ENDURING TO THE END - CONCLUSION

I wandered in the shades of night, Till Jesus came to me, And with the sunlight of His love Bid all my darkness flee. Soon I shall see Him as He is,The Light that came to me;Behold the brightness of His face,Throughout eternity.

ON A PERSONAL NOTE

When I was a new believer, I was very leery about joining any "Christian" groups because the memory of Jim Jones and Jonestown was still too vivid in 1981. I stayed indoors with my Bible because something told me I'd better not join any fellowship until I knew what the Bible taught, particularly the New Testament.

I couldn't keep my mouth shut concerning my new found faith in Jesus Christ, so it didn't take long before members of my family, startled by the enormous change in my life, heard the truth of what I was sharing. They didn't have the same reservations and went full steam ahead. My oldest sister Janet introduced me to "Christian" television and TBN. My younger sister Joni talked me into a Christian theater group performing at Melodyland in Anaheim, California. Both these things had a profound affect in my life.

Janet took me with her to the TBN studios to be in the studio audience of Praise the Lord and introduced me to the ministry of Hal Lindsay. Then she took me to a Bible study led by TBN chaplain Ed Smith. I let my guard down somewhat and began to trust any who called themselves Christians.

The Christian theater group included students at the late Walter Martin's Bible study that met once a week at Melodyland, so I began attending with Joni and Janet. Martin taught me early on from Scripture the foundational doctrines of the Christian faith and I got a primer on the false teachings of the cults.

But what I wasn't taught was the existence of false brethren in the church. I didn't know they existed. I thought only the cults were deceived. I quickly learned otherwise and was in for a shock.

It didn't take long for the devil to use false brethren to drive us out of Martin's study. It had to be demonic because it made absolutely no sense in the natural. Needless to say, we left that fellowship after bearing up for several months with spiritual abuse dished out by divisive people who hated us without good cause, even though the Lord brought us back years later. During the time I was away, I ended up at a church in Glendale led by a charismatic leader who happened to have his own UHF television station. I was a first-hand observer of a dynamic Christian leader apostatizing before my eyes.

My newly born-again naïveté was dealt a blow. I had learned so much from that teacher. He taught me great truths about the grace of God and Bible prophecy and I truly was fed by his teaching. But when he declined morally, his teaching began to go as well. I literally had to flee when he began to proclaim the pyramid as God's revelation in stone. He tried to turn us from the Word of God to mythology.

The more I watched "Christian" television, the more confused I became. How could I trust what these teachers were saying when they all seemed to make sense, yet they contradicted one another. One night in desperation I cried out to God. I almost threw in the towel, telling myself it's just too much to try to sort out to get to the truth. At the end of my tearful plea, I opened the Bible to 1 John 2:26-27 and the words jumped off the page at me.

"These things I have written to you concerning those who try to deceive you. But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him"

I say all of this to say to those whose bubbles I've broken that it's time to put aside childish idealism and see things for what they are. I've been disappointed many times by Christian leaders and I'm no longer shocked by that. It's going to happen to us just like it did to the apostle Paul.

"in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren;” (1 Cor. 11:26)

And the days preceding the return of Jesus are prophesied to be the most perilous of all. We must stay watchful for our Bridegroom and let no one steal our crown (Rev. 3:11).

I hope this series will help new believers to test all things according to the Word of God so they will not get swept away in the growing apostasy. “Let God be true and every man a liar,” says the writer of the book of Hebrews -- for many false shepherds have arisen in our midst.

"And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. " - Mark 13:13