CONTEND FOR THE GOSPEL
The church of God has been facing persecution since its inception. The seed of the church is the blood of the Martyrs. Persecution is dynamic and take various forms. The general known form of persecution is killing of Christians and burning down of worship centers. This seem to be the highest form of persecution and the worst in human view. If you kill a Christian for his belief, you have assisted him in sending him home to rest in the LORD. If you burn down the church, you have just razed down the building because the church is not monument but believers. Spreading the wrong gospel via false teachings is a great threat and disaster to the church. Believers become deceived and still believe that they are still believers.
The false teachers have been let loose like wild dogs on the church. They twist the word of God and live lives that raises questions about the gospel. The natural response is to to curse them on the pulpit and raise red flags on their teachings but doing that may not be effective. As for curse, they are already cursed except they repent. The book of Jude gives us light on that: Jud 1:10 Yet these men speak abusively against whatever they do not understand; and what things they do understand by instinct, like unreasoning animals--these are the very things that destroy them.
Apostle Paul was not bothered about the false teachers of his time. Instead of being distracted, he was focused and kept preaching the truth, teaching the truth and raising faithful men that would teach men the word of life. This generation is gracious, we have the technology which have enhance communication, the scripture can be on your phone, ipad and other gadgets for your meditation at all time. The role of God's servants is to preach the truth, teach the truth, live the truth and point men to the way of life. As a believer do not stop at that level, pray and study the word of God to a deeper level where it becomes a living water in you that flow to others. Reading devotional books and other spiritual books is good but it cannot replace the Bible. The Holy Spirit is always there to interpret it to you and it is the word that will cleanses you and sanctifies you.
The only antidote and cure to false teachings is spreading the truth of God by all means available. If the truth is spread the false teachers will be out of business. The people will even make a fun of them because they are deep in the truth. Instead of them devouring the sheep, they will run away from the sheep because they are armed and fully guarded with the truth. It is high time we preached truth like never before, teach the word, and read the word. Do not just listen, be like the Berean Christians. Study to show yourself approve to God. If you are vast in the word and deep in the word, you will not be swerved by the false teachers who are bend on destroying the church, gather flock and take advantage of the technology and the social media to draw many youths and gullible people.
The church is marching on and the gate of hell shall never prevail but the church have great roles to play. The church is getting worldly, worldliness is eating deep into the church, the church that should influence the world is being influence by the world. The truth is being watered and diluted by some Preachers and Teachers. They are more interested in their bellies than getting souls saved for the kingdom. Paul spoke of them in philippians 3:19,
" They are going to end up in hell, because their god is their bodily desires. They are proud of what they should be ashamed of, and they think only of things that belong to this world" (GNB)
Pastors do not fail in preaching and teaching truth to church members. preach and teach the sound word of God. Failure to teach the church, false teachers will dictate what is right and will rubbish the faith of our fathers. Contend for the gospel,study the truth, preach the truth, teach the truth, and live the truth.members of the church do your best to make your pastor comfortable so that he can have time to study and go deep in the word of God. The only antidote to false teachings is growing deep in the word. Do not forget the Bible says if possible the saints will be deceived. This is itchy generation. This is the time Paul says it will be hard to be a Christian. This is the generation that dictates to the pastor what they want to hear. The truth remains the truth, it is our sword that can defend the gospel, being angry is not enough, commit to the truth, demonstrate your anger by living the truth, teach the truth, preach the truth and grow in the truth by studying the word daily. Our sure defence is the WORD OF GOD which is the sword that will destroy every form of false teachings against the church. It is time to brace up and contend for the gospel like never before.
Abolanle Oladipupo
Bsc(Oou) Bth(NBTS)
12th September, 2020
