TATTERED STATE OF AN APOSTATE CHURCH

By Akin Ojumu

That false prophets and false teachers will infiltrate and dominate the Church in the Last Days has been foretold. Every single Book in the New Testament Bible, with the exception of Philemon, forewarns about the impending deluge of false teachers and their false teachings. From Christ Jesus Himself to the very last one of His Apostles, we were told that obfuscation and prevarication will be the modus operandi as the present age winds down to a close.

Matthew 24:3-5

“As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” And Jesus answered them, “See that no one leads you astray. For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray.””

Deception is the hallmark of the end-times. The distinctive feature of the end of the age will be widespread dissimulation. During this period of human history, sweeping dissembling will be the order of the day. Deceivers will be many, and they will deceive many. In fact, the dissimulation will be so vast, so prevalent, and so universal that the truth will become unrecognizable. Those who herald the truth will get scorned and sidelined, and the few proclaimers of veracity will get mocked and marginalized.

And this is exactly what we see happening today.

From the clownishly obvious to the cunningly subtle, a menagerie of false teachers is running wild within the walls of modern-day Christian assemblies. Thick smoke of erroneous doctrines blankets the Household of God, and its toxic fumes deplete the spiritual oxygen in the Church atmosphere. As the wildfire rages through the Body of Christ, it lays waste the faith of the undiscerning and wreaks havoc to the souls of the imperceptive.

Promises of health, wealth, and success always find a good market. To be told that God is duty bound to make you overnight success and instant millionaires is a message with great appeal. It’s natural for people to gravitate towards a preacher who says that God has purposed for them to achieve greatness and that He has a plan to bless them beyond their wildest dreams.

2 Timothy 2:3-4

“For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.”

False teachings proliferate because the vast majority of Church folks relish the lies they are being fed. People can’t help it; they love to have their itchy ears scratched. Scratching itching ears is what false teachers do, and many of them are quite proficient at it. They love to regale their audience with fantastical tales of how they live supernatural lifestyles. With a good understanding of human nature, they use cleverly devised tales to lure their prey into traps of false expectations.

Unlike Apostle Paul, whose message and preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, these ferocious wolves in sheep’s clothing fill their victims with vacuous words of human wisdom. They arouse in their willing prey, lustful passions by appealing to the inherent lust of their eyes, lust of their flesh, and pride of life.

Predictably, the false teachers of health, wealth, and success are richly rewarded for feeding their victims with a sumptuous meal of the very things the flesh lusts after. The very same people they’ve fed with lies return the favor by lavishing on them generous gifts and monetary donations that number in the billions. Thus, the high priests of the false gospel become Gucci Pastors who roll in style and reside in gated palaces. From head to toe, they reek of lasciviousness, and they ooze from the stench of carnality.

2 Thessalonians 2:3-4

“Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God.”

One of the reasons church folks become easily susceptible to cunning deception is because the Church has sunken into the dire straits of rank apostasy. The vast majority of the masses of people that pack the various unholy ghost conventions and special crusades today are apostates who are patently rebellious against God. In fact, these people hate the God of the Bible and don’t want to have anything to do with Him and His Word.

Because of their lawlessness and revulsion for the truth, they’ve created for themselves a god, a Jesus, and a spirit totally and completely different from the biblical God, biblical Jesus, and biblical Holy Spirit. Whenever you hear them claim they worship god, Jesus or spirit, just know that the deity they are referring to is not the Holy Trinity. While they may pretend to worship the LORD God, or purport to pray in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, or posture as if they have the Holy Spirit, in reality, these names are mere buzzwords to these people.

2 Thessalonians 2:9-12

“The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.”

By their words, deeds, and conduct, the vast majority of contemporary church folks have shown they are lawless. And since lawlessness begets apostasy, an apostate Church takes pleasure in unrighteousness and cannot and will not stand the truth of God. As a result, God buffeted them with delusion. With the eyes of their understanding blinded, they are unable to discern the truth. Thus, they fall for all kinds of lies and gimmicks perpetrated by their daddies and mummies in the lord.

Since only an apostate gets offended whenever a false teacher is unmasked for being a deceiver, this is the reason these people get raving mad whenever someone exposes the lies and errors of their general overseers, apostles, prophets, and pastors. It’s the blinding delusion that God has brought upon them that makes these gullible people denounce and curse out those who dare to refute the teachings of their anointed daddies in the lord.

Guess what? We’ll never stop shining the light of truth on the deception that has blanketed the Church into thick darkness. The reason we do it isn’t because of a desire for pugilism or a craving for provocation. On the contrary, we expose deception because of what’s at stake, which is the eternal destiny of the souls of men.