The Last Days Of The Church XXXVII

 If you’ve ever been invited to someone’s house, it’s a given that you will act differently than you would in your own home. As the saying goes, you play by house rules. Before you trample their pristine white carpet fully shod, you ask if you should remove your shoes; if they ask whether you’d like something to drink, you wait for them to get it and don’t go rummaging through their fridge, and if they offer you a place to sit you don’t sprawl out on their couch and try to take a nap.

Somewhere along the way, we’ve forgotten that it’s God’s house and God’s rules. No one has the right, whether implicit or explicit, to barge in and start rearranging furniture, painting the walls, or starting a remodel because they feel like it on a given day. That we could be in His house but play by our own rules isn’t only illogical, it’s dangerous, and many a soul has been shipwrecked because they thought it to be the case.

There are enough videos of squatters on the interwebs and what they do to the properties they invade to establish a pattern. A squatter cares nothing for the cleanliness, orderliness, or overall condition of the abode they’ve appropriated because they have nothing invested in it. They didn’t toil to pay the mortgage on the place, work overtime and save to afford the new roof, or spend weekends weeding and cutting the lawn. They’re there because it’s a shelter from the elements and nothing more.

Conversely, when someone is home, they care for the space and make sure that if anything goes awry, it gets fixed expeditiously because they don’t want the lasting damage associated with not dealing with the leak, the flooded basement, or the mold that’s starting to grow in the corner. Many within the church today are more akin to squatters than permanent residents of God’s house, caring nothing for the spiritual health of the body as long as they can have temporary shelter from the storm. A son or a daughter will treat the Father’s house very differently than a squatter will. The mindset is different, the energy one is willing to expel is different, and the attitude toward the house of God itself is likewise different.

Feelings and opinions are not superior to the Word and will of God, no matter who you are or how many titles you claim. You may be special in your own eyes and may even deem yourself the apple of God’s eye, but God is no respecter of persons. Just because sister Marge or Brother Kevin decides to rewrite the canon of scripture to make it more palatable to a modern audience, it doesn’t mean God will go along with it.

No, God doesn’t have to accept your extra-biblical treatise on why things should be other than they are as gospel truth, and neither do the people of God, for that matter. It’s the self-importance that’s so galling more than anything, and thinking that our ideas take precedence over the Word of God.

When creation thinks it can dictate terms to the Creator and sees it as reasonable and what it is, by virtue of its existence, entitled to, it eliminates the need for obedience, submission, or faithfulness. We’ve become like toddlers screaming that we don’t want to eat our broccoli, and the only thing that should be on the menu is chocolate—lots and lots of chocolate. Many have concluded, without any evidence to substantiate their belief, that if they can raise enough of a ruckus, hold their breath and pound their fists long enough, and generally make a nuisance of themselves, God will relent, as most parents do, and give in to their demands.

I don’t like what the Bible says about the last days of the world, so I’ll ignore those parts. I don’t like what the Bible has to say about the last days of the church, so I’ll ignore those parts, too. I do like the part about what I’ll be given being pressed down, shaken together, and running over, though. That’s the kind of Bible truth I can get behind.

Build up my most holy faith? Pursue righteousness? Live holy? Sorry, not for me. I’m too busy waiting for my thousand-fold return and planning all the things I’m going to buy with it. It’s coming; I know it is. The preacher man keeps saying it every time I turn on my television. All sun, no rain! That’s my motto, and I’m sticking to it.

It’s not my fault believers all over the world are being persecuted for their faith. They should have learned how to unlock God’s favor and discovered the keys to prosperity living just as I have. Once you have those, it’s like having a money printer in your living room.

There was even a time not long ago when devotees of certain televangelists were encouraged to throw their bills into the firepit rather than pay them, and the collection agencies would magically stop trying to get what they were owed. If their car got repossessed and their home foreclosed on, it’s just because they didn’t have enough faith or they didn’t make a big enough love offering to the preacher.

It is the nature of flesh to wander from the light and pervert the truth. Hence, it is paramount for us to hold fast to both light and truth and let nothing distract from our singular purpose. Human nature is predictable to the point that certain algorithms now boast of knowing what you need before you know it. The pattern is there for anyone willing to see it, and going back as far as the book of Judges, we can readily discern that one generation doesn’t get better than its predecessor; rather, it gets worse. What was once reprobate becomes accepted, what is accepted becomes celebrated, what is celebrated becomes normalized, and the downward spiral continues until judgment. Then, once judgment descends, there is repentance of heart and a turning toward God; God relents, and the cycle begins anew.

Throughout this study, I’ve been trying to drive home one overarching point: Without true repentance of heart, first and foremost among the people of God, there is no hope of revival or any substantive awakening. We can keep beating the revival drums until our hands grow numb, but it's all for naught if we fail to focus on repentance and godliness.

The devil will never be upset about believers seeking riches, fame, validation, or titles. Those things do not scare him or perturb him in any form or fashion. What he does fear is believers walking in the authority rightly theirs as men and women of God whose gaze is firmly affixed upon Christ and the cross.

There are names the enemy knows, and it’s those names he fears. It’s those names he targets and attempts to distract and undermine, and if he can use a well-placed hireling from within, all the better because it gives his attacks validation when it comes to other believers.

Just as we’ve redefined Jesus in our modern day, we’ve also redefined the devil, making him out to be akin to a bumbling buffoon with no idea of what he’s doing and no plan whatsoever. In reality, Jesus isn’t your homeboy; He is Lord. Likewise, the devil isn’t incompetent; he is a strategist and a tactician who’s always looking for a crack in your armor, a weakness he can exploit, and an opportune time to spring a well-orchestrated trap.

The easiest way to fall prey to the enemy’s devices is to underestimate his cunning, grow at ease in Zion, and stop being watchful and vigilant. Many are realizing this far too late in the game, and must now contend with the aftermath of their indifference.

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.