May 17, 2023: 2 Peter 3:17 - Beware Lest You Also Fall

“You therefore, beloved, since you know this beforehand, beware lest you also fall from your own steadfastness, being led away with the error of the wicked…” - 2 Peter 3:17

God’s warnings to us are all throughout the Bible. He warns the wicked to turn from their ungodly ways and to turn to Him. He warns those who profess to be saved by Jesus Christ to be watchful and to be able to discern truth from lies, for deceivers will run rampant in the last days before Jesus’ return. He warns those who are saved in Him to remain steadfast and to know that any delay in His coming is only to provide more time for sinners to turn to Him. We are to be assured that He will come and should not give any second thought to the words of mockers and scoffers in the last days.

Our world today is on fire, with chaos and crises rising to a level never seen before on a worldwide scale. We are seeing human depravity increasing at a rapid pace and that aligns perfectly as Paul the apostle wrote about in Romans 1:18-32. We are seeing people who are lovers of themselves and not lovers of God as Paul wrote about in 2 Timothy 3:1-9. We read about things happening in so-called churches that are blaspheming God, as their congregations clap and praise in their deceived approval. And yet, where are the pastors who are preaching and teaching about the end times and what the Bible tells us the world will look like in the days before Jesus’ second coming? Why are such a small number of pastors preaching and teaching about this, especially here in America? Sadly, I believe the answer is because most have sold out to the lies of the devil, Satan. The message of the Bible is truth, and most people don’t want to hear the truth. Rather, they want to hear that all roads lead to heaven. Per a November 23, 2021 article from Pew Research Center that conducted a poll of US adults (see: https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2021/11/23/few-americans-blame-god-or-say-faith-has-been-shaken-amid-pandemic-other-tragedies/):

“Christians who believe that many religions can lead to eternal life in heaven were asked whether they believe that this privilege is reserved only for members of other Christian religions, or that some non-Christian religions can also lead to eternal life in heaven. Among all Christians, a majority (58%) say that many religions can lead to eternal life in heaven, and within this group, the prevailing view is that members of some non-Christian religions are able to attain eternal life in heaven (43% of all Christians express this view). Just 13% of U.S. Christians say that many religions can lead to eternal life in heaven, but that only Christian religions qualify.”

If anyone has ever read the Bible for themselves, they will know that beyond a shadow of doubt, you must believe in Jesus as your Savior, meaning you put your trust in Him to be saved from all your sins, in order to be allowed entry into heaven, His kingdom. Jesus Himself told His disciples:

“Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” (John 14:6)

Jesus’ statement above eliminates all other ways to heaven; there is no way to it except through Him. Further, Jesus said:

“Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leaves to life, and there are few who find it.” (Jesus Christ; Matthew 7:13-14)

“Then Jesus said to them again, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who ever came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life and that they may have it more abundantly.’” (John 10:7-10)

As Jesus said above, the thief - Satan - “does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy.” Satan will tell lie upon lie in order to deceive people by appealing to their desire to cling to their sin and not to cling to Jesus. Satan makes us feel good about our sin, telling us we were born that way, and in a literal sense, he is correct because we are ALL born with sin but that does NOT mean we must stay in our sin. We ALL sin, and as our society becomes more and more depraved, it has approved of certain sins, putting them on full display, especially in the entertainment and media industries. Why? Because the great deceiver wants us to think it’s okay to sin and that we should hate the God who created us because He just wants to oppress us. Satan wraps us in everlasting chains of bondage to him, never to be broken. Only Jesus can break those chains of sin:

“Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin. And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever. Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.” (Jesus Christ; John 8:34-36)

We are in a spiritual war for our souls. When a soldier goes to war, he is prepared for it, he trains for it, well in advance. He is taught certain things so that when he is on the battlefield, he doesn’t have to think about what he does; rather, he automatically does it. The same is true for a believer in Christ. We have given our souls to Jesus Christ because we have chosen to believe, to trust in Him, as the Redeemer of all our sins, for our salvation. Because we have trusted in Jesus, the enemy Satan wants to do everything he can to steal our soul, and he will do it in very tempting ways. One of the most deceptive ways he will do this is by planting false teachers and false apostles in churches that preach a twisted and distorted gospel, as Satan lures people back in to the snare of sin. I believe this has been happening with greater frequency in the last 20 years or so, particularly with the “seeker friendly” movement in which churches focused not on bringing the truth of God to people but to expand the size of their congregations, thereby increasing their revenue. They turned from preaching what people needed to hear to what people wanted to hear. The apostle Paul wrote about this:

“I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.” (2 Timothy 4:1-5)

We are absolutely, beyond the shadow of a doubt, at the times in which Paul wrote. As I sit here, writing this devotional, this headline popped up on my phone: “Alarming number of Americans are ditching their faith in Christ.” It is an article from endtimeheadlines.org that cites a Public Religion Research Institute poll whose results are posted on Axios.com. (See: https://endtimeheadlines.org/2023/05/alarming-number-of-americans-are-ditching-their-faith-in-christ/ and https://www.axios.com/2023/05/16/rising-number-americans-switch-religions).

“According to Axios, The jump in religion-switching comes as many Americans say they no longer believe in their initial religion’s teachings — or, in many cases, disagree with a religion’s stance against LGBTQ+ people. More Americans also are turning away from Christianity and are seeing themselves as unaffiliated with any religion or as religious “nones,” even as some conservative Republicans seek to inject more religion into schools and public life.”

More and more people who once professed to be Christians are turning away from their faith. The Bible warns us repeatedly to be grounded in God’s word, to be on guard against the lies of deceivers and to be able to recognize them as lies and not as of truth. However, if we do not read God’s word for ourselves, we will not be able to discern lies from truth and we are in danger of being led astray by false teachers and false pastors that have infiltrated the churches. Peter and Paul, two apostles of Jesus Christ, warned us of this, and so did the apostle John. Let us heed their warnings and plant ourselves firmly in the word of God, putting on His whole armor that we may be able stand against the wiles/schemes of the devil, and continue to abide in our Lord Jesus Christ:

”Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world - the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life - is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.

“Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us. But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things. I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and that no lie is of the truth. Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son. Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also.

“Therefore let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father. And this is the promise that He has promised us - eternal life. These things I have written to you concerning those who try to deceive you. But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him.

“And now little children, abide in Him, that when He appears, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming. If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness is born of Him. (1 John 2:15-29) ✝️