I'm in this world, but, I'm no longer of it. How can I be, and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ? I tried, I went to Church and listened to the Preacher's version of the Gospel, how they had conformed to this world. How they could chase after the pleasures of this world, money, big houses, new cars, political power, wars, etc., and twist that to the message of the True Gospel and it didn't add up. When I first looked into the Bible, or being saved, I went to see a Lutheran pastor, and he gave me a Bible, which I read frequently. After a while of just reading the Bible I went to a few different Churches, some of them had very low key services, some tried to put on a show, and some completely turned my stomach! None of them, to me, seemed to be what the Bible called for in a Church.
I went to a few Baptist Churches and their services were very laid back, they'd read a few verses of the Bible and try and explain what they meant, or in most cases explain away the plain truth of Jesus' Words, listen to some bad music, pass the offering plate around and go home. The same thing happened at the Lutheran and Methodist and Episcopal Churches I went to. Basically they didn't say much of anything. Or they'd take a hard line against a few of the sins which most of the Churches are in agreement on, homosexuality, gay marriage, adultery, etc. If they didn't do that then the preacher would go out of his or her way to not offend anyone.
I went to a couple "Charismatic" or "Pentecostal" Churches and they would put on a show. They talked in tongues, or so they said, no one was there to interpret. When they talked in tongues they all seemed to say the same thing, or make the same sounds anyways. Then they would all shout and raise their hands and then run around the Church and hop on one leg or any number of things that the "spirit" was leading them to do. When my wife and I didn't feel led by the "spirit" to do the same, others under the "spirit" would encourage us to just fake it until we were under the same "spirit" as they were.
Usually the messages were to pray for the Church to grow and for us as members of the congregation to grow our bank accounts as well. I have heard quite a few sermons like this and to be honest my flesh really wanted to hear it. "Gods wants me to be rich"! "We'll honor God by showing how wealthy He has made us and our Church"! When we have the largest and fanciest Church building and the preacher is driving a BMW and the parking lot is of full of Hummers and Lexus's, Cadillac's, etc., we'll know we are blessed! Problem being the Bible says:
Mat 19:23 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven.
Mat 19:24 And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. Luk 1:53 He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich he hath sent empty away.
Luk 6:24 But woe unto you that are rich! for ye have received your consolation.
Luk 18:22 Now when Jesus heard these things, he said unto him, Yet lackest thou one thing: sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me.
Luk 18:23 And when he heard this, he was very sorrowful: for he was very rich.
Luk 18:24 And when Jesus saw that he was very sorrowful, he said, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God!
1Ti 6:9 But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.
Jas 5:1 Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.
Riches, as Jesus and the Apostles explain very carefully in the verses above are a hindrance to salvation, not a sign of being blessed! In my opinion, this is trying to serve mammon and God at the same time:
Luk 16:13 No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
So in the "Church", for the most part, there's an apostate (fallen away from the true Gospel, or conformed to this world) Gospel being preached every Sunday.
After a few years of this, I quit going to Church and started watching televangelists. This opened up a whole new area for apostasy to come in. Of course the same false doctrine of the "Prosperity Movement" was prevalent. But there were new lies, The "Rapture", or how God was going to take the "Church" out of the world and then destroy everyone that was left, unless they accepted Jesus Christ. There was the "Dominionist Theory" or how God is calling His "Church" to take control of the world, by military means if necessary, so that Christ can return for His "Church". This particular area of apostasy was what led to me to drop out of organized religion all together and started me on my search for the Truth. A couple of my favorite televangelists at the time, Charles Stanley and John Hagee were emphatically supporting the American invasion of Iraq. In fact they were going so far as to say if we didn't support the President in the war we were going against God. That was indeed the final straw.
The apostates were no longer content to steal money from the gullible with false teachings, they now were publicly supporting military action which has so far led to the slaughter of over a million innocents in Iraq!
They were doing it in God's Name, they said, according to their interpretation of prophetic scriptures. In preaching their message of military action they proved that they had totally disregarded Jesus' commandments to His disciples, and that they had no understanding of the new Covenant, or just complete disregard for it, for the sake of bloodlust. In other words they are either Biblically incompetent or they are warmongers.
Mat 5:38 Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth:
Mat 5:39 But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.
Eph 6:10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.
Eph 6:11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
Eph 6:12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
Luk 3:14 And the soldiers likewise demanded of him, saying, And what shall we do? And he said unto them, Do violence to no man, neither accuse any falsely; and be content with your wages.
As has been plainly shown above, a Christian, or a disciple of Christ, has no Biblical mandate to use violence EVER! I'll be getting into the apostate doctrines in more detail in the near future.
God bless you and yours,
disciple
http://www.perverted-christianity.com
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