Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils. 1 Timothy 4:1
In 2 Chronicles 25, we read the interesting but tragic account of King Amaziah of Judah. At the start of his 29 year reign, Amaziah is said to have done that which was right in the sight of the Lord, but not with a perfect heart. He had been taught the truth by his good father Joash, and he for a time followed his father’s footsteps. But his heart was not in it. Because his was just a shallow religion that had no real conviction, he eventually abandoned it, and began to worship the gods of Edom. His idolatry eventually led to his being murdered by his own people. The sad commentary on Amaziah’s life is found in verse 27 of that chapter: ‘Amaziah did turn away from following the Lord’. The same sad commentary can be written over many of those today who claim to have been following the Lord, those who have, according to today’s text, departed from the faith.
Professing Christendom is not what it used to be. Many of the mainline denominations used to have a respect for the Word of God and exhibited a reverence for God. Most of that has disappeared in a great push into modernistic theology and practices. Even many of the so-called evangelical denominations have adopted a watered-down version of the Gospel that places little emphasis on repentance from sin and places more emphasis on little rituals and formulas than on faith in Christ. The so-called prosperity gospel has become very popular, offering plenty that appeals to the flesh but nothing that prepares for eternity. There is no doubt that Christendom has experienced a wholesale departing from the faith and a turning to seducing spirits and the doctrines of devils.
The late US president Jimmy Carter at one point announced his withdrawal from the Southern Baptist organization, saying he could no longer support the way in which that denomination repressed women. Carter went on to say that all great religious teachers have endorsed the liberation of women, and he listed those teachers, including among them Mohammed. Carter had become willfully ignorant of the fact that Mohammed’s teaching has done more to repress, subjugate, and demean women than everything else in the entire history of mankind. Hundreds of millions of women are little more than slaves today under that evil system. But Carter was not alone in this willful blindness to these great evils. Even some of the Christians who we know are speaking in an accepting way of the teachings of Islam, giving heed to seducing spirits and the doctrines of devils. It must be clear that the religion of Islam is based on a god who bears no resemblance to the God Who has revealed Himself in His Word. Their claim to worship the same God as us is false. And losing sight of that will cause us to depart from the faith.
These are the latter times spoken of in our text. Let us not be among those of whom it is said they departed from the faith. – Jim MacIntosh