. Whether they
deemed the way too difficult, too mundane, too time-consuming, or too absent
the accolades and honorifics of the godless, many a soul chose to believe
extra-biblical teachings and wander down paths they were never meant to go
down.
Simplicity in all things is not something to be avoided,
scoffed at, or looked down upon. It is the ideal and leads to a life of peace,
joy, and fellowship with God. I am His, and He is mine. He speaks, and I obey;
He directs, and I follow. My duty is not to try and convince Him that His way
isn’t optimal or that I should be appointed to a higher station in life; it is
to joyfully do as He commands, knowing that obedience is better than sacrifice,
and it is the act of obedience that He will reward upon His return. Obedience
to God’s commands is not a burden but a source of joy and peace.
The duty of the true believer is to be a lighthouse in the
midst of a darkened ocean. We are dutybound to be a beacon of hope in a world
of despair, and if we fail in this one area, it doesn’t matter how big our
ministries get or how many campuses our church has; we’ve still failed to
fulfill our primary task. There’s enough confusion in the world already. The
children of God ought not to contribute to it by what they teach or what they
pursue in lieu of Christ.
The broader question is whether they are still children of
God if the entirety of their pursuit is antithetical to the teachings of Jesus,
but that’s for God to decide. Our duty as those who know the way of truth is to
continue to walk in it and turn away from those who would, by word or deed,
attempt to detour us from the path.
In order to be certain we are walking in the truth and the
light, we must do as Paul said Timothy had done and carefully follow the
example of Jesus in every area of our lives. It’s not something we set about
haphazardly or when we have a few minutes to spare on a given day, but a way of
life to which we surrender and dedicate the entirety of our existence. Timothy
had carefully followed Paul’s doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith,
longsuffering, love, perseverance, persecutions, and afflictions and so could
rightly conclude that his actions and his words were not dissimilar or
contradictory. There was no hypocrisy or hidden motive in Paul’s walk and
ministry. He lived what he preached and preached what he lived, and to him,
Christ was everything.
How many leaders and pastors could pass that acid test today,
wherein if their lives were carefully followed, one would conclude that they
were, indeed, the person they claimed to be and walked in the truth they
claimed to walk? What do men see when they carefully follow your life? What
testimony do we present to those who are near? Far more critical questions than
who will win the next elections and something within our ability as
individuals to affect.
With love in Christ,
Michael Boldea Jr.
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