I received this message in an email yesterday and thought I would share it with you. It follows the lines of some devotions posted in the past few weeks and is well worth the read.
Contend for the Faith
By Michael Youssef, Ph.D.
Jude tells us that there are ungodly people who infiltrate the church to take over and do harm from within.
Thankfully, God gives us clear clues for identifying and defeating them in Jude 1:3-16.
These ungodly "pervert the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord" (Jude 1:4). Jude says that they pollute their bodies with sexual immorality,reject authority and are slanderers. He goes on to say that they are self-serving, fruitless, fault finders and grumblers who only flatter others for their own benefit.
These ungodly infiltrators will tell you that there are many roads to God. One popular lie is that you can achieve eternal life through humanitarianism. Christians have been leaders in caring for the sick, hungry, and abandoned; however, the only way to acceptance by the Father is through the shed blood of Christ.
Jude warns against anyone considering taking "the way of Cain" and getting creative with God's commands. A prideful Cain rejected God's commands as taught by his parents. Instead, he gave God his own version of obedience and suffered greatly.
Finally, be aware that playing on emotions is a strategy of the enemy. If your basis of believing a half-truth over God's truth is that the apostasy just feels better, then you do not have a solid basis for your beliefs. Remember, only God's version of the Truth counts.
Prayer: God, teach me to recognize the signs of those who are not walking with you and are seeking to destroy the church from within rather than build-up the body of Christ.
"So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be alert and self-controlled" (1 Thessalonians 5:6).
