Left Behind “A Multitude That Cannot Repent”

[PrisonerOfHope]

This article was written by a friend of mine, who is a holiness Pentecostal minister with an End-Times ministry. He's right-on in some areas; I disagree with him in others. I'm interested in hearing what you all think about this - do you agree that those who purport to be Christians but who are left behind because they're backslidden will be beyond redemption?

Left Behind “A Multitude That Cannot Repent”

The impossibility to repent and to make your voice heard with God is awesome to consider. THAT TIME IS ALMOST HERE!! Add to this sad condition the fact that Jesus has come, the Rapture of the Bride is finished, and you are left behind for the judgment to occur. The strange emptiness toward God and spiritual matters will be penetrating. Suddenly, you remember the way you rejected God’s will for your life and chose the way of self and sin. You may remember the Godly, Holy life you once knew and lived. You may have even been a Holiness minister yourself, but the way was tough and many rejected your message so you decide to soften it and become accommodating. But, now, your strange emptiness turns swiftly to utter despair as your soul bears witness to the complete certainty that there is no hope for you. It’s over, you have rejected Him so completely in the past, and, now, He has rejected you. Now, you know you cannot repent.

God’s infallible Word gives us a clear picture of this future fact. Apostle Paul is warning the church of the Thessalonians about the Rapture and the appearing of the Antichrist after the Rapture. His words are perfectly clear. “For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” (II Thessalonians 2:7-12)

This text explains how the Antichrist is restrained from appearing until after the Restrainer (He that letteth) is removed with the Bride of Jesus Christ. Then, his appearing (the Antichrist) will be dramatic and even demonic. He will be the master deceiver, fully empowered by the devil with paranormal powers to impress and deceive. His deceiving power will be especially directed by God’s decree against those that had rejected or forsaken the truth of the Holy Scripture. The darkest time of this deception is after the Rapture, but a lesser level is already at work. The first verse above says, “the mystery of iniquity doth already work.” The spirit of deception has preceded the person of evil himself. Present deception is terrible, but only light compared to after the Restrainer, the Holy Ghost, is gone.

This very hour and this generation is the most dangerous period in church history. Jesus warned of this stressful and dangerous period when evil and sin would become so dominating of the world that living holy would seem impossible. His words were, “And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.” (Matthew 24:12) The world is almost as if hell has taken over and Righteousness and Holiness seem so outdated and even strange. Family members and friends will compromise their lifestyle and then pressure you with unrelenting fury to do the same. Just remember, it’s your wedding garment, and you are responsible to keep it clean by your total surrender to the cleaning Blood and keeping power of His Spirit.

“MY SPIRIT SHALL NOT ALWAYS STRIVE WITH MAN…” For over four thousands years the Heavenly Father has warned the world that His Spirit has a limit. “And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.” (Genesis 6:3) He was speaking to Noah’s generation, the same generation that Jesus named in Matthew chapter twenty-four. He compared that generation with the generation when the Rapture would occur. There is a multitude in this very hour that the Spirit is withdrawing His plea. This is going to escalate until the Rapture and then a multitude of religious apostates are going to be left to their schemes and false ideas of Christianity.

The church world has created an endless list of religious ideas that give them an excuse to sin. The doctrine of “once saved, always saved” is one of the worst false schemes of them all. It would not be so bad if men were told that there is no license to live in sin and those that go back to their evil ways were probably never saved. Yet, to teach that even fornication and sodomy, along with a long list of other vile sins, cannot negate your redeemed stature before God is utterly false. There is a multitude right out of this false idea that is being deluded beyond hope. They live like sin is a joke and that God has already forgiven whatever sin in which they choose to indulge.

No one can deny that conviction of sin is rare today. Most sinners have no conscience and treat any idea of right and wrong with disdain. Ministers have retreated in their pulpits to pretty platitudes and psychobabble. To rail against adulterers, cheating, defiling the Sabbath, or any major sin is to be profoundly scorned. Religious television is more dangerous than MTV. There is an all-seeing Eye watching and He will shortly act to change the worldview of sin. Isaiah by the Holy Spirit settled this subject… When thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.” (Isaiah 26:9)? One of his most breathtaking words from God were, “Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies.” (Isaiah 28:17a)

Doctrines That Destroy Truth! There are doctrines like the “Born Again Jesus” theology that have totally destroyed the saving message of the Gospel. Millions have surrendered to the spirit of these false doctrines even though many do not understand them. There is no redemption in this message. Any person that has embraced Kenneth Hagin, Kenneth Copeland, and most of the Charismatic teachers has also embraced this spirit and no longer cherishes the bloodstained cross. This is one of the darkest of the End Time delusion. Doctrines like the “Born Again Jesus” theology make those that embrace the doctrine, or even the spirit of this doctrine, arrogant and unteachable. These doctrinal lies are subtle and many people that embrace these strange teachers do not appear to care what they are being taught enough to search the Scripture. The hyper-Charismatic teachers have deluded tens of millions that will be turned over to reprobate minds because they did not prove all things by the Word of God and the discernment of the Spirit of God.

The present church world is overwhelmed and overjoyed with the new “sinner friendly church” and its soft message and loud swaying music. It’s a perfect picture of apostasy. From Robert Shuller and Bill Hybel to Rick Warren, it’s a march of easy believism preparing another multitude to believe a lie. Rick Warren’s book,The Purpose Driven Life, is clearly the most deceptive work of my lifetime. It’s a lie wrapped in babble so clever that any religious person can claim it if there is no strong discernment by a Christ-centered heart.

A radical acceptance of the Word of God is the only view of Scripture that does not leave man vulnerable to judgment. Jesus made it clear that His Word is perfect and must be held in total faith. He said, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” (Matthew 4:4) This was also made plain in II Thessalonians. The indictment declared that, “…they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.” (II Thessalonians 2:10)No person can come to Jesus and say; “I believe part of Your Word so I want to be saved.” Even if you believe the sacrifice of His Blood and claim faith in that Blood, but reject the rest of the Word, your faith is unacceptable. These religious trends are the purest evidence of apostasy and preparations to believe the lie. Multitudes of these apostate people will be outside of grace after the Rapture. They chose new religious ideas over the infallible Word of God. It was their choice and now the result is delusion and judgment.

There are some interesting comments after the article:

www.pawcreek.org/salty-saints/left-behind-a-multitude-that-cannot-repent

[shann0]

I don't believe anyone is beyond saving, except those who take the mark. Once one does that, it's all over.

This man makes the same mistake that most people who believe we can lose our salvation do, which is to assume that OSAS people take that security for granted by making it a license to sin. Rather, I believe that the HS living inside of us instills within us a loathing of sin, and that if we should stumble His gentle influence brings conviction and a repentant spirit.
I once read an analogy that illustrated this very well, I'll quote it here....

"I suppose you think you can sin as much as you want now?" Most of us who have experienced God's grace and salvation have heard that question. We tell someone how Jesus has saved us, forgiven us of our sin and given us a new life, a life that we are excited about. Then someone says, "I suppose you think you can sin as much as you want now?". It is not a relevant question.
Picture this: A man has lived his life homeless. He has always eaten out of garbage cans. Then, one day an attorney tracks him down and tells him that he has just inherited 10 million dollars from a long lost uncle. The news reporters flock around him with all sorts of questions, but this is one that he won't hear: "I suppose with all that money, you think you can eat out of garbage cans all you want?". He can, but it's not a relevant question because he isn't going want to eat out of garbage cans now. It is the same thing when we meet Jesus. He sets us free from sin. When we are set free from sin, we are not giving up something good; we are getting rid of something bad. When we get saved, our nature is changed and we don't want to sin anymore. We all know that we are not going to reach sinless perfection, but we no longer WANT to practice sin. Can we sin as much as we want now? The fact is, since we hate sin, we already sin more than we want. Like I said, it is not a relevant question to ask someone who has experienced God's grace and salvation.”

You can read the entire article here...
jdlarsenmn.tripod.com/eternal_security.htm

[PrisonerOfHope]

I agree that - unless one has taken the mark or blasphemed the Holy Spirit (which I suspect the mark will somehow involve) - they can be saved during the Tribulation. I also agree that someone who is genuinely saved will have an abhorrence of sin. Of course, we all stumble at times and mess up, but there's a big difference between stumbling & continuing on and falling & choosing to stay down. Look at Bob Guccione (sp?), the porno publisher, for example, who claimed he got born again but when back to publishing his filty. Was he genuinely saved? I doubt it!

Now, I know God is a great respecter of free will, and I do think that if someone decides they don't want to be His, even after making a public declaration of faith, I don't think He's going to drag them into heaven, kicking and screaming, against their will. I think in that case, Hebrews 10:26 is clear: "For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins." They first accepted His sacrifice, then rejected it, and that's that.

I HATE it when I sin, and when I do it's not a planned, intentional act...sometimes I just trip up. What do you think of all these people who say they're Christian and are continually doing something that's wrong - like living with someone they're not married to, or having sex with people they're not married to, or who keep doing something illegal? Do you think they're really Christians?

[wateredseeds]

I HATE it when I sin, and when I do it's not a planned, intentional act...sometimes I just trip up. What do you think of all these people who say they're Christian and are continually doing something that's wrong - like living with someone they're not married to, or having sex with people they're not married to, or who keep doing something illegal? Do you think they're really Christians?

Yes, if they have FAITH in Jesus Christ for the remission of sins...they are JUSTIFIED. I actually know a LOT of christians that are like this...and don't even know it. Let me give you an example. I meet a lot of christians that look down their noses at teenagers for getting pregnant, and judge others within the church for their sin, when in fact they are violating the ONE commandment that remains for us.

"And this is His commandment, that you believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another. As He gave us commandment."-1 John 3:23

I never see people HELPING these poor teenagers that have had a hard time with self control. Holy cow, we're not BORN WITHOUT an inclination to sin, we're born WITH an inclination to sin. Many people have sin in their life that they aren't even aware of...and yet we seem to focus in on the people that do something that is seen(like homosexuals, adulterers, fornicators, thieves etc.), when most sin EXISTS IN THE HEART. Most sin, ISN'T SEEN.

So I would ask this, before explaining the reality: Who has more of a right to heaven, the person that sins in their heart and is unremorseful...or the person who sins physically, is remorseful but can't control themselves? Folks, we ALL have sin. It only takes 1 sin to condemn us. Thankfully, we don't have that condemnation.

So what happens to the sinning saint when they die? They exist in the same state of justification, as they did when they first accepted Him. But what about sanctification? It seems like I always have to point people towards the rewards. We do good works, not just because we love Jesus, but because he commanded us to STORE UP FOR OURSELVES REWARDS IN HEAVEN.

"Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."-Matthew 6:19-21

Controlling ourselves from sinning, is a part of that. All throughout the bible we hear of rewards. But rewards are conditional. Salvation is the only assurance we have. To the sinning saint, it will be as one escaping the fire(1 Corinthians 3).

If we do not "judge ourselves" then as children we are chastened unto God. So the christians that continue in sin, and do not confess(judging ourselves) their sins to God to receive cleansing(1 John 1:9), are rebuked. But they ARE His children and nothing can take us out of His hand as long as we believe in Him.

"For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."-Romans 8:38-39

There is nothing that can separate us from the love of God once we are HIS CHILDREN. Even sin. But that is not a license to sin. We are judged for our sin as BELIEVERS, and are to press toward the prize of the high calling.

[wateredseeds]