|
At the prompting of a brother who wrote me,
I read a certain preacher’s words [Jamal Bryant] the
other day and attempted to briefly enlighten him--not that he
or any of the many wrong-headed ministers that have proliferated
in the church world today want enlightenment. And as I finished
my sermon in a second to him, the scripture came to me of God’s
hand being stretched out in reasoning—“Come now, let us reason
together, saith the Lord.”--yet few if any want to reason with
God or the true man of God about truth, justice, and the
righteousness of God.
If one considers the time of Christ and the
behavior of the church today, that person will notice the
uncanny parallel between the religious of that day and the
religious of today's church: the house of God had been overrun
by crass commercialism and turned into a den
of thieves, and the keepers of God's house had allowed it to be
so. Likewise, today’s church has given itself over to
moneychangers masquerading as pastors and preachers, but are
little more than vulgar moneychangers--changing the money of God's people from
their hands to the bank accounts of preachers. [Mat.
21:13] One poor minister announced that “God had anointed him to
take an offering.” Clearly he had not read Acts 6:2-4 and
probably many other scriptures. God doesn’t anoint ministers, but
for deacons to do that act. Now if one is an evangelist and a deacon
then the condition is different.
How tragic we have made the
house of God, shaming the true ministers of God and the very
body of Christ. Inspired by Satan, ungodly men have bastardized the church
into
mainline American Christianity, which is not fathered by Christ, but by
the devil. [John 8:44]
In America, Christianity in most churches
has been taken over by politics, just like Emperor Constantine
in 313, took over the
early church and made it the Roman
Catholic Church. This politicization of the church has
corrupted the truth and brought in all types of erroneous
teachings, doctrines, and sinful behavior as normal. Today, the Religious Right,
a political group, claims to be
Christian, but their Christianity conforms to very little of
God’s word and most of old fashion Americanism. They have
bastardized the church for the state, allowing themselves any
liberties and still call themselves Christians. But they
are not!
In other churches, the entire mission
has become money and this world’s goods going to a
pastor first and trickling down in philosophy, but rarely in
substance, to the membership; and the operative word is always "now!"
Foolishly, the Jamal Bryants of this world, who are the thieves and robbers that fancy themselves
ministers, claim that since all is God’s, they should have all
of God's possessions now
because they/we are the sons of God. Were they really sons of
God with this argument, they would be foolish and prodigal sons!
But they are not at all sons of God, having not even received
the first principles of the doctrine of Christ--the new birth--correctly.
Instead, they are foolish
children of the devil. Most, if not all of them, have never been
born again as God dictates.
How
can that be? God said that his ways and thoughts were not man’s
ways and thoughts. [Isa.55:8] And if that is the case, then we
must see and do things the way God sees and says they should be
done. But the self-willed and hard-headed will not walk in God’s
ways nor engage in the thoughts of God. [Isa. 42:24;Jer. 6:16]
They will, however, use the name of Christ to take away the
reproach of being Christians their way, for such a way
is reproachful to God and to his saints in light. [Isa. 4:1]
No one can be a Christian his way; it must be
God’s way. Jesus said that one who tries to come any other
way but God’s way (and Jesus is the way to God; the door) is a thief
and a robber. [John 10:1, 7]
These corrupt workers argue that all is
the Lord’s and they are sons of God, therefore, all
should be theirs now. But they know nothing of God’s word, other than
enough to seduce weak souls and
babes in Christ/the church to their vain prattling and wrongful teachings. Yes, all is the Lord’s but
there is a proper time for that all to be enjoyed by his saints,
and when that fullness of time is come, all will be ours. Jesus left us a
living legacy/example that we should walk in his steps. That
example is not one of opulent living
but of modesty, as we occupy until he comes back for us--occupy
his legacy. That means we are to get ourselves ready for his
return. [Eph. 4:11-15] That is why we sing the song, When we
all get together, what a day of rejoicing that will be; When
that day comes we will sing and shout the victory! That
shout is not to go up now; we are still in a battle for our
eternal lives. Now if this truth is hidden, it is hidden to
those who are already lost!
These are days of purification and
endurance. But when the end comes, we who have endured will walk
on the vanity that wicked and devilish false prophets and those
who now follow them are selling their souls for. Paul said that with what things as we have, be
therewith content. There is a fullness of time element, but that
fullness of time has yet to come! The church has not been caught
away with Christ, the man of sin can only come after that
happens because the church is the light of the world, and we (the
true saints in light) hinder the Man of Sin from coming. There
are many sinners in the world, but the man of sin will not come
until the bride of Christ is taken out of this world. For that
man of sin will come with all signs and lying wonders because
the light of Christ, the church, will have been removed from the
earth.
After that, and at the end of the last half
of the Time of Jacob's Trouble/the Great
Tribulation, Jesus will come back and bind Satan for a thousand
years. And thank God he will, lest no flesh would be saved, but
for the elects' sake, he will come and put down all ungodliness
and rule this entire earth with a rod of iron. I am aware that
this reality defies the American Christians' view of
Christianity and godliness, but their view is warped by their
notion of Christianity, which isn't Christianity at all, just
American nationalism! These types of 'Christians" often
proffer the idea that democracy is the wave of the future, even
at the barrel of American guns, and they gladly applaud our
bombs and missiles killing others to supposedly give them
democracy, as if it is God's way. Those notions have nothing to
do with Christianity; theirs is the way of nationalism.
But I say to you, no one will vote Jesus
in, and no one can stop him from coming and ruling; his rule
will be an absolute dictatorship, as he rules in righteousness.
This is HIS earth; All things were made by him and God himself,
without any help, will take it back and destroy it himself as he
makes all things new. No! God does not need man to help him work
out his plan that was before the foundation of the world. His
own arm brought salvation when there was no man capable or
worthy enough to redeem himself from his own sins; God did it!
God and HE alone! He was the only one who could measure up to
the standard set for redemption. He looked down on man after
many years of man's wandering in sin and declared of man
that there was none righteous: No! Not one! Left to man's own
devices, he would kill himself and all things around him; that
is how wicked human nature is. But he will not be left to his
own devices; God will come back and redeem his own! Even now
God's creation groans waiting for the redemption.
He will come and bind Satan for a thousand
years, during which time we, his church/bride, will experience a mere glimpse of
a long marriage throughout eternity. Then after the thousand
years, Satan will be loosed for a little while and go out again
to deceive the nations of Gog and Magog. And shortly he will be
judged once and for all with all those who were deceived
by him, who refused to endure with Christ but loved the
pleasures of this short span of time and this world--men of
corrupted minds who have never reckoned with Paul that the
things of this world and the suffering of this life are not
worthy to be compared to the glory that will follow for those
who endure until the end; men who mocked the truth when it was
given will stand along side Satan at the great White Throne
Judgment of the world and will be cast into the lake of fire
with him; and hell and death shall be cast into the lake of
fire, which is the second death. And then comes the end,
when Christ delivers up the kingdom to God and the Son-ship will
be dissolved and God will be all and in all. That is a period of
existence that will have no end and of its glory we cannot
imagine. Paul strained his imagination and simply said, Eyes
have not seen; ears have not heard; neither has it entered into
the hearts of men the good things God has in store for those who
love him; for those who endure to the end; for those who do the
will and word of God.
Those are the ones who have washed their
robes in the blood of the lamb; those are the ones who have
reckoned with Paul that the things of this life are so trivial,
so transient, so lacking in significance that they are simply
unworthy to be compared to the life that is to come with Christ,
our savior! At that end of all
things as we know them, the very elements of
this physical earth and the things therein shall melt with a fervent
heat and a new heaven and a new earth will be created wherein
dwells righteousness. No more prevailing on the weak and wicked
to turn to God from sins; no more studying and concocting long
essays and sermons to open blind eyes; no more tears as we
struggle in what seems like a valley of dry bones that refuse to
live. No more struggles; no more heart ach; no more enduring. We
will have overcome into eternity! We will have made it!
At that time we sons of God will attain our son-ship possessions
because as the Elder son in Luke 15, co-mingled his possessions
with his father, (while the foolish son rioted in the moment of
pleasure) and attained all that the father had, we will have
co-mingled our lives, our behavior, our thoughts, our
imaginations, our longings, our hopes, our very being with God
and so shall we ever be with the Lord!
Those who live luxuriously ahead of time will not see the
true glory and riches of God that he is waiting to reveal to his
children who endure unto the end. While on this earth, we
are making ourselves ready to receive these blessings and
riches that are beyond anything we can imagine.
Today, in the church we have little men with little minds who lust after
this world's goods and are willing to do any evil thing to get
those goods. These are tragic, blind souls wandering in darkness
forever, and much like street hustlers
who will kill for a pair of Nikes--they are depraved and
impoverished children who cannot properly valuate and weigh the
worth of a substance; so the things that shine the brightest,
even though they are mere trinkets of no real value,
catch their eye as most valuable and good because they have no
understanding of how to reckon a thing. How small and rudimental
is this crude thinking; how closed and blind are their minds so
that they settle for such short-lived earthly dust, which is all
this world offers. They cannot
or will not reckon the things of God as far more valuable than the
things of this life. These preachers of the Gospel of Wealth
are unwilling to endure the little sufferings of this life that
they may have a more perfect resurrection and place in glory.
They are as the scriptures say, lazy and
greedy dogs that can never get enough. That is because they
are feeding off the wrong food. The bread that comes from God
can and will satisfy the deep longings of a man, but the bread they now
feed on is dry and moldy because it is not of God. These teachers of wealth
have not studied the word long enough to understand that there
is a time element that they have overlooked. These Rev.
Ike types have sold their souls to the wicked one because they can
only see what is before them, sparkling. They are like
little children with limited understanding, so they take what
Satan offers and for a covering, they deceive themselves into
thinking that the giver is God. Said differently, the present crop of ungodly ministers are children of the devil/false
prophets who wear the cloak of sheep but inwardly, they are wolves
that cannot get enough of carnal things and want nothing of
spiritual things. [Mat. 7:15-20] They have a love of money, and
wherever there is a love of money, Paul suggests, every other
form of evil is there also. The love of money and other evils
that travel with the love of money spirit floods their senses
with carnal pleasures so that they are too
busy tasting of carnal pleasures to see that death is in their
pot.
Solomon also speaks to the destiny and deceit of a fool,
such as these false ministers of God are.
They are foolish to reason so poorly as to weigh the present
age against that which is to come and actually select this present world. Solomon
in Proverbs characterized wisdom as the true
church of God and ignorance as the false church; both are women,
but ignorance is a whorish, married woman who stands waiting for the weak
man who is not wise and will fall to her wiles. She
stands calling to passersby that they come unto her, as she
promotes her charm and wiles, the elixir from a foolish woman to
a foolish man that is drunken as a great syrup.
And as he is charmed
and carried in to her, Solomon says, he knows not that death is there
and her guests dwell in the depths of hell. Because he is
a fool! [Prov.1-7:5-27; 9:13-18]
Paul, in writing to Timothy, in 1 Timothy
6: 9-10, concerning
the lovers of money, that they have (1) erred in the faith, (2) and have pierced
themselves through with many sorrows. Notice that their decline
starts with their desire to be rich the love of money, and their coveting after it.
And when that love for money fully blossoms, it has a root that
supports it, though it is in the ground and unseen; that root,
however, has all other forms of evil that will also blossom into
unrighteousness. [1 Tim. 6:10-11] That is why we must
renounce the hidden things of dishonesty because they will make
themselves know when their time for blossoming occurs. [2 Cor.
4:2]
Their err is not just toward money
and away from
God, but it is in all other ways as well. First it starts with
the desire for the riches of others, then its manifest itself in
other untoward ways. God said that he would add to those who
sought the kingdom of God first. But they cannot wait on God's
slow pace; they are in a hurry for worldliness.
Some followers of the false apostles and
ministers may self-deceive themselves, saying that Maybe he does love money too much, but he is a
good man and a good preacher/storyteller. Such an assessment,
however, defies God’s word! God says that
the lover of money falls into many temptations and will not
resist them, therefore he errs from the faith! [1Tim. 6:9-10] Regardless of one's like for him or
that whether one has came to God under a certain ministry, God says that he has
erred away from the faith! Furthermore, that lover of money has
pierced himself through with many sins and sorrows because
wherever the love of money is present other forms of evil
spring from that root. The man of God is to flee these
things. [1Tim.6:11]
To desire riches is the first step; thereafter
there are many other steps away from God’s word as the money-lover begins an adventure into more abominable, provocative, disgraceful sins,
and into perdition.
Soon, nothing of sin is beyond his ungodly reach. He makes
merchandise of the people of God and proceeds to use them in all
other ways—sexual perversions, servitude of God’s
people serving them as if they are kings and queens, and all
others sins. [2 Pet.2:3]
Regardless of how an ungodly minister tries
to disguise himself, spin the truth into something that does not
condemn his behavior, when a man loves money, God’s
word says that he is thoroughly corrupt, not just in coveting
after money but in all other aspects of his life! This love of
money is the outward appearance of an inward corruption hidden
from sight, but the ways of a man are before the eyes of the
Lord. [Prov.5:21].
Today we
have open corruption in many ways in our churches: ungodly marriages where men divorce
one woman to marry another; we have sexual perversions; we have
illegal and addictive drugs being by church members;
we have open lying; we have church fraud and criminality; we have atheism, agnosticism,
and physically brawling ministers; we have man slayers, and men
who creep into houses and leave silly women and abominable men
laden with sins of the flesh; we have incestuous relationships. This
and much more is what we have today. Not
only is this corruption not infrequent, in many churches it is
the standard. But God’s word says that “…The love of money
is the ROOT of ALL evil.” Once that root is planted, it will
grow all forms of evil. [Mat. 24:38; Rom. 1:24; 1Tim. 1:9;
3:3; 2 Tim. 3:6]
It seems unimaginable
that men would get older and weaker in their life force and
they grow away from God. But these are men who have not
reckoned the things of God and as a result ,God has sent them
a strong delusion; God said that when he did call, none answered.
[Isa.66:4; 2Thes. 2:11] Even now, there is a rash of blindness that
is afflicting wicked and
deceitful ministers. The little they once knew of the word has
slipped away from them, and their ability to read is altered;
their understanding is darkened. This
blindness is also physical as well as mental. These are men who have not
properly reckoned the things of God, but have chosen this present,
soon to be destroyed
world to the glory that shall follow. And instead of allowing
God to add to them and their their daily needs, they have reached for
out for it with a vengeance. They rise early to receive of men's
substance and know not, because they are blind, that the giver
is more blessed than the receiver; the giver is greater than the receiver. But their greed has blinded their
eyes and warped their thinking into the idea that to receive is
greater. But he that gives is already blessed and will continue to
be blessed of God.
Brothers and sisters
in Christ, I have reckoned with
the Apostle Paul concerning the things of God, and have asked the Lord to
allow me to reach that level of perfection in him where I cannot fall--for
there is a place in God where you cannot fall; for he will make
you stand. [Rom. 14:4] I have
asked God to never allow my thoughts, my imaginations, my hopes
and dreams to stray from being perfect in his sight; that I
never return to some mundane Christianity that is the
moderation of those not of light. I am aware that to many of
you, my gospel is radical and seems extreme, but I suggest that
your understanding of God's word and his requirements for his
saints is short-sighted and naive. For you see, I have
reckoned and reasoned them out that the things of this life, the
sufferings of this world, the rejections and hatreds of this life
are things of insignificance and totally unworthy to be compared
to the glory that will follow and be revealed in us when this
earth and its systems are
dissolved and we move to another building and another city, whose
builder and maker is God, and that building will be eternal in the heavens.
That is what I
have learned through my many years of education and even more years with the Lord.
That is what I have concluded from the many books I have
read and the many tears I have shed. That is my reckoning!
.............................................................Home
|