APOSTATE OR REFORMER?
Memorise: Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down
your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them
which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth. – James 5:4
Read: 1 Kings 18:41-46 (KJV)
41 And Elijah said unto Ahab, Get thee up, eat and drink; for there is a
sound of abundance of rain.
42 So Ahab went up to eat and to drink. And Elijah went up to the top of
Carmel; and he cast himself down upon the earth, and put his face between his
knees,
43 And said to his servant, Go up now, look toward the sea. And he went
up, and looked, and said, There is nothing. And he said, Go again seven times.
44 And it came to pass at the seventh time, that he said, Behold, there
ariseth a little cloud out of the sea, like a man's hand. And he said, Go up,
say unto Ahab, Prepare thy chariot, and get thee down, that the rain stop thee
not.
45 And it came to pass in the meanwhile, that the heaven was black with
clouds and wind, and there was a great rain. And Ahab rode, and went to
Jezreel.
46 And the hand of the LORD was on Elijah; and he girded up his loins,
and ran before Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel.
Bible in One Year: Luke
14:25-17:10; Job 27:1-12
Apostasy in Christendom refers to religious rebellion. It is the withdrawal of
loyalty or a breaking away from the leadership or authority of God. An apostate
is a practicing Christian that once pledge allegiance to God and the Bible
doctrines, then afterwards turned back to live contrary to his avowed belief
and declaration of faith. On the other hand, a reformer refers to a person that
is making efforts to bring back those that strayed from godly commitments, to
the proper form of Christian life. A reformer would do everything possible to
instruct apostates, Christians and unbelievers, in the complete renewal of
biblical structures of Christianity.
Apostasy occurred in several places in the Bible, and each occurrence reveals
God’s displeasure and terrible anger against apostates and anyone that incites
the people to rebel against Him. I have frequently shared stories of several
individuals who came to accept Jesus at the peak of their troubles when their
situations were hopeless, and later decided to abandon God after they had
received divine solutions to their problems through Jesus. Some years ago, when
we tried to follow-up on one of such people, he said that a hospitalised fellow
is usually allowed to go home after a successful medical treatment. He viewed
the Church as a hospital and though he didn’t have any business with God
whatsoever after being healed. The end of such ungrateful and rebellious people
is always worse than their beginning. I pray that you will not be overcome by
the spirit of apostasy in Jesus’ name. Hebrew 6:4-6 says:
“4 For it is impossible for those who were once
enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of
the Holy Ghost, 5 And have tasted the good word of God, and the
powers of the world to come, 6 If they shall fall away, to renew them again
unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and
put him to an open shame.”
It is important to note that apostasy is not a casual sin but a voluntary
rejection of God’s will. It is a conscious departure from the Fatherhood of
God, and a deliberate walk away from Jesus Christ and everything He stands for.
This is the reason why the above Bible passage presents apostasy as a terrible
error that is virtually impossible to remediate. May the Lord deliver anyone
that is in any form of backsliding today in Jesus’ name.
On the other hand, the main assignment of a reformer is to call the Church of
God and His people into genuine repentance and a careful reconciliation between
contemporary Christian practice and Bible doctrines. The body of Christ must be
delivered from end-time lukewarmness, modernism, and the doctrine of relativity
that is presently holding it in captivity. May we yield ourselves to be used as
the Lord raises reformers that will re-ignite the fire of revival in the body
of Christ today in Jesus’ name.
Key Point: Father, please set me on fire and use me as an
instrument of reformation in Your Church in Jesus’ Name.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please leave your comment here: