Hebrews 10:30-31

 For we know Him who said, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge His people.”  

It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

     I write this post with profound sadness.  More than anything else, I love being in the company of dedicated and committed Christians; men and women who truly love God and His Word, and seek to honor and glorify Him in this fallen world.  That is becoming more and more difficult as the established Church turns toward compromise and concession with the world, instead of standing for God's Truth and being willing to endure persecution for His sake.

     I have shared with you that my husband and myself are not members of any chartered church, but rather worship and study the Bible as a part of a "home church".  But we also commune with a small number of members of a local church, and we are united with them in our shared faith and commitment to God; often praying together, sharing Bible studies, and engaging in long discussions and examinations of the Word.  We rely on each other and are brothers and sisters in the Faith, even though we are not joined by church membership.

     Now these beloved Christians are faced with a crisis in their church that threatens to tear it asunder.  Without going into all the details, it has been revealed that certain members in the church are involved in an organization that diminishes the exclusivity of salvation through Jesus Christ.  This organization is a secret society that presents itself as a doer of charitable causes, but at the heart of it are secret oaths and worship of a universal, ecumenical deity.  If you call yourself a Christian, this is in direct conflict with your faith.

     And this shows the devious design of the Enemy.  What better way to infiltrate and influence the Church than to deceive self-avowed Christians into believing they are still serving God, while also serving in an organization that allows any god or "supreme being" to be equal to Jesus?  Remember, our Lord told us, “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other."  The Enemy has now subtly and calculatedly wormed his way into the church through these members, and no one is the wiser.  The question then becomes, "What will true and faithful Christians do once that influence is discovered?"  

     As the writer of Hebrews expresses throughout Chapter 10, it is Jesus Christ, and Him alone, that provides our salvation through His sacrifice.  When Christians, through their own fleshly pride, are willing to compromise on this issue, and with a determined will and selfish resolution, despise and reject Christ as the only Savior -- or allow that influence from another member to remain in their Church -- then I have a problem with being associated with them.  That is why the established Church is in such decline today, and I am in fervent prayer for my faithful friends.

     Too many times, the Church has turned a blind eye towards apostasy and abandoned God's principles and commandments in order to find favor in the world.  How have we fallen so far, that to suffer the slings and arrows of a sinful world is too much to bear for our faith?  How is it, that we would rather renounce the gospel's teachings in order to ingratiate ourselves with Babylon?  Does the horrific sacrifice of our Lord for the sake of our eternal salvation mean so little to us?

     Throughout the Bible, God has shown us what happens to those He has called when they choose to give in to their rebellious nature, or ignore that of others.  The judgment may be swift or drawn out, but it is always deliberate.  He will not be mocked!  He says it plainly in these two verses in Hebrews, Chapter 10:  Vengeance is mine.  I will repay!  The Lord will judge His people"  And that last sentence should grip our hearts ... It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of a living God.  God's anger will be felt by a perverse and unfaithful generation.  It happened to the ancient Israelites over and over.  And it can, and will, happen to us, if we do not repent and turn from our rebellion.

     The Church's destruction is self-generated, and it is only delayed because God is retraining His hand of judgment.  God's power to judge should be terrifying to the Christian, yet too many today shrug Him off, relying on His grace and mercy.  But the Bible tells us that His wrath burns hot against the wicked; and that the wicked stand condemned by God's law which is written on the heart, and they are deserving of hell.  Nothing will save them from eternal punishment except a saving faith in Christ.

     Yet Christians and the Church seem to have forgotten this Truth, and perhaps relegate it to a theological doctrine more attuned to Jonathan Edwards' sermon, Sinners In The Hands Of An Angry God.  It is said that his powerful sermon "left people in the pews trembling and weeping".  Oh, how I wish Christians today could be moved to work out their salvation with such fear and trembling.

     And that brings me back to my faithful Christian brothers and sisters, who I pray will receive strength and courage and wisdom from the Holy Spirit as they attempt to root out unGodly influence within their church.  They will most likely be a small remnant within the body of that church; those who truly understand that compromise is not acceptable to a true Christian, nor to a Righteous God.  We must never take the wrath of our holy and infinite God lightly.  At the same time, we must simultaneously remember and embrace the knowledge of how excellent His love is and how terrible His wrath is; the God whose hand of wrath will destroy the wicked is the same God whose hand of mercy will save the repentant.  I pray that repentance and mercy and salvation will come to this little local church, and they will stand as an example of true Faith and commitment to the Lord.