“For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Jude 1:4)
If someone wanted to destroy a church, its members integrity and character of serving the Living God, burning down that church would not be the way to success. The building is not where Christ is.
Some success could occur if lies and rumors were spread about the pastor and those in the assembly, and many of the wicked would do little if any research into the validity of those claims, and simply would believe whatever they heard of what others had said. But this would not disrupt those who truly gather together to worship the Most High, not if they had honestly applied Galatians 6:2 in their congregation.
“Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.”
Words would be spoken in truth, disputing those rumors and lies, and in faith those words would be believed as faithful and true.
There is only one way to destroy a God-fearing, Christ-centered, Bible-believing church, and that is from the inside.
“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?”
Subtle, seemingly well-intentioned suggestions to modify the path, ever so slightly, in a barely noticeable pattern is how one begins to crack the foundation of any true house of worship.
Strongholds are not destroyed by battering rams, but by the words of deceit, and those who do not listen well to the Holy Spirit, though truly born-again, can be deceived into becoming accomplices in these evil intents.
Once strong places of worship, built on the foundation of the truths of the Word of God, are testaments of these truths. The Methodists, Presbyterians, Baptists and many others listened to the whispers of change, of growth outside of the will and Word of God, and many empty buildings and vacant pews reveal the cracking, and in some cases, the crumbling of the foundations they were built upon.
“Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.” (2nd Cor. 2:11)
In their beginnings, they were not unaware of them either, but Satan is subtle, and it takes very little effort for him to find just one person who can be deceived in a subtle fashion, one that can see no harm in bringing just one small piece of the world into halls where only the light of the Lord Jesus Christ was once allowed to shine.
Today women stand where men of God should behind the pulpit, homosexuals are not just allowed to sit in the pews, but encouraged to attend, the season of Lent is celebrated in buildings that once called it the imaginations and construct of the Roman Catholic cult, and on a day of celebrating the resurrection of our Savior, they go out to green fields and hunt for Easter eggs.
Many who profess to serve the Lord Jesus Christ would not be recognizable to those first century Christians as brothers and sisters in Christ.
Slowly, almost imperceptibly our adversary sneaks in, and many times he is wholeheartedly welcomed. No longer houses of worship where people fall on their faces seeking the mercies of the Living God, asking to be blessed with power from on high, to be emboldened to reach out to all that will listen of His offering of grace, but now no more than community clubhouses, vacant during much of the week, gathering together only at the appointed times, and then grumbling within themselves if the sermon lasts longer than expected.
“But I say unto you, That it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for thee.” (Matt. 11:24)
Make sure it is not your heart that our adversary finds a niche in, a small crack that will assist him in crumbling the foundation of not only the church you attend, but your desire to remain steadfast to the truths of the Word of God.
