As pointed out in the previous two postings, self-inflicted ignorance of all things Scriptural still reigns supreme in both parts of the Counterfeit Church (Catholicism/Protestantism). This lack of knowledge of and interest in God’s Word has resulted in the spiritual death of the two headed religious monster known collectively as “the church.” As was the case of their spiritual ancestors, modern church people are content in their ignorance. Being repeatedly assured that they are saved, born again and heaven bound, they “know” they are at one with their Maker. And Satan smiles.

Adam and Eve spoke to the Lord daily face-to-face, lived in the paradise He had prepared for them where He had provided everything they would need for a happy, useful life. In spite of their incredible situation Satan convinced them that they could defy the One Who had arranged the situation and, contrary to His Words, would “… not surely die.” Due to their intimate relationship with their Maker they could serve both Him and the Serpent and all would be well. As charter members of the Church of Eden, nothing could separate them from the Lord.

But the Biblical God makes it clear that when a church member sins he is serving Satan. He tells us that we can serve only one master, and that if we have sin in our lives that master is Satan, the father of sin, which makes Satan the spiritual father of the church sinner. The fact that we are allowed only ONE master is graphically brought out in Romans 6:16: “Know you not that HE TO WHOM YOU YIELD YOURSELVES AS SERVANTS TO OBEY, HIS SERVANTS YOU ARE WHOM YOU OBEY, whether (to obey) unto death, or (to obey) unto righteousness. But God be thanked that though you WERE servants of sin (Satan), you have OBEYED from the heart that DOCTRINE that was given to you. Being then made FREE FROM SIN (by obeying that doctrine/gospel), you became SERVANTS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS (God).” Note it: THERE IS NO RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN RIGHTEOUSNESS AND SIN/SATAN AND GOD. We must choose ONE OR THE OTHER. GOD DOES NOT SHARE HIS TEMPLE WITH SATAN. As Joshua commanded the Children of Israel, “Choose you this day whom you will serve, either God OR Satan.” As Paul explains in Romans 6:18, we are either free from righteousness or free from sin–there is no mixing of the two opposing powers. The religiosity of the church sinner (study, witnessing, fasting, preaching, cross-wearing, church attending, etc.) is rejected by God because the parishioner is also serving Satan. The Counterfeit Church rejects this Biblical fact because Satan has made her comfortable in her two-master condition. Adam and Eve undoubtedly felt comfortable as they walked toward the forbidden tree where they would indulge in its sweet, attractive fruit guaranteed to make them as wise as their Maker. Because they did not acknowledge the Truth of the Words the Lord had spoken to them, the world’s first “Scriptural interpreter” was able to lead them into the second type of spiritual ignorance. By “correcting” what God had said and providing them with his “improved” version, Satan had become Adam and Eve’s source of “truth.” Today his false prophets do this for him.

In summary, Catholicism’s leaders engaged in the first type of spiritual ignorance by preventing their parishioners from reading or hearing God’s Word. Protestant leaders led their parishioners into the second type by providing false prophets who evaluate the individual Scriptures then inform their followers concerning which ones are to be taken literally, which ones have to be tweaked and which ones must be rejected. Regardless of which type of spiritual ignorance one suffers from, the prognosis is the same–death.  L.J.