Falling. falling, falling…

…just keep those sheep a falling…

YO HO!

2 Thessalonians 2

KJV^(i) 1 Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, ² That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. ³ Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; ⁴ Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God. ⁵ Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things? ⁶ And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. ⁷ For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. ⁸ And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: ⁹ Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, ¹⁰ And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. ¹¹ And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: ¹² That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. ¹³ But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth: ¹⁴ Whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. ¹⁵ Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle. ¹⁶ Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God, even our Father, which hath loved us, and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace, ¹⁷ Comfort your hearts, and stablish you in every good word and work.

Revival Is Needed In The Pulpit As Church Leaders Abandon Biblical Worldview

Full article:

Parishioners in the United Kingdom were shocked and appalled in November to hear a University of Cambridge student pontificate during his chapel message that Jesus Christ is transgender. 

Franklin Graham, president of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and Samaritan’s Purse, was quick to rebuke the absurdity of the claim in a Facebook post, calling the sermon “blasphemous.” 

“This is repulsive and shameful,” Franklin wrote. “To insinuate that Jesus Christ, the Holy Son of God, is transgender or to sexualize in any way His sacrificial death on the Cross for the sins of mankind is utter heresy.”

While chapel speakers on secular university campuses have hardly been known for faithfully espousing God’s Word, what’s more alarming is an increasing unfaithfulness to the Scriptures by pastors of Christian congregations across the United States.

A 2022 survey of 1,000 Christian pastors across seven major groupings of denominations revealed that only 37% of clergy have a Biblical worldview. Most surprising was the percentage of pastors in evangelical denominations who don’t uphold Biblical beliefs. Meanwhile, pastors of nondenominational and independent Protestant churches scored the highest for upholding Biblical beliefs.

“The American Worldview Inventory 2022,” conducted by George Barna, director of research with the Cultural Research Center at Arizona Christian University and senior fellow at the Center for Biblical Worldview with the Family Research Council (FRC), analyzed 51 beliefs and behaviors, including salvation through Jesus Christ alone, absolute moral and Biblical truth, human purpose, sanctity of human life as well as other Biblical doctrines.

DEFINING A BIBLICAL WORLDVIEW

Among evangelical pastors surveyed, 30% said they don’t believe that their salvation is based exclusively on confessing their sins through repentance and accepting Jesus Christ as their Savior.

Similarly, 39% of evangelical pastors reject that there is absolute moral truth and instead contend that each individual must determine their own truth. And only 62% agree that human life is sacred, while 37% said that having a faith matters more than which faith you have. 

Defining a Biblical worldview as “a way of experiencing, interpreting and responding to reality consistent with Biblical perspectives,” Barna said that only about one in three pastors surveyed interpret the world through the lens of Scripture.

“Only 37% of all pastors of Christian churches in America today have a Biblical worldview,” Barna explained during FRC’s Pray, Vote, Stand Summit in September. “That’s barely one of every three who buy into God’s Word to such an extent that their life is driven by Biblical truth. It’s appalling. Think about that for a moment. What does evangelical even mean if the pastor doesn’t buy into the Scriptures and teach those things to his people?”

Barna said 51% of adults surveyed claim to live according to a Biblical worldview. However, when their beliefs and behaviors are measured by what he calls the “seven cornerstones of a Biblical worldview” only 6% of American adults actually have a Biblical worldview.

Barna’s seven cornerstones of a Biblical worldview are:

– God is the eternal, omniscient, omnipotent and just Creator.

– Humans are sinful by nature.

– Jesus Christ grants forgiveness of sin and eternal life when sinners repent and profess their faith in Him alone.

– The Bible is true, reliable and always relevant.

– Absolute moral truth exits.

– Success is defined as consistent obedience to God.

– Life’s purpose is to know, love and serve God with all one’s heart, mind, strength and soul.

Franklin Graham asserts that an individual with a Biblical worldview looks at the world and sifts all information through the lens of God’s Word. “Scripture informs his thinking and behavior, guiding his intellect and moral determinations,” he said. “The Bible is the bedrock that undergirds his entire life. 

Over and against every competing worldview, the Bible forcefully declares, ‘Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind’ (Romans 12:2). In other words, the only way to see all of life accurately is through the transforming lens of Scripture.”

SECULARISM IN THE CHURCH

Yet the prevailing worldview for 88% of Americans, Barna said, is syncretism, defined as a personalized or customized worldview dictated by an individual’s preferences, desires and subjective truth claims. “Worldview is important because you do what you believe,” he said. “So, if you believe God’s truths, you can act upon those truths.”

“Because pastors teach what they believe, many churches are becoming centers of syncretism and secular thought,” Barna continued. “Perhaps without even realizing it, thousands of pastors have become leaders of a movement away from God, toward narcissism.”

FRC President Tony Perkins contends that the survey’s findings reveal that secular culture is influencing Christians more than Christians are influencing the culture, and the problem lies in the pulpit. 

“There are many pastors today who are very tentative and hesitant to preach the full counsel of God’s Word,” he said during the FRC summit. “As a result, we have Christians who are hesitant to live out their faith. We need pastors who understand the Bible and its application to the world in which we live.”

“People need the truth of the Word of God that has the power of God to change hearts and lives for eternity,” Franklin wrote on Facebook.

“The Bible warns us to beware, ‘there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction'” (2 Peter 2:1).

Originally published at Harbingers Daily – reposted with permission.

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Biblical Worldview Definition

Then There’s Denominational Worldview

Churches approve of Abortion and LBGT Agenda

Non-Denominational Pastors Are More Likely to Have a Biblical Worldview: Survey

From Missing Links – Chapter IX:

Doctrines and Traditions of Men

How many doctrines can a Christian man learn, and how many traditions can he observe? The answer my friend is set forth by the councils of men, and there are many blowing in the wind. In Bob Dylan’s song, “Blowing in the Wind”, the answers to all the world’s problems stated in its lyrics were blowing in the wind.

In these latter days, there are many believers in Christendom who fly in the winds of doctrine. They may be searching for truth, intrigue, or simply enjoy church hopping. The numerous denominational, non-denominational, freewill ministerial, philosophically hybridized, theologically engineered, and humanistic doctrines to choose from is like an open buffet with all you can eat for a simple price. Searching for truth in the vast sea of confusion and deception is like searching Wal-Mart for something not made in China or made in the USA.

Since the beginning of Christianity, many false doctrines and traditions have crept into Christendom. Most have been in practice for over a thousand years. The early Apostles warned the followers of Christ that there would be a falling away prior to his return. (2Th. 2:1-12) The Apostle Peter warned of false teachers making merchandise of the sheep. (2 Pet. 2:1-3) Jesus Christ prophesied that there would be many coming in his name preaching about him and saying that he was indeed the Christ but deceiving many. How? Most teach their own ideological doctrines. (Matt. 24:4-5, 15:8-9, 7:21-23; Is. 29:13)

The Jews that became followers of Jesus Christ had a better understanding of God’s ways than the Gentiles because of the former knowledge given them. The only thing that the Jews were lacking was a true spiritual understanding of the knowledge they possessed prior to the teachings of Christ. They were well adept in the letter of the law but had many shortcomings in the spirit of the law.

Many gentiles believed the Gospel (good news) of the Kingdom of God when it was delivered to them, but had to discard their pagan customs and be instructed in God’s commandments and ways. The biggest problem in the early church was some of the converted Pharisees zealousness in getting their hands on the converted Gentile’s penises to cut off their foreskins. (Acts 15:5) The Apostle Paul had a difficult time convincing them that it was circumcision of the heart and not the flesh that was more important. (Deut. 10:16; Jer. 4:4, 9:25; Jn. 7:21-24) The legalistic issue in John 7:21-24 was the performing of circumcision (custom/law of Moses) on  a Sabbath (commandment) versus the healing of a man on the Sabbath. They condemned the Lord for healing a man and making him whole on a  Sabbath, yet they considered it lawful to whack off the foreskin of a male child’s penis. Should the lawful custom of men supersede the doing of a good deed on the Lord’s holy day?

The Gentiles were accustomed to paying tribute to their false gods and keeping the pagan customs of the time. They worshipped the Greek and Roman deities and/or the deities that had been worshipped during Old Testament times. The Babylonian Mystery Religion was widely practiced, and one of its priests was even converted and baptized, but he erred when trying to buy the power of the Holy Spirit. (Acts 8:9-24) That Simon, a Samaritan sorcerer, had the same name as the Apostle Peter who rebuked him, and I do not think that he (sorcerer Simon Peter) walked away without the intension to adapt this new religion to his old one. The falling away that the Apostle Paul wrote about was already in progress during those early years of Christianity. (Col. 2:8; Gal. 2:4; 2 Th. 2; Jude 4) Even some of the popular converts can be found flip-flopping and disserting the faith to return to the world. (2Tim. 4:10)…

{To continue, see main menu.}

Fast Forward about 2000 years

{About 2 days God time – 2Peter 3:8}

Ezekiel 34

KJV^(i) 1 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, ² Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD unto the shepherds; Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves! should not the shepherds feed the flocks? ³ Ye eat the fat, and ye clothe you with the wool, ye kill them that are fed: but ye feed not the flock. ⁴ The diseased have ye not strengthened, neither have ye healed that which was sick, neither have ye bound up that which was broken, neither have ye brought again that which was driven away, neither have ye sought that which was lost; but with force and with cruelty have ye ruled them. ⁵ And they were scattered, because there is no shepherd: and they became meat to all the beasts of the field, when they were scattered. ⁶ My sheep wandered through all the mountains, and upon every high hill: yea, my flock was scattered upon all the face of the earth, and none did search or seek after them. ⁷ Therefore, ye shepherds, hear the word of the LORD; ⁸ As I live, saith the Lord GOD, surely because my flock became a prey, and my flock became meat to every beast of the field, because there was no shepherd, neither did my shepherds search for my flock, but the shepherds fed themselves, and fed not my flock; ⁹ Therefore, O ye shepherds, hear the word of the LORD; ¹⁰ Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against the shepherds; and I will require my flock at their hand, and cause them to cease from feeding the flock; neither shall the shepherds feed themselves any more; for I will deliver my flock from their mouth, that they may not be meat for them. ¹¹ For thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep, and seek them out. ¹² As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered; so will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day. ¹³ And I will bring them out from the people, and gather them from the countries, and will bring them to their own land, and feed them upon the mountains of Israel by the rivers, and in all the inhabited places of the country. ¹⁴ I will feed them in a good pasture, and upon the high mountains of Israel shall their fold be: there shall they lie in a good fold, and in a fat pasture shall they feed upon the mountains of Israel. ¹⁵ I will feed my flock, and I will cause them to lie down, saith the Lord GOD. ¹⁶ I will seek that which was lost, and bring again that which was driven away, and will bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen that which was sick: but I will destroy the fat and the strong; I will feed them with judgment. ¹⁷ And as for you, O my flock, thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I judge between cattle and cattle, between the rams and the he goats. ¹⁸ Seemeth it a small thing unto you to have eaten up the good pasture, but ye must tread down with your feet the residue of your pastures? and to have drunk of the deep waters, but ye must foul the residue with your feet? ¹⁹ And as for my flock, they eat that which ye have trodden with your feet; and they drink that which ye have fouled with your feet. ²⁰ Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD unto them; Behold, I, even I, will judge between the fat cattle and between the lean cattle. ²¹ Because ye have thrust with side and with shoulder, and pushed all the diseased with your horns, till ye have scattered them abroad; ²² Therefore will I save my flock, and they shall no more be a prey; and I will judge between cattle and cattle. ²³ And I will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even my servant David; he shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd. ²⁴ And I the LORD will be their God, and my servant David a prince among them; I the LORD have spoken it. ²⁵ And I will make with them a covenant of peace, and will cause the evil beasts to cease out of the land: and they shall dwell safely in the wilderness, and sleep in the woods. ²⁶ And I will make them and the places round about my hill a blessing; and I will cause the shower to come down in his season; there shall be showers of blessing. ²⁷ And the tree of the field shall yield her fruit, and the earth shall yield her increase, and they shall be safe in their land, and shall know that I am the LORD, when I have broken the bands of their yoke, and delivered them out of the hand of those that served themselves of them. ²⁸ And they shall no more be a prey to the heathen, neither shall the beast of the land devour them; but they shall dwell safely, and none shall make them afraid. ²⁹ And I will raise up for them a plant of renown, and they shall be no more consumed with hunger in the land, neither bear the shame of the heathen any more. ³⁰ Thus shall they know that I the LORD their God am with them, and that they, even the house of Israel, are my people, saith the Lord GOD. ³¹ And ye my flock, the flock of my pasture, are men, and I am your God, saith the Lord GOD.

Come out of Babylon for her judgement is near!

LOLGB+