By design we as God's creation are drawn to beauty. We were preconditioned for paradise and as a result we desire precious stones, metals, and other pretty things. There is nothing inherently wrong with this disposition, but the devil uses it like anything good. The same way sex in marriage and to procreate is God ordained, there is the perversion Prince of Darkness created through pornography and other sexual immorality. Beauty can be both a benefit and beast.
There are many churches and clergy that glitter and gleam, but they are as Jesus said, "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean." (Matthew 23:27). You can enter these places of worship and marvel at the gold and how light causes the entire place to gleam with golden hue or candles like cause the church to sparkle in the shadows. Again, nothing is wrong with the beauty of these places, but for the sake of staying in them people do as the Apostle Paul said, "The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons, Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron," (1 Timothy 4:2) and "And instead of worshiping the glorious, immortal living God, they worshiped idols made to look like mere people, and birds, and animals, and reptiles." (Romans 1:23).
In the Eastern Orthodox Church there are places of worship that seem straight out of heaven! The golden Iconostasis, the candles, the censure, the priests in their fine robes, and all the pomp makes it a place that charms the senses and dazzles the eye. But within that church there are doctrines that will make you spiritually dead, that will turn you living spirit to bones. Doctrines like praying to Mary Theotokos, The Saints, using icons as portals, conduits, and windows into a spiritual realm (pagan tradition, never mentioned in the Bible and even has major mystical elements from other religions), and trusting the Orthodox Church to save you (by being a member and living the way they do religiously) in addition to Christ the Savior. These are but a few of the doctrines that do not align with Scripture and are against The Holy Spirit.
We must beware even as Christians of the "Lust of the eyes (craving for everything we see), lust of the flesh (craving for pleasure), and the pride of life." (1 John 2:16). The lust of eyes can make us join a church for the beauty, the colors, the golden images and charming decorations. The Lust of the flesh can make us want to be there for pleasure and are willing to go there against God's Spirit which warns us about the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees (Matthew 16:6). Finally, the pride of life dwells in the Orthodox Church, Catholic Church, and other similar High Churches, because each believes they are true church and rejects all other churches and Christians as being saved! This is wrong, for the Bible clearly says to be saved we simply have to believe in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior (see John 3:16, John 6:29, Romans 4:24, Romans 10:9, Acts 16:31, 1 John 4:19, Matthew 24:13 [endure, believe to the end]).
There is a balance between enjoying the beauty and not becoming burdened by the yoke of Pharisees. You can enjoy the cathedral, but do not join the church there. You can purchase an icon, but do not use it to spiritually transport somewhere. We have to draw lines, and not devout ourselves to a church or person, but to Jesus Christ! If the Holy Spirit, your conscious is telling you no, and you feel an oppression or strange sensation with that church or an item from it, then you need to back away and trust the Lord is leading you away from it for your own good!
There are all these beautiful churches, but no one is in them. The Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches are empty. All the gold and glitter cannot keep people there, because God is not there! God's Spirit is kept away. The priests of these churches do as the Pharisees did, "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people's faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to." (Matthew 23:13). The door is shut at many of these dazzling churches, and we must beware of becoming seduced into becoming dead for the sake of diamonds!; we do not want to become shut out from God's presence for the sake of pretty images and traditions.
Remember that in the world today people are coming to Christ not through liturgies, holy tradition, and lengthy sermons, but by the visions, dreams, the power of God through healing, words of knowledge, and the love of God seen through His people. Revival has not coming from the Roman Church or the Russian Orthodox Church, it comes from Ruach Hakodesh (Holy Spirit) and the Risen Christ!
Comments
Post a Comment