BEFORE GOD DESTROYS, HE FOREWARNS (PART II)

“Obvious Apostates vs Oblivious Apostates

By Akin Ojumu

Love, mercy, grace, goodness, and holiness are just some of the attributes of God that help us understand and appreciate who He truly is. These defining characteristics are not just qualities that God possesses, they are intrinsic to His nature, and He is the source of them all.

While it’s easy for us to relate with a God who is loving, good, kind, merciful, gracious and good, we often struggle to accept Him as a God who is also just and righteous who punishes iniquity and pours out His vengeance on unrepentant sinners. It’s convenient to be drawn to a God who withholds the punishment that is deserved and bestows blessing that’s unearned. But we are repelled by a God who righteously exercises His sovereign prerogatives by dispensing on the wicked the divine justice that’s deserved.

This commentary series explores the administration of God’s divine justice on evil. It’s an examination of the sequence of events that are known to precede the outpouring of the wrath of God. We are going to see how the attributes of God all come together in the execution of His justice.

Last time, we kicked off the commentary series talking about the catalyst for the chain of events that culminate in the discharge of God’s vengeance. Before the LORD God pours out the cup of wrath, we said, there’s, first, a widespread falling away. Generally described as the apostasy, this sweeping falling away is characterized by a rebellion against God.

In apostasy, we find a near universal absence of the fear of God. This is a spiritual condition in which the fear of men trumps the fear of God. The authority of the word of man of God takes preeminence over the authority of the written Word of God.

Churches can descend into apostasy on a wide variety of issues. They might succumb to mysticism, feminism, worldliness, works righteousness, or any of the myriad corrupting threats poised against the church. But there is a common thread uniting every church that turns from the truth after error. Setting aside the authority of God’s Word is the most well-worn path to apostasy. (Source: John MacArthur).

Before proceeding to talk about the second thing in the chain of events that lead to God’s vengeance, it’s important to point out that there are two kinds of apostates. While the end result of apostasy is spiritual deadness, this lifelessness manifests itself in two major forms.

On the one hand, there are apostates who are very much aware of their antagonism towards God and His Word. Let’s call these the Obvious Apostates. These are people who don’t hide the fact that they are God’s adversaries. Such apostates intentionally and deliberately go out of their way to discredit God and impugn on His character. To them, they see no qualms in maligning God’s Holy Name. Included in this category of apostates are the atheists, agnostics, and any fool who says in his heart, “There’s no God.”

Then there’s the other type of apostates; the Oblivious Apostates. The vast majority of churchgoers who call themselves Christians belong in this category.

As the name implies, oblivious apostates are oblivious of their spiritual condition. It’s to this second category of apostates that the saying, “The road to hell is paved with good intentions,” refers. The oblivious apostates sincerely believe they are in God’s good grace. In the days of our Lord Jesus Christ, the apostate Jews were the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Teachers of the Law who considered themselves right with God.

Luke 18:9-14

“He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt. “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.””

Just like the Pharisees of Jesus’s day, modern-day oblivious apostates consider themselves to be in good standing with God. These are spooky-spiritual individuals who are active in Church, sing in the choir, and are ardent prayer warriors. Known to be fervently pious and zealously devout, they are those you typically find in the roles of general overseers, general superintendents, apostles, prophets, evangelists, and pastors.

Exuding unmistaken external piety, these folks go about with the rarefied air of the spiritual elite. With their heavy-duty anointing, they boast of having intimate conversations with God. Playing hosts to celestial visitations and drinking tea with God have become a matter of routine. They travel to heaven all the time and they claim knowledge of deep deep mysteries.

Yet, a cursory examination of their fruit reveals a spiritual rottenness of the soul. Even among those of them who have the appearance of moral chastity, what you hear them preach and teach in the name of God bear witness to their spiritual degeneracy. When the oblivious apostates open their mouths to preach, torrents of heresies and errors gush out. Twisting and distorting Scriptures to push ear-scratching, people-pleasing, seeker-sensitive ponderous platitudes have become second nature.

The oblivious apostates elevate the words of fallible men over the inerrant Word of God. They pollute the purity of God’s truth, clouding biblical doctrine with superstitions, traditions, extra-biblical revelations, encounters, experiences, and demonic deceptions of all kinds (Source: John MacArthur).

Given how the oblivious apostates mishandle Scriptures, it’s obvious they think the Bible is nothing more than a mystical book or a self-help motivational manual. They’ve made a habit of making themselves and their congregation heroes of Bible stories. Many of these spiritually damaged snake-oil salesmen are hungry for spiritual power and they go to and fro chasing after it. In their quest for power, they adulate living mystics. Desirous of mantles, they venerate dead shamans.

For both the obvious and oblivious apostates alike, the same fate awaits. Upon them will be poured the vengeance of God.

Jeremiah 30:23-24

“Behold the storm of the Lord! Wrath has gone forth, a whirling tempest; it will burst upon the head of the wicked. The fierce anger of the Lord will not turn back until he has executed and accomplished the intentions of his mind. In the latter days you will understand this.”

We’ll take it from here next time.