FOOD FOR THOUGHT 

The Complete History of the Lord’s Church, Ends by Making Him Physically Sick 

Part Four 

The Re-Crucifixion of Christ and the Deification of Mary 

The Church “in” Thyatira 

“And unto the angel of the church “in” Thyatira write; these things say’s the Son of God, who has eyes like unto a flame of fire, and His feet like brass.  I know your works, charity and service and faith...Notwithstanding i have a few things against you, because you suffer that woman who calls herself a prophetess to teach and seduce your servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols.” Revelation 2;18-20  

The name “Thyatira” means “continual sacrifice”.  This is prophetic and a 100% accurate down to the smallest detail, because the defining doctrine introduced into Christianity of this period in church history, was the mass, and the deification of Mary.  During the Catholic mass and the Eucharist is served Christ is re-crucified on the altar every time.  It is another man-created doctrine!  But the Book of Hebrews completely-destroys this absurdity.  “Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many.” Hebrews 9:28...”Jesus after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever sat down (His work was finished) on the right hand of God.” Hebrews 10:12 In simplicity that even a child can understand, Christ’ sacrifice was complete, final on Calvary and fully sufficient.  It does not need to be repeated, because it cannot be repeated! This hybrid church represents a period around 538 AD - 1565 AD, representing a period when much of Christian practice was in spiritual darkness. From Justinian’s decree establishing the office of papal authority as the official head of the churches to the Council of Trent formal rejection of the Reformation.  And Jesus names this spiritual corrupt spiritual practice within the Church in one devastating word, “JEZEBEL!”  To grasp the full impact and weight of the Lord’s indictment!  Jezebel was the pagan princess of Sidon, of the Phoenicians, who married Ahab king of Israel.  She totally embodied the ancient spirit of Babylon.  After marrying Ahab, she did not convert to Judaism, but she introduced all her pagan religious practices to Israel.  “Jezebel established 850 prophets of Baal and Asher. She systematically murdered all the prophets of the LORD. She used the power of the state to enforce false worship. She persecuted Elijah until he fled and despaired of his life, begging the Lord to take him home. She manipulated the legal system to murder an innocent man, Naboth, because he refused to sell hi s land to King ahab.” 1st Kings 16-21 Every characteristic of the demon possessed woman, describes in minute detail the medieval papal hierarchical practice of the Church of Rome.  The evil is further compounded by the deification of Mary the mother of Jesus, who like the rest of us, was just a regular sinner!  [IMPORTANT NOTE:] It’s important to note how Jesus introduces Himself to this church; “SAY’S the SON OF GOD WITH EYES AS FLAMES A FIRE (eyes that take note of every blasphemous act against Him) FEET LIKE BRASS” ” the exact description of His initial appearance to John in the 1st chapter as Almighty God, “His head and His hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and His eyes were as a flame of fire, and His feet like unto fine brass, as they burned in the furnace.” The same also as the “Ancient of Days”“Ancient of Days” in the book of Daniel.  So, to teach the superiority of Mary over her Son, is the purest act of blaspheme. As far as the Lord’s indictment as a prophetess; The introduction of Marion theology does claim prophetic authority. Our Lady of Fatima Miracle. The story begins in the village of Fatima, Portugal, on May 13, 1917. On that fateful day near that tiny village, The Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, appeared to three young peasant children: Francisco, Jacinta, and Lucia; ages 10, 9 and 7.  Her prophetic message: Our Lady: “Do you wish to offer yourselves to God to endure all the sufferings that He may be pleased to send you, as both an act of reparation for the sins with which He is offended and an act of supplication for the conversion of sinners?”  According to this prophecy, Jesus was both a fool and a liar, when He said from Calvary; “IT IS FINISHED!”  Coupled with this further practice of idol worship:   

[The First Appearance and Apparition] Pray the rosary every day to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war  

[The Second Appearance and Apparition] of Our Lady of Fatima – May 13, 1917) “[Jesus] wishes to establish devotion to my Immaculate Heart in the world. I promise salvation to those who embrace it; and these souls will be beloved of God-like flowers arranged by me to adorn His throne.” 

[The Third Appearance and Apparition] Our Lady of Fatima – June 13, 1917) “…Pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, in order to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war, for she alone can be of any avail.”   

[The Fourth appearance and apparition] Our Lady of Fatima - July 13, 1917 - “Sacrifice yourselves for sinners and say many times, especially when you make a sacrifice, ‘O Jesus, this is for love of Thee, for the conversion of sinners, and in reparation for the sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of the mother of God. 

Anywhere the phrase immaculate conception used in Catholicism is a reference to the virgin birth of Mary, not Christ.  In deifying Mary, they have her ascending into heaven like Jesus.  It leaves us trying to answer this question, how can multiplied millions be so deceived?  There is only one legitimate answer, slothfulness, and outright rejection of Holy Scripture.  I would never entrust my eternal soul to man-created religious doctrines.  If “Our Lady of Fatima” Our Lady of Fatima” is not blasphemous enough, there is the doctrine of the “the Scapula”.   In Roman Catholic doctrine, a scapula (from the Latin for "shoulders") is a sacramental—an outward sacred sign that helps users obtain spiritual grace. It has evolved into a popular devotional item symbolizing dedication to Mary and commitment to living a life of virtue. The Church of Rome joined with kings and emperors to enforce its decrees globally.  It established the “Inquisition” to inhuman torture and murdering true Christian believers who would not bow their knee to a Religious Roman dictator, the Pope.  And hear this carefully, it claimed the authority to change God’s order of time, with the Gregorian Calendar to replace the Jewish Calendar.  Making a year 365 days instead of the 360-day Jewish calendar. Secondly, Papal authority took it upon itself to rewrite God’s Law, entirely removing the 2nd Commandment’s prohibition against the creating and worship of idols or images of likeness in heaven or on the earth.  Changing the Sabbath to Sunday.  No religious institution or denomination has the authority or power to mettle with divine commands.   

CONCLUSION: However, even in the Church’s darkest period in history, the Lord still had His faithful witnesses. The Waldenses in the valleys of Northern Italy preserved the Scriptures and sent out missionaries at the risk of their own lives, hunted down and persecuted by the Church of Rome.  The Albigenses in southern France preached the pure unadulterated gospel, at the risk of torture or being burned alive at the stake by the Church of Rome’s Inquisition.  John Wycliff in England translated the Bible into the language of the people.  Jan Hus in Bohemia was burned at the stake while he sang hymns.  The darker the night, the brighter the faithful flamed.  and to the overcomers, Jesus promised, “I will give him the morning star.”  The morning star is the star that appears just before dawn.  The signal that the long night is almost over.  The escape from the dark and wide-spread bondage of Roman Catholicism was about to come face to face with the Reformation. If you are still breathing and are still in the bondage of religious darkness, there is still time to extricate yourself from the darkness.  

FOOD FOR THOUGHT 

The Complete History of the Lord’s Church, Ends by Making Him Physically Sick

Satan’s Strategic Move of Uniting the Church in Marriage to Rome; Is an Act of Deceptive

Mastery, Rivaled Only by the Serpents Deception of Eve

PART THREE

The Church “in” Pergamos

“And unto the angel of the church “in” Pergamos write; these things says He which has the Sharpe two-edged sword with two edges; I know your works, and where you dwell, even where Satan’s seat (or throne) is.” Revelation 2:12-13

The name Pergamos comes from the original Greek meaning “elevation or marriage”.  And both meanings are prophetically exact for this period in the church’s history.  The period from approximately 313 AD – 538 AD.  A time when a persecuted church came up out of the Roman catacombs stirred by an end of the Edict of Persecution and a new enacted Edict of Toleration proclaimed by Rome’s Emperor Constantine, who made Christianity the new religion of all of Rome.  It was when the church was elevated to political power through its marriage to the Roman state.  In 313 AD Emperor Constantine issued the “Edict of Milan”, officially ending the persecution of Christians.  But his Edict did for more than stop the killing.  He made Christianity the religion of all the Roman Empire.  He gave the church buildings, money, political influence, social standing, and millions of pagans flooded into the church, not because they were converted, but because it was now politically advantageous to be Christian, and that is not even the worse part, they brought with them all their paganistic beliefs and ideas.  Pagan practices became the corner stone of the church.  Veneration of the saints, [Where worship is directed exclusively toward a deity or God as a supreme being, veneration involves honoring a created being (like a saint, an elder, or a sacred object) for the excellence they possess or represent.], December 25th, in honor of the birth of the Roman sun-god Sol Invictus [invincible “Sun” or “Unconquered Sun, was the official sun god of the late Roman Empire and a later aspect of, or replacement for, the old Latin god Sol] and the birth of Tammuz, the Babylonian son of Nimrod and Semiramis. Spring brought fertility rights, of Ishtar, celebrated as Easter replete with idols and statues and other images that adorned the churches.  Church leaders embraced the pagan priesthood and religious clerical hierarchy. The pure and simple gospel of Jesus Christ was now buried under layers of pagan tradition.  The “simplicity that was in Christ” was lost forever.   

The Church’s refusal to repent of its blatant sin is the single greatest danger the Church in the 21st century faces.  But you don’t have to take my word for it, let the Lord do His own talking; I am aware “even where Satan’s seat(or throne) is!”What the Lord is revealing, Pergamos dwells and has put down roots where Satan’s throne is.  The ancient city of Pergamum literally had what was called the throne of Zeus, a massive altar 40’ high, which archeologist excavated and moved to Berlin, Germany, where it sits to this day.  But is there a deeper prophetic meaning? When Constantine moved the capital from Rome to Constantinople in 330 AD it left a power vacuum in Rome.  And who filled the vacuum?  The Bishop of Rome became the papal authority of Rome.  Satan’s throne, the seat of political power, was transferred from pagan Rome to Papal Rome, and Satan’s throne moved into the church.  And the Lord names [2] doctrines that have infiltrated the church by this strategic move of Satan.  [1st] was the doctrine of Balaam.  In Numbers 22:2-25 the king of Moab, Balak, Balaam an Israelite holy man to curse Israel, but God would not allow him to do so. So, Balaam devised another strategy. He sent Moabite women to seduce the Israelite men into sexual immorality and idolatry. What Balaam could not accomplish through direct attack; he accomplished through seduction. And that is exactly what Satan did to the church during the Pergamos period.  [2nd] doctrine, that of the Nicolaitans, from two Gr. Words “Nikaro”meaning to conquer and “Laos” the people, a system that conquers the people, a clerical hierarchy that places priests and bishops above the laity.  This a direct contradiction of Scripture, Peter the so-called first pope wrote in his 1st Epistle “You are a chosen priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people; that you should show forth the praises of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.” First Peter 2:9 That means every true believer in the faith of Christ, is a royal priest.  No human mediator stands between you and Christ.  The great adversary of Christ, Satan, now endeavors to gain artifice (crafty, clever and cunning trickery) what he failed to secure by force through murder, human carnage, persecution and destruction.  This is the period when persecution was replaced by societal acceptance, and persecution ceased and in its place was substituted with dangerous allurements of temporal prosperity and worldly honor.  Idolaters were open received into the Christian faith while they outright rejected other essential biblical truths.   

CONCLUSION: With Satan’s strategic move to stop his attempt at destroying the church from without, he reversed strategy and moved into the church. Resulting in the stage set for the longest and darkest period in Christian history.  It is what Charles Spurgeon, the great English preacher, aptly warnedthe church had made its way onto the ““Downgrade” of which no entity has ever been able to exit off of.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT 

The Complete History of the Lord’s Church, Ends by Making Him Physically Sick

PART TWO

The Church “in” Smyrna

“And unto the angel of the church “in” Smyrna write; these things says the first and the last, which was dead and is alive. I know your works and tribulation, and poverty, (but you are rich).” Revelation 2:8-9 Let’s first look at the name, it means “myrrh”, which comes in hard chunks, but when it is crushed a beautiful aromatic fragrance is emitted.  This was the church being crushed under the iron heel of the Roman Empire, and when crushed, a beautiful fragrance filled all of heaven.Believers in the faith of Jesus Christ could not meet in public, they had no political protections, thus they met underground in the Roman catacombs where great amounts in earth had been excavated to major Roman edifices.  There was a true godliness and holiness when these Christians met, they confessed sins to one another prayed for strength to endure the persecution for their faith in Christ.  This church represents a period in church history from approximately 100 AD – 313 AD the era that encapsulated the great Roman persecutions.  A time when 10 major waves of persecution swept across the empire.  Christians were thrown into arenas filled with sold out crowds as Christian were the meal to feed ravished and starving lions that had been purposely starved for maximum effect for the entertainment.  Christians also adorned Nero’s gardens as human lanterns, and Christians were sewn into animal skins and torn to pieces by wild dogs, boiled in oil, and sawn into inside logs.  However, there was a divine twist to Satan’s attempt to destroy the church through persecution, the more Rome persecuted the church the more it grew.  Thus, was born the truth “The Blood of the Martyrs is the Seed of the Gospel.” Now let’s examine how Christ introduces Himself to this suffering church; “says the first and the last who was dead and is alive.”  He was saying to them, I know what death is, I have been there.  I was physically so mutilated I was unrecognizable by those closest to Me “He is despised and rejected of of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him. he was despised, and we esteemed him not.”I was literally slaughtered and then nailed to a cross and crucified and died, but death could not hold me.  I rose again to life everlasting.  And because death had no lasting power over Me, you too have nothing to fear from those who cab mutilate the flesh.  Then Jesus says something that would appear contradictory but is profoundly true. I know about your tribulation, physical suffering and poverty, but you are rich.  In the eyes of the world, the Smyrna church was a cesspool of poverty and suffering for a dead Savior who had been publicly executed by crucifixion, but Jesus looked at them and saw wealth, the wealth of their faith, the wealth of their character, the wealth of life eternal in the kingdom of God.  Now compare this with what He would say to the Laodicean church, that closes the history of the Church while dwelling in Satan's kingdom on the earth.  Unlike Smyrna who lived in poverty, much of the modern church can openly boast to all the world of their immense wealth (in the billions), their exalted status by church buildings that rival any country club in comforts, and state of the art music programs, as well as holding titles in the communities, their titles and place in the nation’s political system. without a doubt, Jesus would level the same indictment that delivered to the Laodiceans church, “Your wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked.”Smyrna was poor, but rich! Laodicea, like the much of the modern church, is rich but poor.  All of us as Christians in the 21st century in modern America need to let this sink in and take root concerning our Christian walk, and to what degree are we willing to suffer for Christ. 

Here is a detail so stunning in its prophetic precision that no honest person of faith can ignore, of this revelation in church history.  Jesus tells the Church in Smyrna “Fear none of these things which you shall suffer: behold, the devil (FOOD FOR THOUGHT, Jesus identifies the devil as the Roman Empire, makes you wonder about the true origin of the Roman Catholic Church)shall cast some of you into prison, that you may be tried, and you shall have tribulation ten days.”NERO / 64 AD...DOMITIAN / 95 AD...TRAJAN / 108 AD...MARCUS AURELIUS / 162 AD...SERERUS / 202 AD...MAXIMINUS / 235 AD...DECIUS / 250...VALERIAN / 257...AURELIAN / 274 AD and DIOCLETIAN / 313 AD.  In Biblical prophecy, a prophetic day equals a literal year.  This principal is established in Numbers 14.34 “After the number of days in which you searched out the land, even forty days, each day for a year.” Ezekiel 4.8-10 “And when you have accomplished them, lie again on your right side, and you shall bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days, i have appointed you each day for a year.” So, it is an indisputable fact that 10 prophetic days equal 10 literal years.  And the last and most horrific Roman persecution, lasted from exactly 303 AD – 313 AD, 10 years precisely as Jesus predicted, written decades before by the Apostle John, before it would ever take place.  The world foolishly discounts the Bible as made-up stories by men, fables and fictitious stories, but no true Christian should ever ignore Biblical prophecy.  The one (Jesus) who knew the exact length of Diocletian’s persecution knows every detail of our lives. There is an old negro spiritual that tells us all we need to understand about our life “My God is a writing He is writing all the time."

CONCLUSION: There is something we must not miss.  This is the first of the seven churches that Jesus had found nothing about their profession of faith, that displeased Him.  This teaches the modern church something profound that we have ignored or refuse to let happen by escaping the suffering through our judicial system.  Persecution purifies the church.  Prosperity, materialism, the most comfortable worship houses, and comfort her wealth can provide.  If I am exaggerating, then why is church membership in decline, our integrity non-existent, and our morals even being questioned.  It is not suffering that destroys God’s people, it’s comfort ease, wealth, and faith that cost absolutely nothing.  We must never forget this, because it will matter before we are done.  “Be thou faithful until death and I will give you the crown of life. They who overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death.” This present world, Satan’s kingdom, can take our first life, but they can never touch our eternal life.  Satan’s attempt to destroy the church through persecution failed miserably.  But unlike most of us, he never entertains the thought that he had lost the battle.  He simply strategizes a new approach to win the battle.  in the case of the church, he could not destroy it from the outside, so he would corrupt from the inside.  And that brings us to the [3rd] church.  And this will begin one of the darkest periods in the Church’s history, where everything begins to go wrong.  

FOOD FOR THOUGHT 

The Complete History of the Lord’s Church, That At Its End, Makes Him Physically Sick

INTRODUCTION 

There is a church in the Bible that Jesus said makes Him sick.  a church that thinks it is rich but is actually poor.  A church that thinks it can see but is blind.  A church that thinks it is clothed to impress but is instead naked before God.  And the most terrifying part, most of modern Christianity is in it and they have no clue that they are in it.  Much of modern Christianity is in the wrong church and they don’t even know it.  Revelations shocking warning!  So, let’s open our Bibles to Revelation 1:10 The apostle John the last surviving disciple of Jesus Christ, is an old man now.  His fellow disciples are all dead.  Peter was crucified upside down, James was beheaded, and Paul was executed by Nero.  And John himself has been banished to a barren and windswept island called Patmos, exiled by the Roman Emperor Demission because he refused to stop preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ.  And it is there on that rocky desolate island surrounded by nothing but sea and stone and the cries of seabirds that John receives the most extraordinary vision in the history of the world.  he writes these words “I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet, saying ii am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and what you see, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea.   Now let’s pause and consider something profound.  There were other Christian churches in Asia Minor at this time.  Trowaz, Asos, Meletus, Colossi, Hera-Poulos, Trails, Magnesia, and the list goes on and on.  So why did Jesus choose just these seven?  Why not eight, why not twelve?  Why these particular-seven?  The answer is three fold.  And every one of these reasons will matter before we are done.  [1], the number [7] in the Bible always represents completeness and perfection.  God created the world in [7] days.  Israel marched around Jericho [7] times.  revelation gives us [7] seals, [7] trumpets and [7] bowls of judgment.  When Jesus addresses [7] churches, He is saying, “these messages cover the complete history of My church from beginning to end.”  Not a partial history, but a complete history.  [2nd], trace these [7] cities on a map of Asia Minor and we will see something extraordinary.  They form a circuit, a mail route, a messenger traveling from city to city in sequence would create a shape, and that shape is the silhouette of a Menorah, a seven-branched candelabrum, the ancient symbol of the people of God.  Is this simply a coincidence?  No!  Jesus himself declares in Revelations 1:20, “The mystery of the [7] stars which you see in my right-hand, and the [7] golden candlesticks.  The [7] stars are the angels of the [7] churches: and the [7] candlesticks which you saw are the seven churches.”  [3rd], and the key that unlocks the mystery.  Each of these [7] cities had specific local conditions that foreshadowed a distinct period of Christian history.  The names of the [7] churches are symbolic of the church in different periods of the Christian era.  As already stated, the number [7] indicates completeness and is symbolic of the fact that the messages extend to the end of the Church age, or time of the Gentiles.  While the symbols used reveal the condition of the church at different periods in the history of the world.  So, facts that we are about to unpack are not merely ancient history.  It is prophecy, a divine road map, and the most sobering reality of all, is this.  The last of the [7] churches describe us clearly and unambiguously.  It describes the church as it exists right now, in the final hours of the dispensation labeled in the Bible as “THE TIME OF THE GENTILES.”   

 Before we dive in to the [1st] church, here are the [7] eras of Christian history that we are about to journey together.  Ephesus, the Apostolic Church, 31-100AD...Smyrna, the church under persecution 100-313 AD...Pergamos the compromised Church 313-538 AD...Thyatira the medieval Church 538-1565 AD...Sardis the reformation church 1565-1740 AD... Philadelphia the missionary church 1740-1844...Laodicean the church of the judgment 1844-present AD.

PART ONE

The Church “of” Ephesus

“Unto, the angel of the church of Ephesus write; These things says He that holds the seven starsin His right hand, who walks in-the-midst of the seven golden candlesticks.”The name of each church has profound significance as we will soon discover.  Ephesus means “desirable or first” the period in the Church’s history was from 31 AD – 100 AD., it was the apostolic church.  The “key” that unlocks understanding the journey of the churches through its history, is in the way the Lord presents Himself to each church. In this church it’s important to note the Lord is holding the [7] stars (or the pastors and teachers) in his right hand (denotes controlling power) as he walks among the lampstands, the churches.  He is not distant; He is not absent; He right there walking among His people. We noted the name Ephesus means “desirable” or “first.”  and that is exactly what this church represents.  The first church, the desirable church, the church at its most pure and powerful, the church of the apostles born on the day of Pentecost in 31 AD and continuing until approximately 100 AD the time of the death of John himself. 

The Lord says three commendable things about this church.  [1] I know your work, your labor, your patience.  Now, in the original Greek these words carry tremendous weight.  The word translated “work” is [ergger] which means active deeds of faith, the same word James uses when he say’s “Faith without works is dead.” The Gr. Wd. Translated “labor” is [Copos], not ordinary labor, but exhausting toil under hardships.  The kind Paul describes in II Corinthians: “I am more; in labors, more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft.”  For “patience” the Gr. Wd. [Hoopamone] not passive waiting, but active endurance under trial, refusing to quit when pressure is unbearable, and the threat of imminent death.  This church worked, this church suffered, this church endured, and they did something else that is nearly non-existent in modern Christianity.  It tested false teachers, for which Jesus commends them [how you cannot bear them which devise wickedness (that literally damns the soul), you tested them which say they are apostles (teachers) and are not, and found them to be liars.” The early church was doctrinally vigilant.  False man-made doctrines were exposed for what they were.  in other words, unlike much of modern Christianity, the early church did not accept every teacher or teaching that came along.  Much of modern Christianity seems to have forgotten John’s dire warning.  [“Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits whether they are of God, because man false prophets have gone out into the world.”  The Lord not only commends the things that please Him but warns against the things that displease Him. 

THE REBUKE

And It Is Devastating

Here is an often-overlooked important truth: [“My son despise not the chastening of the Lord, neither be weary of His correction, for whom the Lord loves He corrects.”  The Lord’s rebuke is simple and to the point: [“Nevertheless I have somewhat against you, because you have left your first love.”]Here is something important to note, He doesn’t say they lost their first love.  Hey says they “left” it.!  You “lose” something accidentally; you “leave” something deliberately.  Think of it along these lines; you can’t accidentally lose your salvation (simply because you have no power to obtain it in the first place), but you can deliberately abandon it in pursuit of worldly pleasures.  The first-generation Christians, Peter, Paul, John, Stephen, all burned with a white-hot passionate love for Jesus that drove them to the ends of the earth. They counted everything as loss for the excellency of knowing Christ.  But by the end of the first century, a shift began to manifest itself among believers.  The church was still doctrinally correct, still working hard, still enduring suffering physically for the gospel’s sake, but fervency of their predecessors had been begun to cool.  The reason is that orthodoxy was replacing intimacy.  Arguments over certain doctrines, etc.  As a result, correct belief was substituting in place of passionate devotion of sharing Jesus.  So, Jesus issues a warning; [“Remember therefore from where you are fallen, and repent, and do the first work; or else i will come to you quickly, and will remove your candlestick out of his place, except you repent.”] A church without love is a church without light.  The early Christians were indeed a peculiar people.  Their blameless deportment (the manner-in-which the church conducts itself) and their unswerving faith were indeed an irritant that disturbed the sinner’s peace.  One of the things that makes the Ephesus church stand out in comparison to modern Christianity; they were few in numbers, without any wealth, societal position or honorary titles, however they were a holy terror to evildoers wherever their character, testimony and doctrines were known!  In comparison to today’s church, with its massive numbers, wealth in the billions, and titles and positions in the political system, it is enough to make a true believer weep. 

[“And to those who overcome I will give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst-of-the paradise of God.”] What Adam lost in the first Garden, Christ will restore in the last paradise.  When love begins to cool, persecutions heat up.And that brings us to the second church. 

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

SOUTHERN BAPTIST CONVENTION IN CRISIS

 The Sothern Baptist Convention, is set to open its 2026 Annual Meeting June 7-10, in Orlando FL. And it promises to be filled with spiritual controversy over the issue of women and the misogynist spirit seen by many women affiliated with SBC, this coupled with whether-or-not it is appropriate for women, to take on the title of ‘pastor’ and exercising authority over congregations filled with men.  We as Southern Baptist pastors and teachers have oft preached the well-known universal truth Be not deceived, God is not mocked, for whatsoever a person sows that shall he they also reap…As we therefore have opportunity, let us do good unto all people, especially to them of the household of faith.”

Since its creation by men as a religious institution with a hierarchical leadership by virtue of the democratic process, it has, like all man-made religious institutions patterned after secular design, has made its share of practices that have impugned the character of Christ nationally.  They were founded over a denominational split over the issue of slavery.  Southern-Baptists believers in Christ, were against emancipation, and wanted to maintain the right to own slaves, so they ended up splitting from the northern Baptist fellowship of believers to form what would ultimately become the Southern Baptist Convention, of autonomous churches.  Their early history is filled with human-hate against Jews, Catholics, Latinos and African Americans.  Southern Baptist churches maintained a strong affiliation with groups known for their cruel and inhuman treatment of every race that was not white, the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan and White Citizens Council etc.  Although an apology was issued in 1995 at the annual SBC meeting in Atlanta for its stance on slavery and segregation, the spiritual damage unfixable, in the eyes of the world.  The SBC went from 6 million members in 1946 to 12 million by 1972, and its membership peaked in 2006 at 16.2 million, this due to a shift in focus from spiritual growth to numerical growth.  Campaigns where church members were sent out door to door to enroll people into the church. etc.  It was also during this time the creation of the country-club megachurch reached a fever pitch among Southern Baptist churches.  Everything was about numbers and growth.  The next the SBC split came over inerrancy of the word.  Then they went full-bore into the Republican Party, where pastors openly promoted the Republican platform from their pulpits.  Some even campaign for Donald Trump, never realizing they were being played.  Remember Satan is the master of deception and the father of all lies.  As Southern Baptist we have forgot a few of the most important warning concerning our adversary, and the god of this world, Satan.  Just how clever is his deception?  Paul, tell us; “But i fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from (seeking the acceptance of the world, the love of money, creating super-churches, and becoming a celebrity pastor etc.) the simplicity that is in Christ…for such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into an angel of light. and no marvel (don’t look stupefied or be astounded); for Satan himself is transformed as into an angel of light. Therefore, it is no great feat if his ministers also be transformed as ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their work.” II Corinthians 11: 3 & 13-15 What has befallen the SBC happens over-and-over again when men attempt to make the gospel appealing to the seekers, devoid of true brokenness and conviction by the Holy Spirit.  It’s Laodicea 101.  As a result of buying into the Republican Christian speak, Christians are eating up the falsehoods like ravenous and starving children.  The Christian goes unanswered is why conservative Christians are so bent on America becoming a Christian Nationalist country.  In other words, it’s our way or the highway, just like the Catholic Church’s creation of Inquisition to torture true believers in the faith of Christ who rejected their version of the gospel.  Enter Ralf Reed, probably one of the most calculating political consultants to ever advocate on behalf of the Republican Party.  He wielded power over the unsuspecting SBC and other Protestant religious institutions like no other!  He was the genius behind the creation of National Christian Right Movement coupled with the Moral Majority to become the most powerful voting-block of the Republican Party.  Reed, is an American political consultant and lobbyist for the Republican Party, and Executive Director of the Christian Coalition during the 1990’s.  What is Reed’s testimony?  He said that “in September 1983, he had a religious experience while at Bullfeathers, a upscale pub in Capitol Hill popular with staffers (and to a lesser extent, members of the House of Representatives.”  Reed said, “the Holy Spirit simply demanded me to come to Jesus”.  He walked outside the pub to a phone booth, thumbed through the yellow pages under “Churches”, and found the Evangelical Assembly of God Church in Camp Springs, Maryland.  He visited the next morning and became a born-again Christian.  I am not here to question Reed’s religious experience; that is between him and the Lord.  But his convincing well-meaning Christians and leaders that the Republican Party was the Church’s only hope to bring about societal change.  And the Result! 

AN UNDISCERNING SPIRIT LEADS to CHAOS

The birth of the PURPOSE DRIVEN CHURCH made pastor of Saddleback Church, Rick Warren, a wealthy man, and desired speaker at religious conferences.  Next came the PURPOSE DRIVEN LIFE and well-meaning believers trying to enhance their ability to be more spiritually discerning.  This is due to continuously being fed on a milk-of-the-word diet, to appease seekers, who wanted no messages on hell! The SBC it would appear didn’t have a clue about the quagmire they were creating.Fast-forward to 2026 and we see the euphemism “history ignored is history repeated” coming to pass.  The SBC, which boasted 16.2 million members in 2006, has since lost 3.6 million members.  Those losses are larger than the total size of almost every other Protestant denomination.  And in an ironic twist, in 2026 the Roman Catholic Church is seeing a resurrection of sorts by young people wanting to join and be baptized into the Roman Church.  Did this happen by chance?  An emphatic No!  The SBC is reaping what it has sown by acting on decisions that brought no glory to our Lord.  In 1994, Satan was once again, able to accomplish the unimagined, and in the process laying stealthily created trap.  The creation of the EVANGELICALS and CATHOLICS TOGETHER, THE CHRISTIAN MISSION of the THIRD MILLENNIUM: a man-made contrived agreement that spells out the need for Protestants and Catholics to deliver a common witness to the modern world at the eve of the third millennium.  It draws heavily from the theology of the New Testament and the Trinitarian doctrine of the Nicene Creed.  It seeks to encourage what is known as spiritual ecumenism.  Ecumenism is a movement and principle that encourages cooperation, dialogue, and better relationship among different Christian denominations to promote ultimate unity within the faith.  It comes from the Gr. Wd. Oikoumene it seeks to bridge historical theological, and practical divisions.  The document received endorsement from Charles Colson (former Catholic) and SBC affiliated.  Richard Land former President of Christian Life Commission of the SBC.  Larry Lewis, former President of the Home Mission Board of the SBC.  Pat Robertson President of the 700 Club and Bill Bright President of Campus Crusade for Christ etc.  When I created a written campaign to express the danger of such an alliance sent to most every pastor in the Shelby Baptist Association in Memphis TN. and it was all but ignored.     My warning garnered one response, and that was from Adrian Rogers, who was alarmed as I was.  And we as Southern Baptist continued to reap what we sowed. 

2019 REVELATION of a WIDESPREAD SEXUAL ABUSE PROBLEM WITHIN the SBC 

National headlines reported widespread sexual abuse and the ongoing cover up by SBC leaders for decades, the fallout impugning the credibility and integrity of SBC leaders.  Even a former President of the SBC was accused by another pastor of sexually abusing his wife.  The Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Express-News published articles describing credible sexual abuse accusations involving 380 Southern Baptist church leaders and ministry volunteers with 700 victims.  Denials and reports of abuse cover-ups by SBC Executive Committee members soon followed.  In 2021, Messengers at the SBC Annual meeting approved a third-party, Guidepost Solutions, to investigate sexual abuse accusations.  The motion called for an “investigation into any allegations of abuse, mishandling of abuse, mistreatment of victims, a pattern of intimidation of victims and advocates, and resistance to sexual abuse reform activities, ‘involving’ staff and members of the Executive Committee from January 1, 2000, through June 14, 2001.”  It would be to dramatically understate the spiritual quagmire that currently embodies the SBC, that coupled with the next issue that threatens to further divide a religious institution whose foundation seems to be crumbling spiritually.   In 2022, Guidepost Solutions presented its investigative report.  In their opening statement, they wrote, “We implore our Southern Baptist family to respond to this report with deep acceptance and a commitment to the ongoing moral demands of the gospel as it relates to sexual abuse. We must resolve to give our time and resources to not only care well for survivors of sexual abuse, but provide a culture of accountability, transparency, and safety as we move forward. The Guidepost findings revealed numerous moral, ethical, and biblical leadership failures.  The Executive Committee’s primary concern was avoidance of potential legal liability.  The Guidepost report conclusion, “The prevailing attitude of some EC leaders was that the SBC had no responsibility for addressing the sexual abuse crisis within member churches, under SBC polity, those churches were autonomous and not under the control of the SBC.” It is important to note how the EC had pointed to SBC church autonomy as the reason they couldn’t and wouldn’t hold church leaders accountable for sexual abuse of the Lord’s children.  It is the same with all man-created religious institutions, protect the institution at all cost! 

SBC’s GROWING LABEL AS MYSOGINIST AND RULING WOMEN CANNOT HOLD THE OFFICE of PASTOR in SBC CHURCHES 

In 2019, another watershed moment birthed itself in the SBC when SBC leaders argued over a woman preaching.  At the center of the controversy was nationally known women’s Bible teacher Beth Moore, tweeted she would be preaching the Mother’s Day sermon at her SBC church in Houston.  In 2000, the SBC revised the Baptist faith and Message to include the following statement “While both men and women are gifted for service in the church, the office of pastor is limited to men as qualified by Scripture.” The question currently being debated within the SBC is whether the original intent of the “office of pastor” revision statement refers to the role of senior/lead pastor or whether it included all types of pastors.  In 2021 Saddleback Church elders ordained three women’, pastors.  In 2022, Warren retired as Saddleback’’s lead pastor and appointed Andy Wood in his place.  As though the church was his to dictate its future.  Wood’s wife, Stacie, also serves in leadership as a teaching pastor at saddleback.  As the 2026 Annual SBC gathering of messengers in Orlando, Florida as set to open June 7, it proposes to be filled with much chaos. Southern Baptist Conservative, Albert Mohler is proposing an SBC constitutional amendment to bar women from pastoral functions.  A Southern Baptist church launched a podcast where staff answer follow-up questions about Sunday sermons.  The problem?  One of the staff members is a woman.  While she holds no pastoral title, she gives advice and expounds Scripture to the whole church body, and Mohler said this is a problem.  She is teaching, and he warned that avoiding the issue of being labeled a pastor, does not void the issue.  The truth of the matter is the debate over women’s role is not going away, because according to Scripture the pastoral office is for qualified men.  And that raises another issue, how many men meet the true qualifications.  What do they do with “who must rule well his own house.”Many pastors have difficulty in ruling well their own households.  With their children into drugs, homosexuality, and fornication etc.  It is something else that adds confusion unfolding in the nation’s largest evangelical denomination. 

CONCLUSION:  No doubt my comments will offend many of my brothers and sisters in the Southern Baptist faith.  I served as a pastor for 35 years and have personally witnessed things that would appall fellow believers all done in the name of Christ.  Am I for women pastors, that creates women usurping authority over a man?  On the other hand, I understand fully why the present spiritual quagmire is causing such division in the body of Christ.  It’s a part of the universal curse pronounced by God upon Eve for her being deceived when she removed herself from under her protection, Adam as her head.  alone the serpent new she was fertile fodder for his deception: why? Because the man was superior to her, no!  When God’s divine order is manipulated in the slightest degree, chaos soon follows.  God’s divine order was manipulated in the Garden: God the Head of Christ...Christ the Head of Man...Man the head of the Woman!  The present issue facing the SBC is a direct result of the curse pronounced upon Eve.  “Unto the woman He said, I will greatly multiply your sorrow…and your desire shall be unto your husband.” So, how does Eve’s curse figure in the Women’s Movement in modernity and spiritual chaos in the Lord’s Church?  The Hebrew, phrase “and your desire shall be unto your husband” does not include a verb and is literally translated “toward your husband your desire.” Since the judgment is predictive, the future tense verb ”will be”is added for clarity.  “Your desire will be for your husband.” The most basic and straight forward understanding of this verse is that the woman and man would now have ongoing conflict.  In contrast to the conditions in the Garden of Eden and the harmony between Adam and Eve, their relationship, from that point on, would produce a power struggle for supremacy.  The NLT paraphrase makes it more evident: “You will desire to control your husband, but he will rule over you.” God’s pronouncement of this curse on the first couple in the marriage dynamic.  Sin had wrought a discord. The battle of the sexes had begun.  Both man and woman would now seek the upper hand in marriage and other societal matters.  The man who was to lovingly care and nurture the love for his wife, would now seek to rule her, and the wife would desire to wrest control from her husband.  It is important to note that this judgment only states what will take place.  God says that man and woman will live in conflict and their relationship will become problematic.  The statement “he shall rule over you” is not a biblical command for men to dominate women. 

Personally, I could not place myself under the authority of a woman in the pulpit, because it creates confusion.  On the other hand, some of the godliest people I have ever met as a Christian were women born-again in the faith of Christ.  And none of them would ever entertain the idea of usurping authority over men.  If the true gospel of Christ is being taught, I rejoice, because “the true words of Christ never return void!” One final comment, Ephesus, the Apostolic Church, the first church and the most loved, were accused of “of losing their first love” spreading the gospel to the ends of the earth.  They burned with a white-hot heat to get the gospel of Jesus Christ to a world filled with sin.  Things shifted when the last of the Apostles died, that being John.  The shift was brought about by focusing more on orthodoxy than getting the message out.  And bros. And sisters that is where we find ourselves today.  I pray my words are received in the spirit they were written with all humility in service to my Master.  Maybe it’s time for action rather than mere words!  “IF MY PEOPLE, WHICH ARE CALLED BY MY NAME, SHALL HUMBLE THEMSELVES, AND PRAY, AND SEEK MY FACE, AND TURN FROM THEIR WICKED WAYS; THEN WILL I HEAR FROM HEAVEN, AND FORGIVE THEIR ERRORS AND SIN, AND WILL HEAL THEIR LAND.”‍ ‍By all indicators, and the rapid advancement in A.I. technology, there is not much hope left for America, but our for beloved SBC, if we can humble ourselves (and that is not an easy thing for a religious institution filled with pride, immeasurable wealth and worldly success) admitting we erred from the true faith, is all so difficult. We need to pray this for our own actions committed as men trying to impress the Lord with our accomplishments, and instead just humbly serve him as a bond slave with no rights.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT 

What Are We to Understand About “Holding Truth in Unrighteousness?” Is the Root of the Creation of the Of Term Atheism, A Reality or a Fictious Term Created in the Mind of Man?

Paul, like a criminal prosecutor, lays out an irrefutable case for the universal degeneracy of all human creation.  In doing so, he will show why there must be away of salvation that will provide a righteousness acceptible to God, and contrary to some doctrines created by men, benefits that extends to all mankind.  “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of those, who hold the truth in unrighteousness. Because that which may be known of God is manifest (or created in them); for God has showed it unto them.” Romans 1.18-19 

Let’s first define the “wrath of God”, for it is more than anger as we define the term.  It is more than the natural consequences of sin, which is death.  God’s wrath is the necessary response of Chief Judicial action against elements that are incompatible with His universal moral government.  Furthermore, it is the duty of the Eternal Governor of the universe to rise-up-against rebellion and wickedness and all unrighteous acts.  This lack of understanding leads philosophers and some religions that draws a line where those question; “What kind of father would express wrathful anger with his children?  What have we done to deserve our Creators eternal wrath?”  This verse describes the willful degeneration of men and explains why they are universally under the wrath of God.  The “wrath” comes forth from the 3rd heaven, God’s domain where the very seat of universal moral government is and denotes the seriousness of the offense.  The verbal expression that God is wrathful implies men are to blame.  Raising the next question; why are men blameworthy?  The answer, “ungodliness and unrighteousness”. 

“Ungodliness’ is a self-imposed condition, guilty of making the wrong moral choice.  Having been created in the image of God, man has the potential to be godly.  Ungodliness is man’s fault, not his misfortune.  In other words, man is ungodly in areas where he could and therefore should be godly.  God’s wrath is revealed towards men “who hold truth in unrighteousness”.  Now Paul will present irrefutable evidence that the human condition is a blameworthy state by presenting evidence that all mankind is made responsible by “holding truth!”  If men were devoid of “truth” of God (or knowledge of a Supreme Creator) then they would never feel guilt.  Paul presents irrefutable evidence that personal feelings of guilt is proof mankind has willfully violated his natural sense of right and wrong.  If man was ignorant of having broken some unknown law, he would not and could not blame himself.  Nor could God blame him.  To blame someone is to accuse them of irresponsible conduct, or to find fault with one’s conduct.  The point Paul is making; a man could not be faulted for not obeying an unknown and knowable law.  The next question that needs to be answered, what does it mean, “to hold truth”?

To “hold truth” is to know God as alluded to in verse 21 ““Because when they ‘knew” God, They glorified Him not as God.” Paul is going to prove “that all are under sin”.  To do so he must establish guilt beyond any reasonable shadow of a doubt.  Guilt is self-blame, and self-blame comes when one cannot excuse self.  If man had no knowledge of his responsibility, of the truth, he could not blame himself.  However, there are some commentators, and many modern translations do not understand the foundation upon which Paul’s argument was built.  They present the reader with the assumption that men can be guilty of not knowing the truth.  So, they attempt to support this position by changing the definition of the [Gr. word “katecho” (which means to “hold”)] and translated [katecho] to mean to ‘suppress’ or ‘resist’.  The problem with their approach is it is flawed by the definition of the word to ‘suppress’ or to ‘resist’.  A man cannot suppress or resist the truth he “holds” until he first “holds” truth.  The context in which [katecho] is used throughout Scripture never means to resist something. 

To “hold the truth” is to intellectually embrace it and assent to its judicial relevance.  It's to concur that the law is good: “If then I do that which I would not (or say to myself I am not going to do that) I consent unto the Law that it is good.” Romans 7.16    

SUMMATION: Once a person becomes aware of the truth, they can never at any time become unaware of it.  They can of their own freewill choose “not to retain God in their knowledge“: “And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge,” Roman 1.28), calling themselves atheist, but verbally rejecting the truth will never blot out their responsibility awakened by the knowledge of that truth they eternally hold.  People can change the rightful image of God, which he or she holds, into an image of an idol (the worship of self, pursuit of the lust of the flesh, the worship of riches etc.) but it will never render them ignorant of the “truth of God they hold”.  They will always be held responsible for the truth they have willfully pushed back into the deep recesses of their mind.  Theoretically, if a person should hold the truth in righteousness, that is knowing that they should be righteous in regard to that truth he understands, he would be without blame, for they would be obedient to all the truth as they knew: “But he that does truth comes to the light, that their deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.” John 3.21   God Bless All with the Understanding what it means “to hold truth”. 

FOOD FOR THOUGHT:

‘America’s Madness Upon her Idols, and the Effect It is Having On the Rest of the World’

                A common and an often-heard lament whether secularist, Christians, other religious denominations and Politicians from every political ideological position, all have one request that unifies them as one.  That of “ASKING GOD TO BLESS AMERICA”!  A strange lament seeing that America’s love affair with her plethora of idols, that The Lord said it has caused her to go insane, according to the clues that identifies her as, the ‘Mystery Nation’ called “The Virgin Daughter of Babylon, Babylon the Great or That Great City!” Originally, the cry to heaven for “God Bless America” was a prayer for Divine blessing.  In its current use, it more commonly amounts to nothing more than a battle cry or a rote call for divine help.  Other times it is recited in a superstitious belief that merely invoking God’s name can garner His blessings, a reality that has become all too apparent, “God Bless America” has long ago become a cliché to which people who claim to believe in God and His Son, Jesus the Christ, give little or no serious thought too.  How did we as a nation, with little doubt of being so divinely blessed from our birth to our present standing as the world’s only Superpower, be described by that source of our divine blessing “as having gone insane?”‍ ‍Here is the indisdputable answer: “FOR IT IS A LAND OF GRAVEN IMAGES, AND THEY HAVE GONE MAD (or insatiably addicted) UPON THEIR IDOLS…THAT HAS MADE ALL THE EARTH DRUNK: BECAUSE THE NATIONS HAVE DRUNK OF HER WINE; THEREFORE THE NATIONS OF THE EARTH ARE GONE MAD (or too have gone insane) THEREFORE, BEHOLD, THE DAYS COME, THAT I (the LORD Most High) WILL DO JUDGMENT UPON HER GRAVEN IMAGES: AND HER WHO LAND SHALL BE CONFOUNDED (or without comprehension a nation of mass confusion and chaos) AND ALL HER SLAIN a direct result of her chaos, mischief and divided national spirit) SHALL FALL IN THE MIDST OF HER”. Jeremiah 50.38 & 51.7 & 51.47

                To say America has become insatiably addicted to her plethora of idols would not be guilty of embellishing the facts to any degree.  With her love affair with Hollywood, sports, recording artist, her love affair with money, materialism of every imagination, and her newest infatuation worship of the hedonistic spirit of self-pleasure at any cost and last, but not least the greatest idol of all, love of self!  One of America’s greatest idols worshiped at the present time. Taylor Swift, just broke the record for ticket sales with her Eras Tour, grossing over $2 billion dollars in ticket sales.  This year’s Super Bowl is projected to gross over $1.1 billion dollars.  Much of the recording industry has been reduced to selling sex, heartbreak, divorce, vulgarity that describes women in the vilest of terms, that joined with the glorification of murder and mayhem and lawlessness, leaves no room to frame a n argument.  And Hollywood certainly ranks as one of the most spiritually destructive of all, with the romanticizing of evil and making it intriguing and attractive.  At the present, the number one grossing movie at the box office, just happens to be “WICKED”.

                America’s love affair with her idols has a major influence on a global scale as well.  America dictates global trends like no other nation in the world.  It was America’s legalization of abortion on demand with Supreme Court ruling of Roe vs. Wade in 1973 that opened the world to the idea of terminating an unwanted pregnancy to be a legal right.  In the past 30 plus years 60 countries have legalized abortions.  For a movie to be considered a box office hit, it must begin with America’s interest.  The accepted ongoing normalization of changing one’s gender identity or legalizing same-sex marriages has set another global trend the rest of the world is adopting.  The “Daughter of Babylon’s” influence can be summed up and with no hesitation Jeremiah’s lament: “intoxicating all the earth, the nations have drunk of her wine, therefore the nations are going mad (in other words, they are losing their touch with reality).  In summation of America’s drunkenness with her idols, if America has “gone mad upon her idols”, why would anyone be astounded that the citizens of the world in their current drunken stupor and besotted state as a result of gorging themselves on the same tainted and corrupt American idol worship, they themselves have too lost their mind! 

                In closing, it is no exaggeration to admit the Church in America is in serious decline.  This was demonstrated a few days ago by the blasphemous National Prayer Service for the nation and incoming President, at St. John’s Episcopal Cathedral in the nation’s capital.  Reality is, many churches are more willing to imitate the world’s dress, opinions, entertainment and conduct, then address them with biblical truths.  On the other hand, there is little doubt many Christians are concerned and grieved about the rise of societal evils that continue to plague America, but oft reach for the wrong approach, and remedies as if the only cure to the spiritual malaise that afflicts the nation is legislation on the Federal level, against such evils as abortion, out of control sexual perversions, growing addiction to opioids and other forms of corruption.  The truth is, Laws cannot make people righteous or moral: “Know that a man is not justified(or made in right standing before God) by the works (or attempts at obeying the law) but by the faith ‘of’(not in)Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified (or made in right standing before God) by the faith ‘of’ Christ, and not by the works (or legislating righteous by introducing laws to make an individual conform to certain moral standards) of the law; for by no works of the law shall any flesh be justified”. Galatians 2.16 

                Saving faith is an individual matter that cannot be imposed by legislative force.  Society cannot be delivered from moral bankruptcy unless individual lives are transformed by acceptance ‘of’ the faith of Christ.  If the necessary conviction does not frame the priorities of the people of the faith ‘of’ Jesus Christ and drive the spiritual path forward of the Church on earth, Satan’s kingdom, it is futile to ask God to Bless America, our nation.      

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

A MAN WITH AN UNCLUTTERED SPIRIT

Matthew 11.7-13

INTRODUCTION

The great man of God of the 19th century, Dwight L. Moody...often said the following often throughout his ministry.

“The world has yet to see what God can do with and for and through and in and by the man who is fully and wholly consecrated to Him. I will try my utmost to be that man.” -D.L. Moody

It is certainly a sobering thought.  But I suggest to you this morning, the world has indeed seen what God can do with...through...and by such a man, fully consecrated to Him (he was able to stir the hearts of men as none other had).  Now many are thinking well certainly our Lord was such a man, and that is certainly a true statement.  But He was God incarnate, He was very God of very God...He was, God in the flesh.  But there was a mere mortal...born in the sin of Adam...a man fully consecrated to the Spirit of God...and set the known world ablaze with his fiery message. 

          In this Laodicean Age of celebrity preachers and pastors and their super mega-churches, that afford them the lifestyles of the rich and famous, because their ministries take in hundreds of millions dollars annually...has created a real struggle in the world for spiritual relevance.  In other words, how does the world reconcile biblical preaching heard 24hrs a day, with living life in the real world?  And this is certainly not a 21st century problem.  This same spiritual stagnation has existed throughout human history.  And the same spiritual condition, existed little over 2,000 years ago, when a desert firebrand, fully equipped, by a life consecrated to God...set men's hearts ablaze the with message of God. 

READ TEXTMatthew 11.7-13

About a year before Jesus the carpenter set aside His hammer, saw, chisels and plane, His cousin, the famous forerunner, John the Baptist, son of the desert, step on to the center stage.  And much like it is in the world today, it was a time of great famine in the land of Israel (not of food or a thirst for water...”but of a hearing of the word of God” .  [Israel had endured 400 years of no prophet...no real truth.]  Their had been no voice for God to stir men's  hearts.  So when the desert firebrand step onto center stage,

Questions Abounded in the Hearts of Thirsty and Famished Souls:

When John, burned black with the desert sun...his long, uncut raven locks hanging loose like a shaggy mane,thundered his mighty warnings to Israel, all Jerusalem and Judea were alert to a possible reality.  Could this be their long awaited Messiah?  Was he the promised King?  Is He the Christ?  And John flatly, and without hesitation, made it known he was not the Christ!  “He was but a voice crying in the wilderness...calling God's chosen people to “prepare for the reception of their coming royalty.  BUT MUCH MORE THAN THAT: HE WAS CALLING A DECADENT PEOPLE SUNK IN DESPAIR, DECEIT, AND DABAUCHERY, TO REPENT, AND TURN TO GOD!  HIS CRIES DID NOT GO UNHEEDED.  WITH HIS DESERT PROTEIN RICH DIET (of honey from the acacia tree, black in color) STILL VISIBLE IN HIS BEARD...HIS EYES A FLAME WITH THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD...AND EQUIPPED WITH FEARLESS COURAGE...STARTLED ISRAEL FROM THEIR SPIRITUAL SLUMBER!  The Lord Jesus described the impact John's preaching had on the world;

“And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force.”  In other words, John generated great conflict wherever he went, because his message was designed to upset the status quo.  With his call for repentance, he stirred up a hornets nest among religious elite of his day...and his accusatory message had even reached the ears of the king.  Everywhere he moved their was sharp reaction, and often violence, and it would eventually effect his arrest.

          His uncompromising stand against evil wherever it was found...whether in Herod's palace...the priesthood, or even among powerful ecclesiastical hierarchy...was met with wide acclaim.

John's fiery preaching presented the people with a form of repentance  more than skin deep.  It was not meant to evoke a superficial sorrow for misconduct.  Rather his message of repentance was a call for a radical and permanent about face...in which a sinner turns from his old life-style...to that of serving the living God in sincerity!

          EVIDENCE THAT MEN AND WOMEN HAD TRULY REPENTED HAD TO BE SEEN IN THEIR WILLINGNESS TO QUIT, ONCE AND FOR ALL, THEIR OLD WAY OF LIVING LIFE.  AND IT MEANT MEN AND WOMEN HAD NEW VALUES, NEW ATTITUDES, NEW PRIORITIES IN THEIR PERSONAL LIVES.  ANYTHING LESS THAN THIS...SIMPLY DID NOT SATISFY THE DEMANDS OF THE FIERY PROPHET!  His message; [“Then said he to the multitude that came forth to be baptized of him, O generation of vipers, who has warned you to flee from the wrath to come?  Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance, [in other words, the exhibiting of conduct worthy of a heart change, a heart that eschews sin].  And do not begin to say to yourselves, We have Abraham as our father [for today's world, don't simply trust in you acceptance of Jesus as the Savior of the world...for even the devils belief and tremble, but produce the evidence of a true conversion]  WHY?  For I say to you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham...And now also the ax is laid unto the root of the trees; and every tree that brings not forth good fruit is cut down, and cast into the fire.” Luke 3.7-9

The Lord’s Response to John’s Message:

When the day came for Jesus to leave his earthly father's carpentry business for the last time, He knew exactly where to go.  With firm footsteps and queit determination He set off directly to see John.  Following the winding roads from the hill country of Nazareth, Jesus headed down into the burning heat of the Jordan Valley where John was baptizing in the Jordan River.

•      John points to the Lamb of God

•      He First resist the need to baptize the Lord

•      John said I must decrease and He increase

•      God's endorsement of His So

Conclusion:

Are we surprised that the accolades conferred on John, by the Lord Jesus...are the noblest ever earned by mortal man?  Far exceeding other accolades conferred on men Abraham, the friend of God...Job, none like him in all the earth earth... Moses, whom God spoke face to face...David, a man after God's own heart, but then  this about John; He was the greatest man ever born of woman...”he was much more than a prophet.”

          Though a man of the desert, rough and tough in appearance John was giant in God's economy.  For it was God in Christ that said, none born among women greater than John.  A “man” with an uncluttered spirit.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

Understanding the Biblical Meaning of the “NARROW GATE,” That Our Lord Taught His Listeners to Consider”

INTRODUCTION: A sad, but factual reality, is the West and most especially in America, that includes much of the Christian community, are quite comfortable embarking upon what our Lord, called the “BROAD ROAD.” And the fact that so many people and Christians find no immediate danger of choosing the “BROAD ROAD, is due to a lack of understanding what our Lord meant when in He delivered the warning in His sermon on the Mount. In this series, I want to try and unpack the Lord’s words about the ‘NARROW GATE” through eyes of the listeners, when the Lord was on the earth.

In Matthew 7:14 Jesus said “Enter you in at the strait gate:” (or narrow gate). This is probably a verse you’ve no doubt heard at some point in your Christian life. It is a phrase used in merchandizing as a tool used by Christian entrepreneurs printed on tee-shirts, on a coffee mug, or hanging on the wall of a Christian home as a testament to one’s needle-work talent. However, the impact of those (6) words, carried a completely different weight when properly understood from the impact it would have upon the hearers from a Hebrew perspective. This because the “narrow gate” wasn’t just a figure of speech. It pointed to something real, something tangible, that people of His day could immediately identify with. And when people that lived during the time of Jesus’s earthly ministry heard Him say it, it resonated in a way that many of us today struggle to picture it as anything more that words spoken by Jesus. My sincere hope of this study on the exhortation of our Lord, is it will enhance our understanding of the “narrow gate” in a way we have ever considered before. And once we see it through the Holy Spirit’s illumination, that this truth gets into the deep recesses of our Christian walk, as our understanding is reshaped. Jesus taught in Matthew 7:13-14 “Enter you in at the straight gate: for wide is the gate and broad is the way, that leads to destructions, and many there be which go in there at: [14] Because straight is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leads unto life (or eternal life) and few there be that find it.” To most believers, the meaning is simple enough, right? Wide gate leads to destruction and the narrow gate to life, eternal. Most of us grew up hearing this preached as a call to salvation. And yes, if correctly exegeted (to expand the understanding), it is undeniably that. However, let us pause for a moment, because if that is all we are seeing in this passage, then we are suffering from a bit of spiritual malnutrition and lack of true understanding of Jesus’s exhortation, that due in part to our 20th and 21st century thinking. Many imagining innocently that the culture Jesus was speaking to understand the need to enter in at a particular gate while in modernity the image had no logical applicable application, because we live in a culture where the only gates are to secure our pet or for security. However, that would lead to a great misunderstanding of the Lord’s intended purpose.

Our understanding will be greatly enhanced knowing a little about the Jewish listeners of the 1st century who had been shaped by the Hebrew way of thinking and a very different culture world. Now as 21st century believers-in-the-faith-of-Christ, we are going to step into the same world in which Jesus words were spoken to His listeners. My hope is the blessings that proceed from our new perspective will spiritually impact on our understanding of the Lord’s words by understanding the impact they would have had on the 1st century listeners.

So, the first question we need to answer, what exactly was the “narrow gate” Jesus was talking about? Here is something many of us would have difficulty relating to in a real sense. Jerusalem had many gates, big, wide, impressive gates the kind caravans and armies passed through. But there was one particular gate that both travelers and merchants knew all too well. It was called the “needle’s eye.” Most Christians at some point have scriptures mentioned that relate this. Jesus said, “And again I say unto you, it’s easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.” Matthew 19:24 No doubt there has been numerous debates over what Jesus’s word intended, about what the “needle” literally refers to, whether it is a literal sewing-needle or some type of small gate, not used for trafficking. However, what we do know from history, in the Near-east, cities often had large gates for crowds and trade merchants and smaller “narrow gates” for individuals. However, those smaller gates were not easy to pass through. For example, if someone came with an animal loaded with wares are supplies, like a donkey or camel, but it couldn’t walk straight through, then everything would have to be taken off the animal. Then the animal would have to lower itself and be guided through carefully step by step. The picture would have been very clear to the people listening to Jesus. So, when He spoke about a “narrow gate” they didn’t hear a metaphor or some vague and abstract talking point. They felt immediately the weight and meaning of His words. In Hebrew thought, the word behind this concept is the Hebrew word TZAR meaning narrow, tight and restricted. And that comes from the root meaning of TZARAH which means trouble, pressure and a place of distress. In other words, the “narrow gate” isn’t meant to feel easy or convenient. It’s a place that presses you, that strips away what you’re carrying, that demands something from you before you can move forward. And that is exactly the point Jesus is making. Brothers and sisters in-the-faith-of-Christ, we must not approach this teaching with a cavalier intent, because our Lord wasn’t just talking about the narrow gate itself. But He also described a road one must travel that leads to the entrance into the kingdom of God. The kind of path with there is everyday pressures in a world tainted by man’s sin in the Garden of Eden. On the hand, Jesus said there is “wide road”, a broad road, open to all, an easy road that doesn’t impede your travel. Sadly, the road that both secular and many in the Christian societies choose. Why? Because there is no pressure, little resistance, no real demands on the lifestyle they have chosen.

CONCLUSION of [Part One]: Modern Christianity in large measure, has set up believers to choose the wide and broad road where they can traffic unincumbered by pressure, restrictions or difficulty. And it starts with making the acceptance of faith in Christ with zero cost, or difficulty for the one who prays the sinner’s prayer. This should be a warning to every believer-in-the-faith-of-Jesus-Christ, to truly count the cost of such faith. In all humility as a servant to my Lord and Savior.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

Understanding the Biblical Meaning of the “NARROW GATE,” That Our Lord Taught His Listeners to Consider” [PART 2]

INTRODUCTION: In this world in 2026 there is not a day that goes by without requests for prayers for someone or for some national tragedy that just unfolded. Have you ever stopped, to ask yourself this question wonder how many prayers are answered or even get through to the Lord? No doubt, there are many of us who would have to openly admit we have little to no assurance that what we ask in the name of Jesus will indeed produce the expected answer. In Western culture it has become automatic after a national tragedy for politicians and all others to say we offer prayers for the victims. But are they nothing more than just religious platitudes, or is it what is expected from politicians? And then when the prayers go unanswered, the excuse given, well it wasn’t the Lord’s will. Never stopping to think about what is being said about the Lord, who said: “ANYTHING YOU ASK IN MY NAME, THAT WILL I DO. THAT THE FATHER MAY GLORIFY THE SON” And we are all guilty! The biggest hindrance is a lack of effectual praying. For the Bible says, “The effectual prayer of a righteous Man avails much.” The key word in that verse is an individual who is (righteous) or walking on the narrow path. Why is this so important to the believer? John the Baptist revealed the answer: [4] “As it is written in the book of the words of Esaias the prophet, saying, the voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. [5] Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways shall be made smooth; [6] And all flesh shall see the salvation of God.” Simply put, the Lord travels over a Holy highway. So, if the path you are walking as a Christian is cluttered with worldly and crooked living in your life, the Lord can’t get to you. If you have been praying for a loved one to get saved and the road you’re on is cluttered with world debris, the Lord can’t use you to get to them. We need to seriously mediate on that before we pray. We need to first pray to the Lord don’t let there be anything in me that would hinder you from reaching my loved one.

The clearest explanation we have for institutional religion and denominational religion’s decline in attendance, baptisms and church closures lies in the heart of this series “TRUE MEANING of the NARROW ROAD” . We live in a time where much of what is called “spiritual” is built with an emphasis on comfort. How did the church make me feel, was I entertained or preached at, was the music program high-tech and polished, how does it fit my lifestyle, will they try to visit me during the week and did it make me feel judged. The wide-and-broad road is full, because it asks nothing, demands nothing. And you can carry everything with you. Your pride, your habits built over a lifetime, your love of self (witnessed by the plethora of selfies on social media), your compromises, your successes, and you are free to keep moving unencumbered. But Jesus, hits us with something very different. He says “narrow” is the road that leads to life (eternal). And the word behind “narrow” here carries the idea of pressure, being pressed, squeezed, or confined. It is the same idea used when scripture talks about trouble or tribulation. Not meant to harm us, but to shape us. So, this road is not just “smaller”, it’s formative, it presses us, and refines us, it challenges us. It changes us as we walk the “narrow road. This is not a path built for comfort; it’s designed for transformation. Sadly, this is a truth that is ignored by the megachurch model, that is built for comfort and ease. That is why they are so attractive in modern Christianity, primarily for the comfort they provide for the seekers who want to maintain a certain lifestyle, without the fear of being judged. Ever wonder why if you are attempting to stay on the narrow road, and you meet another Christian who clearly is walking on the broad road, your spirit doesn’t knit with them, it’s because of the contrast between the two. The broad road allows us to remain the same, with religion added. The “narrow road” will not!

For more understanding let’s survey Rabbinistical pattern behind the “two roads.” In Jewish teaching, there was a well-known idea of two ways one for the course of life and the other in death. This was not a new teaching to those listening hearing Jesus’s words, because the contrast Jesus was making runs all through the Hebrew scriptures. In Deuteronomy 30, Moses stands before the people and says, I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses, choose life!” And in Psalms 1 you find the same contrast. “One person follows the way of the righteous. Another follows the way of the wicked.” Two paths, two directions, two outcomes. So. When Jesus speaks in Matthew 7, He is not introducing a strange or unfamiliar idea. He is utilizing a pattern that had been there all along. He is stating the same truths taught by Moses, the prophets, and the wisdom writings throughout the history of God’s chosen people. He is making clear that the choice has always been in front of you. Two roads, two gates, two destinations. But here is where everything shifts. Jesus doesn’t just point to right path and leave us to figure it out. He says, ”I am the way” John 14.6 Then He says, “I am the gate. whoever enters through me WILL be saved.” John 10.9 So, now the “narrow gate” is no longer just an abstract idea. It’s a PERSON! The way is not something you just follow, it’s someone you walk with. The “narrow gate” has a name and that name is Jesus (not the Teacher of “truth” but “Truth” itself. I am the “gate” you must pass through). But there is more to this. Jesus adds something we can’t ignore. He says, “THERE BE FEW THAT FIND IT.” That word in the Gk. Is HEURISCO. And it doesn’t mean something you casually consider, it means to search, to seek, to discover after much effort. It carries the idea intentional pursuits. In other words, this isn’t something you haphazardly or flippantly walk into. It must be sought after! It must be wanted with a deep and fervent thirst, deep enough that you are willing to look for it.

CONCLUSION: I hope this exegesis of two simple words “narrow gate” is blessing you as much as it has me. You know I have often thought what I will do when my eyes first get a glimpse of Jesus and the only thought that comes to mind is this. I will simply fall at His feet and say “THOU ARE WORTHY O LORD!” In all humility I serve my Master.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

Understanding the Biblical Meaning of the “NARROW GATE,” That Our Lord Taught His Listeners to Consider” [PART 3]

Introduction: One of America’s most flamboyant billionaires Ted Turner it was announced he had passed away at the age of 87. I immediately thought how sad his reality must have been after drawing his last breath. This man, who had once remarked to Barabra Walters that his life’s ambition was to own the whole world. Turner is a classic example of the danger of trafficking on the broad road through life, where you are free of any obstacles. He labeled himself an agnostic, once lamenting that “Christianity is a religion for losers.” Turner said he lost his faith around the age of 20 after his younger sister died from lupus. He became angry with God and saying, “I don’t want to have anything to do with You.” Later in life is tone softened and he said he was no longer atheist, saying he believed there may be “one God who manifest himself in different ways.”

This series focuses on the meaning of the “narrow path” a Christian must walk to grow in spiritual maturity. It is not embellishment of the facts to state that this is a troubling pattern in American Christianity and is growing. Christians are struggling with the same fundamental problem: the lack of understanding what biblical maturity requires. Most Christians think faith means adding Jesus to their existing life rather than surrendering their entire life to His lordship. They confuse religious activity with spiritual growth, and church membership with Christian discipleship, and comfort with spiritual maturity. This confusion explains why most Christians never develop true spiritual maturity: you see, you can’t grow in something you never started. Some Key Factors: MOST CHRISTIANS ARE INDEGUINSHABLE FROM UNBELIEVERS: Nominal Christians show little to no measurable difference in divorce, biblical literacy and open fornication. SPIRITUAL IMMATURITY MAY INDICATE FALSE CONVERSION: Many who claim salvation never experience genuine transformation. BARRIERS THAT PREVENT SPIRITUAL MATURITY: Country Club mentality, cultural conformity, biblical illiteracy and spiritual laziness or primary obstacles. SPIRITUAL MATURITY REQUIRES ACTIVE PURSUIT, NOT CAVALIER CONSUMPTION: You cannot drift into spiritual growth, any more than you can drift into physical fitness. COMFORTABLE CHRISTIANITY PRODUCES WEAK DISCIPLES: Spiritual growth happens through resistance and challenge, not through maintaining spiritual comfort zones. CONSUMER CHRISTIANITY ADDS JESUS TO LIFE INSTAED OF SUBMITTING LIFE TO JESUS: The difference between addition and lordship determines everything about spiritual maturity. CHURCHES IN MODERNITY (i.e. the mega-church model) OFTEN HINDER RATHER THAN HELP SPIRITUAL MATURITY: Entertainment-focused and prosperity gospels churches pervert and prevent spiritual growth through false man-created gospel brands.

The Gr. word HEURISKO doesn’t mean something you casually consider. It means to search, to seek, to discover after much effort. It must be wanted with a deep fervency, deep enough that you are willing to look for it. Again, Hebrew antiquity helps us understand this more clearly. In Rabbinistical tradition, learning wasn’t casual or surface level, that a curiosity seeker would desire. If you truly wanted to grow, you didn’t listen from a distance. You attached yourself to your teacher. You paid close attention. You learned by observing, by listening and by adjusting your life. It required time, discipline, and surrender. So, when Jesus calls people and says, “follow me” He is not offering casual inspiration. He is inviting them into a full unencumbered attachment, not filled with worldly attractions, but rather into a full way of life. Leave what you’re doing. Leave what feels secure and safe. Come and become something new. Why? Because that’s the same spirit behind “narrow road.” It demands commitment. And because it demands commitment. Most people will not choose it. Not because they’re necessarily bad or evil, but because the other road feels easier. It doesn’t require surrender. It doesn’t require letting go. It doesn’t require being re-shaped. And so, Jesus stands before a large crowd, not a small group, but a massive gathering listening to the “Sermon on the Mount.” And He tells them, “Many are walking on the wrong road.” And like in modern Christianity, most of the hearers didn’t even realize it. And that is why the next verses matter so much. Immediately after talking about “the narrow gate”, Jesus says, “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.” Matthew 7:15 The verse is not an accident; it is a deliberate connection. Why? False prophets, pastors, many religious teachers and many televangelist who dispense their man-made brand of the gospel, are the true gate-keepers of the “broad road.” They are masters at making it look like the right rod. They dress everything up in religious man-made doctrines, using “feign words” meant to deceive. Replete with signs and wonders. They make it seem the gate is more accommodating than Jesus said it was. They tell you the “road” is designed for God’s blessing when you plant the right seed financially, that the true road is easier than scripture describes, and crowds follow them because people want to be told they can pass through without the pressure of having to kneel, without having to strip off all your possessions and without cost. But Jesus says, you will know them by their fruits” not by their global following, not by the size of their church, not by their charisma, not about how good and high teach the quality of their music and production is, “but by their fruits you shall know them.” And that takes spiritual discernment, it takes someone who makes much use of the word deeply enough to weigh what is counterfeit or real that they are hearing. It takes someone who has maintained a pilgrimage on the “narrow road” long enough to recognize the warning sign CHRISTIANS!! DANGER DO NOT ENTER “WIDE ROAD” THERE ARE NO GUARD RAILS!!!

CONCLUSION: Here is what I want to leave you with. The “narrow gate” is not punishment. It’s not God being overly harsh or trying to keep people out of His kingdom. The “narrow gate” is the only entrance that leads somewhere worth going. And whatever must be left behind to pass through it, pride, love-of-self, self-reliance, a version of faith that asks nothing of you, should be dropped. None of these things were aiding us in growing in the first place. The pressure of the “narrow road” can no doubt feel uncomfortable, but it’s not meaningless. It’s like a potter shaping clay, firm hands, steady pressure, forming something with purpose. It may not feel easy, but it’s not without an intentional purpose. And the God who designed that “gate,” is the God who is that “gate”. He, is not there to block us, He is standing there ready to receive us as we enter in. In all humility I serve my Master.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

WHAT DOES THE BIBLE REVEAL ABOUT THE CHURCHES TEACHING ON THE BIBLICAL TITHE? IS IT ANOTHER DOCTRINE CREATED BY THE NEW TESTAMENT CHURCH? [PART ONE]

As the modern church continues it catastrophic decline in the 21st century, influenced in large part by the same spirit that caused the Lord Jesus to totally and completely reject the church the Laodiceans built and controlled. There is one indisputable truth about modern religion and its plethora of different denominations that each create their own doctrines for those who have accepted Gd’s unmerited favor, all to satisfy their own pride and spiritual superiority. People often complain when they read the Bible, they can’t understand it. Part of the confusion is created in part by men. The Bible is really a very simple book left in its proper context. The confusion I want to examine in today’s post is one of the most controversial, the doctrine of the 10% “Tithe”! This controversial topic is plainly and simply explained in the Bible. However, like everything else man touches, his interpretation of Biblical truth usually ends up creating unnecessary confusion. Let us examine this topic in the light of Holy Scripture.

The church beginning with early Roman Catholicism money became the most important focus, maybe not intentionally, but none the less it did. From buying forgiveness, religious idols, getting a loved one out of purgatory etc. and the face of the church was forever changed. All organized religion would follow the same formula of mandating the “10% Tithe” or giving 10% of your earned income to the church. And many churches’ peach not to do so, makes you guilty of robbing God. This topic will not sit well with man pastors or other church leaders, but what is important is to understand God’s heart, intent and purpose. This teaching will no doubt reveal some painful truths; one alarming truth is that much tithing is rejected by God because of the way in which it is received. Let’s us begin by asking the Lord to lead us into all truth, that all our actions may be done in the right heart and spirit.

In this “Post” we will discover truths about (3) biblical tithes that completely alter our view of the modern church practice concerning tithing. Some of what we will reveal will shock many, but the most important thing is how liberating unadulterated biblical truth can be in setting your faith free.

THE TITHES ORIGINAL INTENT: The tithe first introduced in the Old Testament was a system designed by God for communal support, not just money to maintain the temple or upkeep on the tabernacle, contrary to what many have been taught to believe (a simple financial transaction a sacred tribute to the Church of Jesus Christ), but was that really God’s intent for the ‘tithe’? NOTE: The ‘tithe’ from its inception was about much more than money. In the Old Testament it had an essential function in the structure of the Israelite society. Contrary to what many believers in the faith think and have been taught, the ‘tithe’ was not a fixed and set amount, nor was it a mere religious obligation. It was a provision system that was designed to not only sustain the Levitical priesthood and the needy, but also to glorify God through spiritual activities, designed to strengthen the peoples’ faith and communion. Understanding this foundation is crucial in spiritually discerning how God truly wants us to deal with our possessions and generosity. A classic example is God’s provision for the Levites, who were the only tribe who received no portion of inheritance in the “Promised Land”. "“AND I, HAVE TAKEN YOUR BRETHERN THE LEVITES FROM AMONG THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL: TO YOU, THEY ARE GIVEN AS A GIFT FOR THE LORD (for intercession between God and the people, not to glorify themselves as is common practice in mega-churches and modernized Christianity) TO DO SERVICE OF THE TABERNACAL OF THE PEOPLE…IT SHALL BE A STATUE FOREVER THROUGHOUT YOUR GENERATIONS THAT AMMONG THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL THEY HAVE NO INHERITANCE. BUT THE TITHES OF THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL WHICH THEY OFFER, AS AN OFFERING UNTO THE LORD, I HAVE GIVEN TO THE LEVITES TO INHERIT: THEREFORE, I HAVE SAID UNTO THEM, AMONG THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL THEY SHALL HAVE NO INHERITANCE.” Numbers 18.12 & 21-24 Their mission was to serve in the tabernacle and later the temple. To take care of the spiritual matters and be a priest to all the Israelites. So, without lands to farm or animals to raise, how were they to survive? The ‘tithe” was the means by which God provided for their support and livelihood. God’s way of insuring those whose lives were d3edicated to a sacred service ere not forgotten or neglected. This already teaches us a valuable principle, God never abandons those who dedicate themselves to His work (but does not intend them to take that which is holy and sacred, and turn it into a commodity to enrich themselves, like that which is commonly associated with the mega-church and celebrity preachers, televangelist and pastors in the 21st century.

Another fascinating aspect for God’s design for the “tithe’; included more than (1) type of tithe. In Deuteronomy 14.28-29 we find the so-called the TRIENNIAL TITHE which was required to be paid ever 3rd year, “AT THE END OF THREE YEARS YOU SHALL BRING FORTH ALL THE TITHE OF YOUR INCREASE THE SAME YEAR, AND SHALL LAY IT UP WITHIN YOUR GATES: AND THE LEVITE (BECAUSE HE HAS NO PART NOR INHERITANCE WITH YOU), AND THE STANGER, AND THE FATHERLESS, AND THE WIDOW, WHICH ARE WITHIN YOUR GATES, SHALL COME, AND SHALL EAT AND BE SATISFIED (how shameful this has become in the 21st century, where a large measure of the churches and their leaders have become gluttonous on what the people are asked to give); THAT THE LORD YOUR GOD MAY BLESS YOU IN ALL THE WORKS OF YOUR HAND WHICH YOU DO.” How sad in the 21st century far too many churches and denominations have become a multi-billion-dollar religious industry, while leaving the suffering of multitudes as the government’s obligation and respocibility. Yet they are quick to complain when secular government passes laws that offend them! Is it any wonder the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ, is no longer viewed by the multitudes as no longer trustworthy! We will continue the study of the “TITHE” and its current practice in the light of Holy Scripture, in our next post Part II. God Bless God’s Simplicity and Holiness

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

WHAT DOES THE BIBLE REVEAL ABOUT THE CHURCHES TEACHING ON THE BIBLICAL TITHE? IS IT ANOTHER DOCTRINE CREATED BY THE NEW TESTAMENT CHURCH? [PART TWO]

The “tithe” to be paid every third year is what is known as the “store-house tithe’, it was designed by God to meet the needs (not their wants) of strangers, widows, orphans etc. A true revelation of the immense love in the heart of God for His creation. He truly cares about the most needy. The “tithe” was not just a matter of sustaining the spiritual leaders, also a system of social justice, a means by which the needy found provision while maintain their dignity. Magine a society where everyone does their part and no one goes hungry, because there is a collective commitment to the well-being of all. Our present welfare system has been so corrupted by crooked politicians, slugs of society who can work, but refuse to do so, unscrupulous fraud and having babies just to increase your entitlement! However, this is the result of the government having to accept what the Church of Christ refuses to do, opting to spend a false teaching on themselves.

Esteeming your brother above your own selfish wants, was the divine proposal in addition to supporting the Levites and the needy, there was yet another purpose for the “tithe.” A tithe FOR CELEBRATION and WORSHIP of the LORD:‍ ‍“YOU SHALL SURELY TITHE ALL THE INCREASE IN THY SEED, THAT FIELDS BRING FORTH YEAR BY YEAR.‍ ‍AND YOU SHALL EAT BEFORE THE LORD YOUR GOD, IN THE PLACE WHICH HE (the LORD) SHALL CHOOSE TO PLACE HIS NAME THERE, THE TITHE OF YOUR CORN, OF YOUR WINE, AND OF YOUR OIL AND FIRSTLING OF THY HERDS AND OF YOUR FLOCKS, THAT YOU MAY LEARN TO FEAR (to show reverance) IN YOUR GOD ALWAYS. AND IF THE JOURNEYBE TOO HARD (and arduous) FOR YOU, SO THAT YOU ARE NOT ABLE TO CARRY IT; OR IF THE PLACE BE TO FAR, WHICH THE LORD YOUR GOD SHALL CHOOSE TO SET HIS NAME THERE. WHEN THE LORD YOUR GODHAS BLESSED YOU:YOU CAN TURN IT (the tithe) INTO MONEY, AND PUT THE MONEY IN YOUR HAND, AND GO UNTO THE PLACE THE LORD YOUR GOD SHALL CHOOSE: (this was the only time the ‘tithe’ could be paid with money. Again, revealing the wisdom of the Lord, knowing that “the love of money is the root-cause of all evil, just look how the monetary ‘tithe’ of modernity has corrupted much of the Lord’s Church in 21st century.) AND YOU SHALL SPEND THAT MONEY FOR WHATSOEVER YOUR SOULS LUSTS AFTER, (because so few believers in the faith of Jesus Christ make much use of the word of God in modernity, this next declaration by the Lord is so shocking, given man created doctrines that place many in spiritual bondage, mostly in an attempt to impress the LORD, that many will be shocked. FOR OXEN, OR FOR SHEEP, OR FOR WINE OR STRONG DRINK, OR FOR WHATEVER YOUR HEART DESIRES; AND YOU SHALL EAT (or consume it) THERE BEFORE THE LORD YOUR GOD, AND YOU SHALL REJOICE, YOU, AND YOUR ENTIRE HOUSEHOLD. AND THE LEVITE THAT IS WITHIN YOUR GATES; YOU SHALL NO FORSKE HIM; FOR HE HAS NO PART NOR INHERITANCE WITH YOU.” Deuteronomy 14.22-27 How many have heard that tithing message preached from the pulpit in modernity. Money is the only recognized ‘tithe’ in the modern church, while in the “Wod of Faith and Prosperity Gospel” a large portion goes in the pockets of religious leaders who run mega-churches, televangelist etc. and to maintain and build pleasure palaces called churches replete with a Starbucks coffee shop, bookstore, and even restaurants in many of these country clubs masquerading as houses of worship. All this has a singular purpose, to attract the seeker. NOTE: The tithe” was never designed to be a mere divine tax, but an expression of love, justice and communal provision. Which raises a very interesting question, are we in modern Christianity practicing the ‘true spirit’ of the “tithe’’ or are we following a system created by manmade doctrine, that has widely strayed from God’s original intention?

Another important observation is that the “tithe” in the way its purpose was designed in the Old Testament was not limited to just money, or credit cards (which many churches now have credit card terminals which allow unsuspecting church members or visitors to put their tithe or offering on a credit card), it was centered on the harvest, livestock and other goods meant to sustain life, based on what the land could produce, with the LORD’s grace of providing the rain. In other words, God sked the people to set aside a portion of what He himself had provided. The principle He intended did not center around a set amount, but faithfulness in recognizing that everything belonged to the LORD.

This leads us to focus today on the financial value or on the disposition of the heart. Many are taught to believe the “tithe” was mandatory for all people of Israel, but an interesting detail is that it applied only to those with the means for agricultural production or reproducing herds. Meaning that if someone did not have the means to produce a harvest or reproduction of animals, were not subjected to give the “tithe” (creating a burden they could not possibly fulfill). This truth reveals a very important principle; God never demands from someone WHAT THEY ARE NOT ABLE TO FFER! Faithfulness and gratitude should be voluntary, never a burden placed on those who already are facing dire circumstances, and difficulties of life. In light of all this, it’s clear that the “tithes” in the Old Testament was a system of mutual care, not an instrument to manipulate and place undue burdens on the people. It expresses God’s justice ensuring that the tabernacle and temple servants were supported-the needy were taken care of-and the peoples communion strengthened. But if the “tithe” was so important in that time, what happened in the New Testament?

In closing, PART TWO, makes it clear the purpose of the “tithe” at its inception is nothing remotely close to what is proclaimed as God’s command for the “tithe” in the modern church, where a mandatory 10% of one’s income is now the standard that is proclaimed. Placing many who have been set free from their sin through God’s unmerited favor, are placed in another spiritual type of bondage! In PART THREE, we examine what the command for the “tithe” in the New Testament is. God Bless, the simplicity of God’s revealed truth. Pra

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

WHAT DOES THE BIBLE REVEAL ABOUT THE CHURCHES TEACHING ON THE BIBLICAL TITHE? IS IT ANOTHER DOCTRINE CREATED BY THE NEW TESTAMENT CHURCH? (PART THREE)

Where did Christ’ Church come up with the 10% “Tithe” of a believer’s gross income before any deduction or taxes, become the New Testament standard for giving? There is nowhere in all of the New Testament Scripture that mandates or directs a believer “in the faith of Jesus Christ” to “Tithe” 10%! To answer the question more specifically by date, as it was first established within Christianity under Catholicism, I refer to a Catholic Encyclopedia that established it around 567 AD:

The payment of tithes was adopted from the Old Law, and early writers speak of it as a divine ordinance and an obligation of conscience. The earliest positive legislation on the subject seems to be contained in the letter of the bishops assembled at Tours in 567 and the canons of the Council of Maçon in 585. In course of time, we find the payment of tithes made obligatory by ecclesiastical enactments in all the countries of Christendom.

By the "Old Law" the text means Mosaic Law. As far as the concept of gross versus net goes, this seems to be a more modern idea by hyper-fundamentalists, and I have not yet found its origin. Although much of Christian-right conservatism and advocates of Cristian Nationalism condemn and label Roman Catholicism a religion of false teachings because of the Holy See, confession of sins to a priest, worship of saints and the worship of and immaculate conception of Mary (or the virgin birth of Mary), all as tenants of a false religion, which is true! However, fundamentalist readily became duopolistic in the acceptance of these false religious practices: “TITHING 10% OF ONE’S GROSS INCOME, IS PREACHED AS PART OF THE WORSHIP EXPECTED OF BELIEVERS.‍ ‍IT IS A MORE COMMON PRACTICE AMONG MEGA-CHURCHES WITH MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR BUDGETS TO FUND THE STATE OF ART PRODUCTIONS AND PROFESSIONAL SINGERS AND TO MAINTAIN COUNTRY CLUB COMFORT FOR SEEKERS. AND THEN THERE IS FINANCING THE EXPECTED LIFESTYLES OF CELEBRITY PASTORS. tHERE HAS NEVER BEEN AN AGE OF MILLIONIARE MINISTERS AS IN THE 20TH AND 21ST CENTURIES. In other words, the modern version of Christianity has become cavalierly close in resemblance to the worldly Church of the Laodiceans, which Christ totally and completely rejected (in other words He could not find one thing they were doing He could commend. To further compound the danger, even the most egregious errors of PERGAMOS, THYATIRA and SARDIS, the Lord had found things He could commend, but the last representative of the dispensation of the church-age, the church of the LAODICEANS who owned the church and called all the shots! He could find not one thing they were doing that pleased Him! This ought to cause much of modern Christianity to ponder “WHETHER THEY BE IN THE FAITH OR NOT!”

Jesus Christ fulfilled the Mosaic Law. The shadow of the ceremonial system was completed in Him. The temple was no longer needed for worship. Instead, Christ said “THE HOUR COMES AND NOW IS, WHEN THE TRUE WORSHIPERS, SHALL WORSHIP THE FATHER IN SPIRIT AND IN TRUTH (or in the Person of Christ): FOR THE FATHER SEEKS SUCH TO WORSHIP HIM. GOD IS A SPIRIT: AND THEY THAT WORSHIP HIM IN SPIRIT AND IN TRUTH.”(Jesus is truth)” John 4.23-24 Collectively, all who put their faith in Christ make up the “Church” (the Bride of Christ), which was instituted after Jesus’ ascension. The church is both global and uniquely expressed in local gatherings of believers.

As a part of the Mosaic law, the tithe ended with the “fulfilling of the law”. Revealing that New Testament believers are not mandated to give 10%, however we are still called to financially participate in the work of the church and to care for those who spiritually care for us. “DO YOU NOT KNOW THAT THEY WHICH MINISTER ABOUT HOLY THINGS LIVE OF THE THINGS OF THE TEMPLE? AND THEY WHICH WAIT AT THE ALTAR ARE PARTAKERS WITH THE ALTAR? EVEN SO HAS THE LORD ORDAINED THAT THEY WHICH PREACH THE GOSPEL SHOULD LIVE OF THE GOSPEL.” I Corinthians 9.23-24 “LET THE ELDERS THAT RULE WELL (with carefulness and fear and trembling of their influence) BE COUNTED WORTHY OF DOUBLE HONOR, ESPECIALLY THEY WHO LABOR IN THE WORD AND DOCTRINE. FOR SCRIPTURE SAYS, YOU SHALL NOT MUZZLE THE OX THAT TREADS OUT THE CORN (but it does not say allow them to become gluttonous, millionaires or able to live lives of the rich and famous) AND THE LABORER IS WORHTY OF HIS REWARD.” I Timothy 9.17-18 Our giving is also intended to support the work of missions and help those in need (not depending on the govt to do what we as the church are responsible for.

The New Testament nowhere designates a percentage of income a person is obligated to give. The Christian is not obligated to give 10% “tithe”. But we are encouraged to set aside that wherewith the Lord has blessed us. “WHATSOEVER THINGS ARE TRUE, WHATSOEVER THINGS ARE HONEST, WHATSOEVER THIGS ARE JUST, WHATSOEVER THINGS ARE PURE, WHATSOEVER THINGS ARE LOVELY, WHATSOEVER THINGS ARE OF GOOD REPORT: IF THERE BE ANY VIRTURE, AND IF THERE BE ANY PRAISE, THINK ON THESE THNGS (sadly much of the modern church has traded these things for prestige, popularity, growth, wealth, and gluttony). THOSE THINGS, WHICH YOU HAVE BOTH LEARNED, AND RECEIVED, AND HEARD, AND SEEN IN ME, DO: AND THE GOD OF PEACE SHALL BE WITH YOU. FOR I REJOICE IN THE LORD GREATLY, THAT NOW AT LAST, YOUR CARE OF ME HAS FLOURISHED AGAIN; WHEREIN YOU WERE ALSO CAREFUL, BUT YOU LACKED OPPORTUNITY. NOT THAT I SPEAK IN RESPECT OF WANT (unlike the “word of faith movement” and the “prosperity gospel” which turns God in a give to get!) NOT THAT I SPEAK IN RESPECT WANT: FOR I HAVE LEARNED, IN WHATSOEVER STATE I AM, THEREWITH BE CONTENT. I KNOW BOTH HOW TO BE ABASED, AND I KNOW HOW TO ABOUND: EVERYWHERE AND IN ALL THINGS I AM INSTRUCTED BOTH TO BE FULL AND TO BE HUNGRY, BOTH TO ABOUND AND TO SUFFER NEED. I CAN DO ALL THIGS THROUGH CHRISTWHICH STRENGTHENS ME (not begging people to give to get answered prayer, or a need or want to be given, or sickness to be healed, just be contented with Christ’ love for me)…BUT MY GOD SHALL SUPPLY ALL YOUR NEED (not your wants) ACCORDING TO HIS RICHES IN GLORY BY CHRIST JESUS. Philippians 4.8-19

Finally in closing, what are we as Christians commanded to do in the New Testament, concerning our giving? “BUT THIS I SAY, HE WHICH SOWS SPARINGLY (when he has the wherewith all to give abundantly) SHALL REAP ALSO SPARINGLY; AND HE WHICH SOWS BOUNTFULLY (because of his love for Christ sacrificial giving that purchased his or her salvation) SHALL REAP ALSO BOUNTIFULLY. EVERY MAN ACCORDING AS HE PURPOSES I HIS HEART, SO LET HIM GIVE; NOT GRUDGINGLY (this is a great burden that the modern church has saddled believers with by adopting the O.T. 10% mandatory giving! Accusing church members of robbing God if they don’t give 10% of their income to the church first. Which is teaching in error, teaching that which the Scripture does not reveal!) OR OF NECESSITY (or choosing to sacrifice a personal need so as not to be labeled by the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ as robbing God, by not giving to Him first! Remember I said God’s Word is a very simple book to understand her is great example, because if you are burdened to give grudgingly because and it means you’re going to miss a meal etc. Because it makes you not a cheerful giver, and God receives no glory from your grudging sacrifice) FOR GOD LOVES A CHEERFUL GIVER!” II Corinthians 9.5-7

I love the Lord’s revealed truths and their simplicity, that truly sets our soul free in Christ. There are many today who are placed back into another type of bondage spiritually by mandating man created doctrines. God Bless I hope this study of the “tithe” has been helpful,

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

Many True Believers Who Have Been Wounded Spiritually by Institutionalized Religion and Are Left to Carry Feelings of Guilt by Being Labeled Backsliders or No Longer A Part of the Lord’s Church! So What is Their True Spiritual State?

 This series will deal with a growing crisis unfolding in modern Christianity, the exodus of many believers from organized and denominational religion.  The exodus of members from churches made of brick and mortar run by institutional directives have witnessed an exponential exodus in church attendance, it was 59% in 2011 and 71% in 2025.  There is a plethora of reasons to explain this growing spiritual chaos.  The birth of the megachurch with its state of the art productions, called worship, its country club buildings, it’s focus on growth where the means justifies end, the catering to seekers to the neglect of feeding true believers spiritual meat, and advocating and promotion of political ideologies for one political party and the most glaring anti-Christian acts that are a major cancer on the modern church, is sexual abuse scandal the religious leaders of the denominations initially refused to address, and were more interested in protecting the institution than exposing the sexual predators who occupied its pulpits.  The second act was adopting the idea “that money answers all things”.   The result was the birth of celebrity pastors, with many becoming millionaires living lives of extravagance, materialism, privilege and avarice.  Many believers find themselves drying up spiritually, as they look around at their surroundings sitting in a church styled after luxurious country clubs, state of the art music productions performed by professional singers, while asking themselves is this all there is to serving Christ? 

                The idea of Christians who don’t attend church is not new, but it has become more common in the 21st century in recent years.  Studies show that church attendance has been declining in many parts of the world, especially in Western nations.  Some of the key reasons [BELIEVERS DISILLUSIONMENT WITH WITH INSTUTIONAL AND OGANATIONAL RELIGION:] Many Christians feel that churches have become too institutionalized, bureaucratic, and in many instances even corrupt.  [MANY BELIEVERS SUFFER FROM NEGATIVE PERSONAL EXPERIENCES:] Some believers have experienced judgment at the hands of other believers, exclusion, or hurt within the church communities, leading them to distance themselves from attending church altogether.  An increasing number of Christians today identify as faithful followers of Christ while choosing not to attend church regularly or not at all.  Final thought: A BELIEVERS SOURED ON INSTITUTIONAL RELIGION IS STILL A CHRISTIAN.

                Serious believers after the “faith of Jesus Christ” look around at the churches of modernity and ask themselves is this all there is?  It’s not because you’re rebellious, not because your heart has grown cold, but because deep down in your soul that is famished by being fed a steady diet of elementary Biblical truths, causing you to question, there is something more to serving Christ, something pure untainted by scandal and greed, something sacred, something that no building, no program, no celebrity pastor can manufacture.  When institutionalized religion no longer meets your spiritual need, causing many to quit attending, they are labeled backsliders, they no longer walk with the Lord, that walking away from the church is walking away from the Lord.  But for many in the faith wounded by others in the faith, haven’t walked away from the Lord, they walked away from noise, they walked away from religious performance, they walked away from the place where their spirit was starving.  While others saw you leaving, what they failed to see was what the Lord was doing in secret.  Many who have left organized and institutional religion are called out, being set apart, not to rebel, but to listen, to be still, to have their faith strengthened by the Lord Himself, not because you’re lost, but to satisfy in your soul a fire burning with hunger for more knowledge of the one we call savior. 

                Here is something important to consider: God’s chosen have always walked a narrow path that few understand.  They don’t need stain glass to see His beauty, architectural cathedrals that makes the world marvel, to see His majestic glory, they don’t need eloquent or gifted orators delivering sermons peppered with humor to keep their hearers engaged, to hear the Lord’s voice and they don’t need a crowd stirred up by master manipulators who create a false visitation by the Holy Spirit.  His disciples, His Church, His bride, are those who hear the whisper of His voice in a place of longing, solitude and wilderness wandering.  They meet Him by being still, meeting him in the quietness of a harried life, who walks with Him when no one else will. 

CONCLUSION: This series will no doubt cause consternation and disagreement from many in the faith, however I have always been considered what many call a boat-rocker.  I am not boasting, but humbling admitting my ministry from its beginning did not endear me to many in the faith.  One of my professors in seminary even signaled me out before the class as seeing no gray areas in Scripture, but to me everything was black or white,  Which I responded by saying, I mean no disrespect, but the only gray areas I see in God’s Word is those we create with the gray matter between our two ears.  I have never been a man follower but led by what I felt the Lord was speaking in my heart.  As I said, this is not for some.  On the other hand, if your heart burns for more intimacy with our Savior, maybe I am speaking to you.  Maybe you don’t fit the mold, or feel like you truly belong in the system created by modern contemporary Christian belief, don’t despair, it may mean you are in a search for true fulfillment to satisfy the deep yearning in your soul.  Let me close the 1st in the series with these words of encouragement: You don’t become a Christian by sitting in a church   You become a Christian by receiving the grace of God, by putting your faith in Jesus the Christ, as your Lord and savior.  That happens in the heart, not by occupying a pew.  Can I still be the bride of Christ, the Church, even when I disconnect from the modern religious system?  The answer is yes!  If the relationship with the Lord is real.  Brick and mortar cannot replace your personal walk with the Savior.  God Bless

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

Many True Believers Who Have Been Wounded Spiritually by Institutionalized Religion and Are Left to Carry Feelings of Guilt by Being Labeled Backsliders or No Longer A Part of the Lord’s Church! So What is Their True Spiritual State? [Part 2]

As a pastor for over 30 years, I have seen and experienced things in the institutional religion model, that would grieve the heart of any true believer.  For example, a young man started attending our church with his wife and he was known as a noted drug dealer in our city.  He came under conviction one Sunday morning and came forward when the invitation was extended.  Our pastor looked at me and asked me to come forward and said Craig wanted to be saved and asked me to minister with him.  I took him and his wife out of the sanctuary back into one of the Sunday School rooms.  Then I asked him, why in the world would you want to be saved?  At the present time you are calling out the shots and are answerable to no one.  If you want to be saved, that requires you to give up all that authority to Jesus, as Lord.  Are you sure you really want to do that?  His little wife looked at me with bewilderment, but Craig was adamant, and I couldn’t dissuade him.  Craig truly was born again that morning and had fire burning in Him for the Lord that began to make some of the members to question if he was acting to spiritually.  He was in our Sunday School class for couples, and some of the men began question if he was really saved, why he hadn’t been convicted about cut his long hippie hair yet.   I just marveled at their ignorance.  Low and behold Craig came in one Sunday and had a regular haircut.  The men who had question his conversion were beside themselves, and one ask, “Craig we see the Lord convicted you about your hair.  Without a minute’s hesitation, he answered yes He did.  I was reading my Bible and came across the scripture that says, “TAKE HEED LEST BY ANY MEANS THIS LIBERT (in his case his long hair) OF YOURS BECOMES A STUMBLING BLOCK TO THEM THAT ARE WEAK (a baby in the fraith).” My heart swelled with unspeakable joy at this babe in the faith, demonstrating obedience to His Lord.  I will however, admit a measure of fear as I left to pastor a church, that there was the danger his fire for serving the Lord, may get tempered by members of the church who felt threatened by his zeal in his salvation.

                In this series I want to examine (7) truths that assure true people of faith that have left organized religion are the real church, who have not quit following the Lord.  They were drying up spiritually by programs masquerading as worship, if they question something that didn’t align with scripture, they were labeled troublemakers, victims of sexual abuse label Sowers of discord, for reporting the abuse.  And pastors and leaders are protected and, in many cases, especially in the megachurches that are deemed untouchable.

[1]…It is important to understand the Lord’s voice is not bound by brick and stone.  And we need to understand fully this truth.  God has never needed a building to reach His children.  Long before there were steeples dotting the horizons, cathedrals that glorify hierarchical religious leaders littered with all measure of forbidden idol worship, marquees and church signs, billboards etc. with the celebrity pastor’s name emblazoned with huge letters, and before there were state of the art productions, microphones, power points so members are no longer burdened with having to  carry a bible around, that is mostly never opened anyway.  Long before all these worldly attractions meant to appeal and attract seekers.  God was already speaking in deserts, on mountain tops, in caves, and even through a burning bush that was not consumed.  He doesn’t wait for us to build temples, cathedrals and megachurches design with every comfort of a ritzy country club replete with coffee shops and in some restaurants.  The undeniable truth is, He meets where we are, often in the raw, and unlovely throws of life that has abused and beat us down to a place of hopelessness and despair of life itself.  Think of Moses, he didn’t hear God’s voice inside a temple built with hands.  He encountered God in the wilderness, barefoot, face to the ground, trembling before a bush that burned, but not being consumed.  That moment didn’t require stain-glassed windows or padded pews and theater chairs for comfort.  The only requirement needed was a heart willing to listen.    Moses was not seeking a religious experience; he was simply walking and God interrupted him with His glory.  Elijah, weary and hunted, hiding in a cave, despairing of life itself and pleading to die, was not surrounded by choirs or huge crowds stirred through pep-rally type preaching to create an emotional response, but in the loneliness and solitude of a cave accompanied by his mental suffering, that God whispered to him that he was not alone.  Not in the earthquake, not in the fire, not in the wind, but in that still small voice.  Elijah didn’t need institutional religious teaching to hear God; he just needed to be still in solitude and surrender.  What about John the Baptist?  He never set foot in a religious synagogue to preach.  He wore camel’ hair and ate honey.  He called people to repent from the wilderness, he called the religious leaders a brood of vipers and to flee the wrath to come, and not from a pulpit, and the people came to him.  Because something in him carried the voice, carried the echo of heaven.  God had by-passed Herod’s’ Temple once again and chose a what many considered a wild and uncouth prophet to sake a nation.

CONCLUSION: This is the pattern, over and over again.  God many times by-passes the expected (believers must be part of a denomination or religious institution) and chooses the wilderness of lives wandering.  He calls His children into places far from comfort, far from traditions created by men, because there they can finally hear, there He has our uninterrupted attention.  So if you have found yourself away from the religious over-flowing crowds, if you felt you were drying up spiritually in a building styled after a worldly country club and into the quietness of solitude and meditation on Him, you are not far from God.  You may be closer than you ever have in all your religious training and experiences, because He is still speaking, not just in temples, cathedrals, brick and mortar, megachurches with all their comforts of the world, but in the secret place where only those that truly hunger after Him and His righteousness hunger to know.  God Blesses a hungry heart!

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

Many True Believers Who Have Been Wounded Spiritually by Institutionalized Religion and Are Left to Carry Feelings of Guilt by Being Labeled Backsliders or No Longer A Part of the Lord’s Church! So What is Their True Spiritual State? [Part 3]

                There is no doubt that the world is full of wounded members of the true body of Christ, and although they no longer worship Him based on the model established by institutionalized religion or the mandates set forth by a plethora of denominations, which is no where described in the Bible.  What is described is “FOR THROUGH HIM (Christ our Lord and Savior) WE BOTH HAVE HAVE ACESS BY ONE SPIRIT UNTO THE FATHERNOW THEREFORE YOU ARE NO MORE STRANGERS (or no longer walking without God)AND FOREIGNERS, BUT FELLOW CITIZENS WITH THE SAINTS, AND THE HOUSEHOLD OF GOD; AND ARE BUILT UPON A FOUNDATION OF THE APOSTLES AND PROPHETS, JESUS CHRIST HIMSELF BEING THE CHIEF CORNERSTONE; IN WHOM ALL THE BUILDING FITLY FRAMED TOGETHER GROWING INTO A HOLY TEMPLEIN THE LORD: IN WHOM YOU ALSO BUILDED TOGETHER FOR AN HABITATION OF GOD THROUGH THE SPIRIT.” Ephesians 2:18-22  

                Unfortunately, I have witnessed some of the most unchristian behavior by members in organized religion that you can even imagine.  I witnessed the Lord’s name smeared and dragged through the local judicial system that played out daily in the newspaper and local TV news outlets.  A chairman of the Deacons who owned a rather large construction company, donated a large parcel of property for the churches future building program.  When the plans for the building program were presented in a church business meeting, several of the more spiritually humble members respectfully asked that the members have time to pray over this huge financial undertaking. The Pastor proceeded to humiliate them in front of the whole church by saying; “IF THAT IS DONE, WE CAN TAKE THESE ARCHITECTUAL DESIGNS PUT THEM IN A CLOSET UPSTAIRS, AND PLACE A SIGN OVER THE DOOR SAYING, THIS IS WHAT WE COULD HAVE HAD!”   Satan walked in that Wednesday night and shut down any future work by the Holy Spirit grieving Him, believed by many, beyond recall.   A very godly brother who was also a medical Dr., whose wife I had went visiting with several times, a very godly Christian woman who loved the Lord, and whose husband was chairman of the building committee.  And as a result of the Pastor humiliating of members in front of the whole body, he resigned from the committee that night and later suffered a massive heart attack that same night.  That began a horrid chapter of embarrassment for Eastwood Baptist Church and the Lord Himself.  After that meeting the church began a massive decline, to the point they couldn’t even purchase a screw on credit in the whole city.  Then the Chairman of the Deacon who had donated the parcel of land wanted it back.  The church said no, and so he sued the church and won his case in a secular court, all played out daily by the press.  The pastor that destroyed that church, moved to Tennessee and started a non-denominational church with speaking in tongues and slaying-in-the-spirit.  I wonder if some of those members of the true church who were embarrassed, harassed and spiritually wounded still attend institutionalized religion.

[2] THE TRUE CHURCH IS THE PEOPLE: The true church is not a building, but a people let’s make that clear!  In modernity it’s one of the most misunderstood biblical truths in all of Christianity.  The church is not a specific location, it’s not a building, a denomination, or a designated service time on Sunday morning, that has a time limit in which the Holy Spirit is allowed to work.  The true church the one Jesus died for, the one He is returning for, is not made of brick and stone.  It’s made of people, living, breathing, spirit-filled people.  The word ‘church’ come from the Greek word ‘ecclesia’ and means the called-out ones.  Not gathered in ones, not the weekly attending ones who gather in buildings made by men, but those who have been called out of the world, called out of man-made religions that many times place people in bondage to man created doctrines, but all those called out of darkness into Christ’ marvelous light.  The true church is a living organism, not a religious institution.  The true church cannot be contained within four walls.  When Jesus said: “WHERE TWO OR THREE ARE GATHERED IN MY MY NAME, THERE I AM IN THE MIDST OF THEM.”  He wasn’t implying a church growth strategy, He was giving us a glimpse of His heart.  The Lord is moved by communing with His beloved.  Two hearts on fire for Him gathered in love and in truth, is more church than a thousand distracted souls in a megachurch receiving TED talks, or how to be a better you, or some majestic cathedral leading uninformed attendees in open idol worship and the worship of a man.  Throughout scripture, God’s presence shows up where His people are hungry, not where the structure is designed for comfort, be non-offensive to modern seekers.

                CONCLUSION: In the book of Acts, the early believers didn’t have fancy buildings.  They met in homes, under open skies and deep in the bowels of the earth in the Roman catacombs in secret.  And yet they were able to turn the known world upside down.  Why?  Because they understood they were the church, the temple of the body of Christ.   The Spirit of the Lord was no longer hidden behind the 3’ thick curtain hiding His holiness, it now resided in a fleshly church.  God’s true children know this truth deep in their bones.  That no matter where they are, in a prison cell, a hospital room, a quiet living room, they are the true church.  They carry His presence, they are His house and they are His bride.  When they walk, He walks, when they speak, He speaks.  So if you find yourself one of the wounded in the faith by other members or institutional  leadership in the body of Christ, causing you to leave the building, but still burn for Jesus deep in your heart, you are not a backslider, or guilty of walking away from following the Lord, you are the church.  And maybe, just maybe that is what the Lord has been trying to show you all long.  This is no way a discouragement from attending organized religious service in brick and stone.  However, given the explosion of financial corruption, sexual abuse cover-ups etc. a lot of members of the true church are feeling confused spiritually.  God Bless the body of Christ

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

Many True Believers Who Have Been Wounded Spiritually by Institutionalized Religion and Are Left to Carry Feelings of Guilt by Being Labeled Backsliders or No Longer A Part of the Lord’s Church! So What is Their True Spiritual State? [Part 4]

[3] WHY SOME CHOOSE NOT TO BE PART MAN-MADE CHURCHES: The world and most especially America in much of modern Christian worship in man-made churches involves worshiping man-made gods, but not of wood and stone, but man-made gods all the same.  The Lord through Moses warned the Israelites this very thing would happen to them once they cross the Jordan River into the Promised Land. “THE LORD WILL SCATTER YOU AMONG PEOPLE, AND ONLY A FEW OF YOU WILL SURVIVE AMONG ALL THE NATIONS TO WHICH THE LORD WILL DRIVE YOU. THERE YOU WILL WORSHIP MAN-MADE GODS OF WOOD AND STONE, WHICH CANNOT SEE OR HEAR OR EAT AND SMELL.” Deuteronomy 4.27-28  In this context, the 21st century and in many churches that occupy almost every corner in most American cities, man-made gods are worshiped, how ever they are not made of wood or stone, but these man-made gods can eat, hear and smell. Who and what are these man-made gods?  They are men and women who have taken the place of the Lord by ‘arrogating’ (claiming or seizing divine power as their right-They assign to themselves responsibilities and privilege, that they claim is theirs while having no right to-do so) supernatural powers to themselves and pervert the true worship of God.  In many Word of Faith teachings, Health Wealth and Prosperity teachers, and many Pentecostal churches worshipers are no longer adhering to the true word of God, but the words of false teachers masquerading as little gods.  In other words, their words have become more authoritative than the Bible to their followers.  They make themselves appear so holy that no one dares criticize them.  They surround themselves with entourages, bodyguards, thugs that physically manhandle critics and accusers.  They fake humility, boast of their riches, materialism, power to command healing, wave their coat and slay people in the spirit, and can teach followers how to be baptized by the Holy Spirit by speaking in tongues that is nothing more than baby gibberish.  It’s the epitome of hypocrisy to denounce idolatry in paganism and come to Christ just to meet another idol.  And for those who really have an encounter with the Lord Christ, find themselves struggling to attend any type of man-made institutionalized religious churches.  Never understanding they are the true church of Christ.

[4] Jesus rejected wholesale, the religious system of His day.  Why not go for approval from Caiaphas the high priest?  If we truly want to understand why some choose to no longer be a part of institutional religion and man-made churches, just look at Jesus, not as savior, but as a bold and relentless challenger of religious systems corrupted by men of His day, and we have to ask ourselves has anything really changed in 2000 plus years?  If we are honest with ourselves, the answer is a resounding No!  Because of man’s sinful nature we are destined to taint and corrupt any and everything meant for good.  This is tied to Adams sentence for willful disobedience; “YOU WILL WORK TO THE SWEAT OF YOUR BROW TO EEK A LIVING FROM THE HEART.”and it didn’t take sinful man long to figure out how to short-circuit the judgment, by exploiting his fellowman entirely, both secularly and religiously.  Jesus didn’t just preach love and forgiveness as many people like to use in their arguments in favor of sinful behavior.  He confronted corruption publicly and head-on and without hesitation, He exposed religious hypocrisy by religious leaders, by going toe to toe with them, who acted as though they alone held access to God.  He didn’t fit in with Jewish institutional run temple courts in fact He interrupted their religiosity!  When He walked into the temple and saw religious merchant making merchandise out of people attempting to worship God, He didn’t use diplomacy to register His displeasure with their religious hypocrisy, He flipped their tables, fashioned a whip and used it to drive them from the temple.  How many celebrity-pastors, teachers, televangelist both male and female have created false-gods to worship designed to fleece the flock and to make merchandise of you?  They are guilty of commercializing what is intended to be holy. 

                The religious elite of His day hated Him!  Not because He sinned, not because He was evil, but because He exposed them in the light of day.  Think about this when you struggle with attending institutionalized religion, Jesus spent far more time in the streets, field, hillsides, and even in a boat where sinners abounded and people with broken lives lay in misery in ally ways discarded to suffer alone, than He ever did in the synagogue.  His pulpit was the dirt beneath His feet.  His congregation was the hungry, the outcast of society which had been discarded, the rejected for religious violations created by the order of men and the forgotten, the Lord’s ministers don’t need platforms, they are not motivated by numbers, they don’t need stages, mood lights, microphones or smokey haze to simulate a lounge to set the right mood, like the Lord our Savior they speak truth in love wherever they are.  And many times, members are made to feel misunderstood, ridiculed through gossiping church members, and even shunned as Sowers of discord.

CONCLUSION: Here is an undeniable truth.  Jesus never came for us to establish or repair the old religious systems corrupted by men, He came to replace it with a new covenant between forgiven sinners and God the Father, something unheard of ever before.  Something new, something alive and something that moved Spiritually.  And those who truly follow Him in a never dying hunger for the same heart as the Savior.  If you find yourself outside humiliated by institutionalized religion, you didn’t just leave loving Jesus, you step into an untamed, raw spirit-led life that only the people of faith can experience.  God Bless you all

FOOD FROR THOUGHT

Many True Believers Who Have Been Wounded Spiritually by Institutionalized Religion and Are Left to Carry Feelings of Guilt by Being Labeled Backsliders or No Longer A Part of the Lord’s Church! So What is Their True Spiritual State? [Part 5]

[5] The Dangers Involved of Emotionalism in Worship: In today’s modern church, worship is often measured by created emotional frenzy, followed by bizarre behavior, inhuman antics and every other kind of eccentric behavior.  Emotionalism tied to worship was birthed by what is known as Azusa Street Revival Meeting with speaking in tongues, people running rolling around on the floor, etc.  Thus, the name Holy Rollers was applied to their antics.  This was followed by the Oral Roberts tenet revivals phenom with crutches and wheelchairs littering the stage area from pseudo healings.  He even said God was going to kill him if he couldn’t raise millions of dollars to build a hospital to which He would send a cure for cancer.  It was a mobster that owned a race-horse track that donated the money to save his life.  Today the hospital sits as an empty tomb testifying that he was a false prophet.  One of his star pupils, Carlton Pearson, converted to universalism.  Then came the next pseudo visitation of the Holy Spirit fueled by emotional extremism, The Vineyard Movement, started by the hippie Jesus Movement where people started laughing uncontrollably, roaring like lions, laying on the floor immobile for extended periods of time.  This led to the Brownsville Assembly of God Revival that at its zenith was attracting people from all over the world, lines formed in the sweltering sun all day just to get a seat inside at 7:00 PM peoples’ emotional antics included laughing uncontrollably, getting down on all fours barking like dogs, roaring like lions, head jerking so violently many suffered permanent neck injuries and others laying prone for hours.  The Pastor John Fitzgerald and evangelist Steve Hill at the height of the movement made a visit to the Pyramid in Memphis and I decided to go to see what all the excitement was about.  When I first walked in the Pyramid, it smelled like a bar when you opened it in the morning after a wild night drinking, stale beer and cigarettes.   There were tables strewn throughout the Pyramid with all types of books, tapes, religious icons etc. all manned by individuals standing with cash in hand like a bunch of carnival barkers.  It was all programmed for maximal emotional response.  My spirit was grieved from the very moment I walked into the Pyramid.  Today that same church has less than 200 members.

                In today’s church, worship is often measured by emotions it stirs.  Is this really a reliable gauge of faithfulness?  While God designed us with emotions and the innate desire to worship something but placing feelings above truth—poses a real danger to biblical worship.  Emotionalism is the elevation of feelings above truth.  In the context of worship, it means chasing experiences and emotional highs rather than centering on worship through God’s revealed truth, is spiritually dangerous.  When the next emotional-high does not materialize, what’s left?  The major problem with emotion-driven worship is that it confuses feelings with faithfulness.  It teaches believers immature in the faith to evaluate true worship based on how they are moved rather than how aligned it is with Scripture, subtly shifting our focus from God to ourselves: asking “Did I feel something?” becomes more important than “those who worship the Father, must worship Him in Spirit and in truth.”  This mindset leaves believers chasing spiritual highs, but unable to endure spiritual valleys.  Leaving them to start questioning why is the Lord forsaking me?

[6] The Holy Spirit teaches Christ’s bride directly.  “THE COMFORTER WHICH IS THE HOLY GHOST, WHOM THE FATHER WILL SEND IN MY NAME, HE SHALL TEACH YOU ALL THINGS, AND BRING ALL THINGS TO YOUR REMEMBERANCE, EVERYTHING I HAVE SAID UNTO YOU.” John 14.26  The bride of Christ (the church) is not ultimately shaped by a sermon to support man-made doctrines that put many in spiritual bondage or to embrace a rebranding of the gospel of Christ to appease seekers, or seminars designed to re-educate like The Promise Keepers men’s ministry which is really a spiritual trojan horse.  Why?  Because it is not our promises to Christ that is important, rather Christ’ promises to us, “to never leave us or forsake us.”  Men are incapable of keeping promises made to the Lord, because life is fraught with too many unseen storms.  Another, Is True Love Waits.  Although the creators were no doubt well intentioned, it too is doomed for spiritual failure, heartache and public embarrassment.  The teenager makes a public promise to stay pure until marriage, and the pressures of teenage years in sex craved society nearly impossible to keep.  The promise is produced through emotionalism.  We need to just serve Him and not make vows we cannot keep.  Here is a exhortation that may sound radical to some: “the anointing you have received from Him (the Holy Spirit) abides in you, and you do not need anyone teach you.” 1st John 2.27  This is not poetic language, that is spiritual reality.  When God chose us to be His children, He placed within each of us His Spirit and that Spirit becomes our teacher, our guide to keep us from spiritual falsehoods, our counselor.

[7] Important to NOTE: The early disciples didn’t graduate from religious schools; they walked and were led by the Spirit.  Paul, who wrote most of the New Testament, didn’t immediately consult church leaders in Jerusalem after encountering the Lord on the road to Damascus.  Instead, he went into the Arabia wilderness alone for years, because the Lord was teaching him directly, stripping away the old (religion of he learned as a member of the Sanhedrin) and pouring in the new.  This is what the Lord does with His bride, He sends His teacher the Holy Spirit to comfort their confusion and teaches them truth.  Many times, that shaping causes the believer to go through valleys and deserts, not for pains sake, but to sharpen our resolve to serve only Him.  He tunes our hearts to His whisper.  He uses everyday moments, storms, failures, stillness and suffering as His curriculum.  And when we emerge, we carry something no seminary can give. The believer speaks with authority that wasn’t birthed by man.  Words pierce hearts not because they are eloquent, but because they are saturated with the oil of intimacy.  They have sat at the feet of Jesus, not behind a pulpit, but in the unseen hours of prayer and surrender.  If you are continuing to grow in love for the Savior outside institutional religion, don’t feel like an outcast, Rejoice!     

CONCLUSION: True teaching most often comes in wilderness life wandering searching for true fulfillment.  We should desire worship that stirs our affections, but only when those affections are stirred by unadulterated truth.  Emotion is a gift, not a god.  The goal of worship is not necessarily to feel something as a proper gauge, but to behold someone, Jesus Christ, crucified and risen, the only One worthy of our most earnest devotion.  God Bless all!   

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

Many True Believers Who Have Been Wounded Spiritually by Institutionalized Religion and Are Left to Carry Feelings of Guilt by Being Labeled Backsliders or No Longer A Part of the Lord’s Church! So What is Their True Spiritual State? [Part 6]

In part [6]: we will address one of the most disturbing and heart wrenching persecution any true believer in the faith of Christ can endure at the hands of the Church. And this coupled with the fact it is the saddest testimony any believer can be guilty of.  For the believer guilty of criticizing, spreading gossip, spreading unfounded lies, leading the ostracization of a fellow believer or sowing discord in the bride of Christ, is to commit multiples of the seven deadly sins.  “THESE SIX THINGS DOES THE LORD HATE: YES SEVEN ARE AN ABOMINATION TO HIM: A PROUD LOOK, ALYING TONGUE…A HEART THAT DREAMS UP WICKED IMAGINATIONS, FEET THAT ARE QUICK TO ENGAGE IN MISCHIEF, A FALSE WITNESS THAT SPEAKS LIES AND HE OR SHE THAT SOWS DISCORD AMONG THE BRETHREN.” Proverbs 6.16-19  Sadly, in modern institutional religion and organized denominations these abominable sins are committed with little to no indifference.  Pastors are fired because they are not charismatic enough, they don’t dispense enough milk so as not to offend seekers.  Members are attacked by salacious gossip and slander because they don’t fit a certain social economic status. It has become as common as reciting the Lord’s Prayer for church splits to occur over personal like or dislike.  However, this is not a spiritual anomaly. Our Lord said it would be the standard practice among those of our own household: “THINK NOT THAT I COME TO SEND PEACE ON EARTH BUT A SWORD…AND A MAN’S FOE SHALL BE THEY OF HIS HOUSEHOLD.” Both members of our immediate families as well as those of the family of faith.  What else could one reasonably expect when the household faith strives with such earnestness to look and imitate the world?  Jesus was unmercifully persecuted and ultimately crucified by the religious system of His day.  Paul had to be let over the wall in a basket because of religious persecution.  Unbeknown to me I was asked to preach at a church in Folly Beach So. Carolina that had just removed their pastor, disconnected the lights in the parsonage, and him with 3 small children.  They ultimately evicted him and his family with nowhere for them to go.  My sermon that Sunday was titled THE NUMBER ONE SIN REGULARLY COMMITED BY THE CHILDREN OF FAITH, PARTIAL OBEDIENCE!  In my remarks that morning I used as an illustration of a church removing the man that God supposedly led the church to install as pastor.  Well, they had a covered dish dinner after the morning service.  After we finished eating the chairman of the deacons asked if he could speak with me.  He said, “I disagree with part of your sermon this morning about removing a pastor.  He continued; let me ask you this, what if he said Christ was no longer the only way to heaven, what would you do?”  I replied, the first thing I would do is go to him and ask him if I mistook what he was saying, then I would get on my face before the Lord and ask Him what He wanted me to do?  Our problem is we don’t even inquire of Him we just assume its our duty to get rid of him.  That night I concluded the sermon I had started in the morning, with how Daivid got Uzzah killed for partial obedience and how God was ready to destroy the entire nation over Achan’s one act of disobedience.  In, the midst of the sermon I caught a movement in the center aisle.  The Chairman of the Deacons had fell on his face before the Lord.  During the invitation he stood before the church and said bros and sisters, the Lord spoke here today.

One of the most heartbreaking yet eye-opening realities in the Bible is this.  The fiercest opposition against the Lord’s bride (the church) comes from within religious systems.  True believers who carry the true voice of God are always targets. Not by unbelievers, but by religious people and its leaders who feel threatened by truth.  Jeremiah was called to speak God’s words to a nation drowning in idolatry.  And it wasn’t the pagans who beat him and threw him in a cistern, it was the priest and false prophets of his day.  They hated his message because it exposed their comfortable lies.  Paul’s persecution of the early church was because of his deeply held religious teachings, that told him he was doing that in which the Lord was blessed.  Even today members of the bride of Christ are criticized and rejected for a plethora of reasons, by religious authority that feels threatened with all their religious degrees that they think sets them above everyone else.

CONCLUSION: Many of God’s faithful children are rejected, criticized not by the lost but by fellow believers of the household of faith.  They are mocked for leaving the system, labelled rebellious, unteachable and full of pride.  However, this progressing rejection ongoing in the body of Christ is not new.  It’s the very road Christ our Lord walked.  And every true disciple must walk too.  So, if you felt or feel cast out by the churches, misunderstood by rebellious leaders, or slandered by those who wear their religious titles, don’t be disheartened or dismayed.  Truth is you are in holy company.  You are walking the same narrow path as the prophets and martyrs of the early church trod before.  And in the Lord’s eyes you are not rebellious or a threat.  You are His voice in the wilderness of compromise.  Let your heart burst with intimacy in Christ love.  God Bless

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

IS GOOD WORK A LEGIMATE AVENUE IN THE PURSUIT OF ETERNAL LIFE? THE ANSWER IS YES! BUT IS IT A PROFITABLE OPTION FOR MAN?

To answer this question by a person of the faith of Jesus Christ, that tells someone the only way to have eternal life is through Jesus Christ, would appear to be a contradiction of the Word of God according to the 7th verse of Romans chapter 2.

“To them who by patient continuance in well doing, seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life.” Romans 2:7

So, what is the point Paul is making? If an individual “seeking glory and honor” from God, with a hope of achieving “immortality”, were to “patiently continue” to do “well”, it would result in “eternal life”. For some believers in the Christian faith, they naturally struggle to understand Paul’s statement, and that based on what we know of grace and salvation. However, it is most important to remember that Paul has not yet begun to introduce God’s unmerited favor through Christ in his progression of thoughts thus far, because Paul like a prosecuting attorney is presenting the facts that brings everyone born, guilty before God. At this point following Paul’s logic, he is dealing with those who have no revelation from the Bible and no knowledge of Jesus Christ.

One of the often-made indictments against God, is that He is unjust when He condemns those who have had no access to Biblical revelations or exposure to knowledge of the forgiveness of sin through Jesus Christ. So, Paul is stating that God is declaring His righteousness by offering a person eternal life through a life of continued good work. When a person is told there is “NO OTHER NAME UNDER HEAVEN WHEREBY WE MUST BE SAVED”, they are quick to cry, “Injustice”! What of those who have never heard? What about other religions? What if a person is sincere and does the best they can do? Paul responds by framing an argument, “ok, you want to approach God’s judgment bar with evidence of your good works, then have at it; if it is your testimony that you continued uninterrupted in good works, then the court will find in your favor, and grant eternal life.” In fact, this is the offer made throughout Scripture. In Romans 2.13“FOR, NOT THE HEARERS OF THE LAW ARE JUST BEFORE GOD, BUT THE DOERS OF THE LAW SHALL BE JUSTIFIED.” In Romans 10.5 “For Moses described the righteousness, which is of the law, that the man which does those things shall live by them (in other words, will have eternal life). Galatian 3:12 “AND THE LAW IS NOT OF FAITH: BUT THE PERSON THAT DOES THEM SHALL LIVE (achieve eternal life) IN THEM.” In Luke 10.25 a man put this question to Jesus; “A certain lawyer (one who taught the law) stood up, and tempted him (Jesus), saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? And He said unto him, what is written in the law? How do you read it? And he answering said, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself. And He (Jesus) said unto him, you have answered right: this do and you shall live (have eternal life).” Again, in Matthew 19.17, a man asked Jesus what he must do to have eternal life. Jesus answered, “if you will enter into life (eternally), keep the commandments.” All these passages declare salvation and eternal life can be obtained by good work in keeping the law.

So, the question that begs to be answered, is why would God offer salvation by works when we know from many Scriptures that ‘no one’ will ever be saved by works? Because even though no one has ever found eternal life through the principle of good work, it yet remains true. If a person could not be saved by keeping perfect obedience to the law, neither could they be damned who fail to keep it. Remember, the law never offers salvation to those who have already broken it. Once the law is broken even to the slightest degree, there is no provision in the law for forgiveness.

The law had one purpose and one purpose only. It was an instrument for instructing every person what it took to please God and to satisfy one’s own conscience. It was ordained by God to produce life, but because of universal disobedience, it failed universally to give what it was designed to do. There was no fault with the law, nor the offer of life. In other words, the offer of life through the law was not made invalid by universal failure to obey it. The offer still stands to each new-born individual that pulls the breath of life into their lungs. It is still to be tried as a pathway to life. However, those who fail in keeping one tenet of the Law must look elsewhere for forgiveness and eternal life. “BUT WE KNOW THAT THE LAW IS GOOD, IF A PERSON USE IT LAWFULLY” I Timothy 1.8 The setting of laws is to set boundaries that must be obeyed.

If we are made perfect, by our attempts to keep the Law, keeping the Sabbath Day and keeping the dietary laws given specifically to the Israelite people, all in a vain attempt to gain favor with God for their good efforts, yet never realizing they are wasting their time! They are made spiritually ignorant by following the false teachings of man-made religions: such as Seventh Day Adventist, Jehovah’s Witness and Latter-Day Saints etc. who teach keeping of the Law is required to obtain eternal life. If this is Scriptural truth, then what further need do we have of another avenue for obtaining forgiveness and eternal life. The lack of being taught the meat of the word coupled with their lack of understanding, leaves them devoid of understanding the true value of God’s work of grace. Also, many Christian believers who have been fed a steady diet of the “milk of the word” have been rendered Biblically illiterate, never realizing that the keeping of the Law as a way for obtaining favor with God, was disannulled (in other words, to render void, particularly in the context of contracts or laws), why? There was no further need of it to gain the acceptance of God. “FOR IT IS EVIDENT THAT OUR LORD (the Son of God) CAME FROM JUDAH; OF WHICH TRIBE MOSES SPOKE NOTHING CONCERNING (being a member) OF THE PRIESTHOOD (of the tribe of Levites). AND IT IS YET FAR MORE EVIDENT: THAT AFTER THE SIMLITUDE (or likeness) OF MEL-CHIS’-ED-EC (priest of the most-high God) THEIR ARISES ANOTHER PRIEST, WHO IS MADE, NOT AFTER THE LAW OF A CARNAL COMMANDENT (given to Moses), BUT AFTER THE ORDER OF AN ENDLESS LIFE (Christ resurrection to a life without end). F0R HE (God) TESTIFIES, YOU (Jesus) ARE A PRIEST FOREVER AFTER THE ORDER OF MEL-CHIS’-ED-EC. FOR THERE IS VERILY (an adverb that means truth or certainty) A DISANNULLING (to render void) OF THE COMMANDMENT GOING BEFORE (the 10 Commandments written by the finger of God for Moses to deliver to His people) BECAUSE OF THE WEAKNESS AND UNPROFITABLENESS THEREOF. FOR THE LAW MADE NOTHING PERFECT, BUT THE BRINGING IN OF A BETTER HOPE DID (the sinless life of Jesus); BY WHICH WE DRAW NIGH UNTO GOD.” Hebrews 7.14-19

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

BAD RELIGION RISING IN MODERNITY

(Christians Endorsing Heretical Beliefs Without Realizing It?)

Matthew 24.3-14

Introduction: [1] “And as He sat upon the Mount of Olives, the disciples came unto Him privately saying, when shall these things (the end times) be? [3] And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man decieve you. [4] For many will come in My name, saying I am Christ; (in other words that Jesus is the Savior) and shall decieve many…[11-12] And many false prophets shall rise, and shall decieve many. And because iniquity shall abound (wickedness is no longer hiding it parades proudly and openly in society) the love of many shall wax cold.” Matthew 24

The disciples sought the Lord privately...to inquire about His “coming again”.  While wrestling with His declaration to them His impending death that He had told them would surely come. 

          And and like many people of faith in today's world, they believed what Christ said to them, but as history reveals, they didn't embrace His words, as a reality!  For when God's divine plan became a reality...the offering up His Son for the sins of the world...the disciples openly rejected the truth for a lie of their own making... believing it was their responsibility to save the Son of God from His divine fate.  They embraced a heretical truth by denying the Words of the Lord!

       Fast-forward to the 21st century...and evidence abounds all around us as we witness the explosion of Bad Religion Rising!  How dangerous is the Heresy that embodies the Rise of Bad Religion?  Consider the following oxymoronthat aptly describes American Christianity;

•      There are more believing unbelievers(those who believe the Words heard and readily accept as the Truth...but they are conflicted by their love for the world and the things there of...making their believing in reality, unbelieving!)

•      And more unbelievers believing(Those who “change the truth into a lie” these find a heresy that identifies with their ideology and embrace it as believers in the faith, when in reality, they are still unbelievers!  Note Paul's warning; “The Spirit speaks expressly (or in a definite matter of fact manner) in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared; (in other words, unable to undo the damage!    1st Timothy 4.1-2 Resulting in MORE UNBELIEVERS that are BELIEVERS than simply TRUE BELIEVERS!

Now Let’s Examine the Warning of Our Lord; in our text;“take heed that no man deceive you” (in other words, be spiritually wise, alert and vigilant of what is being revealed all around you...don't use your belief in Me as the “Savior of the world” as the sole foundation of your spiritual strength and saving faith!  Don't sleep-walk through life... as people of faith...whose main priority in life, is minding the things of this world. 

          And because their priorities are amiss...they become easy prey for men and women “who craftily bring in damageable heresies (false-hoods masquerading as saving faith) even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction...whose judgment now of a long time lingers not, and their judgment slumbers not” (No need to question God, why they are allowed to continue to deceive men and women even to this day...while it appears God's judgment stands idly by?)  The apostle exhorts believers not to despair when these false teachers continue to prosper uninterrupted...FOR JUDGMENT IS ON THE WAY!  What we need to concern ourselves with, TAKE HEED NO DECEIVES US!

“For many shall come in My name, saying, I am Christ; and shall decieve many.

We can liken it to the unbridled corruption that surrounds Bill and Hillary Clinton, and their Foundation...in which both of them are accused oftrading on her office as Secretary of State.  Selling access to the State Department and preferential treatment for donations of 100's of millions of dollars to the Clinton Foundation. In the same manner, the Lord says these false prophets, teachers, and self-identified ministers of Christ, will trade on His name as the Son of God... as well as His Divine office as High Priest and Savior of the World...in order to deceive many...while in the process enriching themselves and spawning their own glory! 

“And you shall hear of wars and rumors of war: see that you be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet...all of these are the beginnings of sorrow.”

The present and ongoing war with Iran, war on terror, war with Isis and Radical Islam, the war against the unborn, the war against the 4th amendment right to bear arms, the war on Christian beliefs, the war on traditional marriage between a man and a woman, the war on morality, and yes the war for our children is all a part of “the beginning of sorrows”.

What can we as people of faith expect?  IMPRISONED...PERSECUTED...SOME WILL PAY THE ULTIMATE PRICE FOR THEIR FAITH IN CHRIST... BY BEING PUT TO DEATH...AND YOU SHALL BE HATED OF ALL NATIONS (all member nations of The New World Order) FOR MY NAMES SAKE! And your enemies will be those of your own household, natural family as well as those of the household of faith!

“And many shall be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another...because iniquity shall prosper, the love of many will wax cold”

This is a fulfillment of Satan's charge before the LORD!  “Satan answered the LORD, Skin for skin!  Yes, all that a man has will he surrender to save his own life” Job 2.4 Amplified 

            In this present day, and what Jesus described plainly as “the beginning of sorrows” we are witnessing almost daily, out of control family tragedies of betrayal and abuse because of the war on moral behavior.  “A MAN'S FOES SHALL BE THOSE OF HIS OWN HOUSEHOLD” 

          Here is what our Lord said would happen in the time known “as the beginning of sorrows” “And brother shall deliver up brother to be put to death, and the father the child: and the children shall rise up against their parents and cause them to be put to death.  Because you shall be hated of all for My name’s sake: but he that endures to the end shall be saved. Matthew 10.21-22

THE HERETICAL MESSAGES OF APOSTATE RELIGION’S…AND ITS DANGEROUS IMPACT ON CHRISTIAN FAITH:

•      Is Rooted in False-hoods about the purpose of the Gospel of Christ:  It's not to be used as a sugar-stick, but to break down a sinner’s resistance.  Here is what our Lord said, [“Think not that I am come to send peace on the earth...For I am come to set a man against his father and a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.  Your enemies will be right in your own house.”] Matthew 10.34-36

•      The True Gospel of Christ Is Rejected in Favor of the Doctrines of Devils: Once held Biblical Truths are rejected in favor of “Doctrines of Devils” [“Some shall depart from the faith, giving heed (or embrace) seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils.  Speaking lies in hypocrisy] 1st Timothy 4.1-2 The reason behind this shift is four-fold; 1.) To keep attendance and growth moving in the right direction 2.)  To keep the bottom line (revenue taking) at acceptable levels 3.) The creation of programs, to keep worldly attendees interested in Church 4.) Making everyone feel comfortable by being accommodated to cultural change!  In other words, seducing the unsuspecting church attendee with another spirit, other than God's Holy Spirit! In the 21st century, it's an accurate statement to suggest American Christianity is geared more toward reaching Seekers than Sinners!

These true and shocking revelations are leading some Christian leaders to sound the alarm. Several pastors and Bible teachers are arguing the church needs to stop compromising the Christian message and work to strengthen both faith and knowledge of doctrine among the faithful.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

How the Megachurch Model Has Become Satan’s Most Powerful Attack On True Christian Faith

In the annals of war history, there is one strategy that almost never fails: “know your enemy better than they know themselves.”  Christians know Satan is a master-strategist in his war against the LORD!  Remember there was only two people in the Garden of Eden, and he was able to turn both against God.  Now fast-forward to the 20th and 21st centuries and gauge the strategy he employed against the Lord’s Church to neuter it of much of its power.  What was intended to be a bastion hope has now become a seeker-sensitive Country Club of life talks and strategies.  He accomplished this by zeroing-in on man’s perpetual spiritual vulnerability “pride and the pursuit of lost glory.”  We too often minimize his mastery of deception, using his mastery of deception to convince us the counterfeit is good and method of biblical spiritual growth is a flawed model, that doesn’t produce substantial growth and numbers desired.  Planting the idea of creating megachurches by philosophically focusing on seeker-sensitivity as the fail-proof model.

Last post we talked about Bill Hybel’s creation of the seeker-sensitive church model, that had 1,000’s of pastors chasing after the model like female dogs in heat.  We showed how over time the model continued a systematic decline.  Across America seeker-sensitive megachurches that thrived and grew in the dawn of the 21st century began to struggle and some even collapsed by 2010 and into our present day.  One of Southern Baptist models eagerly adopted was the Mars Hill model which some SBC leaders like Jack Graham Sr. Pastor of the Preston Wood megachurch outside Dallas TX eagerly embraced and he even promoted Steve Furtick of Elevation Church.  Mars Hill Church in Seattle, led by its disgraced pastor Mark Driscoll grew to 15,000 in attendance at its peak, with multiple campuses. However, the church imploded completely, because of allegations of abuse by Mark Driscoll.  This shining model adopted by SBC imploded completely closing every campus within months.  New Life Church pastored by Ted Haggard with weekly attendance of 14,000 was exposed as having homosexual sex with a paid male prostitute.  Bill Gothard head of “Institute of Basic Life Principles was dismissed accused of molesting and assaulting over 30 women and some were underage girls.  Robert Moore pastor of Gateway Church with attendance of 100,000 with 9 campuses throughout Texas, was dismissed after a victim came forward that he had started abusing her sexually when she was 12 years old.  His board and people of the church wanted him to stay.  Harvest Bible Church in Chicago grew to 13,000 then collapsed amid financial improprieties and leadership failure.  Hill Song Elevation Church, Bethel Church and this is just the tip of the iceberg.  Nearly every seeker-sensitive brand has faced crisis, scandal, or significant decline in the past two decades.

                The model that seemed fail-proof and unstoppable broke and very few people of faith even saw it coming.  The seeker-sensitive model, like most man-made schemes designed to by-pass the Holy Spirit doing the work of the heart, made a fatal error.  It treated the modern church like a consumer product and congregants like customers.  The logic seemed sound.  Their thinking, if we give people what they want, they will come.  Remove all theological barriers, meet their life challenges like a life-coach, make church convenient, comfortable and entertaining, and it worked for a while.  People came by the 1,000’s, churches grew at unbelievable rates, the weekend services were spectacular productions that would rival any Hollywood productions.  Professional music, dynamic oratory with humor mixed-in to lighten the moment, state of the art productions, coffee shops in the lobby, and programs for every demographic.  However, what they miscalculated, when you treat and train people to be consumers of religiously designed merchandise and services, they start acting like consumers.  Then like religious vagabonds they shop around for the next religious gimmick and leave when they are no longer satisfied, because they have no loyalty.  They are constantly in pursuit of the next religious novelty and entertainment production. 

                One megachurch pastor commented, “we’ve created a religious monster.  Consumer Christianity creates shallow commitment.  People attend when it is convenient.  They give when they feel like it.  They serve when it fits their schedule.  The Church becomes one option among many avenues for entertainment, and when a better venue presents itself, like a sporting event, concert, trip to the lake, or just sleeping-in people choose those instead.  Why?  Because the modern megachurch taught them its all about felt needs, preferences and self-satisfaction.  The obvious reality concerning the megachurch design is seeker-sensitive congregations are unable to produce mature Christians.  For most megachurches the messages are practical and encouraging (what Paul called “milk”) but theologically empty.  30-minute talks about 5 keys to a better marriage or how to overcome stress, or finding your purpose in life, all helpful topics, but devoid of “meat” of the word.  This concludes Part 2

CONCLUSION:

In Luke chapter 14, Jesus lays out the terms of discipleship.  There were great crowds

following Him.  Everyone loved the miracles, healings, and free food.  In their mind, Jesus was cool, the talk of the seekers, in pursuit of the latest fad.  But Jesus knew their hearts.  He knew their only interest was in the benefits of what He was physically performing, rather than interest and understanding of who He was.  They loved His gifts, not the life He was calling them to.  So, He, explained what it takes to truly be one of His followers.  He quickly put an end to the idea that He offered some kind of welfare program.  Although the gift of eternal life is free to anyone who asks (John 3.16), he asking requires a transfer of ownership “IF ANYONE WILL COME AFTER ME, LETY THEM DENY THEMSELVES, AND TAKE UP THEIR CROSS DAILY (dying to selfish desires of the flesh daily) AND FOLLOW ME (surrender to My lordship over your life).

HAVE WE REDEFINED WHAT CONSTITUTES THE CHURCH"?

Have We Lost the True Meaning of Who Is the true Church?

 You look around and say is this all there is?  It’s not because your are rebellious, not because your cold hearted, but because deep down you have always known, there is something more, something pure, something sacred, something that no building, no program, no pastor can manufacture.  Often you are told you are backsliding, that walking away from church, was walking away from God.  But you didn’t walk away from Him, you walked away from noise, you walked away from performance, you walked away from the place your spirit was starving.  While others saw you leaving, what they couldn’t see was what God was doing in secret.  You were being called out, set apart, not to rebel, but to listen, to be still, to be taught by the Lord Himself, because you are not lost, you seek to satisfy a burning hunger for knowledge.  Here is something important to note: God’s chosen have always walked a narrow path that few understand.  They don’t need stain glass to see His beauty.  They don’t need a sermon to hear His voice.  They don’t need a crowd to feel His presence.  His children are those who hear the whisper of His voice in the wilderness, who meet Him in the quiet, and who walk with Him when no one else will.  This message is not for everyone, but if your heart burns for more intimacy, just maybe I am speaking to you.  Maybe you don’t fit the mold, or don’t feel like you belong to the system, the ones who have been called by name meant to search out fulfillment for that unsatisfied yearning.

[1]   God’s voice is not bound by brick and stone.  So, the first thing we need to understand is this.  God has never needed a building to reach His people.  Long before there were steeples and signs, before there were stages and microphones, power points, so you don’t have to burden yourself by caring a Bible, God was already speaking in deserts, on mountain t6ops, in caves, and even through burning bushes.  He doesn’t wait for us in man-made temples.  He meets us where we are, often in the raw, unpolished places of life.  Think of Moses, he didn’t hear God’s voice inside a temple built with hands.  He encountered God in the wilderness, barefoot, face to the ground, trembling before a bush that burned, but not being consumed.  At the time they didn’t require stain-glass windows or pews.  It required only a heart’s willingness to listen.  Moses wasn’t seeking a religious experience; he was simply walking and God interrupted him with His glory.  For Elijah, weary and hunted, hiding in a cave, despairing of life and pleading to die, was not surrounded by choirs or huge crowds, but by silence and his fear.  And it was there in the stillness of his solitude that God whispered to him.  Not in the earthquake, not in the fire, not in the wind, but in a still small voice.  Elijah didn’t need a church to hear God; he just needed solitude and surrender. What about John the Baptist?  He never set foot in a religious synagogue to preach.  He wore camels’ hair and ate wild honey.  He cried out from the wilderness, not from a pulpit and the people came to him.  Why?  Because something in him carried the voice carried the echo of heaven.  God had by-passed Herod’s temple once again and chose a wild prophet to shake a nation. This is the pattern over and over, God bypasses the expected and chooses the wilderness in life’s journey.  He calls His children into places far from comfort, far from traditions, far from systems created by men, because there they can finally hear.  There He can finally speak.  There he has their full attention.  So, if you have found yourself away from the crowds, if you have walked out of the country club styled buildings and into the quiet, you are not far from God. You may be closer than ever, because He is still speaking, not just in the temples, or megachurches with their comforts of the world built to appease man, but in the secret place where only those that truly hunger know to go. 

[2] The true church is not a building, but a people.  It’s one of the most misunderstood truths in all of Christianity.  The church is not a location, it’s not a building, a denomination, or a service time on Sunday morning, that has a time limit in which the Holy Spirit must work.  The true church the one Jesus died for, the one He is returning for, is not made of brick and mortar.  It’s made of people, living, breathing, spirit-filled people.  The word ‘church’ comes from the Greek word ‘ecclesia’, and it means the called-out ones.  Not gathered in ones, not the weekly attending ones, but those who have been called out of the world, called out of man-made religions, out of darkness into His marvelous light. The true church is a living organism, not an organization.  It cannot be contained within four walls.  When Jesus said: “Where two are three are gathered in My name, there am I in the midst of them”.  He wasn’t giving a church planting strategy. He was giving us a glimpse of His heart. He is interested in communion with His beloved.  Two hearts on fire for Him gathered in love and in truth.  That is more church than a thousand distracted souls in a megachurch or majestic cathedral.  Throughout scripture, God’s presence shows up where His people are hungry, not where the structure is styled to attract, appeal and compete.  In Act’s, the early believers didn’t have fancy buildings.  They met in homes, open skies and catacombs deep in the bowels of the earth and other secret places.  And yet they turned the known world upside down.  Why?  Because they understood they were the temple.  The Spirit of God wasn’t behind the 3’ thick curtain anymore hiding His holiness, it was inside the fleshly church.  God’s true children know this truth deep in their bones.  That no matter where they are, in a prison cell, a hospital room, a quiet living room, they are the true church.  They carry His presence, they are His house, they are His body.  When they walk, He walks.  When they speak, He speaks. So, if you’ve left a building, but still burn for Jesus, you haven’t left the church, you are the church!  And maybe, just maybe that is what God has been trying to show you all along.

[3] Jesus rejected the religious system of His day.  If you truly want to understand why some of God’s sincere children choose not to belong to a man-made church, look at Jesus not just as Savior, but as a bold and relentless challenger of religious systems.  He didn’t just preach love and forgiveness.  He confronted corruption, exposed hypocrisy, and stood toe to toe with the religious elite of His day, who behaved as though they owned access to God.  Jesus didn’t fit in with the temple system.  In fact, He disrupted it!  When He walked into the temple courts and saw religious merchants turning sacred ground into a medium for merchandizing, he didn’t offer a polite rebuke.  He flipped their tables!  He drove them out with a whip, because they had turned His Father’s house into a den of thieves.  They had commercialized what was intended to be holy.  The Pharisees and Sadducees, the exalted church leaders of that time, hated Him.  Not because He sinned, not because He was evil, but because He exposed them.  He openly revealed that they were more in love with power than with God.  They were more devoted to tradition than to truth.  And He refused to participate in their falsehood.  Think about this also, Jesus spent for more time in the streets, fields and mountains than He ever did in man-made synagogues.  He preached to fishermen on boats, sinners at the well, and the broken in life hiding in alleyways.  His pulpit was the dirt beneath His feet.  His congregation was the hungry, the outcast society had dispensed with, the rejected for religious violations created by men and the forgotten.  God’s true children have always followed that example.  They don’t seek platforms.  They don’t need stages or lights or smoke.  Like our Savior they speak truth in love wherever they are.  Often outside the four walls of religion.  And just like Jesus, they are more often than not misunderstood, ridiculed and even cast out as Sowers of confusion and discord.  But here is an undeniable truth.  Jesus never came to repair the old religious system.  He came to replace it with something new, something alive.  And those who truly follow Him hunger for that same heart.  They don’t just leave religion behind.  They step into the untamed, raw spirit-led life that only a true child of God can understand.

[4] The Holy Spirit teaches God’s children directly.  There is a sacred truth hidden in plain sight.  Those who are truly God’s children are not ultimately shaped by a sermon designed to support a doctrinal stand or to embrace a rebranding of the gospel of Christ, seminars designed to re-educate (like promise keepers, true love waits etc., or religious education of denominational talking points.  They are taught by the Holy Spirit Himself.  Heaven doesn’t outsource discipleship to man.  For the true sanctified believer, the voice that guides them is divine, not institutional.  In 1st John 2.27: we are told something that sounds radical: “but the anointing you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not anyone teach you. But as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, you will abide in Him.”  That is not poetic language.  That is a spiritual reality.  When God chose us to be His children, He places within each child His Spirit and that spirit becomes your teacher, your guide, your counselor.  Note: The early disciples didn’t graduate from religious schools, they walked with the Spirit.  Paul, who wrote most of the New Testament, didn’t immediately consult church leaders in Jerusalem after his conversion.  Instead, he went into Arabia alone in the wilderness for years, because the Lord was teaching him directly, stripping away the old (religion as a member of the Sanhedrin) and pouring in the new.  This is what the Lord does with His chosen, He sends His teacher the Holy Spirit to comfort their confusion and teaches them truth.  Every true born-again believer is shaped by Christ.  Many times, that shaping causes the believer to go through valleys and deserts, not for pain’s sake, but to sharpen our resolve to serve only Him.  He tunes our hearts to His whisper.  He uses everyday moments, storms, failures, stillness and suffering as His curriculum.  And when we emerge, we carry something no seminary can give.  They speak with authority that didn’t come from man.  Their words pierce hearts not because we are eloquent, but because they are saturated with the oil of intimacy.  They’ve sat at the feet of Jesus, not behind a pulpit, but in the unseen hours of prayer and surrender.  So, if you find yourself outside the reach of formal teaching.  If you have been learning in secret, don’t feel like an outcast, Rejoice!  Because true teaching most often comes in the wilderness of life wandering searching for true fulfillment.  And when the world sees you, they may accuse you, ridicule and they may not understand your path, but they will know one thing for sure.  You have been with the Lord.

[5] persecution that often comes from organized religion.  One of the most heartbreaking yet eye-opening realities in the Bible is this.  The fiercest opposition against the Lord’s bride has rarely come from the world.  It most often happens and comes from within religious systems.  In the beginning those who carried the pure voice of God were hunted, not by unbelievers, but by religious leaders who feel threatened by truth.  Jeremiah was called to speak God’s words to a nation drowning idolatry. But it wasn’t the pagans who beat him and threw him in cistern, it was the priest and false prophets of his day.  They hated his message because it cut through their comfortable lies.  His tears were not just for the sins of Isarel, but for the torment he endured at the hands of those who claimed to serve God.  And what of Jesus’ ministry, crucified not by unbelievers and atheist, not by Rome’s authority alone, but by those He had touched, who heard His words, the religious experts, the religious hierarchy who ran the temple.  They couldn’t tolerate His light, because it revealed their hypocrisy.  His very presence exposed their powerless religion, and they would rather kill the truth than lose their influence and livelihood.  Steven the first Christian martyr, preached with fire and love.  He didn’t insult or attack, he simply proclaimed truth and yet he was stoned to death by a mob stirred up by religious leaders.  Paul himself, a student of Gamaliel the great religious teacher of his day, and a Pharisee went about persecuting the beholders of truth, before his encounter with the Lord on the Damascus Rd, held Stephen’s garment while the religious crowd stoned him to death with vengeance and unbridled anger against truth.  Believing with all his heart he was serving God and His righteousness.  Even today members of the bride of Christ or rejected for a plethora reasons, by religious authority religious leaders attitude it’s my way or the highway so they split churches because of their religious learning and degrees like a thermomotor.  Never stopping to consider the consequences of their actions, that blaspheme the name of Christ. Many of God’s children are rejected not by the lost but by fellow believers.  Then they are mocked for leaving the system, labeled rebellious, unteachable and full of pride.  But this progressing rejection in the body of Christ is not new.  It’s the very road Christ walked.  And every true disciple must walk it too.  So, if you felt or feel cast out by the churches, misunderstood by religious leaders, or slandered by those who wear their religious titles, don’t be disheartened or dismayed.  You’re in holy company.  You’re walking the same narrow path the prophets walked.  And in the Lord’s eyes your not a threat.  You’re His voice in a wilderness of compromise. 

[6] The Lord’s chosen are called into wilderness seasons.  Before the Lord uses someone in power, He usually leads them into a season of isolation, a wilderness, a stripping away.  And it’s in that lonely uncomfortable place that the chosen are shaped.  Not on platforms, not in popularity, but in silence, in waiting, in hiddenness.  Moses spent 40 years in the backside of the desert before he ever stood before Pharoah.  David, having already been anointed Israel’s king as a young man, was hunted like a wild animal by King Saul, chased into a cave surrounded by the outcasts of society, and there the vessel became fit to be a king, David cried unto the Lord in the loneliness of the cave: “Lord, no man cares for my soul but You!”  Elijah fled to the wilderness and hid in a cave despairing of life itself, after having just called fire down from heaven.  Even Jesus, perfect and deity, learned obedience through the things He suffered.  Led by the Spirit into the wilderness wear He fasted 40 days and waged spiritual battles with God’s most vile enemy, all to prepare Him for His public mission and the spiritual battles that lay ahead,  And there He proved that God’s strength does not come from surrounding ourselves with the world’s comforts and gimmickry, but yielded surrender.  Wilderness is not a punishment.  It’s a refining fire.  It is where noise is silent so that the voice of our Lord can grow loud.  It is where false identities fall off and identity is revealed.  It is where comfort dies and dependence on God is born.  Many of the Lord’s chosen today are in that very season in 2026.  You feel unseen, misunderstood, like your life is on pause, but you’re not being forgotten.  You’re being prepared.  In the hidden place of rejection, the Lord is molding you, breaking off the untruths, anchoring you in His truth.  And when the time comes, you won’t rise with charisma.  You will rise with anointing.  The church may not even recognize what is happening in you.  The system may dismiss you, but heaven sees and heaven celebrates.  And in the 21st century God is raising up voices from wilderness wandering, ones who been taught with truths like a fire shut up in their bones in the silence of rejection of religious institutions.  And when these speak, demons will tremble.  Not because of titles, but because he is mastered by God’s truth. 

[7] The child of God who walks in spirit and in truth, not man-manufactured religion.  And not everyone will understand this path.  Not everyone will agree, but throughout scripture and still today, God has always reserved for Himself a remnant, a small group, a hidden few who do not seek popularity, the tv cameras, that use the latest high tech sound systems, to enhance the attractiveness of the product they are selling.  Those who are not defined by religious appearance, and celebrity status, but by spiritual substance.  They do not promote themselves; they don’t follow the crowd.  They follow the One coming in the clouds with great glory.  They are not led by routine, but by revelation.  Jesus’s spoke of them when Jesus told the woman at the well: “The hour is coming and now is when the true worshippers will worship the Father in Spirit and in truth.  For the Father is seeking such to worship Him.” John 4.23-24.  We are to worship Him in purity of heart. The remnant has never been the majority.  Most often they are the outcasts, the ones who find it difficult to embrace the religious hierarchical structure.  But these often burn for the Lord when no one is watching.  They pray and worship alone in their closets, weep in the night, and walk with the Lord when the path is dark and strewn with a plethora of life’s misery.  They don’t need recognition or the plaudits of men.  These are true disciples; they walk in truth when created doctrines are popular.  They refuse to compromise even when it may cost them everything.  They are not bound by denominational structured mandates and religious institutional directives to protect the brand at any cost.  Their loyalty is not to a system; it’s to the Savior.  God is raising up a people in this generation who will not be confined by religion.  They are being led by the spirit, grounded in truth and sealed with fire that burns for Christ righteousness.  And no matter how small their number, they are mighty in power by the Comforter sent by our Savior Jesus the Christ.  Some may never enter organized religion again.  They carry heaven inside them.  They are the temple of the Lord.  They are the church. 

Conclusion: Called to blind obedience, to walk alone, but never without their Savior Jesus the Christ.

THE ENIGMA of ZECHARIAH’s VISIONS IN Chapter 5

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

[PART ONE]

Does Scripture Answer the Enigma Connected with the Lady Standing in the Harbor Emitting Enlightenment to the Whole World?

INTRODUCTION:

This may well be one of my most illuminating ‘FOOD FOR THOUGHT’ [Series] on America’s place in end times prophecy revealed by our Lord, because of His longsuffering and great love for His people. The evidence I will present will identify the place and the house built for “New Babylon”, Babylon the Great or the Virgin Daughter of Babylon, as she is referred to throughout Scripture. Many will no doubt view the evidence to just my opinion and that I must not be very patriotic, but nothing could be further from the truth. From 1969 – 70 I served a tour in the Vietnam War at only 18 years old. As result of serving the country I love, I am now a 100% Disabled Veteran. However, no amount of love for my country can blind me to God’s prophetic warning for America. Agree or disagree with the content, but it doesn’t alter reality. We will examine every detail of Zechariah’s vision that God gave him.

Zechariah was a prophet who lived around 520 BC. At the time the Jewish people had just started to return from 70 years as captives in Babylon. They were broken people, having to start over and burdened with the task of having to rebuild their temple. God gave His prophet, Zechariah, a series of night visions, ( in one night. Each vision revealing details about future, about future judgments, about was coming for Israel and for the whole world. For this series the 5th vision will be the focus, because for 2500-years, no one could adequately put the pieces together to clearly understand the vision. Scholars tried, pastors tried, theologians wrote papers and books, but they couldn’t make all the pieces fit together. That is until now. Let’s begin by reading exactly what Zechariah saw word for word from Scripture.

“Then the angel that talked with me went forth, and said unto me, lift up your eyes, and see what this is that goes forth. (6) And I said, what is it? And he said, this is an ephah (a basket of measure and commerce) that goes forth. He said moreover, this is their resemblance through all the earth. (7) And behold, there was lifted up a talent of lead (or heavy cover): and there is a woman that sits in the middle of the ephah. ( And he (the angel) said, this wickedness. And he placed it in the midst of the ephah; and he placed the cover of heavy lead upon the mouth (to seal the wickedness within) the ephah. (9) Then I lifted my eyes, and looked and behold, there came out (2) women, and the wind was in their wings (symbolizing the basket being transported); for they had the wings of a stork: and they lifted up the ephah between the earth and heaven. (10) Then said I to the angel that talked with me, where do these (2 women) carry the ephah? (11) And he said to me, To build it a hose in the of Shinar: and it shall be established and set there upon it’s own base.” Zechariah 5.5-11

So, the vision that the prophet saw was a basket going forth moving not staying in one place but moving being carried somewhere. And notice what the angel declared The basket represents something specific throughout the earth, global, worldwide, and not just one nation. In verse 7 we have a woman sitting inside the basket. The angel doesn’t leave any room for speculation or interpretation; he identifies her clearly. He says, this is wickedness, not symbolic wickedness, not some abstract idea of evil. The woman is the epitome of wickedness, in other words, she is a living image of evil itself. And she is sealed inside the basket with a heavy lead cover, hidden, contained, covered during transport. This is a significant detail that we will expound in greater depth later. In verse 9 he reveals yet another mystic anomaly, two women with wings, and they are not angel wings, but wings like the wings of a stork. What is significant about this detail? They are literally transporting evil, and in the Old Testament law, the stork is an unclean bird. You couldn’t eat it, it was forbidden. So, putting this in proper context, Zechariah sees unclean creatures transporting wickedness, evil being moved by unclean means lifted up between earth and heaven, flying through the air. Heading some place, but where? A place in the land of Shinar. The place where the Tower of Babel was built. The exact place where humanity first rebelled against God after the judgment of the flood. The birthplace of ancient Babylon. So, the angel says this basket of wickedness is being carried to Babylon. But it creates a problem. Ancient Babylon had already fallen by the time Zechariah saw this vision. So this cannot be about Babylon of antiquity, but rather revelation of a new Babylon, a future one. By a plethora of evidence, it appears the new Babylon is standing right now on her own base.

CONCLUSION:

In part [1], the blueprint for identifying the New Babylon, her location and the building of her house have been laid out. In Part [2], we will break down what Zechariah saw piece by piece, symbol by symbol, comparing each detail to what is today standing in New York harbor, the Statue of Liberty. I have always maintained that America is called in Revelation “BABVYLON THE GREAT, by Isaiah, “The VIRGIN DAUGHTER OF BABYLON and by Jeremiah, The HAMMER OF THE WHOLE EARTH!” I will admit many disagree with me, but it is what Scripture reveals in my understanding. Be forewarned this series will reveal some shocking revelations. God Bless!

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

PART TWO

Does Scripture Answer the Enigma Connected with the Lady Standing in the Harbor Emitting Enlightenment to the Whole World?

In [Part 2] of this series, interpretations of Zechariah 5 will no doubt prove troubling to some such as patriots and believers in the faith of Christ. And this is nothing new. Believers in the Lord have always struggled with biblical revelations that disrupt pre-conceived beliefs, ideas, doctrines and facts that debunk taught history. God’s prophets almost always suffered physical and verbal abuse, when unpleasant Scriptural truths were proclaimed. A classic example of this ongoing struggle in modern Christianity is King Jehoshaphat righteous king of Juda clasping hands with King Ahab Israel’s most wicked king. It reveals the dangers of preconceived truths rejecting God’s revealed truth. “Jehoshaphat said unto the king of Israel inquire I pray thee, at the word of the Lord today. (5) Therefore, the king of Israel gathered together of prophets 400 men, and said unto them, shall we go to Ramoth-gil-e-ad to battle, or shall I forebear? And they said go up; for God will deliver it into the king’s hand. (6) But Jehoshaphat, said is there not here a prophet of the LORD also, that we may enquire of him? (7) And the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, there is yet one man, by whom we may inquire of the LORD: but I hate him; for he never prophesied good unto me, but always evil: the same is Micah…And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, did I not tell you that he would not prophesy good unto me, but evil? II Chronicles 18.4-17 This is the extreme danger many in modern Christianity find themselves. Ideas, preconceived truths and rejection of God’s revealed truth, is the direct result of modern-day pastors continual dispensing of elementary truths (and doctrinal milk) continuously. The meat of the word is unacceptable because it violates spiritual comfort zones we have created.

In this 2nd post in our series, we want to break down what Zechariah saw piece by piece, symbol by symbol, and compare each detail to what is actually standing in New York harbor right now. (1st) THE WOMAN: In his vision, Zechariah saw woman. And the question we want to unpack, is the Statue of Liberty the woman he saw? Without embellishing the meaning of the revealed details, letting the evidence it should become obvious, but stay with me, because it goes much deeper than that. The official name of the Statue of Liberty is “LIBERTY ENLIGHTENING the WORLD.” ‘Liberty’, is an English word, but it comes from the Roman goddess “Libertas” a pagan deity, the goddess of freedom in ancient Roman mythology. So, here is a biblical truth check, from day one, this statue has represented a false god, not a symbol of a nation built on fully trusting God, but on a pagan goddess of Rome. What makes this truth more disturbing is what it symbolizes, and it fits Zechariah vision perfectly. So, let’s rethink the symbolism of the Statue of Liberty and what it portrays spiritually. An image that symbolizing rebellion, symbolizing human ideas of freedom apart from God’s righteousness and moral law.

(2nd) THE WINGS: Zechariah saw two women with wings like a stork carrying the basket through the air. Now as we look at the Statue of Liberty today, no she doesn’t have wings, but here is what most people don’t know. The original design did include wings. In Frederic Auguste Bartholdi’s initial design, the idea was that liberty would have wings to show her influence spreading across the world. However, the wings were removed from the final design for structural reasons, practical reasons. Other changes from her original design, was her Egyptian dress to imitate ‘Fallah’ an Egyptian goddess, to Greek robes. Other changes, light was emitted from her torch rather than her head as it does in the pagan goddess ‘Fallah’. Here is an undeniable truth, even though changes were made to the original design, the concept from the beginning remained intact. And even without the physical wings, what does the statue do? She stands on a massive pedestal, elevated rising above the harbor between earth and sky, just as Zechariah described the basket being lifted between earth and heaven. We must admit the symbolism matches.

(3rd) THE CROWN: Look at the crown on the Statue of Liberty, there are (7) spikes radiating outward like sunbeams. What do the (7) spikes represent? According to official documentation, they stand for the (7) continents and the (7) seas. Signifying her global reach, worldwide influence. Symbolizing the Statue of Liberty is not just for America, but the whole earth. Remember the full name ascribed to her, “liberty Enlightening the World”, with global ambition, global impact. Eerily, that matches exactly what the angel reveal to Zechariah. The basket represents her influence throughout the earth, worldwide scope, not limited to just one nation. Think about the world influence America wields today. Militarily installations in dozens of countries the world over making her (“the hammer of the whole earth”) the only true superpower in 2026. Hollywood movies are watched globally, they are viewed everywhere. American music, American products exported to every corner of the earth. She built the surveillance grid that has been perfected by National Intelligence Agencies in America, to be used by the “man of sin” for global control.

CONCLUSION: American ideas about freedom, liberty, and democratic rule have touched the whole earth. Every continent has been shaped by American values and global influence. The (7) spikes represent exactly what the prophet Zechariah was shown global influence on all (7) continents. To re-emphasis my point in the introduction, it is easy to discount truth, but at what cost? The birth of modernity’s gospel of easy-believism has produced danger for many. Where faith cost you nothing. Truths that threaten your preconceived ideas turn into rebellion against the Lord.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

PART THREE

Does Scripture Answer the Enigma Connected with the Lady Standing in the Harbor Emitting Enlightenment to the Whole World?

One of the greatest myths ongoing in modern Christianity, is that our faith life is going to be stress free, un-disturbing, pain free and healing whenever we pray for it. Even our least bit of discomfort we ask God to bind up Satan from tormenting us. What is at the apex of this false narrative, is that the Lord is not under any mandate or obligation to ensure your life living Christ like faith is to be void of suffering. Why? Because unless we suffer, our obedience in the faith can never progress, beyond easy-believism and immaturity. The Bible tells us, “Though He was a Son, yet learned He obedience by the things which He suffered.” Hebrews 5.8 Sometimes we suffer so much we begin to question the Lord Himself, about rather He purposely deceived us: “O LORD, you have deceived me, and I was deceived: You are stronger than I, and has prevailed: I am in derision daily, and everyone mocks me. For since I spoke, and cried out, I cried out violence and spoil; because the word of the LORD was made a reproach unto me, and a derision (contemptuous ridicule and mockery). Then I said, I will not make mention of Him, nor speak anymore in His name. but His word was in my heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones and was weary of forbearing (of being faithful), and I could no longer remain (or declare your judgment).” Jeremiah 20.7-9 For most of my ministry have been labeled legalistic, to narrow-minded and many of my contemporaries in the ministry said I often intimidated them. It’s because the whole counsel of God’s word is like a fire shut up in my bones as well. This series is filled with hard truths.

Now let’s continue to unpack every detail Zechariah saw. (4) THE TORCH: The Statue of Liberty in New York harbor holds a torch in her right hand, lifted high above her head. What does the torch represent? Light, illumination, enlightenment, but whose enlightenment, it quite evident it’s God’s righteous truth, but rather human enlightenment, human reasoning and human progress. The torch and it’s heavenward pointing light flame represents mankind’s wisdom, secular wisdom, mankind’s knowledge, all committed to mankind’s path forward to a place where man no longer needs God. With exploding A.I. technology being exported throughout the whole world through illumination of the light of human wisdom emitted from the woman in New York harbor’s torch. Operating under the same spirit that moved Nimrod and humankind to construct the “Tower of Babel” to remove itself from under the authority of God. Where humanity is presently saying we can reach heaven on our own. We no longer need God telling us what right and what is wrong. We can decide for ourselves. That is what Isaiah the prophet prophesied exactly about the “New Babylon”, the “Virgin Daughter of Babylon”; “You said, I shall be a ‘lady’ forever: therefore now hear this, you that are given to pleasures, that dwell carelessly (openly embracing what the Lord has called an abomination), that says in your heart ( beamed throughout the whole earth) “I AM”, and there is no other authority but me” Isaiah 47

(5th) THE TABLET: In her left hand the Statue of Liberty holds a tablet inscribed with a date July 4th 1776, the day America claimed her Independence from King George and the British Empire, but even more note worthy independence as a philosophy of self-government, self-rule, self determination with man the measurement of all things. That tablet symbolizes human law and reasoning, replacing God’s moral law, human authority replacing divine authority. Are you starting to see how all the pieces fit together? Every single detail of the Statue of Liberty eerily connects to Zechariah’s vision. THE WOMAN… THE WINGS in the original design symbolizing global coverage…THE TORCH human enlightenment throughout the whole earth…THE TABLET symbolizing human law and human reasoning, replacing God’s moral law.

CONCLUSION:

These facts are no doubt troubling for many Christians living in America. But like Jeremiah, accepting God’s truth vs. human truth and wisdom will cause contemptuous ridicule and mocking even by those in the household of faith. We have not yet touched on the more troubling details yet. The location, where everything comes together. God Bless

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

PART FOUR

Does Scripture Answer the Enigma Connected with the Lady Standing in the Harbor Emitting Enlightenment to the Whole World?

As we continue unpacking the details of Zechariah’s vision in chapter 5 the spiritual danger is all the more compounded by the continued decline in the 21st century church. A time when the largest evangelical denomination, the Southern Baptist Convention, has witnessed a decline in its membership of nearly 4 million since 2006, and it continues it’s decline systemically. Why? Obviously, there were indicators that suggested that denomination was headed for decline in its membership numbers. In 2007 SBC was coming off its highest membership total of16 million. While leadership was applauding their increase, they were oblivious to the storm that was approaching. It started slowly, a few thousand members lost here and there, baptisms began a slow decline. And every year after 2007 attendance and baptisms continued to decline. The reasons? There are many. A generation of young people began walking away not just from church, but institutional religion altogether. They weren’t leaving because they quit believing in God, they were leaving because they couldn’t reconcile the gospel they read in Scripture, with the culture they witnessed in the church. A culture more focused on appearance than authenticity. More obsessed with programs than with people, the church adopted marketing strategies modeled after secularism, contemporary worship, coffee bars, rebranded youth groups etc. But none of these answered the real issues! Spiritual dryness that ran deeper than style or structure. This is how collapses begin, not with fire, not with scandal, but a refusal to acknowledge the foundation is weakening that is built on a foundation of sinking sand. Does this alarm you? It shouldn’t! Why? False apostles have invaded the Church, even those that use to practice what the gospel declared, however in modernity the birth of the megachurch, prosperity gospel, word of faith heresy and entrance into politics due to our desire to be accepted by the world, has left much of the church in America spiritually dry and decaying, dying a slow death. Is this assessment to harsh? Hear what Paul had to say about our present situation: “For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And do not marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore, it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.” II Corinthians 11.13-15 Now let’s continue with immersing ourselves in the love of God’s revelation.

We have looked at each detail of Zechariah’s vision and it’s startling connection with the lady standing in New York harbor, the Statue of Liberty. Now we want to investigate it’s location according to Scripture. When Zechariah received the vision of the woman in the basket he was in Jerusalem. He saw the basket being carried somewhere. The two women with the wings of a stork were transporting it through the air, but to where? The angel said to the “land of Shinar” the place where Babylon of antiquity was built, the place where the “Tower of Babel” stood. Now let’s think about something just for minute, ancient Babylon was due east of Jerusalem, overland, not across any ocean. However, Zechariah sees the basket being carried through the air, elevated, moving across the earth (or a great distance). If you travel west from Jerusalem, what do we find? First you cross the Mediterranean Sea and then the Atlantic Ocean, arriving at the eastern coast of North America to the New York harbor. There is only one global Superpower across the Mediterranean Sea, and the Atlantic Ocean west of Jerusalem. There is only one nation that fits every characteristic of end time New Babylon, the United States of America. And standing in that nation’s most famous harbor, is a 305’ statue of a woman. But wait there is another connection that makes this impossible to ignore. The “ basket”! In Hebrew the word is “ephah”. A measuring container used for transporting grain and other trade goods. It was the largest standard of measure in ancient Israel. The “ephah” symbolizes commerce, trade, economic activity, buying and selling. Now ask yourself this question, where does the Statue of Liberty stand? In one of the busiest ports in world history. From 1886 when the statue was dedicated until the 1900’s, New York harbor was the gateway to America. Ships from all over the world, from Europe, South America, Asia, and they brought goods, they brought people, they brought commerce and the first thing every ship saw when entering New York harbor, was the Statue of Liberty, the woman standing over the basket of commerce. Be tween 1892 and 1954, Ellis Island processed over 12 million immigrants. Ellis Island sat directly behind the Statue of Liberty. Twelve million people were brought across the Atlantic, brought to a new land, to build a New Babylon, the “basket” of commerce brought to her final destination. The symbolism is exact, making it hard to dismiss, but there is something more significant, the building of the house. That was the purpose of the vision Zechariah saw, carrying the woman in the basket to the land of Shinar to build her a house. Not a temporary space, not just a quick stop, but a permanent house, dwelling place, a solid foundation. So, what does this infer literally? It means “wickedness” (that which the woman in the basket represented) wouldn’t just visit this New Babylon, it would move in, it would put down permanent roots, and that would become an intricate part of the house to be constructed, it would be built into her laws, into its culture and built into her national identity. And that is exactly what happened and is still unfolding with more to come.

America didn’t start out openly embracing wickedness. In the beginning there was at least a semblance of a Christian influence. With prayers in school, Bible reading in public, the Ten Commandments displayed in courthouses, however, the wickedness was there, but please don’t misunderstand me. Slavery, greed, injustice, bearing false witness all examples of wickedness lying right beneath the surface, hidden, covered and contained. Remember what Zechariah saw? The woman in the “basket” was sealed inside with a heavy lead cover, to restrain her wicked potential. During the transport of the “basket”, the wickedness it represented was covered concealed, but once the “basket” arrived, once construction set to begin building her a house, the cover would be incrementally removed, and American history tells us that is exactly what happened. Leaving us with the obvious question still to be answered, when did it come off? How was the house constructed, sadly there is undeniable evidence of how it happened. In [Part 5 we present the evidence. God Bless

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

PART FIVE

Does Scripture Answer the Enigma Connected with the Lady Standing in the Harbor Emitting Enlightenment to the Whole World? [Part 5]

One month into 2026 is already filled with exploding fulfillment of prophecies that warn people of faith, now is not the time for spiritual sleepwalking. On Jan 22nd in Davos Switzerland the World Economic Form in an added piece of business, there was created a vehicle for power never wielded before. And the language used to describe the Charter as having no modern precedent. President Trump signed the Charter personally, as the Chairman of THE BOARD OF PEACE! He called it one of the most consequential bodies ever created. He went on to say: “Once the Board id fully formed, the Board of Peace could pretty much do whatever we want to do. As I said in an earlier post on Jared Kushner, 2026 could unfold things never imagined by most Christian believers. Before we dive into Part 5 and the construction of a house for evil to dwell openly, here is a stark warning from Christ our Lord to the generation that is eyewitness to what is presently unfolding in the U.S. and the whole world. Jesus had just completed His description of the Great Tribulation “Now learn a parable (or heavenly truth) of the fig tree; when his branch is yet tender and putting forth leaves (but no fruit), you know that summer is coming. So likewise, you, when you shall see all these things (the fig tree bearing no fruit jus leaves symbolizing Israel’s re-birth in 1948, but she still rejects Jesus as her Messiah no fruit) know that it (the Great Tribulation) is near, even at the door. Truly I say unto you, this generation (that witness the rebirth of Israel as a nation) shall not pass, till these things be filled.” Matthew 24.32-34 Those who witnessed the rebirth of Israel, are now in their 90’s all the way to the present. The hour is indeed late, and 2026 could unfold events never before experienced. Are you spiritually ready?

When did “wickedness” in the midst of the basket stop hiding and start openly celebrating itself openly, because if we can identify that moment, it will greatly enhance our understanding exactly where America stands in God’s prophetic timeline. And what we uncover should disturb many believers in the faith of Christ. The first thing to note is the cover didn’t come off all at once, it happened in incremental stages year by year, decade by decade, until the house is fully constructed and standing today. The angel revealed to Zechariah something very specific. The basket was being carried into Shinar to build a house for it, a permanent structure, a place where wickedness would live and never leave. Not a drop in visit, not a visit that would be temporary, but a foundation built to last. When we look at America’s history through this lens, everything fits precisely, just as Zechariah recorded it. It is also important to note the house wasn’t built in a brief expanse of time, it was constructed brick by brick, decade by decade, generation by generation, precisely according to the blueprint whose design was methodical and systematic construction of “evil’s” house.

For the 1st 150 years of American history, the nation at least acknowledges God publicly. Christianity played a major part in shaping our culture, prayer opened the school days, Bibles were used in swearing a witness to tell the truth, the Ten Commandments hung most government buildings wall. So, was there wickedness as well at this time? Absolutely, slavery, the open violation of treaties with Native Americans subjecting them to lives of poverty and dehumanization, after we stole their land, Jim Crow laws in the south that were openly promoted by newly minted Southern Baptist Churches in the south, and their open support of the KKK’s savage conduct against African Americans, that were free to rape, pillage, allowed to carry out public hangings of the innocent and outright murder, without fear of being incarcerated. Greed by Titans of Industry, Wall Street, and Federal Reserve who embrace “evil” to increase their bottom line, in all this behavior “wickedness” was embraced, when the lead talent was given a sliver freedom, as the lead talent covering the wickedness shifted ever so slightly. However, a seismic shift in the cover took place in 1962, with the Supreme Court ruling public prayer in school was unconstitutional. For the first time in American history, God was officially removed from public education system and replaced by the state’s creation of a system designed to dumb-down future generations. The first brick in constructing the house for “evil” to dwell permanently, had been laid. Then came 1973, just a decade later, came Rowe vs Wade. The Supreme Court ruled that killing an unborn child was a constitutional right, in the name of choice, convenience, in the name of personal freedom, to accommodate the sexual revolution unfolding. This was not just another brick laid; it was the construction of a whole wing of the house. A room built specifically for child sacrifice. Since that day, over 63,000,000 babies have been aborted in America. The lead talent uncovering an escape route for “wickedness”. The construction continued at a more rapid pace, with onset of the 80’s & 90’s, and probably the saddest addition added to the house.

Conclusion: Even though partially concealed, evil was very much alive and taken her limited freedom allowed, to achieve maximum effect in the New Babylon. In [Part 6] the 80’s and 90’s would allow “evil” to carry out her greatest victory in the New Babylon. God Bless

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

PART SIX

Does Scripture Answer the Enigma Connected with the Lady Standing in the Harbor Emitting Enlightenment to the Whole World?

There is one indisputable universal truth much of modern Christianity has ignore: SIN ALWAYS REPAYS IN ITS ON COIN! In the first three centuries the Church of Jesus Christ and the people of faith paid an enormous price for their surrender to Christ as Savior. It cost them everything and for many, their very lives. They couldn’t worship in public, they couldn’t proclaim Christ publicly, they were confined to the Roamn Catacombs in the bowels of the earth. And there was true holiness in their faith. They confessed their sins to one another and their love for Christ was without question. However, Satan is the master schemer of all schemers. You will never outwit him or out-think him; he is only mastered by the word of God. So, when Satan realized persecuting the church was a flawed strategy, he did what any great tactician does, he copies his enemies, so he joined the church as easily as opening the door and walking in. In 370 AD what history knows as the edict persecution became the edict of toleration. Under the Roman Emperor Constatine who declared Christianity the religion of all Rome, the church came up out of the catacombs rejoicing and Christian leaders were clothed in royal garments and were elevated to positions hierarchical authority over their brethren. When the church allowed Satan unrestrained access to become a part of the body Christ, the church had step up on a toboggan slide on the downgrade of deception and heresy. Remember the warning of our Lord: “A LITTLE LEAVEN, LEAVANS THE WHOLE LUMP.” That introduction leads us into the most “wicked” wing constructed in building the house for evil to dwell in the New Babylon.

The foundation was laid when Christianity joined in marriage with the pagan world through Catholicism that would become the blueprint for building the most important wing on the house being built to house “evil” transported via the women with wings to set it up on its own dwelling place, in the New Babylon.

In the 80’s and 90’s the lead talent hiding “evil” in the basket shifted dramatically allowing “evil” greater access to the Church in the New Babylon. The trap the Church ensnared itself in was birthed in the 50’s by the worshippers of mammon in a clever move to repair their soiled reputations after the Great Depression. Their plan was to make America a Christian nation by enticing gullible ministers of the gospel the importance and immense impact mammon could have in expanding the Church’s outreach and growth. They even went so far in appeasing the Church in the New Babylon, that “IN GOD WE TRUST” was printed on her currency. The church, in large part blinded by the lure of mammon, popularity and prestige, stepped right into the snare that had been laid for her, without even a hint of suspicion.

The late 70’s brought the birth of a new brand of the gospel, a gospel that enabled the church to expand in numbers never imagined. The prosperity gospel, the birth of the megachurch, celebrity pastors, professional singers and entertainers, seed of faith heresy and the birth of technological worship productions that rivaled Hollywood. Preachers on television 24 hours a day telling American Christians, that God exist to make them financially prosperous and health. Exploitation of faith as a tool to be used to get what you want. That following Jesus means health, wealth, and happiness. A gospel completely re-written for Christians who feel entitled. A false gospel America spread all around the world through satellites and the internet, television, podcasts and megachurches with annual budgets in the 10’s and 100’s of millions, all to promote a re-branded gospel. Churches in South America embraced it. Churches in Asia copied it. The whole world embraced what America was dispensing. “Babylon has been a golden cup (seed bed of global influence) in the LORD’s hand, that made all the earth drunk: the nations have drunk of her wine; therefore, the nations have gone mad.” Jeremiah 51.7 The churches in America are experiencing a decline in attendance, and baptisms due to the spiritual dryness that many can’t reconcile with the true gospel, witnessing the behavior of far too many Christians in the church. And we have another room constructed and completed in the house built to house evil in the New Babylon. Saddest truth of all, we don’t even know that based on our actions, our master is wealth, which brings comfort, ease and acceptance by the world.

CONCLUSION: In closing [Part 6] of our series, we need to be reminded of the Holy Spirit’s indictment of Christ’ Church. “Know this, in the last days perilous times shall come. For men will be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affections, false accusers, despiser of those that are good, high-minded, lovers of pleasures, more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away…ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of truth.” II Tim 3.1-7 The room that has been added beginning in the 80’s and 90’s to house “evil” has been completed. In [Part 7] will examine another room that was added to the house. God Bless.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

PART SEVEN

Does Scripture Answer the Enigma Connected with the Lady Standing in the Harbor Emitting Enlightenment to the Whole World? [Part 7]

It is apparently clear, that America has chosen to foolishly play games with God! How? For making a national false profession to the world: IN GOD WE TRUST is false testimony. The apostate intentionally defects from faith in Christ. They had singled to the world a viable faith in Christ, that they heard and understood the gospel, but over the process of time, they rejected what they had learned and shunned Him. The profession of faith was blatantly false. This is committing the act “WILLFULLY SINNING”. “For if we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth there remains no more sacrifice for sins. But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries…of how much sorer punishment suppose you, shall he be thought worthy, who has trodden under their feet the Son of God, and has counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified (or set apart to take away the sin of the world) an unholy thing, and has deliberately done despite unto the Spirit of grace.” Hebrews 10.26-29 God will not forgive sin without a sacrifice, and, since those who willfully forget God, evidenced by the denunciation of gift of grace, Jesus the Christ, they are left without any way to obtain forgiveness.

We have been chronicling the construction of the house for evil to dwell securely, in the New Babylon, being firmly established upon her own base. [Part 7] further reveals the ongoing construction of the house built for evil, in the New Babylon. The dawn of a new century, the 21st century and the 2000’s brought into being another phase and greater opportunity for evil to escape its confines in the basket with a lead cover. In the 2000’s the SEXUAL REVOLUTION that was birthed during the Counter-culture Revolution and the era of Woodstock reached its peak. Pornography became mainstream available on wireless phones, every computer for free, and any other electronic devices. Studies reveal a large percentage of American men and many men who profess faith in Christ, view pornography on a regular basis. It is becoming more and more common for women to view pornography. Increasingly Christian ministers view pornography as well. Marriages continue to decline in favor of just living together. Choosing not to have children to pursue professional goals is on a meteoric rise. No-fault divorce (for convenience’s sake) has caused the rise in divorce to soar above 50% in America. Surprisingly, the highest rate is among those who profess Christ as Lord and Savior. Among secular society, the largest number of divorces occur among those 50 years and older. They have money saved, children are grown up and out of the house, and an urge to experience what society has branded as normal proves to be too great a temptation. All these sexual freedoms add yet another room to the house built for evil. And this rebellious behavior toward the righteousness of God, was just the beginning of THE SEXUAL FREEDOM in America.

In 2015, “Obergfell vs Hajes” was argued before the United States Supreme Court. It involved the legitimacy of marriage among two men or two women. The Supreme Court declared unequivocally that a marriage between two-men or two-women in the eyes of America’s judicial system, is in fact a legitimate and lawful union. The definition of marriage established by God in the book of Genesis was determined to be non-binding, and problematic. God’s establishment of what constitutes a marriage union between a man and a woman was officially overruled and overwritten by human judges and judicial wisdom. Within years nations around the world followed America’s lead. They changed their laws as well. What God labeled an abomination was now considered progress, in the New Babylon. Thus, completing another addition to the house under the curse of wickedness: “And he (the angel) what do you see? I answered a flying scroll…an he said unto me, this is the curse that goes forth over the face of the whole earth…I will bring it (the curse) forth, says the LORD of hosts, and it shall enter the house of him who swears falsely by my name: and it shall remain in the house and shall consume it.” Zechariah 5.2-4

In 2020 the Biden administration and Democratic led congress took the nation’s open and boastful rebellion even further. In 2020, transgender maniacal ideology was infused into the American culture. Mentally deranged transgenders were allowed to entertain children in kindergarten in public schools. America under the leadership of Joe Biden further emboldened her rebellion and disdain for God, by shaking her fist in the face God by appointing Rachael Levine (a transgender male masquerading as a woman) as Assistant Secretary of Health and Pete Buttigeig a homosexual male married to another man as Secretary of Transportation. America’s public education system suggested and pushed children to a point of confusion to question their biological birth, and threatening parents with arrest for attempting to interfere. Children are being taught they can pick their own gender, by parents and educators. Doctors are free to prescribe puberty blockers and can remove parts of the human anatomy to align with their patients preferred gender, even as children. And if you speak out against the practice or suggest it is an act of child abuse you open yourself to be charged with hate speech and dangerously bigoted. This is no longer just being accepted, it is being enacted by force of laws, corporate policies, and rising societal pressure. The house without a doubt is nearing completion and it is impossible to ignore the glaring pattern. Each succeeding generation pushes the envelope a little further from God. Each passing decade makes wickedness more acceptable, more legal and more celebrated. What used to be labeled shameful, has become tolerated in the New Babylon. What was tolerated but hidden became openly acceptible, what was accepted then became celebrated and what was celebrated became mandatory, such as males in girls shower areas, men in women sports.

CONCLUSION: Bros and sisters in Christ, truth is often inflammatory, and has always been, to ears dull of hearing. The construction of the house in the New Babylon has been ongoing for 250 years and is now nearing completion. Killing of the unborn is now called health care. Sexual perversion is defined as love, mutilating brain-washed-children is called compassion, rejecting God’s word is called enlightenment. What are we to realize concerning Zechariah’s vision? The lead cover has been removed from the basket, completely removed and wickedness doesn’t hide anymore. The rising chaos and civil unrest is just beginning. Are you ready?

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

PART EIGHT

Does Scripture Answer the Enigma Connected with the Lady Standing in the Harbor Emitting Enlightenment to the Whole World? [Part 8 Summation of Zechariah’s Vision]

As we conclude this series of the Lord’s prophecy given to Zechariah through a number of night visions, our own perceptions of the evidence presented is of paramount importance given our present and expanding toxic environment. Sadly, untold millions of coverts of modern Christianity’s repackaged gospel, are ill equipped in the faith to withstand the widening deception being unleashed in the New Babylon. So, what are they to do? Take Paul’s exhortation: “beloved…work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” Philippians 2.12 This text is often used to instill fear in people, as a means that they can lose their salvation, which is false. So, what does it mean to work out your own salvation? There is a twofold meaning: 1st, the Greek verb rendered “WORK OUT” means to continually work to bring something to completion or fruition. This is accomplished in numerous ways, by actively pursuing obedience in the process of sanctification (that means to be set apart). Paul describes himself as “constantly striving” and “pressing on” toward the goal of Christlikeness. The “trembling” depicts the attitude Christians are to have in respect to Christ majesty and holiness. 2nd We work out our salvation by going to the very source of our salvation-the word of God-wherein we renew our hearts and minds. This requires more than a steady diet of spiritual milk, and elementary truths to the neglect of the meat of the word, whereby our minds and hearts can be renewed allowing the believer to come into His presence with a spirit of reverence and awe. Biblical illiteracy leaves the believer spiritually lethargic.

As we conclude this series on Zechariah’s vision, where the evidence overwhelmingly points to America as the New Babylon, I hope it has caused an awareness of the societal perils we are now experiencing. So, what is it our revelations in the 21st century conclude about Zechariah’s vision? The most important fact is to accept the reality the “lead cover has been removed from the basket transporting “evil”. What this means, “wickedness” doesn’t hide anymore. It parades through the streets, it’s openly and vociferously taught in our schools, it’s preached as acceptible from some pulpits, it impairs judgments in our judicial systems. Its flags fly proudly at the White House and Capital; it’s openly celebrated at major sporting events. There is no denying the truth “the house has been built for wickedness”, but America didn’t just build the house for herself, she exported it throughout the world through Hollywood, through her music, through her social media, through foreign policy, and through corporate pressure. America built the whole house and invited the whole world to move in, just as Revelation describes happens: “the whole earth was made drunk with her wine”, but here is something we need to understand, God does not allow houses built for evil and wickedness stand forever. There is another detail we haven’t fully exposed yet, a detail that reveals a timeline.

In Zechariah 5.*8 “a woman sits in the middle of the basket. He angel said this wickedness, and she was thrust down in the basket, and he placed the weight of lead upon the mouth of the basket.” The wickedness depicted as a woman in the basket sealed with a lead weight, wickedness is hidden, covered during transport. Think about this, if the cover was put in place for the journey, that indicates at some point after it arrives at its intended home, and once it arrived it had to be removed. The basket arrives and is set upon its own base. And the construction of a house for wickedness to dwell is begins, and when the house is ready the cover is completely removed. So, the question becomes very specific, when exactly was the lead cover removed in America, its home base? When did wickedness stop hiding and start to incrementally expose itself? By all indicators, it appeared to display itself in stages, sort like peeling an onion, layer by layer. The 1st layer was removed in 1962-63 when payer and bible reading were band from schools. That was the first ray of enlightenment that caused a shift in the weight covering wickedness. The 2nd layer peeled away was in 1973 when killing of the unborn became legal throughout America. More enlightenment caused the cover to shift even more allowing wickedness to increase its freedom. It’s important to note the cover was still not completely removed. In light of wickedness’s limited freedom, most of America still believed in traditional morality. Many Americans still attended church, and still honored God, evil though wickedness was growing it still felt the need to hide. That changed in 2015, when the Supreme Court redefined marriage between a man and a woman, to be acceptible between two men or two women being joined in holy matrimony. Something had drastically shifted in America’s spirit. For the first time wickedness didn’t ask to be just tolerated, it demanded to be celebrated. Rainbow flags proudly flew over government buildings. Corporations infused the open wickedness to appear in the advertisements and logos. Anyone who spoke against celebrated wickedness was branded a bigot or myogenesis. The cover had shifted more drastically; a portion of wickedness was still covered. Full removal occurred in 2020’s, when transgender ideology was largely embraced and became mandatory. Parents rights over their children were no longer acceptible, when publicly proclaiming biblical truth, is branded as hate speech, when Dr.’s started mutilating healthy bodies in the name of choice. Clear and indisputable evidence the cover has been completely removed. Wickedness doesn’t whisper anymore, it shouts, it demands and it punishes anyone who resists. The woman in the basket is fully visible now, sitting on her throne in the house that was built exclusively for her. And here is an often-ignored truth, once the cover is off, judgment soon follows. Thus, the sudden rise in societal mayhem and chaos that is presently occurring in cities across America, and that continues to expand and grow, with no viable solution to stop it. It follows a pattern revealed throughout Scripture. Before the flood, man’s thoughts were continually on wickedness. In Sodom and Gomorrah vileness and wickedness was open and celebrated. In ancient Babylon, pride and rebellion were own full display, and God sent judgment. When the cover hiding wickedness is completely removed, the hammer is set to fall. The cover is off! Wickedness is growing exponentially and running rampant. The house is built! What comes next? Rev 18 tells us “she has become a dwelling place for demons, and every foul spirit.” A dwelling place, and a house built for wickedness.

CONCLUSION: To warn us, God lovingly gave Zechariah a vision so precise in detail that His children would recognize the house built. So they would understand the timeline and so they could adequately prepare spiritually before it is too late. So how long does America have? No one knows precisely, but we are told to watch for the signs, and the signs are screaming! Let me show you something interesting. The Statue of Liberty was dedicated in 1886. That is when the woman took her place in the harbor. Many that saw prayer removed are still alive, some now are in their 90’s. Jesus said in Mattew 24 the generation that sees the budding of the fig tree (bearing leaves and no fruit) that generation would not pass away until these things (I Matt 24) were fulfilled. The budding of the fig tree occurred in 1948 when once again became a nation. Lok what is taken place in America right now; the economy is unstable, the national debt has reached levels that cannot be repaid, inflation is eating away at savings, political division has reached hatred toward one another, violence is rampart in our streets, national disasters are increasing, fires, floods, earthquakes and storms that break records year after year and moral collapse is accelerating. What took decades to normalize, now takes place in mere months. The American church is weaker than ever, attendance continues to drop, biblical literacy is almost non-existent, many pastors are simply afraid to preach truth, for fear of offending those who guarantee his livelihood. The cover is off, the house is built and everything is converging at once. Signs are everywhere and magnifying themselves. In my heart of heart's my only desire is emit the Lord's light to others in the faith that we may not be caught unaware and asleep. Even so come quickly Lord Jesus. God Bless

THE ARGUMENT FOR THE EXISTANCE ATHEISM — DESTROYED!

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

[PART ONE]

 The Biggest Fraud Ever Perpetrated By the god of This World, Satan, on the Willful Ignorant, Is Convincing Them They Are ‘Atheist’ (a belief that no deity or any God or gods exist). [PART ONE]

When a person is diagnosed with a fatal illness, their immediate response, is what kind of treatments are available?  Spiritually, in much of modern Christianity at least in America, the greatest of all Christian nations, a diagnosis has manifested itself that will in the end prove to be fatal for many.  The result of being fed a steady diet of the “milk of the word” while ignoring the preaching of the “meat of word”.  Leaving the spiritual babes in the Christian faith full of questions that have never been addressed or answered, other than the pat elementary truths as their answers, that doesn’t answer or satisfy their questions of why.  This answers a dangerous and growing spiritual question of Christian influence waning in United states.  The numbers in church attendance, religious affiliation, belief in God, prayer and Bible-reading have been in decline for decades.  Much of America’s Christian beliefs are becoming more ‘post-Christian’ (a situation in which Christianity is no longer a dominant importance of a society that has gradually adopted values, culture and worldviews that are not necessarily Christian).  America’s Christian identity is changing.  Enter Generation Z: Born between 1999 and 2015, they are the first truly post-Christian generation.

                More than any other generation before them, Gen Z does not identify with any specific religious identity.  The percentage of Gen Z that identifies as ’atheist’ double that of the U.S. adult population.  Sadly, for Gen Z “atheist” is no longer a dirty word.  So, what has led to this eternal-spiritual disregard?   For most “atheist” especially among Gen Z, the growth of evil and suffering is a deal breaker for them.  For most as well as some adults they struggle to find a satisfactory answer for the existence of both evil and good and a quote-unquote loving God.  We as the ministers of Jesus Christ have done an unsatisfactory job of answering this question by using the “meat of the word” rather than laboring under the fear of offending a seeker, so many take the safe way out, preaching a steady diet of milk of the word.  Many pastors, especially those of mega-church congregations or more like a “life-coach” rather than vigilant shepherds against rising spiritual dangers.  So how do we biblically and satisfactorily answer the rising popularity in identifying as an “atheist”?  For it is impossible to not believe in the existence of deity, a God and Supreme Creator of the universe.  Let’s biblically dismantle Satan’s fraud that has enslaved so man.

                The “wrath of God is revealed from heaven against those who hold truth in an unrighteous way”.  “BECAUSE THAT WHICH MAY BE KNOWN OF GOD IS MANIFEST IN THEM; FOR GOD HAS REVEALED IT TO THEM”.  That “which may be known of God” will vary from person to person.  It will vary based on culture and religious beliefs.  There is a plethora of degrees of the knowledge of God, just as there is a plethora of the ethnicity of people.  It is “in them” as intuitive knowledge.  In other words, there is no person with all their mental faculties that is without some knowledge of God (or their Supreme Creator).  “FOR GOD HAS SHOWED IT TO THEM”.  Man was created as a trichotomy-being.  Meaning we exist with three parts: body, soul and spirit.  Our ‘body’ consist of (5) senses, the ‘soul’ comprises our intellect (to question, imagine and ask why), but the ‘spirit’ is the most noble part of who we are which comes directly from God.  Being in the image of God refers to our personality, conscience, intelligence, awareness of right and wrong.  We are individual and moral creatures capable of loving, sacrificing and doing good deeds.  The Spirit of God is active revealing to every person all that they are capable of understanding.  The Apostle John said: “THAT WAS THE TRUE LIGHT (Jesus the Christ) WHICH LIGHTS EVERY PERSON THAT COMES INTO THE WORLD.” John 1.9  The knowledge obtained of God is not external, that is, it does not come through reading the Bible or through scientific investigation.  It is an inner awareness based on an outward revelation seen in nature and all that surrounds us (nature itself)

            “FOR THE INVISIBLE THINGS OF HIM (the Creator) FROM THE CREATION OF THE WORLD ARE CLEARLY SEEN, BEING UNDERSTOOD BY THE THINGS THAT ARE MADE (order of nature itself (4) seasons, sun rising every morning and setting every evening.  Atoms not crashing into each other etc.) EVEN HIS ETERNAL POWER AND GODHEAD; SO THAT THEY (all human creation) ARE WITHOUT EXCUSE.” Romans 1.20  Paul tells his readers how it is that the heathen know God.  He explains how God has showed it unto them.  He defines the ‘external’ means (our physical world and all that is in it) God uses to impart the internal knowledge of Himself.  Any knowledge we have of God must come as he reveals Himself.  The things we know are said to be “invisible”.  He names three invisible things:  1.) God is “eternal”.  That which is eternal must be the cause of all causes.  All men intuitively know that God is the “Eternal”, without beginning or ending.  2.) Creation confirms our innate knowledge that God is “eternal power”.  The cause of all power must be equal to or greater than the sum total of all power—thus God is omnipotent (all powerful and there is none greater).  3.) All of natural creation is stamped with the marks of the Creator that it reveals the “Godhead” to us.  By this personal, divine revelation seen in nature we know that there is one God over all.  Other invisible things revealed in creation are, God’s goodness, love, justice, judgment, wrath etc.  All these things are readily visible through viewing “the creation of the world”.

            This revelation seen in nature eliminates all claim’s of ignorance.  The degree of knowledge gained through nature will not come close to the knowledge available through Scripture, but it is sufficient to make man responsible.  According to the truth he has seen and yet disobeyed, renders him “without excuse.”  When he is unaware of truth, he would feel no compulsion to offer excuse, now would anyone blame him.  That truth which each person is personally consciousness of is sufficient weight of responsibility.  Atheism is Satan’s greatest fraud.

[PART TWO]

 Understanding A Dangerous and Growing Spiritual Threat in Modernity, By Embracing a Non-existant Falsehood

             WHEN THEY KNEW GOD (because Christ Lights every person’s knowledge of God), THEY GLORIFIED HIM NOT AS GOD, NEITHER WERE THEY THANKFUL; BUT BECAME VAIN IN THEIR IMAGINATIONS, AND THEIR FOOLISH HEART WAS ‘DARKENED’ (means it is an ongoing process).” Romans 1.21 “Vain imaginations” is a good term for a lot of popular mental sin we so easily rationalize: engaging in internal arguments with people who aren’t even there, the lusting that accompanies sexual pornography for men or emotional pornography for women (steamy romance novels). We all spend time thinking about things that are empty, fruitless, and harmful to our spirits.  And we all need to guard against them.  

            Those who will stand at the “Great White Throne Judgment” are without excuse on judgment day “BECAUSE THAT, WHEN THEY KNEW GOD, THEY GLORIFIED HIM NOT AS GOD!”  Paul reaffirms that natural revelation, received by all mankind, cause all men to know God.  It has been well-established truth all people unavoidably know God. This is not to be confused with knowing Him in forgiveness or in an intimate way (as Jesus revealed to the woman at the well “if you knew who it was that said unto you give Me drink”) but to simply know of surety of His attributes (what is right and what is wrong) of the glory and His righteousness of His person.  They responded to this knowledge by making a choice to disregard the truth “AS CLEARLY SEEN”.

            Important to NOTE: the first sin listed is not murder, rape, idolatry, drunkenness or fornication; it is failure to “GLORIFY GOD.  They did not do what one ought to do in regard to One so high and holy.  When common people come into the presence of King Charles, they all bow in recognition of his high estate.  To not glorify God is the greatest of sins, people can commit.  It is the beginning of rebellion against His Sovereign Authority.  It is a statement to all our values are not in agreement with what is inherently the most valuable asset we possess. 

            We are all naturally endowed with an inclination to glory in that which seems to us august in beauty.  It is predictable that when one views Niagara Falls, or the Grand Canyon, we are awestruck by its natural beauty.  When a person knows God, as all humans do, and yet glorifies Him not, then we have a conflicting understanding of God’s glory, a lack of understanding that is willful and unworthy.  They are at fault in choosing to glorify some things but refuse to glorify God.  In these individuals, it shows a preference that openly reveals a fault in their character.  Choosing this preference renders them unworthy of and unfit for God’s august presence.  The point, to not glorify God is the root of all sin.

            “NEITHER WERE THANKFUL” Paul, in his presentation that all people are sinners, lists “UNTHANKFULNESS” as the second distinctive charge deserving of the “wrath of God”.  A person that sees the beauty of nature’s phenomenal, magnificent beauty that surrounds us, the work of the Creator, and recognizes the very air they breath to be a gift of God yet neglects to pause in life to be “THANKFUL”, is proud and self-willed.  The growing and popular belief by many in the 21st century, is that they have received a raw deal of being guilty of death, by the sin committed by one man in the Garden of Eden therefore, they cannot be “THANKFUL”, but believing they are justified in their belief of being wronged, does not excuse their thankful-ness, but rather confirmed it thereby rendering themselves “WITHOUT EXCUSE”.

            “BECAME VAIN IN THEIR IMAGINATION” As already revealed, God endowed us with some of the abilities of a creator.  How?  We can imagine a thing as we would like it to be and apply ourselves to bring it to pass.  We have total control of our imaginations and can determine what directions they will take.  Therefore, if we imagine the impossible (like finding a way to keep from dying) or the ridiculous (a man can become pregnant), these constitute “VAIN IMAGINATIONS”.  Resulting with people, uncomfortable with an eternal God of infinite power and authority, imagine Him to be something less.  This is especially growing in popularity among Gen Z who view God as less than all knowing, completely righteous God that judges all sin and instead views Him as hindered and unable to stop evil, tragedy’s, disease and predatory animalistic behavior.  So, they rethought God as something less than revealed in the Holy Scripture.

            “AND THEIR FOOLISH HEART WAS DARKENED.”  In Scripture, the word ‘heart’ is used to describe that center of the human soul, wherein moral intentions, affections and motives reside.  Remember John’s revelation John 1.9: God had illuminated the heart of everyone born into the world, but the ‘light’ (or knowledge) has become dimmed, due to their imaginations causing them on a continued path into darkness.  Notice their “foolish heart was darkened” is present tense, meaning a continued progression.

            “PROFESSING THEMSELVES TO BEWISE, THEY BECAME FOOLS.”  In their imaginations, observing the creations of their own minds, they thought themselves wise.  They published the falsehoods generated by their “vain imaginations” (such as the theory of evolution, order out of a cataclysmic combustion, it’s natural to want to change the gender of their birth, to something else) they established universities, institutions of higher learning, and praised themselves for their mutual knowledge.  They called it philosophy, Scientific advancements and the need of Comparative Religion that eventually all lead to the same end.  They created degrees for these professors rewarding in some cases their “vain imaginations” and called them “Doctors of psychiatry, Doctor of Divinity etc.  People called them enlightened.  God calls them fools.

            Their “VAIN IMAGINATIONS” will ultimately lead them to replace God altogether with themselves becoming the all-powerful god.  The vehicle of choice “Artificial Intelligence, or A.I. their crowning achievement from a heart in a continuous darkened path forward.

[PART THREE]

 The Innate Danger of Committing the (3rd) Strike and Finally Experiencing True Freedom and Peace of Mind!

“AND CHANGED THE GORY OF THE UNCORRUPTIBLE GOD INTO AN IMAGE MADE LIKE TO CORRUPTIBLE MAN.” 

They “CHANGED”, proof they well perceived and understood the “GLORY” of God.  In other words, it was a conscious act involving rejection of “HELD TRUTH”, not ignorance of truth.  The self-deceived “FOOLS” using their “vain imaginations” created in their minds the “UNCORRUPTIBLE GOD” to an image they could accept, of a “CORRUPTIBLE MAN”.  These people were not “DEVOID OF KNOWLEDGE OF GOD”, poor misguided victims of their time and culture.  They were “FOOLS” remaking God into an image more compatible with their lusts.

Other than Judaism and Biblical Christianity, there is no religion that demands so high and holy a life as does just plain natural revelation.  People will willfully turn away from “glorifying” the eternal God of righteousness to serve a god produced in their “imaginations” that permits them to selfishly indulge their fleshly lusts without fear of judgment to come.  When people accept a distorted “image” of God, they forfeit the only reference by which they can identify themselves.  They become philosophers who abound with unanswered questions and resent the answers that imply responsibility.

“WHEREFORE GOD ALSO GAVE THEM ‘UP’ TO UNCLEANESS THROUGH THE LUSTS OF THEIR OWN HEARTS, TO DISHONOR THEIR OWN BODIES BETWEEN THEMSELVES:

 Verse 24 specifically encapsulate the moment when God allows a person to pursue the very desires which lead to their own demise.  Paul illustrates a progression: the turning away from God leads to uncleanliness and physically depraved conduct.  It emphasizes that turning away from God results in humans pursuing sin and eventually experiencing its destructive effects.  Here, we also see the overarching theme of God’s justice.  He gives humanity the freedom to choose, but there are always consequences attached to those choices. 

“WHEREFORE”, is an illustration that says because of the former willful actions of people, “GOD GAVE THEM UP TO UNCLEANNESS.”  The underlying motive for rejecting the revelation of God that all humans are born with, always involves indulging of the flesh.  Nearly all of ancient religions involved the sanctification of prostitution and gross immorality, teaching fleshly indulgence as a vital part of worship.  God reacts by pulling the hand away, of His provision (the Holy spirit) which reveals the spiritual danger against such indulgence.  Giving them “UP TO UNCLEANNESS”, the object of their lusts filled pursuits.  The means by which God gave them up was “THROUGH” their own “LUSTS”.  They had given Him up ‘for’ lusts, so God gave them up ‘to’ their lusts.  In other words, they had become preoccupied with their own bodies (like our addiction in the 21st century to taking and posting selfies of ourselves, billions spent on plastic surgery, the creation of having sex-change operations seem a normal desire etc.).  Instead of behaving as the children of God, spreading love and goodwill, they turned inward and found pleasure in worshiping their own bodies.  Like maggots they feed upon the flesh until they worship the creature.  They took their tabernacles of flesh, which the Creator has given as vessels to house the human spirit, and “DISHONORED THEIR BODIES BETWEEN THEMSELVES.”  By mutual consent, they made an industry of promoting, stimulating and gratifying one another.  Our present culture is feverishly reinventing a plethora of ways to dishonor the body.  “BUT EVERY PERSON IS TEMPTED, WHEN THEY ARE DRAWN AWAY OF THEIR OWN LUSTS, AND ENTICED.  THEN WHEN LUST HAS CONCIEVED, IT BRINGS FORTH SIN: AND SIN, WHEN IT IS FINISHED, BRINGS FORTH DEATH.” James 1.14-15

“WHO CHANGED THE TRUTH OF GOD INTO A LIE, AND WORSHIPED AND SERVED THE CREATURE MORE THAN THE CREATOR, WHO IS BLESSED FOREVER AMEN.” v.25  They          “changed the truth of God” of which they were all aware (of the “truth they held”) to a “LIE” conceived in their “IMAGINATIONS”.  Possessed by hedonistic spirit, their lusts suggested to them that the body alone was the object of devotion, leading them to “WORSHIP AND SERVE THE CREATURE”.   In our culture there is an attempt to maintain some visual persona of devotion and worship of God and His Son while indulging in the flesh, not realizing that in a real sense they worship each other’s bodies “MORE THAN THE CREATOR.”

“FOR THIS CAUSE GOD GAVE THEM UP UNTO VILE AFFECTIONS: FOR EVEN THEIR WOMEN DID CHANGE THE NATURAL USE INTO THAT WHICH IS AGAINST NATURE:”  It has already been revealed God shines the light of truth into every soul that comes into the world.  They took what they understood of the truth of His nature and changed it into a corruptible image based on the immorality they pursued.  God, as He did with Adam’s decision to willfully give his authority over this world to Satan, honored their choices and gave them ’up’ to uncleanness.  Their pursuit of unclean behavior drew them further into lust until they worshiped their own bodies.  “FOR THIS CAUSE GOD GAVE THEM UP UNTO VILE AFFECTIONS.”  In other words, to love the obscene and vile depravity of their conduct.  How depraved has our culture become?  In our former culture, we would expect men of acting base and vile, but not women.  When I was growing up you would never hear profane language used in the presence of a woman.  In the present culture you have a female candidate running for president of the U.S. openly in public spewing forth the “F” word, and women now commonly use language that you were more likely to hear among construction workers, but not women, and to their open vileness they have no shame.  It’s the fruit produced by progressive and liberal policies that has all but erased femininity among women.  “EVEN THEIR WOMEN DID CHANGE THE NATURAL USE INTO THAT WHICH IS AGAINST NATURE.”  God placed within each of us natural drives toward the opposite sex.  Such drives are wholesome within themselves.  But women “CHANGED” what God made into something “AGAINST NATURE”.  Lesbian acts are contrary to nation.  Such drives are not natural.  They have to be cultivated, invented and promoted in each new generation.  No one is born a Sodomite, or a lesbian.  If one commits either of the aforementioned acts, they do so “AGAINST” one’s own “NATURE”. This sin is against nature in the most elementary understanding of truth.  Take all lesbians or sodomites and put each group on a separate island and how long will the island remain populated?  Until the last of them die.  It’s against nature.    

SERIES ON THE CHURCH OF ROME‍ ‍

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

The Spirit of Antichrist Used to Stealthily Hide and Move in the Shadows in American Cultural, However, it No Longer Sees the Need to Hide, When it Can Move Openly!

INTRODUCTION In this series, my prayer is that exposing the spiritual danger, hidden in Roman Catholicism, will be received in the spirit of humility that it is written. Using only Holy Scripture alongside the doctrines promoted and pushed by Catholicism. It is important to understand this is not just an argument about which religion is correct, but a much more dangerous situation involving the soul and eternity.

The series was prompted by an article that appeared in national news this week concerning the resurgence and resurrection in the Roman Catholic Church. It began with Catholic leaders across the U.S. reporting a sharp increase in the number of adult converts, a trend that they say is driven primarily by young adults. Notre Dame saw its largest group of new Catholics in at least 25 years, with a 125 receiving sacraments last Easter. They also noted that this year, they expect there to be 163 candidates and catechumens, which are unbaptized individuals undergoing conversion. Bishop Robert Barron said that when speaking to new adult converts about their decision, many describe themselves as “hungry for truth.” This is likened to this metaphor Jesus spoke: “If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? Or if he asked for a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent?” Luke 11.11 If a person is sincerely seeking truth, the Catholic Church with its open idolatry and glorification of paganism and deification of Mary, just based on the surface, that would be the least depository for Biblical truth vs. the Church doctrines instituted by men. The Bishop Barron went on to say, “that many young adults are looking for something steady with strong roots (while contemporary Christianity and the mega-church-model of evangelicalism is losing its attraction for the young adults) Catholicism has been attracting new converts because of its 2,000-year-old traditions.” What a tragic unfolding testimony for 21st century evangelicalism. Barron, intimated “our culture today is very ephemeral (or changes lasting a very short time) right? It’s evanescent (or soon passing when the novelty wears off) while Catholicism speaks to something much deeper and older and more permanent,” he said. “I also think that people are attracted to the ritual expression of Catholicism. It’s the beauty of our liturgy, we’re not just gathering in a bland room (most certainly a dig at mega-churches modeling themselves after country clubs, replete with coffee shops) and singing pop songs (that are designed for entertainment rather than worship) we enter into the ancient, beautiful ritual involving vestments (worn by priest, cardinals and the pope)the incense and candles ancient prayers to saints and ancient chants. And I do think that appeals to people’s souls, especially, young people.” I would have to agree with Barron’s assessment given the wide-spread biblical illiteracy in America. The saddest element in this whole move is the unawareness of the danger they are stepping into spiritually. Let us begin the series which will produce the indisputable spiritual danger tied to the Catholic faith, with humble hearts and spirit of Christ love.

Have you ever wondered why following a religious tradition for centuries or much of one’s life is not a guarantee that it aligns with the Word of God? The Scriptures warn us that the popular path is not usually the true one, and this can become unsettling, because it requires the courage to face what true ‘faith’ teaches vs embracing popular traditions. As previously stated, in this series we will examine just three verses, three Biblical principles that rest solely in Jesus Christ that reveal truth indisputable truths that have been written in Holy Scripture for centuries, awaiting the eyes of every true believer in the faith of Christ. There is something few have the spiritual courage to face head-on when it comes to the Christian faith and truth thereof. It is not necessarily a lack of intelligence or even a lack of will to do so, it resides in the unsettledness brought on by too many questions. And the most common human tendency is to simply ignore them, change the subject, and presume doubt doesn’t exist. After all the traditions being followed seem very religious in nature. However, here is something very important to consider: ‘Truth’ (the essence of Christ Jesus, He did say “I AM TRUTH”! Not a source of truth, but truth itself. But “Truth”, that stubborn irritating thorn in the flesh at times, the Bible calls liberating, and it doesn’t disappear, because we simply close our eyes and ears to it.

CONCLUSION: Roman Catholicism is without doubt the largest institutionalized religious structure the world has ever seen. More than 1.4-billion-people in 2,000 years of history. Popes who moved empires, Cardinals who influenced wars, cathedrals that defy gravity with their ornate and structural beauty, sacraments that accompany human beings from birth to death. It is such a colossal religious machine that is so well assembled, so deeply rooted in human culture that many people simply assume that something that has lasted so long and grown so much globally, it must be Biblically legit. It must be in accordance with the Will of God, but here lies the (1st Deception) and it hides in plain sight! In this series we will prove without doubt that the true power behind Roman Catholicism’s longevity and global influence throughout the centuries, can only be based on one true source. The oldest spiritual enemy of God known to man, THE SPIRIT of BABYLON! May the Lord and His Holy Spirit lead us into all “Truth” without doubt or confusion in this series,

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

Confusing Longevity With “Truth” (Jesus is the essence of all Truth) While Confusing Size With Divine Approval [PART ONE]

The Holy Scriptures which is the revealed Word of God to humanity, and Jesus who declared “I AM the Truth“ said: “Enter you in at the straight gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leads to destruction, and many there will be that enter in there. Because straight is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leads unto life eternal, and few will find it.” Matthew 7:13-14 makes it astonishingly clear the “wide path” is the popular path, the easy path that many choose, is not necessarily the correct path. A few, certainly not the majority, not the largest religious institutions on the planet. A few! This is not an attack on those who were born into Catholicism, and had its doctrines imbedded in them from youth by family or societal structure. Those who in their lives have fawn memories of lighting candles with their mother or grandmother, prayed the rosary when facing one of life’s many trials, because there is a strongly rooted connection that runs deeper than mere religious belief, this based on a deep-rooted emotional connection that is as real, as knowing the sun is coming every day without fail and it is most precious to them.

However, there is a huge spiritual difference between sincere devotion of a heart-seeking the Lord in truth, vs. man-made-doctrines put forth as truth and taught through religious icons of a religious institution that over the centuries has created traditions that when examined in the light of Scripture, are immediately exposed as apostate teachings that border on blaspheme, due to their denigration of Christ’ suffering to remove all sin from the world. And this is where it gets interesting. Why? Because the Bible is not a book based on Protestantism or Evangelical interpretation, not some text of dubious (unreliable) origin that will expose this hidden danger that lurks in the Roman Church. Rather, it’s (3) verses, (3) sentences (that require no theological degree to understand) and they are in the Catholic Bible itself. The same Bible that priest us in mass, the same-one Bishops study in seminary, the same-one Cardinals have in Latin on the shelves of their offices in the Vatican. The point I am making, these verses have never been hidden, they have never been removed even by man-made religious institutions. They are available, accessible, and waiting to erase all doubts if read with eyes wide open and a heart willing to follow the truth wherever it may lead. However, this is easier said than done, given the hinderance of human nature, and this impediment has a name, INSTITUTIONAL TRADITION!

When structures or institution becomes powerful enough, they begin to function as a filter between the faithful and the Word of God. The Bible starts to be interpretated not by power of the Holy Spirit, not by meditation, not by prayer for illumination and not by honest study of the word (like the Bereans), but through the lens of what religious institutions needs to be true for protecting their brand. Jesus Christ confronted and exposed the exact thing in the religious leaders of His day: “You make the word of God of ‘NONE EFFECT’ through your traditions (speaking-in-tongues, slaying-in-the-spirit, health-and-prosperity-false gospel, “that makes merchandise of the people”), which you have delivered, and many other things you do (deification of Mary, glorification of pagan celebrations as Christian Holidays, promoting idol worship).” Mark 7:13 Jesus warns that traditions of men NULLIFIES the word of God! NULLIFIES! It didn’t compliment, it didn’t enrich understanding, it simply nullified! The question each believer in the faith of Christ needs to ask ourselves is not, does a denomination have appealing traditions? The necessary question we must ask ourselves is what I believe aligned with what Holy Scripture teaches. God will not ask in eternity what religious institutions or denominations you belonged to. He will ask what did you do with the teachings of My Son, (the “Truth”) and was faith based on His truth, or the man-made-traditions of men? The (3) verses we will use for this series are not just theological curiosities, they are mirrors when compared to the focus of this series, the Roman Church and her glorification of ancient paganistic traditions wrapped in a Christian wrapper, they reveal unquestioned contradictions that no human argument can resolve.

THERE IS ONLY [ONE] MEDIATOR: There is a single verse in all of Scripture that dismantles the need of creating a plethora of others for the task of mediation between the people and God. This, because there are verses in the Bible that require no elaborate exegesis of the passage, or a theological degree to explain to understand. They are simple and elementary enough for one’s differing cognitive abilities to accept. And 1st Timothy 2:5-6 is such a verse: “FOR THERE IS ONE GOD, AND ‘ONE’ MEDIATOR BETWEEN GOD AND MEN, THE MAN CHRIST JESUS, WHO GAVE HIMSELF A RANSOM FOR ‘ALL’”! The Apostle Paul wrote with surgical precision, in one sentence a clean cut, with no ambiguity, no room for maneuverability, no room for creative interpretation, simply “ONE MEDIATOR” Jesus Christ! Not Mary, because of her Son’s maternal compassion, not the saints, the priest secreted in a wooden box hidden from the one confessing sin, not the Cardinals or Bishops and most certainly and unequivocally, the Pope, who is believed by Catholics to speak as Christ on earth! Anyone who studies this verse with an earnest and honestly seeking heart, soon realizes that it is not talking about something peripheral (or the necessity for additional aid for intercession). This verse clearly states the very foundational stone for how human beings can enter the very throne-room of God with their petitions. Meditation is the very heart of faith; it is the path by which the sinner can have access that reaches the Creator. Holy Scripture unequivocally affirms that this path has one name and one name only, and that name is “JESUS the CHRIST” which makes it possible for sinners and believers alike to have open intercession before God. It’s not a preference; it is a declaration of absolute exclusivity. In summation of [PART ONE] I leave you with the Greek word Paul used that resounds with finality “EV” meaning one, singularly and exclusive! “One”, not the first on a list among other idols created for mediation, “One” and only one!

CONCLUSION: My only purpose in exposing the hidden dangers associated with the Roman Church, is that it might help keep a loved one from committing an egregious error based on ascetism, beauty and traditions of men who athirst for power!

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

The devil is still actively roaming and roaring throughout this earth like a lion. He is powerful and ferocious. And it is crucial not to misjudge Satan’s power or be ignorant of his schemes. [PART TWO]

INGNORANCE IS NOT EXECUSABLE! When we look at certain religious traditions, especially the Church of Rome and we find a structure built entirely on human mediation. And it is not a matter of forced interpretation; it is the official and self-binding doctrine itself. The priest acts as a mediator in the confessional. The believer never goes directly to God and confesses their sins and without sounding crass, (it is truly one of the biggest wastes of time in Christendom) as well as a most dangerous practice going back to antiquity. Why? You reveal your darkest and many times your must humiliating secrets and sins, all to another sinner just like yourself. Then to add insult to injury, the sinner priest forgives the sin and can grant absolution. You see Scriptural illiteracy causes one to believe there is forgiveness in someone other than Christ, who alone “TOOK AWAY THE SIN OF THE WORLD”! The tradition of mediation outside of Christ, a foundational tenant of the Church of Rome, has inherited her paganist spirit from her mother’s ancient rebellion against God, in the form of “MYSTERY BABYLON RELIGION”, established during the global rebellion against God led by Nimrod, and his wife Semiramis, the Queen or head of Mystery Babylon Religious heresy! At the center of this abominable and spiritual fornication against God, was the confessing of one’s misdeeds, sins, and a whole host human atrocity, to a pagan priest. And after God scattered the builders of the Tower of Babel, the body of Nimrod, head of the civil rebellion was cut into pieces and sent throughout regions of the earth as the reminder not to rebel against God. But the Queen of Heaven, Semiramis and her Babylonian religion survived in the same form today in the Church of Rome. And the center of Mystery Babylon religious structure was “THE MOTHER SON WORSHIP”! And just how dangerous is this form of worship in the name of Christendom? Let us hear the warning out the so-called first pope’s mouth, the Apostle Peter: “BE SOBER (not incapacitated), BE VIGILANT; BECAUSE YOUR ADVERSARY (sworn enemy) THE DEVIL, AS A ROARING LION, WALKS ABOUT, SEEKING WHOM HE MAY DEVOUR (eternally destroy): WHO RESIST STEADFAST (unwaveringly, without doubt) IN THE FAITH.” 1ST Peter 5.8 One of the saddest traditions in all of Christendom is the deification of Mary, who no doubt is grieved by such actions. In Catholicism, Mary is called the Mediatrix of all grace and even co-redemptrix’s, titles that place her in a position of active participation in the work of redemption. This subject demands further examination due to its origin and spiritual suicide!

Let me first say, Mary, the Bible clearly declares, “WAS BLESSED (that is to say, envied) AMONG WOMEN”. Why would she be envied? All Jewish women were raised with the hope of being the one chosen to bring the Jewish Messiah into the world. I want to pause here, to give the devil his due, in that he took what God meant as a blessing for a woman and turned it into a curse. Mary and Jesus were not the creation of “mother-son worship’. The Bible declares its practice in the O.T.: “He said to me, turn you, and you shall witness greater abominations that they (religious leaders and women) do. Then He brought me to the door of the gate to the Lord’s house which was toward the north; and behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz.” Ezekiel 8:14 Note this whole practice is called by God an abomination (is anyone paying attention)? “See what they do…the children gather wood, and the women knead their dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven (Semiramis), and to pour out drink offerings unto other gods, that they may provoke Me to anger.” Does this not cause every slave to Catholicism to pause and fear the Lord? However, in all honesty, I would be remiss in holding the office of one of Christ’ ministers of the Gospel, if I only exposed the inherent spiritual danger that resides in Catholicism, while ignoring the dangers openly celebrated in evangelicalism. The flagrant flouting of the 2nd Commandment in both religious structures is an awful and cavalier blasphemous act for representing the eternal God in our human nature as a doll in a manager. Christmas was in paganistic Mystery Babylon Religion a heathen festival celebrated on the 25th of December in honor of the birth of the abominable Tammuz, also called Baal the Sun-god, the son of Semiramis, the Babylonian queen of heaven. The Church of Rome in order to attract pagans, Christianized Tammuz’s birth and called it Christmas causing the eternal God to share a birthday with a heathen, and most assuredly invoking His anger. And evangelicalism was all too happy to endorse it as the birth of Christ their Savior. Ironically, birthdays in Holy Scripture were reserved for the rich and affluent and for carrying out death. We are never told to celebrate the birth of Christ, but only His resurrection! However, evangelicalism finds that it fits very nicely with it worship of filthy lucre. Every true believer in Christ, must ask ourselves as bond-slaves to our Mater, how can anything that connects with worship of Baal be pleasing to the Lord? And we still have a long way to go in this series.

CONCLUSION: Have you ever really considered the spiritual danger associated with the fictious character of Santa, that we teach our children? 1st the name: put the “n” at the end and you have Satan! 2nd We tell our children if they don’t go to sleep, Santa won’t come. Where Scripture exhorts: ”To watch, for you know not the hour your Lord does come.” And finally, and most dangerous of all is assigning omniscience to a fictional character, attributes possessed only by the Creator, when we tell our children “he knows when you’ve been bad or good.” And I leave us with one verse to meditate upon: “This says the LORD, learn not the way of the heathen…for the customs of the people are vain…therefore pray not for this people, neither lift up a cry or pray for them: for I will not hear them” I know I am not very popular with my take on Biblical truth, and if I am wrong on my understanding, the Lord will chastise me. It doesn’t in any way minimize the extreme spiritual danger that now resides in modern Christianity. In all humility

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

The Spiritual Suicide Being Committed by Unsuspecting, Well-meaning Believers in the

Faith, By Their Refusal to Examine Man-made-Religious-Traditions in the Light of Holy Scripture to See It Is really Nothing More Than Ancient Baal Worship Wrapped in Christian Packaging! [PART THREE]

As we continue to examine the great hidden dangers of immersing oneself into Christian-pagan religious institutions. My fervent prayer for you, is Holy Spirit Conviction will lead any who are committing knowingly or unknowingly out of the spiritual fornication

involved in worship of Baal the ancient sun-god! Many may be thinking, by what authority do you judge another’s commitment to their religious institutional preference? My reply, only one source, Holy Scripture and the essence of all “truth” Jesus the Christ! He did not come to teach us truth, about truth, but to declare He is “TRUTH”! My hearts only attempt is to expose apstate teachings! So, let’s continue to expose hidden Baal worship of the sun-god in the Church of Rome!

In [Part Two] we exposed the real truth behind the pagan celebration in Christianity of December 25th as the real birthday of Tammuz son of Semarimis. In Part [Three] we will examine the pagan celebration called Easter, the celebration of the resurrection of Tammuz from the dead. Through the Church of Rome- this actof Baal-worship has been handed down through the centuries. How can anything connected with worship of Baal be pleasing to the Lord? That is the question that must never be ignored by a person of the Christian faith, fore ignorance of the truth is never applicable! Was it not for the willfulness of such worship that the judgments of the Lord repeatedly fell upon the people of Israel in the O.T.? “And when they forgot the LORD their God, He sold them into the hands of their enemies...And they cried unto the Lord, and said, we have sinned, because we have forsaken the LORD and served Baal and Ashtaroth.” !st Samuel 12:9-10 Semaramis instituted a holy day in her Babylonian religion in honor of the supposed “death/resurrection” of her son Tammuz. Semaramis became known in Babylonian worship as the fertility goddest ‘Istar’. She took on many other names in different cultures: Isis, Diana, Astarte, Ishtar, Aphrodite, Venus and Easter. She was even identified with Mary in the Church of Rome, and she was deified and took on the titles “MOTHER OF GOD” and “QUEEN OF HEAVEN”. Her son Tammuz took on many names as well such as Horus, Apollo, Sol, Krishna, Hercules, Mithhra, Cupid and finally Jesus. In Catholicism the worship of the mother/son is known as “Madonna/Child” and “Mary/Jesus”. There are idolsin the Vatacan itself of “Tammuz the Great Hunter” Jesus or Hesus or lesous or “I.H.S.” as seen on the Catholic cross which means Hail Zues or Son of Zues. Sun-bursts (icons of the sungod Baal) are displayed all throughout great cathedrals, the Vatican and St. Peter’s Basilical in Rome as tributes to Baal!

When Tammuz was 40 years of age he was killed by a wild boar while hunting. After Tammuz died, his mother Semaramis began a custom in Babylon called “FORTY DAYS OF WEEPING FOR TAMMUZ” that required the people to fast and pray for Tammuz in the underworld. They exchanged one day of pleasure in this life for each year of Tammuz’s life. The Church of Rome Christianized this pagan Babylonian practice called “LENT.” In the Catholic paganistic system, 40 Days of Lent involves fasting from something you enjoy, begins on what is called “ASH WEDNESDAY where a cross of Tammuz is drawn in ash on the forehead of the faithful.” The Romans called Semaramis, Astarte, but later called her Venus. The Hebrews called her Ashtoroth, her emblem is the lily. She is the goddess of France. The French made a colossus of the image, and it now stands in New York Harbor, facing the “East,”. Here is an interesting note, when the Pilgrims arrived in America and following Catholicism was not allowed in most colonies. This is a lot to wrap your mind around, I know.

This revelation is not to disrespect Mary or other saints, it rests solely on what the Word of God says about the structure of mediation put forth by the religious falsehoods of Catholicism. Hebrews 4.16 is the final word that any true believer needs: “LET US THEREFORE , COME BOLDLY UNTO THE THRONE OF GRACE, THAT WE MAY OBTAIN MERCY, AND FIND GRACE TO HELP IN A TIME OF NEED.” Important to understand, the Scripture does not say, “Let us seek an intermediary to allow us access to the throne.” It says, “Let us approach ourselves with full with full confidence..” This confidence is not born out of arrogance, but based solely on what Christ obtained for us on the cross. It is with full assurance that the pathway is open and does not need the assisst mediation by the priests, saint, or Mary. The first elenentary warning for anyone looking or having an interest in Catholicism, is the reality evident in the religious heiarchy, the Cardinals, are called “Princes of the Church” and your Eminence! What arrogance! Certainly as arrogant as a man calling himself Holy Father, this without a sliver of doubt, is open adulterated blaspheme. And it has now become an attraction for many bored and uneducated young-adults. Who are looking for hope in a man-made damnable heresy.

CONCLUSION: The Bible describes Satan as the Father of all lies, and the master of deception. Here is a simple bu true way to end Part Three: Satan is not afraid of your wisdom, your witicism or your threats, but he is absolutely and unequivicably mastered by the Word of God, “THE TRUTH” Jesus Christ! With all humility!

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

Is It at All Possible to Reduce the Creator of the Entire Universe to A Cracker, With the Image of the Sun-god, Represented by a Sun-burst On It? [PART FOUR]

(Part Three) was what is called parenthetical or to (explain in greater detail) the Post. Introducing the Church of Rome’s deification of Mary, required more depth in exposing the hidden dangers committed openly and unashamedly, some because ignorance of Biblical truths, others by having such practice ingrained in them from youth by birth into Catholicism. There is no shortage of eccentric foolish traditions practiced within institutional religious structures of Christianity. This no doubt angers the Lord when men turn something so precious and simple into bondage to enslave his fellow man. There is perhaps nothing that degrades Christ in such a humiliating manner than the Church of Rome’s practice of the church’s sacraments! But, before we move on to compare the Roman Church’s sacrament rituals to the light of scripture, there is a vs. that removes all need for a priestly intercessor for the believers in the faith of Christ; “You are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that you should show forth the praises of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.” I Peter 2.9

BY GRACE THROUGH FAITH, the VERSE THAT DESTROYS SACRMENTAL RITUALS of the CHURCH OF ROME! When God placed these words in the Bible, it left no room for negotiations! “For by grace are you saved through faith; and that not of ‘yourselves’: it is the ‘gift’ of God: not of works (or jumping through spiritual hoops force upon believers by man) lest any man (princes of the church, the papacy etc.) should boast.” Ephesians 2.8-9 The first thing noted the verses invite no room for debate, but just the opposite, the verses end all debate, should any arise. Every word there is chosen, every word carries an exclusion! And when all the exclusions (man-made rituals, institutional dictates within religious structures) are placed side-by-side, what remains is a structure of salvation radically different from what many religious systems teach.

The 1st thing that stands out is the source of salvation, is ‘grace’. Not merit, not ritual, not accumulated effort, but ‘grace’. Grace, being something that cannot be earned. Whoever earns something, earns a credit to be redeemed later, but God’s grace does not operate on a credit system, it operates wholly on the bases of a gift, and Paul reinforces just that. A gift is not earned, it is given, an act of unmerited favor. A gift is not negotiated (so when someone asked if the deceased made their peace with God before they died, it is an unanswerable question! Why? Peace involves the negotiations of two parties, each having something to offer, so that makes it impossible for someone to make peace with God, because they have nothing of value to offer for the peace they are seeking. On the other hand, “a peace-agreement has been achieved, between God the Father and Jesus his Son”. A gift is not negotiated, it is received, and the way to receive it is ‘faith’ (that is to accept something, without having seen it), not by sacramental rituals, or repeated rote behavior, not by demand presence in a religious institutional structure created by men called a confessional box.

Understanding declaration by THE COUNCIL of TRENT between 1545 and 1563, makes it impossible not to see the blatant heresy. The Roman Catholic Church leaders in that historical council established that [7] sacraments, BAPTISM, CONFIRMATION, EUCHARIST, PENANCE, ANOINTING OF THE SICK, HOLY ORDERS, and MATRIMONY are necessary for salvation. And extremism goes even further in its apostasy; it declares that anyone who suggests the sacraments are not necessary (for salvation) would be under anathema or is cursed. It is a fixed position that is still a major tenant and underpinning of Catholic theological dogma to this very day. But Paul leaves no room to entertain such blasphemous sophistry (or the use of fallacious arguments). “And if by grace, then there is no more works: otherwise, grace is no more grace. But if it be works, then it is no more grace: otherwise, it is no more work. Romans 11.6 G Grace and works do not mix, and this is not a matter of theological opinion, it’s a matter of internal logic of the inspired text. If salvation had any component of human work, grace would cease to be grace and would become a wage earned. And wages are earned and gifts are received. So, what exactly is a sacrament in terms? It is an action! It is something one does or receives from another human being through a right. Going to the confessional is an action. Receiving the Eucharist (the body of Christ literally) is an action. Being baptized in a ceremony action. If salvation doesn’t come from work, and the bible is explicit about this, then none of these actions can be a required condition for salvation. They can be expressions of devotion. They can be Christian practices with spiritual value, but they cannot be a prerequisite for God to save a soul. Because if they are a Christian mandate, salvation ceases to be a gift and becomes the result of an institutional religious performance. And something that needs to be stated clearly, carefully, but without hesitation. Ephesians 2:8-9 is in the Catholic Bible! It is not a Protestant verse, it is not a verse later inserted by the fundamentalist and conservatives, nor is it a creative interpretation, the very vs. are in the same canon that the Catholic Church itself recognizes them as sacred text. More to come in [PART FIVE].

CONCLUSION: This series becomes all the more needful given the recent religious war that has broken out between two loud egotistical leaders; President Donald Trump and Pope Leo XIV, couple that with the sudden surge by young adults embracing Catholicism and you have a growing spirit of antichrist at an unprecedented rate. What ignited this war of words between the two? It was the words of Leo XIV. "Blessed are the peacemakers. But woe to those who manipulate religion and the very name of God for their own military, economic and political gain, dragging that which is sacred into darkness and filth.” Leo was referring to Trump’s war with Iran. This is the typical “pot calling the kettle black.” Here you have the leader of the Catholic Church, whose history is brimming with shedding the blood of the saints of Jesus, also was complicit along with Hitler in the extermination of 6,000,000 the Jews. In all humility of sharing all truth.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

History Ignored Is History Oft Repeated! Indicated In the Unfolding War of Words Between Donald Trump and Pope Leo XIV. [POST FIVE]

From its earliest centuries, Christianity was bound up with politics. Roman Emperor Constantine legalized the religion in 313. He later presided over the Council of Nicaea, an important theological assembly, blurring the line between political rule and spiritual authority. In the fifth century, Pope Gelasius I articulated a rival vision: that the world was governed by two powers, priestly and royal. Ultimately, he argued that spiritual authority outweighed political power, because it promised eternal salvation. Gelasius’ theory did not resolve the tension between the two, but it established a lasting framework for Christian political thought. The relationship between these two powers shifted decisively in the year 800, when Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne, a Frankish king, emperor on Christmas Day. This act was not merely ceremonial. It implied that imperial authority in the West came from the church and that political legitimacy required papal sanction. Most Americans have no idea that former President Clinton was awarded the Catholic Charlemagne Award (is a prize awarded for work done in the service of European unification. With the recent resurrection of interest by young adults in Roman Catholicism, the unfolding war of words between the most powerful secular leader and the most powerful religious leader of 1.4 billion Catholics worldwide, the stage is being set for the unveiling of “the great whore that sits upon many waters (people nations, tongues and multitudes) with whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication…and she was arrayed in purple and scarlet color, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup (the golden cup with a sun burst the priest holds up in officiating the eucharist) in her hand full of abominations and the filthiness of her (spiritual) fornication.” Are you awake yet?

In [Part Four] we were examining the (7) sacraments that Catholic dogma declares are necessary for a person to receive salvation, surely a element of her spiritual fornication. We left off stating Ephesians 2:8-9 it is in the same canon the Church of Rome declares as sacred. It is read in Catholic Mass. It appears in patristic commentaries, in the ‘breviaries’ (a book containing the service for each day, to be recited by those in orders in the Roman Church). And yet, when one observes the entire sacramental structure, it’s as if this verse is treated with cavalier deafness. The faith that saves according to Jesus Christ, Paul, is not faith that the sacraments produce. It is faith in God, in the Gospel of His Son, Jesus the Christ, and the finished work on Calvary. In John 6:4 Jesus says in terms that cannot be misconstrued; “Truly, Truly, I say unto you, he that believes in Me, has everlasting life.” Not the one who participates in the sacraments, not one who confesses regularly to another sinner hidden from view, but they who simply by faith believe in the finished work of Calvary. Faith is the channel, grace is the content, and God is the sole giver! In a institutional religion performance is the major practice, because the person must do enough to deserve access to God. In a ‘faith’ that calls for surrender, one comes without any reservation they cannot do enough to receive from God what they could never achieve by their own efforts. In other words, we come with empty hands with nothing to offer, it is then that God acts with more freedom and more power than any religious system has ever managed to promise.

There are other passages that take this series even deeper. Touching not only on the nature of salvation, but on the very heart of what separates a living faith from a religion structured on obligations. And this territory when explored with honesty, reveals something that completely changes the way one reads everything the Bible teaches. “CALL NO ONE FATHER.” This single verse destroys the Catholic Priesthood, Cardinals (i.e. princes of the Roman church) and the Papacy. Of all prohibitions Jesus pronounced during His ministry, few carry such surgical precision as the words recorded in Matthew 23:9: “AND CALL NO MAN FATHER UPON THE EARTH (kind of destroys the Vatican’s exalted title for a man, Holy Father doesn’t it): FOR ONE IS YOUR FATHER, WHICH IS IN HEAVEN .” It’s not a suggestion, it’s not a poetic metaphor, it is a direct instruction embedded in a entire chapter that deals with religious leaders who use titles to elevate themselves above others. And anyone who takes the Bible seriously cannot read the verse without feeling the weight of what it means for a religious institutional structure built on exactly what was strictly forbidden. Roman Catholicism calls every priest “father,” and in English, this needs no translation. Their Supreme leader receives the title “POPE” derived from the Grk. ‘pappas’, which means daddy. The most intimate, most affectionate and the closest word a child uses to call their parent has become the greatest ecclesiastical title in Christendom. And it was precisely this title, this religious institutional spiritual fatherhood that Jesus strictly forbade. This is not a difficult interpretation or one that necessitates theological scholarly. The most common defense one hears is that Jesus was speaking figuratively (departing from the original use of the word), and that if it were literal, it would be impossible to call one’s father, father. But this defense crumbles when one reads the entire chapter without cherry-picking. More on this blaspheme in PART SIX.

CONCLUSION: The Church of Rome’s Dogma is filled with such sophistry and scriptural contradictions that on the surface alone, it becomes laughable! Examples: the literal ascension and virgin birth of Mary…the leather scapula one wears around their neck as a sign Mary has assured, they will not go to hell, the priests ability to absolve and forgive sin, and the celibacy of all leaders of the church how absurd is this practice? The Gospels are clear that Peter had a wife, as seen in the accounts of Christ healing his mother-in-law: “And when Jesus was come into Peter’s house, He saw his wife’s mother lying, and sick of a fever” (Matthew 8:14). This same event is recorded in Mark 1:30 and Luke 4:38, making it an undisputed fact that Peter had been married.[1] However, it is quite possible that his wife had died by the time Jesus called the Twelve. Note, as soon as Peter’s mother-in-law was healed, she arose and began ministering to Jesus and the Apostles. In His humble service.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

         Assigning Titles Through Man-made Institutional Religious Structures Is to Totally Disregard Warnings from the Lord Jesus Himself.  Is This Then an Act of Blaspheme?  [SERIES CONCLUSION] With all the Hidden Dangers of involving oneself in the man-created Hell Hole of idols, icons and pagan traditions. Why Stay?

 As we bring this series on one of the most dangerous religious institutions ever created by men, the Church of Rome, to a close.  The heart behind my exegesis is not to condemn the people caught up in Catholicism some by family traditions, but rather to encourage true believers in the faith of Christ to do as did the Bereans to examine what they were being taught to see for themselves, if it is truth.  And for everyone in bondage to Catholicism it behooves them to examine the traditions of the Church of Rome to see if what you have invested in is truth or counterfeit truth.  This this causes anger, so be it!  I have the assurance I will not stand before my Lord savior Jesus Christ with bloody hands,

                To begin the summation of this series it’s best to let the words of “TRUTH” itself (Jesus Christ) speak.  “Whatsoever they bid you to do… do not you after their works: for they say and do not.  For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.  But all their works they do to be seen of men: they make broad their phylacteries (small leather black boxes that contain the Moses’s law), and enlarge the borders of their garments (in the same manner priests, cardinals, bishops and the pope dress in purple and scarlet colors of royalty) and love the uppermost rooms at feast and chief seats…and call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven.  But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant (not one to bow down to and kiss his ring).  And whosoever shall exalt himself (calling priest Father, Cardinals your eminence or princes of the church, pope Grk for pappi or pappa, Holy Father,  or one who speaks for Christ on the earth a practice called Ex cathedra) shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.  But woe (anytime woe is assigned it assures anathema) unto you exalted religious leaders and hypocrites!  For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against people: for you are unable to go in yourselves, neither suffer you, them that are attempting to enter to go in.  Woe unto you exalted religious leaders and hypocrites!  For you devour the widow’s houses, for a pretense of making long intercessions and prayers, therefore you shall receive greater damnation.  Woe unto you exalted religious leaders and hypocrites for you make clean the outside of the cup and platter, but within they are full of extortions and excess (abundance of wealth and materialism).  You also outwardly appear righteous unto people, but within you are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.  And proclaim, if we had been alive in the days of our church fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in shedding the blood of the saints of Jesus.  Wherefore you be witness into yourselves, that you are the children them that killed the saints of Jesus Christ.  You fill up the full measure of your fathers.” Matthew 23

                Matthew 23 is a continuous sequence of warnings against institutional religious hierarchies created by men, who place themselves above the people using titles and positions of authority.  Jesus was not talking about traditional family relationships; He was talking about spiritual leaders who exercise authority over other believers.  The context IS NON-NEGOTIABLE!  Because Holy Scriptures must be read as they are, not twisted to adapt to some man-made religious institutional structure.  But there is something even deeper here than the issues of the titles man makes for himself.  The verses destroy an entire pseudo religious architecture.  Catholicism was built as hierarchical spiritual family, with the pope as supreme father, the bishops as fathers of the dioceses, the priests are as fathers of the parishes.  And all authority ascends from the top down, from father to the children, in a model that Jesus forthright and unambiguously (not open to more than one interpretation) rejected!  In vs. 8 Jesus emphatically declares “But be you not called Rabbi (a Jewish teacher, or any other religious teacher) for one is called your Master, even Christ; and all you are brothers and sisters).”  There is no fatherhood and children in the faith, there is only brotherhood and royal priesthood of believers, we are all equal before God, all with direct access to the only Father that exist, the Heavenly Father.  And there is a testimony that few in the Catholic faith ever truly consider with the seriousness it deserves, that of Peter himself.  If as Catholicism proclaims, that Peter was the first pope. It is worth asking how Peter described himself: “The elders that are among you I exhort, who am also an elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed.” 1st Peter 5.1  Note, Peter with them, not over them, not above them.  He placed himself as an equal, as a brother in the faith, as someone who walks alongside, not as a supreme authority that fathers all the rest,

                The unabashed truth, this whole religious structure borders unashamedly on blaspheme, based on the measure of power the Pope takes for himself.  The Bible records in Acts 10:25-26 “And as Peter was coming in, Cornelius met him and fell down at his feet and worshiped him.  But Peter took him up, saying STAND UP; I also am a man.”   NOTE: Peter did not accept reverence, extend his hsnd to be kissed, assume the position of supreme spiritual head of the church, but rather just a man among men, a servant and bond-slave in the service of his Master, Jesus.  This is the indisputable image the Bible presents of the man, Peter, and it contrasts dramatically with what centuries of traditions that have been built upon his name.  Jesus our Lord and Savior did not create a hierarchy of spiritual fathers.  Christ inaugurated a family of brothers and sisters, all children of the same Father, all with direct access to God the Father through faith, without the need for intermediaries who place themselves as paternal authority over the conscience of others.  The teachings of Matthew 23 is clear.  There is only one Father who is in heaven.  There is only one teacher who is Christ, through the Holy Spirit.  All others are brothers and sisters.  This is more than a question of title!  It is a question of who occupies the center of every true believer in the faith of Christ. 

CONCLUSION:  When institutionalized religions spiritual fatherhood is examined in the light of Holy Scripture, it finds zero support.  And what remains after the examination is the one essential question of religious hierarchy: why I am I worshipping a man?  If doesn’t align with “TRUTH”, Jesus the Christ!  In all humility of heart Amen,           

Leon Johnson

ndrtSoopest 5a1ihAh ctlm4:l20 hm28r663M3m300ll19g h1tu0052pA ·

Shared with Public