History Repeated In The Church
I’ve said elsewhere on this web site that my personal opinion is that the strongest desire for gain that we human beings have is desire for gain in the area of personal power. And that the greatest fear of loss we have is fear of loss of personal freedom. Both of these desires are tremendously strong motivating factors, affecting our behavior much more than we realize.
Nation upon nation has been conquered in the course of human history in this quest for personal power. And untold millions have lost their personal freedom because of this. Those who have lost their personal freedom have fought valiantly in efforts to regain that personal freedom and some degree of personal power so they would not be vulnerable to loss of personal freedom again.
Sadly, the institutional church of today is an illegitimate, paganized, Romanized, pope-modeled, traditional, man-made system that has provided a fertile breeding ground for those who desire personal power. The institutional church has violated the very will and purpose of God for His ekklesia. Unfortunately, in the process, many Christians have lost their personal freedom, in addition to their scriptural and biblical freedom that God has intended for us. Even sadder, and even more unfortunately, the majority of those who name the name of Christ are totally ignorant of the fact that they have willfully given up their personal power and personal freedom by obeying the traditions of men rather than the clear teachings of the Bible.
What You See Is Not What You Get
This basic appeal for personal power is very well exploited in the concept of the institutional church system. When a self-appointed “authority” figure, with all the physical and psychological trappings necessary to project that image, says something to you, it’s believed without question. After all, you say to yourself, they have the wardrobe for it, the car for it, the spouse for it, the church building for it and the credentials for it and they speak with authority. There is more of a modern trend to simply accept someone because they claim to be a “prophet” or an “apostle,” regardless of other “status” symbols suggesting their authority. This group gains credibility among the gullible by their “prophecies” and/or aberrant teachings of health, wealth, self-esteem and/or how you can have power with God! (Ironic! They are so spiritually impoverished themselves, yet they promise you that of which they have no true scriptural understanding!) So they must be who they say they are. This is a typical example of mistaking the symbols for the things they symbolize. That is the physical and psychological trappings I mentioned.
When that pseudo-authoritarian person then tells you that when:
(1) you pay tithes of your income every week to them, and continue to be a member in good standing in their organization (“good standing” is determined by whether or not you pay tithes to them—and don’t forget those perennial “offerings” needed to meet the financial needs of the latest manufactured crisis!), and
(2) continue to attend their meetings on a regular basis to give you their “spiritual covering” and ward off all evil in your life, and
(3) “forsake not the assembling of yourselves” every time their door doors are open, and
(4) mindlessly “obey them that have the rule over you”—which is them and/or their subordinates, then and only then ...
... you will have the personal power of God operating in full measure in your life because you are “properly submitted” to Godly authority (which, of course, is them). What Did You Really Gain?
We feel good about this because we have now met one of our primary basic objectives in life, i.e., we have now gained personal power! (In Christ because we are being obedient to His Godly appointed authority).
Now we can lay hands on the sick, bring sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, and whole and healthy bodies to the crippled and maimed. And we will have health, wealth and self-esteem in addition to this tremendous personal power (in Christ). Say What?
Question:
Are we walking around asleep and unaware of reality, or are we just plain stupid?
Did you notice that when you starting giving your income away to this person’s organization that you lost some of your financial freedom? Did you notice that the bad things that happen to good people continued to happen in your life, regardless of some alleged “spiritual covering?” Did you notice that you lost even more of your personal freedom by attending their organizational meetings every time they opened their doors? Did you also notice that some of your alleged “obedience” to these pseudo-rulers of your life caused quite a bit of anger and frustration and outright rebellion in your soul and spirit because of their outrageous policies, statements, assumptions and demands which you knew in your spirit were not only wrong but unscriptural? Fool Me Once, Shame On You!
You didn’t see all that? You don’t understand that the promised gain of “personal power” because of your obedience to this person alleging to be “God’s anointed” turned out, in fact, to be nothing but loss of your personal freedom?
Did you also notice that when you lay hands on the sick, that they didn’t respond by jumping up and down with renewed health? And that the blind that you prayed for and laid hands on remained blind? The deaf you laid hands on continued to not hear you? The maimed and crippled still hobbled away on their crutches and other prosthetic devices? Do I even need to mention the failed prophecies being uttered by the thousands each and every day? How about when they speak of a “100 fold” return and you give away your mortgage or rent money, or money you need for food, clothing, medical or dental procedures or other normal and necessary living expenses? And then spend many multiplied months attempting to pay off your normal and necessary bills all the time hoping your “spiritual lottery” pays off? Fool Me Twice, Shame On Me!
Don’t you believe what you see? Are you so blinded as to think that to “walk by faith” means to exclude what you see as a living reality before your very own eyes? Don’t you believe what you know in your gut is a loss of personal power and loss of personal freedom?
You pray and pray and pray all kinds of really ridiculous stuff. You bind satan, you name and bind principalities and powers you do your “prayer walks” and pray through “the window” and every scripturally ignorant device thought of by man.
Have you seen any power? Have you seen any personal freedom in your life?
What In The World!
Do you read the newspapers, watch the news on TV or listen to the news on radio? Do you know what’s going on in the world? The devil and his crowd are having tremendous victory, aren’t they? Abortions of babies, by babies, rampant sexual activities by our young people with accompanying sexually transmitted diseases, homosexual “marriages.” Horrible war atrocities being committed each and every day, scandal and corruption in governments, organizations and on an individual basis. Untold millions throughout the world (including the United States of America) without sufficient food, clothing, shelter, medical and dental care. More untold millions poor, downtrodden, suffering injustices and torture, rape and other indecencies from the hands of dictatorial oppressors.
What happened to the fatherless, the widows, the strangers in the land, the poor, the true spiritual Levites?
Smart Devil, Dumb You
The devil is apparently a lot smarter than you are. He knows to give you a little victory here and a little victory there to keep you occupied in doing those so-called “spiritual activities” so that he and his cohorts can continue in their unlimited killing, stealing and destruction. In your self-satisfied “results” of your teeny, tiny so-called “spiritual victories” you fail to see the big picture of the evil gigantic victories being accomplished by the devil and his crowd. It’s this spiritual tunnel vision that keeps you focused on what you and your crowd are doing in your little part of the world that prevents you from seeing what the devil and his crowd are doing on a worldwide scale.
The Source Of True Power And Freedom
The truth is that you have totally and completely lost any personal power at all, in Christ, or of yourself. You have totally and completely lost any personal freedom, in Christ, or of yourself.
Do you want true personal power? Do you want true personal freedom?
Or do you want to continue to play “church” by man-made rules?
Do you know that the only personal power that you will ever have comes from being in Christ, as His disciple? And that the only personal freedom that you will ever have comes from being in Christ, as His disciple?
Do you know what it means to be “in Christ?” Do you know what it means to read the Bible through from Genesis to Revelation and then to repeat that cycle for the rest of your life? And to study for yourself by study aids such as Bible dictionaries, and biblical commentaries, the best of which are 200 years old? Do you know what it means to let the Holy Spirit of God teach you from that wealth of biblical knowledge that you have learned by your own efforts?
Do you want true personal power? Do you want true personal freedom?
Or do you want to continue to play “church” by man-made rules?
As long as you continue to allow yourself to be ruled by a pseudo-authoritarian person with physical and psychological trappings that enhance his image and his personal kingdom, you will never, ever have true personal power and true personal freedom.
Failures Manifested For All To See
How many more failed prophecies do you have to hear before you conclude that these people are either propagators of false prophecy or out and out false prophets?
How many more times will they and you continue to bind the devil? The book of Revelation says he will bound by an unnamed angel, who will also later loose him. Everybody keeps binding the devil, but he’s still as active, or more so, as he’s ever been.
How many more empty hands will be laid on empty heads to “impart” that which scripture fails to say can be imparted? This is simply a variation of the “little gods” theme. Nothing’s been imparted except a bunch a hot air from your mouth. And sometimes something a lot more foul.
How many more times will you claim healing for yourself and/or others and they and you continue to walk in sickness all the while claiming you are healed?
How much more money will you continue to give away to these unscrupulous people in hopes of a “100 fold” return? God’s not in the lottery business folks. You’ll just go deeper and deeper into debt.
How many more times are you or one of these hotshot leaders going to tell God how to run the universe in an alleged “prophecy” and watch absolutely nothing happen? Then claim that something happened in the spiritual realm or on the other side of the world that you don’t know about, or some such other lame excuse for nothing happening?
The institutional church has not exercised its responsibilities to God and has lost its corporate authority. Authority and responsibility go together. It started with Adam when he failed to exercise his responsibility and lost his authority and his power from God. It’s still with us today. Authority, responsibility and power are all tied up in one package. No responsibility, no authority. No authority, no power from God. Simple, huh?
Signs, wonders and miracles in the lives of apostates are legion. Unfortunately, the gift of discerning of spirits has gotten so weak from disuse that it’s barely operating in the lives of nominal Christians. Because of this anything classified as “supernatural” is now attributed to the work of the Holy Spirit by the biblically illiterate. Get literate people, you are treading on very dangerous ground!
How long, “church” before you recognize your human limitations and quit playing “little god” and turn to the true and living God Who created you and sent His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ to die in your place for all the sin attributes that are being expressed today by those who name the name of Christ?
How long will you continue to deny the power and sovereignty of a holy, pure and righteous God Who puts up with our human foolishness, awaiting a teachable moment to inspire us with His wisdom?
Do you want true personal power? Do you want true personal freedom?
Or do you want to continue to play “church” by man-made rules?
The Manifestation Of True Freedom And Power
It’s only in the lives of those individuals who are the true members of the household of faith of the true Israel that operate in the gifts of the Holy Spirit that true miracles from God happen. Why? Because they have scripturally valid freedom and power. Like Jesus, they have no man-made agenda to follow. They do only what the Father tells them to do, say only what the Father tells them to say, and go only where the Father tells them to go. They are free from the traditions of men and are free to hear God and manifest the power of His gifts according to His will, not theirs.
How did they get that way? From studying the word of God as if their life depended upon it and then hearing the Holy Spirit teach them what they hadn’t seen after many readings and much study. Without the study of the Bible, the Holy Spirit has nothing to teach you from. That includes alleged “revelations” from God. Many who teach their fictional revelations allegedly from the Holy Spirit are biblically ignorant because they read and study their Bibles with a preconditioned mindset and attempt to read into scripture what they want to see, rather than letting the Bible and the Holy Spirit speak truth to them.
Do Something About It!
As a first step in getting out of your spiritual man-made rut, I strongly urge you to read the article “God by the Spirit of Jesus Christ will build an assembly” to get insight into biblical truth of the rationale and purpose of this thing called “church.” If you’re really serious about being a disciple of Jesus then also read “Free In Christ,” and “Free Indeed!” If ... you want true personal power and true personal freedom by ceasing to play “church” by man-made rules.
