The spirit behind John MacArthur’s ‘Church’
Mike Jeshurun
May be it hasn’t occurred to you yet that the Truth is not loved or cherished by goats, but only sheep! The sheep are those whom Christ came to seek and to save. [Ezk 34:11]. These sheep know His voice and will follow Him. But the goats have no hunger or desire for the Truth. To these goats the Truth is nothing but foolishness and a ‘stumbling block’ and they have no desire for it, neither will they receive it [1Cor 2:14].
The Master called His sheep ‘little-flock’ (Lk 12:32) because compared to the multitudes that throng the nominal churches, they are very small in number. If you are yet a member of one of these huge ‘churches’, it will not be long before the Spirit opens your eyes to the fact that you are sitting amongst goats. That is provided you are one of the Lord’s sheep!
So the conclusion is: either the man in the pulpit (the Pastor) is either feeding sheep or amusing goats. Keep reading to find out which of the two your ‘pastor’ is doing!
Does your Pastor’s preaching divide families?!
We praise God that even in these days of apostasy there are a few small churches all over the world who are still faithful to the Lord and His Word. But for the most part all major denominations and fast growing Churches and ministries have been taken over by Satan, and many don’t even know it. The average christian of our day has been deluded into believing that anyone and everyone operating in the name of Jesus must necessarily be a true servant of God preaching the true gospel. And he is deluded thus because he has not considered the warnings in the Bible that there is ‘Another Jesus’, ‘Another Spirit’ and ‘Another Gospel’ [See 2 Cor11:4]. The Jesus of the Roman Catholic Church for instance is not the true Jesus, neither is the Jesus preached by the Jehovah’s Witnesses or the Mormons.
We are living in a day when Satan rules not only over the cults and isms but over the major part of orthodox and evangelical christendom. He rules them through his false christ’s and false prophets many of whom don’t even know that they are serving him. Such ministers of Satan were operating even in the days of the apostle Paul. Remember his warning? “For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.” [2 Cor11: 13-15]. These agents of Satan are so subtle and the gospel they bring is so much like the true gospel that if it were possible they would deceive the very elect [Matt 24: 24].
By the help of God we shall now endeavor to show how Satan’s presence can be detected in any given church. Read on very prayerfully, for the following will open your eyes to see the spirit operating in your Church!
The Church of the Lord Jesus was meant to be the “pillar and ground of the truth” [I Tim. 3:15]. Just as the Lord Jesus came to bear witness to the truth, even so, the ministers of God are commanded to preach the whole truth which is synonymous to sound doctrine. Like everything else sound doctrine has two sides to it, the sweet and the bitter. When the Word of God says that, “men will not endure sound doctrine” [II Tim. 4:3], it usually means the bitter side of sound doctrine. As we mentioned earlier in this booklet, men will most eagerly welcome the doctrine of election but will not endure its opposite i.e., reprobation. They will eagerly welcome a doctrine which emphasizes the Lord’s blessings but will want nothing to do with one that demands the cost of discipleship.
Now seeing that all preachers and Churches claim to be teaching the whole truth, how can the man in the pew discern the truth from the error? Seeing that there are many who deceive the hearts of the simple by good and fair speeches, how can one know if he is sitting under the preaching of sound doctrine? In order to discern this, we ought to go back and consider the doctrine of our Lord Jesus. Now every Christian whether he be for real or nominal would agree that the Lord Jesus preached the whole truth and nothing but the truth. For He himself said “My doctrine is not mine, but His that sent Me” [Jn. 7:16]. Now if a Church or a ministry claims to be teaching the same doctrine that the Master taught, then their teaching must necessarily have the same results and outcome that His teaching had.
Now what were the results of Jesus’ doctrine? To be sure, His teachings brought about some genuine conversions. But that’s not all, His teachings also caused division. He said, “Suppose ye, that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division”. And where does His word bring division? The very next verse tells us “For from henceforth there shall be five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against the father; the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother; the mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law [Lk 12:51-53]. Note the words ‘from henceforth’ which means from the time the Lord began His ministry even until He comes again, the preaching of the truth will continue to divide families! The Lord said emphatically that this was one of the reasons why He came. When He sent out His twelve apostles to preach, He cautioned them beforehand saying the same words: “Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me” [Mt. 10:34-37].
Beloved, this is not an exception, but the rule. “The gospel of Satan is not a system of revolutionary principles, nor yet a program of anarchy. It does not promote strife and war, but aims at peace and unity. It seeks not to set the mother against her daughter nor the father against his son, but fosters the fraternal spirit whereby the human race is regarded as one great ‘brotherhood’ “.—A.W. Pink. The Lord said, He came to seek and to save His lost sheep, and His sheep are scattered in families both Christian and non-Christian. So when the Lord calls out His sheep out of these families the division is inevitable. Remember? “A man’s foes shall be they of his own household” [Matt. 10:36]. The ‘man’ in this passage is the Lord’s sheep whom he has chosen to save as opposed to the rest of his family whom he hath chosen not to save. He says “five in one house shall be divided, three against two, and two against three.” At times the Lord may choose to save two or even three in a family of five, but nowhere in the Scripture does the Lord promise to save the whole family57 [Jer. 3:14].
This does not mean the church is a bachelor’s club and cannot consist of families. To be sure, the Church is made up of fathers, mothers, children, brothers and sisters etc., but they cannot be all from the same fleshly family. Such a church which is made up of numerous large families of Grandpa, Grandma, father, mother, son, daughter, uncle, aunty and in-laws all peacefully gathered for a Sunday service, cannot be preaching the truth as it is in Jesus. Such a church must have a form of godliness without the power thereof. You cannot contend that God wants the whole family saved and yet do justice to the Lord’s words which emphatically teach that the Gospel divides families. He says, “And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child; and the children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death. And ye shall be hated by all men for My name’s sake; but he that endureth till the end shall be saved [Matt 10:21,22]. And again, “Everyone that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters or father or mother or wife or children, or lands, for My name’s sake shall receive an hundred fold, and shall inherit everlasting life.”58 [Matt. 19:29]
So, if you are sitting in a church made up of large families, and all of the family members speak well of the pastor and his sermons then you are sitting under a ministry where Satan has taken seat. Sorry, to be so blunt, but that is just the plain truth. It doesn’t matter how skillfully your pastor has divided the word and is preaching expository sermons from the Bible, if families are not divided as a result of his preaching then he is not preaching the whole truth, but on the contrary he must be tickling the ears of the people!
Apart from genuine conversions, sound doctrine also results in hatred and persecution from those who are not of God. “Jesus said, but now ye seek to kill me, a man that has told you the truth” [Jn. 8:40]. And again while praying for His own He said, “I have given them Thy Word; and the World has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world” [Jn. 17:14]. If a preacher is faithful to preach the whole counsel of God, both he and his congregation will face the hatred of the world. The world here, primarily refers to the families out of which the Lord’s sheep are called. That is why He said, he that loveth father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me: And he that loveth son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me” [Mt. 10:37]. And again, “If any man come to Me and hate not his father and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple [Lk. 14:26].Secondly, sound doctrine evokes the rancour of the religious world. Jesus said, “if the world hate you, ye know that it hated Me before it hated you.” [Jn. 15:18].
What ‘world’ hated Christ and hounded Him to death? The religious world, those who pretended to be most zealous for God’s glory. The established religious world of His day could not endure the sound doctrine of the Master. “Now ye seek to kill Me, a man that has told you the truth” [Jn:8:40]. “Ah, my brother, it is a healthy sign, a sure mark that you are sitting under the teaching of sound doctrine, when the religious world hates your pastor and speaks evil of him. But if, on the other hand your pastor still has a ‘good standing’ in the ‘churches’ or ‘assemblies’, there is grave reason to fear that he loves the praise of men more than that of God”! [A.W. Pink]
And those who sit under the teaching of such a man do it to their own destruction!
The true gospel of Jesus Christ faithfully proclaimed is a threat to the status-co of the society, for it attacks its very foundation i.e. the family. Jesus said, He came to send fire on the earth [Lk. 12:49], and that means, division starting with the family [see Matt. 10:34-37; Mk. 13:12,13]. No matter how earnestly the true Church may endeavor to live peaceably with all men, it is still a threat to the society and as a result will be hated by them. The apostle said, “Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you” [I Jn. 3:13]. In the light of all this it is interesting to note that John MacArthur says, “We should live so that we are no threat to the peace and tranquility of our nation or town, the society around us has to see us as their friend” and again speaking of his own church he says, “our society around us sees us as a friend. The society does not see us as a threat” (Tape GC 54-12). Compare this with the report the apostle Paul and Silas received when they entered the city of Thessalonica to preach. The men of the city said: “These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also” [Acts 17:6]. Again at Philippi it was said of them “these men, being Jews, do exceedingly trouble our city” [Acts 16:20]. Jesus said, “If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you” [John 15:19]. The faithful preacher of the word in our day must not expect a better treatment than that which his Lord or His apostles received. For the Lord said, “Remember the word that I said unto you, the servant is not greater than his Lord. If they have persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; If they have kept My saying, they will keep yours also” [Jn. 15:20].
SIN AND COMPROMISE
The Lord has never tolerated sin amongst His people, but always dealt with it strongly. When Achan sinned by taking the accursed thing, the Lord did not give the Israelites victory over their enemies until Achan’s sin was dealt with. Similarly in the New Testament when Ananias and Sapphira lied to the Holy Spirit, and tempted the Spirit of the Lord, He dealt with their sin right away by killing them both. He did this as a warning to let everybody know that He would not tolerate sin in the Church. The apostle Paul laying down the rules of conduct for the Church told Timothy, “Them that sin rebuke before all, that others also may fear” [I Tim. 5:20]. If a pastor is truly a faithful man of God he will personally confront sin in the life of those in his congregation. The apostle Paul commanded Timothy to reprove and rebuke with sound doctrine [II Tim. 4:2]. It is a sure sign of Satan’s presence in the Church where sin is overlooked and not confronted in the lives of its members. Does Macarthur confront sin in the lives of his church members? Listen to his words “Do not demand loyalty from them, give them loyalty. And what that means is that if somebody comes to you to complain about somebody else on your staff or your team, you will not hear that. You will defend that person to the very end, whether or not the criticism is right or wrong.”(Audio tape: 19 characteristics of leadership).
The Lord Jesus came into this world not only to bear witness to the truth, but also to testify against the lie. He said to His brothers, “The world cannot hate you: but Me it hateth, because I testify of it, that the works thereof are evil” [Jn. 7:7]. In the hearing of all the people He openly exposed the hypocrisy of the religious order of His day, and warned men to beware of their doctrine [see Lk. 20: 45-47; Mt. 7:15; 23:1-7]. Warning His flock against false prophets was a normal part of His teaching. Following in his Masters footsteps the apostle Paul too constantly warned his flock against false teachers. Towards the end of his ministry he said, “Wherefore I take you to record this day, that I am pure from the blood of all men. For I have not shunned to declare unto you, all the counsel of God. Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers to feed the Church of God, which he hath purchased with His own blood. For I know this that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. And of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn everyone night and day with tears” [Acts 20: 26-31]. In fact, every single apostle, including John, the apostle of love warned their flock against false teachers and those who teach error. It is the duty and responsibility of the preacher to show the people of God what is true and what is false. Setting the standard for His ministers God says, “And they shall teach My people the difference between the holy and the profane, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean” [Eze. 44:23].
One Pastor Darwin Fish once confronted MacArthur on His failure to expose false teachers by name. What was his response? MacArthur stated something to the effect that he did not get into name-calling (he grew up with that) and his job was to teach the Word of God with the result that people will be able to discern such things on their own. Now wait a minute, didn’t MacArthur say “We have a moral imperative to examine what is proclaimed in Jesus’ name, and to expose and to condemn false teaching and unbiblical behaviour. The apostle Paul felt it necessary at times to rebuke people by name in epistles meant to be read publicly.” [CHARISMATIC CHAOS p.15]. You see beloved, much of MacArthur’s words are just a lot of hot air. But where the rubber meets the road, he is just another gutless wimp who loves the praise of men more than the praise of God. Little wonder thousands attend his ‘church’!
John MacArthur & Jack Hayford
Two Peas in a Pod ?
[ Taken from Rick Miesel’s expose´ on MacArthur ]
Jack Hayford (born 1934) is the hyper-charismatic pastor of the 9,000-member The Church on the Way, the First Foursquare Church of Van Nuys, California. Hayford promotes the “four-square” doctrines of Pentecostalism — that Jesus is Savior, Baptizer with the Holy Spirit, Healer, and Coming King. He also teaches the false doctrine that physical healing is promised in the atonement (Charisma, June 1992). Hayford has authored more than two dozen books, and is also a prolific “hymn” writer, composing more than 400 popular charismatic “gospel” songs, including “Majesty” (which promotes the false charismatic “Kingdom Now” philosophy in which Christians are thought to be able to exercise kingdom authority over sickness and the devil in this present hour).
In Jack Hayford’s book, Pastors of Promise: A Practical and Passionate Call for Faithful Shepherds (Gospel Light Publications:1997), John MacArthur is found praising Hayford along with 29 other so-called “Christian” leaders (among whom are Neil Anderson, Robert Schuller, Bill Hybels, Chuck Colson, Bill Bright, James Ryle, Greg Laurie, and the late John Wimber). At the beginning of Hayford’s book, under “Praise for Pastors of Promise” (six pages of praise for Hayford and his book) MacArthur’s “praise” reads (on the fourth page of quotes):
“Jack Hayford is a model of diligence, faithfulness to the Lord and enduring loyalty to a local church. It’s the long haul that manifests integrity and proven character. Many have fallen in the battle. Hayford is still standing — a tribute to God’s marvelous grace.”
Five years prior (1992), MacArthur wrote in his book Charismatic Chaos the following:
“Lest you think cranks, obscure eccentrics, or naive charismatic believers are the only ones who would make such claims, listen to Jack Hayford, internationally known author, media minister, and pastor of The Church on the Way in Van Nuys, California. Hayford told the Pentecostal Fellowship of North America that God has told him a new era is coming:
“Hayford … related a vision in which he had seen Jesus seated on His throne at the right hand of the Father. In Hayford’s vision, Jesus began to lean forward and rise from his seat. As the anointing caught in the folds of His garments, it began to splash out and fall over the church. Jesus said, ‘I am beginning to rise now in preparation for my second coming. Those who will rise with Me will share in this double portion of anointing.'” [Charismatic Chaos, pp. 48-49; footnote on Hayford, “Pentecostals Set Priorities,” Charisma (January 1991), p. 44.]
MacArthur says Hayford is a man of “integrity” and “a model of diligence, faithfulness to the Lord …” yet Hayford claims to have seen Christ and received a revelatory message from Him! Not only is Hayford’s claim contrary to 1 Peter 1:8 (“though now ye see Him not”), it is also contrary to MacArthur’s own words:
“Scripture is a closed system of truth, complete, sufficient, and not to be added to (Jude 3; Rev. 22:18-19). It contains all the spiritual truth God intended to reveal” (Charismatic Chaos, p. 51).
Proverbs 30:5-6 says, “Every word of God is pure; He is a shield to those who put their trust in Him. Do not add to His words, lest He reprove you, and you be found a liar.”
Even though Hayford has added to “His words” (Proverbs 30:6) and claimed to have received a vision of Christ, MacArthur says Hayford is “a model of diligence” and “faithfulness to the Lord”!
On page 50 of Charismatic Chaos, MacArthur asks, “Did Jack Hayford actually see Christ rise from his seat next to God?” The obvious answer to that question (in the context of MacArthur’s book) is “NO!” Jack Hayford lies about seeing Christ (the true Christ), yet MacArthur says, “Jack Hayford is a model of diligence” and “faithfulness to the Lord”!
It took only one false prophesy in the Old Testament for a man to be found to be a false prophet (Deut. 18:20-22). Hayford is a model of a false prophet! He is NOT a man of “integrity and proven character” as MacArthur says. He is a false teacher who is leading thousands down the broad road to hell! This should be obvious to even those who follow MacArthur.
Editor’s Note: Jack Hayford and Promise Keepers (PK) — PK’s contradictory stand on homosexuality; its promotion of secular psychology; its unscriptural feminizing of men; its depiction of Jesus as a “phallic messiah” tempted to perform homosexual acts; and its ecumenical and unbiblical teachings should dissuade any true Christian from participating. Nevertheless, Hayford is a promoter of this ecumenical, charismatic, psychologized men’s movement. Hayford is on PK’s board of directors and has spoken at major events for Promise Keepers every year since PK’s inception (1991). On 5/14/94, Hayford spoke at a regional Promise Keepers conference in Anaheim, California. During his message, Hayford gave three reasons why God required circumcision in the Old Testament: “[1] God wants to touch your very identity as a man; [2] He wants to reach out and touch your secret and private parts. This enables Him to better perform surgery on the heart; [3] God wants to touch man’s creative parts. This represents the idea that since God has touched our creative parts, we as God’s people need to be creative in our witnessing to others.” Does John MacArthur object to this blasphemy of God’s character? Evidently not, or why would he refer to Hayford as “a model of diligence, faithfulness to the Lord …” who “manifests integrity and proven character … a tribute to God’s marvelous grace”?
Jack Hayford’s hyper-charismatic, ecumenical, and occultic tendencies abound. Yet, despite knowing all this, Dr. John MacArthur is quoted in a September 9, 1991 Los Angeles Times article that he has “a lot of respect for charismatics who love Christ. Jack Hayford and I have a lot in common. Periodically, we get together and talk about ministry, agreeing to disagree.” (In the same article, MacArthur also states that he has a lot of respect for Christian psychologist James Dobson and that he is not critical of Dobson because he [Dobson] “is not a purveyor of psychotherapy.”) Requests to Mac-Arthur’s ministry in Sun Valley, California for an explanation of his understanding of the biblical doctrine of separation, particularly separation from those who teach false doctrines (e.g., Romans 16:17; 2 John 10,11; etc.), have gone unanswered.
We are not in agreement with all of Rick Miesel’s teaching, nevertheless the above expose` on MacArthur is according to the truth.
WOMEN PREACHERS
God in His Word has emphatically commanded through the Holy Spirit ‘Let your women keep silence in the churches’ [I Cor. 14:34] and again ‘I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp the authority over the man, but to be in silence’. Any church which ignores these commands and ordains women preachers or allows women to preach in their congregations cannot be ruled by the Spirit of God. We would like to quote here the words of A.W. Pink in this regard—”Test them! God commands us to ‘try’ or ‘test’ them. See I Jn 4:1, and observe how Christ commended the church at Ephesus for testing (‘trying’) those who claim to be apostles—Rev 2:2. But how are we to test them? Apply the principle of II Tim 4:3; to see if they are teaching ‘sound doctrine’. One part of that ‘sound doctrine’ is the silence of women in the churches—compare I Tim2:12,13—read to them I Cor. 14:34 and see if they will endure that! If their hearts are in subjection to God, they will: they will thank you for enlightening them, they will confess and forsake their error. But if their hearts are not in subjection, if inspite of all their seeming sanctity and devotion to the Lord, they are really determined to have their own way they will quibble, argue, and refuse the light you bring them from God’s Word. Try it out, and see for your self! Approach them meekly and lovingly: tell them I Cor. 14:34 is so plain it cannot be misunderstood, that it is one the divine commands for us to obey. Take your stand on that verse firmly and you will not only find that its ‘sound doctrine’ will not be ‘endured’ by them, but they will quickly show that you are not wanted by them!
God has given woman an honorable place. She is Eve, the mother of all living [Gen. 3:20; I Cor.11:12]. A woman had the infinite privilege of being overshadowed by the power of the Highest and so becoming the mother of the Son of God. A woman could anoint the feet and the head of the Lord, and a woman was the first one permitted to see the risen Lord. And on that occasion He gave her the revelation about the highest and most glorious consequence of His work on the cross: “I ascend to My Father and Your Father”—a truth about which we can only adoringly marvel. Yes, I may well say, a truth that makes our minds reel if we contemplate it. And yet God’s purpose for woman is not for her to take a place publicly on the foreground. She is a type of the assembly, the bride of Christ [Eph. 5:32]; therefore the place of subjection under the man is becoming to her, for the man is the type of Christ, the Bridegroom of the church.
In all God’s ways with mankind we see this place in the background, this secluded place, as the place for woman. None of the writers chosen by God to write the sixty-six books of the Bible was a woman. The genealogical registers give us the pedigrees of men. It was men whom God called to begin a new testimony: Noah, Abraham, Moses, etc. The twelve apostles the Lord called and the seventy whom He later sent out were all men. The seven in Acts 6 who had a good testimony and were full of the Holy Spirit and of wisdom were men. Among the witnesses to the resurrection of the Lord who are mentioned in I Corinthians 15 there was not a single woman, and that despite the fact that Mary was the first one to see the Lord after His resurrection and that she could announce it to the apostles. There where mention is made of elders, overseers, ministers, only men come into question. The two witnesses in Revelation 11 are men, too. I could go on like this.
We see this, too, in the directions that are given for the meetings and for the entire public conduct of woman. 1 Corinthians 11 expressly says that a woman, if she is engaging in a service that might give the appearance that she is taking a place beside the man, must cover her head as a sign that she recognizes that she is to take a place of submission under the man. And in order that there might be no uncertainty about the fact that she can only pray or prophesy when no man is present capable of so doing, Scripture expressly tells us three chapters further on that women must be entirely silent in the meetings of the assembly—which surely were the least public of all occasions [I Cor14:34-38]. In I Timothy 2:11-15 it is yet especially emphasized that under no circumstances is a woman to rise up as a teacher. And Scripture gives as reason for this that the first time woman did so she dragged along her husband and us all with her into ruin.
It is often asserted that the word “speak” in I Cor. 14:34, 35 only means “chatter.” But that is a naked untruth. This exact same word is found 25 times in this chapter, and among other places it is used in verse 21 for the Lord’s speaking . So it cannot be translated “chatter” in even one passage.
It is well known that in most Pentecostal groups women play the leading role, in praying and speaking publicly in their meetings. Are these not plain symptoms by which to recognize the spirits that are at work there? Surely the Spirit of God cannot be present in a church where His Word is so openly despised and rejected. And wherever so-called christians are gathered together in such open rebellion to God’s Word, it is not the Lord Jesus who is present there, but ‘Another Jesus’ who is none other than Satan himself! [II Cor. 11:4].
A CHURCH RICH IN PROPERTY & WEALTH
A true church of God resembles its Master in all things. Christ said of Himself that He had nowhere to lay His head. Peter and John following in their Master’s footsteps said “silver and gold have I none” Acts 3:6. In fact it is the poor to whom the gospel is proclaimed [Matt. 11:5], and the poor to whom the Kingdom of Heaven belongs [Lk. 6:20]. The apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians saying that the life style of the apostles was a proof of the genuineness of their ministry. He said “In all things, approving ourselves as the ministers of God, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses. . . .as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing all things” [II Cor. 6:4-10]. And again he said, “Even unto this present hour we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no certain dwelling place” [I Cor. 4:11]. Jesus said to the apostate lukewarm church that it was rich and wealthy and increased with goods and it had need of nothing; but knew not that it was wretched, and miserable and poor and blind and naked [Rev. 3:17]. But to the true and faithful church He says, “I know thy works, and tribulations, and poverty. . . .” [Rev. 2:9].
After Jesus said, “Blessed be ye poor: for yours is the Kingdom of God,” He went on to say “But woe unto you that are rich! For ye have received your consolation” [Lk. 6:20-24]. Jesus taught the same concept in His parable of the ‘rich man and Lazarus’. In that parable Abraham tells the rich man who is in hell, “Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: But now he is comforted and thou art tormented. James, the Lord’s brother said, “Hearken, my beloved brethren, hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the Kingdom which He has promised to them that love Him?” [James 2:5].
All the verses quoted above are not speaking of spiritual poverty as is often misquoted by those who desire to be rich, but poverty as pertaining to worldly property and wealth. We are not saying that poverty is a virtue to be coveted or even that it is a requisite for salvation. Nor do we mean that the Lord wants His people to constantly live in poverty and in need. On the contrary the true servants of God have all their need supplied to them according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Such true servants of God content themselves with food and clothing and the basic needs of life and are not desirous to accumulate property and worldly wealth. They set their affections on the things above and not on things on the earth, and they confess that they are strangers and pilgrims on the earth who desire a better country i.e. a heavenly one. But a church that is rich in property and worldly wealth cannot possibly be ruled by His Spirit, for it is so unlike her Master and His apostles whom she claims to follow.
Nobody who has eyes to see will deny that men like Oral Roberts, Kenneth Copeland and Pat Robertson have amassed property and wealth in the name of the Lord. But what about evangelicals such as John MacArthur? Can they say with the Lord, “My Kingdom is not of this world,” [Jn. 18:36]. Or as the apostles, “As poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things”[II Cor. 6:10]. No they certainly cannot. Listen to MacArthur’s tape (GC 2022), which is a question and answer session. The first question asked by one of his church members is “I’d like to know what property Grace Community Church owns and who has the right to say how it’s supposed to be used?” Answering this question MacArthur spends the next twenty minutes explaining the tremendous amount of property and assets owned by the church. Further in the cassette when asked about what priority the construction of Grace school had in the church’s agenda, he replies “it is equal in its priority to build the Kingdom of the Lord. We would like to relocate the christian school, it is a tremendously necessary thing. I wish we could have a school system, rather than just one school. I wish we had five or six or ten elementary schools, and a couple of junior highs, all feeding into one great christian high school. I would like to see that happen in the future, but that’s a property issue. . . .”
WHY COME OUT OF THE ESTABLISHED DENOMINATIONS
Dearly beloved, the Kingdom of God is not made up of schools, colleges, church buildings and seminaries, which promote worldly wisdom. It was not the Lord’s commission to the church to waste time and money in establishing educational centres which promote worldly wisdom, in a world that is soon going to perish. Jesus said, “Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.” And He also said, if we preached it right, we would be hated of all men for His name’s sake and persecuted from city to city [Matt. 10:22,23]. In every generation the church of Jesus is made up of the called out ones (Ecclesia). There is no such thing as ‘second generation christians’. God has no grandchildren, only children. The second generation, “Did not know the Lord” [Judges 2:10]. When the generation that is called by the Lord is misled into building church buildings, then the children born into that church are forced to ‘play church’ though they have not been called of God. When the spiritual life of a church declines and dies, a building calls for the organization to continue. Thus many “dead churches” continue to exist all over the world. The pastor is still paid, many people still dutifully attend the services, the club goes on, but the life has gone! A skeleton remains! What a pity it can’t be buried! If there were no buildings, “dead churches” would have taken a natural demise long ago. They would not have been left to continue as a hindrance to the Kingdom of God.
But does not God use these big denominations and christian organizations? Beloved, God uses everything, including the devil and his demons. He uses these denominations and christian organizations to make His name known among the nations and to prepare His elect for salvation. As the apostle said, “What then? Notwithstanding, every way, whether in pretense, or in truth, Christ is preached; and I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice” [Phil. 1:18]. Speaking of the religious organization of His day the Lord said, “All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say and do not” [Matt. 23:3]. And because they say and do not, they become blindleaders of the blind who lead their followers into the ditch, just as the established denominations of our day. Jesus said. “Let them alone!” [Matt. 15:14]. So if a man seeks to truly follow Christ as a disciple he must come out of such dead churches where satan rules and find a true church i.e. the called out church of his generation.
COMPROMISE WITH THE CHURCH OF ROME
BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS spoken of in Rev. 17 is none other than the Roman Catholic church. This is a fact that nobody who knows the word of God and Church history would debate. Every single reformer of the past saw the church of Rome as the very seat of the antichrist and said nobody who is a part of her could ever be saved. In fact, that is how the Protestants got their name, i.e., by protesting against the church of Rome. Rev. 17:6 talks about the MOTHER OF HARLOTS drunk with the blood of the saints. And while reading this, one immediately thinks of the Inquisitions (Roman, Medieval, and Spanish) which for centuries held Europe in their terrible grip. In Spain alone the number of condemned exceeded three million, with about three hundred thousand burned at the stake.59 To get these Christians to deny their faith and give information of others like them, the Roman Catholic church devised ingenious tortures so excruciating and barbarous that one is sickened by their recital. Church historian Bishop William Shaw Kerr writes: The most ghastly abomination of all was the system of torture, the accounts of its cold blooded operations make one shudder at the capacity of human beings for cruelty. And it was decreed and regulated by the popes who claim to represent Christ on earth.60 Peter deRosa the catholic historian acknowledges that his own catholic church “was responsible for persecuting Jews, for inquisition, for slaughtering heretics by the thousands, for reintroducing torture into Europe as part of the judicial process. Yet, the Roman Catholic church has never officially admitted that these practices were evil, nor has she apologized to the world or to any of the victims or their descendants. Nor could Pope John Paul II apologize today because “The doctrines responsible for those terrible things still underpin his position. Another reason, the Roman church never apologized for these murders is because they were decreed by “infallible popes”. The catholic church herself claims to be infallible, and thus her doctrines could not be wrong. Rome has not changed at heart no matter what sweet words she speaks when it serves her purpose.
Beloved, make no mistake, God has not forgotten the sufferings of His martyrs, and He has promised to avenge them. The Scripture promises, “The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance: he shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked. So that a man shall say, Verily there is a reward for the righteous: verily He is a God that judgeth in the earth [Psa. 58:10,11]. It is the Spirit of God that is now crying out through His servants “Come out of her My people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues” [Rev. 18:4]. And where ‘another spirit’ has replaced the Spirit of God, this cry will not be heard. Some men openly display the ‘mark of the beast’ on their foreheads, in that they are neither ashamed nor afraid to show their compromise with the Great Whore. Such as, Billy Graham who calls the Roman Catholic pope “the world’s greatest evangelist.” Similarly men like the pastors of the leading Baptist Church of our own town who invited the Roman Catholic Arch Bishop to inaugurate their new ‘prayer tower’, do not hide the fact as to whose ministers they are, whether God’s or Satan’s. But there are others, who are not as bold enough to display their allegiance to Satan, so they hide the mark of the beast in their hand, in that they are silent and do not cry out against the mother of harlots and her daughters. They do not warn or persuade men to come out of the Roman Catholic church or other false churches of our day. Some even claim to be silently protesting by setting a ‘godly example’. God’s word calls them “dumb dogs that cannot bark” [Isa. 56:10].
It is interesting to note that in all his sermons and books, MacArthur does not directly warn the Roman Catholics to get out of their church. Of course, when forced to give an opinion on the Roman Catholics he will admit that they are wrong and that they need to be saved, but he has never outrightly preached a sermon warning catholics to come out of their church. On the contrary, his tape ministry has made available hundreds of messages on every subject imaginable from ‘The Virgin Birth’ to ‘Where Heaven Is and What It Is Like’, but not a word on separation from false churches. In fact, his ministry honestly confesses “our role is not to supplant the local Church’s ministry, but to support it by providing additional resources for those hungering for the truth of God’s word.” The reason for this is that MacArthur does not believe that the established churches of our day are irremediably apostate. He still believes that they are preaching the true gospel. Listen to his own words,
“Am I suggesting that the popular gospel of our day is so seriously adulterated that it has become “another gospel,” a message so corrupt that its purveyors doom themselves to perdition? No. I have not written this book to label anyone a heretic. But I do believe that the danger of “another gospel” is a very real threat.” (Gospel according to Jesus) Beloved, the danger of “another gospel” pervading christendom may have been a threat in the days of the apostle, but now it is a fulfilled reality and if any do not see it there is a marvellous blindness upon them! What the majority of the churches of our day need is not ‘additional resources’ to tickle their ears, but prophets of God who will cry in their ears “Come out of her My people, lest you partake of her sins and receive of her plagues”! What we need, are not ‘more indepth resources for Bible studies’, but prophets of God who will “Cry aloud, spare not, lift up their voice like a trumpet, and show His people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins” [Isa. 58:1]. Even now, MacArthur’s tape library in our own city has members from false churches such as the Roman Catholic and Assemblies of God who are getting their ears tickled with expository sermons about Christmas and Easter, when what they really need, is somebody to warn them to get out of these churches.
When John MacArthur’s Tape Lending Library initially started in our country, they had made available tapes by speakers other than John MacArthur. Among these tapes were—Dickknolls’ series of tapes exposing the heresies of Roman Catholicism and Rabindranath Maharaj’s expose´ on Hinduism and Islam. But now, all such controversial tapes have been conveniently removed. Even some of MacArthur’s own tapes on the ‘Irreconcilable differences between Catholics and Evangelicals’ have been cleverly removed, and the latest tape catalogue does not even leave any trace that such tapes were once available. The reason why these controversial tapes have been removed is anybody’s guess. Though all the members of MacArthur’s Library may not be guilty of such manoeuvring, the ones responsible for the removal of these tapes knew exactly what they were doing. The Bible speaks of those who resist the truth [II Tim. 3:8], and those who suppress the truth in unrighteousness [Rom. 1:18]. These have no desire to expose the lie [Eph. 5:11], or testify against the works of darkness [John 7:7] for fear of persecution. For they love the praise of men more than the praise of God [John 12:43]. The apostle said, “For if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ [Gal. 1:10].
A man’s faithfulness in declaring the whole counsel of God is evidenced by the fruit his ministry produces. Speaking of those who were converted under his preaching the apostle Paul said, “Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men“[II Cor. 3:2]. Jesus Himself said, “Ye shall know them by their fruits”[Matt.7:20].
Would the follower’s of Martin Luther, or any of the other Protestant reformers join hands with a Roman Catholic to do the Lord’s work? And yet, the man who pioneered MacArthur’s ministry in our own town and brought in the first seventy or more members is a devout Roman Catholic. What needs to be seen is that if those who recruited this Roman Catholic were truly saved, they would have never recruited him in the first place, and secondly, if MacArthur’s preaching and ministry were an offense to the Roman Catholics this man would have never joined. Sadly, even the rest of the staff of his library are regular members of a church that is obviously a daughter of the Roman Catholic Church. Beloved, it ought to be remembered that when the uncircumcised pagans came to join hands with Zerubbabel to build the Temple of the Lord, he and the rest of the elders replied, “Ye have nothing to do with us to build an house unto our God; but we ourselves together will build unto the Lord God of Israel“[Ezra 4:1-3].
Any Church with human priesthood is a part of the harlot, ‘Babylon the Great’; which God is going to judge and cast into the lake of fire. Any Church whose ministers dress up like the priests of Rome must necessarily belong to her in spirit. The late C. H. Spurgeon said it well: “Among us Protestants, the preacher claims no priestly power, and therefore should never wear a peculiar dress. None, but a very silly sheep would wear wolf’s clothing. It is a strange taste, which makes honest men covet the rags of thieves. They must be weak folks indeed who want a man to dress like a woman before they can enjoy his sermon, and he who cannot preach without such milliner’s tawdry finery maybe a man among geese, but he is a goose among men. Forever away with surplices and gowns and all those nursery doll dresses, men should put away childish things. A cross on the back is the sign of a devil in the heart; those who do as Rome does should go to Rome and show their colours.”
Christmas And Easter—Pagan Festivals In The Church!
Revelation 17 speaks of the MOTHER OF HARLOTS sitting with a golden cup full of abominations and the filthiness of her fornication, and that the inhabitants of the earth were made drunk with the wine of her fornication. One of the abominations of the Mother of harlots is the adoption of the Babylonian festivals into Christianity. Alexander Hislop of the unforgettable classic ‘The Two Babylons or The Papal Worship’ says, “That Christmas was originally a Pagan festival, is beyond all doubt. The time of the year and the ceremonies with which it is still celebrated, prove its origin. Long before the fourth century, and long before the christian era itself, a festival was celebrated among the heathen, at the precise time of the year, in honour of the birth of the son of the Babylonian queen of heaven; and it may fairly be presumed that, in order to conciliate the heathen, and to swell the number of the nominal adherents of christianity, the same festival was adopted by the Roman Church, giving it only the name of Christ. Everyone who trembles at the Word of God must shudder at the very thought of giving such a system, either individually or nationally the least countenance or support.”
As we examine the Christmas tradition we find a lot of commercialism, paganism, and Romanism. As we examine the Bible we find no command, no precedent, and no authority to celebrate Christmas. The word ‘Christmas’ is not found in the Bible. The Apostle said, “Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an example” [Phil. 3:17]. Nowhere, in the Scriptures do the apostles ever mention that they celebrated the birth of the Saviour. In the Bible it was only heathen and wicked kings whose birthdays were celebrated. Jesus our Lord asked His people to remember His death not His birth [I Cor. 11:24,25]. Christmas does not mean ‘Birth of Christ.’ The word is made up of Christ + mas. It means “Christ’s mass”. “Mass” is derived from a Latin word meaning dismissal. “The Mass” is a religious service of the Roman Catholic Church, a performance of the sacrament of the Eucharist. Protestants say they never celebrate a “mass.” The word is not even in their dictionary—except for Christ-MAS.
Knowing what it means, we cannot in sincerity and truth, wish anyone a Happy Christ-MAS. 25th December was a pagan Roman holiday which was celebrated as the birthday of the Sun god. When the Roman Empire was converted to Christianity, the pagan holiday also got converted into the “birthday of Christ.” We object to celebrating the birth of our Saviour on a pagan/Roman MAS day. The so-called “Star of Bethlehem” used at Christmas—mostly a five-pointed star—is an occult symbol, called the pentagram. It is used for witchcraft, and when inverted, it is the “star of Satan.” Satan has so skillfully put his seal on Christmas, even in Christian homes and Churches. According to David Meyter, an ex-occultist, there is a practice in occultism of scrambling the letters of s-a-t-a-n to promote the devil. The word “santa” is a scrambled version of Satan. Christmas is always a commercial success story, and it should be glaringly obvious to anyone who has eyes to see, that it is very much a part of Commercial Babylon [Rev. 18].
Does MacArthur warn christians to abstain from observing this pagan festival? No! On the contrary he writes a booklet titled ‘Six ways Satan is stealing Christmas.’ Beloved, it was Satan who gave us the Christmas tradition in the first place, and MacArthur as his faithful emissary is making sure that the uninformed christian continues its observance. Didn’t anybody warn MacArthur regarding christmas? Oh yes they did! Way back in 1993 Pastor Darwin Fish exposed Christmas for what it really is (an ungodly pagan holiday), and sent his findings (study) to MacArthur for review. Did MacArthur take heed and repent of his folly? How could he being the wolf that he is. He promptly wrote back to pastor Fish saying that he did not have the ‘time’ to review his material. The attitude being “My mind is made up to compromise, don’t confuse me with the facts.”
The Bible says, “Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ” [Col. 2:8]. Any preacher or pastor who does not teach his congregation to withdraw from observing and celebrating Christmas is making them drink of the cup of the “Great Whore”! “Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord’s table, and of the table of devils” [I Cor. 10:21]. MacArthur does not warn the people to refrain from observing this Roman, Babylonian festival, but on the contrary has written a whole book promoting the celebration of this pagan festival. He sickeningly says in his book “I wish this will be the best Christmas you ever celebrated.”
The celebration of Easter, too is Babylonian beyond dispute. Even the reference materials which are available in the libraries of the world, are replete with the Fact that the worship of Easter (Ishtar) is the worship of a pagan goddess. Mankind’s own reference books say the worship of Easter—A pagangoddess isthe most important Christian practice today! How the Lord Jesus could be buried on Good Friday and rise again on Easter Sunday and yet fulfill His words to remain three days and three nights in the grave, nobody bothers to ask. Again, as usual, MacArthur does not exhort people to withdraw themselves from joining Rome in celebrating this pagan festival, but tickles the ears of the people on Easter Sunday with messages on ‘The Good News of The Resurrection’!
There will be those who will say, “But, is not the Christmas and Easter season a great opportunity to share the gospel with the heathen?” Like MacArthur says “I do see Christmas concerts attracting people to the church”(GC-2022). Those who say this are ignorant of the fact that men’s hearts are the same in every season. And again, would God truly honour the witnessing efforts of those who observe Rome’s traditions which are an abomination to Him? The idea that men’s hearts are more receptive to the gospel during the Christmas season is a delusion of those who seek to compromise.
Then there will be others who argue saying, “But, celebrating Christmas isn’t a moral issue, so why make a big fuss about it?” Beloved, if this is your attitude, then you need to “examine yourself whether you be in the Faith” [II Cor. 13:5]. The true saint of God does not abstain himself only from those things which are morally wrong, but hates “every false way” [Psa. 119:104]. The Lord hath warned, “Take heed to thyself that thou be not snared by following them (the heathen), after that they be destroyed from before thee; and that inquire after their gods, saying, How did these nations serve their gods? Even so, will I do likewise. Thou shalt not do so unto the Lord thy God: for every abomination to the LORD, which He hateth, have they done unto their gods” [Deut. 12:30,31]. So, dearly beloved, prove all things and hold fast that which is good and do not follow a multitude to do evil [I Thess. 5:21; Exo. 23:2].
Why Preachers Give In To Satan’s Rule?
You may ask, “Why have our pastors so deceived us? Why have they so compromised?” The answer is beloved, that many of these ‘pastors’ are not even born again to start with. As A.W. Pink has said, “Passing through a seminary and putting on the ministerial garb does not transform the unregenerate into regenerate men.” It was to the religious leaders of His day that Jesus said, “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do” [Jn. 8:44]. Speaking of false prophets the Lord says, “I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran: I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied” [Jer. 23:21].
Many a preacher has gone into the ministry, because of the unemployment problem. Others have entered the ministry because their father was a preacher and the family expects it of them. Moreover, not to follow in daddy’s steps and become a preacher is to lose out on all the property, wealth and assets that daddy has amassed in the name of the Lord. Beloved, you can tell a preacher was never sent by God, when you see him reading the whole sermon from a piece of paper. Jesus promised His disciples, “I will give you a mouth and wisdom… [Lk. 21:15]. And again, “It is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you” [Matt. 10:20]. When Peter stood up and spoke before the multitude, he was not reading out a pre-written sermon. When the apostle Paul entered a city to preach, he wasn’t reading out sermons which were concocted with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but was speaking in the demonstration of the Spirit and of power [I. Cor. 2:4]. We have personally witnessed preachers from MacArthur’s seminary who conduct seminars and read the whole message verbatim from a typed out sheet of paper. George Whitefield the 18th century evangelist said it well, “Though all are not to be condemned that use notes, yet it is a sad symptom of the Decay of vital Religion, when reading Sermons becomes fashionable where extempore Preaching did once almost universally prevail.
CONCLUSION ON SEPERATION
So we see, that Satan’s presence and authority in any given Church can be detected by:
The presence of unsound doctrine: For where the devil rules, truth will not be found, because, he is a liar and the father of it [Jn. 8:44]. Any teaching which is endured today and is popular in the religious world cannot be sound doctrine: for the apostle prophesied almost two thousand years ago that the time would come when men would not endure sound doctrine. Alas! that time has come!
The presence of sin in the life of its members which is overlooked and excused by the pastor and the elders of the Church. The Lord Jesus says, “as many as I love I rebuke and chasten” [Rev. 3:19]. So a Church without discipline must necessarily be forsaken by God. And when God abandons a Church, Satan takes over.
The obvious compromise with false prophets and false churches: Scripture declares that Christ has no fellowship with Belial, and a believer has no part with an infidel [II Cor. 6:15]. When false prophets such as Benny Hinn, Paul Yonggi Cho, P.P. Job, K. A. Paul, or the Dhinakarans come to town to hold a meeting, and your pastor does not warn you about them, but on the contrary puts up banners and posters to advertise for them, then the same spirit of anti-christ that is working in these false prophets is working in your pastor and the elders of your church! When the Roman Catholic church and the rest of the ‘churches’ in town get together for a ‘united christmas celebration’, and your church is also amongst them, then you can be sure that Satan rules your church!!
Jesus said in Mark 3:26 that Satan would never oppose himself, for then his kingdom would not stand. So, these pastors who are silent and don’t expose false prophets in churches are in reality the ministers of anti-christ. For were they truly filled with Jesus’ Spirit, then they would have the same zeal that He had for His Father’s house; were they truly following His example then they would be warning His people against false prophets just like He and His apostle’s did. Their silence betrays their identity. When it does not bother a man of God that his Father’s house is being turned into a den of thieves, then he is no shepherd, but a thief and a robber who has climbed up some other way [Matt. 21: 13; Jn. 10: 1]. The late J.C. Ryle said in his ‘Warnings To the Churches’—”Surely the dumb dog and the sleeping shepherd are the best allies of the wolf, the thief and the robber.”
A FINAL WORD
Dear brother/sister, you who are truly born again and know the Lord and His word, this booklet was especially prepared with you in mind. The Lord loves you, and has placed this material in your hand that you might have the light on the subtle deceptions of Satan and his ministers. We plead with you to sincerely examine the Church where you regularly fellowship, and the doctrine which you believe whether it be of God. If you find yourself sitting in a Church in which Satan has authority then you must come out of it and expose it. For you cannot claim to be the Lord’s child and continue to remain under Satan’s deception. Even many so-called ‘godly men’ will compel you to stay in a Church which is obviously apostate, saying, “you need to stay in the church and help to save the rest of the church”. Beloved this is Satan’s lie, for God never calls the whole ‘church’, but only individuals.
Spurgeon saw separation as a biblical necessity for himself. He said “Whether others do so or not, I have felt the power of the text, ‘Come out from among them, and be ye separate,’ and have quitted both Union and Association once for all. This is forced upon me, not only by my convictions, but also by the experience of the utter uselessness of attempting to deal with the evil except by personally coming out from it. The bounden duty of a true believer towards men who profess to be christians, and yet deny the Word of the Lord, and reject the fundamentals of the gospel, is to come out from among them. Fellowship with known and vital error is participation in sin. To stay in a community which fellowships all beliefs in hope of setting matters right, is as though Abraham had stayed at Ur, or at Haran, in the hope of converting the household out of which he was called. Complicity with error will take from the best of men the power to enter any successful protest against it.”
When the Lord said to Peter, “follow me”, Peter turned around and saw another disciple and said, “Lord, and what shall this man do?” To which the Lord said, “If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? Follow thou Me.“[Jn. 21:19-22]. You cannot continue in an apostate church and lead someone else to a True Church. It just doesn’t work that way. In order to pull someone on to the rock you need to be on the rock yourself. The Bible teaches, “Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove (expose) them”[Eph. 5:11]. It is not going to be easy, it will cost you everything. But that is the price you have to pay to be His disciple. Remember, that the Lord Jesus and all His apostles remained separate from the established religious order of their day. It says of Jesus that He suffered outside the gate, therefore let us go forth unto Him, outside the camp (of apostate christianity) bearing His reproach [Heb. 13:12,13].
An Alternative To Apostasy
The body of the elect is never an organization, it is a living organism, and it is brought forth by the Word of God (James 1:18; 1 Peter 1:23; Ephesians 1:13) never by church planning or construction. Churches filled with goats are easy to spawn; large crowds of the elect in one place are extremely rare in history.
The Apostle said, ‘Even so hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel” [1Cor 9:14]. But in the last days that we are now living in, that is not possible. If a faithful preacher can find a handful of sheep who will agree with him he can be thankful. So though he would rather serve the Lord Fulltime, he is compelled to work secularly and continue to preach the Truth repentance toward God.
The question now, before the true child of God is, “Is there an alternative to apostasy? How do I obey the command “Come out of her My people!” If I do come out, where could I go? Where is the truth? Is there a true Church anywhere?”
Dearly beloved, there is an alternative to apostasy if you are willing to pay the price and come out. God has always had His faithful ones, even in the darkest days of apostasy. In the days of the Roman persecution under the Emperor Nero there were the faithful persecuted Christians who lived in gloomy caves under the hills outside the city of Rome, in an area known as the catacombs. These refused to bow the knee to Nero (a type of the devil), and as a result many were caught and fed to the lions for their faith. Then during the reign of terror of the Roman Catholic persecution there were the Waldenses and the Ana-Baptists, who refused to bow the knee to the Roman Pontiff (an antichrist). Thus in every age God has His remnant, the persecuted few who are literally unknown to the religious world. It must be noted that the true Christians of the catacombs, the Waldenses, the Ana-Baptists and virtually every other true Church which ever existed has preached separation from the false religious system of their day. And that in accord with God’s Word [see II Cor. 6:14-18; Rev. 18:4].
The Lord Jesus did not promise that there would be a great revival prior to His coming, but on the contrary said, “When the Son of man cometh, shall He find faith on the earth?”[Lk. 18:8]. He said this because, except for a small minority of blood bought redeemed believers the whole of Christendom would be under Satan’s rule, given over to his deceptions, being irremediably apostate. But thank God that even in the midst of all this apostasy God has His remnant according to the election of grace. They are all over the world, small groups of ten or even less, who usually meet in homes without any denominational label, virtually unknown—a ‘Church in the wilderness,’ still contending for the faith, still remaining unspotted from the world, still preaching separation, and still refusing to bow the knee to Baal. These are they, which follow the Lamb withersoever He goeth, for they are His sheep and know His voice, and a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him, for they know not the voice of strangers. Even now if you hear the voice of the Master speaking to you through these pages and you desperately want to come out of the apostasy and flee from the wrath to come, pray and seek God’s face and He will lead you to a fellowship of true believers, for only He knows where they are and only He can lead you there. Faithful is He that calleth you, who also will do it [I Thess. 5:24].
But even if you cannot find an assembly of true believers to fellowship with, there is no need to ‘go anywhere’ on Sunday! Just stay at home and spend the time reading God’s Word and in prayer!
“Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate. Let us go forth therefore unto him without (outside) the camp (of nominal Christianity), bearing his reproach. For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come”. [Hebrews 13:12-14]
“Those who are “poor in spirit” have nothing in common with the self-satisfied Laodiceans. And how “distressed” in soul are they over the worldliness that has come in like a flood, over the crowds of unregenerate members, over the utter absence of any scriptural discipline? And what is to be the attitude and actions of God’s grieved children toward those having nothing more than a form of godliness? This “from such turn away” (2 Timothy 3:5). Identify yourself with Christ on the outside; walk alone with Him”! [A.W. Pink]
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