When Adam and Eve sinned they broke the face-to-face pattern of communication established by God. This process was destined to hold true except in extremely rare exceptions as noted in the Old Testament. Leading up to the establishment of the New Covenant Church in 31 A.D., Jesus came to earth and communicated with man as a man–face-to-face. See Jesus Christ: God, Man or Godman? Following His death, rebirth and return to the Father, He reverted back to the established pattern of communication–speaking to man through His Holy Spirit. With extremely rare exceptions, God now speaks to man through His Word using His Spirit. But let it be known that He has not left us in the dark concerning the things of this life. He used His prophets to reveal His Way and Will as noted in Amos 3:7: “Surely the Lord does nothing unless He reveals His secrets to His servants the prophets.” “… knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit” (2 Tim. 3:16,17).

From early on God has spoken to men through His Holy Spirit. As a man, Jesus also relied on the Spirit to bring Him Word from the Father: “The Words that you hear are not mine, but (come from) the One Who sent Me” (Jn. 14:24). “IF ANYONE CHOOSES TO DO GOD’S WILL, he will learn whether My teaching comes from God or whether I speak on My own” (Jn. 7:17). Paul, writing under the inspiration of the Spirit, wrote to Timothy, “… evil men and (who are) imposters will grow worse and worse, deceiving (church people) and being deceived (by Satan). But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures (the Old Testament), which are able to make you wise UNTO SALVATION through faith which is in Jesus Christ. ALL SCRIPTURE is given under inspiration of God (carried by the Holy Spirit) and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete (lacking nothing), thoroughly equipped for every good work (2 Tim. 3:13-17). Paul goes on to encourage and warn the young evangelist in 4:1-4): “… preach THE WORD … in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and teaching. For the time will come when they (church people) will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own (religious) desires.  Having itching ears, they will heap up (hire) for themselves teachers (to suit themselves–false prophets), and they (the church) will turn their ears away from the Truth and be turned aside unto fables.” See the introduction to this website. Note again in the John 7:17 passage that Jesus separates contenders from pretenders by prefacing His statement with the Words: “If any man chooses to do God’s will ….” Which brings us to the subject at hand.

It has been my experience that, with extremely rare exception, religious man would rather remain ignorant of God’s Words than to honestly examine them. And, because their dedication is to the pay check, Satan’s false prophets would rather lead their congregations into hell than to preach it. The so-called Christian ministry being totally negative relative to the speaking of God’s Truth, I will at this point present a positive example of a pastor who saw the light and chose one of three options left to him: stay the course, confess his errors to his congregation or leave the ministry. The wife of the man responsible for this website once sent her pastor to “straighten him out” by telling him about their denomination’s brand of religion. My friend simply showed him what God said in the Bible, which contradicted most of what their sect believed. Upon hearing the Truth, the man received a call from the Lord. Unfortunately, he refused to take the call. Not long after the conversation he resigned from the church and stopped preaching altogether. Let us give credit where it it due. Though he took the coward’s way out, that was better than continuing to preach what he knew was a lie. Tens of thousands of false prophets lack the spiritual spine to follow his example.

Due to extreme fear of God’s Word, the Counterfeit Church refuses to listen to God’s call to study, believe and obey that Word. See The Stephen Syndrome. Like her ancient religious ancestors–the Church at Laodicea (Rev. 3:14-22)–the church will not hear His voice as He “stands at the door and knocks,” calling out to those inside to “… come out of her and be separate, to … touch not the unclean thing ….” Then, and only then, does He promise to be one’s God (2 Cor. 6:17). God’s call to come out of the false church and into His true church is ongoing. A minutely few choose to answer the call because to do so one must overcome his/her Biblephobia–a journey only the truly dedicated are willing to take. L.J.