In the first part of this piece, we examined The Believers Conduct and End Time Seductions from the stand point of what it meant to depart from the faith. We examined the words of the apostle Paul through the letter he wrote to Timothy, his son in the faith in the book of in 1 Timothy 4:1-3 which says that: “Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith…” And we extensively looked at what the phrase “the faith’ means which talks about the gospel of Jesus Christ that we have received, and which is the summation of everything that our Christian faith and life rests upon. We moved on from there to also explain what it means to depart from the faith and we said it means to deliberately abandon or stop following the doctrines upon which our Christian faith and beliefs rest upon.

Everything about that piece and teaching can be found in the link above. So, in this second part of the article, I am going to conclude by looking at: The Believers Conduct and End-Time Seductions Part Two. We are going to examine the believers conduct from two angles: believers conduct in the church and believers conduct in the world. So, let us start by examining what should be the believers or the Christian conduct in the world since we have been born again.

 

The Believers Conduct in The World

There is a way we ought to conduct ourselves on the earth as believers if we are not going to depart from the faith or be taken away by the seductions of this end-time. One thing we must realize is that the conduct of a believer is different from the conduct of an unbeliever. If you turn your Bibles with me to the book of 2 Corinthians 6:14-18, the Bible says:

“Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers…” If you read the same scripture in the NIV, it says: “do not be yoked together with unbelievers…” because to be equally yoked with unbelievers is a recipe to departing from the faith because it means that you are at par with them. The reason is because the value system that governs the people of the kingdom of God is different from the value system that governs unbelievers and the people of the world. And the Bible says in 1 John 2:15-17: “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. ¹⁶ For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world. ¹⁷ And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.”

Another reason Paul said not to be equally yoked with unbelievers is because to be equally yoked with unbelievers is to be unequally yoked with Christ, and this is not what Christ wants from us. The purpose of Christ for us is that we should be equally yoked with Him and not the unbelieving world. Matthew 11:28-30 says: “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. ²⁹ Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. ³⁰ For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

Paul emphasized further by giving us the dichotomies between a believer and unbeliever and why the equal yoking cannot simply work.

The first dichotomy is Paul made is that believers are righteousness and unbelievers are lawlessness. It says: “For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness?” righteousness in this context has to do with: [virtue, morality, justice, decency and uprightness]. Meaning that a believer has been made the righteousness of God by receiving the righteousness that comes through faith as a result of receiving Christ as their personal Lord and savior. 2 Corinthians 5:21 says: “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

Lawlessness on the other hand is the opposite of everything that righteousness is: lack of virtue, lack of morals, injustice, indecent and lack of uprightness. So, from what Paul said, believers are righteous people while unbelievers are lawless people and because of this, there cannot be an equal yoking.

Another dichotomy that Paul made is as follows: “And what communion has light with darkness?” Here, the believer is being referred to as ‘light’ and the unbelievers as ‘darkness’. In Matthew 5:14, Jesus Himself called the believers the light of the world and a city that is set on a hill which cannot be hidden. Paul also wrote to the Ephesians in Ephesians 5:11 as follows: “And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them.” As a matter of fact, how do you expose unfruitful works of darkness if you are part of the darkness yourself? For example, how do you expose a fraudulent syndicate in a system if you are also part of the fraud that they commit? Many people have criticized Prof. Osinbajo of being part of one of the worst democratic administrations ever in Nigeria’s history and he has refused to resign. The truth is: why will he resign when he is part of them? This is why you cannot be equally yoked with unbelievers.

Another dichotomy that Paul made is as follows: ¹⁵ And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? In other words: you can’t claim to be with Christ and you are still feeding from Satan. When you claim to belong to Christ and you still have an agreement with Satan, what you are simply portraying is an equal yoking. You claim to be a Christian, but you don’t have a problem visiting herbalists for help, star-gazers or astrologers to know the future; that is a sign of equal yoking.

Another dichotomy that Paul made is as follows:  ¹⁶ And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” Paul said the believers’ body is the temple of God and the unbelievers’ body is the temple of idol. Paul therefore concluded from verse 17-18 thus: ¹⁷ therefore, “come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you.” ¹⁸ “I will be a Father to you, and you shall be my sons and daughters, says the LORD Almighty.”

 

The Believers Conduct in The Church

The church as used here is not limited to the four walls of a building or a denomination. The church here refers to the body of Christ as a whole. Apostle Peter began by showing to us a number of things in 1 Peter 3:8-12 that will become the subject of our consideration and what should be our conduct having been born again under this heading. The Bible says:

“Finally, all of you be of one mind…” this has been the greatest challenge of the church and it is what has been responsible for the divisions that we see in the body of Christ. It could sometimes be challenging to have the same mind with another fellow who is different from you because we think differently, we act differently, and what appeals to you may not appeal to me. That is why Paul said in Philippians 2:5 that we all should have “the mind of Christ.” So, if you have the mind of Christ, we can both reason alike, act alike and do things in accord simply because we are being guided by the mind of Christ.

Apart from having the mind of Christ, Colossians 3:2 says: “Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.” Why must we set our minds on things above and not on the things of the earth? 2 Corinthians 4:18 shows us. It says: “while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.” Everything that we see on the earth are passing away and therefore, they should never be our pre-occupation.

It reads further: having compassion for one another; love as brothers, be tender-hearted, be courteous; ⁹ not returning evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary blessing, knowing that you were called to this, that you may inherit a blessing. ¹⁰ For he who would love life and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips from speaking deceit. ¹¹Let him turn away from evil and do good; let him seek peace and pursue it. ¹² for the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His ears are open to their prayers; but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”

1 Peter 3:8-12

 

The End-time Seductions to Watch Out For

#1. False Christ and false prophets [Mark 13:22-23]

One of the end-time seductions to watch out for would be manifest in the form of false christs and false prophets or self-acclaimed messiah of some sort. And if you look at the body of Christ today, you would discover that there are many who claim to be true prophets of God but who are not in the real sense of it. They would show signs and wonders and perform fake miracles with the intent to deceive the elect. Christ warned us to watch out for these set of people.

“For false christs and false prophets will rise and show signs and wonders to deceive [seduce], if possible, even the elect. ²³ But take heed; see, I have told you all things beforehand.”

 

#2. False apostles and deceitful workers [2 Corinthians 11:13-15]

False apostles are those who claim that they have been sent by God but who truly have not been sent by Him.

“For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. ¹⁴ And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. ¹⁵ Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works.”

 

#3. Evil men and impostors [2 Timothy 3:13-15]

There are evil men as well that we must watch out for. Jesus called these set of people wolves in sheep’s clothing. There are majority of them in the world today and many of them have also found their way into the church.

“But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. ¹⁴ But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them, ¹⁵ and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.”

 

#4. The Love of fables more than the love of the truth [2 Timothy 4:1-5]

“I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: ² Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. ³ For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; ⁴ and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. ⁵ But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.”

 

I pray that the Lord will help us in Jesus’ name!

Thanks for the gift of your time, We are Obayomi Abiola Benjamin and Lara Gboyega Adedeji!

Feel free to share your thoughts or testimony in the comment box below. I promise to respond to them as soon as possible!