The downfall for many people in churches is they do not have a love of the truth of the Word of God.
They love the associations of other people at church. They love the church building and the organ and music. They love the pageant and ritual of the church services. They love being able to say they attend a church. It makes them feel an emotion of being righteous.
But they do not have a love of the scriptures of the Holy Bible.
There is a terrible penalty from God upon those who do not have a love of the truth that they might be saved.
2 Thessalonians 2
4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
(In 1982, God said to me: The falling away are not individuals leaving the churches. The falling away are churches leaving the scriptures and setting up other doctrines.)
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The apostate churches of the end times.
(When Jesus returns, HE will gather HIS elect and will destroy antichrist and the apostate churches.)
9 Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,
10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:
12 That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
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I love the Bible, the Word of God, more than I love the church itself.
When the preacher preaches something opposite to scripture, as often happens, I choose Bible over what he says.
I have departed from several churches for this reason, what they were teaching was opposite to that which I read in the Bible.
As a new Christian in 1975, my best friend said, "Joanie, you have to go to church."
I said, "I do?"
So I began attending the church which she and her husband attended, a small non-denominal church where the pastors were professors at Dallas Theological Seminary.
When I began attending that church the head pastor was teaching a seminar entitled, "Tongues are of the devil."
One day I was reading the Bible and saw the following scripture.
The apostle Paul said:
I Corinthians 14:39 Wherefore, brethren, covet to prophesy, and forbid not to speak with tongues.
(The church I was attending was being taught exactly opposite from what the Bible says!)
I told this to my friend, Donna, as we were driving along the highway. She said, "Let me see that." and she pull the car off the road and stopped.
I always carried a small New Testament Bible in my purse. I found the scripture and showed it to Donna. She was shocked and said, "Let's go to my house and look up that scripture in each translation of the NT Bible."
We did that and every translation said the same thing: Forbid not to speak in tongues in the church.
I said, "I'm not going back to that church." Donna said, "Neither am I."
We both left.
The love of scripture must be greater in us than anything else in this entire world!
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Later God showed me this is antichrist, the apostasy of the end time in the church, when I see people in church groups who are believing something opposite to verses of scripture in the Holy Bible.
If a person fails to love the truth of the Word of God, the Bible shows us that person will be turned over by God to live in a strong delusion so he can believe a lie and then at the second coming of Jesus that person will be damned. (2 Thess. 2:11-12)
So pray for God to give you a love of the truth that you may be saved.
For to fail to love the Word of God is to fail to love Jesus who is The Word.
And if a church is teaching something opposite from Bible or omitting some scriptures, leave that church group. For it is a church of the apostasy.
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