It is a sad fact of life that going forwards is quite often followed by the phenomenon known as ‘running backwards.’ Five hundred years ago a group of strong Christian leaders brought the battle to the Catholic Church and won a period of religious freedom for Christians in Europe in the fifteen century.
Now throughout the last five hundred years there have been ups and downs. There were wars like the Parliamentary Wars of England in 1642. There were many saints that were persecuted and burned at the stake by the Catholics.
- Robert Barnes († 1540), Smithfield, London, England
- Thomas Gerrard († 1540), Smithfield, England
- Anne Askew (1521–1546), Smithfield, England
- John Lascelles († 1546), Smithfield, England
- John Adams († 1546), Smithfield, England
- Joan Bocher († 1550), Smithfield, England
- George van Parris († 1551), Smithfield, England
- Matthew Hamont († 1579), Norwich, England
- Francis Kett († 1589), Norwich, England
- Bartholomew Legate (1575–1612), Smithfield, England
- Edward Wightman (1566–1612), relapsed heretic, Lichfield, England
- Michael Servetus (1511–1553), Geneva, Switzerland
- Stephen Cotton († 1558),[1] Brentford, England
- Nicola Koehler (1544-1559), Smithfield, England
Just to name a few. (See Reference List for a more detailed list).
There were great preachers like John and Charles Wesley, and mighty men like Wycliffe and Tyndale who played their parts in translating the bible into common tongue. Calvin and Knox and Luther who lead the different parts of the Reformation and in God brought Salvation and Freedom to many. Charles Finny, Charles Spurgeon, A.W. Torrey and D.L. Moody who lead many to Christ in their times.
But after a period of time things change around. The lands that were the mission grounds like China and Africa are becoming the missionaries. The gospel light is going out in much of the Western World. Church congregations are aging and the young people have not taken up their parents faith. Atheism and Evolution are claiming the high ground and Christianity is being marginalised.
We are going through a period of RUNNING BACKWARDS or Backsliding.
The bible gives us examples in scripture of people and nations that went strong with Jehovah and then began to backslide or run back. Abraham had his moments of error and backsliding. The time when he told Pharaoh that his wife Sarai was his sister for instance. Moses at the time he killed the Egyptian and ran away could be said to be running backwards. The nation of Israel when they got Aaron to raise up idols for them when Moses was late to come down the mountain was backsliding. Elijah when he ran away from Jezebel and hid in the cave was having a major backslide. Israel in the time of the Kings turned away from God and backslide for centuries. Judah eventually did the same.
In the time of Yeshua the disciple Peter disavowed the Lord three times and Judas betrayed Jesus to the Priests. In the time of the Waldensian Church prior to the Reformation some the Christian’s of that time capitulated to the Catholic Church and pretended to be Catholic to avoid persecution. Given the persecution meted out to them you could hardly blame the Waldenses.
The vast majority of the Martyrs stood up straight for Yeshua and seemingly, gladly went to their deaths. The more that died for the Christ the more new converts their were to be found. Something to be pondered on in our time. You see we seem to have lost perspective on what is at stake. The battle is about soberly spreading the gospel amongst the lost and the more successful the Church is at doing that. The more that the enemy will fight back and the greater the stakes will become to the people of Jehovah. But souls will be won in the name of Jesus of Nazareth.
And so we come to today. For the last fifty years the Protestant Church has slid steadily backward. Ecumenism has entrapped them, new converts have been few and far between and in the mainline Churches doors have closed as congregations have aged. Other types of evangelistic model have been promoted to make the distance in philosophy between the World and the Church a narrow one but if converts don’t repent can they be said to Christians. Will they be those who call Lord, Lord and are told by the Lord to depart from Him?
Secular Humanism has taken the place of religion in society. Where we always had a distance between Church and State but when there was a clear bias in favor of Christianity. We didn’t enforce it, whereas now we have an enforced relationship between Humanism and the State which is falsely called Science.
What can we in the West do to reverse this state of affairs? Frankly we live in the last days. The End Times and of this time the Apostle Paul said of this generation:
“Romans 1: 16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. 17 For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last,[e] just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”[f]
18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, 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 people 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 a mortal human being 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 about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen. NIV
In the time of Paul and the other Apostles this pattern of rebellion against God was prevalent and so it has been down the last twenty centuries and even more so in this the twenty first century.
However, the time of the end has never been as near at hand and events of prophecy relating to the plans of the Mystery of Iniquity have never been so close to coming to pass. For this reason the the Remnant Church in the West and throughout the World needs to watch and pray. We need to steadfastly sow the seed of salvation in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. We need to soberly pray and seek the will of Jesus Christ in the person of the Holy Spirit to accomplish his purposes. To prepare the fields for the great harvest of souls that is to come.
So as to the the Church Running Backward at this time. Remember to pray for God’s will concerning his saints, his Church and his purposes. Trust God and don’t let your heart be troubled. Prepare for the time that is at hand and seek to save as many souls as you possible can into the Kingdom of God. Let as many as can be stay hidden in Jesus Christ.
Isaiah 26:3 You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on you: because he trusts in you. KJV2000
Reference List
Isaiah 26:3 http://biblehub.com/isaiah/26-3.htm
Protestant Martyrs https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Protestant_martyrs_of_the_English_Reformation
The English Civil War https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_Civil_War
The Waldensian Church... Jane Louisa Williams
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