1 John 2
18 Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour.
19 They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us.
20 But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth.
How long is an hour? In this case – it doesn’t define a sixty minute time period, for if it had the hour would’ve been up before the ink could have dried on the parchment John was writing on. Instead, we know that this hour refers to the time from when Jesus ascended to heaven till He returns.
These days – as seen on Youtube – there are quite a few atheists boldly stating they were former Christians who have forsaken the way because they have read the Bible cover to cover and realized that it is ludicrous… and indeed, many of them seem well versed in it, don’t they? The truth is – they could commit the Bible to memory – word for word – and they still wouldn’t understand it. When we hear them trying to attack God and the Bible – we have to remember they are speaking out of complete and total ignorance… they complain about the way Christians misunderstand science all the time – but they never seem to recognize that they are doing the same thing when they speak out against Jesus Christ…
We know from 1 John that they are anti-Christs! How can we know this? They left the faith, thus showing they were never truly part of the faith. Now don’t get me wrong – I am not saying these guys are necessarily evil incarnate, because many of them seem to be quite reasonable… but the fact of the matter is that they claim to know of something they never knew. It’s almost funny to hear them declare pwnage over Christians when it’s they who have failed.
This isn’t the same as a former atheist becoming a Christian who testifies against atheism. A Christian who is full of the Holy Spirit once wasn’t full of the Holy Spirit – so he can look back and relate to certain situations through his own experiences… but when someone claims to have been a former Christian, they can only go back to a superficial religious form of Christianity. They cannot claim to have known the Holy Spirit, thus, all their conclusions on our Lord and Savior are based on ignorance.
Now I know they get truly irritated at times when this is brought up, because several of them really believed that they believed… and indeed – they may have believed… but they were obviously not anointed by the Holy One. Had they been they would not have been swayed away from the glorious grace of God.
Matthew 13
18 “Listen then to what the parable of the sower means:
19 When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is the seed sown along the path.
20 The one who received the seed that fell on rocky places is the man who hears the word and at once receives it with joy.
21 But since he has no root, he lasts only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, he quickly falls away.
22 The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful.
23 But the one who received the seed that fell on good soil is the man who hears the word and understands it. He produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.”They would turn to God for answers, and they would understand that we don’t have all the answers, nor should we.
Jesus describes four kinds of people who hear the word in this parable. Of these four, the former Christians belong to three of the categories. They are seeds sown along the path, seeds on rocky places, or seeds cast in thorns. Its sad, but true. Unless they humble themselves, which is to say, prepare themselves as soil to receive the seed, they will never receive the seed. This doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try to help them understand, but we ought not be surprised when they make ridiculous statements and assertions concerning God.
I thought I should write this article so that Christians everywhere might think about what they are watching on Youtube when they view atheists who claim to be former Christians, who say they’ve read and studied the Bible cover to cover… you aren’t watching someone who has succeeded in Christ… you are someone who failed. They need our prayers more than our arguments, as they will never turn from their sins unless the Lord leads them from the places of darkness in which they have fallen.
Romans 1
18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness,
19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them.
20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.
21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.
22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools
23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.
24 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another.
25 They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.
26 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones.
27 In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.
28 Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done.
29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips,
30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents;
31 they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless.
32 Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.
Just something to remember next time you hear them attack God, the Bible, and Christianity.
Former Christians FAIL!
1 John 2
18 Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour.
19 They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us.
20 But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth.
How long is an hour? In this case – it doesn’t define a sixty minute time period, for if it had the hour would’ve been up before the ink could have dried on the parchment John was writing on. Instead, we know that this hour refers to the time from when Jesus ascended to heaven till He returns.
These days – as seen on Youtube – there are quite a few atheists boldly stating they were former Christians who have forsaken the way because they have read the Bible cover to cover and realized that it is ludicrous… and indeed, many of them seem well versed in it, don’t they? The truth is – they could commit the Bible to memory – word for word – and they still wouldn’t understand it. When we hear them trying to attack God and the Bible – we have to remember they are speaking out of complete and total ignorance… they complain about the way Christians misunderstand science all the time – but they never seem to recognize that they are doing the same thing when they speak out against Jesus Christ…
We know from 1 John that they are anti-Christs! How can we know this? They left the faith, thus showing they were never truly part of the faith. Now don’t get me wrong – I am not saying these guys are necessarily evil incarnate, because many of them seem to be quite reasonable… but the fact of the matter is that they claim to know of something they never knew. It’s almost funny to hear them declare pwnage over Christians when it’s they who have failed.
This isn’t the same as a former atheist becoming a Christian who testifies against atheism. A Christian who is full of the Holy Spirit once wasn’t full of the Holy Spirit – so he can look back and relate to certain situations through his own experiences… but when someone claims to have been a former Christian, they can only go back to a superficial religious form of Christianity. They cannot claim to have known the Holy Spirit, thus, all their conclusions on our Lord and Savior are based on ignorance.
Now I know they get truly irritated at times when this is brought up, because several of them really believed that they believed… and indeed – they may have believed… but they were obviously not anointed by the Holy One. Had they been they would not have been swayed away from the glorious grace of God.
Matthew 13
18 “Listen then to what the parable of the sower means:
19 When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is the seed sown along the path.
20 The one who received the seed that fell on rocky places is the man who hears the word and at once receives it with joy.
21 But since he has no root, he lasts only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, he quickly falls away.
22 The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful.
23 But the one who received the seed that fell on good soil is the man who hears the word and understands it. He produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.”They would turn to God for answers, and they would understand that we don’t have all the answers, nor should we.
Jesus describes four kinds of people who hear the word in this parable. Of these four, the former Christians belong to three of the categories. They are seeds sown along the path, seeds on rocky places, or seeds cast in thorns. Its sad, but true. Unless they humble themselves, which is to say, prepare themselves as soil to receive the seed, they will never receive the seed. This doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try to help them understand, but we ought not be surprised when they make ridiculous statements and assertions concerning God.
I thought I should write this article so that Christians everywhere might think about what they are watching on Youtube when they view atheists who claim to be former Christians, who say they’ve read and studied the Bible cover to cover… you aren’t watching someone who has succeeded in Christ… you are someone who failed. They need our prayers more than our arguments, as they will never turn from their sins unless the Lord leads them from the places of darkness in which they have fallen.
Romans 1
18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness,
19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them.
20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.
21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.
22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools
23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.
24 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another.
25 They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.
26 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones.
27 In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.
28 Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done.
29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips,
30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents;
31 they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless.
32 Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.
Just something to remember next time you hear them attack God, the Bible, and Christianity.
former Christians
This entry was posted on March 9, 2010, 12:53 am and is filed under Bible Study, Commentaries, Testimonies, YT Related. You can follow any responses to this entry through RSS 2.0. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.