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; Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.
( 1 Timothy 4:1-4)
“Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.
(Matthew 24:9-13)
Concerning
the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him, we ask you, brothers and sisters, not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by the teaching allegedly from us—whether by a prophecy or by word of mouth or by letter—asserting that the day of the Lord has already come. Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way,
for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God.
(2 Thessalonians 2:1-4)
However, when the Son of Man comes,
will He find faith on the earth?”
(Luke 18:8)
'Mammon peaching' refers to teachings that have enticed the Church into a 'comfort addiction'. These are the types of teachings where people are told that adversity and life misfortunes should never happen in the life of a Christian. I use the the term 'Mammon preaching' because it contains solely messages promote comfort and material acquisitions without any eventuality of opposition or discomfort.
The word 'prosperity' is a clean word. There is such a thing as prosperity in the Bible. Jesus Himself said that He came to give life and life in abundance (ref. John 10:10). Jesus also said:
“Truly I tell you,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age: homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—along with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life."
(Mark 10:29-30)
Though Jesus promised prosperity, He also warns us that opposition in various forms will also show up. In an authentic message of prosperity, we should clearly tell our audiences about the goodness of God while also mentioning that at times Satan ,the world and life circumstances will attempt to make us uncomfortable simply because we belong to God.
In Mammon preaching there is no opposition nor discomfort. A Christian ,who spends the biggest part of his/her life listening to 'Mammon teachings' masqueraded as Biblical prosperity, will have a hard time to stand spiritually once any form of adversity shows up.
In 'Mammon preaching', we are told that the Church will be out of this world before the arrival of the Matthew 24 events. For the sake of public speaking and communication technicality, I have decided to reduce the use of the term 'tribulations' when teaching an End times message. I realised that the term has created unnecessary and unprofitable divisions among Christians. Instead of using the term 'tribulations', I use the term 'bad events'. When I use the term 'bad events', I manage to successfully obtain more listening ears to my message.
In 'Mammon preaching', we are told that the Church will be gone before the wars, the pestilences, the fearful events, the arrival of the AntiChrist...
We have a war between Ukraine and Russia. At the time of writing this article, there has been close to 500 000 fatalities on both sides (including civilians and soldiers). The same war was responsible for increasing the bread basket price throughout the world. While those bad events were happening, the Church was not raptured.
During the COVID-19 pandemic (circa 2020-2022), it is estimated that close to 15 million people died. Among those people were many Christians and even Church leaders. During that period, the Church did not get raptured.
What about the bad events that include the genocide in the Eastern part of the DRC, the war in Iran that caused a surge in global commodity prices, the unemployment surge caused by AI, etc...
You see, it is easy to share 'Mammon preaching' in countries that are relatively peaceful and secure. Mammon preaching won't fly in a territory where Christians are openly persecuted or in a territory where populations are witnessing bomb explosions and firearms shots on a regular. It's easy to seat comfortably on a chair as a Christian vlogger based in some relatively peaceful country and say that 'the Church will never experience Matthew 24 and Luke 21. Its easy to do that.
A season will come where even the most 'relatively peaceful' and developed countries will experience bad events that will shake the faith of many. I pray that when it happens, the entire Church will stand and keep the faith.
In my decades of being a Christian, I once saw a very advanced young fellow quitting the faith after seeing his love proposal being declined by the girl of his dream who happened to be a sister in his local church... Do not underestimate the power that a bad event can have on the faith of a Christian.
Centuries ago, when the Apostle Paul was still living. There were concerns about the Day Jesus would return among Thessalonians. Based on what Paul wrote, it seemed that the Thessalonians were pestered by false teachings claiming that Jesus had already returned. However, Paul was very clear: 'that Day will not come until the great apostasy would have happened and until the Man of Sin is revealed.' (ref. 2 Thessalonians 2:1-4).
The term 'apostasy' refers to the departure of Christians from the faith or the abandonment of the faith by Christians.
Somewhere, somehow, as the world moves through the years, there will be serious bad events that will discourage many Christians to the point of giving up the faith. It will be so bad to the point where Jesus Himself asked: 'However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:8).
It is best to have this kind of conversations now, because a prepared and well taught Christian is more likely to stand till the end. An unprepared and poorly taught Christian is more likely to succumb to faithlessness when the global birth pains will arise.
In Matthew 26:31-35, Peter assumed that he would never deny Jesus. However, when faced with the potential of arrest and death, he was quick to deny Jesus (ref. Luke 22:54-62). When he returned to the Lord, Jesus asked three times: 'do you love me?'
It was only after Peter professed his love for Jesus that he was told what his end would be. Since Peter clearly loved Jesus, it also meant that he would be capable to die for being a follower of Christ.
It's the love we have for Christ that will make us both resist the temptation of apostasy and embrace the willingness to die for being a follower of Christ.
And this is not just any love. I speak about a love for Christ that goes above self-love and above the love of this world.