Bring Back Those Who Wander
“My dear brothers and sisters, if someone among you wanders away from the truth and is brought back, you can be sure that whoever brings the sinner back will save that person from death and bring about the forgiveness of many sins.” James 5:19-20
We Christians know that in end times the apostasy will take place, where people will turn away from the true Christian faith. Pastor Greg Laurie questions these people’s genuine belief in Jesus Christ, stating they might not have been a believer to begin with. I personally believe that might be the case for some, while for others – they stop reading the Bible and they stop repenting of sin. They don’t value their relationship with Jesus Christ – either due to their wrongful expectations of Jesus Christ being unmet, indicating their lack of knowledge of Him or some form of idolatry emerged in their heart and their eyes are removed from focusing on Jesus and are placed on their idol – fixated.
What we do know for sure is Satan wants to keep people from a relationship with Jesus Christ, and he wants to turn Christians away from a pure devotion to Jesus. Satan covets the adoration given to Jesus and will do anything to obtain it.
We are told in 1 Timothy 4 that those who turn away from a pure devotion to Jesus Christ follow deceptive spirits and teachings that come from demons. They are lured away by way of a deceptive spirit, enticing their carnal desires. The deceptive spirit successfully works the mind to think and meditate upon carnal things, so that the individual is dominated by their sinful nature which results in a spiritual death- Romans 8:5-6.
Satan is very subtle or he is very overt. Thus, his deceptive spirits are either subtle or overt. The deceptive spirit will tempt people to be ok with something that God has clearly declared in His word is not ok. There is a reason why God says in Philippians 4:8, “Think a thought that is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.”
These thoughts guard our hearts from deceptive spirits rooting wrong teaching.
Many pastors have said – it starts with a look, then a longing for. This implies the individual’s desire to be stronger for the object of their attention than their desire is for God and His ways. Which indicates illogical thinking. Logic states obeying Jesus results in peace, peace with God and peace with people. While disobeying Jesus results in guilt, shame, an unsettled heart and mind, a lack of closeness to Jesus Christ, a lack of hearing Him speak regarding His word and the mysteries, no peace with God or people with increasing issues in the relationships with those around them that often show a lack of trust.
What we need to remember is the word of God is always our authority on right versus wrong. Regardless of our emotions in the moment.
Satan is not to be feared as Jesus Christ gives us victory over him and our relationship with Jesus Christ, secures us. One way Jesus gives us victory is by way of His word, as the Bible tells us what Satan’s agenda is, so that we are prepared to identify it, call it out, and so we can guard ourselves from Satan’s strategies by way of living out what God calls of us.
What we need to know is that Satan can only tempt us to choose to walk away from the Lord, he cannot make the decision for us. We will always have a freewill. So, if our desire is for Jesus – Satan loses.
Scripture tells us those who turn way from the true faith will reject the truth and chase after myths, following their own evil desires, looking for teachers who will tell them what they want to hear – 2 Timothy 4:3-4. They will follow false teachers who are hypocrites, those who perfect their deceitful ways with consciences dead – showing no godly sorrow over any sin they commit, as they do not experience conviction. Their hearts are hardened to the voice of the Lord.
One specific detail God reveals to us is that false teachers will say it is wrong to be married or that it is wrong to eat certain foods – 1 Timothy 4:3. There is often a lot of legalism in false teaching – as that is the only way false teachers can be in control and remain in control.
We also know from Revelation 2:4-5 NLT that churches can walk away from the Lord, unfortunately – thus a group of Christians can be persuaded by demonic spirit – and the sinful leaven can spread to the point Jesus says, “I have this complaint against you. You don’t love me or each other as you did at first. Look how far you have fallen! Turn back to me and do the works you did at first. If you don’t repent, I will come and remove your lampstand from its place amongst the churches.”
If there is a lack of repentance – God will remove the position of power.
Therefore, as we know this is Satan’s agenda – to draw people away from Jesus – and it is taking place and will take place even more so as we walk through end times – we need to take James’ words to heart as he closes his book –
“If a Christian wanders away from the truth and is brought back, be assured, the person who brought this Christian back to right standing with Jesus will have saved that person from eternal death separated from God and will bring about the forgiveness of many sins.”
As we take these words to heart, we Christians need to realize we all have a sweet privilege right now, here on earth, to serve God with our life and spiritual giftings. We will not always have the opportunity to share the gospel with the lost, or to chase after the Christian who left their first love, or to pray for God’s will to be done in the lives of those around us. Christ’s return is close and when He comes—it’s done! We don’t have time to sit immobile in our sin. We need to all wake up—Ephesians 5:14, repent of sin— Matthew 3:8, grow in our knowledge of Jesus Christ, seeking to do His will – His will for our lives is our purpose here on earth.
Truly, as we move in the right direction, people will identify the power in a unified church – witnessing the power in loving God and loving people.
This is your time to impact a generation.
People need to know that they are needed and that they are loved. With all of the evil in the world, drawing people away from Jesus Christ and the church – may we Christians refuse to be corrupted by Satan’s temptations, standing strong on the word of God, loving Him and loving people.
Today, do you know a Christian who has wandered away from the truth? Will you reach out to them and tell them Jesus Christ loves them?
Prayer: Abba, thank You for this book of James and the truths he shares with us. Please fill us with the Holy Spirit so that we can be doers of the word of God and not listeners only. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
