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“Out of my distress I called on the Lord;
the Lord answered me and set me free.
The Lord is on my side; I will not fear.
What can man do to me?
The Lord is on my side as my helper;
I shall look in triumph on those who hate me.
It is better to take refuge in the Lord
than to trust in man.
It is better to take refuge in the Lord
than to trust in princes.
All nations surrounded me;
in the name of the Lord I cut them off!” (Psalms 118:5-10 ESV)
As followers of Jesus Christ we are all part of the body of Christ, his church, by God-persuaded faith in Jesus Christ. By God’s grace and by such faith as this we are all crucified with Christ in death to sin and raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, no longer to live as slaves to sin, but now as slaves to God and to his righteousness, if our faith is genuine. And as his church we are to gather together daily to minister to one another.
Nonetheless, we live in a day and time when “the church” has been turned into a marketplace to be marketed to the people of the world, and so many of these gatherings are now just businesses of men trying to appeal to the felt needs of the ungodly of the world via entertaining them, and via altering the character of God/Christ and of his gospel and of his biblical church, the body of genuine followers of Jesus Christ, to make them appealing to flesh.
And so, if you are like I was, you may be in a situation where you are trying to find a local biblical gathering of the body of Christ which is operating in the power of the Holy Spirit, and which is operating as the biblical body of Christ, and which is following the teachings of the Scriptures, in context, and which is not following after the ways of the flesh of man and worldly ways and marketing schemes intended to attract the world to your gatherings.
Now my husband and I have moved around much. We have lived in five USA states and in 10 cities, and together we have been a part of a total of 30 church gatherings over the course of 63 of my 74 years of life, before the Lord convinced me that most of these gatherings were not of him, for they are presently mostly all incorporated under the state and are operating as businesses of men who are marketing their gatherings to the world.
2 in Akron/Stow, OH
2 in Ft. Wayne, IN
2 in Charleston/Mt Pleasant, SC
1 in Raleigh, NC
3 in Cleveland, TN
4 in Mauldin, SC
16 in Rock Hill, SC
0 in Nashville, TN
______
30 total
“I was pushed hard, so that I was falling,
but the Lord helped me.
The Lord is my strength and my song;
he has become my salvation.
Glad songs of salvation
are in the tents of the righteous.” (Psalms 118:13-15 ESV)
In most of these “church” gatherings I was deserted by those who were supposed to love me and nurture me in my walk of faith in the Lord. And for a period of time I did fall away from following the Lord as I had been and now do again, and it was largely due to the persecution and rejection I received from those in positions of leadership because of my walk of faith in the Lord, and because of those who were pushing me in the direction of sinning against my Lord and away from following him in obedience.
For I gave way to that pressure, and I gave way to fear, and I let that fear and that pressure push me in the wrong direction for a period of time before the Lord brought me back and turned me back around and then called me to this present ministry. So human beings were no help to me at this point, for I received more acceptance when I was living in moral failure than I received when I was walking in faithful surrender and in obedience to my Lord, and it shouldn’t be this way, but it is the reality of where things are presently.
So, this is one very good reason that we cannot put our trust in other human beings, for many of them will lead us astray, and many of them are not teaching the truth of the gospel but they are teaching lies which make it easier for professers of faith in Jesus Christ to keep living in sin while claiming heaven as their eternal destiny. We can’t depend on other humans to point us in the right direction and to not try to push us in the wrong direction. So our faith has to be in the Lord regardless of what humans do.
Anyway, the Lord worked on me for about nine years, working to convince me that what I called “church” was not the functional body of Christ, under his authority, but mostly these gatherings were of men, being marketed to the world just like any other businesses, and thus they were altering the character of God/Christ and of his church and of his gospel in order to attract the ungodly to their gatherings via entertainment and appealing to the felt needs of human flesh. But I kept hoping there was an exception to the rule.
Finally the Lord convinced me to come out from among her (Babylon) so that I don’t share in her sins and in her punishment, for her sins are piled high to heaven, and that I am not to be unequally yoked together with the ungodly, for there is no fellowship between light and darkness. And if the light of “the church” is really darkness disguised as light, then that is not where we should be. We need to be with the body of believers who are walking in the ways of the Lord so that we can encourage one another.
[1 Corinthians 1:10-17; John 2:13-17; 2 Corinthians 6:14-18; Revelation 18:1-5; Romans 12:1-8; 1 Corinthians 12:1-31; Galatians 6:1; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:1-16; Ephesians 5:15-21; Philippians 2:1-8; Colossians 3:16; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:13; Hebrews 10:23-25; James 5:19-20]
That is when the Lord called me to go to the internet and to minister to and to be ministered to by the body of Christ, i.e. to/by those who are seeking after the Lord and his righteousness and who desire to do his will. And it was to internet that he sent me in order for me to share the truth of the gospel with the nations and to refute the lies of the enemy that are coming against the Lord and his gospel and his divine character and will and purpose for us as his followers to be Christlike in all that we do and are and say.
So, follow the Lord Jesus wherever he leads you, and do what he says, and obey his commandments, and forsake your lives of living in sin and for self. And find a fellowship of genuine followers of Christ that you can be a part of where you are able to minister in your spiritual gifts and where they minister to you and encourage you in your walks of faith and obedience to the Lord. For where man (flesh) cannot be trusted, the Lord can be trusted fully to do as he says he will do. So trust him, and do what he says, for he is God.
“Let those who fear the Lord say,
‘His steadfast love endures forever.’” (Psalms 118:4 ESV)
Follow Him
An Original Work / February 21, 2013
Based off Luke 9:22-25
Jesus, Son of God,
Died for us on a cross.
Anyone who would come to Him
Must deny himself and follow.
He must take up his cross daily;
Die to sin and self each day.
Father, God above,
Loved us so: gave His Son.
If you want to save your old life;
Keep on sinning, follow your ways,
You will lose your life forever;
Hope of heaven gone away.
Spirit of our God
Gives us life in God’s Son.
Nonetheless, if you die to self;
Forsake your sin; follow Jesus,
You will live with God in heaven,
And forever praise His name!
