I have a warning for those parts of the church that think they can supercede the Words of God, or set their own parameters of truth. Judgment is beginning at the house of the Lord this year and it is based on His word alone! He gave us His word that we might be light and salt to overcome the corruption of the flesh.

“Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.” – Mat. 5:13

England has become an apostate nation because the Church of England has forsaken the word of God. It is reported that 60% of its members never read the Bible and it shows! They are becoming more Islamic than Christian because the christians have lost their saltiness.

Many churches in America are not far behind as the following table shows:

1. Shannon Johnson Kershner: The belief that Christ is not the only way to salvation is not a new heresy, but instead a variation on the Universalism Heresy now promoted by the Reverend Kershner of Chicago’s 5,500-member Fourth Presbyterian Church. Rev. Kershner is not alone among her fellow Presbyterian Pastors, 45% of whom were recently revealed not to believe that only followers of Christ can be saved.

2. Elizabeth Eaton: The presiding “bishop” of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA) has expressed her belief that although Hell may exist, it is entirely empty because “God doesn’t give up on those who reject Him.”

3. Millie Horning Peters: She believes that Christian leaders should actively promote abortions and assist women in obtaining them. She believes that “It’s time for the religious left to rise up” in support of abortion.

4.  Methodist Deacon M. Barclay is now accepted as a non-binary Deacon in Chicago, which means that she prefers the pronoun “they” rather than “she” and doesn’t identify as either gender. In the Methodist Church, there are two orders of ministry: deacons and presbyters.

5. The Episcopal Church USA has given itself over to a “Mother Earth” form of Christianity that preaches tolerance and inclusivity for everything except what some might consider traditional, biblical Christianity. The Christ Church of Alexandria is so inclusive that it does not have a single male pastor listed on its website. All four are women. One of them, the Rev. Ann Gillespie, is a former Hollywood actress who recently closed a sermon with a new version of the Apostle’s Creed. It starts out, “I believe in God, our Mother Bear, source of all being,” and it refers to the Virgin Mary as “the bad-ass womanist liberation theologian, Mary.”At Christ Church of Alexandria, Virginia, where the motto is “All are welcome, no exceptions,” but, the board of vestry has decided it can no longer tolerate a plaque dedicated to the memory of its most famous member, George Washington. That’s right, George Washington himself was one of the founding members of Christ Church, which is affiliated with the Episcopal Church USA. He purchased pew No. 5 when the church opened in 1773 and attended for more than 20 years whenever he rode north from Mount Vernon to do business in town. But, he is no longer welcome.

I hope you notice that most of these pastors (elders) and leaders are women. This is exactly why Paul preached against this practice in the New Testament –

“But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. For Adam was first formed, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression. Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety.” – 1 Tim 2:12-15

“A bishop (pastor or elder) then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach;” – 1 Tim. 3:2

(It is hard to see how you can be a husband of one wife, if you are a woman. Maybe that’s why many of them are becoming transgender.)

This does not eliminate women from being used in ministry, the Holy Spirit is poured out on them as on men and all the gifts can also fall on them. But God, in His wisdom, does exclude them from positions of exercising authority over men in the church. Notice, it does not base  the choice on mental or oratory skills but solidly on God’s choice. Who will argue with God? Only the rebellious.

There are many in the church who have never dealt with their rebellion and they are ‘clouds without water’ –

“These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots;” – Jude 1:12

Peter gives a warning to them that should strike us all with the fear of the Lord –

“For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them.” – 2 Pet. 2:20,21

Remember, Jesus taught that the tares would be mixed with the wheat until the very end when the angels themselves will separate them. There is a reason why the Book of Revelation begins with Jesus dictating letters to the churches, because the final judgment is going to begin with the church of Jesus Christ. Jesus is going to purify His Bride to be. The church I want to highlight now is the Philadelphia church. While they were small, they were given an open door into the things of God.

“I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name.” – Rev. 3:8

They suffered at the hands of false believers, but they persevered and kept God’s word –

“Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.” – Rev. 3:10

Upon Christians like these, the later rain is going to be poured out to bring the final harvest of souls. But, there are many ‘tares’ in the church, thinking they are OK because they were baptized as infants, or that they became members of some religious organization, or because they attend church occasionally or give tithes to the church. But, they are more comfortable with the world than they are with the truths of the Bible. The Apostle Paul warns about them, that they will be deceived by the Antichrist –

“And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” – 2 Thes. 2:10-12

We are in a life or death struggle all over the world; life through belief in God and His Word, or death by surrendering to the deceptions of the devil and his spirit of antichrist. The battle is already joined and it is only going to intensify. God has ordained that we are born into a this time and He has offered us all a chance to be enlisted on the winning side. All we have to do is repent of our sins and accept Jesus the Christ as our savior, choose to obey God’s word and be sanctified (purified) from the pollution of the world, and be filled with the Holy Spirit to gain the power and ability to overcome all the devil’s deceptions. If we will but choose this pathway, God will enable us to follow it. Though the devil tells you, “You are a failure and will never be able to do it!”, God says, “You can do all things through Christ who will strengthen you!”

Today, choose to begin! And pass this message on.