In Exodus 19:5/Deuteronomy 14:2/Psalms 135:4/Titus 2:14/1Peter 2:9 God characterizes His true children in a totally different way than do church people when describing their own. The church takes great pride in being “everyman,” common, one of the people, able to fit into any situation so as to be accepted by those around her. God, on the other hand, tells His people to not expect to be accepted by the society in general, rather they must expect to be rejected, ostracized, even hated. In some cases where the law allows, some will be killed for being different. A word the Lord uses to describe His saints is “peculiar,” meaning different from all others–outside the norm. In common parlance we use the expression “square peg in a round hole” as an example of one who simply does not “fit in,” who does not “go with the flow,” who refuses to “go along to get along.” On the social level such people can make it through life without much ado. However, such is not the case on the spiritual level. Satan will not allow such a “religious reprobate” to go through life unscathed. As a result, one who serves God does not have to separate himself from self-proclaimed Christians. I can tell you from experience, they will do that for him/her.

It is human nature to want to fit in–to submit to the “normalcy bias.” Beginning soon after birth, the bias intensifies as the teen years approach. Teens will go to extreme to be accepted; they will wear the same kinds of clothes and hair styles, use the same slang words and body language, like the same movies, etc. as their peers–anything that will allow them to “fit in” with the “in crowd.” The last thing any young person, wants to be is “peculiar.” In the vernacular, “Peculiar” is translated “outsider”–a death sentence for teenagers.

A spiritual problem arises when the phenomenon is carried over into adulthood, which is the case for most people. Except for those who strive to please the Lord, it stays with them until death. The last thing a churchite wants to be is “peculiar”–outside the mainstream of accepted religious practices. Their striving for inclusion rather than exclusion disqualifies them for acceptance into God’s church.

Confession time. My guilt relative to the normalcy bias was much worse than that of most people in that I began hearing God’s “voice” speaking to me from His Word at around age ten. Being very poor, my family could not afford newspapers, magazines, etc. There were absolutely no reading materials in our home. This combined with my insatiable love of reading left me constantly hungering for the written word. Later in life I concluded that this situation had come about by divine design in that God did arrange for me to have one piece of written material available–my mother’s Bible. In my mind’s eye I can still see it lying alone in a tall, narrow bookcase, its worn, black cover a stark contrast to the empty white shelving. To satisfy my obsession with the printed word I read the Bible. In my Sunday School class we were challenged to read several verses each day. While others read verses, I read chapters. And believed every Word I read, which caused spiritual problems for me come church time. Anyone who believes the Bible and finds himself surrounded by church people will identify with me and my plight.

Having been “saved” in a Baptist church, I was taught that whatever I heard coming from pulpit or podium was Bible Truth and not to be questioned. However, the more I studied the Bible, the more I realized that much, if not most of what I was being taught was not Scriptural, but rather the exact opposite of what God teaches. I found that what I was hearing and reading in the Sunday School booklets was nothing more than “a better way” that had been discovered by the sect’s founder. I later learned that all religious sects/cults have the same origin–a lost soul in search of a following. This is true of the whole of Catholicism and Protestantism.

My extreme guilt stems from the fact that I knew early on that God was speaking to me from His Word, preparing me for what I am doing today–exposing the Counterfeit Church’s Satanic foundation by revealing the difference between church doctrine and God’s Word. While God was calling me to follow Him–to be separate/peculiar–Satan was calling me to be like those around me–religious. Satan won. For decades I ran from God and His call on my life. Though I was in full-time ministry for many years where the gifts of the Spirit flowed freely, the fruit of my life (obedience to His Whole Word) was lacking. I knew the whole Truth but refused to walk it. See “Come up Hither.” God was calling me to rise from where I was and to “… walk as He (Jesus) walked.” The gifts of the Spirit–healing, deliverance, miracles, etc.–are necessary and part of one’s ministerial commission. But in order to be a true child of God they must be accompanied by the fruit of the Spirit–righteousness, holiness, obedience, etc. Just as Pharaoh’s priests turned their rods into snakes, water into blood, etc., many false prophets are performing miracles in the name of the Lord while leading the masses to disobey Him. Pastors, evangelists and missionaries by the thousands are issuing Satan’s siren call to hundreds of millions globally on a continuous basis. Craving to have their ears scratched, the so-called “Christian world” believes their lies and, like lemmings headed for the cliff, blindly follow their leaders toward it. To be continued. L.J.