Friday, March 10, 2023
There’s much to be said for true faith, “the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Heb. 11:1). We will either believe God or not. True faith does not create reasons to disbelieve that which is plainly written in God’s Word. It’s that simple. Optimism, however, is “a disposition or tendency to look on the more favorable side of events or conditions and to expect the most favorable outcome”. (Source) The expectation of “the most favorable outcome” according to cultural demands, and not what God said, is largely the motivation that drives many church leaders; for popularity’s sake, for social media “Likes”, and retaining numbers. And, if God’s Word happens to get in the way of favorable cultural demands, well, too bad, that’s just the price many pastors are willing to pay for worldly and cultural acclaim. But Christians, in true faith agree with God’s written truths, and not man’s culture-based points of view. True faith, and not cultural optimism, is a prerequisite to faithfully endure to eternal life. True faith believes God and not what’s optimistically the most popular. In this, we are reminded to “Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ” (Phil. 2:4–5). And to that end, being concerned in faith for many others, I share the timeless truths of God; truths that do not change with cultural demands.
There is no greater faith than by faith believing and preparing in the testimony of God and His Christ. But today, spirits of worldly compromise have been welcomed in the churches by many ministers and leaders unprepared and unfit to handle God’s Word; they fear man more than God; they strive for approval of the culture more than God’s approval; they’re willing to silence God’s truth for the greater sale. But God warned us that in the last days many “have itching ears” and reject truth, 2 Tim. 4:2–5. To embrace the most popular and not what God said is what ancient Israel did. They, like many today, pander to the culture. It will not go well for those who ignore or silence the truth as the wrath of Satan’s Antichrist unfolds across the world. Unprepared, many are about to get crushed under the fourth beast-kingdom of Dan. 2:40 and Dan. 7:7.
One hard truth is this: whether people believe it or not, and whether they discern it or not, rulers of darkness and their violence are flooding upon the earth in unprecedented measure, and it will only to get worse. Understand that governments of this world DO NOT have yours and my best interest in mind, including America’s governments, be they local, state or federal. We have every evidence to disbelieve our government and its media lapdogs, especially after the last three years of what we now know was a China-produced COVID-19 and its malicious cover-ups, its culture of death to society, people and job-killing lockdowns, its deadly mandated vaccines and more.
The lies, deceptions and brutalities of COVID-19 promoted by Dr. Anthony Fauci, his team of deceivers and former President Trump’s roll-out of Operation Warp Speed of deadly untested vaccines, paved the way for many other lies being foisted upon people. Today, our culture and families are being destroyed by the radical Left’s government-indoctrination of BLM, CRT and population-killing LGBTQ+ agendas, its anti-police, pro-violence, and pro-crime attorneys, and much more. We’ve just seen the tip of the proverbial iceberg for what’s yet to come. And for this increasingly existential threat to humanity every Christian must be prepared to endure to the end. Otherwise, the unprepared will be like the five optimistic but foolish virgins of Matt. 25:1–13. This is not being pessimistic, but in true faith having clarity of heart, mind and soul of the truth of God’s Word that has foretold world conditions now existing at the end of this present age.
The Lord wants you to understand yet another hard truth. If churches who teach the unbiblical pre-trib rapture lie, and/or also place women in positions of authority, e.g. pastors, deacons, and teachers in the church which violates God’s Word, then that leadership will also likely feel the liberality to deceitfully teach other world-friendly falsehoods that lead away from truth. And if you remain in a church that has such an open disregard for God’s Word, the burden is yours to protect yourself and others from such a church. God said “Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others” (Phil. 2:4). If your church leadership will not privately and publically uphold God’s Word, but wants to silence those who do, then in the interests of others you have the obligation to expose deceptions, lies, world-friendly and God-dishonoring teachings. And don’t allow friends at church stop you from honoring God. But ask yourself, “Who will I honor, God or my friends?” Jesus said, “He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. [and this includes friends] And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me” (Matt. 10:37–38). And know this: to remain silent, speaks loudly.
Do you fear leaving an organized church that flouts God’s Word? Have you been led to believe that “the church” is that building which was built with tithe money? No, the true Church is any place “where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them” (Matt. 18:20), among people who revere and honor God. And God’s Spirit said to the ancient prophet, “You [God] will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You” (Isa. 26:3), not man. That truth is directed to us and is something that we have complete control over. In light of the coming wrath of Satan’s Antichrist and his demonic horde of end-time beings “as it was in the days of Noah”, we have the promise of God that if we keep our minds stayed on the Lord God and His Christ, then we will remain in perfect peace in the midst of the lawlessness and violence no matter how bad it gets. But we must teach and prepare our own minds to act upon the promise and then we’ll reap the reward of being kept in perfect peace. In true faith, and not human optimism, avail yourself to that life-sustaining promise.
That Jesus Christ came in the flesh, suffered the penalty of death for our sins and rebellions, and that He rose triumphant from the dead is all the proof we need to know and believe that He has made an escape for those “counted worthy to escape all these things [the great Tribulation] that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man” (Luke 21:36). I believe that you want to live life in such a manner as to be “counted worthy to escape all these things” because the things that are coming are lawlessly violent, destructive and tragic. But the pre-trib rapture lie puts all that aside and says “You, believer, have nothing to prepare for, because Christ will snatch you off the earth before the Tribulation even begins”. That, dear reader, is foolishness! The time to prepare is now, not when catastrophe strikes and you wish you had acted faithfully with God’s Word. Why is the Tribulation important? God tells us “Many shall be purified, made white, and refined, [something the organized church teaches little to nothing about] but the wicked shall do wickedly; and none of the wicked shall understand, but the wise shall understand” (Dan. 12:10). Therefore, let us in faith, and not optimism’s “most favorable outcome”, be minded like the five wise virgins of Matt. 25:1–13, and prepare accordingly. True faith in Christ and His Word leaves no regrets, but disregard for God and His Christ’s truths will leave many eternally wanting.
Marlin J. Yoder
