Before entering into this very important study a Biblical fact must be made clear. God’s church, comprised of those whom He calls “My people, (those) who are called by My name,” are not all His obedient disciples. The vast majority within His sheepfold are goats among His sheep, tares among His wheat, bad fish among His good fish, bad fruit trees among His good fruit trees. He speaks to this Truth throughout the Holy Scriptures. Another Truth concerns those who begin as sheep, but then become goats, Adam and Eve and the five foolish virgins (Mat. 25) being prime examples.

However, the vast majority who have come into “the church” over the last several centuries entered as goats who were led by Satan’s false shepherds to believe that they were God’s sheep. I know, for I was one of them for many years. In fact, I was one of those false shepherds. Like those who fill the airwaves, sanctuaries, etc. today, I “knew” that I was preaching God’s Truth–the same “truth” preached by those who came before me. This is the same “truth” being preached globally around the clock today.

But thankfully, God He has always had a “remnant”–a tiny group of true believers who refused to go with the religious flow. It is this “truth” which separates the “few” from the “many” within the group known universally as “the church.” The “few” and the “many” (Mat. 7:13,14) are all in the same group which God calls “My people who are called by My name.” The difference between the “many” and the “few” is that the “few” listen to and follow the good Shepherd while the “many” listen to and follow Satan’s false shepherds who have “climbed up” the wall of the sheepfold and entered it by “some other way.” Read John 10:1-18. Here Jesus explains that He and He alone is the good Shepherd whose sheep know His “voice” (Truth–God’s Word–Jn. 17:17) and follow Him (obey His voice and are thereby sanctified (Jn. 17:17). Other shepherds are thieves and killers who lead the majority within the sheepfold away from Him while making them believe that they are following the good Shepherd, Catholicism and Protestantism being the only examples. God’s remnant makes up about 1% (I am being generous) of those within God’s sheepfold–“the church.” Now let us examine the primary “truth” that has led to the spiritual downfall (apostasy) of professing Christendom.

Jesus speaks of the backslidden church in Matthew 7:13,14 and 22:14) where he compares the “few” who enter His “strait” (get right) gate/door to His sheepfold and walk His narrow (stay right) path to the “many” who enter His sheepfold through Satan’s wide (it’s all good) gate/door and walk his wide (it’ll stay good) path. They have been led into the sheepfold by false shepherds who have “climbed up (and over the wall) “some other way” and bypassed the true door (Jesus Christ–vs 9) and have led the “many” along the “broad” Catholic/Protestant path. That path is paved with one erroneous church “truth” that is responsible for the two-headed, multi-bodied religious monstrosity known as the modern church.

The most deadly of the beliefs responsible for the fall (apostasy) of God’s church did not come from the heathen religions she has embraced since her establishment on the Day of Pentecost 31 A.D. Those errors are discussed in the first three postings in this series. The subject of this and the following posting was invented and declared “Bible Truth” by the church herself. The church “owns” this deadly “truth” and will be held responsible for the part is has played in her downfall.

To illustrate what I am referring to I will provide part of the lyrics of a famous gospel hymn that narrates the church’s premier error as well as it can be. In the song, whose name I can’t recall, churchman is identified as a sinner who is either unwilling or unable to obey God. But not to worry; all is well. Why? Because Jesus knows we must sin, therefor, if we will repent following each inevitable sin, Jesus will understand the situation and, having no choice because churchman is supposedly saved, sanctified, born again and rapture-ready, “HE’LL ALWAYS SAY, ‘I FORGIVE.'” This is a lie straight out of the heart of Satan, through the lips of his false prophets and into the hearts of those who believe it because they have never heard God’s Truth and refuse to search it out for themselves.

This deadly, universal false “truth” begins with an erroneous concept of repentance and forgiveness. We have all been taught that upon walking the isle and completing the prescribed ritual, forgiveness is thereafter automatic upon repentance. One episode in the life of the world’s most famous hypocrite will reveal the church’s embrace of this truth better than I can. Elvis Presley sang beautiful hymns about God but, by his own admission, lived a most ungodly life. His life-long theology allowed him to engage in this hypocrisy repeatedly and without fear because he was taught by his church that, due to Adam’s sin transferal miracle, sin was simply a part of the Christian’s life–a part of his nature. Jesus, Elvis had been told, died so that he would not have to suffer for his inevitable sins. He had been taught that, in order to shift the guilt for his sins onto Jesus, he needed only to repent on a regular basis–bedtime and Sunday morning being the preferred times. The church’s Jesus-died-so-I-can-sin-and-get-away-with-it “truth” was graphically illustrated in a documentary about him that I happened to see while visiting with a friend at his house. The church error comes to light as Elvis is sitting in a limo talking about the woman with whom he had spent the previous night. Suddenly he realizes that a camera is live and pointed directly at his face. At that moment he voiced the church “truth” that has damned billions of people. He smiled, then, in that unmistakable voice, sang “What a friend we have in Jesus.” Was Jesus Christ Elvis Presley’s friend? No. Had Elvis been converted? No. Did the Lord forgive him each time he had sex with a whore? No. Upon his death, would Jesus forgive any unrepented sins on his (Elvis’) way up to heaven? No. Is he now in heaven, as someone said, “… leading God’s choir?” No. In the following posting we will learn from a Biblical perspective why the answer to each of those questions is “No.” Read The Real Elvis. Key word–Elvis.

Be ready to be faced with some harsh reality in the following posting. Not only is Jesus and His Father not what the church makes Them out to be, but the church is not what she makes herself out to be. Billions of church people have not taken to heart what Jesus said in Matthew 24:4,5 where He warns about false shepherds who would sneak into the church and lead many salvation seekers astray. The great whore and her harlot daughters (Rev. 17:1-5) prove He was right. L.J.