During the first few centuries of the church after Jesus Christ was resurrected, the Christians of the Church were much different than most of the professing Christians of our day. The Christians of the original church knew that by accepting Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, they would be heavily persecuted and face death for professing their faith. Actually most of these original church Christians did lose their life because of their faith in Christ. During the severe persecution by the Roman Empire against all Christians, most Christians were hunted down and killed during the first three centuries of the church’s history. These original church Christians knew to receive eternal salvation, they would have to give their lives as a living sacrifice, by living holy and blameless by the power of the Holy Spirit, even unto death. They knew they were God’s light in this world and that their only purpose for living was to glorify God. They humbled themselves and became totally submissive to God’s Holy Spirit in order to spread His Gospel and shine His holy light of love. The goal was not to see what God could give them of worldly possessions in their current physical life, but was to glorify the one and only almighty righteous God and to be found worthy of eternal salvation in God’s everlasting kingdom. Matt 10:37-38 - Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.
The original church was mostly made up of totally dedicated born again believers with a small percentage of false converts that the devil used to try to change the truth of the Gospel. In Apostle Paul’s letters he seems to constantly be warning the original church against these false witnesses. Since most people of the original church were born again believers, they had the real truths of God planted within their hearts and were able to reject these false prophets of the devil.
So if we understand that God never changes and His Gospel truth never changes, what God expects of a true Christian doesn’t change either. God still requires us to love Him above everyone, including ourselves. God still requires us to die to all our selfishness and pride so he can use us as a living sacrifice. So how does the professing Christian of our day measure up to God’s requirements? What is most of the U.S. churches telling their congregations about what is required to become a born again Christian?
I want to point out where most of the U.S. churches have fallen way short of God’s glory and righteousness, but first I would like to point out that when I say most of the U.S. churches, this doesn’t include any true holiness churches that still teach and preach that we must become righteous and holy through and through by God’s grace to have the gift of eternal life. A small percentage of these true holiness churches still remain. These holiness churches usually have a very small congregation because most people are unwilling to believe that we must be made holy, righteous, and blameless by His Spirit, because this would require too much of a sacrifice from their current selfish living lifestyle.
Most U.S. churches try to look holy and righteous by outward appearances or actions, but are really like dirty rags on the inside. To give an example of this: I was previously attending a church that made a 15 to 16 year old girl that had a baby out of wedlock ask for the churches forgiveness in front of the whole congregation. I could tell that this action was forced upon her by the church leadership and she didn’t really want to do it. So far this might not seem so strange except for one other big factor. In a Sunday message to this same church congregation, the church’s pastor said very emphatically that everyone in his church are sinners and will continue to sin. He said no one can have sin conquered in this lifetime and that even if someone is living by the Holy Spirit – sin could not be conquered. Well if this is the case, why should the church require someone to ask for forgiveness from the entire congregation if the congregation are all still sinners themselves? What makes the daily sins of the people of the congregation any less sinful than the sin of one person? Matt 7:3-5 - Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye. The really sad part of this true story is that most churches have these same beliefs as the church above. They are just religious clubs and not really God’s true church. If a church teaches that sin cannot be conquered in this life through Jesus Christ, then they are teaching and pointing their congregation directly toward hell. These churches need to make a decision. Either accept that they are of the devil and instead of having someone ask for forgiveness from the congregation, the congregation should welcome the sinner into the congregation club of sinners. 1 John 3:8 – “He who does what is sinful is of the devil” But it would be much better that the churches repent and realize the full power of God’s grace and live righteous and holy lives by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Many U.S. churches also preach the “prosperity gospel” to draw people in, because this is what people want to hear. The prosperity message helps grow the congregation and boosts up the giving to support the pride and salaries of these prosperity pastors. The prosperity gospel goes along with what these churches think they need to support their lifestyle. These pastors think they are doing the congregation a favor by getting them to say a one time sinner’s prayer for salvation and then giving them an outlet to allow them to send in their money, or the new phrase “your seed”. Almost everything these fake preachers say are a deception of the devil. Salvation is not brought on by a one time sinner’s prayer; it is brought on by a life of repenting and dying to ones selfishness. We also can’t give money with the idea that we will receive it back with a greater return. God will bless those who give out of an unselfish heart, but will not bless those that give in order to expect more back in return. God wants us to give out of pure love for Him and others. If we give with the thinking of getting more back, we are still acting out of our selfishness - not love.
Most U.S. churches teach and preach that you are born again of the Holy Spirit upon that first sinner’s prayer and cannot lose that salvation. This is a lie that will end up sending most people to hell. First off the sinner’s prayer is not supported anywhere in the Bible. Sins are not forgiven by just asking to be forgiven; they are forgiven when we have truly repented of the sins. If we haven’t repented of a sin, then we are not forgiven of that sin either. The penalty of sin for all people has been paid for by Jesus Christ dying on the cross, but the forgiveness of sins is on an individual and conditional basis. We can only be born again of God after we have fully dedicated our whole self to God by dying to any selfishness and pride in us. We have to become His disciple before we can be born again. Luke 14:33 - In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple. Matt 10:38-39 - Anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. The devil has deceived almost all churches that we are born again from the very start of our relationship with God. Anyone that has been born again has been brought through a process of sanctification (or pregnancy time) to get them to the point of being born again. It is God’s Spirit that brings us through this process to get us to the point of being born again. Most churched people have been deceived by the devil’s lies that they are born again when really they are still in the pregnancy stage. This is where the devil wants to keep all believers - in the pregnancy stage. If the devil can deceive people into thinking they are already born again instead of in the process of getting there, the devil wins and all the souls still in this pregnancy stage will go to hell if they aren’t truly born again before they physically die. It is only upon being born again of God that we receive a new pure heart and after this is when we might be able to say we cannot lose our salvation.
The truth is – the devil is directing the leadership of most of our U.S. churches with his deceptions. In the original church of the first centuries there were mostly true born again Christians and a small percentage of fake converts, now in our current U.S. churches we have mostly fake converts and a very small percentage of true born again believers. The current U.S. churches on a whole have become an abomination to God. Our U.S. churches are mostly filled with people loving all what the world has to offer and religiously doing their time of service one to two hours a week going to church. James 4:4-5 - You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. Most of the U.S. churches and their congregations are committing adultery with the world and in turn have become the enemy of God. The majority of the pastors of our U.S. churches are not born again and are proclaiming the deceptions of the devil instead of the full Gospel truth.
So suffice to say, most of the U.S. churches are not the light of the world any longer. The church should be like a light house shinning brightly to guide people through the darkness to the truth of God, but instead has been reduced by the devil’s deceptions to less than a nightlight where the church cannot even see the truth in this dark world.
If our country is going to have any true revival we must have these false teaching churches die and replace them with churches that require only the true Gospel to be preached. So my strong advice to anyone, to save your soul and possibly get this country back on God’s faithful footings, is to find one of these faithful small churches that still preach and teach the holiness and righteousness of God and also teach how we need to be made holy, righteous, and blameless through the workings of His Spirit to enter God’s eternal kingdom. After you have decided to move you and your family to one of these true holiness churches, find and take some of your friends with you.
God Bless,
Michael Reid
The original church was mostly made up of totally dedicated born again believers with a small percentage of false converts that the devil used to try to change the truth of the Gospel. In Apostle Paul’s letters he seems to constantly be warning the original church against these false witnesses. Since most people of the original church were born again believers, they had the real truths of God planted within their hearts and were able to reject these false prophets of the devil.
So if we understand that God never changes and His Gospel truth never changes, what God expects of a true Christian doesn’t change either. God still requires us to love Him above everyone, including ourselves. God still requires us to die to all our selfishness and pride so he can use us as a living sacrifice. So how does the professing Christian of our day measure up to God’s requirements? What is most of the U.S. churches telling their congregations about what is required to become a born again Christian?
I want to point out where most of the U.S. churches have fallen way short of God’s glory and righteousness, but first I would like to point out that when I say most of the U.S. churches, this doesn’t include any true holiness churches that still teach and preach that we must become righteous and holy through and through by God’s grace to have the gift of eternal life. A small percentage of these true holiness churches still remain. These holiness churches usually have a very small congregation because most people are unwilling to believe that we must be made holy, righteous, and blameless by His Spirit, because this would require too much of a sacrifice from their current selfish living lifestyle.
Most U.S. churches try to look holy and righteous by outward appearances or actions, but are really like dirty rags on the inside. To give an example of this: I was previously attending a church that made a 15 to 16 year old girl that had a baby out of wedlock ask for the churches forgiveness in front of the whole congregation. I could tell that this action was forced upon her by the church leadership and she didn’t really want to do it. So far this might not seem so strange except for one other big factor. In a Sunday message to this same church congregation, the church’s pastor said very emphatically that everyone in his church are sinners and will continue to sin. He said no one can have sin conquered in this lifetime and that even if someone is living by the Holy Spirit – sin could not be conquered. Well if this is the case, why should the church require someone to ask for forgiveness from the entire congregation if the congregation are all still sinners themselves? What makes the daily sins of the people of the congregation any less sinful than the sin of one person? Matt 7:3-5 - Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye. The really sad part of this true story is that most churches have these same beliefs as the church above. They are just religious clubs and not really God’s true church. If a church teaches that sin cannot be conquered in this life through Jesus Christ, then they are teaching and pointing their congregation directly toward hell. These churches need to make a decision. Either accept that they are of the devil and instead of having someone ask for forgiveness from the congregation, the congregation should welcome the sinner into the congregation club of sinners. 1 John 3:8 – “He who does what is sinful is of the devil” But it would be much better that the churches repent and realize the full power of God’s grace and live righteous and holy lives by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Many U.S. churches also preach the “prosperity gospel” to draw people in, because this is what people want to hear. The prosperity message helps grow the congregation and boosts up the giving to support the pride and salaries of these prosperity pastors. The prosperity gospel goes along with what these churches think they need to support their lifestyle. These pastors think they are doing the congregation a favor by getting them to say a one time sinner’s prayer for salvation and then giving them an outlet to allow them to send in their money, or the new phrase “your seed”. Almost everything these fake preachers say are a deception of the devil. Salvation is not brought on by a one time sinner’s prayer; it is brought on by a life of repenting and dying to ones selfishness. We also can’t give money with the idea that we will receive it back with a greater return. God will bless those who give out of an unselfish heart, but will not bless those that give in order to expect more back in return. God wants us to give out of pure love for Him and others. If we give with the thinking of getting more back, we are still acting out of our selfishness - not love.
Most U.S. churches teach and preach that you are born again of the Holy Spirit upon that first sinner’s prayer and cannot lose that salvation. This is a lie that will end up sending most people to hell. First off the sinner’s prayer is not supported anywhere in the Bible. Sins are not forgiven by just asking to be forgiven; they are forgiven when we have truly repented of the sins. If we haven’t repented of a sin, then we are not forgiven of that sin either. The penalty of sin for all people has been paid for by Jesus Christ dying on the cross, but the forgiveness of sins is on an individual and conditional basis. We can only be born again of God after we have fully dedicated our whole self to God by dying to any selfishness and pride in us. We have to become His disciple before we can be born again. Luke 14:33 - In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple. Matt 10:38-39 - Anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. The devil has deceived almost all churches that we are born again from the very start of our relationship with God. Anyone that has been born again has been brought through a process of sanctification (or pregnancy time) to get them to the point of being born again. It is God’s Spirit that brings us through this process to get us to the point of being born again. Most churched people have been deceived by the devil’s lies that they are born again when really they are still in the pregnancy stage. This is where the devil wants to keep all believers - in the pregnancy stage. If the devil can deceive people into thinking they are already born again instead of in the process of getting there, the devil wins and all the souls still in this pregnancy stage will go to hell if they aren’t truly born again before they physically die. It is only upon being born again of God that we receive a new pure heart and after this is when we might be able to say we cannot lose our salvation.
The truth is – the devil is directing the leadership of most of our U.S. churches with his deceptions. In the original church of the first centuries there were mostly true born again Christians and a small percentage of fake converts, now in our current U.S. churches we have mostly fake converts and a very small percentage of true born again believers. The current U.S. churches on a whole have become an abomination to God. Our U.S. churches are mostly filled with people loving all what the world has to offer and religiously doing their time of service one to two hours a week going to church. James 4:4-5 - You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. Most of the U.S. churches and their congregations are committing adultery with the world and in turn have become the enemy of God. The majority of the pastors of our U.S. churches are not born again and are proclaiming the deceptions of the devil instead of the full Gospel truth.
So suffice to say, most of the U.S. churches are not the light of the world any longer. The church should be like a light house shinning brightly to guide people through the darkness to the truth of God, but instead has been reduced by the devil’s deceptions to less than a nightlight where the church cannot even see the truth in this dark world.
If our country is going to have any true revival we must have these false teaching churches die and replace them with churches that require only the true Gospel to be preached. So my strong advice to anyone, to save your soul and possibly get this country back on God’s faithful footings, is to find one of these faithful small churches that still preach and teach the holiness and righteousness of God and also teach how we need to be made holy, righteous, and blameless through the workings of His Spirit to enter God’s eternal kingdom. After you have decided to move you and your family to one of these true holiness churches, find and take some of your friends with you.
God Bless,
Michael Reid
No comments:
Post a Comment