The Challenge of the Twenty-first Century (Part II)

2 Timothy 3:1-17

The Challenge of the twenty-first Century (Part II)

Mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days.  People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God—having a form of godliness but denying its power.  Have nothing to do with them.

They are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over weak-willed women, who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires, always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth.  Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so also these men oppose the truth—men of depraved minds, who, as far as the faith is concerned, are rejected.  But they will not get very far because, as in the case of those men, their folly will be clear to everyone.

You, however, know all about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, persecutions, sufferings—what kinds of things happened to me in Antioch, Iconium and Lystra, the persecutions I endured.  Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them.  In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil men and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.  But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.  All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

atch out that no one deceives you.  For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many.  You will hear of wars and rumours of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed.  Such things must happen, but the end is still to come.  Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.  There will be famines and earthquakes in various places.  All these are the beginning of birth pains.

Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me.  At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people.  Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.  And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come [Matthew 24:4-14].

These words were spoken by our Lord in response to questions concerning the timing of the end which His disciples raised.  The words point forward to a day when the church will have already been removed, but the conditions described will have begun to be apparent before that event.  The last days will be a time of international conflict and rumour.  That day will be a time of restless search for religious stability.  During those last days, we will witness a time of natural disaster in unusual places.  Those who dare to stand with Christ in the Faith once delivered to the saints will be increasingly ridiculed and marginalised, even as wickedness increases.  The inhabitants of the world will deplore the increased wickedness, but for all their lamenting—evil will increase.  Man always has a new idea, but his idea has never halted the advance of evil.

The words of Jesus are sobering.  In the text for chosen for this message, Paul gives us further insight into the religious life in those last days.  We have now entered the twenty-first century.  The days before us are fraught with unknown challenges.  There is a degree of danger facing us as a people.  New technologies will either bless us or curse our lives, as has ever been the situation for any advance.  Changing social conditions will either be met in a godly manner or we will exchange the Faith for acceptance within our culture.  Either the churches of this day will stand steadfast in the Faith or we will be infiltrated by the world about us.  These questions yet lie unanswered before us.

The Last Days are Described as Terrible Times — There will be terrible times.  The last days of this Church Age—the Age of Grace—will be perilous for the people of God.  The last days will be dangerous both because Christians holding biblical convictions will be resisted and opposed, and because it will be easy for Christians to stumble in that day.  Young Christians without solid convictions will be easily led astray during those times and they will thus be induced to dishonour the Lord who redeemed them.  Underscore in your mind that Paul is speaking both of the condition of society in the last days and the condition of the churches during those same awful days.  Society will at last have penetrated the churches in the last days, instead of the churches serving as salt in society.  Christianity was always meant to be counterculture, but at the last culture will have prevailed over the Faith of the Lord Jesus Christ.

I stated in a previous message that churchgoers in the twenty-first century have become doctrinally ignorant—to an amazing extent they do not know what they believe.  To demonstrate the verity of this statement I need but speak of Baptists willing to trade their heritage for social acceptance.  We witness in this day professed Baptists who are willing to accept any mode of baptism if only they can induce people to join their church, even though they are unable to justify such novel practise through appeal to Scripture.  The drive to be acceptable in the eyes of the world impels far too many fellow Baptists to rid themselves of what is considered to be ancient baggage of no use in today’s world.

Were this drive to jettison our heritage somehow insufficient to appall those holding Baptist convictions, I note other efforts by some Baptists to adapt themselves to the brave new world.  Churches are pressured to exchange congregational autonomy for denominational peace.  Moreover, during the past three decades we have witnessed intense efforts to coerce churches to adopt and approve of culturally driven practises such as the ordination of women to the ministry.  Such actions must startle even the most jaded reader of Scripture.  I suspect that the Apostle would be astonished, and I am quite convinced that our forebears would marvel at the audacity of those bearing the honoured name of Baptist as these changes are promoted and pursued.

Modern Christians are driven more by what they feel than by what they believe.  They are hard pressed to speak of their beliefs because they too often have no foundation for their professed faith.  Consequently, the churches increasingly forsake distinctions expected of the holy bride of Christ.  Increasingly, contemporary churches strive to achieve the lowest common denominator so as to ensure that they are not offensive to other people, though offending God seems to be acceptable.  Each congregation attempts to outdo others in becoming bland and pedestrian and acceptable to outsiders.  Seeker sensitive services have ensured that preachers say what unbelievers want to hear and that the services reflect more of this culture than they do worship of the True and Living God.

We endeavour to do all we can to make people feel good about themselves, yet the Good News begins with bad news about who we are.  We are frustrated that we cannot stretch God’s truth to fit our new emphasis of feeling good about ourselves.  We consider truth to be relative and since we are uncertain what is true and what is false; we resort to democracy to settle the issues.  The problem with our approach is that each year brings a new demand for a new vote to find something comfortable in which to believe.

If Paul considered that the churches to which he wrote in that ancient day were living in the end times [see Romans 13:12; 1 Thessalonians 5:1-4], how much closer must we be today?  If I read warnings pointing to particular characteristics being discovered among the professed people of God in the prophetic message of the Word and I then see those same characteristics becoming entrenched in the make-up of the churches in this day, I am driven to the conclusion that we are rapidly approximating the last days.  Likewise, if certain actions are presented as characteristics of wicked people in the last days and I witness those wicked actions among people in this day, I am driven to the conclusion that we must be fast approaching the last days.  In the text before us, Paul specifically points to what he calls the last days [ejscavtai" hJmevrai"].

The Apostle warns that churches in the last days will exhibit an anti-authoritarian attitude toward the Word and toward God’s appointed leadership.  Increasingly, the churches of this dying age exalt democracy over the mind of God.  Even hierarchical church governments struggle with the anti-authoritarian spirit of the age.  You may find it of interest to note that the term Laodicea, naming to the last church of the seven Asian churches which John addressed and representative of the terminal religious expression, translates rather literally into English as rule of the people—the democratic church.

We are convinced that we hire the preacher, and thus we can fire the preacher.  We casually use the biblical concept of calling our pastors and tacitly acknowledge that God is in the business of appointing pastors.  However, elder and overseer are strange names from a bygone era and have no relevance to our lives today; so we may ignore what the preacher says.  After all, he has his opinion and we have ours.  Our thoughts are at least as valid as his.  Submission has fallen out of favour among modern churchgoers and the argument that fifty-percent plus one determines truth is too often embraced.  God, of course, has another view concerning truth.  Truth has never been determined by a vote.

This attitude among the saints finds its origin in society.  We resist civil authority.  If we do not like a law, we will ignore it.  We think the policeman shouldn’t stop us because we usually drive the speed limit and so we seethe inside as she writes a ticket.  Though we know God calls us to pray for national and provincial leaders, we can hardly say the name of the Prime Minister or of our Premier in prayer much less ask that God give them wisdom.  Increasingly, we are opposed to civil authority which God instituted.

Ultimately, we resist God. 

Churches of the twenty-first century embrace cultural relativism instead of resorting to the practise of biblical holiness.  Without fixed positions of reference to determine truth, inhabitants of the age have little reason to be concerned with the actions of others so long as they are able to do their own thing.  It is far more important to modern Christians to be liked than to be godly.  We are uncomfortable should we be thought distinct from the world, so we seek to make ourselves acceptable to the world by permitting the culture about us to tell us what we should believe.  In our drive to be acceptable, we tolerate what no Christians before us would have ever tolerated.

Being thoroughly modern in our approach to service and worship, contemporary churches have psychologized the Gospel.  We pastors are better trained in modern psychological concepts than we are in exegetical methodology.  Pastors are trained as counsellors, but few are prepared to obey the biblical command to preach the Word.  Consequently, there are few princes of the pulpit today, though less than a generation ago great men of God thundered across the landscape.

Preaching has fallen on hard times, and so churches substitute performances for preaching.  We esteem music and drama associated with worship more than we do faithfulness to the Word.  Pastors no longer invest the hours necessary in prayer and in study of the Word to prepare themselves to build the saints.  They study the human psyche and seek to make people feel good about themselves so they can give the latest fad counsel to dying people.  Since Pentecost, no age has exhibited so completely the antibiblical position demonstrated among the churches of this day.

Jesus commanded His disciples to watch [Mark 13:32-37].  No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.  Be on guard!  Be alert!  You do not know when that time will come.  It’s like a man going away: He leaves his house and puts his servants in charge, each with his assigned task, and tells the one at the door to keep watch.

Therefore keep watch because you do not know when the owner of the house will come back—whether in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or at dawn.  If he comes suddenly, do not let him find you sleeping.  What I say to you, I say to everyone: “Watch!”

We are to watch for the Son and not for the signs.  Though many people are excited about some sign they imagine they see, we are commanded to live in anticipation of His return.  What is vital to remember is that He is coming again, and we are responsible to live in anticipation of that return.  Therefore, we are assuredly living in the shadow of the last days.  Whether we can look at the times and read into them what is written prophetically or not, we are assured that we are two millennia nearer His return than were the Apostles.  That alone should give us reason to fear and tremble.

In another sense, it is not the shadow of the last days which is casting a pall over the landscape so much as the extinction of the light of God which creates the suspicion that these are indeed the last days.  As we read the words of the Apostles who looked beyond their day to a final day we are struck by the comparison between conditions characterising the last days and the conditions marking our own age.  Perhaps that has always been a degree of wickedness, which seems to wax and wane, but I marvel at the correspondence between what I read and what I see as I survey the world about me today.  In that respect, I wonder whether we may indeed be the terminal generation.

Churches in the Last Days Will Tolerate Wickedness — People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.  This is quite a disturbing list of negative characteristics, wouldn’t you say?  Restating the Apostle’s words, we might say that those living in the last days will be characterised by misplaced affections, selfishness and wicked actions.  What is especially tragic is that it becomes obvious that Paul is here describing church members.  Tragically, this list seems to be increasingly descriptive of too many church members living in this present day.  Though I trust that most of our friends do not fit this description, we are distressed to note too much of precisely these characteristics contaminating churches as the age progresses.

On Patmos, John saw the Laodicean Church as the final expression of the Church.  This will be a church unwilling to take a stand on anything which might be considered to be displeasing to society.  Think of that!  The Church of the Lord Jesus Christ will be a church characterised more by its cowardice than by courage.  It will be a church which is wealthy and self-satisfied and focused on its own comfort.  Of course, this will be the only church which is said to make Christ sick to His stomach [see Revelation 3:14-18]. 

Jude, focusing on society at large, seems to foresee a day in which ungodliness increases.  The primary evidence of the ungodliness which appalled this righteous man was the grumbling against God and the authority which God established.  He marvelled at the tendency of that society to find fault with Christ and His Word [cf. Jude 14-16]. 

It is the Apostle to the Gentiles, Paul, however, who invests more time in describing the social and ecclesiastical conditions of the last days than do any of the other Apostles.  Our text assists us in discovering his concerns, although we will benefit from reviewing others of the warnings the Apostle issued.

Paul traced the downward descent of a society which has first ceased to hold God in awe and which has ceased to be grateful toward God in the opening chapter of Romans.  Forsaking gratitude, people would openly worship their own highest thoughts [cf. Romans 1:21-23].  Man, worshipping before the altar of science is not a wit different from man worshipping at the altars of Zeus or of Aphrodite or of Dionysius.  Women, sacrificing unborn children for their own convenience are no different from those who burned children to Molech or Chemosh.  Accepting the Gospel according to Darwin, we have begun to act like animals, justifying every base action by appeal to our animal heritage.  Such people are given over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another [Romans 1:24].  Thus deceived we sink ever lower and even esteem that which is created [i.e. ecology] more than the Creator [Romans 1:25].

Again, God surrenders such degraded people to the pursuit of their own shameful lusts until society even exalts homosexuality as a third gender [Romans 1:26, 27], although such pitiful creatures can only seduce others, not yet having discovered how to reproduce.  Sodomites and lesbians, having achieved social acceptance are indicators that society has almost reached the final state of utter degradation.  God speaks quite clearly of what that final society will be like.  Since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done.  They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity.  They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice.  They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless.  Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them [Romans 1:28-32].

This is a frightful portrayal of society in the last days, according to the Apostle.  You may find it of interest to note that this apostolic description is not so different from the assessment which God provided immediately before He judged the earth by the flood.  The Lord saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time.  The Lord was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain.  So the Lord said, “I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth—men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air—for I am grieved that I have made them” [Genesis 5:5-7].

Peter remembered this as he warned of the last days.  You must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires.  They will say, “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised?  Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.”  But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word the heavens existed and the earth was formed out of water and by water.  By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed.  By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgement and destruction of ungodly men [2 Peter 3:3-7].

Religion in the Last Days Will be Ineffective — In the face of this descent into social disintegration, the churches will become increasingly active.  However, for all their frenetic activity, they will be powerless.  Church unity, so-called, will increase.  We will see trendy commercials competing with other advertising selling other forms of pleasure, efforts to induce people to become religious—all without power.  Church leaders will lead the churches to seek accommodation with culture in order to make the Faith acceptable to sinners.  Church buildings, renamed as worship centres, though filled with rocking bodies do not ensure worship.  Large crowds which are not confronted in their sin are nevertheless under condemnation of Holy God.  Church leaders who fail to seek transformed lives are powerless and their message is the message of death.

In a prior letter, Paul wrote of ecclesiastical conditions preceding Christ’s return.  The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons.  Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron [1 Timothy 4:1, 2].  There will be an abandonment of the Faith.  Professed Christians in particular and mankind in general will forsake the Faith given in the Word of God to follow deceiving spirits.  This is not, as you might suppose, a wholesale forsaking of religion, but it will be a remaking of religion to suit mankind’s desires.  Our text says that people will have a form of godliness, but they will deny its power.  This points to religious people without commitment to biblical truth.

The religious landscape of this day presents a Vanity Fair for those seeking personal fulfilment.  There are at least five new religions each day introduced in California.  Eastern religions are eagerly sought by educated people because their hearts are restless and empty.  They practise Yoga and meditate, never quite understanding the pagan roots of those activities.  Ancient religious practises long dead are resurrected with surprising regularity so that we witness the strange phenomenon of highly educated men and women worshipping mother earth and even demons, just as the Apostle warned.  If that isn’t sufficiently disturbing, the pulpits of churches which carry the title of “evangelical” are filled with people who question the Word of God and cast aspersion of those benighted individuals who dare affirm the Faith which our fathers once practised.

Leadership in the Last Days will be Spiritually Ignorant.  Paul speaks of leaders intent on taking captive those for whom they bear responsibility.  He warns of leaders who care only for themselves, of leaders who seek to control instead of teaching and leading, of leaders who are endlessly studying the latest theology but unable to acknowledge the truth. Essentially, he describes a day when church leaders are selected on the basis of credentials and certification instead of being appointed on the basis of character.  These credentialed leaders will be unprincipled.  My dear people, I remind you that God appoints men to the pastorate whose lives have been transformed, whether they have ever earned a degree of not.  God appoints as leaders men with godly character, and not necessarily men or women who are acceptable to powerful outside interests.

I know that we want an educated pastor, but I would rather that our pastors learned their ABCs in Heaven than spout the latest theology in Hell.  I would rather that our pastors said, “I seen him” when they saw him than say, “I saw him” when they saw nothing.  I would rather that we could look up to our pastors as godly men rather than always being concerned that their conduct might embarrass us.  Let the man of God reveal his divine parentage through appeal to the Word and through conformity to that Word.  Let those who would be leaders tell us the Word of God and prove the authenticity of that Word by daring to live holy lives.  We have enough blind leaders of the blind in this day; we don’t need any more.

The Expected Response of Godly People is Mapped out.  You, however [Su; de;]…  Conversely, in contradistinction, in vivid contrast…  Paul is mapping out the manner in which Timothy must live.  The Apostle is insistent that the godly in those last days must not reflect the character of the world.  To fail to heed these instructions is to risk appearing as though we have imbibed of the deadly elixir of the world about us.  Addressing Timothy, Paul provides instruction to all believers in how to honour God in the last days.  We are not as the world, having received life from the Lord God of Heaven and earth; we are born from above and we are no longer identified with this dying world.

When Churches tolerate wickedness, Be Prepared to Suffer — In a world which holds preferences and changes those preferences to reflect the current fad parading as faith, the man or woman of conviction will be opposed.  How sobering statement is the twelfth verse!  Everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.  In a day in which too many of the professed ministers of Christ preach a message promising ease of life, this call to endure hardship and to accept persecution will not be welcomed.  Permit me to be pointed when I say that the Christian life is not an easy life—not if it is real!  As a Christian, you will be opposed—if you actually endeavour to live godly in Christ Jesus.  That opposition may turn to persecution—and will become persecution—if you openly resist that those practises which are opposed to righteousness.

Many Christians today think that they would welcome Paul as their preacher.  He wasn’t loved by the Christians in that ancient day, and it is unlikely that he would be welcomed among our churches in this day.  Few men of convictions have found the churches welcomed them in their own days.  Spurgeon was censured by the Baptist Union of Great Britain.  The very fellowship he loved and defended expelled him because he would not be silent about the denomination’s effort to downgrade the Faith.  A. W. Tozer was one of the greatest minds the Christian and Missionary Alliance ever produced.  He never went to Bible school or college, but he did walk with God.  At one time, he was eagerly sought after to speak at every major evangelical venue in North America.  He lived to see the day when he was excluded from those same forums and he was no longer welcomed by his own denomination because he was too outspoken.

I have always admired John Wesley.  While I do not always agree with his theology, he was a godly man and we could learn a great deal from him.  Modern Methodists and their children, such as the United Church of Canada, would earn his swift and stern condemnation for their own tolerance of wickedness.  Reading Wesley’s journals is an exercise in faith.

“Preached at St. Ipswich in the morning…  Told never to return.”

“Preached at St. Someone in the afternoon…  Unwelcome to return.”

“Preached at St. Swiftsneer in the evening…  Rector interrupted the sermon and expelled me from the grounds.”

That godly man persevered and he made a difference.  Just so, in this day the godly must anticipate that the unrighteous will not welcome their message of holiness.  I have always been astonished that Jesus did not have the perspicacity to hire public relation experts to recast His words so that they would be socially acceptable.  Nevertheless, He spoke pointedly to His disciples, and the yet stands.

If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first.  If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own.  As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world.  That is why the world hates you.  Remember the words I spoke to you: “No servant is greater than his master.”  If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also.  If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also.  They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the One who sent me.  If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin.  Now, however, they have no excuse for their sin.  He who hates me hates my Father as well.  If I had not done among them what no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin.  But now they have seen these miracles, and yet they have hated both me and my Father.  But this is to fulfil what is written in their Law: “They hated me without reason” [John 15:18-25].

As Religion becomes Ineffective, Remain Steadfast in the Faith — Paul then warns the young theologue to continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of [verse 14].  The implication is that the man of God must be taught and he is responsible to form convictions based upon the truths which are taught.  Permit me to state rather clearly that as shepherd of the flock I am responsible to instruct the people in the Word.  I am responsible to teach with a view to advancing the truth [cf. 2 Timothy 2:1, 2].  I am under no obligation to permit error to be propagated here, regardless of who endeavours to promote such heresy.  In fact, I am responsible to guard the flock from just such heresy [see 1 Timothy 1:3; 6:3-5]!

Let God’s people know that they are responsible to resist the siren call of the culture around them.  We are not called to compromise with those who promote error, regardless of how reasonable they present themselves or their error.  We are to stand firm in the Faith, though doing so will no doubt prove offensive to those who wish to change that Faith.  Should we foolishly begin to seek accommodation with the world about us we will soon discover that we have struck a bad bargain and we will soon find ourselves on unstable ground.  Paul has warned all professed believers in the Word.

Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behaviour.  But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation—if you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel [Colossians 1:21-23a].

Why is it so important that our Sunday School teachers know the Word of God?  We are providing a foundation for our children, the church of tomorrow.  Why is it so vital that we insist upon a regenerate membership and open identification with the church?  We are uniting around a common doctrine and providing a solid foundation from which we can penetrate into the darkened corners of the world about us.  We cannot advance when we are in disarray about first issues.  If there is no agreement on basic principles of faith and practise, there can be no advance against the enemy of souls.  There is but one solid foundation, and that is the inerrant Word of the Living God.  Compromise on that which He has written will ensure our swift demise as a church.

As Leadership Reveals its Ignorance, Stay Focused on the Word — But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.  All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work [2 Timothy 3:14-17].

There are many people wishing to argue doctrine, but they argue from ignorance.  Their prejudice betrays them and their folly is shortly known to all who listen carefully.  Learn to listen to those who argue against the Word of God.  When they present their arguments, are they urging you to obey the Word—to submit to the Living God?  Or do you hear only their interpretation of the Word—an excuse for ignoring what the Word says?  Look at the Word for yourself!  Is their argument simply a deconstruction of what God has said?  Are they forcing His will through the filter of their own cultural perspective?  Too many contemporary Christians, including ministers, cannot distinguish culture from Scripture—they insist upon filtering Scripture through their own cultural lenses.  My beloved people, you must remember that the Word sits in judgement over our culture.  Our society dare not sit in judgement of the Word of God.  Culture is unqualified and incapable of judging God who created all things.

You should view with deep suspicion any novel interpretation which relies upon facts which have lain hidden for nineteen hundred years.  Such efforts reveal the wicked desire to make the Word of God conform to the socially acceptable views of the presenters.  There is no essential difference between modern evangelicals who suddenly claim to have discovered new information concerning the Word and the dogma of Mormons which is dependent upon a story take from golden plates no one has ever seen.  God’s Word is not hidden and occult!

If we were to commit ourselves to read the Word, we would be far less susceptible to following ignorant people.  If we were conversant with the great themes of the Word of God, we would be far less liable to excuse wickedness as we endeavoured to recast the Faith into something acceptable to the world about us.  Surely we should expect that those who bear the title of Ministers of the Word would be responsible to accurately teach the Word; but if they fail to remain truthful that does not excuse each of us from the responsibility to know error when it is presented.  We are each responsible to read the Word for ourselves.  We are each responsible to ensure that those who teach the Word are faithful to the Word.

In short, whenever someone wishes the church to adopt a position we should ask that they demonstrate the basis for their desire.  Is there a Scriptural foundation?  Is their motive obvious and in accord with the whole of Scripture?  If their request is driven by the idea that we should adopt a position because “everyone else is doing it,” remember that long before the people of God were warned, Do not follow the crowd in doing wrong [Exodus 23:2a].  If their request is driven by the desire to make us acceptable to society, remember that our Lord warned us, woe to you when all men speak well of you [Luke 6:26a].  We must please God, not man.  We may find it necessary to resist the pull of the crowd in order to stand with Christ.  This will be the challenge of the twenty-first century.  Amen.