“The Tree of Life:” Why Are We Still Refusing to Eat From It? (Follow-Up)

This is a follow up post to “The Tree of Life:” Why Are We Still Refusing to Eat From It?. I would strongly encourage all to read the original post first!

In the first post, I had tried to describe how I sensed the Lord showing me, when it came to the Word of God, that I had been eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (in a Spiritual sense), as opposed to eating from the tree of life (the Christ). I’m writing this follow up post just to clarify that I believe we must seek the Word of God, but we must do so, firstly, with the leading of the Lord’s Spirit in us, as opposed to the leading of the clergy or even other believers. The Lord is the Word, and we must seek Him through the written Word He has given us:

So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ. (Romans 10: 17)

Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. (Ephesians 5: 6)

But, in so doing, we must also come to hear our Lord’s voice and recognize it, so we not be led astray by others, or even our own fleshly mind and heart:

At that time the Feast of the Dedication took place at Jerusalem; 23 it was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple in the portico of Solomon. 24 The Jews then gathered around Him, and were saying to Him, “How long will You keep us in suspense? If You are the Christ, tell us plainly.” 25 Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe; the works that I do in My Father’s name, these testify of Me. 26 “But you do not believe because you are not of My sheep. 27 “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; 28 and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. 29 “My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. 30 “I and the Father are one.” (John 10)

Below is a quote from a series of lectures by T. Austin Sparks which clarifies (I hope) what I had attempted to communicate in the original post:

If we are walking in the Spirit, and are moving according to the life of the Heavenly Man, our lives will be ordered according to the Word of God (eating from the tree of Life). Sometimes we shall not know the Scripture that applies to a given moment, but we shall know of something happening; we shall know that at that point we were checked; it was as though within us something said: That is not right, you will have to correct that statement; there is a flaw in that, and you will have to make that good. How often we have known that. Afterwards we have discovered where we were mistaken. The Spirit of life does not let anything that is contrary to the Word of God pass, if we are walking in the Spirit. Surely that should be a great comfort to us, and a great help.

But there is a danger of which we need to beware. What we have said does not mean that we can take up a course of trying to walk in the Spirit, and neglect the Word of God… There are a lot of people who live in what they call their “spirit.” They “get it from the Lord.” They get something, and act upon it, and afterwards it is discovered that it is a direct violation of the Word of God. How often we have met that. People get things “from the Lord,” and do something which they think they got from the Lord, and it is as clear as possible that the Word of God is positively against what they have done.

Thus the matter needs safeguarding. “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom…” (Col. 3:16) as a basis for the Holy Spirit. If, however, you are doing that you will not always have the exact passage to hand to govern the thing of the moment, but the Holy Spirit will be making good in you what He knows to be the Word of God, and holding you up. How true that is. Some of us have found that our natural memories have in great measure broken down. Very often a misquotation of Scripture does not touch doctrine at all, but the point is this, that there is a governing Intelligence which makes us know the Word of God, though we may not be able for the moment to give a particular passage in its exact phrasing or call it to mind. We are governed by it if we belong to the Heavenly Man. “As He is, so are we in this world” (1 John 4:17). (emphasis mine)

via Austin-Sparks.Net – Chapter 10 – The Heavenly Man and the Word of God.

“Let the Word of God dwell in you richly in all wisdom…” I believe we, too often, overlook the meaning and importance of verses like these: I know I am guilty of this! Here is my Spiritual sense of what the Lord is saying to us, through the Apostle Paul: the Lord is the (Living) Word of God, and He is alive and sitting at the right hand of the Father (interceding for us), thus the (Living) Word of God (the tree of Life) can dwell richly in us, and bring us His wisdom in the (written) Word, if we will only “let…” Him.

What do we suppose Paul means by the following exhortation to the Roman believers:

So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh— 13 for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 14 For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. (Romans 8: 12-14)

Do we think Paul was just joking when he wrote, “for all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God”? Or have the assorted varieties of clergymen, throughout Christendom, led us to believe that they and their “bible studies”, “sermons”, “church doctrines”, and “mission statements”, have, now, taken the place of the Spirit of God in us? Or as T. Austin Sparks states,

Remember that doctrine comes out of life, and not life out of doctrine. The Church (the true Church: the Body of Christ) comes out of life, and not life out of the Church. It is not attachment to doctrine, nor attachment to the Church, but attachment to the Heavenly Man (Christ: the tree of Life) in a living way that is the vital necessity; and then you will get the doctrine and the Church. In the Word as we have it, the doctrine came after the life. The Church existed before the doctrine of the Church was given. Attachment to the Heavenly Man produced the doctrine of the Church. The Church came about by a living relationship (with Christ), not by taking up a revelation of what the Church was, and seeking to put it into operation (the tree of the knowledge of good and evil). Life comes first of all, and where life is found the rest will follow… (emphasis mine)

Where in the nominal “church” can we find the Life of Christ, so that “the rest” may follow? There is so much division in the “church”: a man-made division which is eighteen hundred years old and serves only to open our Lord and Savior to unregenerate and pagan ridicule. Why are we so mistrusting of, and separated from, other believers (other denominations), when the (written and Living) Word of God tells us there should be nothing but unity, oneness in the Body of Christ?

Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, 3 being diligent to preserve the UNITY IN THE SPIRIT in the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all. (Ephesians 4)

Where do we see this kind of oneness, this kind of unity, this kind of Life, in the “religious institution” referred to, today, as “church” (Christendom)? We don’t see it (if we truly can see). It isn’t anywhere to be found, nor will a “revival” or “conference” ever bring it back to life again, not in this age: the Lord’s glory has left the “religious” building and now indwells the individual son and daughter of God.

“To the angel of the church in Laodicea write:
The Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God, says this:
15 ‘I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot. 16 ‘So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth…

‘Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if ANYONE (individual, not corporate) hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me. 21 ‘He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne. 22 ‘He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’” (Revelation 3)

With all of this said then, I guess my question to all of those who are still pew ridden, and eating strictly from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, is this: When will you walk away from the Spiritual deadness of your “churchianity” and allow the Word of God (the Lord: the Living Word) to dwell in you richly, so that you may become altered by every Spiritual blessing the Lord has already given you?

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, 4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love 5 He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, 6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. 7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace 8 which He lavished on us. In all wisdom and insight 9 He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him 10 with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth. In Him 11 also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will, 12 to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of His glory. 13 In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, 14 who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory. (Ephesians 1)

“For It is Better to Marry than to Burn with Passion.” (1 Corinthians 7)

Roman Catholic Paganism

The Apostle Paul tells us,

…it is good for a man not to touch a woman. 2 But because of immoralities, each man is to have his OWN WIFE, and each woman is to have her OWN HUSBAND. 3 The husband must fulfill his duty to his wife, and likewise also the wife to her husband. 4 The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does; and likewise also the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does… 7 Yet I wish that all men were even as I myself am (celibate, unmarried). However, each man has his own gift from God, one in this manner, and another in that.

8 But I say to the unmarried and to widows that it is good for them if they remain even as I. 9 But if they do not have self-control, let them marry; for it is better to marry than to burn with passion. (1 Corinthians 7)

In the article below is yet another example of what happens when “religious” men turn away from the leading of the Spirit of God, and turn aside, instead, to their own man-made doctrines filled with pagan mysteries and ritualism: “holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these.” (2 Timothy 3)

March 12, 2010

Cardinal Schönborn says celibacy partly to blame for clerical sex abuse

by Richard Owen and Ruth Gledhill

The Times

A senior cardinal has called for priestly celibacy to be re-examined in the light of sex scandals sweeping the Roman Catholic Church. Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, conservative Archbishop of Vienna and a protégé of the Pope, shocked the Vatican by suggesting that it should carry out an “unflinching examination” of causes of the scandal.

These included “the issue of priests’ training”, he wrote in his archdiocese magazine, “the question of priest celibacy and the question of personality development. It requires a great deal of honesty, both on the part of the Church and of society as a whole”.

The Vatican said the remarks had been misinterpreted. “Priestly celibacy is a gift of the Holy Spirit,” Cardinal Claudio Hummes, prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy, said at a theological convention on priestly fidelity. (emphasis added)

via Religion News: Cardinal Schönborn says celibacy partly to blame for clerical sex abuse.

The Perverse Results of Pagan Celibacy!

Celibacy is never mentioned in the Word of God as being “a gift of the Holy Spirit” (see 1 Corinthians 12). This is merely one of many pagan distortions perpetrated by Catholicism, as G.H. Pember exposes here:

As time went on, the teachings of the mystic Jezebel continued to be unfolded. In 341, Athanasius and his companions fled for refuge to Rome, and, soon after they had settled there, introduced the Monastic orders [asceticism], which had been already established in the deserts of the Thebaid. Subsequently, they were instituted in Gaul by Martin of Tours, and in Africa by Augustine.

Damasus and Jerome [Popes] had encouraged the movement in every possible way, and especially by teaching that celibacy and virginity were the highest of Christian virtues. And Pope Siricius-384-398 A.D.-who succeeded Damasus, supplemented their work by issuing a Decretal in which he insisted on the celibacy of all the Catholic clergy.

(The Great Prophecies of the Centuries concerning the Church Volume 4: [pages 556, 57] G.H. Pember)

Pember, in his other three volumes, explains that the Catholic priesthood was not established on the basis of the Levitical priesthood (Hebrew), but was, instead, fashioned after the priests of Isis, as well as many other pagan entities.

Thus we can imagine the evil doors that have been opened, and remain open, because of this pagan, idolatrous form of religiosity! Is it any wonder that priests and nuns, starved of a normal relationship with a wife and husband, and caught up in pagan ritualism, would turn to perverse acts to satisfy their sensual cravings? As Paul makes clear in his statement to the Corinthians, “It is better to marry than to burn with passion.” The pope would claim that Paul’s statement, “I wish that all men were even as I myself,” is an imperative from the Lord to remain celibate. But that claim would merely be a fleshly protest, which, in the end, was put forth to validate, and continue, the pagan ways of the Roman priesthood and nunnery: a perverse way marred not just by pedophilia, but also by homosexuality and adultery. Just ask any priest or nun who has fled from this apostasy, and they will tell you, if they’re willing to be honest, of the sordid things that take place in, and around, a “convent” and “rectory”.

When paganism is at the heart of our “religious” worship, then the Lord will have no part of it; no matter how good the intention be on the part of those involved in the process. The Lord cannot accept worship when our spiritual service is connected to the manipulative, lying works of Satanic paganism. Ignorance of this Truth will not be an excuse on that soon coming day of judgment: it is for us to know what is of the Lord and what is not!

Another Darwinian Manipulation With the Help of an Apostate Catholic Priest!

The following Pew Forum article, although it deals primarily with the rewarding of a Catholic priest for his so-called “clear voice in matters of science and faith”, is yet another example, in my estimation, of the bad fruit of man’s pagan form of Christianity (Christendom).

March 25, 2010

UC Irvine’s Francisco Ayala wins Templeton Prize

by Mitchell Landsberg

Los Angeles Times

As a young doctoral student in the 1960s, Francisco Ayala was surprised to learn that Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution appeared to be less widely accepted in the United States than in his native Spain, then a profoundly conservative and religious country.

Ayala brought a unique sensibility to the topic, because he had been ordained as a Catholic priest before undertaking graduate studies in evolution and genetics. What he believed then, and has spent his career espousing, is that evolution is consistent with the Christian faith.

On Thursday, Ayala, an acclaimed researcher at UC Irvine, won the 2010 Templeton Prize, awarded annually in recognition of achievements in affirming spirituality. The prize is worth $1.6 million, which Ayala said he would give to charity.

In announcing the award, Dr. John M. Templeton Jr., president of the John Templeton Foundation, praised Ayala’s research, which has focused on evolutionary genetics, as well as his inquiries into fundamental questions of life. “Ayala’s clear voice in matters of science and faith echoes the foundation’s belief that evolution of the mind and truly open-minded inquiry can lead to real spiritual progress in the world,” Templeton said.

In a telephone interview from Washington, where he was accepting the award, Ayala said he believed he was receiving it for his scientific work and for the “very important consequence of making people accept science, and making people accept evolution in particular.”

Ayala, 76, has been at the forefront of efforts to defend Darwin’s theory from attacks by Christian fundamentalists, many of whom favor the notion of intelligent design, which is consistent with a literal reading of the biblical creation story and holds that the world is too complex to have evolved without oversight by a supreme being. (emphasis added)

via Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.

Before I continue, let’s take note of this particular fragment: “[the] VERY IMPORTANT CONSEQUENCE of making people accept science, and making people accept evolution in particular.” Now let’s break this down a bit: “MAKING PEOPLE ACCEPT science, and evolution in particular,” has a “very important consequence.” Note the verb “Making” in this fragment:

The sixth definition of Make:

a. To cause to act in a specified manner: Heat makes gases expand.
b. To Compel: made him quit.

The first definition of Compel:

1. To Force, drive, or constrain: Duty compelled the soldiers to volunteer for the mission.
2. To necessitate or pressure by Force; exact: An energy crisis compels fuel conservation. See synonyms at force.

So, according to the dictionary, to Make someone do anything is to Compel, or Force, them to do so. In this light, then, we can see that this apostate priest (“scientist”) has merely set out to Make us accept, with the help of our children’s public education system, the universities, the government, and the liberal and conservative press corp, what most of us see as nothing more than the delusional rantings of the unregenerate atheist: another mere attempt by the God hating unregenerate to Force everyone else into believing, or having faith, in evolution (Darwinism).

The goal, then, of the postmodern-Darwinian atheists, and their apostate pawns (like this priest), isn’t to convince us of the physical evidence for the evolution of man, since there isn’t any substantial proof, nor will there be. No, the Darwinian atheists’ real goal is, instead, to Make us, to Compel us, to Force us, to accept and BELIEVE (have faith) in a unsubstantiated, at best, “scientific” hypothesis.

So, in reality, this award wasn’t really given to this priest out of respect and gratitude; since no self respecting postmodern-Darwinian atheist would ever admit to having respect for any person who believes in a Creator. No, this award was given to this gullible, apostate, and deluded, priest for the sole purpose of manipulating more than 1.1 billion Catholics, and as many or more pew-squatting protestants, into believing this lie perpetrated by Satan; the same Satanic lie, in essence, that enticed Eve to eat from the forbidden fruit:

“You surely will not die! 5 “For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (Genesis 3)

This priest, like the Vatican he serves, has sold out the Word of God, the Christ (the Logos), and has turned an apostate eye and mind to the bad fruit of this unregenerate world system and it’s moronic, mediocre lies: a system that serves, with or without knowledge, the enemy of our Lord and Savior, Satan. This whole article is just another example of the nominal “church’s” falling away (apostasy), and the Lord’s deluding influence upon it, which is beginning to herald in the seventieth week of Daniel, and the revealing of the man of lawlessness, the anti-Christ:

But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will FALL AWAY from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, 2 by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron… (1 Timothy 4)

Now we request you, brethren, with regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, 2 that you not be quickly shaken from your composure or be disturbed either by a spirit or a message or a letter as if from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. 3 Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy (the great falling away) comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, 4 who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God. 5 Do you not remember that while I was still with you, I was telling you these things? 6 And you know what restrains him now, so that in his time he will be revealed. 7 For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way. 8 Then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming; 9 that is, the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders, 10 and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. 11 For this reason God will send upon them A DELUDING INFLUENCE SO THAT THEY WILL BELIEVE WHAT IS FALSE, 12 in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness. (2 Thessalonians 2)

We must come to understand that Darwinism isn’t a scientific endeavor, it is merely a proselytizing tool used by lost, lonely, and hate filled, atheists to draw more people down to their sordid and dark existence and beliefs: “Misery loves company!”

The True Church of Christ: “The Corporate Heavenly Man”

The following quote comes from a book by T. Austin Sparks. As I read this, it occurred to me, as happens many times in my readings, that what we refer to as “church”, today, is no more the true Church of Christ than the pope is the Lord Himself!

The Church is not the only thing, but it is the central thing. The Lord Jesus has acquired the rights of the universe, and there will be other things in addition to the Church. There will be the nations walking in the light thereof. There will be a redemption that goes far beyond the Church, but the Church is the central thing. He has found that, and it was this lost treasure that dictated His course, and governed Him in paying the price. That is a tremendous thought. The Church is so precious to Him as to make Him willing to pay the price for the whole universe, in order to have it. That is the focal point. The Church is the key to redemption. It is that which is coming to the perfect image of Christ. All else will be secondary. There will be a reflection of Christ through the Church; His light will fall upon all else; what He is will come to rest upon all else; all else will take its character from what He is in the Church, but the Church will be at the centre: “…the nations shall walk amidst the light thereof…” (Rev. 21:24). It is a tremendous thing to live in this dispensation when the Lord, though having acquired the rights of the universe, of the whole creation, by His Cross, is specifically concentrated upon the treasure now, to get it out of the creation.

“The kingdom of heaven [it should be in the plural, the kingdom of the heavens] is like unto a treasure hidden in the field; which a man found, and hid….” The Lord is doing a secret work in relation to the Church. It is always a dangerous thing to bring what we conceive to be the Church out into a conspicuous place, and make a public thing of it. The real Church is a secret, hidden company, and a hidden and secret work is going on in it. That is its safety. When you and I launch out into great public movements, displaying and advertising, we expose the work of God, and open it to infinite perils. Our safety is in keeping where God has put us, in the hidden, secret place with Himself. That by the way. “The kingdom of heaven (the heavens) is like unto….” What is the significance of that phrase? It means that the whole heavenly system is focused upon the Church. It is the centre of the heavenly system. All that “the heavens” means, in this spiritual sense, is interested in the Church, is concerned with the Church, the treasure in the field. Why is this? Because, again, the Church is the heavenly man in Christ. (emphasis mine)

You can find the rest of this book here:

via Austin-Sparks.Net – Chapter 9 – The Heavenly Man and Eternal Life.

Here is what stood out most from this quote in my mind and heart:

The Lord is doing a secret work in relation to the Church. It is always a dangerous thing to bring what we conceive to be the Church out into a conspicuous place, and make a public thing of it. The real Church is a secret, hidden company, and a hidden and secret work is going on in it. That is its safety. When you and I launch out into great public movements, displaying and advertising, we expose the work of God, and open it to infinite perils. Our safety is in keeping where God has put us, in the hidden, secret place with Himself…

How does this quote describe in any way the worldly scheming of the nominal “church” (the false church); with its “praise-athons”, political activism (seeking its ungodly worldly “rights”), and blatant advertising on “Christian television stations”? This is not what the Lord intended, as we can sense if we seek His Truth and Life by observing, through the Word of God, how He lived on this earth. The Lord didn’t advertise His ministry to the world, nor did He ever demand any political or “religious” rights for Himself or His disciples; in fact, our Lord warned His disciples (and us) that the world would hate them because of Him:

“If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. 19 “If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you. 20 “Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also. 21 “But all these things they will do to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know the One who sent Me. 22 “If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. 23 “He who hates Me hates My Father also. 24 “If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would not have sin; but now they have both seen and hated Me and My Father as well. 25 “But they have done this to fulfill the word that is written in their Law, ‘THEY HATED ME WITHOUT A CAUSE.’ (John 15)

The true Church of Christ, as the Word of God and T. Austin Sparks make clear, was never intended to be some kind of reality show contestant. The true Church, the Body of Christ, was never intended to be the entity it became in Rome some eighteen hundred years ago. If you look at the history of the true Church in the Book of Acts, and other historic points of great faith and works in the Lord (the reformation, etc.), then you will see a true Church, a true Body of Christ, that is despised and persecuted throughout the world, not admired and loved.

"Let No One Deceive You"

So if your “church” is well known and admired for its “pastor”, “ministries”, or political activism, throughout the unregenerate and pagan community you live in, then who, according to the Word of God, is your “church” truly serving: the Lord or this evil world-system? Wake up, sleeper, and smell the burning sulfur, this ain’t Kansas, “pious ones”. This is the temporary domain of the enemy of God, and he hates everything that the Christ and His Body stand for:

Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. 7 Therefore do not be partakers with them; 8 for you were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord; walk as children of Light 9 (for the fruit of the Light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth), 10 trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord. 11 Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them; 12 for it is disgraceful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret. 13 But all things become visible when they are exposed by the light, for everything that becomes visible is light. 14 For this reason it says,

“Awake, sleeper,
And arise from the dead,
And Christ will shine on you.”

15 Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, 16 making the most of your time, because the days are evil. 17 So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. (Ephesians 5)

Once again, please consider this: if you and your “church” are flourishing in your worldly community, then you cannot be, according to the Word Himself, truly involved in the Lord’s will and purpose for your life:

YOU ADULTERESSES, do you not know that FRIENDSHIP WITH THE WORLD IS HOSTILITY TOWARD GOD? THEREFORE WHOEVER WISHES TO BE A FRIEND OF THE WORLD MAKE HIMSELF AN ENEMY OF GOD. 5 Or do you think that the Scripture speaks to no purpose: “He jealously desires the Spirit which He has made to dwell in us”? 6 But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, “GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE.” 7 Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Be miserable and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you. (James 4)

Glenn Beck & The Sabbath Vote: The Sad State of Americanized “Christianity”!

An American Conservative Religionist: Apostate Hypocrite

I rarely write about American political issues anymore, since America, as with the rest of this Godless world, is passing away (hopefully, sooner than later). But I heard the following apostate, and disgusting, news item yesterday, and I sensed a need to respond.

Glenn Beck, in case you didn’t know, is a “broadcast personality” on the Fox “News” Channel: the “holy grail” of the apostate, “religious”/political view of the far-right conservative (just as MSNBC [Keith Olbermann] is the “holy grail” for most Darwinian/postmodern/atheist left-wingers). Glenn Beck, as with most other American conservative religionists, is completely lost in a patriotic and capitalistic stupor: an apostate, idolatrous love of democracy, greed (capitalism), and the “American way” (self-everything). And because of his hypocrisy and idolatry, Mr. Beck, along with many of his “religious” comrades, has evidently been sent a heavenly precursor to the strong delusion the Apostle Paul speaks of in his epistle to the Thessalonians; which will ultimately be sent to all apostate hypocrites after the revealing of the mystery of lawlessness.

Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, 4 who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God. 5 Do you not remember that while I was still with you, I was telling you these things? 6 And you know what restrains him now, so that in his time he will be revealed. 7 For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he (the Holy Spirit in us) who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way (the rapture). 8 Then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming; 9 that is, the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders, 10 and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. 11 For this reason God will send upon them A DELUDING INFLUENCE so that they will believe what is false, 12 in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness. (2 Thessalonians 2)

Here is a current news item that deals with the latest example of Mr. Beck’s apostate, Spiritual and scriptural ignorance:

Conservative lawmakers and pundits already have many grievances against the Democratic health care reform plan, but Rep. Steve King of Iowa and Fox News personality Glenn Beck are adding one more to the list — the vote scheduled for Sunday.

Democrats are scrambling to get the bill to the president before leaving for Easter recess, prompting the House to schedule a vote for the bill this Sunday.

“They intend to vote on the Sabbath, during Lent, to take away the liberty that we have right from God,” King said on Beck’s radio program Thursday, the Hill reports.

Beck chimed in, “Here is a group of people that have so perverted our faith and our hope and our charity, that is a — this is an affront to God.” (emphasis added)

via Glenn Beck, Steve King: Health Care Bill Vote an Affront to God – Political Hotsheet – CBS News.

In my estimation, the only thing that is an “affront to God” in this article is Mr. Beck himself! Our Lord and Savior, much to the chagrin of Mr. Beck and cohorts, is not an American capitalist, nor does the Lord place any more stock in our hypocritical form of government than He does in atheistic communism: all forms of man’s corrupted government are an “affront to our Lord”, including a democracy. In fact, one of the signs of the end of this age is the common man ruling himself, or democratic rule (see G.H. Pember’s works)!

{Note: Paul’s statement that God instituted government for man’s sake is true. But Paul understood, as should we, that the Lord instituted government (kingdoms) so that man would not destroy himself. Man’s government, however, was always to be in submission to the commandments of God. Man’s governments today, however, not only refuse to follow the commandments of God, they, instead, in a very open, and arrogant way, even deny the existence of the Creator of this universe. Thus these earthly governments, including our own democratic form, are, in themselves, “an affront to God”; and, therefore, they make Mr. Beck’s claims of American’s “liberty coming from God” all the more spurious and lame.}

Have we ever really taken the time to consider, or even notice, how “religious” folk (conservative religionists), in this “one nation under God”, always seem willing to take part in the “religious” symbols that are not even mentioned in the “bible” (the Word of God), while, at the same time, ignoring the imperatives found there: scriptural imperatives written, through human vessels, by the Word of God Himself, the Christ? American religionists, and atheists alike, take great pains, and go to great expense, to observe “holidays” such as “Christmas” and “Easter”, and all the pagan ritualism associated with them. But neither the atheists, nor the hypocritical religionists, pay any attention, whatsoever, to the imperatives in the Word, the Truth, and the Life, which are the Lord:

‘YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.’ 38 “This is the great and foremost commandment. 39 “The second is like it, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’ 40 “On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 22)

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 “But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; 21 for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Matthew 6)

Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. 25 “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. 26 “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? (Matthew 24)

What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,” and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that? 17 Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself. (James 2)

What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members? 2 You lust and do not have; so you commit murder. You are envious and cannot obtain; so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures. 4 You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. (James 4)

Finally then, brethren, we request and exhort you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us instruction as to how you ought to walk and please God (just as you actually do walk), that you excel still more. 2 For you know what commandments we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus. 3 For this is the will of God, your sanctification; that is, that you abstain from sexual immorality; 4 that each of you know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, 5 not in lustful passion, like the Gentiles who do not know God; 6 and that no man transgress and defraud his brother in the matter because the Lord is the avenger in all these things, just as we also told you before and solemnly warned you. 7 For God has not called us for the purpose of impurity, but in sanctification. 8 So, he who rejects this is not rejecting man but the God who gives His Holy Spirit to you. (1 Thessalonians 4)

Where is the celebration of all of this, the Lord’s Way, Truth, and Life, in this pagan oriented, hypocritical nation? We know why we don’t see these scriptures honored or celebrated in America: they don’t, in any way, afford any profit to the supposed “God fearing”, or even God hating, capitalist, nor are they socially acceptable, since the Lord (the Word of God) is not politically-correct, nor is He a relativist. The Lord’s Life and commandments are not, in any way, a viable, nor essential, part of “The Great American dream”, the great American lie and manipulation.

Pagan Ritualism on a Pagan Observance

Easter, like Christmas, and Sundays themselves, are the product of pagan Catholicism (pagan Christianity). You will not find one imperative written in the Word of God that tells us to observe or celebrate any given day of the week, nor the birth, and crucifixion/resurrection, of our Lord and Savior. The Sabbath is a Hebrew day: it begins on Friday at sundown, and ends on Saturday at sundown. The feast and days of Israel were fulfilled by the Lord, as He stated to the pharisees:

At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath, and His disciples became hungry and began to pick the heads of grain and eat. 2 But when the Pharisees saw this, they said to Him, “Look, Your disciples do what is not lawful to do on a Sabbath.” 3 But He said to them, “Have you not read what David did when he became hungry, he and his companions, 4 how he entered the house of God, and they ate the consecrated bread, which was not lawful for him to eat nor for those with him, but for the priests alone? 5 “Or have you not read in the Law, that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple break the Sabbath and are innocent? 6 “But I say to you that something greater than the temple is here. 7 “But if you had known what this means, ‘I DESIRE COMPASSION, AND NOT A SACRIFICE,’ you would not have condemned the innocent.

8 “For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.” (Matthew 12)

If our Lord and Savior fulfilled the days and feasts of Israel, including the Sabbath, then why do we, as new creations in Christ, persist in keeping ourselves under the bondage of these mere shadows which the Lord came to fulfill?

Therefore NO ONE is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon OR A SABBATH DAY— 17 things which are A MERE SHADOW of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ. 18 Let no one keep defrauding you of your prize by delighting in self-abasement and the worship of the angels, taking his stand on visions he has seen, inflated without cause by his fleshly mind, 19 and not holding fast to the head, from whom the entire body, being supplied and held together by the joints and ligaments, grows with a growth which is from God.

20 If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to decrees, such as, 21 “Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!” (Colossians 2)

Every day should be a Sabbath rest to us, if we are a new creation, and resting in our Lord:

Those who desire to make a good showing in the flesh (pharisaic: self obsessed) try to compel you to be circumcised, simply so that they will not be persecuted for the cross of Christ. 13 For those who are circumcised do not even keep the Law themselves, but they desire to have you circumcised so that they may boast in your flesh. 14 But may it never be that I would boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. 15 For neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but A NEW CREATION. (Galatians 6)

Sadly, the truth and Life of our Lord and Savior, in America (and throughout the world), today, has been reduced to nothing more than a “religious” means to a corrupt political and societal end. Most American conservative religionists, like Mr. Beck, believe they have no need for the Lord in their life, beyond, of course, attending “church” on Sunday, and paying their “religious membership” dues (tithing). The American conservative religionists’ god is their country, their political affiliation, their career, their family (“values”), their house, and their new car, purchased every two to five years:

Brethren, join in following my example, and observe those who walk according to the pattern you have in us. 18 For many walk, of whom I often told you, and now tell you even weeping, that THEY ARE ENEMIES OF THE CROSS OF CHRIST, 19 WHOSE END IS DESTRUCTION, WHOSE GOD IS THEIR APPETITE, and whose glory is in their shame, WHO SET THEIR MINDS ON EARTHLY THINGS. 20 For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; 21 who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself. (Philippians 3)

So, for those of us who truly love and seek the Lord, we might want to reconsider, the next time we listen to men like Mr. Beck, and the like, what ROCK we’re going to stand on and support. We might want to pledge our allegiance, the next time, to the only One Who truly is entitled, our Lord and Savior.

“The Tree of Life:” Why Are We Still Refusing to Eat From It?

Over the past twenty four years of attempting to walk in the Light, Truth, and Life, that is our Lord and Savior, I have often wondered why Adam and Eve had not eaten from the tree of Life. All believers know, or should know, that Eve ate from the only tree in the garden that God had forbidden to her and her husband: the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And then, to add to her sin, she had tempted her husband to eat from the forbidden tree also: this, of course, as we now know, led to the fall of all mankind. But why didn’t our first earthly parents eat from the very tree that would have given them eternal life: the tree of life, which was given them for food also?

The LORD God planted a garden toward the east, in Eden; and there He placed the man whom He had formed. 9 Out of the ground the LORD God caused to grow every tree that is pleasing to the sight and good for food; THE TREE OF LIFE also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. (Genesis 2)

What message lies hidden in the fact that Adam and Eve, as opposed to eating from the tree which was given them for food, and would have given them eternal life, chose to eat, instead, from the very tree which was forbidden them by God?

Almost ten years ago, the Lord began to open my eyes and mind to see that I had been, in a Spiritual sense, eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, as opposed to eating from the Tree of Life. I had been redeemed by my Savior’s sacrifice and Blood, and I was sincerely seeking, in a confused and weak way, to “walk in the Lord”, and become sanctified; it was, however, an apostate way to sanctification that was being preached to me, day in and day out, by the people and “pastors” I “fellowshipped” with. Sanctification, according to the “pastors”, and my fellow immature brothers and sisters, was all about getting rid of sin in our lives, and then becoming prepared to “save the world for Christ:” in essence, we were to become, according to our pastor’s “church doctrine”, and “mission statement”, effective members of one, or more, of our “church’s ministries”, so that we might, ultimately, “lead others to Christ”. After all, according to our “pastors” (we had two), “outreach to the unsaved” was the reason for our “being saved” by Christ in the first place; and, therefore, it was our responsibility to become prepared so we might “save others for Christ,” and, in so doing, keep the “religious” machinery chugging away. My brothers and sisters and I had become, blindly, or without discernment, merely “religious” cogs in the machinery of another apostate form of nominal Christianity.

Year after year went by, and always the main focus was on, “We must increase our outreach to the unsaved.” And as new faces would appear, and become prepared for their “religious” duty, then they would, like the rest of us, disappear among the others and become swallowed alive in the “religious” process. In other words, once you were “saved”, and on the path to sanctification, you were no longer important: unless, of course, you were an “outreach warrior for Christ”, or being groomed as a “home church leader”; and then you were a celebrity to be thrown in the face of everyone who hadn’t met their “new believer” quotas, or hadn’t quite bought into the system yet. We didn’t have literal quotas, but the pressure was always there to bring new people to “central teaching” and “home church”.

I belonged to a (“non-denominational”) “fellowship” that was “home church” based: two thousand people belonged to between thirty and forty home churches, but we also had a main campus, where we met on Sundays, and where the K-8 school met. We had a corporation-type mentality with corporate data kept, and meetings scheduled. It was all very organized, according to man, but it was all manipulative, cold, and devoid of any Spiritual movement and power!

This, according to the Word of God, is how we begin (and end) our earthly service to, and love of, the Lord: helpless, guilty, broken, nothing!

Some years later, after I had left this Spiritual wasteland, I had come to realize that the “religious” emphasis of my old “church”, as with most others, had been totally misplaced, Spiritually and, thus, scripturally. I had come to understand that it wasn’t sin and “outreach ministries” that the Lord wanted my heart and mind focused on. The Lord wanted my focus, instead, on my loving, personal relationship with Him, and my desire to OBEY all that He had commanded me. My new, and scriptural, desire to love, serve, and OBEY, the Lord had not only come from my righteous fear of Him (reverence, awe, respect), but also from my sincere desire to serve and bless the One Who had so greatly blessed a wretched, horrible thing as me.

“If you love Me, you will keep My commandments (OBEY). (John 14: 15)

And having been made perfect, He became to all those who OBEY HIM the source of eternal salvation, 10 being designated by God as a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek. (Hebrews 5)

“If you keep My commandments (OBEY), you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. (John 15: 10)

By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments (OBEY). 4 The one who says, “I have come to know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is A LIAR, and THE TRUTH IS NOT IN HIM; 5 but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him: 6 the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk IN THE SAME MANNER as He walked. (1 John 2)

What are the commandments of the Lord we are to OBEY?

But when the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered themselves together. 35 One of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, 36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37 And He said to him, “ ‘YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.’ 38 “This is the great and foremost commandment. 39 “The second is like it, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’ 40 “On these two commandments DEPEND the whole Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 22)

The nominal “church” would have us believe that the Lord is helpless without its completion of the work He began (and finished) at the cross: “Outreach ministries”, “Saving the world for Christ, one person at a time”, etc. But this man-made, “religious” philosophy/ideology (“religious doctrine”), of course, is nothing more than a manipulative form of the serpent’s seducing statement to Eve:

“You surely will not die! 5 “For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (Genesis 3)

It isn’t, as the false “church” claims, our earthly strength and social position which allows us to become strong in the Lord. In fact, according to the Word of God, it is just the opposite that allows for the Lord to work in, and through, us: it is our utter weakness, sinful nature, Spiritual deafness and impotence, our utter nothingness in this decaying form which drives us to fall in His arms and cry out, “Lord, apart from You and Your strength, I can do absolutely nothing!”

Because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me—to keep me from exalting myself! 8 Concerning this I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me. 9 And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about MY WEAKNESSES, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. 10 Therefore I AM WELL CONTENT WITH WEAKNESSES, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; FOR WHEN I AM WEAK, THEN I AM STRONG. (2 Corinthians 12)

“I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. (John 15: 5)

Whether the “religious” manipulation of the nominal “church” is caused by Spiritual and scriptural ignorance, or by ungodly, premeditated deceit, makes little difference, since the results, in the end, will always be the same: Spiritually dead believers chowing down on the subject of what is good and evil, while, at the same time, believing, erroneously, that they are “strong in the Lord,” and doing His work for Him. As opposed to coming to their Savior, in utter weakness and humility, so He may give them His strength and Life in abundance (eating from the tree of Life), these poor believers continually chase after a futile “religious” system devoid of our Lord’s Truth and Life:

“You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life (eating from the knowledge of good and evil); it is these that testify about Me; 40 and you are UNWILLING to come to Me SO THAT YOU MAY HAVE LIFE. (John 5)

So Jesus said to them again, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. 8 “All who came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. 9 “I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. 10 “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I CAME THAT THEY MAY HAVE LIFE, and have it ABUNDANTLY. (John 10)

Or as T. Austin-Sparks states:

…All the Law and the Prophets apply to Him. Said He to Jewish leaders, “Ye search the scriptures, because ye think that in them ye have eternal life; and these are they which bear witness of Me” (John 5:39). The suggestion there does not immediately affect our consideration, but is worth noting. In effect He was saying: In your searching of the Scriptures for eternal life, it is THE PERSON (the Tree of Life) in the Scriptures that you need to know; it is in Him in Whom the Scriptures are gathered up that eternal life is found. That is the force of the statement: “…these are they which bear witness of Me.” Again, when with the two on the way to Emmaus after His resurrection, it is said of Him that “beginning from Moses and from all the prophets, He interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.” (added emphasis mine)

The Stewardship of the Mystery – Volume 1 (Chapter 10: “Governed by the Word”)

It is Christ Himself (the Tree of Life) that we must come to know, and draw our life and sustenance from, not the written scriptures which inform us of Him. The Word of God was not given to us so we could write a book report, or get a P.h. D. in theology; for when we treat the Word of God this way, we reduce its importance down to nothing more than a lifeless, confusing guide for humanistic “morality and ethics” (the tree of the knowledge of good and evil). The Word of God was given to us that we might come to know Who the Word truly is, and how we can come to know and experience Him: to know and experience the Way, to know and experience the Truth, to know and experience the Life, to know and experience all of the beginning of the creation of God, since the Word, the Christ, is all of these things in all of us! The Word, the Christ, is ALL in ALL!

In my Spiritual sense then, when we humble ourselves and seek first the Father’s righteousness and Kingdom, and OBEY His Son, we are, in Spiritual reality, eating from the tree of life. On the other hand, when we seek first the leading of our man-made “religious” institutions and clergy, and, in so doing, ignore, or put aside, what our Lord has commanded us, and rely on our own strength to serve, then we are, as Adam and Eve, eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. We are, once again, ignoring the commandments of our Lord and Savior and listening to the lies and manipulations of the evil one: the serpent!

So, will we remain “unwilling”, as the pharisees of Jesus’ day, to come to the Lord for His Life? Or are we willing to turn from the bad fruit of Satan’s manipulative tree and, instead, begin to eat the good fruit of the tree of Life? I believe, sincerely, that we must begin, now, to take our sustenance from the tree which the Father has given us to receive (eternal) Life from, now and in the ages to come: the Christ:

Then he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb, 2 in the middle of its street. On either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. 3 There will no longer be any curse; and the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and His bond-servants will serve Him; 4 they will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads. 5 And there will no longer be any night; and they will not have need of the light of a lamp nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God will illumine them; and they will reign forever and ever. (Revelation 22)

“A Deluding Influence” XIV

Martin Luther

{I have decided, from time to time, to post certain items that I sense (through my Spirit, hopefully) speak to many of the issues I write on. These will be short snippets (NOT ALWAYS), and I’ve decided to call them, “A Deluding Influence” (2 Thessalonians 2: 11)}

Here are two more Pew Forum articles which further reveal the bad fruit of the nominal “church” (Christendom). The first one comes from the land of Martin Luther, and the Reformation:

March 5, 2010

Scandals test credibility of German churches

by Anli Serfontein

Religion News Service

TRIER, Germany (RNS/ENI) Germany’s Protestant and Catholic churches may be facing the biggest credibility crisis in decades after an unprecedented bout of scandal-fueled negative media coverage.

Bishop Margot Kassmann, the first woman to lead the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD), resigned as leader of German Protestants on Feb. 24 after she was arrested for drunk driving, just four months into office.

In the same week, Catholic bishops met in Freiburg to address allegations of widespread sexual abuse of children by clergy that had surfaced late in January, prompting a possible criminal probe by state officials.

Germany is the birthplace of both the Protestant Reformation and Pope Benedict XVI, and religion plays a key role in German life; indeed, both churches are among the nation’s largest employers.

Some members of the Protestant church believe Kassmann’s resignation has thrown the EKD, an umbrella group for 24 million Lutheran and Reformed Protestants, into a crisis of theological, moral and political proportions. (emphasis added)

via Religion News: Scandals test credibility of German churches.

Here, once again, is what the Apostle Paul has to say about overseers (elders) and deacons; the only two designated Church leaders given us in the Word of God:

It is a trustworthy statement: if ANY MAN aspires to the office of overseer (elder), it is a fine work he desires to do. 2 An overseer, then, must be ABOVE REPROACH, THE HUSBAND OF ONE WIFE, TEMPERATE, PRUDENT, RESPECTABLE, HOSPITABLE, ABLE TO TEACH, NOT ADDICTED TO WINE or PUGNACIOUS, but gentle, peaceable, free from the love of money. 4 HE MUST BE one who manages his own household well, keeping his children under control with all dignity 5 (but if a man does not know how to manage his own household, how will he take care of the church of God?), 6 and not a new convert, so that he will not become conceited and fall into the condemnation incurred by the devil. 7 And he must have a good reputation with those outside the church, so that he will not fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.

8 Deacons likewise must be MEN OF DIGNITY, not double-tongued, or addicted to much wine or fond of sordid gain… (1 Timothy 3)

An overseer (elder) or deacon, then, according to Paul, must be first of all a MAN who is TEMPERATE, a HUSBAND of ONE WIFE, RESPECTABLE, NOT ADDICTED to WINE or PUGNACIOUS, but most of all, this MAN, this overseer, this deacon, must be ABOVE REPROACH! An overseer or deacon is to be a man, not a woman. Women can, according to Paul, teach, exhort, and rebuke other women and children in small gatherings, but never, according to Paul, is a woman to be the head of any assembly (ecclesia) of the Lord. Nor is a man, who desires to be an overseer or deacon, to be unmarried or, even worse, divorced. And above all else, overseers and deacons are to be above reproach, so as not to bring the opportunity for unregenerate and pagan blasphemy against the Lord.

For those believers who may have their relativistic and “tolerant” sensibilities (products of a carnal mind) disturbed by this scriptural truth, I would suggest that they, at some point in time, come to the correct Spiritual, and scriptural, conclusion that our Lord and Savior is not, in any way, a politically-correct God: forgiving, patient (to an extent) and loving, yes, but not “tolerant”, nor politically-correct! In fact, the (hypocritical) political and philosophical doctrines of unregenerate and “religious” man are but foolishness to God:

Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you thinks that he is wise in this age, he must become foolish, so that he may become wise. 19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness before God. For it is written, “He is THE ONE WHO CATCHES THE WISE IN THEIR CRAFTINESS”; 20 and again, “THE LORD KNOWS THE REASONINGS of the wise, THAT THEY ARE USELESS.” (1 Corinthians 3)

A False Prophet, A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing!

This second article comes from Germany also, but it deals with a Danish reverend. As bad as the subject matter of the first article was, this second one, in my estimation, is even worse!

March 5, 2010

Danish pastor raises eyebrows with frank talk about sex

by Niels Sorrels

Religion News Service

BERLIN (RNS) Birds do it, bees do it and so should devout Christians — daily, even — according to a new book by a Danish pastor that is causing a minor sensation across Europe.

The Rev. Poul Joachim Stender, 53, is getting his fair share of media attention after publishing a book entitled “Med Gud i sengen,” which translates as “With God in Bed.” Among other recommendations, the book encourages devout Christians to have sex once a day, and to learn more about the parts of the Bible that focus on sex.

In an interview in the Danish newspaper Randers Amtsavis, Stender says the Bible — starting with the scene in Genesis where God refers to Adam and Eve becoming “one flesh” — encourages active sexuality.

“What is biblical is to have sex,” says the pastor from Saaby parish in Roskilde. “If it is not erotic, I don’t know what is.” (emphasis added)

via Religion News: Danish pastor raises eyebrows with frank talk about sex.

The first article showed the Spiritual immaturity and weakness of a woman who should never have been an overseer or deacon, according to scripture, not alone a person in charge of an entire denomination; which entity, by the way, as I’ve attempted to expose before, is the product of the pagan-religious system referred to as Christendom.

But unlike the out-of-control woman in the first article, this so-called “man of God” works his evil in a very premeditated and manipulative manner: much like the serpent of old manipulated Eve by the tree. This “clergyman”, like the Devil, takes the sacred physical union, instituted between a joined together man and woman of God, and reduces it, and the scriptures which speak of it, to a sordid pornographic indulgence. Like Lucifer, this apostate man of perdition, tempts those, weak in lusting after the flesh, with the false notion that God’s Word openly supports sexual promiscuity: sexual immorality, sin.

Then the LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him.” 19 Out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the sky, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called a living creature, that was its name. 20 The man gave names to all the cattle, and to the birds of the sky, and to every beast of the field, but for Adam there was not found a helper suitable for him. 21 So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then He took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh at that place. 22 The LORD God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man. 23 The man said,

“This is now bone of my bones,
And flesh of my flesh;
She shall be called Woman,
Because she was taken out of Man.”

24 For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh. 25 And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed. (Genesis 2)

The Lord made Eve from Adam’s rib in order to provide him with a completer (a help-mate), and the Lord, then, blessed both Adam and Eve with a Spiritual and physical union; for woman was made from the rib of man, “and they (once again) shall become one flesh.” But this Spiritual and physical union, as Paul states, was not only for Adam and Eve’s, and their seed’s, blessing, but also to reveal the relationship which the Lord desires to have with all of His creation: All in All.

Husbands, love your wives, JUST AS ALSO CHRIST LOVED THE CHURCH and gave Himself up for her, 26 so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless. 28 So husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself; 29 for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church, 30 because we are members of His body. 31 FOR THIS REASON A MAN SHALL LEAVE HIS FATHER AND MOTHER AND SHALL BE JOINED TO HIS WIFE, AND THE TWO SHALL BECOME ONE FLESH. 32 This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church. 33 Nevertheless, each individual among you also is to love his own wife even as himself, and the wife must see to it that she respects her husband. (Ephesians 5)

The fall of Adam and Eve, when their eyes were opened to the knowledge of good and evil, would ultimately lead to this sacred Spiritual and physical union being lowered to nothing more than what we see today: an impure and unholy animal-like instinct, a mere Pavlov’s dog response to something which, in the beginning, was meant to be beautiful and fulfilling to both men and women!

So, we can continue to take part in this kind of Spiritual deadness, and apostate confusion, or we can break our “religious” habit and come out into the Light and abundant Life of our Lord and Savior. It is up to us! But remember this,

‘Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone (believer) hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me. (Revelation 3)

For more on this subject, I highly recommend the following text: Earth’s Earliest Ages: G.H. Pember

Suffering, Enduring & Overcoming: “…Some Strange Thing Happening…” (Follow-Up)

This is a follow-up post to Suffering, Enduring & Overcoming: “…Some Strange Thing Happening…”.

I wanted to share the following snippet from a book entitled The Stewardship of the Mystery: Volume 1 (All Things In Christ), by T. Austin Sparks. The following quotes from this book deal with our suffering and enduring as believers and seekers in Christ.

There is not one thing in the life of a child of God but what is controlled and governed by a deeper meaning in relation to his purpose (in Christ). We recall Paul’s statement: “And we know that to them that love God all things work together for good, even to them that are called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28). The more accurate translation is, God worketh in all things good. God invests everything with a meaning, for those who love Him, and are the called according to His purpose. The wisdom of God lays hold of everything and gives to it value. It may be that only eternity will reveal to us the value of some things, but we must believe that, inasmuch as our lives are wholly under His government, there is nothing without a meaning (good or bad), nothing without a value. His wisdom is governing everything.

It is when we come to realize that, to accept and believe it, that we find rest in our hearts, and find ourselves on the way to gain rather than loss. When we revolt against these things (trials, tribulations), then we are in the way to rob ourselves of something. But when we come into line with the Lord in these things we find, firstly, rest in our hearts, and then THE DISCIPLINE produces something of value. IT IS GAIN, not loss; IT IS GOOD, not evil. This is wisdom… (any emphasis mine)

I believe the truth of this WISDOM is confirmed in these scriptures:

It is for DISCIPLINE that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? 8 But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. 9 Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live? 10 For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness. 11 All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness. (Hebrews 12)

Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter VARIOUS TRIALS, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces ENDURANCE. 4 And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be PERFECT and COMPLETE, LACKING IN NOTHING. (James 1)

The author goes on to say,

How does His wisdom work out to His glory? You and I go through a painful experience, a mysterious experience (some strange thing happening); we can see no good in it; we can only see harm in it. We are led to look to the Lord, to believe that although we cannot see, cannot understand, He knows; and we trust Him. We come through the trial, and our eyes are enlightened about the purpose of it, and we worship. Oh, we never saw that such a thing as that could produce this! We never, never imagined that this value could result from it. The thing (trial, tribulation) which seemed to be for our undoing is the thing that has brought us into a greater fullness of the Lord. That is His glory…

Supremely does this characterize the Lord Jesus. Oh, it seems at times that the way He goes to work is hard, but it is actuated by His love. It may be strange and mysterious, but love is in it; there is a great heart behind it all. (any emphasis mine) (see chapter 5)

As I read this, I sensed the Lord, once again, confirming that my life belongs to Him, and that He is allowing for the testing and trials in my life: there is an eternal purpose for them. The suffering is never completely alleviated by my awareness and discernment of this great Truth, but the Lord’s peace, which surpasses comprehension, always seems to rush over me when I remember this and stand firm in Him:

BE ANXIOUS FOR NOTHING, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4)

Because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me—to keep me from exalting myself! 8 Concerning this I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me. 9 And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. 10 Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Corinthians 12)

Here are just a few more of our Lord’s promises that have helped me through my times of trials and testing:

8 “The LORD is the one who goes ahead of you; He will be with you. He will not fail you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.” (Deuteronomy 31)

“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; 28 and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. 29 “My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. 30 “I and the Father are one.” (John 10)

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. 2 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God; 3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world. 4 You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world. 5 They are from the world; therefore they speak as from the world, and the world listens to them. 6 We are from God; he who knows God listens to us; he who is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. (1 John 4)

And lastly, here is an admonition from the Lord which I believe we should grasp hold of, and cling to, tightly:

‘Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; therefore be zealous and repent. 20 ‘Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me. 21 ‘HE WHO OVERCOMES, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne. 22 ‘HE WHO HAS AN EAR, LET HIM HEAR WHAT THE SPIRIT SAYS TO THE CHURCHES.’” (Revelation 3)

“Worshiping the Father in Spirit and Truth”

Is this Worshiping the Father "In Truth & Spirit"?

This post is directed towards those believers who are still under the apostate misconception (delusion) that singing “church” music and shouting hallelujah is the only way to truly worship the Father. In the following scripture, Jesus makes it very clear that true believers and seekers of His Truth and Life will not worship God in any set building on any set day and time. According to our Lord and Savior, if we (believers) truly desire to worship our Father, then we must worship Him in Spirit and Truth:

The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water, so I will not be thirsty nor come all the way here to draw.” 16 He said to her, “Go, call your husband and come here.” 17 The woman answered and said, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You have correctly said, ‘I have no husband’; 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; this you have said truly.” 19 The woman said to Him, “Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. 20 “Our fathers worshiped in this mountain, and you people say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.” 21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. 22 “You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 “BUT AN HOUR IS COMING, AND NOW IS, WHEN the TRUE WORSHIPERS WILL WORSHIP THE FATHER IN SPIRIT AND TRUTH; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. 24 “GOD IS SPIRIT, AND THOSE WHO WORSHIP HIM MUST WORSHIP IN SPIRIT AND TRUTH.” 25 The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah is coming (He who is called Christ); when that One comes, He will declare all things to us.” 26 Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am He.” (John 4)

Below is a portion of an interesting article which exposes, in my Spiritual sense, the manipulative effect of what the nominal “church” refers to as “worshiping God”, and what the true nature of worship should be: worshiping the Father “in Spirit and Truth!”

Has not the church suffered the worldly temptation of permitting the worship of the Almighty and Eternal God to be reduced to mere fleshly indulgence? It seems to this observer (and forgive me for generalizing to advance my point) that the focus on worship today is primarily on its institutional expression, or corporate worship, rather than the intimate and personal expression of adoration as the Holy Spirit reveals all the Lord is and represents.

We discover in this Scripture a distinction being made by the Master between “true worshipers” and false, between worship that is sought by the Heavenly Father and that which is not. So it follows then, that not all forms or manifestations of worship, even that directed in name to Him, is pleasing and acceptable to Him. Not all of those who say they know the true God of creation and the Bible are in fact known by Him. (emphasis mine)

Here is scriptural backing for this statement:

“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. 22 “Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ 23 “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.’ (Matthew 7)

The article continues,

This devil-wrought delusion whereby individuals are led to believe they are worshiping and serving the True God when in fact they are worshiping and drinking from the cup of demons is a dangerous one indeed. We must be completely sure that such Scriptures are not referring to us. Are we?

What then, is true worship? Is it only what has come to be known as the worship service that precedes the sermon or teaching session? Is it the highly charged entertainment portion every Sunday morning or Friday night; the part that seems so much more enthralling to the soul and senses; the singing down of God from His heavenly throne; the praising the roof off? Important questions indeed, brethren, for have we not ultimately been called and saved to worship, serve and adore our Lord and God? Is worship not the natural response of a creature who has been so mercifully spared from eternal judgment and brought near to the very heart of the Creator? (emphasis mine)

The worship of the Father should be as natural to us as breathing. We shouldn’t need an expensive building, with a choir and band, to get us all fired-up to worship the Father: we shouldn’t need “praise and worship ministries” and “Christian music artists” to worship our Father in heaven! If we truly are aware of Who the Father is, who we are in Christ, and what He has done for us through His Son, then we should be worshiping Him in Spirit and Truth all day long!

The writer goes on to say,

True worship can never be rooted in group ritual or isolated from the truth of almighty God as revealed in His Word. It can never find its inspiration beyond the individual spirits of those who have dedicated their lives to seeking and following the God of the Bible. If one does not enter into worship with a worshipful heart, then all the loud praises and singing and music in the world will not draw one nearer to the presence of God.

Sadly, much of what is called worship in the church today seems contrived and external; a slick combination of Broadway-style production and old-fashioned big-tent mood manipulation. Just as Hollywood has fine-tuned the art of rendering audiences to emotional reaction at will, so the modern church has discovered the assorted tricks and techniques for reproducing such results in the pews. But is it worship, my brother? Does it rise to the level of worshipful expression seen in the Psalms and Prophets for example? Does it represent a sincere prostration of the individual heart before a Being of extraordinary and inestimable power and glory? Is it a personal and powerful expression of homage and reverence directed at the true God, the only God, the very Father, Son and Holy Spirit found in the pages of the Bible – as He is and can only be? And finally, has such an expression, however wrought, been informed and shaped by the Spirit and Word of God, and not the soulish energies or machinations of men? (emphasis mine)

Here, in my estimation, is the crux of the matter: “Holiness”! To be holy is to be set apart for the Lord’s purpose:

Beware, dear reader, for holiness can never come in a bottle or a manual, but only from the Holy One Himself. And it returns to Him, and glorifies Him, as others see His holiness reflected in all that you say and do and represent. It flows from the very life of the Holy One, transforming your life in very practical ways, and it leads you to your knees and to that quiet contemplation of all that He is and represents. When the Bible refers to the “beauty of holiness” it knows of what it speaks, for indeed holiness is beautiful, more beautiful than anything in this sin-blemished world. (emphasis mine)

via Livingwalk – W.E. Smith.

We can sing and shout hallelujah all day long, but if we’re not seeking to make ourselves a living sacrifice to the Lord, and thus allow Him to reign in our mortal bodies, then no song, hymn, psalm or physical gyration will suffice to become worship in the eyes of our Father in heaven! As my brother in Christ states so well, it is our HOLINESS which will allow us to worship the Father in Spirit and Truth. It is the giving up of ourselves, and all that we would possess in this decaying world, that sets us apart for the Lord’s perfect will and purpose being brought to fruition in, and through, our lives:

Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. 25 “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. (Matthew 16)

Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, WHICH IS YOUR SPIRITUAL SERVICE OF WORSHIP.

And DO NOT BE CONFORMED to this world, but BE TRANSFORMED BY THE RENEWING OF YOUR MIND, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. (Romans 12: 2)

Is this truly worship of the Father or just bad entertainment?

Do we want to worship our Father in Spirit and Truth? Then let us lose our lives in this world and offer our bodies as living sacrifices, which is our Spiritual service of WORSHIP! And then, let us not be conformed to this world system of Satan, but let us, instead, become TRANSFORMED by the renewing of our minds, so that we may shine as His Light in the darkness of this perverse world and generation:

“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; 15 nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. 16 “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven. (Matthew 5)

This is how we truly worship the Father! All the rest of “religious” man’s “worship”, as my brother so precisely states, is nothing more than a Satanic inspired side show, a manipulative carnival set up by demons to keep believers trapped in the Spiritual deadness of apostate Christendom!

I would encourage everyone to read this entire article at the link given! Please, let us all remember this, if our earthly life is still tied up in the cares of this evil world system, then, no matter what “religious” activity we take part in, we will never be capable of worshiping the Father in Spirit and Truth.

The True Church of Christ Does Not Exist To “Make The World A Better Place”! Part III

The Pagan Indoctrination of Catholicism on All of Christendom!

This is the final post of a three part series entitled The True Church of Christ Does Not Exist To “Make The World A Better Place”!.

In these posts, I have attempted to share some of what the Lord has revealed to me during the past ten years, when it comes to the Spiritual deadness and error of Christendom. Over the past year, in particular, the Lord has blessed me and my brothers with the writings of several 19th century men of God: one of which was G.H. Pember. The Lord has used Mr. Pember to firm up His revelation given me almost a decade ago: a revelation which showed the apostate nature of what is referred to as “church”.

It may appear to some that I have a grudge or vendetta against Catholics, as well as other “church going” folks, but this is not the case. I do, however, take issue with the Vatican and the other leaders of apostate Christendom, since they have sold themselves out to the evil one’s world system, just as scripture foretold they would! My issues are with the wolves-in-sheep’s-clothing who have, with or without awareness, lead many of their flock down a road to judgment and loss-of-reward in the coming age:

“Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. 16 “You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they? 17 “So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 “A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit. 19 “Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 “So then, you will know them by their fruits. (Matthew 7)

I want my brothers and sisters in Christ, worldwide, who know, love and truly seek the Lord to come out from the Spiritual deadness and scriptural falsehood of the nominal “church”; so on that soon coming day they will hear, “Well done good and faithful servant, enter into my joy,” as opposed to suffering this outcome:

“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven (the “first-fruits” rapture in the millennium: the 1000 year reign of Christ), but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. 22 “Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ 23 “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.’ (Matthew 7)

{Note: Spiritual salvation is secured by faith alone, but reigning with Christ during the millennium is a reward to be earned: sanctification. (See Salvation of the Soul: Arlen L. Chitwood)}

The Lord, through the Apostle John, gave us a warning of how His Church would become tainted, and eventually fall, in the first three chapters of the Revelation. The Lord’s messages to His seven Churches, as G.H. Pember and others make clear, was to give us an historical and Spiritual breakdown of the Church age, this dispensation of Grace age. We must understand and be alert, for this age is coming, quickly, to an end!

Here, once again, is some of Mr. Pember’s historical/Spiritual insight into the current Dispensation of God’s Grace (the Church age), and how the Church of the Christ, some eighteen hundred years ago, had fallen into pagan worship and ritualism, culminating in the formation of the Catholic “church” (worldwide “church”):

“In 381 A.D., the second general council met at Constantinople [Capital of the Eastern Roman Empire], and, by its decrees, the Pontifex Maximus was recognized as Head of the Universal or Catholic Church, while the Bishop of Constantinople was to rank as second to him [second to the pope]. The amalgamation thus became an accomplished fact, and, before the year 400 A.D., “the tonsured priests of Isis, sworn to celibacy,” were being received as the ministers of Christ. Just as in Israel the prophets of Baal and Astarte replaced those of Jehovah, so the false Church, the new Jezebel, introduced the hierophants of the very same deities, under changed names, among the followers of the Lord Jesus. Then many doctrines of Paganism began to be openly preached, with a little change in the nomenclature, and were declared to be Christian-baptismal regeneration, justification by works, image and saint worship, prayers for the dead, and many others. The mystic Tau was everywhere prominent as the sign of the cross; the wafer of Mithras was substituted for the broken bread; the Bishop retained the crooked staff of the Roman augur, but called it a crozier; and wore on his head the fish-head mitre of the priests of Oannes or Dagon. Everything was Pagan except the bare names. The vast conspiracy to convert Christianity itself into Heathenism had succeeded, so far as the bulk of professing Christians were concerned. (emphasis mine)

Pember goes on to explain how this new “Christian” world-religion would turn celibacy and virginity into pagan ritualism. Even Mary, the earthly mother of Jesus, would be remade in the image of a pagan goddess:

As time went on, the teachings of the mystic Jezebel continued to be unfolded. In 341, Athanasius and his companions fled for refuge to Rome, and, soon after they had settled there, introduced the Monastic orders [asceticism], which had been already established in the deserts of the Thebaid. Subsequently, they were instituted in Gaul by Martin of Tours, and in Africa by Augustine.

Damasus and Jerome [Popes] had encouraged the movement in every possible way, and especially by teaching that celibacy and virginity were the highest of Christian virtues. And Pope Siricius-384-398 A.D.-who succeeded Damasus, supplemented their work by issuing a Decretal in which he insisted on the celibacy of all the Catholic clergy.

Pope Celestine I.-422-432 A.D.-gave a great impetus to Mariolatry by aiding the persecutors of Nestorius, the Archbishop of Constantinople, who had preached eloquently against the blasphemous title, Mother of God, which was then given to the mother of Jesus. The intention of this title is obvious; for had Mary been the mother of the Lord’s Godhead, she herself must of necessity have been a goddess, and they would have been justified in their worship of her. But, on the other hand, the plan of salvation would have failed; for the Lord would have had no human nature, and, therefore, could not have saved the human race. (emphasis mine)

(The Great Prophecies of the Centuries concerning the Church Volume 4: [pages 556, 57] G.H. Pember)

I believe that the Lord, through G.H. Pember (and many others: see my God’s Wisdom page), has given us more than enough historical/Spiritual background to be able to come to a decision on this matter. All we have to do is take the information given and investigate for ourselves: pay heed to the leading of our Spirit (First and foremost), read the Word of God, read Pember’s works (and other’s), attend a mass (or any other denominational service), and then observe the (Gnostic and Roman) pagan influence which now permeates all of Christendom (every denomination and non-denomination). As we go about this Spiritual process, this Spiritual awakening, we might also want to keep in mind the words and warnings of the Apostle Paul, in his descriptions of believers and “church” officials at the end of this age:

But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. 2 For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, 4 treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these. 6 For among them are those who enter into households and captivate weak women weighed down with sins, led on by various impulses, 7 always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. (2 Timothy 3)

{Note: G.H. Pember died over one hundred years ago, so, of course, we are further into the Lord’s Revelation than he. Also, Pember, in his 4th volume, makes very clear that these seven Church periods overlap to some extent: the Philadelphia and Laodicea periods can and do have certain aspects in common. But the seventh period (Laodicea) stands alone, in that the Lord is definitely seeking out the individual, as opposed to the corporate “church”, in this final epistle; and, therefore, His warning is to those who will live very close to His second advent!}

The following epistles (Revelation 3:) speak of the final two Church periods (out of seven) we are currently living in: the Philadelphia Church, and the Laodicea Church. Pember describes the Philadelphia Church period as one where the true believer and seeker of Christ’s Truth and Life would begin to stand against the apostate lies of the nominal “church” system. And those of the final period, the Laodicea Church, would, by necessity, have to withdraw from the apostasy and Spiritual deadness which will run rampant in Christendom at the end of this age.

Here is what our Lord and Savior HAS (not, HAD) to say to the Church at Philadelphia:

"Behold, I have put before you an OPEN DOOR which no one can shut..."

“And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write:
He who is holy, who is true, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, and who shuts and no one opens, says this:
8 ‘I know your deeds. Behold, I have put before you AN OPEN DOOR which no one can shut, because you have a little power, and have kept My word, and have not denied My name. 9 ‘Behold, I will cause those of the synagogue of Satan, who say that they are Jews and are not, but lie—I will make them come and bow down at your feet, and make them know that I have loved you. 10 ‘Because you have kept the word of My perseverance, I also will keep you from the hour of testing, that hour which is about to come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth. 11 ‘I am coming quickly; HOLD FAST WHAT YOU HAVE, so that no one will take your crown. 12 ‘He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he will not go out from it anymore; and I will write on him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God, and My new name. 13 ‘He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’ (Revelation 3)

And here is what the Lord HAS (not, HAD) to say to the last Church (Laodicea), the nominal “church”, we can see on every street corner in town:

"Behold, I Stand at the Door and Knock..."

“To the angel of the church in Laodicea write:
The Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God, says this:
15 ‘I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot. 16 ‘So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth (vomit). 17 ‘Because you say, “I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing,” and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked, 18 I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see. 19 ‘Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; therefore be zealous and repent. 20 ‘BEHOLD, I STAND AT THE DOOR AND KNOCK; IF ANYONE HEARS MY VOICE AND OPENS THE DOOR, I WILL COME INTO HIM AND DINE WITH HIM, AND HE WITH ME. 21 ‘He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne. 22 ‘He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’” (Revelation 3)

Here, then, is what I sense the Lord saying (in my Spirit) to all believers in these last two epistles to the Churches:

“HE WHO HAS AN EAR, LET HIM HEAR WHAT THE SPIRIT SAYS TO THE CHURCHES:” let he or she, who takes the time to commune with and hear his or her Spirit’s leading, discern that there is (right now) an “OPEN DOOR WHICH NO ONE CAN SHUT” but the Lord. And this OPEN DOOR to the Lord’s forgiveness (grace) and Life is slowly beginning to swing shut. This, I believe, is the warning of the epistle to the Philadelphia Church period!

As for the warning to the seventh, and last, Church period (our current Church period), there is this, “HE WHO HAS AN EAR, LET HIM HEAR WHAT THE SPIRIT SAYS TO THE CHURCHES:” let he or she, who takes the time to commune with and hear his or her Spirit from God, discern that the Lord stands at the door which is about to shut, completely, and knocks. And he or she who hears the Lord knocking, and answers, will sup with the Lord in these last days: this person will be known as an Overcomer and will sit down with the Lord on His throne in the coming age! This is the warning, and promise, to those of us who believe and seek the Lord, individually, in this last period!

"The Road to Emmaus" (Luke 24)

Note that the OPEN DOOR is no longer mentioned in the seventh epistle: we must now knock if we want to sup with our Lord and Savior. The epistle to the Church at Philadelphia was to all members of the Church, apostate or not, but, in the epistle to the Church at Laodicea, the Lord reaches out solely to the individual: BEHOLD, I STAND AT THE DOOR AND KNOCK; IF ANYONE HEARS MY VOICE AND OPENS THE DOOR, I WILL COME INTO HIM AND DINE WITH HIM, AND HE WITH ME. The Lord is calling us, as individuals, out from the corporate apostasy and Spiritual deadness of the nominal “church”, but He leaves this decision totally up to us! So will we seek to hear and discern His Spirit and answer the door when the Lord knocks? Or will we remain blind and deaf, while sitting in the pew of some “religious” venue (“church”), when He calls to us? It is our decision! It is our responsibility, and there will be no second guessing!

{All of this, of course, is not to say that two, or more, individuals, who have come out from among them, cannot come together, corporately! But this new way of coming together (fellowship) must be done, this time, under the leadership of the Spirit of God, so we do not recreate what we have just managed to escape!}

Needless to say, then, the true Church of Christ, unlike the false one of man, does not exist to “make the world a better place” or “save the world for Christ.” The true Church of Christ is to be His living Body which is being prepared, one individual at a time, to be His Bride; when He returns in great power and glory. So be it, Lord! Come again, quickly!

In closing, my sincere attempt in writing these three posts, as well as all others, is to bring the Spiritual awareness, which has most graciously been given me by the Lord, to anyone who feels trapped in their religiosity. I was, once, like many of you: a Spiritually dead person sitting in a Spiritually dead pew of Christendom; where I had never once, during fifteen years of attendance, witnessed the power and movement of our Father’s indwelling Spirit. Nor had I ever truly experienced the grace, love and Life of our Lord and Christ: the elders loved to preach about the Lord’s love, grace and Life, week in, and week out, but they hadn’t a clue as how to show that love and grace, nor could they exhibit, in themselves, His Life in abundance!