April 14
Why People Fail To Endure
Why the faith of certain Christians seems to flame out is a troubling issue. Most
Christian leaders prefer to shy away from this subject. When you have thousands
of people leaving the church each week, it's important to know why these folks are
dropping off the radar.
Charles Haddon Spurgeon wrote a wonderful article on endurance. He has a remarkable
way of getting right to the heart of the matter. Even though he wrote his commentary
over a hundred years ago, his words seem particularly timely for our day.
"Moreover, the common-sense judgment of mankind tells us, that those who merely
begin and do not hold out, will not be saved. Why, if every man would be saved who
began to follow Christ, who would be damned? In such a country as this, the most of
men have at least one religious spasm in their lives. I suppose that there is not a
person before me, who at some time or other did not determine to be a pilgrim."
In my 20 years of ministry, I've witnessed numerous examples of people who have had
a temporary "religious spasm." I've had people contact me asking that I remove their
testimony of faith from our site because they no longer believe in the God they once praised. I've even had someone who helped with the site for many years
confess of being uncommitted to the Christian faith.
I had one guy who wrote an article about the evils of the homosexual lifestyle. I
had to pull it when someone informed me that my ex-gay writer was back in the
clubs, making a mockery of his declaration.
A good reason so many people fail to endure in the faith is possibly that they
weren't attached to the faith in the first place. They are like pieces of coral that only
appear to be anchored to the reef. When a storm comes, they are
easily washed away by the waves.
I couldn't count how many times I've heard about some musician, comedian, or porn
star who at one time studied to be a minister. Their bios always read like
they nearly made some horrible mistake.
Jesus warned that anyone seeking to be His disciple needs to understand it's not a
decision one can make lightly. Without a good blueprint, our pledge of commitment
will only end in shame. "For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not
down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it? Lest
haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish [it], all that
behold it begin to mock him, Saying, This man began to build, and was not able to
finish" (Luke 14:28-30).
When I was at the Tulsa prophecy conference, I did a web radio interview with Ray
Gano of Prophezine. Both our sites date back to the earlier days of the net. We
talked about the fact that over 90 percent of the prophecy sites that started
with us no longer exist.
Much of RR's success stems from the simple fact that the sites that competed with us have
dropped out of the race. I remember one man who made this final post on his site: "I only opened this website to try to get a book deal. Now that this doesn't look
possible, I'm closing down my site."
We live in time when it costs us nothing to be a believer. The lack of persecution leads millions to think they are saved when really they are not. It's like having a smoke alarm with a dead battery. If you fail to test your faith, you donʼt discover your error until itʼs tragically too late.
The only reliable way I found for us to test whether we are truly followers of Jesus Christ is
to take account of what we are doing for the kingdom of God. The worst of sinners can claim
to be a righteous person saved by grace, but I rarely see one acting in a constructive way to advance
the gospel.
Spurgeon made another statement equally as blunt as the one I
quoted earlier. He said, "Several Church fathers have offered strong opinions of
Christians who are not active in spreading the good news: Have you no wish for others to be saved? Then you are not
saved yourself. Be sure of that."
If you found a great restaurant in town that served good food, your natural impulse
would be to tell all your friends about it. The same would apply if you saw
a good movie. If you, on the other hand, have no desire to share your faith with
your same close friend, there obviously is a problem.
Anyone longing to act on the spiritual urge to contribute to the gospel message
can likely find some outlet here at Rapture Ready. This site has received some form
of input from hundreds of people. Because we must all account for our lives, I
challenge you to find some way to share the good news.
-- Todd
Flood of Violence Unmistakable Indicator
We shake our heads and respond with expressions of disbelief. News stories flood our senses daily. The facts unfold, and we are incredulous; these things just can’t be happening in modern civilization.
But they are happening, and with increasing frequency and intensity. We are living daily the prophecy of the Lord Jesus Christ, who said: “And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man” (Luke 17:26). We will consider one aspect of this prophecy in particular. Genesis, chapter 6 (Noah’s day) gives us this prophetic signal Jesus foretold will be prevalent when He returns at the time of the rapture, and, for that matter, at the time of His second advent:
The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth. And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth (Genesis 6:11-13).
Violence is the ingredient within this volatile generation of earth-dwellers that begs close examination. It is a level of ferocity that we cannot understand–that amazes us every time we hear about it and witness its aftermath. It doesn’t take much of an effort in searching our news to find examples of the kind of end-of-days violence about which Jesus prophesied.
POLK COUNTY, Fla. -- Video was released late Monday afternoon showing a brutal beating at the hands of a gang of teenage girls. Their motivation for the attack was allegedly so they could post the video on YouTube and MySpace.
The victim reported the attack after she was beaten so badly she had to be treated at the hospital. That's when the sheriff's office started looking into
it and learned about the video.
The sheriff calls it shocking, saying he's never seen anything like it. It was a vicious attack all captured on home video inside a Polk County home… (NER- Cheerleader Attack, From: zoegirlTX, Date: 4/8/2008 at 7:28 AM, Video: http://www.wftv.com/video/15817645/index.HTML).
The shocking part of these increasingly sociopathic acts of violence is that they are occurring regularly. Those involved seem without understanding that the violence is anything other than entertainment. It is as if, one can make the argument, these young people can’t discern between the violent video games they play and the reality in which they commit their beastly acts.
Children, apparently without a sense of consequences for animal-like conduct, are at the forefront of the violence of this generation.
March 21, 2008--Sarah Kreager had picked up her prescription anti-depressant and boarded the No. 27 bus in Hampden that would take her and her boyfriend downtown to a methadone clinic.
She had eaten lunch at a soup kitchen that day. Her three children were living with foster parents. She was homeless. By the time she got on the bus, she said she was already on her "last option," that a string of setbacks had formed "a black cloud" over her.
But what happened next thrust her personal pain into the public consciousness. She was beaten by a crowd of eighth-graders from nearby Robert Poole Middle School after a dispute over a seat on the crowded bus. She wanted to sit down; a student said the spot had been saved. Some black students said Kreager uttered a racial slur, disputed by both Kreager and the black bus driver.
In a fight described by witnesses as a riot, students jumped on Kreager and her boyfriend, Troy Ennis. The brawl spilled from the bus and ended in a gutter on 33rd Street, with students piling on top of the young woman and kicking her until a neighbor rushed to her rescue… (After beating on bus, victim rebuilding life, Woman has to find a home, hopes to reunite with children, By Melissa Harris, Sun reporter, March 21, 2008, baltimoresun.com).
Society at its most tender age levels is unraveling while violence manifests itself in troubling ways.
Two children are facing felony charges, for allegedly attacking a young girl. The brutal attack happened at a school playground…
A 10 and an 11-year-old girl are being held in a juvenile detention center, [and are] facing some serious charges for the cruel attack.
10 year old Rikki Triana is recovering from the assault, at Hamot Medical Center. She suffered a broken hip, and is undergoing physical therapy.
Last Thursday, Rikki was attacked by the 2 girls, while she was playing at the Pfeiffer Burleigh playground. One of the girls stomped on her, and broke her hip…
Police say when it came to charging the girls, their young ages were disturbing, but there was no question that the assault needed to be dealt with…
'This isn't a case of sticks and stones. These two girls here seriously injured this girl. It wasn't a one or two strike thing, it was continuous, and that's
something that really concerns us,’ said Lt. Dan Spizarny (ErieATHome.com, (Erie, PA) Children Facing Felony Charges for Brutal Attack on Young Girl).
Violence is always with mankind. This is a primary side effect of man’s fall in the Garden of Eden. We are as a race–the human race--full of war in our hearts. We can talk about the world being filled with the violence of terror, against which we are at war. We know of genocidal atrocities throughout the ages. But, it is inexplicable violence at the most primary level of the human condition that troubles most. It is as if the very life-stream of humanity has become so contaminated that we stand poised on the brink of being like the generation Jesus described: “And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth” (Gen. 6:12).
Violence is abroad, and right here in our hometown streets. It is a major indicator of where this generation stands on God’s prophetic timeline.
--Terry
