falling away

But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, 2 by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron
1 Tim 4:1-2 (NASB)

i know it has been a while since i posted, so i thought that i would spend some time and comment on the latest goings-on in our great u.s. of a. as a Christian, i have often wondered about what paul said in 1 Tim. 4:1-2 (see above) about many falling away from the faith. many times, i find myself with a bit of arrogance like peter, saying i would never fall away. moreover, it completely perplexes me how anyone could follow the beast that is mentioned in Revelation. however, in light of the recent election, it has become more apparent to me of the superficiality of many professing Christians.

when we read the Bible, we can see throughout time how God's children always seem to turn their back on Him and follow other gods whenever things did not seem to be going their way. we can see it in the wilderness with the israelites making the golden calf. we can see it when the israelites were exiled to babylon and many of them bowing down to baal or to nebuchadnezzar. in Jesus' time, we see His own disciples fleeing at His arrest. it seems the Bible is full of people running when things get tough. why should today be any different?

in the recent election, we saw americans come out to cast their votes for their candidate. i realized by talking to many professing Christians how easy it is for those who say that they love Christ to "fall away". the choice between the two main candidates seemed to be an easy one for those who professed to believe God's Word. one candidate was in opposition to the widespread slaughtering of innocent babies through the means of abortion, and one candidate was not only in favor of abortion, but also the reprehensible practice of partial birth abortion as well as letting a baby who survived an abortion die in the delivery room by denying him/her care. one candidate was in favor of limiting marriage to be between one man and one woman, another candidate not only favored taking away states' rights to make their own legislation concerning marriage definitions, but also favored federal legislation legalizing gay marriage as well as a new hate speech law making it illegal to say anything negative about homosexuality. while these two items by themselves should be enough for any Christian to make a well-informed, biblical decision, thousands upon thousands of professing Bible-believing Christians voted for the pro-abortion, pro-homosexuality candidate.

why would they do this? two main reasons can be noted. one, was his skin color. a large majority of the black vote went to obama simply because he was black. while it is also true that a lot of white voters did NOT vote for him because he was black, who is to say which form or racism is worst? the second reason, as many have noted, was the condition of the economy. they looked to obama to rescue them from their financial woes as some sort of pseudo-financial savior. excuse me, ladies and gentlemen, but since when do we look to the government for our provision and for our financial stability? i thought God was our supply. i thought that the Bible said that our GOD shall supply all our needs? could this mean that those that voted for obama to fix the economy are looking to him to supply their needs?

this nails home one of the biggest reasons that those in Revelation will support the beast: he will hit them where their hearts are, their pocketbooks. it says very clearly that no man may buy or sell unless he receives the mark of the beast. this is why many will fall away. their precious money will be gone. it rings true, the love of money is the root of all evil. for money, many threw away any sense of loyalty to biblical teaching. please do not get me wrong. i am not saying that obama is the anti-Christ, as many have been. i say that the recent events are evidence supporting that the events in Revelation and 1 Timothy could actually happen.

so what are we as Christians to do? my pastor said it best the sunday before the election. we are to pray for our new president, and we are to yield to his authority as being given by God. the israelites wanted a king, even though they were warned what it would be like, so God gave them saul. maybe He has given america obama, because they thought that was what they wanted. when the apostle paul wrote about supporting the government, nero was caesar of the roman empire. this same nero was responsible for the widespread torture, persecution, and torture of Christians during that time. yet paul was saying that he was to be supported! if that was the case then, it is surely the case now, no matter whether we agree with our new leader or not. God knows the heart, and God can change the heart. so we must pray. we must lift our new president up on a daily basis to make decisions based on what God wants. finally, obama will answer to God one day for his sins, as we know from james that those who lead are held to a stricter judgment. at the same time, we will give an account to God on our obedience to His Word as well. "choose this day america, whom you will serve. as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord!"

and thus ends my diatribe on the election.