The Abomination of Desolation - St. Marys Coptic Orthodox Church

32
SIGNS OF HIS COMING II
congregation, became apparent to me two months after Mr. Phipps
made his “Declaration of lack of faith!” During a visit to Eastern
Canada, I had a most sobering discussion with a bright young man from
Nova Scotia. He was a brilliant university student, studying to become
a professional. He told me that he was a member of the United church,
and, sooner or later, I brought up the subject of Mr. Phipps. He calmly
told me that he totally agreed with Rev. Phipps. “As a matter of fact,
the majority of our congregation supports him.” I asked him, where
does his minister stand on this, and he told me, “He leaves it up to
every individual to make up his/her mind on these matters. He tactfully
avoids discussing these controversial issues on the pulpit!” When I
asked him, “Do you believe in God?” He said “No!” I asked him again,
“What do you believe in?” His answer was, “I believe in helping others,
and hurting no one.” He thought that the Bible was a forgery, that it
was written at least half a century after the fact, and that no one with
brains should take it seriously.
Isn’t this what St. Paul wrote about to his disciple Timothy? “ For
the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after
their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching
ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be
turned unto fables.” (II Tim 4:3-4)
Allow me now to add some anecdotes to elaborate on this point,
mainly that the apostasy is indeed in the world in a way that most
Christians are not aware of. One of our youths came to ask my advice
about taking a course in “Theology.” He had two spare courses and he
thought that it was a good idea to take Theology. The first shock came
when he did not find the word “Theology” in the calendar. When he
inquired, he was told, “We now call it ‘Religious Studies.’” So, he
looked under “Religious studies 101." The second shock came when
he read under course description, “The way we create and name gods.”
It was most appropriate that they changed the name from “Theology,”
which means the study of God, to religious studies, because today’s
religion can be practiced without the need for God.
I asked the same young man to give me a guesstimate of how many
persons in his class believed in God. After a short pause, he told me,
“About 15% believe that there is ‘someone up there,’ but those who
believe in Christ, the virginal birth, the Resurrection, the after-life and
so, are no more than 2%!”