Our Need to Rediscover God's Biblical Truth

For some time now, I have recognized that the path that I have been on to discover Biblical Truth for myself is somewhat distinct from other Christians that I have encountered. I didn't grow up in the Church, and in fact, did not come to my salvation until my early 30s. Perhaps that plays a part in distinguishing my walk with the Lord. And, furthermore, perhaps that is why I have not fallen for the deception that I see infiltrating the organized Church. I'm going to be honest and forthcoming here ... my heart grieves for what I can only describe as "religion that is false"; a system of faith and worship that lacks the underpinnings of absolute trust in Jesus/God, a complete understanding of His plan of redemption for mankind, and an infallible knowledge of His Word and Character.

Instead, as I minister and interact with my fellow Christians, [whom I continue to love and serve with] I see too many people graduating from online religious "universities" with fancy-titled degrees, but yet have no simple recognition of the Scriptures I quote. I see too many people who constantly seek prayer for everything they do, whether out of fear or uncertainty in their walk. I see too many people willing to put their eternal future in the hands of a self-proclaimed "prophet" who teaches and preaches words that tickle their ears. It seems that Christians today are more interested in finding ways to convince God to make their lives more comfortable and happier, than they are in seeking ways to know Him deeper, serve Him more faithfully, and die to themselves, that they might gain true life in Him. 

I have heard other authors refer to this scenario as "religious humanism", but I'm even suspect of this form of terminology because it still focuses on man, not God! Religious humanism is explained as centering on "human needs, interests, and abilities", within the framework of organized religion or congregational traditions. But that is exactly why I'm concerned about the state of the Church! Just like secular humanism, it's belief system is centered on man, not God! Why aren't our religious institutions instructing their members about God's needs, interests, and abilities?!? Have we forgotten that we are subject to Him, not the other way around? 

How did we get so far off track from what Jesus taught and what the Church in the Book of Acts knew -- That His Holiness, His Sovereignty, His Righteousness, and His Justice, are just as important as His Love, Mercy, and Grace? I am seeing far too many people living out of their souls, rather than connecting to God through their spirits. And I am constantly amazed that far too many Christians are unaware that they are a three-part being; body, soul, and spirit. Because our soul consists of our mind [our thoughts and opinions], our emotions [feelings and responses of our flesh], and our free will [the ability to make decisions based on those thoughts and feelings], we often smother our spirit, who is our true identity, made in the image of God, and our direct link to Him. 

If your soul is smothering your spirit, you cannot hear or receive the voice of our Creator, who through the Holy Spirit is always ready to give us His wisdom, understanding, counsel, might, knowledge and fear of the Lord. If you can't hear Him, you can't receive those gifts and will most likely fall prey to human or demonic influences, which are far less rewarding than anything God wants to give you. 

I can remember a specific night when, while watching a documentary about a ministry that introduced the mighty love of Christ to people who desperately wanted a relationship with Him, that I was suddenly overcome with the weight and reality of my sinful nature, and I found myself weeping uncontrollably as I asked Jesus to forgive me and accept my repentance for all the ways I had sinned and hurt Him. One minute I was sitting on my couch moved by the testimonies of others, and the next minute, I felt the overwhelming pain of what my sins cost Him. I realized then, that although I had previously asked Him into my heart and been baptized, that that experience now seemed like a superficial human act of compliance to the traditions of the Church. This ... this was a supernatural experience in which I understood, for the first time, just what my life was worth to my Savior -- that He loved me so much that He would suffer so greatly for me, so that I could be redeemed and we could begin a deeper relationship as I entered into a lifetime of service to Him. 

I cannot stress enough how important it is to open your Bible and begin an earnest study of God's Word. It is there that you can begin to meet Him and grow in your understanding and commitment. It is where you will find the depth of His commitment to us; and what He expects back from us in this mutual relationship. It is where you will find His promises that extend far beyond anything the world offers. We often hear of the "mysteries of God", but there are no mysteries when you seek Him in His Word. I have quoted this verse often (it is my husband's favorite) ... Proverbs 25:2 says, It is the Glory of God to conceal a matter, and the glory of kings to search it out. Our Father in Heaven loves it when we search for the clues He leaves us to answer our questions. And it is definitely true that the Holy Spirit will reveal more as you seek more. 

Our God is so much bigger than we've ever been taught. But when all you hear is that God is love and grace and mercy (which He is!), and you don't hear that He is also righteous and just, then you don't really need to be concerned about the consequences of your actions ... He's going to always love you, right? And there is a huge void in the Church regarding those attributes, which has greatly affected our culture and societal morals. It then becomes all about us, and our needs, and our desires. If you aren't conscious that God is Holy and Righteous, above all else, then you aren't going to worry about what He thinks about killing your unborn child. As a society, we are focused on the conditions of our lifestyle, instead of the conditions of our heart and spirit, where Jesus resides. 

As we long as we "do not forsake the gathering together" in our church houses on Sunday, we can convince ourselves that we are good Christians. But the rest of that passage exhorts us to meet for instruction and to encourage each other to no longer sin [after receiving the knowledge of the truth] so that we can avoid divine judgment, should we continue to willfully and deliberately sin. Just meeting together on a Sunday doesn't atone for our continuance in sin. The Church should be equipping us for the spiritual war that is waging all around us in the spiritual realms right now! We desperately need to understand that, just as the saints in the Book of Acts did. We have a spiritual responsibility to go into the world and not only expose the darkness in our midst, but instruct and train and disciple our fellow man to serve the One True God and His Kingdom here on earth! Sadly, America and her churches have failed in this duty. And please don't try to convince me that we are primarily a Christian nation. Does our society and culture bear the fruit of that label?  

I do not write this post to discourage or malign. I write to pour out the frustration and sadness of my heart as I see that we have fallen far short of the honor and praise that is due our Messiah and Savior. I love this nation. It is still the best place on earth to live. But for how long? I sincerely worry that our shallow demonstrations of covenant with our God are deteriorating, and that a false representation of what Jesus modeled for us has no imperishable foundation. Our churches pray for revival, but why would God trust us to defend and fight for how He would want to revive us? We've allowed His marriage covenant to be perverted; His sanctity of life to be rejected; and the bodies of our children to be corrupted, modified, and altered beyond His design. We need the bold and courageous spirit of Jesus's followers in the First Century to be sown into our spiritual lives. We need to rediscover the truth of the Bible and the perfect, immutable, power of His Word to awaken in our land. I know this is not my eternal home, but I pray that we can make it as close to Heaven as we can. 

Psalm 119:160     The sum of Your Word is Truth (the full meaning of all Your precepts), and every one of Your righteous ordinances endures forever.

Gnosticism, Freemasonry, Moral Relativism & the Modern Church

I know that's a long and complex title for a blog, but as I consider my perspective of where we are in Christianity today, they all come into focus. In fact, the history of how we got here is indeed long and complex. I hope to give you some information to contemplate and research so you can develop and understand your worldview.

It is precisely because I have worked to mature my own worldview [and from a decidedly biblical stance] that I began to see how these philosophies have infiltrated what the religion of Christianity has become. I had a somewhat simplistic and basic understanding of each belief system, but was naive enough to consider them as separate entities and did not conceive of the possibility that each could have influenced the others and infiltrated the Christian religion. But as I began to study the Bible more and the history of the world and religion, I also saw how tenets of each philosophy began to corrupt the teachings about the Bible, and even the various versions of the Bible down through the centuries.

So, let me just start with Gnosticism and see how it interacts with the others and discern what picture begins to emerge. Both the Disciple John and Apostle Paul expressed their argument against Gnosticism in the Bible. What is Gnosticism? At its core, Gnosticism believes that matter (as represented by the body) is evil and the spirit is good. According to the gnostic belief system, one need not worry about a moral lifestyle in the physical; it was the attainment of "sacred, divine" knowledge that was important and significant. Furthermore, they believed they had knowledge of God that was exclusive; specifically that the "spirit" of man was ignorant and needed to be "awakened". They believed they had the special knowledge that could liberate or "activate" the human spirit, or "illuminate" it. 

Is this beginning to sound familiar? Remember my post from a few days back about the tree of knowledge in the Garden of Eden? And how God shared His knowledge with Adam, but that depending on whether man descended from the line of Adam's evil son, Cain, or his righteous son, Seth, that knowledge was used to either corrupt the world, or was for the good of the world? God bequeathed knowledge to man to control the universe, provided that he mastered the wisdom given to him, and did not use this divine gift for evil. But everything that God entrusted to Adam became susceptible to the corruption of this "sacred and divine" knowledge after the Fall. The Gnostics claimed they were the repository of this sacred knowledge from antiquity, but in reality, what they inherited were the "sacred mysteries" in the religious rites and ceremonies instituted by Cain and his evil son, Enoch (not to be confused with Enoch, the son of Jared, whom God took to Heaven without dying). And this corrupted knowledge came because Adam disobeyed God in the Garden, and Satan gained access to the knowledge from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.

These Gnostics are the "false teachers" referred to in the Bible and specifically in 1 John 4:5-6 ... They [who teach twisted doctrine] are of the world and belong to it; therefore they speak from the [viewpoint of the] world [with its immoral freedom and baseless theories—demanding compliance with their opinions and ridiculing the values of the upright], and the [gullible one of the] world listens closely and pays attention to them. ⁶ We [who teach God’s word] are from God [energized by the Holy Spirit], and whoever knows God [through personal experience] listens to us [and has a deeper understanding of Him]. Whoever is not of God does not listen to us. By this we know [without any doubt] the spirit of truth [motivated by God] and the spirit of error [motivated by Satan].

The Apostle Paul emphasizes the same warning in 1 Timothy 6:20-21 ... O Timothy, guard and keep safe the deposit [of godly truth] entrusted to you, turn away from worldly and godless chatter [with its profane, empty words], and the contradictions of what is falsely called “knowledge” and spiritual illumination ²¹ which some have professed and by doing so have erred (missed the mark) and strayed from the faith. 

That word "knowledge" is the Greek word gnosis, from which we get the word Gnosticism. But how has this concept of false and corrupted knowledge come to relate to Freemasonry, Moral Relativism, and the modern Church? For a comprehensive understanding of this ancient religion [for that is what it is], I invite you to go back and read my multi-part discourse on Freemasonry, its origins and infiltration of the Church. For the sake of brevity, let me simply say this: Freemasons see themselves as the recipients of the mysteries and secrets of what was revealed to Cain and his progeny by the Fallen Angels. They believe themselves to be "the illumined ones" [think Illuminati], and they believe this divine knowledge is to be kept exclusive and reserved for the elite. The masses are undeserving of it. Furthermore, as guardians of the corrupted Sacred Sciences, they are a force against pure religion. Gnosticism became a major challenge for the Early Church by the middle of the Second Century, and Freemasonry is steeped in Gnosticism in the oaths it takes, and the rites and rituals within the Lodge. 

The foundation for Freemasonry began in pre-flood antiquity, and it has been shrouded in secrecy and mystery ever since. The modern era of Freemasonry became popular in the 18th century, and coincided with the birth of modern science which began to separate itself from religion. This new effect of science on Christianity resulted in a theology that began to reject and deny the literal truth of the Bible in favor of one that became infected with allegorical interpretations. [This created a huge schism between literal and interpretative translations of the Bible.] Just read any of the oaths of Freemasonry and you will see the truth of the Word of God mocked in their pagan and idolatrous rituals. But remember, what is done in the world is of no consequence. They believe they are the keepers of the sacred knowledge of their god. But who is that god? To start at the beginning of my research, start here to find out.

Moving on, since ancient gnostics only prized "spiritual and illuminated knowledge", and discarded matters of the physical body and material world as irrelevant to "divine enlightenment", then moral laws regarding the actions of the body in the material world are of no consequence. In other words, they regard the moral law of God [regarding sexual sin and perversion, for example; or lying, or cheating, or even killing] as of no use or obligation because faith alone [in the spirit] is necessary to receive salvation. Furthermore, the literal death, burial, and resurrection of the physical Jesus comes under scrutiny.

Can you see how erasing the moral laws of God from the "the divine knowledge of God" is corrupted and can lead to Moral Relativism? When you understand this term to mean the worldview that ethical standards, morality, and positions of right and wrong are culturally based and therefore subject to a person's individual choice, then you can see how easily it is to lessen the supremacy of God in a society. We see this worldview in the "My body, my choice" mantra in regards to the abortion issue. Any concept that God is involved in the creation of that baby is part of the belief system that the creation of the visible world is useless. Therefore, there is no need to keep the body pure. The distinction between male and female genders is immaterial and marriage is seen as a disembodied and subjective relationship between any two (or more?) people. And since the body is of no importance, then a belief in the resurrection of the body is baseless. 

That is irreconcilable for any true Christian, and although Gnosticism was rejected successfully in the Early Church, it never really went away. It can be seen in our culture that advances the ideas of self-discovery, self-awareness, and any rejection of authority -- it's all about self, and can be summarized in this quote by John Lennon: "The only true Christians were the Gnostics, who believe in self-knowledge, i.e. becoming Christ themselves, reaching the Christ within". This worldview is perpetuated when Christians seek a closer relationship with God outside of what God reveals in His Word. Yes, I believe God wants us to press into Him, to get closer, but if we are embracing our own subjective understanding of spirituality and of God, apart from the wisdom we receive from Holy Spirit and Father God, then we are in danger of elevating our self-generated gnosis above God's.

I will tell you this is a fine line to walk in the faith life of today. There is nothing wrong in seeking more of Jesus and God. It delights the Father when He conceals a matter in His Word, and we seek it out (Proverbs 25:2). And I believe just as John and Paul were able to discern the man-made teachings that didn't line up with God's moral laws or Jesus's teachings, we in the 21st Century are able to discern the man-made doctrines that have clouded our understanding of God's infallible Word that have come down to us in denominationalism. But when you consider the early Gnostic's belief that gnosis could only be found through a "spiritual" experience, then you can see traces of rejection of the material body in our existence through the pursuit of uploading our brains to "the Cloud", and embracing everything "virtual". It may look different in the 21st Century, but Gnosticism is alive and well.

Consider the emerging beliefs in the modern Church that the Bible can be read, but not considered "inspired"; that the authority of God is not implicit in a life of faith; that the testimonies of the writers of the Gospels are not trustworthy to be recognized or preserved; or even that the birth, death, and resurrection of our Lord never actually happened.  These false ideas are once again introducing Gnosticism to a new generation. I fear that the ancient belief system of Gnosticism is prevalent in our society and has never given up on its false teachings or desire to infiltrate the True Church. Let us take heed of the warning of the Early Church Fathers, who said, "These men .... overthrow the faith of man, by drawing them away, under a pretense of knowledge, from Him who founded and adorned the universe" (Irenaeus, c. 130-202 AD) .... "I want to forewarn you not to get snagged on the hooks of worthless opinions but instead to be fully convinced of the birth and the suffering and the resurrection [of Christ]" (Ignatius, c. 35 - 108 AD). Let us heed their warnings and stay true to the inspired Word of God, even as we carry out our assignments for His Kingdom on earth.

 Colossians 2:8    See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception [pseudo-intellectual babble], according to the tradition [and musings] of mere men, following the elementary principles of this world, rather than following [the truth—the teachings of] Christ.