Is the American Church About to Die? What's Going On? | Matt Dabbs

What is in the Heart will Show even if only Subtly

Notice Lot's wife didn't actually go back to Sodom, she just longed to do so and was probably sad to see her city destroyed. All something has to be is in our heart for it to displease God.

Many people pretend to act friendly around us but in their heart they secretly hate those who bring scripture to bare on those who claim to be Christian.

When someone displays covertly rude gestures, such as rolling eyes or total silence to convey their disrespect for someone who is using the Bible to prove a point, these are likely pretenders.

I have never seen godly people roll their eyes or remain silent when someone shares scripture on any matter. Those who were godly I have seen enjoy the interaction and have their own scripture to share to compliment what was said.

How can you tell if someone loves Christ? You will be able to see a joy coming over them at the mention of His name. You will experience sweet engagement in what is being said and you will connect in a Spiritual way that cannot be explained.

1 Corinthians 13:4-8

"4 Love is patient, love is kind, it is not jealous; love does not brag, it is not arrogant. 5 It does not act disgracefully, it does not seek its own benefit; it is not provoked, does not keep an account of a wrong suffered, 6 it does not rejoice in unrighteousness but rejoices with the truth; 7 it keeps every confidence, it believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things."

This model of love is seen in someone who has been changed by Christ. They have the character of Christ and will live consistently the ways written of here in 1 Corinthians.

Those who have been born again will have all the fruit of the Spirit of Christ.

Galatians 5:22-23

"22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law."

Those who have this fruit and His character will be this way all the time to everyone. They will never display this character to some and not others, it will be continually consistent all the time.

If your struggles and confidences have been gossiped to others you know the person who does this does not have love, understanding or care for you. If you have shared a good thing and the one hearing was jealous and lacking in engagement about it, then you know that person does not have love.

Romans 12:15-18

"15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. 16 Be of the same mind toward one another; do not be haughty in mind, but associate with the lowly. Do not be wise in your own estimation.

17 Never repay evil for evil to anyone. Respect what is right in the sight of all people.

18 If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all people."

Those who love others love to hear all things about them without judging everything and without jealousy. Those who love do not consider themselves above others but love others better than themselves.

Philippians 2:2-4 "…2 then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being united in spirit and purpose. 3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or empty pride, but in humility consider others more important than yourselves. 4 Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.…"

God's way is so wonderful, healing and supportive, how could anyone mock it?

No Becomes Born-Again by deciding to join a church

People don't understand that just deciding to become Christian does not save them. They want to add Christ to their sinful life without any change in their heart. They change some of their ways so as to be "seen" as good but they maintain their prideful attitude and are confident about their good deeds even though they have never been born again. Their "religion" is based on how good their life will be and how good they look to others.

They are not born again by deciding to become a Christian or joining one of those churches in the community that people think is the building.

We are born again by repenting from our sinful nature and desiring to be changed by Christ into a new creation. Without that brokenness over our sinful nature and desire to be changed by Christ there is no salvation.

Christ will not change someone who does not want to be changed.

Adding Christ to our sinful life to feel safe and to act piously will not save anyone.

Matthew 23:1-28

"23 Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples,

2 “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses' seat,

3 so do and observe whatever they tell you, but not the works they do. For they preach, but do not practice.

4 They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger.

5 They do all their deeds to be seen by others. For they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long,

6 and they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues

7 and greetings in the marketplaces and being called rabbi by others.

8 But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers.

9 And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven.

10 Neither be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Christ.

11 The greatest among you shall be your servant.

12 Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.

13 “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people's faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in.

15 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves.

Matthew 23:23-28 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others.

24 You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel!

25 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.

26 You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean.

27 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people's bones and all uncleanness.

28 So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness."

No one can undo what Christ does in us.

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Ephesians 1:13-14

"13 In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of the promise, 14 who is a first installment of our inheritance, in regard to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory."

Genesis 2:24

"Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh".

Mark 10:8-9

"And the two shall become one flesh'; so then they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, no man can separate".

Ephesians 2:10 "10 For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance as our way of life."

This is not merely for believers, God created man to be husband and wife until death. all human beings who marry.

The reason some people are going to hell is because they have not trusted what Christ did for them on the cross, and have lived their sinful life in rebellion against Him.

Refusal to obey Christ in trustin in His sacrifice for our sin has the penalty of hell. Therefore those who reject Christ and His principles are on their way to hell.

Those who have been born again do not live a lifestyle of sin and repent when they fail in the flesh, allowing the Holy Spirit in them to cleanse them from their sin.

Those who defend sin such as divorce and remarriage are likely not born again. They are pretenders who have not trusted in Christ or they would stand for His principles.

1 John 3:9

"9 No one who has been born of God practices sin, because His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin continually, because he has been born of God."

The Holy Spirit convicts people of sin, saved and unsaved people are convicted of sin. The saved people have an advocate with the Father but the unsaved have no advocate and no help because they do not have the Holy Spirit.

1 John 2:1 "My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate before the Father— Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. 2He Himself is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world."

Christ will only change us into a new creation and advocate for us if we are born again by the Holy Spirit. Someone who has the Holy Spirit will not fight to defend sin and will never demean and persecute believer who expose sin. Those who fight and argue to defend sin are those who have never been changed into a new creation by Christ. They remain condemned until they repent and understand their sinful nature is keeping them from salvation.

"Ezekiel 3:21

Nevertheless if thou warn the righteous man, that the righteous sin not, and he doth not sin, he shall surely live, because he is warned; also thou hast delivered thy soul."

Those who defend sin think they are righteous but they have no salvation with Christ because they fight against His principles.

1 John 1:8-10

"If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us"

Those who defend sin are deceiving themselves, they do not have salvation but they do have a "form of religion" but they do not have the Holy Spirit. In the next passage, we see how the end times church will defend sin, lie against the principles of God, and even mock and demean the righteous people who speak the truth. Sadly the following passage is one describing the end times church system.

2 Timothy 3:1-5 "But realize this, that in the last days difficult (ragingly insane) times will come.

2 For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, slanderers, 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 people as these."

Those who claim to be Christians but deny the principles and promises of God within the church may be pretenders. And, it is my discernment that tells me most who say they are "Bible believers" today do not believe the whole Bible therefore they use the Bible to justify their own sin while practicing rebellion against God.

These people are only "saying' what they want others to believe but remain in rebellion against God.

Ezekiel 33:31

"31 And they come to you as people come, and they sit before you as my people, and they hear what you say but they will not do it; for with lustful talk in their mouths they act; their heart is set on their gain."

Matthew 15:7–9

7 You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said:

8 "‘This people honors me with their lips,

but their heart is far from me;

9 in vain do they worship me,

teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’”

The beliefs of our day are steeped in psychology, a work of Darwing who hated God, to convince the people to follow man-made traditions and doctrines while mixing what they think they know with the Bible and in the process negating the Bible.

The closer we get to the end times the more we see people leaning into and practicing faith in feelings rather than God's commands and principles. They even practice hatred toward those who warn them about their apostasy. They are not satisfied to fight against a person, they must turn others against that person too.

There are few people who understand the principles God gave us for gathering with other believers and who are leaving the apostate churches to remain faithful to God. These people will be accused of "neglecting the gathering", as they have misinterpreted what that gathering looks like. They are permeated with the ideas of the times adhering to their human traditions, unable to wrap their minds around God's ways.

Those who are able to understand the ways of God have been rejected, maligned and isolated from this crowd of tradition-minded and folklore followers. These followers of tradition think they can break down the authentic believer by causing them to feel all alone. I am here to tell you it is preferable to be all alone with Christ than with those who continually batter and reject us for our dedication to the Word of God.

It is one thing to be rejected by unbelievers, we expect that, but quite another to be repudiated by those who claim to be Christians.

God said this to us about this matter of false believers.

Christians:

2 Corinthians 6:17

"17 Therefore, come out from their midst and be separate,” says the Lord. “And do not touch what is unclean; And I will welcome you."

God is referring to coming out from among unbelievers to be separate and we must remember that those who fight against God's Word are likely unbelievers pretending to be believers. They call themselves 'Christians" while negating most of God's word and worse adding to scripture to make their own desired belief system.

Matthew 7:21-23

I Never Knew You

21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.

22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’

23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’"

How do we recognize these imposter?

2 Timothy 4:3 "For the time will come when they will not tolerate sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance with their own desires,"

If you find yourself without godly companions surrounded at times by those who have gossiped and rejected you, count it all joy that you have not been accepted by the pretending world of religion posing as Christians, they would only work at bringing you low and undermining your faith.

1 Corinthians 15:33

"33 Do not be deceived: “Bad company corrupts good morals.”

If our only companions are those who have a superficial rebellious form of Christianity then we will loosen our grip on Christ to be accepted by them. It is human nature to make the problem go away by remaining silent or even deliberately changing our views to fit the culture.

Galatians 6:7

"Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap."

The more time we spend with false believers the more we will become just like them. They will make sure they punish us until we give into their ways or remain silent about the truth.

Never be discouraged by your life of solitude, God will take you to those who will listen and remove those who want to see our downfall.

Matthew 5:11-12

“Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you."

Matthew 10:21-22 "21Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; children will rise against their parents and have them put to death. 22 You will be hated by everyone because of My name, but the one who perseveres to the end will be saved."

In verse 23 God tells the apostles to flee when they are not accepted. They are never told to remain and try, try, try again. They speak the truth and move on, just as we need to do in our own lives when others have made it clear they do not want what we have to offer them, that is the truth.

Worship #1 Why the Early Church Did Not Have Worship Services - revised

Something Interesting Has Happened in these Last Days of Apostasy

Has anyone else noticed something very interesting, in these last days of godlessness?

The clothing has become foolish, the decor in homes is stark and uninteresting, the hair styles are beyond sloppy and much more. Everything is getting uglier.

I cannot tell you how disturbed I feel when I see woman wearing ripped jeans that they paid $80 for brand new.

I remember for years how I waited for the style of saggy pants on young men to go away. They were offensive to me and even immoral at times.

Now I am waiting for the ripped faded and worn-out jeans on women to pass.

It makes sense that the devil would want to make everyone look terrible to dishonor God.

I have heard it said by young people that God does not care how we dress. My response was, then why are you obsessing over how someone else dresses appropriately for church gatherings?

The young people seem to be irritated at proper clothing to worship God. They are using the excuse to dress down to justify their lazy and irreverent attitude about God and His gathering.

They will use the scriptures out of context to say that we should not honor one person over another based on clothing. Of course, I agree with God on this but remember God was not speaking of those who can afford to do better in their clothing, He was addressing the matter of the poor not having anything else to wear but tattered clothing because it was all they had. We are not to treat others disrespectfully because they are poor and do not have anything else to wear.

God was teaching us not to treat people disrespectfully because of their financial status. It would be equally bad to judge someone as haughty for dressing a little better for gathering than they do in their every day lives. He never at any time told everyone else to dress down so they can feel comfortable. This matter of clothing had to do with wealth and poverty not clothing style.

Back in the day when farmers were poor people had one set of clothing for working and one set for church and going to town. They valued that their attitude was seen in their choice of clothing when in the presence of others. This is not wrong, it is a virtue to look our best for God and for others.

We are not to judge others according to their appearance, but we should be diligent in our appearance for ourselves. Our attitude is seen in whether we are diligent or lazy.

By the way, it seems foolish to me for anyone to be wealthy and pay big bucks for ripped clothing. Just saying!!!!!

I recall one time when someone who claimed God doesn't care how we dress to attend church meetings came to the gathering once dressed very well because she was going to an office Christmas party afterward. So an office Christmas party was more important than the worship of God?

The clothing for the office party was seen as appropriate for the gathering there but not appropriate for God's Worship gathering?

I guess I am old and out of step with the culture as a whole. So many things that are held as important in our modern-day seem foolish and even irrational to me.

I don't judge anyone based on their clothing but apparently there are those who love to "dress down" who do judge those of us who do not do what they do.

Again, just saying!

Focusing on Christ will Bring Great Joy no Matter how People Treat You

When our focus in on the way things have always been done and on the culture around us accepting us we cannot serve Christ. Those who are in bondage to the cultural traditions of our age will be weak and worried all the time about obtaining approval of men rather than approval of God.

It has been my experience more than anything else in the modern church that people call obedience to Christ "legalism" while judging those who are free from man-made rules when they obey Christ.

Legalism is following man's rules to please man and obedience is adhering to God's principles in His Word to please Christ.

When we step out of the legalism of man and obey Christ we will be judged by the superficial church attendees as disobedient for not following their version of spirituality made up by men who love to control others.

Matthew 23:4: "They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger".

Matthew 23:5-6 "5 All their deeds are done for men to see. They broaden their phylacteries and lengthen their tassels. 6They love the places of honor at banquets, the chief seats in the synagogues,…"

The modern one-man-paid pastor system affords prideful teachers to elevate themselves above others as though those without a degree cannot hear from the Holy Spirit. Even though many of them would pretend they are not greater than the Holy Spirit in all believers, they will act as though only they can know the truth.

Remember that the Holy Spirit is our teacher and there is no one greater than He and that He lives in everyone who has been born again.

Many people who say they are Christians, who attend church gatherings and do good deeds deny Christ by their refusal to seek His Word and the Holy Spirit causing them to follow the lies of the culture and psychology rather than Christ Himself.

Every time these pretenders add to the Word or ignore it for their own desired results they are denying Christ. Christ is the very essence of His Own Word.

Matthew 15:8-9

"8 ‘This people honors me with their lips,[a]

but their hearts are far from me;

9 in vain do they worship me,

teaching as doctrines human precepts.’”

We ought to be more concerned about the church changing the word of God to suit their own desires than we are about what the world is doing in politics. After all, the world will always deny Christ but for a "Christian" to deny the words of Christ is even worse.

It has been my experience that most "Christians" who are corrected with God's Word will argue, fight or dismiss and demean anyone who challenges them to follow Christ through obedience to His word.

Christian family will exclude anyone who corrects with the Word of God, and yet they will still say they are Bible believers. Yes, it is true they are Bible believers, but they are not Bible followers. Even the devil believes in Christ, he knows who Christ is and rejects Him.

We are living in the end times in which many will have a form of Christianity but deny Christ in its disobedience to Him. They mock the Holy Spirit, they mock us who belong to Christ and they refuse to look into the Word of God to prove what is true.

These are the end days of apostasy growing more mean-spirited every day, without a conscience or shame for their rebellion.

Isaiah 29:13

"Therefore the Lord said: "These people draw near to Me with their mouths and honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me. Their worship of Me is but rules taught by men."

Mark 7:6

"Jesus answered them, "Isaiah prophesied correctly about you hypocrites, as it is written: 'These people honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me."

John 5:23

"so that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him."

Next time you are tempted to feel rejected by family and friends, remember they did it to Christ and the apostles too, we have no reason to think we will escape it.

Hallelujah

James 1:2-4

"My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing."

Matthew 5:10-12 "…10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. 12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets before you.…"

Keep these passages in your mind when you encounter those who hate you because you love Christ and His principles.