HomeARC ML 1964
CHURCHIANITY TODAY! DO 1964 Compiled 2/84
--Part 2 of "Revolution!--For Jesus!"
1. JESUS CHRIST NEVER, IN THE ENTIRE NEW TESTAMENT, EVER SAID TO GO TO CHURCH ON SUNDAY! But that's the first commandment & the cardinal primary law of so-called Christianity--or what I call Churchianity--today: "Go to church on Sunday!" If you obey that one law, it doesn't matter what else you do during the rest of the week! It doesn't matter how you treat your wife or children or neighbours, or if you cheat at business, or whatever you do!--As long as you go to church on Sunday you have fulfilled the major law of the church & they will forgive you for anything else, particularly if you put enough money in their waste basket or "offering plate"!
2. THE CHURCH SYSTEM OF TODAY, BECAUSE THEY DID NOT WANT TO PAY THE PRICE OF OBEYING GOD & FOLLOWING HIS WAY, HAS BEEN DECEIVED into thinking that their own way is right! The Bible says, "Because they received not the love of the Truth, for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they might believe a lie!" (2Thess.2:10,11) You have to believe something, so if you don't believe the Truth, God will let you believe something else.--And if it's not the Truth, it must be a lie!
3. SINCE THEY WERE NOT WILLING TO REALLY FORSAKE ALL TO FOLLOW JESUS & GIVE THEIR LIVES TO REACH OTHERS WITH HIS LOVE, they cooked up church buildings & church attendance instead, something Jesus never advocated or said to do! They first got into this "Churchianity" rut way back in 222 AD in Rome, when they cleaned out an old pagan temple & put up new idols & new pictures & a new priesthood & called it "Christian"!--A sad day for the church! Up until that time they were doing a pretty good job, but that first church building was the beginning of the end of their effectiveness & obedience to God!--And they've been in the same rut ever since!
4. WHY DID THE CHURCH REVERT TO TEMPLE WORSHIP BACK THEN IN THE ROMAN ERA?--It was a trick of the Devil to get them back into ancient place-worship, that you've got to have a certain place & a certain building in which to worship. Why?--Because this would put God & His Message in a closed box, within four walls & under the roof of a building, & keep it there, instead of out where it's needed, where Jesus preached it & where He told His followers to take it!
5. I AM CONVINCED, THEREFORE, THAT THE CHURCH BUILDING SYSTEM IS OF THE DEVIL, because while the Churchy Christians have been spending billions of dollars on church buildings & temples throughout the ages, they have let the unsaved Gospel-ignorant peoples of the World go to Hell! Jesus said to "lift up your eyes & look on the fields"--of this World, of the souls that need the Gospel--"for they are ripe & ready to be harvested". And He said that we should "pray the Lord of the harvest, that He will send forth labourers into the harvest." (Jn.4:35; Mt.9:37,38)--But the churches have put barn-building first, & have built big fancy barns where they sit around singing songs, having ceremonies & praying that the stalks of grain will walk in to them!--Instead of getting out into the fields to witness & reap & preach the Gospel as Jesus commanded!
6. AND THEY'RE STILL BUILDING GREAT TEMPLES OF WORSHIP, WASTING MILLIONS & BILLIONS OF DOLLARS that could be used to feed the hungry & clothe the poor & give them the Gospel! They're letting the rest of the World starve without food & be damned without salvation, without the Gospel, because they want a prettier church building, more beautiful stained-glass windows, central air-conditioning, hundred thousand dollar organs, etc.!--Not that these things are bad in themselves, but if people are dying of starvation while you're putting silken pads on the pews, something's wrong with your Christianity!
7. IF CHRISTIANITY DOES NOT REACH DOWN INTO YOUR POCKET, if the love of Jesus Christ doesn't cause you to share what you have with those in need, then it is false Christianity! I'll never forget the time I was with a little group of tourists in Mexico City at the famous Shrine of Our Lady of Guadeloupe, a religious statue that is supposed to be one of the most costly in the World, encrusted with diamonds, rubies, pearls, gold, etc. It's supposed to be one of the most expensive icons in the World & this tour guide was bragging about how wonderful it was & how many millions of dollars it was worth, & so on.
8. OUTSIDE THE HUGE CATHEDRAL THERE WERE THRONGS OF POOR HUNGRY PEOPLE, DRESSED LITERALLY IN RAGS, crawling up the huge stairway on their bare & bloodied knees, to get into the church to confess their sins & adore the statue. The guide was going on & on about how valuable this statue was, & finally I just couldn't take it anymore & I piped up & said, "Well then why the Hell don't you sell her & give the money to these poor people to feed them?!" They immediately called the cops, "You're disturbing the peace!"--And I had to run & go hide in the restroom! Apparently that was dangerous doctrine to these "Christians," to share their wealth with the poor!
9. JUST THINK OF ALL THE PEOPLE WHO COULD HAVE USED THE BILLIONS THAT THE CHURCHES HAVE WASTED ON THEIR FANCY BUILDINGS with cushioned pews & stained-glass windows & lovely pipe organs & ornate pulpits so they could lull the people to sleep with lovely Sunday morning lullabies!--So many of those churches were built with the blood & sweat & tears of the poor! Personally, I'd rather have my church out on the grass under the trees before I'd rob the poor to build it!--After all, that's where Jesus met with His flock!
10. SO I BELIEVE CHURCH BUILDINGS ARE OF THE DEVIL & THE CURSE OF SATAN & a distraction from the main job Christians have, which is to get out & be missionaries & evangelise the World! God never once said to build church buildings! He never once said to establish big fancy Bible Colleges & Seminaries! He never once said to build great & costly cathedrals! He simply said to "go ye into all the World & preach the Gospel to every creature!" (Mark 16:15)
11. ALL THE GORGEOUS CATHEDRALS & SYNAGOGUES & MOSQUES & TEMPLES & ALL THE REST ARE NOTHING BUT EMPTY SHELLS! They are not the houses of the Lord, they're not the temples of God! The only temple God has today is the human heart!--Your heart, my heart & the hearts of all those who know & love Him!--That's where He dwells! If Christians would just read their Bibles they'd see that "God dwelleth not in temples made with hands!" (Acts 7:48) He dwells in life! He dwells more in one little sparrow than He does in all the damn cathedrals & empty, lifeless church buildings put together!
12. SO TEMPLE-WORSHIP, PLACE-WORSHIP, CHURCH BUILDINGS & CHURCH-BUILDING & CHURCH-WORSHIP, WHICH HAS BECOME THE FOUNDATION OF THEIR CHRISTIANITY, IS A FALSE DOCTRINE! I would even call church-building & church-attendance a false cult!--Literally!--Because it's not true Christianity, it's not genuine Christian faith & religion or practice! Sitting around in church buildings once a week singing hymnal lullabies & litanies to lull themselves to sleep is not Christianity!--It is the false cult of Churchianity!
13. THE BIGGEST DECEIT THE DEVIL EVER BROUGHT UPON CHRISTIANITY WAS THAT THEIR FAITH COULD BE UPHELD BY BUILDING BUILDINGS & ATTENDING THEM! THIS IS CHURCH-WORSHIP!--NOT WORSHIPPING GOD, BUT WORSHIPPING THOSE BUILDINGS! That's literally what the Christians worship! Who are they serving when they're spending billions of dollars on church buildings? They think they're serving God, but they're actually serving those buildings!--And in so doing, in serving the material, they're serving the god of the material World, & that's the Devil! They think they're serving God, when by not obeying the Lord & getting out into the whole World & preaching the Gospel & witnessing & winning souls, they are trapped in the Devil's own church trap!
14. THEIR FORM OF CHRISTIANITY HAS BECOME NOTHING IN THE WORLD BUT A FALSE CULT OF CHURCHIANITY! By their false faith in this false cult of Churchianity, they have rejected the Truth & accepted this lie of Churchianity instead of true Christianity, which is being born-again & filled with the Spirit & going out into the whole World to preach the Gospel!
15. IN FACT, THE DAMNED DELUSION OF CHURCHIANITY & ITS CHURCH BUILDINGS & CHURCH SERVICES & SO-CALLED CHURCH WORSHIP IS SO DANGEROUS & DECEPTIVE THAT JESUS CONDEMNED IT MORE THAN ANYTHING ELSE! If you don't believe it, just read the 23rd chapter of Matthew & see what He had to say about the religious system of His day! The only people Jesus ever called names & said the most horrible things He could think of about & practically cursed were not the poor drunks who drank, nor the hard-working harlots who prostituted themselves, nor the tax collectors who robbed the people, nor the sinners who did everything else in the book.--But the ones He cursed & damned & publicly condemned & exposed were the damned hypocritical religious leaders of the Hellish religious system of His day!
16. WHY?--BECAUSE THE GREATEST DANGER IS THAT WHICH PRETENDS TO BE WHAT IT'S NOT!--Pretends to give salvation but does not, pretends to save the damned but does not, pretends to offer Heaven but sends them to Hell! Jesus Himself said, "If the light that's in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!" (Mat.6:23) It's the most horrible darkness of all when you think it's light, but it's really black darkness! It's the most horrible heinous lie & delusion of all to think you're saved, when you're really damned! And that's what the Church System is teaching its poor pitiful victims: That they're saved just because they go to church on Sunday morning & help to build a building!
17. I BELIEVE WITH ALL MY HEART THAT THE CHURCHES HAVE SENT MORE PEOPLE TO HELL THAN ANYTHING ELSE in this World, because of their God-damned counterfeit religion & their God-damned hypocrisy! Most folks cannot help but identify God with the hypocritical religious systems which were supposed to be teaching them about Him. So when they become embittered against the religious system, they usually become embittered against God Himself!--"Because," they say, "if that's what God's like, I don't want anything to do with Him!" So it's a Hell of a System!--God damn it!
18. THE COMMUNISTS ARE ONLY TOO RIGHT WHEN THEY SAY THAT RELIGION IS THE OPIATE OF THE PEOPLE. The kind of religion they have seen is exactly that--a horrible drug which puts them to sleep, makes them oblivious to the conditions around them, lethargic & senseless to the needs of mankind. There's only one thing worse than a drug addict, & that's a System addict!--And that kind of systematic religion is an opiate! It just drugs them & puts them to sleep, makes them like a bunch of zombies walking around with their eyes shut & their ears shut & their mouths shut!
19. THAT DAMN CHURCH SYSTEM HAS GIVEN LAZY CHRISTIANS AN EXCUSE TO IGNORE CHRIST'S CALL TO SERVICE, His admonition to love God with all their hearts & to love their neighbours as themselves, because they are satisfied with just sitting in their pews a few hours or a few minutes a week on Sunday morning: "Let the preacher do the job!--Let the missionaries do the job!--That's what we pay them for! We'll live our own lives as we please all the rest of the week, live selfishly for ourselves & our own families & our own homes & our own jobs & our own money & our own luxuries, & let the rest of the World go to Hell as far as we're concerned!"--That's how they think & live!
20. "OH, WE'LL GIVE A FEW PENNIES TO THE MISSIONARIES & we'll give quite a few dollars to our church & its pastor for our beautiful building & his lovely sermons that tickle our ears on Sunday mornings & all this gorgeous music & choir singing & comfortable cushioned pews in such a heavenly, air-conditioned atmosphere, but we're certainly not going to waste much of our money on the heathen, the foreigners, the pagans & unsaved in far-away lands that we don't even know anything about!" In fact, most churches only give about 5% of their entire income to foreign missions & the poor missionaries, who are really the ones who are doing the biggest job of all that God has called us all to do!
21. IS THAT CHRISTIANITY? How like the Bible are such churchy Christians? How like Jesus are they? Are they following the teachings of Christ?--Huh? What the Hell is the matter with them? Jesus said to the religious leaders of the churches of His day, "By your traditions of men, your own laws, you have made the laws of God of none effect!" (Mark 7:9,13) In other words, He said that by their churchy laws they defy the laws of God!--And that's exactly what the Church System & its Systemites have done today!
22. THEY ALL HAVE SECULAR JOBS & THEY'RE ALL MORE INTERESTED IN MAKING MONEY THAN IN ANYTHING ELSE! They work six or more days a week for themselves & for the Devil, & then they pat themselves on the back for coming & listening to a little sermon for perhaps one hour each week!--Is this loving God? Is this giving all to follow Jesus?
23. 99% OF THE CHRISTIANS IN THE WORLD GO HOME AFTER SUNDAY MORNING SERVICE & PAT THEMSELVES ON THE BACK & say, "I've done my little duty for God! I made a real sacrifice today coming here for an hour, or an hour & a half. I'm a good boy, I'm a good girl, I really paid for this! I came along & put my 10 cents or my dollar in the waste basket!
24. "I DROVE ALL THE WAY TO CHURCH IN MY NICE BIG CAR. I dragged myself out of bed this morning instead of watching my favourite TV show. I sat on this nice cushioned pew in the air-conditioning & bore with that lovely pipe-organ music & lovely songs, & I stood that ten minute sermonette, all for God. And then I was real religious when the pastor had them pass the plate!--I really sacrificed! Out of my whole week's salary of 200 to 1,000 dollars, I put in one whole dollar, or even five, or maybe even ten!" In fact, when they put in a ten, they go home feeling like there's a halo around their head, that they're an absolute saint, a real supporter of the Kingdom!--Ha!
25. AND THAT IS WHY THE MODERN CHURCH SYSTEM IS SUCH AN ABOMINATION TO GOD, because it's such a horrible substitute for reality, such a damn counterfeit, such a subtle deception! It is a "form of Godliness, but without the power thereof." (2Tim.3:5) It is a low-cost religion, cut-price religion, bargain-counter religion, 10% or less instead of 100%, for those who want a fire escape but don't want a ruler!--Who want a Saviour, but don't want a Lord!
26. THE CHURCH DIDN'T START OUT THAT WAY, by inviting the sinners into fancy buildings to have a meeting! It started out with twelve motley-looking beggars hoofing it on the dusty roads with their dirty feet out amongst the sinners where they were taking them the Word in person, & they had no place to take them to but Jesus! Yet the preachers today say, "Come to church on Sunday, & don't forget to bring your money!" Jesus said, "Go out into the highways & the byways & compel them to come in!" (Luke 14:23)--And He wasn't talking about coming into a building, He was talking about coming into the Kingdom of God, into the Love of God!
27. JESUS SAID, "YOU CANNOT SERVE TWO MASTERS," for each one will want all of your time & devotion! "You're going to love one & hate the other," one way or the other! You cannot do both! "You cannot serve God & mammon!" (Mat.6:24) But they insist that they can somehow work for the Devil six days a week & still be a Christian on Sundays! That's a lie!--And it makes God sick to His stomach--lukewarmness!
28. HE SAYS, "I KNOW THY WORKS, THAT THOU ART NEITHER COLD NOR HOT: I would thou wert cold or hot! So then because thou art lukewarm, & neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of My mouth! Thou sayest, I am rich, & increased with goods, & have need of nothing; & knowest not that thou art wretched, & miserable, & poor, & blind, & naked!" (Rev.3:15-17)--What a picture of "Churchianity" today!
29. IT'S THAT SICKENING LUKEWARMNESS THAT MAKES CHURCHIANITY SUCH A DAMNABLE DECEPTION & SUCH AN ACCURSED COUNTERFEIT!--Because it puts'm to sleep & doesn't wake them up, like dousing them with either hot or cold water would! Even a completely cold unsaved person, like the publicans & sinners & drunks & harlots that Jesus dealt with, knows he needs something. But the lukewarm Scribes & Pharisees thought they were rich & increased with goods & had need of nothing, & therefore rejected Jesus & His liberating doctrine of love & wound up crucifying Him for exposing their hypocrisy!
30. I'M NOT SAYING THE CHURCHES HAVE NEVER DONE ANYTHING GOOD.--They've at least kept alive the memory of Christ and gotten some people to think about God once a week for a few minutes, and sometimes they give to some worthwhile cause, welfare or charity. Some have even promoted and supported a few missionaries to do the job that all Christians are supposed to do, and that is to preach the Gospel to the lost! (Mk.16:15)
31. THEY ARE NOT ALL HYPOCRITES.--Just like in Jesus' day, there were many sincere Jews, many sincere believers within the religious system, even a great company of the priests. (Acts 6:7) But it was their self-righteous leaders who were the "wolves in sheep's clothing," the "blind leaders of the blind," that ran the religious system and led their followers astray! (Mt.7:15; 15:14; 23:16,17,19,24,26)
32. THERE ARE MILLIONS OF SAVED BELIEVERS AROUND THE WORLD WHO LOVE THE LORD and are doing the best they can in spite of the churches.--In spite of how little they've been fed, in spite of how little they've been taught, they love the Lord! And many of them are following Him the best they know how, even in the churches.--I know, I fellowshipped with them for 50 years. That's why I know them so well, including all of their faults and failures and shortcomings.
33. SO WHEN I CURSE THE SO-CALLED CHURCHES AND THEIR PHARISAICAL RELIGIOUS LEADERS, as Jesus did, I'm not cursing the poor pitiful victims of this horrible Churchianity System: I feel sorry for them! Most of them are like spiritually retarded children, whose growth and spirituality have been stunted because the preachers withheld the truth of God's Word from them! The churches have become more like nurseries or hospitals for spiritual invalids, instead of the army camps for the Lord that they should be!
34. MANY OF THEM DO LOVE THE LORD, BUT ARE PITIFULLY TRAPPED WITHIN THE FALSE CHURCHIANITY SYSTEM! So they build those buildings that God never told them to build, make religious organisations that Jesus never intended, and they sit around with pretty little programs and "services" that have nothing to do with Christianity or reaching the World with God's Love!
35. MANY CHRISTIANS JUST SAY, "JESUS HAS CHANGED MY HEART," & YET THEY DON'T CHANGE THEIR LIVES!--They don't "come out of her (Babylon, the whorish anti-Christ System), lest they be partakers of her sins" (Rev.18:4), & forsake that damned, cursed System of Mammon worship, anti-Christ education & false churchianity! Anybody who really follows the teachings of Christ--which is what a disciple is, from the Greek word "disciplos" which means a "follower of the teaching"--will be an absolute misfit in this present evil System & an utter revolutionary, a radical, fanatical extremist for Jesus!--If you really believe & teach & do what Jesus & the Apostles did!
36. JESUS SAYS TO HIS DISCIPLES, "SEEK YE FIRST THE KINGDOM OF GOD & HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS & all these things"--whatever material things you need--"will be added unto you!" (Mat.6:33) He says, "Don't worry about what ye shall eat or what ye shall drink or what ye shall put on!--Don't worry about all these necessities! But seek first the Kingdom of God & His righteousness, & all these things shall be added unto you!" Just put God's Kingdom first & trust Him to supply all your needs.--In other words, live by faith!
37. "FOR WHAT SHALL IT PROFIT A MAN, IF HE SHALL GAIN THE WHOLE WORLD, & LOSE HIS OWN SOUL? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" (Mark 8:36,37) Everything in this life is so temporary! This World is temporary, it's all temporary, temporal, just for a time, that's all!--Everything you can see is temporary. "The things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are unseen are eternal!" (2Cor.4:18) So He says, "Set not your affection on things on the Earth, but on things above"--the Heavenly! (Col.3:2)
38. WHATEVER THIS LIFE & THIS WORLD HAS TO OFFER, IT'S ONLY FOR A LITTLE WHILE! But service for the Lord is forever, it's eternal! "For this World passes away & the things thereof, but he that doeth the Will of God abideth forever!" (1John 2:17)--Hallelujah! So "love not the World, neither the things that are in the World. For he that loveth the World, the love of the Father is not in him!" (1John 2:15)
39. "FOR WHATSOEVER A MAN SOWETH, THAT SHALL HE ALSO REAP!" (Gal.6:7) If you sow to the flesh & materialism & the pride of man, you'll reap the decay of the flesh, the destruction of materialism & the final humbling of man! Whereas if you sow to the Spirit, you'll reap life Eternal! If you sow to the Spirit rather than to materialism, you'll sow that which can never be destroyed, the spiritual!
40. ARE YOU COMPROMISING WITH THE FALSE CHURCH SYSTEM? Are you conforming to the damnable commercial system? Are you conforming to & compromising with the hellish, fiendish, Devil's own, Satanic educational System? God says "be not conformed to this World!--But be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind!" (Rom.12:2)--"For whosoever will be a friend of the World is the enemy of God!" (Jam.4:4)
41. SO "CHOOSE YE THIS DAY WHOM YE WILL SERVE! IF GOD BE GOD, THEN SERVE HIM!" (Joshua 24:15; 1Kings 18:21) Or if Mammon be your god, the lust of riches that never satisfy, then serve him! Or if Moloch be your god, the pompous pride of man's learning & education that is only foolishness to God, then serve him! But as for me & my house, we will serve the Lord! And if you too want to serve Him, you can come with us, work with us, join us, live with us or help us spread His Love & wonderful Words to a waiting World!
42. WE ARE A MIGHTY ARMY OF CHRISTIAN SOLDIERS FIGHTING A RELENTLESS WAR for the Truth & Love of God, against the confusion of Babylon, the anti-God, anti-Christ Systems of this World!--Whether Godless education, Christless religion, vicious economies or Hellish wars of the traditions, boundaries & prejudices of selfish, greedy & Godless man!
43. UNLIKE THE CHURCHES, WE ARE NOT MERE MEMBERS, BUT FULLTIME FIGHTERS!--And we have proven that we can be real disciples & better Christians outside the present corrupt Church System.--That we can still believe & preach & live like Jesus' original disciples & witness & win souls & get the job done like they did, by forsaking all, sharing all, living together, putting God first & spending our full time serving Him & trusting Him to meet all our needs by faith!--Praise God! Why not try it?--It works!
44. ARE YOU WITH US? If not, why not get with it & get with us & help us take the World for Jesus! C'mon!--Let's go!--"Into all the World to preach the Gospel to every creature!" (Mark 16:15)
Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family
