12-31-18 The Truth, The Whole Truth, & Nothing But the Truth
The Truth, The Whole Truth & Nothing But The Truth :: By Dennis Bowden
The Truth, The Whole Truth & Nothing But The Truth, ‘So Help Me God!’
I remember the times (when with shame and chagrin) I kept silent when I should have had the guts to speak my truth as I understood it to be. And so, I well understand, at a most personal level, how the denominational churches have failed.
Let me be perfectly clear. Although I make the statement ‘that the denominational churches have failed,’ I am very mindful that a vibrantly alive gospel is still being taught – and that entirely, through the auspices of a literally interpreted Bible by clergy who teach and pastor accordingly.
If you doubt this, take a good close look at the names, titles and churches of some of the more regular contributors to Rapture Ready. Then read what they stand for.
Recently, I read the testimony of a number of Roman Catholic Clergy and Nuns who had ‘come out’ of their years of unknowing apostasy. I was amazed that, in many cases, it took such a long time for them (individually) to realize that they had been ‘sold a pup.’ Jesus would never be found wherein they had unknowingly walked.
I also believe that many Protestant seminaries/Bible colleges carry through to the generations of emergent clergy, teachings which are now ancient in terms of their corruption.
Well within six hundred years of the sacrifice made by our Paschal Lamb, the Scriptures that constitute the Bible had been tainted by allegorical interpretation and Replacement Theology.
From Wikipedia:
Church fathers
Many Early Christian commentators taught that the Old Covenant was fulfilled and replaced (superseded) by the New Covenant in Christ. For instance:
Justin Martyr (about 100 to 165): “For the true spiritual Israel … are we who have been led to God through this crucified Christ.”
Hippolytus of Rome (martyred 13 August 235): “[The Jews] have been darkened in the eyes of your soul with a darkness utter and everlasting.”
Tertullian (c. 155 – c. 240 AD): “Who else, therefore, are understood but we, who, fully taught by the new law, observe these practices,—the old law being obliterated, the coming of whose abolition the action itself demonstrates … Therefore, as we have shown above that the coming cessation of the old law and of the carnal circumcision was declared, so, too, the observance of the new law and the spiritual circumcision has shone out into the voluntary observances of peace.”
Augustine (354–430) follows these views of the earlier Church Fathers, but he emphasizes the importance to Christianity of the continued existence of the Jewish people: “The Jews … are thus by their own Scriptures a testimony to us that we have not forged the prophecies about Christ.”
The Catholic church built its system of eschatology on his theology, where Christ rules the earth spiritually through his triumphant church. Like his anti-Jewish teacher, St. Ambrose of Milan, he defined Jews as a special subset of those damned to hell, calling them “Witness People”: “Not by bodily death, shall the ungodly race of carnal Jews perish (..) ‘Scatter them abroad, take away their strength. And bring them down O Lord“. Augustine mentioned to “love” the Jews but as a means to convert them to Christianity. Jeremy Cohen, followed by John Y. B. Hood and James Carroll, sees this as having had decisive social consequences, with Carroll saying, “It is not too much to say that, at this juncture, Christianity ‘permitted’ Judaism to endure because of Augustine.” – source
This debate still goes on in Roman Catholicism. Though their Vatican Councils have appeared to soften their attitude to the Jews and on Replacement theology, a hard rump of opposition still insists that the Jews have and should remain, replaced by ‘Mother’ Church.
When you are fed that which is harmful to you, and chew upon it for years without knowing that ultimately it will lead to your death, do you at that point, blame yourself?
We are, of course, discussing ‘spiritual’ death – the mortis of your unshriven soul.
I cannot find it within my heart to blame clergy who have accepted, probably without question, the interpretation of Scripture taught them as they studied for their Degree of Divinity. How can they understand their error in its entirety if, at the beginning, they are sown with ‘truths’ that have no basis of fact because they were actually mistruths to start with?
We speak of lies: mendacious actions that have, through the mechanism of deliberate error, corrupted our understanding and teaching of the Great Commission.
Almost from the start, the Apostles were forced to contend with first the Judaisers and then the insidious corruption of Gnosticism (the latter, a foul mixture of pseudo-intellectualism that disputed everything, particularly the character and divinity of the Christ).
And it didn’t get any better. With the emergence of the Bishop of Rome becoming regarded as the senior voice and settler of doctrinal dispute, Roman dominance increased and subsequently spawned Catholicism. Around the same time, Orthodoxy was also emerging.
The early result was the decision to isolate the church that the apostles had established and, of course, their legacy in terms of established churches and clergy. This was obviously done to thrust the Jews out and bring the pagan Gentiles in.
Many pastors commence as very young, unworldly men. They will go on to pastor congregations for probably forty/fifty years of faithful service. And they will, as a direct consequence of false teaching, defend to their utmost that which should never be defended. I am speaking of the denial of biblical literacy and the dispensations made by Almighty God for the ultimate performance of His Will.
His Creation, a part of which we are, is our best example of the expression of His Will.
How can I best explain the performance of His Will?
What presumption on my part! And yet, perhaps, I can humbly attempt to glorify His name through a brief description of its compass.
THE WILL OF THE LIVING GOD:
It was, before ever it came to be ‘Created’ as actual entity of anything material, within the substance of matter (as we think we might understand it), nevertheless, to be understood as the expression of His Will.
It was, is and remains, an expression of His Will, whether yet created or upon the basis of its existence in Will as yet, unexpressed.
It was and is, whether performed or divinely envisaged, His to express as He alone desires.
It was, is and remains, as in the math of seven days, years or eons of a time system known only to Himself, when He Created the Earth, its habitat and the spectrum of its inhabitants.
It was, is and remains, even-so, as He continues to completely dispense his Will according to His own desire with respect to the Heavens, The Stars and the Universe.
It was, as because of, the tempting in the Garden, the man and woman were cast out.
It was, as during the growth of man and the continual multiplicity of his sin through sexual concourse with angelic beings, an expression of His Will that ultimately led to His decision to destroy all bar a select remnant of man with the great Flood.
It was, as He saved the remaining vestige of uncorrupted flesh, within the family of Noe and by His Will, caused the man to be granted the knowledge, skills and perseverance, to build a vessel the like of which had never been seen upon Earth. Then filling it with all validated animal life, He, by act of Will, preserved them all as the heavens opened along with the aquifers of the deep.
It was and remains, as during His promises to His friend Abraham, He made His own covenant (without demand), granting eternally, possession of the Land to Abraham’s genetic seed.
It was, when Lot and his family were spared as He destroyed the cities of the Plain.
It was, is and remains, as He conceived from within Himself and that of His own divinity, the flesh of His own Son, born of woman.
It was, is and remains, always his prerogative of Himself to exercise His Will in the expression of His own, innate, desire (whether for good or for evil). Both are subject to His Will.
It was, is and remains, His own Will that saw Him (God) born into the World through the womb of a woman, providing thus the joyous advent, life, ministry, sacrifice and ultimate ascension of Jesus His Christ and Son back within the trinity.
It was, is and remains His Will to thus, have given us His Christ, who was and is God within the trinity of His own Godhead.
It was and is, as the light of the most beautiful of the angels was forever darkened. For as The Christ of the Living God took the victory as He sacrificed Himself as a once-only paschal offering, He thereby defeated Satan, former chief of the angelic host, forever.
It was and is, as the apostles of Jesus thereafter embarked upon the Great Commission to take the Gospel of the Christ to all mankind.
It was and is, as He saw and continues to see His true church infiltrated by Satan, allowing deliberate error and apostasy to enter in by the hand of man.
It is and shall be, as the Christ Himself calls the ‘true’ Church home before the Tribulation.
It is and shall be, as the restoration of Judah/Jacob is made complete, and reconciliation to God through King Jesus is, by act of Will, to occur within the parameter of one day.
It is and shall be, as the nations are gathered unto judgment along with unrepentant hearts.
It shall be, as the living God (through the personage of Jesus, Lord of lords and King of kings), having returned to a new Earth, rules the millennial Kingdom according to the Will of God Himself.
These things I cite as clear expressions of the Will of My God. They are and shall remain, beyond my understanding or that of any man.
I humbly accept that it is so; and upon my knees (metaphorically these days as my reconstructed ones definitely don’t like that particular posture) I praise Him with every facet of my being.
Jesus Opens the Meaning of the Scriptures to Explain the Will of God: Luke 24:44-49 (during the 40 days prior to his final ascension, during which period He appeared many times unto His disciples and inner circle).
“And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me. Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures, And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And ye are witnesses of these things. And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high.”
There it is then – the expression of the Will of the Living God as saith His Scriptures. No allegory and without ambiguity. It strikes a shattering blow straight through our stony hearts with one message: “that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name among ALL nations, beginning at Jerusalem.”
This is the prime duty of the church. It precedes and almost precludes all else. Jesus healed the sick and infirm but always maintained that the soul should first be healed and that of the flesh would follow – not works, but faith and trust in Him as His Gospel of repentance was taught.
Works of charity are the natural outpouring of a healed soul. One is not required to work to please God; we simply do this as the visible increment of our LOVE for Him and our brother (male or female, child or adult). In that, we also perform the two most important of His Commandments as given Moses.
FINDING JESUS:
Recently I recounted the tale of an Anglican priest I ran into at the conclusion of a service in a country town I was visiting at the time. As I exited the church, he was standing at the door to warmly farewell and thank his parishioners for attending. However, the reality of his message was the great joy everyone could see manifest from within him. This guy was literally jumping out of his skin with joy as he announced to all and sundry (of his gob-smacked congregation), “I’ve just found Jesus!”
He was well into middle-age. How, why and when he had at last given up of ‘self’ and declared to God through Jesus that he was a wicked, fallen, sinner – and having sought forgiveness, gave of himself completely to His Savior, I will never know.
What I do know is that the Hand of God, as expressed through The Holy Spirit, is constantly reaching out to the most unlikely recipients as an expression of His Will.
“Praise and Glory, Honor, Power and Might be to thee my LORD and my God!”
AT WHAT POINT HAVE WE ARRIVED?
Do you want my theory, for what it’s worth?
My contention is (rightly or wrongly) that the problems of heresy commence from the time the Bishops of Rome accepted the theological scholarship and writings of some of the early church fathers as an insight of divine understanding.
In a nutshell, the Fathers had become convinced that, unless the Jews would convert, they were to be cast out without the offer of fellowship. Thereby, they were refuting (irrespectively) the claim by Yeshua that He came first for the Salvation of the Jews. In this, they also displayed their intent to ignore the Old Testament promises and divine prophecy as to the future of the Hebrew race and their everlasting entitlement to the Land by virtue of God’s Abrahamic promise.
And in this, I contend that the Fathers succumbed to pride and arrogance of spirit, ignoring all relevant Scripture to the contrary. They spoke ‘for’ God and refused to allow the Scriptures (the Word of God) to instruct them.
From this point onwards we have gone ‘backwards.’
Had the Jews agreed, the Gentile Church still intended to hold their conversion conditional. It would be based upon the premise that they would have to abandon Judaism and its practices and simply become like all the former pagan-believing Christians.
The Jews refused outright and have continued to do so at terrible cost to their race and the practice of Judaism. Can there be any doubt that this is the Will of the Almighty?
Pause for a moment and consider those implications. The Hebrews would not have remained a separate and distinct race. Their books and sacramental practices would have been forever lost. Their language lost also. Scripture would have been forcibly refuted.
Upon that basis, I would agree that from the point of view of prophecy, there could not have been a future for the Jews. Simply put, God was not about to be defied and let that happen. His Will always stands above the machinations of mankind. And remember that mankind has made many attempts (the holocaust for example) to overcome the Will of God concerning the spiritual and racial preservation of a people He Himself, as an act of Will, set aside for Himself, together with the Land He gave in covenant promise to nurture them.
We must never forget that a Covenant is a contract between two parties. Both agree to perform certain services and make binding promises to each other, accordingly.
Be it then well remembered that this is a ‘one-sided’ covenant. God made it of His own volition. He demanded nothing of Abraham or his seed (in relation to this particular covenant).
Why?
God was bequeathing, in perpetuity, a loving gift to His friend Abraham.
What brought this about?
Abraham had walked before God in full obedience. Except in the matter of the saving of righteous souls in the coming destruction of the cities of the Plain (where Abraham begged God to spare any found righteous), in all else he was found faithful. Therefore, Abraham’s decision to obey the LORD’s decree to sacrifice his son Isaac as a burnt offering (though it broke his heart) proves the level of his obedience and faithfulness.
Was Abraham sinless? No! He was fallen flesh like the rest of us, yet in the things counted by the LORD as pre-eminently important, he was both obedient and faithful, and he trusted God completely with respect to both his soul and the wellbeing of his flesh and possessions. And so, God found him righteous. Moreover, God had befriended him. Who could ever claim this? Perhaps only David.
THE ADVENT & ALLEGED REFORMS OF THE PRIEST, MARTIN LUTHER:
With the coming centuries later of Martin Luther, the alleged enlightenment he brought eventually became highly tainted by his almost pathological hatred of the Jews.
Some of his writings respecting the Jews reflect the changing of his views over time (from empathy and a desire to aid their conversion) to utter, foul contempt and condemnation.
Luther had (optimistically perhaps) formed the conclusion that the Jews could be converted and rehabilitated to accept a Gentile lifestyle, typified by the practice of the rites of Christianity. In this view, Luther was in tune to the earlier convictions of the Fathers.
However, the vehement opposition of Judaism to what conversion would entail and thereby inflict upon them (always the same down through the ages) convinced him that their only end should result in either their expulsion from the Christian held lands of Europe, or else death.
These were the views that Hitler later used to validate his own position on the Jews, quoting directly from the writings of Luther.
From Wikipedia:
Evolution of his views
Luther’s attitude toward the Jews changed over the course of his life. In the early phase of his career—until around 1536—he expressed concern for their plight in Europe and was enthusiastic at the prospect of converting them to Christianitythrough his religious reforms. Being unsuccessful in that, in his later career, Luther denounced Judaism and called for harsh persecution of its followers, so that they might not be allowed to teach.
In a paragraph from his On the Jews and Their Lies he deplores Christendom‘s failure to expel them. Moreover, he proposed “What shall we Christians do with this rejected and condemned people, the Jews?”
“First, to set fire to their synagogues or schools … This is to be done in honor of our Lord and of Christendom, so that God might see that we are Christians …”
“Second, I advise that their houses also be razed and destroyed.”
“Third, I advise that all their prayer books and Talmudic writings, in which such idolatry, lies, cursing, and blasphemy are taught, be taken from them.”
“Fourth, I advise that their rabbis be forbidden to teach henceforth on pain of loss of life and limb …”
“Fifth, I advise that safe-conduct on the highways be abolished completely for the Jews. For they have no business in the countryside …”
“Sixth, I advise that usury be prohibited to them, and that all cash and treasure of silver and gold be taken from them …”
“Seventh, I recommend putting a flail, an ax, a hoe, a spade, a distaff, or a spindle into the hands of young, strong Jews and Jewesses and letting them earn their bread in the sweat of their brow … But if we are afraid that they might harm us or our wives, children, servants, cattle, etc., … then let us emulate the common sense of other nations such as France, Spain, Bohemia, etc., … then eject them forever from the country …”
On the Jews and Their Lies
In 1543 Luther published “On the Jews and Their Lies” in which he says that the Jews are a “base, whoring people, that is, no people of God, and their boast of lineage, circumcision, and law must be accounted as filth.” They are full of the “devil’s feces … Which they wallow in like swine.” The synagogue was a “defiled bride, yes, an incorrigible whore and an evil slut ….” He argues that their synagogues and schools be set on fire, their prayer books destroyed, rabbis forbidden to preach, homes razed, and property and money confiscated. They should be shown no mercy or kindness, afforded no legal protection, and these “poisonous envenomed worms” should be drafted into forced labor or expelled for all time.
He also seems to advocate their murder, writing “[w]e are at fault in not slaying them”. Luther claims that Jewish history was “assailed by much heresy,” and that Christ swept away the Jewish heresy and goes on to do so, “as it still does daily before our eyes.” He stigmatizes Jewish Prayer as being “blasphemous” (sic) and a lie, and vilifies Jews in general as being spiritually “blind” and “surely possessed by all devils.” Luther has a special spiritual problem with Jewish circumcision. The full context in which Martin Luther advocated that Jews be slain in “On the Jews and Their Lies” is as follows in Luther’s own words:
“There is no other explanation for this than the one cited earlier from Moses – namely, that God has struck [the Jews] with ‘madness and blindness and confusion of mind’ [Deuteronomy 28:28]. So we are even at fault in not avenging all this innocent blood of our Lord and of the Christians which they shed for three hundred years after the destruction of Jerusalem, and the blood of the children they have shed since then (which still shines forth from their eyes and their skin). We are at fault in not slaying them.”
Several months after publishing On the Jews and Their Lies, Luther wrote the 125-page Vom Schem Hamphoras und vom Geschlecht Christi (Of the Unknowable Name and the Generations of Christ), in which he equated Jews with the Devil:
“Here in Wittenburg, in our parish church, there is a sow carved into the stone under which lie young pigs and Jews who are sucking; behind the sow stands a rabbi who is lifting up the right leg of the sow, raises behind the sow, bows down and looks with great effort into the Talmud under the sow, as if he wanted to read and see something most difficult and exceptional; no doubt they gained their Shem Hamphoras from that place!” – source
THE SPREAD OF THE POISON FROM ROME TO PROTESTANISM:
The Reformation DID NOT obviate anti-Semitism nor did it obviate/eradicate the impurity of the pagan church of Rome as it carried over into the English Church particularly.
My position is that we should do well to remember that the English church was comprised of both a clergy and laity who were Roman Catholic.
For all the justifiably good that the Book of Common Prayer and the Articles of Faith (that spells out the doctrine of Anglicanism brought to Protestantism), the taint of the Roman disease carried over.
It has, by Replacement (Supersessionism) created a social disease of virulence that has destroyed literal understanding and thus adversely impacted the minds, souls and hearts of countless generations past and those still to come.
Worse, it has slowly permitted deliberate misinterpretation to achieve divers ends. Any priest/pastor or demagogue of this false persuasion can rise in his own pulpit and, interpreting ‘which-ever which-way,’ steer his congregation in any direction that suits him. Often, a very personally profitable enterprise as we look at some of the affectated lifestyles of these ‘famous’ alleged teachers of the Word.
I describe such heresy as a ‘Social Disease.’ Aptly, I view it the same way as I understand the progression of these most virulent of bodily infections within humans.
At first it may strike its victim as a small lesion or swelling upon the flesh. It then appears to disappear; and people think, “Oh great, I’m cured!” However, it has insidiously entered the body, and by carriage through the bloodstream, it attacks the major organs and the brain. It may take 25/30 years, but the effect is always the same. The mind or body or both are destroyed, and death is imminent. It is insidious because such diseases of the flesh strike rich or poor, pious or agnostic, priest or thief, regardless of station in life.
Some may consider my analogy gross. But can you not ‘see’ that a terrible and horrific disease of the soul can destroy you eternally when you multiply the social equation:
‘Unrepentant Sin’ x ‘False Teaching of Corrupt Doctrine and Scripture’ = DEATH
I look at Anglicanism/Episcopalianism today and see little difference between it and Rome. Even their clambering for ecumenical communion, leading to ultimate reconciliation under the papacy, speaks for itself. Worse (in my opinion as a simply a member of the laity without formal theological training or service) is their corporate brotherhood of sin with regard to their treatment/understanding and teaching of the Word of God.
Within allegory and Replacement theology, we show utter contempt for Jesus. By doing so, we curse and destroy The Word, casting out Jesus.
Our Savior Christ was deliberately conceived by our Father to be born a Jew and that from the Davidic Line. This was not by chance but as an exercise of divine Will.
Jesus came first, for the ultimate Salvation of the Hebrews. Even though the Sanhedrin and their hard rump followers (we refer to as ‘the Jews’) had him condemned and executed (as well depicted In the Old Testament, particularly in Isaiah), they acted only as instruments of the Will of the LORD.
I reiterate: God, in the expression of His Will, uses both the wicked and the righteous before Him to perform the end He desires. This should serve to indicate the poor understanding of folk who run around talking about ‘Our God of Love.’
Therefore, what God might well consider the expression of both His Will and Love, might most often appear to be far from our ability to understand His ultimate purpose. Who therefore, either in ignorance or vain-glorious pride, would question either the HOW or WHEREFORE of the work of His hand?
Whatever the outcome, the believer submits to His Will, and amidst even great sorrow and brokenness (as occasioned perhaps by the sudden, unexpected passing of a greatly loved child), thanks God for the time you shared with him or her and praises Him in His glory.
THE CLARITY OF THE SCRIPTURES:
Scripture is crystal clear that Christ Jesus was the sacrifice that Almighty God made of Himself to establish a means of reconciling the fallen status of the pinnacle of His Own Creation: ‘man.’
All of this has been almost put aside by the ‘greater’ of the denominations and many of the lessor. Their doctrines and theology reflect contempt for the Word. I say contempt because they brook no argument, no admission of error and thereby no contrition, and certainly no humility. Nothing offered, bar a surfeit of pride and arrogance.
John says that Jesus is The Word.
We who believe this portion of Scripture from the gospels, as mostly first witnessed and later written by the apostles of Jesus, take it within our minds (our intellect) and accept it within our hearts to be a literally understood, unalterable, inalienable truth. We then say, “If they (the denominations claiming the legacy of the Messiah) deny the Word, Who is scripturally described as ‘Jesus, the Christ of the Living God,’ then, “How can they of supersessionism (replacement) claim to be a part of his body and blood of salvation?”
And far worse are its implications—particularly, if their claims maintain that they are based upon some sort of divinely inspired ‘right’ to bring this denial and manipulation of the Word to their multitudes of committed believers.
How great then is their sin and the wages incurred that will lead to their ultimate condemnation and destruction?
No, my claim is that, presently and perhaps for many centuries, the body of the denominational church has corrupted itself. It has led itself into theological error and thus failed the flock it purports to lead.
It has perpetrated deception through the medium of Replacement Theology (Supersessionism) doctrine. It uses the medium of allegory to provide the means through which they attempt to bring creditability to their doctrine. And by virtue of such ‘replacement,’ they have misrepresented the meaning of literal Scripture. They have erred dreadfully.
Where then lie the millions who have gathered in the Square of St. Peter to offer worship to their white-clad, man-god? Several billion people claim the Pope of Rome thus. This they are taught. They know naught else: their deception is complete and the majesty presented them is empty as is the chance of finding Jesus within their great and splendid Basilica.
A whitewashed and empty sepulcher is the offering of this false testimony. It assuredly will carry the misled to eternal death.
Therefore, the result of their deception is the immensity of its impact in terms of flow-on. By claiming that the Jews have no portion because of their alleged sin (Roman Catholicism’s doctrine, passed through the Reformation), has delivered a legacy of lies that has almost totally corrupted the legacy that Jesus had passed to the Gentile church. In this, they have mocked the Gospel that our Savior died for.
Do you understand the literal impact of this? It could be held in the ‘Court of Final Jurisdiction, (Judgement) that they have, with malice aforethought (as they say in law), made a wicked parody of The Communion Supper itself.
When a priest/pastor from the pulpit delivers a teaching based upon the doctrine of Replacement, and then at the end of his sermon prepares to offer the sacrament of Communion in ‘Remembrance of Jesus and His divinely orchestrated sacrifice,’ he is not offering the true bread of the body of Christ Jesus, nor the pure healing wine of Salvation expressed through the shedding of His blood. What is offered in lieu is a cruel parody.
We are asked to consume rotten bread and to drink from a ‘poisoned chalice.’
I fully expect some to take umbrage at this statement, believing that the Communion Supper stands alone irrespective of what goes before or comes after. We may never know. Nevertheless, I make the analogy in order to empathize the severity of the error caused by deliberate misinterpretation of the Word. I certainly mean no disrespect, nor offered offense.
WHAT IS THE DENOMINATIONAL CHURCH OFFERING TRUE BELIEVERS?
I should, at this point, very positively state that there are still (thank God) a rump of denominations that preach a literal understanding and present teachings of Biblical truth, commensurate with and allowing for translation error. I won’t name them because, in fact, I don’t know them all.
However, I do suspect that, even within certain denominational communions (groups of like churches applying common doctrine), there are presently emerging individual congregations that having woken from sleep and are at last beginning to repudiate anything other than the application of a literal Bible.
Boy oh Boy, if this is indeed the case, there must be some great, Irish-style stoushes at Parish Council and Elders meetings!
Praise God!
My concern is purely with the denominations that have continued to deliberately repudiate any form of biblical literacy. To them, ‘we’ are the heretics, along with our belief in a ‘pre-tribulation’ rapture of the true Church. That, of course, is a meal of anathema they will not swallow. They aren’t having a bar of that sort of nonsense.
Alternatively, these denominations continue to purport to offer healing and other means to salvation. Today, even at this late hour, this is increasingly expressed through ‘sacraments,’ confession, social justice platforms, euphoric singing and/or theatrical-like presentations. They are designed to draw in a crowd of proselytes who grew up on this diet and never move an inch without their ubiquitous cell-phone camera turned on to record their latest wonderful experience in the form of ‘selfies.’
The most ‘successful’ of these emergent ‘churches’ promote a similar experience to the rock concerts of their youth. Moreover, there is little ‘preaching,’ much luuuuv, plenty of music and exhortations to contribute (financially) to the ‘work of god.’ Notice I didn’t capitalize His name. The god spoken of herein has little to do with our Almighty Father and LORD, but all to do with the demagogue doing the spiel.
In their emphasis upon the performance of ‘good works’ and a raft of almost pagan platitudes, together with the worship of ‘saints’ and claims of infallibility, the silence as to the truth of literal Scripture is deafening from both the well-established denominations and the emergent newcomers.
I kid you not. Following our Rapture and the beginning of the Tribulation, their meeting places will be overflowing with the lost. God Help them. They will find no succor there.
Any claims that the senior prelate of a church denomination speaks for God Himself as His directly inspired representative simply fill me with contempt and revulsion. There is absolutely no basis in Scripture for this other than when God Himself appoints a prophetic messenger. No made-conducted conclave can, with a puff of smoke, indicate that this has occurred through the medium of popular vote. They may pray upon it. It ‘cuts no ice’ with our divine C.E.O. He appears to harbor a distinct dislike for attempts at manmade competition. God help any man to whom He makes that dislike manifest.
And within the panoply of worldly magnificence robed in gold and the purity of white, when I see these ‘holiest’ of men wearing upon their heads the fish-head hat, it induces a wry smile.
With its missing middle piece, this ‘sacred’ headpiece was first symbolically utilized and meant to be representative of a fish-head. It was first worn by the priests of the Fish God, Dagan that was worshiped in ancient Mesopotamia. I view it as simply a pathetic reminder of the pagan lineage from whence the greater denominations have descended.
At Ebla (Tell Mardikh), from at least 2300 BC, Dagan was the head of the city pantheon comprising some 200 deities and bore the titles BE-DINGIR–DINGIR, “Lord of the gods” and Bekalam, “Lord of the land.”
How strange. There was a true birth lineage put in place directly by Almighty God; however, the greater denominations have, in satanically induced error, chosen to follow illegitimate heirs.
Only today, as I read further into my current study of Early Church History, I came across the decision of the Emperor Justinian to create the alleged birthdate of Jesus to be December 25. This came about because the new (previously pagan) converts to his State-controlled religion (Christianity) were already familiar with the celebration of Saturnalia. The latter was a Greco-Roman celebration which usually fell between 17-23 December. Need I say more?
THE DOCTRINE OF SOCIAL JUSTICE & NEW AGE CULTISH CREEDS AS THEY APPLY TO THE CHURCH:
The denominations have now enthusiastically adopted the ‘great’ cause of social justice.
We can see exactly why.
They have mutually decided to slowly remove both the literal Word (which in effect they did centuries ago), but also to slowly remove Jesus/Yeshua Himself, reducing Him to a pale and misunderstood guru singing a lonely mantra of Worldly, unrequited ‘love.’
Most certainly, they have no taste for a God of Will. A ‘Will,’ the exercise of which is divinely administered through His Justice and Judgment. A God of power and great might, who though loving of His Own Creation, can, has and shall again exercise the expression of His wrath because of how He views our wicked transgressions of unbelief.
I might add that there is no doubt that the greater congregations calling themselves ‘Christian’ have little taste let alone desire for such a God either. It denotes a place that says, ‘don’t let’s go there!’ I submit that few attend Church today to willingly sit their respective bottoms still, long enough to hear that they might still be unacceptable because of their refusal to repudiate their sins.
Why are they so ‘hell-bent’ upon destruction?
The denominational church must be viewed, not through rose-tinted glasses, but through the prism of the World at large. If we say ‘the World is corrupt’ (as personified by its peoples and the filth of their individual sins), so then are its belief systems and the ‘priesthoods’ that service them. Surely, as night follows day, they follow each other exactly.
The World loves theatre, music and flamboyant presentation. They are visual examples of ‘works’ that are designed to offer us up as demi-gods within this insane theatre of the already damned. And this, because of the ungodly facade of ‘worship’ that we have created.
If this ‘Jesus’ guy has a place, He must be re-designed to fit the World. If that cannot be, then slowly remove every vestige of Him. All this of course, aided directly by Satan.
Brothers/Sisters, be in no doubt. It is he that has infiltrated the clergy, corrupted the laity, and thereby is attempting to kill our Hope made real by the ‘passion of the Christ.’
HOPE SPRINGS ETERNAL:
I understand that some of the Baptist Communion are still teaching Christ Crucified in a literally interpreted Word. What a joy that is.
I say ‘how wonderful’ and thank God Almighty that something remains alive amongst the many alleged churches claiming ‘they’ offer a more exclusive way to Salvation. The claim, even by inference, is of course a mendacious fallacy.
Salvation is a most secret and personal thing, comprising your declaration of broken-hearted repentance, when you first placed your faith, trust and eternal hope in Jesus. Am in wrong in my view that this then is your first real Communion?
It may not appear to have the trappings of the Supper in which we commemorate the Paschal sacrifice made by our God come to Earth. However, I rate the act of contrition as we first place our faith in Jesus as a sacramental act, as we at last sacrifice the ‘god’ of ‘self’ at the foot of the Cross.
If your church is comprised of believers who are pastored with the real, literal, living Word of the Bible, how blessed are you. So many sit in the pews, Sunday following Sunday, never meeting the real Jesus. God Help Them! They are completely unaware.
May you and your church keep the faith. And in doing so, watch out for both laity and clergy who slither in like the serpents they are, to preach that which is not true.
No; not simply error. Untrue because of omission, replacement of Scripture or major activities that should always be placed secondary to the worship of Almighty God through His Christ.
When such causes (such as assisting the performance of activities/events that further community issues of social justice) become the principal focus of a denominational church, they can quickly transform it into a church of ‘works.’ And as laudable as such charity might appear to be, it must never take precedence over our relationship with Jesus.
God is always concerned with the vitality of our faith as we adhere to the promises of His Son. ‘Good Works’ and Christian charity always remain the fruit of that faith and trust. They must never supplant them.
And now, may our most Holy and Everlasting LORD and God Bless and keep both your clergy and congregation in the coming storm as we await His call,
“Come Up Here!”
Maranatha,
Denis Bowden
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