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Blessed is the man1 who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; 2 but his delight is in the law2 of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. 3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. (Ps 1:1-3 ESV) - Photo by Susanne Schuberth

Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. (Ps 1:1-3 ESV)
– Photo by Susanne Schuberth

Asking myself of what, or rather of who, the real Church of God might consist, I recently found a both simple and striking observation by T. Austin Sparks who said,

“The church has no existence in the thought of God apart from the revelation of Jesus Christ, and it is judged according to the measure in which Christ the Son of God’s love is in evidence by its existence.” [1]

Every institution, house church gathering, or theological conference that replaces His name and leading with their own ideas is not The Bride of Christ. Instead, it is indeed an epitome of the antichrist. Two years ago I felt urged to write a poem on this very issue where I called these inventions of the devil “the whore” of Satan. [2] Even before starting to write these verses, I sensed a very strong anointing to do so while I was driven by the fear of God to call a spade a spade. As we know especially from the Old Testament, God does not mince His words. And as we see in the New Testament, Jesus who is The Word of God offended several people by telling them the truth. [3] Not only the Pharisees and scribes received lessons regarding self-knowledge; even His disciples stumbled time and again over His hard words so that many of them eventually left Him as we can read in the following passage.

After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. So Jesus said to the Twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?” Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.” Jesus answered them, “Did I not choose you, the Twelve? And yet one of you is a devil.” He spoke of Judas the son of Simon Iscariot, for he, one of the Twelve, was going to betray him. (Jn 6:66-71 ESV)

The simple difference between those who stayed and those who left Jesus (including Judas) was that they had renounced everything else that had been more important to them than Him. Afterwards there was no person left to whom they could go and ask for spiritual guidance. If Jesus finally had left them too, they would have had no one to follow anymore. From hence we might understand why Peter gave in to the temptation as he wanted to convince Jesus to not die on the cross. If we could not read today about the fact that Judas betrayed Jesus, we would not have known about it, either. From the outside he appeared to be a disciple like the other eleven. But God who knows our very hearts wants us to share His knowledge about the hearts of others too. Actually, there is solely one possibility to ever be able to discern the truth from the lie, the Christ from the Antichrist, and the true Christian from the false Christian. Here is another quote by T.A. Sparks that explains it well.

There are many antichrists in the world and an antichrist is not a spurious, fearful creature, you know, with a tail and a pitchfork. No, an antichrist is something that assumes the place of Christ…. And with the natural judgment, natural powers, you are not able to distinguish between the true and the false. The Christ and the antichrist seem to be so much alike. You can’t discern the difference, but the Anointing will tell you! The Anointing which you have received, when you come into touch with something false, will tell you if the Anointing is really governing, saying, “Be careful,” not in words, but inside. You have a feeling there’s something not quite clear here, not transparent here, not safe here… “I don’t feel happy about this; I can’t tell you why but I just don’t feel quite happy about this… there’s something in me that says: beware.” I am convinced that in a day like this of deceptions and misleadings and all that, the great need is our spiritual discernment; of knowing the Holy Spirit in this way, that He’s able to warn you.

http://www.austin-sparks.net/english/openwindows/003192.html

The apostle John told us to be watchful as he said,

I write these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you. But the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie—just as it has taught you, abide in him. (1 Jn 2:26-27 ESV)

So, whatever we might call the Church or the Body of Christ is of divine origin exclusively when God’s Holy Spirit dwells in its members who are simultaneously being led by Him. Regarding fellowship, we should submit to each other if we all find one another being IN Christ only. In fact, there is no other spiritual leader needed than our Lord’s Spirit to whom we all should listen with a humble heart. If someone does not hold “fast to the head” (cf. Col 2:19) and keeps spreading his old Adam’s desires by wrapping them in religious words and behavior, we must not ‘obey’ these Christians whenever they share their worldly wisdom and advice with us (Col 2:20). [4] Furthermore, if any institution begins to introduce “ministers” and “ministries” as they see fit, that is, without having been called by God to do so, these bodies do not have the proper head and guidance from Christ. Actually, they are dead! They are godless, man-made entities who can easily be used by Satan just as he wills. Since where there is no discernment of spirits, God allows the devil to do his work and to deceive those who refused to believe the truth (see 2 Thes 2:10).

In closing I offer you a quote I found quite interesting. R.C. Sproul said,

“We need Christ-the real Christ. A Christ born of empty speculation or created to squeeze into the philosopher’s pattern simply won’t do. A recycled Christ, a Christ of compromise, can redeem no one. A Christ watered down, stripped of power, debased of glory, reduced to a symbol, or made impotent by scholarly surgery is not Christ but Antichrist.”

[1] http://www.austin-sparks.net/english/openwindows/003191.html

[2] https://susanneschuberth.wordpress.com/2014/07/10/the-prophets-call/

[3] Some examples that display Jesus’ offending honesty can be found in one of my former articles. If you like to check it out, see “Was Jesus a nice guy?” (https://enteringthepromisedland.wordpress.com/2015/12/03/was-jesus-a-nice-guy/)

[4] FYI: That is the main reason why I delete comments on this blog, even before moderating them. If someone does not share the truth and the proper gospel, they must not publish their seducing and confusing ideas on here. This is a spiritual blog which I dedicated to our Lord Jesus Christ and to God. I am not perfect and if something I write makes you wonder, please, ask God about it. He will show you the truth, just as the apostle Paul said here, “Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in anything ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you. Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing.” (Phil 3:15-16 ESV) – If you want to know more about why I delete comments, I explained it here “Do not allow demons to speak!” (https://enteringthepromisedland.wordpress.com/2015/11/11/do-not-allow-demons-to-speak/)