paravanes:meditations

Graphic: Holy Fire Ministries (holyfire.co.nz) I've noticed increasingly strident and even angry blog posts and opinion pieces recently regarding the question of what the true church can or should  do in days of apostasy. For some reason, many seem to believe we are in a time of extreme apostasy.  I am not certain this is true, but once again the topic has arisen. Here are some thoughts on the subject. First, it is important to remember the church has always been challenged by apostasy (false teaching by those who have turned away from the true gospel they once professed).  There is no time in church history when the church has not faced apostasy and apostates.  This is not a 21st or even 20th century phenomenon. As you read through the New Testament,you will find the apostles Paul and Peter warning the early church about the false teaching of apostates. The entire Book of Jude in the New Testament is a warning against apostates and includes teaching on how to live

Sodom. This is not a name we generally associate with mercy. In Genesis 18:23-33, one reads a conversation between Abraham and God. God decides to share with Abraham the divine plan to destroy the city of Sodom because extreme wickedness has been attributed to the inhabitants of that place. In response, Abraham wonders aloud if God would destroy the good and honest people who just happen to live in Sodom.  In the conversation, Abraham asks the question: "Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?" As the conversation progresses, God tells Abraham if fifty righteous people can be found in Sodom, the city will not be destroyed. Abraham, knowing his nephew Lot lives there, bargains God down to ten. That was an expression of God's mercy. In other words, if ten righteous people could be found in the city (historians estimate the population of the city was between 600 and 1200), God  would not destroy it. For the sake of ten righteous people, God would a