Surprise! Surprise! NOT.
What are the second and third recorded statements of man? We have Adam blaming Eve "The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me some of the fruit of the tree, and I ate", then Eve blaming the devil "The serpent deceived me, and I ate."
What was Peter's warning? "But false prophets also appeared among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies". (emphasis mine)
Similarly John warned us "Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world".
"why (did) all of the great prophets (get) it so wrong". Simple. Because they weren't "great prophets" they were false prophets. We are again in a time which Paul described to Timothy as being a time "when they will not tolerate sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance with their own desires".
We have in the Church people described by Jude as "hidden reefs in your love feasts when they feast with you without fear, like shepherds caring only for themselves; clouds without water, carried along by winds; autumn trees without fruit, doubly dead, uprooted; wild waves of the sea, churning up their own shameful deeds like dirty foam; wandering stars, for whom the gloom of darkness has been reserved forever".
We have the Church that the Church wants. The Gospel is confronting. It confirms to us that although we are being sanctified we are still a sinner. It makes us uncomfortable. It angers the unrepentant and turns them against us, which we should rejoice in because it shows that the message is hitting home. Jesus said, "Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me", but the Church wants "their bests life now" (if it is then the next will be hell) and for it to be all about "... love ...". It wants to hear "Trump will win" because then it doesn't have to stand up and tell the world just how evil the other side is because the world won't like them and the Church wants the approval of the world.
Nothing new here folks. Been creeping in over the last half century. No surprise either, look at the history of Israel. But look at how God punished Israel when they wouldn't repent. Same will happen to the Church unless it repents, and does a Paul directed the Corinthians to do about the immoral, "Remove the evil person from among yourselves".
MercyandFaith (02-03-2021)