The False Church

The Bible gives a clear warning of an end time apostasy. In the context of the revealing of the 'man of lawlessness', Paul writes:
"Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first ..." (2 Thes 2.3)

Here, 'apostasy' means a 'falling away from the true faith'. It can also mean 'defection' from one's belief. Apostate Christianity can be seen as a departure from true biblical Christianity, a departure from true doctrine:
"For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine ... they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance with their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths." (2 Tim 4.3,4)

We are also told what causes this defection:
"... in the later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons ..." (1 Tim 4.1)

How is this working out today? Good examples are the liberal church views on interfaith, homosexual acts, gay marriage, evolution and replacement theology (the church replacing national Israel).

The apostle John received his revelation from Jesus Christ during his exile on the island of Patmos. It was there that he received the letters to the seven historic churches in Asia (Revelation 2 and 3).

But these letters also apply to the state of the church at any one time; there are always suffering (persecuted) churches, faithful churches, and apostate churches. It is a sad fact that much of Christendom (Protestant, Orthodox and Catholic) can be claimed to be apostate.

Scholars also see the letters as depicting the historical progression of the church, with the Laodicean church being the end time church. Of all the seven types of church, the Laodicean church is the only one not to be commended in some form by Christ.

It is the only one not indwelt by Christ; He stands outside, waiting to be asked in by any in that church who repent and ask Him in (Rev 3.20). 'Laodicea' means 'men's opinions ruling in place of God'. This is how Christ sees such a church:

"You say 'I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing', and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked ..." (Rev 3.17)
We can readily identify such a church today! It is a worldly, wealthy, powerful, political church.

You have eyes to see, but you are not seeing clear enough. You see that many false churches branched off of the one Christ started, but you are not seeing that His one and only church is spiritual Israel. Read John chapter one, especially verse eleven. Jesus came to His own people, but they would not receive Him and they crucified Him.

Because of this God switched to adoption, taking away their birthright (being God's people by being physically related to Abraham). They are no longer God's people, but can be adopted back like everyone else by getting baptized into Christ. As God predicted, and told Abraham, all nations will be blessed through you. Because through Abraham came Christ, and when Christ came Israel's rejection of Him resulted in Gentiles becoming God's children- "Children not born of natural (physical) decent, or a husband's will (not born physically) but born of God."(spiritually not physically).

These seeker friendly churches are definitely demonic. They do surveys in neighborhoods asking what about church don't you like, and what would it take for you to attend? So, after someone basically states: I don't want to feel condemned, I don't want hear if I continue to sin that I am in the wrong, I don't want to listen to anything that holds me accountable towards my own salvation!!

And then these seeker friendly churches takes this info and ACTUALLY APPLIES IT!!

No preaching sin nature, no preaching where the Holy Spirit actually condemns a sinner, all things are accepted, you wanna be queer then be the best queer you desire while attending church and never feeling guilty about being queer.

These churches and preachers crawled straight out of the pits of the abyss!!

2Th 2:1 Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him,
2Th 2:2 That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.
2Th 2:3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
2Th 2:4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.

The Bible states that the saints shall not be gathered unto Christ, which is those that are alive on earth, until there is a falling away first, and the man of sin claims to be God, which happens in the middle of a 7 years period.

2Th 2:7 For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.
2Th 2:8 And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:
2Th 2:9 Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,
2Th 2:10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
2Th 2:11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:
2Th 2:12 That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

God has to end this sin business on earth one day for He will not allow mankind to keep on sinning on earth for that long, for He has a time frame in which He allotted people the ability to have salvation, and when the time frame is over then He will put the wicked down.

God is love and loves all people, and will not give up on the world until the world gives up on Him, so He is giving the world 7 years to have their way, and cause all people that do not love Him to follow the beast kingdom in Revelation 13, and when they take the mark of the beast then salvation is no longer available to the Gentiles, and God will end this sin business on earth.

For the first three and one half years salvation is still available to the world.

Mat 16:18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

Mat 18:19 Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven.
Mat 18:20 For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.

Rom 8:35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
Rom 8:36 As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
Rom 8:37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
Rom 8:38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
Rom 8:39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Mat 24:50 The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of,
Mat 24:51 And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

The gates of hell cannot prevail against the Church, and hypocrites do not belong to the Church, so the only people that can actually belong to the Church are those that act Christlike being led of the Spirit, and no one else.

So the Church can never fall away even if there are hypocrites, and even if there are a lot of hypocrites, for the gates of hell cannot prevail against the Church.

It does not matter how many people are in apostasy, or are hypocritical, or teaching false teachings, for it has nothing to do with the Church and does not cause the Church to fall away, for the Church can never fall away, it is only people, or as today a lot of people, that are not portraying Christianity rightly, but they do not belong to the Church so they have no bearing on causing it to be corrupt or fall away.

The Church can never fall away no matter how much people are in apostasy, or hypocritical.

This falling away first is not the Church, but the condition of the world in response to the truth, the Gospel, and the Bible, and the concept of God, that causes the man of sin to be able to appear and deceive all people that do not love God and righteousness to follow a kingdom that acknowledges no personal God, but honors the God of forces, or the power of nature as their higher power.

For it is time for God to end this sin business on earth.

The beginning of the end.

1Ti 4:1 Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;
1Ti 4:2 Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;
1Ti 4:3 Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.
1Ti 4:4 For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving:
1Ti 4:5 For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.

God warns the saints of the new age movement, and people who interpret the Bible according to evolution, and people can still evolve, the occult, nature worship, witchcraft, and Jesus is not Lord and Savior, but a good teacher in spiritual enlightenment, and an ascended master and avatar, but not the final teacher in the evolutionary process, but the New Age Christ is the final teacher in the evolutionary process, and do not acknowledge a personal God, but honor the God of forces, or the power of nature as their higher power.

Alice Bailey that laid down the foundation of the new age movement that liked the teachings of Madam Blavatsky who believed Satan is both God and the devil, wrote many books about the coming one world government, unified religious system, and the New Age Christ, held an occult interpretation of the Bible, and believed that Lucifer is a solar angel that did not fall in to disgrace and sin, but descended from Venus to Earth years ago to bring the principle of mind to the then animal-man, and will help mankind in the future to evolve to be greater, and spiritual, which the Christ conscience will come upon them to become greater, and spiritual.

They will forbid to marry for population reduction, and command to abstain from meats for they are in to nature worship, and reverence nature.

2Ti 4:2 Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.
2Ti 4:3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;
2Ti 4:4 And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.

The new age movement is the future for this sinful world, and will lead the world to the beast kingdom in Revelation 13.

For the first three and one half years there will be a unified religious system with all religions interpreted according to evolution, and people can still evolve, and anybody that teaches contrary to that is a hate crime, and the time that the world will not endure the truth of the Bible, but according to their own lusts power through nature to evolve to be greater, and spiritual.

Rev 9:20 And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk:
Rev 9:21 Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts.

The 6 trumpets are warnings to the world to repent of their sins, and turn to God, but after the 6th trumpet they do not repent of their sins, and turn to God, but keep going on trying to establish peace on earth by people's efforts, so God gives them the man of sin to rule over them and deceive all people that do not love God to follow the beast kingdom.

That is the falling away first which occurs at the end of the first three and one half years when salvation is still available to the world, which they stopped the preaching of the Gospel as international law, and were following the unified religious system based on evolution, and people can still evolve, and did not turn to God during that period of time, so God gave them the man of sin to rule over them.

The falling away first is not the Church, but the condition of the world in response to the truth, the Gospel, the Bible, and the concept of God, in which they do not turn to God by the end of the three and one half years that God is giving the world a chance to repent, and turn to Him, so it allows the man of sin to rule over the world and deceive the people that do not love God and righteousness, and when they follow the beast kingdom, and take the mark that has to do with technology, then God will end this sin business on earth.

Continued,

At the end of the first three and one half years, the falling away first, the condition of the world in response to the truth.

Rev 9:20 And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk:
Rev 9:21 Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts.

Rev 12:7 And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels,
Rev 12:8 And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven (right now Satan is the prince of the power of the air).
Rev 12:9 And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him (the earth becomes their holding cell and they can no longer roam the air).
Rev 12:10 And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.

Rev 12:12 Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.
Rev 12:17 And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

Rev 18:1 And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory.
Rev 18:2 And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird (the daughter of Babylon, the spirit of Babylon, not physical Babylon for they will never have physical dominion again, and Babylon represents the kingdom of man, and the Bible says that Babylon does not fall until Jesus puts down the world in the future, for her ways are still on earth, which Jesus is the stone cut out of the mountain without hands, Daniel 2).

Dan 11:36 And the king shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvellous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished: for that that is determined shall be done.
Dan 11:37 Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers, nor the desire of women, nor regard any god: for he shall magnify himself above all.
Dan 11:38 But in his estate shall he honour the God of forces (power of nature): and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honour with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things.

Dan 8:23 And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full (the falling away first), a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up.
Dan 8:24 And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power (gets his power from Satan): and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practise, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people.
Dan 8:25 And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand (witchcraft); and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes; but he shall be broken without hand.

2Th 2:8 And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:
2Th 2:9 Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,
2Th 2:10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
2Th 2:11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie ( the devils cast to earth will deceive all people that do not love God and righteousness to follow the man of sin, New Age Christ):
2Th 2:12 That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

Time for God to end this sin business on earth.

If the very vocal group that rejects Paul’s writings is any indication we are here.

I believe that the True Christian Church started from First Century AD and continue existing up to this day. so I never believe that newly founded Bible groups to be God's real Church/es.

but I agree that there are some false churches whose existence can also be traced from 1st Century. It may be Orthodox, Catholic or Coptic Church.

I believe it was founded by an anti Christ that Apostle St. John once forewarned in 1st John 2:18-19.

Well it is up to each individual to investigate and discover about the real Christian Church whose first requirement is it already existed from 1st Century AD.

The biggest problem the church has is that we follow men who we think follow God, instead of following God. Instead of praying and fasting, seeking devine communication we read the words penned by others, interpreted by another, explained by a third, then comprehended by us. The Holy Spirit is available to everyone. If the Bible is as preserved and miraculously sanctified as we are told, then there wouldn’t be this much division among believers.

We are the Body of Christ. In the body, every part is connected to the head. The feet don’t need to be instructed by the mouth. As much as we would all like to think that the Bible is some inerrant masterpiece, which it may be, it still has limitations. Our comprehension is based on our carnal limitations, and a lifetime of experience and misinformation that clouds judgement. On top of that human arrogance prevents us from learning once we have solidified an opinion in our brain. The only One who can teach us is God, by using the Holy Spirit to reprogram our thoughts to align with His thoughts, and our ways, His ways. I can honestly say in all of the debates about scripture, no matter what the subject or the verse, I have never witnessed anybody say, “Oh, maybe you are right, and I’m wrong.” We only agree with others who say what we are saying and everyone else is wrong.

Apostasy to some degree can be found in all denominations because we submit to an ideology instead of the Almighty Creator.

Yes, and God, also, changed Jacob's name to Israel, Gen 35:10, And God said unto him, thy name is Jacob, thy name shall not be called any more Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name, and he called his name Israel.

I do agree with you, in that, no one will be able to understand the truth of the doctrine of Jesus, unless the Holy Spirit within them reveals it unto them and I am a good example of that, thinking I was smart enough to harmonize the scriptures with my own understanding and was stubborn enough that it took me twelve years of hard studying to finally deny myself before it was revealed to me at the age of 62.

I tried to express the same point you make here in another thread and I was called fool. I explained how I was born into a Roman Catholic family, and I stayed in the Catholic Church until my early 20's when a friend from work challenged me to consider what Jesus taught and see if it's in harmony with what the RCC teaches.

It didn't take long to discover that it's an apostate Church, so I joined my friend in a Pentecostal Church where they spoke in tongues and preached the prosperity Gospel. After after about a year and a half we realized a lot of the preaching was not Biblical.

We left that Church and went to a SDA Church, we thought they were the most Biblical because they kept the Sabbath. After about a year with them we realized that their teaching was not Biblically correct either, so we then decided that we would find a Reformed Church so we eventually found a faithful Reformed Baptist Church and we have been happy there since 2013.

So I was trying to explain that Christians are all on different stages of the race, we should allow people to run their race without degrading them and raising ourselves to a "Holier than thou" level. We should challenge people but not put them down because they don't agree with us.

Thanks for that, We get very few to agree with us, but that is the same way it has always been with the church that Jesus set up. It was in his days on earth too. It is a big mystery to me as to why God choose not to reveal his wonderful doctrine to but a few.

Amen! There is a way to get it right, but that involves going to God. If everyone did this....establish a personal relationship in Spirit and truth...with God, then there would be no denominations (unless the reprobate did so). But I think that is the actual case...denominations are from men.

But in my experience people can come away from the systems that men create...but to what? Honey, I shrunk the church?"

So we need to seek the Lord as if all depends on it...which of course it does. WE are the ones who need to be accepted into the beloved....not assuming that we are exactly like Paul in all his glorious declarations of one who has both been found of the Lord and FOUND in the truth...but without going through all the things he did. So then presumption and assumptions are the great bane of the modern church.

While growing up in the Roman Catholic church, I heard many Roman Catholics say that "only" the Roman Catholic church is the "true" church. I've also heard other people who attend various false religions and cults claim that "only" their church is the "true" church and have even heard multiple people who attend such churches claim that if you are not a part of "their" church, then you are not a part of "the" Church and will not be saved. Such churches are false and people who attend such churches and hold those views follow men and not God and pervert the gospel of Christ. The "true" Church is made up of all born again believers--Colossians 1:18,24 (who uphold essential Christian doctrine) and is not simply a church building with a name stamped on it.

I also believed that the Roman Catholic Church was the true Church which Jesus told Peter to establish.

We were told that Christ gave Peter the keys to the Kingdom, and whatever the Church leaders bound and lose'd on earth would also be bound and lose'd in heaven. I was fully deceived for most of my life, I used to defend the RCC with a passion.

My parents called our Parish Priest to come and speak to me when I told them that I was leaving to join a Protestant Church. The Priest tried to convince me that I was making the biggest mistake of my life. I told him the RCC is not Biblical, he said that every Church interprits the Bible differently so we have ended up with many thousands all claiming to possess the truth.

He gave me a book called "finding your way to the truth" the book had a short history of all the main Christian Denominations and who their founder was. At the end of the book it talked about the history of the RCC and it's founder was none other than Jesus Christ.

Thankfully God allowed me to see through this deception, I remembered reading an independent article which said that the RCC executed around 75 million Christian Saints so if that's true then it's the worst enemy of Gods people.

Why don't you join either Coptic or Orthodox Church? churches established by original Christians of the First Century AD.

Bro did you even studied Apologetic of the Catholic Church before joining any Bible based group/s?

Looks like I am one of the Catholics here in CC who can defend the Catholic teachings using the Bible. but I admit I was lambasted on purgatory issue.

75 million?

What are you referring the crusades?

Are there any here that suffer from PTCD (post traumatic church disorder) ??

Recovering

Today all of the top level protestant denominations are secular. The Presbyterian USA was taken over in 1932 as documented in" Crossed Fingers" by Gary North. Only the sub denominations are now preaching the gospel.