Praise God, our community of listeners is really growing, it's growing, growing, it really is, and we would like to extend a heartfelt welcome to our newest listeners from the following places. Wyoming, Nebraska, West Virginia, Ohio. New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Virginia, Angola, Israel, the Philippines, and Brazil. We say great big God bless you and welcome to the podcast. Thanks for joining us. And we also want to give a big shout out to all of our listeners everywhere. And thank you for tuning in and sharing some of your time with us. We do pray that the manifold blessings of God on your life overtake you and the lives of your loved ones, and we encourage you, if you haven't already done so, to listen to all of our segments. Again, thanks for being a part of our community of listeners, and we'd like to dedicate this podcast to my father, Bishop Clyde A. Roston. Church just doesn't seem to be what it used to be. These new Christians seem to be lesgs rigid than those old holy rollers. You can be saved and still go out to the club and dance and drink. Really? Let's talk about it. God bless you all. God bless you and welcome to our weekly podcast of Contending for the Faith. I am your co-host and my name, Bishop LaCreece Roston, along with my husband, Bishop Ronald Roston. And we do invite you to get your Bible, our notebook, and journey with us as we explore topics that challenge us to mature. And I am going to say a little prayer. Our Father and our God, we do bless you in Yahushua's name. Please, we ask you to open up our spiritual ears and help us with spiritual understanding so that we can hear what you and your spirit is saying. And we asked you to help us, the church, to hear what you're saying in this hour. We do ask all of these blessings in the blessed name of your son, Yehoshua. Amen. So let's dive into our discussion. And the title is The Falling Away. Our base scriptures for this segment can be found in 1 Thessalonians 2, 3, and 1 Timothy 4, 1. And I'll read from the King James Version and the New Living Translation. First to King James, Let no man deceive you by any means, for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition. 1 Timothy 4 and 1, Now the Spirit speaketh expressly that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils. Out of the New Living Translation, don't be fooled by what they say, for that day will not come until there is a great rebellion against God and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the one who brings destruction. In our last scripture, now the Holy Spirit tells us clearly that in the last time some will turn away from the true faith. They will follow the except of spirits and teachings that come from demons. And a quick review from our last segment. Reads, we must continue to lean and depend on the Holy Spirit. We cannot afford to lean on our own understanding and depend on our own strength. That's a setup for failure. It's time in these times of confusion and crisis. God raises crisis leaders, believers who must serve as an example of stability, stability, and integrity in the times of confusion and crisis. That was one of the first lessons that my father, pastor, my first teacher taught us that in times of crisis, God raises crisis leaders and we're looking forward to helping the body grow up into being those crisis leaders who serve as an example of, like you said, stability and integrity. Confusing times will be dangerous and perilous times for the faith and the existence. However, our Savior has overcome the world, and no weapon formed by Satan against his church, against the church of Yahushua, HaMashiach, Jesus Christ, Yeshua, however you call him, his church, none of those weapons that are formed will ever prosper. There is nothing that Satan can do to prevent the will of God from being attained in the earth. In time and in eternity. Amen. The church is built on the revelation from God to man that Yeshua of Nazareth is the promised anointed Messiah, spoken of by the Old Testament prophets. We can rest assured that the purpose of God shall succeed and complete his intended agenda. During this confusion, in this confusing, perilous time, the need for mature Christians. Impeccable integrity and holiness is mandatory. Amen. All throughout the Bible, we have been able to observe different kinds of falling away by believers. As time winds up, however, a major falling away will happen. It will supersede the previous falling aways and will set the stage for the return of Messiah for his church. The departure from the foundations of the faith will even cause the remnant to question their belief system. This last falling away will be easily detected by those outside of the art of safety, those who are not born again. This last fall in a way will represent a major departure from the ways of the first century church. This compromised form of Christianity will be totally acceptable by those who don't recognize the righteousness of Yahuwah and His holiness. It will cause the formation of a counterfeit church, an unholy alliance between the God of this world and those claiming to be children of God. This falling away will facilitate the incorporation and assimilation of the compromised pseudo-Christian. Of this world's system into a body of believers who will ultimately be tainted. They will be crumpled and callous to the holy mandates of the ancient of days. This will happen as the church rapidly runs headlong down the road of encumperism. Ecumenism, ecumenism, ecumenism, ecumenism, ecumenism, that word, and prepares to lose herself in the quagmire of deceptive, compromised teaching. She will embrace teachings that lack the integrity upon which the church was founded. In the scripture in 1 Timothy 4, verse 1 says, Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils. We will see the simultaneous. Of this deceived group to form a one-world religion, a one-world government, and a one-world economy. This great falling away will be a part of the series of events which signal the beginning of the end. Let no man deceive you by any means, for that day shall not come except there be a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed the son of perdition. Stage for a form of Christianity that denies the power of God to break the power of sin in the lives of the people. It will foster the formation of a church that doesn't mind the fact that it has a reputation for continually existing under the mantle of having an ongoing power shortage. The falling away will be a signal to the enemy that he has accomplished a great victory over the church of the Lord Yeshua Hamashiach. It will testify to the enemy's accomplished purpose of deceiving the church into thinking that it's no problem living a life that is not dedicated to the principles of holiness. Sanctification, and self-denial. It will allow Lucifer to boast that he has successfully infiltrated the ranks of the righteous. He will boast that he has convinced those belong to this group to think like he thinks in terms of self-pleasure and self-satisfaction. This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truth-breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that do good, traitors, petty. High-minded, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God, heaven a form of godliness. Denying the power thereof. Listen, church, from such, turn away. From such, turn away. That's 2 Timothy 3, verses 1 to 5. Additionally, this falling away will open the door for the revealing of a man of the man of perdition. And we refer to the son of perdition as Lucifer, Satan, the great dragon, the arch enemy of the people of God, the church. Well, there has been many hypotheses as to just who this man of perdition is, Suffice it to say that whosoever or whatever he is, he represents a critical point in the countdown of eternity, the last day. According to Jewish eschatology, the last day refers to the day that Yeshua executes his judgment on the earth and simultaneously gathers the dead in Christ and those who are alive and do remain. The term is repeatedly used by Yehoshua in the 60s. Of Job to indicate the day of resurrection and judgment. And the scripture in John that Bishop spoke of is found in John 6, 54 and 55 that says, Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, except you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whosoever eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life, and I will raise at the last day. Although it is related to the last days and the last time to denote the Messianic age, it is definitely different. From the last days. The last day, singular, is different from the last days, plural. In John 7 and 37, it says, In the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirsts, let him come to me and drink. In that particular scripture, it refers to the eighth day of the Feast of Tabernacle. According to Leviticus 23, 36, this closing day of the Feast of Tabernacles was observed as a holy convocation, a Sabbath. In John's gospel, there's also the thought that God will take care of his own in those troubled times. Yahushua repeatedly said concerning those the Father has given him, that he will raise them up at the last day. Singular. This can be seen in John 6. 37 through 39. All that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. For I came down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of him that sent me. And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me, I should lose nothing, but shall raise it up again at the last day. Singular. John is the only New Testament writer to use the expression. The last day. It is used as an expression that points to Yeshua's activity right at the end of time. It also makes it clear that Messiah's care for his own extends right through the sphere of time to the ushering in of the final state of affairs and eternity. On the negative side, the person who rejects Yeshua and his teaching will find that that teaching will condemn him at the last day, that the spirit of evil will continue to the end is clear. There are different views and difficulties of being sure what parts of Messiah's discourse on the Mount of Olives in the 24th chapter of Matthew refer to the destruction of Jerusalem and what parts refer to the end of the world. But he makes it clear that while his followers will hear of wars and revolutions which must happen, the end will not come right away. Believers will encounter troubles throughout this world's history, and it will persist right to the very end. And that scripture in Matthew 24, 6 through 8. Later, further down, 11 through 13, reads this such, And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that ye be not troubled, for all these things must come to pass. But the end is not yet. For nations shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there shall be famine and pestilence and earthquake in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows. And many false prophets shall rise and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure until the end, the saying shall be saved. Very important is the fact that the final great day will see the triumph of God. This is foreshadowed in the Old Testament, for example, in the great passage in which Job says, I know that my Redeemer lives and that in the end he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh. I will see God. That's Job 19, 25. There are problems in this passage, but plainly there is the clear expectation of God's final triumph. Before Yeshua was born, the angel told Mary that the child she was to bear will reign over the house of Jacob forever. His kingdom will never end. That's found in Luke chapter 1 verse 33. The redeemed will know the fullness of everlasting life. And in his great passage on the resurrection, Paul says that the Messiah will come with those who belong to him. In that scripture, 1 Corinthians 15, 24 reads, Then the end will come when he hands over the kingdom to God. Father, after he has destroyed all dominion, authority, and power. And Messiah will come with those who belong to him. The apostle goes on to speak of the raising of the dead in a different form, one in which they will be imperishable. In verse 52 of the 15th chapter of 1 Corinthians, Again and again, the New Testament brings out the truth that when Yeshua returns. All evil will be defeated and the redeemed will know the fullness of everlasting life. For the New Testament writers, the coming of Yeshua HaMashiach into the world to bring about our salvation was the decisive happening in the entire history of the world. His coming set in motion the train of events that would bring about the salvation of sinners and eventually see the complete setting up of God's kingdom, as Revelation makes so very clear. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with men. And they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them and be their God. Yeshua's advent did not mean that all evil would immediately disappear. Both the New Testament writings and the Christian experience make it plain that evil continues. The important thing from the Christian point of view is that the saving work of Messiah has altered everything, Sin has been decisively defeated, and believers have already entered into salvation and everlasting life. However long or short a time it will be before the end of this world. As we measure time, We are living in the last times of the New Testament writers, and they understood it as they understood it. If you enjoy our time together and would like to hear more of our thoughts on mature Christian thinking, pick up our most current books, Living in the New Jerusalem Now and The Remnant Church. Both are available on Barnes & Noble, Amazon, and major book outlets everywhere. We invite you to view our video library on YouTube at www.youtube.com forward slash user forward slash R-D-R-O-S-T-O-N and www.youtube.com forward slash atsidebishoprdr. Okay, let's talk some more about how the New Testament writers understood that they were living in the last days. Again, according to Jewish eschatology, the last days were considered to be when the Messiah was manifested and walked among mankind. In Hebrews 1 verses 1 and 2, we find these words. Long ago, God spoke many times and in many ways to our ancestors through the prophets. And now, in these final days, He has spoken to us through His Son. God promised everything to the Son as an inheritance, and through the Son, He created the universe. The second coming of Christ is referred to as the last day, singular. Therefore, we must understand that everything that is associated with his second advent happens at the same time, the last day. This is also referred to as the day of the Lord. And as scriptures read, But of the times in the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you, for yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they say peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as should veil upon a woman with child, and they shall not escape. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. You are children of the light and the children of the day. We are not of the night nor of the darkness. Therefore, let us not sleep as do others, but let us watch and be sober. That is found in 1 Thessalonians 5, verses 1 through 6 in the King James Version. Yeah, again and again, hear the word of the Lord. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise that some men count slackness, but is longsuffering to us, Lord, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to rest. The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with perfect heat. The earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up, saying then that all these things shall be dissolved. What manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness? Looking for and hastening unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens, being on fire, shall be dissolved in the elements, shall melt with fervent heat. Nevertheless, we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and the new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. Wherefore, beloved, seeing that you look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found in him. Without spot, and blameless. That's 2 Peter 3, 9-14. Unfortunately, the clock on the wall says that it's time for us to go. And as always, we admonish you that if you enjoyed this podcast, that you would invite others, your friends, even people who aren't your friends, to join our community of listeners. And we tell you, as we always tell you, we're your hosts. And until the next time, I'm Bishop Ron Rostin. This is Bishop Lacrize Rostin. And together, we say to you, our time is up. And we thank you for yours. And we will continue our conversation in our next segment. Until then, let us continue contending for the faith, which was once delivered unto the saints. And in the words of the ancient Hebrews, we do bid you shalom. Shalom. God's peace be upon you.
