For Demas Hath Forsaken
Me...
Having Loved This Present
World!
By David J. Stewart
2nd Timothy 4:10, “For
Demas hath forsaken me,
having loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica; Crescens
to Galatia, Titus unto Dalmatia.”
We learn in the Scriptures that Demas forsook Paul, loving this present
world more than the things of Jesus Christ. We see this often these days!
Philemon 1:24 acknowledges that Demas had been one of Paul's fellowlabourers
in the Lord. The Apostle Paul penned Philemon in
60-62 A.D., and then 2nd Timothy
in 64 A.D. (2 years later). By the time of Paul's writing in 2nd Timothy
4:10, Demas had forsaken the ministry. The Bible says that Demas LOVED this
present world, meaning that Demas chose to LIVE IT UP!
The Book of Acts took place
between Acts 62-63 A.D., which means that Demas missed out on some of the
mightiest works of God. It would have been Demas mentioned throughout the
Book of Acts along with Paul, Stephen, Peter, James and the others. Demas
forsook the Lord's work when God was about to do great and mighty things.
Demas missed out! Instead of laying up treasures in Heaven (Matthew 6:20),
Demas became choked by the cares, riches and pleasures of this temporal life
(Luke 8:14). God doesn't reward selfishness, cowardliness or worldliness!
Demas quit on God!
We are living in amazing times of
Biblical prophecy, witnessing the End Times unfold before our very eyes.
Talk about the New World Order is everywhere these days, and we see
Global
Government forming around us. World War III is in the works, just as
Albert Pike
foretold prior to his death in 1892. We see the nations of Libya,
Turkey, Iran, Germany and Ethiopia aligning with Russia, just as the Bible
foretold in Ezekiel 38-39...
We are living in exciting times of
opportunity like never before, able to reach others for Jesus Christ with
the tool of modern technology at our fingertips. 1st Corinthians 16:9,
“For a great door and effectual is opened unto me, and there are many
adversaries.” While most believers rest upon beds of ease, asleep at the
wheel and enjoying life; a small few are relentlessly and tirelessly
fighting the good fight of faith, suffering and sacrificing for Christ. Most
people refuse to sacrifice their time and resources for the cause of Christ,
and they will have little or no rewards in Heaven.
1st Corinthians 3:8,
“Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall
receive his own reward according to his own labour.” Notice that we
won't be rewarded for the work that others do for Christ. Nor will others be
rewarded for the work that we do for Christ. Every individual will be
rewarded for what they personally do for the Lord Jesus Christ and the
gospel's sake. I speak to born-again Christians, of course. If you are not
saved, then nothing else matters, for you will burn in the Lake of Fire if
you die IN YOUR SINS. You
must get saved.
There are many believers like
Demas in the world today, living-it-up instead of serving the Lord Jesus
Christ. Philippians 2:21, “For all seek their own, not the things which
are Jesus Christ's.” Demas loved the sinful world, choosing to live in
the pleasures of sin for a season, rather than to serve the Lord Jesus. Look
what Demas missed out on... Acts 17:6, “And when they found them not,
they drew Jason and certain brethren unto the rulers of the city, crying,
These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also.”
Wow! God was using the early Christians to TURN THE WORLD UPSIDE DOWN!!!
Where was Demas? He fled to the plenteous provisions, pride and pleasures of
Thessalonica.
Preachers are quitting like never
before these days in America. Psalms 12:1, “Help, LORD; for the godly man
ceaseth; for the faithful fail from among the children of men.” Churches
are increasingly closing their doors. According to barna.org, 3500—4000
churches close their doors each year in America. I tell people: Never
quit on God because man fails you! Whether it be friends, money or
even family, they'll all let you down. You can't live for that. The remedy
is found in Colossians 3:2-3, “Set your affection on things above, not on
things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in
God.” There are many people who talk about God in these days of
apostasy, but it is rare to meet someone who genuinely walks with God, cares
about preaching the gospel, and hates sin as does Christ.
An Evil Generation
The Bible says that God will
punish evildoers, even if they all agree with each other and unite against
God. Proverb 11:21, “Though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not be
unpunished: but the seed of the righteous shall be delivered.” When a
woman files for divorce, she often seeks sympathy and approval from others;
including apostate ministers, biased friends and family, meddlers at church,
co-workers, et cetera. Albeit, divorce is a sin regardless of how many
people take one's side in a dispute. God hates divorce (Jeremiah 3:20).
Many husbands and wives are
forsaking each other these days. It is sinful. God hates divorce (Malachi
2:16; Jeremiah 3:20). A wife's purpose is to be a HELP MEET to her husband
(Genesis 2:18). Many divorces are caused by spoiled-bratty women who have
put their own ideas about marriage and life above God's, refusing to be a
help meet to a husband. I heard one woman say, “I'm not getting married, I'm
not going to wait on any man hand and foot.” Instead she has friends who are
homosexuals, hangs out in nightclubs,
turned aside after Satan as 1st Timothy 5:14-15 warns. I do not condemn
anyone, for we are all wicked sinners in God's eyes (James 2:10). I am
simply taking a stand for God against
what the Devil is doing to
marriages and families today.
God wants young women married,
having children, guiding the house, and staying out of trouble (1st Timothy
5:14-15). God never intended for women to become as men, wearing combat
boots, business suits and pursuing careers. Argue as you may (and I don't
expect most people in this Godless generation to understand), the Bible says
what it says! Get mad at God, because He said it. Women today hate men, but
hate themselves even more (as Dr. Makow correctly teaches below) because
they refuse to fulfil the role of a feminine woman in need of a man's love
and protection.
Dr. Henry Makow correctly
states...
Heterosexual society has been under sustained
psychological attack designed to arrest human development and decrease
population. Feminism is the weapon of choice. It encourages women to deny
their femininity and act like men.
Feminine women are characterized by
selflessness. They are not hunters. They are not killers. They are a little
vulnerable in a worldly sense. How do men respond to them? By wanting to
nurture and protect them. This is how men love. This is what women want.
In "The Business of
Strangers" both women have become hunters. As a result, they hate men
but worse they hate themselves. Victims of a diabolical plot, they have
mutated. They need a man's love in order to be themselves again.
SOURCE
Articles by Henry Makow
Ph.D.
In the late 1960's a movement
ensued, a movement of great proportions. This ideological stance of women
needing to empower themselves against men and their "inherent violence"
began a degradation of men's roles in family and society. Men have been
silenced as fathers and husbands. In the early 20th century, boys were
taught to protect women, open doors for them, help them carry their
groceries and never to hit a woman.
Feminism is a lie, out of
touch with reality!
The feminists would have us
believe that those same men were suppressing the women who were the
recipients of such actions. As if to say that helping a woman with her
groceries would take away from the woman's abilities to do it herself and
degrade her potential to be equal to a man. Our society as a whole degrades
men every day, unless of course they are gay.
All we ever hear about from
feminists is about abusive husbands; but never a word is said about lazy
wives who don't clean, don't cook nor provide for their family's needs, and
just don't care. You'll never hear any criticism of lying wives who deceive,
irresponsible wives who are unreliable, lazy wives who won't clean the
house, ungrateful wives who gossip on the phone about the husband (while
he's at work financially supporting her), and so forth. Everything on
television is biased and critical against fathers and husbands, portraying
men as dumb, foolish and distrustful. According to the cackling feminists
and lesbians on THE VIEW, all men are bums, can't be trusted and women are
better off without them. Everything in churches today is biased against
fathers and husbands. The legal system is biased against fathers and
husbands.
Thankfully, God upholds the
authority of fathers and husbands in the family, which is why the Bible is
hated so much these days. Much of what is labeled as “abuse” these days is
nothing of the kind. A husband who keeps track of his wife's whereabouts is
consider “abusive” by today's feminist-influenced laws. Parents who
discipline their children are being punished by the courts for being
“abusive.” The truth is that this evil generation is Godless and intolerant
of all God-ordained masculine authority; whether it be husbands, fathers,
pastors, the Bible or God Himself
(the ultimate control freak in the eyes of ingrate feminists and dyke
lesbians).
May I say, God will have the final
Word my friend. Though hand join in hand against God, Proverbs 11:21 warns
that the wicked shall not go unpunished. It's interesting that God chose to
use the word “unpunished,” which means that for the present, evildoers are
getting away with their evil works (so they think). Evildoers have gotten
away with so much sin for so long, that they no longer have any fear of God
(Romans 3:18). This is the deceitfulness of sin which hardens the heart of
humanity, spoken of in Hebrews 3:13, “But exhort one another daily, while
it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness
of sin.”
In other words, the longer sin is
tolerated, the less sinful it seems. The Bible is the remedy, “...that
sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful” (Romans 7:13).
Whereas television and worldly music DESENSITIZE people to the awfulness of
sin; the Bible SENSITIZES us, making sin exceedingly sinful as it is in the
eyes of God. Abortion has become commonplace in America since 1973 (when it
was legalized at a national level by the Supreme Court); so prevalent in
fact that no one even discusses the issue anymore on television. It's just a
part of our American trash culture, like pornography, dirty dancing and
booze.
The Bible is brutally honest! The
Bible sees us for what we really are, discerning the thoughts and intents of
our heart as Hebrews 4:12 teaches. No counselor, psychologist nor minister
can discern the thoughts and intents of your heart. This is why we read in
Proverb 24:12, “If thou sayest, Behold, we knew it not; doth not he that
pondereth the heart consider it? and he that keepeth thy soul, doth not he
know it? and shall not he render to every man according to his works?”
God Knows Our Frame
and Considers That We are Dust
Thank God for the blood of Jesus
Christ, the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world (John 1:29).
The favorite Bible passage of
Pastor Jack Hyle's mother was in Psalm 103...
Psalms 103:11-14, “For as the heaven
is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear
him. As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our
transgressions from us. Like as a father pitieth his children, so the
LORD pitieth them that fear him. For he knoweth our frame; he
remembereth that we are dust.”
What a precious passage of
Scripture! God understands that we are made out of the dust of the earth. We
are mere skeletons covered with flesh, spirits in a physical body. One day
our body will lay lifeless and our “spirit shall return unto God who gave
it.” If we truly grasp this truth it will help us to let go of the
trifle hurt feelings, emotions and anger that we feel when people
despitefully use us, hate us and say all manner of evil against us. For even
God Himself is kind to the unthankful and to the evil, setting the example
for us to follow in Christ's love (Luke 6:35).
Isn't that something? God
continually remembers that we are mere flesh; yet we humans forget all the
time that we were formed from the dust of the earth, and how much we need
God. You and I need God. We are mere dirt, flesh-covered skeletons. When we
don't pray and read our Bible, we are saying, “God I don't need you. I can
do it by myself. I don't need your help.” I don't know about you, but I
desperately need and want God's help in my life. I am so thankful for God's
Holy Spirit, Who indwells me (Romans 8:9). Literally, the Godhead lives
within my body as a Christian (and yours too if you are saved, a child of
God). The most important thing that we do each day is to acknowledge God.
Unsaved heathens don't want God nor the Bible; but as believers on Jesus
Christ, we love Jesus, and He is precious to us (1st Peter 2:7).
May we all remember that we are
flesh, as God does, and seek His help and guidance daily.
Demas Hath Forsaken Me
Just as Demas forsook the Lord's
work, most believers today are A.W.O.L. (a military term meaning...
absent without leave). We are all soldiers of the Lord Jesus Christ.
2nd Timothy 2:3-4, “Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of
Jesus Christ. No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of
this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.”
Ephesians 6:12 declares that we are at war as Christians against the powers
of Satan in this evil world. Few believers grasp this Biblical truth and are
asleep at the wheel of life, doing absolutely nothing to make a difference
for God. It is sad and tragic!
One man wrote to man and said that
I was one-in-a-million after viewing my ministry. Another gentleman said
that I am doing the work of a thousand pastors. I'm a human-being like
anybody else and cherish compliments; however, I don't place too much weight
upon them because 'GOD GAVE THE INCREASE' (1st Corinthians
3:6). The Spirit of God is behind any meaningful results of my labors for
Him, and not any talent nor ability that I may have (Zechariah 4:6). My
greatest ability is weakness, for that causes me to cry out in desperation
for God's help, for without Jesus Christ we can do nothing (John 15:5).
Ephesians 6:10-12, “Finally, my
brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on
the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles
of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against
principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of
this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”
The
Unconstitutional Illegal War in Iraq
It is very easy to be tempted to
go along to get along. Most people unquestioningly support the military,
because they've never had a soldier toss a live hand-grenade into their
living room and kill their loved ones. The horror stories coming out of Iraq
are nauseating. One soldier alleged that he tossed hand-grenade after
hand-grenade into family's homes, and then went back to play Nintendo
video games at the base camp. The Bible teaches for us to DO UNTO
OTHERS as we would have them DO UNTO US (Matthew
7:12). There's no way that anyone can support the illegal War in Iraq
and obey this Scripture. Congress never voted on any war.
The Bush administration falsely
alleged Weapons of Mass Destruction and invaded and conquered Iraq on
that premise. No such weapons were ever unearthed. The average American
couldn't care less because they weren't a bloodied victim of the war. Most
people couldn't care less about the financial damage done to our nation. As
long as people have a dollar in their pocket, they'll support the worst form
of criminal tyranny. Americans are selfish. We can sing in church on Sunday,
while totally ignoring the
cries of 1,455,590
murdered Iraqis. The Bible can be interpreted a hundred ways, but the
truth only has one interpretation!!! I've been saved for over 30-years and I
know that God is totally against
what we have done to the Iraqi people.
We broke most of the Ten
Commandments. We coveted Iraq's natural resources, beared false witness
against our neighbor, murdered them (as did Jezebel Naboth to steal his land
for Ahab), stole their oil, and so forth. Americans have much bloodshed on
their hands!!! Yet if you talk to the average churchgoer, they are idiotic
and fully support the war in Iraq and the Middle East build-up around Iran.
One of these days Americans are going to be looking up the barrel of a gun,
as Chinese and Russian troops invade our nation, and we will get a taste of
our own wickedness and atrocities. We deserve to be invaded, conquered and
tortured for our complacency and support of unwarranted and merciless
tyranny.
When it's your brother or father
laying dead, after being
shot in the buttocks
with exploding ammunition, and your
wife
and children laying dead from
gunfire and
explosives; well then you will care, you'll be
madder than hell,
and you won't be so
stupid and indifferent toward the evils going on in the Middle East.
Americans have been
lied to
about everything from the banker-owned and controlled mainstream
newsmedia.
Satan's Victory is
Only Short-term
Satan is winning many battles, but
the war is the Lords. We are on the winning side in Christ Jesus. Romans
8:37, “Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that
loved us.” Demas forsook the work of the Lord for the pleasures of this
temporal world, as most people do today.
Abortion is murder, even if the
Godless Supreme Court rules that it's not. Same-sex marriage is morally
reprehensible in God's eyes, even if the State of New York legalizes
gay-marriage.
Most professed Christians are
consumed with personal hobbies, secular events, television and the cares of
this present life. The work of Jesus Christ means virtually nothing to them.
We ought to be continually observing for ways to share the Gospel more.
1st John 2:15-17, “Love not the
world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the
world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the
world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of
life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth
away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth
for ever. Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard
that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby
we know that it is the last time.”
Demas was your typical believer,
enjoying the gift of eternal life while returning ingratitude for God's
goodness. Demas was a akin to the nine lepers who didn't bother to thank the
Lord for the gift of being healed of leprosy. Americans are the same as
those nine unthankful lepers. God has given to us His only begotten Son and
yet most Americans reject Christ, live in gross immorality, praise the
wicked and couldn't care less about the things of God. There is no fear of
God before their eyes (Romans 3:18). Jesus foretold that the world in the
Last Days would once again become as it was in the wicked days of Noah
(Matthew 24:37-38), when people lived to eat, drink, marry and party into
the night.
Woe unto the world. Jesus reminded
the Jews that of all the lepers in the land of Israel during the time of
Elisha, only ONE was cleansed and healed. Luke 4:27, “And many lepers
were in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet; and none of them was
cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian.” Jesus was telling the Jews that few
of them were saved, nor would ever be saved because of their unbelief.
Likewise, very few people in the world today are truly saved. Only eight
people survived the destructive flood of Noah's time. Jesus said the same
apostate and wicked conditions upon the earth prior to the flood would
return in the Last Days, when people live only to have a good time. We are
dwelling today in woeful times of selfishness, apostasy, unbelief and evil
works of every sort (2nd Timothy 3:1-7). Truly, the end of the world as we
know it cannot be far away.
Worldliness Hinders Knowing the Good,
Acceptable &
Perfect Will of God
For a worldly believer to
talk about finding God's will is ridiculous, because 2nd Corinthians
6:14-17 clearly teaches that it is GOD'S WILL for every Christian to SEPARATE
from the unbelieving world. Unless we are willing to obey the REVEALED
will of God first, then why should God show us any more of His will?
Hebrews 11:6,
“But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to
God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that
diligently seek him.”
Tragically, most believers don't consult the Word of God at all. The
reason is because they are WORLDLY, conformed to this sinful world. How
can we know God's will apart from God's Word? We can't! Worldly
believers listen to worldly contemporary Christian music, maintain worldly
acquaintances, read worldly materials, watch worldly TV, and go to
deadbeat
neo-evangelical churches.
Romans 12:2, as we read above, directs each
believer to separate from the world in order to "prove" what is the GOOD,
ACCEPTABLE, and PERFECT will of God. This is critically important,
because the worldly believer is unable to think clearly on spiritual matters. There is a direct correlation between a lack of Biblical separation and being
corrupted doctrinally. Worldly believers have a tendency to twist the
Bible around to justify their sinful worldliness. As a result, they have
difficulty discerning the Word of God properly.
This is why we see
organizations like Christianity Today magazine endorsing Harry Potter's
witchcraft, and 37% of the occult Freemason membership in the U.S. are
Southern Baptist's. So sad! I was appalled when a pastor told me
that he organized and took his congregation to Sin City Las Vegas!!! Without a doubt, these things are NOT the acceptable will of God. Even
so, come, Lord Jesus!
Photo left: Christian
rapper, TobyMac, who is leading millions of Christian young people into
apostasy.
Romans 12:2 plainly states that
the only way to "prove" (to test, examine, prove, scrutinize) if something
is God's will or not, is for a separated Christian to shine the Light of
God's Word upon it. Most worldly believers have a whole different
attitude and perspective towards the Bible. I get hateful letters all
the time from the worldly Christian rock gang, calling me names and telling
me that I'm hurting the body of Christ. One writer even called TobyMac
"a man of God." You've got to be kidding me! TobyMac is a man of
Satan—praising the demonic Pope,
performing in SIN CITY Las Vegas, and
supporting World Vision (a known eugenics front to kill off the
population).
A man of God, like John the Baptist, stands AGAINST the sinful
world; he doesn't dress, sing, talk, and fellowship with them (Ephesians
5:11). These so-called Christian rockers who attack me are classic examples of
worldly believers (if they're saved at all) who are doctrinally corrupted
because of their love for the sinful world. There is nothing any more
conforming to this sinful world than devilish religious Country, rock, rap, and hip hop
music. There's a wide range of problems with the different songs and
styles of music, but they all have one thing in common, i.e., leading people
into a One World Religion. ALL
Contemporary Christian Music [CCM] singers are either Catholic,
pro-Catholic, or are totally silent about the evils of Catholicism.
They dress like
the world, sing like the world, act like the world, talk like the world, and
are covetous like the world. Everything is for sale. Any charity concert
is a publicity stunt, while the CCM industry rakes in billions of dollars
per year. Romans 12:2 stands as a testimony against
them all ...“And be not conformed to this world...”
Unsaved People and God's
Will
Most unsaved people don't care about the
Bible at all; therefore, most people don't see anything wrong with lust,
pornography, and immodestly dressed cheerleaders. Most people are not
saved, and are still in their sins without Christ as Savior. Eternity is
forever and the most important decision you'll ever make is whether to
believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, or not...
“And the
world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of
God abideth for ever.” —1st John 2:17
We read the will of God concerning
salvation in John 6:40, “And this is the will of him that sent me, that
every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting
life: and I will raise him up at the last day.” If you realize that you
are a Hell-deserving sinner, and you'd like to be forgiven and go to Heaven,
then you simply need to believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ to forgive your
sins. Acknowledge your guilt of sin and turn to the Savior by faith for
forgiveness.
We are redeemed by Jesus' precious blood. “Forasmuch as ye
know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold,
from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But
with the precious blood of Christ” (1st Peter 1:18-19). It is the
blood of Jesus that takes our sins away! If you'll trust upon that
blood, as I do, then you will be born-again by the Spirit of God, and will
have life eternal.
“For God so
loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever
believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” —John
3:16
Ye Must Be Born Again!
