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ENTITLEMENT AND ESCAPISM
Something is coming and the church is not ready. In recent days God has been trying to warn the American church about what is coming, but, what have we done with these warnings?
I heard one preacher exclaim, “Teaching that anything bad is coming, is defeatism.” He refused to give his children a defeatist world view. What he thinks is love is the ultimate abuse. His children will not be ready.
It’s not as if God hasn’t warned the American church that perilous times are coming. One choice instrument was David Wilkerson. Many listened to his predictions, but many others wrote him off as an angry prophet.
I dare you to reread his words, go back and watch his videos, they are still on YouTube. David will come across completely different to you now. Now that libraries are bringing in drag queens to read to children. Now that abortion is no longer just a ‘right,’ but a cause for celebration. Now that our halls of power are sewers of falsehood, betrayal, ambition, greed, and lust, and now that the very fabric of civilized society is unraveling.
I dare you to call him legalistic, now that you can see that exactly what he predicted is happening. Now that you see churches have abandoned the Bible. Now that every day you hear of one more minister condoning materialism and promoting a ‘cheap grace’ that covers lust. Disdaining holiness and denying the existence of Hell. Just as he predicted, there is an epidemic of preachers who are addicted to drugs, alcohol, and pornography.
Our young daughters have unwelcome transgender visitors in the girl’s restroom at school. We are a nation of drug addicts. Tens of thousands die every year from opioids.
The bane of Modern Christianity can be summed up in just 2 words: Entitlement and Escapism.
Go back with me to a time before all this madness, and see when a sense of entitlement began to infect the church.
No one got saved in the early church because they were promised a lavish life. Each convert knew from the jump they would pay a price for following Jesus. They embraced Christ because something real happened to them. They knew—beyond knowing—that He was the Truth and the Life. Knowing Him was infinitely worth the cost. All they wanted was Jesus.
It is ironic that we tend to feel sorry for them, when in fact they would pity us! Yes, they were persecuted, but God was real in them. Their clarity unlocked something most of us do not have: inexpressible peace and joy.
Entitlement rolled into church like a Trojan horse. Certain preachers, like all good marketers, considered true discipleship a hard sell, so they replaced it with perks, inducements and flattery. Church became one giant participation trophy. The unspoken boast was, “What have we to do with self-denial? What have we to prepare for?” We as American Christians became too good for suffering. That was for other people, in other nations.
What edge did believers in the first century have over us? A massive one. They could survive anything that they encountered, whereas many today will be taken out the moment something happens that their pastor said God would never let happen.
Since ancient Christians expected to suffer, suffering never threw them for a loop. It never dawned on them that they would escape trials and tribulations. Because of that, they had a singular power that we don’t: the power to glory and thrive in evil times. Compare that with today’s Christian whose idea of spiritual warfare is claiming a parking space.
This is the person Jesus warned us about in Matthew 13:20, “But he who received the seed on stony places, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; 21 yet he has no root in himself, but endures only for a while. For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles.”
The shocking thing will not just be how many entitled believers will stumble, but how little it will take to make them stumble.
Now let’s talk about escapism. The world that vessels like Billy Graham, Oral Roberts, Kenneth Hagin, Steve Hill, and yes, David Wilkerson warned us about is here. The world that your favorite pulpit babysitter promised would never come—came anyway.
We didn’t escape. We have already witnessed this mass tragedy. Life has taken a turn in these United States that many churchgoers never believed could or would happen. There has been a falling away: because so many were ignorant, so many were offended.
Even many of the Christians who remained faithful, express their escapist denial in many ways. Instead of searching the scriptures for truth, they delve even deeper into teachings that now look silly. They want more materialism; they want more entitlement; they plunge into more false teachings and false ways. They go heavier into emotionalism. Their escapism is expressed in a sanctimonious tone, and then they lie about their reasons for believing they will escape all suffering. They say we must stay out of politics and not choose sides, even as it has become undeniable that we must take a stand. Instead, they bury their head in the sand and are oblivious as evil takes away our freedom and our children’s future.
Escapism is what gives them a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof. Denial is why they imitate New Age teachings and make prophecy into a kind of game.But David Wilkerson also saw something else: A fresh and mighty move of the Spirit. He saw Jesus pulling people aside to enter into a close relationship with Him, and to instill in them the power needed to save this nation. He said, “God is revealing to all praying people that a glorious new work of the Spirit is about to break forth. God is going to shake everything that can be shaken. He will tear down the old political, backslidden, ecclesiastical system. He will disown the formal, super-church structure. He will chase out of His presence all those who are engaging in self-promoting ministries.”
Many will fall, but many will rise to levels of power and usefulness that are astounding. God not only knew the insanity of today was coming—He took steps to prepare a special relationship that would produce special powers in His Children. You already know who you are.
God is taking you aside to give you nation-saving power and skills. All glory to His Name!
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