"...contend earnestly for the faith which was once delivered to the saints. For some in particular have crept in unobserved, who long ago were marked for condemnation, perverting the grace of God..." (Jude 1:4)

Body Snatchers

I recently, and for the first time, watched Invasion Of The Body Snatchers, the classic film version of the book (The Body Snatchers). Despite the dated special effects (some of which were still quite impressive) I found it pleasantly surprising to be reminded how Hollywood could once tell a tale without endless car chases, gratuitous violence, foul language and outright sexual dirt. It was a few days later while I was lying down waiting for sleep that I saw something in the film much more poignant than the simple confirmation that the world is becoming ever more grimy at an alarming rate: a parable even more striking than the film’s own powerful but fictional message.

For those who have not seen it, the premise of the movie is simply that an another life form establishes itself on earth in the form of flowering pods which at first flourish by grafting themselves to existing plants. Those who like the new species collect them and take them into their houses and gardens, unaware of the deadly peril. While these people sleep, and only when they sleep, the pods put forth silent and wispy strands like dry rot threads or spider webs, quietly spinning a gossamer cocoon around their victims. Then each of these intruders proceeds to suck the likeness out of its host until it has formed a near perfect human clone, except that the copy has a dead soul. They act automatically and by herd mentality rather than spontaneously and individually. The human body they can duplicate, the inner life they can only partially imitate. Once the process is complete the clone must dispose of the original person by trash compactor and a number of other means. A small group grasp what is going on and hold out against the invaders, fighting off sleep and the enemy, but in the end they are overcome.

This is exactly what happens when the Body of the Lord, if it grows weak and sleepy, is assailed and replaced by a substitute body. If you are unsure of what is meant by the Lord’s Body and the origin and true meaning of a number of terms I am about to use, such as Church or Christian, then you will not yet have read The Truth Which Sets Free, in which you can check the many Scriptures and historical sources dealing with these subjects. In a nutshell, the Body of Christ is that specific and precise number whom the Father gave to the Son, the elect of God, those whose names are written in the Book of Life from before the foundation of the world and for whom the Father sent the Son to redeem in time. It is also known as the bride of Christ and the household of God. It is not a temple built of stones or wood, nor a house of any type made by hands, and it is certainly not a church of any kind, for that word does not belong in correct translations of the Bible except in a few instances referring to a pagan edifice or institution.

The letter of Jude is first and foremost an exhortation to the saints to contend, yes to fight, to do battle for the truth as it was originally given to them against such imposters and usurpers. The word saint is simply one title in Scripture given to the elect, any of those chosen and set apart by God for himself. They are not the "saints" invented by the church. Men cannot elect God’s saints, but they can and do produce the fakes of the church, as so-called holy fathers or counterfeit intermediaries for prayer and salvation, a blend of the Word with the pagan models from which they were copied. There is no end of these copycats ready to fabricate a likeness of the truth. Note too that Jude declares that these creatures are destined to do this. Just so, Judas was ordained to his deadly assignment (Luke 22:22; John 6:70, 17:12), as was every priest and conspirator in the plot to silence the Word. (Acts 2:23) In Scripture such people may also known as vessels of wrath, prepared for destruction, those born to perish, or those made for trouble. (Proverbs 16:4; Romans 9:22; 1 Peter 2:8; 2 Peter 2:12)

If Satan cloaks himself as an angel of light then you can certainly expect his servants to be equally well disguised. If the elect get complacent then these impostors will creep in stealthily to pervert the grace of God. (For a brief overview of the Biblical meaning of grace read the short booklet, Amazing Grace) It is not enough for these frauds to come up with something new on their own. They desire to sneak in where truth is already resident and change it to their own tastes. Since their names are not in the Book of Life, not amongst those saved by God’s absolute and sovereign grace, they are not of the household of God and must therefore subtly alter the meaning of grace to gain a much wider admittance to a different fellowship for themselves and for other like-minded folks. These are the ones that slip into a sheepfold through a side door. Unrestrained they can eventually outnumber the sheep. Completely unchecked they may kill the sheep, even doing so as a service to the God to whom they do not belong. (John 16:2,3) These are not weeds scattered in a field of wheat but a field of weeds with hardly a wheat grain in sight. In such growth they create a new body which substitutes itself for the Body of Christ. In Scripture they are often referred to as goats. They are also known as Christians, and the body they create is known as the Church.

Does this seem so shocking to you, reader? Who killed the elect through history? The vast majority of them were killed by churchmen who then, most perversely, often claimed them as their own shortly thereafter. The Lord himself was delivered for crucifixion by churchmen eager to silence him, especially his blunt and forthright exposure of them as the very killers of the prophets of truth and yet the builders of their tombs (Matthew 23:38-33; Luke 11:47,48; Acts 7:52) and as fakes in general. Jesus was very outspoken and firm on this matter, so it is not surprising that Jude urged caution to his readers lest they got caught up in one of the precipitous falls toward destruction that he described in his short epistle.

Read his whole letter and ignore whatever the "side notes" say in your Bible, that Jude was encouraging Christians or the church. He did no such thing. Read the Word itself. He encouraged the elect, the saints, and warned very specifically against a kind of people who even then, in the First Century AD, were slithering in and forming alongside them. The apostles Paul and John sounded similar warnings in their own letters. This body would soon bud and flower into full-blown Christendom in all its various manifestations, with life-stealing and suffocating tendrils reaching around the whole globe. For an overview of this complete development you will need to read The Truth Which Sets Free and The Dark Powers That Bind.

It does not matter what form this fraudulent body takes, whether it is a bulk religious warehouse with seats for 10,000 in Texas or a small portable and inflatable chapel. You read that correctly; there is such a thing as a pump-up plastic church, as ludicrous as instant pudding for the goats who are willing to swallow such swill. No matter what shape this replacement comes in, it cannot become the real thing. But it can imitate with varying degrees of appeal and outward show. In other words, many of these clones are good, very skilled at deception, fooling hordes of others; so steeped in their endeavor by rote, tradition and time that they mindlessly deceive generation upon generation; the blind following the blind, duping even their own children and their very selves. Even though there are tests they cannot pass they can perform an outward facsimile of the real thing which can be surprisingly convincing, and do it for a lifetime.

They will stop at nothing to fulfill this dark plan for which they were ordained. Like Judas, the false apostle, whom we are told was destined to fulfill his dreadful purpose and even occupied and moved by Satan himself (John 13:27), these goats have the same power pushing them onward, the temporary landlord and ruler of this world. Also known in Scripture as the father of lies (and father of such churchmen who think themselves to be in God’s grace: John 8:37-47) his desire from the beginning of creation has been to deceive and convince people into believing that they can get away with such conniving and twisting of God's words. Lucifer will quote the Lord and imitate in any way he can to substitute his ploys for the real thing. That is especially evident in his ace card, the replacement of  the Lord’s body with a kingdom of goats. This realm is also known as Harlot Babylon in Scripture because it is a whorish system, offering an unlawful spiritual "experience" in a proxy body that tries to take the place of the real Bride of Christ with whom God truly does have a uniting and unbreakable contract. The Church is the fallen angel's ace of spades, and it has deceived the nations of the world with great success for two thousand years.