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From the book:
GREAT TRAGEDY book, pg
43 Written by Rev. E.Frank
Now
Everything Must be put to the Test!
The Confession Must be True
and the Doctrine Must be Correct
In the first church age, the men who deviated from the
doctrines of the apostles were
exposed as liars (Rev. 2: 2). But soon the wrong, working by
false influence, was
overpowering that, which was right. God’s Word was substituted
with man’s word,
until finally it became true, what our Lord said, “Fear not,
little flock; for it is your
Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” (Lk. 12: 32).
That is how it was
throughout all the church ages with the elected remnant (Rom.
11: 5). Therefore, the
promises in the seven church age messages were only addressed
to the overcomers (Rev.
2 + 3). |
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Quite early on, there were those among the believers,
who followed the
teachings of Balaam, who led the children of Israel into a
trap, and those following
the teachings of the Nicolaitanes, who exalted themselves over
the laity (Rev. 2:
14-16). Even a woman called “Jezebel” had her way, claiming to
be a prophetess and
teacher and even seducing some of God’s servants (Rev. 2:
20-21). Right from the
beginning we can trace the tragic developments and the falling
away from God, His
Word and the true faith, and we can find many deviations and
falsifications. Very
early on, people were misled by wrong interpretations of the
Scriptures. Later, in the
various councils, some of those teachings were declared as
statements of faith and
dogmas.
The distinguishing difference between the true and false
anointed is the following: The
true men sent by God preach His Word and the Lord confirms it
with accompanying
signs and miracles. Those men who step on the scene by their
own accord relate stories,
preach about signs and wonders and lead the people astray,
bypassing the Word. Only
if someone remains in the Word will he remain in God. But
first we must accept the
Word, in order to remain in it.
The command of the hour is to detect who is a false christ, a
false prophet or both,
using solely the testimony in the Holy Scripture Itself. The
Word always came to the
true prophets. The false prophets always had their own
interpretations of the Word,
but never the original Word. The same applies to the false
anointed ones. They do not
have the true teachings of Christ and the apostles, they have
their own doctrinal
views, which were introduced in the course of church history.
Through the true
prophets God spoke Himself, the false prophets speak about Him
according to their
own views.
The confession that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and
appeared in the flesh is made
by all Christianity, even by the false prophets and the false
christs. But it is not a true
confession, if the meaning is altered, compared to what the
Bible teaches. One thesis of
the Christian theology is, for instance, that the Son was
created as the “First One” of
God’s creative work in heaven, before the world was made.
Another one is, that He
was begotten and born by God in eternity, also before the
world was made. In the
Nicene Creed it states, “God from God, light from light, true
God from true God ...” If
it were so, we would have two who are God, two who are light
and so forth. The third
thesis is, that the Son in the Old Testament was the
archangel, Michael. And still all
of them confess Jesus Christ to be the Son of God. There are
also other versions, which
do not coincide with the testimony of Scripture, but are the
reflection of the human
mind and a fantasy creation.
In the Old Testament He is the Lord, YAHWEH, the I AM — the
Logos, the Word,
the visible, acting, walking appearance of the invisible God,
Who Himself is Spirit (Jn.
4: 24), Whom no man has ever seen (1 Tim. 6: 16; 1 Jn. 4: 12).
The same Lord, Who
walked in the Garden of Eden, spoke to Abraham, commissioned
Moses and spoke
through the prophets, we know as the One Who came into
humanity as the Son of
God, born here on earth in the stable of Bethlehem. “For unto
you is born this day in
the city of David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord.” (Lk. 2:
11). Not a heavenly Son
became a Son on earth, but the Word was made flesh, the Lord
became a servant.
What Paul stated still remains valid: No one can truthfully
give the biblically
founded testimony that Jesus Christ is the Lord, except by the
Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 12:
3). Everybody can recite a formal confession. Even the demons
cried “... what have we
to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth?” and confessed “Thou
art Christ the Son of
God.” (Lk. 4: 34 + 41). The confession of the demons certainly
did not justify them
and in spite of it they still remained what they had always
been. They certainly did
not become Christians or true believers because of their
confession.
Like Peter, everyone needs a personal revelation (Mt. 16).
Everything else is a
reflection of the mind, which is being repeated and has no
value before God. Thus saith
the Lord, “... and no man knoweth who the Son is, but the
Father; and who the
Father is, but the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal
Him.” (Lk. 10: 22). As
certain as the Father was manifested in the Son, it must be
revealed to each one
personally. Every Christian, even the antichrist can confess
with his lips that Jesus
Christ is the Son of God, but still mean something completely
different than what the
Holy Scripture actually says. Without the revelation by the
Holy Spirit, it simply
remains an intellectual reasoning of the mind. The testimony
of the apostles can be
found many times in the Scriptures. Paul summarises it in 1
Tim. 3: 16. In reality,
there is only one God, one Creator, one Father Who manifested
Himself in the Son,
only one Lord, one faith, one true baptism (Eph. 4: 4-6).
Every teaching, every confession, everything that does not
coincide with the apostles at
the very beginning of the original Christianity is false. The
original Church is the
example, valid until the very end. Now everyone and everything
must stand the Word
test. The measuring rod can only be the infallible,
everlasting Word of God.
In Mt 7: 15 our Lord said, “Beware of false prophets , who
come to you in sheep’s
clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.” Yes, “Be
aware!” is easily said, but
the sheepskin covers the wolf’s ravenous nature. The key word
here is “ravening”. They
will not feed the flock on the green pastures of the Word, but
rather sheer the sheep, by
preaching a “prosperity gospel”, and thereby making themselves
rich. In verses 21 to 22
we learn a little more about them, “Not every one that saith
unto me, Lord, Lord, shall
enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will
of my Father, who is in
heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we
not prophesied in thy
name? And in thy name have cast out devils? And in thy name
done many wonderful
works?” To which revival movement does this description
actually apply? Should we
need to ask, if this concerns those who perform wonders in our
time? Are they to be
found among the great evangelists and charismatic people? At
first those “giants of
faith” tell the Lord what they have done in His name. “Have we
not prophesied, not
cast out devils etc. in your name?” Is that not a convincing
report? But the Lord is
not impressed with it at all and says, “And then will I
profess unto them, I never
knew you; depart from me, ye that work iniquity.” (v. 23).
The assertion, “Have we not done all this?” is very notable.
They did not pay tribute to
the Lord, but to themselves and were proud of it, as their own
name came to honour.
True servants of God know that Salvation, healing and all
blessings come from God
and follow the Scripture, “He that glorieth, let him glory in
the Lord.” (1 Cor. 1: 31; 2
Cor. 10:
17-18). Humbly the Son of God Himself said, “The words that I
speak unto you, I
speak not of myself; but the father that dwelleth in me, he
doeth the works.” (Jn. 14:
10b). Peter and John did not take the credit for the healing
of the lame man, but rather
ascribed it to the Lord, Whose power was revealed in the name
of Jesus Christ of
Nazareth. As God did His works in Christ, so Christ does His
works through the
ministries in the Church. The Church is a living organism, not
a dead religious
organisation.
True sons and daughters of God have the mind of the Son of God
and confess with all
their hearts, “... nevertheless, not my will, but thine, be
done.” (Lk. 22: 42). Our Lord
said, “For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will
but the will of him that
sent me.” (Jn. 6: 38; 4: 34). “... to do thy will, O God.”
(Heb. 10: 7). “For whosoever
shall do the will of God, the same is my brother, and my
sister, and mother.” (Mk. 3:
35). By this will all true children of God are sanctified once
and for all times (Heb. 10:
10).
The will of God was done by the Son of God with complete
obedience, right until the
crucifixion. In opposition to that stands the self-will of
Lucifer. The wilfulness of the
one who was initially anointed in Heaven continues in the
self-will of all the false
anointed ones on earth, and it is still disobedience and
rebellion towards God. The
Holy Scripture emphasises, “For rebellion is as the sin of
witchcraft, and stubbornness
is as iniquity and idolatry.” (1 Sam. 15: 23). All, who now
put emphasis on signs and
wonders and continue to preach their own version of the
Gospel, will then be surprised.
They stand on the same level as all the Christians, who repeat
the Lord’s prayer,
wherein it says, “Thy will be done on earth, as it is in
heaven! ...”, but then go about
their business as usual, remaining in the will of a
denomination, a church or
fellowship, even in their own will.
Those who are reprimanded by our Lord according to Mt. 7 are
fully occupied with
their own work, not taking their places within God’s Plan,
they are classified as
workers of iniquity. Many times people sing with enthusiasm in
meetings, “He is Lord,
He is Lord ...”, but in actuality the relationship
Lord/servant does not exist. People
bypass God in their talking, singing, prophesying and
altogether. The false anointed
ones and the false prophets are not concerned about the main
promise for this time;
they do not care, nor do they want to hear about it, that God
sent a prophet before the
great day of the Lord comes (Mal. 4: 5-6).
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