In 1 Thessalonians 1:9 the Apostle Paul is congratulating the church at Thessalonica because, upon hearing the true Gospel of God, they had “turned TO God FROM idols to serve the living and true God.”  In this short statement Paul perfectly summarized the transition from churchianity (worship of idols) to Christianity (worship of God).  The difference between counterfeit Christianity (churchianity) and true Christianity (the Church of God–not the denomination) is the difference between darkness and light, life and death.  Like east and west, they are anathema to each other.  As Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1, Truth seekers must come out of the Catholic/Protestant religious (darkness and death) system, rid themselves of every vestige of Satan’s control and enter into the Church of God, the only place where spiritual light can be found.  THEN, and only then, He will be their God and they will be His people.  If, that is, we can take Him at His Word.

Paul used the word “idols” to describe the false church of his day as well as her spiritual descendants today.  The key to understanding God’s condemnation of false Christianity is to realize that, in the eyes of God, the hundreds of different churches, faiths, denominations, sects, etc. are IDOLS.  The cross that every religious organization puts forth as its identifying symbol is viewed by the Lord as an idol which, among other relics of heathenism, He hates.  In the Ten Commandment Law He forbids the making and using of “graven” images.  “Graven” refers to any man-made item.  Note His Words in Deuteronomy 5:7,8: “You shall have NO OTHER GODS BEFORE ME.  YOU shall not MAKE any GRAVEN image or any (GRAVEN) likeness of anything that is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters ….”  Note that God rejects anything made by man that is used in worship of or service to Him.  Note that this includes likenesses of anything in heaven (statues, engravings or paintings of Jesus Christ and angels), Biblical personalities (Mary, Jesus, prophets or apostles), etc.  Note also that He rejects images of anything found in the water, such as the fish symbol.

Note that God used the word “before” in verse seven.  GOD VIEWS ANY IDOL (MAN-MADE OBJECT) AS BEING BEFORE HIM.  He sees any man-made item as an idol its owner has placed BEFORE HIM, MEANING BETWEEN THE USER AND HIMSELF.  WE MUST VIEW ALL THINGS FROM GOD’S PERSPECTIVE, NOT OUR OWN.  Man’s reasoning has no place in Christianity.  When God said, “Come, let us reason together” (Isa. 1:18) He meant that man was to agree with His reasoning.  Contrary to popular opinion, God is smarter than church people.  Contrary to universal opinion, when God says something in His Holy Bible, that and that alone is Truth relative to the subject.  Man’s opinion is irrelevant.  In verses 19 and 20 that God states that if we agree with His reasoning we will live; if we do not, we will die.  Look at the Introduction to this website below the Ten Commandments and you will find a partial list of churchianity’s reasonings that are the exact opposite of God’s reasonings.  But when I point out this truth in the very Bible the church swears by, the reaction is hostility toward and rejection of the very Word they claim guarantees their salvation, which they claim to have already received.  What Jesus said about rejecting His Word in Luke 10:17 should end the conversation.  It does not.   Hell hath no fury like a self-defined spiritual giant who is exposed as a Bible-defined religious dwarf.  Churchman despises God, His Word, His church, His people and His Son.  Catholics and Protestants despise the Father and the Son because, being light, they expose the darkness in which the whole of professing Christendom lives.

Recently a church official declared that a time is soon coming when Christians, being outnumbered and hated, would be severely persecuted.  This man was correct, but not in the way he and many others believe.  Religious man does not distinguish between church Christians and Bible Christians.  Church Christians worship the church, which is their ultimate idol and source of their religious truth.  If asked to define a Christian, church people equate Christianity to belonging to “the church.”  I recently heard a preacher say that belonging to the church “guarantees salvation.”  This is one of Satan’s premier lies.  God repeatedly refutes this theological “truth.”  For example, in 1 Peter 4:17,18 God tells us that judgment is on-going in THE (God’s one and only) church, and that only the RIGHTEOUS IN THAT CHURCH will be saved.  Peter then addresses the plight of ungodly sinners in THAT church.  Read about the ten virgins (church members) in Matthew 10.  The five foolish virgins represent the ungodly church people written about in 1 Peter 4:17,18.  Note that they remained in the church, and in good standing, until the Bridegroom came (Christ’s Second Advent).  These are the same people who will remind Jesus of “… all the wonderful works we did in Your name.”  To them He will reply: “I never knew you; depart from Me you workers of iniquity” (Lawlessness)–Mat. 7:23.

What the man who warned of Christian persecution on a global scale does not understand is that it will be the Catholic/Protestant Church, together will the rest of the world, who will persecute God’s true, Law-keeping saints.  Those who believe they will be the hunted will in fact be the hunters.  God’s people will be the light that exposes the world’s, including the church world’s darkness.  For this reason true Christians, though tiny in number, will be identified as the cause of all of mankind’s problems and will be forced to flee their respective countries and go to “her place” (Rev. 12:6,14) where God will protect and provide for them throughout the following 3 1/2 years of tribulation, terror, death and destruction which the entire world will experience.  Catholic and Protestant churches will join with the rest of the world in blaming God’s Very Elect for the problems facing mankind.  God’s people will be hated, despised, hunted and hounded even as they are leaving their respective nations.  The dragon/serpent (Satan) will at that time be in total control of earth’s people and will try to destroy God’s remnant church.  However, the Lord will miraculously intervene and save them (Rev. 12:13-16).  As soon as they are in their place of safety, the Great Tribulation will begin.  There will be no “rapture” to save the counterfeit church.  Read The Rapture.  Key word–Rapture.

The church is false Christianity’s Golden Calf.  Her parishioners look to her, not to God, for guidance and salvation.  Because of her rejection of His Law, the Almighty plays no part in the religious beliefs and practices of those who call themselves “the church.”  L.J.