From the most heathen to the most Bible-based mind-set, everyone believes something about the spirit world, including those who do not believe the spirit world exists. These people believe what they believe because they (the source of their belief system) believe it, thereby making themselves their own gods by being the source of their own belief system. As this series will show, the church world is rapidly adopting the “no spirit world” by looking inside their own minds for their source of truth and reality.

I recently heard a researcher state that 57% of EVANGELICALS believe that Jesus Christ is not the only way into God’s presence. Evangelicals are those who traditionally have been viewed as Christianity’s hard-core believers. As Protestantism’s move away from God has gained momentum, Catholicism’s Pope Francis is filling the void by leading them back to false Christianity’s mother ship. His “come home” theme is paying off, as the series titled The Ingathering reveals. Key word–Ingathering, which was written about ten years ago as the Lord showed me what would be taking place later. Later has arrived. Religion’s prophesied development into a one-world, state-sponsored organization is coming together over an issue I also wrote about years ago–that issue is the Sunday Sabbath which will be internationally enforced shortly. I believe that within two years, probably sooner, the entire world will be under a God-defying sabbath mandate which will be enforced through the Mark of the Beast. Satan’s #1 apostle–Pope Francis–is spearheading the effort by preaching that all religions lead to one God–the Creator. The only difference is that each take a different path to heaven, nirvana, the happy hunting ground, etc.–whatever the eternal home for each of the different religion calls its final resting place where all who obey the pope will eternally abide.

Though they will not admit it, this theological heresy persists in the hundreds of different religions that make up “the church.” Each has its own god, its own messiah, its own truths, its own “plan of salvation.” The Apostle Paul, when confronted with the church’s first attempt to create denominations, asks: “Is Christ divided?” God says “no.” The religious system known collectively as “Christianity” says “yes.” This places professing Christendom in league with all other false religions known to man. Read First Corinthians 1:10 and Ephesians 4:4-6. In John 14:6 Jesus declares: “I AM THE (ONLY) WAY, THE (ONLY) TRUTH AND THE (ONLY) LIFE”–WALKING AS HE WALKED (1 JN. 2:6) IS THE ONLY WAY THAT LEADS TO ETERNAL LIFE. Sadly, that Truth is rapidly losing adherents within professing Christendom. The Lord said that “There are lords many and god’s many.” Approximately three billion of those gods and lords call themselves “Christians.”

The question relative to one’s spiritual beliefs involves what is known as “orthodoxy.” Webster’s Dictionary defines “orthodox” as a belief that CONFORMS TO ESTABLISHED DOCTRINE. “Unorthodox” describes a belief system that does NOT conform to established doctrine. The question is: WHO DEFINES ESTABLISHED DOCTRINE? Unfortunately, established doctrine is “what I’ve always been taught,” or “what my denomination teaches.” According to church theology, what has “always” been “the truth” must be the real truth. The question of who established the one true doctrine takes us back 2000 years or so to a time when Jesus Christ was walking the earth. As we will see, He faced the same question concerning established doctrine.

When Jesus of Nazareth (the Word–the God of the Old Testament–Jn. 1:1-4,14) came on the scene the religious leaders of that day had very strong ideas about orthodoxy–the established doctrine of the Jewish nation. However, Jesus came teaching something very different from what the Jews had always been taught. In today’s vernacular, we would say He taught UNORTHODOX BELIEFS. His beliefs were so unorthodox that they eventually got Him killed, along with those whom He sent out to preach His message.

The Holy Scriptures make it abundantly clear that Jesus was martyred because of what He taught. The people who heard Him liked Him personally. This is revealed in numerous places such as Luke 2:52: “And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man.” People liked Jesus personally. He had a good personality. Because He continually found Himself being followed by “great multitudes of people,” it is obvious that His healing, delivering and food-producing miracles made Him the most popular person in that part of the world, as long as He stuck to performing miracles.

Christ’s miracles made Him extremely popular within that part of the Middle-east. His popularity automatically made Him the enemy of the religious hierarchy which had become accustomed to being at the top of the religious hierarchy. Incredibly, even those who received miracles from Him and those who watched Him do what He did eventually turned on Him. Why did they like what He did, but then wanted to kill him–during the same event. Though they liked Him personally, THEY HATED HIS MESSAGE. This is brought out in John 8:30-59 where we find a group of Jews who not only liked Him, they “believed in Him” because of the miracles they had seen Him perform. But then He spoke to them about Who He was, they which caused them to: Upon hearing this, they “took up stones to cast at Him.” At which point He blinded their eyes to Him and “walked through the midst of them.”

Which group of people hated Jesus the most? The MOST RELIGIOUS AMONG THE PEOPLE. It was the super religious people who would later be found screaming “Crucify Him, crucify Him.” Is this not incredible? These people were so indoctrinated with false religion that they refused to received God’s Truth from the One Who had been the God of their ancestors before coming to earth as the Messiah. Read The God of the Old Testament. Key word–Old. They loved what He gave them but hated His message. Nothing has changed. If Jesus (the Provider of salvation) walked into the churches which claim Him as their Savior and read from the Bibles they own, the people would reject Him. I can verify by my own experiences that THE CHURCH HATES GOD’S WORD. They love His “headlines” (His promises) but hate His “fine print” (His commands for receiving those promises).

Three things never change: 1) Jesus Christ, 2) His message and 3) the church’s reaction to His message. This is true throughout the entire church world. With the exception of the Lord’s “little flock,” the church world rejects much of His Word, thereby proving that they DESPISE both Father and Son (Lk. 10:16). Jesus once said that when people “saw” Him, they “saw” the Father. Those who reject God’s Word in part or in its entirely do not like what they “see” when they read the Words of the Father and the Son. What they “see” is the Godhead.

How is this possible? How can billions of Bible-carrying, Scripture-quoting, cross-wearing, church-attending, smiling people claim that the God that has supposedly “saved” them is so wrong in so many Scriptural statements? The answer can be summed up in one word: DECEPTION. Jesus makes this clear in Matthew 24 where we find the disciples asking Jesus for THE sign that would alert believers that His return to earth was imminent. He answered by identifying several signs, the first (and most important) sign concerned deception, specifically FALSE RELIGION (vss 4,5). It would be due to the mass embrace of Counterfeit Christianity that the other signs (vss 6-8) would follow and grow in number and severity until His return. As Bible students know, we are seeing verses six through eight taking place now as the “beginning of sorrows” (vs 8) prepares the world for the Great Tribulation and the Day of the Lord. Read about this 3 1/2 year time of suffering, terror and death using the key word–Tribulation. L.J.