ARE YOU SAFE UNDER A PREACHER’S WINGS?

“And now, O ye priests, this commandment is for you. If ye will not hear, and if ye will not lay it to heart, to give glory unto my name, saith the LORD of hosts, I will even send a curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings: yea, I have cursed them already, because ye do not lay it to heart…For the priest's lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth: for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts. But ye are departed out of the way; ye have caused many to stumble at the law; ye have corrupted the covenant of Levi, saith the LORD of hosts. Therefore have I also made you contemptible and base before all the people, according as ye have not kept my ways, but have been partial in the law.” Mal.2:7-9.

     In studying the history of GOD’S people recorded in the Bible there have been but few in leadership roles who lived up to their responsibility. From the deluge of Noah’s day, to Nimrod and the tower of Babel, to Sodom and Gomorrah, to Pharaoh of Egypt, to the judges and kings of Israel and Judah, to the crucifixion of the Innocent Christ, failure was inevitable due to those who abused their responsibility in leading the lives of others.

     Thus, the voice of the meek of the Earth has had little influence to shape the course of history. And this not-so-proud heritage brings us to our day with all its problems. The destructive course of secular society is as obvious as night and day. And GOD has raised up a standard to hold back this inevitable destination of ruin that sin has wrought. Yes! It is sin and sin alone that has caused every injustice, crime, betrayal, and even disasters of nature. That’s all that sin does. It only presents a mere illusion of benefit. This is why Satan's temptations are always mingled with a hint of virtue. And those of us who have tasted its bitter fruits know first hand the harm that comes from partaking of the forbidden fruit.

     Enter: Jesus Christ. The contrast between His manner of living and that of the pagan Romans and apostate Jews was so stark so as to show the people of Judea along with the entire universe of angels and unfallen worlds the deplorable nature of sin and its cancerous effect on everything it touches. Satan’s campaign against the GOD of Heaven and the unchanging laws He established was exposed to the fullest in the cruel bloody sacrifice of “his only begotten Son.” In this war with sin and its author, “the Son of God” willingly stepped down from His glorious throne in heaven where the angels’ greatest delight was to answer His every beckon call, and became one with the fallen race. Jesus entered the battleground between good and evil and became the Victor for the downtrodden.

     Every deep yearning of the soul for life’s perfection to where none are betrayed, and none are slain, cries out for deliverance from the oppression caused by sin. This is what Jesus came to fulfill. Everything we’ve been denied in a sinful world, Christ has made provision for everyone to be saved and to be received into His soon-coming kingdom, an everlasting kingdom where “none shall make them afraid." Everything we love about Jesus, His compassion, His wisdom, and His power to overrule disease, demon possession, hunger and death was solely due to His abstaining from every sin. It was His implicit loyalty to the Ten Commandments that secured our freedom from the curse of sin. His victory was so complete that even death could not hold Him, for death can only hold sin, of which Christ had none!

     Enter: the church. The history of Christianity is a deplorable history. Priests have slandered the Law of GOD, the character of GOD, and the salvation of GOD. Even the Word of GOD has been replaced with modern translations from Hebrew and Greek manuscripts whose origins are as corrupt as the history of the church. And nothing will change this current heading of the church, as Solomon said: "and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun." Eccl.1:9. This is verified by the fate of this world’s destruction under the rule of its religious leaders: “Behold, the LORD maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof. And it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest; as with the servant, so with his master; as with the maid, so with her mistress; as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the lender, so with the borrower; as with the taker of usury, so with the giver of usury to him. The land shall be utterly emptied, and utterly spoiled: for the LORD hath spoken this word. The earth mourneth and fadeth away, the world languisheth and fadeth away, the haughty people of the earth do languish. The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws [the unchanging Ten Commandments (Matt.19:17)], changed the ordinance [imposing pagan sin into the Sacred Law (Eze.23:38)], broken the everlasting covenant [denied the method GOD ordained for the salvation of man (Jer.30:12)]. Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate: therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left [to be fulfilled in the fourth plague of Revelation 16: “And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire. And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory.” (vs.8,9)].” Isa.24:1-6.

     When GOD raised up the reformers to end papal rule in the Earth, a momentum had begun to deliver the church from its many sins. But over time, as in old time, the Word of GOD became subservient to the wills of men. Even some of the plainest testimonies and counsels to guide one’s life in heavenly truth and godliness are the special targets of attack. Once more, Satan has used his pawns among men to malign the lessons of Scripture to preach outright lies, deceiving the congregations into believing that GOD accepts the sinner in an unrepentant condition. Everything from discounting the Ten Commandments as the standard of Christian living to the laws of health that if obeyed, none would be victims of the broad range of diseases flooding the world today. The GOD of Heaven promised: "If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the LORD that healeth thee." Ex.15;26. And there is no difference between the Jew and the Gentile in our physiology.

     There is one lesson of history that is to be repeated in our day. It is the age-old combination of laziness and love of ease coupled with the use of tyranny to force men into a system promoting and evangelizing sin as part of GOD’S salvation. Jesus addressed this typical frailty seen in the religious leaders of His day: “For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. But all their works they do for to be seen of men: they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments, And love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues, And greetings in the markets, and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi…But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves…Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness. Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.” Matt.23:4-7,13-15,24-28.

     Make no mistake! This is the condition of the church today. And as the leaders of Judea refused the reproof of Christ, so the leaders in the Vatican and the leading Protestant churches refuse it today. And the prophecies GOD assigned to papal Rome, from the prophet Daniel to "The Revelation of Jesus Christ" have been surgically removed from the knowledge of men. But there was a time when the prophecies were fully understood to represent Rome: "they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the daily sacrifice [by removing Christ as high priest before the Father and substituting the Roman priest in the confessional], and they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate [the idol of Sunday sacredness]. And such as do wickedly against the covenant shall he corrupt by flatteries [present himself as pious and obedient to Christ]: but the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits [for they know the dangers of sin and shun its attributes]. And they that understand among the people shall instruct many [the Waldenses whose history has been systematically destroyed and replaced with the fabrication that Rome gave the world the Bible and the Gospel]: yet they shall fall by the sword, and by flame, by captivity, and by spoil, many days [where fifty million men, women, and children, spilled their blood at the hands of papists]. Now when they shall fall, they shall be holpen with a little help: but many shall cleave to them with flatteries [encouraging compromise with sin for the sake of unity]. And some of them of understanding shall fall, to try them, and to purge, and to make them white, even to the time of the end [in the year 1798 when the 1260 prophecy of the tyranny of popes came to an end (Dan. 7:25, 11:33, 12:7; & Rev. 11:2, 12:6, 12:14, 13:5)]: because it is yet for a time appointed. And the king shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvellous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished: for that that is determined shall be done. Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers, nor the desire of women [as the vow of celibacy in the Catholic priesthood], nor regard any god: for he shall magnify himself above all. But in his estate shall he honour the God of forces: and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honour with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things. Thus shall he do in the most strong holds with a strange god, whom he shall acknowledge and increase with glory: and he shall cause them to rule over many, and shall divide the land for gain." Dan.11:31-39 It is this same apostasy that is to take hold of world affairs in the near future as we see every Protestant church bowing before the pope. Nothing has changed in their doctrine. Only opportunity holds back their hand of tyranny. They just bide their time. To many, this appears impossible. But with all of the false expectations in Bible prophecy (as initiated by the apostate churches) events on the horizon of our day will usher the apostate church to the throne of human government, as Jesus said, “Fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.” And once in power, all of the abuse of power we see from the past will find their counterparts in today’s churches. "Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake." "And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved." Matt.24:9; 10:22. But Christ forced the will of no man. So, any religion that employs tyranny the “still small voice” of the Holy Spirit has no involvement and therefore these men are Spiritually dead (Matt.7:21-23).

     In closing, the passage ascribed to the religious leaders of Judah at the time of their nation’s ruin will soon be fulfilled in our day: “And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD unto the shepherds; Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves! should not the shepherds feed the flocks? Ye eat the fat, and ye clothe you with the wool, ye kill them that are fed: but ye feed not the flock. The diseased have ye not strengthened, neither have ye healed that which was sick, neither have ye bound up that which was broken, neither have ye brought again that which was driven away, neither have ye sought that which was lost; but with force and with cruelty have ye ruled them. And they were scattered, because there is no shepherd: and they became meat to all the beasts of the field, when they were scattered. My sheep wandered through all the mountains, and upon every high hill: yea, my flock was scattered upon all the face of the earth, and none did search or seek after them. Therefore, ye shepherds, hear the word of the LORD; As I live, saith the Lord GOD, surely because my flock became a prey, and my flock became meat to every beast of the field, because there was no shepherd, neither did my shepherds search for my flock, but the shepherds fed themselves, and fed not my flock; Therefore, O ye shepherds, hear the word of the LORD; Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against the shepherds; and I will require my flock at their hand, and cause them to cease from feeding the flock; neither shall the shepherds feed themselves any more; for I will deliver my flock from their mouth, that they may not be meat for them. For thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep, and seek them out . As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered; so will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day.” Eze.34:1-12.

“These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” Jn.16:33.