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
Jul. 09
EMPTY VINES
There is a strange, seemingly contradictory verse from Hosea that speaks of how God looked upon the great missionary zeal among His people. I noticed this verse many years ago, and it instructed me in the fear of God. Hosea's strange verse reads this way (10:1): "Israel is an empty vine; he bringeth forth fruit unto himself."
One would think that a vine that bore fruit is a vine that cannot be called "empty", but that is not how it was, in this case, from God's point of view. From God's perspective, Israel bore much fruit, but none of it belonged to Him. In other words, membership in Israel's religion increased, but the converts who joined their religion did not belong to God. There had developed in Israel a difference between the religion of God's people and the religion of God. To say it another way, to belong to Israel no longer meant to belong to God. There is no greater tragedy on earth than that.
It has happened again. God's people long ago wandered from the truth and helped invent a new, more socially acceptable religion to which to win converts. In time, it became known as "Christianity", or "the church", and its members claim to be "Christians", a name taken from the Bible. For centuries now, the saints of God within Christianity have labored with Christians to win people to "the church", and when those sinners are won to the "church", what has God profited from it? Nothing.
The following statement is one of the most important truths you can learn about membership in God's family: "CHURCH MEMBERSHIP" DOES NOT EQUAL "MEMBERSHIP IN THE FAMILY OF GOD". The ramifications of this truth are staggering to consider.
Since Christianity, or "the church", is not of God, one can join it and still have no spiritual connection whatsoever with Jesus Christ. Every honest-hearted person in the world knows, in his heart, that this is true. No doubt, every one of us knows members of Christian churches who have no faith in Christ at all, no love for the things of the Spirit, and no understanding whatsoever of things concerning the kingdom of God.
Christian missionaries are laboring around the globe for converts, but when they win "lost" souls to their church, what does God get out of it? Those zealous and hard-working missionaries are making sacrifices to be "fruitful" in their labor to win souls, but to whom do those souls belong when they are won? If they have not received the baptism of the holy Ghost, they have not been won to God for "if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his" (Rom. 8:9). To whom then do they belong? Please think about that question, and about the obvious, awful answer.
Membership in God's family means to be born again; it means to have sins washed away by the blood of the Lamb of God; it means to be baptized with the holy Ghost with the evidence of speaking in tongues. If the congregation to which we are winning people is not that which Jesus created by the baptism of the holy Ghost, then we, too, have become empty vines, regardless of how many souls we have "won".
To which assembly do you win people? To a Christian assembly that they can join, or to the assembly of saints who belong to God?