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?
Thought for Today
May. 23
"THE ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION"
"When ye shall
see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by
Daniel the prophet, stand in the
holy place . . ."
Jesus - Mt. 24:15
Satan schemes to position himself in the midst of saints, but whenever he comes close to those precious saints, the Spirit of God moves away and leaves him grasping at air. All demons and Satan himself are attracted to the blessings of God, not repulsed by them. Those blessings remind them of their former home, but they cannot have them. They are cursed never again to be at home with Jesus, never again to feel the tender love of God, never again to know peace. They are cursed with memories of a goodness that they can never again enjoy.
Even if the children of God are fooled (O! that they were not!) and even if they welcome Satan's lovely, deceitful, religious spirit into their midst, he himself cannot feel God's presence because God pulls back His Spirit from him, and Satan is left grasping after glory that is eternally beyond his reach. Unfortunately, when God's Spirit withdraws from the places that welcome Satan's spirit, the saints who do that do not often realize what has caused the decrease in joy and power. Because they do not recognize as evil the doctrines and ceremonies of the Evil One that they have embraced, they cling to them, and Satan's spirit continues in their presence, poisoning the well from which they drink, while the Spirit of God is quieted by his doctrines and ceremonies. Most of the time, the children of God are puzzled as to why their former victory and rejoicing are gone. This is not a fictitious story; neither is it exaggerated. This is the history of every revival God has ever given to His people who partake of the religion of Christianity. Christianity has quenched them all, and it always will. It is an evil institution.
Any congregation that is deceived to give place to Satan's spirit will begin to die because he brings death with him, and the life of God fades away. Satan's spirit is "the abomination of desolation" because it makes desolate every congregation that welcomes it. It destroys the fruit of the Spirit in those believers who receive it, and it ruins the precious fellowship of the saints. Satan's desolating spirit makes the body of Christ void of fruit to God. It is an abomination to God, and it stands in the holy place whenever it enters into the hearts of God's own children. This has to be true because (1) Jesus said that it would stand in the holy place and (2) there is no holy place on earth into which Satan may enter except the temples of God's sanctified people.
If we resist the devil with faith in Jesus, he will flee from us, and God will draw near and magnify His glory in our midst. But if we are impressed with his appealing doctrines and attractive ceremonies, and if we begin to believe and practice them, we will feel the power and joy of the holy Ghost less and less as time passes, and we will be left standing in a desert wondering what happened to our glory. This is what happened to the glorious pentecostal movement of the early twentieth century, and to the glorious charismatic movement of the later twentieth century. Both were the work of God, but the people He blessed with His Spirit did not come out of Christianity, did not resist Satan and his ministers, and their "movements" died. The abomination that they received into their temples, the spirit of Christianity, robbed them and made them desolate.
Sister Julie told me yesterday in my office as she filled some envelopes with gospel tracts that one of her co-workers told her that she had recently begun attending the Sunday services of a Pentecostal Holiness Church. Julie was a little excited until she asked her co-worker if they spoke in tongues there, and her co-worker responded with a simple, "no". Sometimes, she told Julie, one would hear an "amen", but that was all.
What has happened to Pentecostal people? I will tell you what happened. "Christianity" happened to them, and God withdrew Himself, leaving them with Satan, whose ways they preferred. Now, just like Satan, Pentecostals in many, many places can only reminisce about how wonderfully the Spirit used to bless their parents and grandparents, how the glory of God used to fill their meetings, and how people used to roll across the floor under the power of God, or dance in the Spirit with all their might like David, or prophesy, or receive heavenly wisdom from Jesus, or be healed from sicknesses and diseases.
Christianity makes God's people like Satan in that it leaves them with nothing but memories of the glory of God. It steals from them their birthright in Christ, it kills the life of the Spirit, and it destroys the fellowship of the saints. I hope someday that God's children will mature spiritually to the point of abhorring Christianity as much as Jesus does now, and always has.