“Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people,” Proverbs 14:34.

I read this verse in my daily reading on Thursday of last week and I greeted it as an old and well-loved friend. I learned it from hearing it repeated in prayer meetings some sixty one years ago, when I was just converted to Christ.

Would I be right in thinking that if I were starting out on the pilgrimage of life today, this verse would not be as familiar to me because of not hearing it quoted in today’s prayer meetings,  in the manner in which it was quoted back then?

I think that, sadly, it would be as I fear!

I. IT SEEMS THAT BACK THEN, THIS VERSE WAS ON THE LIPS OF VERY MANY IN THE PRAYER MEETINGS.

It was quoted as a means of comfort, as there was an earnest seeking to see our province turn back to the Lord.

It was quoted in defiance of the ‘pundits’ who advocated the adoption of liberal and modernistic theological notions of what it was would benefit society. In general, such ‘moral think tank theorists’ favoured the abandoning of “the old paths, where is the good way,” (Jeremiah 6:16) in order that a ‘Bibleless” society be formed! (more…)

“For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works,” 2 Corinthians 11:13-15.

As I said in Part 1 and also in the introduction to Part 2 of this article, I set out to expound the verses above and apply them to an impious email from one purporting to be a female ‘minister of the gospel’.

It will be seen in that first article that the silly woman who attacked me, mocked young girls for wearing berets as they sang in church. She seemed totally unaware that a head covering is commanded in Scripture for a lady engaged in public worship in the house of God, 1 Corinthians 11:4-6.

She but confirms that she is one of the ‘Bible-rejectors’ who abound today and who can blithely call themselves ‘servants of God’!

I then moved on to note how that from the dawn of this Christian age, the devil has been actively corrupting the truth of God by his evil agents who creep into unsuspecting churches (Jude 3-4) and who transform themselves into what is professed to be “ministers of righteousness.”

We now take up the final part of the study.

THE APPROACH OF THE FINAL THREE AND A HALF YEARS OF THIS AGE HAS BEEN SIGNALLED BY A NUMBER OF OCCURRENCES IN RECENT TIMES.

1. The world-wide rejection of the Word of God within professing Christendom. There has always been heresy and false doctrine to be found within the ranks of the professing people of God. Judas Iscariot was, as it were, the forerunner of those who, pretending to be true disciples, were in fact intent on destroying the work of Christ.

Heresies

Such has caused great divisions and disruptions but as Paul says: “For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you,” 1 Corinthians 11:19. The activities of the ‘heretics’ serve to stir up the true believers, like sailors on a ship boarded by pirates, and every effort is made to resist such and remove them from the ranks of the people of God.

Thus, some of the greatest definitions and explanations of the fundamentals of the faith have come out of those controversies that the invasions by false prophets have generated. There is no better example than the wonderful Catechism and Confession of Faith that emerged in the wake of the great Protestant Reformation. They still serve as ‘anchors of the soul’ to true believers.

Since the Second World War we have seen a flood tide of departures from the truth of the Bible. It has advanced so far that ‘faith’ of Sodom and Gomorrah has become the standard of religious thought in most of the mainstream denominations.

Here in Northern Ireland, once considered the home of the most conservative of true Protestantism, Ecumenism with its objective of reunion with Roman Catholicism and the embracing of every false and immoral perversion of man, has ordained openly professing sodomites to office.

The total rejection of the Bible, which the embracing of sodomy and its associated perversions which ever increase in diversity and number and are embraced by governments and public bodies such as churches and schools, as unexceptional manifestations, while in truth they are disclosures of devilish depravities!

2. The spirit of murder that is ever more common. I found this graph on the Internet:

At one stage, around 2004, the number of murders in England and Wales had increased five-fold from 1960 and it is presently some three times what it was sixty years ago.

Stabbing

Murder by stabbing is very common amongst the young and the motive is usually one of the most trivial kind! Life carries no value and can be taken on the basis of the slightest perception of an insult!

Furthermore, ‘infanticide’ has increased horrifyingly. Little ones are done to death in the most fiendish manner. Many recent court cases have revealed that children have been treated most cruelly by those supposedly caring for them. The little ones have been done to death in a manner in which no human being would put to death an animal! (more…)