The Last Days Of The Church XLIII

 Expectations can be dangerous depending on whether or not they are tethered in reality. It’s not the expectation in and of itself that is dangerous per se, but rather our innate reaction when what we expect never comes to fruition. Our excitement begins to wane, our conviction is weakened, and eventually, what once brought us a sense of purpose transforms into bitterness and angst.

If you’ve ever fallen for an infomercial and ordered the product only to be wholly underwhelmed and disappointed by the results, you know of what I speak. Whether it’s the infomercials targeted at one’s waistline, wherein one is promised that a single pill every morning will have you watching the weight melt off so quickly that you’ll think it’s magic, or the slap chop promising instant restaurant-style vegetables cut to your specifications with no more effort than gently slapping the gadget. When what was promised does not materialize, you’re underwhelmed by the results, and you can’t help but feel like you’ve been swindled.

Herein lies the danger of promising believers a life the Bible never did and insisting that they will live an existence contrary to what the Word of God insists they will if they desire to live godly in Christ Jesus. There has been a concerted effort going on forty years now to convince the children of God that their expectations should focus on ease of life, comfort, and prosperity rather than the presence, power, and authority of Christ in their lives. All you have to do is sign on the dotted line, and you, too, could reap the harvest of untold riches. You, too, could access the wealth of the wicked to your heart’s content and revel in the acquisition of worthless baubles until you have to buy a second home just to store them all.

Just dial the number on your screen, pay the paltry fifty bucks, and we’ll send you an embossed certificate declaring that you are now an earl or a duke, lord of your fiefdom, and royalty if in your own eyes. In reality, you’re paying fifty bucks for a piece of paper someone printed out for less than a dollar that holds no weight or intrinsic value.

I believe that one of the reasons for the great falling away is that many a soul took men’s words to heart in relation to what they should expect as believers rather than what the Bible says we should expect.

If I set out for a hike through the woods and the sign says it’s a one-hour round trip journey, mostly flat and readily assailed, and it turns into a grueling five-hour climb, chances are a couple of hours in, I’ll give up altogether and try to find my way back to the starting point. The contemporary church isn’t doing anyone any favors by trying to make the Christian walk seem like something it isn’t. On the contrary, many fall into disillusionment and despair because what they were promised and the future that was painted for them, all bright, shiny, and full of merriment, turns out to be the opposite, not because God lied but because men lied, and the individuals in question never bothered to go to the Word to see if what they were told was true.

2 Timothy 3:12-13, “Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.”

Paul is direct in telling Timothy, as well as all of us, what we can expect if we desire to live godly in Christ Jesus. There is no room for ambiguity in his writing, nor is there any other way to take it other than how it was written. All means all, not just some, a handful, or a select group of people who drew the short straw and didn’t get a chance to partake in the prosperity gravy train that was stopping at every station but theirs.

The only variant is the intensity and length of persecution those who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer. Most may suffer little, and some may suffer much, but all will suffer if they desire to live godly. The sad reality is that men are willing to compromise their pursuit of living godly in order to spare themselves from the aforementioned persecution. Even if in most cases, especially in the West, as yet, the persecution is light, involving verbal ridicule or being de-platformed from some site or another, many have taken to self-censoring and omitting vital truths just so they don’t get the dreaded e-mail informing them that they have a strike on their channel, or that the interwebs have chosen to unperson them.

As yet, the calls to silence believers altogether, round them up, and reeducate them are only taking place on the fringes and have not become mainstream, but give it time, and you’ll understand the words of Jesus more vividly than you ever thought you would when He said that if they hated Him, they would likewise hate you for serving Him.

What’s troubling is that even now, when persecution in the West is in its infancy stage, many within the church are already saying that they’ve reached the end of their tether and they can’t bear one more day of such hardship. I want to sympathize, I really do, but it’s like complaining about a hangnail to someone who just lost a thumb. If you’re at your wit's end and think this is bad, then what’s coming will leave you concussed and wheezing for breath.  

If you are not preparing for the advent of persecution as one who desires to live godly in Christ Jesus, then you’re ignoring the Bible and not taking the steps necessary for you to endure to the end. It’s not as though we weren’t warned; we just chose to ignore the warnings and strap on our rose-colored glasses and blinders to boot.

We deny the reality of what’s taking place around us because it’s too disturbing to acknowledge. We dismiss new laws that are being passed and codified that will eventually criminalize the reading of Scripture in the church because we still believe that we are a godly nation or that the godless would never be so brazen. The cold reality is that the godless only want to coexist as long as they are in the minority or, as yet, do not possess all the levers of power necessary for complete control. Once full control is attained, once they know they can persecute the godly without consequence, then the whole notion of coexisting goes out the window, and the only option on the table is compliance or else.

What becomes of the millions of bleating sheep who were never told they would have to suffer persecution? What will their reaction be when, instead of wealth and riches beyond imagining, they are faced with a damp dungeon or worse? How will they then view the grinning men behind their local pulpits who insisted they had nothing to worry about and that it would be nothing but rainbows and cotton candy, sunshine, and lollipops all the way up to the pearly gates?

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.