In these letters to you, one of the subjects that seems to be brought to the surface quite often is the pattern of many who profess Christ only in the attribute in our Lord of love, referring to it as they should, incomparable and eternal for His children. The quandary is that this is the only attribute that they desire to espouse, leaving out from their walk with Him the traits that they would consider negative, vengeance, wrath, fury, punishment upon sin. With this one-sided view comes with it an adverse effect that I am not sure many realize, their fear of God has turned from reverential trust to dread, of trepidation, they fear Him in terms that are exactly in correlation to those that they will not ascribe to Him.
This has been the plan of our adversary for quite some time, and works extremely well in many religious organizations, fear God or He will punish you, fear and serve in a subservient way, or you will feel His anger, it has worked well in these areas, and what works to his advantage he will continue to use. Those who fear to speak of the wrath of God upon a rebellious and unsaved world or individual have become tuned into only these ideologies that make them believe they are safe from what they consider the negative aspects of Almighty God, and in doing so have led themselves down the path of works instead of grace, having brought within themselves the notion that if they are good, Jesus will love them, if they are bad, He will punish them, they will lose favor in His sight.
Faith in His mercy is being replaced with a mixture of faith in their feelings, but “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (Jer. 17:9) Interspersed with this is another anomaly, they are loved, so they do not have to perform any deeds, the simplest undertakings will please Him, and with the refusal to “Go into all the world,” comes the acceptance that works of the world will suffice, and you have what could almost be considered a new religion amongst those who profess Christ as Lord.
It is nothing new to view certain religious organizations around the world as pillars of the lost, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God,” (Eph. 2:8) is not a verse that fits into the basic tenants, works must be accomplished before they can be accepted by God, and even then great doubt of His continuing love is placed within them, the fear of punishment is an exceptionally good motivator. But this one is different, it is ascribing to itself not only the tenants of works, of fear of not being good enough, but throws into the mix that feelings, emotions are important, and when combined with the acceptance within themselves that God is nothing but love, a new form of the word “Christian” appears. They have deceived themselves into believing that the only attribute of God that they should concern themselves with is love, and yet in this new path they have created, only the least from them is expected from the Almighty, they have an assurance of their salvation without any proof of it.
You must admit it was an exceptionally well thought out plan by Satan, get them to believe that the only attribute of Christ that matters is His love, no fruits of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22-23) need be shown save those that are the most rudimentary, the least they consider necessary, and allow them the pleasure of the feeling of assurance, brilliant. To never have to be burdened with informing the lost that if they die in their sins they will know the wrath of God for all eternity, in fact, to never even have to mention to them that they are sinners unrepentant, that the wrath of God is abiding on them makes being a “Christian” a very simple endeavor indeed. There is not even the fear that the chastisement of God will rest on them if they do not perform this commandment that is reserved now only for those who receive a “special” calling to do so, they have been freed from the conviction of servitude in this area, and indeed, many who stand behind the pulpit are assisting in this, “Invite them to church” will suffice for “Go into all the world.”
He who made the pillars of creation is not well pleased, these individuals have attempted to remove from themselves any responsibility save for those they feel necessary to put upon themselves. Suffering is a word left only to those who feel bad about themselves that day, church has become the sanctuary, not Christ, their responsibility to Christ is only seen as one to self, to be motivated to remain in His good graces by performing the least possible. The days of itchy ears are upon us, the love of many is waxing cold, and the testing of those who will follow have begun.
Apathy is a word rarely used today in the context of many who call Jesus Lord, but it is one that bears close attention to, the supposed security that comes to many of these will be challenged, who they serve in earnest will be put to the test. “Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.” (2 Tim. 3:12) I am afraid that for some who only profess Christ with their lips, who are preaching a Jesus who is nothing but love, are going to find suffering very unexpected.
