They Come To Meet Jesus But Meet Lazarus Instead

In recent days I’ve been giving thought to the counsel of Smith Wigglesworth, given to a class of Bible students in 1927, warning them that if they ever turned from the word of God “to some other place ” they could not believe the truth after that.  He said, “The spirit of this age is to get you to believe a lie.  If you believe a lie, you cannot believe the truth.  When once you are seasoned with a lie against the word of God, He sends you strong delusion that you shall believe the lie.  Who does? God does. God is gracious over His Word.  His word is from everlasting; His word is true.”

Speaking prophetically under the anointing of the Holy Spirit at the time, it is very certain that if Wigglesworth were alive today he would not at all be surprised at the state of what the institutional church system has become.  The Lord has sent such strong delusion to the people in this system all around the world.  They are blinded to the reality that it is seasoned with so many lies against the word of God that it’s easier to spot them than it is any truth.  I know a married couple who grew up in a Bible-based church accepting all the foundational doctrines of Christianity.  They taught those same foundational doctrines to new Christians.

Long years later they’re now part of a church that teaches there’s no need for a Savior /Redeemer because Adam and Eve, Original Sin are fictional stories, “which the church has taught as a fact.”  Friends of the couple asked me to pray and intercede for them but I declined the request.  Why?  Because they have turned from the word of God “to some other place.” They once knew the truth and it is by choice that they now sit under a leader in a church seasoned with lies.  I have loads of people on my prayer list, many of them back-slidden and sinful, but they have not denied those foundational doctrines of Christianity – that’s the difference.

The Holy Spirit revealed to a local church that it was not biblical to have a woman as the pastor and head over men in the church 1 Timothy 2:11-14. It was explained to the church that this Scripture takes us back to God’s created order the headship roles that were reversed in the Garden of Eden.  Many in the church ignored that Scripture saying that all we were doing was attacking women.  Not true.  We were standing for the honor and preservation of God’s truths, principles and practices when assembled together as a church.  Whilst they won’t be listed here, every objection imaginable came from both the men and women in that fellowship.

The church was informed that they cannot pick and choose truth because truth is One just as an apple or a loaf of bread is one.  You can cut from them and hide the evidence so as to make them look like one but they are not.  The reality is, not one jot or tittle can we ignore Matthew 5:18. In addition the church was informed that to the degree this truth is ignored do we relinquish our spiritual authority and power. One can nod one’s head as much as he/she likes about us not fighting flesh and blood but principalities and powers etc Ephesians 6:12, believing we’re still victors, but the truth is there’s no victory over those things, they walk all over us – God will see to it that they do 2 Thessalonians 2:11.

None of us can stand up and declare Jesus Christ is Lord if we are going to willfully reject His order.  God will not honor our words.  That particular fellowship gave the appearance of standing up for truth but that’s all it turned out to be – an appearance. They became seasoned with lies, lost their spiritual authority and power and today have joined the ranks of the institutional church system; ruled by nice, religious people but powerless to stand up for Jesus as soldiers of the cross. It’s sad to hear such Christians talking about taking up the whole armor of God for the spiritual battle.  There is no battle.  They’re down and out – knocked out cold but they’re unable to admit it.

It was around forty years ago when I first read or heard of church denominations deciding to join together. “Church unity” was the phrase being used in the news. Along with my friends at that time I knew nothing about Christianity but I can recall some of us saying, “It’s about time all those churches started getting together. They all believe in the same God, why so many denominations in the first place?” Little did I know that church unity had nothing to do with their joining together in truth, but rather their members were dying off.  Younger people were not being attracted to churches so the joining together had all to do with survival as a group of people.

So why the non-attraction for younger people?  The old people will say it’s because they are not interested in God or the Bible.  Again, that’s not strictly true.  What most of them are not interested in is associating themselves with a bunch of dead people – spiritually dead people. They may not identify the problem as one of spiritual death but they know when there’s no life, no vitality, no enthusiasm or passion emanating from a bunch of church people.  They come to meet Jesus but meet Lazarus instead; on his feet, yes, but still bound in his grave clothes.  Turn from the word of God “to some other place” and spiritual death is the result, always.

Many of these same types of Christians, seasoned with lies against the word of God, are quick to (privately) tut-tut gay and lesbian church leadership and same-sex marriage in the church.  However, they are totally oblivious to the reality that it is people just like themselves who are allowing it to happen.  They would be horrified with that suggestion, but the only difference is they have not as yet faced the challenge of this in their fellowship.  They will be faced with it and when they are, they will cave in just as they have to allowing women pastors to usurp God’s order in the church.  Where God sends one strong delusion it can be guaranteed that in time He will send another.

Proverbs 23:23 exhorts us to, “Buy the truth, and do not sell it, also wisdom and instruction and understanding.”  Until I turned to the Lord Jesus Christ I didn’t have an ounce of wisdom in my being.  Foolishness is the opposite of wisdom and given that I had engaged in plenty of that I asked the Lord in prayer very early in the piece to teach me His ways and grant me wisdom.  He showed me that there can be no wisdom without a love for truth.  Love for truth is the only safety factor a Christian has and yet it is the lack of love for truth that has caused truth to be devalued in those places.  Their leaders stood in their pulpits, declaring, “The truth will set you free, Amen?” yet when tested, they did not buy it they simply used it.

The first church I attended as a new Christian had a few old people among them, but there was only one wise old man who stood out from the rest.  In conversations with him he took a genuine, personal interest in our welfare and always encouraged my wife and I to look to the Lord in prayer and to “stay in the Scriptures.”  In his eighties, his countenance was radiant.  Whilst the other old people were nice and polite they were not the same as him and it was quite some time later after the old man died before I fully grasped the difference between him and his peers.  He had a love for the Lord and for truth and never stopped talking about them. The others never got started talking about them.

The most common conversations with the rest of them who took the time to talk found us listening to their gripes, aches, pains and sicknesses or their concerns, fears and worries for themselves and their families.  In other words, plenty of complaints came out of their mouths over those years, but no wisdom.  Why no wisdom? Well, they never spoke about truth so one can only assume they didn’t buy it.  They used it to prop themselves up and look good in the gatherings, but their actions showed that they had turned “to some other place.”  It’s not difficult to fool each other that we are the real deal in our church gatherings, but that’s where it stops.

Having shown me that there can be no wisdom unless there is love for truth, the Lord also showed me that I can only learn truth by coming under instruction.  In other words, the Lord wants disciples in His church, not do-gooders.  Do-gooders hate discipleship.  They don’t want anything to do with discipline; they won’t have a bar of it. Any hint of one disciplining him/herself to the word of God only and out come the labels, “legalist” “narrow-minded” “fundamentalist.”  On the other hand, it needs to be said that labels such as “rebel” “individualist” “lone ranger” are stuck on disciples of Christ who refuse to become disciples of religious men seasoned with lies against the word of God.

The spirit of this age that Wigglesworth was referring to, is known in the Scriptures as “the god of this age (world)” 2 Corinthians 4:4.  In this world, he has been given by God the legal right to blind the minds of all who refuse to believe the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Now that is a most serious judgment for any human being.  But how much more serious is it for those who say they believe the gospel and yet refuse to acknowledge the written instructions on how to live it out at both the individual and corporate level?  They do indeed become seasoned with lies, but again, it’s not the god of this age who brings strong delusion, it is the God of the Church!

And guess what else happens to these church people?  So strong does that delusion from God come upon them that they are unable to accept as truth any word written about them in this post.  Most would never read it anyhow, but those who do will say that there’s only one person deluded, and that’s not them!  What to do then?  Take the advice of my wise old friend.  Look to the Lord in prayer and “stay in the Scriptures.” Great persecution is just around the corner for the true church, and the greatest will come from those seasoned with lies against the word of God and who have turned from it “to some other place.” “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it.” Matthew 7:13.