So, those consider themselves to a "none" tend to have been the exact same ones who grew up sitting in the pews on a Sunday morning. They are the ones who have heard, but have instead rejected the very God they had grown up hearing about." - Abby Trivett
As Paul Hewson once sang, how can you stand next to the truth and not see it? It is correct to infer that many people who grew up in pews are abandoning the church today. Not God per se, but the church. The reason why is it is the church that is apostate. The world, cannot be apostate. They have nothing to fall away from. These statistics are the end result of decades of false theologies embraced as mainstream, the seeker friendly poison and the purpose driven church teachings. The average time someone spends in a mega church is three years. That's it. Why? Because by then they can do the math and see the hypocrisy. They can see that they can have all of the disco lights, smoke machines, club music and motivational speeches in the world and not have to get up early on a Sunday or give up 10% of their money. This is the thing that escapes NAR dominionists. It is not the people that have fallen away - it is the church. That is what Thessalonians warns us of.
It is about the gospel stupid. A few years back, heretic Andy Stanley began teaching the abandonment of scripture as infallible because he was tired of seeing the kids, he sent off to college coming back as atheists. His moronic conclusion was that the world somehow had facts and our argument was only faith. What Andy failed to understand is that he was not sending off saved kids to college because he never preached the actual gospel to them and according to Romans, only the preaching of the gospel can ever save someone. So, it is not that the kids were becoming atheists, they were already when his church sent them. Friday night pizza parties at your local Andy Stanley heresy house does not save anyone. Today's young generation was raised in the pews somewhere around 2000. That places them in the sweet spot of coming out of the fake televangelist era of Popoff and Swaggart and right into the development of the NAR and the last idol of the church age - dominionism. Are we seriously wondering why they rejected these false teachings? God has a plan, and it is called the gospel. He chose a vehicle for its delivery and that is called the church. The apostate church however is too busy developing cult of personality pastorships, best-selling self-help books, internal conferences to waste our time, fake Christian movies, fake Christian politicians, etc. The modern church in America has not merely turned their face towards Sodom, they are living in it. They are enjoying it. All under the rubric of "influencing culture"; wink wink.
"Which begs the question: is this the start of the great apostasy? Second Thessalonians 2:3-4 is a great reminder of what is guaranteed to come our way. We are guaranteed that there will be many who will fall away from the faith. "Do not let anyone deceive you in any way. For that Day will not come unless a falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or is worshipped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself as God." The day of the Lord's return cannot come unless we first see those who committed themselves to the faith fall away from it.
While there was a mixed opinion about religion's role in society, "43% of 'nones' say religion does more harm than good," according to the Pew Research study. Besides this belief that religion is detrimental to society, "30% say bad experiences they've had with religious people help explain why they are nonreligious." Church hurt has taken its toll and has pushed away people from the body of Christ, and ultimately, from Him altogether." - Abby Trivett
Again, she is so close but refuses to see that the problem is in the mirror. Let's just take the Mike Bickle debacle. Here we have a man who lied to everyone for forty years. Pretended to hear from God to lure a 19-year-old sheep into a four-year sexual affair by telling her God said his wife was going to die anyway. He may have done stuff like this with up to ten women. We now know one of them was the wife of an IHOP Department head, who then also had an affair with his son. He lied to start IHOP, by pretending it was prophetic supported by two other sexual predator false prophets in Bob Jones and Paul Cain. So, what does the world and even those "in the pews" see? Is there a proper distancing from Bickle? Is there a harsh rebuke? No. They see IHOP leadership lie and smear the victims. They see sycophants such as Charisma News talking about restoration of Bickle! That is why they say religion does more harm than good. That is why they are falling away but they are not falling away from the faith, just the apostate church they grew up in! The falling away requires believing faith. You cannot be saved without the gospel. Is this adding up yet? When the church is constantly pointing its accusing finger at society and blaming all the ills of the world on those that refuse to bow the knee is it any wonder they think religion is detrimental to society? The good news is they do not say that about God, just the church. So, yes, the church has pushed away people from God, but the question is what do we do about it? Do we try to pass more Christian laws? Elect more fake Christian politicians? Develop more fake Christian movies? Or do we go back to scripture and try things God's way. Preach the gospel, show the love of Christ. Do not judge those on the outside of the church. Help the least in society. I guarantee you this beloved. When we stand before Jesus Christ, He is not going to be asking about what judges we feel we helped to put on the bench.
"We continue to see the warning that many would leave the faith throughout the New Testament. Jesus warned in Matthew 24:10: "Then many will fall away, and betray one another, and hate one another." First Timothy 4:1 tells us: "Now the Spirit clearly says that in the last times some will depart from the faith and pay attention to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils." As we see the signs clearly written on the wall that a great apostasy is brewing, people leaving and forsaking faith altogether, we know that this is just one of the hardships that must take place before the return of our King. As the hardships increase, as the betrayals to Christ increase, and the world continues to shift further away from righteousness, we can take comfort in knowing that this means our Lord is preparing to come back for His bride." - Abby Trivett
Ahh, we see the old school dominionism sneak back in at the end there. Take heart! This all means Christ is coming back soon! As if that should be a point of celebration when so many remain unsaved. The seducing spirits and doctrines of devils are the various false teachings the apostate church endorses. The prosperity gospel is very seducing because who doesn't want to believe that God wants you rich! The word faith heresy usurps the power of God, which is also very seducing. The doctrine that we need to force unbelievers to behave as we want them to is definitely a doctrine of devils. We see it in worship music as well. We have gone from How Great Thou Art to How Much He Loves Me and you need to see the sharp contrast there. It is not worship to tell God how much He loves you. The world has always been unrighteous. They are not shifting away from anything. It is the church that has shifted away from God by developing purely carnal theologies and trying to pass them off as sound to the lost. Only in the warped mind of the NAR dominionist can one conclude that the unsaved are the ones falling away in Thessalonians. No beloved. The key verse is not talking about the lost. It is the church that is leading the way in the Great Apostasy. NAR theology is what fuels it.
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