WHAT DO YOU BELIEVE?
Lea Sylvester
If Jesus of Nazareth were to return to the
earth today, would He recognize the
religion(s) that are using His name? Not at
all! Mankind has twisted Jesus Christ's
teachings so that the religion bearing His
name has practically no relationship to what
He and the Apostles actually lived and
believed.
Gasp! Did I actually mean what is written
above? Yes, and read on...and open God's
Word.
Would He be shocked to find the people
claiming to be His followers have been
waging war against each other almost
continually for the last 1,900 years? That
His professed followers believe doctrines
totally contrary to what He taught,
observing different days of worship,
different customs and most importantly –
having a totally different concept of God
and of His purpose than Jesus and the
original Apostles did?
Yet, most genuine religious scholars
recognize that vast changes have overtaken
professing Christianity – rendering it
totally different from the Christianity of
Jesus and the Apostles. As respected
mainline Protestant scholar Jesse Lyman
Hurlbut acknowledges:
“For fifty years after St. Paul's life, a
curtain hangs over the church, through which
we strive vainly to look; and when at last
it rises, about 120 A.D. With the writings
of the earliest church fathers, we find a
church in many aspects very different from
that in the days of St. Peter and St. Paul.”
1
If the leaders, during this time which
Hurlbut elsewhere called an “age of
shadows,” were filled with and led by God's
Spirit, then would the Church suddenly be
“very different”? The Bible tells us that
Christ is “the same
yesterday, today and forever.” (Hebrews
13:8). Yet the professing Christian
church today is
not
even remotely the same as the one Jesus
founded.
Describing the time period after all the
original Apostles and their successors had
died out, Hurlbut writes:
“The services of worship increased in
spendor, but were less spiritual and hearty
than those of former times. The forms and
ceremonies of paganism gradually crept into
the worship. Some of the old heathen feasts
became church festivals with chnge of name
and of worship. About 405 AD images of
saints and martyrs began to appear in the
churches, at first as memorials, then in
succession revered, adored, and worshiped.
The adoration of the virgin Mary was
substituted for the worship of Venus and
Diana; the Lord's supper became a sacrifice
in place of a memorial; and the elder
evolved from a preacher into a priest.” 2
Notice Hurlbut's statement that “some of the
old heathen feasts became church festivals.”
They “became” that way because God Himself
had predicted that
evil
men and false leaders would take over most
of the church. Paul told the Ephesians as
well as us, “For I know this, that after my
departures savage wolves will come in among
you, not sparing the flock. Also from among
yourselves men will rise up, speaking
perverse things, to draw away the disciples
after themselves. Therefore watch, and
remember that for three years I did not
cease to warn everyone day and night with
tears.” (Acts
20:29-31).
Now, was Paul just addressing
the Ephesians, or was he also speaking of
our time – and the things that have happened
prior to the “Reformation” and afterward?
Let us keep scripture in context.
Paul was speaking to all of these times and
these “believers” and the “church.”
When Paul realized the depth of the
apostasy that would overtake most of the
church, it hit him emotionally. He then “did
not cease to
warn
everyone day and night with tears! Very few
people today seem to be concerned enough
about this massive apostasy to even begin to
shed tears over this awesome and terrible
change.
How did this happen? This occurred because
men and women back then, just like today,
did not zealously
prove
to themselves where God's Truth was being
taught. That is why the living Christ
corrected those near the end of the
Apostalic Era: “Nevertheless I have this
against you, that you have left your first
love.
Remember therefore from where you have
fallen; repent and do the first works, or
else I will come to you quickly and remove
your lampstand from its place – unless you
repent.” (Revelation
2:4-5)
Remember, God is not the author of
confusion. What about today? How can we
account for the more than 400 different
denominations and sects – all calling
themselves “Christian”? And all of them
having some type of different ideas,
traditions, and approaches and yet claiming
to follow the same Jesus Christ?
Don't mistake this point. In no way
is this pointing to the “eumenical movement”
that “all paths lead to God,” “God is love,”
or “there are many “gods.”
There ARE many “gods” to be sure, but
there is ONLY ONE God of Abraham, Jacob and
Israel. The path is narrow and FEW will find
it – said Jesus Christ! So, who is the
author of confusion? The god of this world –
satan! Could this “confusion” be caused by
satan? Yes!
Part of the answer to these questions is the
fact that few professing Christians really
study their Bibles. So, they do not “prove” virtually anything they believe by carefully researching it
in the Bible. Oh, they may enthusiastically
study books and articles on health, on
self-improvement or on investing and making
more money. But somehow it does not occur to
them to thoroughly study the most vital
subjects of all:
Is
there a real God? If so, what is His purpose
in creating human belings? And how can we
fulfill that purpose? Yet, the Bible
commands: “Prove
all things, hold fast that which is good.” (I
Thessalonians 5:21).
Most people have just “accepted” the
religion passed down through their families.
Most have just “gone along” with the beliefs
and with the traditions taught to them as
children. Noting the public's lack of
attention to their religion, Los Angeles
Times religion writer Teresa Watanabe
reported:
“According to one religious research firm,
two-thirds of Americans don't regularly read
the Bible or know the names of the Four
Gospels. More than half of Americans
surveyed can't name even five of the Ten
Commandments. And the majority say they find
the Good Book irrelevant....'We still hold
the Bible in high regard, but in terms of
actually spending the time reading it,
studying it and applying it---that is a
thing of the past,' said George Barna. The
reasons cited range from changes in American
culture to the intrinsic difficulty of the
text itself.
Now religious organizations are making a
major effort to jazz up ancient Scripture's
doddering image. Bible publishers are
producing a dizzying array of products, with
translations and editions pitched to every
conceivable niche market, to convince people
that the book is neither archane nor
irrelevant.” 3
Of course, the real underlying cause of this
massive religious apostasy is that this is
satan's world and that he has totally
deceived the vast majority of humanity. In
the comfortable surroundings of western
civilization, most Americans, Canadians and
others fail to realize that the overwhelming
majority of human beings have never believed
in any form of “Christianity” - let alone
the real Christianity of Christ. The vast
majority of humans are --- and always have
been --- Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists,
Shintoists, atheists or agnostics.
The Apostle Paul was inspired to write, “But
even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled
to those who are perishing, whose minds the
god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of
the gospel of the glory of Jesus Christ, who
is the image of God, should shine upon
them.” (II
Corinthians 4:3-4).
Most importantly of all, satan has injected
into “mainstream Christianity” a whole
series of totally false ideas about the
origin and destiny of man, of what God is
like, of what God is like, of what God's
awesome purpose is, and how we are to
achieve that great purpose. Additionally,
satan has confused people about prophecy so
much that most professing Christians and
even most professing Christian ministers
simply throw up their hands and almost
totally neglect biblical prophecy. Yet, God
devoted almost one-third of His entire Word
(the Bible) to the “sure
word of prophecy.” (II
Peter 1:19).
Instead, mankind has made its own religion
that is almost completely different from
what Jesus Christ preached and practiced.
And, they call that religion “Christianity”
as if it were connected with Jesus Christ!
As the philosopher and theologian Soren
Kirkegaard put it:
“The Christianity of the New Testament
simply does not exist...what has to be done
is to throw light upon a criminal offense
against Christianity prolonged through the
centuries, perpetrated by millions (more or
less guiltily), whereby they have cunningly,
under the guise of perfecting Christianity,
sought little by little to cheat God out of
Christianity and have succeeded in making
Christianity exactly the opposite of what it
is in The New Testament.” 4
Those are strong words, but are hardly
unique. Professor Rufus M. Jones concurs,
noting how Christ's true teachings were
quickly detached from the religion bearing
His name:
“If by chance, Christ Himself had been taken
by His later followers as the model and
pattern of a new way, and a serious attempt
had been made to set up His life and
teaching as the standard and norm for the
church. Christianity would have been
something
vastly different from what it became.
Then 'heresy' would have been as it is not
now, deviation from His ways, His teachings,
His kingdom...What we may properly call
'Galilean Christianity' had a short life,
though there have been notable attempts to
revive it and make it live again, and here
and there spiritual prophets have insisted
that anything else other than this simple
Galilean religion is 'heresy'; but the main
line of historic development has taken a
different course and has marked the emphasis
very differently.” 5
We should not be surprised that mankind
tried to remake Christianity its own way.
Mankind has tried for thousands of years to
find its own way. Humanism, materialism,
socialism, communism, or capitalism-human
society has invented so many philosophies in
the
vain hope of giving meaning to life
without God, and creating through human
effort a happy and prosperous society on
earth.
Some might say, “so what?” But this is no
small matter we are talking about. Frankly,
we are talking about the way to eternal life
on the one hand, or eternal
death
on the other (Romans
6:23). For if you do not have the
Christianity of Christ,
you
have no Christianity whatsoever!
Jesus warned, “Not everyone who says to Me,
'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of
heaven, but he who does the will of My
Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in
that day, 'Lord, Lord,' have we not
prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in
Your name, and done many wonders in Your
name?' And then I will declare to them, 'I
never knew you, depart from Me, you who
practice lawlessness!' “ (Matthew
7:21-23). It is important to realize
that Christ will say to those failing to do
the “will” of the Father: “I
never
knew you.” In plain language, these deceived
churchgoers will be told that they were, in
fact, never acquainted with the Christ they
claim to serve. They were never really
converted.
They
were never “Christian”!
Direct comments to sylvester.lea@gmail.com
Sources Cited:
1.Story
of the Christian Church, p. 41
2.Story
of the Christian Church, p. 79
3.Los
Angeles Times, July 23, 1999
4.Attack
Upon Christendom, Kirkegaard, 1956, pp.
32-33
5.The
Church's Debt to Heretics, Jones, 1924, pp.
15-16