--by David Brandt Berg
Please note that the "Church" and the "church system" are two different things entirely.
The Church: The Ecclesia, the Elect, the Bride of Christ, the true believers, the assembly of those believers, the 80 times in 79 verses that word is used in the King James version of the New Testament.
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JESUS NEVER SAID TO BUILD CHURCH BUILDINGS. He said to "love God and others and put God's Kingdom first, and forsake all, go, preach the good news." (Matt. 6:33, 22:37-39; Luke 14:33; Mark 16:15)
The word "Church" itself comes from the Greek word "ecclesia" and literally means the "called out ones", or the "separate ones" the "set apart ones"--or the dropouts! "Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing (the System); and I will receive you." (2 Cor. 6:17)
THE TRUE CHURCH ARE THE GENUINE CHRISTIAN BELIEVERS in God who follow Jesus--the born again, saved Body of Christ--not a building or a denomination or a religion. God gave Jesus "to be the head over... the Church, which is His Body." (Eph. 1:22,23) So anyone who believes in Jesus is part of the Church! Anyone or anything else is not the Church!
WE DO NOT HATE THOSE WHO ARE NOT PART OF THE CHURCH, but we do hate the hypocrisy, self-righteousness, lies and deceitfulness of those who claim to be the Church but are not; and we hate the spiritual system of the Devil which is behind them.
JESUS EVEN COMMENDED THE EPHESIAN CHURCH for this, saying, "this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitans (false apostles), which I also hate." (Rev. 2:6; see also Ps. 97:10)
I WAS SITTING IN "ANAHEIM DELUSION CENTER" (a big church building in California) and the Lord spoke as clearly to me as He ever had: "This is strong delusion!" Deceiving His people!
CHURCHIANITY IS EQUATED WITH GOD and the building with His service. The delusion has become so strong that today the name "church" no longer means anything but a building! The name "Christian" no longer means anything either! It usually means just some kind of hypocritical, self-righteous church person who goes to that building on Sunday!
THE CHURCH TODAY BEARS NO MORE RESEMBLANCE TO JESUS AND HIS DISCIPLES AND EARLY CHRISTIANS THAN CAPITALISM DOES TO COMMUNISM. Yet the church says, "If you aren't going to church and following our way, then you're wrong." How can they be so deceived? Because they rejected the Truth!
WHY DO THEY REJECT THE TRUTH? Because they're unwilling to pay the price! "Because they received not the love of the truth... for this cause God shall send them strong delusion that they might believe a lie." (2 Thess. 2:10,11)
THE MAIN LYING DELUSION behind the church system and the way of all false religions is that they are all dependent upon self--righteousness and their own way. Paul said about the Jews, the church system of his day, "They have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God's righteousness (through grace) and going about to establish their own righteousness (through religion) have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God." (Ro. 10:2,3)
ALSO, THE CHURCHES HAVE NOT SHARED MUCH WITH THE POOR, but sucked and squeezed the last drop out of the poor to build their fancy cathedrals and idols and live in luxury.
THE COMMUNISTS ARE ONLY TOO RIGHT WHEN THEY SAY THAT RELIGION IS THE OPIATE OF THE PEOPLE. The kind of religion they have seen is exactly that--a horrible drug which puts them to sleep, makes them oblivious to the conditions around them, and lethargic and senseless to the needs of mankind.
BUT THE RELIGIOUS SYSTEM LIKES IT THIS WAY, since they can control their people better in this stupor. And the government prefers it this way, since they don't know any better anyhow, and the religious system keeps them in power.
BUT THE PITIFUL PART ABOUT IT IS THIS: That God says, "even My people love to have it so." The vast majority of Christians prefer it that way, pampered infants, spoiled children.
THE PROPHET JEREMIAH, IN A JUDGMENT UTTERED 2,500 YEARS AGO AGAINST WICKED ISRAEL, SEEMS TO PERFECTLY DESCRIBE THE CHURCH OF TODAY when God says through him: "Among My people are found wicked men... their houses (are) full of deceit: therefore they are become great, and waxen rich, ... they judge not the cause of the fatherless, yet they prosper; and the right of the needy do they not judge...."
THE PROPHETS PROPHESY FALSELY and the priests bear rule by their means: and My people love to have it so.... Shall I not visit for these things? saith the Lord: shall not My soul be avenged on such a nation as this?" (Jer. 5:26,31)
THE CHURCHIANITY SYSTEM IS ALREADY DEAD, but their corpse lies upon the ground, neither lamented nor buried! The Communists (or enemies of Christ) will bury the dead, even Khrushchev said so, adding, "God is with us!" They'll bury the dead as we go on with Jesus. It won't be long before those buildings are going to be closed and pastors liquidated, services banned and Bibles burned!
THOSE GOD-DAMNED CHURCH BUILDINGS, AND THEY ARE GOD-DAMNED, WILL BE DESTROYED like the Temple was, and for the same reason: to get the Church's eyes off her buildings and back on the Lord!
FOR "THE MOST HIGH DWELLETH NOT IN TEMPLES MADE WITH HANDS (Acts 7:38)...God is a Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth." (John 4:24) So "trust ye not in lying words saying the Temple of the Lord are these." (Jer. 7:4)
FOR ISRAEL (THOSE WHO CLAIM TO BE GOD'S PEOPLE) HATH FORGOTTEN HIS MAKER, AND BUILDETH TEMPLES... but I will send a fire upon his cities, and it shall devour the palaces thereof (those multi-million dollar churches)." (Ho. 8:14)
TOO MANY HAVE TRIED too many years to patch up the old.
THE TRULY GREAT REVOLUTIONARIES FROM NOAH TO CHRIST HAD TO TOTALLY DO AWAY WITH THE OLD AND START ANEW.
THE PHARISEES (THE EVANGELICALS OF JESUS' DAY) WOULD HAVE BEEN HAPPY TO SUBSIDISE JESUS and His great following if only He had been willing to work with them within the existing corrupt and rotten System of their hierarchy, and accept their name tag so that they could have gotten the credit for Him.
THEY WOULD HAVE BEEN HAPPY TO HAVE SHARED THE LIMELIGHT of His popularity and used His power to their own ends--even at the cost of a little reformation to appease the people.
BUT HE REFUSED TO COMPROMISE WITH THEM, BUT RATHER WORKED TOTALLY OUTSIDE THE EXISTING SYSTEM AND ATTACKED IT head-on and ruthlessly exposed it, saying, "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess... ye are like unto whited sepulchers, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness. (Matt. 23:25,27) Verily I say unto you, that the publicans and harlots go into the Kingdom of God before you!" (Matt. 21:31)
EVERY MODERN REVIVAL MOVEMENT HAS EVENTUALLY FAILED because, though they thought they were breaking away from the system of the denomination, or the thing they came out of, they never actually broke with the System--the Churchianity System for one thing, or the worldly System for another. They were just a new group following the same old plan.
THE DEVIL'S ANSWER (OR REACTION) TO GOD'S CHALLENGE (OR REVOLUTION) IS ALWAYS A SYSTEM-PRESERVING COMPROMISE!
GOD HAS NEVER BEEN FOR REFORMATION OF THE OLD rotten carcass, only for its total burial and resurrection of a completely new man.
FOR, "NO MAN PUTTETH A PIECE OF A NEW GARMENT UPON AN OLD; if otherwise, then both the new maketh a rent, and the piece that was taken out of the new agreeth not with the old."
AND NO MAN PUTTETH NEW WINE INTO OLD BOTTLES; else the new wine will burst the bottles, and be spilled, and the bottles shall perish. But new wine must be put into new bottles; and both are preserved." (Luke 5:36-38)
My name is James Arendt. I was raised in the Hegewisch neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois, served in the USAF from 1970 to 1974, and became a full-time missionary for Christ living 40 years in Japan, 3.5 years in Russia, and a few months in other countries such as Finland, Poland, Estonia, Latvia, South Korea, Taiwan and mainland China where I also served the King of Kings, Jesus, as an Ambassador for His Kingdom. My full bio.
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On July 31, our pastor drove us 70 kilometers south from our home in the city of Allen to Caybayog City (Samar, Philippines) where there's an immigration office. There I successfully applied for and received a 6-month visa extension! But the cost was higher than expected, 12,450 Philippine pesos, roughly $235 USD. Thankfully, I received one gift so far that covered half of that. If any of the visitors to this website who are not regular contributors to my work would like to help us cover the other half, it would be greatly appreciated. I will immediately send you an email to thank you.
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• Recognize you have violated in some way the laws of God. Violation of legal law is called a crime. Violation of God’s moral law is called a sin. For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; - Romans 3:23
As it is written (in the Bible), There is none righteous, no, not one: - Romans 3:10
• Recognize the penalty of sin: Death! For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. - Romans 6:23
Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: - Romans 5:12
• Recognize Jesus is the Saviour! Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. - John 14:6
Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. - Acts 4:12
And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. - Acts 16:31
• Recognize our lives our sinful by nature. We can do nothing of our own to merit eternal life. Salvation is completely by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ! For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: - Ephesians 2:8
But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. - Isaiah 64:6
Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; - Titus 3:5
• Recognize Christ paid the sin debt we owe! But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. - Romans 5:8-9
• Recognize you must receive Christ as your personal Saviour! For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. - Romans 10:13
• Ask Jesus to be your Saviour!
Dear Jesus:I know I am a sinner. I know if I were to die right now, I could not go to Heaven. I ask you, right now, to come into my heart, forgive me of my sin, and be my Saviour. Thank you for saving me and giving me eternal life. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
If you prayed that prayer with all sincerity, you have passed from death to life and have been born again into the family of God!
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Blessings as we seek, hear, and do the will of God.