by Cephas Ministry

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D.R. McConnell, in his book, A Different Gospel, writes: "It is a strange curiosity that those Christians who are most adamant that our generation is the generation that will see the Lord's return - and the end-time deception and apostasy associated with his return - look for signs of this deception outside the church, in such conspiracies as the New Age movement, and in such cults as Mormonism, the Jehovah's Witnesses, and Christian Science. Admittedly, these movements pose potential threats to the church, but perhaps we would do better to look for the deception of the end-times where Jesus and the New Testament predicted it would occur: within the church, within groups that call themselves "Christian" but which actually preach a different gospel."

The apostasy that the Bible says occurs in the "end of days" is not something that takes place outside of the church; but within it. What has happened and has happened before, causing a countries to fall, the church allows itself to be a useful tool in the hands of politicians and the rich.

It is here that religion presents itself as a useful tool in the hands of corporations, the rich, but only in those societies where an appeal to the "will of the people" has been paralyzed with money. In the U.S. this has happened. The cost of getting into political office has become so expensive that only the millionaires need apply. The will of the people is subjugated by the corporations. The rich get their wishes fulfilled and the will of the people is by the wayside.

If that is the case why is the church running with rich politicians, masquerading as Christians and helping them become more and more powerful, when Jesus came for the poor. To front the political system with religion is to legitimize undemocratic states. The means used to undermine the opposite party are illegitimate and should raise questions in the church.

Religion legitimizes state power in societies that are essentially undemocratic and cannot, as a result, rely on the "will of the people" as the source of legitimacy. Legitimacy has been neutralized with the help of the church's support against it's own best interest. Shouldn't the church be concerned with the "will of the people"? God had no intention of giving the church kings. God advocated self rule in other words "the will of the people". Democracy in its ideal state is to be cherished because it allows freedom to choose and taking responsibility for one's actions.

In a dictatorship, which is evolving in the U.S., the dictator being dollars, are determining who becomes the next dictator and maker of new regulations. The sole reason for most laws is cost containment to keep more tax money in the White House = cash register. Being told that you can't smoke takes the right to choose not to smoke. This takes away from God who desires to test what we would choose if we had a choice. Every choice that is bound by punishable laws diminishes the reason we are here on earth. When someone makes choices for us we are not responsible for what they decide for us. It is similar to being in a cult. The people turn their brain off and the leaders make all decisions for them. The result is that the members become zombies which are useless to God. What the zombies can share is dictated by men instead of the Holy Spirit. This is what is coming out of the White House. If we don't tolerate all religions and find them acceptable, pray with them, we are enemies of the administration, unpatriotic and really have no place in the U.S.. The church is unwittingly participating in this manifestation of the government.

In Matthew 6:24 "No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon." This Scripture lays open who the enemy of the Gospel is.

When Christianity operates in this capacity; when it serves the interests of the elites of this world, when it becomes the servant of the state; when it becomes an instrument of the rich to oppress the poor - IT HAS BECOME APOSTATE. Apostasy evolves from Scripture twisting. It takes Scripture twisting to get the sheep (the church) involved in the political process. Sheep follow what they are told. To follow the money, is to follow the most powerful party.

That's where it begins! The false doctrine that inevitably follows this condition of things - i.e., apostasy - is made necessary to mold the church to its new reality as a servant to the rich rather than to the poor; as a servant to the elites rather than to the downtrodden; as a servant to the state rather than to the kingdom of heaven.

After all, what do the elites want with a religion whose Originator says:

"LAY NOT UP FOR YOURSELVES TREASURES UPON THE EARTH, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:
"But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:
"For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." (Matt. 6:19-21) ?

Or what good is a religion to the elites that would tell the rich -

"... If thou wilt be perfect, GO SELL (ALL) THAT THOU HAST, AND GIVE IT TO THE POOR, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me." (Matt. 19:21) ?

Pretty hard to be a member of the elite if you don't have any money - that is, after all, the basis of the elite's power. And what do the elites want with a religion that forbids its members to "Lord it over God's heritage:"

"But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them.
"But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister;
"And WHOSOEVER WILL BE CHIEF AMONG YOU, LET HIM BE YOUR SERVANT:
"Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many." (Matt. 20:25-28) ?

It is pretty hard to set yourself up as a member of the elite and justify your position over the rest of mankind when you are commanded by the same religion not only to give your money to the poor, but to become their servant (slave) as well. And finally, what do the elites want with a religion that says -

"... LOVE YOUR ENEMIES, DO GOOD TO THEM WHICH HATE YOU,
"Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you.
"And unto him that smiteth thee on the one cheek offer also the other; and him that taketh away thy cloak forbid not to take thy coat also.
"Give to every man that asketh of thee; and of him that taketh away thy goods ask them not again." (Luke 6:27-30) ?

Pretty hard to command armies and conquer your enemies when your religion commands you to "LOVE your enemies," "do good to them which hate you," and you are told to give to those who would steal your jacket your coat also. No! - such verses must be "RE-INTERPRETED!" - and, again, that's where apostasy begins!!

THE ROLE OF RELIGION IN AMERICA

 

There is no place in such an environment for real democracy, nor can there be much occasion in this kind of system for the exercise of a legitimate, Bible-based form of Christianity where the church serves the interests of heaven (and the poor) rather than the interests of this present evil world (and the rich).

Being a "good Christian" in such a world means being a compliant and docile worker, which, ipso facto, means avoiding membership in unions or worker organizations of any kind; knowing how to say, "Yes sir" and "No sir" to your "Betters;" not being a "complainer;" avoiding welfare even if that translates practically into holding down several jobs at the same time in order to make ends meet - and making your wife and children do the same; not fussing when elections are rigged; not fretting about police brutality or questioning the authorities when your neighbors and loved-ones are hauled "downtown" on trumped up charges, and so forth...

POVERTY: A SECOND MEASURE AS TO THE EXTENT WE HAVE BEEN DECEIVED

 

The true figures when privately analyzed are eighteen percent unemployment or under-employment! - that comes pretty close to the amount of people in this country that are living in conditions approaching abject poverty - and that brings us to the second example of how "truth" is being "MANUFACTURED" and "ENGINEERED" to suit the needs of the elites. Government figures estimate that fifteen percent of the U.S. population are living in extreme poverty. But this "official" measure of poverty - like the unemployment figures - greatly underestimates the amount of poor in America.

 

CHRISTIANITY AS A PARTNER OF THE RICH

 

Christianity as a partner of the elites! - of course, this is nothing new insofar as American Christianity is concerned. It has been sponsored for a very long time by such groups as the Rockefeller Foundation, Swift and Co., the Olin Foundation, Occidental Oil, etc.,.. They give large donations to get what they want. AND THE RESULT TO TRUE CHRISTIANITY - TO THE CHRISTIANITY OF THE HUMBLE CARPENTER OF NAZARETH [of whom the Bible spoke: "Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head" (Luke 9:58)] - HAS BEEN DISASTROUS!!

Take, for example, the way the Wycliffe Bible Translators have allowed themselves to be used by the corporate elites as "pamphleteers," as "information gatherers," and as "fronts". And then there's the way that Christian missionaries allowed themselves to be used by the Calero brothers, Enrique Bermudez, Oliver North, Elliot Abrams, etc. in Reagan's Contra War - an effort to dupe people like Pat Robertson, Tim LaHaye, and such “Seed Faith” luminaries as Larry Lea, Cubie Ward, Phil Derstein (who is closely associated with Oral Roberts) and various others. Scripture-twisting is necessary to justify expectations held by Christian leaders who serve in this capacity.

This partnership between religion and politics is now getting mixed up in terrorism on the part of the U.S. and Islam. Are Christians mandated to take the place of Jesus Christ to clean up the world? Or are we to rely on God to do that? Are we discarding the prophecy in the Bible by taking matters into our own hands. Better said are we relying on men who want to take matters into their own hands rather than letting God be in the lead by practicing what He preached.

RATHER THAN HELPING THE POOR GET A BETTER STANDARD OF LIVING AS THE LAUSANNERS PROMISED, THE RICH HAVE DECLARED WAR ON THE POOR.

The rich have declared war on the poor, AND EVANGELICAL CHRISTIANS ARE IN GRAVE DANGER OF FINDING THEMSELVES ON THE WRONG SIDE OF THIS CONFLICT. There are grave implications in all this for the Gospel. After all, it's NOT the rich who are open to the Gospel (though they often make a pretense of being so), it's the poor.

"... NOT many wise men after the flesh, NOT many mighty, NOT many noble, are called:
"But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;
"And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are ..." (1 Cor. 1:26-28) ?

The question, then, that begs to be answered is this: What does that say about the alliance between today's evangelical church and the mammon run Party. It means that those who involve themselves in this alliance may someday be declared APOSTATES by Him to Whom we must all someday give an account.

[This article includes some words from an Antipas Ministries article.]