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THE CHURCH OF ICABOD

by Lewis E. Thomas  
2/07/2015 / Poetry

The condition of our Nation today has the apostate Church to blame!
Many Churches today continue to bring God grief and shame!

Most churches have ceased to preach against evil works and sin.
They preach a compromised message so they won't offend.

They are social clubs where folks play Christian to feel good with no restrictions.
Their Pastors no longer preach a message that brings about holy conviction!

They preach prosperity and love with not a word of God's Wrath!
This popular message makes walking in wilful sin a comfortable path!

Those doing so are taught that holy living does not really matter.
That God's grace will still take them up Heaven's ladder!

These Churches are very popular and often grow to Mega size!
The blind leading the blind while considering themselves very wise!

These Churches are to blame for our Nation's spiritual state!
They excuse and "condone" the sin and evil that God hates!

Blind leaders of the blind heading for the eternal ditch!
Proud of their large numbers that make them "rich'!

The name "ICABOD" should be written on their walls.
Congregations that can no longer hear the Holy Spirit and His call.

These are Wells without water that rant and rave:
"You can continue in your sin and perversions and still be saved!"

Homosexuality is embraced and considered to be ok.
When God's Word says those who engage in it will eternally pay!

The United States and the whole world is going down into Hell's flames!
The modern CHURCH OF ICABOD is the one to blame!


Lewis E. Thomas
As given by God on 2-7-2015


Ref:

Matthew 15:14King James Version (KJV)

14 Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.

2 Peter 2:19King James Version (KJV)

19 While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage.

Titus 1:16King James Version (KJV)

16 They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate.


What does "Icabod" mean concerning God's Church?
See http://www.gotquestions.org/Ichabod.html:
What does "Icabod" mean concerning God's Church?
See http://www.gotquestions.org/Ichabod.html:



The term Ichabod is found in two places in the Bible,1 Samuel 4:21 and 14:3. Ichabod was the son of Phinehas and the grandson of Eli, the priest of the Lord in Shiloh. The sad story of Eli and his two wayward sons, Phinehas and Hophni, is found in 1 Samuel, chapters 2 and 4. Hophni and Phinehas died in battle with the Philistines who captured the Ark of the Covenant and took it away from Israel. Upon hearing this terrible news, Eli fell backward off his chair and broke his neck and died. Phinehass pregnant wife went into labor and bore a son.

And she named the child Ichabod, saying, The glory has departed from Israel! because the ark of God had been captured and because of her father-in-law and her husband. And she said, The glory has departed from Israel, for the ark of God has been captured (1 Samuel 4:2122). The word Ichabod means literally inglorious or there is no glory, and in her pain and despair, the woman (who is unnamed in Scripture) lamented over the loss of the glory of God from Israel.

The glory of God is used to describe Gods favor and blessings toward His people. In the Old Testament, Gods glory is seen as a pillar of fire and cloud that followed the Israelites during the exodus from Egypt, guiding and guarding them (Exodus 13:21). Once the Ark of the Covenant was built and placed in the tabernacle in the wilderness, and later in the temple in Jerusalem, Gods glory resided there as a symbol of His presence among His people. When the Ark was captured by the Philistines, the glory departed from the IsraelitesIchabod became a reality.

Jesus later refers to the concept of the glory of God leaving Israel. In His last message to the populace of Israel, His final word to the religious leaders was O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing. Look, your house is left to you desolate (Matthew 23:3738). That was His final statement of judgment on Israel for the rejection of their Messiah. He has indicted their leaders and, by indicting the leaders, indicted all the people who followed the leaders. And now He says their house is left desolateIchabod, the glory is departing.

Notice that He says your house is desolate. Not My house, not My Fathers house, as He used to call it. Now its your house because God has leftIchabod! God is no longer there, its not the Fathers house; its not My house; its your house. The Greek word translated desolate, means abandoned to ruin. This place is in abandonment. God has left. Its cursed, devoted to ruination. And they wont see Jesus again till He comes in full Messianic glory (Matthew 23:39).

It is a terrible thing to experience the loss of the glory of God. And while Israels ruin was temporary until the fullness of the Gentiles would be brought into the kingdom of God on earth (Romans 11:25), one wonders how many churches today have lost the glory of the Lord, whether willingly or unknowingly. The same things that caused Ichabod in Israelsin, disobedience, idolatryare present in many of todays churches. Christians must never take the glory of God in our midst for granted, lest we wake up one day and find that Ichabod has become a reality among us.

Read more: http://www.gotquestions.org/Ichabod.html#ixzz3R4RzjphS


The Characteristics of Apostasy and Apostates

Jude was the half-brother of Jesus and a leader in the early church. In his New Testament letter, he outlines how to recognize apostasy and strongly urges those in the body of Christ to contend earnestly for the faith (vs. 3). The Greek word translated contend earnestly is a compound verb from which we get the word agonize. It is in the present infinitive form, which means that the struggle will be continuous. In other words, Jude is telling us that there will be a constant fight against false teaching and that Christians should take it so seriously that we agonize over the fight in which we are engaged. Moreover, Jude makes it clear that every Christian is called to this fight, not just church leaders, so it is critical that all believers sharpen their discernment skills so that they can recognize and prevent apostasy in their midst.

After urging his readers to contend earnestly for the faith, Jude highlights the reason: For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ (vs. 4). In this one verse, Jude provides Christians with three traits of apostasy and apostate teachers.

First, Jude says that apostasy can be subtle. Jude uses the word crept (found in no other book of the Bible) to describe the apostates entry into the church. In extra-biblical Greek, the term describes the cunning craftiness of a lawyer who, through clever argumentation, infiltrates the minds of courtroom officials and corrupts their thinking. The word literally means slip in sideways; come in stealthily; sneak in; hard to detect. In other words, Jude says it is rare that apostasy begins in an overt and easily detectable manner. Instead, it looks a lot like Arius preaching in which, in a nonchalant manner, only a single letter differentiates his doctrine from the real teaching of the Christian faith.

Describing this aspect of apostasy and its underlying danger, A. W. Tozer wrote, "So skilled is error at imitating truth, that the two are constantly being mistaken for each another. It takes a sharp eye these days to know which brother is Cain and which is Abel." The apostle Paul also speaks to the outwardly pleasing behavior of apostates and their teaching when he says, "For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:13-14). In other words, do not look for apostates to appear bad on the outside or speak dramatic words of heresy at the outset of their teaching. Rather than denying truth outright, apostates will twist it to fit their own agenda, but as pastor R. C. Lensky has noted, The worst forms of wickedness consist in perversions of the truth.

Second, Jude describes the apostates as ungodly and as those who use Gods grace as a license to commit unrighteous acts. Beginning with ungodly, Jude describes eighteen unflattering traits of apostates so his readers can more easily identify them. Jude says the apostates are ungodly (vs. 4), morally perverted (vs. 4), denying Christ (vs. 4), ones who defile the flesh (vs. 8), rebellious (vs. 8), people who revile angels (vs. 8), who are ignorant about God (vs. 8), those who proclaim false visions (vs. 10), self-destructive (vs. 10), grumblers (vs. 16), fault finders (vs. 16), self-satisfying (vs. 16), people who use arrogant words and false flattery (vs. 16), mockers of God (vs. 18), those who cause divisions (vs. 19), worldly minded (vs. 19), and finally (and not surprisingly), devoid of the Spirit/unsaved (vs. 19).

Third, Jude says apostates deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. How do apostates do this? Paul tells us in his letter to Titus, "To the pure, all things are pure; but to those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure, but both their mind and their conscience are defiled. They profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny Him, being detestable and disobedient and worthless for any good deed" (Titus 1:15-16, emphasis added). Through their unrighteous behavior, the apostates show their true selves. Unlike an apostate, a true believer is someone who has been delivered from sin to righteousness in Christ. With Paul, they ask the apostates who promote licentious behavior, What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? (Romans 6:1-2)

But the apostates false teaching also shows their true nature. Peter says, But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves (2 Peter 2:1). Another aspect of true believers is that they have been delivered out of spiritual darkness into light (Ephesians 5:8) and therefore will not deny core truths of Scripture like Arius did with the divinity of Jesus.

Ultimately, the sign of an apostate is that he eventually falls away and departs from the truth of Gods Word and His righteousness. The apostle John signifies this is a mark of a false believer: They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, so that it would be shown that they all are not of us (1 John 2:19).

Ideas Have Consequences
That God takes apostasy and false teaching seriously is evidenced by the fact that every New Testament book except Philemon contains warnings about false teaching. Why is this? Simply because ideas have consequences. Right thinking and its fruit produces goodness, whereas wrong thinking and its accompanying action results in undesired penalties. As an example, the Cambodian killing fields in the 1970s were the product of the nihilistic worldview of Jean Paul Sartre and his teaching. The Khmer Rouges leader Pol Pot lived out Sartres philosophy toward the people in a clear and frightening way, which was articulated in this manner: To keep you is no benefit. To destroy you is no loss.

It should be remembered that Satan did not come to the first couple in the Garden with an external armament or supernatural weapon; instead, he came to them with an idea. And it was that idea that condemned them and the rest of humankind, with the only remedy being the sacrificial death of Gods Son.

The great tragedy is, whether knowingly or unknowingly, the apostate teacher dooms his unsuspecting followers. One of the most frightening verses in all of Scripture comes from the lips of Jesus. Speaking to His disciples about the religious leaders of His day, He said, Let them alone; they are blind guides of the blind. And if a blind man guides a blind man, both will fall into a pit (Matthew 15:14, emphasis added). This verse is alarming because Jesus affirms that it is not only the false teachers that go to destruction, but their disciples also follow them. Christian philosopher Soren Kierkegaard put it this way: For it has never yet been known to fail that one fool, when he goes astray, takes several others with him.

Conclusion
In A.D. 325, the Council of Nicea convened primarily to take up the issue of Arius and his teaching. Much to Ariuss dismay, the end result was his excommunication and a statement in the Nicene Creed that affirmed Christs divinity: We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of all things visible and invisible; and in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the only-begotten of his Father, of the substance of the Father, God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten not made, being of one substance with the Father.

Arius may have died centuries ago, but his spiritual children are still with us to this day in the form of cults like the Jehovahs Witnesses and others who deny Christs true essence and person. Sadly, until Christ returns and every last spiritual enemy has been removed, tares such as these will be present among the wheat (Matthew 13:24-30). In fact, Scripture says apostasy will only get worse as Christs return approaches. At that time [the latter days] many will fall away and will betray one another and hate one another (Matthew 24:10). Paul echoes Jesus in his inspired writings as well. The apostle told the Thessalonians that a great falling away would precede Christs second coming (2 Thessalonians 2:3) and that the end times would be characterized by tribulation and hollow religious charlatans: But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be . . . holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; avoid such men as these (2 Timothy 3:1-2,5).

It is critical, now more than ever, that every believer pray for discernment, combat apostasy, and contend earnestly for the faith that has once and for all been delivered to the saints.

Read more: http://www.gotquestions.org/apostasy.html#ixzz3R6snpGuD

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