This may sound like a strange question. But are you more liberal in your views than you were 10-15 years ago? If the answer is yes, then welcome to the modern trend of driftism. It hasn’t only affected you, but has impacted thousands, perhaps millions of Christians across the US. It is a sign of the times. And it is something that we must be on guard against.
While many people don’t think the Book of Revelation is relevant today, let me let you in on a secret. Those seven letters to the seven Gentile churches (Revelation 2-3) are Christ’s parting words to the church, and reflect the state of the church as it will be at the close of the age. Paul wrote to seven Gentile churches as well. But those letters reflect the condition of things at the dawn of the church age. The seven letters of Revelation show what it will be like near the end.
Why is that so important? Because the Holy Spirit is teaching us in those seven letters that God is about to cut the Gentiles off from the good olive tree (Romans 11:22), and start grafting the Jews back in. The church’s center of gravity, so to speak, will shift from the Gentile nations back to the Jews, the Pentecostal gifts will recommence, and the 70th week of Daniel will begin to crank its gears.
Where will that leave the so-called Christian nations of Europe and the Americas? Rest assured, Christianity won’t be dead. Churches will still be around, and may become more packed than they are now. Nevertheless, they will be drained of all saving truth, become at one with the world, and completely Laodicean in their spiritual state. That is the mark towards which today’s Christianity is moving.
At this point, the Spirit of God seems to be doing a work of its own, and purging false disciples away from center; more toward the fringes than we’ve ever seen in past years. The Spirit is getting the Philadelphian church set up for the trumpet’s call, so that we all don’t turn into drab Laodiceans. People are leaving Christianity in flocks. They are doing so because of failure, in many cases, to make use of the means God provided for growth in grace. This we saw a long time ago. Instead of battening down the hatches of their faith, as we did, they allowed themselves to be taken off their anchorage and cut adrift. Now look where are are today.
Some are following the paths of freethinking and relativism, not knowing what to think or believe anymore. Some have already apostasized and no longer believe in Christ. Some, like Demas, have loved this present world and tried to make a splash, though they know deep down that instead of lifting the world a little higher, they’ve been pulled a little lower. So it always is. What starts with a so-called harmless compromise ends with a lot of drifting farther and farther until the the paths of life get lost sight of.
The trend must continue. And no, the world will not grow “better and better.” Interestingly, the same people who talked years ago about “progress” are now beginning to admit that things are not quite running as planned. Their mouths may still be running, but their credibility has been compromised.
Let us remember that no matter what may be happening within Christianity, Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6); and it is by His sacrificial death on the Cross and resurrection from the dead that we have any hope at all. Understanding that one’s standing in Christ may be perfect while one’s state is often flawed, is quite different from knowing that “many be called but few chosen;” that some were never really saved to begin with. In a sense, we must thank God for the purging that is now going on about us, as it brings into sharper relief the difference between the true and the false. However, we continue to pray that some will wake up, and “snap out of it,” before ultimately, it is too late.
“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).
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