The Spirit of Churchianity: Conform or Die
3 John 1:9-11 I wrote to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to be first, will have nothing to do with us. So when I come, I will call attention to what he is doing, spreading malicious nonsense about us. Not satisfied with that, he refuses to welcome other believers. He also stops those who want to do so and puts them out of the church. (TNIV)You’ve all heard it--
There are no lone-ranger Christians;
a solitary log won’t burn as bright or as long as when all the logs are in one pile;
you must be accountable to other believers;
hierarchy prevents heresy, etc. But look at scripture: who are some of the most respected prophets and apostles? They were alone, despised and hounded, standing in the face of
organized religion. And who are exposed as the biggest heretics and enemies of God? The Pharisees, the proud self-appointed ’apostles’, the control freaks.
That is Churchianity Today. There is no tolerance for any who stand on the Bible (remember the children’s song, The B.I.B.L.E. ?). The almighty Pastor has been so elevated as to be considered above reproach, and any who dare to level even the most mild reprimand are vilified and expelled. Contracts must be signed pledging loyalty, not to God but to man, to the Institution-- to the PLAN. There is no room for the individual in this brave new world
. Such are a cancer that must be cut out if they can’t be irradiated or poisoned. The churches have truly fallen to this:
Isaiah 5:20It’s been a matter of historical record that persecution of true believers is never worse than when The Church turns against them. Soon accurate Bibles will be burned and banned; soon true believers will be jailed and then executed, to the thunderous applause of the religious. Soon the World will have so assimilated the Church that they will be one, just as they planned it.Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.
Even so come, Lord Jesus!
(Rev. 22:20)
**P.S.
One of the most jaw-dropping developments in this Brave New Church is the return to the subjugation and suppression of women. There is a wave of hatred for women that defies all reason, that seeks to put all women in bondage to the whims and fury of men. Gone and forgotten is Jesus’ salvation for all people; despised and rejected is Paul’s declaration that In Christ there is no Jew or Greek, no slave or free, no male or female
. Men have put themselves in the place of the true Head which is Christ and invented a human Priesthood that worships the old Gnostic heresy of maleness being more god-like and women as being subhuman and evil.
Back, back, back they go, back to the Law, back to the Curse, away from the Light. All I can say is, There condemnation is deserved.
(Romans 3:8)