Coming Out

Since recently leaving my associate pastoral position, concerned friends have been asking me what I'm doing, and where I am going to church.

What can my reply be? I cannot say I'm looking for a "new church" because I'm not. And I cannot say that "I'm praying about it" (which is what most of us say when God has not told us what to do), because that is not the case either. The truth is, that God has called me out of Christianity!

What?!? (GASP!!)... Please hear me out before you consider my statement that of someone who is a backslider, an apostate, or worse! My love, spiritual zeal, and dedication to Jesus has not waned. My moral convictions stand fast. My commitment to God's church is stronger than ever. My heart for ministry to the hungry sheep of God is unchanged. My love for truth is still fervent.

But God has convinced me that if I were to remain in "Christianity", I would no longer be able to obediently follow the Lord Jesus Christ!

In our opening passage, God said to His church: "Come out of her [Babylon] my people". Babylon means "confusion", and I know of no better word to describe "Christianity".

This forced me into a desperate situation: I either had to obey God, or obey Christianity ; but I could not do both! The confusion of Christianity's doctrines contrary to Biblical truth and revelation will force every sincere follower of Christ to flee its errors, or spiritually die: "If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?" (Psalms 11:3).

Christianity's doctrine of the church is confusing and destroying God's people because few of us ever consider the question: "who is really in the church?" (and how does one get there?!)

Who does Jesus say are God's people? Is it anyone in "Christianity"? Is it a person who agrees with some set of religious doctrines? Is it a person who lives a moral lifestyle? How about a person who "believes in Jesus"? Or a person who gives tithes and offerings, or does works of charity?

Jesus said, "I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it" (Matthew 16:18). Jesus's church is his body (Colossians 1:18), being built by him, and consisting of the entirety of God's people everywhere. The Greek word ekklesia means "called out ones". So we see the church is not a building, not an organization, not a denomination or any other such thing... the church is God's people!

What we find in the Bible is that there is only one way in which Jesus brings any person into the church, and that is by baptizing them into it through the holy Ghost: "For by one spirit are ye baptized into one body" (1 Corinthians 12:13).

So, the church consists only of those who have received this "baptism by the Spirit". If you have not had this experience, you are not in the church: "Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his" (Romans 8:9).

Do all who receive the holy Spirit and are born into the church speak with tongues? EMPHATICALLY - YES! The scriptures clearly teach that receiving the Spirit is the same thing as being baptized with the holy Ghost (with the evidence of speaking with other tongues). When a person is born of the Spirit, the experience of "sound" comes with it, just as Jesus told Nicodemus (John 3:1-8). Speaking with other tongues is the sign of "true spiritual rest" promised by God to his people (compare Isaiah 28:11-12, Hebrews 4:3, and 1 Corinthians 14:21-22). Tongues is the confession of the Spirit, declaring that we are truly God's children (1 John 5:6 and Romans 8:16). The "witness" of the Spirit is the only certain evidence that Jesus truly is Lord to us: "...no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the holy Ghost" (1 Cor. 12:3).

Having faith and repentance is a start, but it is NOT being born of the Spirit. John the Baptist's baptism represented faith and repentance, but was a baptism in water which pointed to a better baptism: "I indeed have baptized you with water, but he [Jesus] shall baptize you with the holy Ghost" (Mark 1:8) Paul confirmed this point when he asked certain believers in Ephesus: "Have ye received the holy Ghost since ye believed?" (Acts 19:2). They had believed, and they had repented (receiving John's water baptism), but they had not received the holy Ghost. Since they were true believers they did go on to receive Jesus's baptism with the Spirit, and were born again.

Christianity teaches that one can "join" the church. Though impossible, some methods they claim will put a person into the body of Christ are: water baptism, church membership, adherence to certain moral codes, financially supporting it's causes, etc. These false standards allow MAN to judge a person's sincerity, rather than allowing GOD to judge by baptizing (or not baptizing!) that person with His Spirit. We must trust God, for He alone knows every person's heart... and He is NEVER wrong!

The teaching that the holy Ghost baptism is simply "something extra", and that one can be born again prior to receiving the Spirit is false. When the decision of "who is in the church" is taken out of the Lord's hands (because only He can baptize with the Spirit), man is left to decide who is in or not in, the consequence being a splintering into various sects and denominations, contrary to Jesus's prayer in John 17:21. To remain in Christianity, one must disobey God by being joined together with "unbelievers"... either those who have not obeyed God yet and received the Spirit (Acts 5:32), or those who don't believe in the baptism of Jesus at all. Rejection of God's ways is the reason for the unholy mixture we see today, the end result being a carnal church that is nearly destitute of power and holiness. Holy Ghost filled people find that the more they try to "fit in" to Christianity, the less life, joy, and peace they possess. As error intensifies, so will our feelings of frustration and confusion... we must COME OUT!

ONE HOPE: SALVATION

The other doctrine that is confusing God's people is this 20th century doctrine of "GETTING SAVED". What are Christian ministers teaching about salvation, versus what we find in the Bible?

1) The scriptures teach that salvation is something far different from conversion. Yet today we hear people say, "I got saved two years ago", or "I've received Jesus, and thank God I'm saved". What they really mean is that they have been "born again" or "converted", but they have been confused as to what the word salvation really means! Ministers, resisting God, attempt to give a vain "assurance" to those God is teaching NOT to claim to be saved. This doctrine misleads the saints to believe that they have already been judged worthy of eternal life! Unknown to the one who takes this in, the zeal for faithful discipleship and holiness is undermined. Salvation means to be glorified with Jesus! Nobody is "saved" until JESUS says so in the end!

2) "Salvation" is a future event. Salvation is what Jesus will bring with him when he returns. Paul said, "Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended... not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect" (Philippians 3:13&11). Paul's instruction was to: "work out your salvation with fear and trembling" (Philippians 2:12)... for it is "nearer now then when we first believed" (Romans 13:11).

Christianity's claim of "getting saved" removes the fear of God from the hearts of His people, and this error will lead to the belief that man's works are irrelevant (for how could one be "assured" of salvation now, if disobedience would disqualify us?!).

3) Regarding how to obtain salvation, the Bible clearly teaches that how you live this life (i.e., the moral works and deeds you do) will determine where you spend eternity. We will be "saved" if we receive the Spirit, and then walk in obedience to God's commandments through that power: "Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord" (Hebrews 12:14). Good works in this life are absolutely necessary to be saved! When the Bible uses the word "saved" in the present tense, it is referring to "being rescued [or "saved"] from a life of sin". This occurs now, and thank God for that!

What do we read about salvation and "works"? "For the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation" (John 5:28- 29). The Apostle John said: "And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God... and they were judged every man according to their works" (Revelation 20:12-13).

What we hear now in Christianity, is "saved by grace, and not by works which we have done". DON'T DRINK THAT POISON! In this often quoted verse from Ephesians 2:8-9, the "works" Paul refers to that will not save, are the ceremonial works of the law of Moses (such as animal sacrifices, circumcision, etc.), for they have been fulfilled in Jesus Christ. But the "grace" that will really save a person teaches us something about "works": "For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world" (Titus 2:11-12). God's grace does not "cover over" sins, nor does it release us from obeying God completely. But true grace always leads us to do the good works which we have been created in Christ Jesus to do (Ephesians 2:10).

COMING OUT...

Noah was called out of an evil world by God, and built an ark to the saving of his soul. Abraham left a country of idolaters to seek out a city "whose builder and maker was God". Jesus called his disciples out of a system of worship which had been perverted by the ignorance, carnality, and unordained traditions of its religious leaders. In our generation, Pentecostal believers seeking God at the first part of this century were called out of dead and formal religion, into God's mighty Spirit-filled life of worship, miracles, and power. Now... God is calling out once again. He is calling the true believer out of Christianity, unto Himself, for God is always "calling a people out of a people".

God is making a call to His bride, the true church, to be received of God "without spot or wrinkle". Friend, do not be afraid to come out of "confusion". Let us rather fear the one who has the power to keep us now, and save us in the end... God! (John 9:22). "And the sheep hear his voice, and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out" (John 10:3).