Thursday, November 04, 2010

Why am I so concerned about the visible 'church'? Because it is has exchanged the truth of God for the devil's lie


Beware the angels of light!

'For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment; if He did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; if by  turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes He condemned them to extinction, making them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; and if He rescued righteous Lot, greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked (for as that righteous man lived among them day after day, he was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard); then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, and especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority.'
II Peter 2:4-10

The road to hell is marked "heaven" these days. The modern church is promoting an impenitent, lawless, gospel-less, Christ-less way of salvation: itself. Contrary to popular opinion, 'church' is NOT the remedy for the malady of sin. Make no mistake, CHRIST & CHRIST ALONE is THE ONLY WAY OF SALVATION & HIS WAY IS THE WAY OF HOLINESS. Only the true gospel of Jesus Christ (repentance & faith) is the remedy for sin. The visible church is often found marking the way of hell as "heaven". Many do this by what they DON'T say. Carefully, (& oh-so-nicely) omitting the Biblical truth that the wages of sin is death and hell (Rom 6:23), churches are making the sensual, murderous conduct of the wicked appear as of little or no consequence. Ringing the steeple bell of "All is well, all is well", speaking "Peace, Peace!" to hell-bound souls, while millions in the church and within the hearing of their bells await their banishment to eternal chains of gloomy darkness. 

That's what I have been noticing. And, my friends, it has been bothering me for a LONG time. This is not something new. It is an ancient problem. It started in the Garden of Eden. The serpent whispered sweet nothings to Eve. What did he say? The devil spoke soothing words which enticed her to put away any fears of what the Father had promised about death for disobedience, His just punishment for sin. Satan made God seem like nothing and no One, and the fruit of sin seem harmless. He even religiously twisted God's own commandments & warnings to entice his hearer. Lies.

Do you foolishly believe that because a view is 'popular' that makes it right? "We are not called to judge, but to love those who are fornicating and murdering babies." Consider the source.

Caroline was shocked when she discovered that 19 year old Lisa (a member of her church) was living with a guy and had an appointment to have her SIXTH abortion. After Caroline reached out to Lisa and offered her help and support and given her great information about adoption, Lisa went ahead and paid to have her poor little helpless infant dismembered. Reeling with sorrow over the news, Caroline wondered how she should respond to Lisa when she saw her at church. Upon learning of the situation Madeline, a church friend, advised Caroline to: "Just love her". (This is code for 'be nice', make her 'feel good about herself'.) Madeline also encouraged Caroline to take Lisa out for a fun time. Is this the kind of advice you get at your 'church'?

What do the scriptures say to fornicators"For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral... has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God." (Ephesians 5:5)

What does the Holy Spirit prophesy to whores & murderers? "But as for the... murderers, the sexually immoral... their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death." (Revelation 21:8)

What about church discipline? In Matthew 18:15-17, Jesus sets forth the four-step process of church discipline which Caroline is instructed to go through with Lisa:
(1) Go privately to the one who has sinned and confront her regarding her sexual immorality & murders, calling Lisa to repent (2) If Lisa refuses to repent (confess & forsake her lover & the shedding of blood of her babies & any & all known sin), then take some witnesses with you and go to her again, commanding her to repent.
(3) If Lisa still continues to be sexually immoral & makes justifications for murdering her six children, tell the church; and finally..
(4) If Lisa refuses to repent, treat her as an unbeliever. "But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality ..—not even to eat with such a one." (I Corinthians 5:11) 2 Thessalonians 3:6 says: "Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from every brother who leads an unruly life"

This, however, was NOT the 'church' lady's advice. Madeline said: "Remember, just love her." Dearly beloved, would you like to know what Madeline (the church lady) has proudly posted as her favorite movie? "Sex & the City 2".  Are you going to go with what the sensual WORLD & WORLDLINGS like Madeline (within the church) say, rather than what the pure & holy Word of God declares? "For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral... has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God." Ephesians 5:5 God forbid! How shall sinners and prodigals like Lisa be forgiven & reconciled to the Lord unless we follow the way that God has ordained to bring them to repentance? While Madeline's idea was to 'love' the sinner, her definition of LOVE is the very opposite of God's. The way of love is the way of truth. "Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ" (Ephesians 4:15) The law & grace of the gospel of Christ is the most extravagant expression of the love of the Father that has ever been manifested in heaven or on earth. Anything else is the devil's God-hating, soul-damning counterfeit.

Many abortionists and abortion clinic workers are churchmen & church-ladies too. So are many unrepentant child-molesters, adulterers, rapists. Did you know that 54% of pastors admit to looking at porn (adultery-of-the-heart) in the last year? Are these the ones to whom you go for teaching & 'counsel'?

 Are you greatly distressed over the sin of the wicked? Do you care that babies are being murdered by the thousands every single day of the week in America? (Over 10,000 boys & girls are slaughtered, in the shadow of a thousand 'churches' in Orlando annually.) Do you realize that 88% of the sexually immoral women who dismember their infants by abortion ARE PROFESSING CHRISTIANS? Do you abhor the evil of immorality & child-sacrifice and stand opposed to it? Or are you like Lot's wife, who looks longingly and 'nicely' at the wicked, sinful world? Are you entertained by the world? Do you not realize that the whole world lies in wickedness?  I John 5:19 declares: " ..the whole world lies in the power of the evil one." DO YOU DESPISE THE DIVINE AUTHORITY of SCRIPTURE, preferring man/woman-made counseling to the wisdom of God? Do you refuse to seek and take godly (biblical) advice? Do you love and follow the world & it's ways?

I John 2:15 warns: "Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him."  Romans 12:2 admonishes: "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." If you seek and heed the advice of the earthly, sensual and devilish (EVEN WITHIN the CHURCH) know this, you may not belong to Jesus Christ. Woe unto you! "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 4:4 ) Repent!

My friends, the Bible tells us and it is all-too-obvious, that false teachers are in our churches. And they 'look' nice. They appear as an angel of light. When YOU counsel unbiblically, assuring a sinner that she has nothing to fear from God, or if you leave out the truth about sin, righteousness and judgment, repent! YOU are a FALSE TEACHER.

"Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, “The two will become one flesh.” But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with Him. Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body... when the Lord called you, you are now a slave of Christ. You were bought with a price; do not become slaves of men."
~ I Corinthians 6:15-20;7:22-23

If we profess to be a Christian, we are not slaves to the world, the flesh and the devil and their vain, deceitful, empty pleasures, ways & philosophies. If you are truly regenerate, you have been redeemed and purchased with a price. The price was no small thing. It was the precious Blood of Jesus Christ which provided the atonement for your sin! Only the blessed Savior & Redeemer deserves our service & praise. Not man or woman-pleasers. Don't be a temple prostitute! Don't be a man/woman pleaser. Don't just tell people what they want to hear. Don't make room (allowance) for sexual sin and murder, in yourself or in others. We are to HATE the evil of sin & kill it wherever it is found. Don't twist scripture, lest you be like Satan. Don't be like Esau. Don't sell out the truth (and your soul & the souls of others) for a mess of pottage. Be afraid! Repent before it's too late! Do you know that Esau never found true repentance (forgiveness) although he sought it with tears? "For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears." (Hebrews 12:17)  It is only Jesus Christ who gave Himself for you. Not your pastor. Not your church 'friends'. Not your 'Christian' counselor. Certainly not the world. You owe all of your allegiance to Christ & Christ alone! The truth as it is in Jesus is precious & non-negotiable and His Words & commandments are LIFE. If you believe that you are born-again, you are bought with a price and you CANNOT do anything you want with your body or with your lips. You give up your rights to Christ. He purchased you & you have become a bondservant. Do not lie to yourself or others. Deception is a trick of the devil, who was a murderer-from-the-beginning who came to lie, steal and destroy the TRUTH. It is your Christian duty to tell the truth, warning the sinner, withholding nothing. Will you comfort & flatter, instead of warn, the wayward one? Jesus declared: "No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish." (Luke 13:3) Will you be like the loveless religious leaders & promote man-made traditions to give sinners a false sense of security before Almighty God, their Judge? Or, will you preach the truth as the Savior demands in Luke 24:47 " ... that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem."  The Lord sees how you comfort sinners. The Lord hears when you refuse to tell them the truth. 'The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now He commands all people everywhere to repent"  Acts 17:30

Friends, be sure that our theology follows our desires. If your desires are to please the world, you are worldly & your theology is not of God at all, but vanity. "Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ." (Colossians 2:8) If, however, your desires are to please Christ, you are Christ's. If you suppress or deny or in any way obfuscate Christ's pure and righteous commandments and teachings - you deny CHRIST HIMSELF! Shame on you. You are like the ungodly, who are under the wrath of God and without excuse!

"The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—His eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse." Romans 1:18-20

Follow Christ! Do not be deceived by empty, destructive heresies which deny the necessity of repentance and the way of holiness. Do not follow the hirelings & worldlings in the church. II Peter 2 we are warned about these 'nice' false prophets and false teachers with their 'nice' seductive sayings which sweeten and secretly conceal the fatal poison of such things as sensuality, sin and death by wrapping it in religious niceties.

Read the 2 Peter scriptures from above again:

"But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth  will be blasphemed ... For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chain of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment; if He did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; if by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes He condemned them to extinction, making them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; and if He rescued righteous Lot, greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked (for as that righteous man lived among them day after day, he was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard); then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, and especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority."

Do you despise the Authority of Christ & His Word by denying these truths and commandments and the warnings of eternal damnation before men & women? Do you tremble before women, wanting to PLEASE them, rather than trembling before the Lord who created all worlds & who bought you with the blood of His only begotten Son? Do you not know that He has the power to cast both your body & soul into HELL? Be afraid! Listen to the Words of Jesus: "But I will warn you whom to fear: fear Him who, after He has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear Him!" (Luke 12:15) Remember the warning of the apostle who taught, "It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God."  (Hebrews 10:31)

"All these things my hand has made, and so all these things came to be, declares the LORD. But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at My Word."
~ Isaiah 66:2

Flush out the 'false prophets' in your own soul and in your churches. Anyone who disguises the truth is a tool of Satan, who comes as an angel of light. They are accursed! Be done with them!

For such men are false apostles ... for no wonder for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.
 II Cor 11:13

"But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed."
Galatians 1:8-9

DO NOT SPREAD FALSE, DESTRUCTIVE heresies which make light of sin and therefore deny Jesus Christ, our only Sovereign and Lord. Repent, lest you be the accursed and condemned ones in the church that the Holy Spirit (through Jude) warned the church about.

'For certain men whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are godless men, who change the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.

Though you already know all this, I want to remind you that the Lord delivered His people out of Egypt, but later destroyed those who did not believe. And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their own home—these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day. In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire. In the very same way, these dreamers pollute their own bodies, reject authority and slander celestial beings. But even the archangel Michael, when he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, did not dare to bring a slanderous accusation against him, but said, “The Lord rebuke you!” Yet these men speak abusively against whatever they do not understand; and what things they do understand by instinct, like unreasoning animals—these are the very things that destroy them. Woe to them! They have taken the way of Cain; they have rushed for profit into Balaam’s error; they have been destroyed in Korah’s rebellion. These men are blemishes at your love feasts, eating with you without the slightest qualm—shepherds who feed only themselves. They are clouds without rain, blown along by the wind; autumn trees, without fruit and uprooted—twice dead. They are wild waves of the sea, foaming up their shame; wandering stars, for whom blackest darkness has been reserved forever. Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men: “See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones to judge everyone, and to convict all the ungodly of all the ungodly acts they have done in the ungodly way, and of all the harsh words ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.” These men are grumblers and faultfinders; they follow their own evil desires; they boast about themselves and flatter others for their own advantage.
Jude 4-16

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As the song goes: 'There ain't nuthin' like the real thing.'

Truth; It's the real thing.

So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in Him,
“If you abide in My Word, you are truly My disciples, 
and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
John 8:31-33

Preach the Word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.
II Timothy 4:2-5 

"These are the things that you shall do: Speak the truth to one another."
Zechariah 8:16

"He who speaks truth tells what is right, But a false witness, deceit." 
Proverbs 12:17

"Therefore, laying aside falsehood, SPEAK TRUTH EACH ONE of you WITH HIS NEIGHBOR" 
Ephesians 4:25

"For we cannot do anything against the truth, but only for the truth."
II Corinthians 13:8

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