For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away! - 2Timothy 3:2-5
As has been stated many times before, the NAR dominionist theology represents quite possibly, the last idol of the church age. This virus is spreading throughout the body of Christ and the apostate church is now the primary faux-Christian entity in the world. It is an unholy marriage of faith and politics designed to keep and retain wealth and power. They worship this country for the sin and excess it allows, while pay the necessary lip service to Christ for the veneer of piety. Take a good look at the key verses today where God is describing the human condition as the end times approach. The apostate church has always used this to describe the world but God is actually speaking about what passes for the church. Let's be honest, these human conditions were always in the world but the church was supposed to be set apart. With the advent of the seeker friendly pursuit of relevance with the world and the purpose driven heresies, a perfect storm has now moved what people think is the church in this country into bed with the world.
Lovers of themselves? That is nearly a textbook description of the modern church in America. Everything in the Charismatic church is about "look at me." From people randomly shouting out false tongues or fake prophecies, to flagging, to self-absorbed "worship" music telling God how much He loves us to sermonettes about self-help and how wonderful we are. The gospel of me is the apostate church. Rick Warren once advised pastors that if they wanted their Easter visitors to come back the following week they should not preach the gospel. I kid you not. He suggested starting a sermon series on a felt need the people had such as how to be more significant in their communities. His book The Purpose Driven Life starts with the line - it's not about you - and then proceeds for the remainder of the book to teach that is all about you. God wants you rich. God wants you successful. God has a glorious plan for you that He designed before the foundations of the earth. Me, me, me.
Lovers of money? This one is almost too easy. From prosperity pimps merchandising the sheep to million-dollar book deals, cult of personality pastors to the bless me theology that is dominant in churches today. Our prayers are rarely about what God has done but about what we are demanding He do moving forward. The modern church is like a petulant child stamping its feet while demanding their inheritance, which is an actual worship song. Most of the top ten richest pastors many in excess of 50 million dollars in net worth, preach in the poorest continent of Africa. Kenneth Copeland claims to be a billionaire as he flies around on a private jet to spread his heresy. Tithe if you want blessings! Don't have a spirit of poverty now! Make no mistake beloved, the apostate church industrial complex is a billion-dollar enterprise.
Boasters? Proud? Just read Charisma news any day and all you will see is people full of themselves. We are very much like the publican in the old parable. Jesus taught us to not do our good deeds to be seen by men for then we have already received our reward. Local churches are constantly posting pictures of themselves helping the poor. Very impressive. Seriously, this nothing more than bragging about your perceived deeds of righteousness. Elevation Church is renowned for placing employees and ministry workers into their crowds to raise their hands for altar calls or calls for spontaneous baptism to better induce those in the crowd to do the same. Then Steven Furtick brags about how many salvations or baptisms Elevation does. How many times have we heard that false preachers abroad saved hundreds of thousands of people? Please. Boasters and proud? Many mega churches hire marketing staff!
Blasphemers? All of these sermons that preach false christs and gospels are blasphemous. Benny Hinn waves his magical suit coat and the people crumble to the ground and we think it is funny? No, it's blasphemy. All the people now defending Mike Bickle after he has been credibly accused of multiple cases of spiritual and sexual abuse spanning four decades? Brings reproach on the gospel and is blasphemous. Jesus is my wing man? Blasphemous. God must always heal you? Blasphemous. Gemstones, gold dust, glory clouds, angel feathers - all false manifestations of the Holy Spirit, who is God, therefore - blasphemous! We have so coarsened ourselves we fail to see blasphemy all around us, sometimes out of fear for sounding too alarmist. When Joel Osteen lies about what God has said and tells you that you have His powers, that is blasphemy. When Joseph Prince tells you to not worry about God's law? That is blasphemy. When Bill Johnson opens his mouth? That is blasphemy. When Kris Vallotton tries to sell God to you? That is blasphemy.
Unthankful, unholy, unforgiving? Just take the Bickle scandal. The former leaders tried to bring this to him for resolution but he was not only unthankful but he refused to meet with them. The allegations include one where as a 42-year-old married man, Bickle pretended to have a prophetic word from God to lure a 19-year-old congregant into bed. I would say that was less than holy from a preacher of holiness. Unforgiving? The investigation bore out that Bickle tried to spiritually manipulate and target his victims to discredit them. Ravi Zacharias was known for his holiness preaching as well. We just did not know that at the same time he was orchestrating an international supply of sex workers and sex masseuses. One which he groomed from America, leveraging her dire financial need, spiritually blackmailed her into silence saying she would be responsible for millions never becoming saved if she ever told on him. Ted Haggard used to rail against homosexuality every single week from the pulpit of his 14,000 member Colorado church. He was also the head of the National Association of Evangelicals. Oh, and he was engaged in a 20 year paid relationship with a male prostitute, who he liked to do crystal meth with. Good thing he was caught so he could no longer preach"oh wait that's right, he just opened another church in Colorado and is still preaching today.
