God’s Church
Wage War to Help the Enemy
The routine murder of innocents may be protected in the clinic—but in the Upside-Down World, it is to be avoided at all costs on the battlefield. Even if it costs victory.
In the Afghanistan war—where the government and people are demonstrating sympathy for the Taliban—the top nato commander, Stanley McChrystal (before he resigned in June), was looking for ways to protect Afghan civilians. He considered a new military honor that recognizes soldiers who refrain from fighting: an award for “courageous restraint.”
Radical Muslim groups love it. They are far less concerned about civilian deaths; in fact, they invite them. They use a hodgepodge of vile, despicable tactics—purposefully embedding themselves among locals, even using schools and hospitals as staging grounds for rocket attacks—aimed specifically at provoking retribution that kills civilians (who, in many cases, actually sympathize with their cause), which they then broadly publicize for propaganda purposes. And the media and political classes eagerly trumpet that propaganda—even in cases where it is demonstrably false.
Clearly, Muslims aren’t the only ones who sympathize with terrorists; liberal intellectuals do as well.
Common sense says that someone trying to kill you and your family, someone trying to destroy your country, is an enemy. But such reasoning is far too barbaric for Western thinkers. Black-and-white morality has been replaced by a world of grays, of relativism, where even the most depraved behavior can be explained and excused. The Western mind has become deeply ambivalent about evil. Even words like evil and enemy are considered simplistic and backward.
A pillar liberal doctrine is that the perpetrators of evil acts are not responsible because they are actually victims of a far greater evil: Western ideals. Thus, “victim” groups are considered incapable of wrongdoing, while “privileged” classes are incapable of good. Muslims cannot be held responsible for terrorism—their Western targets must be the real cause.
As a result of such ridiculous moral reasoning, the very nature and purpose of warfare has been flipped topsy-turvy. War is now something a nation must do for its enemy. Humanitarian goals trump self-defense. All efforts to seek the nation’s own interests are branded immoral and shameful. An oxymoronic “humanitarian war” approach has embroiled America and its allies in absolutely impossible efforts to rebuild and rehabilitate those nations it defeats.
Success in warfare used to benefit the victorious nation; in the Upside-Down World, “victory” comes with inexhaustible, unachievable moral obligations. War can never be won.
Heroes and Villains
Hamas runs Gaza as a theocratic police state; it silences dissent; it allows no religious expression outside radical Islam; it uses terrorism to advance its foreign policy, which is to annihilate Jews. Israel, by contrast, is a liberal democracy; it has an independent judiciary and an independent press; it protects religious freedom, even for the 16 percent of its citizens who are Muslim.
Which of these two do you suppose Western elites increasingly view as a political partner—and which as a villain?
It is positively bizarre. What possesses apparently intelligent, reasonable people who value political freedoms and respect for human life to defend the terrorist cause? Why are they so willing to overlook the barbaric acts of misogyny and murder—so seemingly contrary to liberal ideals—that plague radical Islamist culture? And why, then, are they so unforgiving as Jews try to defend themselves against it?
There is no reasoned public debate over these questions. Throughout academia, the media and political circles, the supposed rightness of the Palestinian cause over that of Israel is considered irrefutable.
In Upside-Down downtown Manhattan, a retail store damaged by shrapnel from the 9/11 terrorist attacks was razed—in order to make room for a new 13-story mosque. “In the ruins of a building reduced to rubble in the name of Islam, a temple to Islam will arise,” commented author Mark Steyn.
The increasingly universal immunity to reason vividly showed this past May when authorities foiled a bombing attempt in New York City’s Times Square. As always happens when a Muslim commits or tries to commit a terrorist act, politicians and press in America and Britain disregarded facts, threw out the religion connection and searched for a cause within trivialities like the would-be bomber’s struggle to pay his mortgage. New York’s mayor speculated that he was probably a right-winger, “somebody with a political agenda that doesn’t like the health care bill.” Wrong. Turns out the perp was on orders from the Pakistani Taliban. The mayor responded to the news by praising his city’s Pakistanis and gravely stating, “We will not tolerate any bias or backlash against Pakistani or Muslim New Yorkers.”
The rush to exhibit such multicultural sanctimony has become so predictable after such incidents. The more that Muslims attack, the louder we praise them. The same Upside-Down reaction was on parade five years ago, after Islamic suicide bombers killed 52 Londoners on their morning commute. British officials didn’t blame Islam—but Islamophobia. London’s mayor asserted that the true fault lay in “80 years of Western intervention into predominantly Arab lands because of the Western need for oil.”
Reality is screaming in their faces, and they are closing their eyes, plugging their ears, and saying “La la la la la.”
Why are efforts to merely enforce existing immigration law in order to curb rising kidnapping and murder branded as racist? Why are illegal immigrants in Britain guaranteed welfare benefits by law? Why is it against the law to deport dodgy foreign terrorist suspects back to their home countries out of concern that their human rights might be violated there?
These are senseless, dangerous policies—yet intellectuals will rise up in full-throated indignation against any who dare question them.
Political correctness—a bramble bush of self-contradicting doctrines—has so ensnared the self-declared scholarly that even when facts are presented that expose the error in their thinking they will not budge.
“Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” Isaiah lamented. “Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!” (Isaiah 5:20-21).
He couldn’t possibly have described the Upside-Down World with more penetrating precision.
The Upside-Down World
From the August 2010 Trumpet Print Edition »
Excerpt from The Trumpet by Joel Hilliker
A New Orthodoxy
The first words uttered when a baby is born are either “It’s a boy!” or “It’s a girl!” That is because sex is biological reality—and none too difficult to detect.
None too difficult, that is, except for intellectuals. In their Upside-Down thinking, nothing is either/or, black-or-white—not even male or female! Gender is a choice, a state of mind, a construct, and always open for reinterpretation. Using this warped logic, they exalt homosexuality, bisexuality and varying degrees of transsexuality including surgical “sex change.”
How brazen are intellectuals at rewriting reality? British law now mandates that transsexuals be allowed to receive a new birth certificate saying they were born the opposite sex. If this person believes he was born female, then he was born female! And anyone who says differently is a bigot! is the message.
Proponents of such policies think they are creating a world free from oppression and hate, a world of tolerance and understanding, where everyone is accepted, where no one is condemned and no one’s feelings are ever hurt. In truth they are intolerantly imposing their Upside-Down reality, creating a nightmare world where discomfort with moral deviancy is punishable by law.
In this world, morality has been flipped on its head. Freedom of religion is being beaten to death by the “freedom” to practice aggressive homosexual activism. State and local laws criminalizing behavior deemed discriminatory against cross-dressers, bisexuals and homosexuals are forcing businesses, schools and publicly funded organizations to embrace perversion. Last December, a British registrar was forced to resign for refusing to conduct same-sex “weddings.” A pediatrician had to leave an adoption panel because he wouldn’t approve homosexual couples for adoption. In February 2009, a Scottish couple were denied their request to adopt their two grandchildren—so that the children, ages 4 and 5, could be adopted by a gay male couple; when the grandparents objected, the judge told them to hush up if they ever wanted to see the children again.
Such bullying is perpetrated in the name of “tolerance”—when in actuality it bears the hallmarks of history’s despotic regimes. Phillips argues that the religious tyrannies of the Middle Ages and the political tyrannies of the 20th century have been replaced by something just as pernicious: cultural totalitarianism. “Medieval Christianity—like contemporary Islamism—stamped out dissent by killing or conversion; Western liberals do it by social and professional ostracism and legal discrimination,” she writes.
“It is a kind of secular Inquisition. And the grand inquisitors are to be found within the intelligentsia—in the universities, the media, the law, the political and professional classes—who not only have systematically undermined the foundations of Western society but are heavily engaged in attempting to suppress any challenge or protest.”
In this world, “reason” supposedly reigns. The reality, however, is that false and empty values have become the new dogma—at the expense of reason. The most intellectual—those who purportedly believe in the unassailable omnipotence of rationality—have become shockingly irrational. Facts that don’t fit the party line, they discard or ridicule. Biblical orthodoxy has simply been replaced by a rabidly secularist orthodoxy.
Power to the Little People
Mountains of evidence show the benefits of traditional marriage to both husband and wife, as well as society at large—and the high costs associated with its dissolution. It proves the enormous advantages to children—in personal safety, academic performance, financial well-being, emotional stability, self-respect, and assimilation into law-abiding adult life, among other things—of growing up under the same roof with both biological parents, a living arrangement built upon a strong, stable relationship between a sperm-producing adult male and an egg-producing adult female.
But because this evidence contradicts the secularist agenda, it is routinely overlooked, ignored, dismissed and scorned. The Upside-Down World keeps cranking up the pressure to popularize deviant sexuality—while removing pressure on singles to marry, pressure on married people to remain together, pressure on parents to make sacrifices for their children, and pressure on children to view their parents as authorities. All history proves that strong societies begin with strong marriages and families, yet intellectuals continue heedlessly striking blows at the pillars of family life.
In the Upside-Down World, families are bottom-up: Children rule, and parents take orders. Legitimate efforts to safeguard children from abuses have been overwhelmed by hostile efforts to undermine parental authority and dismantle the family structure. All physical discipline—an indispensable tool that the Bible commands parents to use to correct bad behavior—is considered cruel and abusive.
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of a Child requires signatory countries to enact legislation to stamp out “all forms of physical or mental violence”—including spanking. But even beyond that, the convention emasculates parents by guaranteeing children the right of privacy, even within their own home, as well as “freedom of thought, conscience and religion.” Yes, Upside-Down leaders in the world’s foremost international body are convinced that children thrive best when parents abdicate their duty to educate their children spiritually.
Like-minded authorities have stripped authority from professional educators as well. With teachers unable to discipline students, classrooms increasingly become hatcheries of churlishness and rebellion. Apparently the students’ right to misbehave in school is more important than their right to actually learn.
The ominous vision of the Prophet Isaiah is now reality: “I will give children to be their princes, and babes shall rule over them. … [T]he child shall behave himself proudly against the ancient, and the base against the honourable” (Isaiah 3:4-5).
Yet, consider the irony. While Upside-Down legal minds work to empower children at their parents’ expense in many areas, there is one issue on which they stand firmly, even belligerently, with parents over their children: They passionately defend parents’ right to kill their own children before they are born.
Back in April, a street-corner preacher in Britain mentioned to a passing shopper that the Bible calls homosexuality a sin.
The comment got him thrown in jail.
An atheist homosexual policeman contended that since Dale McAlpine’s remark was loud enough to be overheard, he had broken the Public Order Act—a law passed in 1986 to control violent rioters and football hoodlums. Police carted McAlpine off, and he spent seven hours in a cell for causing “harassment, alarm or distress.”
It was quite the crackdown, considering what happened elsewhere on Britain’s streets at about the same time. After an Israeli official gave a lecture at the University of Manchester, she was attacked by pro-Palestinian protesters. Police responded to this provocation by escorting the official from the premises in a police car. The protesters climbed onto the hood of the vehicle and tried to break the windshield. They were not prosecuted. Apparently in Britain, this is “protected speech.”
Welcome to the Upside-Down World.
It’s a world where truth is trashed and lies are lauded. Where the honorable are despised and the depraved are empowered. Where sound morals and strong character are relentlessly mocked—while immorality is praised, paraded and protected.
“Self-evident common sense appears to have been turned on its head,” writes Melanie Phillips in her book The World Turned Upside Down. “[S]elf-designated ‘victim groups’ have turned right and wrong, victim and aggressor inside out. Their ‘right’ not to be insulted or discriminated against in any way has become the basis for discrimination and injustice against the representatives of majority values. …
“Nothing is really as it is said to be,” she writes. “Society seems to be in the grip of a mass derangement.”
Has the world gone mad?
There is a hidden cause for this bewildering trend that very few are willing to acknowledge. It is a remarkable reality that explains a whole array of seemingly paradoxical problems that bedevil our world.
Protect Muhammad, Mock Jesus
In this world, everything is twisted in knots. The solution to debt problems is increased spending. The antidote to government waste is more government. “Freedom of speech” is used as a shield for vulgarity and filth—and a bludgeon against godliness and virtue.
Comedy Central cartoons mock everything. They delight in committing sacrilege. Back in April, one poked fun at the furor over depictions of Muhammad, founder of Islam, by showing him dressed in a bear suit. A radical New York-based Islamic group didn’t like that one bit. On its website, RevolutionMuslim.com, it posted a warning along with a graphic photo of Theo van Gogh, the Dutch filmmaker brutally murdered in 2004 by a Muslim; it warned that the show’s creators might suffer the same fate.
Comedy Central’s executives got the message. They censored the cartoon and removed all record of it online.
Then they turned around and proceeded with plans to create JC, a cartoon aimed squarely at garnering laughs at Christians’ expense. The show will depict God and Jesus Christ as regular guys who move to modern-day New York City, where Jesus adjusts to big city life while a deadbeat God sits home and plays video games.
These two seemingly incongruous decisions are hardly unusual. In fact, both follow a pattern increasingly playing out in America and Britain. In societies that value free speech, many decision-makers are shutting down even mild criticism of Islam. And though these same societies also value freedom of religion, public and even private expression of Bible-based Christianity is coming under fierce attack.
Leaders and officials kowtow to bullies and thugs on one hand, then become bullies and thugs on the other. They accommodate evil and vilify good.
~Excerpt from The Trumpet Magazine by Joel Hilliker
To Whom Much is Given,
Much is Required
After a person is saved (and perhaps baptized with the Spirit), many things are then required of that person. He is expected to walk in the Light, as God gives the Light. He is expected to grow in Grace and Knowledge of the Lord. He is expected to follow the Lord Jesus Christ—according to the Word of God!
If that person has been involved in error, wrong teaching, or in a Church that doesn’t really believe in God or the way of God according to the Word—he is expected to come out of that Church, to straighten his ways, and to allow God to work within his heart and life. Very little is required of the person who doesn’t know God. But much is required of that person after he comes into a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Fundamentally, this is what we are talking about. This is wherein the difficulty lies. For example there are multiplied thousands of Catholics who have been (in my opinion) truly Born-Again. They love the Lord Jesus with all their hearts. And, yet, there are multiplied thousands of them (including Priests and Nuns) who elect to remain in the Catholic Church. Is this proper? Are they Scripturally correct in doing so? What will happen to these people if they persist in maintaining this position?
I suppose the question should be raised: Does it really matter? Does it matter whether a person is Protestant or Catholic? Does it matter whether an individual belongs to one particular Church or another? Do these things count?
It Does Matter
Of course, many will say it doesn’t matter. Many Preachers avoid this issue—and proclaim to the world that the only thing of importance is whether the Person has come to the Lord Jesus Christ. Admittedly, the fact of an individual being saved is of tremendous importance, but the question must be raised, “What happens to that individual after he or she becomes saved?”
This period of time following the Salvation experience is so important that the bulk of the New Testament was provided to show Christians how to live, how to walk in the Light, how to conduct themselves, and how to follow the Lord Jesus Christ.
If a Christian, even though genuinely saved (Born-Again) and baptized with the Holy Spirit according to Acts 2:4, elects to stay in an environment of error, then that Christian’s Spiritual Growth will (at least) be stunted, and perhaps much worse will result. That individual could even be destroyed, spiritually speaking, if he insists on walking contrary to the Light that God has laid down.
A tremendous obligation enters the hearts of those persons who have been saved by the Blood of Jesus Christ. They are no longer their own, but are bought with a price (I Cor. 6:20). That price was the indescribable agony suffered by Jesus as He hung on the Cross. We are, therefore, “to deny ourselves and take up our Crosses and follow the Lord Jesus” (Mk. 8:34). We are commanded to follow the Lord wherever He may lead. It may be at the cost of losing friends, relatives, Church, Mother, Dad, job security, or even our very lives. Read Matthew 10:34–38. The Lord was very specific on this in all His teachings and in all four Gospels.
So What Should the
Christian Do?
So, we come to the bottom line as we address ourselves to those Christians who are truly saved but attend a religious organization in error. What should they do? Is it proper (in God’s eyes) for them to stay in that particular Church after they have been Born-Again? Will they become “better Church members”? What should they do? Should they get out of the “Church”, renounce its practices and policies, and find another Church to join and associate themselves with? What are the answers to these questions?
I hope they will realize that I speak out with equal fervor against anything I consider to be non-scriptural in any Denomination. And, yes, as those who have followed me for any length of time will realize, this includes Pentecostal Churches as well.
You see, the problem lies, all too often, in our tendency to “root for the home team.” If we’re Democrats, the Democratic Party can do no wrong. If we’re union members, the union can do no wrong. If we belong to the Moose or the Elk or the Rotary—the Moose, the Elk, and the Rotary can do no wrong. And if we’re Catholic, the Catholic Church can do no wrong. The Truth, naturally, is that anyone can be wrong, and if we don’t diligently search for the Truth, we can be wrong.
~JSM
Atonement
David said: “Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered” (Rom. 4:7).
The force of the Hebrew term “to cover” is dual. It implies Atonement and Justification. Atonement does not mean merely “at-one-ment” or “at-one-with,” but rather expiation of guilt by a blood-sacrifice which covers it.
The argument of Verses 9 through 12 in Romans, Chapter 4, is that Abraham was declared by God to be a righteous man while he was yet uncircumcised, i.e., outside of the Covenant within which the Jews afterward stood in their unique relation to God.
Had the promise of heirship of the world been based on the principal of law, i.e., of merit, that would have set Abraham aside, for the inheritance was given him by Promise and, therefore, on the principal of Faith. Faith does not fulfill a promise made to it, but believes it; and that Faith was reckoned to Abraham for Righteousness. This principal consequently opened wide the door of Grace to all men.
The Effect of Law
Paul said: “Because the Law works wrath: for where no Law is, there is no transgression” (Rom. 4:15).
The effect of law is always “condemnation,” and, in fact, it can be no other.
So, this means that all Believers who seek to function by “law,” whether the Law of Moses, or a law devised by themselves or someone else, can only come to one conclusion, and that is “condemnation.” And let the Reader understand the following:
If the Believer doesn’t understand the Cross, then the Believer doesn’t understand Grace, and neither does he properly understand Faith; consequently, such a Believer will then resort to law, because there is no other place for the Believer to be. It’s either “Law” or “Grace.”
This means that virtually the entirety of the modern Church is functioning under law, which means they are under constant condemnation, because most of the modern Church has little or no knowledge of the Cross whatsoever.
And yet, the Church thinks that it does know and understand the Cross. But several questions should be asked:
Are you, the Reader, living a victorious, overcoming Christian life? The question could probably be better asked, “Is there repeated sin of some nature in your life?”
Is the Fruit of the Spirit being developed in your life? Perhaps the question could be asked in this fashion, “Are you becoming more and more Christlike, in your life, personality, and demeanor?”
Please allow me to delicately say that far too many Christians lie to themselves. And it’s just as much a sin to lie to ourselves as it is to someone else, perhaps even worse. In other words, we need to look at the questions just asked and answer them honestly.
The Action of Grace
Whereas the effect of law is condemnation, the action of grace is “justification.”
The doctrine of justification by works generates religious pride—that of Justification by Faith produces contrition and humility. In the matter of Justification, Faith and works are opposite and irreconcilable—as opposed as Grace and Debt. Since God declares ungodly men righteous, works cannot in any sense furnish a ground for Justification, and hence the first step toward Salvation on the part of a sinner is to humble himself and accept the Divine pronouncement that he is “ungodly.”
Then the second and concluding step is to repose Faith in Him Who justifies the ungodly. Nothing gives more Glory to God than simply believing Him. Justification is not a change in character but a declaration by God as to the Believer’s standing before Him. It is objective. Sanctification affects character and is subjective.
As we have stated, the expiatory Sacrifice of Christ is the one and only and eternal ground on which God can act in declaring ungodly men righteous. Galatians 3:21, and many similar Divine declarations, reveal the hopelessness of standing before God in a righteousness which He will accept upon any other principal than that of Faith in a crucified Sin-Bearer.
A Perfect Sacrifice
Christ’s Perfect Obedience to the Law of God formed His Own Righteousness and gave virtue to His Sacrifice—for a Sacrifice for sin must have neither spot nor blemish. But it was not the spotlessness of the Lamb which made the Atonement, but its out-poured Blood, i.e., its surrendered Life, for the blood is the life. The judgment pronounced upon sin being death, that claim could only be vindicated and discharged by the suffering of death. Christ suffered that penalty and, in consequence, saves the Believer from it.
If Christ’s obedience during His Life was man’s obedience, then man stands as He stood and, consequently, there was no reason why He should die. In that case there was no penalty, for if man fulfilled in Him all Righteousness, there was no occasion for judgment.
But the Scripture declares that Christ died for sinners, so that it is His Death that provides a spotless Righteousness for sinners who believe in Him; and it was His Obedience in life which gave efficacy to His suffering in death.
Regrettably, the vast majority of mankind accepts the human doctrine of salvation by merit; a very small minority believes the Divine Doctrine of Salvation by Grace. As the Lord Jesus Himself said, few tread that narrow way. It is abhorrent to human pride.
J. Swaggart Ministry
Hebrews 10:26 –“For if we sin willfully (the ‘willful sin’ is the transference of faith from Christ and Him crucified to other things) after that we have received the knowledge of the truth (speaks of the Bible way of salvation and victory, which is ‘Jesus Christ and Him crucified’ [I Cor. 2:2]), there remains no more sacrifice for sins(if the Cross of Christ is rejected, there is no other sacrifice or way God will accept).
SO, USING HIS PEACE Plan to solve the five “global giants” of the world (spiritual empti-ness, [corrupt] leadership, poverty, disease, and illiteracy), Rick Warren communicates tothe people that defeating global giants is worth any cost! In the name of missions, social action will take precedence above all else. Warren goes on to say that these problems are so big that everybody has failed to solve them. Warren said, “The United States has failed, and the United Nations has failed as well. Nobody has solved these five problems because the solution needs a three-legged stool. For the stability of a nation, you must have strong healthy government, strong healthy business, and strong healthy churches. A three-legged stool will have sta-bility. So, I am going from country to country teaching business its role, teaching church its role, and teaching government leaders their roles because you have to work together.
We cannot solve the problems in your country or the world if we won’t work together. You see, unity is the name of the game!” Unity is also a part of the new gospel that is being preached, but this type of unity is unbiblical! Unity is taught in the Bible, but it refers to the unity of belief and doctrine, not to unity with unbelievers and/or false doctrine.
1. Every wind of doctrine pushes its audience this way and that way, and few Christians are able to resist it. Their teachings for years have moved the
church into a wrong direction.
2. Many precious Christians started off with good intentions only to find themselves shipwrecked alongside the others they
befriended. Standing for the truth and giving a good defense of the Gospel is more important to God than friendships that could cause you to compromise the
Gospel. Here, it is the truth of Scripture that matters first, not someone’s ministry or who he is. Jesus told the people the truth
and offended the religious crowd. Nothing has changed today if you stand for the truth of Scripture. Those who are exposed will
always respond in anger. Just expect it!
One only has to look at the condition that the world is in today to see that his mission plan has not succeeded. Our government is in the worst shape it has been in since it was founded. Business
is so full of corruption that it is in total disarray, and the church is anything but healthy. The church in America overall is weak and weary not strong, not well, not healthy. It has a diminishing voice because its message has been watered down to the point that it has lost its integrity, and its leaders are not leading.There are damnable doctrines that have been brought into the church today, such as The Purpose Driven Life and its agenda, with that being “modern religion.” In all of Rick Warren’s PEACE Plan, preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ is not mentioned.
In order to partner with the other religions of the world, it must be left out because the preaching of Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection would be a stumbling block. The Muslims and the Hindus would not partner with him if that message was the focal point. The whole premise of the five giants of the world is untrue. There is only one giant that needs to be defeated and that is sin. Sin is what produces all of the other problems. Mankind’s problem is sin but that is not even addressed here. Until it is addressed as such, man’s problems will not be solved. Jesus Christ is the remedy for sin and until the world accepts Him, we will always have poverty, disease, illiteracy, corrupt leadership, and spiritual emptiness. Compare the statement of Rick Warren with that of John Foster Dulles, and you will easily see this is not about Jesus Christ, but it’s about the social gospel for a one-world religion.
One-world government means one-world religion. What we really see here is not the truth of the Bible being taught, but rather a change agent at work, changing the hearts of men away from Jesus to “another Jesus.” Rick Warren is the change agent and The Purpose Driven Life and The Purpose Driven Church are the means to achieving change. Churches by the thousands are falling for this lie. Jesus Christ and His redeeming power to save man from his evil ways is being replaced by the false gospel of servitude. Serving man rather than Jesus Christ is the message of the false prophets of this day. They, of course, will deny this, but we will in this article examine their message. Of course, the false gospel of the Word of Faith teaching on positive confession for health and prosperity has become the norm. Christian television has become the extension for the false teachers of money. They have a monopoly on the airwaves. They preach an unbiblical pseudo-scheme called “s e e d f a i t h.”
I think we could even call it a Ponzi scheme. They are removing the money from faithful Christians to themselves. The preachers become richer while the average layman becomes poorer. Their teachings for years have moved the church in the wrong direction. This affects evangelism, discipleship, and tithing. Tithing is no longer giving to God because we love Him and want to help further the message of Jesus to a hurting and dying world. The message today is about giving to get rich. This is man’s gospel and not the message of the Bible. We have every wind of doctrine being preached through the airwaves and in the church. All of this is being preached by men claiming to be Spirit-filled, anointed prophets and apostles, but they themselves are without the Spirit, are carnally minded, or have succumbed to another spirit. The Bible says that if they do not speak according to its Word, they have no light in them. Isaiah 8:20 states,
“To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this Word, it is because there is no light in them. (The great question should always be, and about any situation, ‘Is it biblical?’)
THE VICTORY OF THE CROSS
Paul in his Epistle to the Colossians spelled it out as to exactly what Jesus did for us at the Cross. He said:
“Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us (the Law), which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to His Cross;
“And having spoiled principalities and powers, He made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it” (Col. 2:14–15).
Two things were here done:
1. The demands of a thrice Holy God were satisfied.
2. Satan was completely defeated.
Now let’s see how all of this was done.
The Law of God as given to Moses, sometimes referred to as “the Law of Moses,” proclaimed the Standard of Righteousness which God demanded of all men. Unfortunately, man in his depraved, fallen condition, could not live up to this Law, and no matter how hard he tried. In fact, in the entirety of these some 1,600 years of the Law, not one person succeeded in satisfying its demands, except Christ.
In fact, as it regards the moral Law (the Ten Commandments), it is still incumbent upon humanity, at least all who do not know the Lord. As stated, this is God’s Standard of Righteousness.
Unable to keep the Law, it condemned us, even as all Law must. In other words, it declared us guilty, and demanded the penalty, which was death (Rom. 6:23).
However, Jesus came as the “Last Adam,” referred to by Paul in that manner, because He would do what the first Adam did not do, and would as well do it so perfectly, that another would never be needed, hence Him being referred to as the “Last.”
He kept the Law perfectly in every respect, doing it all on our behalf, even as our Substitute. One might say that he did all of this as the “Representative Man” (I Cor. 15:45–50).
He not only kept the Law, and as stated, did so perfectly, but as well, He suffered its terrible penalty of death—all on our behalf.
When He did this, the price was paid, with the record that was against all of us, being completely and totally “blotted out.” The Scripture plainly says that He “nailed it to His Cross.”
Now we are seeing why the Cross is so very, very important.
This which He did satisfied the demands of a thrice Holy God. The Reader must understand, that the Cross was not carried out in order to satisfy the Devil, etc., but rather to satisfy the demands of God. It was either us die, which meant that we would never be raised from the dead, and because we were an imperfect sacrifice, or for God to become man, which He did, thereby taking our place.
However, having done this, what Jesus did at the Cross, also spelled defeat for Satan and all his henchmen.
Satan has a legal right to place man into captivity because of sin. But with all sin atoned, even as Jesus did at the Cross, Satan lost that right, at least as it regards those who will believe (Jn. 3:16).
In other words, Satan has no more legal right over me and because I am now “in Christ,” which means I have trusted Christ and what He did at the Cross on my behalf, which cleanses me from all sin. Sin being the means by which Satan holds men in captivity, with sin being gone and washed away, and by the precious Blood of Jesus, as stated, Satan has no more right.
As a result, this spoiled all principalities and powers, which refers to all demon spirits and fallen angels, which includes Satan as their federal head, with the Scripture plainly saying that Jesus “triumphed over them in it,” meaning, that what He did at the Cross totally defeated them.
So this means, that every single demon spirit is defeated, every fallen angel is defeated, even the mightiest of them and in totality are defeated, and above all, Satan as their federal head is defeated.
As we’ve said previously, the work which Jesus did at the Cross by the giving of Himself in Sacrifice, was actually a legal work. It satisfied the legal demands of a thrice Holy God. Man had committed a terrible crime, and that crime had to be addressed, with its penalty satisfied. It was satisfied in Christ.
All these things we’ve just said, are the reason that the Cross is the Source of all Victory, and of course, we are speaking of what Jesus there did. That’s the reason our Faith must ever be in the Cross. And this I might quickly ask:
Many Preachers claim that we must go beyond the Cross, especially many of those of the Charismatic variety. What do they mean by going beyond the Cross? Actually, where is one to go?
The Work of Christ at the Cross, is called a “Finished Work,” which is portrayed by Paul in Hebrews 1:3, by Jesus being “sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high.” As well, Paul referred to this great work as “the Everlasting Covenant” (Heb. 13:20).
Some may claim that we leave the Cross after conversion, thereby going on to the Holy Spirit. However, when we understand, that the Holy Spirit will not work within our hearts and lives, at least to the full degree which He can, without our Faith being properly placed in the Cross, then we realize that it’s impossible to separate the Holy Spirit from the Cross. That’s what we explained in Romans 8:2. Everything the Holy Spirit does, He does within the framework and the parameters of what Jesus did at the Cross. In fact, before the Cross, He could not even come into the hearts and lives of Believers to abide. This could only be done after the Cross, which satisfied the sin debt (Jn. 14:16–17).
The great Ministry of the Holy Spirit is to “glorify Christ” (Jn. 16:14). And how does He glorify Christ?
He does so, by constantly pointing to the Cross (I Cor. 2:2).
Actually, in the last two Chapters of Revelation, which speak of the perfect age to come, when Satan is locked away in the Lake of Fire, along with all his demon spirits and fallen angels, and in fact, there is no more sin, we find the Holy Spirit referring to Christ some seven times as “the Lamb” (Rev. 21:9, 14, 22–23, 27; 22:1, 3).
Seven of course speaks of God’s perfection, and “Lamb” refers to the Crucified Christ (Jn. 1:29).
The Holy Spirit does this, so that we will never forget, that it was the price paid by Christ on the Cross, which has afforded, and does afford all of these great and glorious things. In fact, the entirety of the story of the Bible is the story of man’s Redemption, which in effect, is the story of the Cross.
J. Swaggart
SELF-HELP OR CROSS-HELP?
The great battlefield for the Christian is whether he attempts to find victory by his own machinations, or trust completely in what Christ did at the Cross? In fact, this is the same battlefield for the unredeemed. Do they trust in their own efforts to save themselves, or do they trust in what Jesus did at the Cross? The Cross ever stands at the intersection of life, and for all people, and for all situations.
Of course we know and understand that the unredeemed cannot be saved, unless they trust in what Christ has done at the Cross on their behalf (Jn. 3:16). Admittedly, they don’t have to understand much about it, but they must evidence Faith, at least in some degree. Of course, the Holy Spirit supplies them the Faith as they hear the Word of God. But when it comes to the Christian, the following can happen, to which Paul addressed the entirety of the Epistle to the Galatians. Theologians refer to this problem as “Galatianism.”
It simply means that people come to Christ by trusting in what He did at the Cross, but after being saved, then transfer their Faith from the Cross to something else entirely. Even though they of course remain a Child of God, simply because they continue to trust Christ as it regards their initial Salvation, by no means, however, can they walk victorious. So we have “Salvation by Faith,” and “Sanctification by works,” which as stated, is the greatest problem for the Child of God.
In fact, the Galatians had been brought to Christ through the Ministry of Paul. Of course, they were taught correctly as would be obvious. But then, false teachers came into these respective Churches, telling the people, that they must add Law to their experience. In other words, now that they had accepted Christ, they must also engage in circumcision (for the boys and the men), and Sabbath keeping, etc. This was the way to deeper life, etc., they claimed!
If it is to be noticed, Paul’s Letter to the Galatians drips with scorn, and in fact, is His most strident Epistle. In fact, the Apostle is downright angry, and rightly so!
He knew that if the Galatians followed that error, they were going to lose their victory, and possibly even their souls. So, the Holy Spirit had him to write the Epistle to the Galatians to address this terrible error.
Unfortunately, the problem didn’t die with the Galatians. It remains with us today, and in fact, it is the greatest problem faced by the Child of God.
After coming to Christ, which means that we now have a new nature within us, which of course is provided by the Holy Spirit by and according to what Jesus did for us at the Cross (Jn. 7:37–39), we instinctively know that we must live right, and in fact, we want to live right. But the great question is, how is this done?
If we don’t know the Message of the Cross, which is God’s prescribed order of victory, and I might quickly add, His only prescribed order of victory, then we will cast about attempting to find a method of victory on our own. That’s what I meant by Salvation by Faith, and Sanctification by works.
And let it please be understood, that if we do not know the Truth of the Cross, this Truth is just not going to simply fall on us. The Word of God concerning this great foundational Truth in some manner, in some way, must be ministered to us. This is the only way we can come by Truth. As stated, it cannot be given by laying on of hands or any other manner, except the preaching and teaching of the Gospel. So what do we presently have?
Due to the fact that almost none of the modern Church knows or understands the great Message of the Cross, the far greater majority of the Church walks in defeat.
But there’s another problem attached to all of this:
SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS
“Works” always produce self-righteousness. In fact, that’s why the Religious Leaders of Israel crucified Christ. The whole Jewish system by the time of Christ had degenerated into “works”; consequently, self-righteousness was paramount at that time, and self-righteousness always must kill the Righteousness of the Lord. In fact, we have a perfect example of this in Genesis Chapter 4 with Cain killing Abel.
The Cross produces humility, even as the Cross alone can produce humility, while works always produce self-righteousness.
However, “works” are very subtle. Most of the time they are cloaked with all manner of religiosity, which makes us think that what we’re doing is of the Lord. In fact, the greatest weapon that Satan uses is to actually take that which is of God, such as prayer, fasting, or manifestations of the Spirit, even as we’ve already addressed, and make us think that the doing or the engaging in these things will bring about the victory which we must have.
While to be sure, these things we’ve mentioned, plus many we haven’t mentioned, are very necessary in the life of the Child of God; still, if we try to use them in the realm of the source of victory, we will find that we have turned them into works, which God can never bless or recognize.
I am victorious totally and completely, not because of the things I do, but totally and completely because of what Christ has done at the Cross. That and that alone, which demands my Faith, brings victory to the Child of God, and in every capacity I might quickly add. Proper Faith in the Cross, which guarantees the help of the Holy Spirit, is the only manner, the only means, the only way, that the Child of God can walk in victory. And to be certain, there is no power of darkness that wasn’t defeated at the Cross of Christ.
~J. Swaggart Ministry
THE DOCTRINE OF THE NICOLAITANES -LAITY CONTROL
Two statements were made by Christ concerning the Nicolaitanes. He said:
“But this you have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitanes, which I also hate.”
He then said, “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says unto the Churches” (Rev. 2:6–7).
In essence, He was saying that if we are to have the “Spirit of God,” and thereby “hear what He has to say,” then we will have to reject “the deeds of the Nicolaitanes.” In other words, one cannot have both! In fact, Jesus, as is obviously plain, said that He hated the deeds of the Nicolaitanes. And, to be sure, if He hates something, we must, as well!
He also said: “So have you also them who hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitanes, which thing I hate.”
His command was, and as it regards “the doctrine of the Nicolaitanes,” “Repent.” He said if Repentance wasn’t forthcoming, “I will come unto you quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of My Mouth.”
He then said again: “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says unto the Churches” (Rev. 2:15–17).
What is the doctrine of the Nicolaitanes?
The word, “Nico,” in the Greek, means “control.” The word, “laitanes,” in the Greek, means “the laity.” So, the meaning is “control of the laity.”
All false doctrine, in one way or the other, demands “control.” Various different directions are engaged in order for this “control” to be brought about.
Christians are taught that they must, without question, obey their Pastor, or Cell leader, etc. They are taught that they shouldn’t question anything that is said, obeying it, in effect, without question.
The truth is, untold millions are in Hell presently, because of this doctrine, which, as should be obvious, is by no means new. In fact, it is one of Satan’s oldest tricks, even as Jesus addressed in His Messages to the seven Churches of Asia.
Every Believer must hear everything according to the Word of God. If what he is hearing is not Scriptural, he must question it; and if the perpetrator (leader) refuses to straighten it up, then such a Believer had better absent himself from that particular gathering.
Until the Reformation, the Catholic Church controlled its millions of devotees by hiding the Bible from them. The Priests were to be the sole interpreters of the Word of God, and whatever they deemed desirable, they would tell the people, which, of course, led the far greater majority to eternal darkness.
Anytime a Preacher seeks to exert control over you as a Believer, which refers to the fact that he will do your thinking for you, you can be certain that you are hearing false doctrine. Control is exercised by fear, by threats, by intimidation, etc. It is never of God. The Master said, “which thing I hate!”
SATAN’S GREATEST TOOL
To which we’ve already alluded, religion, by far, is Satan’s greatest tool, and which has damned untold millions into eternal Hell.
The definition of “religion” pertains to that which is “devised by man, claiming to draw one closer to God, or else to better one’s self in some way.” And let the Reader understand, anything that is devised by man is not devised by God and, therefore, cannot be accepted by God.
That which is of God pertains to His Word, and His Word alone! If the Word of God is abrogated in any way, then whatever is being proposed must be rejected.
The great question always must be, “Is it Scriptural?” This means that the Believer must know the Bible the same as the Preacher. In fact, the Word of God is intended for everyone.
~J. Swaggart
THE LOCAL CHURCH
Even though Paul as an Apostle definitely had Spiritual Authority, still, he could not force the Church at Corinth to do what the Holy Spirit through him had stated concerning this matter. He could only point out the correct direction, and it was up to them to follow it to its conclusion.
When one considers that Paul had planted this Church, and that many, if not most, of the Converts there had been brought to Christ under his Ministry, one would think that he had the authority to say and do whatever. However, the Holy Spirit as is here obvious, limits that authority to pointing out direction.
This means that it is terribly wrong for any outside influence to exercise dictatorial control over the Local Church. While they might advise and counsel, even as Paul did here, which is the pattern given by the Holy Spirit we are to follow, that is as far as it should go. When Religious Leaders, so-called, who have been elected by popular ballot, and in no way are Apostles, etc., exercise dictatorial control over the Local Church, they are in fact abrogating the Headship of Christ, which causes the Holy Spirit to cease and desist all operations. Consequently, some Pentecostal Denominations are all but totally bereft of the Working and Moving of the Holy Spirit, and for this very reason. They have instigated a secular type Government in the Church, which the Holy Spirit cannot condone, because it is not Biblical.
HEADSHIP IN THE NEW TESTAMENT
The Greek word for head is “kephale.” It is used much like the Hebrew word “ro’s,” which refers to the head of a person, the beginning of a month, the source or mouth of a river, etc. The Greeks viewed the head as the superior member of the body, the seat of reason and authority.
“Kephale” appears over 75 times in the New Testament, usually to designate the literal head of a person or animal. In certain Passages, we need to know the background of certain New Testament sayings before we can understand them.
For example, “Do not swear by your head” (Mat. 5:36) is a reference to a Rabbinical Judgment that one who makes an oath “by his head” (by his very life) cannot be released from the oath under any circumstances.
Other sayings, such as Jesus’ assurance of God’s Care as expressed in the statement, “The very hairs of your head are all numbered” (Lk. 12:7), are easily understood.
There are, however, three theologically significant uses of “head” to which we need to pay careful attention. They help us gain insight into issues of great concern for Christians today.
CHRIST, THE HEAD OF THE CHURCH
The New Testament pictures the Church as a living organism, a Body of which Jesus is the Head (Eph. 1:22; 4:15; 5:23; Col. 1:18; 2:10, 19).
A review of these Passages suggests that Christ’s Headship emphasizes His role as Sustainer, Protector, Organizing Principal, and Source of the Church’s life. The Passages emphasize Jesus’ exalted position so that we may have complete confidence in Him. We respond to Him because He is Lord and the only One with wisdom and motive to direct us into God’s Perfect Will.
AN ORGANISM, NOT AN INSTITUTION
On the other hand, the New Testament pictures the Church not as an institution but as an organism (something which is alive—a complex structure of interdependent and subordinate elements whose relations and properties are largely determined by their function in the whole).
In the place of institutional principles of organization, the New Testament advances organic principles of organization for the Church (Rom. Chpt. 12; I Cor. Chpt. 12). In fact, Jesus stressed the importance of rejecting all thought of rank in relating to fellow Believers (Mat. 20:25–28; 23:8–12; Rom. 12:3–8), which means that even though all Preachers of the Gospel should be respected as should be obvious, however, all man-instituted Religious Offices, are to be looked at as administrative only and never in the position of Spiritual Leadership.
In thinking about Leadership in the Church it is important to recognize the fact that Jesus is the Sole Head of the Church, the only Lord. Whatever Leaders are within the Body of Christ, they are not superior persons of higher rank whose office gives them a right to direct and control other Believers.
~J. Swaggart Ministry