In the first eight verses of the first chapter of the Book of Acts we find that, following the Lord’s death, resurrection and ascension into heaven, He has returned to the Mount of Olives where He has met with His chosen apostles for 40 days, teaching them about the coming Kingdom of God which He would establish in Jerusalem upon His return to earth. Read The Kingdom of God. Key word–Kingdom. Here He tells the apostles to return to Jerusalem where they were to wait for “… the promise of the Father” which was the Holy Spirit which they would receive (“be baptized with”) a few days later on the Day of Pentecost. Relative to the coming Kingdom of God, the disciples asked Him when He would RESTORE (RETURN) GOD’S KINGDOM TO ISRAEL? Jesus replied that it was not for them to know when that would take place. “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you” after which they would go forth to do the work He had prepared them to do using His teachings and His demonstrations of Holy Spirit power as examples for them to follow (vs 8).

It is important that you understand that before being baptized with (receiving) the Holy Spirit (the power of God–Lk. 1:35), during which time they were preaching the Gospel, healing the sick, walking on water, casting out demons, etc. the disciples were no different from the people to whom they ministered. With the exception of his being a thief and a traitor, the eleven were no different from Judas. Not one of them had been converted. Conversion was not possible until the death of Jesus. This is brought out in His discussion with Peter as recorded in Luke 22:24-32. Here we find Jesus chastising the disciples for their feelings of self-importance by reminding them of their relative lack of importance. He then tells them that He WANTS them to sit with Him on thrones in the Kingdom of God. However, in their present spiritual condition, they could not even enter that kingdom. Peter then declares his allegiance to Him. At this point Jesus says something very important to all of those who claim to be His people, who preach, perform miracles, etc. as well as those who follow their teachings. He says to Peter: “WHEN YOU ARE CONVERTED, HELP YOUR BRETHREN” in their conversion process. Read The Process of Salvation. Key word–Process. The only spiritual difference between the 12 and the 70 who had left Jesus and the rest of mankind was that they accepted His Message. Recall from the previous posting that the 70 had abandoned Him, not because they did not believe in Him, but because of His “hard sayings” which “offended them ” (Jn. 6:60-66).

Nothing has changed. Billions of people believe in Jesus but refuse to embrace and obey His message. In reality, they have never embraced Him and in fact DISPISE BOTH HIM AND HIS FATHER (Lk. 10:16). Recall that the masses greeted Jesus upon His arrival in Jerusalem. Recall also that those same people shouted “crucify Him, crucify Him” as He stood before Pilate three and one/half years later having done nothing but good for all who came to Him. Out of the tens of thousands He preached to, fed, healed and delivered from demonic possession, only about 120 people were still with Him when He died. Jesus asked those who believed IN Him but refused to obey His Words why they called Him their Lord but refused His message (Lk. 6:46/ Mat. 15:9)?

One of the lessons being taught by this series is that we are to judge those who lead us by their FRUIT–THEIR MINISTERIAL RELATIONSHIP WITH THE WORD OF GOD. In order to do this we are to “… TEST THE SPIRITS” (1 Jn. 4:1) of those who lead us by comparing their words and acts to the HOLY SCRIPTURES, not to church doctrine, which is condemned by God simply because it exists. Church doctrine must consist of THE HOLY BIBLE AND NOTHING ELSE. NOTHING ELSE IS NEEDED. ANYTHING ELSE IS SIMPLY MAN’S INTERPRETATION OF GOD’S WORDS, WHICH IS A SIN (2 PET. 1:20). Bible interpretation invariably leads to the acceptance of heathen religious principles such as those found on the home page of this website. Each “church truth” that is listed is the result of man’s search for the “real” meaning of God’s Words. As he was in the Garden of Eden, Satan stands at the ready to provide the “real truth” relative to what God tells us in His Holy Scriptures.

Like counterfeit money, Satan’s counterfeit “truths” are designed to deceive the salvation seeker into accepting them as “thus says the Lord.” Notice that the counterfeit is always much more user-friendly and easier to obey than God’s Scriptural Truth. God’s way is “strait” and “narrow” in application while Satan’s way is always “wide” and “broad” (Mat. 7:13,14). A good example of this principle reminds me of something that happened to a relative of a friend of mine many years ago. The man had arranged to buy $10,000 worth of counterfeit money for $1000 in real money. He met the counterfeiter and they exchanged bags of “money.” Immediately the seller sped away. When the buyer looked inside the bag of counterfeit “money” he found only pieces of newspaper, which is what the church’s “truths” are actually worth. Her people have exchanged their souls for a bag of worthless “paper”–church doctrine. Truly, Jesus was right when He noted that Satan had deceived the whole world (Rev. 12:9). This includes the worldly church with its counterfeit savior, counterfeit god and counterfeit salvation–the entirety of which is worthless.

The primary lesson taught in this series is that we must look past the size of the church, the smiles on the people’s faces, the crosses they wear around their necks, the number of Bibles in their homes, etc. We must test our ministers against the Word of God to see if they are preaching His Word or Satan’s word. Unless they are putting forth, believing and obeying the Word of God, they have the same spiritual value as a bag of newspaper clippings. The bigger the church, the bigger the bag. L.J.