Therismos Kairos Mission Home I Contact us I Back Compromise and Tolerance "For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him." 2Cor 11:4 "For [you seem readily to endure it] if a man comes and preaches another Jesus than the One we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the [Spirit] you [once] received or a different gospel from the one you [then] received and welcomed; you tolerate [all that] well enough!" (Ampl) There has come into the church today a spirit of compromise and tolerance that merely receives everything that comes to it! Even in the early Church the Apostles strive against this tolerance that was given to things that were to be dealt with severely. Everything is almost accepted today as from God in the church and there is such compromise because the deceiver has subtly used Scripture to lure many into the "love and forbear" trap of humanistic tolerance and forbearance. Among this you hear words taken from Scripture, like "you must not judge" or "we must love each other" or "because of unity and peace we must not differ or strive!" Now all these things comes from Scripture, but it was and still is used by the deceiver to bring tolerance for things that must never be tolerated in the church but which should be sharply rebuked and be separated from. If one is today intolerant to error and unsoundness then he is seen as loveless, critical and judgemental, as one that is causing division. "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; speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their conscience seared with a hot iron." 1 Timothy 4:1-2 "But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall Page 1 of 6
follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of..." 2 Peter 2:1-3 "Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ." (Jude 3,4) "Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel;" (Php 1:27) BELOVED, DO not put faith in every spirit, but prove (test) the spirits to discover whether they proceed from God; for many false prophets have gone forth into the world. (1 John 4:1-3 Ampl) Jude exhorts us to earnestly contend for the faith that was once delivered unto us. Why Jude? Because there will come men who "crept in unawares" that will "turn" that is perverse and transfer the grace (and the means of grace) of God into something else and thereby in affect will the LORD God and the LORD Jesus Christ be denied. That is LORDSHIP and rule will be usurped. Now what Jude is saying is an exhortation for us just as it was for them. There is but few today that strive or contend for "the faith," still fewer that have an earnest for the faith, in other words that "earnestly contend" for "the faith" of the gospel. Do you take heed of these exhortations that was given to "the saints" by Paul, John, Peter and now Jude? Why is it that many have a none responding attitude to these very exhortations? No man's faith can be sound today who does not in all earnestness take heed of these very exhortations. What will you do with all these warnings and exhortations? Will you continue to neglect it and ruin your own soul and that of others? Let me take Jude's words into segments so to get the most of what he is saying. He speaks about "common salvation", "ye should earnestly contend", "the faith", "was once delivered", let me stop there. Page 2 of 6
"Common Salvation" = a salvation that is shared by all. He writes about that salvation that is a common experience of all the saved, that makes it relevant to you and me and to those after that will take part in the salvation which Christ have brought. "Ye should earnestly contend" = there must be a struggle and strive to preserve and uphold that which have been delivered unto us. This you especially see in Paul in Galatians 2:5. "The Faith" = All the fundamental truths. The whole embodiment of truth concerning God, man, Christ, the gospel and everything in-between that have relationship to this. The rule here will require that we should contend in this manner for all "truth." "Once delivered" = By God, to remain unvaried and unchanged forever. "once for all," in the sense that it was then complete, and would not be repeated; The more usual sense of the word would be, that it was done once in the sense that it is not to be done again, and, therefore that it was then complete, and that nothing was to be added to it. Everything which He has revealed, we are to defend as true. We are to surrender no part of it. By a careful study of the Scriptures we are to ascertain what that system is, and then in all places, at all times, in all circumstances, and at every sacrifice, we are to maintain it. Nothing can be added to it, nothing must be taken from it and nothing must be "turn" - that is perverted and twisted in any way in it! What we have received is all we need, our exhortation is to preserve it and contend for it so to preserve it for in it alone is the embodiment of truth and in it we alone can be complete, fully furnished unto all things. Any error or perversion in the truth of the gospel or of "the faith" will have a devastating effect on any man's faith and live. That means that if a man's faith is in error that man will be in error and he will not come to perfection and full maturity! And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you; As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other Scriptures, unto their own destruction. Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own steadfastness. (2Pe 3:15-17) There is one thing which leads thousands of Christians astray and that is just receiving everything that comes to them with a Christian mantle on it. Be it music or doctrine or literature, many never even question this; they only receive it as from God. Now Peter said: Beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own steadfastness. Nothing led so many fall from their place of safety and become an open Page 3 of 6
approach for deceitful spirits. If the music many listens to have Jesus or even just God or heaven in it or sounds spiritual thousands assume that it is from God! Then they are intolerant to those like Peter warns them of the subtle craftiness of Satan who camouflage himself into an angel of light! (See 2 Cor 11:13-15) If the book has some mention of Christ or God or the Holy Spirit but completely denies the true revelation of God, then it is deemed as from God like this new spiritual wave that was brought in by a high tide of The Shack. Although it totally defies the True revelation of God, etc, it is deemed as from God which should be read with an open mind otherwise it cannot be read! What many actually saying when they say you must read something with an open mind is that you must be tolerant towards all the contradictions and errors that you come across so that you may find the moral of the story! Paul said to the Corinthian Church which was confronted with false teachers and false doctrines and even a false or a counterfeit gospel, that they bear well with them, that is they had a spirit of tolerance towards them. In this passage Paul says that there was preached to them look at this another (or a different) Jesus, another (or a different) Spirit, and another or (a different) gospel. If there was preached to them another Jesus, Spirit and gospel, then there must have been another or a different Father as well which equals if you count the sum together that there was preached to them another God, another trinity, etc, and they bear well therewith, they did not even had any resistance against it, they tolerated things that should have been openly been confronted! What was the affect? What will be the affect of those that tolerates falseness and error and compromise the Truth? Look at this:...your minds may be corrupted and seduced from wholehearted and sincere and pure devotion to Christ... (Verse 3 Ampl) What will be the affect is that there will come a corruption in the heart or mind from wholehearted devotion to Christ, there will be a loss of sincerity and a pureness of devotion to Christ! Christ will become lesser and will become not be devoted to with wholeheartedness and sincerity. They will start following after deceitful spirits, even Satan himself (verse 13-15) and they will lose their steadfastness (2 Peter 3:15-17) and fall away from the faith! BUT THE [Holy] Spirit distinctly and expressly declares that in latter times some will turn away from the faith, giving attention to deluding and seducing spirits and doctrines that demons teach, (1 Tim 4:1) Page 4 of 6
They will still go on with a Jesus and with a Spirit and with a gospel and with a Papa but it will not be the Real Christianity but a counterfeit Christianity, with counterfeit experiences and guidance and voices that edge on the real but are not and cannot save from self, sin and the world. They are promised freedom and liberty be it financial, physical, spiritual, but they still remains slaves of depravity and fleshly lusts and in addition becomes slaves by these very things they were overcome, that is all they can talk off, follow after, pursue etc. For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them who live in error. While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage. For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them. But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, the dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire. (2Pe 2:18-22) They promise them liberty, when they themselves are the slaves of depravity and defilement--for by whatever anyone is made inferior or worse or is overcome, to that [person or thing] he is enslaved. (Ampl) Wherever there is tolerance and compromise there will come slowly a corruption in true devotion to Christ, He will become less significant and other things will become more prevalent. It is one of the snares by which many are taken captive, that although they know many things to be wrong, they because of so called love, peace and unity which really is not true to the true nature of love and real unity, the keep silent and compromise the truth with the error or become tolerant to things no true Witness of God can become tolerant with and they lose their testimony, their wholehearted devotion and steadfastness of spirit and they become paralysed in their Christian walk and they cannot figure it out. What about you today? How many things be it error, fleshly, worldly, things that you cannot and should not tolerate in your live, family, church, community, etc, have you begin to tolerate and began to compromise the truth with the lie? How many things in your own life are you compromised with? Be aware of the affects of tolerance and compromise and become Intolerant to things that are wrong and do not cover it under Page 5 of 6
the humanistic umbrella of love, peace and unity, for when you do that you will lose a whole hearted devotion to Christ! And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret. But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light: for whatsoever doth make manifest is light. (Eph 5:11-13) I know your industry and activities, laborious toil and trouble, and your patient endurance, and how you cannot tolerate wicked [men] and have tested and critically appraised those who call [themselves] apostles (special messengers of Christ) and yet are not, and have found them to be impostors and liars. (Rev 2:2 Amplified) The Antonym of Compromise is Confrontation! Greetings in Christ. Page 6 of 6