What Can Save This Generation From Disaster?

I had been looking forward to meeting with this group for sometime.

They had invited me to come study with them. It was a Pastor-on-the-hot-seat type of study. They would ask questions and I would take them to the Scriptures for a biblical answer.

I was expecting tough questions, not because they were argumentative or rebellious, but because I knew they wanted to talk about issues they were facing in the post-modern culture of the USA. It was just the type of setting I greatly enjoy and have enjoyed on many occasions; having been invited, on several occasions, to a state college campus to dialogue with the students in a science, psychology or sociology class.

What I had not expected from this group of Christian believers was opposition to steadfastly holding Scripture as the final word of authority.

I discovered they had not invited me to come teach them what Scripture says is truth about morality or social behavior. They wanted me to come teach them what Scripture said about the subject, so they could decide what they would believe is truth.

After each meeting with me, they would discuss and decide what they would accept and believe is truth.

Relativity has crept under the door and through the cracks in the church. It has firmly established its position in the hearts of men and women. Each person has their truth and what may be true for one person or one group of people may not be true for another.

They believe God understands how each person faces and struggles in life.

The Mormons have a truth.

The Buddhists have a truth.

The Muslims have a truth.

Each person has truth in his or her heart and we are all seeking the same God.

This is the philosophical base for many in the church today. Even those in leadership positions are adopting this pernicious deception. The danger to this generation of the church could not be greater. The apostle Paul warned there would come a delusion in the church because “they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.” He wrote to Timothy,

“Now the Spirit clearly says that in the last times some will depart from the faith and pay attention to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils” (1 Tim 4:1).

Dear ones, we have come to the time spoken by Jude. “Beloved, while I diligently tried to write to you of the salvation we have in common, I found it necessary to write and appeal to you to contend for the faith which was once delivered to the saints” (Jude 3).

Jude was being compelled in his spirit to immediately write and urge the believers to “contend for the faith.” This is the only place in Scripture the Greek word is used. It is an athletic term used of the Greek and Roman games. It is an athlete competing with all of his strength to win the game.

The danger to this generation of the church could not be greater.

“Faith” is not the act of believing but that which is believed. It is the precepts, principles and laws of God upon which the Christian faith stands.

It is the truth of God’s Word that distinguishes the Christian faith from all other religions.

This faith has been delivered to the saints not “once” as in time past but, “once for all” and no other faith will be given to us. This body of truth has been entrusted to the church as a sacred deposit, to be guarded and preserved from delusion and distortion.

There is no other truth that will save man’s soul from sin and hell make them a new creation, saints unto the Living God. We must preserve it and accurately pass it on to the next generation.

Jesus Christ said, “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free” (John 8:32). What is that truth? Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). The apostle John wrote, “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God … The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, the glory as the only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:1, 14).

The psalmist wrote in Psalm 119:89, “Forever, O Lord, Your word is established in heaven.” Jesus said, “For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one dot or one mark will pass from the law until all be fulfilled” (Matt. 5:18). The apostle Paul assured us that all of the Holy Word of God was given by divine inspiration not human ingenuity.

The apostle Peter clarified when he explained these men wrote, carried along by the Holy Spirit; writing words of truth that no human mind could conceive or conjure. It required, of necessity, divine enablement. They were writing words, which no human instrument should change or add words. They were writing the words of God. They were penning the Holy Scriptures.

It is the time and season for the preachers, the teachers, the evangelists, and the missionaries to fall in love with truth. God honors His Word above His name.

We must love His Word, as we love Him! We must trust His Word, as we trust Him. We must be committed to believing and to teaching the uncompromised Word of God as the absolute truth upon which a person can place their entire life with great confidence and absolute assurance, it will never fail them!

The Holy Bible is truth.

It is truth for every culture, every generation, and every human being.

It is the infallible inerrant Word of God!

Dr. F. Dean Hackett has served in full-time Christian ministry since October 1971. He has ministered throughout the United States, Canada and Europe, serving as pastor, conference speaker and mentor. He has planted four churches, assisted in planting 15 others, and currently serves as lead pastor of Living Faith Church in Hermiston, Oregon. Dr. Hackett founded Spirit Life Ministries International in 2001 to facilitate ministries in Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina and to open a training center for workers in those nations. You can find him at F. Dean Hackett – Foundational, Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.