by Steve McCranie | Feb 18, 2020
As the Scriptures claim, one of the greatest signs of the end is the mass defection or apostasy from the Christian faith by those who once claimed to be believers. Paul, in his letter to Timothy, warns that the “Spirit expressly says that (when) in latter times (who) some (what) will depart from the faith, (how) giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons” (1 Timothy 4:1). This great apostasy is characterized by a rebellion or revolt against God and His Word. And it is promoted by those who once claimed Jesus as Lord but are now “giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons.” Peter says “scoffers will come in the last days” (2 Peter 3:3-4). Jude calls them “mockers” (Jude 17-19).
So what are we to do in the face of this great apostasy? How do we answer skeptics when they demand we “prove our God exists?” How do we defend our faith in the unseen God? What are we to do? Historically, the answer has been to study up on apologetics and be prepared to go toe to toe with those who demand answers from us void of faith. But is that the real purpose of apologetics? I’m not so sure.
For the message (or, preaching) of the cross is foolishness (mōría – folly, absurdity, moronic, stupid, senseless, foolhardy, insane) to (who) those who are perishing (or, being destroyed completely, to render
void), but to (who) us who are being saved (to deliver, make whole, preserve safe from danger, loss, or destruction) it (the message of the cross) is the power (dúnamis) of God – 1 Corinthians 1:18.
Our faith in the cross of Christ is moronic to those who are perishing. Period. And apologetics won’t change that fact. Think about it, our God doesn’t need defending. He can take care of Himself. And you cannot lead someone to Christ by logically answering all their questions about faith and the Scriptures to their satisfaction. Why? Because faith in Him is a gift from God and, before God imparts faith to the individual, the lost are incapable of believing the Gospel. To them, our faith in the cross of Christ is moronic.
So, is apologetics important? Absolutely. But not necessarily in the way you think.
Apologetics
The purpose of apologetics is for you to have all your questions answered about God and salvation and to allow your faith to grow strong. It is not for the direct benefit of the lost. This is what 1 Corinthians 1 and 2 shows in graphic detail. It has always been God’s plan to thwart man’s wisdom by revealing Himself through something man considers foolish. He does this to bring to nothing the wisdom of this world and, in turn, exalt faith in Him as the key that opens the door of salvation. Consider the following from 1 Corinthians 1:21-22:
Question: Where is the wise (or, respected, learned philosophers and experts)?
Question: Where is the scribe (or, writers, scholars)?
Question: Where is the disputer (or, debater, reasoner, influencer) of this age?
Question: Has not (who) God made (what) foolish the wisdom of this world (kósmos)
Answer: Absolutely!
But why?
For since, in the (what) wisdom of God, the world through (its) wisdom did not know (ginōskō – or choose to know) God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached (foolishness to those who are perishing) to save those who believe (faith).
The reason for apologetics is for you to be secure in your faith and not necessarily to convince someone by the power of your arguments to receive Christ. That is a sovereign act of God alone. And prior to the impartation of faith in the elect, our most important argument is foolishness (stupid, ridiculous, moronic, insane) to those who are perishing. Jesus never gave signs for others to believe in Him.
So let me ask you just a few questions about your belief vs. God’s wisdom.
- Do you believe in the creation account in Genesis?
- Do you believe in the virgin birth?
- Do you believe in the floating ax head?
- Do you believe in the lion’s den or the fiery furnace?
- Do you believe in the fall of Jericho?
- Do you believe a good God sometimes does things that don’t seem so good to us today?
- Do you believe God rewards faith and punishes unbelief?
Are there parts of His Word that you don’t believe? If so, you are on very dangerous ground. Why? Because Jesus said the deception in the last days would be so great that, if it was possible, even the elect would be deceived (Matt. 24:24). And that includes you and me.
As we see the day of His return approaching, it is vital to know what we believe to be true. For help in securing your belief against apostasy, keep listening.
The following is a study on the Limitations of Apologetics as found in 1 Corinthians 1:18-31.
To download the slides to this message, click – HERE
by Steve McCranie | Feb 15, 2020
Jesus chastised the religious elite of His day for their confidence in predicting things like the weather, but not being able to discern the signs of the times. In fact, He called them hypocrites. Remember? “When it is evening you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red’; and in the morning, ‘It will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ Hypocrites! You know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times” – Matthew 16:2-3. I wonder if He would say the same about His church today? After all, it appears we all seem to know everything about everything. Just ask us.
It seems we resemble those that Isaiah was called to address.
Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and prudent in their own sight – Isaiah 5:20-21.
But there is one prophetic statement of Jesus regarding the times before us that is hard for many, including me, to understand. That is until today. Jesus said “because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold” (Matt. 24:12). Got that. He also promised that “a man’s enemies will be those of his own household” (Matt. 10:36). How is that possible? How can our love for our spouse or children grow so cold we will treat them as enemies to the extent of hatred and betrayal? (Matt. 24:10). How can that be true? What sort of perverted human would turn on his own family for the sake of himself? What kind of depraved mind or personality disorder would produce sociopaths with a love this cold?
In a word, it’s called narcissism. And it is the ultimate end-time personality disorder.
Narcissism
In general, narcissism or narcissistic traits can be described as follows:
- They have an exaggerated sense of self-importance.
- They have a sense of entitlement and require constant, excessive admiration.
- They expect and demand to be recognized as superior even without achievements that warrant it.
- They exaggerate their achievements and talents.
- They are preoccupied with fantasies about success, power, brilliance, beauty or the perfect mate.
- They believe they are superior and can only associate with equally special people.’
- They monopolize conversations and belittle or look down on people they perceive as inferior (which is just about everyone).
- They expect and demand special favors and unquestioning compliance with their expectations.
- They habitually take advantage of others to get what they want.
- They have an inability or unwillingness to recognize the needs and feelings of others.
- They are envious of others and believe others envy them.
- They behave in an arrogant or haughty manner, coming across as conceited, boastful and pretentious.
- They Insist on having the best of everything because they are entitled.
And they are everywhere! They multiply like kudzu.
Narcissism may very well be the ultimate personality disorder of the end-times. And it certainly fits the Laodicean church model. In fact, psychologists believe that in the last 15 years over 30% of our population now registers on the narcissism spectrum. And that number grows daily.
So what are we to do? Great question. Keep listening to find out more.
The following is a study on Narcissism and the End Times.
To download the slides to this message, click – HERE
by Steve McCranie | Jul 3, 2019
In this message, we begin a deep journey into the prophetic words of Christ found in Matthew 24. Why? Because we are truly living in the last of the last days and it would do us well to see what our Lord has to say about the events that precede His coming. And we will especially look at the first sign Jesus told us would point to the beginning of the end, deception. That’s right, deception is planáō in the Greek and means “to cause to wander, to be led astray, to mislead, to seduce, to cause to err.” Or, simply put, good old-fashioned deception.
Which raises just a few questions.
How are we being deceived today?
And, if we are being deceived, how would we know?
Are there other places in the Scriptures that warn us against deception?
What kind of deception can we expect?
And what was the specific focus of the deception Jesus spoke about?
How Important is the Coming (and Present) Deception
To see how rampant deception is in our society, and as a sign of the end, look at how many times Jesus spoke about it in Matthew 24:
And Jesus answered and said to them: “Take heed that no one deceives you. For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many.” – Matthew 24:5.
“Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many” – Matthew 24:11.
And how powerful will that deception be?
“For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect” – Matthew 24:24.
Did you catch that? If it were possible (and we know that it’s not), even the elect, those chosen and sealed by Christ, would be deceived. It’s gonna be bad.
Who Do You Trust?
One final question regarding trust and deception. Ask yourself this one question: Who do you trust? If you’re honest, your answer may shock you.
Do you trust your government?
The media? Hollywood?
Do you trust what you read in the news or on Facebook?
Do you trust what you are taught in school?
Do you trust our economic system in this country?
Do you trust the church?
The family?
Do you trust your friends or spouse?
There is so much more to talk about regarding deception. To find out more, keep listening.
The following is a study on Matthew 24:1-4.
To download the slides to this message, click – HERE
Download this episode (right click and save)
by Steve McCranie | Jun 24, 2019
Now, even FOX News is covering the inevitable. The following is from Doug MacKinnon and was posted on the FOX website on Sunday, June 23, 2019.
We will speak much more about this on our website beginning in mid-July. But for now, read this and consider what Doug says.
Will You Survive the Coming Blackout?
There are many never-ending debates between Republicans and Democrats. Impeach vs. don’t impeach; capital punishment vs. life in prison; wall vs. no wall; legalizing marijuana vs. not; self-driving cars vs. human drivers; Red Sox vs. Yankees; takeout vs. home-cooked; or Gone With the Wind vs. any other movie.
All of these issues are stunningly important, right up to the second where cataclysm falls and creates a nightmare scenario that so many fear.
That cataclysm is a complete loss of electricity and every mode of convenience and survival we take for granted.
The largest red flag on this issue in years just waved in South America. Last weekend, tens of millions of people in Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay found themselves in a complete blackout. In one moment, they had electricity. The next moment, they had none, and they were catapulted back to the 1800s.
Only much worse.
People in the 1800s were not dependent upon electricity for their jobs, money, communication, Internet, transportation, education, security, medical services, prescriptions, water, and very lives.
The national power grid of the United States is truly a mess held together with, as the joke goes, by not much more than “baling wire and chewing gum.”
The average age of large power transformers in the United States is 40 years. Seventy percent of all large power transformers are at least 25 years old. It’s little wonder that, according to data from the Department of Energy, the United States suffers more blackouts than any other nation in the developed world.
The overall system is so weak, so taxed, and so vulnerable that in 2003, over 50 million people in the United States and Canada were hit with cascading blackouts simply because a tree branch fell on a power line in Ohio.
Because the infrastructure is so antiquated, weather triggers multiple blackouts per year in the U.S. Blackouts which collectively cost the nation upwards of $30 billion in spoiled inventory, lost wages, and repair of the grid.
Unfortunately, weather is becoming the least feared trigger of a blackout. In the age of terrorism and increasing cyber-threats, our power-grid getting taken down by a hack is no longer seen as a question of “If it will happen,” but rather, “When it will happen?”
The U.S. government is so rightfully fearful of this, that last November, it ordered DARPA (the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) to war-game a complete cyber take-down of the U.S. power grid.
An exercise they are now wisely running on a regular basis.
According to the Department of Homeland Security, just last year, hackers – strongly suspected to be Russian – gained access to a number of utility control rooms in the United States and got to the point where “they could have thrown switches.”
The DHS report further stressed: “Russian government cyber actors targeted government entities and multiple U.S. critical infrastructure sectors, including the energy, nuclear, commercial facilities, water, aviation, and critical manufacturing sectors.”
Aside from the Russians, the Chinese, North Koreans, other terrorist states, and even cyber-extortionists, are targeting our power grid on a daily basis.
That clock is ticking.
Unfortunately, much like any large terrorist attack, when an extended regional or national blackout hits, you and your family will be on your own. No one is going to ride to the rescue.
How will you survive?
In the blink of an eye, you will lose access to money, food, gasoline, communication, medicine, medical attention, heat, air conditioning, and security.
Gone.
Even though most don’t do it, residents of California and Florida are reminded every year to assemble their “two-week” survival kit. In California, it’s because of earthquakes. In Florida, it’s because of hurricanes.
Survival kits which include water, non-perishable food, medicine, first-aid kits, batteries, a radio, flashlights, candles, cash, a hand-crank charger, with smaller versions of all for your vehicle and office.
The federal and state governments should be issuing that same reminder to every citizen in the nation about the coming blackout. It truly is not a question of “if,” but of “when.”
A night on the town for a movie, dinner, a sporting event or a political debate is great fun until none of it matters and your survival is literally at stake.
Make a plan, because you will be on your own.
by Steve McCranie | Aug 3, 2017
The first of Jesus’ seven letters to the churches in the Revelation reveal more about each of us than we often care to admit. The letter to Ephesus has this chilling assessment from the Lord:
“Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love” (Revelation 2:4).
Ouch. In spite of this church standing firm against heresy and faithfully persevering under great trials, the Lord holds something against them. He is hurt, angry, almost unforgiving. He must feel rejected and forgotten. Why? Because the church in Ephesus, the early church, the church that still had members that knew the Lord personally had left and forsaken the very one they claimed to love. He said, “Nevertheless I have this against you, (what) that you have left your first love.” And that first love was Jesus.
Do you remember what it was like when you first came to Christ? Do you remember the joy, the exuberance, the passion and full commitment you felt towards Him? Do you remember the promises you made in sheer gratitude for what He had done for you? Do you remember any of this?
Now look at your life. Are you still as passionate? Are you still giddy in love with Him? Are you closer to the Lord today than in any other time in your life? If not, you’ve done more than simply plateaued. You’ve left and forsaken your first love. And in doing so, the Lord now has something “against” you.
If I were you, I’d not rest until I made this right with Him. Do you know how? If not, then keep listening.
The following is a study on Jesus’ letter to the church at Ephesus, Revelation 2:1-7.
To download the slides to this message, click – HERE
Download this episode (right click and save)
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