The Protestants Go Further

The universal church, centred at Rome, and teaching the false doctrine of the trinity, taught that the Body of Christ was solely composed of those within that church. Even though the Roman church had the wrong doctrines, the wrong gospel, the wrong Jesus, the wrong spirit—and the wrong god—their understanding that Christ had an undivided spiritual Body, identified in a single church, was largely correct. Their error was connecting this key doctrine to themselves instead of to the true Church of God—built by the true Jesus Christ, who was sent by the true God, who is working through the true Holy Spirit. This latter Church is one that also understands the many other truths of God!

Let’s understand this by tying together several critical elements that clarify the thinking of the Protestants. When the Protestants rebelled against Rome, they were obviously no longer part of that church, and thus had departed from what they previously believed to have been the Body of Christ. They recognized that Paul taught, “For by one Spirit are we all baptised into one body” and “For the body is not one member, but many” (I Cor. 12:13-14).

The entire world of Christendom is able to read these passages, and others, about the Body of Christ. All of these had to be reconciled with the fact that they had now left the Roman church and its authority. But here was their problem: They had to come up with a teaching compatible with converts and believers supposedly being truly baptised, but into a divided, competing and multiplying picture of denominations that is the Protestant world.

They had to reconcile the idea of one “Body of Christ” with the reality of hundreds of Protestant denominations, and more appearing all the time. They were forced to conclude that the Body of Christ is composed of many groups, denominations, fellowships and “communities of believers.” Within this overall understanding must come the reminder that the professing Christian world, serving the false trinity god, is led by the spirit of the “god of this world.” When understood, Christendom would conclude in the end whatever its god led it to conclude—and that would not be what the Bible teaches.

Of course—and this is what the reader must get straight—when the Protestants reinvented the “Body of Christ” doctrine, it was about the “body” of their “Jesus.” Although they defined His “body” differently, this was the same Jesus, who was part of the same gospel, both of which were brought by the same spirit that the counterfeit church from Rome had included within its trinity!

Grasp this. The alien spirit that both John and Paul spoke of is the false counterfeit spirit—Satan’s spirit—behind the trinity doctrine, the wrong “Jesus” with his counterfeit “body,” and the wrong “gospel” of the entire professing Christian world.

Spirit of Disobedience

Let’s now revisit the central “earmark” that will always reveal to the discerning observer where the “spirit of disobedience” is at work. This phrase is in the context of Paul reminding the Ephesian congregation how they had come out of a different way of life—described as the “course of this world”—in which they had been under the sway of the “prince of the power of the air.” Now notice: “Wherein in time past you walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now works in the children of disobedience” (Eph 2:2).

Disobedience is the opposite of obedience, and obedience is something that one either displays toward God, or does not. One either obeys God’s Law—the Ten Commandments, of which the first four are a part—or, no matter what reasons he may have or theology he may have accepted about it, he disobeys it!

Almost all of the professing Christian world teaches that God’s Law—His Commandments—were “nailed to the cross” by Jesus (now seen to be another one) through His sacrifice. Thousands of preachers tell millions of parishioners every Sunday that “that Old Testament Law” has been “done away” by Christ. They are routinely told, “You do not need to keep it. It was kept for you by Jesus.” Millions believe them!

Had Israel obeyed the first four commandments—no other gods, no idols or graven images, proper reverence of God’s name and observance of the seventh day instead of the first day(Sunday)—she would have remained an example to all nations of how obedience to the true God brought all the good things in life. How many other nations might have followed and copied Israel’s example? How many supposed gods would have never come into existence? Think about how much confusion and false religion could have been avoided!

But Romans 8:7 has explained to the reader that human beings are naturally hostile to God and His Law. The terrible fruits of that disobedience are the tragic record of humanity’s last six millennia.

The true Jesus Christ taught His disciples, “If you will enter into life, keep the commandments” (Matt. 19:17). It is these very commandments that define the love of God, and this is made plain by Romans 13:10 and I John 5:3. Turn and read them, and notice how Paul and John speak of God’s Law. While the world also speaks endlessly of “love” with its “Jesus,” it is not the real love of God that the Bible describes. The “Jesus” of this world brings a very different message about the importance of law-keeping than that of Matthew 19:17, Romans 13:10, I John 5:3 and many more passages in the New Testament that could be cited.

By now it should be understood that the “prince of the power of the air” is the same as the “god of this world,” the “spirit of error” and the “spirit of disobedience.” Obviously, this “god”—and spirit—is Satan the devil. Of course, Satan would never actually reveal himself as the devil, or by any of Paul’s inspired descriptions of him referenced here. Almost none would follow him if he did.

He has hidden his true identity under the guise of the triune god.

This very different spirit drives the thinking of all modern theology. Under the “power” of this spirit—and Paul shows that this god does have real power—theologians have devised the concept of the trinity. These have cast off the commandments of God, the first four of which would have insulated and protected them—and all humanity—from all false gods and the resultant error—and endless troubles—that come from following them.

Therefore, it is absolutely imperative to the “god of this world” who stands behind the trinity (and the “Jesus” within it) that its adherents not return to commandment-keeping! He must, at all costs, try to prevent people from returning to the only Law that will lead them away from him to the true God! Recognize that this—disobedience!—is the central feature in how Satan’s“voice” is identified.