7 Reasons I believe christ will return in my lifetime
3. The Great Falling Away (Apostasy)
There is no greater example of Falling Away than the story of Carlton Pearson. I personally at one time supported his ministry, and he was a sound preacher of the Gospel. He spoke of being born again, heaven and hell. He preached of casting out demons and being filled with the Holy Ghost. Now he doesn’t believe in a God who would send anyone to hell. Now he is preaching the Doctrine of Inclusion and Ultimate Reconciliation (Universalism). How then does he reconcile the following scripture?
Revelation 21:8 But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.
His new doctrine says that Christ will ultimately reconcile everything that he created, thus nobody will go to hell. Thats the same thing that the Hindu says. Thats the same thing that new agers say. Thats the same thing that athiest say. They all agree with Carlton Pearson that no one is going to hell -- so what’s the point? If everyone goes to heaven what is the reward for those that made Jesus Christ Lord and lived faithfully for him? If everyone goes to heaven automatically, why are there preachers and churches and missionaries? If everybody automatically goes to heaven what is the punishment for the Satan Worshipper that participates in human sacrifice, spends his life serving Satan, and dies cursing God? I am sure that Bishop Pearson has a perfectly good explanation for all of these questions. But I beleive his false doctrine has a lifestyle agenda behind it (false doctrine always does). I once met a man while I was in college that said to me “I believe everything in the Bible except one thing...I don’t believe that part about its a sin to have sex before marriage.” No wonder he was living with his girlfriend! Most modern-day Church goers try to change God to please themselves, rather than changing themselves to please God. This is usually where all false doctrine comes from. The secular humanist believes there is no God and that we evolved from animals so that he can carry out all of his animalistic lusts and desires without answering to the God that created him. Its like a student not believing in homework, or my child not believing in spankings --its all a self-serving belief. The Doctine of Inclusion is no different. This belief is serving primarily the Homosexual community. No one that is any Biblical knowledge can rationally legitamize homosexuality through scripture. They have tried but there are too many scriptures in the Old and New Testaments that directly address this lifestyle. But if you make heaven the ultimate destination for everyone then you can by-pass all scripture about the judgement of any sin and the homosexual can remain in their lifestyle and still serve God. When you look more closely as Bishop Pearson and his associations and affiliations you will find this to be the case. He is now heavily supported by homosexuals. Pray for Carlton Pearson that he turns back to the truth before it is too late.
Th. 2:3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
There has never been another time in Church history when people have been more confused about Bible doctrine and the truth of scripture than in our generation. I have recently heard popular mainline preachers say, “ I don’t preach doctrine because people argue about doctrine. Well if this is the opinion of most preachers , then “no wonder” the average church member knows little or no doctrine at all. I guess that is why it is so easy for the doctrine of demons to come into the church, because there is no true doctrine being preached or taught.
2Timothy 4:3-4
For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine;
but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having
itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall
beturned unto fables.
People don’t want the truth they want what this scripture calls fables. You remember fables as a little child the Goldie Locks, the three little pigs. These were basically tales about some truth, like always obey your parents, or never tell a lie. We knew that pigs and wolves didn’t really talk but they were stories about “a truth”. So it is safe to say that a fable is a “lie about the truth!” Many preachers have reduced the word of God to stories, fantasies, and tall-tales about a truth found in the Bible but never deal with THE TRUTH of the Bible. Whenever a preacher tells a congregation of 3000 members to “hi-five your neighbor and tell them God is bringing you out in 24 hours!” This is a fable about the truth. God could truly bring them out. But many times you end up hi-fiving a neighbor that is living in sin or is not even saved. In those cases God isn’t going to do anything for them unless they repent. But people would much rather hear this than “ hi-five your neighbor and tell them repent!”
If a preacher stands-up in a mainstream church and says homosexuality is a sin according to the Bible, he will be labeled an extremist, or a radical. To preach or mention sin, hell, the rapture, end times, wrath of God, judgment, escaping damnation, is also seen as taboo. Eventually it will be seen as criminal to preach the truth. (Some have already been arrested) The main-stream church has literally fell away from the truth. Most churches have become result-centered rather than Christ-centered. The common philosophy is whatever gets the job done. If playing secular hip-hop will cause crowds of young people to flock to your building then don’t worry about the “holier than thou” saints who say its wrong, just do it. There is actually a preacher (Jamal Bryant) that aired his sermon called “F-U” on Easter Sunday. This title obviously tries to put a spin on the “f” word. He said “F-U” means forgive you. Why not just go ahead and add the k and say it means “Forgiving Us Kindly.”
The average church-goer doesn’t know 3 scriptures that they could adequately explain. They know a lot about what their “Bishop” said but very little about what Jesus said. I have found that most folks in organized churches aren’t even saved. The priority of most Pastors is definitely not evangelism or discipleship, its only proselytizing: getting people to join their church their fellowship, church, and/or organization. You can also find a number of Clergy that disagree on the essential doctrines of the Christian faith. Such as:
a.The virgin birth
b.The bodily resurrection
c.The atonement
d.The rapture
e.Judgment
They are so-called Gospel Preachers who actually DO NOT BELIEVE that Jesus rose from the dead. Then what is the Gospel (good news)? There are very popular national Pastors that deny that Jesus is the only way to God. (Click Here to Listen to epis. 1)
There are basically 5 messages that are deemed acceptable today:
1.miracle
2.breakthrough
3.favor
4.season
5.prosperity
If you go to most conferences the main speakers will only speak on these five subjects. When you see preachers on TBN they usually only speak on these subjects. There is nothing wrong with any one of these subjects within itself. These are all principles found in scripture. Yet in a world full of darkness and a confused church, there is more to be preached than these subjects. We are living in the most wicked times ever known to man, but most pastors don’t deal with repentance or contriteness of heart which God requires of every man. If repentance is mentioned it is only mentioned in relationship to the top five subject. For instance, “You need to repent from letting other people stop you from walking in your season.” Its almost like me going to the emergency room with a near-fatal bullet wound, and the doctor doing feet surgery to remove a corn on my big-toe. Ok, I may eventually want my feet fixed but if someone doesn’t perform surgery on my bullet wound, I will probably die in a few hours.
Most black Christians don’t believe in the rapture.
We have to be very careful how we allow certain popularized statements to seep into the church. If the statement is not based on the word of God it could very well change an entire doctrine. One such statement was propagated by the ethno-centric Black Power movement. Because most black churches are almost exclusively members of the NAACP and the Democratic party this statement made it into the black church. The statement goes like this. “They tried to make us focus on some Pie In The Sky, we want some of their pie right now.” African-American Christians were known for their rich faith in the after-life and the Coming of Christ. But through social activism and economic empowerment blacks were made to feel stupid and duped by the white man’s religion if they looked to the after life with hope. We were told that we’d better focus more on getting ahead of the white folks down here on earth than worrying about the after-life and the rapture. Much of this propaganda was initiated by the Nation of Islam, but the Black Christians swallowed it “hook line and sinker.” Did you not know that the rapture is called the Blessed hope in the bible?
Titus 2:13 Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;
It is the one thing that God told the Church to hope for, yet this is the doctrine that gets the greatest criticism among fellow black churches.
(Read this article Will The Anti-Christ Be A Black Man?)
