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What The Bible Doesn't Say

By Malcolm B Heap, Midnight Ministries

Copyright © Midnight Ministries - 2002

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Misconceptions abound – not only in the world, but also in the Church – about what the Bible really says.

In these articles, we take a closer look at the most popular misconceptions Satan has foisted on God’s people.

 

 

1. LEADERSHIP IN THE CHURCH

One of the last warnings Jesus gave His disciples before His death concerned deception: “Watch out that no one deceives YOU” (Matt 24:4).

This alert is directed to us – Christians, those called of God and bought by the blood of Christ – those to whom God is revealing Himself.

It may seem incongruous that we, who are being called out of this world to have our minds opened to the truths of God’s Word, should still be subject to Satan’s deceptions. But Rome was not built in a day. How can we expect the city of God to be completed overnight?

Jesus’ caveat is a continual reminder to us not to become complacent while we still live in Satan’s domain. Some Christians have complacently assumed that the admonition to beware being deceived is not directed to them, but is advice for those in the world. I have even heard some go so far as to say that the elect can’t be deceived!

Those with that frame of mind are the most deceived!

 

FALSE MESSIAHS

Jesus declared:

For MANY will come in My name (Matt 24:5).

That is undeniable. Many have come in His name. But how can we be sure which, of all of those who have come in His name, are truly His?

You must...

Test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world (1 Jn 4:1).

There is a direct test:

By their fruits you will know them (Matt 7:16,20).

What spirit is displayed by a religious leader who stockpiles weapons and incendiary devices to further his aims? What spirit is evidenced by a lifestyle of sexual debauchery and licentious indulgence which contravenes the right moral principle protecting the sanctity of marriage? What spirit is it which causes a church leader to seek power and control over others, to want pre- eminence? He may ‘preach Christ’. He may have a powerful personality. He may read the Bible and encourage others to do so, but so what? Disregard what he says. What do his actions say?

Far too many Christians are naïvely fooled by deceivers for one reason. They listen to what the man says without taking notice of the personal fruits of his life. They agree with his ‘doctrines'. They find a commonality of belief and then continue to follow everything he says. They accept him as their leader. They follow him, not Christ. Thus, he becomes their Christ – a false Messiah.

This is what Jesus was warning us against. It is possibly the greatest single danger in Christendom. It is a huge deception. Yet its manifestation can be so subtle, so hard to detect! It is easy to be deceived.

My wife and I know from firsthand experience. We were members of a ‘Christian cult’ for about 20 years. We have been through the experience of misplaced loyalties. We have experienced the subtle deceptions which cause a man to supplant the position of Christ in our minds.

Jesus called my wife and me through a cult. He began to draw us to Him through that avenue. He caused us to be drawn into a cult situation – deliberately. That may sound strange to others who have not been through a cult experience. They may think cults serve no constructive purpose. (I don’t disagree that their philosophies can be highly destructive!) But God allows these deceptive movements to abound – for a reason. They provide a learning exercise.

Why did Jesus come to deliver us from sin and deception and then ‘go away’ and leave us to Satan’s devices? It is a test: a test of whom we will follow. Will we follow man, or follow God? That has been the acid test throughout history. It didn’t change when Jesus came, although He showed us how we could rely upon His Spirit to guide and lead us through every difficulty.

We are not to look to men, but to God.

In one respect, mainline churches are really no different from the cults. Cults take some things to extremes, but there is a fundamental principle that is a weakness of every ‘respectable’ organised church. The cults are not the only groups who gain control through psychological manipulation. It is an ever present danger in any humanly organised group.

The biggest cult of all is the Roman Catholic Church. She is the mother of harlots in the west (Rev 17:5). Her daughter churches have inherited customs and ways that are equally promiscuous in God’s sight. I know of churches whose psychological manipulation of members may not be apparent, but who nonetheless have a profound effect upon their members.

Peer pressure does not leave us when we reach our twenties or thirties. It continues on in more discreet ways, even when we turn our lives over to Christ. In churches you can be pressured by majority views – without realising it – to deny new truth and follow the crowd.

You can allow yourself to become deceived. It is easier to be deceived than to come out of the ways which the great prostitute in Rome has ‘landed’ on the whole Christian world.

THE IMAGE OF THE BEAST

The final trial to envelop the Christian world is one which will centre on the decision we make whether to follow man, or follow God. 666 is the number of the Beast, who, through psychological coercion, forces men to accept a mark (Rev 13:16-18). Its acceptance will cause you to come under God’s condemnation (Rev 14:9,10). It is that serious!

Taking this mark involves acceptance of compromise: a decision to accept human leadership in place of Christ’s. The alternatives are not clear to most. But the bottom line revolves around your loyalty. Will you be 100% loyal to God, or will you water down your obedience to make life easier for yourself when things get rough?

The mark of the Beast involves deception – clever, subtle, cunning deception! It revolves around the establishment of an image of the Beast (Rev 13:15). Do you know what this implies?

The Beast in question is the final resurrection of the ‘Holy’ Roman Empire, and the ‘dictator’ or president of that union. Rome brought all western peoples under its subjugation in previous reigns. It strengthened its political power by religious fusion. It gained favour from the prelates of the Roman Catholic Church, whose psychological manipulation caused many to worship the papacy. Instead of worshipping and obeying Christ, the citizens worshipped and obeyed a man who had usurped His office. The combination of, and co-operation between the secular and religious arms of the Roman government caused huge peer pressure to be exerted upon those who did not want to commit such idolatry. True Christians were martyred for their refusal to submit to Rome.

The image of the Beast is that illicit system of rulership in the Church which permits men to hold sway over the minds of others. We are not to follow church leaders but to follow our Church Leader, Jesus Christ.

Subservience to man – to those who lead congregations, churches or organisations – is evident wherever you care to look. It is not confined to the Church in Rome. The excesses are more pronounced there, but they are equally present in many other quarters of Christendom where they are more subtle. Many Christians are deceived and don’t see these abuses for what they are – flagrantly idolatrous!

Christians are like sheep. They follow others. They may follow the crowd, and they may follow their church leaders.  But they should not do so implicitly.

It may come as a shock, but EVERY organised church comes under Jesus’ condemnation in this respect: they have established human rule. It is wrong.

In spiritual administration, churches have a hierarchic system of rulership. Government is from the top down. That is a throw-back to Babylon. Hierarchic rule was never an administrative option Jesus offered His Church. Jesus said categorically:

You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority OVER them. Not so with you (Matt 20:25,26).

Yet it IS SO in church organisations! They have adopted identical systems of ruling to that which the Roman Beast practised. They have raised up their images to the Beast!

Through a centralised structure, church leaders decide on doctrine and then impose it very subtly upon those whom they teach – errors and all. It is not intentional, but it occurs because the wrong system of government has been developed.

Jesus gave no guidelines for government in the Church, other than one: through the Holy Spirit.  Thus, rule by men goes out the window. Guidance by the Holy Spirit comes in. God’s love takes over from human (satanic!) control. And Christ can have His way in the Church.

That is how it ought to be! But the Church has been deceived. It has been duped into accepting a counterfeit form, one adopted by Rome from the Babylonian system which originated with Nimrod, who usurped God’s rightful leadership role.

We hear a lot in the Church today about leaders, from leaders! Beware! You have only one Leader, and He is not visible (Matt 23:9,10).

Don’t be fooled into accepting a counterfeit. Awake! Come out to meet your Bridegroom (Matt 25:6). Come out of Babylon (Rev 18:4).

2. DID JESUS FULFIL THE LAW FOR US?

One of the most popular current teachings is that Jesus fulfilled and annulled the law of the Old Testament. It is claimed that when Jesus died, He nailed to the cross all the Old Testament rituals and laws. He abrogated them and replaced them with another ‘law of love’, doing away with all the ‘harsh’ legalistic principles that God had given Israel through Moses.

The only problem with this very appealing concept is that it is a LIE! A massive lie!

In the first ‘sermon’ Jesus uttered in His ministry, He made it clear that the Old Testament laws were not being done away. He declared:

DO NOT THINK THAT I HAVE COME TO ABOLISH THE LAW or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them... (Matt 5:17).

Isn’t it strange that people don’t believe Jesus, but prefer to believe Satan’s lies through false teachers?

Jesus continued:

I tell you the truth... (v 18).

Why would Jesus say this? Because He foreknew through the Spirit what was to come. He knew people would not believe the truth. He knew the majority would be beguiled by Satan to believe a lie – that the foundational law of the Old Testament has been abolished.

Those people dismiss these words of their Saviour as fiction!

I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished (v 18).

That is pretty conclusive, isn’t it? Not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen... How can you get more definite than that? NOTHING is to disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished!!

Has everything been accomplished, yet?

No! Heaven and earth are still here. So is the Law!

Jesus has died and through His death He has bought our salvation. Yes, that is true. But is that all there is to it? Has His death accomplished everything? NO! Paul wrote to the Romans that His death accomplished our justification (Rom 5:9); that is our freedom from the curse which the law incurs by our breaking it.

But there is more to it – to being saved – than His death. Jesus’ death does not accomplish everything in God’s plan of salvation for us.

We are saved by His life (Rom 5:10). That does not mean we are saved by our doing nothing because Jesus has lived for us, in our stead. It means we are to become like Him by HIM LIVING HIS LIFE IN US.

Read the letters of Paul and you will see this theme throughout. John also expounded this spiritual truth in his letters which warned of lawless philosophy invading the Church back then. That philosophy is antichrist.

Romans chapters 6 to 8 elaborates on the theme that we are released from the captivity of sin to be able to serve God in newness of life. That new life is a sinless life in which we can attain a new degree of righteousness because of the Holy Spirit’s indwelling. This was not possible under the Old Covenant because the Holy Spirit had not been made generally available.

It was simply not in people’s hearts – in their inner motivation – to obey the law. It is easier for a ‘carnal’ person to sin – break the law (1 Jn 3:4) – than to live righteously. But God made it possible for us to experience His holiness by His act of grace in putting that motivation within us. That now occurs in the New Covenant.

Ezekiel prophesied of this. God said:

I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put My Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep My laws (Ez 36:26,27).

Those who teach that we are not under an obligation to be keeping God’s law under the New Covenant are preaching heresy of the first order! God’s words through Ezekiel make it quite clear that the New Covenant makes God’s Spirit available to us so that we can obey the Old Testament laws.

We don’t throw up our hands in defeatism and declare that we cannot keep the law’s righteous requirements, and look for an excuse for our disobedience! What a convenient excuse for those who want to be antinomian, by saying that Jesus has died so we don’t have to keep the law!

If their empty theory were true – that Jesus has fulfilled the keeping of the law for us – then He has fulfilled everything for us. We don’t have to do anything ourselves. It’s the biggest spiritual cop-out going!

If the Old Testament laws had been abrogated by something better, then why did Jesus expect us to keep them? Why did the early Church keep them? Why did this current lawless teaching only come into vogue after the death of the original apostles? It was promulgated by those who wanted popular support and used as a means to lure the masses into the ‘Christian’ Church.

Investigation into the history of how antinomian philosophy took root in the Church reveals a cleverly orchestrated conspiracy. It was a satanic conspiracy that deceived gullible Christians. The majority fell for it, just as Paul had prophesied. He wrote to the Thessalonians about a massive falling away to occur in Christendom (2 Thes 2:3). It happened then and it is continuing now in duplicate.

Lawlessness through Gnostic philosophy (meaning ‘new understanding or revelation’) has been one of Satan’s biggest weapons of deception. People are easily fooled by the subtle, devious arguments that sound like the law has been dispensed with by Jesus.

However, these are doctrines of demons (1 Tim 4:1). What is the Bible all about if not about attaining holiness – a state of sinlessness – so we can become like God? How foolish to think that Jesus has done everything for us, so we are without obligation! If that were the case, there would be no need for this present life and learning experience.

Paul was under no illusion. He knew he was under an obligation, having been released from sin’s power through the death of Christ.

Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation – but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it, for if you live according to the sinful nature 0[which does not want to obey God’s law], you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God” (Rom 8:12-14).

Jesus’ death paid the price of our past sins, so we can begin to walk sinlessly. He didn’t pay that huge price so we can walk lawlessly. The law defines sin.

What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning, so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin [NOT TO THE LAW]; how can we live in it any longer? (Rom 6:1,2.)

The advocates that we are free from the law because Christ died are teaching lies of the devil.

The law was given to outline sin – which is to be avoided at all costs (Matt 5:29,30). Those who deliberately sin – break God’s law – are heading for oblivion in hell fire (v 30). These are not empty prognostications. They are the words and warnings of Jesus. But you can choose what you like, of course. He will not force you to accept the truth. If you prefer to believe the lie, He lets you. It is your choice, although He is saddened when people choose the lie.

WHAT DID JESUS MEAN BY ‘THE LAW’?

Let us return for a minute to where we started: Jesus’ statements about the law.

Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets... (Matt 5:17).

Some might argue that Jesus was not referring to the law as outlined in the 10 commandments, but that He meant the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible. While His words certainly include that meaning, that their words would not pass away until the earth is dissolved, what follows makes it amply clear that He meant more than that. He meant the laws and principles which those books contained.

He continued:

Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practises and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven (v 19).

The Pharisees kept the law in a humanistic, legalistic way. That form of ‘righteousness’ was totally lacking. Yet, Jesus did not say we didn’t have to do that much. He said we should do that (Matt 23:3,23), but that we should do much more than obey the mere letter. We should live by the spirit of the law as well (Matt 5:20-48). We are to aim for spiritual perfection, like our Father in heaven (v 48). How can you do that if you think the law is abolished? You then have no accurate code to live by to define what is right and what is wrong. That is why the Old Covenant system of law was instituted in Israel – to illustrate how sinful we all are as humans. Humanly, none of us is any different from Israel.

If Jesus did away with the law, why did He tell us to beware committing adultery even in our thoughts? (Matt 5:28.) Why did He tell us to go above and beyond the level of righteousness physically outlined by the law? The law dictated that we should love our neighbour as ourselves (Lev 19:18). Jesus expanded that to include loving our enemies equally genuinely. How can we do that when we don’t even attempt to keep the law?

The notion that the law of the Old Testament (O.T.) was a harsh law that is abolished in Christ is a twisted, perverse false teaching that is as heinous as the nature of its architect, Satan! When Jesus gave us His ‘new law of love’, that was erected upon the bedrock of the Old Testament law of love. It was not separate at all. It was an adjunct to it. It was because Jesus kept His Father’s commandments that He was able to dwell in His love (Jn 15:10).

Paul described the O. T. law as “holy", “righteous” and “good” (Rom 7:12; 1 Tim 1:8). James called it the “royal law” (Jas 2:8). He said we should keep the whole law, not just part of it (Jas 2:10). He wrote by the Holy Spirit that the law of the O. T. is the law which “brings freedom", the “law of liberty” (1:25; 2:12).

Deceived antinomians would have you believe that the law of the O. T. brings bondage. Nothing could be further from the truth! Jesus would not die to eradicate sin if sin was what He wanted you to have. (Remember, sin is the antithesis of the law.) If He wanted you to have the freedom to break the law why did He institute the law in the first place? Antinomians are implying that God made a mistake in the Old Covenant. God didn’t make any mistake; deceived deceivers are making that mistake!

Why pay such a huge price for something which we can now [supposedly] take lightly?! Think about it! Jesus, the very Son of God, the only One whose death was capable of paying the price of the sins of humanity, willingly gave Himself in excruciating torture for hour after hour in humiliating agony, with thorns piercing his skull, His skin torn off by the strips of metal on the torturer’s scourge, His wrists and ankles nailed with huge six-inch cut-nails to a rough wooden stake, so that we can glibly say, “Oh, that’s all right; we can do what we like; we don’t have to keep the law.”

Oh, yes?! That is a monumental insult!! If the law was that unimportant why did Jesus need to die for our infractions of its holiness? The logic of those who claim you don’t have to keep the law because Jesus has done it for you, is crazy!

Why are we supposed to be following in Jesus’ footsteps if the law is done away? He fulfilled the law of the ten commandments alright! Jesus assured us:

I have not come to abolish them but to fulfil them (Matt 5:17).

Or, as Charles B. Williams accurately translates those words in his rendering of the New Testament:

I have not come to set them aside but to fill them up to the brim.

Jesus magnified the law and made it honourable in fulfilment of Isaiah 42:21. He expounded its complete spirituality in His ‘sermon’ on the Mount (Matt 5-7). He didn’t annul or water down our need for obedience to the ten commandments (Ex 20:1-17), He magnified their full intent. His teaching in the New Testament actually adds to that law!

While Jesus came to add to the Old Covenant law, puny men are busy watering down and eroding Jesus’ authority. They are denying the Christ who bought them (2 Pet 2:1). They are false teachers who are secretly [the evil nature of their teachings is not perceived by the majority] bringing in destructive heresies, “even DENYING THE LORD WHO BOUGHT THEM – bringing swift destruction upon themselves” (2 Pet 2:1). The tragedy is that MANY follow them and bring the way of truth into disrepute (v 2).

Prophecy is being fulfilled! We are living in the last days! The great apostasy is occurring right before our eyes, but so few perceive it. They have fallen asleep, as the parable of the ten virgins predicted (Matt 25:5).

Will you wake up to what is taking place, or will you be lulled to sleep by false teachers, preaching what is appealing to the carnal mind? The majority of Christian teachers preach this heresy in one shade or another and their audience likes it. That was foretold.

For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths (2 Tim 4:3,4).

It is always the majority, it seems, who go wrong. The minority accept what is right.

Jesus has allowed false teachers in the Church to corrupt His teachings. Why? It is a test. God is testing you through it. Will you follow their pernicious ways? Or will you remain faithful to the words of your Saviour who wants you to be part of His pure Bride whom He will marry at His coming?

Where do you stand? Does He consider you pure, washed by His blood, or still tarnished by the ways of this evil world which will not submit to Him nor to His law of love? &

N. B. This subject is covered more fully in the publication The Controversy Concerning Law and Grace (£2.00).

3. HIERARCHIC CHURCH GOVERNMENT

Satan is in the Church!

That statement, to many people, will come as a big shock! To other Christians, however, it will be no surprise.

But for those who are aware of the reality of the devil’s presence inside the Church, few of them are aware of how he has neatly ensconced himself within.

One Church tradition, more than any other, has been responsible for his protection within the Church – hierarchic Church government!

More than any other custom, the acceptance of this Babylonian concept into church structures has permitted Satan and his demonic forces to hold immense power and do incalculable damage. It is hard to assess just how much injury he has been able to inflict on God’s people, because the harm is mostly spiritual and therefore not readily perceptible.

There can be no doubt that much harm has been done! And all in the name of Christ!

IN THE NAME OF CHRIST!

It is far easier to see the destruction wrought upon the Church in the Middle Ages when a corrupt hierarchic Church leadership used their illicit powers to subjugate people in the Inquisitions. Horrendous tortures were inflicted upon those who refused to bow to papal pressure. Multiple thousands, if not millions, were martyred, all in the name of Christ, under the banner of His ‘authority’.

“The Inquisition, called the ‘holy office’, was instituted by Pope Innocent III, and perfected under the second following pope, Gregory IX. It was the Church Court for detection and punishment of heretics. Under it, everyone was required to inform against heretics. Anyone suspected was liable to torture, without knowing the name of his accuser. The proceedings were secret. The Inquisitor pronounced sentence, and the victim was turned over to the civil authorities to be imprisoned for life, or to be burned. The victim’s property was confiscated, and divided between the Church and the State.

“In the period immediately following Pope Innocent III the Inquisition did its most deadly work against the Albigenses, but also claimed vast multitudes of victims in Spain, Italy, Germany and the Netherlands.

“Later on the Inquisition was the main agency in the papacy’s effort to crush the Reformation. It is stated that in the 30 years between 1540 and 1570 no fewer than 900,000 Protestants were put to death in the pope’s war for the extermination of the Waldenses.

“Think of monks and priests, in holy garments, directing, with heartless cruelty and inhuman brutality, the work of torturing and burning alive innocent men and women, and doing it in the name of Christ, by the direct order of the ‘Vicar of Christ’.

“The Inquisition was the most infamous and devilish thing in human history. It was devised by popes, and used by them for 500 years, to maintain their power. For its record none of the subsequent line of ‘holy’ and ‘infallible’ popes have ever apologized.” (Halley’s Bible Handbook, pp. 776,777).

That inhumanity was an outgrowth of hierarchic rule in the Church. It is satanic!

HIERARCHY SUPPLANTS CHRIST’S RULE

Of course, people will say, “Yes, but that was during uncivilized times. We are civilized today. We don’t allow such brutality to be inflicted now in the name of Christ.”

Oh no? If you think that, you are naïve or ignorant, or both! The devil is just as active today as he has been throughout the history of the Church. But he has got more cunning. His activities are more discreet. They go unnoticed by the majority of Christians. His infiltration into the Church, and his subsequent controls are more sly than ever.

Satan’s influence in the Church, through subtle controls forced on God’s people, inflict untold spiritual damage on them today. These controls, however, are mainly psychological. They are not always overt.

Evil Church authorities used physical torture to impose doctrinal uniformity in the past. Today, it is mainly psychological pressure which is brought to bear on church members to make them comply with the wishes or teachings of the leadership. Both are equally wrong. We are not to obey men. We should obey God (Acts 5:29). Obedience is an aspect of worship. We are not to be subservient to the whims of men, but to the rule of God (Rom 6:16).

Hierarchic human authority was the form of rule adopted by Babylon and every subsequent world ruling power. It began with Nimrod, founder of Babel, which became a model for all conquering Gentile kingdoms.

And it was hierarchic Church authority which was adopted by the false ecclesiastical Church (called ‘Babylon’ in Rev 17) which enabled it to subjugate those under its jurisdiction. This ‘Church’ worked in co-operation with the State to pursue its evil ends.

The Church today is unaware that in many parts it is under similar human domination and is not exercising its full freedoms in Christ. This was prophesied. Zion, the Church in prophecy, is told to shake herself loose from her captors (Is 52:1,2). Jeremiah lamented:

The prophets prophesy lies, the priests rule by their own authority, and My people love it this way. But what will you do in the end? (Jer 5:31.)

Indeed, what will you do in the end? The result is idolatry. A man – your church leader – assumes the position of God in your mind. It is all very subtle; all very clever. It is designed by Satan to draw you away from Christ and lay you open to Satan’s delusions.

What was wrong with Nimrod’s rule was that Nimrod took God’s place in the eyes of the people. He became “a mighty hunter before the Lord” (Gen 10:9) i.e. in place of God. He usurped God’s position to the people. He gained their attention, subservience and loyalty. People followed Nimrod, instead of God. Nimrod had taken God’s place.

The same thing is widespread in the Church. People are idolising their leaders – not knowingly, mind you! Most are unaware of their sin. But misplaced loyalties are highly damaging!

Hierarchic Church rule is furtively satanic.

Oh, it works. It works well. Everything is well organised and things run smoothly when rule from the top down is established. And when the righteous hold such positions, blessings result and no-one seems to get hurt. But when false ministers gain control (2 Cor 11:13-15) Satan surreptitiously finds a foothold in the Church and disaster strikes.

When that occurs, apostasy advances like the relentless tide. 

   

True Delegation of Authority in the Church, According to Jesus’ Gospel!

(Matt 23:8, “you are all brothers”; and John 15: “I am the vine … you are the branches.”)

                                                       Jesus Christ - Head of the Church, His Body

Spiritual authority passed down to:

Apostles

Prophets

Evangelists

Pastors

Teachers

Miracle-workers

‘Healers’

Helpers

Administrators

Tongue-speakers

Interpreters

(1 Corinthians 12:7, 27-30; and Ephesians 4:11)

A comparison of the correct system of administration in the true Church – according to the gospel of Jesus Christ, passed on down to Paul – with that in the present Church, shows the error of governance in most physical ‘church’ structures.

  • Authority tends to be conferred by men, instead of being conferred by Christ.
  • Hierarchic rule is a system of human authority, not spiritual or divine.
  • Members effectively follow their leader.
  • But we are to obey God, not men (Acts 5:29). We should be led directly by the Holy Spirit (Rom 8:14), not by a Church hierarchy.

4. LEADERSHIP TITLES IN THE CHURCH

Have you ever stopped to think seriously about Church customs? If you haven’t, you should.

In Revelation 13:18, the number 666 appears. This number depicts the totality of evil in human worship – the corruption which Satan has managed to cause within human society. The Church is not exempt. Christians are his chief target!

The number 666 is found in various places in the Bible. Most of them are concealed in the text. By that, I mean that they are not readily apparent to the reader because they are numeric values of the words used in the language of the original text. All Hebrew (OT) and Greek (NT) letters convey a number (explained in the booklet God’s Great Genius). Thus, every word conveys a numeric value. The value of the word tradition in Greek is 666!

Jesus condemns traditions of human society that have undermined the purity of the faith. He corrected the Scribes and Pharisees for the way they replaced God’s truth with their tradition. Adding to, or subtracting from the Word of God for the sake of adhering to human tradition is a facet inherent in the mark of the ‘Beast'. It is identified by the number 666.

It is no light matter!

The Word of God is inviolable. It must not be tampered with by human agencies. To do so, brands the recipient with the digits 666, the number of the mark of the ‘Beast'. Any who knowingly accept traditions which are not Christian in place of true Christian customs are worshipping the Beast and his image.

If anyone worships the beast and his image and receives his mark on the forehead or on the hand, he, too, will drink of the wine of God’s fury, which has been poured full strength... (Rev 14:9,10).

This is a side of God’s nature many Christians don’t consider – His vehement anger at sin. In this case, the sin is blatant idolatry.

We have explained previously that Church leaders have supplanted Christ’s leadership through the Spirit in far too many instances. They have also taken to themselves titles which are not fitting for humans. They have assumed divine prerogatives and divine designates.

In the Roman Catholic Church, the pope is called, not just ‘Father’ – in a spiritual context this is a designate which belongs to God (Matt 23:9) – but he also assumes the title Vicarius Filii Dei, ‘Vicar of the Son of God’.

In Latin, this title adds up to 666:

V

I

C

A

R

I

U

S

F

I

L

I

I

D

E

I

5

1

100

0

0

1

5

0

0

1

50

1

1

500

0

1

= 666

Vicar of the Son of God is a subtly blasphemous title. It means in place of the Son of God. The origin of the title vicar is not as innocent as most assume!

The pope is hailed as if he were God Himself. The present pope’s name is John Paul. [Written and published in 2002.] In Latin, his name and title supplanting God, also adds up to 666:

J

U

A

N

P

A

U

L

O

V

I

C

E

D

E

O

0

5

0

0

0

0

5

50

0

5

1

100

0

500

0

0

= 666

Few people stop to consider also that when a man takes to himself (or is given by a theological institution) the title ‘Reverend’, that he is also perpetuating the same blasphemy, only in a different form.

Jesus said:

Don’t set yourselves up as anything special. Don’t give yourselves titles ‘Master’, ‘Teacher’, ‘Reverend’, ‘Father’, ‘Lord’, etc., because you are all brothers. Don’t elevate yourselves. Don’t establish a system which exalts your position. Humble yourselves. Be servants (Matt 23:8-10, paraphrased).

The Church has done the opposite! It has established an authority structure based upon rank. It has glorified the man in the ‘top’ position more than the humble lay-member.

In the Church of England – as in most so-called ‘church’ organisations, ministers work their way up, instead of down – the antithesis of what Jesus said! They assume titles of divinity – ‘Reverend’, ‘Right Reverend’, ‘Very Reverend’, ‘Most Reverend’. They have made themselves so holy, they are holier than God, who only is ‘Reverend’!!

What humbug! What blasphemy! What presumptuousness! What vile corruption! And it is all done in the name of respectability!

Jesus does not want any man setting himself up in a superior spiritual capacity over you. That concept is not godly, but Babylonian. It goes all the way back to the corrupt system of rulership Nimrod promoted. His human despotism imposed illicit rule over others by force. He was the founder of Babel, the fore-runner of Babylon and of Babylonian society today (Rev 17).

The same corrupt practices have been subtly passed on to the Church, through the society which has bred us. The Church, for the most part, still has not come out of the wrong ways of Babylon as Jesus commands (Rev 18:4).

As I write, this world is feverishly preparing to enjoy itself at Christmas, celebrated ostensibly to honour Christ. It does nothing of the sort! Instead of honouring the Son of God, it honours the Sun god, which became re-born at the time of the winter solstice. It was a Babylonian tradition that goes all the way back to Chaldean mythology. If you don’t believe me, pick up any good Encyclopaedia and look it up!

Jesus gave no instructions to celebrate the day of His birth, and anyway, He wasn’t born anywhere near December 25th! An entry in the diary of the Rabbi of the synagogue in Bethlehem records that Jesus was born on 4th October. This discovery was made by Sir William Flinders Petrie and revealed by Dr J O Kinnaman, editor of The Bible Archaeological Digest.

Not only has the Church as a whole got its traditions wrong concerning Advent, Christmas, Lent, Easter, Halloween, All Saints and other derivatives of paganism, but it has got its structure wrong too.

No man has any spiritual authority over you as a child of God. If you didn’t catch that, let me repeat it. NO MAN HAS ANY SPIRITUAL AUTHORITY OVER YOU!!

As a child of God, you have the Holy Spirit living within you. You have God’s authority through His Spirit to contest demonic forces. That is your authority – to preach the gospel, heal the sick, cast out demons and raise the dead. But you have no authority over another. The only authority you have is to love another as Christ commanded.

Likewise, others in organised bodies of believers, misnamed ‘churches’ (they are actually more appropriately designated as synagogues [meaning together led] in NT terminology because everyone comes together to be led by a man in a position of leadership), have no authority over you to dictate your spiritual direction or behaviour. You are the one who must decide that.

Any man who thinks he has power over you as a result of his title is sorely deluded. If he is led by the Holy Spirit, he has authority – but only as Luke 9:1,2 describes. He can teach, instruct, advise, exhort, even correct (if it is through the Spirit’s guidance) but the moment he dictates outside the realm of the Spirit is the moment he is out of order. He is not a spiritual overlord. He is your equal before God. And he should be your servant, spiritually feeding you.

Of course, once he does that, the onus is on you to reciprocate, spiritually and physically (if he has given you real spiritual food – so many ministers can’t feed a horse, let alone a flock of people!). So, don’t think that it’s a one-way-street where he must provide for you and serve you and you have no obligation to care for him! Far from it! If you neglect to provide for the ones God uses to care for the flock, you neglect God. Not that he is God. I’m not suggesting that. But he, if he speaks or writes under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, is God’s instrument.

Many of those acting as ministers today are asserting their own authority, lording it over ‘their’ flocks. This may be done overtly or subtly – more often the latter.

One subtle means by which church leaders subjugate their flocks is by using the title ‘Reverend’. It causes their ‘subjects’ to think of themselves in that way – as subjects – and their mentors as one rung above them on the spiritual ladder.

That is a totally erroneous concept.

Reverend means ‘venerated’, ‘deserving of reverence’. Humans are not deserving of reverence. God alone is to be revered (Ps 111:9; Ps 89:7).

The most highly organised ‘church’ structures such as the Roman Catholic Church and some others of long standing have a system of man-worship (reverencing men), which replaces God-worship. It is an idolatrous human system which has its roots in Babylon, passed on down through Rome.

It makes little difference what title is used; whether father, holy father, reverend, or even Mr  (which is derived from one who is your master!). They should never be utilised to imply spiritual superiority in the Church of Jesus Christ!

Jesus specifically mentioned in Matthew 23 (vs 9-12) that we should humble ourselves, not seek exaltation. Such titles are due only to God, not man.

A minister could be called ‘pastor’ if need be. But why not just use his name, without embellishments? Let Jesus embellish us, not men.

Of course, there is no condemnation to those who use such titles in ignorance. So I am not passing judgment, merely doing my job of pointing out what I have been commissioned to do. What others do with this information is entirely up to them. God is the judge.

5. ABOUT EASTER

Did you know that there is only one place where the word Easter occurs in the New Testament? That is in Acts 12:4, and in the King James or Authorised Version of the Bible (of 1611). It is not found in most other versions – for good reason!

The word in Greek rendered Easter has nothing to do with Easter! It is pascha, which is more correctly rendered Passover.

The misrendering is an example of the bias of the ‘translators’, who could not accept that Passover was a genuine observance relevant to the Church after Jesus’ death and resurrection. The official Church in England at that time accepted Easter, not Passover. Why? Where did they get it from? Is it biblical?

The answer to those questions is, in reverse order:

1) No. Easter has no biblical foundation whatsoever!

2) The Church of England got it through Rome.

3) The English Church continued to keep these customs of the High Church of Rome. Despite the other rigorous reforms of the Protestants, it seems they didn’t see what was wrong with this tradition. It awaited a later time of reformation, which is now here.

ORIGIN OF EASTER

Easter is ostensibly celebrated today in the ‘Christian’ Church – which actually is more pagan in its customs than Christian – to commemorate the resurrection of Christ. Its “name being derived from Eostre, goddess of Spring” (Pears Cyclopaedia, 89th Ed.)

This spring festival goes back thousands of years into heathen antiquity. It was the time of year when there was a sudden spurt of new growth and reproduction in nature. This was attributed to the powers of the fertility goddess of nature or the goddess of spring.

Pagans celebrated it with a time of festivity and giving of fertility symbols such as eggs, rabbits or similar emblems, and also with ritual fornication with temple prostitutes.

INTEGRATION OF EASTER

When the Roman Empire was falling apart, Constantine saw in Christianity a useful political crutch. Christians had made considerable impact in the Empire, as had the commercially orientated Jews. Attempts to eradicate the Christian religion had failed. Many Christians had been martyred, along with Jews in the anti-Semitic purges, particularly of Hadrian. But persecution didn’t seem to stop Christianity’s progress. It only appeared to spread it!

“The Roman government began to see the uselessness of persecuting the Christians. The struggle to suppress them was one which decidedly weakened the Roman state at a time when the long disorders of the century of revolution made the emperors feel their weakness. After the retirement of Diocletian his ‘Caesar’ Galerius, feeling very probably the dangers threatening Rome from without and the uselessness of the struggle against the Christians within, issued a decree, in AD 311, by which Christianity was legally recognized” (J H Breasted, Ancient Times, A History of the Early World, p 763).

“Throughout the great Roman world men were longing for some assurance regarding the life beyond the grave, and in the midst of the trials and burdens of this life they wistfully sought the support and strength of a divine protector. Little wonder that the multitudes were irresistibly attracted by the comforting assurances of these Oriental faiths and the blessed future insured by their ‘mysteries' !At the same time it was believed possible to learn the future of every individual by the use of Babylonian astrology... The orientals who practiced it were called Chaldeans, or Magi (whence our words ‘magic’ and ‘magician’); and everyone consulted them” (Ibid. p 737).

Constantine ‘grasped the nettle’ and saw that there was mileage to be made out of Christianizing these Babylonian ‘mysteries'. He looked to the pagan customs of the east as the ‘cement’ to bind his empire in the west. Easter was only one of several customs he, and others, pushed as a new ‘Christian’ observance.

It was adopted by the Roman state Church in AD 325 at the Council of Nicaea.

The problem is, it is nowhere commanded in Scripture, and therefore the Church has no divine authority for observing it. Christians are not instructed by Jesus to celebrate His resurrection at this time. However, we are told to commemorate His death:

This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me (1 Cor 11:24).

We are also told to observe the Passover:

For Christ our Passover lamb has been sacrificed. Therefore let us keep the festival (1 Cor 5:7,8).

What festival? Easter? NO! Passover, and the Days of Unleavened Bread which the Bible reveals follow it.

TRUE CHARACTER OF EASTER

The true character of the idolatrous celebration of Easter is revealed by the noted historian and clergyman, Alexander Hislop. He wrote: “Easter is nothing else than Astarte, one of the titles of Beltis, the queen of heaven, whose name, as pronounced by the people of Nineveh, was evidently identical with that now in common use in this country [i.e. ‘Easter']. That name, as found by Layard on the Assyrian monuments is Ishtar. The worship of Bel and Astarte was very early introduced into Britain, along with the Druids, ‘the priests of the groves’...

“[Bel’s] consort Astarte was also adored by our ancestors... whose name in Nineveh was Ishtar, the religious solemnities of April, as now practised, are called by the name of Easter – that month, among our pagan ancestors, having been called Easter-monath. The Festival, of which we read in Church history, under the name of Easter, in the third or fourth centuries, was quite a different festival from that now observed in the Romish Church, and at that time was not known by any such name as Easter. It was called Pasch, or the Passover” (Alexander Hislop, The Two Babylons, pp 103,104).

“That beautiful but abandoned queen of Babylon [Semiramis, synonymous with Ishtar] was not only herself a paragon of unbridled lust and licentiousness, but in the [Babylonian] Mysteries which she had a chief hand in forming, she was worshipped as Rhea, the great ‘Mother’ of the gods [precursor of Catholic Mary worship], with such atrocious rites as identified her with Venus, the Mother of all impurity... of idolatry and consecrated prostitution” (Ibid. p 5).

Is it fitting that such a depraved idolatrous festival should be adopted and associated with the wonderful act of redemption of our Saviour? Hardly!

But the Church did not stop there. It adopted other pagan trappings to add to the insult.

Hislop records: “That festival [the scriptural Passover] was not idolatrous, and it was preceded by no Lent... The forty days’ abstinence of Lent was directly borrowed from the worshippers of the Babylonian goddess. Such a Lent of 40 days, ‘in the spring of the year’, is still observed by the Yezidis or pagan devil-worshippers of Koordistan, who have inherited it from their early masters, the Babylonians. Such a lent of 40 days was held in spring by the pagan Mexicans, for thus we read in Humboldt, where he gives account of Mexican observances: ‘...fast of 40 days in honour of the sun’. Such a lent of 40 days was observed in Egypt... was held expressly in commemoration of Adonis or Osiris, the great mediatorial god” (Ibid., pp 104,105).

Today, we have Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday, which precede this period of 40 days leading up to Easter Sunday with its worship of the sun-god, Osiris (incestuous lover and son of Isis). Prior to this lenten fast, eggs and flour were used up by making pancakes, hence this peculiar Shrove Tuesday custom. (Shrove is the past participle of the verb ‘shrive’, which is a Roman Catholic term referring to the priest’s assigning of penance and hearing of confession.)

Paul condemned these superstitious rituals as worthless in Colossians 2:18-23 and Galatians 4:3, 8-10.

But “to conciliate the pagans to nominal Christianity, Rome, pursuing its usual policy, took measures to get the Christian and pagan festivals amalgamated” (Ibid., p 105).

There you have it; the truth about Easter.

It is not scriptural in origin, not commanded in the New Testament, and should not be observed by the modern Church. Those who do keep it, unwittingly pay homage to the idolatrous Romish Church, who has perpetuated this myth in Christendom.

Those who observe Easter – instead of Passover as we are instructed by God, and reminded by Paul – are following traditions instituted by men, outside the authority of the Word of God.

As a child of God, you are commanded to come out of the ways of modern Babylon, the mother of ‘Christian’ harlotry (Rev 18:4).

 

 
 

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