Every morning I try to read Chuck Swindoll’s daily devo that comes in my email (for free). They are always really good and meaningful. I highly suggest you subscribe for his daily devo. You can sign up here: https://insight.org/resources/daily-devotional You can also see past daily devotionals.

Here is the one for today, verbatim:

The Attributes of God

by Pastor Chuck Swindoll

Psalm 5:4–6

After the plea in Psalm 5:1–3, David begins to think through the day that spreads out before him, giving extra consideration to those he would encounter. His song addresses four specific realms of interest (Psalm 5:4–11).

1. David meditates on the Lord Himself (5:4–6).
2. David describes himself (5:7–8).
3. David describes his enemies (5:9–10).
4. David describes the righteous (5:11).

Let’s examine each realm of interest, beginning with the first: God Himself.

For You are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness;
No evil dwells with You.
The boastful shall not stand before Your eyes;
You hate all who do iniquity.
You destroy those who speak falsehood;
The LORD abhors the man of bloodshed and deceit. (Psalm 5:4–6)

He mentions seven specific things about his Lord:

• He takes no pleasure in wickedness.
• No evil will “dwell” with Him (literally).
• Arrogant boasters will not stand before Him.
• He hates workers of iniquity.
• He destroys those who lie.
• He abhors murderers.
• He abhors deceivers.

Why does David review these things? Because it is therapeutic to review the attributes of God—to remind ourselves that He is always good, and that He is always right in His ways. His love for us never fails and His timing is perfect. Many of the pent-up angry feelings and frustrations of our inner emotional tank are diffused as we review God’s character and remind ourselves that He is for us, not against us. Focusing on His character helps dispel discouragement! Furthermore, we are reminded that our enemies are really God’s enemies. He is more powerful than any evil and more persistent than any difficult circumstance. As for those who try to harm us, the Lord is far more capable of dealing with them than we are.

Taken from Living the Psalms by Charles R. Swindoll. Copyright © 2012 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. Reprinted by permission of Worthy Books, an imprint of Hachette Book Group, Inc.

I thought this was really good. There is so much evil in the world today. Probably no more than in times in the past even though some say that the amount of evil today means that the world is about to end (I don’t believe that). Today the battle is between good and evil. It is about belief in God or atheism. If atheistic evolution is true, as is taught in public schools, then all life began from a chemical slime and humans evolved from some fish common ancestor millions of years ago. If there is no God, then we are mere animals and products of random, mindless evolution. If there is no God, then there are no moral absolutes. That doesn’t mean that all atheists have no morals. Most atheists have good morals and are good people. But if there is no God, then there is no absolute right and wrong. If there is no God, then we do not live with some eternal existence in mind: we die and that’s it. Jeffrey Dahmer said that this was his thinking that led him to do what he did.

I believe that God created us with the ability to reason and choose. Why and how would mere chemical evolution ever evolve this unique ability in humans? Chemicals can’t produce reasoning ability. The brain would just be chemical neurons reacting to stimuli. This same reasoning ability prompts us to stop and think about eternity, about why we are here, about what the purpose of life is.

As Swindoll noted, we need to just stop often and meditate on God and what He is like. When we do, we are told in the Bible (as in Psalm 5 and many other places) that He is a God of love who hates evil. He hates all the evil that men and women choose to do today, but He gives us freedom of choice. Yes, God allows evil to exist. Why does a loving God allow evil to exist? Mainly b/c he has allowed freedom of choice. He didn’t want to create puppets or robots incapable of choosing wrong. He wanted us to love him out of our free will choice and not b/c we are programmed to love him. But that means also allowing people to make evil choices that often hurt other people. The choices of Adam and Eve to sin led to a cursed earth that brings about many harmful things also. But all that doesn’t mean that God is not a God of love. We must remember eternity when we view the problem of evil. No matter what suffering and evil someone faces or endures in this life, he/she can live happily and suffering free in eternity with God and Jesus. Any evil suffered in this life will seem like nothing once we enter eternity with God.

The clearest picture of this eternal life with God and Jesus is perhaps in Revelation 7:¹³ Then one of the elders responded, saying to me, “These who are clothed in the white robes, who are they, and where have they come from?” ¹⁴ I said to him, “My lord, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. ¹⁵ For this reason they are before the throne of God, and they serve Him day and night in His temple; and He who sits on the throne will spread His tabernacle over them. ¹⁶ They will no longer hunger nor thirst, nor will the sun beat down on them, nor any scorching heat; ¹⁷ for the Lamb in the center of the throne will be their shepherd, and will guide them to springs of the water of life; and God will wipe every tear from their eyes.”

Paul told us in 2 Corinthians 4:¹⁶ Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer person is decaying, yet our inner person is being renewed day by day. ¹⁷ For our momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, ¹⁸ while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.” In other words, keep your mind thinking about eternity. Trust God that eternal life with Him will be so wonderful that will be far beyond all comparison to the suffering we might go throug in this life.

Mass shooting in schools and public places, Christians being killed by radical Muslims in Nigeria, wars all over the world led by evil people. The list goes on and will go on. We have a loving God who hates all this evil. Don’t let the evil discourage your faith in a loving God. Keep your eyes on eternity. Try to help others who lose their faith b/c of the problem of evil and suffering. Help them to fix their eyes on eternity. That will give us all hope in the midst of evil and despair. Many lose their faith in God b/c of the loss or a child or a loved one. Faith in God actually helps us deal with that if we trust God. It helps us see our loved one or child in heaven, free from suffering, waiting for us to join them some day when we die. That can make our faith even stronger. I love the part in the movie, The Shack, when Mac is allowed to see his daughter (who had been killed by a serial killer) in heaven playing in the meadow with other children and hugged in the arms of Jesus. That helped him get rid of all his anger toward God.

Thanks for reading. Stop and mediate often on our loving God, as Swindoll suggested. Subscribe to his daily devotionals.

You could have gathered all my info in this article from wikipedia, but I have enjoyed researching it and sharing about about Charles Spurgeon, one of the greatest preachers and Christians in the history of Christianity. Charles Spurgeon lived from 1834 to 1892. “He was an English Particular Baptist preacher. Spurgeon remains highly influential among Christians of various denominations, to some of whom he is known as the “Prince of Preachers. By the time of his death in 1892, he had preached nearly 3,600 sermons and published 49 volumes of commentaries, sayings, anecdotes, illustrations and devotions. On October 7, 1857, he preached to his largest crowd ever – 23,654 people – at The Crystal Palace in London. Many sermons were transcribed as he spoke and were translated into many languages during his lifetime. He is said to have produced powerful sermons of penetrating thought and precise exposition. His oratory skills are said to have held his listeners spellbound in the Metropolitan Tabernacle, and many Christians hold his writings in exceptionally high regard among devotional literature. He wrote his sermons out fully before he preached, but what he carried up to the pulpit was a note card with an outline sketch. On March 18, 1861, his congregation, the New Park Street Chapel, moved permanently to the newly constructed purpose-built Metropolitan Tabernacle, seating 5,000 people with standing room for another 1,000. The Metropolitan Tabernacle was the largest church edifice of its day. Spurgeon continued to preach there several times per week until his death 31 years later. He never gave altar calls at the conclusion of his sermons, but he always extended the invitation that if anyone was moved to seek an interest in Christ by his preaching on a Sunday, they could meet with him at his vestry on Monday morning. Without fail, there was always someone at his door the next day.” (Wikipedia) He was a firm proponent of the 5 tenets of Calvinism. He preached for the Baptist Church. He wrote several hymns. Singing at the Metropolitan Tabernacle were acapella and he was opposed to the use of insturmental music in worship. He was a friend and supporter of James Hudson Taylor, the founder of China Inland Missions that sent hundreds of missionaries to China. David Livingstone carried one of Spurgeon’s sermons with him to Africa. Inspired by George Muller, he founded the Stockwell Orphanages in 1867 which cared for hundreds of orphans until being bombed in WWII. He founded the Almshouse for charity for the poor. He founded 24 groups with ministries distributing Bibles, caring for the poor, supporting missionaries, building hospitals, etc. He gave generously to those groups. He made millions of pounds from his published sermons and books, but died poor, leaving his wife only 2,000 pounds. In 1887 he was involved in the “downgrade controversy”. His church had joined the Baptist Union, but some were denying the inerrancy and inspiration of the Scriptures, (i.e., they had “downgraded” the Bible and the principle of sola scriptura). He felt that Darwin’s theory of evolution was weakening the union. His church left the Baptist Union b/c of this controversy. He strongly opposed the owning of slaves. He lost support from the Southern Baptists as a result of that. He praised William Wilberforce for ending slavery in England with the Act of Emancipation. “Like other Baptists of his time, despite opposing Dispensationalism, Spurgeon anticipated the restoration of the Jews to inhabit the Promised Land.” (Wikipedia) He suffered from depression in his later years. He began a lifelong battle with gout when he was just 33, and died in 1892 at the age of 57 from gout and kidney failure. “An estimated total of 100,000 people either passed by Spurgeon as he lay in state or attended the funeral services. An unknown number lined the streets for the cortége. As the cortége passed the Stockwell Orphanage it stopped briefly while the children sang a verse of one of his favorite hymns “For ever with the Lord,” with the refrain “Nearer home.”. Along the route, some flags were at half-mast.” (Wikipedia) Here is that song sung by the Metropolitan Tabernacle Choir: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5B_0nDStx3Q&list=RD5B_0nDStx3Q&start_radio=1

I had read about Spurgeon preaching to thousands but I could not visualize holding an audience of 5,000 spellbound with his sermons. But then I read one of his sermons sent to me by a friend, sermon #2257 to be read at the Metropolitan Tabernacle in 1892. He used Romans 1:20-21 as his text: “They are without excuse: because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful.”

In this sermon, he challenged nominal Christians who “know God” but seldom think about God. He said, “I (personally) must have a God; I cannot do without him. He is to me as necessary as food to my body, and air to my lungs. The sad thing is, that many, who believe that there is a God, yet glorify him not as God, for they do not even give him a thought. I appeal to some here, whether that is not true. You go from the beginning of the week to the end of it without reflecting upon God at all. You could do as well without God as with him. Is not that the case? And must there not be something very terrible in the condition of your heart when, as a creature, you can do without a thought of your Creator, when he that has nourished you, and brought you up, is nothing to you, one of whom you never think? Again, dear friends, there are some who think of God a little, but they never offer him any humble, spiritual worship. When the organ peals out its melodious tones, but the heart is not in the singing, dost thou think that God has ears like a man, that can be tickled with sweet sounds? Why hast thou brought him down to thy level? He is spiritual; the music that delights him is the love of a true heart, the prayer of an anxious spirit. (Remember that he was opposed to instrumental music in worship although he did not condemn it). Further, the people mentioned in my text did not glorify God, for they did not obediently serve him. My dear hearer, have you served God? Have you looked upon yourself as a servant of God? When you awoke in the morning, did you say, “What does God expect me to do to-day?” When you have summed up the day, have you applied this test, “How far have I endeavored to serve God to-day?”  There is another charge to be brought against those who glorified not God, although they knew him; that is, they did not trust him. You trust your old uncle; but you never trust yourGod. In addition to this, they did not seek to commune with him. Are there not some here who never tried to speak to God? It never occurred to you, did it? And God has not spoken to you; at least, you have not known whose voice it was when he did speak. It is a very sad business when a boy, who has been at home with his father and mother for years, has never spoken to them. He came down in the morning, and ate his breakfast; he came in, and devoured his dinner; he took his supper with them by night; but never spoke to them. Would you have a boy of that kind living with you? You would be obliged to say. “John, you must go; it pains me to send you away, but I cannot bear to have you sitting here in silence. If I speak to you, you never answer me.” Some of you cannot remember the time when you spoke to God, or God spoke to you: it is so very long ago, if it ever did occur in your past experience. There are some who, although they know God, they do not want to be reconciled to him. Whosoever believeth in Christ Jesus is at once forgiven; he is adopted into the family of God; he drinks the wine of the love of God; he is saved with an everlasting salvation. There are many who know this in their minds; but it never excites any desire for it in their hearts. Those who are mentioned by Paul are accused of WANT OF GRATITUDE (this sermon is called GRATITUDE). I cannot say anything much worse of a man than that he is not thankful to those who have been his benefactors; and when you say that he is not thankful to God, you have said about the worst thing you can say of him.” (All quotes from his sermon).

WOW! When I read this sermon, it spoke to me like it did to those he preached to in the 1800’s! I can see why they were spellbound to his preaching! So practical and yet profound. His illustration about the boy who never spoke to his parents was so good. I thought, “I hear sermons today but nothing like what Spurgeon preached.” Churches today might be filled if we had preaching like that. He convicted people of their sins and lack of reverence for God. You don’t hear a lot of sermons today convicting people of their sins. In his opening remarks of the sermon, he said that he was not talking about how bad the Romans were 2,000 years ago (and they were evil), but that he was talking about the sins of the 1800’s. That sermon would fit very well in the 2,000’s, wouldn’t it. Especially in the U.S. where we are so materially blessed that we don’t think about God, etc. as the sermon points out.

I hope you enjoyed this article, but more importantly I hope the the Spirit of God that inspired Spurgeon to preach that sermon will work in you (and me) today through that sermon. I know it made me think a lot about my own spiritual experience with God.

You might not enjoy an article about eschatology (the study of the end times). You might think that eschatology doesn’t even matter, which is probably true for most believers. But you might want to know more about it. You are confused by the constant predictions of end time events, none of which come true. In 1948 when Israel became a recognized state was that God fulfilling Old Testament predictions Israel that He would one day “restore their fortunes and give them back their land”? What about those verses in the Old Testament that predicted that God would “restore the fortunes of Israel and put them back on their land” (Jeremiah 30:3; Ezekiel 36-37)? Is that literal or could there be some figurative fulfillment of that?

There is a verse that kinda settles it all for me. It is found in what Jesus predicted in Luke 21:²⁰ “But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then recognize that her desolation is near. ²¹ Then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains, and those who are inside the city must leave, and those who are in the country must not enter the city; ²² because these are days of punishment, so that all things which have been written will be fulfilled. ²³ Woe to those women who are pregnant, and to those who are nursing babies in those days; for there will be great distress upon the land, and wrath to this people; ²⁴ and they will fall by the edge of the sword, and will be led captive into all the nations; and Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.“

We know this is predicting the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple by the Romans in 70 AD. Luke 21:³² Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all things take place.” That verse makes it clear that the predictions of Luke 21 must be fulfilled within the lifetime of the generation of those he was speaking to. That word “generation” always refers to a period of about 40 years or to the people living withing a period of about 40 years. The same as we use it when we say the “baby boomers’ generation”, or “gen z”. The only event within that next generation that Jesus could be referring to was 70 AD.

But “the verse” that settles a lot of the confusion about Old Testament prophecies is found in Luke 21 in verse 21:²² because these are days of punishment, so that all things which have been written will be fulfilled.” Which have been written where? Since Luke 21 is predicting the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD, that must refer to the Old Testament since the New Testament had not been written yet when Jesus spoke this. That means that all Old Testament predictions would be fulfilled by 70 AD. That means that Israel being restored to their fortunes and land had to be fulfilled by 70 AD. But you might object, “Israel was not restored to their power as a nation by 70 AD and they did not get all the Promised Land by 70 AD”, which is true. What that means is that those predictions were fulfilled figuratively, not literally. In Romans 9-11, Paul clearly says that all of God’s promises to Israel in the Old Testament did come true, but that those promises were only made for the remnant of Israel who would accept Jesus as the Messiah and not for the whole nation. The fate of most of the nation was to be judged and killed in 70 AD (Josephus said that one million Jews died). The fortunes of the remnant of believing Jews were restored spiritually with all the spiritual Messianic blessings of forgiveness and salvation. If not, Jesus is a false prophet for predicting that all Old Testament things that had been written would be fulfilled within that generation, in 70 AD.

Some say that all predictions must be taken literally, but no necessarily so. The Bible uses a lot of figurative language. The context determines if a prediction is to be taken literally or figuratively. Malachi predicted that Elijah would come before the day of the Lord, but that was fulfilled by the coming of John the Baptist and not literally by Elijah the prophet coming back from the dead. Jesus said it was fulfilled in John. So the original prediction had to be figurative. Another example is the kingdom of God that was to be established in the days of the 4th kingdom (the legs of iron) of Nebuchadnezzar’s statue in Daniel 2. The Jews expected the Messiah to restore the kingdom of Israel to its physical power as in the days of King David. But Jesus, in the days of the Roman Empire, said “the kingdom is at hand”. He also said that some of those he was speaking to would be alive to see him coming in his kingdom” (Mark 9:1; Matthew 16:27,28). So, unless he is a false prophet or mistaken, that kingdom had to be establish in the first century. A literal power oriented kingdom was not established, but a spiritual kingdom, the church, was established. Thus the prediction of the kingdom being established was fulfilled figuratively in the spiritual church that Jesus built.

That explains how Old Testament predictions of “restoring the fortunes of Israel and bringing them back to their land” could be fulfilled figuratively but only for the remnant of believing Jews. That might go against our normal way of interpreting Scripture, but we must accept figurative fulfillment of predictions when other verse demand it. Again, Luke 21:22 demands a figurative fulfillment of all of the predictions about the Messianic future of Israel, the “resotoration of the fortunes of Israel”, i.e. that is only refers to the remnant of Israel who accepted Jessu as the Messiah..

But notice Luke 21:²⁷ And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.” This also had to be fulfilled within the generation of those Jesus was speaking to (21:32). So did Jesus come in 70 AD? Yes. If not, then Jesus is a false prophet or just mistaken. He only predicts a “2nd coming” or “coming back” (the parousia) 4 times in the synoptics (Matthew 10:23; 16:27,28; 24:29-34; 26:64 and the parallel readings in Mark 13 and Luke 21), and in all 4 times he predicts that 2nd coming to be within the lifetime of those he is speaking to. There are no predictions of a coming back after their lifetime. He did return in 70 AD to judge the nation that rejected him as the Messiah. If these predictions did not come true just as he predicted, then he is indeed a false prophet, which is what the atheists, Muslims, and unbelieving Jews claim. Most Christians just ignore these verses and say that Jesus’ 2nd coming is still in our future. Or they come up with some theory that Jesus delayed his 2nd coming, but there are no verses to support that. Instead, Hebrew 10:37 For yet in a very little while,
He who is coming will come, and will not delay.” That verse refutes any delayed coming theory!

Again, all this might not interest you at all. But surely you feel the pressure of being told that as a Christian you should believe in Israel and that God has a special place for Israel in eschatology? Or maybe you are just confused about it all and you don’t know what to believe or who to listen to? Or maybe you just don’t want to even discuss or study eschatology, which is fine. But someone needs to defend the Bible predictions in light of their misuse so often. I hope that is all that I am trying to do!

Thanks for reading if you made it this far!!!

In Swindoll’s Sept 2 “Insight For Living” he wrote: “Stay with the Scriptures. While our individual experiences may vary somewhat as the Lord uses each of us in unique ways, we must never—and I mean never—get too far from the revealed and reliable Word of God. If you do you will begin to use your experience as a basis for your beliefs, and the Scriptures will diminish in importance as you make more and more room for more strange experiences.”

“I have pastor friends who have done just that. And today when I talk with them, I find that they no longer believe that the Bible is God’s final Word. If that’s true, then how do I know where His Word starts and their vivid imagination stops? How much of it can I trust? No matter how persuasive the preacher, you and I need God’s inspired Word, not additional revelations of “truth.” When that happens, we are hopelessly awash.”

I teach “Christian Evidences” in my Bible classes, so the inspiration of the Word is a dear subject to me. It is true that we do not have the original writings of the apostles and prophets. But we do have thousands of manuscripts (copies) that help assure us that we have trustworthy translations today. It is true that there are “apparent contradictions” in the Word. But those can be explained if you give the Bible the “benefit of the doubt”. But today we hear more serious doubts about the inspiration of Scripture. Paul is considered to be just an uninspired man giving his homophobic, misogynistic opinions. Thus the LGBQT movement splits churches (the Methodist church and others). The inspired teachings of Paul are no longer the standard for determining right and wrong.

So they tell us that some parts of the Bible are inspired but that the false ideas of the writers are mixed in with the inspired portions. As Swindoll said, how can we determine which part is the actual word of God? Do we leave it to some uninspired preacher to tell us which parts of Scripture are “truth”?

I hope what Paul said of the Thessalonian Christians can be said of you. 1 Thessalonians 2:¹³ For this reason we also constantly thank God that when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of mere men, but as what it really is, the word of God, which also is at work in you who believe.”

I found this on AI when I googled “why are people losing faith in God?” “People leave belief in God due to factors like intellectual doubts, disillusionment with religious institutions’ values or actions (such as hypocrisy or scandals), negative experiences with religious trauma, evolving personal values that conflict with religious teachings, influence from a more secularizing society, and changing family structures that don’t reinforce religious beliefs. The decision is often a complex, personal journey driven by a combination of these societal, institutional, and individual factors.”

Very well stated. Look at each of those reasons given for why people lose faith in God. Surveys say that only 5% of people in the U.S. are atheists, but many more are agnostics (who don’t believe there is enough evidence to decide if there is a God or not) or skeptics (who doubt that there is a God b/c that defies science in their opinion).

So then I googled, “why are people leaving churches”? and this is what I got. “People are leaving the Churches of Christ, as well as other religious groups, due to various factors including disagreement with legalistic practices (like their stance on instrumental music), lack of community and connection, perceived irrelevance to modern society, disillusionment with leadership or institutional hypocrisy, and personal experiences of church hurt or abuse. Other reasons are broader, such as a general trend of secularization and the rise of individual spirituality, where people prefer to find meaning online or outside of traditional religious structures.” Again, a very accurate and complete list of reasons. I struggle greatly with institutional Christianity, the “big business churches” that spend 80% of their money collections on their buildings, staff, an on themselves. I am a house church advocate with no budgets, buildings, or paid preachers and staff (which is the way it was in the first church in Acts). Justin Martyr, 2nd century apologist, said that the only collections taken up were to help the poor, widows, orphans, or stuggling families in their number. I can certainly relate to those who leave their church b/c it is going LGBQT like with the Methodist church or b/c of some scandal of their pastor having an affair with some of his members. All the reasons listed about contribute to the fact that 30% of those surveys check “none” for their religous affiliation. Only 5% of those 30% are atheists and the rest are just disallusioned with institutional Christianity and have “quit church”. Maybe the church has let them down. Maybe if the churches were more into spending their money collected into drilling wells, helping the poor and oppressed, and printing Bibles to share the gospel all over the world, especially to unevangelized nations and peoples. Maybe if the churches were more into just connecting as a family rather than focusing on bands and preachers which draws a lot of people to megachurches (many of whom admittedly do a good job with small groups, community service, and children’s ministries). So the “nones” are no longer going to church to at least have Bible teaching and Christian fellowship. Many of them find their own spirituality in some way, even basic Christian faith, but often they do not teach their children the faith. It is easy for them to just become worldly minded, lacking the spiriutal disciplines of Bible study, prayer, fellowship, etc. Sunday is just another day to go the lake or watch football. Nothing wrong with that unless we are forsaking Christian fellowship.

So, are you a “none”? How solid is your faith in God and in Jesus as the Son of God, our savior, raised from the dead? If your faith getting stronger or weaker? Have you left your church? Is there some other way that you can join with other Christians in a house church or small group? Are you grounding your children in the faith at home with family Bible studies? Do you constantly talk to them about the existence of God and the design in the universe and in nature? Do you talk about God in the home as if He is real?

Something to think about.

1 Timothy 4:1  “But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, ² by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron, ³ who forbid marriage and advocate abstaining from foods which God has created to be gratefully shared in by those who believe and know the truth. ⁴ For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with gratitude; ⁵ for it is sanctified by means of the word of God and prayer.”

Paul is by the Spirit predicting some “apostasy”, a falling away from the faith. Paul also predicted this in 2 Thessalonians 2:1 “Now we ask you, brothers and sisters, regarding the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, ² that you not be quickly shaken from your composure or be disturbed either by a spirit, or a message, or a letter as if from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. ³ No one is to deceive you in any way! For it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, ⁴ who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God.”  

So Paul predicted some kind of “apostasy” (apostasia: Apostasy, rebellion, defection, falling away) before 70 AD. He could even be referring to the Jewish rebellion against Rome in 66-70 AD (one meaning of apostasia is “rebellion”) in 2 Thess 2:3. Or a spiritual apostasy. 1 Timothy 4 seems to be a spiritual apostasy where false teachers are making laws forbidding eating certain foods and forbidding marriage. Paul is very clear that Christians under the new covenant can eat anything, any animal, as long as they give thanks for it. I read one article that said that Paul was not saying that Christians can eat anyting, but that he was saying that some teachers were saying that Christians can’t eat the clean meats of Leviticus 11. That article said that Christians are still required to follow the meat laws of Leviticus, but I totally disagree with that. Those laws were given to the Jews, and only to the Jews. 1 Timothy 3:1-5 clearly says that Christians can eat anything that God created, and that includes eating any kind of meat, even the “unclean” meats forbidden for the Jews to eat in Leviticus 11. There are Christian groups like the 7th Day Adventists and the Worldwide Church of God that still follow the food laws of Leviticus 11. That’s fine, but they should not make that a heaven/hell issue for other believers.

The 2nd false teaching was the forbidding to marry. My research told me that the 2nd century church fathers suggested that celibacy would be better. They no doubt got this from 1 Corinthians 7 where Paul told the Corinthians to stay unmarried if they were not married, but he added that. was due to a “present distress” (persecution of Christians by the Jews or Rome). Obviously that is not a hard fast celibacy law for all ministers or priests. He even told them to marry if they were going to burn with lust if they did not marry. Some church fathers suggested that sex within marriage should only be for procreation, having children, and not for sexual enjoyment. But Paul in 1 Corinthians 7 told married partners not to withhold sex from their partners. The first official celibacy law was the Council of Elvira in 306 AD and it issued a decree for priests not to marry. The Western Church, the Roman Catholic church, eventually forbade priests from marrying, but the Eastern Church, the Orthodox church centered in Constantinople in the Byzantine Empire allowed their priests to marry. Bottom line, God never forbade marriage except on rare occasions (He told Jeremiah not to marry or have children in light of his “present distress” of the Jews going into Babylonian captivity very soon after he prophesied). Paul even told the younger widows in 1 Timothy 5:¹⁴ Therefore, I want younger widows to get married, have children, manage their households, and give the enemy no opportunity for reproach.” God wants us to marry if we so desire, to have children if we so desire, and enjoy sex within our marriages. If someone chooses not to marry, that is fine, but no one should make laws forbidding marriage like the Catholic Church has done with their priests. Or like the Shakers. The Christian Shakers were a religious group that practiced communal celibacy, believing that abstaining from sex was necessary to wage a spiritual war against the flesh. 

Be careful of any teachers who start making up laws that are not clearly taught in the New Covenant. Or teachers that make things to be heaven/hell doctrines when they are not.

Thanks for reading.