‘For I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the Lord. Now the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you […]
“The Harvest Is Ready” – September 27, 2021 — The Master’s Voice
Christians need to be taught and made aware that this type of behavior is not glorifying God, and music that doesn’t glorify God is not to be taken lightly as these goat entertainers are doing. Making Christianity a mockery is serious business.
My friends, there are many, many ways to go to hell…and some apparently go to “church”, or what they call church…to do it. The Pointe Church (shown here), missed the point.
During the period when Catholicism reigned supreme in northern Europe, “tithe barns” were developed in the 13th and 14th century. The purpose of the tithe barn was to extract goods, (tithes), from the local farmers, mostly peasants, who were already hard pressed to pay exorbitant taxes to the landed gentry, lords and/or the king or queen. Never mind the fact the Levitical priesthood had been abolished along with the Old Testament Law after the advent of the New Covenant of Grace established by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the High Priest forever after the Order of Melchizedek.
“A tithe barn was a type of barn used in much of northern Europe in the Middle Ages for storing rents and tithes — one tenth of a farm’s produce which was given to the Church. Tithe barns were usually associated with the village church or rectory and independent farmers took their tithes there. The village priests would not have to pay tithes—the purpose of the tithe being their support—and some had their own farms anyway, which are now village greens in some villages.
Many were monastic barns, originally used by the monastery itself or by a monastic grange. The word ‘grange’ is (indirectly) derived from Latin granarium (‘granery’). Identical barns were to be found on royal domains and country estates.”https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tithe_barn
Examples of a modern day Tithe barns:
These are the largest tithe barns in America. Not all tithe barns are this large; some are very small, but the principle and purpose is still the same as the tithe barns of olden times……..That is, to practice the doctrines and deeds of the Nicolaitanes and make money at it. Never mind the fact that Lord Jesus hates the doctrines and deeds of the Nicolaitanes and never intended for the so called “clergy” to rule over the “laity” as you see done all over the United States in large or small tithe barns.
I was recently criticized for my use of the term, “Institutional church”, saying that I was attempting to set up an “them vs us” scenario in this posting? https://spiritualabusesanctuary.wordpress.com/2015/04/25/are-you-an-isolated-christian/
Well, I had to stop and think about that a bit….was I? Actually, there is an “them vs us” that exists between us, those who have come out of the organized institutional church system, and those, (them) who are in charge of it, (clergy), and the ones, (them), still participating in, and supporting it…the so-called (laity). But hey, I wasn’t the one who set it up…they did. However, I have not only pointed out the “them vs us” disparity in that post, but many times in other postings, and will no doubt do so in the future, as the Lord directs.
The question is….what is an institution? And is, what is commonly, but falsely mislabeled “the church” an institution?
Origin of the word, “Institute”:
early 14c., “to establish in office, appoint,” from Latin institutus, past participle of instituere “to set up,” from in- “in” (seein-(2)) + statuere “establish, to cause to stand,” from PIE root *sta- “to stand,” with derivatives meaning “place or thing that is standing” (seestet ). General sense of “set up, found, introduce” first attested late 15c. Related: Instituted ; instituting. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/institute
Frankly, I don’t know how else you could define the present day church other than as a collective institute, since the majority of them are 501C3 tax exempt corporations; http://hushmoney.org/
“It’s impossible to have religious freedom in any nation where the churches are licensed to the government”
Congressman George Hanson, from “In Caesars Grip” by Peter Kershaw
“And to the angel of the church in Sardis write: ‘The words of him who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. “‘I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God. Remember, then, what you received and heard. Keep it, and repent. If you will not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come against you. Yet you have still a few names in Sardis, people who have not soiled their garments, and they will walk with me in white, for they are worthy. The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life. I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’ (Revelation 3:1-6)
“In general the institutional church is that form of ecclesiology that has been the traditionally accepted form in Western culture since the Reformation. Furthermore, the Protestant/Evangelical institutional church is by and large a modification of the Roman Catholic institutional church. The theology is radically different but the practices remain much the same: a formal and rigidly scheduled weekly gathering, mute observance by most of the church during that gathering, a ritualistic observance of the Lord’s Supper, a clerical class that is distinguished from the laity by extra-Biblical educational standards and that derives its financial support from the offerings of that same laity, and finally a focus on performance instead of mutual edification. We have removed the authoritarian pope but replaced him with a pastor-centric model that invests an untoward amount of authority and an unsustainable amount of responsibility on the shoulders of one or perhaps a few men.”http://thesidos.blogspot.com/2011/04/what-does-institutional-church-mean.html
Back in the day when I was still “churched” rather than “unchurched”, in a service one day, an old man stood up and yelled, “WHERE’S THE POWER?” He was right! I’ve seen the gifts of the Spirit, and the power that the Holy Spirit had endued good, well meaning Christians with, being diminished, suppressed and quenched, simply by sitting under the church heirarchy and their directives.
“With the desecration of the teachings of Jesus comes a lost of power. If you read the gospels and the book of Acts, you’ll find the believers had power to raise the dead, heal the sick, cast out devils, do miracles and, most importantly, overcome sin. But the institutional church has replaced the raw power of God with emotionalism, performance and light shows. This is why the bible also foretells:
1 This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. 2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3 without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, 4 traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; 5having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away (2 Tim 3:1-5) http://letspleasegod.com/2009/11/institutional-church/
You’ve heard church folk say, “You can’t put God in a box”
That’s very true, so it makes me wonder why they keep trying to put him in a box? Their box shaped church?
Don’t they know that God doesn’t dwell in a house made with hands?
“However, the Most High does not dwell in houses made by human hands; as the prophet says:
HEAVEN IS MY THRONE,
AND EARTH IS THE FOOTSTOOL OF MY FEET;
WHAT KIND OF HOUSE WILL YOU BUILD FOR ME?’ says the Lord,
‘OR WHAT PLACE IS THERE FOR MY REPOSE?
Acts 7: 48-49
Are you a Christian who for whatever reason find yourself without fellowship with other Jesus loving, bible believing Christians? Are you a Christian who was perhaps spiritually used and abused in the organized church system? Or did you leave because of false brethren or teachings you encountered in the Institutional church? Or, maybe you were either driven out by persecution, or even brought out by the Lord Jesus Himself as some of us have been? Well, join the ranks…there are many of us who have gone through various and yet similar circumstances and find ourselves isolated from fellowship with other believers, and/or the church system. Take heart and be encouraged because you are not alone.
If we have walked out, or been driven out of the church doors of the organized church, they tend to look at us this way, that we have become disobedient rebels or we would not have left their assemblies:
“Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have appeared; from this we know that it is the last hour. 19They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, so that it would be shown that they all are not of us.”
The Institutional church tends to believe that you must “go to church” with them or else you are not a “real” Christian. Friends that mindset is typical of what church folk have been taught, but very well may be upside down from the truth, and quite opposite from what they believe and say. For example, it may be the organized church that departed from the Lord’s remnant believers, or at least a majority of them. Think about it!
In any case, I want to bless and encourage you to continue in the faith and keep seeking the Lord Jesus Christ with all your heart. He has not left you by any means. He wants you to trust Him in all things. I know you will be blessed and encouraged by watching and listening to the video I posted. I was 🙂 For you see, I have been “isolated” too, if you want to call it that….I simply think of myself as being “set apart” with Him for His purposes, not “isolated” in that sense or alone, and for possibly just a season. Who knows? I’m just trusting Him with my life daily. You can do the same. He knows all about it and how to work things out in His time and in His way.
The building represented in the picture above, is not an accurate representation of what’s going on in the organized church world today. New extravagant structures are going up all over the country, and add on’s such as gyms and family centers are being added onto existing structures, (all of course, being paid for by the “faithful” or new converts).
However, the image does represent the “bones” if you will, of the old system which should have been buried, but yet hasn’t been.
Many of my blog mates and I have posted extensively that the mainstream organized churches and denominations, as we know them, have become passé. And not only passé, but that they never should have existed in the first place, not being based on the early church model that Jesus set up. See Book of Acts.
We have written that instead of “church”, we should be experiencing ecclesia, the assembling of the called out ones.
However, these ecclesias seem to be no where in sight, at least not that we can participate in locally in our own areas.
Even though there is a church on every corner in America, where are the ecclesias? If the subject is raised with a “church person”, their eyes will glaze over; they either don’t know what you’re talking about, or will argue with you about their church being the real deal….or, they will just make an excuse to exit your presense.
Just what is “ecclesia” supposed to look like anyway? In a nutshell, it should look and work out something like this; with each participant filled to the brim with the Holy Spirit, and flowing together in harmony, much like a symphony orchestra led by the conductor. In a Spirit led ecclesia, the orchestra would be the members, and the conductor would be the Holy Spirit orchestrating the assembly.
1 Corinthians 14:26
26 How is it then, brethren? when ye come together, every one of you hath a psalm, hath a doctrine, hath a tongue, hath a revelation, hath an interpretation. Let all things be done unto edifying.
I will be the first to admit, I don’t have the answers. I’ve wandered around in the wilderness for over a decade, caught between two worlds; that of the institutional church, and the “worldly” world, and I can’t go back to either one.
As I said, we’ve posted about this issue; we’ve talked it nearly to death, but no one seems to have come up with a viable answer……….or have they? This seems to be a real possibility, IF, we could in our own cities and towns find one:
http://www.housechurch.com/House-Church-Questions/Home-into-the-Church, or at least one what functions in a godly, Christ centered manner such as this site seems to offer.
I for one, long to actively participate in a real time, viable ecclesia, where there is true Body Life functioning in harmony to the edification and building up of the saints, and I will not settle for less. Why should any of us who long for true fellowship? There must surely be others in our own communities that feel the same way. There are ways of seeking them out. Thanks to the Internet, and even the phone book and local newspapers forums and blogs, we are not without resources.
Preaching and teaching is a calling, NOT A BUSINESS. Beware of those who try to make it a business, and therefore, effectively pilfer your bank account and possibly your soul, making merchandise of you.
Beware of these guys! So-called “Discernment Ministries” who’ve sprouted up all over the place since the advent of the Internet. Many of them I believe the enemy is using to lay a snare for the disillusioned or disenfranchised who’ve come out of the institutional denominational churches, and who are looking for a fellowship.
The first thing to ask yourself when drawn into one of these blogs, websites, or on Pal Talk, is how do you know this person has discernment? That’s pretty bottom-line, right? I mean, just because they say they have discernment doesn’t make it truth does it? Who exactly has made them the dispensers of God’s Word and Truth? The way it looks, if you think about it, THEY DID. Isn’t that what they’re saying when they advertise their blog, or website?
Look, I’m not saying that all online ministry sites are evil, or that they are perverting the Word of God, but think about it honestly….there is a great possibility that they just might be.What do you actually know about these types of “ministries”, since you can’t look them in the eye, face to face, to be able to examine the spiritual fruits in their lives? Would you make a serious business deal with a stranger, that you couldn’t meet and see eye to eye with the person? Of course not. Folks, where it comes to our spiritual walk down the Christian road, other than giving over one’s will and very life, lock, stock and barrel to our LORD and SAVIOR, JESUS CHRIST, one of the most important issues in our entire lives;……………….. it’s of vital importance to know who and what we are dealing with. The choices we make in this will most certainly affect our walk with Jesus, and our complete life’s destiny, not to mention the effect on our stewardship.
If these, what I call Mystery Meat “discernment ministries” or “Watchmen” so-called, are dishing out material based on their view of doctrine, then we’d better be doubly cautious. We’re admonished by scripture time and time again, and by the Lord Jesus Christ’s own words to beware of false doctrine, false teachers, wolves in sheep’s clothing, deception, merchandisers of the Word of God, thinking godliness is gain. We need to be sure that what we are hearing and taking into our spirits lines up with the Word of God, as led by the Holy Spirit.
And beware of that PayPal acct, and donations page on their sites. This could be a sign they have a vested interest in gathering disciples unto themselves. Jesus warned that “The love of money is the root of ALL EVIL”. Why? Simply because money has the potential to have a corrupting influence in a person’s life.
Are these men, (and women) telling us they can’t go out and get a JOB!? Apostle Paul did; so as not to be a burden to the church, as well as to lead by example.
I was checking out some of these sites on the Internet, and came across a site warning about such discernment ministries and heresy hunters. This was one that I felt was right on, and in line with scriptural warning to avoid them: http://www.templebuilders.com/anointing/16.htm What it had to say is what has been bugging me for a long time now. Many Christians have been watching the movie instead of reading the BOOK!
Study the Word of God, and pray over it, asking the Holy Spirit, your teacher to teach you from scripture. Like the Bereans!
Acts 17:11
In that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.
These things may be of God, but the word may contain leaven. There was a big problem with false doctrine at the church at Corinth and the first chapters of Corinthians deal with it. The church at Berea on the other hand, only received truth and searched it out. It did not matter if it came from Paul or Peter, or if someone was healed prior to the word, or if the fellowship was in love, THEY SEARCHED and so must you search as well, daily whether those things are so in scripture.
This word I am speaking to you may be 99% pure unadulterated word that produces the life of The Anointed One – Jesus, and 1% of that which is tainted by my soulish, natural man. We must discern and receive that which relates to Him only. Sometimes you may have to hear “99%” of that which pertains to the soul and God will change you with the “1%”, like the pearl of great price, you searched it out and rejected all but that one pearl. Jesus is that Pearl; He Who is the Word of God.
Some good sheep chow to chew on!
There are those of us who will not, cannot be, satisfied with the status quo of a dead religious form, and are being prompted by the Spirit to seek a deeper walk with Jesus, to know Him in a greater measure, and to know the Power of His resurrection. To truly be seated with Him in heavenly places, and to make that a living reality rather than something we quote from scripture merely presuming that we have attained that measure of intimacy with our LORD. To abandon all else, no matter what the cost, and indeed, there will be the cost of dying to self and will, and the clamor of the world.
“They said to each other, “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?” Luke 24:32
Does your heart burn within for more of Jesus, as mine does? Consider these words of wisdom.
http://thechurchunderground.net/2012/a-line-in-the-sandpart-1/
A vibrant ekklesia and gathering place for those true remnant saints who are done with dead religious forms, and who’s hearts are burning for more of Jesus.
May Grace and Peace be multiplied to you and to all those that desire to walk the Emmaus road with Jesus.
Spiritual Abuse Sanctuary 