Lulling to Sleep of the Church (eBook)

How Prevailing Doctrines Are Weakening and Destroying the Church

M.L. Brooks (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2024 | 1. Auflage
140 Seiten
Bookbaby (Verlag)
979-8-3509-1940-0 (ISBN)

Infos

'The Lulling to Sleep of the Church' is a call for reformation. It is the proverbial ninety-five theses nailed to the door of the present-day church. It explains what is wrong with the church, why it is wrong, and how to fix it. If you have concerns about the future of the church, this book gives Scriptures and applications to your concerns.

M.L. Brooks (B.A. in Biblical Studies, B.A. in Business Administration, Messenger College) is a devoted minister's wife and mother of three. She has over twenty years of experience in the ministry as a youth pastor, associate pastor, missionary, and pastor's wife. During that time, she has preached and taught all ages of Sunday School, regularly preparing her sermons and lessons through personal study of the Scriptures. She is a lifelong student of God's Word.

---

"e;The Lulling to Sleep of the Church"e; is a call for reformation in the church today. It describes six false doctrines that have subtly and gradually taken the church away from God - lulled the church to sleep. Because these teachings do not immediately appear harmful, they have increased in reach and extent of adherence over the past few decades. As a result, they now overshadow all other theology in the church. Additionally, the stacking of each false doctrine upon the others has multiplied their deceit. Furthermore, an unforeseen consequence of these teachings has been the political rise of Donald Trump and the increased politicization of the church, which has also been destructive. This book explains why these doctrines are wrong, how they have damaged the church, and the correct doctrines that should be taught instead. If you have concerns about the future of the church, these pages will give Scriptures and applications to your concerns. My hope is that each reader gains insight and discernment to awaken from their slumber so that they are watching and ready when Jesus returns.

Textauszug

Introduction

The Parable of the Ten Virgins

The parable of the ten virgins tells us that the church is sleeping. However, some doctrinal background from the Scriptures is needed to help us understand the events this parable references. These doctrines include the teaching that Jesus is coming back for the church and that the church is the bride of Christ.

First, it is clear in the Bible that Jesus will come back for His church. He makes this promise in John 14:3; after speaking about going to prepare a place for us, He says, “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also” (ref. Jn. 17:24). Thus, He will one day come again to take us to be with Him in that place (heaven).

In addition, angels told Jesus’s disciples that just as He had ascended up into the clouds, He would also come back down from the clouds. After the Lord Jesus Christ died on the cross and rose again, He appeared to many for forty days; then, He ascended into heaven. The disciples watched him ascend, and they stood by, staring up where He had gone away. Two angels appeared standing next to them and said, “Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven” (Acts 1:11). We know from these Scriptures that Jesus is going to come back down from heaven one day, and this event is described in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18,

For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

Jesus will descend, and the dead in Christ will rise to go with the Lord to heaven. Then, the living Christians will also rise to meet the Lord in the air and ascend up to heaven with Him! What a comfort! What a blessed hope for the church! This is the day that the church is to be longing for! Our Lord will come again to take us home to heaven to be with Him. I Corinthians 15:51-53 describes it in this way,

Behold, I show you a mystery: We shall not all sleep [die, refers to death in various Scriptures, signifies that it is a nonpermanent state, see Jn. 11:11-14, 1 Cor. 15:16-22], but we shall all be changed. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.

Then, “death is swallowed up in victory” (1 Cor. 15:54, ref.1 Isa. 25:8). Death will have no more power over us! Hallelujah! Whether dead or living, we will be changed from this mortal, corruptible body to a glorified state with a body that will not perish. The battle for our souls will be over, and what a sweet victory to be with our Lord!

The Scripture also presents Jesus coming back for His church as an analogy. Christ is the bridegroom, and the church is His bride. 2 Corinthians 11:2 says, “For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.” Thus, the church is the chaste virgin to be presented to her husband, Jesus Christ. In addition, Revelation 19:7-9 says,

Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.

There will be a feast (marriage supper of the Lamb) in Heaven on that wedding day when the Lord Jesus Christ (the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world) comes down in the clouds and calls His pure and spotless bride (the church) home to heaven to forever be with her bridegroom and Lord. What a glorious day to meet the Lord in the air and forever be with Him! As a young lady anticipates the joy of her wedding day, in like manner, the church is to anticipate the joyous day of our uniting with our bridegroom, Jesus, when we will have a great marriage supper and forever dwell with Him in heaven.

I have presented some basic Scriptures for the doctrine of the rapture or catching away of the church when Christ comes to take His church to heaven. The word rapture comes from I Thessalonians 4:17, “caught up,” or in Greek, “harpazo,” and in Latin, “rapturo.” Thus, rapture is a word borrowed from Latin that means the catching away of the church. It is the blessed hope of the church (Tit. 2:13). There are two examples of raptures in the Old Testament, which include Enoch (Gen. 5:24) and Elijah (2 Kings 2:11). The church is told in the Scripture to be ready for this event: “But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only” (Mt. 24:36). It is going to come like the flood in the days of Noah and the fire and brimstone from heaven on Sodom and Gomorrah in the days of Lot (Mt. 24:37-39, Lk. 17:26-30). People are going to be going about their days like they always do. There will be signs that the Lord will return soon, but nearly everyone will not pay any attention to those signs. Instead, they will have no thought that anything very significant will happen that day, and when they least expect it, the Lord will come and take His church away (1 Thes. 5:1-4). Then, He will bring judgment (1 Thes. 1:10, 5:9, Rev. 14:7-11, 19-20). Only about a handful of people were saved during the days of Noah and Lot, so those that are raptured probably will be very few, but they will be the ones that belong to the Lord, that He finds still doing His will on that great day of His return. We are told to “Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come” (Mt. 24:42). Also, “Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh” (Mt. 24:44). Throughout the Scriptures, particularly in Matthew 24-25, Mark 13, and Luke 17, the church is reminded and warned by the Lord that we need to be watching and waiting for Him to come back because if we are not ready, we will not go with our Lord; we will miss it.

In this context of our Lord Jesus Christ coming back for His bride, the church, we read the parable of the ten virgins in Matthew 25:1-13.

Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom. And five of them were wise, and five were foolish. They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them: But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept. And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him. Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out. But the wise answered, saying, Not so: lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves. And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut. Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not. Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.

As we see, the chaste virgins, the bride of Christ, are waiting for Him to come. This is not an ordinary wedding because there are ten virgins. They are all the bride of Christ because they represent the church, which is many people. Five are wise, and five are foolish. All ten virgins went out to meet the Lord, but five did not take oil for their lamps. Now, if the Lord is about to come, and they believe He is coming, they know they need oil. Under these circumstances, why didn’t they bring any oil? I can only think of two reasons. Either they didn’t care because they felt that they didn’t need oil and would be let in any way, or they didn’t think He was coming, or both. The point is that they didn’t believe they needed to be ready (oil in their lamp), or they didn’t believe He was coming, and their unbelief cost them their souls.

As we see, believing in the Scripture, which is faith, affects how we live. If I believe that my Lord is coming and it is required of me to be ready, then I will seek and obey Him, making sure I have oil in my lamp. I do this because I want to make it to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb in heaven with my Lord. This is “a faithful and wise servant” (Mt. 24:45) “that his lord when He cometh shall find so doing” (Mt. 24:46). I am faithful and wise if I do what he has asked of me. This is what it means to be ready. I’m living right and doing His will because I believe His Word. If I do not believe, I will not do what I need to do, and I won’t make it. This is “an evil servant” (Mt. 24:48), which, as you notice, is still called a servant, but he or she is not obedient. As 1 John 2:28 says, “. . . abide in him: that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming.” Some...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 7.2.2024
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften
• ISBN-13: 979-8-3509-1940-0 / 9798350919400