We are shocked by the speed at which apostasy is sweeping through evangelicalism. Mission boards are in some cases leading edges in this apostasy.
Wycliffe Bible Translators are now involved in rewriting the Bible to make it user-friendly for Muslims. The idea of the Son-ship of Christ is being downplayed in the recent translations. The feelings of Muslims are being placed ahead of the truth concerning fact that Jesus is the Son of God. The Koran says that Allah had no son. The climate is set for the ultimate apostasy that will cause evangelicals to accept Antichrist as Jesus Christ.
Another formerly sound mission board recently held missions conference in which, according to a personal friend of mine, the Words “Esau your Saviour” were shown on a poster. Imagine, compromising the truth of the gospel in a vain attempt to reach Muslims. This grieves me because years ago I sat on the board of directors of that mission.
Another movement which calls itself, “The Insiders” are suggesting that Muslims who convert to Christ would be better not to go public about their faith in Christ as this would create a reaction. They suggest that it is not necessary to confess, even to one’s own family, and that this can apply for the lifetime of the person.
We have another manifestation of apostasy under the name Chrislam. We have a group of so-called pastors who are promoting union with Islam under the delusion that Christians and Muslims worship the same God. New apostasies are coming thick and fast.
We also have evangelical leaders who are promoting the false idea that Christ is not the only way to heaven. Even Billy Graham is promoting this deviation from the clear teaching of scripture.
This new barrage of apostasy is sweeping over the evangelical church and it seems to be an irresistible wave.
We have pastors who teach but refuse to contend for the faith. We have pastors who teach but who refuse to call for separation form worldliness and from apostasy. We have pastors who teach and yet refuse to warn of the danger of ecumenism. They teach, teach and teach but refuse to rebuke the compromise that has swept over our generation. They teach, but ignore the real problem facing the people, the problem of sin. There is no remedy without dealing with sin, whether it is the unbeliever or the Christian.
We have pastors who teach God’s Word and bring the world’s ways and the world’s methods and the world’s music into the church.
The Lord said through Jeremiah in a day similar to our day, “Many pastors have destroyed my vineyard, they have trodden my portion under foot, they have made my pleasant portion a desolate wilderness” (Jeremiah 12:10).
He went on to say, “They have sown wheat, but shall reap thorns.....” (Verse 13)
Renald Showers summed up the wrong theology of these pastors. "Liberal Protestant advocates of the social gospel declare that the church should be concerned primarily with this world. It should divert its efforts from the salvation of individuals to the salvation of society. The church should bring in the kingdom of God on earth instead of teaching about a future, theocratic kingdom to be established in Person by Jesus Christ... the Church was to save the world, not be saved out of it"
Many pastors would not endorse that philosophy, but nevertheless, they are affected by it.
Jeremiah lived in a day of moral and spiritual decline just as we see in our own day.
Today over 50% of the babies born in America are born outside of Marriage. I think this must be unique in the history of the world. This has not been previously true, even in pagan societies. In the last 50 years, in America alone, 50 million babies have been murdered in their mother’s wombs. Our culture has not drifted into such decline. There has been a culture war in which a group of men and women, including the media, have fought a fierce battle to destroy our morals and defy the Word of God and the God of the Word. Many pastors have quietly surrendered instead of contending for the truth of God’s Word, all the while teaching, teaching and teaching. “They have sown wheat, but shall reap thorns.”
The political collapse in America is the fruit of a deep, widespread moral and spiritual collapse. Restoration will not come through political endeavour or as a result of an election. Only a spiritual revival in America and Canada can bring restoration, and there is no sign of that on the horizon.
The Lord said of Israel, after the spiral of spiritual and moral decline, immediately prior to the Old Testament Day of the Lord. “Then said the LORD unto me, Pray not for this people for their good (Jeremiah 14:11). “Then said the LORD unto me, Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my mind could not be toward this people: cast them out of my sight, and let them go forth” (Jeremiah 15:1).
Where would they go forth? “And it shall come to pass, if they say unto thee, Whither shall we go forth? then thou shalt tell them, Thus saith the LORD; Such as are for death, to death; and such as are for the sword, to the sword; and such as are for the famine, to the famine; and such as are for the captivity, to the captivity”(Jeremiah 15:2).
I must close this article on a high note; thank the Lord for the many pastors who are faithful to the Lord and His to His Word. They will have their reward.
Pray for them and help and support them and follow them. “Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you” (Hebrews 13:17).
We must exercise discernment, but we must not allow the counterfeit pastors to cause us to reject the faithful pastors who are called of God to lead and feed the flock.