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Friday November 3, 2000 (Re-edited 11-25-2005)
The Holy Spirit is impressing me to point out some big pitfalls that many of God's people are falling into: "Popular Doctrines!"
A lot of popular preachers and Christian writers are telling believers that they are destined for all kinds of loot, that they are going to pillage the Devil's camp and come out with so much booty, so much money, so much victory that everyone will know that God is a winner and the Devil is a loser. This kind of teaching is so easily mis-understood because it isn't really a total falsehood...but it seems many believers are confused by the way these Christian leaders re-work the truths of Scripture.
God's true people DO get the victory...they DO come out on top...they DO succeed! However, the success and the victory often do not always appear, for the worldly observer to notice. The eyes of sinners cannot always perceive the wondrous riches that God pours upon HIS beloved!
Case number one is Jesus: Jesus became King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He was given a Name that is above every name. He ascended to God the Father and probably marched down Heaven's biggest boulevard in the grandest hallelujah parade.
But, down here on earth HE has not yet received that kind of recognition by the entire planet. HE will receive it in the last day...but today HIS precious Name is still used in wrong ways. HE is laughed upon, and said to be not even a true figure in history by some. Down here HE has been rejected and counted among the executed criminals by many a worldling. The opinions of worldlings are what predominate on planet earth today. And Jesus Christ is not lifted up by the world as a victor and overcomer. Christ's victory is hidden from the eyes of worldlings, for the most part!
The Holy Spirit told Paul that God's "...strength is made perfect in weakness." Paul ran the race. Paul conquered. Saint Paul came out with great and mighty victory...but to the world he was just another radical executed by Caesar. The World has not pinned any medals on Paul...but by the grace and gift of God Almighty and the Name of Jesus Christ, Saint Paul ran the race and became a great victor in God!
Jesus said that a servant is NOT greater than his Master. [John 13:16] If Jesus, the Master, had to go out in what appeared on the surface as great weakness in order to succeed, so also HIS church will probably have to appear as nothing in the eyes of sinners and pagans in order to be a success in the supernatural realm.
Look at all the anointed men of God down through history. They were mocked, laughed at, persecuted by the world. Some of the most anointed men of God today are ridiculed in the press or totally ignored, even though supernatural miracles take place when they pray. John Wesley was often not allowed to preach in the worldly church of his day. So he spoke to the masses in the open air. Look on the Internet and you will see pages and pages created to put down the men of God.
Did you know that our precious sister Aline Baxley who saw Hell and was gloriously changed by the power of God is ridiculed on the Internet as a fake?! Did you know that her story is used as an example of unbelievable falsehoods by a famous Christian author whose works are sold in the local Christian Book Stores? Did you know that there are more pages on the Internet opposing Aline Baxley, than those that attest to her truthfulness?? But we who know her and have attended the church where she worships know that she is a precious saint of God.
Why? Why must the precious people of God appear so wrong when they are so right???? The answer is very simple! It is because the true people of God are not greater than their precious Master! Jesus has been put down as nothing...and so also HIS true followers will be and are put down as nothing, as fakes.
If a preacher tells you that you are going to arise in the eyes of worldlings and sinners, don't be too quick to receive that kind of preaching. Certainly some Christians may arise in the eyes of some pagans. But for the most part the Word of God tells us that we will be rejected as our Master was rejected. We will be thought of as failures, as HE was thought of as a failure. But we will truly gain the victory in the eyes of God, if we stay true. The eyes of God are what count...not the eyes of the World.
I have become aware of a startling fact. The Holy Spirit has been showing me that the visible church organizations and bodies have been lately two presumptuous in assuming that they are qualified and accredited by Heaven.
They love to lean heavily upon Matthew 18:20 where Jesus states: "... where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." The churches in my town assume that when you slap the name of Jesus on your bulletin and your front door and you have a bit of stained glass and perhaps a steeple then Jesus is with you and you are HIS ambassadors and His Board of Directors.
But when Jesus said, "...together in My Name..." He was not referring to the Name of Jesus Christ plastered in the charter, polity, manual or bulletin of an organization! St. Paul lets us know that "in Christ" is a spiritual domain. In Jesus name, in Christ means walking in holiness, walking in the total leadership of the Holy Spirit and walking separated from the world and fully directed by Heaven. But, today's churches have CEOs and Boards of Directors. They run like a secular business. They are like the United States Congress that starts each day with a prayer from some clergyman and then goes on to pass laws that fly in the face of God. Today's church boards have a two minute prayer and then they put on their thinkers and think up things. But they do not function as the Church of the Book of Acts functioned. Please see Acts Chapter 13 for details of how the early church moved on it's knees and needed no Board of Directors!
Today's churches also like to quote Hebrews 10:25, "Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together..." But my question to them is, "What do you do when 'OURSELVES' turns out to be NOT 'OURSELVES'??!!"
I have attended many church services where the Holy Spirit is either muted, controlled, put down or removed. I have attended many churches where the presence of God has been substituted with a phony "jesus" spirit. The real Lord Jesus is not present but some sickeningly wrong spirit wearing a Jesus mask.
These people dedicated to these dead churches jump on you so quickly if you tell them that you no longer feel led to attend the visible churches but worship in some unofficial group. "Oh," they say, "you are not being accountable." They are certain you are falling away from Christ because the visible churches are (in their minds) the only official, real, certified, qualified and accredited organizations of God.
We need to study the Word of God more closely...and stop listening to popular preachers and teachers who want to tell us that the Church of Jesus Christ is going to get the victory in the eyes of the World. Some tell us the church is going to convert most of the World and that the visible church will become the most dominant force on earth in order to hasten the return of Christ.
The Bible says that this Gospel will be preached to all mankind...YES INDEED. That is why there are so many Christian television stations around the World, well over three thousand. That is why missionaries are going far and wide and have been doing so for many years. And many, many people are getting saved today! Praise God!
Read the book of Daniel! Read Revelation. Read Paul's letters. Read what Jesus said about the end-times.
The Bible says that in order for the church to get the victory it's purest people will be taken to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. And the less purer part of the church will be left to be purified and martyred. [See Matthew 25:1-13] The Bible says that in the last days "a great falling away" will occur. [See 2nd Thessalonians 2:3] Jesus asks a question that keeps ringing: "When the Son of man returns, will He find faith on the earth?" [Luke 18:8b]
The Bible says the Lord will remove the pure saints and through the Tribulation period HE will allow the carnal saints to be purified to extinction by execution! It isn't a popular truth. It won't sell a lot of books. But, its true!!
So, watch out for the "Kingdom Now" doctrine that says Christians are going to get so influential that the whole World will come to Jesus, accept for a few...and then Jesus will have to return because the Church did such a "Bang-up" job.
No, it's the church that is going to get banged up, and yet the gates of Hell shall not conquer it! Persecution is coming to bring purity. So get ready! Get holy! Get sanctified! Get filled with the precious Holy Ghost! Discover what prayer in the Holy Ghost is all about. You'll need the deeper workings of the Holy Spirit to make it through the times that are ahead! And, those who truly get purified and close to God will escape to the greatest time of joy at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb of God, Jesus! That's a bright hope.
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