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The Truth Which Sets Free - Destiner Press | |
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For free online reading simply click on the Chapters listed below. CHAPTERS 9. Creeds, Confessions, Catechisms 16. Christian Books, Music, Film 18. Church Planting or Assembly? ADDENDUM An exposure of the false teaching of Christianity concerning the reason for evil and suffering. This is one of the most challenging and deepest areas in the Word of God. The following four booklets are now also included in the Addendum of The Truth Which Sets Free. |
Chapter 20. Unity or Ecumenism? Perhaps you are still asleep yet reading on, thinking this is all a matter of semantics, that the meaning of words is not that critical, that "church" can mean the right thing even if it is the wrong word. I’ve had countless churchmen accuse me of "engaging in semantics" and of "splitting hairs." And they are right. The difference between light and darkness is razor thin. The division between heaven and hell is indeed a blade, "For the word of God is living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, a discerner of thoughts and intents of the heart." (Hebrews 4:12; Revelation 2:12) You are either on one side or another; the edge is so infinitely fine there is nothing in between. And words are deadly important. There are churchmen out there who have no idea what "propitiation" or "expiation" mean, nor hundreds of other scriptural words. No wonder they have no inkling of the wrath that hangs above their heads. They think they can somehow make a fence which men may sit upon, or on either side in peace, or a bridge which all may cross. Not quite. They can build such a bridge, but the sheep will not cross it, or if they do they will be awakened and brought back by the Shepherd who keeps His own. The elect may be temporarily deceived by this bridge but will not ultimately follow the road beyond it which leads to that wide and welcoming gate. There is a huge "loving" church crowd crossing that bridge right now, called the ecumenical movement. The Greek root word oikoumene means the "inhabited world" (oikein, to inhabit, oikos, house or realm), worldwide or general in extent or influence, in particular representing a whole body of churches in Christian unity or cooperation. The term "ecumenical" was used of the Early Church Councils such as the Nicean, and many councils thereafter. It is also a title still given to the Ecumenical Patriarch (great father) of the Orthodox Church. In the Vatican: "The Ecumenical Council is recognized by the Roman Catholic Church as the supreme authority. With the pope this makes two supreme authorities; the Roman Church reconciles this logical dilemma by asserting that the ecumenical council, acting with the pope, is supreme." (Encyclopedia Britannica, Roman Catholicism, Ecumenical councils, Std.Ver.1999) Through the Dark Ages and until very recently this little horn and the harlot who sits on seven hills were openly intolerant in their strategy, stating that no one outside their church or anyone who rejected the Papacy could be saved. Here are a few of their "infallible" Doctrinal Statements.
In early times the Eastern Greek and Russian Orthodox sects were perhaps less far-reaching and blasphemous than the main Roman cult but no less strict in their exclusivity. Quite simply, Christianity ruled. Oikoumene is used 15 times in the New Testament in describing "a whole world," most notably regarding the census of the fourth beast of Rome when all "the oikoumene was to be registered," the Devil offering Christ "all the oikoumene," the predicted "distress and perplexity of the oikoumene" near Christ’s return, the goddess of Ephesus "whom all Asia and the oikoumene worship" and "the serpent of old, called Devil and Satan, who deceives the oikoumene." (Luke 2:1; 4:5; 21:26; Acts 19:27; Revelation 12:9) The same ecumenical sense is used by the apostle John to describe the creature that lords itself over "every tribe and people and tongue and nation, and all who dwell on earth will worship it, every one whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the Book of Life of the Lamb that was slain." (Revelation 13:7,8) The Word put a temporary halt to all this when Protestants were permitted to see the Light, rose up and dealt this terrible, world-grinding, satanic monster (fourth beast of Daniel, first beast of Revelation) a wound from which it almost died. (Revelation 13:3,12) But it revived, and a second beast appeared, under the Reformers, in the Anglican sister breakaway, the Presbyterians, the Puritans, and the forerunners of Pentecostalism, the Enthusiasts, the Ranters and the so-called Enlightenment, particularly under the Wesleyan child of Rome, the Methodists. "The 18th-century Enlightenment, which in its British and German forms lived off and fought against Protestantism just as the French forms similarly related to Roman Catholicism, tended to breed a spirit of consensus…The modern ecumenical movement, today thoroughly Protestant-Catholic-Orthodox in its outlook, was first born and institutionalized on Protestant soil by men who saw the mission of the church frustrated by competition and division." (Encyclopedia Britannica Protestantism, Ecumenical Concerns, Std.Ver.1999) Exactly so. Ecumenism is the "mission of the church," the desire for all men to worship this beast together on common ground. The commission of the elect is entirely different, the Fellowship of the Few, running another race altogether, seeking the hard path to a very narrow Door. For a more detailed description of the second beast which also deceives the whole world, disguised as a lamb, causing men to worship the first beast whose wound was healed, refer to Harlot Babylon at the end of this book. (Revelation 13:11-14) If your eyes have been open to see what the church is, by now you will know that this ecumenical pair represents Christianity. And so much more. Since the Second Vatican Council (1962-65) the Church has been instructed to open dialogue with all religions, and as before it interferes in politics everywhere. "The Roman Catholic Church has officially abandoned its ‘one true church’ position. It has entered into ecumenical conversations with the Protestant churches that could lead to Christian union; the Catholic Church has expressed a readiness to make doctrinal and disciplinary concessions, but how far these may go is not yet clear. The church has even made gestures of friendliness to Islam and Judaism and does not speak of the great Oriental religions as simple paganism. The openness of the Catholic Church toward social movements…has taken a surprising form in some unexpected places such as Spain and Latin America. The edge of Catholic opposition to Marxism was for a time taken off, and the Roman See engaged in unobtrusive diplomatic conversations with some Communist governments. A period of increased involvement in international affairs was seen under the leadership of Pope John Paul II in the 1980s." (Encyclopedia Britannica, Roman Catholicism, Std.Ver.1999) Of course, the Church was founded on a blend with paganism in the first place; it will mix again. This is the harlot that fornicates with every kingdom on the face of the earth. (Revelation 17:2) Ecumenism has been greatly facilitated in Western countries by immigration policies designed to promote multiculturalism, which has proceeded at an astonishing rate since World War II, and particularly since the Second Vatican Council. There are now very few homogenous countries like those of the Far East. Europe has been inundated. Even outposts like Canada, which has long been politically controlled by Quebec Catholicism, and Australia, shaped by Irish Catholicism, have opened the floodgates to create multi-faith countries, so much so that Canada poses grave security risks to its U.S. neighbor. These new immigrants are not assimilating, even those who are supposedly escaping repression, but bringing all their religious baggage with them, building their own temples, demanding services in their own language and on their own terms. This is not an accidental phenomenon. It is deliberate human policy predestined long ago. God is drawing in the peoples, a reversal of the scattering at the Tower of Babel, and the picture is just as confusing. A unifying strategy is required, and in this the ecumenical movement is critical and focal. Even prime ministers are jumping on board. Tony Blair of Britain, a "committed Christian," is certainly dedicated to bringing together the various "major faiths," and there is of course a huge payoff in political votes to reap from this strategy. Some higher Anglican circles in Britain have already added Muhammad and Buddha (a self proclaimed agnostic) to their official list of "Saints." They have not yet included the mythical figures like Krishna, but that will come. After all, the Roman Church gave sainthood to countless pagan goddesses like St. Anne and St. Brigid long ago, these "divines" having all the attributes of the ethnic (heathen) Celtic originals. Rome had already beatified Buddha as St. Josaphat, a Latin version of the Bodhisat, with a life story identical to Gautama Buddha. How they will resolve the exclusive issues is hard to predict. Muhammad taught his followers, "There is no God but Allah and Muhammad is his prophet." But Jews knew the scripture, "Here O Israel the LORD (YHWH) is One, and you shall have no other." This is the reason why there can never be peace in the Middle East. Early Jews in Arabia knew that Allah was merely the most popular idol of Mecca, the crescent moon god raised to prominence by a rapacious brigand of terror. When they rejected Muhammad as a false prophet, he slaughtered entire Jewish clans. Every Islamic nation since has vowed, even written into their state constitutions, the eradication of Israel. The Koran (literally, "Recital"), which Muslims have blared at them from loudspeakers every week, pronounces curses on any who believe that God has a Son, and encourages this against dissenters: "Kill them until there are no more disbelievers. And kill them wherever you find them, and turn them out." Many English versions of the Koran hide this from the unsuspecting reader by inserting "do not befriend," but the word "kill" is what Muslims, not just terrorists, hear regularly, and it is nothing like the teachings of Christ, or Buddha for that matter. Bear in mind we are not comparing followers here (for Christians and Buddhists are also soaked in blood) but the words of the sources. Gandhi was right when he said "I like your Christ but I do not like your Christians; your Christians are so unlike Christ." But when Muslims go on a rampage they are like Muhammad, a man no better than Ghengis Khan. He was an outright thief and murderer. The youngest of his 23 female consorts was only 9 years old when he consummated his marriage to her, considered pedophilia even in his era. Countless Muslim scholars have desperately tried to excuse this while many sheiks have been happy to emulate the same lust for very young virgins. Muhammad’s Koran also promises multiple sexual favors in the afterlife with heavenly houris (the origin of whores, who like many female deities of paganism have a double identity in virginity as well as promiscuity), particularly as a reward for "martyrs," thus fueling the perverse dreams of every Islamic suicide bomber. Jesus and Buddha certainly never taught "holy war" like the Crusades of the Papal Church or the "jihad" of Muhammad, which was exactly how Islam spread, by force and ferocity, converting at sword-point. In many Islamic countries people are not allowed to hear anything else. Muhammad used classic ecumenical unifying tactics in his day, borrowing from paganism and extracting from the Old and New Testament what was useful, stripping scripture of historical context (real dates and places) to make it suit his message. Read it if you doubt me, cover to cover. If you have ever heard it blasted out in Muslim countries as I have, lying awake all night, you will know that the Koran is more than rehashed scripture. It is a lyrical masterpiece and brain-washing mantra, repetitive and mesmerizing. It was indeed inspired, every bit as satanic as Papal dogma, and just as ruthless, requiring death for the heretic who fails to conform. The Roman Church has shrunk back from this abyss but Muslims have not. Nor can they unless they erase the Koran. Being so extremely aggressive from its root, Islam may well be one of the religions not present at the final ecumenical table. Other nations may be forced to deal with it as they did with the relentless Third Reich or the fanatical faith of Imperial Japan and its suicide pilots. Mecca may have to be removed from the planet, and Muhammad and the Koran discredited for all time at the United Nations, which after all is where "human rights" were fashioned: the basic so-called freedoms of speech, religion, choice and assembly which Muslim countries do not even pretend to give their men and women. Most religions are not this extreme, and do not preach death for the non-conformist, but there is no way their messages are justification for unity either. I studied the Koran, Hindu Vedas and Gita, Sikh Granth, Buddhist and Tao texts and a host of religious writings when I was attending London University, and they are as different as chalk from cheese. Yet now these "great religions" are coming together seeking to find common ground! This is nothing short of miraculous. As the sovereign God says of pagans in the Word, "I will harden their hearts," and "put hooks in their mouths and draw them forth" to be swallowed up. (Exodus 9:12; 14:17; Ezekiel 29:4; 38:4) The great ecumenical horde is being assembled to stumble into its ordained destruction. (Proverbs 16:4; Romans 9:22; 1 Peter 2:8) Only one small people, a remnant saved by grace, are going to escape this net, so if you have ears to hear, do not get caught in the "great religions" of the world. Spit them all out if you are in the race for eternal life. This is an age-old battle, the ever-raging conflict that does not end until the End. It is both obvious and subtle. Many wise men have been sucked into destruction by its power. King Solomon took this bridge to the wrong gate at the end of his life, choosing the fold of the Babylon of old, the harlot Ishtar. Protestants once understood how deadly this ground was, how fatal to return to the new Babylon of Revelation. That was why Cardinal Newman’s conversion to Rome was front-page news in its time. The reporters missed a critical observation. As an Anglican priest Newman was already in the second beast. You do not have to be officially ordained to join this crowd, all you have to do is shake its hand. J.I. Packer has done that, and thousands of others. I mention him only because he is contemporary, and an excellent example of the gospel of doctrinal orthodoxy. Many of his books, although weak, are good examples of head knowledge of God, a correctness that does not proceed to the heart. Truth in the head that does not also seize the heart does not set free, it only produces more religion, more churchmen. John Bunyan called this kind of head-knowledgeable churchman Mr. Talkative. Many church writers have produced a summary of Christian doctrine or a gospel of systematic theology but still gladly take the road to the harlot’s door. True, like good works, one is not saved by doctrine, but neither is one saved without doctrine. Not words on paper, but words seared into the conscience by the Spirit. He who keeps the Word abides in Christ. It is a Living Word who saves; penetrating to the marrow, rescuing men from the church no matter what. Hear this well. No deals with the Antichrist, that substitute, no bargains with church bestsellers and popular gospels, no letting down of guard, no lessening of attack, no slaves, no prisoners. Cry freedom. Those who lead others back to the harlot are simply being unmasked for what they are: goats. Avoid them. Thank God He is revealing them. It is better for the sheep to know who they are. I say again, even the gospel of doctrinal orthodoxy has no saving power, not for anyone, especially not for those caught in the second beast of Revelation. Calvin produced huge tomes for this gospel, The Institutes of the Christian Religion. He stated the concept of election and predestination very clearly, but he did not believe it deep down inside. Yes, you read that correctly. It was written in his books but not his heart. His actions clearly gave him away. If he had really believed in a sovereign God who calls, regenerates and keeps his own then he would not have invented another form of religion which hounded people with yet more churchdom, claiming the right to pry and lord it over people, even killing Servetus for opposing his teaching, bringing shame on this glorious truth. There are books and Internet sites right now which use this murder as the very excuse to reject the preordained salvation of the Lamb. That is infantile reasoning. If executions are a measure of correct doctrine then the darling freewill doctrine of Roman Catholicism should be blasted off the earth; that first beast of Revelation has killed millions. And it will be scorched out of sight when the Lord comes and all creatures realize they are far from free. One does not reject a truth just because Calvin or Augustine held it, otherwise one would also be justified in dismissing Jesus as God. Predestination is not Calvinism. I learned it the day I was saved, long before I heard of Calvin. The apostle Paul discovered it on the Damascus road. Peter found it when he dropped his fishing gear at Christ’s command. Many more than Calvin taught this, especially Luther in his book, The Bondage Of The Will, although Lutherans have long lost sight of it and gone back to the darkness. It appears throughout the Scriptures. The real reason election is rejected is because the ecumenical goats are reprobates, passed by, both hating this truth and not permitted to accept it. Who can truly exalt in preordained election except the sheep, those brought from darkness to light, and not of their own will but because their names were in the Lamb’s Book of Life before the foundation of the world? The truth is the truth and it can be picked like cherries by the elect, no matter which sect or cult holds fragments of it. That is the freedom of real salvation. One does not reject a truth because the Jehovah’s Witnesses also believe it, neither does one justify keeping pagan festivals because that sect does not keep them. Likewise one does not reject that Jesus is LORD (YHWH) because the Pope says it is so, nor does one join the gigantic cult of Rome for that reason. "Even the demons believe and shudder." (James 2:19) If Satan himself knows who the Son of God is, then so will his prime servant the Antichrist, but this will not save either of them. United the church will still fall, divided the elect will still stand, and this will be revealed on the last day. The church is the very multitude that will say, even to the Lord’s face, that they did all things in his name; and He will send them away to destruction. (Matthew 7:21-23) It is Christians, not pagans (except in their cursing), who use his name all the time, but they are nothing like the disciples of old. Just look at that little ragtag band going down the road against the world-trampling fourth beast of Rome, armed only with sandals, a bag, a cloak, and an empire destroying Word. Weepingly incredible. That is the remnant saved by grace. That is exactly why such copycat themes are popular, the pocket of select warriors in clandestine warfare, a rebel alliance against a vast and evil empire. But the subtle similarity stops right there. The goats are always making the mistake of imagining they are somehow part of that elite little force, when in fact they are full and consenting citizens of the popularly accepted and subtly dark realm, the two beasts of Revelation, the Church and all its daughters, the vast morass of ecumenism. Even rank unbelievers will flock to be married by their clergy and keep their festivals. They hold the world in darkness. The unity of the elect is, and can only be, in the Word. The church is united in the Christian religion, in ecumenical blending, and this is their lot for eternity. Rome, the great mother of all kyriakons, will suck them into the vortex of the bottomless pit. And it will do anything to catch its prey. The Pope will hide his Mariolatry as he casts his hooks to the Protestant fish. They will put on a mask of love and caring. Mother Teresa displayed a lifetime of it, steeped in the Church doctrines instead of Christ. She was an ambassador for the Church and held to every tenet. All she did was make her victims’ passing into the outer gloom a little more comfortable, a classic example of the most excellently disguised servant of darkness, now gone to be with her victims. (2 Corinthians 11:14,15) Those poor Hindus she "served" were still lost, still parading around with their idols; they just added a crucifix for good measure. I know, I’ve been in Calcutta and seen it. Hopeless, the blind leading the blind. And there are countless other religious organizations helping people too. No amount of temporal care or good works will add up on the last day. If it were so we might as well all go back to the religious fervor of the Dark Ages and forget all the lights who said that no one but Christ is remotely good enough. It was not "caring" that broke the Church’s awful stranglehold on the life of the ordinary folk, it was the sparkling clear Word which drove back the darkness, the same sword wielded by the prophets and apostles. It is not enough to possess a Bible or know what is written in it. All the clergy lurking in the shadows have that. Jesus told the churchmen that God’s word did not abide in them, that they had the scriptures but were unwilling to come to the living Word. (John 5:37-40) This is a perfect image of those who choose Christianity rather than Christ, prefer paganism mixed with scripture, love the things of the world "in His name" instead of leaving churchdom behind and clinging to Christ alone. This cannot be emphasized enough. There is no "true church" that can fall into corruption and then be reformed. Even Luther failed to grasp this, thank God for all that he did, as he and Tyndale and other giant minds fought their way out of the cobwebs and crypts. When the reformer Franz Lambert correctly argued for "the abolition of bishoprics" and that assemblies should select their own pastors Luther was still in love with church lordship and opposed him as "too democratic." (Encyclopedia Britannica, Franz Lambert, Std.Ver.1999) The near mortal wound, the Protestant Reformation, was remarkable, but it was not the remedy, precisely because it attempted to reform what cannot be. There is no remedy for this beast, only the wrath to come. This fundamental mistake and weakness allowed for the creation of all the Protestant daughters of that great Mother, now being drawn back to her in a stupor, as they were destined to be. Who is protesting now? Even the moderator of the Church of Scotland recently said that if John Knox were alive today he would embrace the Pope as a brother. That is a ridiculous lie; the same Roman priests who fled from Knox then would run for cover now; he would easily expose them. But Knox’s failure to throw any imitation of the church on the garbage heap, the Protestants’ desire to have a similar organization and relentless urge to conform its people to itself, exactly as the mother church had done, created the second beast of Revelation and left the door wide open for a return to Rome. If you have ears to hear, cast the church headlong out of the window of your life. The key to doing this is first in your mind, in your words and writing, to keep the vocabulary straight, and that is very hard when probably every Bible you have handled has been deliberately tampered with to give credence to the word "church." If Tyndale’s accurate translation had prevailed we would live in a much different and better world, because the scam would have been more easily observed and rejected by the common man. The church knew it, and that is why they issued the King James Version. The ecumenical flock is pouring out Bibles with the same insertions. The churches will always show their true colors, choosing the traditions of men, especially in worldwide ecumenism. Always they will say, "We can absorb everything and everyone else and use them to glorify Christ, we can blend ourselves with pagan things but we have nothing to do with paganism." This has been so ever since the first centuries in the Roman Empire, when Satan played his ace card and created the ultimate kyriakon. And churchmen will entice all to conform to this, may harass you if you do not, and will not give up until He comes to deal with them. Leave the ecumenical horde to their destiny. Do not cross that bridge. Leave the churches and their interfaith or interdenominational Alpha programs to themselves. Jesus said he was not bringing peace but a sword that would even divide families. You know the verses, but perhaps have never realized that they most assuredly apply to the church. The elect disciples left many close kin to follow Him, and to them he promised the great reward. Christians will read that and pretend they believe it, but they already have their reward here on earth. The church has no intention of giving up anything, of being divided from anyone: it wants to be all things to all men in compromise, comfortably acceptable, one huge, loving, ecumenical harlot. A Shock of shocks is coming; a Throne and Court like no other. Then men will weep and gnash their teeth and realize that Jesus is not "a saving event for all humanity", not for goats who do not have the strength to reject a shred of paganism and churchdom. How can the Antichrist deceive, if it were possible, even the elect? He must come in Jesus’ name, and do all in His name. But in the end he will be slain and thrown into the Pit where myriads of Christians will peel the skin off him for his deception. The real King of kings came not in the pomp of church crowds but as a common man riding openly and unprotected on not so much as a chariot, horse or full-grown mule but the colt of a donkey. He was hidden from clergy and kings but revealed to the elect, plodding through dusty streets, sandals dirty, cloak ordinary and well-worn, greeted not by carefully prepared banners of churchmen but by branches spontaneously grabbed from trees by a few who recognized him. His ceremony was on his knees in anguish and alone, sweating blood at the prospect of ransoming his own from religion, a price from which he would not flinch even though his grossly unworthy sheep fell asleep nearby. He came to a city that would not have him, with the priests waiting to deliver him to Rome for crucifixion, the very same Rome where the Pontiff still resides. The Vicar reigns inside the city, the Master was nailed outside it, where the elect must go to find Him. Let not your hearts be troubled. The goats shall not win the day, and certainly not the Day, for the True Light will descend with a shout and rout them from the vicarious "imagination of their hearts" in terror. The Ancient of Days has promised it. |
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