The Church Divided

“Then was brought unto him one possessed with a devil, blind, and dumb: and he healed him, insomuch that the blind and dumb both spake and saw. And all the people were amazed, and said, Is not this the son of David? But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, this fellow doth not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub the prince of the devils. And Jesus knew their thoughts, and said unto them,

Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand: And if Satan cast out Satan, he is divided against himself; how shall then his kingdom stand? And if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your children cast them out? Therefore they shall be your judges. But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you. Or else how can one enter into a strong man's house, and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong man? And then he will spoil his house. He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad.” Matthew 12: 22 - 30

It has come to my attention over the years that the Church is suffering and reeling from within its very own congregations, who are being led into liberal assumptions of Bible scripture. The subject of whether or not to accept the gay community into the Church has become so controversial that it is most likely to bring disaster to every church organization and that, by design.

The Scripture stated above gives us insight to what Christ Jesus would tell an unbelieving people about the consequences of lack of discernment. These people (religious unbelievers known in Christ’s time as Pharisees), were trying to accuse Jesus of casting out demons by the power of the devil. Of course, our Lord can see the dark, demented hearts of these false accusers and gives the spoken word of wisdom. The dumb and blind possessed by devils were not the only ones guided by Satan. Later on, in this passage of scripture, Christ warned them of the consequences of blaspheming the Holy Ghost when His works were attributed to the dark works of Satan. This is exactly what the Church is guilty of today. Church denominations have made the grave error of attributing the works of Satan as the work of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is accomplished by Satan strategically placing his Pharisees within the local churches with the gay agenda on the planning board.

In this day and time, Church denominations across the country are forced to deal with the growing appreciation of gays and lesbians that yearn to be accepted by all society, including the local Church. I have to be blunt and admit, Satan has a winner this time, or does he? It has always been my assumption that when an individual decides to come into an organization with intentions of joining that institution, the individual is questioned about his or her intensions and is encouraged to meet the criteria of that particular institution. As an example, I visualize an individual attending a Mason or Shrine organization with the intensions of proselytizing them into another agenda. Of course, I say this in jest because we all know that this would never take place. I have all ideas, that individual will find themselves standing on the outside street sidewalk with broken dreams of joining that organization. This demonstration attests that this organization firmly believes in adhering to the program previously accepted, unlike the local Church today. When it comes to Church, we are supposed to accept any persons without question of moral character? If this be the case, we will have to consciously make an effort to apologize to the drunkard, the prostitute, and the pedophile that attends the local assembly and in some cases, hold offices within the Church. I do not believe that Christ Jesus will be so gracious as to accept a person on the grounds that the individual has in his or her possession an unrepentant heart of their sins. This is the very reason for the Church to begin with. It is designed by God to be a beacon of morality, justice, and social order. This is an institution ordained by Jesus Christ and along with it to guide it was given the Holy Bible.

Yes, the Church is under attack, no doubt, and Satan seems to think that he will surely win this battle. This might seem to be the consensus of those on looking. There comes to mind one very important verse of scripture that refutes this analogy, Matthew 16: 18; “….and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” This verse assures us that no matter what Satan throws at the Church, it will survive because, and within every denomination there is that faithful remnant that refuses to give into the pressures of this world. This very well could be the fiery test God allows every now and then to purge His Church from worldly corruption. God seems to have an uncanny way to expose the Pharisees that inundate and plague the Church in every generation.

Responding to God's Call

Have you ever heard God speak to your heart? According to Scripture, God calls on our hearts before we call on Him. Not the other way around.

“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. It is written in the prophets, and they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me.” John 6:44-45

It is taught today by many preachers, evangelists, and Sunday school teachers, that if anyone calls upon the name of the LORD, He will save you. The Scripture does say that and He will save you, if He is the first in making an attempt to speak the truth to your heart. The problem with this way of teaching is taking the process of salvation out of text and creating a false atmosphere of putting the sinner in charge of the salvation process. The truth of the matter is, that if you seek God before He seeks you, you could be putting the cart before the horse. This in turn, creates a vacuum within the individual, empty without God, because it wasn’t the Holy Spirit of God that instigated the calling process. This type of Salvation is instigated by emotions caused by loud music and loud shouting resulting only in head knowledge. In reality, it had nothing to do with the heart. God only deals with the heart. Satan deals with emotions and can persuade people into believing they are saved. It is very hard for me to understand why a sinner would call to God when he or she doesn’t know what God can do for them to begin with. The reasoning just isn’t there. This practice of an individual asking God to save them just by saying the magic word or reciting the sinner’s prayer is known as the error of “easy believeism”.

Pastors, evangelists, and all sorts of church people use this form of evangelism to get masses moved and motivated to accept Christ as their Saviour on false ground right in the beginning. God is not in this and is nowhere to be found. When an individual is calling for God to save them on their terms, they will continue to search for answers every Sunday morning; they are wells without water, clouds with no rain. Satan devised this practice to dupe many people into believing they are saved when in reality, God was never calling on them to repent. They are still unsaved and dying in their sin. There was no repentance to be witnessed and individuals are not sorry for their sinful ways because they will turn right around and go back to the sin they say they turned away from.

“These are wells without water, clouds that are carried with a tempest; to whom the mist of darkness is reserved for ever. For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them who live in error. While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage. For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them. But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, the dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.” 2Peter 2:17-22

I remember the time when I was a sinner and without God in my life. I figured I didn’t need God or anything He had to offer me. I enjoyed my sin and didn’t want anything to disrupt my agenda. Needless to say, I now see I was wrong. However, one day God’s Holy Spirit started dealing with my heart with that small still voice. I was scared because I didn’t understand how God works and I started to run for my life. I didn’t understand God was calling me from a life of sin and eternal death. But by His mercy and grace, I surrendered one day, yes surrendered to God and His Son, Jesus Christ and accepted Christ as my LORD and Saviour. My life has never been the same since. But, He sought after me! Not the other way around. I never had to get saved again in all my life because it ‘took’ the first time God saved me. I have witnessed countless people go to the altar at the front of the church every service trying to get saved. This is a very disturbing sight, to say the least.

Pastors today keep preaching that anyone can be saved and all you do is just come to the front of the church and ask God to save you. Well, it doesn’t work that way. On more than one occasion I have witnessed certain individuals coming to the front of the church to get saved again. They stated in their own words that they had been playing church all along and thought they were saved only to discover they never were. But by the grace of God it was revealed to them to call upon the LORD with a repentant heart and turn from their wicked ways once and for all times. All I can say about these incidents is that I hope and trust they truly were saved. Because if they continue to perform this practice of going to the altar on different occasions, especially during revivals where the emotions soar, they send the message that you cannot really know for sure that you are saved. This is the trap of Satan. He wants people to be in doubt of their salvation thus robbing them of the joy of being one of God’s very own. And not only that, but, they will never understand that God has to do the calling. We cannot call ourselves to Salvation.

“As it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.” Romans 3:10-12

This is the way salvation of God works. First, an individual must recognize the fact that they are a sinner lost and without God in their lives. Only God can reveal this fact to the person. Second, a lost man will naturally and repeatedly reject God trying to go around God without having to face Him. This is called being under conviction, proof positive that the Holy Spirit of God is dealing with the individual as a sinner. For a fact, man will do anything to try to get out of dealing with a Holy and righteous God. Jehovah God is a living God and demands that we turn from our sin and repent to Him that we accept Him and His Son Jesus because it was Jesus that was crucified for our sin debt that we could never pay for ourselves. In short, we unconditionally surrender to the LORD of HOSTS by accepting Jesus as LORD. Jesus loved me and died in my place to give me the gift from God, His Salvation and eternal life with Him. This is how I was saved from a life of sin and damnation. I accepted God and His Son, Jesus on His terms. There is no other way.

“Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” John 14:6

According to Scripture, it is impossible to come to God and His son on our own. The process of Salvation requires someone who knows us personally. Christ is that person to bridge the span from God to me and you with a personal invitation. I eventually accepted the invitation and came to God willingly and with a thankful heart that He thought enough about me and loved me to give me eternal life. I had achieved or done nothing to deserve this gift and am forever in His debt.