Increasing Apostasy

I picked up a little gem today in a tiny antique store in historic downtown Bell Buckle, Tennessee it is titled "Expository Notes on the Epistles of James and Peter" by H. A. Ironside. As I turned to page 86 I read the following that really brought to mind men like Brian McClarin, Rob Bell and Jay Bakker who are heading up the Emergent Church Movement and spreading another gospel. Mr. Ironside quotes the following as he exegete's from 2 Peter 2: 11-17.

"While these ungodly men vaunt themselves against all authority, and as these teachers of error mingle among the people of God they are spots and blemishes, marring and disturbing the fellowship of the saints, giving themselves over to self-indulgence as they feast with Christians as though they belonged to the family of God. Because there is no power in error to subdue nature's sinful lusts they are described as having eyes full of adultery; they cannot cease from sin. It is only the might of the Holy Spirit which can subdue and hold in check the lusts of the flesh. False doctrines never do this. While beguiling or leading astray unstable souls that is, those who are not well-grounded in the truth of God, they prove themselves to be an accursed generation whose hearts are exercised not unto godliness but with covetous practices.

While the propagators of unholy and unscriptural theories profess to have just the message that men need, they actually have nothing that can give victory over sin or relief to a troubled conscience. They are like wells without water which only disappoint the thirsty who go to them, or like clouds that look as though they might soon pour down refreshing showers but are carried away by gales of wind, and so the land is left as dry and arid as ever. The doom of these misleading teachers is sure. The mist of darkness is to be their portion forever. The sad thing is that even among professing Christians so many are ready to listen to these pretentious vendors of false systems only to be destroyed at last when they find that they are left without anything upon which the heart and conscience can rest for eternity."

Excerpt taken from "Expository Notes on the Epistles of James & Peter" by H.A. Ironside, Publisher: Loizeax Brothers (1947)