1Corinthians 10:12 Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.
The Bible in the book of Revelation gives seven examples of churches, five of which God has bad things to say. Only two get by without bad words about them from God. These two churches are not big churches that impress man. One can tell by the way the Bible discusses them:
Revelation 2:8 And unto the angel of the church in Smyrna write;
These things saith the first and the last, which was dead, and is
alive;
9 I know thy works, and tribulation, and
poverty
, (but thou art
rich) and
I know
the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews,
and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan.
10 Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the
devil shall cast
some
of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and
ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I
will give thee a crown of life.
11 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the
churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second
death.
Revelation 3:7 And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia
write; These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath
the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth; and
shutteth, and no man openeth;
8 I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door,
and no man can shut it: for thou hast a
little
strength, and hast kept
my word, and hast not denied my name.
9 Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say
they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to
come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved
thee.
10 Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will
keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all
the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.
11 Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no
man take thy crown.
12 Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my
God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the
name of my God, and the name of the city of my God,
which is
new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God:
and
I will write upon him my new name.
13 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the
churches.
The two underlined words in the above two passages make clear that these are not big, thriving churches. The other five out of the total of seven churches discussed there in Revelation get warnings from God. The church of Ephesus which did well in exposing false teachers nevertheless had lost its first love (Rev 2:4). The church at Pergamos that has not denied the faith nevertheless harbors the false doctrines of Balaam (Rev 2:14) and the Nicolaitans (Rev 2:15). The church at Thyatira whose later works were greater than their first works nevertheless harbors the wicked woman Jezebel who calls herself a prophetess (Rev 2:20). The church at Sardis has a name that they live, but then God says that they are dead (Rev 3:1). The church at Laodicea thought they were rich, but God says that they are very poor in a bad sense from God's viewpoint (Rev 3:17).
If your church is typical, it is among the five churches above. Do you go to a large church that is thriving? Be careful, the Bible says:
Luke 6:26 Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! for so did their fathers to the false prophets.
Luke 16:15 And he said unto them, Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God.
Proverbs 16:5 Every one that is proud in heart is an abomination to the LORD: though hand join in hand, he shall not be unpunished.
Proverbs 20:6 Most men will proclaim every one his own goodness: but a faithful man who can find?
The essence of a faithful church that receives no condemnation from God is found in God , not in men. This is because God is the source of all good things. No good thing in the least little way comes from man. The primary good thing in the hands of man is the Bible, which God placed into the human race as a witness to the human race. God does not leave Himself without a witness. God loves His Word. Churches that love God's Word love God. Do you love the Bible? Do you read it? Does your pastor teach you how to study the Bible so that you can discover and confirm truth by studying the Bible yourself? All these questions are related to churches that love the Bible. Furthermore, if your church seems to love the Bible, is that love sincere? Love may be faked enough to fool people, though no one can fool God, who sees man's heart. What is the true love of the Bible? If one truly loves the Bible, then nothing compares to the Bible in the heart of such a person. That person knows by a deep God-caused faith that everything in the Bible is true. That person shall trust a statement of the Bible over any statement of science or man. That person shall not let any other so-called message from God, such as another book that is supposedly divine be acknowledged as such; that person rejects with force the idea that there is any other truth apart from the Bible. That person even shall reject something his or her pastor says, if what that pastor says is contradicted by the Bible; the Bible wins every time!
Proverbs 21:30 There is no wisdom nor understanding nor counsel against the LORD.
Proverbs 19:21 There are many devices in a man's heart; nevertheless the counsel of the LORD, that shall stand.
Furthermore, if one loves the Bible truly, then that person shall take its commandments seriously as statements of what God desires in the life of a true Christian.
Test number one of an apostate church: Does our church fail to exalt the Bible? The Bible itself says:
Psalm 138:2 I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name.
Some people shall complain, maybe loudly, this makes the Bible an idol. No. We must realize that the Bible is a love letter to the true believers, and a condemnation to the remainder of mankind. If a young woman receives a love letter from her future husband, who is to arrive soon for the wedding, she may very well kiss that letter while her mind is on her husband, until her husband arrives; then she can set the letter down, and love her husband in person. To press the question again, do we kiss the Bible in our heart? In other words, do we love the Bible? If we are worshiping the God who wrote the Bible as we love the Bible, we have not made the Bible an idol.
The truth of the matter is that there are many pastors who can not stand to have their congregations challenge them in truth by bringing to them hard questions from the Bible. They do not want their means of employment challenged; it is their livelihood. For example, pastors that teach that man has a free will--which is a very common lie and false doctrine-would be very offended by their church members bringing to their attention Bible verses to the contrary. On this question of free will consider:
Romans 9:11 (For
the children
being not yet born, neither having
done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to
election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;)
12 It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger.
13 As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.
14 What shall we say then?
Is there
unrighteousness with God?
God forbid.
15 For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have
mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have
compassion.
16 So then
it is
not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth,
but of God that sheweth mercy.
John 1:13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
John 6:44 No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.
John 15:16 Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.
1John 419 We love him, because he first loved us.
Isaiah 65:1 I am sought of them that asked not for me ; I am found of them that sought me not: I said, Behold me, behold me, unto a nation that was not called by my name.
James 1:18 Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.
Matthew 11:25 At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.
So another test for an apostate church: "does our church teach the false doctrine of free will?" Instead, it should teach election, that God does the choosing, and that man does not have a free will to choose God. If a church pushes the false doctrine of free will forcefully, that is grounds for leaving that church, because it actually has a works gospel, not a gospel of God's irresistible, all- prevailing grace to save every last one of the elect--and absolutely no one else but the elect--out of thoroughly spiritually dead and completely undeserving mankind.
We can go on and on to examine false teachings of the church, because there are many such doctrines. Some other serious false doctrines today include tongues are possible after the Bible was completed; dreams and visions supposedly from God after the Bible was completed; supposedly true healings after the time of the apostles; women being allowed to teach, and lead men, and to be pastors; homosexuality not opposed; hell is not eternal; Jesus is not God; water baptism saves; the Old Testament is irrelevant; etc. The list can be summarized as a hatred for the Bible. Any of these false doctrines are strong grounds for leaving a church, on one hand. But on the other hand, today is a day when churches are so apostate that finding a faithful church is very difficult. Still, the false doctrines listed above are so offensive that such a church should be left behind; and we should try very hard to find a reasonable church, not a perfect church; and the idea of not attending any church at all should be avoided, if at all possible, because the Bible identifies not gathering with the believers as a very serious, willful sin that must be avoided:
Hebrews 10:25 Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves
together, as the manner of some
is;
but exhorting
one another:
and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.
26For if we sin wilfully
after that we have received the
knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins,
27 But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery
indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.
So the hope would be to find a better church with believers that love the Bible with which to fellowship; a church that is reasonably faithful to the Bible; one that does not add to the Bible with supposed messages from God; which pays close attention to what the Bible says; and which does not take away from the Bible by regarding portions of it as irrelevant. On the mater of relevance of the Old Testament, consider:
Romans 15:4 For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.
2Ti 3:16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is; profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
1 Corinthians 10:5 But with many of them God was not well
pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness.
6Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should
not lust after evil things, as they also lusted.
7 Neither be ye idolaters, as
were
some of them; as it is written,
The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.
8 Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed,
and fell in one day three and twenty thousand.
9 Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and
were destroyed of serpents.
10 Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were
destroyed of the destroyer.
11Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and
they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the
world are come.
No church has perfect doctrine, just like we ourselves do not have perfect doctrine. But we should strive for truth and mercy and should focus on the truth to be sure that we ourselves know and love the truth. The Bible says:
2 Timothy 2:15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
Acts 17:11 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.
1 Peter 2:2 As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:
2Corinthians 4:2 But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God.
And we do not want the following to be true of us:
2 Timothy 4:3 For the time will come when they will not endure
sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to
themselves teachers, having itching ears;
4 And they shall turn away
their
ears from the truth, and shall be
turned unto fables.
2 Thessalonians 2:10 And with all deceivableness of
unrighteousness in them that perish;
because they received not the love of the truth,
that they might be saved.
11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that
they should believe a lie:
12 That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but
had pleasure in unrighteousness.
Today is that time when people will not endure sound doctrine, and do not love the truth.
The Bible itself gives a very noteworthy test for false teachers:
Matthew 7:15 Beware of false prophets, which come to you in
sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
16 Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of
thorns, or figs of thistles?
17 Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt
tree bringeth forth evil fruit.
18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither
can
a corrupt
tree bring forth good fruit.
19 Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and
cast into the fire.
20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.
How do we apply this test? This test is for both true and false prophets. True prophets are those who yield good fruit, whatever that is. False prophets are those who yield bad fruit, whatever that is. Let's see how Jesus applied this test to himself:
John 13:35 By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.
1John 2:5 But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him.
Love is one of the fruits of the Spirit, as the Bible speaks:
Galatians 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,
longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
Consider the following about love (called charity in this passage):
1 Corinthians 13:4Charity
suffereth long,
and
is kind; charity
envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,
5 Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not
easily provoked, thinketh no evil;
6 Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but
rejoiceth in the truth;
Love does not mean that we don't care for truth. We care for truth, otherwise we do not have love; this is what is meant by "Charity.rejoiceth in the truth". This is a very important characteristic of true Christian love. Churches that sacrifice truth for unity's sake in the name of love do not have love! The Bible says:
Proverbs 27:5 Open rebuke is better than secret love.
Proverbs 27:6 Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.
If we have love, then we are engaged in the life long struggle for truth; God glorifying, true unity is only possible when we have the truth, as God gives the truth in His Bible. Of course, the way we share the truth is important. If we do not have the authority of a pastor over a congregation, or elder over a congregation, or parent over a child, or husband over his wife and children, or a wife over her children, then we need to be very careful not to judge other people, because God is the Judge of all mankind, and God grants through the proper chain of authority the place of judgment in this life:
Ro 13:1 Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.
James 4:11 Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that
speaketh evil of
his
brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil
of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art
not a doer of the law, but a judge.
12 There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who
art thou that judgest another?
Those in proper authority granted by God represent God in that authority. So when we talk about rebuke and wounds in the above scriptures, we must remember that these actions of corrections towards others are to be done only if we have the proper authority. Or, if a close friendship allows it, then within the context of that rare and special friendship. Otherwise, to rebuke someone is to judge them, and God commands us to not judge one another. So we are to share corrective truth with tact (but without lying and deception) and kindness only within the proper context. For this God says:
Ephesians 4:15 But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:
This is where true unity comes from: a loving concern for each other in the truth.
Also, even within the proper context of authority or a close friendship we can not correct every little thing. Love does require much ongoing mercy and forgiveness. None of us has perfect doctrine. And we must overlook sin in each other because we ourselves are quite sinful, and need much forgiveness from God everyday. Many lesser sins and faults should go unmentioned altogether:
Proverbs 19:11 The discretion of a man deferreth his anger; and it is his glory to pass over a transgression.
1 Peter 4:8 And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins.
Anyone who has truth and no love is a hypocrite. Also, anyone who has love and no truth is a liar. Jesus alone brought truth and love together. He did that at the cross:
Psalm 85:10 Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.
So is Jesus alive in our church so that it has this uncompromised love for truth and each other simultaneously? This love is good fruit. Most pastors fail to produce a church like this! Most churches do not care enough about truth to enter into the struggle for truth, because they are fearful that the struggle shall shatter the unity that they have by ignoring the truth. They become a friendly social club. They do not really love the Bible-though they read their Bible and sing wonderful hymns-- nor do they love God; and they are causing each other to go to hell by ignoring the truth. This shows that their surface friendliness is a cover for the hatred for each other as they pat each other on the back, assuring each other that all is well, when in fact they are headed for hell; as the Bible says:
Jeremiah 6:14 They have healed also the hurt of
the daughter
of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when
there is
no peace.
15 Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination?
nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush:
therefore they shall fall among them that fall: at the time
that
I visit them they shall be cast down, saith the LORD.
16 Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask
for the old paths, where
is
the good way, and walk therein, and ye
shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk
therein.
Sadly, the struggle for truth is cut-off at the base by pastors who fail to teach their congregations how to study the Bible. Or they teach them bogus ways to study the Bible, such as the so called "inductive method." In fact, most pastor's do not know how to study the Bible. They greatly depend upon their commentaries. Using commentaries is not how to study the Bible. Commentaries are no better than teachers who present doctrine, sometimes true, and sometimes false. No teacher is perfect except God and the Bible itself. Commentaries are like most pastors, they also fail to teach us how to study the Bible. Do you know how to study the Bible? The Bible does teach us how it is to be studied (God in the following verse is talking about the word of God, as it was spoken):
1 Corinthians 2:13 Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
If God has given us the faith to understand this verse, then we would understand the important relationship of this verse to the following verse:
John 6:63 It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.
We see that the Bible (the Bible is the Word of God, and Jesus is God) refers to itself as spirit in John 6:63. Keying in on that word spirit , we would then understand that since spiritual things in 1 Corinthians 2:13 also refers to the Bible, we are to compare the Bible with the Bible to interpret the Bible; the whole Bible is its own self-contained-context. So by comparing these two scriptures with each other we see that such comparison is exactly how God desires the Bible to be studied. The only thing that keeps this circular reasoning from becoming invalid is that God starts us off with faith to understand one of these two verses; then he opens the eyes of our understanding to the next verse by comparison, and our understanding deepens.
Of course, this makes abundant sense if we trust the Bible to be from the one perfect Mind of God, with perfect consistency and integrity. For example, if we compare scripture with scripture, we believe and trust that when God speaks of the sons of God in Genesis 6:2 and Job 1:6, that these are exactly the same as the sons of God spoken of in Romans 8:14. Anything less than that belief and trust is to deny the integrity of the Bible, the Word of God. Many teachers and theologians fail to hold the Bible up this highly. They lack faith, and should not be teaching others. Please do not misunderstand, do not suppose that every time we see the same word in the Bible we must believe that it means exactly the same thing. Context is quite important; and the whole Bible is a context unto itself. But a phrase like the sons of God is very much too unique and special to have such variability in meaning.
The Bible's depths greatly exceed what any man may understand over a lifetime, and we have no where else to go for truth:
John 6:68 Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.
Now, in this time of great ignorance of the Bible, if God has opened your eyes to truth, don't be puffed up with pride. The Bible warns:
1 Corinthians 8:1.Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth.
2 And if any man think that he knoweth any thing, he knoweth
nothing yet as he ought to know.
3 But if any man love God, the same is known of him.
1 Corinthians 4:7 For who maketh thee to differ from another? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive? now if thou didst receive it , why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it ?
Hebrews 13:9 Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines. For it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace; not with meats, which have not profited them that have been occupied therein.
Romans 14:17 For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.
Romans 12:16 Be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits.
Romans 15:1 We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves.
John 16:12 I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.
Is your or my church apostate? Consider, for some parting final scripture:
Isaiah 8:20 To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.
Jeremiah 23:22 But if they had stood in my counsel, and had caused my people to hear my words, then they should have turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings.
May God bless you.
P.S., Read the entire book of Lamentations in the Bible. That is God's up-to-the-minute news report on The Apostate Church, spoken of there in spiritual language as Jerusalem. Read also Revelation 11:8.
The author of this tract hereby places this entire tract into the public domain. Freely copy as you please. God is the source of all truth, but thanks to my friends for their truly helpful input. D.Z. (Tract version time & date: 31May98,9:15pm)