Dropping. Like. Flies.
That's the phrase I used during a recent conversation with a few friends. We were discussing how many people we’ve witnessed leaving the Christian faith. The Kentucky in me showed when I said people once strong in their faith are dropping like flies. Maybe that's a bit of an overstatement. Maybe it's not.
I was in 2 Corinthians 11 this morning and was reminded that the Apostle Paul warned the Church of this very thing. He said, "I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent's cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the Spirit you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough."
The phrase Paul uses, "put up with" is also translated as "tolerate."
Interesting, isn't it?
We live in a culture that demands "tolerance," yet Paul tells us if we are tolerant of a different Jesus, we will be deceived. Did you catch it – even those who have a SINCERE and PURE devotion to Christ can be deceived. That should send chills down our spines.
You bet a different Jesus is being preached these days, and Christians are putting up with it alright –
A Jesus that tolerates sin.
A Jesus who doesn't require repentance.
A Jesus who didn't die as an atonement for sin, but rather as an example of standing up to the religious of His day (good grief).
A Jesus who says, "Love is love," defining "love" by our standards and feelings rather than how the Bible defines love.
May I echo what Paul said to the church in Corinth? We are tolerating this in the Church! Wake up! Don't be deceived!
Paul also said a few other things that ALL of us need to take to heart, especially when it comes to this subject –
"So if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don't fall!" (1 Corinthians 10:12)
"Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves." (2 Corinthians 13:5)
I can't tell you exactly what happens that causes someone to lose their faith. But I can tell you that it doesn't happen overnight. No one wakes up one morning and says, "Today is a good day to turn my back on Jesus and Christianity." Instead, losing one's faith is always a slow fade, and it always begins with…you guessed it… tolerance of a different Jesus.
How does that happen??
If you have heard me say it once, you have heard me say it a thousand times –
We have GOT to stay in the Word of God.
If we aren't consistently seeking God on the pages of His Word – because that is the PRIMARY way He reveals Himself to us – then we will be susceptible to deception.
You can agree or disagree with me, but I believe there can be a good case made that we are in the last days. We must stay true to God's Word. People around us need Jesus - and not the Jesus we have made in our own image -
-who blends in with our culture,
-who says what we want Him to say,
-who never says anything that makes us uncomfortable and
-who never calls us to repentance.
Instead, people need to know Jesus as He is revealed in the Bible –
-the One the Old Testament prophets foretold,
-the One who is the exact representation of the Father,
-the One who is the Word made flesh,
-the One who died for our sins and rose on the third day,
-the One who will return and take with Him those who stand firm until the end-
THAT'S THE JESUS the world needs.
That's the Jesus WE need.
Today, and every single day, we must choose to examine ourselves to see whether we are in the faith. We must be diligent! We should ask ourselves daily - what do I believe about Jesus? What do I believe about the Bible? We need to know what we believe and why we believe it. We must put forth the effort to study our Bibles. We must learn why it is reliable, trustworthy, and absolute truth. Otherwise, we are vulnerable to following a different Jesus. Do you know the difference?
"See to it that no one deceives you." - Jesus (Matthew 24:4)