The Infiltration

 

 There is a true infiltration happening in our churches. In the name of Ecumenism, unity of churches, including with Rome, a santizing of our differences is happening. The words of St. Augustine of Hippo are being applied liberally, "In Essential Unity, in Nonessentials freedom, and in all things love." The problem is we do not sare the same essentials with the Roman Church or the Eastern Orthodox churches, or the Copts, or many of the others. We believe we are saved by grace through faith in Christ Alone (Ephesians 2:8-9, Philippians 2:8-9). Their churches rely on sacraments like The Eucharist, Baptism, and Last Rites. When on the cross Desmus did not have time to get baptized, and Jesus never said the Holy Communion has salvic powers, only that it was to remember his Death till he comes again, "For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes." (1 Corinthians 11:26). The Romans and the Easterners have begun to slip in, they use words like Grace but they do not think it means the same thing as we Protestants, no as blank said, "We believe Grace means unmerited favor, that God became a Man and died on a cross, exchanging our sins for his righteousness to us, a gift, favor, while the Romans instead believe grace is substance, a being of sorts inside you and the more sins you do, the more it leaves and to get it back you must do penances, sacraments, confession, and etc." In a simpler way of putting it we Protestants believe grace is once, that Jesus on the cross two thousand and twenty four years ago imparted us salvation, while Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, and others believe that we must maintain this grace, of our own merit through pious acts and opening the Treasury of Merits from Saints, Virgin Mary, and Christ. 

This is a line that divides us and allow no unity, for the Romans and Easterners believe that they must keep sacrificing Jesus at the altar in their masses for the dead and the living, when it is written Jesus was sacrificed once for all time, "So Christ has now become the High Priest over all the good things that have come. He has entered that greater, more perfect Tabernacle in heaven, which was not made by human hands and is not part of this created world. ¹² With his own blood—not the blood of goats and calves—he entered the Most Holy Place once for all time and secured our redemption forever. Under the old system, the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer could cleanse people’s bodies from ceremonial impurity.  Just think how much more the blood of Christ will purify our consciences from sinful deeds so that we can worship the living God. For by the power of the eternal Spirit, Christ offered himself to God as a perfect sacrifice for our sins.  That is why he is the one who mediates a new covenant between God and people, so that all who are called can receive the eternal inheritance God has promised them. For Christ died to set them free from the penalty of the sins they had committed under that first covenant.Now when someone leaves a will, it is necessary to prove that the person who made it is dead. The will goes into effect only after the person’s death. While the person who made it is still alive, the will cannot be put into effect.That is why even the first covenant was put into effect with the blood of an animal. For after Moses had read each of God’s commandments to all the people, he took the blood of calves and goats, along with water, and sprinkled both the book of God’s law and all the people, using hyssop branches and scarlet wool. Then he said, “This blood confirms the covenant God has made with you.” And in the same way, he sprinkled blood on the Tabernacle and on everything used for worship.  In fact, according to the law of Moses, nearly everything was purified with blood. For without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness.That is why the Tabernacle and everything in it, which were copies of things in heaven, had to be purified by the blood of animals. But the real things in heaven had to be purified with far better sacrifices than the blood of animals. For Christ did not enter into a holy place made with human hands, which was only a copy of the true one in heaven. He entered into heaven itself to appear now before God on our behalf.  And he did not enter heaven to offer himself again and again, like the high priest here on earth who enters the Most Holy Place year after year with the blood of an animal. If that had been necessary, Christ would have had to die again and again, ever since the world began. But now, once for all time, he has appeared at the end of the age to remove sin by his own death as a sacrifice.And just as each person is destined to die once and after that comes judgment, so also Christ was offered once for all time as a sacrifice to take away the sins of many people. He will come again, not to deal with our sins, but to bring salvation to all who are eagerly waiting for him." (Hebrews 9:11-28).

The true way this works is God's Grace saves us because Jesus did the work of becoming the sacrificial Lamb of God for us, faith connects to this in that we believe this and in Him, and that assures us salvation, "if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved," (Romans 10:9-10), "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son," (John 3:16-18), "When they arrived in Jerusalem, Barnabas and Paul were welcomed by the whole church, including the apostles and elders. They reported everything God had done through them. But then some of the believers who belonged to the sect of the Pharisees stood up and insisted, “The Gentile converts must be circumcised and required to follow the law of Moses.” So the apostles and elders met together to resolve this issue. At the meeting, after a long discussion, Peter stood and addressed them as follows: “Brothers, you all know that God chose me from among you some time ago to preach to the Gentiles so that they could hear the Good News and believe. God knows people’s hearts, and he confirmed that he accepts Gentiles by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as he did to us. He made no distinction between us and them, for he cleansed their hearts through faith. So why are you now challenging God by burdening the Gentile believers^[b] with a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors were able to bear? We believe that we are all saved the same way, by the undeserved grace of the Lord Jesus," (Acts 15:4-11), "Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ and become one with him. I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ. For God’s way of making us right with himself depends on faith," (Philippians 3:8-9), and "God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things (good works) we have done, so none of us can boast about it." (Ephesians 2:8-9). Its simple, God did it, believe it and you are saved! No hoops, no penances, no having to atone on your own behalf, no climbing spiritual ladders to heaven, no it is finished! (John 19:28). Christ has done it! We as the Apostle Peter could never live up to the demands of Law, the yoke he calls it (Acts 15:7-11) and as The Author of Hebrews writes, "For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance—now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant." (Hebrews 9:15). The New Covenant, The Gospel or good news, is that we no longer have to toil, try to be goof enough for God and heaven! God chose instead to lower himself to save us, "ou must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges;he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross. Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor and gave him the name above all other names, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue declare that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." (Philippians 2:6-11)

 We trample on his grace when we try to do things to make ourselves right with God, for as the Apostle said, "I believe faith makes me right with god." (Philippians 3:9). Unfortunately many are content to be antichrists, yes that is what you are if you believe sacraments, dead saints, shrines, relics, and pious acts will put you in better standing with God; you are literally insulting the Spirit of Grace, "How much more severely do you think someone deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified them, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace?" (Hebrews 10:29). Remember antichrist does not just mean against christ, it can mean to replace christ, and you are when you act and believe you must do something more than what Jesus did at cavalry! You are trampling on the blood of Christ and saying its not good enough! 

The problem is the Roman and Eastern churches believe His blood is not good enough. They trample on it with their traditions of men, "So the Pharisees and teachers of the law asked Jesus, “Why don’t your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders instead of eating their food with defiled hands?”He replied, “Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written:“‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain, their teachings are merely human rules.’ You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to human traditions. And he continued, “You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions! " (Mark 7:5-9) and Satanic stupor that shuts the door to heaven to them that is freely open by faith in Christ Alone. I grieve in my spirit for the Romans, The Easterners, and deceived Protestants like Nazerene Christians who have been seduced from a pure and simple devotion to Christ, "I am afraid, however, that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may be led astray from your simple and pure devotion to Christ" (2 Corinthians 11:3). They have allowed the serpent to rob them of the True gospel and replace it with a false one (Galatians 1:8-9) in gilded colors and art, they have chosen like the Pharisees and religious leaders of Jesus' Day to shut their hearts to the simple message that Jesus Saves Alone; that He has accomplished all that was necessary to save us, and all we need to is believe in Him, trust in His work on the cross, and let the Grace hold us. 

I have stated that I think we are in middle of a Second Counter Reformation. The Romanites could not defeat us in War of Religions in the 16th to 18th Centuries. So now they employ a new tactic, to sneak in through friendships, partnerships, and joint ventures like fighting abortion. Make no mistake, they spy our freedom, "This matter arose because some false believers had infiltrated our ranks to spy on the freedom we have in Christ Jesus and to make us slaves," (Galatians 2:4), and they will try to rob you of your freedom in Christ and replace it with dead religion and imitation, a form of godliness, "" (). We must not be beguiled by their attempts to seduce us! I speak as one who was almost seduced! During my parent's marital collapse, I felt lost, and was drawn to the suffering images of the Crucifixes, but by God's Grace I did not fall to the dark side! My knowledge of the Scriptures was a fortress that was able to see through the lies of Rome, the Holy Spirit in Rome showed me the infirmity of that false church (I fell sick in Rome, while in Jerusalem I have never been sick), and I have done major historical study of the Roman Church, exposing it on this blog with my lengthy post on The Council of Trent which is in effect in their church and condemns the Scriptures, particularly Romans 10:9-10.

 I know I sound like a broken record. Why do I preach to choir? Because I am in choir and was almost seduced! The Catholic Church is working hard to blend in with Evangelicalism, using all the same terms and lingo about Jesus, salvation, grace, and etc, but if you just just ask some simple questions of them and look up things in their Catechism, Councils, and etc you will find out the truth that they do not believe the gospel in the Scriptures. I mean technically Vatican II gives salvation to Atheists! When Jesus is the only way to be saved, "It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. Jesus is “‘the stone you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone.’Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved," (Acts 4:10-12), "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son," (John 3:16-18), "Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me." (John 14:6), and "Very truly I tell you Pharisees, anyone who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber. The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice.  But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.” Jesus used this figure of speech, but the Pharisees did not understand what he was telling them.Therefore Jesus said again, “Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved." (John 10:1-9).

My concern and why I keep retreading this topic is that the Romans are infiltrating, they are coming into our circles, saying all the right things as face value, but dig a little deeper and you realize that are the same as they always have been a church following a false gospel (Galatians 1:8-9). I raise the alarm, because many figures in the Protestant world are starting to get cozy with Cardinals, Bishops, and Priests, and make no mistake that those who have the taint of man made religion and the doctrines of demons will infect our churches. Their weapons are rhetoric, scholarship, and history; they claim to be the true successors of Peter, but they are not, succession of the apostles was never in the Scriptures a sign of who to follow, Paul even said, "This letter is from Paul, an apostle. I was not appointed by any group of people or any human authority, but by Jesus Christ himself and by God the Father, who raised Jesus from the dead," (Galatians 1:1), and "What I mean is this: Individuals among you are saying, “I follow Paul,” “I follow Apollos,” “I follow Cephas/ Peter,” [This is what the Church of Rome says, that they are the Seat of St. Peter] or “I follow Christ.” Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized into the name of Paul?" (1 Corinthians 1:12). Jesus chose apostles, he did not create a priestly succession of popes, because all of us are priests, "But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy," (1 Peter 2:9-10) and "Jesus, the Christ, who is the faithful witness and the first begotten of the dead and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us and washed us from our sins with his own blood and has made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen." (Revelation 1:5-6 Jubilee Bible and Older Translations). The Apostles teaching was important (Acts 2:42), it is the gospel as accounted in Scripture, but they were not a hierarchy of popes and lords, for Jesus Himself spoke against doing that!, "But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ (today would be Preacher or Pastor) for you have one Teacher, and you are all brothers. And do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ [Catholics and Easterners call their priests Father which is violation of this!] for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. Nor are you to be called instructors, for you have one Instructor, the Messiah. The greatest among you will be your servant. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted." (Matthew 23:8-12). Yes, our Lord and Savior says be servents, not Grand bishops and popes, and leaders, that alone proves the Catholic Church is false! 

I could go on, but there are plenty of posts I have made that you can piece together the errors of Rome, and the Eastern churches, particularly their magical icons that are evil portals. We must be careful, the devil disguises himself as light, "But I am not surprised! Even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light." (2 Corinthians 11:14), and these false churches use the name Jesus and have crosses, but they do not know him, which He says is important!, "Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent," (John 17:3) and "Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!" (Matthew 7:21-23). We must be vigilant as Bible Believing Spirit Filled Protestant Christians! The Serpent is hard at work in a two fold fanged project, in world he is making witchcraft strong to seduce people, in the church he is using a different kind of witchcraft, the traditions and false superstitions and teachings of the Roman Catholic, and Eastern Orthodox Churches. Do not forget that Jesus said, "in the last days there will be false prophets and false christs who will if possible lead the elect astray." (Matthew 24:24). In the Greek the words "if possible" is actually "is possible." We have to be strong and not allow ourselves to be seduced! Amen.