What must we do to fight the good fight?

by Mike Ratliff

1 But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. 2 For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, 4 treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these. 6 For among them are those who enter into households and captivate weak women weighed down with sins, led on by various impulses, 7 always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. 2 Timothy 3:1-7 (NASB) 

This coming Monday I am leading the Bible study in our Small Group. We have been working our way through Hosea. If you have studied Hosea then you know what a mess Israel and Judah had made of their obedience to their covenant with God. They resembled in many ways that description written by Paul in the passage above. In my own experience on this blog and on others where we have dealt with obvious heretics and very “liberal christians” who considered everything we taught and stood for as nothing more than legalism. However, their behavior matched that list above as well even though they insisted that they were the “real christians.”

How does this corruption start in denominations or churches or Christian institutions such as Universities and Seminaries?

There is a progression that takes place in liberal theology: It begins with a corrupt bibliology, a corrupt view of the nature and the inspiration of Scripture. They have a corrupt theology because once you are picking and choosing from the Bible what you want, your theology has to suffer from it, because your human reason is corrupt… every major theological seminary that has turned from orthodox Christianity began with disbelief of Biblical doctrine.

There wasn’t a single exception.This corrupt Bibliology then leads them to the next step. Their theology began to be touched by it, their view of the Cross, the Virgin Birth were both immediately questioned; then came the miracles of Christ… And finally they had emptied the Gospel of all its content; they were simply using the outward shell so that they go on collecting money from the people and the churches; because they knew that if the people in the pew knew that they were apostate, they’d throw them out. So the strategy was hang on to the trust funds; hang on to the money we’ve got; hang on the properties we control, and we will gradually educate the laymen into this new approach to theology.

And then finally we will take control of everything. The gradual process of feeding you theological poison until you become immunized enough so that you don’t know what’s happening to you. And when you wake up to what’s happening to you, it’s too late they’ve got everything. That is not a baseless charge, I stand prepared to prove that the Cult of Liberal Theology in the United States has deliberately and consistently followed this methodology to entrap, control and dominate the denominations and the churches of the United States and our educational institutions. (The Cult of Liberalism, available from Walter Martin Religious InfoNet)

There you have it.  What is the first thing that so-called christian liberals attack as they attempt to take over or change whatever Christian institution or church or denomination or function? They are corrupt or liberal because they began with a corrupt bibliology, which is a corrupt view of the nature and the inspiration of Scripture. This is the first domino. If it goes then the rest fall rather quickly and by the time full corruption has set in all that is left is just an empty shell of the Gospel and just a façade of what used be Christian.

So, what is it that we must do in order to fight the good fight to stop the liberal agenda from making what is left of the church visible in the United States nothing more than another part of Rick Warren’s empire?

1 I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: 2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. 3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, 4 and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths. 5 But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. 2 Timothy 4:1-5 (NASB) 

Let’s look at this a verse at a time.

1 Διαμαρτύρομαι ἐνώπιον τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ τοῦ μέλλοντος κρίνειν ζῶντας καὶ νεκρούς, καὶ τὴν ἐπιφάνειαν αὐτοῦ καὶ τὴν βασιλείαν αὐτοῦ· 2 Timothy 4:1 (NA28)

1 I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: 2 Timothy 4:1 (translated from the NA28 Greek text)

The NASB’s rendering of “I solemnly charge you” translates the verb διαμαρτύρομαι (diamarturomai), which is in Present Tense, Indicative Mood, and Middle Voice. Paul is telling Timothy and everyone who reads this that what he is about to say is a command. The Greek has the idea of issuing a forceful order or directive. Paul then enforces this even further by saying, “ἐνώπιον τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ τοῦ μέλλοντος κρίνειν ζῶντας καὶ νεκρούς” or, literally, “in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead…” Why is Paul emphasizing this this way? This grammatical construction suggests imminency—that Christ is about to judge. He is doing this to make sure that we understand our accountability to Christ as Judge. All believers, especially ministers of the Word of God, serve Christ and this service is rendered both under His watchful eye and with the knowledge that as Judge He will one day appraise the works of every believer. Therefore, Paul is about to issue a command and is emphasizing this accountability to all of us. Woe be to all believers, especially ministers of the Word of God, who do not take this seriously by not obeying the command Paul is giving.

2 κήρυξον τὸν λόγον, ἐπίστηθι εὐκαίρως ἀκαίρως, ἔλεγξον, ἐπιτίμησον, παρακάλεσον, ἐν πάσῃ μακροθυμίᾳ καὶ διδαχῇ. 2 Timothy 4:2 (NA28)

2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. 2 Timothy 4:2 (translated from the NA28 Greek text)

The NASB’s rendering of “preach” translates the verb κήρυξον, which is the Aorist Tense, Imperative Mood, Active Voice form of κηρύσσω (kērussō), “to preach, proclaim, tell, announce a message.” This is the first part of the command. Our focus must be on preaching the Word and this means the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ as well as expository preaching through books of God’s Word in the power of the Holy Spirit. Notice the rest of the command. We don’t preach the word only to those who want to hear it and only when it is convenient, but we must ἐπίστηθι or “be ready.” Again, this is in the Aorist, Imperative, Active form. The base verb is ἐφίστημι (ephistēmi), “in this context this verb carries the ideas of urgency, preparedness, and readiness. It was used of a soldier prepared to go into battle or a guard who was continually alert for any surprise attack. Think about the surprise attacks that descend upon us nowadays from the enemy! Notice the next two contrasts, “in season and out of season.” This is the translation of εὐκαίρως ἀκαίρως. These are adverbs. The first one, εὐκαίρως (eukairōs) speaks of opportunely: – conveniently, in season. On the other hand, ἀκαίρως (akairōs) speaks of inopportunely: – out of season. In other words, we are to be prepared to preach the Word urgently whether it is convenient or not. We are to do so whether the people want to hear the truth or not. We are not to be concerned about tickling people’s ears. We see that in the next part of the verse because this is what real preaching of the Word of God does. It reproves, rebukes and exhorts. We do all this with complete patience as teachers of the Word of God.

3 Ἔσται γὰρ καιρὸς ὅτε τῆς ὑγιαινούσης διδασκαλίας οὐκ ἀνέξονται ἀλλὰ κατὰ τὰς ἰδίας ἐπιθυμίας ἑαυτοῖς ἐπισωρεύσουσιν διδασκάλους κνηθόμενοι τὴν ἀκοὴν 4 καὶ ἀπὸ μὲν τῆς ἀληθείας τὴν ἀκοὴν ἀποστρέψουσιν, ἐπὶ δὲ τοὺς μύθους ἐκτραπήσονται. 2 Timothy 4:3-4 (NA28)

3 For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, 4 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. 2 Timothy 4:3-4 (translated from the NA28 Greek text)

The phrase, “For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching” is a rendering of “Ἔσται γὰρ καιρὸς ὅτε τῆς ὑγιαινούσης διδασκαλίας οὐκ ἀνέξονται.” It is the teaching of sound doctrine (ὑγιαινούσης διδασκαλίας) that is the problem for these people. The word οὐκ absolutely nullifies the verb ἀνέξονται, which is the Future Tense, Indicative Mood, and Middle Voice form of ἀνέχομαι (anechomai), “to hold oneself up against, that is, (figuratively) put up with: – bear with endure, forbear, suffer.” What Paul is saying refers to holding up under adversity and a good translation here would be “tolerate.” This is a warning that in the dangerous times of these last days, many will become intolerant of the confrontive, demanding preaching of God’s Word as Paul just described for us above that is commanded for us to continue to do whether it is convenient or not. How are we to remain faithful in this when so many are resisting the truth?

5 Σὺ δὲ νῆφε ἐν πᾶσιν, κακοπάθησον, ἔργον ποίησον εὐαγγελιστοῦ, τὴν διακονίαν σου πληροφόρησον. 2 Timothy 4:5 (NA28)

5 As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. 2 Timothy 4:5 (translated from the NA28 Greek text)

Regardless of the resistance from the enemies of the cross of Christ, we must remain faithful because we have been given this command in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus as a charge. I wonder how many ministers of the Word of God understand that they have been given this commission to do this this way? There are some of us whom God has given spiritual gifts like those I have that enable me to put these posts together or get up in front of people and exposit God’s Word or teach or counsel or rebuke and exhort. We all have ministries. Let us do them in the power of the Holy Spirit regardless of the merciless attacks and outright lies coming from those who claim to be Christian leaders, but who prove they are wolves by their denial of good doctrines of our Orthodox Christian Faith. We prove they are false by remaining faithful and showing that what they teach is not the truth, not by attacking them directly.

Even so, as we remain faithful, there will always be those who will not tolerate the truth and will resort to all sorts of evil tactics to attack us as well as the message we proclaim. No matter what, let us do our work, fulfilling our ministry.

Soli Deo Gloria!