What needs to be acknowledged is that everyone on earth who is alive is living in the very last of the last days. Now these days may go on for some years yet. No one knows the time for things to be fulfilled but the Father, God Almighty, Adonai, “I AM THAT I AM” even though there has never been a dearth on earth of so-called experts, prognosticators, and self-deemed prophets telling folks when Jesus Christ the Lord of lords and King of kings is going to return.

Within these times, within the people — even the greatest of lost sinners in utter darkness — there is a sense within their bleak, cold, dank souls, a troubling within their inner being even if never verbalized or addressed that the world is not as it once was and something very big is afoot. They don’t know, but yet they do know some things are taking place, many things, that have them troubled within. While they put on a good front and go about their days in utter delusions, living out the illusion, never addressing or appointing the wrong sources to their confusion.

Imagine then the professed believer. Many attending, most attending in these times utterly apostate churches. Listening to, following wolves in sheep’s clothing due to their itching ears that always seek lies that provide them comfort, pleasure, and an excuse to continue to live as they do rather than either truly being born from above — born again, born anew by the Supernatural power of the Spirit of God to totally change a heart, a mind, a spirit, a soul, a life — or just foolishly believing being “churchy” and going through the motions, making sure that shiny gold, platinum, encrusted in jewels, silver tree of shame is displayed on their necks or chests no matter what lies in their hearts.

Charles Dickens began a famous book with the sentence; “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, …” which is often, most times, never fully read or recited by those referring to it.

We live in such times.

Exciting times. Dramatic times. Like no other in world history. How can I write such a gold claim? Because we’re all one day closer to the end of all things as they have been known. We’re all one day closer to the Lord coming to gather His people to Him and the ushering in of the Antichrist, his false prophet [who is rarely mentioned by those speaking or writing of the Antichrist isn’t that interesting], and the start of the Great Seven Year Tribulation that takes place before Jesus returns a Second Time [see Revelation 19].

In these times — TODAY and tomorrow should the Good Good & Great God bless you with another day — what needs to be understood — DICERNED WISELY — is that almost all that is spoken, written, done is being done on earth by the workers of iniquity. The lost. Those who are darkness and thus ring about the darkness that is upon the earth.

Those of the Light, the Way, the Truth leading to Life are but a remnant. A small number by comparison.

Were this not so the world would be an utterly different place. Don’t believe this? Pause, finally, from the pace you are going at vainly imagining what you’re doing is so, so important, and THINK! Meditate deeply based upon what you know from the Word of God, and observe, hear, and live out daily. Begin to pay closer, much better attention. Listen to the words spoken. By everyone. Including yourself.

How casual. How nonchalant, really. Not paying enough attention to what is said. What is preached from pulpits. What is said by those in authority, by those we know, by those we are related to and love. And by our own tongues.

There is a distrust, a growing distrust of so-called “Chruch leaders” because within the remnant the Holy Spirit of God works — and those within the remnant ought to be receptive, attuned, aware of this and not ignore this, though many appear to do so plunging along in daily life to their own tune, their own voice, thus more and more fall away, find themselves in a dead or lukewarm church they just can’t seem to either stand up boldly in the Word to be a light there, or if that would not be effective in bringing about a repentance within the leadership, within that sick body, well, then, do not remain there. Be in a place where the Holy Spirit is living and working. Where there is light and truth — which is the sound teaching of the whole Word of God.

The Spirit is alive and well and has not yet stepped aside allowing evil to grow as never before. You think it’s bad now? Just wait;

“Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come. Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.

Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? 6And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time. 7For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming. The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.”

2 Thessalonians 2:1-12

Read those words slowly. Take them all in. Every one. Go back and read verses 6 and 7. The Holy Spirit who now is present and restrains evil, restrains Satan and all of his ministers, and minions, and enslaved to him will at the right time, according to God and His Word be — “taken out of the way” — and then you don’t want to be here on earth any longer at this point.

You will want to be removed in the twinkling of an eye and caught up to be with the Lord. Spared what is to come.

Distrust of “Church leaders” rising? Humm…

Could it be because every word within the Word of God is being fulfilled and the time for the history of earth as it has been known is now very, very short and the history for the world as given to us in God’s inerrant infallible eternal unchanging living and active Word is at hand?

If a fence sitting. Stop gathering splinters in your backside and having parts of your body falling asleep, mainly your spirit, and soul — your heart and your mind — and get off the fence!

If a duly full-fledged member of the doubters, the unbelievers, perhaps it’s now time while the god you continue to rebel against, the Lord who came to earth to take upon Himself the sin of everyone and anyone who would repent and turn to Him faithfully, obediently, perhaps it’s now time, today, as you’re given breath, a beating heart and an opportunity to humble yourself and learn of Who Jesus truly is and what He has done for you, and will continue to do for you, giving you an eternity in heaven to find out rather than experiencing the Second Death and an eternity of falling, alone, burning up, torment and pain unimaginable by any human mind, into the bottomless pit forever, and ever, and ever, and ever without end.

Imagine that.

Oh, and if a truly born from above, born anew person of the Lord?

Let’s finally, truly be that light unto the world not conforming to the world shining our light not hidden and not being so concerned with saving the world, and stop right now with this thinking, believing you’re out there to save folks. Many folks. Stop being so full of yourself. Be filled with the Holy Spirit, the truth of Jesus, and the word of God instead, and then perhaps that saving grace can finally, truly be used within you. At best you, me, we’re all just very limited, feeble vessels, instruments of God if you humble ourselves, submit, and obey. And we live our lives daily in every word and action as disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. Is that light shining and turned on in us so it is witnessed by others and then they glorify God?

It ain’t about us — it’s all about Jesus.

We don’t ever save or bring anyone to Christ. Jesus brings them to Himself first. And it’s only by an individual’s humbling and acknowledgment of their need after knowing the emptiness within themselves, the need for “something else, there must be something else!” — that humbling and awareness that allows their hearts to grow warm, and become a place where the Holy Spirit can ignite a flame, an eternal flame for the Lord Jesus Christ in them.

Everyone knows this.

Feels this.

Whether they openly acknowledge these things or not. Whether they continue to bury the truth, hide their light, refuse to believe, or follow the teachings of the weak, the teachings of the false teachers fulfilling the pleasures, the desires of their worldly hearts and minds.

Everyone knows what’s going on.

Deluded, hiding, pretending, being so busy as to attempt to ignore, confused, lost, or found — everyone knows and no one will have an excuse.

Read on…

Ken Pullen, Tuesday, January 28th, 2025

 

 

Who Is To Blame For The Skyrocketing Public Distrust Of ‘Church Leaders’?

 

January 24, 2025

By Dean Dwyer

Reprinted from Harbinger’s Daily

 

Who do you trust?  If I were to ask a believer that question, I am sure most would respond with, “God!”  After all, Proverbs 3:5-6 exhorts us to: “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.”  Psalm 91:2 is also a favourite verse for many: “I will say of the LORD, ‘He is my refuge and my fortress; my God, in Him I will trust.’”

Next question: who don’t you trust?  Between December 2-18, 2024, Gallup ran a poll of the most trusted professionals in America.  The question was:  “Please tell me how you would rate the honesty and ethical standards of people in these different fields – very high, high, average, low, or very low?”  Nurses achieved the highest result with 76% of people rating them very highly/highly.  They were followed by grade-school teachers (61%), military officers (59%), pharmacists (57%) and medical doctors (53%).  Lobbyists (4%), members of Congress (8%) and TV reporters (13%) all ranked the worst!

Unfortunately, trust in “clergy” continues to decline, with only 30% rating their honesty and ethical standards very highly/highly, 42% rating them as average, and 20% rating them as low/very low.  This represents a loss of six points since 2021, continuing the long-term downward trend in trust in ministry leaders.  However, more alarming is the fact that since Gallup started rating 23 professions in the early 2000s, there has been a 26-point decline in the perceived honesty and ethics of ministry leaders – the largest decline of any group.  So, what explains the loss of trust?  According to Gallup: “The decline in Americans’ religiosity over this period contributes to the loss of trust in clergy, as the growing proportion of nonreligious adults express lower trust than religious adults. However, the Catholic Church’s child sexual abuse scandals also appear to have contributed to downticks in trust in clergy, including in 2002 and 2018.”

In my home country of Australia, an Ipsos poll conducted in 2024 revealed that doctors are the most trustworthy profession (66%), followed by teachers (60%) and scientists (58%). They are followed by serving staff at a restaurant (49%), the police (48%), and armed forces (47%).  The professions most likely to be considered untrustworthy were social media influencers (61%), politicians generally (56%), advertising executives (49%), Government ministers (48%), journalists (40%), bankers and clergy/priests (38%), and business leaders (36%).

In focusing on our young people, the Australia Talks National Survey in 2021 found that although 41% of Australians don’t trust religious leaders “at all”, the distrust is even more significant amongst 18–24-year-olds with 47% showing a complete lack of trust in religious leaders – a jump of 15 percentage points since the corresponding survey two years prior.  In fact, Dr Ibrahim Abraham, a religious researcher from the Australian National University, used the term “apatheists” (a combination of apathy and atheism) to describe most young Australians.

Research from the Macquarie University in Australia conducted in 2022, specifically targeting trust of religion among women, revealed equally startling results:

  • Around one third of all Australian voting women have “no trust at all” in organised religion and religious leaders.
  • Distrust is highest among younger women: almost half of all women aged 18-29 have “no trust at all” in religious leaders.
  • Among religious women, around 10 percent have “no trust at all” in organised religion and religious leaders, while around half have “not very much trust” in either.
  • Religious child abuse scandals have affected trust. Women are sceptical about the capacity of religious leaders to protect the children in their care, particularly following the revelations in the Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

At this point, it is good to acknowledge something that is not accounted for in the surveys – not every pulpit is occupied by a man who has been called there by God.  In fact, I have no doubt that some ministry leaders are not even saved.  Adrian Rogers used to say that whenever you look for Satan, never fail to look for him in the pulpit.  All of us would love to think that every church was led by a godly man who has been called and consecrated to the Lord’s service.  However, I think it is apparent to all of us that there are many counterfeits who parade as godly men.

The enemy has cleverly devised a dual strategy to counter the influence of the church in the modern day.  In many pulpits, he has introduced deceptive doctrine, designed to subtly draw people away from the truth.  Simultaneously, he has fomented distrust of ministry leaders throughout our communities, with the intention of turning people away from God.  Sadly, his strategies have been incredibly successful.  Leonard Ravenhill once said that if Jesus came back today, He wouldn’t be cleansing the Temple, He would be cleansing the pulpits.  If the surveys are anything to go by, most people would agree.

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