Growing in Christ Part 22

Although in the physical shortsightedness or blindness are not communicable, in the spiritual they are. One who is spiritually blind can be so persuasive that they can pass on their blindness to others whom heretofore had been able to see, and had been following the way of truth.

No, we do not like to think about it, but the Bible tells us of those who fall away from truth, who give in to deception, and who become blind due to their wandering from the light.

It is far easier for us as individuals to believe that God can force holiness upon us, or that once we come to know Him He locks us in and throws away the key, but the harsh reality is that we are accountable as individuals for the choices we make whether that choice is holiness unto God, or rebellion.

At the root of every spiritual deception is the notion that God has changed. If men can convince you that the God who says He changes not somehow went back on His word and decided to change after all, then they can convince you that what you read in your Bible isn’t really the Word of God, the will of God, or the mind of God.

With all the foolishness being taught from pulpits nowadays I get e-mails from people pretty much on a weekly basis asking how it is these men can teach such lies while holding a Bible in their hand and presupposing that they’ve read it more than the average individual.

The answer is as obvious as it is tragic: they do not believe the God of the Bible when He says He will punish those who deceive the sheep and lead them astray. They do not believe in the reality of hell, nor do they believe in the reality of eternal judgment, because if they would, they would not dare teach the things that they are teaching.

Hence the reason the Bible calls them wolves. Such individuals are not interested in the welfare of the sheep or the spiritual wellbeing of the sheep. Their only concern is the self, and they are willing to betray one and all, including God, for self.

 Of all the apostles, Paul dealt with the wolves that come to destroy and tear asunder more than any other. We see on repeated occasions throughout the Word how after leaving a certain place the wolves would come in attempting to bring in destructive teachings, or aberrant doctrines.

To a greater or lesser degree, it worked. The wolves got ahold of the hearts and minds of some if not all of the people, and convinced them that their path was unnecessarily difficult, unnecessarily limited as far as what enjoyments one could wring from this life, and given enough time the people abandoned the truth.

Paul himself lamented the fact that so many had strayed from the grace and love of Christ, having returned to that which they had rightly abandoned and been shackled anew by the sins they had been cleansed of.

This journey of ours is constant. We are constantly at war, constantly doing battle, constantly resisting temptation, constantly journeying toward the finish line, and there is not a minute’s worth of respite, because the moment we let our guard down, the moment we get distracted, the moment we open our hearts to something other than absolute Biblical truth we put ourselves in danger.

It frustrates and amazes me how men today think that by acting as though they were some rebellious teenagers who consider themselves too cool for school they will somehow endear themselves to God, and compel Him to change His ways. Although we might like to think it – if only to ourselves – we are not a special generation, or a special nation, or a special denomination. The very fact that the God of the Bible judges without partiality, dispels the notion that anyone is more special than anyone else.

If you happen to believe repentance is outdated, holiness unattainable, righteousness unnecessary and a humble walk carrying your cross optional, then I am sorry to break the news you are in fact shortsighted even unto blindness. No, it is not because I say you are shortsighted even unto blindness, it is because the Bible says you are that you ought to search your heart and look in the mirror of God’s Word to see the truth of it all.

The gospel according to Joel Osteen might be well and good for now, but the days of revelry and self-adulation are winding down, and the shortsightedness of preaching a foundationless gospel will soon be evident to one and all.

If there is no foundation, if the teaching you are hearing only serves to make you feel good about yourself and your sin but is not tethered in Christ and rooted in truth, you would make better use of your time turning off the television and just reading the Bible for yourself and praying for understanding.

With love in Christ,
Michael Boldea Jr.