Religious man will do anything, go to any extreme–even voluntarily give up his life–for the Lord. But he absolutely refuses to believe and obey His Word. History records the suffering of those who have endured horrific hardships–even death–rather than renounce the Name of Jesus Christ. Leaders as well as parishioners from many different sects have suffered and died rather than denounce the Lord. The Institutional Church assumes that these people were saved, born again, etc.

Yet the vast majority of those same martyrs, if confronted with “… ALL the counsel of God” (Acts 20:27), would have continued to reject many, if not most of His Words as they had done throughout their church lives. They had refuted God’s statements that He viewed His unchanging Word the same as His unchanging Son (Jn. 1:1-4/Rev. 19:13/ Mal. 3:6), that to deny any part of His Word is to deny both Himself and His Son (Jn. 12:48-50), and that He condemned them for substituting their words for His Words (Mat. 15:9;19:7). They had not believed His statement that ALL Scripture (the Bible) is Spirit-breathed and profitable for teaching, correction, reproof and training in righteousness unto salvation (2 Tim. 3:15,16)–All Scripture, not merely the passages their respective sects accepted.

Throughout their church lives these martyrs had denied that the New Covenant Church was founded on the teachings of the Old Testament prophets as well as the New Covenant apostles (Eph. 2:20), and that the Old Testament was written as an instruction manual for the New Testament Church (1 Cor. 10:11/Lk. 24:25,44). They had rejected the Biblical fact that sin is defined by the Ten Commandment Law (1 Jn. 3:4/Rom. 3:20), that the Law was holy, just and good (Rom. 7:12), that one retains one’s justification only by obedience to the Law (Rom. 2:13), that they were commanded to be doers of the Law and not hearers only, and that by not obeying the Law they had deceived themselves (Jam. 1:22). They had denied that one proves one’s love for God by obeying His Law (Jn. 14:15/1 Jn. 5:3), that God called them liars because they claimed to know Him but refused to keep His Commandments (1 Jn. 2:4), specifically #4, and that by breaking #4 they broke the entire Law (Jam. 2:10-12). They labeled as a lie that by breaking God’s Law they made themselves workers of iniquity (Lawlessness) whom Jesus will reject on the Day of Judgment (Mat. 7:23), having judged them by the very Words they rejected (Jn. 12:48). Throughout their lives they had publicly accused Jesus of hypocrisy when He said that He had not come to destroy the Law (Mat. 5:17), claiming that He had in fact nailed it to the cross. They had accused Him of lying when He told the rich man and the lawyer that in order to inherit eternal life they must obey the Law (Lk. 18:18-30; 10:25-28).

All their church lives these martyrs had rejected God’s condemnation of church denominations and those who participate in them (Eph. 4:5/1 Cor. 1:10-13;11:8). They denied God’s statement that the “… whole church” in a given area is commanded by God to “… come together in one place” for their Sabbath convocations (1 Cor. 11:20;14:23,26). They had proclaimed that it was God’s will for them to divide themselves according to group acceptance and rejection of specific Scriptural passages.

Many a church member has been proclaimed a “Christian” based on their facial expressions, kindness, generosity, helpfulness, activities in church, church attendance, preaching, teaching and organizational abilities, witnessing, etc. Man sees these characteristics as “proof” of one having been “saved.” But God will look past those outward manifestations of goodness and ask the ultimate question: “WHAT DID YOU DO WITH MY WORD?” He said that only a “few” would be able to answer positively (Mat. 7:13,14). The ultimate irony is found in the fact that many of those who will have to admit their rejection of God’s Word, and therefore God Himself, were tortured, maimed and martyred for proclaiming their belief in that same Word and its Author.

What is the proof that the vast majority of church martyrs had been guilty of the aforementioned sins, along with many others? BECAUSE THOSE SINS FORM THE FOUNDATIONAL DOCTRINES OF THE VARIOUS SECTS TO WHICH THEY BELONGED. THOSE MARTYRS WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN ALLOWED TO REMAIN IN THE VARIOUS CHURCHES THAT COMPRISE  CATHOLICISM AND PROTESTANTISM IF THEY HAD NOT BELIEVED AND OBEYED THOSE FALSE DOCTRINES.

Unless God has lied to us repeatedly, as the Counterfeit Church proclaims, obedience to His Word is not the proverbial “bottom line”–IT IS THE ONLY LINE. Man-defined religious “goodness” will not qual- ify the church member for eternal life. ONLY FAITH-POWERED OBEDIENCE TO GOD’S WORD WILL. Have questions or comments? Contact me at LPJ4142@gmail.com or P.O. Box 2352 Athens, TX 75751 U.S.A. or (903) 677-5642. English only.