We Must Be On Guard

The mystery of iniquity doth already work. The world has become accustomed to lies. When they have their programs, they are lied to all the time. The scenes, they are so accustomed to looking at lies, and loving lies, they will kind of like them. That will be their diet.

And here then their lying wonders will fit in. And why wouldn’t it be lying wonders, it is entirely possible that their scenes will not even be genuine. They may be just as deceptive as the programs today. They are capable of fooling the people, of deceiving them; they catch them off guard.

What will become of our faith? What will become of those embracing those things that we can’t see and finding the contentment and satisfaction in that; in contrast with what this man is going to offer?

It may be that some of this is going to happen after the rapture. But I’m not so sure about that.
But, even so, as far as the rapture is concerned, brethren, it is not said that everyone is going to be raptured. Only the true and faithful. Only those who have overcome.

That is why the Lord said, “In that night there shall be two in bed, the one taken and the other left. There shall be at that time two in the field, the one shall be taken and the other left.”

What makes the difference? One was an overcomer and the other one wasn’t. So that’s the whole situation.

It certainly behooves us, by His grace, to remain on the side of the overcomer.

Now, the Lord said, not only to pray. Now we all have faith in prayer. But, remember, He said, “Watch and pray.”

I’ve known some poor souls that have been pushed over, and carried away in the spur of the moment, that when we spoke to them afterwards, they said, “Well, I always prayed.” But the poor soul didn’t watch.

So those two go together. Watching and praying. Praying alone, and watching alone, isn’t sufficient.

We should have our eyes open and know and discern the time in which we are living. Simply to wander around blindly in this world, and pray, isn’t sufficient. We must be on guard.

Now we represent God, as a God of love, a God of great compassion, but evidently there is a time coming when the patience and the longsuffering of God runs out.

It occurs to me of Saul, the Israelite king in his day. Even though he was anointed with oil, he was consecrated as King of Israel, but he forsook God and what do we read? God sent an evil spirit upon Saul.

Why would God do it?

That is the final measure of a God-rejecting person, when he once had been consecrated. Who once had become, by the Grace of God, a child of God, and then spurned His grace, has willingly and deliberately departed from the true faith, finally God will let them have their measure.

If we don’t want to listen to things of God, that He reveals through the Scriptures, through His Holy Prophets, through the Holy Apostles; if they no longer constitute our guidelines and the positive inspired Word of God, and we begin to have ideas of our own, there will come a time when God will say, “All right, if that’s what you want, you can do it. But the consequences will be so and so.” And this is what this means, that they might all be damned who would believe not the Truth, but have pleasure in unrighteousness.

Now that need not be your lot and mine at all. It need not be our misfortune or our lot, but God has seen fit to inspire the Apostles to write this message for the purpose that we might be forewarned and that we might discern the times in which we are living.
--Sermon Excerpt: Elder Bro. N.S. (1965)