A Dangerous Spiritual Revolution -- Part 4


Sandra D Genesis 2: 15-17 ---



"And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat of it; for in the day that you eat thereof,you shall surely die."



Genesis 3: 1-5 --- please read these verses for youself. I will put part of them here:

"And he (the serpent) said to the woman, Yea, has God said, You shall not eat of every tree of the garde?

And the woman (Eve) said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, You shall not eat of it; neither shall you touch it, lest you die.

The serpent said unto the woman, You shall not surely die."



We see here that Eve added something to what God had said. And we see how the serpent, Satan, twists God's word to make his own case. He did this then, and he has continued to do it ever since. His way of tempting mankind has not changed. He perverts God's Word to suit his own purposes. And when Satan is working in men and women of this world, he uses these same tactics. His main fault is pride. And it is that which he uses in mankind.



Matthew 10: 11-14 -- Jesus is sending His diciples out to preach the gospel. He instructs them to go into a city or town and enquire who in that town is worthy (who will receive them as being from Jesus and will receive what they have to tell them); and there abide till they go to another town.

Verse 12-13: "And when you come into a house, salute it. And if the house be worthy, let your peace come upon it; but if it be not worthy, let your peace return to you."



And now, from the book, Faith Undone, by Roger Oakland and published by Lighthouse Publishing, I use more data. page 149:



In the last message (part 3) I finished with these words:

But nowhere in Scripture is the notion supported that there will be a kingdom without tears, pain, proverty, and suffering until Jesus Christ physcally returns and establishes it Himself.



Another question needs to be considered: Can those who don't know the King establish the kingdom of God?



Rick Warren believes that God has shown him not only the boundaries (or lack of them) of this coming global kingdom, but also the strategy to bring it about. Before Warren came up with the plan, he says he asked Jesus to show him how to reach the world. He explains:



Then I said, "How did You do it? You wouldn't have left us without a strategy." And I found the answer in a

passage in Matthew 10 (see above scripture) and Luke 10 where Jesus sends His first followers out....

He says, "When you go into a village (note words left out), you find the man of peace." (This is a perversion

of what Jesus said.) Find the man of peace in every village, in every govenment, in every business, in every

church. (emphasis added)



Warren further inquired of Jesus to find out just who this man of peace is. Here is the answer he got:



And so I said, "What is the man of peace?" He (Jesus) said, "When you find the man of peace if he's open and

he's willing to work with you, you bless him and you start your work there. If the guy's not open to working

with you, you dust off your shoes and you go to the next villages, 'cause you can always find someone to

work with." (these were the words of Jesus to Warren) The man of peace is open and influential.....



The man of peace does not have to be a Christan believer. (emphasis mine) Could be a Muslim. Could be

Jewish. Because, when Jesus said, "Find the man of peace." there were no Christians yet. Jesus hadn't died on

the cross. There was no ressurection. He's just saying, go out and find somebody to work with.



This is what Rick Warren bases his work on. Do you think for one minute that Jesus would have had His diciples go to anyone who would not hear the truth about Him and receive it? John had been baptising in the name of the One who would come to save them from their sins. The truth was already known. Jesus was sending His disciples out to tell people that He had come. He wanted to make more disciples. Please read the verses in your Bible and compare them with what Warren said Jesus told him.



Back to the book:



While Warren believes that a conversation with Jesus inspired his plan to establish the kingdom of God on earth, it would be important to check out the words of Jesus written in the Bible. Ironically, Jesus said much the opposite of what Warren is proposing. In view of the fact that Jesus had not died and resurrected yet, Warren suggestss that Jesus sent out His disciples proclaiming peace because there was no other message yet to proclaim; but Jesus did send His disciples out with a Gospel of repentance in proclaiming, "The kingdom of heaven is at hand." Matthew 10:7. This is the same Gospel of repentance John the Baptist proclaimed in preparing the way for the Gospel of justificaton by faith. Jesus did not say they were to look for a "man of peace" in every town. Rather, He said, "whatsoever city or own ye shall enter, enquire who in it is worthy; and there abide till ye go thence" (Matthew 10:11)



Now, Jesus did tell His disciples to use the greeting "Peace be to this house" whenever entering a house, and if "son of peace" is there, to remain in that house (Luke 10:5-7). However, it is important to realize that the criterion for staying in a house was not the greeting of peace itself but whether those in that house received their message.



And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that house or city,

shake off the dust of your feet. (Matthew 10:14)



In fact, Jesus makes it very clear that the disciples were sent out to proclaim a messge many would reject, saying,

"Think not that I am come to send peace on earth; I came not to send peace, but a sword." (Matthew 10:34)

With all diligence, Jesus warns His disciples that they will be hated for preaching the Gospel. Yet, Rick Warren has turned these two passages around, suggesting that Jesus sent out His disciples to proclaim peace because at that time they had no other message to proclaim.



Let me speak very boldly here: if we are going to link hands with those who believe in another gospel or no gospel at all for the sake of establishing an earthly, unified kingdom, we will not be building the kingdom of God. (bold letters mine.)



Now, away from the book: This is the basis for all who are trying to bring about a spiritual revolution. Groups of people have been planning this for decades. They are now thinking that the time is now for them to act. I will be writing more about this Also, the Catholic church has come up with a way of bringing their people back to the church. They are for the first time in their history becoming ecumenical. This word means including all people. There is a book by Father Fred Bliss that presents us with a commanding landscape of the whole ecumenical movement in his Catholic and Ecumenical History and Hope. In his book, this author has the obvious objective of presenting a clear picture of the evolution of the Catholic Church... Bliss brings his work to a close (or rather the opening of a new frontier) by looking at what the future might hold for the churches in their attempt to conquer the divide. In his last chapter the progress being made by church mergers and union schemes is studied. Moreover, in this section he takes a closer look at the workings and roles to be played by the World Council of Churches and the Pontifical Councl for Promoting Christian Unity.



In further messages, we will look at why the Catholic Church decided to become ecumenical (all in one) and what she is doing about it. I am now studying a book about this. I hope I can clearly explain what is going on in the largest church in the world. I hope to show you what the Catholic Church is now holding up for worship. It is not Jesus of the flesh and blood body that was crucified on the cross. I believe they have another Jesus. And this other Jesus to be worshipped will be an anti-christ.



More next time. But, please study for yourself. Buy the book by Roger Oakland I am using. It just costs about $18 including tax and shipping. I could be the most important book you will read except the Holy Bible.

Go to LighthouseResearch.com and read for yourself. Never take any person's word as truth. Examine all things and hold on to the absolute Truth. Our very existence depends on it.



Sandra