The body of Christ will know its own.
Chuck Skeen
mesenger@dashlink.com
I am happy to say that my hubby has been writing. I want to share
something with you that my hubby received and has now shared with me and now
with you all and some others... in the joy of Jesus,
Pepper
visit our pages:
www.angelfire.com/tx/gojvwm
Yahoo IM ID pepper_aka_vw
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
The Way Home Group Of the church at Lampasas, Texas. USA
(received April 2002 - released Sept. 2002)
{Some of you all know we 'house church'- this message came to my hubby at a
time when he was seeking God on letting folk go and letting God. Believe me
when I say that the mentality of what my hubby calls "IC" is able to sit
down in your living room as well.}
My wife and I are ordained Ministers of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
We have been in ministry since shortly after we accepted the Lordship of
Jesus Christ over our lives in mid 1995.
Within six weeks of 'getting saved' we began holding Bible study meetings
in our home, with the 'ok from our
pastor.' A lot of so called 'Bible studies' begin as a rehash of whatever
the pastor said in the past Sunday's sermon, not ours. We got together
virtually every evening with another couple to read aloud and discuss the
Bible, beginning in the New testament, from 5 or 6 pm until sometimes well
after midnight. Before long, there were 18-30 others joining us. This lasted
a year and a half, then soon after it phizelled out.
We left the non-demonizational spirit filled "church" we were attending,
(somehow we knew from the beginning that denominations were dividing the
body of Christ, we just didn't realize that even "non-denomination" is
itself a demonization and therefore sectarian in nature) for another that
had just broken ties with a demonization-oops, that's denomination (Did you
see it before the "oops"?). At this point we got ordination papers to
satisfy the legal requirements in the State of Texas, for anyone to be
married or buried, the presiding minister must be legally ordained. We did
not get 'papered' to prove anything to God or the members of the body of
Christ.
"Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly
they are ravenous wolves. "You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather
grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles? "Even so, every good tree
bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. "A good tree cannot bear
bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. "Every tree that does not
bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. "Therefore by their
fruits you will know them. Mt 7:15-20
The Body of Christ will know it's own.
After six years in different buildings calling themselves "Churches" we came
to the revelation that they were not churches at all, but self propagating,
money wasting, worldly system, one man shows, designed and built to fleece
the sheep and control the mind, will, and emotions, of a body of people
deceived enough to look to them, instead of Jesus Christ the head of the
Church, for spiritual guidance and training in righteousness. We realized
that what we had called a "Bible study" when we first began, had been the
closest thing, scripturally, to being the "Body of Christ" we had ever
known, heard of, or experienced. So we "came out of her (Babylon, the
Institutional Church, the System)"
"Conspiracy theorists" have a phrase they like that says "The dumbing down
of America" speaking of the lowering of educational standards and many other
things. I would like to bring forth another saying "The Dumbing (numbing)
down of the Body" This is to say that the religious system of the western
church is designed to promote a feeling, in most of those who attend, of
satisfaction that they have performed their duties once they have gone
through the horrible experience of sitting, for an hour to an hour and a
half, and listening to a "Pastor" speak on a subject, carefully chosen from
the text of the Bible, to be slightly abrasive, but not abrasive enough to
stir up the sheep, lest the sheep be angered and fire the "paid Pastor".
Once this "sermon" is over, the sheep can live the rest of the week, in
their normal fashion, not mentioning Jesus, sin, Eternal life, forgiveness,
redemption, judgment, and definitely don't mention Satan or H-E- double
toothpicks, (after all that would be cussing!) for fear of offending
someone, and all the while they're not-offending them right into H-E- double
toothpicks.
Christ Jesus desires a personal relationship with each and every one of us,
and for us to have that kind of family relationship with each other. The
"system" (IC) has developed an atmosphere where there are so many people in
the 'congregation' that being a family is impossible. In lots of IC's, there
are so many that you may not have even seen all of the "members", even
though you've been 'religiously attending' for several years, much less have
a familial relationship with them.
The men, and women, in "leadership" have taken upon themselves the
responsibility in the place of the Holy Spirit, they have taken the place of
the Head, who is Christ, calling each building a 'church' transforming the
body of Christ into a deformed monster with many bodies and many heads,
while giving "lip service" ("...but their hearts are far from me!") that
there is only one body.
The 'church' system is a "den of thieves", taking food from babies mouths,
clothes from the naked, medicine from the sick, drink from the thirsty... It
is adulterous, wooing the bride of another, the bride that is betrothed and
belongs to Jesus the Christ, it is divisive setting believers apart into
groups( divide and conquer?) and in some cases leading them to believe that
anyone who doesn't "Belong" to their 'church' is going to hell, who do they
think they are? That 'church' maybe, and probably is their 'church' and God
has nothing to do with it!