Let me start off by defining my use of the term "church" as it
applies to this article. I am referring to "organized
religion," which
is not to be confused with the True
Church that consists of believers in
the authority
of the Bible and the Jesus it reveals to us. The truth
of
the matter is that fewer and fewer nominally
Christian churches have
little in common with the
real Church. So let's take a look at what the
Bible
said about the general state these churches in the Last
Days of
this age. In the Bible passages below,
bracketed sections are added.
Revelation 3:14-18 [This is part of Jesus' message to
be sent by John
to the seven churches in Asia Minor,
which is modern-day Turkey.] And
unto the angel
[messenger, either human or angelic] of the Laodiceans
write: These things saith the Amen, the faithful and
true witness, the
beginning of the creation of God;
I know thy works, that thou are
neither cold nor
hot: I would that thou wert cold or hot. So then
because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I
will spue thee
out of my mouth. Because thou sayest,
I am rich, and increased in goods,
and have need of
nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and
miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: I counsel
thee to buy of me
gold tried in fire, that thou
mayest be rich; and white rainment, that
thou mayest
be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not
appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou
mayest see.
There was a
literal church in the city of Laodicea in the First
Century A.D. as well as the six others mentioned in
Revelation chapters
2 and 3. But many who study
Bible Prophecy agree that in them were the
characteristics which would predominate at different
times of history,
even though it is altogether
possible than any specific church could
have
multiple characteristics, be they good or bad.
What is significant for us in this essay are the
characteristics of
the last, the one of Laodicea and
how it so greatly resembles the state
of the church
right now. Most now have a similar preoccupation with
worldly goods accompanied by a spiritual blindness
which renders them
incapable of recognizing good or
evil along with a corresponding lack of
conviction
or willingness to make a stand for the true Jesus.
Here are the warnings from Jesus himself of what
Christians would
face.
Matthew 7:15
Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's
clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
Matthew 24:4-5 And Jesus answered and said
unto them: Take heed that no
man deceive you. For
many shall come in my name saying I am Christ; and
shall deceive many.
This
activity is to increase:
Matthew 24:11,
24-26 And many false prophets shall rise and deceive
many
. . . .For there shall arise false Christs, and
false prophets, and
shall shew great signs and
wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible,
they
should deceive the very elect. Behold, I have told you
before.
Wherefore if they shall say unto , Behold he
is in the desert; go not
forth: behold he is in the
secret chambers' believe it not.
Backing up these prophecies (not that Jesus' own words
require
confirmation!) are other passages
nevertheless. Below we will look a
just a few.
From Paul to his young protege Timothy we have:
1 Timothy 4:1-5 Now the Spirit speaketh expressly
that in the latter
times [last days] some shall
depart the faith, giving heed to seducing
spirits,
and the doctrines of devils Speaking lies in hypocrisy;
having
their consciences seared with a hot iron;
Forbidding to marry, and
commanding to abstain from
meats, which God hath created to be received
with
Thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.
For every
creature of God is good, and nothing to be
refused, if it be received
with thanksgiving: For it
is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.
2 Timothy 4:3-4 For the time will come when
they [the people] will not
endure sound doctrine;
but after their own lusts shall heap to
themselves
teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away
their
ears from the truth, and be turned to fables.
Now let's look as some specifics.
For, but not exclusively limited to, Roman Catholicism,
for example,
there are mandates for the clergy to be
unmarried. But what does the
Bible say?
1 Timothy 3:1-2,12 [Paul wrote] This is a true
saying, If a man desire
the office of bishop
["overseer," which was at that time also the same
as
a "presbyter" or "priest" meaning ordained elder] he
desireth a good
work. A bishop must be blameless,
the husband of one wife, vigilant,
sober, of good
behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach . . . .
Let
deacons be the husbands of one wife, ruling
their children and their own
houses well.
In the Roman Catholic Church permanent deacons can be
married but
transitional ones who are to become
priests may not.
There is
also the concept of "papal infallibility" when the pope
is
speaking on matters of doctrine. Again, let us
see what Paul had to say
on that:
1
Corinthians 13:9,12 For we know in part, and we
prophesy in part . . .
For now we see through a
glass darkly; but then [in the life to come]
face to
face [with God]: now I know in part; but then
shall I know even
as also I am known.
If a giant of the faith like Paul who saw Jesus
admitted to having a
limited understanding about
God, how can any church claim its leader is
omniscient in anything?
There
are also denominations, including the R.C. Church,
which
"venerate" Mary and other saints. Though it is
a good thing to use their
lives as example (some of
them, anyway), when this turns into praying to
them,
I believe the line is crossed. Here is the evidence:
Exodus 20:1-5
And God spake all these words, saying,
I am the LORD thy
God, which have brought thee out of the land of
Egypt, out of the house
of bondage.
Thou shalt
have no other gods before me.
Thou shalt not make
unto
thee any graven image, or any likeness
of any thing that
is in heaven
above, or
that is in the earth beneath,
or that is in the water under
the
earth:
Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor
serve them: for I the
LORD thy God
am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the
fathers upon
the children unto the third and fourth
generation of them that hate
me.
There is also the premise that
church tradition is just as, if not more
authoritative than Scripture. Here is what Jesus said
to the Pharisees
about doing this very thing:
Matthew 15:1-3,
7-9 Then came to Jesus scribes and
Pharisees, which were
of Jerusalem, saying,
Why do thy disciples transgress the
tradition of
the elders? for they wash not their
hands when they eat bread.
But he
answered and said
unto them, Why do ye also transgress
the commandment
of God by your tradition? .
. . Ye
hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy
of you, saying,
This people
draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and
honoureth me with their
lips; but their heart is far from me.
But in vain
they do worship me,
teaching for
doctrines the commandments of men.
Now I am sure I have already rustled feathers of Roman
Catholics in
particular, but I am only relaying
what the Bible has said on these
matters. Now it is
time to deal with the errors which have become so
ingrained of much of Protestantism. Having once
belonged to the Episcopal
Church (TEC)for most of
my life, I will concentrate on the specific errors
which caused me to leave in dismay in 2007, because
many of their false
doctrines have become common in
much of the Protestant world.
The
following is a sampling of TEC's presiding bishop
Katharine Schori's
theological views which have
become adopted by most of this denomination.
1)
"Mother Jesus." She used this term her sermon at her
installation as
presiding bishop. Here is what
Scripture says:
John 20:30-31 And many
other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of
his
disciples, which are not written in this book:
But these
are written,
that ye might believe that Jesus is the
Christ, the Son of God; and
that believing ye might
have life through his name.
There
are, of course many such references to Jesus as the Son
of God
and none which ever address him as the
mother of anything!
2)Homosexual behavior is not
a sin. She has been consistent in putting
this
belief into practice by allowing active homosexuals to
be ordained
as clergy and being in support of
same-sex rites in TEC. But what does the
Bible say
about human sexuality? Here are some examples:
Genesis 2:23-24 And Adam said, This
is now bone of my bones, and
flesh of
my flesh: she shall be called Woman,
because she was taken out of Man.
Therefore shall a man
leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave
unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.
Matthew 19:4-6
The Pharisees also came unto him [Jesus],
tempting
him, and saying unto him, Is it lawful for
a man to put away his wife
for every cause?
And he
answered and said unto them, Have ye
not read,
that he which made
them at the
beginning made them male and female,
And
said, For this cause shall a
man leave father and mother, and shall cleave
to
his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh?
Wherefore they are no
more twain,
but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together,
let
not man put asunder.
Paul said:
1 Corinthians 6:9
Know ye not that the
unrighteous shall not inherit the
kingdom of God?
Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters,
nor
adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of
themselves with mankind,
Nor should we ignore that the acceptance of
homosexuality which was
very likely a contributing
factor in God's decision to destroy those
cities
(Genesis chapters 18 and 19).
3) Personal or
individual salvation is a "heresy." This comes from her
opening remarks at TEC's Triennial Convention on
July 9, 2009. Again, she
and the Bible are at odds:
John 3:16-17
For God so loved the world,
that he gave his only begotten
Son, that whosoever
believeth in him should not perish, but have
everlasting life.
For God sent not his Son
into the world to condemn the
world; but that the
world through him might be saved.
Acts 4:5-11
And it came to pass on the morrow, that their
rulers, and
elders, and scribes,
And Annas
the high priest, and Caiaphas, and John,
and
Alexander, and as many as were of the kindred of the
high priest,
were gathered together at Jerusalem.
And when
they had set them in the
midst, they asked, By what
power, or by what name, have ye done this?
Then Peter,
filled with the Holy Ghost, said unto them, Ye rulers
of the
people, and elders of Israel,
If we this
day be examined of the good deed
done to the
impotent man, by what means he is made whole;
Be it
known unto
you all, and to all the people of
Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ
of
Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the
dead, even by him
doth
this man stand here before you whole.
This is
the stone which was set
at nought of you builders,
which is become the head of the corner.
Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is
none other name under
heaven given among men,
whereby we must be saved.
Acts:16:25
And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and
sang praises unto
God: and the prisoners heard
them. And
suddenly there was a great
earthquake, so that the
foundations of the prison were shaken: and
immediately all the doors were opened, and every one’s
bands were loosed.
And the keeper of the prison awaking out
of his sleep, and seeing the
prison doors open, he
drew out his sword, and would have killed himself,
supposing that the prisoners had been fled.
But Paul
cried with a loud voice,
saying, Do thyself no
harm: for we are all here.
Then he called for a light,
and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down
before Paul and Silas,
And brought them out, and
said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?
And they
said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou
shalt be saved, and thy
house.
And they spake unto him the
word of the Lord, and to all that were in
his
house.
These passages also torpedo
the growing heresy of "pluralistic salvation"
espoused
by Schori and most of the Protestant Church today.
In this essay I have tried to present
not only the evidence that the
Send
condition of our modern church is precisely what the
Bible had predicted
for the "end of days" times,
but the specific falsehoods which have now become
accepted doctrines - lying doctrines at that!
As I said earlier, I expect there will be some, perhaps
many, who read this
essay and not like what it has
to say. The truth of the matter is that I have
freely used the Bible to challenge all what I believe
are serious doctrinal
errors in the Western Church
today. In other words, I am not making these
things
up and I respect people enough to tell them the truth
as I believe it
to be.
By all means,
do NOT take my word for anything here, but do your own
research, come to your own conclusions, just as the
Bereans did in the beginning
of the church age with
Paul and Silas:
Acts 17:
10-11 And the brethren
immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night
unto
Berea: who coming thither went
into the synagogue of the Jews.
These were
more noble than
those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word
with all
readiness of mind, and searched the
scriptures daily, whether those
things were so.
