My Church

I've just returned from a journey that led off the narrow way that leads to the Celestial City, and thanks to the promptings of the wonderful Holy Spirit of God, found the way back. How faithful is He!: A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.; (Proverbs 18:24)
The difficulty was not getting back, but listening for that small still voice from within. The choice was mine.: He that getteth wisdom loveth his own soul: he that keepeth understanding shall find good.; (Proverbs 19:8)

If you have read the teachings on this web site¹ in chronological order as recommended, you will no doubt remember the following²:

Here's an example of how difficult it is for some people to find the Truth:
I was once introduced into a very influential men's worship group, an interdenominational weekly gathering where spiritual manifestation was fairly commonplace.
After a couple of meetings it was plain that there were a few very powerful Christians; some who had spiritual gifts from another spirit and some who were there because of the prestige it afforded them - they were washing pots and pans.
For example there was a hard working Anglican Reverend there who was proud of his dog collar and name tag on his suit that read "Father Joe". Even though some of the members tried to make him understand that Jesus said "call no man Father but He who is the Father in heaven", this man would not remove this name tag because of the prestige that the name "Father" afforded him in the tradition of the Church of England.
However , some of the ones who gently pointed this out to him with hints were themselves in a tradition of their own - namely the laughing spirit movement, or the belief that all Christians speak in tongues (if you don't you aren't).
Even though powerful spiritual manifestations were taking place, there was something wrong here and a strong prompting was received from the Holy Spirit when the first passage above was read at the appropriate time:: God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.; (John 4:24)

Being a newcomer to the group, I asked the Lord for guidance and various verses came to the fore, among them:: Then said one unto him, Lord, are there few that be saved? And he said unto them, Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able. When once the master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door, and ye begin to stand without, and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us; and he shall answer and say unto you, I know you not whence ye are: Then shall ye begin to say, We have eaten and drunk in thy presence, and thou hast taught in our streets. But he shall say, I tell you, I know you not whence ye are; depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out. And they shall come from the east, and from the west, and from the north, and from the south, and shall sit down in the kingdom of God. And, behold, there are last which shall be first, and there are first which shall be last.; (Luke 13:23-30)

In prayer it was asked of the Lord what this development meant and received His assurance and to be obedient. A multi-page article was therefore typed up with the relevant verses and it seemed that I needed to print fourteen copies.
After this was done, I became doubtful and apprehensive of making a fool of myself; how was I to present this article to these learned men? What would they say and do?
Again an assurance of God's almighty power was received and I went to the next meeting with butterflies in my stomach.
After our initial praise of song and prayer, one of the founder members stopped the usual form of the meeting by saying something like "Fellows, the Lord says we must really clean up our lives if we want to walk with Him". He went on to explain a dream that one of his family members had experienced every night for a week or so. This dream was of that person continually washing dirt off a white wall. As the dirt was removed, the clean white of the wall was revealed, but when the washing was finished the wall was dirty again. When this person asked what the dream meant, the answer was always the same - "You Christians think that you are clean, but you are dirty and I don't accept dirty Christians."

You, dear reader, can imagine something of the feeling in my breast, as rising from the circle of worshippers I placed the pile of papers on the floor in the centre.

The heading on the top of the writing was:
"I see that you worship Me.
I want you to worship Me in spirit and truth.
In spirit, because I am Spirit and in truth because My Word is truth."

How many people were present at the meeting?
Fourteen.

If the members of this circle had never before received a message from God, they realised it this time.

You know, the next meeting was just the same as those preceding, the disobedient ones were still disobedient. It was if the Lord had never spoken!
How sad it was to realise that these souls had "eaten and drunk in Thy presence and Thou hast taught in our streets."

Some years later an attempt was made to follow up the history of this men's meeting and it was discovered that it had broken apart; at least one had died, another had emigrated and most of the others had dispersed, the Lord knew where.
The knowledge that they were on the wrong road had been given to them by God, but had any of them listened for the voice of the Holy Spirit and turned back to God's Way?

Here's a story of certain people who were not on the Way and others who were shown that strait gate:: And Jesus entered into Jerusalem, and into the temple: and when he had looked round about upon all things, and now the eventide was come, he went out unto Bethany with the twelve. And on the morrow, when they were come from Bethany, he was hungry: And seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves, he came, if haply he might find any thing thereon: and when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves; for the time of figs was not yet. And Jesus answered and said unto it, No man eat fruit of thee hereafter for ever. And his disciples heard it. And they come to Jerusalem: and Jesus went into the temple, and began to cast out them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves; And would not suffer that any man should carry any vessel through the temple. And he taught, saying unto them, Is it not written, My house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer? but ye have made it a den of thieves. And the scribes and chief priests heard it, and sought how they might destroy him: for they feared him, because all the people was astonished at his doctrine. And when even was come, he went out of the city. And in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots. And Peter calling to remembrance saith unto him, Master, behold, the fig tree which thou cursedst is withered away. And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God. For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith. Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them. And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses. And they come again to Jerusalem: and as he was walking in the temple, there come to him the chief priests, and the scribes, and the elders, And say unto him, By what authority doest thou these things? and who gave thee this authority to do these things? And Jesus answered and said unto them, I will also ask of you one question, and answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things. The baptism of John, was it from heaven, or of men? answer me. And they reasoned with themselves, saying, If we shall say, From heaven; he will say, Why then did ye not believe him? But if we shall say, Of men; they feared the people: for all men counted John, that he was a prophet indeed. And they answered and said unto Jesus, We cannot tell. And Jesus answering saith unto them, Neither do I tell you by what authority I do these things.; (Mark 11:11-33)
We see here, in verse sixteen, that certain men used the temple as a short cut, apparently to obtain water for their households from the local well; others used it as a flea-market.

Today a well known South African bishop of the Anglican church promotes the acceptance of homosexuals into the church, and the Dutch reformed and Methodist churches seem split down the middle concerning the same issue.Doubtless there are others.
Now, if a church denomination is so blind as to even consider such a simple matter, is it in a position to teach you the Truth?
Are you not concerned that you may become contaminated by the filth that is the focus of the denomination concerned?
You will doubtless remember that God would not accept an unclean person such as Esau.

Such were the church leaders of Jesus's day.
Are they not the same today? Nothing seems to have changed.

Here's the passage in Mark's Gospel that follows on from the above:: And he began to speak unto them by parables. A certain man planted a vineyard, and set an hedge about it, and digged a place for the winefat, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country. And at the season he sent to the husbandmen a servant, that he might receive from the husbandmen of the fruit of the vineyard. And they caught him, and beat him, and sent him away empty. And again he sent unto them another servant; and at him they cast stones, and wounded him in the head, and sent him away shamefully handled. And again he sent another; and him they killed, and many others; beating some, and killing some. Having yet therefore one son, his wellbeloved, he sent him also last unto them, saying, They will reverence my son. But those husbandmen said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance shall be ours. And they took him, and killed him, and cast him out of the vineyard. What shall therefore the lord of the vineyard do? he will come and destroy the husbandmen, and will give the vineyard unto others. And have ye not read this scripture; The stone which the builders rejected is become the head of the corner: This was the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes? And they sought to lay hold on him, but feared the people: for they knew that he had spoken the parable against them: and they left him, and went their way.; (Mark 12:1-12)

The persons who lead these denominations, will they fit into the Kingdom of heaven? Do they have the Kingdom inside them?
The answer, of course is to put them to the spiritual litmus test:: And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, Which is the first commandment of all? And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these. And the scribe said unto him, Well, Master, thou hast said the truth: for there is one God; and there is none other but he: And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices. And when Jesus saw that he answered discreetly, he said unto him, Thou art not far from the kingdom of God. And no man after that durst ask him any question.; (Mark 12:28-34); He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.; (John 14:21); But take heed to yourselves: for they shall deliver you up to councils; and in the synagogues ye shall be beaten: and ye shall be brought before rulers and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them.; (Mark 13:9); Now the brother shall betray the brother to death, and the father the son; and children shall rise up against their parents, and shall cause them to be put to death. And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.; (Mark 13:12-13)

It's hoped that you are not thinking that I've gone overboard. . . . . .

What does God say?: We heard him say, I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and within three days I will build another made without hands.; (Mark 14:58); Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid. What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh. But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit. Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body. What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.; (1 Corinthians 6:15-20); Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.; (2 Corinthians 6:14-18); Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled. They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate.; (Titus 1:15-16)


Please believe that this falling away that was prophesied is now happening.
: Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God, and be more ready to hear, than to give the sacrifice of fools: for they consider not that they do evil.; (Ecclesiastes 5:1)


¹ www.hosanna.org.za
²In Spirit and in Truth