Proverbs 25:26 A righteous man falling down before the wicked is as a troubled fountain, and a corrupt spring.
It is important to listen to what God says. He never has any idle words. He knows the damage that a righteous man causes when he falls before the wicked. Lot’s name has gone down in the history of the Bible as a man who despised the truth and who led his family into shame. His family all needed to choose for themselves, but he assisted them greatly to make wicked choices.
New Evangelicalism dates back to at least 1948. This is now 2024. That suggests that N.E. has been around by that name for 76 years. It is older than I am. In those 76 years it has evolved into a very strong voice for evil. The emergent church movement is an offshoot of N.E. It declares itself to be a voice for God. Many religious groups have followed the ideology of this corrupt organization. These many religious groups speak with many different voices. Within that organization we have those who believe that those who are truly filled with the Holy Spirit will speak with tongues, which need not be human languages. We also have those who believe that babies can be “baptized” and that somehow this removes original sin from them and then they move on starting with a clean heart. There are also those who have various forms of works salvation. There is also the blatant heresy of Calvinism which is spreading among many groups of late.
If N.E. were a true work of God how can it speak with so many false doctrines? God told the Old Testament prophets to warn the people of the false prophets. He told them to expose the lies being told. He pronounced a woe on false prophets. Twenty one times the word “woe” is used in the book of Isaiah.
Isaiah 5:20 Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
God does not want people to go whistling their way into hell. He wants people to know the truth. He wants those who despise Him and desire to lie about Him to know they are wrong. He wants them to turn to the truth.
Ezekiel 13:7 Have ye not seen a vain vision, and have ye not spoken a lying divination, whereas ye say, The LORD saith it; albeit I have not spoken?
It was quite common for false prophets to claim to speak on behalf of the LORD. God’s prophets often exposed them. From the king on down, the people seemed readily willing to accept the lies of the false prophets. God did not want them to believe that. He knew the drastic results of believing lies.
While Jesus was on earth, He exposed the Pharisees. He called them “whited sepulchres”. He called them the “blind leading the blind”. He called them “hypocrites”. He never endorsed them. He never spoke of them as being a spiritually neutral or safe group. The Pharisees knew they were not in agreement with Him. They tried to silence Him in various ways. They eventually led the Jews of that time to cry out “crucify Him, crucify Him.” They succeeded in convincing Pilate to sign His death warrant.
God had a plan. None of this overwhelmed Him. Jesus laid down His life. The trial was the human instrument but Jesus was not forced to the cross by man. He went to the cross due to His love for mankind.
The apostles also exposed the false teaching of their time. They never worked together with the false teachers. There were those who claimed to speak in Jesus’ name. The apostle Paul warned of the fact that there were false christs. The early Christians suffered much at the hands of those who hated God.
The devil is a liar and a murderer from the beginning. He is called the “serpent” and described as being more subtle than any other beast of the field. He uses many different deceptive means to lure people into following him. We are all born as lost sinners. It is not that difficult for him to lure people to follow him. His hold on man is strong. He is not more powerful than God. The Holy Spirit is working in the hearts of all people to convince them of sin, of righteousness and of judgment. All people are aware of the fact that they need a Saviour. Even the Muslims have laws that their followers need to follow to try to enter their paradise. The Catholics have their laws that they teach. Their religion has evolved over the centuries. They make a lot of threats, but money talks with them. Their money never reaches heaven, nor does it impress God. Sadly many people believe the false religions, and are content to let those religions continue to lie to them.
We had a service in a seniors’ residence yesterday. It was interesting to me to observe how attentive the staff was to the preaching of the Gospel. The co-ordinator of our meetings, joins us every time. She has had some questions in the past. She is very thankful for us being there. She is not a saved person, but very attentive to our time there. We have a very unique situation at this particular home. We go to another home as well where the staff never joins us. They hide outside of our room sometimes, but they do not come in. However, this one staff member is listening. The Holy Spirit is working in her heart. He is working in the heart of every lost person, but this one is giving evidence of this working. I speak very plainly and I use the Word of God. I am not there to tell stories. Time is too precious and too short. Prayerfully, she will be saved before it is too late. God knows her heart and He knows her need. He is working. It is up to her to yield to Him.
The sad reality is that other religions also come into these homes. They spread their lies in there. Most of the people in those homes are part of those false religions. When death comes it is usually a Catholic or a United church person who gives a homily. They lie to the people in attendance. They do not know the truth and they cannot tell the truth.
The world will embrace the antichrist when he is brought on the scene. The Bible warns:
II Thessalonians 2:11 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.
As a born again Christian it concerns me that there is so much false teaching and so little warning being given about this. It is important to preach the truth. It is not enough to preach Jesus without identifying which Jesus we are preaching. It is not enough to preach about God without identifying which God we are preaching. Those who are born again, are indwelt by the Holy Spirit. He is called the “Spirit of Truth”. Those who are truly born again know that most of what is passed off as truth today is a lie. We cannot sit idly by and think that we must not speak out lest we offend someone. Often times there are many different religions within an extended family. Those who are born again have the love of God in them. It is the love of God that motivates them to warn the ungodly of the need to repent and be saved. True love is an action word. It cannot remain silent. It must speak up and help the lost to see the imperative of turning to the truth. We cannot force people to be saved. We cannot try to have governments pass laws that people must go to church. There are many “state run” churches in Canada now. They have proved that during the “pandemic experiment” that was successfully conducted by the government. There are more in the works. The governments have been emboldened by the weakness of most religions. The few who did not bow will be dealt with even harsher next time. The government has discovered that the army and the police and the doctors and nurses and indeed the majority of society fell in line quite easily.
Have you noticed how many healthy younger people are dropping dead for no apparent reason? There is more of this coming. The “vaccines” are working. They killed people outright, and now there are others dying due to the poison shots. That too needs to be exposed. Most of those dying are not saved. That will concern every true born again Christian. We cannot remain silent. We must respond as Peter and John did:
Acts 4:20 For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.
Pastor Bartel
