37 For yet in a very little while,
He who is coming will come, and will not delay.
38 But My righteous one shall live by faith;
And if he shrinks back, My soul has no pleasure in him.
39 But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul. Hebrews 10:37-39 (NASB)
Nearly every day I receive contact from a dear soul or a couple or a family who have ‘lost their church.’ They were part of a vibrant, obedient, Bible preaching church then something changed. The leadership changed for some reason and there was some sort of hostile takeover by those who are consumed by Rick Warren’s ungodly Purpose Driven deception….
Gone are in-depth Bible studies. Gone are expository sermons. Gone is ministry to the Body of Christ. Instead, the whole “enterprise” is all wrapped up in ministering to the “unchurched.” It becomes church for the world. Some of the contact I have received is couched in deep, hot anger or raw hurt. These people feel betrayed. What happens in most cases is that in certain areas, these take-overs wipe out all good churches there and leave nowhere for these people to go to be fed or to minister.
We should view this as tragic. We should view this as part of the cause of judgment being heaped up on these evil men who are culpable in this. However, we should also understand that God does allow the spirit of the Antichrist to attack His Church for His own purposes. The cost of following Jesus is high no matter what false teachers like Joel Osteen say. As true disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ, our role in the Kingdom is to obey Him, to be where He wants us to be, to be doing what He wants us to do.