“Even The Elect”….: Kevin H

For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect.” – Matthew 24:24

“I believe it has become quite apparent that, yes, even the elect can be led astray.”

That’s how I ended an article I had written several weeks ago.

I would think it would be quite concerning to any believer, I would hope so, anyway, that our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ are being led astray by false christs, prophets, teachers, pastors, celebrities, politicians, etc.  I would hope that we’d be concerned not only for their own spiritual welfare, but also for the hurt and damage they end up causing to others and to the church’s witness of Jesus Christ.  At the very least, these types of things are concerning to me.

Not long after I had written that article, I was quickly reminded of these realities as I saw a fellow believer call for the border to be closed, joined by the enthusiastic amens of many other fellow believers.  When I dared ask what they meant by closing the border and why it should be closed, I was given all kinds of politically charged partisan rhetoric, such as how there’s an invasion coming over the border right now, and how most of these migrants (“illegals” was the term of choice consistently used) are seemingly terrible people coming with bad intentions, and how they’re turning our country into a Third World country, and how the current administration not only lets them all in but also gives them all kinds of benefits that they don’t even give to their own citizens, most especially our veterans.  When I tried to point out in multiple different ways, including with a good amount of verifiable facts and data that so many of the points of their narrative were untrue and even more importantly how God calls us to specially care for the immigrant and the “least of these”, and how as Christians that should be our first consideration, I was met only with the same repeated talking points, void of any substantiated data or evidence, and the accompanied astonishment that I could not see just how bad these people are and just how bad the government is in catering to them and not caring about all the bad guys they are welcoming in.

Of course, it’s not just nearly immigration.  It has become common to see those who profess Christ, loudly and exuberantly defending and participating in all kinds of behaviors that are anti-christ.  The most glaring has been their excusing, justifying, championing, and glorifying a man of moral bankruptcy.  We see similar done with other popular and authoritative figures, whether in the church or in conservative politics.  All the more, we see the regular, vociferous, and sometimes profane slander, exaggeration, and mean-spirited denigration of politicians and others from the “other side”.  We see these professing Christ-followers becoming very insular, wanting to vastly restrict who can come into their country (under the guise of just being “for” legal immigration), and wanting to severely restrict what other countries we can help (although for many of the same, we must give all the help and support we can to Israel, even when Israel isn’t always in the right).  We see them spreading lies and dubious conspiracy theories as if they are confirmed truth.  We see them denigrating other Christians for the supposed sin of voting Democrat and destroying relationships for the same reason.  The list of wayward behaviors goes on and on.

Now, this is not to say that all of these Christians have become anti-christ in nearly all their behavior.  They still love and protect their families and friends (unless for some their family and friends have gone “woke”), fight for justice for the unborn, help at the local food bank, and conduct many other good and righteous acts.  Yet, there is a distinct and disturbing dissonance between how they conduct themselves very lovingly and Christ-like in some ways and then simultaneously commit such depraved and un-Christ-like behavior in manners of politics, power, and control, all under the same supposed banner of following Christ.

Last week I had written an article speaking of the poison of partisan politics that Christians intake….. essentially as they are led astray they take in this poison, and the more poison they take in, the further they seemingly desire to walk astray.

The cure to this poison and this destructive straying is, of course, Jesus, as I have also written many times….. indeed, the real Jesus of the Bible, as I also regularly try to point out, not the poorly exegeted and self-fulfilling caricatures of Jesus that we often create.

We had some important, meaningful, and interesting discussions here at the blog last week about who are really born again.  I am no theologian and am not going to lay out a dissertation answering that question about every individual who claims or once claimed to follow Christ and yet is regularly committing behavior that goes against the ways of God.  What I do know is that there is much grace with God and I will leave that in His very capable hands to sort things out.

But what I also do know is that today in my country of the United States, there are many who claim to be ardent Bible-believing followers of Jesus, who are concurrently and brazenly committing much anti-christ behavior, and this should not be.  Typically and expectedly, when Christians struggle with habitual sins (which is pretty much every one of us in one way or another), they try to hide those sins because they would be ashamed for them to be seen.  However, what we have been dealing with these last several years is something quite different….. sins that are unreservedly and proudly committed, sometimes even in the name of Christ.

I assert that this state has come about because many Christians have imbibed on the poison of partisan politics and truly have been led astray by false christs and false prophets.  I will not speculate on the state of their souls, but I will exhort them to return to their first love.

Partisan politics are a cruel and enfeebled god.

“But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first.  Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first.  If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.” – Revelation 2:4-5

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” – I John 1:9