“Therefore, having these promises, let us cleanse ourselves of all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. Now I rejoice … that your sorrow led to repentance. For you were made sorry in a godly manner …. For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation … but the sorrow of the world produces death. For observe this very thing, that you sorrowed in a godly manner. What diligence it produced in you, what clearing of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what vehement desire, what zeal, what vindication. In all things you proved yourselves to be clear in this matter” (1 Cor. 7:1,8-11). In his letter to the Church of Corinth Paul is congratulating those who had vindicated themselves through godly repentance for the sins they had committed in the past. He noted that their sorrow was real, so real that they went to great extreme to get sin out of their lives and to keep it out, thereby qualifying them for salvation. Their godly sorrow produced true repentance, a real clearing (self-cleansing) of sin. They became indignant with themselves for having allowed sin to enter their lives. They developed a true fear of God and a zealous, vehement desire to obey Him. As a result they proved themselves to be clear of sin by living in righteousness. Notice in verse one that “these promises” of God would come only to those who “… cleanse themselves of all filthiness of the flesh and spirit ….” Paul was making clear the fact that church membership, etc. would not produce salvation. One has to get sin out of one’s life and keep it out in order to qualify for eternal life. Worldly sorrow produces fake repentance. Godly sorrow produces true repentance which Paul had found in the Church at Corinth.

In verse ten of this passage Paul makes a short, but extremely powerful statement that reveals the end result of worldly sorrow: “… but the sorrow of the world produces death.” Paul was writing to the church, noting that THE SORROW OF (EXPRESSED BY) THE WORLD PRODUCES DEATH–for those in the church. The Counterfeit Church (Catholicism/Protestantism) refuses to believe this statement written under the inspiration of God’s Holy Spirit. Why? Because it makes God the determiner of the end results of obedience (life) and disobedience (death). Churchman will not allow this. The so-called church has legislated Him out of the decision-making process and has usurped His position. In so doing she has rejected His condemnation of sin and has decreed to herself the right to sin and get away with it by periodically “repenting” while knowing that she will need to do so repeatedly. But all is well in that Jesus died so that she will not be held accountable for her sins. Her sorrow is as fake as her repentance. The very real Satan completes the cycle by assuring her that she is clean and ready to sin again. This is what Paul called “the sorrow of the world” which produces death in those expressing such sorrow. An illustration is in order. If someone breaks your nose every day, then apologizes, repents and asks your forgiveness each time, how long would you put up with it? Not very. Yet the false church believes that she can repeatedly crucify Christ “afresh” (Heb. 6:6) by repeatedly sinning and still remain in good standing with Him by repeatedly repenting, asking forgiveness, etc. This is the classic description of “the repentance of the world.” Worldly people practice a worldly sin-and-repent cycle repeatedly, thereby producing worldly repentance leading to a worldly death. In most cases this ritual is carried out in private. Some do so in a group setting. Both are done outside the public arena. But there is one time of the year when one segment of the false church displays her rejection of God’s commands for all the world to see.

Early on in the year millions of self-designated Christians world-wide observe the customs and festivities of Lent while remaining ignorant as to what it means and from whence is came. Let us fill this void. Again I want to pay homage to my spiritual superiors who have spent prodigious amounts of time and energy to study the past and, in their graciousness, to pass the information on to those of us who lack the time and opportunity to do such research.

Lent comes from the word “lencten,” meaning both “spring” and “long” in reference to the lengthening of the days. Traditionally, the Lenten season runs for a period of 40 days between Ash Wednesday and Maundy Thursday. Fat Tuesday and Good Friday are also involved in the celebration. Both Scriptural and secular sources proclaim that none of the above was practiced by the early church. Both Lent and Easter were adopted by the apostate church in the second century. Both were adopted from “saved” heathen who, though having “joined the church,” continued to worship a sun god named Tammuz whom their ancestors had worshiped for over 2000 years. As these postings will show, their heathenistic practices continue in full force today in what is known globally as “the church.”

Many in the Protestantism point to the Lenten season with derision, claiming to be above such unscriptural carryings-on. But the difference between their sin-and-repent rituals lies solely in the realm of expression. Whether in secret or in public, the Satanic holidays and practices engaged in by both segments of the Institutional Church are abominations to God. Reader, I will repeat what I wrote early on–once you know God’s Truth you must obey it. To dismiss it is to dismiss God. To be continued. L.J.