The Holy City today is the church, the body of Christ, the saints of Almighty God. We are the Jerusalem which is from above. Physical Jerusalem is no longer the Holy City, for it is of Hagar, because her children are still in slavery to sin, i.e. because of their rejection of Jesus Christ. We who are in Christ Jesus, by faith in Him, are now the children of promise (Gal. 4:22-31).
Nonetheless, not everyone who claims to have faith in Jesus Christ is truly a born again believer in Christ, and not every genuine believer in Jesus Christ is presently walking in the Spirit and no longer living to please the flesh. So, just because a group of people gather together and call their meetings “the church,” it does not mean that they are the church or that they are living in accord with the will of God and his purposes for our lives.
This subject is addressed much throughout the New Testament, with many warnings given to those who meet with the church, the body of Christ, to make certain that they are in Christ, by faith in Him, or that if they are in Christ, but they are not living according to his ways, that they should repent of their sins and turn back to the Lord. And, this is because it is those who walk in the ways of the Lord who have eternal life with God, not those who merely profess faith in Christ while they still live to please their sinful flesh.
They Have Not Listened
Jeremiah 32:31-35 ESV
Some things never change. Much of what God’s people did in Old Testament times, they are doing again today. There is much evil going on within much of today’s church, at least here in the USA.
For, the vast majority of the church here in America has become “unequally yoked” together with the US government. They partnered with the government via the 501c3, and they made the government head over the church, for they are now subject to the government. And, our government is an evil government which is under the authority of a shadow government of the elite of the world, culminating in the beast of Revelation, i.e. the New World Order.
So, what they did was they turned the body of Christ into a business of human-making, and they now market Christ’s body, his church, like any other man-made business. And, they use marketing schemes and gimmicks to grow the church (a business) and to draw in large crowds of people from the world. Thus, the church is patterning their gatherings after the ways of the world to attract the world (their customer base) to these meetings.
Because of this, they have also diluted the gospel of Jesus Christ to make it more appealing to human flesh so as not to offend their “customers.” So, they reduce the gospel to nothing more than forgiveness of sins and a promise of heaven when they leave this earth, while they ignore and even speak against the teachings of scripture which say that we must walk according to the Spirit and no longer according to the flesh if we want to have eternal life with God in heaven (Lu. 9:23-25; Rom. 8:1-17).
Since the Gospel has been diluted to make it more acceptable to human flesh, and much of the church is focused on not offending their customers, teachings on sin and repentance and obedience and submission to Christ are becoming a thing of the past. So, the adherents of this false grace gospel have the impression that how they live doesn’t matter to God and that it doesn’t impact their eternal salvation. But, they are wrong!
Because of this, sin is running rampant in much of today’s church, even among the leadership. Maybe half or more than half of all pastors have dabbled in inappropriate contentography, if they are not addicted to it. Many are engaging in extramarital affairs, hiring prostitutes, or engaged in homosexual acts or in child inappropriate content or child sexual abuse. The numbers are astounding, too, for the number of men, women, and children who regularly view inappropriate content.
So, the vast majority of America’s churches, I believe, have kicked the Holy Spirit right out of their gatherings, and they are following marketing books, instead, for how to grow the church. Pastors have turned into clowns and entertainers. And, the church is promoted as a place of fun and activities, a place which is casual and accepting of all people and all lifestyles, while sinful practices abound within the congregations and within the leadership. And, God is grieved over the condition of his church today.
He Will Bring Them Back
Jeremiah 32:36-42 ESV
The New World Order Beast is upon us today, in our day and time. And, it is already conquering peoples and nations and governments throughout the world, and the US government is a part of it. I believe that America is the harlot (Babylon), or at least the institutional church in America is the harlot which rides this beast, which includes both church and government. And, God is calling his church to come out from among her and be separate so that she does not share in her sins and in her punishment (Rev. 18:4-5).
The US government serves this beast in going throughout the world killing innocents, taking over other nations, confiscating their natural resources, and doing whatever they want to whomever they want while they blame others for their evil deeds and deceive their own people into believing their lies. And, the media in America is party to promoting their lies, too. We can’t trust our political leaders or our media or even our church leaders to tell us the truth these days. So, we must pray for much discernment.
But, the Lord is allowing all of this to take place as his way of chastising his wayward church in order to bring her back to him, I believe. This is taught in the books of Prophecy in the Old Testament as well as it is referred to in the New Testament, such as in the letters to the seven churches (Rev. 2-3). God disciplines those he loves in order that we might share in his holiness. He prunes us and he purifies us in order to make us holy.
I believe God is allowing many of the things which are happening in the world today in order to draw people to him and to his salvation, but also to bring his wayward saints back to him in purity of mind and heart and devotion to him before he comes back for us to take us to be with him forever. So, although tough stuff is going on in our world, God is bringing good out of it in changing people’s hearts to conform them to him and to his ways.
Only in Him
An Original Work / February 19, 2014
Based off Isaiah 30
Woe to those who look to man’s help;
Who turn away from Jesus Christ;
Forming an alliance not in step with God;
Making their own plans, and praying not.
Willing not to listen to truth,
They close their ears to what is right.
Pleasing words are all that they’ll hear;
Feel good messages that bring cheer.
Trust in your Lord; turn from your sin.
Put your faith now ONLY IN HIM.
Do not turn to idols. They’ll not satisfy.
Jesus will save you. That’s why He died.
Your Lord will be gracious to you.
He cares all about you, ‘tis true.
He forgives you all of your sin
When you give your life up to Him.
Oh, how truly gracious He’ll be
When you bow to Him on your knees;
Turning now from your sin; walking in his ways.
He’ll lead and guide you all of your days.
Now you will sing praises to Him.
He delivered you from your sin.
You’ll tell others now of His grace,
So they may see Christ face-to-face.
Wednesday, July 11, 2018 – Thank You, Jesus, for bringing wandering hearts back to you and for delivering those in slavery to sin out of their bondage and for setting them (us) free! Amen!
Nonetheless, not everyone who claims to have faith in Jesus Christ is truly a born again believer in Christ, and not every genuine believer in Jesus Christ is presently walking in the Spirit and no longer living to please the flesh. So, just because a group of people gather together and call their meetings “the church,” it does not mean that they are the church or that they are living in accord with the will of God and his purposes for our lives.
This subject is addressed much throughout the New Testament, with many warnings given to those who meet with the church, the body of Christ, to make certain that they are in Christ, by faith in Him, or that if they are in Christ, but they are not living according to his ways, that they should repent of their sins and turn back to the Lord. And, this is because it is those who walk in the ways of the Lord who have eternal life with God, not those who merely profess faith in Christ while they still live to please their sinful flesh.
They Have Not Listened
Jeremiah 32:31-35 ESV
“This city has aroused my anger and wrath, from the day it was built to this day, so that I will remove it from my sight because of all the evil of the children of Israel and the children of Judah that they did to provoke me to anger—their kings and their officials, their priests and their prophets, the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
“They have turned to me their back and not their face. And though I have taught them persistently, they have not listened to receive instruction. They set up their abominations in the house that is called by my name, to defile it. They built the high places of Baal in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, to offer up their sons and daughters to Molech, though I did not command them, nor did it enter into my mind, that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin.”
Some things never change. Much of what God’s people did in Old Testament times, they are doing again today. There is much evil going on within much of today’s church, at least here in the USA.
For, the vast majority of the church here in America has become “unequally yoked” together with the US government. They partnered with the government via the 501c3, and they made the government head over the church, for they are now subject to the government. And, our government is an evil government which is under the authority of a shadow government of the elite of the world, culminating in the beast of Revelation, i.e. the New World Order.
So, what they did was they turned the body of Christ into a business of human-making, and they now market Christ’s body, his church, like any other man-made business. And, they use marketing schemes and gimmicks to grow the church (a business) and to draw in large crowds of people from the world. Thus, the church is patterning their gatherings after the ways of the world to attract the world (their customer base) to these meetings.
Because of this, they have also diluted the gospel of Jesus Christ to make it more appealing to human flesh so as not to offend their “customers.” So, they reduce the gospel to nothing more than forgiveness of sins and a promise of heaven when they leave this earth, while they ignore and even speak against the teachings of scripture which say that we must walk according to the Spirit and no longer according to the flesh if we want to have eternal life with God in heaven (Lu. 9:23-25; Rom. 8:1-17).
Since the Gospel has been diluted to make it more acceptable to human flesh, and much of the church is focused on not offending their customers, teachings on sin and repentance and obedience and submission to Christ are becoming a thing of the past. So, the adherents of this false grace gospel have the impression that how they live doesn’t matter to God and that it doesn’t impact their eternal salvation. But, they are wrong!
Because of this, sin is running rampant in much of today’s church, even among the leadership. Maybe half or more than half of all pastors have dabbled in inappropriate contentography, if they are not addicted to it. Many are engaging in extramarital affairs, hiring prostitutes, or engaged in homosexual acts or in child inappropriate content or child sexual abuse. The numbers are astounding, too, for the number of men, women, and children who regularly view inappropriate content.
So, the vast majority of America’s churches, I believe, have kicked the Holy Spirit right out of their gatherings, and they are following marketing books, instead, for how to grow the church. Pastors have turned into clowns and entertainers. And, the church is promoted as a place of fun and activities, a place which is casual and accepting of all people and all lifestyles, while sinful practices abound within the congregations and within the leadership. And, God is grieved over the condition of his church today.
He Will Bring Them Back
Jeremiah 32:36-42 ESV
“Now therefore thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning this city of which you say, ‘It is given into the hand of the king of Babylon by sword, by famine, and by pestilence’: Behold, I will gather them from all the countries to which I drove them in my anger and my wrath and in great indignation. I will bring them back to this place, and I will make them dwell in safety. And they shall be my people, and I will be their God.
“I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me forever, for their own good and the good of their children after them. I will make with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from doing good to them. And I will put the fear of me in their hearts, that they may not turn from me. I will rejoice in doing them good, and I will plant them in this land in faithfulness, with all my heart and all my soul. For thus says the Lord: Just as I have brought all this great disaster upon this people, so I will bring upon them all the good that I promise them.”
The New World Order Beast is upon us today, in our day and time. And, it is already conquering peoples and nations and governments throughout the world, and the US government is a part of it. I believe that America is the harlot (Babylon), or at least the institutional church in America is the harlot which rides this beast, which includes both church and government. And, God is calling his church to come out from among her and be separate so that she does not share in her sins and in her punishment (Rev. 18:4-5).
The US government serves this beast in going throughout the world killing innocents, taking over other nations, confiscating their natural resources, and doing whatever they want to whomever they want while they blame others for their evil deeds and deceive their own people into believing their lies. And, the media in America is party to promoting their lies, too. We can’t trust our political leaders or our media or even our church leaders to tell us the truth these days. So, we must pray for much discernment.
But, the Lord is allowing all of this to take place as his way of chastising his wayward church in order to bring her back to him, I believe. This is taught in the books of Prophecy in the Old Testament as well as it is referred to in the New Testament, such as in the letters to the seven churches (Rev. 2-3). God disciplines those he loves in order that we might share in his holiness. He prunes us and he purifies us in order to make us holy.
I believe God is allowing many of the things which are happening in the world today in order to draw people to him and to his salvation, but also to bring his wayward saints back to him in purity of mind and heart and devotion to him before he comes back for us to take us to be with him forever. So, although tough stuff is going on in our world, God is bringing good out of it in changing people’s hearts to conform them to him and to his ways.
Only in Him
An Original Work / February 19, 2014
Based off Isaiah 30
Woe to those who look to man’s help;
Who turn away from Jesus Christ;
Forming an alliance not in step with God;
Making their own plans, and praying not.
Willing not to listen to truth,
They close their ears to what is right.
Pleasing words are all that they’ll hear;
Feel good messages that bring cheer.
Trust in your Lord; turn from your sin.
Put your faith now ONLY IN HIM.
Do not turn to idols. They’ll not satisfy.
Jesus will save you. That’s why He died.
Your Lord will be gracious to you.
He cares all about you, ‘tis true.
He forgives you all of your sin
When you give your life up to Him.
Oh, how truly gracious He’ll be
When you bow to Him on your knees;
Turning now from your sin; walking in his ways.
He’ll lead and guide you all of your days.
Now you will sing praises to Him.
He delivered you from your sin.
You’ll tell others now of His grace,
So they may see Christ face-to-face.
Wednesday, July 11, 2018 – Thank You, Jesus, for bringing wandering hearts back to you and for delivering those in slavery to sin out of their bondage and for setting them (us) free! Amen!
