Dear Christians, the lines are being drawn. The goats are threatening the sheep (Matthew 25:31-46), the stony-soil Christians are falling away (Matthew 13:20-21), and the weeds in our churches are trying to prevent the growth of biblical faith (Matthew 13:24-30).
It breaks my heart to see some of my friends and family members “coming out.” I’m not talking about coming out as LGBTQ (although that has been part of it for some of them). I’m talking about “coming out” of biblical faith (1 John 2:19).
In Psalm 55:12-14 the psalmist expresses the sorrow many of us feel as former church members reject and mock us for holding biblical views on salvation, abortion, and sexuality.
Now more than ever, genuine believers must refuse to cower on the sidelines. We must “be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power,” putting “on the full armor of God, so that [we] can take [our] stand against the devil’s schemes” (Ephesians 6:10-18).
For centuries our persecuted brothers and sisters in Christ have given up their lives and livelihoods to stand with God. So far, all we are being asked to do is give up our popularity.
Are we willing to do that for our Lord who gave up His life for us?
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For more encouragement to stand firm see:
And check out Bible Love Notes' complete Standing Firm Collection of 1-minute devotions.
Once again your post is so relevant and important.. Our little country church has always been a rebel in the world of the United Methodist church. Our minister is a Bible believing, all scripture is God inspired, preacher that has been at our church for 15 years. That is a very unusually long time for a Methodist church. He has not been promoted because of his beliefs and we love that we have been able to keep him. We voted 2 weeks ago to leave the UMC, we cannot stay any longer. Even though the conservative churches have not perverted the doctrine made in 1968 when the churches joined to form the UMC, we have to pay to get out and they (liberals, for want of a better word) get to dictate the terms and cost. I know many other denominations are suffering when some people with power decide that the church must accept worldly norms. Christians must stand firm in their faith, even though they may suffer persecution. I almost forgot, our dear pastor is going to leave the UMC also, our plan is that he will stay with us. He is not an older man close to retirement so this is a worldly sacrifice.
ReplyDeleteMartha,
DeleteThank you so much for sharing this story of standing firm. As a fellow believer, I'm proud to have your church in my "family." Like many other liberal denominations, the Methodist church had a proud, Bibilcal foundation and some wonderful examples such as Wesley and Asbury. In one of our moves about 10 years ago, we attended a conservative Bible-believing Methodist church for a while, so I'm a little bit aware of the struggle that has gone on in your denomination. May God bless you for standing firm.