Jesus called it.

when the church publically screws up or acts out in a way that is not very Jesus-like it should gut us to the core… but we shouldn’t be surprised…

‘Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.’ [Matthew 24.12-13]

Jesus called it.

and so, along with the sheep and goats passages of Matthew 24, as well as the assertion that in the end times we will surround ourselves with people who say what our itching ears want to hear [usually ‘how great thou art’ but aimed in our direction, i fear] and that we will turn away from the truth and turn to myths, and the warnings in Matthew 7 about wide and narrow paths, about fruit trees not producing fruit, about houses built on weak or non-existent foundations, as well as a bunch of people running around doing Jesus-resembling stuff but without the backing of a relationship with God, we need to be so aware and prepared that this is what Jesus was preparing us for.

we need to be aware of how we are standing. are we on the solid foundations of scripture or are we being swept away with the popular or cultural beliefs and ideas of our time?

and above all, and it always goes back to this, no matter what our theology says, are we known for loving God and for loving people – because that is the key – that is the master foundation to the whole building that is being built. you lose that and it all tumbles to the ground, and crushes you with it.

the warning has to be that if the majority of people are thinking, saying, doing the same thing, that needs to start ringing bells for us, because that is not what Jesus seemed to be talking about… or was suggesting the opposite of that might in fact be the expected outcome.