“O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you?” (Gal. 3:1)
“And the LORD said unto Moses, Go, get thee down; for thy people, which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves:” (Exo. 32:7)
“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;” (2nd Tim. 4:3)
How many centuries, how many thousands of years separate these verses, and how well do they describe the consciousness of mankind. We flitter about looking for the fulfillment of the desires of the flesh while the Living God remains unchanged, we seek for self-gratification while the Almighty remains incomprehensibly longsuffering.
Eve was deceived, the Galatians were deceived, Adam of his own free will chose to rebel, as did those in the wilderness who made and bowed down to the golden image.
The precepts, ordinances, even the love offered by the Living God is not enough, we want our ears scratched, we want new doctrines, those that make us feel better about ourselves. So we do not need to look at how detestable we are in His sight.
A man must die to be able to live in Christ, the heart of stone must be replaced, our desire must be cast away, and His desires must take their place. “And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.” (Matt. 24:12)
With the advent of the darkness that is enveloping the world, with the hedges being lowered and evil being allowed freer rein, mankind does what it has always done, the Scriptures are proof of this, they search for any and every possible answer to the problems, but not to the Lord God.
Science and philosophy will cure the world’s ills, if we all just pull together, the approaching danger can be averted. This new god will save us.
“All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; (Isaiah 53:6a)
It is always, and I believe I can with confidence use that absolute here, that mankind seeks for another god to lead them, and it does not need to be in times of great turmoil and stress, when the sun is shining and there is no war nearby, when the thunderclouds have not been seen for a long time, we search within ourselves as well.
When God is silent, we still go astray.
“And it came to pass at the seventh time, that he said, Behold, there ariseth a little cloud out of the sea, like a man’s hand. And he said, Go up, say unto Ahab, Prepare thy chariot, and get thee down, that the rain stop thee not.” (1st Kings 18:44)
As the storm clouds approach, mankind will, and even is today, begin their search for the next god to lead them, and many who profess the Lord Jesus Christ only with their lips will be led astray, like silly women they will be easily deceived. It has always been thus.
We who have been crucified with Christ will stand on the Rock of our salvation and watch, sadly and with many tears as the majority of mankind, billions of them sink in the sand, professing that their newest god will save them even as they die in their sins.
At the end of the age and at the end of the Millennial period Satan will be the god they will choose. “But when ye shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing where it ought not, (let him that readeth understand,) then let them that be in Judaea flee to the mountains:” (Mark 13:14)
“And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.” (Rev. 20:3)
Until then, they will continue to make their golden calves; they will trust in the science, they will willingly walk away from the light. They will, as they have always been, be easily deceived.
We will continue to bring them the truth as we watch them run to their false gods, as they plunge headfirst into hell. We will warn and they will deny the truth, we will reveal to them the love offered, and they will reject it.
“Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” (Matt. 7:14)
