Monday, November 21, 2011

Mainstream or Traditional?

Acts 2:42, "And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking bread, and in prayers."

Note: When the author renders the word 'Church' as shown, he is referring the reader to today's man made, corporate entity, business driven, main-stream, Institutional 'Church.' When he renders the word church in all lower case letters he is referring to Christ's Authentic, Legitimate Home Based church, which He continues to build.

Subtly. Interesting word. One of the definitions that we will apply for this lesson is, "arranged in an ingenious and elaborate way". Another great definition is, "Of a change or distinction so delicate or precise as to be difficult to analyze or describe" or, "making use of clever and indirect methods to achieve something."  The last definition used will be the words, "crafty and cunning."

Why the subtle beginning to this message? To illustrate how cunning the Devil is. You see, he seldom does things accompanied with an announcement. He was subtle when he appeared to Eve and he is subtle when he appears to us. Seldom if ever does he appear as himself. The Bible called him, "...more subtil than any beast in the field which the LORD God had made."-Genesis 3:1. He likes to sneak up on us. He thrives on subtly. He tried to be crafty with our Lord during His forty-day fast, but the Lord knew better and stopped his mind games in their tracks. He is a clever one, this conniver. Scripture records that he will deceive even the very elect during the end times. This guy is good! What does this have to do with our title? Everything!

You see, if Old Slew-foot can pull the wool over Eve's eyes; and the very elect's eyes, he can pull the wool over our eyes! And you know what? He has, and most don't even know it! He's done it so well, he's accomplished it over a period of centuries. Even thousands of years! Yeah! This guy is a real piece of work. You see, Jesus Promised perpetuity to His church. He said it would never go under. Jesus doesn't lie; but Satan does! Satan wants us to believe Jesus' church is everlasting as well. The only thing is, he's conned us into believing that his concept of 'Church' is the same as our Lord's. He has performed 'sleight of hand' on us once again. "How" you ask? Just read the above definitions again.

After I left the Organized, Corporate-structured, Business Entity Institutional, Pay-Our-Tithe-So-We-Can-Thrive, 'Church,' I realized that he pulled the ol' switch-a-roo on me. He made me believe that I was a member of Christ's traditional authentic church. Wasn't I though? Nope! I was a member of Satan's Mainstream Religious 'Church.' Sure the name 'Baptist' was above the door. I thought I was in the right place at the right time. It didn't even matter if the sign read Baptist or Catholic. Why? Because they are actually cut from the same cloth! I'm as Baptist as one could be, but, the Corporate minded Baptists' are just as religious as Catholics! They are just more subtle about it. They impose their rituals with do's and don't's just like the other denominations do. The Baptist main core doctrines are sound and adhere to Scripture, (Thank the LORD!) but like all of Satan's recipes, he mixes the good ingredients with poisonous ones. He mixes religion with faith. Works with beliefs. Old Testament laws with Christian liberties. He mis-defines words and doctrines. And, these are the marks of his Mainstream religious system.

It's very subtil, really. It looks like the real thing. It worships like the real thing. It praises like the real thing; BUT, it ISN'T the real thing! How'd he pull this off? He used three major ingredients; lies, time and subtly. I'm telling ya; this guy is good! His rendition of 'Church' is so convincing that billions have gone to hell in it's name. Wars are fought. Blood is spilled. Babies are murdered. Empires rise and fall, all in the name of 'Religion.' And, it's still in full force today. It is so subtle, most can't see it. It's like the one who feverishly looks all over for his glasses not realizing he is actually wearing them.

Satan's counterfeit 'Church' system even started before Jesus began His true church in Luke chapter 6. Satan was already planting the seeds in Genesis chapter 3. He Promised Mama Eve knowledge and enlightenment. He told her she'd be like as a 'god.' He sure fooled her! And, he sure fooled us! That's RIGHT! You see, the 'Church' we were brought up to believe was Jesus' church is a fake. It's an entertainment-money-power-driven industry designed to get our minds off of Jesus and onto Satan's version of Jesus! As long as our eyes are on the 'puppet' (and not the 'Puppeteer') he's got us just where he wants us. He's got us stuck in his Mainstream 'Church.' When I have invited people from this Mainstream matrix to join me in a home assembly/fellowship, they tell me that they'd prefer to stay in a more, "Traditional 'Church.'" The thing is, they aren't even IN a traditional church. The 'Traditional' church was started by Jesus! What they're into is the, Mainstream 'Church' conjured-up by Satan.

Acts 2:42-47 gives us the true ingredients of Christ's Authentic traditional church. Christ's church had continuance and steadfastness in the right kind of doctrine. They broke bread and prayed together continually. They had godly fear that inspired them. They had all things in common. They even helped one another meeting the needs of people they didn't even know. They treated everyone equally. They were together daily going from house to house, praising God. They all had singleness of heart. Not only that, but even non-Christians looked upon them with favor. They were different! Christ's love spread through them like wildfire, and people took notice. Who wouldn't like this? Satan, and those whose power and positions were threatened. That's the whole list right there. They had to put a stop to this or they'd lose everything.

After several years of heaping persecution after persecution on these "Christians," they discovered an alarming trend. They were growing in number. The more they put the hurt on them, the more it was like adding fuel to the fire. These Christians were blazing out of control. Through these persecutions, God made these believers spread throughout Europe and Asia-minor. They became the churches in villages, seashores, mountains, forests, caves and catacombs. They were hounded and hunted down. They were torched and trodden under foot. They were jailed and fed to the lions; but they grew in number.

The elite were convinced that if you can't beat them; join them! Only they did it with a twist. They took their old pagan religious systems and placed Christian names and symbols on a new, fiat, Christian-In-Name-Only, Mother 'Church.' This Mother 'Church,' over time, spawned baby 'Churches' resembling the Mother 'Church.' Satan called them, Protestants. And, it worked! Through the Crusades and all of the Inquisitions, this Mother 'Church' and her babies infiltrated and subtly re-defined what a Christian church was to look and act like. And, people bought into it, hook, line and stinker! I said, 'stinker' because the smelliest bait usually catches the biggest fish. The only Problem for these 'Churched' Big-Shots was that Jesus made a Promise. Being God and all, this posed a BIG Problem for them! Why? Because Jesus can't break His Promise. He said that the gates of hell would NOT prevail against His church. To this day, it hasn't. We have stood the test of time through His Power!

Jesus' ekklesia is fueled by Power, not Profits. Not Professionals. Not Programs. Not Processes. Not Professions. Not Promotions and the like. We are powered by His Holy Spirit. We ran on His power in the New Testament and we run on His power today. Why? Because His church has an unlimited supply of power. The Power of Jesus! The Mainstream 'business entity 'Church' system will be destroyed in the end. Satan and the anti-Christ will see to that. But, Jesus' church will go on forever. There is no membership to join. We are an assembly, gathering together in the same vein as in Acts chapter 2. We are local and physical just as the early church was. We are fluid and expanding just like it was during the persecutions. Today, we enjoy a peace and fulfillment without being taxed by the clergy in the form of income tithes. Early Christians didn't pay 'dues' to be a part of the church, and neither do we now. That is something imposed upon those in the Mainstream 'Church.' They pay to be in it, so they are paying into the business of religion. You could say, they aren't just addicted to Mainstream 'Church', they are Mainlining on it.

Jesus' authentic, house-to-house church IS the Traditional church. It's the original, so it should be called 'Traditional.' It's off the beaten path on the Narrow Way. The Mainstream Religious 'Church' of Satan's imagination is located on the Broad Way toward destruction. If you are on the Mainstream Road to Religion, I urge you to open your road map (Bible) to study this out and see where you 'are' and where you need to go. Don't be a Religious main-stream main-liner. Be a traditionalist in Jesus' true ekklesia.

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