Bible Questions Answered:
“...I've heard of this...pastor who after decades of preaching, has decided to become an atheist!”
Sheila/ Shreveport, Louisiana U.S.A.
Bible Answer:
First of all stop and read the following blogs:
* (Falling Away-The Great) Falling Away-The Great
* (Once Saved-Always Saved) Once Saved Always Saved
THE WORD OF THE LORD:
Jeremiah 23:1,2,11,12 KJV
1 Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of My pasture! saith the Lord.
2 Therefore thus saith the Lord God of Israel against the pastors that feed My people; Ye have scattered My flock, and driven them away, and have not visited them: behold, I will visit upon you the evil of your doings, saith the Lord.
11 For both prophet and priest are profane; yea, in My house have I found their wickedness, saith the Lord.
12 Wherefore their way shall be unto them as slippery ways in the darkness: they shall be driven on, and fall therein: for I will bring evil upon them, even the year of their visitation, saith the Lord.
Ezekiel 34:1-10 NLT
1 Then this message came to me from the Lord:
2 “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds, the leaders of Israel. Give them this message from the Sovereign Lord: What sorrow awaits you shepherds who feed yourselves instead of your flocks. Shouldn’t shepherds feed their sheep?
3 You drink the milk, wear the wool, and butcher the best animals, but you let your flocks starve.
4 You have not taken care of the weak. You have not tended the sick or bound up the injured. You have not gone looking for those who have wandered away and are lost. Instead, you have ruled them with harshness and cruelty.
5 So My sheep have been scattered without a Shepherd, and they are easy prey for any wild animal.
6 They have wandered through all the mountains and all the hills, across the face of the earth, yet no one has gone to search for them.
7 “Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord:
8 As surely as I live, says the Sovereign Lord, you abandoned My flock and left them to be attacked by every wild animal. And though you were My shepherds, you didn’t search for My sheep when they were lost. You took care of yourselves and left the sheep to starve.
9 Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord.
10 This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I now consider these shepherds My enemies, and I will hold them responsible for what has happened to My flock. I will take away their right to feed the flock, and I will stop them from feeding themselves. I will rescue My flock from their mouths; the sheep will no longer be their prey.
Micah 3:11,12 NLT
11 You rulers make decisions based on bribes; you priests teach God’s laws only for a price; you prophets won’t prophesy unless you are paid. Yet all of you claim to depend on the Lord. “No harm can come to us,” you say, “for the Lord is here among us.”
12 Because of you, Mount Zion will be plowed like an open field; Jerusalem will be reduced to ruins!
A thicket will grow on the heights where the Temple now stands.
Matthew 7:15 KJV
Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
Matthew 24:11 KJV
And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.
Luke 9:62 KJV
And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.
Luke 12:47,48 KJV
47 And that servant, which knew his lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes.
48 But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.
I Corinthians 9:13,14 KJV
13 Do ye not know that they which minister about holy things live of the things of the temple? and they which wait at the altar are partakers with the altar?
14 Even so hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel.
II Thessalonians 2:3 KJV
Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first..."
I Timothy 4:1,2 NLT
1 Now the Holy Spirit tells us clearly that in the last times some will turn away from the true faith; they will follow deceptive spirits and teachings that come from demons.
2 These people are hypocrites and liars, and their consciences are dead.
II Timothy 3:13 KJV
But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.
II Timothy 4:3,4 NLT
3 For a time is coming when people will no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching. They will follow their own desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever their itching ears want to hear.
4 They will reject the truth and chase after myths.
Hebrews 3:12 KJV
Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.
Hebrews 6:1-6 KJV
1 Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God,
2 Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.
3 And this will we do, if God permit.
4 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost,
5 And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come,
6 If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.
Hebrews 10:38,39 KJV
38 Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, My soul shall have no pleasure in him.
39 But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.
James 3:1 NLT
Dear brothers and sisters, not many of you should become teachers in the church, for we who teach will be judged more strictly.
James 3:1 RV
Be not many teachers, my brethern, knowing that we shall receive heavier judgment.
James 4:17 KJV
Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.
II Peter 2:1 KJV
But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.
II Peter 3:17 KJV
Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness.
I John 2:18,19 NLT
18 Dear children, the last hour is here. You have heard that the Antichrist is coming, and already many such antichrists have appeared. From this we know that the last hour has come.
19 These people left our churches, but they never really belonged with us; otherwise they would have stayed with us. When they left, it proved that they did not belong with us.
EXAMPLES OF FALLING AWAY:
Exodus 32:1 KJV
And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him.
Judges 2:16,17 NLT
16 Then the Lord raised up judges to rescue the Israelites from their attackers.
17 Yet Israel did not listen to the judges but prostituted themselves by worshiping other gods. How quickly they turned away from the path of their ancestors, who had walked in obedience to the Lord’s commands.
Nehemiah 9:25,26 NLT
25 Our ancestors captured fortified cities and fertile land. They took over houses full of good things, with cisterns already dug and vineyards and olive groves and fruit trees in abundance. So they ate until they were full and grew fat and enjoyed themselves in all your blessings.
26 “But despite all this, they were disobedient and rebelled against you. They turned their backs on your Law, they killed your prophets who warned them to return to you, and they committed terrible blasphemies.
Ezekiel 36:16-21 NLT
16 Then this further message came to me from the Lord:
17 “Son of man, when the people of Israel were living in their own land, they defiled it by the evil way they lived. To me their conduct was as unclean as a woman’s menstrual cloth.
18 They polluted the land with murder and the worship of idols, so I poured out My fury on them.
19 I scattered them to many lands to punish them for the evil way they had lived.
20 But when they were scattered among the nations, they brought shame on My holy name. For the nations said, ‘These are the people of the Lord, but He couldn’t keep them safe in His own land!’
Acts 7:39-42 NLT
39 “But our ancestors refused to listen to Moses. They rejected him and wanted to return to Egypt.
40 They told Aaron, ‘Make us some gods who can lead us, for we don’t know what has become of this Moses, who brought us out of Egypt.’
41 So they made an idol shaped like a calf, and they sacrificed to it and celebrated over this thing they had made.
42 Then God turned away from them and abandoned them to serve the stars of heaven as their gods!..."
I Timothy 1:19,20 NLT
19 Cling to your faith in Christ, and keep your conscience clear. For some people have deliberately violated their consciences; as a result, their faith has been shipwrecked.
20 Hymenaeus and Alexander are two examples. I threw them out and handed them over to Satan so they might learn not to blaspheme God.
We have lived for some time in a culture, which has had men enroll for seminary to prepare them for ministry, “who have -never-had a call from God!”
The ministry to them, is an occupation, one they seem to like, and so they prepare for it.
And what of the seminaries, they have attended?
Many seminaries today, do not believe that God created the world, in the virgin birth of Christ,
Of the Rapture of the church and or the Second Coming etc.etc.
Men learned in dogma and rituals, yet deplete of any personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
God help us!
II Thessalonians 2:3 KJV
Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
II Peter 2:15,20-22 KJV
15 Which have forsaken the right way, and are gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness;
20 For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.
21 For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them.
22 But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.
Salvation Prayer
