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: 1st
Kings 18:41-46, 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 mean while, 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 instructions 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:
“For it is possible for those who were once enlightened,
and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy
Ghost, And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to
come, 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 former 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.
0 Comments
Please drop a comment. God bless you!