BEHOLD THE BEAST
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The False Prophet
15 - WHEREFORE COME OUTCHAPTER 15
Wherefore come out from among them,
and be ye separate, saith the Lord,
and touch not the unclean thing;
and I will receive you,
And will be a Father unto you
and ye shall be my sons and daughters,
saith the Lord Almighty.
2 CORINTHIANS 6:17-18
Though written over twenty years ago, the following allegory was never
more appropriate than it is right now. It reflects Church conditions in the
West as they exist today. I could have left this chapter out, but what
good is a book that avoids truth just because it might make a few people
uncomfortable?
THERE was a wicked city. In the middle of the city was a lofty
church. That church had the tallest steeple that ever was built. In
the steeple was the grandest bell that ever was made. When that
bell was struck, it pealed forth with such a mighty knell that every
building in the city rattled and some even shook to their
foundations. It was all very frightening at first, because here and
there a building had collapsed. But nothing had fallen in a long,
long time, so the townsfolk had gone back to playing and dancing
in the streets.
Seeing the church, Christian tried to go inside. But in the
middle of the doorway was a massive iron gate. It had strong iron
bars. Looking through the bars he saw lots of people inside. They
were marching around in lock-step and chanting the same words
to each other over and over and over again. They nodded
approval to each other and kept telling each other how great they
all were. They were God's elect, weren't they, and that was that.
Christian tried with all his might to open the gate, but it
wouldn't budge. Then he noticed a heavy bronze plaque that was
bolted to the gate with big bronze bolts. The headline engraved on
the plaque read:
Church Doctrines and Traditions
Imposing and well-dressed men rode up in fancy cars. They
mounted pedestals and stood guard over the plaque. The
pedestals were very tall, and had signs on them that read, "Pastors
and Evangelists Only." These elevated men held out collection
plates and cried, "Give, give, Oh, give more! We need to build a
bigger church and get a louder bell." Other men with arm-bands
that read "Theologian" stood behind them as reinforcements.
People came up and bowed to the men. Then they breathed
on the plaque and polished it with their handkerchiefs, like you
would a pair of glasses. Some folks even knelt before the plaque
and kissed it. For all of them, the iron gate swung open by itself.
There wasn't any light on the plaque, the print was very small
and there was an awful lot of it, so Christian held up his Bible
(which shines in the dark) so that he could see. Squinting and
adjusting his bifocals, he started reading the fine print. As he read,
he muttered and groaned and became more and more agitated.
Finally, Christian could stand it no longer.
"These doctrines do not agree with Scripture," he cried out in
a troubled voice. Christian then opened his Bible and began to
read it aloud. As each verse of Scripture was read, a crack
appeared in the plaque, then another, and another, until the
plaque shattered into a million pieces. As it splintered and fell, it
made a tiny tinkling sound, but at that sound, the buildings of the
wicked city quaked, and fell, until none were left.
The people in the church clapped their hands and giggled with
glee, "The wicked city has fallen, the wicked city has fallen!"
They puffed out their chests and ran around shaking hands
and congratulating each other. They never realized that it was not
their bell, nor their lofty church, but the reading of the Bible that
made the buildings fall. After the commotion had died down
some, most of them went back to their marching, while others
started working on a new plaque. They were so busy making sure
that everyone was keeping in step that they forgot to take down
their iron gate.
Christian didn't want to chant or march in lock-step behind an
iron gate, so with Bible in hand, he turned and walked away. A
few people with Bibles in their hands came out from the church
and went with him. As they strolled along, they were all joyously
singing, reading their Bibles, and sharing what they read with any
passerby who would listen.
Soon there was a huge crowd around them singing and
reading their Bibles. Then someone said, "Let's build a church and
make a plaque ..."1
Now that was not an attack against good churches. If you are
in one of the few good churches that remain in the land, stay right
where you are! That is so important, I will say it again: If you are
in one of the few good churches that remain in the land, you are
most fortunate, stay right where you are! But it's not true for all. In
many cities, spiritually hungry brethren spend Sunday after
Sunday in a futile search for a Bible-teaching church, and can't
find one.
Is this what your church is like? You go to services three times
a week, seeking a little spiritual reality in your life, but in Sunday
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1 The Iron Gate allegory does not appear in John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, but
to that beloved elder brother goes the credit for the idea.
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school they rehash last week's TV programs and talk about the
string of bass that George caught.1 The pastor drones out some
soothing old Charles Haddon Spurgeon sermon you heard twenty
years ago, and you remember the last pastor, who ran off with
that sexy-looking young organist. You also think about Tom, who
lost his job and that his family didn't have enough to eat, but how
that didn't stop the elders from giving the pastor a raise, nor from
using the rest of the tithe to expand the sanctuary ... and you've
been seriously asking yourself, "Is this what Jesus' church is
supposed to be like, and is this really how God wants me to
worship?"
You "sigh and groan" over the abominations committed in
your midst, but what can you do? Your mother and father were
life members of your church, you were baptized there, and the
church down the street isn't any better. Could you even find a
church that is truly concerned about your family's spiritual growth
or that really has a heart to help you raise up your children in the
nurture and admonition of the Lord?
If you are asking those questions of yourself and see no
answers, then welcome to the true Church. The answer is the
same as it has always been: It's in the person of Jesus Christ, and
the Lord didn't make following Him difficult. He will show you
through the Bible how easy it is to worship Him the way He
intended for you to do it all along: "in spirit and in truth." It is all
in God's Word, and we had better learn how, for very soon, the
only refuge we may have left will be the Lord our God:
2 Corinthians 6:17-18 Wherefore come out from among them, and be
ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing;
and I will receive you, And will be a Father unto you, and ye
shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.
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1 2Th 2:3 "Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come,
except there come a falling away first."
2Ti 4:4 "And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned
unto fables." So it is a falling away, not a great revival that will precede the return
of Jesus.
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It may not have happened to you yet, but if you can hardly
stand what is happening to your church, or what is being taught
there, sooner or later the Holy Spirit may lead you out of that
church. With a heavy heart, many sound, Bible-believing
Christians are now leaving established churches and attending no
formal church at all. Some Christians are falling away, but a
remnant - ah, the true Church - are forming little home groups.
They are meeting in living rooms, cellars or garages, in any room
large enough to hold a dozen brethren or so.
It's a scary thought, being on your own with just the Lord
Jesus to sustain you. But don't worry, Jesus can handle it. He
planned this whole thing long ago, and you are part of His plan.
Just obey Him, and don't look upon what is happening as if it
were a bad thing. It is the Lord's protection unto you. As we
discussed in the last chapter, the visible church will soon be
destroyed, and the Lord may be leading you out of it to hide you:
Isaiah 26:20-27:1 Come, my people, enter thou into thy
chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it
were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast.
For, behold, the LORD cometh out of his place to punish the
inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall
disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.
Five times in the New Testament we read about where the
Church was located. In each case, the Church was in the home of
an individual believer, and nowhere in the New Testament are we
told that we should meet anywhere else.1 In fact, the Greek word
for church, ekklesia, could probably be better translated as "the
called out ones," rather than "the assembly." The first century
"called out ones" were unsung little groups of believers, meeting
in homes where they were hidden by the Lord from the swords of
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1 Act 8:3, Rom 16:5, 1Co 16:19, Col 4:15, Phil 1:2.
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their enemies.1 Very soon, we, too, may have to assemble in the
same way. The enemy hates the Church, and since he has now
been loosed, he will soon physically attack it here in the United
States, just like he is doing everywhere else on the planet.
Most of us have been programmed to believe that we can't
worship the Lord, serve communion, baptize, or even have elders
unless some sectarian seminary sends an "ordained" pastor to do
the job in an "approved" manner: building a building complete
with steeple, pipe organ, stained glass windows, a choir, a music
minister, and so on. It just isn't so:
Psalms 51:17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken
and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.
John 4:23 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true
worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth:
for the Father seeketh such to worship him.
As church doors close, or as assemblies depart from the truth,
the very survival of the true Church will depend upon the obscure
godly sheep who are willing to walk before the Lord with contrite
hearts, regardless of conditions around them. True saints will
again need to learn from the Bible for themselves and gather with
other like-minded brethren who are seeking the Lord's face. And
it's all right to do that, you know. After all, the Lord ordained each
of us to be a king and a priest:
Revelation 1:6 And hath made us kings and priests unto God and
his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever.
We have a thousand pages of guidance on just how to gather
together. It is called the Bible. Throughout the Christian Era
various men and organizations have told us exactly what each
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1 The word "church" itself comes from the old English/Germanic word kirke, which
meant a ritualistic pagan circle. Meeting in a kirke was rooted in the pagan concept
that people could stand in a "circle of agreement," holding hands, to call upon
demonic forces. (from Church, Smith's Bible Dictionary, Flemming-Ravell).
Unaware of its true spiritual significance, many evangelical churches have now
adopted this demonic ritual and have included it in their worship service. The
Greek ,6680F\" (Strong's No.G1577) ekklesia, ek-klay-see'-ah; from G1537 and
G2564. ek meaning "out of," and kaleho meaning "to call" or "called."
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verse was supposed to mean, or exactly how each church
ordinance should be observed. But if we just trust Scripture, the
Spirit of Truth, Himself, will teach us from it (Joh 16:13).
In this chapter, I considered writing the usual "rules" on how
to hold a meeting, serve communion, baptize, and so on. But then,
I realized that I would be doing exactly what has gotten the
Church into trouble all along: giving dictums of behavior beyond
what Scripture already states. It's all in the Bible, folks. Everything
the Lord wants a believer to do is in the Word of God. We simply
need to follow His orders.
Suffice to say that the qualifications for eldership are found in
1Ti 3:1-7 and Tit 1:5-9, and how communion should be served is
recorded in Mat 26:26-28 and 1Co 11:23-26. There is no scrip-
turally specified method for baptism, but we do have early church
history to guide us.
Many brethren in home churches now follow a first century
church mode of baptism. First, they ask the new convert to
renounce his past sinful life. Then they ask the convert to make a
firm declaration of his new position in Christ Jesus. Though the
words below are not struck in stone, the confession of faith goes
something like this:
"I turn away from, reject, and totally renounce Satan, his
kingdom, his angels and all his works. I repent of and renounce
all my sins, and ask God to forgive me for them all. I accept the
Lord Jesus Christ as my personal Savior and ask Him to
become Lord of my life, Amen."
Then, observing the command of Jesus in Matthew 28:19, the
new brother or sister is baptized "In the name of the Father ... in
the name of Jesus Christ His Son ... and in the Holy Spirit ...
Amen." If the new believer is being immersed, he is immersed
only once. But if he is being poured over, as was a first century
practice, the convert is asked to kneel, and he is poured over three
times: once as each name of God is spoken. But the mode of
baptism is not nearly as important as getting it done.1 Don't
dawdle around. Baptism isn't just for show; it was given to
believers for a sound spiritual reason (Act 22:16, 1Pe 3:21).
Brethren, unless I totally misunderstand Scripture, Christians
and Jews will soon be persecuted in this land and we need to get
ready for it. Not everyone in the church is saved. Many servants
of the enemy are lurking there as wolves in sheep's clothing. They
smile and sound sanctified, but if they don't really belong to Jesus,
they would betray you in a minute.2 You can't lead anybody to
Jesus if you are lying face-down in some gutter with a bullet in the
back of your head. Sound far-fetched? Well, it's a reality. That's
the fate of Christians in many parts of the world, even as we write.
If you believe none of this could happen in your town or think
that your friends and neighbors would never betray you, that is
what the Protestant brethren in Ireland thought before 125,000
were tortured and killed by their neighbors. That is what
1,000,000 brethren in Cambodia thought before the Khmer Rouge
wiped them out. That is what the Jews in Nazi Germany thought
before they were herded into cattle cars that took them to the gas
chambers of Buchenwald, Triblinka, and Auschwitz. And that is
what we thought until the Twin Towers fell.
In Isaiah 26:20-27:1, the Lord directs us to hide at the end of
time, and Jesus said, "Night cometh, when no man can work," John
9:4. Surely that time is upon us. So in accordance with those
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1 Southern Baptists would probably like me excommunicated for mentioning a
mode of baptism other than immersion, however, pouring as an accepted mode of
was clearly explained in the Didache, otherwise known as the "Teaching of the
Apostles." Written in 85AD, the Didache is not an inspired work so it is not part of
the Bible, but it does outline many practices of the 1st century church. William
McGrath, The Didache (Christian Printing Mission, Minerva OH, 1976).
2 If you think that to be an overstatement: A deacon's wife in one of our local
Baptist churches wore a red cape and tapped people on their forehead with a wand
to drive out their demons. Laughable? That's a page right out of the occult, open
witchcraft. In another case, a church elder and his wife were a young man's satanic
godfather and godmother. In a third case, I personally know a Christian sister who,
as a child, suffered years of unbelievable satanic ritual abuse at the hands of the
elders of her "evangelical" church. This happened years ago, but she is still in
hiding and fears for her life.
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verses, it would be fitting to make preparations for a coming
holocaust while we still have the freedom to do so.
To give you an idea of how persecution has already begun in
Europe, the media in Holland are publicly calling our Christian
brethren "dogs." Through this kind of overt anti-Christian prop-
aganda, the Dutch people are being programmed to look favorably
upon the havoc that may soon befall their little Christian
community.
Revelation 18:4 And I heard another voice from heaven, saying,
Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her
sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.
SO WHERE IS THIS PERSECUTION GOING TO COME FROM?
While it is true that the vast majority of Middle Eastern people
are peace-loving, the religion they follow is not, as both history
and current events so clearly show. Despite the good intentions
of many Moslems, the Bible irrefutably identifies the Islamic
states of the Middle East and their associates as the final enemies
of the church and Israel. As the Nigerian evangelist, M. Ali, clearly
stated in his letter to me of October 19th, 2001:
"You know as well as I, that Moslems the world over are
pleased with the activities of Osama bin Laden. Never mind
the duplicitous political statements of various Islamic
leaders. They all see him as a twenty-first century Saladin.
That America will destroy bin Laden's organization is not in
doubt. The question is this: will it solve the hidden problem
that every radical Moslem is a potential Osama bin Laden?"
As stated earlier, Islam would not be a problem if they had
remained in the Middle and Far East as they had for the prior
thirteen centuries. But fundamental Islam is spreading, not only
in the Arab world, but in every place on earth where the Koran is
taught. As a consequence, we are seeing these verses fulfilled right
before our own eyes:
Revelation 16:12-14 (excerpts) And the sixth angel poured out his
vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof
was dried up, [thus unifying the Islamic world] that the way
of the kings of the east might be prepared. And I saw three
unclean spirits like frogs [the Leopard-Bear-Lion beast] come
out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the
beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. For they
are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth
unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather
them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.
Moderate Islamic governments supposedly support us while
their fundamental mullahs stir up an ever-increasing unrest and
hatred against all things Jewish or Christian. The Bible plainly
foretells that Islam will be the final enemy of the Church and
Israel, so a major future war against Islam is a certainty. This war
in Afghanistan is not just a little minor conflict against a few
extremists that we will be able to contain in Central Asia.
We can shout all we want that this is not a religious war, but
to every fundamental Moslem in the world, it is. Christian values
that have been ingrained in our society for the last 2000 years
stand against a Jihad mentality that is central to the Koran.
Conflict is inevitable.
If you arrived at this spot through a link, it would be better if you
started this book from the beginning rather than clicking "next
chapter" as it is a brick by brick discussion. Click here for chapter 1