Church and Christianity
To virtually all the world the words "Church" and "Christianity" are synonymous with the people that profess to believe in and follow Christ. Amazingly, the word "church" does not occur in the Greek of the New Testament but is a mistranslation.
At the end of this age, in the book of Revelation, we find God calling to His people to come out of a place he calls Babylon and the Great Whore to avoid the plagues she will receive for her sins. Where is this place that God's people find themselves that is a "habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit" (Rev. 18:2).
The apostle Paul told us that "such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works." (2Cor 11:13-15). Where are these false, deceitful ministers who claim to be sent by Christ? Where is Satan's influence to be found posing to be a source of light to those seeking God?
They can only be in places that claim to be of Christ! Christian denominations! As you read these articles prepare to be surprised and shocked. Satan deceives the whole world. He is hiding in a place that seems to be above suspicion but Paul also wrote that the one who "as God sitteth in the temple of God" will "be revealed in his time" (1Thess 2:4,6). As we draw nearer to the events that will herald the return of Christ the truth about the antichrist spirit and where it is hiding will be revealed.
New Birth Teaching Series
"You must be born again"
Three hours of audio teaching (transcript available) from Pastor John Clark, Sr. on the subject of the "New Birth".
When is a person born again and how do you know? The Bible contains clear revelation from God about when a person is born again. Learn what had to occur before the new birth was available to man. Listen as Pastor John covers these topics and more:This is perhaps the most important issue for a person to understand.
Have you been born again?
Broadcaster
Some Other Way
John David Clark, Sr.- June, 1999
"That good thing which was committed unto thee keep by the holy Ghost which dwelleth in us. This thou knowest, that all they which are in Asia be turned away from me." (2Tim. 1:14-15)
I recently watched the last half-hour of a Benny Hinn television program. The final twenty minutes or so showed the altar call at a Benny Hinn "Crusade" in Greenville (South Carolina, I presume). A large number of people responded with heartfelt conviction to Brother Hinn's call to "come to Jesus" and to make sure their souls were prepared to meet the Lord. I heard what he told them, and I saw their tears and humility as they obeyed the man of God's instruction to repeat aloud the prayer in which he led them. And I saw, yet again, Satan steal the glory that belongs to God alone.
It is doubtful that anyone there even realized that the crime had been committed, especially Brother Hinn. If any of that great multitude had known what they were doing when they offered God's glory to the Deceiver, they certainly would not have done it. I do not believe for a moment that Brother Hinn or any of those with him intentionally did that evil, or that they would ever intentionally do evil. I cannot say that I know that they would not, but I certainly do not believe that is the case.
We are warned passionately by the apostles of the Lord that false teachers (2Pet. 2:1) and false apostles (2Cor. 11:13) had "crept in unawares" (Jude 4). Jesus warned his disciples of the days when "many shall come in my name, and shall deceive many" (Mt. 24:5), and most of the disciples lived to see the beginning of that work of Satan. Yes, even in the apostles' day, the robes of righteousness bestowed by God upon the congregation of the upright were deeply stained with unclean spirits of false doctrine, doctrine which exalted the Father and the Son even as it sought to intrude into the Most Holy Place of the saints' hearts and share in the glory and praise that is sacred to God.
The ministries of unordained apostles of the time were very successful, stealing the hearts of virtually every saint whom Paul had won to Christ in the area of present day Asia Minor and converting multitudes of other believers from Paul's doctrine to theirs. The aged Apostle Paul's heart was deeply grieved when he spoke of this to Timothy, his "son in the faith". Their doctrine, springing from the heart of the father of lies, took the saints captive, survived the centuries, and thrives to this day as the undergirding inspiration for every "altar call" that Christian ministers now give. It has many different variations and has gone through many revisions and refinements since those early days; but all those variations have one common theme, a theme carefully conceived by the Evil One and expounded by those whom he deludes into doing him service.
What is this common theme? It is no mystery. It is open and proclaimed with joy by the very children of God who are taken in and robbed by it, and it is the simple premise that one can be born again without receiving the baptism of the holy Ghost (with the evidence of speaking in tongues). Regardless of the sect in Christianity, regardless of the customs of that sect or the standards to which it holds its adherents, the undergirding foundation of all of Christianity is that one can become a member of the body of Christ without experiencing the baptism of the holy Ghost. A "new birth" without the holy Ghost baptism is the common foundation of all Christian faiths. That is the one unifying theme of all Christian sects, and were it not for faith in that Lie, the greatest Lie to date in human history, the saints of God would not even consider joining any of the denominations that come under the umbrella of that religion that calls itself after the precious, matchless name of Christ, our Lord and coming King. Christianity is the mother of all lies; and those who receive The Lie that she offers to humanity also become her children.
With great fear of God, I use Brother Hinn and his "altar call" as an example here, not to ridicule or to belittle him or his helpers at all (God knows my heart), but to demonstrate how pervasive this essential element of Christianity is and how completely most of the saints on earth have been taken in by this most destructive of all lies from the Devil. The best known leaders in the congregation today (I do not include in that number any man without the holy Ghost, regardless of his reputation on earth) are partakers of that Lie and are the greatest promoters of it, and their promotion of it undermines the sacred faith of those whom they desire most to help: the saints of the living God.
"By one Spirit", wrote Paul, "we are all baptized into one body" (1Cor. 12:13). This is the way into the congregation for which Christ suffered and died. The baptism of the holy Ghost which Jesus still ministers (thanks be to God) is the door of the family of God. There is no other way into it. "He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber" (Jn. 10:2). The way of "repeat this prayer after me and then I will announce that you are born again" is "some other way". It is not the baptism of the holy Ghost. The way of "join the congregation of your choice" is "some other way". The way of a pastor telling you that you have the Spirit, based upon his understanding of the scriptures, is "some other way". Adding your name to a Christian church roll is "some other way". Even the enormously popular "repeat Romans 10:9-10 after me" is "some other way". Brother Jimmy Swaggart made popular the custom of sinners repeating Romans 10:9-10 after him and then pronouncing them to be "saved"; but even he admitted that when people came to his "altar call", he really didn't know what to do for them or what to tell them. Perhaps he was doing the best he could, shackled as he was to Christianity and its foundation. Here again, God is the judge. But being partakers of Christianity, none of these well known men of God can dare to tell people they are not born again until they are baptized by Jesus. After all, what would people think? Who would support a man's ministry if he did that? No, they will not do that; they cannot do that; for it would not be the Christian thing to do! BUT THAT IS THE POINT! The way of Christianity itself is "some other way!" Come out of it! The Spirit is calling to all who have God's Spirit right now, "Come out of her, My people, that ye partake not of her sins and receive not of her plagues." Can you hear that pleading voice in your heart right now?
As I watched Brother Hinn's television program and saw the tears of conviction flow down the faces of those precious souls standing before him, my heart was aching. What a holy moment! What a special time for those dear, hungry souls! And yet, I knew what was coming, and it hurt to witness it again. "Don't let him do it, God!" I prayed, "Don't let him do it to them!" But he did. In all simplicity of heart, I feel certain, and with no evil intent, he did it to them. He instructed them to repeat a prayer of repentance after him, and then he told them to confess The Lie. "Turn around and tell someone that you are born again", this wonderful man of God said. What a heart-breaking scene!
Why is it so difficult for such men to tell people who are seeking God to "go do works meet for repentance", as John, Jesus, and Paul did? What is so distasteful about telling sinners that when they have truly and fully repented, Jesus will know and will baptize them into his assembly by the Spirit? If God uses a man to bring conviction on sinners, and if that man then does not tell them to "come to the altar", but instead does what Jesus and his disciples did and tells them to go home and make things right with their families and neighbors, he would no longer be able to rejoice or boast in how many sinners "got saved" in his last meeting. Is this one of the things preventing the men of God from telling the truth to those who are trying to repent? God is the Judge. I am only asking the question.
Men who have been blessed and anointed by God, men whom the whole congregation admires and loves, are misleading the congregation that loves them! As in Ezra's day, so it may be said now that "the hand of the princes and rulers hath been chief in this trespass" (9:2). The spirit of Christianity has blinded them and they cannot see. They have an anointing from God, but can they not see that "if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his" (Rom. 8:9). None of them knows the hearts of men. How then could they proclaim that the repentant sinners standing before them are forgiven and washed in the blood? Peter was not of that kind of faith. Of his experience at Cornelius's house, he spoke these words in Jerusalem to the council of elders, "God, who knows the hearts, bore them witness, giving them the holy Ghost, even as He did unto us" (Acts 15:8). Did God, who alone knows the hearts of men, give the holy Ghost to those sinners in the Benny Hinn Crusade--as He gave it to the disciples? No! Then, by what authority did Brother Hinn pronounce those people to be born again? Can you not see the point, dear friends? God has never given anyone authority to announce to others that they are born again.
In Acts 10, God took Cornelius and his household into the body of Christ through the baptism of the holy Ghost, contrary to the saints' expectation at the time. This miraculous event "astonished" the Jewish brothers who came with Peter and would have astonished Peter, too, had God not prepared him for it. So stunned was the congregation that the elders brought Peter into question for entering that Gentile's house (Acts 11). In his own defense, Peter argued that he had only begun to speak when God interrupted the sermon he had obviously planned and baptized the listeners with the holy Ghost. After God did that, Peter concluded, "Who was I, that I could withstand God?" (Acts 11:17).
That is the real issue, my friends. Who are we, that we should withstand God? Who are we to make "some other way" into the body of Christ than the way Jesus made? Who are we to declare someone to be washed in the blood, with no witness from the Spirit of God at all? Who are we to form congregations that can be joined, when God has a congregation that cannot be joined? Who are we? If we do such things, I will tell you who we are. We are ministers of Satan, offering to men "some other" spirit than the holy one, "some other" Jesus than the living one, "some other" congregation than the true one, "some other" way to be born again than the baptism of the holy Ghost and fire. And in the end, it may frighten us to discover that all who do such things are due "some other" reward than the reward of the faithful.
The foundational doctrine of Christianity is "some other" door into the family of God than the real baptism of the holy Ghost (with the evidence of speaking in other tongues). Regardless of the theological details of all Christian denominations, they all come under the heading of "Christianity", for they all have one common bond--The Lie found in the "altar call" of the Benny Hinn Crusade and in the "altar call" of every Christian "altar call" in every Christian church under heaven. God's children, the most precious people on earth, are completely blind to the fact that by their joining the various sects with Christianity (as men of God encourage them to do) they are propping up an unordained, puppet government over them, promoting their own separation from one another, and paying for their own poison. And they have been disciplined to be very suspicious of the few men such as I who tell them so, dismissing us as vain voices, mere famous-evangelist-wannabes. But I am telling the truth, and I look forward to the day when we all stand before Jesus to have him judge us for what we have taught hungry souls in his name.
I have to admit, Satan has done a brilliant job of blinding the saints to what they themselves are doing. Without question, his subtlety and show of reverence prove the truth of Jesus' statement that he is the "father of lies". What an amazing, heart-breaking delusion has for many centuries now been cast over the whole house of God! Would to God that the children of God were half as cunning to do righteousness as our Enemy has been to do evil!