A few weeks after having left

We continued to get together and put it to prayer seeking the Lord’s wisdom and leading and the more we did so, the more it seemed as though this was God’s idea, not just simply a good idea.  Once the legal aspects had been set in place to incorporate the church, it was decided that we would approach one of the local primary schools and ask them if we could rent a room for a few hours every Sunday. The principal of the school was more than happy to accommodate us and she showed us a room that she thought would be suitable.  The room was suitable but it needed painting and when we offered to do that job she counter-offered by reducing the rent a few dollars.

The word soon got around that there was a new church opening in the area and it was not long before we were joined by three or four families from our former church plus some families from elsewhere.  God’s anointing was very evident upon the music and the preaching and when people came forward for ministry, many of them experienced immediate spiritual, emotional and physical  healings.  Once again, the reality, revelations and power of God were all most active and it seemed that God was going to do in this new fellowship what He’d been doing in that former place.  We were a mightily blessed little group in that school-room.

Then after a few months the pastor felt the need to look for a bigger and better building, saying that we needed to prepare for numerical growth.  When he asked for our thoughts about that, I was hesitant and expressed this to him.  I was/am no Church Growth expert, so when he  further explained and justified his reasons for moving I became quite enthusiastic.  I did not seek God for His view on this matter.  It was decided that we would move to a larger venue, a hall with a seating capacity for over six hundred people.  Like most halls of that size the stage was large, separating the team of only three or four musicians and the pastor, from the people. 

There was no sign anywhere indicating increase in numerical growth, so this separation was not only ridiculous, it looked ridiculous.  So, with some persuasion, the pastor agreed to set up at floor level amongst the people.  He regularly talked of the need for a crusade.  So he organised one, calling in some supposedly gifted overseas singer/preacher, plus a minister with a reputation for his healing ministry.  The crusade was advertised quite extensively in the community but for all the efforts, only a handful of people came – and all from other churches!  Very little godly ministry was evident in those men at that meeting.  

After having spent years among the people of my community I knew that if God was really in this “crusade” then He would arrange for people to come.  But they did not come and it was then that I began to seriously think that this whole church thing was now being taken out of God’s hands and into the hands of this pastor.  Much earlier in the piece I became disturbed with his insistence to being addressed as “pastor.” 

One time at a meeting he was questioned, why? with a couple of his decisions, and he replied, “Because I am the pastor.”  I should have taken that to the Lord in prayer, but I failed to do so.  Today, sixteen years later, I have no problem in taking such to God and then challenging insecure ministers who are in love with their titles.

This man was soon to express a desire for material things when the church could ill-afford them - an expensive sound system, a new photocopier, and a small bus to transport people to and from; all in the name of preparing for church growth.  One day he asked a few of us to pray for the church, for its pending growth, increased finances etc.  He then said he would arrange a meeting to discuss what the Lord revealed to us individually.  God quickly revealed to me the futility of religious man who tries to build that which only God can build Psalm 127:1.

Instead of a face to face meeting, he opted for the telephone.  When I told him what God had revealed to me, he said, “Amen.”  I thought that response meant he would wait on God to lead us, but no, he’d already made up his mind what he was going to do.  My time with him on that telephone was the longest I have ever spent with anyone - then or since - over four hours!  And I experienced God’s presence, wisdom and power in mighty ways all through that conversation.  Nevertheless, as often can be the case, it turned out to be rather fruitless, because when we met at the following Sunday service, not one word was mentioned about it.

He did not like to be challenged for his unwise ways, especially when it came to practical matters and the use of money.  Money seemed more important to him than the spiritual needs of people and lost souls in the community.  My wife and I, along with the other two original couples spent many hours agonizing before God over this and other situations we found ourselves in.  In our case also, our two eldest children were experiencing “Christian” hypocrisy once again at its best and sadly, they did not get the personal, individual support that they so desperately deserved from me, their father.

This same pastor demonstrated no respect for time.  He rarely kept appointment times with his core leaders and the unspoken expectation was that we would be at his every beck and call.  I challenged him about that at times, but he saw it as disrespectful to his position as pastor.  It was the second time (but it would not be the last) that I was to experience a church leader operating as one who was there to be served, rather than serve Matthew 20:26.  

It was not until a few years later did I discover just how deeply insecure and manipulative multitudes of church leaders can be and how they love to misquote New Testament Hebrews 13:17, so as to bolster their positions.  This a great evil in the church.

It is one thing to have disagreements in church matters (and there were many), but it is quite something else when one experiences spiritual disunity.  When the spirit is disturbed, that means for me that the Holy Spirit has set off His alarm bell and should that happen, it is wise to seek Him as to why.  The two other couples experienced the same disturbances so we individually sought God asking Him to show us if our motives and agendas were in line with His.  When one says to God, “Thy will be done,” He will test us with those words, making sure we don’t mean, “my will….”  None of us intended to fail that test and all glory to God, we did not.

Although not all at the same time, God revealed His will and we each experienced His peace as we made our decisions before Him to sever ties with this pastor.  God revealed Himself to me as I was driving along the road.  He told me that He would watch over me in my coming in and in my going out Psalm 121:8.  I took the “going out” part as, time to go from this man.  When I informed the pastor of my decision he told me it was, “probably a good thing.”  It was not a good thing to discern his spiritual arrogance and blindness.  He could not see that the church had no future.  Neither could he see that it was dying because it was an expression of himself and not the Lord Jesus Christ.  

On the Sunday following, I gave the pastor my official letter of resignation and he said nothing.  He did not publically acknowledge our leaving either.  Later in the day I then made contact with some of the church members to inform them that as a family, we had left the church.  I felt also, that I owed them some specific explanations as to why and how we had come to that decision.  I would have preferred that our problems be shared with the church in the first place, but insecure men will always find “religious” ways to ensure that this never happens, violating the Scriptures in the process. 

The church carried on for some weeks to follow, but it was soon to close its doors and “the sheep were scattered” - some of them to this day, sixteen years later.  So the question is:  Was the church really ordained of God in the first place?  The answer is yes, it was.  God mightily blessed us while we remained under His anointing and leading in that little school-room. 

And, He may well have continued to bless us in that great big hall, but His hands were tied by this time.  The geographical move was not really our problem so much, it was the spiritual move.  Under the direction of that leader, we moved out from under God, spiritually.  We moved to where God was not.  There is always a price to pay for such a decision.

Although we all went our separate ways after that episode, my wife and I have remained in touch with the two other couples and the blessings of God continue to be evident upon them, as well as ourselves.  I don’t know what happened to the pastor, but as I look into God’s truths and principles in the Bible, I suspect there has been no change in his thinking at this point.  “ …..You know that those who are considered rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones excersise authority over them.  Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant.  And whoever desires to be first shall be servant  of all.”  Mark 10:42-44.        

© 2010, Roger Williams. All rights reserved.

“Whatever is in the heart of a person will always get exposed.”

It was what was once in my heart that helped put Him to death on that cross.  I was most grateful to be released from the guilt and penalties of all of that.  But also, that truth appealed to me on the basis that it now availed me the on-going opportunity to become a fuller expression of the living Lord Jesus Christ in a relationship with Him, as He worked on me, in me, with me and through me.  In other words, as I yielded to the Holy Spirit’s ministry of imparting God’s life into me, my heart would increasingly become an expression of Christ.  Not a perfect expression, but an expression nevertheless.

In those days, when that pastor told us that holiness was not the criteria to operating in the spiritual gifts of the Holy Spirit (but rather, faith), I was not fully aware of just how much deception one leaves one’s self open to if one doesn’t seek holiness.  He once told me that he would never preach on holiness and, at the time I thought that was a pretty honest thing to say.  Some time later, however, I saw just how arrogant and stupid that statement and decision was.  It brought him down and after he left, the hearts of others were soon to become exposed which helped to bring them down in that church.

In numerous posts written here on this blog, I have spoken about the disastrous outcomes in the lives of church-associated people who willingly compromised the biblical Scriptures.  One can never really know who does and who doesn’t, until God decides to test them.  And when He does test them, what is in their hearts most surely exposes itself.  It is either an expression of Jesus Christ or it is an expression of sin, self or Satan – or all three.  People love to say, “we mustn’t be judgemental,” but we don’t have to be judgemental, because they show themselves to us.  By their fruits, we get to know them.

Some months earlier, before that pastor’s true self showed up, a youth leader joined us from a denominational related church.  He came with a reputation that he was gifted in that ministry because of his popularity among younger people in the community.  His former pastor was also a member of our church and was now, as well, a prominent figure within that denomination’s hierarchy or head office.  With the arrival of the former pastor and his wife and family, the youth leader, plus a friend of  them all, it strongly seemed as though our church pastor was compromising his biblical, but autocratic style of leadership.  For political reasons?  It looked that way.

The Bible declares that, “……where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty” (emancipation from bondage, freedom) 2 Corinthians 3:17.  It also declares that in God’s “presence is fullness of joy” Psalm 16:11.  Now, in the case of this youth leader, he expressed neither liberty nor joy.  Neither one, did his heart ever expose.  In other words, there was no evidence that he was filled with the Holy Spirit and baptised into the Holy Spirit for the true work of the ministry.  But there was plenty of evidence showing up that he was in bondage to religious legalism, rules, laws and questionable doctrines.  That’s what came flowing out of his heart.

His former pastor and wife, plus another two influential church members were no better.  No true liberty and no true joy in the Holy Spirit was evidenced in any of them either – when they got tested.  These people took over the leadership of the church after the sacking of the pastor.  But prior to his sacking these same people heard him teach numerous times, just like the rest of us, that what is in the heart will surely get exposed.  Biblical compromise quickly began to set in.  The youth leader began preaching religious legalism privately to his youth group.   At one time he had private, one-on-one  meetings with some of them (male and female) and the discussion was about sexual practice. 

He put guilt trips on some of those young people and when he was challenged on this matter for his lack of wisdom, plus the fact that he did not inform parents prior as to his intentions, he became most indignant.  Then he preached his legalistic hobby-horses from the pulpit.  Once again, when he was challenged, this time about his Scriptural inaccuracies, his heart expressed a spirit of religious stubbornness and self-righteousness.  However, at a later time when some other problems arose, he did ask me for a private meeting for some counsel on, “what you think my problems are.” 

Over the course of that meeting I was very frank and honest with him and told him that he expressed no Holy Spirit liberty or joy and that rather, he was controlled by demonic spirits of fear, rejection, deep hurts, and religious legalism.  He thanked me for my time and then a day or so later all hell broke loose.  By this time he was closely allied to the new leaders and he had gone off to tell them about our meeting together.  Because they appeared to have no understanding whatsoever about how our adversary Satan the devil works, they became his (Satan’s) tools, human agents and puppets, perfectly set in place to administer his dirty work.  Things became more and more unworkable.  

When they got involved, so did the unholy trinity - the demonic evil spirits of religion, politics and control.  These men believed themselves to be working under the leading of the Holy Spirit, but it was not He whom was being expressed from each heart.  The fruits expressed from each one were not His – no love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness or self control, as well as no love for biblical truth.  Over the next few months, in a series of church meetings it was simply amazing (and devastating) to witness the lies and the venom as each came spewing out of their collective mouths.

The “leader” with the least biblical knowledge, but the loudest voice, came to a colleague and myself one day and told us to sort out our differences with the youth leader, “even if that means finding your own teaching!”  Dramatic changes indeed, from the sound biblical preaching and teaching that we’d all sat under for nearly five years prior to that day!  No wonder these men were deceived.  Deception follows absence of love for truth.  All appeals to stand on Bible truth and principles were rejected not only by those leaders, but eventually by the majority of people in that church.  In the most difficult situations faced by the people, it was the church constitution that was appealed to, not the Bible.

This was a new experience for me.  The church constitution had been appealed to in times past for clarifications on legal matters, but this was the first time I’d seen “religious” men use it for manipulative, intimidating and dominating purposes.  Most successful were they indeed.  The majority of ordinary church members caved in.  Their hearts got exposed too - fear of man, pride, love for religious and denominational traditions, but little love or respect for the biblical Lord Jesus and His word, the Bible.  Not only that, but many of those who, “felt called to this church,” when times were good, ran away when times got bad.

It was also my first experience in observing how “religious” men piously go about solving their problems.  They called in the moderator from their head office.  It was interesting (but very sad)  to observe this, because even though each meeting started with prayer, seeking God’s wisdom, they had already made up their minds which recommendations would be brought forth and which ones would not.  They settled on a recommendation to call an old retired minister in as an interim pastor, “until we see which way the Lord leads us.”  The hypocrisy was sickening.  All this being done by and for our adversary the devil, but in the name of God!

Like most church hierarchies around the world, this one too acted the same way as secular businesses do when a new man comes in.  The old man made his intentions clear.  The youth leader and the existing leadership would stay and work under his direction, but myself and a couple of colleagues would go.  God had already told me in advance that this would be the case so I resigned.   But He also told me in advance, that in the case of that youth leader, his former pastor plus the two influential men, that, because they showed no regard for the works of the Lord, nor the operation of His hands, He was going to destroy (overthrow, pull down) them, and not rebuild them Psalm 28:5.

Less than eighteen months later that’s what happened.  They too were all out of that church.  The two influential members are no longer involved with churches to this day, so far as I know.  I don’t know what happened to the youth leader but as I understand it he lost his ministry.  The former pastor-come-prominent-denominational-figure went interstate to pastor a large church.  As time went by, apparently some trouble arose in his church and he was asked to leave.  The damage done in our local fellowship was enormous.  Some people got so badly wounded in the crossfire that they have never recovered.  But God is merciful and He will hold on to all those that belong to Him.

Although it was the end of my time as a public messenger of the gospel of Jesus Christ in the local community, it was/is not the end of my time as a messenger of the Lord.  It was a most painful experience to be put through.  But it gave me great insight into how Jesus felt when they cast Him out and He reminded me of that often, which ministered to me in mighty ways.  I hold no grudges towards those men today.  Not only has each one lost their positional authority, but more importantly, they have lost their spiritual authority – and that is not something to be glad about. 

My wife and I have become much stronger in Jesus Christ as a result of that trouble.  Also, I am eternally grateful to God, because it could just as easily have been me who was used by the devil to turn people away from Christ, instead of being used by God to turn people to Christ.  “ He who loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him.  But he who hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.”  1 John 2:10-11.

© 2010, Roger Williams. All rights reserved.

Not knowing any different, I thought that’s what all churches were like.  And when it came to thinking about God, well, I didn’t dare think about Him too much for fear that He would strike me down.  In those years growing up, I never heard one word from a priest that gave me any hope or assurance that God was one Who loved me so much that He became a Man and came to earth to die in my place for my sin so that I could then turn to Him, receive His forgiveness and become His follower and friend.  Not only that, but neither was I told that being a friend of Jesus automatically made me a friend of His Father and the Holy Spirit – that is – a friend of God Almighty Himself.

I thank God with all my being that the god I grew up hearing about was not the same One who revealed Himself to me in such a dramatic way some twenty-three years later.  See my About page and But they still have a god post.  I had already spent nearly two years getting to know the true God of the Bible and I was experiencing Him in reality through much mercy, love and peace.  Nevertheless, on the day we went to that local church I was still expecting some form of solemnity.  That’s why we were pleasantly surprised and greatly impressed.  None of that was to be seen.  Respect or reverence for God, yes, but not solemnity.

The Bible tells us that where the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedom/liberty 2 Corinthians 3:17.  I did not know that at that time, but when I found out, it helped to explain to me the great difference between being religious and being a Christian.  My early church days were not Christian experiences, they were religious experiences.  Those old priests manifested lots of solemnity and no liberty, so I can only assume they had no Holy Spirit dwelling within them.  They were religious, but not Christian.  If it were otherwise, Holy Spirit freedom and liberty would have been demonstrated by them and the same would have been evident within the people under them.

It is also only in the Bible where one finds we are to test the spirits to see if they are from God or not.  So one of the ways to test which spirit controls a church and its leadership, is to do just that – test by asking, “what spirit controls this place and these people?  Is it the Holy Spirit?  Or is it an unholy spirit of religion, or politics, or control?  Or is it all three?”  Being led by the Holy Spirit as we apply Biblical tests, we can find out.  Sadly, most churches throughout the world are controlled by the latter - the unholy trinity.  Jesus said we would know by their fruits what kind of people we were amongst.  So what kind are they?  Are they religious legalists, or Spirit-led, liberated people?

While the relatively new pastor of our local church faithfully taught the Scriptures with his expository preaching and systematic Bible teaching, God faithfully honoured His promises and that church began to grow spiritually and numerically.  Just a couple of years prior to us joining, this same church was dying with only about thirty people in regular attendance.  By the time we arrived there were three times that many and it was continuing to grow rapidly with new people in attendance nearly every week.  Because the Holy Spirit was in charge of His church, He made sure our hunger for biblical knowledge of God was being satisfied.

Overseas Bible teachers came on a regular basis over three or four years and because their time was limited we thought nothing of attending mid-week night and all weekend classes, soaking up as much of God’s word as we could.  Dramatic changes were resulting in people’s lives with lots of spiritual, mental and physical healings taking place, broken relationships being restored – both in the church and in the local community.  Opportunities for ministry increased with a second and third pastor coming into the church, young men were being raised up as preachers who preached in other churches where a minister was lacking, as well as doing short-term overseas missionary work. 

Multiple water baptisms by full immersion, were a regular occurrence, resulting in people being empowered by the Holy Spirit to take up ministries in Bible teaching, youth ministries, music ministries, women’s ministries, street ministries and radio broadcasting ministries.  It was an exciting and miraculous time.  God was doing so much in that local church that people left other churches to come and join with us.  The main pastor was regularly asked to go to other churches and give guidance and advice on how to replicate what was happening and he also was able to frequently spend some weeks at a time in the USA, studying and teaching.

Over the years this man constantly reinforced to us the need to know our Bible.  He said that if we did not know our Bible and the doctrines within in their right context, then the cults would chew us up and spit us out as we faced them.  I have found that statement to be an on-going reality among far too many people who claim to be Christians.  He also constantly reinforced the need for us to know God and to know who we are in Jesus Christ and that if we didn’t, then we leave ourselves wide open for the devil to do what the cults will do.  Following these warnings he often reminded us to look to no man, but the Man Jesus alone.

Then at about the end of the fourth year of our attendance, it became noticeable to me and a few others that this same pastor was spiritually declining.  Because I was part of the ministerial team I noticed it first after his return from one of those USA trips.  Money appeared to be now playing a role I’d not seen previously as he began to dress more fashionably.  As well, money became a frequent topic in his conversation at our weekly staff meetings.  He was always a strong leader who sometimes did not demonstrate the love of Christ to those closest to him, but by now he began to be intimidating and bullying to people whom he knew would not stand up to him. 

The assistant pastor and his wife, who were there for over three years left the church without really saying why.  The man also appeared to enjoy the glory given him by far too many people, in spite of his earlier warnings to avoid giving to or receiving such glory from any man.  Politics became a prominent part of his game.  Added to that, this man began to compromise the biblical standard that he previously spoke up for.  Not only that, but he once asked me to do something that both he and I knew would compromise that standard if I yielded to his manipulation. 

When I said I would not do as he requested, it was not too long when I became his enemy – subtly at first, much less subtle later.  His marriage and family life crumbled as well and it was not long before they separated.  Here’s the saddest part of all.  Among his many warnings to us as a church, he used to say, “Whatever is in the heart of a person will always get exposed.”  With that he gave much admonition that we allow the Holy Spirit to reveal all in our lives that was ungodly.  It’s known as the sanctification process and if we do allow the Spirit to reveal, then He can deliver us from whatever it is and empower us for holy living.

He also used to constantly teach that holiness was not the criteria for operating in the gifts of the Holy Spirit, but rather, it was faith.  See my post:  By way of gradualism.   In other words, he was saying that one’s character - or what is in one’s heart, can be filthy, but God will still use you, based on your faith in being open to receiving the Spirit’s gifts.  That is very hard to believe, but it’s true.  All over the world, down through history, “mighty men of God” have done mighty things in His name, but because their hearts were not right (willfully sinful), God eventually exposed them and they fell from great heights into great shame and disgrace.

That is what happened to this man.  He preached it but he failed to live it.  It has been said that when ministers fall into sin, it is in the area of the three “G’s”: glory, gold and girls.  Well, it was those three things that appeared to expose the heart of this man.  He demonstrated a love for glory.  He demonstrated a love for money.  And most devastatingly of all, he refused to allow God to deal with his black heart.  He was warned privately that if he didn’t, then it would be all over for him.  Sexual immorality was part of that blackness.  Adultery was to follow soon after.  The effects of that act are still rippling today, eighteen years later. 

That man, by choice, turned out to be a true hypocrite.  At no time would he admit his culpability in any of his behaviour.  Although he fought hard to hold his position in that church, he eventually had to leave.  He is still pastoring a church, but in another country.  To this day he has not repented of his behaviour, otherwise he would have returned to put things right with all whom he destroyed.  After he left, that church was to go on and further self-destruct.  It seems he was not the only one who failed to heed his advice to allow the Spirit of God to show them their hearts.  More about that in my next post.  “……you have sinned against the Lord; and be sure your sin will find you out.”  Numbers 32:23.  “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”  Matthew 5:8.

© 2010, Roger Williams. All rights reserved.

That statement was made over twenty-two years ago, by the minister of the church fellowship that I, as a new Christian, had decided to associate myself with.  It was the same church where I was a public gospel messenger, which I have been giving testimony to in these posts on this blog. 

At the time that he made that statement, that minister was himself an expression of Christ, but a little under five years later he began to rapidly decline spiritually and he became an expression of himself, resulting in much of the church becoming an expression of their individual selves.  In other words, in just a little under five years I was to witness the life of Christ in all its beauty as it was expressed in that fellowship turn itself into death and ugliness as it became an expression of the people.  It was an outworking I was to witness more than once in the twenty-four years I have been a biblical follower of Christ.

The Bible tells us that the nature and character of Jesus Christ is one of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control – also known as the nine-fold fruit of the Holy Spirit.  The Bible also tells us that when we surrender our life to Christ and make Him Saviour and Lord, we become born again, a new creature (creation), the old passes away and the new comes in.  That is; our old nature with its emphasis on sin and self dies and we receive the new nature of Christ as we become indwelt by His Holy Spirit.  That’s what it means to be an expression of Christ in nature and character.

But it doesn’t stop there.  For the church or fellowship to truly be an expression of Christ, each person must also be baptised into the Holy Spirit.  This baptism is the initial experience of the Holy Spirit being poured out upon the believer – an experience whereby by He completely surrounds, envelopes and immerses the believer who then becomes “filled with the Spirit.”  From that initial experience there are on-going fillings, but only as we yield our lives daily to the leadings, promptings and power of the Holy Spirit.  As we yield to the Spirit, we then make ourselves available to be recipients of the spiritual gifts that He seeks to impart upon us.

The gifts of the Holy Spirit are also nine-fold: three revelational gifts - word of wisdom, word of knowledge, discerning of spirits.  Three inspirational gifts - prophecy, various kinds of spiritual languages (tongues), and interpretation of spiritual languages (tongues).  Three power or demonstration gifts - faith, workings of miracles and gifts of healings.  These gifts are given to the church by the Holy Spirit for the work of the ministry.  It’s important to note that they are indeed gifts.  We can not earn them or learn them by feverish religious activity nor by attendance to Bible colleges and seminaries for the seeking of some sort of certificated qualification.  I honor such qualification, but that is not how we receive the Holy Spirit.

New Testament 1 Corinthians 12:4-11 shows us that these nine-fold spiritual gifts are given to the church (which is people), rather than to any one individual.  In other words, one gift is given to one person, another one is given to someone else, perhaps two or three gifts given to someone else, and maybe three or four given to another member - but all are dispensed by the Holy Spirit as He sees fit.  They are not given as a mark favouritism to one person over another.  The problem in the “church” however, anywhere and everywhere in the world, is that this fruit and these gifts are rarely seen in operation.  See my post: The greatest loss of all.

Go into most churches today and all you will see is “religious” activity.  Jesus called this activity, “traditions handed down by men.”  This most certainly, is not an expression of the corporate life of Christ.  It is, most certainly, an expression of man - dead, religious, proud, smug, self-satisfied, self-righteous, spiritually-blinded man.  It is not the church of Jesus Christ, regardless of who says what.  And all too sad to say, in my experience and observations, most people love it that way and will not have it any other way.  Yet these same people have mastered it down to a fine art on how to give the impression that they are the real thing.

Whether they are church leaders, priests, pastors, bishops, elders, deacons or ordinary congregational people like myself, they know which facial expressions to use, which tone of voice, use of the eyes, hands and body - they know what Scriptures to use in prayer and conversation - all has been well rehearsed so that they look the part, fooling all but the spiritually discerning, that they are the part.  So again, it needs to be said, any church that does not function in the fruit and gifts of the Holy Spirit is not a true church of Jesus Christ.  It does not express the biblical Lord Jesus, it expresses the people and the Jesus of their imagination.

In my work as a street minister of the gospel of Christ, it was quite common for people to ask me, “Why all this emphasis on the Bible?  Why do you always quote from that book?”  My answer was always the same.  The Bible is the only book to give confirmation that there is a God.  It is the only book to show us that God reveals Himself personally to each one who diligently seeks Him.  It is the only book that gives specific revelation that God has a will and a plan and that human beings are the objects of that will and plan.  If it were not for the Bible we would be ignorant of God, His unchanging truths, answers, guidance and instructions.

Those people thought of the Bible as simply a religious book written by religious men.  They were ignorant of the fact that it is God’s word which came to us by revelation – a process by which God imparted truths to man (Adam), Noah, Moses, prophets, angels, dreams, visions, and the disciples/apostles of Christ.  They had no idea that all Scripture within its pages was given by inspiration (God-breathed) as He guided the pen of each writer to ensure His message was correctly written down.  They had never been informed either, that not one iota or dot within will pass away until all God’s plans have been accomplished.

As a result of such ignorance, very little respect was given towards the Bible, it was devalued by most of them.  But for the Bible to be devalued to the extent that it was/is in society, it first had to be devalued in the church.  And when the Bible is devalued in the church, the result is people become religious – not Christian.  That’s why we see more religion than Christianity in people who claim to be followers and representatives of Jesus Christ.  God has nothing good to say about such people, He calls them traitors, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than God, people who appear to have a form of godliness, but they will not let its power change them 2 Timothy 3:1-5.

The only way that the Bible can ever become devalued in a church, however, is for it to first become devalued by the leadership – and herein lies the problem.  Every minister of God, regardless of who they are will be tested numerous times in their ministry by God Almighty Himself.  For example: if he preaches and teaches on the need to be cleansed from sin, God will have him look at his own life too.  If he preaches and teaches on the nine-fold fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience etc, then God will test that fruit in his own life.  If he preaches and teaches on holiness, faith, obedience, humility etc; once again, he will experience the testings of God. 

As a result, most certainly his shortcomings will show up.  The solution then is to admit such to God and ask for deliverance from them and for the power to overcome in those areas each time he’s faced with them in the future.  That is one of the reasons why we need to be baptised into the Holy Spirit, so that we will indeed be on the pathway to release and freedom from these things.  But sadly, this is where the sin of pride now becomes the problem in such a leader’s life.  It becomes a stumbling block so strong in that leader that he yields to it each time God faces him with something.  Instead of listening to the voice of God, he listens to the voice of the devil.

He doesn’t call it the voice of the devil though, he prefers to call it the voice of reason.  As he continues to entertain that voice, it’s not too long before his faith is supplanted by reason.  From there he reasons out every Scripture that he finds unreasonable and he discards it or waters it down to make it more palatable, not only to his own thinking and doing, but to the thinking and doing of most of those in his church. 

This downward slide does not show its effects immediately in himself or his congregation, but rather, by way of gradualism.  “For you ought to put off the old man (according to your way of living before) who is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind.  And you should put on the new man, who according to God was created in righteousness and true holiness.”  Ephesians 4:22-24. 

© 2010, Roger Williams. All rights reserved.

Very few of those people acknowledged the devil’s reality but they did acknowledge that they were fearful, fatalistic and superstitious.  Those fruits are part of Satan’s nature.  He’s the father and the dispenser of them and he uses them relentlessly.  Fatalism’s, “whatever will be, will be” was a common mantra in that community, intermingled with, “what can ya do?  There’s nothing you can do.”  When I contradicted that belief and offered them an alternative view it was amazing how many would not take me up on it.  They were happy to continue wallowing in the mire of their own making, it seemed.

Due to an economic downturn at the time, there was quite a lot of unemployment in my community.  My message from the gospel was always one that offered hope, not only for the next life, but here right now regardless of what they were presently experiencing.  But rather than embrace the message through what the Bible calls faith, their preference was to embrace the devil’s lie which secularism calls fate.  There’s only one outcome from such a choice and that is to be swamped in hopelessness.  When they learned of others getting a job as a result of prayer and trust in God, they discounted that and called it luck.

The same applied to sickness.  One man in his early thirties told me that his father was once a heavy smoker who had since died of lung cancer.  He had a cigarette in his mouth when he told me this.  When I suggested that the Lord Jesus could set him free from his own nicotine dependency if he would entrust himself to Him, he said, “No mate.  If I’m going to get cancer I will, and if I don’t, I won’t.  It’s in the lap of the gods.”  That lie was rooted deep within him and he was happy for it to be so.  No matter what I tried to offer him as an alternative in God, he politely but happily rejected it.

It was no different when speaking to people about the Bible’s promise of heaven for those trusting in Christ as Saviour or hell for those who reject Christ.  Rather than see this as something that required them to make a serious choice about, they preferred to embrace the lie of “luck” or “whatever will be will be.”  Again they would come up with something like, “If I’m going to go to heaven I will and if not, well then I won’t.”  That was the comment of a man who told me of his family, young and old, who were dying all around him.  He reeked of booze, he was riddled with fear, but he was, “off to the races!  Maybe I’ll strike some luck there.” 

Another man in his late thirties told me his worry and anxiety came about as a result of, “everything going wrong” for him.  He saw himself as unlucky in life.  The prize always went to the other person, but never him.  “I guess some people are just lucky in life,” he said.  He had a victim’s mentality, which was continually being fed from hopelessness, which is one of the products of fatalism.  Up until the day we met, this man had been ignorant of the fact that he could change his thinking.  He told me that he’d always thought that the way he was is the way he’d always be.  He thanked me for sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ, but gave no indication that he would seek Him out.

I stood in the doorway chatting to elderly Mrs Stucke.  She didn’t believe in the existence of God and was most reluctant to listen to anything to the contrary.  She too was a fatalist, and like them all, believed all events are determined by fate and are therefore unalterable and inevitable.  All she received for her “faithfulness” to that lie was depression, which in her words was, “getting worse every day.”  Being told that it is God alone Who is in control of all things and that He wanted to release her from the devil’s clutches, was rejected.  The Bible is true when it shows us that we are lovers of lies rather than truth Romans 1:25.

“It (the gospel of Christ) is probably good for those who get something out of it - if it gives you hope.”  That was the comment of Mrs Degan, another unbeliever in God’s existence.  When I asked her what gave her hope, she said she had none.  She too had a victim’s mentality.  Her husband had failed in business and had experienced much trouble in finding a job that suited his particular skills and qualifications.  The job he currently held was neither suitable nor stable but, “what can you do?”  Christ’s offer of peace, purpose, plans and direction in life for her were responded with, “perhaps he (her husband) would be interested in talking to you.”

The Bible tells us that we reap what we sow.  It matters little if we, “don’t believe in the Bible” – it changes nothing.  The truths and principles revealed within its pages are as unfailing as the universal laws of physics and gravity.  In other words, if we reject or violate them, they will come back to bite us.  Rejecting God’s truths, plus the gift of faith given to believe them, is a serious sin in God’s eyes.  If this is willingly continued in a person until the day he or she dies, then they will give an account to God for their actions on Judgement Day.  But in the meantime, one of the judgements from God is that He sees to it that such people believe lies to be truth.

So, as a rejector of God, if we sow lies, knowingly or unknowingly and keep it up over a long period, the reaping will be that of many things, but certainly that of living a life without hope - or – living a life filled with hopelessness.  That’s the lot of the fatalist.  That is why sickness, sadness, depression and suicide are all so rampant in society today and increasingly so.  There is no peace outside of God either.  Believer or non-believer, Jesus Christ is the Prince of peace, which means He is the owner of peace.  Any fatalist that believes they are living in peace are, in reality, living in false peace - Satan’s counterfeit “peace.”             

The word “hope” is mentioned in the Bible nearly one-hundred and thirty times and its theme is everywhere to be discerned.  Rarely is the word used however, in any doubtful form such as, “I hope so” or “I hope not.”  Rather, it used in the manner of confident expectation - something like, ” There’s no doubt about it, it’s gonna happen for sure.”  Biblical hope focuses on God as He reveals Himself in Jesus Christ.  It also focuses on  His nature, His character and His promises which, when embraced, fill us with peace, patience, encouragement, enthusiasm, meaning and purpose.  That’s why the word ‘gospel’ means good news.

Biblical hope fills us with eternal life.  That’s God’s life - it is eternal in quality and eternal in quantity.  That’s what  Jesus meant when He said He came to give us life and that we would have it “more abundantly” – meaning: vehemently, exceedingly, beyond measure.  Jesus also told us that if we seek to hold on to our life, then we would lose it in the process.  That’s the price we will pay.  It is the highest price of all, because not only was He referring to life after physical death, He was also referring to the present.  I have found that those who hold on to their own lives, knowing but rejecting Christ as the alternative, suffer great internal insecurities.

The Bible describes each and every one of us born into this world as “lost.”  That means that in God’s eyes, none of us has a clue who we really are, what we are, where we are, or where we are headed in life.  We can kid ourselves, lie to ourselves, deceive ourselves to the contrary, but it changes nothing.  As well, we can work overtime in our endeavours to hide or deny those internal insecurities but they will never fail to show up.  These are: the fruits of fear, fatalism and superstition.  But the good news is, the Bible also tells us Jesus came into this world so that each and every one of us may be “found.”

As people, we may not know who we are, what we are, where we are, or where we are headed in life, but Jesus does.  He knows our every thought, word and move and He is calling each one of us to come to Him.  Jesus calls.  Just like a shepherd in the Middle East who’s out in front leading his sheep and calling each one by name, that’s what the Lord is doing for us.  He knows your name, He knows my name.  However, it is never by chance that one is found, it is always by choice – our choice.  “Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”  Romans 15:13.      

© 2010, Roger Williams. All rights reserved.

There have been a multitude of Bible truths ignored by the mainstream church down through history, to our great loss, but in my opinion the ignoring of that particular truth from Acts 1:8 has brought about the greatest loss of all.  When those people received that mighty power from the Holy Spirit they went out and turned their world upside down,  In fact, to be more accurate as far as God is concerned, they went out and turned their world downside up!  Any serious study from New Testament Acts shows us that’s exactly what they did.  Not dead, boring, formal religious speech and practice – but Acts.  Mighty acts, energised by Almighty God, every one of them.

People got miraculously touched by God and they were healed spiritually, mentally, morally, physically.  Not only that, but the recipients of that power knew it was God in their midst in the name of Jesus Christ.  So they did not get into theological arguments with the Lord’s messengers, they simply obeyed the Holy Spirit who was ministering through them and they did as they were commanded – that is: repent of their sin, get baptised into water and into the Holy Spirit, study the word of God, embrace it as truth and live it out.  Then, go out under the anointing of the Spirit of God and allow Him to replicate in others what He had done in them.

Multitudes of Christian people down through church history have accepted a teaching which says that when the last pages of the Bible were written, the Holy Spirit ceased His activity within and among people as we see it revealed in the book of Acts.  This is still taught from pulpits, Bible colleges and seminaries today.  Sadly, if one embraces such teaching, they forfeit themselves from receiving the Spirit’s power.  And in my opinion, that is the biggest problem we have, not only for the church, but for the world.  Whilst many Christians may be content to bask in dead, boring, formal religion, “unbelievers” are not.

Three and a half years on the streets with unbelievers taught me that some were/are willing to believe, if only God’s reality would show up for them in meaningful, practical ways.  That was always my desire for them too because that’s how God first revealed Himself to me.  My initial needs from God were practical, every one of them.  I had fears, worries, lots of guilt, plus physical afflictions.  If the Holy Spirit really did cease His miraculous and powerful activity when the last pages of the Bible were written, then I don’t know what I would have done.

I might have developed enough faith to believe that my fears, worries and guilt could be removed, but what about my physical afflictions?  Those healings were instant (see my About page) and as such it was a dramatic experience for me, just like it was for those people we read about in the Book of Acts.  Besides, if it was not the Holy Spirit who healed me, then who was it?  The devil?  Jesus has warned us that to give credence to the devil for the work of God’s Holy Spirit is to border on committing the unforgivable sin.  Then we have others in the church who do believe in the miraculous power and activity of the Holy Spirit, but they are afraid to talk about it, teach it, or embrace it in any way, shape or form.

Far too many church leaders will not address this issue called baptism into the Holy Spirit, because they know if they do so, there will be an expectation for them to ask Jesus for this baptism.  And then when the Holy Spirit does come upon them, not only will it be required of them to minister only what He gives them to say and do, but it will also be required of them to get real, clean up their act, get their lives in order and get rid of their religious ways.  In other words, while the Spirit of God works in them and through them, He will also work on them.  They know that.  That is why they will go to any extremes to avoid talking about it.

In the meantime, they hide behind religious masks, giving the appearance that they are someone when they and others know that they are not.  Harsh, but true.  One of the masks I have observed leaders most effectively hiding behind has to do with their theological qualifications.  The fact that some could point to a framed certificate on the wall was more than enough to shut most people’s mouths down when it came to challenging a leader for his or her theological beliefs – or lack of – or questionable behaviour.  Having said this, I am not in any sense downgrading people’s certificated qualifications - only the misuse of them.

Other church leaders hide behind the mask of positional authority.  That is, they hide behind the unspoken, but nevertheless, very loud message, “I am the boss!”  They give all the appearances of being Spirit-led and empowered, but they too know that it is nothing but a sham.  One of my former pastors loved to wear a T-shirt with “Boss” written on it.  He used to teach, “positional authority means nothing in the devil’s eyes.”  I believe that to be true with all my heart, but that man did not.  He was later to find out that in the devil’s eyes it really did mean nothing.  He also found out that it meant even less in God’s eyes.

The mainstream church is weak and powerless today not through any lack from God.  Religious man is to be blamed for the lot of it.  He has devalued the sole written word of God, the Bible, he has devalued the biblical Lord Jesus Christ, he has devalued the power and efficacy of the blood of Jesus Christ and he has devalued the ministry of God the Holy Spirit.  Religious man has turned the church of God from a living organism into a phony, dead organisation.  And as far as it concerns too many unbelievers, instead of them knowing what is appealing about our Christian beliefs and practices, all they know is what is repelling. 

Not all unbelieving people are turned off the Bible and Jesus Christ.  It was my pleasure to lead many to the Lord and to the study of His word.  But they were reluctant to step inside a church.  For some, they had too many unpleasant memories of unpleasant experiences that had been inflicted upon them by “leaders” and “believers” alike.  I was most grateful for the reality and power of the Holy Spirit working in our midst.  If it were not for Him revealing and confirming Himself to them, they would have gone to their graves with totally different concepts of God altogether.

Perhaps it is true that we don’t see the gifts of the Holy Spirit of God in operation today to the degree that they were seen operating at the beginning of the church after Pentecost – but only to the degree.  It is true that we don’t see thousands of people turning to Christ in one single day in one particular community.  Nor do we see people being raised from the dead like Jesus and the disciples did it.  But, just because He does not seem to be operating to the same degree is no reason for us to believe that the Spirit has ceased His miraculous activity altogether.

Who knows what the Holy Spirit might do if we humbled ourselves, died to ourselves, let Him strip us bare of our religious and denominational pride, arrogance, self-righteousness and theological hobby-horses?  It is not God Who has limited Himself so much as it is the people He called to represent Him on earth - especially the leaders, I’m sorry to say.  Too many of these can be likened to the twelve spies we read about in Old Testament Numbers 13:26-33.  God sent these men into Canaan to spy out that land because He was going to give it to them and their families.  When they came back, only two of the twelve were willing to trust God all the way in the plans He had for them.

Because of pride, fear, unbelief and a lack of trust in God, the others were unwilling to do so.  They whittled God down to the size of their own imaginations, put Him in a box and then went out and spread their nonsense to the rest of the community - who embraced their every word.  They paid a high price for that.  Later they became extremely presumptuous before God and it cost many of  them their lives.  That’s one of the problems with the church around the world today.  It operates out of presumption, human wisdom and “good” ideas, much more-so than it does out of biblical faith, divine wisdom and God’s ideas.

The results of that are the same.  It’s costing most people their lives too.  Life for multitudes of Christians is not life at all, it is merely existence, which makes them no different than their unbelieving neighbors.  When Jesus spoke of the promise that we could live life abundantly here on earth, He was not at all referring to the life we can manufacture for ourselves.  He was talking about eternal life – God’s life.  Such a life is only possible to achieve and experience when we choose to allow the Holy Spirit to come upon us, as well as dwell within us.  “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing……”  John 6:63.  “Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons.”  1 Timothy 4:1.

© 2010, Roger Williams. All rights reserved.

One of the most glaring misconceptions about Christianity that I observed

One man told me, “after thirty years of not being near the church, I can still hear the voices of those old, hell-fearing priests telling us all we had to be good!”  He went on to say that the message was constantly reinforced by a fearful mother and father, but it was one he felt he’d never lived up to.  It seemed he was reliving those times as he spoke with me.  This man was spiritually blinded and bound.  He had fear written all over him and all I could think of was how much this deceptive, lying message must anger the loving, merciful and gracious God who has revealed Himself in Jesus Christ His Son.

A twenty year-old lady told me she doubted God’s existence.  Her eyes gave her away however, so I mentioned that to her.  She began to frown and then tell me that she preferred to doubt, because, “I don’t think there’s anything He would like about me, I am not a good girl.”  What a pleasure it was for me to give her the good news that Christianity is not about being “good.”  She had lots of questions following that statement and at the end of our time together she thanked me as she said, “I often think about these things, but nobody has ever explained them like you did today.”  I asked her to think of the explanations as coming from God, more-so than myself.

I met another man who used to be a church practitioner and he was clearly embarrassed as he informed me of this.  He said the pressure to conform to the church’s standards got too much for him so he, “opted out years ago.”  I’m very glad he did opt out and I told him so.  None of the pressures he was put under were from God, because none of them were biblical.  The Bible was used by the leadership in their preaching and teaching, but the Scriptures chosen for their doctrinal development were lifted out of context, then  twisted and bastardized to make them say whatever they wanted them to say.

Mrs Lexton, a mid-thirties mother of three young children told me she had never heard the gospel message presented in the manner it was on the day of my first visit.  She too used the word “good” in relation to Christianity, but felt that it was a standard that had to be constantly met if she was ever going to meet with God’s approval.  When I shared a little of my past life with her and how it was anything but “good” she was very surprised.  Mrs Lexton also heard for the first time that Jesus was/is interested in every aspect of her life and that of her family, not just in the “religious” or church part.

A young man said in relation to God, “I have my own thoughts on these things,” so I asked him to share them with me.  His thoughts were developed as result of rejecting his church doctrines.  He was trying to break free from a legalistic group-think that had brainwashed him into believing he was part of the, “one true church.”  Many denominations and groups claim to be that special “one” and I have learned by experience that it is simply not possible for a person to be free from any one of these who claims this for themselves unless we permit the Holy Spirit of God to do the work for us.   The man thanked me for, “telling me in the way you have.  It’s a nice change.”

Not everyone I spoke with was concerned for this lack of ability to be “good.”  Especially those associated with churches, lodges and service clubs.  The mere fact that they were part of such groups qualified them in their own mind as good people – giving, loving, tolerant – “far more-so than a lot of you Bible-bashers,” said one elderly man to me, in no uncertain terms.  Whilst it is true that many of these people are giving, loving and tolerant, I have observed that they can put limits on such noble qualities and behaviour, especially when their own required standards are not met in those whom they are serving.

The late J B Phillips once said, “People without Christ can be nice, but only to a point.  Nice people without faith (in Christ) have nothing to offer those who are not nice.  They have no gospel to offer.”  “Nice” people, or “good’ people, it makes little difference in my opinion, I have found Phillips’ statement to be true.  As long as everything is going along fine according to their own terms, these people can be giving, loving and tolerant, but the moment there’s some form of violation from the recipient, they will cut them off without hesitation.  In the words of one of my favourite old American Bible teachers, “They take no prisoners!”

So why is it that I say the fault lies with the church, rather than the people, who’ve embraced this misconception to be “good” ?  Because most churches throughout the world in the past one-hundred and fifty years or more have limited the gospel of Jesus Christ down simply to morals and ethics and the “Golden Rule” mentality.  In other words, “religious” leaders have dumbed down their people to think only in terms of goodness, morality and ethics.  There is more emphasis placed on, “keeping the Ten Commandments,” than keeping the word of Christ, who alone came to fulfill what those Commandments require from each one of us.

When it comes to the Commandments – if these people see themselves as not honouring God, idolaters, taking His name in vain, not going to church, dishonouring their parents, or if they see themselves as murderers, adulterers, thieves, liars and covetous of their neighbour’s wife, servants, animals or property, then naturally they will see themselves as anything but good.  On the other hand, the opposite applies.  A person may see him or herself as one who meets most of those do’s and dont’s and will go on to judge themselves as “good” as a result.  They know they break some, “but……nobody’s perfect.” They justify their shortcomings, but judge others for theirs.

People say, “good is the enemy of best.”  God says, “Good is the enemy of righteousness.”  In other words, God is not looking for “good” people, He is looking for righteous people.  “Good” people go to hell, along with bad people.  Righteous people go to heaven.  God wants to work His miracle of righteousness in and through each one of us, but there is only one way in which this miracle can be received and that is through receiving the righteousness of His Son, Jesus Christ, alone.  Far too many churches do not teach this truth in it’s purity. They have added their own standards to it. 

Because the “not-so-good” person is ignorant of the pure truth, they think the (added) standards are from God and they resign themselves to thinking they’ll never make it, and so don’t bother to take it any further.  They live with the guilt of it however.  Not so the thinking of the “good” person.  Church-goer or not, he or she is out there making it happen and wants others to know it.  They carry within them their long-established checklist of what is good and tick it off on a daily basis when they’ve met each condition, completely satisfied.  But equally – completely oblivious of the smugness and self-righteousness that they manifest.

So what is righteousness?  It is a very important word to God, that’s why we see it mentioned in the Bible over three-hundred times.  The word ‘good’ is a very important one to God also – but never at the expense of righteousness.  In other words, no righteousness, no goodness.  This is the message the mainstream church has failed to proclaim.  The Bible shows us that righteousness is a characteristic of God alone.  It expresses all that God is and all that He does.  As well, righteousness is the word used in the Scriptures to describe whatever is pleasing to God. 

Most importantly of all, we see in the Scriptures that ‘righteousness’ is the word used to describe the right relationship each person is brought into with God when they humble themselves and receive Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord.  So what that means is - no Jesus Christ, no righteousness.  We can only be made righteous in Him.  All that God requires of each man and woman to become, we become in Christ – through faith.  There is no other way of achieving within ourselves that which is good.  “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”  2 Corinthians 5:21.                  

© 2010, Roger Williams. All rights reserved.

I found out that one who is a regular church-goer, born into the “faith,” baptised, and can recite their prayers and creeds by rote, is more likely to be religious than Christian, in the true sense of that word.  I made that decision based not on their knowledge of the Bible or how well they lived up to it’s revelations and declarations, but rather, on their expressed attitude towards the Bible.  It is the Bible alone that describes to us what a Christian is and it is our response to the Bible alone that tells us if we are one or not.  Right here, I hear the mantra from someone, “you mustn’t be judgemental.”  I’m not.  By their expressed attitude they judged themselves.

Only within the pages of the Bible alone do we find accurate revelation about the existence, personality, nature and grace of God, plus the deity, humanity, Virgin birth, death, resurrection, ascension and the second coming of Jesus Christ.  No other book, “holy” or otherwise, gives such systematic, detailed information.  Only within the pages of that same book do we find the will and plans of God for people as they were in times past, as they are in times present and as they are in times future.  To be ignorant of this information is not what disqualifies us as a Christian, but to reject it (either some or all), does.

Fundamentalist!!  That was/is a favourite label spewed out on me and others like me - not by the unbelievers, but by the religious.  I don’t bow to labels, but perhaps they are right, because to me, God is in His word, the Bible.  That biblical written word is the representative of God.  My attitude towards that biblical word is my attitude towards God.  I do not obey God more than I obey His word.  I do not believe God more than I believe His word.  I do not have more room for God in my life than I do for His word.  The way I relate to His word is the way I relate to God.  That alone, plus nothing else, qualifies or disqualifies me as a Christian.

Compromiser!!  He or she perhaps, will not bow to labels either, but how else does one describe a church-goer who says the Bible is not the objective word of God, but an errant source of truth to pick and chose from?  How else does one describe a church-goer who says that God’s character is one of benevolence without standards and that sin does not separate us from Him and that he will not judge sinners?  How else does one describe a church-goer who calls God a liar by saying that all people are not fallen creatures, but rather, good at heart?  How else does one describe a church-goer who says the Bible is antiquated and outdated?

Qualified as religious, yes.  But disqualified as Christian, is everyone who won’t take their stand for the God who reveals Himself in His Son Jesus Christ from the opening verses in Genesis to the closing verses in Revelation - sixty-six books, one-thousand, one-hundred and eighty-nine chapters, twenty-three thousand, two-hundred and fourteen verses and seven-hundred and seventy-three thousand, six-hundred and ninety-two words (Authorised KJV).  I marvel at religious church-goers who elevate the martyrs of old to saint-hood.  Most of them, blind to the fact that it was the martyrs’ stand for the Bible alone, that cost them their lives.  Killed by the very same kind of compromising people Luke 11:47-48.

In the Old Testament we read of God telling his people that they were destroyed because of a lack of knowledge.  He was speaking about the lack of truth operating in their lives – their ignorance as to the word and will of God.  So ignorant were they of such that they were led into captivity.  But for many, it was ignorance by choice.  Their leaders had rejected truth and substituted it for whatever came into their heads and the people were happy to have it so, because it cost them nothing.  Rather than operate their lives out of facts which built true faith and empowerment for living, they opted for religious error, lies, opinions and fantasies. 

There was only one outcome from such a choice and that is, their lives failed to work.  Instead of  being victors in life, they became victims – victims to their feelings, resulting in confusion and fear.  The true Christian’s faith is always only ever in proportion to what is truth.  In other words, the greater God is to you, the greater will be your faith – the smaller God is to you, the smaller your faith.  People of little faith know little of God.  It is the principle of proportion.  On the streets I encountered lots of church-goers who operated their lives on what God’s word does not say.  This made them feelings-based people, not faith-based people.

As an example, they were quick to tell me, “I think the Bible is….” or “I think God or Jesus is….” but they they were unable or unwilling to tell me, “I know the Bible is….” or “I know God or Jesus is….”  Satan the devil is never threatened by the one who says, “I think….”  But he most certainly is threatened by the one who says, “I know….”  How did I learn that?  I learned it by way of the very people he was operating through – religious, Bible-compromising church-goers.  I learned it, as stated earlier, by the venom that came spewing out of their mouths.    

What one thinks he knows and what one does know about God and the Bible can be two vastly different things and often was the time when I experienced someone wanting to drag me down into their, “I think” realm.  As a new Christian, I quickly learned that if I did not undertake to devote my life to the on-going study of the Bible, then sooner or later I ran the risk of looking silly in my biblical proclamations as a messenger.  I was not too concerned about myself looking that way, but I was not going to play any part in making God look silly.  Too many people despise God today, because of the foolishness of religious people.

Churches today that are boring, stagnant and declining, are not an expression of the living Lord Jesus Christ, they are an expression of the leadership and its people.  The same applies to the churches caught up in ritual, ceremony and tradition.  If the church truly belongs to Jesus it will always express His vitality and life and people’s lives will dramatically change.  Sicknesses will heal, marriages and relationships will be restored, people will speak up for Christ, giving witness to His reality.  Most do not express or give witness to any such thing, so the church-goer only has him or herself to blame – although I’ve never heard of one who has ever acknowledged that.

Why are the “religious” so venomous in their attacks on the Bible and those who take their stand upon it?  Well, it confronts them with who they are and what they are, plus the requirement to change.  They know it.  They know it because God has set that knowledge deep within their innermost being.  Not one of us is exempt from this.  You could say that the Scriptures are a letter from God telling us what He wants us to do.  Religious man doesn’t like that because he wants to be in control – always.  That’s the picture we see from the first religious man, Cain. 

Cain didn’t want to humble himself to meet God’s requirement’s, he was a proud man who set up his own religious system and standard.  And so envious and  jealous was he of his brother Abel, who did offer God the sacrifice He required, he killed him for it.  Nothing has changed in history.  “Religious” Cain is still doing his uttermost to destroy non-compromising, biblical, born again Abel, and will continue to do so right up until Christ comes back to rule upon the earth.  Church-goers enjoy the process of trying to achieve goodness, perfection and acceptance with God by their own efforts Acts 7:41. 

Born again, Holy Spirit-led, Christ-centered, Bible-based believers on the other hand, enjoy the process of allowing God take the initiative in their lives as He brings about real change – being conformed to the image of His Son.  On the Day of Christ, each one of us will be judged by God as to how much we have conformed to the Lord’s image.  We will not be judged on how much we have conformed to the demands of leaders, denominations, religious traditions, rules, laws and practices.  “……For the Lord preserves the faithful, and fully repays the proud person Psalm 31:23.  “……But on this one will I look: on him who is poor (humble) and of a contrite spirit, and who trembles (reveres) at My word.”  Isaiah 66:2.

© 2010, Roger Williams. All rights reserved.

Naturally enough, their next question was, “Why do I need to be born again?”  Firstly, because Jesus said so.  Secondly, the Bible tells us that we have all sinned and fall short of God’s glory.  Therefore, we must be born again in order to have our sins forgiven and have a relationship with God.  Trusting in Jesus Christ alone, the only One who paid our penalty for sin when He died on that cross, is what it means to be born again, spiritually.  If we act on those meanings, the Bible gives us the good news that we are new creatures (creations) - the old has gone the new (fresh) has come 2 Corinthians 5:17.

Jesus also told us that unless we are born again, we cannot see the kingdom of God.  That means we cannot perceive or understand the rule or the realm of God’s reign, as it applies here and now and, in eternity.  That is why people mock and ridicule God, Jesus Christ, the Bible and non-compromising biblical believers.  They don’t get it, because without a spiritual rebirth, they can’t get it.  And they will never get it, unless they humble themselves before God, acknowledge their sin and then, acknowledge Jesus Christ alone, as the one and only Solution to their sin problem.

As practising Christians, it is most important that we grasp this, because if we fail to do so, we run an immeasurably high risk of being chewed up and spat out by the false doctrines of religious men and their institutions.  Jesus told us that the Spirit of the Lord was upon Him because He (the Spirit) had appointed Him as the Anointed One (Messiah) to preach the good news to the poor (beggar, as cringing); to announce release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed (downtrodden, bruised, crushed, and broken down by calamity) Luke 4:18.

As a public messenger of Christ, I spoke with literally hundreds of church-goers, but it was an extremely rare occasion to encounter one who was born again.  Roman Catholic or Protestant, it made no difference.  One of the ways to discern if a church-goer is born again is to listen and observe their response to the Bible’s declaration about the need to be born again.  Responses with anger, abuse, insults and guilt gave me clear indication that such a one was not.  But often the same applied to those whose response was one with fear – fear of God certainly, but equally, fear of church leaders and their doctrines. 

A typical response of one trapped by fear went something like, “I don’t care what your Bible says, my faith is in my church and their teaching and I will never leave it.  Ours is the one true church!  I was born a (Catholic, Jehovah Witness, Mormon etc) and I will die a ……..!”  These responses sounded good, faithful and noble, but the reality was they were not made by people grounded in faith.  They were grounded in fear.  They dare not leave their “faith” because if they did, in their thinking, they would lose all hope of heaven.  They were taught that, they believed that and they dare not shift from that.

These are the very people Jesus Christ came for.  People in all sorts of captivity, spiritually blind, downtrodden, bruised and crushed by the weighty, false doctrines of men, none of whom will lift a finger to help them.  They can’t help them, because they themselves are trapped by the same stuff.  It has been said that the great defect of all man-made religious systems is that they demand obedience but they do not provide the power or the dynamic needed to do so.  It’s true.  Leaders who are not free cannot led others to freedom.  In other words, you cannot take others where you can’t or won’t go yourself.

The Scripture tells us in New Testament Galatians that Christ has made free (completely liberated), all who claim Him as Saviour and Lord.  It also tells us to stand in that truth and not to be hampered and held ensnared and submit to a yoke of slavery.  So here is a test as to how free you are.  Whether you belong to one of the above mentioned denominations or some other - are you free?  What do you believe would happen to you if you made a decision to leave your denomination or group?  Regardless of whether you were “born into it” or not, what do you believe your state of mind would be?  Would it be one of freedom – or fear?

It is most important for a Christian to be able to answer that because we devalue Jesus Christ and His word if we fail or refuse to do so.  To place one’s faith in one’s church, believing it to be the true one, is not placing one’s faith in the biblical Lord Jesus Christ and His Bible.  Therefore, it is not faith at all.  And the Bible tells us that what does not originate and proceed from faith, is sin Romans 14:23.  What is not of faith, can be the sin of presumption (speaking or acting without warrant) and the Bible gives us plenty of examples of people who paid a very high price for indulging in that.  

To presume upon God, if not acknowledged and repented from, brings defeat, loss of power (especially spiritual power), rejection and destruction.  I saw that outworked in seventy-eight year old Roman Catholic lady Mrs Lang.  She was bed-ridden, riddled with arthritis and fear.  With rosary beads in her hands on each visit, she often told me, “the Bible is a load of blabber!  Jesus started the Catholic church at the Last Supper and He gave Peter the keys.”  She said she had great faith; but in Christ, it was nowhere evident.  Fear of death was written deep into her.  It was a religious spirit of fear that prevented her from hearing Christ’s word in context.

If one is born again by the Spirit of God, he or she will know by experiencing the witness of the Holy Spirit, that the same power given to Peter, in fact belongs to every disciple of Jesus in all ages.  Nowhere in the New Testament is there any hint of authority either claimed or exercised by Peter, or conceded to him above the rest of the apostles.  But in his second epistle, we see that Peter has plenty to say to the church about the trustworthiness of the prophetic biblical word, destructive doctrines, the doom, depravity and deception of false teachers and, for us to grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ alone.

Mary, an ex Roman Catholic, now Jehovah Witness, could not admit it but it was not love for Jehovah that put her out on the street door-knocking.  It was fear and terror of Him.  Like Roman Catholic people, JW’s believe that they are the one true religion, all others are an abomination in Jehovah’s sight.  The basis for their theology is reason and they build on that foundation, the teachings of Scripture.  They are taught to use reason to attack the beliefs of others in their conversations.  They decide what is “logical” to believe and then twist and change Scripture so it supports those beliefs.  See my post: Tell me the difference between you both.

JW’s must accept without question the interpretations of the Bible as presented in their literature.  That alone is what is what they accept as truth and they are excommunicated if they don’t accept that.  They have to work hard for their salvation.  That is the reason they are so zealous, dedicated and persistent in their evangelism.  Each member must maintain an active one-hour house to house witnessing a month, minimum.  But many struggle to do so and live in fear as a result.  Ten hours is the quota for a person in good standing.  JW’s may appear self-assured about their beliefs, but most are not.

Michael told me that he would “feel lost indeed” if he was to leave his “one true church.”  He was a Mormon.  Mormons talk a lot about faith, but what they really mean is feelings.  Mormonism is based on subjective experience – that is, praying about something and having God confirm it to their hearts.  That is the basis for accepting Mormonism and the test for all truth as far as they are concerned.  The Bible tells us that our hearts are “desperately wicked” and that is why we must be born again and renewed by the Holy Spirit as He dwells within us and teaches us according to His written word. 

They say they believe the Bible is the word of God, but that it’s unreliable.  Therefore, it has to be interpreted through the Book of Mormon.  Mormons need an “unreliable” Bible, because the Bible contradicts almost all of their doctrines and practices.  Most Bible doctrine that mainstream Christianity has accepted as truth down through history has been disputed and rejected by them.  God the Father is viewed as one who was once a spirit child of a previous God, born on another earth who had to earn and attain god-hood.  They teach that He is married and lives with His wife, the heavenly Mother!

Mormonism teaches that Jesus is a created being, the first-born spirit child of a long line of children who were sexually conceived in spirit form by this heavenly Father and heavenly Mother.  They teach that Jesus and Lucifer were brothers in the spirit world and that the Father chose Jesus to be the Saviour of the world.  Lucifer argued with that decision.  He wanted to force mankind to be saved, but Jesus wanted to allow man to choose, which God the Father preferred.  Lucifer, being angry, rebelled against the Father, who threw him out of heaven, taking one third of the angels with him to become Satan and his demons.

The Bible declares to all who are born again in Jesus Christ that it is no longer fear and dread that exists, but rather it is a full-grown, complete and perfect love.  A Divine love so powerful that all fear is cast out, along with every trace of terror.  Fear brings with it the thought of punishment.  Every church-goer who is not born again and who willingly allows the word of God to be substituted or replaced by the word of religious man will continue to remain in captivity, spiritually blind, oppressed and downtrodden – here and in eternity.  “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.”  2 Timothy 1:7.

© 2010, Roger Williams. All rights reserved.

In conversations with them there were very few who did not acknowledge that there were only two ways to live: right or wrong, good or bad, with either heaven or hell at the end of it.  But the problem was, while they did not see themselves as living right or good, neither could they see themselves living the opposite.  It was as though they believed themselves to be living in some middle way here and now and therefore, there would be some middle place for them in eternity.  In other words, “I may not be a saint, but neither am I a thief, or a murderer or a molester.  There’ll be a place for me somewhere when I die.”

Twenty-nine year old single mother Lee had a little of that thinking in her.  She was one of four in the family who were on drugs.  She had recently been released from jail for dealing and possession.  Whilst she was inside she said she’d undertaken some Bible studies and although she could see in the Scriptures that it was Jesus Christ alone who died for her sins, she told us she now doubted His current existence.  Which meant that she now doubted in His resurrection to life and that He now sits in heaven today as God and Man.  Lee and her brother were picked up on the side of the road by a Christian minister after a car break-down.

This man asked us if we could make arrangements to visit these two as they lived just a couple of streets away from our church.  We used these incidents in her life as examples of the reality of Christ coming to her in practical ways; that is – she was introduced to Him in jail through Scripture studies, a church minister came along and gave them some needed assistance, and now here we were from a church just around the corner from them, offering help.  Lee said she could see that, “maybe there’s something in what you say, but……”  I learned to be on the alert for, “but” from people.  Usually that little word meant our time together would be limited.  It was in this case.

Sixty-three year old Alan was the same.  I was doing a foundational Bible study with two invalid sisters one day when he called to visit them.  See my post: I hope not.  These two women began sharing the spiritual and mental changes that Christ was bringing about in their lives and he just sat there as though they were talking to someone else.  I said to Alan that it was the Lord speaking to him through those women and I asked him for a response.  He threw out doubts and smokescreens galore about Jesus Christ and the women quickly agreed when I told him I did not believe a word he was saying.

He smiled at that challenge and then said he had to go.  A gospel messenger knows there are no coincidences in life.  Whether he knew it or believed it or not, that’s what I told Alan.  I asked him to wait until he heard God’s message for him.  Once again I knew our time together would be limited, because of the “but” that Alan expressed before objecting to each answer given to his questions.  Alan had already been close to entering eternity, having had a serious stroke some months earlier.  His health was still poor with other sicknesses included, and he had a very unhappy marriage.  Christ was his Solution to all, but he sought for another way.

Mr Harlan had a mini hell going on in his being too.  He’d lived all sixty-nine years of his life with his parents.  When both parents died within a few weeks of each other, his life fell apart.  When I first met him one year earlier life was fine for him.  He spoke about his aging parents at the time of that visit and I spoke about Jesus Christ and His purpose for coming to earth.  I mentioned also that Christ will prepare us for death if we place our trust in Him as Saviour and Lord and the giver of eternal life.  Mr Harlan didn’t dispute any part of my gospel message, but he didn’t really see it as applicable to him either.

Twelve months later all had changed.  I was looking into the eyes of a broken old man who had not long come home from a psychiatric hospital.  Soon after the death of his parents, the reality of it all struck him so deeply that he had a nervous breakdown.  As I stood at his door on that second visit, I retold Mr Harlan the message of Christ.  He heard me say that there is a Father in heaven who waits to reveal Himself to him through His Son and all he had to do was choose to believe and ask for the Son to enter his life.  This man had spent all his life trusting in his parents for his well-being, and now he was most reluctant to transfer that same trust to God, that day Psalm 118:8.

One day I spoke with an old lady who told me she was a regular church-goer.  Being told this didn’t really mean all that much to me, because I’d long since learned that such a practice did not necessarily mean one was acquainted with the Lord Jesus Christ.  In fact, this lady was typical of those who certainly were not acquainted.  After I preached the gospel to her, she said, “I would like to believe, but…..”  When I mentioned that belief and unbelief were the only two choices she had, she nodded, again with a, “Yes, but…..”  I asked her if there was anything between those two choices and she just smiled.

I knew the church that she attended.  It was a Uniting church made up of two or three church denominations that were dying .  The unity did not come about as a result of any love for Christ and a desire to hold on uncompromisingly to biblical truth like those  denominations had held to in former days.  It was the opposite of that.  Compromise was the name of the game and that lady was a product of it.  She was proud to tell me that her church centennial was but a few days away from being celebrated.  It is a beautiful old building, but as a church its doors are closed today.  They do reopen on some Saturdays, but only for weddings. 

Another lady from that same church was also a product of its biblical compromise and unbelief.  She’d been “going to church” all her life she told me.  In her mid sixties she said she’d heard the gospel of Christ many times from early childhood days, but then went on to say, “I sort of don’t believe.”  Given that she was a church-goer, I interpreted her “sort of” as, “maybe there’s another way to heaven” so I asked her if that is what she thought.  Like many of her kind, this lady was not comfortable sitting on the fence, but equally, she was not comfortable with making the decision to accept or reject Christ either.

Then she said that her husband, “is always knocking the gospel, so I don’t know what to think.”  She had a most unhappy demeanour and I couldn’t help but think that perhaps part of the reason for that was because over many years she had allowed everybody else’s opinions and thoughts to crush her own - not only with the gospel of Christ, but in other areas.  Mind control is a dreadful thing to suffer under, whether it be in cult-type churches, Christ-denying churches, the political arena, the workplace, or under the roof with those one daily lives with in the family home.  Her mini hell was created as a result of her habit of indecision.

Mrs Earl was another church-goer controlled by others.  One was her angry, heavy drinking husband, the other was her thirty-five year old drug addicted daughter.  She came from a suburb many miles from our church but she phoned us one day for help.  There were demonic problems within the home and she was advised by her minister to talk with us because, “we don’t do that kind of thing (deliverance ministry) here.”  Her church leadership did not out-rightly deny demonic realities and the Christian’s mandate to deal with them in Jesus’ name, but neither did they embrace them.  It seems they sat on the fence in this regard.

In the end, Mrs Earl, being a product of her church, sat on the fence as well.  Three times she phoned in tears expressing a desperate need, but apart from some personal guidance given to her over the telephone we were not able to help beyond that.  Basically, she came up with a “but” for each step we suggested she and her daughter take, before any real ministry take place.  I couldn’t help but think that in her case, as well as that of her church leadership that they believed there was another way.  Or perhaps they really believed that wrong was right, bad was good and hell was heaven.  “………He is a double minded man, unstable in all his ways.”  James 1:8;  “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.”  James 4:8.         

© 2010, Roger Williams. All rights reserved.