The Great Falling Away
Now Think On This
Steve Martin
“Adonai said to Gid‘on,
“I will use the three hundred men who lapped the water to save you; I will hand
Midyan over to you. Let all these others go back home.”
(Judges 7:7-8 Complete
Jewish Bible)
There is a great falling
away coming from among those who once walked with the Lord. In fact, it has
already started. For decades, it was “popular” to be a Christian. Not so
anymore, especially when one considers the numbers who attend a weekly church
service. Looking around any given Sunday morning gathering, and in most
churches you will see mostly grey hairs; and they are dying off. Sure, there
are those churches that are doing well among the youth, but that is an
exception. We give thanks for them.
After a major crisis
occurs in a nation, the pews do fill back up. But within a few months, or even
weeks, the “Crisis Christians” no longer come around. It is back to normal as
usual. (We may still have the “C & E” group – Christmas and Easter, but
even those numbers are dwindling fast.)
The apostle Paul said
that in the end of days there would be a great falling away. We are living in
those times.
“Now we request you,
brethren, with regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering
together to Him, that you not be quickly shaken from your composure or be
disturbed either by a spirit or a message or a letter as if from us, to the
effect that the day of the Lord has come.
Let no one in any way
deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man
of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts
himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat
in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God.
Do you not remember that
while I was still with you, I was telling you these things? And you know what
restrains him now, so that in his time he will be revealed. For the mystery of
lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains will do so until he
is taken out of the way.
Then that lawless one
will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring
to an end by the appearance of His coming; that is, the one whose coming is in
accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders, and
with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not
receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. For this reason God will send
upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false, in
order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took
pleasure in wickedness.” (2 Thessalonians 2:1-12 NASU)
Lest you become fearful,
and wonder what is going to happen when so many are gone, let me share a little
insight with you. It will inspire you in faith, I believe.
The Lord seems to allow
for the reduction of numbers when He has a job that needs to get done. Unlike
humans, more is not always better. As my good wife Laurie likes to remind me on
certain occasions, “Less is more.” My accounting mind doesn’t always see it
that way, but it is true.
Let’s look at a few
instances in the Word of God, and see how the Lord chooses to accomplish His
purpose, and achieve the final victory.
Take what happened when
the Lord decided to flood the earth. He saved a remnant, Noah’s family of eight
(Noah, his wife, three sons and their wives) and repopulated the earth with those
alone. Looks like that worked.
And what about Gideon’s
army, when it came time to defeat the Mideonites? Gideon took as many warriors
as he had available, starting with 32,000. By the time the Lord had set up a
few tests, the number was finalized at 300. With those remaining, the job got
done. Victory was won.
Yeshua (Jesus) chose only
12 who would walk with Him for a little more than three years. Then He released
them (even knowing one would be replaced by another) into the world. Empowered
by the Holy Spirit, those twelve apostles changed the world.
Jesus also fed the
multitudes, with very little. “All we have with us,” they said, “is five loaves
of bread and two fish.” He said, “Bring them here to me.” After instructing the
crowds to sit down on the grass, he took the five loaves and the two fish and,
looking up toward heaven, made a b’rakhah (Hebrew – i.e. gave thanks). Then he
broke the loaves and gave them to the talmidim (Hebrew – i.e. disciples), who
gave them to the crowds. They all ate as much as they wanted, and they took up
twelve baskets full of the pieces left over. Those eating numbered about five
thousand men, plus women and children.” (Matthew 14:17-21, Complete Jewish
Bible)
The Creator of the
Universe can get the job done with very few.
What about the 144,000
in Revelation of Jesus (Revelation 7:4)? That sure is something to consider.
“I heard the count of
those who were sealed: 144,000! They were sealed out of every Tribe of Israel: 12,000
sealed from Judah, 12,000 from Reuben, 12,000 from Gad, 12,000 from Asher,
12,000 from Naphtali, 12,000 from Manasseh, 12,000 from Simeon, 12,000 from
Levi, 12,000 from Issachar, 12,000 from Zebulun, 12,000 from Joseph, 12,000
sealed from Benjamin.
(Revelations 7:4-8 THE
MESSAGE)
There is a great falling
away that is coming through the Christian ranks. It will remove the lukewarm as
the Lord Himself is going to weed them out. I believe He will then emblaze the
remnant with His Holy Ghost fire, and show the world Who is the King of kings
and Lord of lords. In the process, millions during that time, yet to be saved
for all of eternity, will come into His kingdom, gathered from all the nations.
Are you going to be one
of the few? As the Marine’s would say in their motto, I pray you are.
By His grace you will
keep committed and stay faithful to the end. It is going to be a battle, but He
wins. Stay on His side.
Now think on this,
Steve Martin
Founder
Love For His People.
Inc.
P.S. We sure could use
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Laurie and I will be traveling to Israel to spend time we our friends. We
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not-for-profit USA humanitarian organization started in 2010 to share the love
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Todah rabah! (Hebrew
– Thank you very much.)
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Think On This with your friends.
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Now Think On This #198 “The
Great Falling Away” by Steve Martin
Date: In the year of our
Lord 2015 (10.28.15) Wednesday at 6:15 pm in Charlotte, NC
All previous editions
of Now Think On This can be found on this
Blog, and on the website: Now Think On This
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Thanks! Steve
