THE CRISIS OF TRUTH

Christ said, “I am the Truth”; he did not say “I am the custom.” - St. Toribio



2 Jn 4-9 [Chosen Lady:]
I rejoiced greatly to find some of your children walking in the truth
just as we were commanded by the Father.
But now, Lady, I ask you,
not as though I were writing a new commandment
but the one we have had from the beginning:
let us love one another.
For this is love, that we walk according to his commandments;
this is the commandment, as you heard from the beginning,
in which you should walk.

Many deceivers have gone out into the world,
those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh;
such is the deceitful one and the antichrist.
Look to yourselves that you do not lose what we worked for
but may receive a full recompense.
Anyone who is so “progressive”
as not to remain in the teaching of the Christ does not have God;
whoever remains in the teaching has the Father and the Son.

Although the church of the USA has in many circles the reputation of being alive, some maintain that the church has a percentage of its body that is dead (see Rv 3:1). If this is true, the Lord's word to us is: "Wake up, and strengthen what remains before it dies" (Rv 3:2). We may lose what we have worked for and what remains of what we have worked for (2 Jn 8) if we in any way share in the misguided ideals and / or deceptions of “Christians”, who are so "progressive" that they do not remain rooted in the teaching of Christ (2 Jn 7, 9, 11). We must guard the rich deposit of faith (2 Tm 1:14) and fight hard for the faith (Jude 3); otherwise, we will lose what we have left, and "even the little" we think we have (Lk 8:18).

"Progressive," (it is so interesting that this word is used today in the media, as well as was noted 2000 years ago by the Beloved Disciple John – have things really changed that much?) that is, false, teaching is very destructive. It spreads like the plague and upsets Christians' faith (2 Tm 2:17-18). False teaching eventually creates an intolerance (2 Tm 4:3) and contempt (2 Pt 2:2) for true teaching. Therefore, these false teachers must be addressed with love (Ti 1:11). We can do this by:

1. learning the truth from the Church (see 1 Tm 3:15) and the Bible,

2. teaching the truth,

3. Directly (Ti 1:13), yet gently (2 Tm 2:25), correcting false teachers,

4. staying clear of false teachers (2 Tm 3:5-7) and the influences of secular humanism, and

5. suffering persecution for living and teaching the truth (see Sir 4:28).

When we fight for the truth, we will both spread the faith and keep from losing the faith