Although our pen has been delayed for a few months, for which we apologize, we now step forward with the continued burden of Postmodernism. Postmodernism’s influential powers have permeated both our political system through Obama’s Post America and the religious system through the Emerging Church movement.
Even more shocking, however, is Postmodernism’s invasion into the Fundamentalist movement; the most obvious of several ways this is true is seen in Fundamentalism’s departure from “historical” Fundamentalism to embrace Post Fundamentalism. This fact is made obvious in the undeniable changes to which colleges and universities have capitulated to Neo-Evangelicalism. Given the false, contemporary view of eternal security among most Fundamentalists, they do not care about their changes: they conclude that whatever they do and whatever changes come, they still go to heaven. Their view of eternal security even allows one to embrace heresy and still be assured of heaven. The natural conclusion then is that we can live as we want and do what we want, even if the outcome is a new, mongrelized breed of “professing” Christians.
It is time now to take a candid look at what is bleeding the life out of the only movement that God has used late in human history against the final battle of the apostasy that has infiltrated the Evangelical world.
We have combined this issue of Straightway to provide four articles on this much needed burden. After addressing the Apostle Paul’s warnings to Timothy in the early years of the Church, we will address the historical and recent changes in Protestantism and especially Fundamentalism that are destroying the memory of historic Fundamentalism in order to establish a Post Fundamentalism. May God help us all to see what is happening.
The Grand Deposit of “the Faith” in the New Testament
The unique time of the birth of the Church cannot be overestimated. We note this precious birth in Acts 2 on the Day of Pentecost. Yet it must also be understood that the birth of the Church initiated the beginning of the Last Days. In responding to the question “What meaneth this?” the Apostle Peter declared, “This is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel” (Acts 2:16). Then he quoted from Joel 2:28, “And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh.” From Peter we learn that the Church is a Last-Day truth! God gave the New Testament at the beginning of the Last Days in order to keep the Church on course throughout its history, declaring the truth of Jesus Christ for the Church.
It is clearly evident in reading the Epistles that the Church was declining in the last half of the first century. A line of demarcation was becoming evident between the true Church and the visible Church. Tares had been sown by the Devil almost immediately after the wheat was sown by the Lord Himself and the Apostles. Both sin and heresy were working darkness and despair in that first century, greatly affecting Christianity. The Apostle Paul saw the powers of evil coming upon the visible Church endeavoring to rob it of its purity and integrity.
The two epistles to Timothy are a “charge” from Paul to this young man pastoring the Church at Ephesus. We are told of this charge no less than ten times in the two letters. The “charge” is that Timothy shall “guard” something that Paul is committing to him. Paul calls it “the deposit” that he must guard in the days to come. Paul specifically states the nature of the “deposit” in First Timothy 1:11, “According to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust.”
What is this deposit? This deposit is the Christian faith, the truth as it is in Christ Jesus. The time of Paul’s own departure was soon at hand. As he looked back over the years, he could say, “I have fought a good fight; I have finished the course; I have kept the Faith,” or “I have held intact the Faith.” Yes, Paul had been true to that which had been committed to him on the road to Damascus in Acts 9, and to that which was given him in the Arabian desert where Christ Himself revealed the Gospel to him (Galatians 1:11–17). This Apostle, coming to the end of his life, must now give this solemn, written “charge” to his dearest son in the Faith. With a new sense of responsibility, Timothy is now to guard this priceless, vital deposit of Christian truth: he is to preserve it, protect it, and proclaim it.
The Tabernacle Deposit
There are fifty-two chapters in the Bible dedicated to the Tabernacle. The Tabernacle becomes the most detailed shadow and type of Christ in the Bible. Drawing from the large shadow and type, consider Numbers 4:5:
And when the camp setteth forward, Aaron shall come, and his sons, and they shall take down the covering vail and cover the ark of the testimony with it.
Then in verse 15,
And when Aaron and his sons have made an end of covering the sanctuary, and all the vessels of the sanctuary, as the camp is to set forward; after that, the sons of Kohath shall come to bear it.
This chapter informs us that the preparation of the Tabernacle for the journeying was given to the three divisions of the Levites. The Gershonites were appointed for all the fabric of the Tabernacle; these fine linen and curtains were placed into two wagons. The Merarites were in charge of all the bulky structure of pillars, chapiters, cords, pins, bases, boards, and staves of the Tabernacle proper; they transported all of these wrapped items in four wagons. And the Kohathites were in charge of carrying the furniture of the Tabernacle. These three groups would travel with the rest of the camp until coming to the appointed resting place of the Pillar of Cloud. Here they would re-erect the Tabernacle piece by piece. God intended this Tabernacle to be portable; it was for journeying.
This Tabernacle is the Christ of Scripture and the fullness of the Gospel. Again, it is the most complete shadow and type in the Bible of the Lord Jesus Christ. This type is our beloved Christ for the pilgrimage, not for permanence as demonstrated in the Temple. The Gospel was given to the Church to be preserved from generation to generation. The Tabernacle was carried piece by piece, covered and wrapped carefully, then transported, and at the next site carefully unwrapped and re-erected exactly as it had been dismantled. Each generation in history is to re-establish the Gospel in its day. This Gospel is to be preached all over again; even through books and hymns, piece by piece the Gospel is to be unwrapped and re-erected for each generation. God’s people are to live a life for Christ. Nothing was to be lost in the journey; nothing was to be added. It was to be erected the same, to remain the same.
Jude wrote his epistle for this very reason. It is evident that his first desire was to write an evangelistic epistle: “Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation” (Jude 3a). But the Spirit of God moved upon him to write a different epistle:
It was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints (Jude 3b).
“It was needful” is an important phrase that must be carefully acknowledged in our contemporary time! Jude was compelled, he was driven to write this epistle. Amidst threats or conflicting forces that were arising this time in Church history, we certainly can acknowledge that the Holy Ghost was compelling Jude to write.
“It was needful for me to write unto you.” What? “That ye should earnestly contend for the Faith.” This earnestly contending speaks of a vigorous, intense, determined struggle to defeat the opposition. The Faith is the embodiment of Truth, the Word of God, the Bible! It was “once delivered”! After two thousand years, it is important for us to understand this Faith was once given. It will only be given “one time”! There will not be another time; there will be no other faith given.
Like the Tabernacle, the Gospel was given one time; it must be handled carefully, wrapped carefully by each generation, and given to the next generation to be unwrapped and re-erected exactly as the pattern by God dictated. God is not going to give another message in the End Time; there are no new revelations, no audible voices of so-called new truths that will be coming to us. He gave the “one” Faith, the one time, and that is it!
To whom was this Faith delivered? It was delivered “to the saints.” The Gospel was not given to the Liberals or the Modernists; it was not given to the Neo-Orthodox or the Neo-Evangelicals; it was not given to the Charismatics or the ecumenists. It was given to the saints! It was not given during that first century to the heretics, the Gnostics, the Judaizers, or anyone else who corrupted the Gospel. It was given solely to the saints!
The Apostle Paul saw in his day a new gospel being preached (Galatians 1:6–9; II Corinthians 11:4). He also witnessed a new Jesus and a new Spirit (II Corinthians 11:4) emerging to the forefront of the visible Church. Even more so has this become true in our day and time! Church leaders and teachers have taken the old Tabernacle and reshaped it, taking away its Ancient of Days and modifying it with new furniture, new veils, new pillars, new pins and sockets, etc. It is very rare now in the public arena of Christianity to see any semblance of the true, biblical Christ!
We must ever remember this: the Gospel was given to the “saints,” not to the world! We may preach it to the world for them to become saved by that Gospel, but it was not given to the world! In contrast, the Church today is giving a gospel to the world that has been changed and modified; whatever is offensive has been deleted, so that we are even at a point of a unilateral disarmament to destroy the very Faith itself. In his final days before his death, the Apostle Paul saw this coming!
Paul’s Charge to Timothy
In the two epistles to Timothy, the Apostle gives the sequence of this deposit to the saints! In First Timothy 1:11, it was first given to Paul: “According to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust.” In First Timothy 1:18, the charge then was to Timothy, “This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy.” Timothy is to guard the deposit: “O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust” (I Timothy 6:20). We also read this in Second Timothy 1:13, 14, “Hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. That good thing which was committed unto thee keep by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us.”
Timothy is then charged by the Apostle in Second Timothy 2:2 to commit this deposit, this sacred trust to “faithful men,” who are able to teach others also. Paul with a constant pen throughout these two epistles gives the charge, the deposit, the faith, and the doctrine to Timothy. “That thou mightest charge some that they teach no other doctrine” (I Timothy 1:3b). In First Timothy 4:1-2, Paul warns, “Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils, speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron.”
There are five sad, disturbing instances in this first epistle where he tells of the apostasy: (1) “From which some having swerved have turned aside unto vain jangling” (1:6). (2) “Holding faith, and a good conscience; which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck” (1:19). (3) “For some are already turned aside after Satan” (5:15). (4) “For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows” (6:10). (5) “Which some professing have erred concerning the faith” (6:21).
In the second epistle the some has become all. In Second Timothy 1:15 we read: “This thou knowest, that all they which are in Asia be turned away from me; of whom are Phygellus and Hermogenes.” At the end of the epistle we read, “At my first answer no man stood with me, but all men forsook me: I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge” (4:16). This is why these two epistles were written so urgently to Timothy. They strike a crisis-point in that first generation Church leading into the second generation. The first epistle reveals a departing from the Faith; the second epistle marks a breakdown that is taking place in the visible Church.
Is this how Christianity will end?! Will the visible Church in the End Time mainly consist of the falling away of men, of movements, of churches, of schools, of ministries? Postmodernism is now claiming public Christianity!
The question must be asked, “What brought this about?” The answer is simple: men controlled by the Devil! The Apostle warns us in Second Timothy 3:1, “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.” How will they come? “For men shall be . . .” These are the words that describe the visible, institutional church at the time of the end of the Church ages.
Nevertheless, the pure Gospel must continue, but how? If Timothy teaches other men, they too will be able to teach and thus the Gospel will be spread. In Second Timothy 2:2, Paul gives a deliberate policy, not to restrict the Gospel but to safeguard the Gospel and the expansion of the Church in a biblical way. The evangelistic testimony of laymen is good, but it has its dangers. Sincere men may not fully grasp the meaning of the Gospel, and false teachers may infiltrate their ranks. There must be some standard of Christian truth to check extravagances and heresies coming in. The Apostle would not live forever; Timothy would not live forever. This Gospel given by God to Paul, and now given or entrusted to Timothy, must now be “committed to faithful men.”
Second Timothy 2:2 becomes the antidote for the almost inevitable sequence of falling away that has been seen time and time again in Church history. A true ministry, a Bible school, or church begins with a Bible-based man, a founder. But history tends to reveal that the second generation leader leans to neutrality when it comes to standing for the Truth and being actively engaged in the battle against error; at least he tends not to be as strong as the founder. The third generation leadership tends to compromise the Truth, and the fourth generation leadership is what brings into the organization the apostasy.
Nonetheless, it is possible that this “almost” inevitable sequence could be altered and avoided if there was a deliberate unanimity of heart and mind in four generations of leadership: the Apostle Paul, committing to Timothy, who in turn commits to “faithful men,” “who shall be able to teach others also.” Timothy was to entrust the Gospel, that is, to deposit it to the care of faithful men. They in turn were to be responsible for “guarding the gospel.”
The “faithful men” are to be faithful in two contexts: First, they must be men of Faith, believers. So precious a treasure as the Gospel would not be entrusted to anybody and everybody, agnostic, atheist, or just plain heathen! Second, they must be men in whom others, particularly Timothy, can trust! They must be trustworthy and reliable. Often, this is where the failure came in Church history! The wrong men took charge of the Gospel and began to corrupt its message, destroy its power, and water down its message.
Since the days of the birth of Unitarianism in the 1700s, Liberalism and Modernism in the mid-1800s, and now the Neo-Orthodox, the Neo-Evangelicals, and the Charismatics, we have come to a time that a hoard of enemies is publicly controlling the public presentation of the Gospel! The “unfaithful” now rule the seminaries; they rule the pulpits, and the leadership of the denominations. They head up the translation boards of the new English translations; they control the conventions. The “unfaithful” to God now control the message in the public arena. They are unfaithful to God, to the exactness of the message of His Word, and to the separation that is needed to protect the Word of God.
Judgment must begin at the House of God first (I Peter 4:17), even before the Tribulation Period. According to Revelation 2 and 3, Christ is judging the Churches, and in this last Church age it is evident that Jesus Christ is sick of it! He has left it, and the people rule. The unfaithful who have corrupted, denied, perverted, changed, and maligned the Gospel of Christ now rule the Church!
Conclusion
In the light of Second Timothy 2:2, God is calling upon those who guard the deposit—the true preachers of a generation—to make a judgment during their generation. That judgment is: Who is faithful?! I must be very careful to whom I commit and entrust the Gospel for the next generation. It is only the faithful who will ensure that “the form [pattern] of sound words” which they have heard will be given to other faithful men. They must be “able” or competent. I must choose men who will be competent in heart and life to carry on this Gospel. This is what we are looking for as a teacher—not a school just to accommodate students. We are looking for students who seem to have the potential to carry this Gospel on, who have a heart for God and the Truth!
With all the changes that have come into Evangelicalism and now bleeding into Fundamentalism through music, theology, methods, and evangelism, there must be a remnant of young men for the next generation that will give themselves to the Pure Word of God only. Not every professing Christian young man is eligible for this important deposit for the next generation. In fact, most young men coming out of the Fundamentalist schools are contributing to the error and mutation of Neo-Christianity. They are being “mis-trained,” becoming a liability to the harvest rather than a contribution. The schools have lost their way; their by-product is the spreading of a Post Fundamentalism.
May God raise up some young men who will discern what is happening within Fundamentalism and separate themselves from the changes and unto God in a consecrated life. This Age will demand such a young man; God will accept no other!