The next few paragraphs were written, because they contain certain facts that every Christian should know, and also to prove how intensely Satan is waging war for control of your soul. Remember Peter's warning saying that, "Satan roams to and fro throughout the world seeking those whom he might devour."
Those who have studied the history of the early Church, all agree that Satan had indeed devoured most church leaders, beginning shortly after its inception through the year 1523. In fact, historians actually recorded that, "Satan had an iron grip on Christianity during that period." However, due to the efforts of a handful of men that truly knew God and were willing to reprove those in error of His word, Satan began losing some of his control.
The precedent for how the gospel would be presented to the people was set during the first 400 years of Christianity. But, it was done without the benefit of the complete New Testament text, meaning that man had to teach from available, but often corrupt, manuscripts.
While with the Apostles, Jesus personally taught them, however after the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit taught them as noted in Acts 6:2-4, which states, "The Apostles gave themselves over continually to reading God's word, prayer, and the ministry of the word." Since the New Testament text did not exist at the time, it must be said that most of the Apostles' spiritual growth was obtained by reading the Old Testament text. I say that only to emphasize how important it is that we spend ample time reading the entire Bible in a systematic way.
After the death of the Apostles, most of the leaders in the newly established church were unscrupulous man-pleasing believers. I say that because they were competing with their peers selling indulgences to raise the money needed to build St. Peter's and the great cathedrals. Those bringing in the most money through the sale of indulgences were awarded the higher positions of leadership in the church. And those in the highest positions did not have time to spend reading the Scriptures in search of spiritual truth; their main focus was organizing those under them trying to build a ministry the people would follow.
The Latin Vulgate translation of the New Testament text, which contained all of the books in our present-day text, was not completed until the year A.D. 405, but even then, they were inaccurate. It was only through the studies of languages during the early fourteenth century, particularly those of Greek and Hebrew, that more accurate translations of the New Testament text began to emerge.
Due to the absence of the Scriptures, coupled with the vagueness of those available during the 1500 years following the death of the Apostles, Satan easily took control of the church in much the same way he had taken control of the Jewish religion.
During the period, known as "The Dark Ages," everyone who stood up to defend the truth of God's word was put to death. Tens of thousands were killed simply because the believing hierarchy did not appreciate having their spiritual knowledge brought into question by peasant's claiming to know God. One example was a young Catholic priest named Martin Luther, who posted his 95 theses on the church doors in Wittenberg, Germany, in the year 1517.
Man's ability to mass produce printed materials by means of the press was first made possible in Worms, Germany, in the year 1521, and Luther was the first Christian to use the power of the press to take his case to the people. His translation of the New Testament text was completed in 1523, and it immediately began falling into the hands of both noble and common men and women throughout Germany, eventually freeing him from a death sentence.
Historians recorded that William Tyndale was so troubled by the fact that the clergy in England had so little knowledge of the Scriptures that he said to their leaders, "Not many days hence, I shall cause the boy that drives the plow to know more of the Scriptures than you do." Then, in 1525, Tyndale's plow boy version of the Bible began falling into the hands of the English-speaking citizens in Europe. Shortly thereafter, Tyndale was burned to death, tied to a stake in a public park, for making the Scriptures available to converts. Reportedly, his last words were, "Lord, open the King of England's eyes."
In the year 1550, John Calvin left Switzerland for France with Bibles printed in French, resulting in thousands of people in France being converted. As a result, in only a few years their numbers began growing by the tens of thousands. These people were being saved, and filled with the Holy Spirit, simply because they were reading the Scriptures. They became known as Huguenots (meaning non-Catholic Christians), because they separated from the Catholic Church after discovering Biblical truth.
As a result of Calvin's accomplishments in France, Satan must have realized he was beginning to lose his grip on Christianity. I say that because he then inspired the Church leadership under his control to kill the French Protestants. (Those responsible for killing the French Christians may have believed they were serving the best interest of Jesus, just as Paul thought he was serving God when arresting Christians to be stoned to death). Then, during the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre in 1572, the Church butchered over 15,000 French Christians in a single day, and approximately 35,000 more who refused to rejoin the Catholic Church were killed in the ensuing months.
Thanks to the efforts of William Tyndale, and the King James translation team, we now have the most accurate version of the Bible ever printed available to us. God said that knowledge would be increased in the last days, and one of the ways He fulfilled that promise was by means of the press, giving us The King James Version of the Bible in the year 1611. For those of you who may not know approximately ninety percent of Tyndale's translation found its way into the King James text.
An important fact that everyone should know is that when King James authorized the translation of the Scriptures, he would not allow a single Christian be a part of the translation team for fear they might attempt to inject their own bias into the Scriptures. That's just one of the many reasons it's the most accurate version of the Bible available today.
During the Dark Ages the Scriptures were enshrouded in a mystery created by the fact that only the clergy had access to them. God used that mystery and man's curiosity to motivate people to read the Scriptures as soon as they were made available to them. The term "great revival" was first used during that period, and it was generated because many people were being saved, and filled with the Holy Spirit as a direct result of reading the Bible in search of truth. God knew that would happen to everyone who would take time to read His word in a systematic way; that's why He said, "Seek ye out of the book of the Lord, and read: not one of these shall fail," (Isaiah 34:16).
Until 1523, no one except Latin speaking church leaders had access to the Scriptures because the original manuscripts were translated into only Latin. Satan chose Latin as an international church language in order to keep God's word hidden from the masses. I know what the historians have recorded as the reason Latin was used by the church, and they are right in the physical sense, but wrong in the Spiritual. I say that because Satan employed all of the underlying reasons used to bring it about, for that explicit purpose, and, yes, the god of this world does possess that kind of power.
For more than fourteen hundred years Latin was the language used in church for Bible reading and to deliver the homily. This was done in spite of the fact that more than 99% of those in attendance did not understand a single word being said. However, when it came time to start selling indulgences to raise the money needed to build St. Peter's Basilica and the great cathedrals, the priest spoke in the people's native tongue.
Those responsible for forming the Roman Catholic Church apparently lacked both creativity and spiritual understanding of the Scriptures. I say that because they patterned its structure after that of Judaism. For example, in Judaism, Pharisees were educated in the Levitical law: and it was necessary for the Jewish people to confess their sins to a Pharisee, so he could instruct them as to what sacrifices they needed to offer to receive forgiveness of their sins.
However, when Jesus died on the tree, the veil separating the congregation of the people from the most Holy Place was ripped apart, signifying that man no longer needed to confess his sins to another man to receive forgiveness. Those forming the Catholic Church apparently failed to get that message: they chose to have their members confess their sins to a priest, who would then tell them what they needed to do to receive forgiveness. This was done in an attempt to keep the people under the church's control! But of course, the Pope would instruct the Bishops, and the Bishops would then instruct the local priest as to what sins they could or could not forgive.
It should be noted that, because of the accomplishments of men like Martin Luther, William Tyndale, John Calvin, and others that truly knew the Lord, Satan began losing his iron grip on Christianity making it necessary for him to find a new way to regain control of not only the Catholic Church, but also the new denominations spawning from it.
For that reason Satan inspired the Catholic leaders to declare war on the Protestants to either destroy them or force them back under their control. This sparked three periods of war, each lasting thirty-years in duration, and one lasting seven. For more information on the aforementioned wars, go to your computer and type in "The Thirty Years' War," on your search engine.
Satan apparently realized that he could not win the battle being waged on behalf of Catholicism, through conflict, and he could not cutoff the source causing the flood of Bibles falling into the hands of people. Therefore, he uses his many deceiving and seducing spirits that Jesus told us about to inspire carnal-men to teach false doctrine. To this day Satan continues to work from within the most high places in the established churches for that very purpose.
God fulfilled His promise that knowledge would be increased in the last days, and He did so by using the power of the press. Henceforth, we no longer have an excuse to continue teaching as though we are still in the Dark Ages. Nonetheless, because old habits are hard to break, and men tend to follow in the traditional footsteps of those who taught them, many of the myths introduced during that period are still with us. Spiritual truth should always prevail over what Satan is trying to teach us through men deceived by his deceiving spirits, and if you are willing to read Gods word for yourself, it will.
Through Jesus, God took the responsibility of teaching the truth of His word from a deceived, disobedient, and gainsaying people (the Jews), and gave it to a group of Gentiles that became known as Saints; now referred to as believers. Acts 2:5 states, "And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven," which means devout men of all nationalities. But notice that the word "Jews" precedes the mention of other devout men from all Nations, which also represented the languages of all Nations.
God moved upon the hearts of many devout Jews and Gentile men from all over the world to be in Jerusalem that day to witness the coming of His Spirit to dwell in the hearts of men. (The word "devout" means trustworthy and honorable). The last part of Acts 2:4 states, "And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance." But notice that the word "tongues" is plural, meaning more than one tongue, also notice that the words, "as the Spirit gave them utterance," indicates that God Himself determined what language each man spoke that day.
"Now when this was noised abroad [among the different groups gathered there], the multitude came together, and they were confounded, because every man heard them speak in his own language. And they were all amazed and marveled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galileans,"(Acts 2: 6-7). Only the 120 Hebrew-speaking Jews saved through our Lord's personal ministry were filled with the Holy Spirit during the first outpouring of the Holy Spirit that day.
Those who witnessed this event were not just gathered around these men expecting something to happen. They were undoubtedly gathered together in different groups that spoke the same language. However, when those groups heard these Jewish men preaching Jesus in a language they all understood, they immediately began drawing closer to them to listen to what they were saying. We know they wondered how these men could speak so many different languages because they remarked among themselves, saying, "And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born?" (Acts 2:8).
God succeeded in getting the attention of these devout men from all nations, causing them to pay close attention to what His disciples were saying: which explains why more than 3,000 others were filled with the Holy Spirit later that day. And I would like to point out that not one of those who received the Holy Spirit that day did so as a result of the laying on of hands. God Himself decided who would, and who would not receive His Spirit that day, just as He does today.
Afterward, these devout, Spirit-filled new converts then went back into their own countries telling their kinsman, and fellow countrymen, about the many things they had both seen and heard. As a result, many hearts were prepared to listen to God's servants when they came into their land preaching Jesus. Through that event, our Lord successfully laid the groundwork for Spirit-filled men to go into the entire world preaching the gospel. Thus, the responsibility of teaching truth effectually passed from the Jews to the Gentiles on the day of Pentecost.
Paul said, "Have they [the Jews] stumbled that they should fall? God forbid; rather, through their fall Salvation has come unto the Gentiles to provoke them to jealousy"(Romans 11:11).
Personally, I don't believe the Jews can find much to be jealous of when they look at what they perceive to be Christianity today, and I would have to say that we have failed God just as miserably as did their forefathers. Even more so, because we managed to do it during this dispensation of grace, during which the Holy Spirit is available to everyone willing to submit his will to God.
It took nearly 2,000 years for the Jewish leaders to become so self-righteous and knowledgeable in the Scriptures that even a miracle-working Jesus could not teach them. It has also taken 2,000 years for Christianity to reach the depths of despair and ignorance in which it now exists. Satan's ability to deceive man, and man's ability to intentionally, and unintentionally, deceive other men is why spiritual truth has eluded most of those in today's church as well.
Complacency and the belief that Satan is a defeated foe are two of Satan's best weapons. Satan will be defeated in the end, but not until he has deceived the entire world. He hasn't completed that task yet, but until then, he will continue fighting, devouring as many as he can. But for now, God is about to do a marvelous thing in the short time we have left before the first resurrection.
Just as Jesus offered the Priest and Pharisees an opportunity to repent of their traditions or perish, He is now giving us an opportunity to repent of our laziness and begin seeking His truth in earnest or be left behind during a period of separation, which, in reality, has already begun. Will we respond to what our Lord is trying to do in today's church by not only seeking truth, but by also standing up to defend it against those subverting it, or will we leave Jesus hanging on the tree by continuing to go our own way?
Jesus prayed for each of us saying,"That they all may be one; as thou, Father, are in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us; that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gave me I have given them that they may be one, even as we are one," (St. John 17:21-22). The glory mentioned in these verses are both God's mercy and His grace through which He extends an invitation inviting us to be united into fellowship with Him through the blood of His Son by having our human spirit fertilized with the Holy Spirit, which is how we become born-again.
God desires for those in His service to become one "in truth" in the same way that He and Jesus are one in truth. One of the many functions of the Holy Spirit is to teach us, which is how we become one in truth with Him, and with one another, thereby creating unity and spiritual truth within the body of Christ. In verse 21 Jesus stated why He prayed for us to be one "in truth." He said, "That the world may believe that thou hast sent me." Notice the word "may" in that verse.
Without a doubt, most people in all nations would believe that Jesus is Lord if all Christians were one in Spirit and in truth. Such a church would present a united front to the people of all nations rather than the many different philosophical beliefs and doctrines of man currently being presented by denominational missionaries around the world. Having said all of the above, "I am of the opinion that it's far too late for that to happen, because the day of the Lord is close at hand."
At the turn of the Nineteenth Century, the world council of churches initiated a very strong movement aimed at bringing about unity among the various denominations. The leadership of all denominations, or any individual church, could join their movement by agreeing not to teach on subjects where there were doctrinal differences between them and other member churches.
Most church leaders in all denominations agreed to participate, and I am of the opinion they did so because they were so illiterate in the Scriptures that, when challenged to prove their doctrine, they could neither prove theirs to be correct nor disprove their counterpart's doctrine. After all, it is so much easier to simply agree to disagree.
Henceforth, they reached a universal agreement stating: we won't tell our congregants that your denomination is guilty of teaching doctrine that we believe to be in error of the Scriptures if you won't tell your congregants that we're teaching doctrine that you believe to be inaccurate. This simply means that Bible truths that may have been taught in some of those churches in the past will no longer be taught in the future.
To put the matter into proper perspective, these ministers have adopted a policy of peaceful coexistence with other churches. It's called "hear no evil, see no evil, and speak no evil" of other churches, no matter what. But, there is a world of difference between physical-unity and spiritual-unity.
Quite simply, these lazy clergymen, unwilling to suffer any form of persecution, simply agreed to sit back and peacefully allow Satan to do his thing within the body of Christ. May God forgive us for even thinking that we might cure any of the many ills within the church by not speaking out against those in error of God's word, even though the Scriptures command us to speak out.
Where would the church be today if men like Martin Luther had denied the urging of the Holy Spirit, and refused to speak out against those in error of the Scriptures in his day? His message not only motivated the established church to excommunicate him, it also sentenced him to death. Nevertheless, the threat of death hanging over Luther didn't stop him. Instead, he continued preaching truth and publishing it, because he could not stand the thought of forsaking God's will to become a man-pleaser.
None of the Prophets, Apostles, or the thousands of other men and women martyred for the cause of Christ wanted to die. To the contrary, each of them would have preferred to live and continue serving our Lord. Nevertheless, they were killed because they refused to succumb to the will of church leaders who had not received the fullness of the Holy Spirit. That's why Jesus said, "Think not that I am come to send peace on earth; I came not to send peace, but a sword [God's word], for I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man's foes shall be those of his own household," (Matthew 10:34-36).
Jesus made that statement because He knew that spiritual truth divides those who have received the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and the fullness thereof, from those who were deceived into believing they have. Like Martin Luther; Christians taught truth by the Holy Spirit cannot, and will not, agree with others whom they know to be wrong. Instead, they will stand up in defense of the Scriptures, even in the face of death, which was the case with those before them who lost their lives defending the gospel message.
Seeking peace between the denominations may seem to be a noble thing for participating clergymen to be doing, but it is not the will of God. I say that because this is nothing more than an attempt to bring about peace and unity at the expense of Spiritual truth.
Satan's deceiving and seducing spirits are responsible for the absence of spiritual truth in most church leaders today, and it's these lazy carnal-minded leaders who are willing to sacrifice Bible truths by not preaching on them. Truth taught by the Holy Spirit is what Jesus had in mind when He said, "And the glory which thou gave me I have given them that they may be one, even as we are one." If there is to be unity among us, it will come only through the Spirit of truth, which is the Holy Spirit.
Most people defend their spiritual beliefs by saying, "Well, nearly everyone interprets the Scriptures differently anyway. "Satan created that cliché to give people a way of excusing their ignorance of God's word. After all, it's much easier for them to simply agree to disagree if they don't know the truth and cannot use God's word to prove a point of contention. Referring to such people, Paul said, "They have a form of godliness, but are denying the power thereof, from such turn away," (2 Timothy 3:5).
Only the Holy Spirit can both teach us and make us understand God's word, which states, "Let God be true, but every man a liar," (Romans 3-4). Those taught by the Holy Spirit preach the same message, and no contention exists between them. However, if it did, the Holy Spirit would quickly bring the contentious party into line by revealing truth to him, if he's genuinely submitting his will, while depending on God to teach him. Writing about those who deny the Holy Spirit of his power to teach them, Paul said, "They are ever learning, but never able to come into the knowledge of the truth," (2 Timothy 3:7).
God said, "The Law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple," (Psalm 18:7). Seeking God through His word sanctifies us and converts our minds, which prepares us to receive the Holy Spirit baptism. Afterward, when reading God's word, the Holy Spirit teaches us: this is how we receive both spiritual wisdom, and the fullness of God's Spirit. The Bible states, "The entrance of thy words gives light unto the soul; it gives understanding unto the simple," (Psalm 119:130).
We are born into this world learning, first from our parents, then from our educators; this is the only way to obtain physical knowledge, but only God can make His word come alive for us. John said, "The anointing you received from Him abides in you, and you need not that any man teach you, because the same anointing teaches you about all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it has taught you; you shall abide in Him" (1 John 2:27).
Isaiah wrote, "Whom shall He [God] teach knowledge? And whom shall He make to understand doctrine?"I would like to draw your attention to the word "make" in that verse: only God can make you know, for a fact, that Jesus is the Christ; only God can make you know for a fact that His word is true; and only God can make you know, for a fact, that you'll be raised from the dead, and that Heaven is a very real place, and not a fairy tale!
God tells us whom He will "make" to know those things; He said, "Those weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts," (Isaiah 28:9). "Weaned from the milk and drawn from the breast," means no longer feeding from the breast of those who led us to Christ, which means no longer depending solely on men like me, or any other man, to obtain your Spiritual knowledge. He then said, "For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept: line upon line, line upon line, here a little and there a little," (Isaiah 28:10).
The word "precept" means "a command, or principle intended as a general rule of action." In this case, the rule of action is the very special way that God teaches us, and "makes" us know Spiritual truth. Isaiah then said, "Line upon line, line upon line," which means that it's ongoing. For example, while you are reading your Bible, notice that the line you are reading is upon the next line that you are about to read: thus, line upon line. Here God is telling us that we must read His word. Isaiah later clarified his words saying, "Seek you out of the book of the Lord, and read. Not one of these shall fail," (Isaiah 34:16).
God is a jealous God, and He does not want a man such as myself standing between Him and you serving as your Bible teacher. I am only allowed to teach salvation and to warn you about how Satan seeks to destroy you. More importantly, I am to teach you how to allow the Holy Spirit to teach you the deep things of God. Jesus wants you to factually know that His word is true, and not merely believe it to be true simply because someone like myself said so.
Jesus said, "When the Spirit of truth is come, he will guide you into all truth: For he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he [the Holy Spirit] shall hear, that shall he speak, and he will show you things to come," (St. John 16:13). Jesus didn't say the Holy Spirit would speak to us about those things we hear with our ears, He said that He would speak to us about those things He hears. For example, while reading the Bible, the Holy Spirit hears the words as they are formulated in our mind, and He teaches us accordingly, depending upon where we are in our Spiritual growth.
Jesus said, "He shall glorify me: for He shall receive of mine, [the word] and He shall show it unto you," (St. John 16:14). The Holy Spirit will never speak of Himself, He always speaks through God's word, and He uses God's word to prove those things He teaches us. This causes our faith to increase, which is why Paul said, "So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God," (Romans 10:17). The more time we spend reading the Scriptures, the greater our fear of God, our love for God, and our faith grows, and the closer we become to receiving the fullness of the Holy Spirit.
Seven times in the first three chapters of the book of Revelations Jesus said, "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches." The Spiritual interpretation of that statement is: let he who has received the Holy Spirit within him learn to understand what the scriptures are saying to us. Paul said, "But the natural man [those who haven't received the Holy Spirit baptism] receives not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness to him: Neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned," (I Cor. 2:14).
Our Heavenly Father said, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not unto your own understanding," (Proverbs 3:5). "It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in