Not enough Christians are convicted in their service to the Lord, and far too many evil men are passionately intent in what they are doing.
We my friends, may be on the winning side, as it were, but most of us sure are not behaving as such. I have been contemplating 2 Timothy 3:13 lately, “But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.” and I believe this verse is for Christians, for those who have indeed been saved by the grace of God, at least in part.
Satan’s responsibility, his task if you will, is to keep the eyes of all he can off the Redeemer, and he does this in part by deception, by creating organized religions that are based in works, not grace through faith in Jesus Christ. Any form of religion will do, it matters not the generalized construct, as long as it does not revolve around the sufficiency of what our Lord accomplished on the cross.
But I also believe this verse denotes a change in the behavior, if not the thought processes of those who indeed are saved. To be deceived from the truth, one must first recognize it as such, and then through subtle deception, items not cohesive with the inerrant Word of God are introduced into the thoughts of the congregation. The longest journey begins with a single step, and if that first step is in the wrong direction, the destination many be missed altogether.
In part, I believe this is why the Lord intentionally left out parts of the accounts of certain individuals in His Word, if we knew what those words were that Eve said to Adam, those that he harkened to, we would have a greater understanding of the beginning of sin through him.
Conjecture without substantial Scriptural validation is one of these main subtleties that our adversary uses, and not only has it caused untold religious organizations, but hot debates within what could be considered Evangelical churches. A slight shift from what the Word of God says is all it takes, and the same tactics that he used against the Lord in the wilderness may not have worked on Jesus, but they have done untold damage to the body of Christ, especially in these days.
How can one be convicted, and act upon those convictions without wavering when subtle deceits are employed, and listened to? Because of the lack of action by Christians, homosexuals are married beneath a cross of Christ in houses that are still called places of worship. Because of the fear of personal retributions, those who have been washed by the blood of the Lamb remain silent, when they should fear no man, they cower.
There is always the opportunity to repent and ask for forgiveness, but I fear that many rewards will never be gained back, and there is an extreme possibility that God will be ashamed to be called their God. I will not belay this point, and will end with only this, if you will not stand on the convictions you say you have in church when you are outside of those walls, you will not stand against the enemy.