Contending For The Faith

Bishop Ronald D. Roston

An extension of Times of Refreshing and Restoration’s TV program. Presentation & discussion of relevant topics concerning Christian maturity.

  1. May 18

    The Great Falling Away: Unmasking the Son of Perdition

    Join Bishop Ronald Roston and co-host Courtney Fitchard as they open with prayer and welcome new listeners from Hong Kong, Texas, Alabama, New Jersey, and Georgia. In this episode they invite you to get your Bible and notebook and prepare for a deep look at Scripture. Using 1 Thessalonians and 1 Timothy as their base texts, the hosts examine the prophecy of a great falling away, the revealing of the "son of perdition," and the rise of seducing spirits and doctrines that will form a counterfeit church. They explain how this apostasy will erode holiness, promote self-gratification, and set the stage for a one-world religious and political system. The episode explores key end-time events including the abomination of desolation, the Great Tribulation, the mark of the beast, and the visible return of Yeshua (Jesus). The hosts emphasize the role of the remnant church to stand firm, offer stability to discouraged believers, and intercede during times of widespread deception and trial. Listeners are encouraged to study the Scriptures, listen to all segments, and seek mature Christian understanding. Practical resources and further teaching are mentioned, including recent books and a video library on YouTube for those who want to deepen their study and remain grounded in faith. Throughout the episode the hosts bless their audience, urge vigilance against compromised teaching, and call believers to contend for the faith and be prepared for the events of the last days.

    29 min
  2. May 10

    The Great Falling Away: Signs, Deception, and the Son of Perdition

    Contending for the Faith.  Praise God, our community of listeners is really growing. Our heartfelt welcome to our newest listeners from the District of Columbia, Massachusetts, Virginia, Michigan, Alabama, Arizona, New Jersey, Wisconsin, California, Connecticut, Cambodia, Canada, United Kingdom, and South Africa. As we always say, welcome, welcome, welcome. Thanks for joining us. In this episode Bishop Ronald Roston and co-host Courtney Fitchard discuss the prophetic warning of a great falling away, scriptures from 1 Thessalonians and 1 Timothy, and the revealing of the man of sin—the son of perdition. They examine how seducing spirits, doctrines of devils, and compromised teaching will form a counterfeit church and open the way for the abomination of desolation and the Great Tribulation. Topics include the nature of the last day, the rapture and resurrection, the impact of apostasy on believers, the role of the remnant church to stand in the gap, and the spiritual signs that point to the end times. The episode emphasizes holiness, readiness, and faithful teaching to help stabilize believers during the coming trials. We also offer encouragement and community: a Mother's Day blessing to mothers worldwide, an invitation to listen to all segments, and resources including the books Living in the New Jerusalem Now and The Remnant Church, plus video content on the hosts' YouTube channels. A big shout out to all listeners everywhere—thanks for tuning in and sharing time with us. God bless you; Shalom.

    30 min
  3. May 5

    The Great Falling Away: Signs of a Compromised Church

    Praise God, our community of listeners is really growing, it's growing, growing, it really is, and we would like to extend a heartfelt welcome to our newest listeners from the following places. Wyoming, Nebraska, West Virginia, Ohio. New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Virginia, Angola, Israel, the Philippines, and Brazil. We say great big God bless you and welcome to the podcast. Thanks for joining us. And we also want to give a big shout out to all of our listeners everywhere. And thank you for tuning in and sharing some of your time with us. We do pray that the manifold blessings of God on your life overtake you and the lives of your loved ones, and we encourage you, if you haven't already done so, to listen to all of our segments. Again, thanks for being a part of our community of listeners, and we'd like to dedicate this podcast to my father, Bishop Clyde A. Roston. Church just doesn't seem to be what it used to be. These new Christians seem to be lesgs rigid than those old holy rollers. You can be saved and still go out to the club and dance and drink. Really? Let's talk about it. God bless you all. God bless you and welcome to our weekly podcast of Contending for the Faith. I am your co-host and my name, Bishop LaCreece Roston, along with my husband, Bishop Ronald Roston. And we do invite you to get your Bible, our notebook, and journey with us as we explore topics that challenge us to mature. And I am going to say a little prayer. Our Father and our God, we do bless you in Yahushua's name. Please, we ask you to open up our spiritual ears and help us with spiritual understanding so that we can hear what you and your spirit is saying. And we asked you to help us, the church, to hear what you're saying in this hour. We do ask all of these blessings in the blessed name of your son, Yehoshua. Amen. So let's dive into our discussion. And the title is The Falling Away. Our base scriptures for this segment can be found in 1 Thessalonians 2, 3, and 1 Timothy 4, 1. And I'll read from the King James Version and the New Living Translation. First to King James, Let no man deceive you by any means, for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition. 1 Timothy 4 and 1, 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. Out of the New Living Translation, don't be fooled by what they say, for that day will not come until there is a great rebellion against God and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the one who brings destruction. In our last scripture, now the Holy Spirit tells us clearly that in the last time some will turn away from the true faith. They will follow the except of spirits and teachings that come from demons. And a quick review from our last segment. Reads, we must continue to lean and depend on the Holy Spirit. We cannot afford to lean on our own understanding and depend on our own strength. That's a setup for failure. It's time in these times of confusion and crisis. God raises crisis leaders, believers who must serve as an example of stability, stability, and integrity in the times of confusion and crisis. That was one of the first lessons that my father, pastor, my first teacher taught us that in times of crisis, God raises crisis leaders and we're looking forward to helping the body grow up into being those crisis leaders who serve as an example of, like you said, stability and integrity. Confusing times will be dangerous and perilous times for the faith and the existence. However, our Savior has overcome the world, and no weapon formed by Satan against his church, against the church of Yahushua, HaMashiach, Jesus Christ, Yeshua, however you call him, his church, none of those weapons that are formed will ever prosper. There is nothing that Satan can do to prevent the will of God from being attained in the earth. In time and in eternity. Amen. The church is built on the revelation from God to man that Yeshua of Nazareth is the promised anointed Messiah, spoken of by the Old Testament prophets. We can rest assured that the purpose of God shall succeed and complete his intended agenda. During this confusion, in this confusing, perilous time, the need for mature Christians. Impeccable integrity and holiness is mandatory. Amen. All throughout the Bible, we have been able to observe different kinds of falling away by believers. As time winds up, however, a major falling away will happen. It will supersede the previous falling aways and will set the stage for the return of Messiah for his church. The departure from the foundations of the faith will even cause the remnant to question their belief system. This last falling away will be easily detected by those outside of the art of safety, those who are not born again. This last fall in a way will represent a major departure from the ways of the first century church. This compromised form of Christianity will be totally acceptable by those who don't recognize the righteousness of Yahuwah and His holiness. It will cause the formation of a counterfeit church, an unholy alliance between the God of this world and those claiming to be children of God. This falling away will facilitate the incorporation and assimilation of the compromised pseudo-Christian. Of this world's system into a body of believers who will ultimately be tainted. They will be crumpled and callous to the holy mandates of the ancient of days. This will happen as the church rapidly runs headlong down the road of encumperism. Ecumenism, ecumenism, ecumenism, ecumenism, ecumenism, that word, and prepares to lose herself in the quagmire of deceptive, compromised teaching. She will embrace teachings that lack the integrity upon which the church was founded. In the scripture in 1 Timothy 4, verse 1 says, 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. We will see the simultaneous. Of this deceived group to form a one-world religion, a one-world government, and a one-world economy. This great falling away will be a part of the series of events which signal the beginning of the end. Let no man deceive you by any means, for that day shall not come except there be a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed the son of perdition. Stage for a form of Christianity that denies the power of God to break the power of sin in the lives of the people. It will foster the formation of a church that doesn't mind the fact that it has a reputation for continually existing under the mantle of having an ongoing power shortage. The falling away will be a signal to the enemy that he has accomplished a great victory over the church of the Lord Yeshua Hamashiach. It will testify to the enemy's accomplished purpose of deceiving the church into thinking that it's no problem living a life that is not dedicated to the principles of holiness. Sanctification, and self-denial. It will allow Lucifer to boast that he has successfully infiltrated the ranks of the righteous. He will boast that he has convinced those belong to this group to think like he thinks in terms of self-pleasure and self-satisfaction. This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truth-breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that do good, traitors, petty. High-minded, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God, heaven a form of godliness. Denying the power thereof. Listen, church, from such, turn away. From such, turn away. That's 2 Timothy 3, verses 1 to 5. Additionally, this falling away will open the door for the revealing of a man of the man of perdition. And we refer to the son of perdition as Lucifer, Satan, the great dragon, the arch enemy of the people of God, the church. Well, there has been many hypotheses as to just who this man of perdition is, Suffice it to say that whosoever or whatever he is, he represents a critical point in the countdown of eternity, the last day. According to Jewish eschatology, the last day refers to the day that Yeshua executes his judgment on the earth and simultaneously gathers the dead in Christ and those who are alive and do remain. The term is repeatedly used by Yehoshua in the 60s. Of Job to indicate the day of resurrection and judgment. And the scripture in John that Bishop spoke of is found in John 6, 54 and 55 that says, Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, except you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whosoever eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life, and I will raise at the last day. Although it is related to the last days and the last time to denote the Messianic age, it is definitely different. From the last days. The last day, singular, is different from the last days, plural. In John 7 and 37, it says, In the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirsts, let him come to me and drink. In that particular scripture, it refers to the eighth day of the Feast of Tabernacle. According to Leviticus 23, 36, this closing day of the Feast of Tabernacles was observed as a holy convocation, a Sabbath. In John's gospel, there's also the thought that God will take care of his own in those troubled times. Yahushua repeatedly said concerning those the Father has given him, that he will raise them up at the last day. Singular. This can be seen in John 6. 37 through 39. All that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. For I came down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of him that sent me. And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he h

    32 min
  4. Apr 26

    Perilous Times, Powerful Promises: Trusting God in Chaos

    Praise God, and praise God for our community of listeners, and that our community of listeners are really growing. A heartfelt welcome to our newest listeners from the following places: Those from New York, Arizona, Delaware, Iowa, Washington, Texas, Illinois, Florida, Utah, Alabama, Indiana, Maryland, Virginia, Georgia, New Jersey, Egypt, Vietnam, Iraq, Bangladesh, Colombia, the Philippines, Peru, the United Kingdom, and also Mexico. And as always, we do say welcome, welcome, welcome. Thanks for joining us. And also a big shout out to all of our listeners everywhere. We thank you for tuning in and sharing some time with us. We do pray the manifold blessings of God on your lives and the lives of your loved ones. We do encourage you, if you haven't already done so, to listen to all of our segments. And again, we do thank you for being a part of our community of listeners. In this episode of Contending with the Faith, Bishop Ronald and Bishop LaCreece Roston address the fear and confusion many feel in violent, uncertain times. Using 2 Timothy 3:1 and Philippians 4:19 as foundational texts, they explain that Scripture predicts perilous days but also promises God’s provision for every true need through Christ. The hosts review practical biblical responses: remain rooted in God’s Word, turn away from ungodly influences and false teachers, trust God for provision and strength, and rely on the Holy Spirit rather than our own understanding. They call believers to be crisis leaders—stable, compassionate, and steadfast—so the church can be salt and light amid moral decay and societal breakdown. The episode also previews a future segment on “The Falling Away,” warning of a coming large-scale departure from the faith and deceptive teachings to watch for. Listeners are encouraged to strengthen their faith, pray for guidance, resist compromise, and continue contending for the faith. Join the hosts weekly for scripture-based, practical teaching that equips believers to live victoriously in confusing, perilous times. Shalom—God's peace be with you.

    28 min

About

An extension of Times of Refreshing and Restoration’s TV program. Presentation & discussion of relevant topics concerning Christian maturity.