Making Disciples 7

You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men. And he said to them: You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions! (Mark 7:8,9—NIV)

Why do we have only a few true Christians while the remaining millions are only members of the Christian religion?

As we have stated—

First, we are interpreting Paul to mean that Divine grace is a substitute for keeping the commandments of Christ. Away with this horrible perversion of the Gospel of the Kingdom of God! Let it be banished forever from the thinking of God's elect!

Second, we are preaching our interpretation of the mysteries of the Christian religion instead of righteousness. The people of the world will never glorify God as long as we are talking about how we can get what we want by faith; how we can control the creation with our word and our imaging; how we all are going to fly away to Heaven before we can be harmed.

The teaching of the pre-tribulation rapture is the most anti-Semitic, self-centered, self-serving, anti-scriptural doctrine one could invent. A Christian friend, a pastor, said the teaching of the pre-tribulation rapture is of demonic origin, the purpose being to make the believers complacent. Is he correct? There is not one verse in the entire Bible that teaches "Christ is coming to take His waiting bride to Heaven." Not one passage that suggests such a thing! How long will we persist in teaching the mythology of the believers disappearing from the earth and being carried to a mansion in Paradise? The purpose of the return of Christ, and we with Him, is to establish justice and peace among the saved nations of the earth.

Will we continue to preach our traditions although they manifestly are unscriptural? Or do we love the truth? If we do not love the truth God Himself will send a strong delusion upon us.

We have today what is termed "renewal." God grant that we have a renewal of repentance, of keeping Christ's commandments.

We personally have been preaching for almost fifty years that the greatest revival of all time will come to the earth before the return of the Lord. The double set of fifty rings, one bronze and one gold, over the veil of the Tabernacle of the Congregation, inform us of the double portion of judgment and Divinity that will visit the earth before the end of the Church Age.

Terrific glory and judgment are on the way.

But some of the manifestations of today seem to be deliciously personal, emotional experiences that are not directed toward building the iron character that the Spirit of God desires to form in the saints—iron that is absolutely necessary if we are to keep Christ's commandments in a world sick with lust, covetousness, treachery, and violence.

If I bark like a dog, neigh like a horse, roll on the floor, twitch, jerk, and so forth, are these the good works the world is waiting to see? Will the unsaved glorify God when I bray like a donkey? When I pick myself off the floor will I keep the commandments of Christ or will I seek even more sensational "experiences"?

Continued.Making Disciples 8