One Faith

In this blog we want to discuss how and why God made and gave everything that exists in heaven and on earth, the two sides of the cross and the special grace He alone gives to whom He wishes for His purpose and glory alone. By no means will this be comprehensive, but a general overview of the subjects.

There is only one faith and true doctrine, but many elements and details concerning the one faith that is only found in Christ.

To understand what we are saying, we must start at the beginning of Creation…

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. -Genesis 1:1

Then God said, ‘Let us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’ So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. -Genesis 1:26-27

And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. -Genesis 2:7

The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life. -Job 33:4

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. -John 1:1-3

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. -Colossians 1:15-17

The one and only God, the Father, in and with His Son, Christ Jesus [the Word], by and through His Holy Spirit made everything that exists from the beginning ’til the end for all eternity – one Holy God revealed in three persons, according to His perfect will.

We see in Colossians 1:16 that Christ made all that is in heaven and all that is on earth visible and invisible, that is, all holy angels and redeemed men [the special grace given and maintained by the Holy Spirit] and all fallen angels and unregenerate men [God withholding special grace at a point of God’s choosing for His purpose].

We see in Genesis 1:2 that it says,

The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

You might question why God would make the earth without form and void with darkness covering the face of the deep. Well, the answer to that question may surprise you, because what God was showing us was His grace extended by making the earth, but at the same time, He was withholding the form and purpose of the earth for His purpose and His timing to complete the work. The point was to reveal to us that He had every right to give and every right to withhold what was needed.

In Isaiah 45:7 it says,

I form the light and create darkness, I make peace and create calamity; I, the Lord, do all these things.

Without God giving or adding the grace needed to the heavens, the earth, the angels, man, animals, plants, trees or any living thing to function, they are useless.

We now want to talk about the darkness in Genesis chapter 1 verse 2, which is the same word darkness in the Septuagint LXX that is in Isaiah 45:7 and interestingly, this word is also used in John 3:19,

And this is the condemnation [the judgement], that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.

So, we see that Jesus is referring to the very beginning of Creation.

In Genesis 1:3-4 it says,

Then God said, ‘Let there be light’; and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness.

Just as the word for darkness in Genesis 1:2, Isaiah 45:7 and John 3:19 is the same in the Greek, the word for light in Genesis 1:3, Isaiah 45:7 and John 3:19 is the same in the Greek, as well. The reason that’s important is because what the Lord was saying to us was from the very beginning of Creation, He had revealed those that are His and those that are not His according to His selection for His purpose and His glory.

In 1 Thessalonians 5:5, Paul points this out, as well:

You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness.

God formed darkness, so that He could reveal light and in the same way, He allowed angels and man to fall, so that He might reveal His light and grace, which comes to us through Christ.

In John 1:4-5 it says,

In Him [Christ] was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend [overcome] it.

Now that we’ve established God as Creator and Controller of all things, we want to establish that He is also the Giver of all that is good.

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. -James 1:17

We see in James 1:17 that every good and perfect gift comes from above.

We want to take a minute and stress at this point God’s immense and eternal love for all of His Creation: every single bit of it, all the cosmos and everything that exists for His glory and we can establish this in John 3:16,

For God so loved the world [cosmos, universe] that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

We can’t stress enough that GOD the FATHER GAVE and the reasons that God gave His Son are found all over scripture:

Romans 3:26 says,

to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

2 Peter 1:3 says,

as His divine power has GIVEN to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue.

And if we go back to John 3:17-18, we get a clearer picture why God sent His Son into the world,

For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned [in the light]; but he who does not believe is condemned already [in the darkness], because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

We feel that we’ve established the graciousness of God and His gift found in His Son, but now we want to embark on a topic that is entirely misunderstood in the false assembly: the reason Christ lived and died and rose.

Jesus Christ died for God.

We see in 1 John 2:2,

And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.

The word propitiation means appeasement or satisfaction; the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross satisfied the demand of God’s holiness for the punishment of sin, so Jesus satisfied God on our behalf, but understand that the purpose of Christ was to glorify God, even if we reap the benefits.

We want to talk a little about this topic, because there seems to be a great misunderstanding. On one hand, we hear people saying that Christ only died for the elect and on the other hand, we hear people saying that Christ died for all and one’s free will saves them when one chooses God.

The scripture clearly teaches that the work of Christ appeased God, therefore abolishing sin and in 1 John 2:2, John makes it clear that it was not only for the elect, but for the whole world. The confusion comes in because people think Christ died for man alone and it really has nothing to do with man at all, yet has everything to do with glorifying God the Father and His will.

We have to go back and see that God sent His Son and John 4:34 says,

Jesus said to them, ‘My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work.’

and John 5:37 says,

And the Father Himself, who sent Me, has testified of Me. You have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His form.

The way He testified of the Son is found in Matthew 3:17,

And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, ‘This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.’

John 10:17-18 says,

‘Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father.’

John 8:28-29,

Then Jesus said to them, ‘When you lift up [crucify] the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and that I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father taught Me, I speak these things. And He who sent Me is with Me. The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him.’

Hebrews 7:25-26,

Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them. For such a High Priest was fitting for us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens;

We want you to notice that ‘He is able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him’, so the way this works is: God gave His only Son who became the once and for all sin offering [But this Man (Christ), after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God -Hebrews 10:12] and through Christ’s sacrifice we have access to the Father, because of the Son [Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. -Hebrews 4:14-16].

We’ve established the reason that Christ came, died and rose was for God’s will alone and that we are the beneficiaries of that by faith through grace according to the Holy Spirit, but understand there are two sides to the cross: God made the light, but He also formed the darkness.

In Mark 15:27 it says,

With Him they also crucified two robbers, one on His right and the other on His left.

And in Luke 23:39-43 it says,

Then one of the criminals who were hanged blasphemed Him, saying, ‘If You are the Christ, save Yourself and us.’ But the other, answering, rebuked him, saying, ‘Do you not even fear God, seeing you are under the same condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds; but this Man has done nothing wrong.’ Then he said to Jesus, ‘Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.’ And Jesus said to him, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.’

On one hand, there was the one blaspheming Him and on the other hand, there was the one recognizing that He was God. The one that recognized this was not a better man, in fact, there was no difference between the two men that hung on either side of Jesus on the cross for they were both robbers and criminals. What made the difference was the special grace given to the one robber through the Holy Spirit for the glory of God.

We see this from the very beginning in Cain and Abel, as it says in Genesis 4:4-5,

Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat. And the Lord respected Abel and his offering, but He did not respect Cain and his offering. And Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell.

We see that Abel’s sacrifice pleased God and we have further insight on that in Hebrews 11:4,

By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts; and through it he being dead still speaks.

Both offered a sacrifice, but Abel offered it according to the plan and will of God and Cain offered it from the ground which was cursed because of sin, which in turn revealed the will of man and also reveals that anything man can bring on his own accord is cursed without Christ, the sacrifice.

What we are saying is that true repentance, faith and grace are only given by God and are in the sacrifice of Christ through the Holy Spirit.

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. Ephesians 2:8-10

In 2 Timothy 4:1 it says,

I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom.

This scripture clearly illustrates the two sides of the cross. The living symbolize those that are in Christ and the dead are all those that will be judged by Christ. The living are justified according to the work of Christ, because special grace was given them and the dead are damned according to the work of Christ on the cross, because special grace was withheld from them.

We had mentioned Cain earlier and as we see in 1 John 3:12,

not as Cain who was of the wicked one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his works were evil and his brother’s righteous.

Notice the distinction made that Abel was righteous and Cain was evil, yet we know according to Romans 3:10,

As it is written: ‘There is none righteous, no, not one’

So, we have to go back to Romans 9 to see why God called Abel righteous and how he was able to offer the right sacrifice,

For He says to Moses, ‘I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion.’ So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy. -Romans 9:15-16

We want to further drive the point by talking about Christ’s blood sacrifice in 1 John 1:7,

But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.

And Colossians 1:13-14,

He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.

And we see in Acts 5:28 the High Priest speaking to Peter and the apostles,

saying, ‘Did we not strictly command you not to teach in this name? And look, you have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this Man’s blood on us!’ But Peter and the other apostles answered and said: ‘We ought to obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised up Jesus whom you murdered by hanging on a tree. Him God has exalted to His right hand to be Prince and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.

And in the case of Judas – Matthew 27:4 says,

saying, ‘I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.’

What we’re seeing is that the blood of Christ washes and cleanses all those that are in Christ from sin via special grace given and on the other hand, the blood of Christ is retained on and is damning the ones whom God withheld special grace given causing them to reject Him.

All this was done for the glory and honor of God!

We also want to quote something from Polycarp, an early church father and direct disciple of John, in his letter to the Philippians:

For you know that you have been saved by a gracious gift – not from works but by the will of God through Jesus Christ. Therefore, bind up your loose robes and serve as God’s slaves in reverential fear and truth, abandoning futile reasoning and the error that deceives many, and believing in the one who raised our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead and gave him glory and a throne at his right hand. Everything in heaven and on earth is subject to him; everything that breathes will serve him; he is coming as a judge of the living and the dead; and God will hold those who disobey him accountable for his blood.

It’s also interesting to note what it says in the book of Revelation chapter 6 verse 10,

And they cried with a loud voice, saying, ‘How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?’

Later on we see that the blood of all who were slain on the earth is found on the harlot in Revelation 18:24,

And in her was found the blood of prophets and saints, and of all who were slain on the earth.

When God withholds His special grace and rejects, these are rendered useless and made for destruction, but when God gives and extends His special grace, these are honored and glorified in Him.

The number one point that we are making is this:
All that is, all that was and all that will ever be is made for God and His glory alone. His purpose will stand and He will perform all His pleasure.

We hope we’ve given you many things to think on and study and we also ask for all those of the true remnant to pray for us, as we are also praying for you and we know that God’s will will be done.

God is Sovereign

Because of some conversations we’ve had with people concerning these blogs, we’ve realized that there is a big misconception and false belief concerning God, His person and why/how He interacts with us. That is why we find it necessary to discuss some of the areas we mentioned at the end of The Impostors Part 2 concerning salvation. What we are going to share with you is by no means comprehensive, but a general overview of these topics.

The word sovereignty means supreme power and authority, supremacy and freedom from outside control.

So, when we say God is sovereign, we mean that God is the supreme Father and God of all, above all, before all, controlling all, in and with His Son, Christ Jesus [The Word], by and through His Holy Spirit for HIS GLORY ALONE.

Only God is truly sovereign, so when we say ‘sovereign election’ [predestination] what that means is that the Supreme Ruler [God] makes a choosing, a choice, a selection for His purpose and glory according to His will. Understand that the purpose of God is absolute and unconditional, independent of the whole finite creation and originating solely in the eternal counsel of His will.

The word predetermined, as defined in the English Dictionary, is: to determine or decide beforehand, to direct or imply beforehand.

Predestined is defined as: to determine or settle beforehand; foreordain.

The definition for predestination is: the act or fact of ordaining beforehand; the action of God in deciding beforehand what shall happen; the doctrine that by God’s decree certain souls will be saved and others lost.

The will of man is subject wholly to the purpose of God without injuring or doing violence to man’s free choice of decision, BUT it is impossible for man to influence, alter, change, affect or damage God’s will at all. So, what we are saying is your whole life existence is predetermined by God and for His purpose. At the same time, God allows man to use his words, his deeds and his thoughts to reveal what type of vessel he is – a vessel of wrath prepared for destruction or a vessel of mercy prepared for glory – and yet He still judges.

[for the children not yet being born, nor having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works but of Him who calls], it was said to her, ‘The older shall serve the younger.’ As it is written, ‘Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated.’

What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? Certainly not! For He says to Moses, ‘I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion.’ So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy. For the Scripture says to the Pharaoh, ‘For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be declared in all the earth.’ Therefore He has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills He hardens.

You will say to me then, ‘Why does He still find fault? For who has resisted His will?’ But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, ‘Why have you made me like this?’ Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor?

What if God, wanting to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much long-suffering the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had prepared beforehand for glory -Romans 9:11-23

Let’s take a look at Acts 2:22-24, specifically verse 23, which is bolded,

Men of Israel, here these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a Man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves also know- Him, being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death; whom God raised up, having loose the pains of death, because it was not possible that He should be held by it.

You see that God planned Jesus’ death for sin from the foundations of the world. Not only that, but He planned it in such a way that when the fullness of that time had come, that these men were picked and used in such a way thinking they were fulfilling their will, but God’s perfect will was being accomplished all along.

This clearly shows that God reveals the intents of our hearts in such a way that He does not resist man’s will, but accomplishes His will simultaneously.

Hebrews 4:12-13 says,

For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.

And Micah 4:12,

But they do not know the thoughts of the Lord, nor do they understand His counsel; for He will gather them likes sheaves to the threshing floor.

Lastly Isaiah 55:8-12,

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, and do not return there, but water the earth, and make it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater so shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.”

We’ve given you ample evidence concerning this doctrine of the Bible, but what we want to do now is give you one scripture reference written out and then additional ones to look up on your own…

God’s Plan is Eternal

• The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of His heart to all generations. -Psalm 33:11
• Isaiah 46:9-10
• Isaiah 37:26
• Jeremiah 31:3
• Acts 15:18
• Psalm 139:16

God’s Plan is Unchangeable

• The Lord of hosts has sworn, saying, ‘Surely, as I have thought, so it shall come to pass, and as I have purposed, so it shall stand. -Isaiah 14:24
• Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. -James 1:17
• Isaiah 46:10-11
• Numbers 23:19
• Malachi 3:6

God’s Plan Includes the Future Acts of Men

• But there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets, and He has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will be in the latter days. Your dream, and the visions of your head upon your bed, were these: -Daniel 2:28
• John 6:64
• Matthew 20:18-19

God’s Plan Includes Casual Events or Chance Happenings

• The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord. -Proverbs 16:33
• Jonah 1:17
• Acts 1:24-26
• Job 36:32
• Genesis 41:32
• 1 Kings 22:28,34
• Job 5:6
• Mark 14:38
• John 8:28
• Habakkuk 2:3

Even the Sinful Acts of Men Are in the Plan of God and Are Overruled for Good

• But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive. -Genesis 50:20
• Isaiah 45:7
• Amos 3:6
• Acts 3:18
• Matthew 21:42
• Romans 8:28

We’ve touched on the sovereignty of God, but before we discuss true and false converts [in the next blog], we absolutely must talk about the depravity of man and God’s common grace.

Romans 3:10-12 says,

As it is written: ‘There is none righteous, no, not one; there is none who understands; there is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside; they have together become unprofitable; there is none who does good, no not one.’

verse 18 says,

‘There is no fear of God before their eyes.’

and verse 23 says,

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God

So, we see in verse 23 that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God and we know in Romans 5:12 that it speaks [of the first] Adam,

Therefore, just as through one man [Adam] sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned-

In 1 Corinthians 15:50, we see that flesh and blood [all humanity] cannot inherit the Kingdom of God, because of sin:

Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption.

You must understand that sin does not begin when we are born and start to make wrong choices, it begins at conception.

For proof, see the scriptures below:

Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me. -Psalm 51:5

The wicked are estranged from the womb; they go astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies. -Psalm 58:3

Man who is born of woman is of few days and full of trouble. He comes forth like a flower and fades away; he flees like a shadow and does not continue. And do You open Your eyes on such a one, and bring me to judgement with Yourself? Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? No one! -Job 14:1-4

Even though we see that man is completely sinful and depraved from the very beginning of his existence, understand that he is not utterly depraved. By that we mean that he is not as evil as he could be if left to his own devices, because of the common grace and the call to repentance that is extended from God due to His mercy.

Romans 2:4 says,

Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and long-suffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?

verse 6,

who ‘will render to each one according to his deeds’.

and verse 8,

but to those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness – indignation and wrath.

We just mentioned that the reason that man is not entirely depraved is because of God extending common grace to His creation, which we see in the verses below:

But love your enemies, do good, and lend, hoping for nothing in return [a call to true believers]; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High. For He is kind to the unthankful and evil [common grace]. Therefore be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful. -Luke 6:35

Matthew 7:11 says,

If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children [common grace], how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!

and

Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your Heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? -Matthew 6:26

Nevertheless He did not leave Himself without witness, in that He did good, gave us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness. -Acts 14:17

The last two are also examples of how God shows common grace – by providing for all of His creation. He feeds the birds of the air, but He also feeds everyone on the planet by providing seeds, rain and even the tools needed for planting and harvesting.

Understand that everything we do as living beings is given to us by God and through God, because in Him we live and move and have our being [Acts 17:25].

Another example of common grace:

that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. -Matthew 5:45

Clearly, God sovereignly rules over all His creation. He chooses to provide for the needs of His creation and sometimes chooses to withhold His blessing from them, as well – both are done according to His own purpose.

God does everything according to His will and for His glory and we should never take anything that He does or provides for granted.

We also think it’s important to mention 2 Peter 2:16 to show God’s sovereignty over ALL of His creatures and also as another example of common grace,

but he [Balaam] was rebuked for his iniquity: a dumb donkey speaking with a man’s voice restrained the madness of the prophet.

Through this we see that God opened the mouth of one of His creatures [the donkey] showing God’s sovereignty, extended common grace to the donkey and Balaam [the donkey saved Balaam from being killed by the angel of the Lord three times] and showed His sovereign will concerning His vessel of dishonor, Balaam, because He used Balaam as His instrument to reveal the hearts of the people of Israel. For more about how God instrumentally used Balaam for His purpose and glory, you can find the story of Balaam and Balak in Numbers 22:5 – 25:3 and finally, in Numbers 31:8 you can see the final demise of Balaam.

We want to make something perfectly clear: Balaam was a false prophet, BUT GOD used him for His purpose and used Him to speak true prophecies.
More importantly, we want you to understand that God has every right to do whatever He wishes with whomever He has made for Himself.

The final point we’d like to make in this blog concerning sin is in Genesis 6:5-6,

Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.

and James 1:13-16,

Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am temped by God’; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death. Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren.

We see through these scriptures that when God withholds His grace, sin abounds and the natural tendency of man is to walk in sin, which leads to chaos and death.

The word chaos means very great confusion, complete disorder.

Anytime God leaves us to our own will, the result is sin, chaos and death [just look at the example of Pharaoh in Exodus 7:14 – 14:28 and also note what happens when God withholds His common grace and judges].

But in Ephesians 2:12, it says,

that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.

verse 5,

even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together in Christ [by grace you have been saved]

And finally verse 13,

But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

We see God’s special grace given in these verses, which is extended to His chosen for His glory, which leads to order and ultimately, to everlasting life.

The word order is defined in the English Dictionary as the way one thing follows another; the condition in which every part or piece is in its right place.

We’re going to stop there and proceed to pick up in the next blog with true and false converts, the two sides of the Cross and God’s special grace given.

By our own admission, this is not at all comprehensive, but we wanted to lay the beginning groundwork of this very important and complex subject that we’re beginning to tackle.

The Impostors Part 2

Before we cover Alexander and Hymenaeus and Simon the Sorcerer, we wanted to talk a little more about the word impostors. We read in 2 Timothy 3:13,

But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.

The Greek word for impostors is ‘goes’ and primarily denotes: “a wailer”, “to wail” – hence, from the howl in which spells were chanted – “a wizard, sorcerer, enchanter” and hence, “a juggler, cheat, impostor”, rendered “impostors” in 2 Timothy 3:13 and in the King James Version “seducers”.

What is Paul talking about when he says “grows worse and worse”? He is speaking about a gradual increase in evil and deception over time, hence the strong delusion, the defection, the falling away that we have been experiencing for some time.

Now onto Alexander and Hymenaeus.

In 1 Timothy 1:19-20 it says,

having faith and a good conscience, which some having rejected, concerning the faith have suffered shipwreck, of whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I delivered to Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme.

If you remember, in one of our previous blogs we discussed the man who was found in sexual immorality and delivered over to Satan; we see in verse 20 above that Alexander and Hymenaeus, were delivered over to Satan by Paul, as well.

This certainly means excommunication from the church, but understand that it also means excommunication from the faith altogether.

In John 20:23 when Jesus breathed on the apostles, He said,

Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain [to hold, to keep, to seize, to grasp, to grab, to prevail – the idea to take hold of or remain under] the sins of any, they are retained.

Not only did Jesus speak this to the apostles, but also to all those that would be in authority from the apostles, meaning the church as a whole – the pure, undefiled church that is led by the Spirit of the truth, the Holy Spirit.

Understand that they blasphemed the Holy Spirit and the Word of God given by the Holy Spirit as Paul states in verse 20 that they learn not to blaspheme. And in Acts 13:45-46 it says,

But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy; and contradicting and blaspheming, they opposed the things spoken by Paul. Then Paul and Barnabas grew bold and said, ‘It was necessary that the word of God should be spoken to you first; but since you reject it, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles.’

In verse 46, the Jews that contradicted and blasphemed the Holy Spirit, Paul and Barnabas [who were full of the Holy Spirit] judged themselves unworthy of eternal life, and as Jesus himself said in Mark 3:29,

but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is subject to [liable to, responsible or answerable] to eternal condemnation [judgement and damnation].

We want to take a few minutes to explain something that may be difficult to read.

Understand that Paul, the apostles and all those in the true, undefiled church are more concerned about the glory of God, His praise and His honor, then they are about their own condition or the condition of man in a carnal state. The reason Paul wrote ‘learn’ is because of these verses:

Truly, these times of ignorance God over-looked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, because He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead. -Acts 17:30-31

that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. -Philippians 2:10-11

Therefore you are inexcusable, O man [mankind], whoever you are who judge, for in whatever you judge another you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things. But we know that the judgement of God is according to truth against those who practice such things. -Romans 2:1-2

For there is no partiality with God. -Romans 2:11

Even though Alexander and Hymenaeus were not among the elect of God, Paul wanted them to learn to be repentant, to recognize God and to recognize the authority of the true church [in and by the Holy Spirit] and more specifically, Paul.

So, what are we saying when we write these things?

We are saying that God does not request or beckon men to repent, but COMMANDS and DEMANDS that all men everywhere repent and not only that, but He has every right to do so for He is God and there is no other.

I have made the earth, and created man on it. I-My hands-stretched out the heavens, and all their host I have commanded. -Isaiah 45:12

Remember this, and show yourselves men; recall to mind, O you transgressors. Remember the former things of old, for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure.’ -Isaiah 46:8-10

What we are saying is this: every man everywhere without exception is required to recognize God as God and to repent of all transgressions, iniquities and trespasses against Him, because He is the only Creator, Lord and God of all. You must understand that just because you recognize God as God that does not mean that you are “saved”, because more importantly, God must recognize, choose and call you. Romans 9:13 says,

As it is written, ‘Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated.’

And in Romans 9:22-23,

What if God, wanting to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much long-suffering the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had prepared beforehand for glory.

Romans 9:13 mentions Esau and we want you to understand that Esau did repent, but found no place of repentance, as we see in Hebrews 12:16-17,

lest there be any fornicator or profane person like Esau, who for one morsel of food sold his birthright. For you know that afterward, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought it diligently with tears.

Understand that Alexander and Hymenaeus are among the likes of Esau, for even though Esau was Isaac’s son, he was rejected, but Jacob God had loved.

We want to make this perfectly clear to the false assembly: you represent all that is evil, all that is foul, all that is ungodly and untrue, but the true church and remnant of Christ represents all that is good, all that is clean, all that is godly and true.

We see in 1 Timothy 1:19 ‘to be shipwrecked’ concerning the faith. The word shipwrecked is derived from two words in the Greek: ‘naus’ [a ship] and ‘agnumi’ [to break]. The actual word shipwrecked in Greek is ‘nauageo and it’s a compound word from ‘neo’ [to float a boat] and ‘ago’ [to lead, drive or navigate].

When Paul said they were shipwrecked, he was saying that Alexander and Hymenaeus were no longer led by or in the Holy Spirit, but had rejected and blasphemed the Holy Spirit and therefore, were shipwrecked, because they had no guidance. The reason for this is found in Ephesians 4:1-6,

I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with long-suffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.

We want you to take a good look at verse 3 – endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace – Alexander and Hymenaeus did not endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit, but blasphemed the Spirit, just as the false assembly has blasphemed the Spirit by separating the members with various divisions that are now called denominations. Frankly, a better name for denominations would be abominations!

We say this, because in verses 4-6 we see that there is ONE body, ONE Spirit, ONE hope of your calling, ONE Lord, ONE faith, ONE baptism, ONE God and Father of all.

Even if there is the slightest deviation or defection from the faith or the spirit, then you are no longer unified with the Spirit. Understand that even the smallest disagreement or division, the smallest argument concerning the doctrines of faith causes heresy and this is what we have in our current false assembly, who calls themselves the church.

They have taken it upon themselves with a false belief that they have the right to divide the body and they are under the false illusion that when they separate themselves into another denomination that they are somehow “keeping the peace” and that somehow according to them, not according to God, they are still one…in a figurative sense, because they want the blessings, just as Esau wanted the blessings. But just as Esau took the one morsel of bread, so the false assembly has taken the leavened bread of the Harlot and consumed it, therefore becoming one with the Harlot and all that is evil.

This is why we say that all those in the assembly are under a strong delusion, because false teachers have led them to believe that they are still part of the one body. Please understand that they are part of one body, but they are joined as one with the Harlot and not the Spirit of Christ!

Or do you not know that he who is joined to a harlot is one body with her? For ‘the two,’ He says, ‘shall become one flesh.’ But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him. -1 Corinthians 6:16

And also as the Lord said in Luke 11:23,

He who is not with me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters.

What we have today is a great illusion and great confusion concerning the true body of Christ, but this confusion does not come from the Spirit of Christ, but the spirit of this world. In 1 John 4:5 it says,

They are of the world. Therefore they speak as of the world, and the world hears them.

The above verse concerns those of the false assembly, hence why many [the majority, the most, the multitude] follow them.

But the few, the remnant, the ones striving to enter through the narrow gate, we find in verse 6,

We are of God. He who knows God hears us; he who is not of God does not hear us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error [delusion].

Now, we are going to talk about Simon the Sorcerer [Simon Magus].

But there was a certain man called Simon, who previously practiced sorcery in the city and astonished the people of Samaria, claiming that he was someone great, to whom they all gave heed, from the least to the greatest, saying ‘This man is the great power of God.’

And they heeded him because he had astonished them with his sorceries for a long time. But when they believed Philip as he preached the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, both men and women were baptized. Then Simon himself also believed; and when he was baptized he continued with Philip, and was amazed, seeing the miracles and signs which were done.

Now when the apostles who were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they send Peter and John to them, who, when they had come down, prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit. For as yet He had fallen upon none of them. They had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they laid hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.

And when Simon saw that through the laying on of the apostles’ hands the Holy Spirit was given, he offered them money, saying, ‘Give me this power also, that anyone on whom I lay hands may receive the Holy Spirit.’

But Peter said to him, ‘Your money perish with you, because you thought that the gift of God could be purchased with money! You have neither part nor portion in this matter, for your heart is not right in the sight of God. Repent therefore of this your wickedness, and pray God if then the thought of your heart may be forgiven you. For I see that you are poisoned by bitterness and bound by iniquity.’

Then Simon answered and said, ‘Pray to the Lord for me, that none of the things which you have spoken may come upon me.’

So when they had testified and preached the word of the Lord, they returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel in many villages of the Samaritans. -Acts 8:9-25

In verses 10 and 11, Simon claimed to be united to God, but the early church Fathers such as Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Hippolytus and Jerome claimed that he was one of the founders of gnosticism, which asserted that there were a series of divine emanations reaching up to God. These emanations were called “Powers” and the people believed that Simon the Sorcerer was at the top of the ladder.

In verse 13, we see that Simon ‘believed and was baptized’, but his belief was motivated purely by selfish reasons and could never be considered genuine, as we see in John 2:23-25,

Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name when they saw the signs which He did. But Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men, and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man.

And Genesis 6:5,

Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

We see in verses 22-24 of Acts 8 that although Simon was certainly fearful, he was unwilling to repent and seek forgiveness, wanting only to escape the consequences of his sin.

We see this attitude in the false assembly today, as well. They want to escape hell and death, but are quite unwilling to come to true repentance, die to their own will and only adhere to God’s Word and will for His true church.

Like Simon the Sorcerer, the false assembly claims to be united to God and full of power by the Holy Spirit, but their words, deeds and thoughts reveal that just as Simon was an impostor, so are the followers of the false assembly.

Hence the scriptures say:

And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie. -2 Thessalonians 2:11

and

But outside are dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and whoever loves and practices a lie. -Revelation 22:15

The Impostors Part 1

In this blog we are going to give you a few Biblical examples of impostors, such as Judas Iscariot, Nicholas and the Nicolaitans, Ananias and Sapphira, Alexander and Hymenaeus and Simon the Sorcerer all the while relating them to the false assembly.

The English Dictionary defines impostor as a person who pretends to be someone else in order to deceive or defraud others; a deceiver or a cheat.

Judas is first mentioned in the choosing of the twelve apostles in Matthew 10:2-4, Mark 3:14-19 and Luke 6:13-16, which says in verse 16,

…Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot who also became a traitor.

Judas was the treasurer of the twelve apostles, as stated in John 12:4-6 and we know that at the anointing at Bethany [Matthew 26:6-13, Mark 14:3-10 and John 12:1-8] after Jesus’ rebuke it seemed to invoke the displeasure of Judas and he immediately went to the chief priests to bargain for the betrayal:

And the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might kill Him, for they feared the people. Then Satan entered Judas, surnamed Iscariot, who was numbered among the twelve. So he went his way and conferred with the chief priests and captains, how he might betray Him to them. And they were glad, and agreed to give him money. So he promised and sought opportunity to betray Him to them in the absence of the multitude. -Luke 22:2-6

And we know that he was betrayed by Judas and arrested in the garden of Gethsemane from the account of Luke in chapter 22 verses 47 and 48:

And while He was still speaking, behold, a multitude; and he who was called Judas, one of the twelve, went before them and drew near to Jesus to kiss Him. But Jesus said to him, ‘Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?’

Can you imagine the feeling that Jesus had of being utterly betrayed by a friend and chosen one? More so, can you imagine the astonishment and confusion among the eleven of what exactly was happening? And among those eleven was Peter who was so incredibly upset that he tried to defend Jesus with a sword and cut off a man’s ear.

In 2 Peter 2:1, he writes,

But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction.

And we can’t help but wonder if Peter had Judas in mind when he wrote ‘even denying the Lord who bought them’.

The false assembly is essentially giving the kiss of Judas to Jesus [and the remnant] all over again today.

In Matthew 27:3-10, when Jesus was officially condemned to death, Judas was overwhelmed with remorse and attempted to undo his evil deed by returning the money, only to be contemptuously rejected. Judas even recognized that he greatly sinned, because he said to the chief priests and elders in verse 4, ‘I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.’

So, we see in this verse that Judas recognized his sin and tried to make amends for his wrong, but found no place for repentance; but all was done so that the will of God might be fulfilled concerning Judas.

And an excerpt from Jesus’ prayer for his disciples in John 17:12 says,

While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Your name. Those whom You gave Me I have kept; and none of them is lost except the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.

The key to understanding all the things that we have been sharing with you is to never forget the last thing that Jesus says in the above verse – that the Scripture might be fulfilled. Just as Judas betrayed Jesus to fulfill God’s will, the falling away [defection] began and has continued to also fulfill God’s will. Our goal is to make these scriptures known to you, so that you are able to come to the knowledge of the truth and be free from those that pretend to be the ‘church’.

Next, we are going to talk about Nicholas and the Nicolaitans.

‘Therefore, brethren, seek out from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business; but we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word.’ And the saying pleased the whole multitude. And they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, and Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas, a proselyte from Antioch. -Acts 6:3-6

This same Nicolas was talked about by Irenaeus [who was an early church father born around 130-140AD and possibly died as a martyr around the year 200AD] in his writings, Against Heresies 1.26.3. Irenaeus said that they [the Nicolaitans] were followers of Nicolas, a proselyte who was among the seven men chosen to serve the Jerusalem congregation [Acts 6:5] and who allegedly had forsaken true Christian doctrine. The Nicolaitans were mentioned twice in the book of Revelation.

In Revelation 2:6 Jesus is writing to the church of Ephesus, commending them and says,

But this you have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.

And then in chapter 2 verse 15, Jesus while writing to the church of Pergamus as a rebuke says,

Thus you also have those who hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate.

The doctrine of the Nicolaitans was dualistic. They probably reasoned that the human body was evil anyway and only the spirit was good. A christian, therefore, could do whatever he desired with his body, because it had no importance. The spirit, on the other hand, was the recipient of grace, which meant that grace and forgiveness were his no matter what he did. The Nicolaitans were judged by Christ in Revelation to be most dangerous, because the result of their teaching would have conformed them and their followers to the world, rather than to Christ.

Irenaeus also noted in Against Heresies that the Nicolaitans lived in unrestrained indulgence. Hippolytus in his writings, Refutation of All Heresies, confirmed this by noting that Nicolas left the correct doctrine and had the habit of being indifferent as to what a man ate and how he lived. Thirdly, The Apostolic Constitutions, described them as “shameless in uncleanness.” [Zondervan Encyclopedia of the Bible, Vol. 4]

Now do you understand when the writer of Hebrews says,

For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame. -Hebrews 6:4-6

or what Jesus says in Matthew 23:15,

‘Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.’

Nicolas was taught the apostle’s doctrine, received the full benefits of the Holy Spirit [yet later rejected and blasphemed Him], and had a good reputation among his peers, but did not remain faithful to the true doctrine or the behavior of a true convert. Likewise, the false assembly today was given the solid foundation of the doctrine of the apostles and initially kept and demonstrated the true adherence to the gospel. The false assembly also has a good reputation among the multitudes and even received the Holy Spirit, but has rejected and blasphemed Him. It seems to us that if Nicolas and the Nicolaitans were present today that the false assembly would receive them with open arms right alongside the many other denominations that ‘claim’ to be unified in Christ, because ‘they have a right to their opinion’ or whatever the excuse would be. There’s only one problem – Jesus hated the Nicolaitans and their doctrine. And Jesus hates what is happening in the assembly today, because it has strayed from the doctrine that He founded.

Next, we want to talk about Ananias and Sapphira.

The account of Ananias and Sapphira happened in Acts 5:1-11,

But a certain man named, Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession. And he kept back part of the proceeds, his wife also being aware of it, and brought a certain part and laid it at the apostle’s feet. But Peter said, ‘Ananias, why has Satan filled [to fully finish, fully furnish or fully equip] your heart [same word used in Romans 10:9 in relation to salvation] to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the price of the land for yourself? While it remained, was it not in your own control? Why have you conceived this thing in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God.’ Then Ananias, hearing these words, fell down and breathed his last. So great fear came upon all those who heard these things. And the young men arose and wrapped him up, carried him out, and buried him.

Now it was about three hours later when his wife came in, not knowing what had happened.

And Peter answered her, ‘Tell me whether you sold the land for so much?’ She said, ‘Yes, for so much.’

Then Peter said to her, ‘How is is that you have agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord? Look, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out.’ Then immediately she fell down at his feet and breathed her last. And the young men came in and found her dead, and carrying her out, buried her by her husband. So great fear came upon all the church and upon all who heard these things.

The account of Ananias and Sapphira is quite enlightening, especially when you relate it to today’s assembly. As we read the account above, it’s clear that their motive was strictly earthly, their focus was on their reputation and what man would think of them – appearing to have given all, but not doing so.

Peter makes it clear to them in verse 4 that they were under no obligation or requirement by God or the apostles to give anything, but their greed, ambition and desire for their own needs to be met led them astray to a strong delusion, just as we see in the current assembly today. People think they are required to tithe and give offerings and then place a requirement on God that He is obligated to meet all of their needs.

For several centuries in the early church there was no support of the clergy by a systematic giving of a tithe. In time the tithe came to be regarded generally after the pattern in the Jewish synagogue. The practice was supported by an appeal to some NT passages [Matthew 10:10, Luke 10:7, 1 Corinthians 9:7-14], but Irenaeus and other leaders in the church showed the arguments drawn from these texts were not valid. Rather, freedom in Christian giving was emphasized. [Zondervan Encyclopedia of the Bible, Vol. 5]

As noted above, God places no such obligation on us today in regards to compulsory giving, but emphasizes in the New Testament the freedom that is in Christ. The intent and thoughts of our hearts  will be revealed through what we spend our monies on, along with every aspect of our lives, but we should not give with the motive of getting. Giving all that we have is part of denying ourselves and is done out of love and honor to God. We are required by God that if we see a need we are to meet that need – first within the body, then to the orphans, widows, etc… as we are doing it to God himself, because the scripture says in 1 John 3:17-18, “But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him? My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth. And by this we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him.”

Contrary to what scripture says, the false assembly uses scripture for their own purpose. They place a heavy yoke of bondage on their members and give them the illusion that they are providing for the poor and needy, while the majority of the monies are going to salaries and building care and the smallest portion is going out. This is not what the Bible teaches and the false teaching of ‘tithing’ as we know it today is part of the falling away.

We also want to cover a few other details concerning Ananias and Sapphira. They denied the Lord who bought them with their words [Acts 5:1-2] when they verbally planned to pilfer the monies first; in Acts 5:3 they denied the Lord who bought them in their thoughts and Satan filled their heart; finally they denied the Lord who bought them with their deeds [Acts 5:4] when they went through with holding the monies back from the sale.

Make no mistake about it, when Ananias and Sapphira perished at the feet of Peter, they were eternally damned and not among the elect as some false teachers would claim.

We are going to wrap up this blog, because we don’t want it to get too lengthy.
In The Impostors Part 2, we will cover Alexander and Hymenaeus and Simon the Sorcerer.

The Last Hour

You may not realize it, but these blogs take a lot of time and effort to put together, as they are not pre-written. We decided to take a little break to refresh and encourage ourselves in the Lord and just enjoy each other as a family. We had mentioned that the next blog was going to be called The Life [zoe] Test – The Self-Examination, but after some thought, we have decided to go in a slightly different direction. The Bible is very clear about being careful with whom you share your pearls of wisdom and we believe that The Life [Zoe] Test – The Self Examination is a post better suited for our other blog, This World Is Not Our Home. This blog was created in June and is currently private, only able to be read by accepted request or invitation. We will most likely keep it this way, as that blog will be our outlet to share with the true remnant and those that are refusing the deception and seeking only the truth.

Now, onto the next blog, The Last Hour.

Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Anti-christ is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us. -1 John 2:18-19

So, what is John really saying here when he says it is the last hour? We had previously mentioned in this blog that we have been experiencing the falling away [defection] that Paul spoke about for approximately the last 1900 years. The word last [Greek word: eschatos] means last, extreme, utmost, latter end and as an adverb: latterly. The word hour [Greek word: hora] primarily denotes any time or period, especially a season. John says, “it is the last hour”, which we can translate to mean “a definite point of time”. What John is really saying is that point of time began the defection and then he further goes on to explain what the defection is in verse 19.

We want to point out and stress the word continued, which is best translated to mean abide from the Greek word meno; other words associated with this word would be: continue, dwell, endure, remain, stay and tarry.

The clear example to understand what John is referring to is John 15:4-6, where Jesus says,

“Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.”

Let’s start in verse 6. We want you to understand that what Jesus is saying relates directly to what John is speaking of in 1 John 2:19 when he says ‘for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us’. Verse 6 is dealing directly with those who have not abided in Christ. We believe it is safe to say that the false assembly or the so-called ‘church’ as it’s known today has not continued or abided in Christ or the apostle’s doctrine for numerous reasons that we’ve stated previously, but the most important reason is that they did not remain unified in Christ.

So, what does it really mean to abide in Christ as an individual? Does that mean that we can “abide” in Christ and yet do our own thing, as well? From verse 6, we can see that is absolutely impossible. Many false believers believe they are able to have two lives – a spiritual life and an earthly/carnal/physical life – and that the two can co-exist. What we mean by this is that they often feel that they can do what they want with their time, their thoughts, their words and their deeds, so long as spiritually speaking, they’ve said the Sinner’s Prayer, attend church whenever there are services, do their daily Bible reading/prayer time, pay their tithe and do some good in the world around them.

But is this truly abiding in Christ?

The Scripture says in Romans 8:1,

There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.

We hear many people quoting the first half of this verse and reminding themselves that even though they’ve “messed up”, there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, but they never finish the verse – who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. Like we stated above, Paul also clearly states that the spiritual mindset and the earthly mindset are completely opposed to one another and have no harmony in verses 6-8,

For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

We want to show you a connection between what Paul writes in Romans and what John writes in 1 John:

I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. -Galations 5:16-18

For the time will come [the defection, the falling away, the last hour] when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears [tickling the hearing], they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables [a story, narrative, fiction] -2 Timothy 4:3

The key to understanding what John and Paul were talking about is that they were both dealing with gnostic errors and Jewish fables coming into the church, but those influences have now taken hold of the entire false assembly, because they’ve made a fabrication of the entire Word of God. We particularly like what the Greek has to say about the itching ears, which is tickling the hearing, because what that’s really saying is that they are more concerned with what they like to hear, then what God is actually communicating by His Word. When you really take a hard look at what Paul is writing to Timothy, it becomes clear that these individuals that he’s speaking about are not subject to Christ or abiding in Him in any way, shape or form, but are subject to their own carnal, fleshly will and those that agree with that, hence why they heap up for themselves teachers, pastors, scholars, etc… for their own desires.

Isn’t that what we are experiencing now? Just the sheer fact that we can choose from 1 of 30,000 denominations or can choose between pastors that are funny, sarcastic, or whatever suits your fancy says that it is. There is little concern for what pleases God and a much greater concern for what pleases one’s flesh and what tickles one’s ears.

As Peter writes 2 Peter 3:16-17,

…as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures. You therefore, beloved, since you know this beforehand, beware lest you also fall from your own steadfastness, being led away with the error [delusion] of the wicked…

First of all, the use and interpretation of scripture MUST glorify GOD ALONE! Then and only then is one able to interpret scripture by scripture – testing and examining and exploring with all the tools and resources that we have today. The focus must always be for GOD’S GLORY ALONE and should never be focused on the condition of man. Sadly, in today’s assembly the focus is not on God’s glory; it has become a very man-centered gospel, which is a gospel altogether different from that of the apostles. Just as Paul stated in Galations 1:6-8,

I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed. For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a slave of Christ.

We want to make something perfectly clear using Paul’s quote in verse 10 – for do I now persuade men, or God? We want you to know that we are not interested in convincing or persuading you in regards to the condition of the current assembly, but what we are endeavoring to do is to preach the Word in its truest sense, bring glory to God and allow you to see for yourselves through the Holy Spirit just how far the false assembly has strayed from the true adherence to God’s Word. What we’re doing is declaring what is taking place before you and to instill in you hope in this very present evil age.

Paul states in 2 Timothy 3:1-7,

But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away! For of this sort are those who creep into households and make captives of gullible women loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts, always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.

Understand that these letters written by Paul to Timothy were written to prepare him for ministering to the church, not the world.

Notice the first problem in verse 2, men will be lovers of themselves, and then in verse 4, [men will be] lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.

Verse 5 really hits everything home though, because it clearly shows the false assembly today and the reason for the defection in the first place – having a form of godliness but denying its power.

In verse 5, the word godliness is eusebeia in the Greek. It is taken from the words ‘eu’ meaning well and ‘sebomai’ meaning to be devout. It denotes piety, which in the English is defined as the quality or character of being pious; reverence for God in character or conduct; devotion to God; holiness; goodness. And pious is defined as having or showing reverence for God; active worship or prayer.

Reverence, as defined in the Word of God, should be displayed in our words, our deeds and our thoughts towards God and His Will and shows a deep respect mixed with fear, wonder and love, which ultimately points back to the fear of the Lord.

The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; the judgements of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. -Psalm 19:9

Why is this important in relation to what Paul is writing about in 2 Timothy? Because when Paul writes that they ‘deny its power‘, he is saying that the false assembly no longer fears God, and more importantly, that the false assembly denies God’s right to judge them and/or God’s right to judge at all. The way they deny it is by convincing themselves that because they have a [false] appearance of piety and because they are “trying” to live godly that God could not and should not judge them, because of the work of Christ bearing our sins on the cross.

Let us make something perfectly clear, it is absolutely true that He bore our sins, but He also commanded us in Luke 9:23,

“If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.”

and as Paul wrote in Philippians 3:8-9,

“…Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith…”

and Hebrews 12:3-4,

For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls. You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin.

and 1 Peter 4:1-2,

Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind, for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of God.

So, in essence, when we say that we come in “by faith through grace” and that “grace came to us by the cross and through the resurrection of Christ we have life” – we are saying that life that we live, we no longer live unto ourselves, but entirely to the will of God. If we do not strive, fight, and resist sin and evil in our words, our deeds and our thoughts, then we are subject to death, just as the world is. Living a life that reflects only your will [because your will and God’s will cannot co-exist] denies the work of Christ on the cross and His resurrection, even if you claim to believe in these things [“You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe – and tremble! -James 2:19]  The scripture is clear – on His sufferings we are granted access, but we must share in His suffering to be among the elect, as stated in Romans 8:17,

and if children, then heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.

Lastly, we want to cover 2 Timothy 3:7,

always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.

Today’s assembly is a prime of example of always learning – there are services on Saturday, Sunday, Wednesday, Thursday, there are retreats and conventions, universities and missions programs, illustrated sermons and vacation Bible school and the list goes on and on and on…

Unfortunately, today’s assembly is also a prime example of never coming to the knowledge of the truth, because the truth that Paul is specifically referring to is only found in the Word and the Will of God. As we have previously stated, the will of God and the will of man cannot co-exist and the reason that the false assembly can never come to the FULL knowledge of the truth is that it will not deny itself. It’s members are like-minded with its mother, Babylon, the harlot. They love themselves more than they love God. They love their thoughts more than they love God’s thoughts. They love their words more than they love God’s Word. They love their deeds more than they love the work of God. They love their earthly citizenship more than their heavenly citizenship.

And for this reason, the scripture clearly says in 2 Thessalonians 2:12,

…that they all may be condemned [the false assembly and sons of disobedience] who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness…

First Love and Love Grown Cold

We want to express to everyone who is reading that our heart’s desire is to see the true body of Christ on the earth united and walking in the truth and love of the Gospel, sharing in the Holy Communion as a community that is made up of many individuals, but acting as one body.

Honestly, we despise arguments and debates, so do not think that is what we’re looking for. Our sole purpose in writing these blogs is to share the truth of God’s Word and to glorify His name.

“I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.” -John 17:20-21

The church in the New Testament was truly one body and it is our desire to stir up the true remnant, so that we can return to the unity and oneness that Jesus prayed for us to have.

At the same time, we want all people to recognize that the current state of the false assembly and hidden remnant still glorifies God and His word, because Jesus, Paul, Peter, James, Jude and John by the Holy Spirit had clearly warned us of these things that we now see and hear.

If you are seeing the truth in what we’re saying, you will probably relate to what Peter wrote about like we do:

…and delivered righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked [for that righteous man, dwelling among them, tormented his righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds]… -2 Peter 2:7-8

But we have this hope as Peter continues in verse 9:

…then the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgement…

If you read the last blog, we discussed a parable concerning leaven [sin]. Today we want to discuss another parable in Matthew 13:31-32,

Another parable He put forth to them, saying: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field, which indeed is the least of all the seeds; but when it is grown it is greater than the herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest [meaning to encamp or pitch a tent] in its branches.’

To define this parable, we must first look at the various elements:

First, the mustard seed represents the faith that comes from God concerning Christ [in Romans 12:3 Paul mentions that each one is dealt a measure of faith]. We also know that Jesus related faith to a mustard seed in Matthew 17:20.

Next, let’s look at ‘a man took’. We know that in verse 37 of the same chapter, Jesus identifies himself as the man in the Parable of the Tares explained. So, the man who took is Christ and he sowed in his field, which is the world via verse 38 of the same chapter.

Thirdly, ‘when it is grown it is greater than the herbs’ refers to the growth and expansion of the church in a very positive way, as it becomes a tree.

Lastly, to examine ‘the birds of the air come and nest in its branches’, we must look at Matthew 13:19, which identifies them as wicked [The original Greek omits the word one].

This parable also relates back to our content on the false assembly, as Revelation 18:2 says,

And he cried mightily with a loud voice, saying, ‘Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and has become a dwelling place of demons, a prison for every foul spirit, and a cage for every unclean and hated bird!’

We find it interesting that we can relate both of these scriptures in detail to the false assembly via Babylon, the harlot. Let’s make it clear that the tree still stands and that the three measures of meal [as discussed in the last blog] still stand as the remnant.

For with God nothing will be impossible. -Luke 1:37

Nevertheless the solid foundation of God stands, having this seal: ‘The Lord knows those who are His,’ and ‘Let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity.’ -2 Timothy 2:19

Just as God was able to bring Christ into the world without sin through a virgin woman, so God is able to deliver His remnant out of the false assembly.

We want to further expand on why we say that we are in the midst of the falling away/the defection.

Do not marvel, my brethren, if the world hates you. We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides in death. Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. -1 John 3:13-15

In Matthew 24:9, Jesus explained what must happen to his true church and what they would experience:

“Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake.”

We know that this began in Acts 7:57-60…

Then they cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and ran at him with one accord; and they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul. And they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not charge them with this sin.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep [dead].

..and has continued even up to our time.

In Matthew 24:10, Jesus continues,

“And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another.”

If you remember the image from this blog, I think that clearly portrays this scripture and the offenses and betrayals that have caused the assembly to divide.

In Matthew 24:11, Jesus states,

“Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many.”

Let us remember that the word many here means many, the most, the majority, numerous, vast, populous, abundance, super and great in the Greek.

We’ve spoken in previous blogs about the individuals and sects that they had to contend with in the New Testament and it’s safe to say, that has only increased with the defection. We have much to say concerning this scripture and others like it, but we will tackle that in another blog at a later time.

Finally in Matthew 24:12, Jesus says,

“And because lawlessness [sin] will abound, the love of many will grow cold.”

Not to be repetitive, but let us also point out that the word many in this scripture again means many, the most, the majority, numerous, vast, populous, abundance, super and great in the Greek.

And the word love is agape – the same word that is used in 1 John 4:8 and 16 to say that God is love. This love is related to God Himself and His character, so what’s being said is that those that have grown cold have defected from God Himself and the love of the brethren, therefore breaking the first and second commandment found in Matthew 22:37-40 and defecting from the faith and taking hold of the lie [or strong delusion], as found in 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12.

In Revelation 2:4, Jesus says,

“Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love.”

Jesus himself gave this letter via the angel to John and the same word love is agape here, as well. They left God and also defected, but unwittingly, apparently, because Jesus beckons them and asks them in verse 5,

“Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lamp stand from its place – unless you repent.”

We know from history that the Turks came with ruin for Asia, the church of the Ephesians died with the city of Ephesus and the lamp stand was removed from it’s place.

Some might say that what we’re saying is way too harsh, completely unloving, insensitive, selfish, rude, blasphemous and completely irrational. You are entitled to your opinion and you may keep that opinion, for it comes from the mind and will of man and not for the glory of God.

But like Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 13:8, this is our heart’s cry, as well:

For we can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth.

Please also consider the words of Acts 4:19-20,

But Peter and John answered and said to the them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.”

It is clear to us that what is happening in the false assembly, the ones claiming to be the church, and the Word of God are opposing one another and honestly, are at enmity with each other. It says in James 4:6,

But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: ‘God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.’

Our hearts weep over the current condition of the assembly and long for the solution that only God can bring, for both the problem and the solution are the same just as it were in the beginning…

“And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.” -John 3:19-21

Our fervent desire is to reveal the truth – the pure, undefiled and full of glory truth. Jesus said in John 14:6,

“I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”

And as James said in chapter 3 verse 18,

But the wisdom that is from above is first pure [the truth], then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality [the false assembly is partial to itself and the world’s way] and without hypocrisy [the false assembly is full of hypocrisy, lies and deception]. Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who makes peace.

But we are of those who make peace with God; and we are peaceable, gentle, willing to yield and full of mercy and good fruits towards all those that are in God. For James also says in chapter 4 verse 4, speaking directly to the false assembly, these words:

Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

And Jesus says in John 15:18-19,

“If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.”

Let’s go to 1 Corinthians 13, which is often a misunderstood and misinterpreted chapter that the false assembly uses to their own destruction, for in verse 6 it says,

[Love – agape]…does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth…

The love that the apostle Paul is speaking of is only found in the bosom of the Father through the giving of the Son by the Holy Spirit. Sadly, those of the false assembly, are like Jude spoke about in chapter 1 verse 19,

These are sensual [worldly] persons, who cause divisions, not having the Spirit.

Not only were these divisions beginning in Jude’s time, but we are very clearly seeing the fullest extent of these ones and the negative impact they are having. We firmly believe that it is impossible to return to the oneness God has called us to without completely destroying and cutting all ties to these divisions.

Just like Jesus urged the church of Ephesus to repent and return to their first love, we are begging the true remnant of Christ to repent, come out of her [the false assembly, Babylon, the great confusion, the harlot] and return to the undefiled oneness of truly being in Christ.

Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord. -Acts 3:19

We pray that these blogs are making you think and causing you to examine and evaluate your own heart, as well as the current condition of the assembly.

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The Mother of all Confusion

First of all, please allow us to clarify that we are, in no way, denying that God has a true church and remnant that cannot be taken from His hand. What we are saying is that those that are not in God have polluted the church, polluted the assembly and have caused divisions, perversions, confusion, disorder and commotions.

“For God is not the author of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints.” -1 Corinthians 14:33

Note: ‘the author’ is not in the original language – this was added for “understanding”. The truest translation is “For God is not of confusion [commotion, disorder and tumults] but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints.”

Why should we be surprised?

In Luke 13:20-21, Jesus states in parable form,

And again He said, “To what shall I liken the kingdom of God? It is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till it was all leavened.”

What is Jesus saying in this parable? The leaven that’s talked about is sin and everything that is not in God, and the three measures of meal are the true remnant that God will never lose, but has kept safe from the foundations of the world for His purpose and His glory. The woman that He uses in the metaphor symbolizes the harlot or Babylon [meaning confusion].

In 1 Corinthians 5:6-8, Paul spoke to the Corinthian church about the sin that was in there midst,

Your glorifying is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

Notice our father in the faith, the apostle Paul, states that the leaven must be purged [thrown] out and we are to keep the feast with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. In this particular instance he was speaking of sexual immorality in the church, but what kind of leaven are we talking about in today’s assembly? Well, from personal experience, here are some examples of leaven today: the teaching that God is more concerned with one’s faith than one’s sin [this coming from a pastor of the Reformed persuasion], practicing yoga which is undeniably a form of idol worship, the idea that Ananias and Sapphira were of the elect [because who are we to judge – also from a pastor of the Reformed persuasion], focusing on man’s condition more than the glory of God, the acceptance of gay marriage within the assembly and the covering up of pedophilia. Today’s assembly is more concerned about short sermons, large tithes and filled pews – they are more concerned about preaching an “encouraging” sermon than the truth of God’s Word.

If you want to argue that “this isn’t happening in my denomination”, let’s say this – you claim that you are one body in your respective denomination and you might even agree with us that God has a remnant in other denominations, but in Matthew 18:15-20 Jesus gives us what He requires us to do as individuals and as an assembly,

“Moreover if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother. But if he will not hear, take with you one or two more, that ‘by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.’ And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church. But if he refuses even to hear the church, let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector.”

To our knowledge, we have not yet seen a pastor or any leader effectively do this and furthermore, when Jesus says let him be to you like a heathen that word is defined as a person who does not believe in God. Where does Jesus say to receive this one back or be associated with him again?

Some of you may bring up the sexual immorality that happened in 1 Corinthians 5 and further you might point out 2 Corinthians 2:6-8 which says,

This punishment which was inflicted by the majority is sufficient for such a man, so that, on the contrary, you ought rather to forgive and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one be swallowed up with too much sorrow. Therefore I urge you to reaffirm your love to him.

and you may even point out 2 Corinthians 12:21 which says,

lest, when I come again, my God will humble me among you, and I shall mourn for many who have sinned before and have not repented of the uncleanness, fornication, and lewdness which they have practiced.

But please look carefully at 1 Corinthians 5:4-5,

In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you are gathered together, along with my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh [or the physical body], that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.

The word spirit there could also be translated breath, which in Ecclesiastes 12:7 it says,

Then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it.

So what Paul is saying here is the breath of God that was given will return to God who gave it and every other part of him will be turned over to the enemy, which means he is eternally damned. When Paul made this judgement he would have gone through the process the Lord instructed us to go through and apparently, this man refused to repent. So, what Paul is speaking about in 2 Corinthians 2:12 would be better understood and related to the rebuke of the Corinthian church in 1 Corinthians 5:9-13 and notice who he said not to keep company with.

I wrote to you in my epistle not to keep company with sexually immoral people. Yet I certainly did not mean with the sexually immoral people of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. But now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother, who is sexually immoral, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner – not even to eat with such a person. For what have I to do with judging those also who are outside? Do you not judge those who are inside? But those who are outside God judges. Therefore ‘put away from yourselves the evil person’.

What we have to realize is that Paul would have never judged the sexually immoral man in that matter if he showed any remorse or repentance for what he had done. Paul is urging the body to forgive and comfort the one who IS repentant and turns from the sin pointed out to him, not those who act like it’s no big deal.

Honestly, what we currently see in the assembly is a lot of pragmatism concerning the things of God. The mentality seems to be whatever works with those in authority being more concerned about the earthly condition than the heavenly condition.

If you were to truly examine the plight of Israel in the Old Testament, you would see for a short period of time that David and Solomon reigned over all of Israel and then sin gradually crept in like leaven, just like today, and caused great commotions in their lives and kingdom.

Those that understand the Bible would understand that Jeroboam [Solomon’s servant] and Rehoboam [Solomon’s son] were at odds with one another and the kingdom was split into a northern kingdom and a southern kingdom. Sound familiar?

Furthermore, as time went on, Assyria and Babylon took hold of Israel and Judah. Comparatively, Babylon [or confusion] has crept into the assembly and taken it captive.

When it comes to the book of Revelation, there are many “opinions” – some would say it was already fulfilled, some may say it was some type of coding system John used to communicate with the churches after he was exiled, some would claim that it’s all metaphorical and others would say it is meant to be taken quite literally.

We say that to varying degrees all of the above may be true, because we are talking about God’s Word. And remember what Jesus said in Matthew 5:18,

For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law [the whole of Scripture] till all is fulfilled.

In other words, nothing is completely finished until all things are completely finished. The word Revelation means the unveiling or the disclosure and a good part of Revelation is made up of the Old Testament, but it’s purpose is to tie the Old and New Testament together as a complete understanding.

Revelation 17:5-6 says,

And on her forehead a name was written: MYSTERY, BABYLON [CONFUSION] THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. And when I saw her, I marveled with great amazement.

The hidden truth of Babylon the Great, the Mother of all Harlots is found in the false assembly and ultimately stems from the Roman Catholic church. Many would say that Babylon was a code word for Rome and we would agree, but not only that he saw the Rome that existed in his time, but that he saw the influence of the Roman Catholic church and all the leaven that was mixed through the whole assembly, hence why he marveled with great amazement.

We can picture John getting a glimpse of today’s assembly and having to pick his jaw off the ground as he thought of all his brothers and sisters in the faith who died for the furtherance of the good news, while seeing the deplorable condition of the state we are in now.

And again we say,

…”Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues. For her sins have reached to heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities. Render to her just as she rendered to you, and repay her double according to her works; in the cup which she has mixed, mix double for her. In the measure that she glorified herself and lived luxuriously, in the same measure give her torment and sorrow; for she says in her heart, ‘I sit as a queen, and am no widow, and will not see sorrow.’ Therefore her plagues will come in one day – death and mourning and famine. And she will be utterly burned with fire, for strong is the Lord God who judges her.” -Revelation 18:4-8

Before you start thinking such things as, “This is ridiculous! This cannot be true!”
Before you start defending the assembly and saying that this cannot be so.
Before you go around saying we are crazy and have no idea what we are talking about…

Let us remind you that in Dueteronomy 9:3-6 it says,

Therefore understand today that the Lord your God is He who goes over before you as a consuming fire. He will destroy them and bring them down before you; so you shall drive them out and destroy them quickly, as the Lord has said to you. Do not think in your heart, after the Lord your God has cast them out before you, saying, ‘Because of my righteousness the Lord has brought me in to possess this land’; but it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is driving them out before you. It is not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart that you go in to possess their land, but because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord your God drive them out from before you, and that He may fulfill the word which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Therefore understand that the Lord your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stiff-necked [rebellious] people.

And quite some time later we know that salvation was taken from them, because in Acts 28:28 it says,

“Therefore let it be known to you that the salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles, and they will hear it!”

And Romans 11:19-21,

You will say then, “Branches were broken off that I might be grafted in.” Well said. Because of unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith. Do not be haughty, but fear. For if God did not spare the natural branches, He may not spare you either.

The natural branch being referred to is the Jewish nation, which was destroyed in 70AD, yet there still remains a remnant of Jewish believers today, which God only knows. Do not think, because you are “the church” that God will not destroy you, as well, but save the remnant that only He knows that is made up of every tribe, tongue and nation.

We have many examples in Scripture, but who do you stand with? The God who spoke the world into existence? Or the harlot who sins against Him, but will not repent?

And I gave her time to repent of her sexual immorality, and she did not repent. -Revelation 2:21

Next blog to come…First Love and Love Grown Cold.

The Deeper Issue Part 3

Let’s take some time to go back to some foundational principals of the true church. Communion is what establishes as one in Christ, so that is precisely where we are going to start.

The English Dictionary defines communion as the act of sharing, a having in common, sharing, participation; the condition of things held in common with others; a close spiritual relationship.

The English Dictionary defines Communion as the act of sharing in the Lord’s Supper as a part of church worship; Holy Communion.

The Word of God also teaches of two communions that we are supposed to share as one body, which we can easily relate to the two commandments that Jesus says hangs [as a door “hangs” on a hinge, or as articles “hang” on a nail] all the Law and the Prophets.

Jesus said to him, ” ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.” -Matthew 22:37-40

Before we go any further, we need to clarify the word neighbor used in verse 39. There are a few words in the Greek for neighbor, but this particular word has to do with a near one, a dear one – in helpfulness, in intimacy, in like-mindedness, caring about the same concerns. When you are commanded to love your neighbor it is speaking of loving another believer, because you are one. For an example of loving your neighbor, see Luke 10:25-37, which is the Parable of the Good Samaritan.

Opposite to loving your neighbor is loving your enemy. Jesus talks about this in Matthew 5:38-48 and Luke 6:27-36. How do you love your enemy? You do not love your enemy as you love yourself or your neighbor, because there is no agreement and no mutual concern for each other. BUT you are to be concerned about his lack and his need and doing what you can to meet those things by doing good to him. When you are a commanded to love your enemy it is speaking of loving those who reject God and you [because you are in God] without expecting anything in return.

So, let’s discuss loving the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind, which brings us to partaking of the elements of the Holy Communion .

In 1 Corinthians 11:23 -26, Paul writes,

“For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, ‘Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.’ In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, ‘This is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.’ For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes.”

What does Paul mean when he says ‘you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes again’?
All those that are truly in Christ will understand what’s about to be said, but those that don’t understand aren’t truly in Christ.

I affirm, by the boasting in you which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily. -1 Corinthians 15:31

Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma. -Ephesians 5:1-2

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. -Romans 12:1

And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. -Galations 5:24-25

But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. -Galations 6:14

For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. -Colossians 3:3

This is what it means to proclaim the Lord’s death. This is how we show we love God and His will.

Now we’ll cover what it means ’till He comes again’.

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. -Romans 8:18

Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. -1 John 3:2

When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory. -Colossians 3:4

So, what are we saying? We are saying if you want to love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind you must die to your will entirely and live according to the will of God first. By partaking in the Holy Communion this is what you are saying you are doing with your life! It is not something that should be taken light-heartedly. Once you die to your will entirely, then you will be able to love your neighbor as yourself, because you are loving them as Christ loved you.

In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. -1 John 4:10-11

Having covered the first communion as it pertains to loving God, lets move on to the second type of communion, which pertains to loving our neighbor as ourselves.

And they continued steadfastly in the apostle’s doctrine [teaching] and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers. Then fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles. Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common, and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need. So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house [note: not building to building], they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved. -Acts 2:42-47

Now the multitude of those who believed were of one heart and one soul; neither did anyone say that any of the things he possessed was his own, but they had all things in common. -Acts 4:32

This is the truest sense of communion – loving your neighbor in a tangible way where no one was weighed down by the cares of this world. They gave ALL – not 10% or 20% or 30%, but 100% of ALL they had. Where is this in the church today? This is a clear example of dying to your will and adhering to God’s will that is just not happening.

Why is this not happening? Are we going to say it’s too hard? Impossible? Not Biblical?

If we were honest, it’s because we refuse to truly die to ourselves – we want our way, we want our will and most days God plays second fiddle to our own thoughts and opinions.

The bigger question is: are we still one body if we are not following the will of God or is God pragmatic [dealing with things sensibly and realistically in  way that is based on practical rather than theoretical considerations]? The answer is no, by the way, God is not pragmatic. The assembled ones, however, are very much so.

For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame – who set their mind on earthly things. – Philippians 3:18-19

What does it mean ‘the enemies of the cross of Christ’? This didn’t just mean that they were opposed to the work of Christ on the cross, this also means they became enemies of the cross due to their earthly mindedness and refusal to die to their own will and take up their cross and follow Him. Need an example?

…for Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world, and has departed for Thessalonica… -2 Timothy 4:10

A few years earlier Paul was listing him with the writer of the book of Luke in Colossians 4:14,

Luke the beloved physician and Demas greet you.

Do you now understand when Paul says ‘lest I preach to others and I myself become a castaway’? or when Jesus says ‘anyone who puts his hand to the plow and turns back is not worthy to be my disciple’? Being a true follower [witness] of Christ does not mean you get to do things that suit you and if you are not fully walking in the will of God, then are you really God’s?

This scripture comes to mind:

But he who endures to the end shall be saved. -Matthew 24:13

And again:

…receiving the end of your faith – the salvation of your souls. -1 Peter 1:9

The ‘assembly’ teaches what is known as the “Sinner’s Prayer”, which grants full benefits, full access and a grand entrance into Heaven, so long as you ask forgiveness, get into a “Bible-believing” church and tithe 10%, but where in the Bible does it say that?

While they promise them liberty, they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by whom a person is overcome, by him also he is brought into bondage. -2 Peter 2:19

Romans 10:9-10 says,

…that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

When it says with the ‘heart one believes’ that is fulfilling the first commandment to love the Lord with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind, which we explained earlier. It is saying that you are no longer in adherence to your will, but to God’s will alone and you believe that because Christ was raised you will be raised, because it is no longer you who live, but Christ who lives in you.

When it says ‘with the mouth confession is made’ that does not stop at praying a prayer, but making a bold declaration of faith before men and not being ashamed of Him, but expressing Him in your words, your deeds and your thoughts.

You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by the law; you have fallen from grace. -Galations 5:4

The law Paul is talking about was referring primarily to the Mosaic law of circumcision, but he was further expounding on the desire of man to try and save himself apart from God by convincing himself that he’s a good person, that he’s prayed a prayer, that he goes to a good church and that even though his life is riddled with many sins, he can simply ask God’s forgiveness and go on sinning. This is impossible and Paul continues in verses 5-9,

For we through the Spirit eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love. You ran well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth? This persuasion does not come from Him who calls you. A little leaven leavens the whole lump.

The word persuasion in verse 8 means opinion or belief and the fact of the matter is that the false assembly has polluted the original doctrine of the apostle’s with their opinion of what the Bible is saying, hence why there are 20,000 – 30,000+ denominations in Christianity today. I think it’s safe to say that man’s opinion of the Bible is more than a little leaven.

In 1 Corinthians 12:12-14 it says,

“For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body – whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free – and have all been made to drink into one Spirit. For in fact the body is not one member but many.”

Verses 25 – 27 says,

“…that there should be no schism [meaning division or the best English word to define what this means in the Greek is split] in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another. And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it. Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually.”

To fully understand what Paul is talking about regarding the splits we must go back to 1 Corinthians 1:10,

“Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.”

Can we take a look at this image?:

Does that frighten you? Because it should.

The Great Schism [Divide/Split – the very thing that Paul said should never happen] of the 11th Century has been noted to have been been brewing for centuries with many factors contributing. Does that image up there look like the straight and narrow road to you?

Let’s bring this back to the Word of God though…

In 2 Thessalonians 2, Paul also dealt with the false assembled ones in his time and he writes in verses 1-3,

“Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come. Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition…”

Paul is clearly saying that the Day of the Lord won’t come UNTIL the falling away takes place FIRST!

Later on in the same chapter, Paul writes in verses 9-12,

“The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this reason God will send them a strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.”

Is it not a strong delusion to think that we are one when there are many divisions?

The Greek word for the phrase falling away in 2 Thessalonians 2:3 is apostasia, which is where we get our word apostasy. The truest meaning of this word in English is the defection.

The English dictionary defines the word defection as a bending or turning aside, the amount of bending or turning and a bending downward.

We’ve talked about how narrow the path is in my previous blogs, but as a reminder, here is Matthew 7:13-14:

“Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.”

The Lord does not stop at there are few who find it, but continues in the account of Luke 13:23-24,

“Then one said to Him, ‘Lord, are there few who are saved?’ And He said to them, ‘Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able.'”

Please realize that He is saying that even the few that find it, even fewer will be able to enter.

Our goal here is to explain the current condition of the assembled ones who call themselves the ‘church’ who by all definitions and according to the Word of God is false. The falling away [defection/strong delusion] that Paul spoke about, we’ve all been experiencing for approximately the last 1900 years. It’s impossible to put a date on it specifically, but what we do know is from Scripture that it started with individuals and sects in their time and now, we see exactly what Jesus means when He says,

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!” -Matthew 7:21-23

[Note: the word many in verse 22 means the most, the majority in the Greek]

If God is tugging at your heart and you want to know more, please do not ignore it…

“Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.” -Hebrews 3:15

[Note: today’s rebellion is most certainly the defection]

Stay tuned for the next blog…The Mother of all Confusion.

The Deeper Issue Part 2

*crickets*

That was the response to my last blog…at least that’s the impression that I got.

If I were being honest, I think the twenty-five people that read this blog were either highly offended or they think I’m crazy. The more likely scenario is that they walked away thinking both those things. And that’s okay with me, because the Pharisees found Jesus both highly offensive and crazy.

Right now this blog is my platform – it is my way of sharing the truth of God’s Word. I have no intention of stopping, but I am urging you – please do not be apathetic! Do not convince yourself that you are a “good person” or that you have arrived to the knowledge of true faith.

We are warned in 2 Peter 2:1-3,

“But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed. By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words; for a long time their judgment has not been idle, and their destruction does not slumber.”

Remember in my last blog that I said the truth mixed with even a little bit of a lie is no longer the truth? Well, this is exactly what I was talking about. There are many ‘churches’ who assemble on a regular basis and most of what they are teaching is truth, but not all of it and that is cause for concern! They are leading many [which in the Greek means: the majority or most] down the path of destruction. They are the false assembly and their judgement is coming.

Later on in verses 18-21 it says,

“For when they speak great swelling words of emptiness, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through lewdness, the ones who have actually escaped from those who live in error. While they promise them liberty, they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by whom a person is overcome, by him also he is brought into bondage. For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning. For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them.”

The false assembly speaks GREAT things to you, but the Truth of God’s Word does not in any way, shape or form appeal to you or your will. The false assembly promises you FREEDOM and LIBERTY, but are slaves to CORRUPTION and SIN. They promise you BLESSINGS, FAVOR and MIRACLES, but Jesus promised TROUBLE in this world! Peter is warning that you may think you are escaping the pollutions of this world only to be entangled in them again in the false assembly and that is far worse than never having escaped the world to begin with!

This is the deeper issue that I was talking about.

We must throw out the leavened lump.
We must tear down the old way of doing things.
We must return to the straight and narrow road.
We must return to confronting sin.
We must return to the preaching of the TRUE gospel, not the one-sided gospel of love.

The false assembly has made the way to Jesus very crooked and very broad. And so, I want to be like John, a voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare the way of the Lord; make His paths straight [Matthew 3:3].

If you choose apathy after you have been given the truth, you are without excuse according to Hebrews 10:26,

“For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries. Anyone who has rejected Moses law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know Him who said, ‘Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,’ says the Lord. And again, The Lord will judge His people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”

Everyone is born under the bondage of the will and is a slave to sin until God intervenes and saves by grace through faith.

“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.” -Ephesians 2:8

It is impossible to come to God on your own. God draws those that are His to Himself. He draws His children to repentance.

“And they were greatly astonished, saying among themselves, ‘Who then can be saved?’ But Jesus looked at them and said, ‘With men it is impossible, but not with God; for with God all things are possible.” – Mark 10:27

This was a case of salvation being impossible with man, but only possible with God.

Think that’s not fair?

“What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? Certainly not! For He says to Moses, ‘I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion.’ So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy. For the Scripture says to the Pharaoh, ‘For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be declared in all the earth.’ Therefore He has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills He hardens. You will say to me then, ‘Why does He still find fault? For who has resisted His will?’ But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, ‘Why have you made me like this?’ Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor?” -Romans 9:14-21

Even after God draws it is a daily decision to take three areas captive every day: one’s words, one’s deeds and one’s thoughts.

“…Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.” -Mark 8:34-38

The false assembly claims that we live under grace and are no longer held to the law of the Old Testament, but please understand that while yes, we are under grace, we are given GREATER knowledge and are therefore held to a HIGHER standard. The OT Law was not a bad thing. Jesus did not come to destroy the law, but to fulfill it, so that we might have access to the Father, otherwise we would all be damned, because none are righteous, no, not one.

“Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets, I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.” -Matthew 5:17-18

The word jot means the smallest letter; the word tittle means the smallest stroke in a Hebrew letter. What does it really mean that by no means will one jot or one tittle pass from the law till all is fulfilled? In the Hebrew mind, when Jesus would have spoken this, they would have realized that all is not fulfilled until the sun and the moon pass away and all things are made new by Him, the True Light and Sun of Righteousness [Malachi 4:2].

Are you offended that I’m lumping the whole church together and calling it the false assembly? Good! Because Jesus lumped all of the Pharisees together and told them they were blind to what was right in front of them, yet He had a remnant – Paul and Nicodemus to name a couple.

I fully believe that God has a remnant in the false assembly, but it’s time to WAKE UP and COME OUT OF HER!

“…Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues. For her sins have reached to heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities. Render to her just as she rendered to you, and replay her double according to her works; in the cup which she has mixed, mix double for her. In the measure that she glorified herself and lived luxuriously, in the same measure give her torment and sorrow; for she says in her heart, ‘I sit as a queen, and am no widow, and will not see sorrow.’ Therefore her plagues will come in one day – death and mourning and famine. And she will be utterly burned with fire, for strong is the Lord God who judges her.” -Revelation 18:4-8

As Paul said in Philippians 3:12-14,

“Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead. I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

I have the clearest picture of Scripture that I’ve ever had in my life – everything fits together like a perfectly pieced together puzzle without the influence of man’s opinion. I know I have a long way to go, but like the Bereans I will keep knocking, keep asking, keep searching the Scriptures to be sure that these things be so [Acts 17:11]. I will continue to share what God is revealing through this outlet and pray that if it’s God’s will, you will receive it with open eyes, open ears and an open heart.

If you are offended, I can not apologize, for the Word of God is true, holy and pure.

I do beg you not to be apathetic. Tell me how difficult this is, how it’s far too narrow and no one will walk this path or whatever, but do not be ignorant to the truth, for it is in that moment that all hope is lost.

Politics and a Deeper Issue

Many years ago, I posted something on my LiveJournal that said,

“People that don’t vote disgust me.”

It was short and sassy with no explanation. I probably didn’t even know why I felt that way; I was always lead to believe that voting was the right thing to do and voting Republican was the Christian thing to do, because The Conservative Right does lean more toward Christian values.

Well, here I am many years later writing a blog about why I am not voting.

Irony at its finest, folks.

So, I’ve felt the need to write something about this for some time and then today I read this article.

Go read it, I’ll be here when you get back.

…

You’re done reading? Okay!

In case it’s not obvious, contrary to what I think is going to be the popular opinion, I completely disagree with that article.

First of all, there is much more to Mormonism than not believing in the Trinity. And even if it ended at not believing in the Trinity, that would be enough for me to NOT vote for Romney. Anything opposite the Word of God is FALSE and as christians we are to stand for the TRUTH. Unfortunately, the ‘church’ has become far too accepting of things that are not truth.

“A little leaven leavens the whole lump.” -Galations 5:9

When the ‘church’ becomes accepting of things that go against the Word of God, they are polluting the truth and are now standing with something that is anti-Christ. In this particular instance, I am talking about voting for a Mormon candidate, but this goes much further than that in today’s ‘church’.

Second, where in the Bible does it say that christians should prioritize political issues? It commands us to honor and respect those in authority, nothing more. I have no problem doing that, because honoring God is my one and only priority.

“Therefore submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake, whether to the king as supreme, or to governors, as to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men as free, yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice, but as bondservants of God. Honor all people. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king.” -1 Peter 2:13-17

The ‘church’ assumes it is responsible for putting someone in power, but the Bible says otherwise in Romans 13:1,

“Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God.”

If it is God’s Will for Romney to be President, rest assured, he will be President whether I vote for him or not.

If it is God’s Will for Obama to be President for a second term, rest assured, he will be President.

The Bible says that all authorities that exist are appointed by God, it doesn’t say that all authorities appointed by God are righteous.

Please don’t take this blog as a way of saying “Vote Obama” either – my main goal is to stir up the ‘church’ to realize that they are taking stands for all sorts of things that are anti-Christ. You cannot stand as One with the Holy God and accept things that go against everything that He is.

Let me dig a little deeper…

“For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.” -Philippians 3:20

“They must hold the mystery of the faith with a pure conscience.” -1 Timothy 3:5

“And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” -Romans 12:2

Where is the standard of truth? I’m not saying that you should never vote, but please understand that you must vote according to your conscience. And what does it say about your conscience if you can willingly vote for someone who denies the truth of Christ and serves a false idol, whether it be Mormon, Islam, Buddhism or the false assembly?

Over the past year or two, God has shown my family and I that the standard of truth is no longer held in high regard. Please understand that The Word of God mixed with even a little bit of leaven creates a half truth, which is then a spoiled lump that must be thrown out.

My heart’s cry for the truth goes much deeper than politics. We must get rid of the old lump and take a stand for the pure and Holy Word of God. We must discard the polluted teachings of man and return to the straight and narrow road [Matthew 7:13-14]. Note that the road is difficult and FEW find it!

“If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness” -Matthew 6:23

My heart is to shine LIGHT in the midst of the DARKNESS that so many THINK is light. It is a lonely road to walk, but I would rather walk alone in the light, then in the dark with many surrounding me.

Are you on The Way? Do you have The Truth? Have you found Life?

“For zeal for your house consumes me, and the insults of those who insult you fall on me.” -Psalm 69:9