When the churches of God turn to the religious myths of this world and embrace them as doctrines, it is time for those who love the Truth to choose whom they will serve. Jesus Christ Himself gave us this profound truth: “No one can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one and love the other; or he will hold to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon” (Mat. 6:24).
Are you serving two masters? You are attempting to serve two masters if you continue to listen to ministers and church leaders who have departed from the Truth of God. You cannot serve God in Spirit and in Truth if you are following those who are teaching as doctrines the religious myths of this world. God has called us out of the darkness of this world into the glorious light of His Truth. We are not to be conformed to the world but to be transformed by the renewing of our minds (Rom. 12:1-2).
YOU CANNOT SERVE GOD AND CONFORM TO THIS WORLD! YOU CANNOT HOLD TO THE TRUTH OF GOD WHILE EMBRACING SATANIC ERROR! YOU CANNOT LOVE GOD IF YOU LOVE THE WORLD!
Those who love the world and conform to its practices cannot love God and do His will. The ways of this world are hostile to God (Rom. 8:7). God’s Word commands, “Do not love the world, nor the things which are in the world. If anyone is loving the world, the love of the Father is not in him. Because everything which is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pretentious arrogance of physical life [the pride of life], is not from the Father but is from the world; and the world and its lust is passing away, but the one who is doing the will of God abides forever” (I John 2:15-17, AT).
If we love God and His Truth, we will not listen to false teachers who love the world and its ways. The apostle John was inspired to write, “They are of the world; therefore they speak of the world, and the world hears them” (I John 4:5). Jesus Christ declared that His followers are not of this world! He said in His prayer to the Father, “I have given them Your Word, and the world hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world” (John 17:14, AT).
Yet wholesale doctrinal changes are being made by the headquarters of one of the largest churches of God in an all-out effort to shake a “cult image” and to become more acceptable to the world. Think about this! If you conform to the world’s standards to be accepted by this society, you are conforming to the ways of the “god of this world.”
The apostle James wrote most dogmatically that true believers can not be friends with the world. He strongly condemned those who compromised with the Truth in order to conform to this world, saying, “You adulterers and adulteresses [in a spiritual sense, referring to their accepting and teaching the doctrines of demons], don’t you know that the friendship [Greek philoo, a loving affinity as a brother] of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God” (James 4:4).
When the churches of God begin to adopt and practice the doctrines of Satan and his demons, then Jesus Christ, the Head of the spiritual Church, will be forced to fight against them! All who adopt Satan’s doctrines are making themselves His enemies. Jesus Christ commands them to repent! He personally rebuked the church at Pergamos for this very error, and He commanded the apostle John to write His words as a warning to His churches in all ages. Here is His ultimatum to the church at Pergamos: “But I have a few things against you, because you have them that hold [to observe and practice] the doctrine of Baalam, who taught ... the children of Israel to eat things sacrificed unto idols and to commit fornication [spiritual fornication with the religious systems of this world—Babylon the Great (Rev. 17:1-7)].
“Also, you have them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitanes [imposing a hierarchical, dictatorial ministry over the brethren], which thing I hate! Repent, or else [an ultimatum] I will come to you quickly and will fight against them with the sword of My mouth. The one who has an ear to hear, let him hear what the Spirit says to [all] the churches” (Rev. 2:1417).
Many in the church of God at Pergamos were in a degenerate state! They had gone so far back into the world and its satanic system of religion that Jesus Christ warned that He would fight against them. Think about it! Unless they repented, their Savior would be quick to fight against them! They had made themselves the enemies of God by embracing false doctrines and committing spiritual fornication.
Today, many churches of God are falling into the same sinful errors as Pergamos and will receive the same stern rebuke from Jesus Christ. All who accept the religious myths of Satan’s world are rejecting and denying the lordship of Jesus Christ and are making themselves His enemies. Jesus Christ will fight against them with the sword of His mouth—the awesome judgments of God’s Word!
Will you be intimidated and coerced into accepting these ungodly doctrines and make yourself an enemy of God? Will you force Christ to fight against you for your unfaithfulness to Him? He has given His ultimatum—He will fight against all those who refuse to repent of their spiritual fornication with this world! He will fight against them with the sword of His mouth, which is the powerful Truth of the Word of God!
“For the Word of God is living and powerful, and. sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of the soul and spirit and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and the intents of the heart. Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in His sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him with Whom we have to do” (Heb. 4:12-13, AT).
Let the pure Truth of God’s Word penetrate deep into your mind and heart, so that you may truly repent as it cuts out the cancer of false doctrine. That is far better than having Jesus Christ use the sword of His Word to fight against you!
True Christians need to arm themselves with “the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God” (Eph. 6:17). They need to use this powerful spiritual weapon to defend themselves from every assault by Satan with his array of seductive false doctrines. Only by actively wielding the powerful sword of God’s Word can Satan’s delusive doctrines be overcome.
The apostle Paul knew how to combat Satan with the sword of the Word. Paul often quoted the Old Testament Scriptures in his battle against the false teachers who were subverting the brethren with their seductive doctrines. In his epistle to the Hebrews, Paul pleaded with Jewish Christians in Jerusalem who were succumbing to the influence of false teachers and were being led astray by the Judaizers. They were returning to the temple rituals and animal sacrifices and were, in effect, rejecting true justification through the blood of Jesus Christ. This practice amounted to absolute repudiation of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ! Paul warned these early Christians that they were denying Jesus Christ and were in danger of committing the unpardonable sin!
Paul’s inspired message to the Hebrew Christians is a timeless warning to all who turn away from the Truth and begin to believe and practice false doctrines. Paul pointed out to these early Christians that to knowingly turn away from the Truth and accept false doctrines that deny Jesus Christ is willful sin and will bring God’s just retribution. He declared, “For if we willfully sin, after having received the knowledge of the Truth, there no longer remains any sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and the white hot fire ready to devour the adversaries. Knowing that anyone, after having cast aside the law of Moses, died without compassion upon the testimony of two or three witnesses:
“How much worse do you think the punishment shall be for the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God and has counted the blood of the covenant, in which he was sanctified, as an unholy thing, and has despised the Spirit of grace?
“For we know Him who said, ‘Vengeance belongs to Me, I will recompense,’ says the Lord. And again, ‘The Lord shall judge His people.’ It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the Living God” (Heb. 10:26-3 1, AT).
No Christian can afford to ignore this solemn warning! If we deny Jesus Christ and His teachings by turning to false doctrines, and knowingly continue in our unfaithfulness, we are removing ourselves from God’s grace and are placing ourselves under His judgment! It is an awesome, fearful thing to face the judgment of the Living God and the prospect of the lake of fire! Far better to humbly repent and seek God’s mercy and grace before it is too late.
Those who do not speedily repent of their unfaithfulness are in danger of being hardened in their own deception. Paul warned, “Take heed, brethren, lest perhaps there shall be in any one of you a evil heart of unbelief in apostatizing from the Living God. But encourage yourselves with each passing day, as long as it is called today, so that not anyone of you may be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partakers of the Christ, if indeed we hold firm the beginning of the substance of our faith unto the end. In that it is again being said, ‘Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts, as in the provocation’” (Heb. 3:12-15, AT).
When those who once believed the Truth become fully hardened in their hearts, they are no longer convicted by the Spirit to seek repentance. There remains no more grace for them, but only the judgment of God. Just as God destroyed those who sinned in the provocation in the wilderness, God will destroy all sinners who will not hear His Word and who despise the Spirit of grace.
God, in His abundant mercy, does not immediately execute His judgment upon sinners, but always forewarns them of the coming punishment and allows them time to repent. He mercifully withholds His judgment when He sees fruits of repentance, but His wrath falls upon those who refuse to repent!
In His messages to the seven churches, recorded in the book of Revelation, Jesus rebuked those who had sinned by committing spiritual fornication. He warned them that He would punish them severely for their unfaithfulness unless they repented and put away their false doctrines. In His warning to the church at Thyatira, He reveals the terrible judgment that awaits those who fail to repent. Here is His sharp rebuke: “But I have a few things against you, because you have allowed the woman Jezebel [high priestess of Baal worship, a symbol of the harlot Babylon the Great with all her seductive doctrines], who calls herself a prophetess, to teach and seduce My servants to commit fornication, [spiritually] and to eat things sacrificed to idols. And I gave her time that she might repent of her fornication, and she repented not.
“Behold, I am casting her into a bed, and those who commit adultery with her [the bedfellows who are drinking of the wine of spiritual fornication from the golden cup of Babylon the Great] into great tribulation, except they repent of their works. And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall know that I am He who is searching the reins and hearts; and I will give to each one of you according to your works” (Rev. 2:20-23, AT).
These words of Jesus Christ emphatically show that every Christian will be judged personally and individually according to his or her faithfulness or unfaithfulness to the true teachings of God’s Word. Knowing that we will individually face the judgment of Jesus Christ, each of us needs to ask, “What are my works? Is my life founded in the love and faith of God? Am I holding fast the true teachings of Jesus Christ and God the Father? Or am I committing spiritual fornication by turning to false doctrines? Am I yielding to the influence of false teachings in the church with which I am affiliated?”
The New Testament plainly teaches that succumbing to the deception of false doctrines and false teachings will surely end in apostasy. The final step in the process of deception is the denial of Jesus Christ. No one can serve two masters. No one can love the Truth of God and embrace the doctrines of Satan. Every true Christian must be faithful to the Truth of God’s Word. Those who love God the Father and Jesus Christ with all their heart and with all their mind will reject the deceptive false doctrines and false teachings of the ministers of Satan.
Index | Previous Chapter | Next Chapter