For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teacher, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. II Timothy 4:3-4 KJV

Bro. Chad Johnson

The people described in these verses are not those who outwardly oppose religion and God. These people are the makeup of the so-called churches of the last days.

They people are very religious and are very active in what they do. Earlier in II Timothy, Paul told him that they would have a form of godliness, but would deny the power thereof. This is where the church is today. Many of the Lord’s Baptist churches are drifting from the faith once delivered to the saints. I don’t personally know when a church drifts so far from truth that it is no longer a church.

In Revelation 2:5 the church at Ephesus had drifted and left its first love and Christ told them unless they repented, He would remove the candlestick out of its place. When I speak of the church, I am not referring to everything that calls itself a church. I am referring to the kind of church that Christ built and established during His earthly ministry.

It is possible for one of His churches to drift away from the truth and the light go out in that church. In I Thessalonians 1:5, Paul tells the Thessalonians that the gospel came not in word only, but in the power of the Holy Ghost. The average Baptist church today is preaching a word gospel without power.

We also know that the closer we come to the coming of Christ, (that is the Rapture) that there will be a great falling away.

In II Thessalonians 2:3, Paul tells us that Christ will not come until there is a great falling away. This word falling away means to apostatize or depart from the truth. Many of the truths of God’s word have been departed from.

Things like the doctrine of predestination and election, the infallibility of the Scriptures, women’s role in the home and church, modesty in our dress, godly living separate from the world, the doctrine of the one true church, the ordinances of closed communion and baptist and church discipline.

These and many more truths have been abandoned for entertainment and a social gospel. The cry of our day is we must keep pace with the world’s way of operation in the church. We must advance with the advancing age. We must change with the times or the gospel will have no effect.

The problem is that as we adopt these means, they have a tendency to conform the church to the world. They lead to looseness with the doctrine and drifting from God’s word. These worldly adoptions have destroyed the lines so that we cannot tell where the world ends and the church begins.

God help us to drop the anchor and stop the drifting of the church. Amen.

Please attend the services of Russellville Baptist Mission, located at 223 North Main Street, Russellville KY 42276. Service time is 2 p.m. on Sundays. Pastor Chad Johnson, 270-772-1966.