The Harlot Church System, Part 1
5 September 2014
Right after I finished reading The Crucified Ones by Charles E. Newbold, I started reading his book The Harlot Church System.
Just as when I was reading The Crucified Ones, I used a LOT of colored pencil to mark sentences and paragraphs which spoke to my heart. And as with The Crucified Ones, I want to share with you these profound and amazing excerpts.
However, compared to that previous book, when I highlighted The Harlot Church System, I ended up with more than TWICE as much material! It took four articles to present all the extracts from The Crucified Ones. For this book, there is going to be a total of NINE articles, each one longer than any of those previous four.
I've already shared the entire eighth chapter of The Harlot Church System in two previous article: THE Ministry, Part 1 and THE Ministry, Part 2. Even if you want to read the extracts from The Harlot Church System in order, I still want to encourage you to read my introduction to this book at the beginning of the THE Ministry, Part 1 article.
In addition, one article in this series of nine will share the entire text of chapter 17 — The Deep Things of Satan — including an extensive footnote that is almost as long as the chapter itself! The remaining six articles will present excerpts from the other 16 chapters of the book.
As was the case when I posted the two articles of excerpts from chapter 8, entire sentences highlighted in this color are MY emphasis — thoughts which struck me as especially important. All other emphasis is the author’s, or implied by the author.
Although I will be presenting a LOT of material in these nine articles, what I will have shared will still be less than half of the entire 168-page book — so you REALLY need to buy your own copy and read the whole thing!
If the flow of thought from paragraph to paragraph feels disjointed at times, that’s because it is! Except for the three articles in which I share entire chapters, I’ve taken paragraphs which were spread throughout each chapter, so there can be large chunks of text missing in between the paragraphs I’ve included here. I’ve also incorporated the subheadings within each chapter to make it easier to read, and to facilitate referring to particular sections.
Hopefully what you read in these nine articles will whet your appetite and make you hungry enough to get your own copy and read the WHOLE thing!
Even though this book is not available directly from Amazon.com, you can still buy it from third-party vendors on Amazon’s Web site by following the link above or by clicking on the book cover. The Harlot Church System is also available as a Kindle e-book for only 99¢ — at that price you can’t afford NOT to get it!
Chapter 1 — Zion and Babylon Compared
Zion is a symbolic place in the spirit where Jesus is the only thing there is. He alone takes preeminence.... Symbolically, Babylon is all that the carnal (fleshly) mind devises in the exaltation of Self — the preeminence of Self over God. It is a place in us where we think we are IT. We exalt our imaginations and every high thing above the knowledge of God (2 Corinthians 10:5). Both Zion and Babylon were historical places, yet the scriptures also speak of them as spiritual states of being.
In this book spiritual Babylon refers to the institutionalized, organized, religious church systems which I contend are products of the carnal mind. Please read on to see what I mean by this. The word church and the pronoun it when used in italics in this book refers to this Thing we call church. When it is not in italics, I am referring to buildings that have been dedicated to the worship of a deity, or I am directly quoting other sources.
Spirit and Flesh
In the context of this book, the difference between the body of Christ and this Thing we call church is that difference between Spirit and flesh — what is of the Spirit of God and what is of our old man nature of flesh and sin, even the carnal mind. Zion represents the Spirit; Babylon represents the flesh.
The flesh loves Self. Self with the capital “S” is the term I use throughout this book to refer to that the self-centered, self-indulging, self-absorbed, self-willed, self-serving nature of fallen flesh.
The Harlot of Self
The harlot, broadly defined, is anything for Self. I refer to these Things we call church as the harlot church system because they have been created out of our fleshly minds and desires for Self. Churches as we experience them today have no basis in scripture. They are icons of self-worship. Moreover, they are idolatrous, deceptive, and dangerous.
A Troubling Message
I will hit hard on the idolatry of the church system as we know it and experience it today. If you are not prepared to hear this message by the Spirit, you will no doubt take serious offense to it. The message of this book will be troubling to many of you who are victims of the church system, but will be most troubling to those of you who depend upon the church system for your livelihood and who find your significance, identity, validation, recognition, power, and security in it.
If you choose to continue reading this book, it will take you where you may think you do not want to go. You will journey beyond the façade of that Thing we call church and see how it is an invention of flesh. You will discover the demons that empower it.
Zion and Babylon
Zion refers to the true body of Christ, the bride, the ekklesia; Babylon refers to the false church system of men’s traditions and religions. (Ekklesia is the Greek word in the New Testament which has been mis-translated “church” in most English versions, but it literally means ”called-out-ones”.)
Zion is a people — the people of God; Babylon is a Thing — church institutions and systems.
Zion is a living organism; Babylon is characterized by organizations, institutions, and systems.
Zion consists of people who have been born into it; Babylon consists of people who have joined it or been voted into it.
Zion is a people who are called by the name of Jesus; Babylon is a people who are called by many different names that represent divisions within this Babylonian church system.
Zion is Jesus-centered; Babylon is self-centered.
Zion is living by the Spirit; Babylon is living after the flesh.
Zion is heavenly; Babylon is earthly.
Zion is the Kingdom of God; Babylon is the kingdoms of men.
Zion has Jesus Christ as her head; Babylon has elected or appointed men as their heads.
Zion is a Spirit-led people; Babylon is led by rules and regulations of man’s own making.
Zion is Spirit-sensitive; Babylon is man-pleasing.
Zion is obedience to the Holy Spirit; Babylon is busy church work.
Zion has its authority in the Word of God; Babylon places its authority in man-made doctrines.
Zion is one body in Christ Jesus as Lord; Babylon is sectarian and divisive, consisting of many divisions of people.
Zion worships in spirit and in truth; Babylon programs praise.
Zion preaches Christ and Him crucified; Babylon proclaims denominations, doctrines, heritage, traditions, creeds, personal views and opinions.
Zion is the priesthood of all believers; Babylon is the clergy system. The clergy are those who want to make a difference between themselves and others.
Zion answers to God as the highest authority; Babylon answers to men and their institutions as the authority.
Zion calls forth revelation; Babylon depends upon imagination.
Zion conforms people into the image of Jesus; Babylon conforms people into its own image.
Zion lays down its life; Babylon preserves and protects itself.
Zion waits upon God to raise up what God wants in His timing; Babylon schemes, organizes, and promotes to execute its own plan in its own way and time.
Zion seeks the Lord with a whole heart to be possessed by Him; Babylon goes after things and people to possess them.
Zion longs to be gathered into Jesus; Babylon passionately seeks to gather people unto itself.
Deny Self
We are either the bride or we are living the life of the harlot. Self-centered living is making ourselves out to be god; therefore, it is idolatry. I will show in a subsequent chapter that idolatry is spiritual harlotry. I will also show how this Thing we call church is an idolatrous extension of ourselves — thus, spiritual harlotry.
We become spiritual prostitutes when we create something and give our hearts to it rather than to the Lord Jesus Christ. That is what men have done with this Thing we call church. They have made church a substitute for Jesus. Many within these harlot church systems are true believers who love the Lord, but are uninformed and deceived. They have unintentionally given their hearts to these Things we call church. God loves us all but hates our idolatries.
Judge the words in this book for yourself and judge yourself by these words. Open your heart to the Holy Spirit that He might instruct you and point you to Jesus. I hope to reveal Father-God’s heart to you that your heart may be revealed to you; that you may dare face your idolatries, cleanse His temple of whom you and I are, and return to the God of your salvation. The idolatry revealed in this book is not about “them” but about each of us.
Chapter 2 — Show the House to the House
With much fervor Brother Leonard, the visiting preacher... stepped back from the podium, pointed an accusatory finger at his unsuspecting victims in the congregation, and said, “The problem we have in society today, and especially in the church, is people don’t abide. They go from church to church and never make a commitment to the church or to the pastor.”
Did he actually believe that abiding in that system we call church is what it means to abide in Jesus? (John 15:1-10) Did he believe that committing to a church or the pastor is the same as committing to Jesus? His conclusion was an outrageous misrepresentation of scripture... This deception has been passed through the generations of Christians since at least the third century A.D. Those who perpetuate this lie are equally victims of it. This deception is so deep and cruel that we have believed it as the truth. We minister death with this deception, thinking we are offering life.
The Lie
This is the lie: We have been made to believe that this Thing we call church is of God and that our membership and participation in it is essential to our Christian walk when in fact it is an idolatrous substitute for Jesus and quite often a hindrance to our walk with Him.
This Thing we call church, as we have come to experience it, is an idolatrous extension of our own Selves. Though it exists as an entity unto itself, we are in it and it is in us. It is an icon of self-worship that has grown out of the traditions of men and has no basis in scripture. We proclaim that this Thing we call church is the Kingdom of God when in fact it has nothing to do with the Kingdom of God. Rather, it is the modern-day Babylonian captivity of the elect of God.
We have confused our relationship with Christ by fusing it with this Thing we call church. We are led to believe that when we are in a proper relationship with it we are in a proper relationship with Christ; that we have to be a member of a church to be saved or to be a good Christian; that serving it is serving Christ; that loving it is loving Christ; that tithing to it is tithing to Christ.
In many instances this Thing we call church is like a tent we have made to spread over the moves and revelations of God in order to preserve them, touch them, contain them, maintain them, manipulate them, own and control other people in them, and use the people and the system for our sordid, fleshly gain. We find comfort in the restrictions these church walls set for us. We can hide in them and feel good in them. We widen these tent pegs just enough to let others in who want to walk, talk, and dress as we do.
The word church, as we use it, speaks of an illegal, unholy mystical union which embodies buildings, institutions, denominations, and people. These have been so fused and confused with each other that they perpetuate the dangerous lie that this Thing we call church (buildings, institutions, denominations, and the people associated with them) is Christ’s assembly of called-out-ones. This Thing we call church looks good in its outward appearance, but is often inwardly controlled by men and women ambitiously, often unknowingly, seeking something for themselves.
Substitute For Jesus
When we preach church, as we craftily do, we thereby preach another gospel, a false gospel. We perpetuate the lie. We are often zealous to evangelize people into our churches; yet, we are uncomfortable calling them to deny themselves and take up their crosses to follow Jesus. Such a command by Jesus is a foreign concept to most Christians today. If we happen to lead someone to Christ, we immediately impose church membership upon them, especially hoping that they will join “our” church.
If it were true that going to church is synonymous with coming to Jesus, then we would have to ask: Which Jesus is it? Is it the Baptist Jesus? The Church of Christ Jesus? The Methodist Jesus? The Presbyterian Jesus? The Roman Catholic Jesus? The Orthodox Jesus? The Protestant Jesus? The Charismatic or Pentecostal Jesus? The Independent Jesus? There are so many to choose from. Unchurched people look at this mix of churches they are invited to join and wonder why anyone would want to be a part of that.
We give our hearts to these Things we call church rather than to the Lord Jesus Christ. They are enemies of God because they stand in place — in substitution — to what is holy, to what is His.
Chapter 3 — Church: The Thing
How did this Thing we call church evolve? Believers in the New Testament did not have such baggage. At first they were simply called the followers of the way. They gathered spontaneously in the temple and in some synagogues for a period of time. Mostly, however, they met in private homes and went from house to house. They were drawn together by the presence of the Lord in their midst.
Christians did not have church buildings until Constantine the Great, Emperor of Rome from 306 to 337 A.D., embraced Christianity. His endorsement of the faith created a free climate for men to erect buildings “to the glory of their God.” The enchantment with church buildings throughout the centuries has contributed to the institutionalization of the church system as we now know it.
The Etymology of the Word “Church”
With the inclination toward the construction of buildings for the worship of God, it is little wonder that the translators of the King James Version of the Bible chose to translate the Greek word ekklesia by using the English word “church.” A deeper look at the etymology of the word “church” is quite revealing.
Moving backwards into time, the word “church” was derived from the Old English word cirice which is related to the Norwegian / Scandinavian word kirkja. These were derived from the Germanic word kirka; which was derived from the late Greek word Kyrite; which was derived from the Greek word kyrios which means “ruler, lord, master.” In the Greek, Kyriake oikia means “lord’s house.” Thus, the word church came to mean “a building set apart or consecrated for public worship.”
Though the word “church” does not have its root in the Greek term ekklesia, it is used to translate ekklesia. Ekklesia is the formation of two Greek words: ek which means “out of” and kaleo which means “to call.” Combined, the word literally means “to call out of.” Ekklesia was commonly used among the Greeks in reference to a body of citizens who “gathered” to discuss the affairs of state. A correct and quite appropriate translation of ekklesia is “called-out-ones” although there are times when the context demands that “assembly” or “gathering-of-called-out-ones” be used. The word has to do with a people who are called-out to be gathered together.
The word church... has been so adulterated that we ought never to use it when we are referring to the body of Christ. It is appropriate to use the word “church” when we are actually talking about a building but not when we are talking about the body of Christ. What we call church is a Thing. The ekklesia is a people.
The Thing
We organize this Thing. We name it, incorporate it, elect officers to it, open bank accounts in its name, and train and hire staff to run it. We take up money for it. We devise campaigns to recruit more people to join it. We track attendance to it. We love it, get mad at it, resign from it, and leave it. If we are particularly fond of it, we make up brochures and buy ads to market it.
For the Sake of IT
Soon after a church is started, it nearly always takes on an existence of its own and begins to exist for its own sake. The people in it exist to serve it rather than it existing to serve the people. Those dedicated to keeping the church going expect their members to attend it, support it, and serve it. They plan various programs that fit the model of what they think a full service church ought to look like.
Provoking Guilt
If we do not provide the expected support for the Thing and its programs, whether we want to or not, whether we are called to serve in a certain capacity or not, we are made to feel guilty. If the services or programs were really meeting people’s needs, people would be more likely to support them. A lack of support may be a clear indication that the event no longer meets a need worth supporting.
When we are asked by leadership in the church to make a commitment to the church, we are actually being asked to make a commitment to the Thing. Our loyalty is measured by how well we serve this Thing. We are thought to be slothful Christians if we do not support it; and if we do not even attend a local church, we are assumed to be backsliders.
What if you and I have different expectations about how a church should work? We will have conflict. There will always be conflict in the church because there will always be expectations in conflict. These are man’s expectations, not God’s.
Addicted to the Thing
We bond with that Thing we call church and thereby get in bondage to it. We join it and it somehow takes possession of us. We do, in fact, get addicted to it.
Many who dare to leave one church go down the street hoping for a better “spiritual climate” only to find the same old harlot in a brand new dress. Only the rules are slightly different. They go from church to church looking for that which is genuine only to find more phony religious façades; they go looking for Spirit and truth only to find more flesh and hypocrisy. Yet, they continue their search, because they are addicted to it. They bob up and down on their wooden horses unable to dismount because of the velocity of that carousel — the church system that perpetually spins round and round, going nowhere.
A few discerning persons are able to break away from the bondage of church, but often leave damaged and resentful. Some of these attend anonymous groups, seeking recovery from the religious abuses inflicted upon them by these religious systems of men’s traditions.
Church, as we have come to experience it, permeates every aspect of our society. It is the only thing we have seen and known that supposedly represents Christ. In going after it, just as did Israel of old, we have played the harlot and provoked the Lord to jealousy.
I hope you are praying for the Holy Spirit to lift the veil from over your eyes to see how church is a counterfeit system, to see how we have made a Thing out of who we are in Christ and gone after it instead of Jesus.
To be continued:
The Harlot Church System, Part 2
6 September 2014
This is the second in a six-part series of articles presenting excerpts from Charles E. Newbold’s book The Harlot Church System, taken from chapters 4 and 5.
In this book, the author’s thoughts and arguments build from one chapter to the next. Therefore, if you have not read Part 1 yet, I strongly encourage you to do so now before you read today’s article. This is especially important because throughout the book, Mr. Newbold uses words like church, “it,” “Self” and “Thing,” with very precise and special meanings. So you will want to read his introduction in Chapter 1 of Part 1 very carefully.
As I shared previously, Entire sentences highlighted in this color are MY emphasis — thoughts which struck me as especially important. All other emphasis is the author’s, or implied by the author. If the flow of thought from paragraph to paragraph feels disjointed at times, that’s because it is! Except for the three articles in which I share entire chapters, I’ve taken paragraphs which were spread throughout each chapter, so there can be large chunks of text missing in between the paragraphs I’ve included here. That’s why you need to buy your own copy and read the whole thing!
Chapter 4 — Jealousy: Playing the Harlot
Most everyone in the small, rural church I was serving accepted the fact that I believed that speaking in tongues, divine healing, casting out demons, and all the gifts of the Holy Spirit were for today, even though the officialdom of that denomination disagreed. Nevertheless, I tried to make Jesus the only issue that mattered. Everyone was happy with that arrangement until the Holy Spirit spoke to my spirit requiring that I abolish the Sunday School.
“You’re messing with my mind, Lord,” I argued. “One doesn’t abolish Sunday School, especially as a pastor in this denomination. The Sunday School belongs to the elders. You should know that, Lord.” I dismissed the thought as reckless. I had plans to build up the Sunday School. Studies have shown that the existence of small groups such as the Sunday School class contribute to church growth, and at that stage in my understanding, I wanted to build up the church.
However, after being sternly directed to abolish the Sunday School for the third time, I knew I had to do something. I called the men of the church together and presented my dilemma to them. Most of them were willing to test it out to see what God might do. “After all,” many of them reasoned with me, “if it doesn’t prove profitable, we can always go back to having Sunday School.”
Not every one was willing to test it out, however. I did not know why God wanted me to take such action until I tried to negotiate the deal with the main person of influence in the church. Tears welled up in her eyes as she spoke with a broken, yet, certain voice, “You’re not going to take MY Sunday School away from me.” Then I knew what this was about. Sunday School was a golden calf to some of them and I had dared to touch it.
We want to be god, especially over our own lives. Though we are greater than the images we make, we still bow down and pay obeisance to them. We take such pride in our works. We allow them to control our lives, our emotions, and our relationships. We love them. We look at them, and our hearts swell with pride. They are idolatrous extensions of ourselves.
Idolatry: The Worship of Self
All idolatry is the worship of Self. It is an extension of ourselves: our adored opinions, speculations, plans, programs, and projects; it is the self-exalted work of our hands and the imaginations of our minds — all the things we do in our old man nature of flesh and sin that causes us to esteem ourselves more highly than we ought to. It is the attitude of the wicked stepmother in the story of Snow White who asks, “Magic mirror on the wall, who’s the fairest one of all?” fully expecting for the mirror to answer, “You are the fairest one of all.”
Idolatrous, fallen man is self-centered by nature. To be any different, we have to be transformed into a new creature. We need a new nature that gives us the desire to surrender Self for a higher good, namely, the life of Christ in us. Only Christ through His Spirit can implant that new nature within us.
Whatever appeals to Self is not of God. Self is in love with Self. It seeks its own. It is vain, prideful, arrogant, self-exalting, self-indulging, self-absorbed, power-hungry, and lustful. It strives for independence, self-reliance, and self-management. It uses and abuses others, if necessary, to achieve its own ambitions.
Because Self is centered upon itself, it is a black hole upon the space where it stands, forever suctioning itself inward as a vacuum. Self consumes itself, is self-destructive, and has death as its final reward. Self lives and dies for Self.
Idolatry: Self-Strength
The idolatry of Self is seen in our drivenness to accomplish things in our own strength. We see things to do, and we must do them. We are constantly distracted by the busyness we create for ourselves. Busyness is a distraction from intimacy with God. We would rather be doing something for God than spending time with Him. Yet, He did not create us to do for Him, but to be as He is that we might have fellowship with Him and with one another in Him.
We enslave ourselves to the works we require of ourselves. Moreover, we enslave others to our works when others allow us to do so. We adore our accomplishments. Consequently, we have even made idols out of our quiet time, Bible study, intercessory prayer, street witnessing, and other works that seem “good” to us. These are not wrong. They are wonderful when they are inspired by the Holy Spirit. They become idolatrous to us when we use them to make ourselves feel like we have done something for God.
The worship of other gods is idolatry, and idolatry is playing the harlot so far as God is concerned. God also calls it fornication and adultery. The King James version of the Bible translates it “a whoring.” This radical language portrays the heart of God in the matter of idolatry. It should cause us to fall on our faces, quickly repent of our idolatries, and turn to Him with a pure, unadulterated heart.
Chapter 5 — Our High Places
Benny asked me, “Do you know how you can tell when something is an idol in your life?” “No.” I waited for his reply. I knew it would be good. His grin widened. His words were slow but short. “By how big a fight you put up when it’s taken from you.” Many of the things we fight over are likely idols in our lives. We get angry when something we adore is taken from us or when we fear that it might be taken from us.... Our high places are those things we cherish above our consecration to God.
This Thing we call church can be one such extension of ourselves. It is one of those things we go after in our hearts because we love it so. That is to say, we love the works of our hands and the imaginations of our hearts that are expressed in that Thing we call church. We are in church because church is in us. It is an extension of us. Therefore, we are serving ourselves when we serve it.
“Ah, come on,” you say. “You can’t be serious. Aren’t you being too hard and critical of the church? I love my church. I have life-long relationships in my church. We have a great choir, good preaching, souls are saved, the Holy Spirit often moves in our services. The ritual and symbols make me feel close to God. How do you account for the fact that God shows up in church? How can you call church evil?”
Anointing Does Not Imply Endorsement
Good Christian people go to church. In fact, the stronger they are in their faith, the more likely they are to go to church. They identify “going to church” with their faith. Their faithfulness to church is often the yardstick for measuring their faithfulness to Christ. After all, the churches even belong to Christians, at least in name and perception. God’s presence is manifested in some of these churches on occasions, but none of this means that these Things we call church have been born of the Spirit. They are still idolatrous extensions of Self.
The Holy Spirit has often moved upon His people to save, heal, and deliver them throughout the history of the institutionalized church system. The Protestant Reformation, the Great Awakenings of the 1800’s, and the Pentecostal Revival of the 1900’s are major historical examples of how God sought to deliver His people out of an old order to bring them into a new order.
A few churches have experienced what they call renewal. God is filling the lamps of those willing to be prepared with enough oil to go the distance when that last trumpet sounds. It would be a tragic mistake, however, to take God’s anointing upon His people as an endorsement of their idols. If the Holy Spirit is moving in your church, He is not present to bless your idolatries, but to prepare a people unto Himself. God cares for His people who happen to be in captivity to church. He is preparing His bride. He has to go into these illegitimate places we call the church to prepare her so He can take her out.
The High Place of Church
That which we call church today is an idolatrous system of men’s traditions which is spiritual harlotry. Church is what we do in addition to being who Christ has made us to be in Him. If what we call church can be incorporated, joined, named, referred to as it, and can be taken from us, then it is not the real thing. The true ekklesia is a corporate body of people who are born into it. They have taken only the name of Jesus because they are in a relationship with Him. That relationship cannot be taken from them.
If church is not the real thing, then it is a counterfeit. The problem with counterfeits is that they look deceptively like the real thing. Church, as a counterfeit, is presented and perceived as the real thing. Strangely enough, though, it does not even remotely look like the real thing. Nevertheless, we have been beguiled into believing that it is.
We want to stand out from the other churches in town. We craft our creeds to distinguish ourselves from them. The names we give ourselves reflect our separateness from them. We sometimes even brag about our differences. A young man at a gathering of men sported a T-shirt which was likely intended to communicate an innocent but catchy phrase; nonetheless, it revealed this separatist notion. It read, “Vineyard Church: Experience the difference.”
For many deceived hearts, their church is their plan of salvation, and we have about as many salvation plans as we have churches. We stress the necessity of church membership and regular attendance to church and thereby communicate the subtle message that we are saved by these Things. We are considered unscriptural if we do not go to church.
Strongholds of the Mind
These idolatries of Self are strongholds of the mind. A spiritual stronghold is the preoccupation with an object, a person, or an institution; with anger or fear; with a fetish, an addiction, or a sin. A spiritual stronghold is anything that fascinates us, dominates our minds, and causes us to behave obsessively and compulsively. These are things that rule over us. We seem powerless to do anything about them. Yet, we cannot deny that these things are harmful to us or others.
A spiritual stronghold can also be the grid through which we see things. Church is one such stronghold of the mind. We have been brainwashed into believing that church as we know and practice it is what we ought to do. We have never known anything other than church as we practice it. So, when I say church is an idol and a stronghold in your mind, you may have a difficult time believing it. You cannot see it. Even if you see it, you have a hard time accepting it because of your programmed mind-set. Once you see the deception, however, receive the truth, and begin to walk in that light, you find your mind changing. The stronghold is being torn down.
Taking the bride of Christ out of church is not an easy matter, because church is a stronghold in her mind. God has to take church out of us, as well as take us out of it. Strange language is it not? For while God is trying to take us out of church, we are trying to get people into it. If we try to leave the stronghold of church before it has been taken out of us, we will simply return to it.
Empowering Our High Places
We empower the idolatry of church when we attend its services. We empower the idolatry of church when we contribute to it. We empower the idolatry of church when we insist upon using the term church in reference to the body of Christ. We empower the idolatry of church when we ask one another where we go to church. We empower the idolatry of church when we measure other people’s spirituality by where they go to church.
The Holy Spirit may lead a mature, liberated believer to attend a church and perhaps contribute to it for a purpose known only to God and that believer. If, however, that believer becomes joined in his heart to that system, once again lifting it up, he has returned to the idolatry and spiritual harlotry of it. He is deceived. One who feels called of God to stay in or return to one of those harlot church system situations has to be honest with himself regarding his true motive lest he say, “God told me to” in order to justify the harlot desires of his heart.
Rooting Out the Idolatry
We must understand that our salvation does not depend upon meeting in [non-institutional] home [church] groups anymore than belonging to church. Our salvation is in the Lord. We can make an idolatrous thing out of home groups just as easily as we can out of church. The problem is not in having a building or not, having regular meetings or not, having programs or not, or having structure or not. The problem has to do with what is in our hearts about those things.
It may be possible to have all of those things and not become joined to them, though I doubt it. Sooner or later, without realizing it, we make a Thing of them and begin go after the Thing rather than the Lord. That is how our harlot hearts work. For, after all, those things came out of our hearts. I think it is most unlikely that we can organize ourselves as a group of believers with a building, a name, a bank account, belief system, and such without those things sooner or later becoming a source of pride in us as idolatrous extensions of our fleshly need to exalt Self.
I find that there is a mix in many churches. There is both flesh and Spirit because, until now, God has responded to His people wherever they call upon His name. He responds in spite of the fact that we have made these Things idols in our lives. He responds to the Holy Spirit and His nature within us. Nevertheless, He despises our flesh and our idolatries.
If you are in one of those Things we call church and are truly growing in the Lord, I would not want to say leave it physically, but abandon any idolatry of it. And beware! Phil Perry observed that “the more the Holy Spirit seems to be moving in one of those Things, the more deceiving it is. People see all that God is doing, and fail to see all the things that are wrong.” The “things that are wrong” are terribly wrong.
The snare is still set to trap you and engage you as a slave to the system for life. Many groups may have begun in the Spirit, but are continuing on in the flesh (Galatians 3:3). We are to be a people who are led by the Holy Spirit in all that we do, say, and are. We are to worship Him in spirit and truth. Anything, including church, that hinders us from doing so cannot be from God.
Other articles in this series:
Part One: Chapters 1-3
The Harlot Church System, Part 3
7 September 2014
This is the third in a six-part series of articles presenting excerpts from Charles E. Newbold’s book The Harlot Church System, taken from chapters 6 through 8.
In this book, the author’s thoughts and arguments build from one chapter to the next. Therefore, if you have not read the previous parts yet, I strongly encourage you to do so now before you read today’s article. This is especially important because throughout the book, Mr. Newbold uses words like church, “it,” “Self” and “Thing,” with very precise and special meanings. In order to understand what he means by these words, you will want to read his introduction in Chapter 1 of Part 1 very carefully.
As I shared previously, Entire sentences highlighted in this color are MY emphasis — thoughts which struck me as especially important. All other emphasis is the author’s, or implied by the author. If the flow of thought from paragraph to paragraph feels disjointed at times, that’s because it is! Except for the three articles in which I share entire chapters, I’ve taken paragraphs which were spread throughout each chapter, so there can be large chunks of text missing in between the paragraphs I’ve included here. That’s why you need to buy your own copy and read the whole thing!
Chapter 6 — Spiritual Babylon
Spiritual Babylon is primarily characterized by the idolatry of the carnal mind. Carnal is another word for the flesh. “Flesh” often refers to that fallen sin nature of man that is at enmity with God. The carnal mind is all thought, reason, logic, imagination, opinion, and speculation that is associated with the old Adamic mind of fallen man. We practice Babylon when we do things according to our notion rather than God’s.
The ability to make choices is not a sin. It is a gift from God. We sin when we make choices contrary to God’s will. We think we know better than God. Therefore, we exalt our knowledge, logic, reasoning, opinions, imaginations, speculations, and every other high-minded thing above the knowledge of God (2 Corinthians 10:5).
We ignore that part of God’s word that does not agree with our aspirations, expectations, theologies, and doctrines. We believe what we want to believe. We foolishly make ourselves out to be God. We even make up God to be the way we want Him to be. Thus, we are in rebellion against God just as Adam and Eve were.
Deception
Spiritual Babylon is characterized by deception. Satan deceived Eve. He implied that God had lied to them.... Eve believed Satan’s lies and immediately structured her own false reality around those lies. She incorporated those lies into her paradigm of reality. She constructed her own truth about God and sighed, “Oh, I see now!” Rather than having her eyes opened, however, she actually became spiritually blind.... Spiritual Babylon — all that the carnal mind devises — is the exaltation of what we construct as truth over what God says is truth.
Pride
Spiritual Babylon is characterized by pride. The prideful nature of Self thinks it knows. It thinks it knows better than God. It makes decisions all day, every day without consulting God, without even asking for wisdom. When smitten with pride, we are lifted up in who we think we are and what we think we know.
Churches and ministries are snared by the prideful temptation to gather larger numbers of people, build bigger buildings with steeples pointing to heaven, and make names for themselves, succumbing to the temptation to exalt Self. We name our churches, ministries, and institutions after ourselves. We dedicate stained-glass windows and pews in memory of men. We put our names on things for self-glory. What a contrast to those who follow Jesus!
Exalted Self
Spiritual Babylon is characterized by the exaltation of Self.... We have believed the lie of the serpent in the garden; we believe that we are our own god. How pathetic! We get so joined to this lie that it is perceived as truth and as something to be desired. We esteem ourselves over God.
Confusion
Spiritual Babylon is characterized by confusion. Babel means confusion.... Everything that is in the world continues to be marked by confusion.... Because Christians have refused to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit and have insisted upon building their own little towers to heaven, we have great diversity, disunity, and confusion among us. If we find ourselves in confusion, something other than or in addition to God is talking to us. The carnal mind is in operation and in opposition to the Spirit of God.
If we have the mind of Christ, we will be of one mind. If we are not of one mind, one or all of us are wallowing in the slime of the carnal mind. When we, as God’s people, however, seek His will, He will not cause us to be in confusion.
Imaginations
Spiritual Babylon is characterized by vain imaginations.... The ability to imagine, as with the ability to reason and make choices is a God-given virtue. Imaginations are not evil in and of themselves. They become evil when we glory in them and glory in those things we invent as the result of them. We can accomplish spectacular things with the work of our hands from the imaginations of our minds.
By the same powers of intellect and imagination, we can build mega-ministries, universities, cathedrals, and circle the globe with “Christian television” and “Christian programming.” We do what appears to be “mighty exploits for God” in the arm of self-strength. Nothing seems impossible to us if we can only imagine it.... But unless our works are inspired of God, they will not withstand the fire of God (1 Corinthians 3:11-15).
Accumulation of Knowledge
Knowledge is one of our Babylons, one of our high places, and we are the god we worship. Knowledge that leads to self-idolatry is the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Every year men and women graduate from seminaries by the thousands to fill pulpits around the world. There they will apply the higher-critical and near atheistic interpretations of the scriptures which they learned. They are spiritually bankrupted by such high-minded learning and are spiritually bankrupting their parishioners.
Paul would have the same fear today that he had for the Corinthians: “But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ” (2 Corinthians 11:3).
Sectarianism
Because this Thing we call church is of the flesh and is an aspect of spiritual Babylon, it is under this same curse of confusion and sectarianism. It is founded on sectarianism, even thrives on it. It promotes the disunity of the body of Christ. Its very existence depends upon how each church system differs one from the other. This is easily seen in how their names billboard their differences.
There can only be one foundation, Jesus Christ. If what we have is sectarian and contributes to the disunity of the body, it has been built upon the wrong foundation (1 Corinthians 3). Once we see this truth, we should have no need ever to name ourselves in order to identify what we are about.
Religion
Spiritual Babylon is characterized by religion. Even though masses of people seem to abhor religion of any kind, our sinful nature has a bent toward it because it is under the curse of condemnation and works.... Because the fallen man of flesh and sin is under the curse, he feels shame and wants to do something to make himself feel okay.
Even though many people may be truly redeemed of the Lord, they still bring their shame-based flesh tendencies over into the life of the church; they know of only one way to relate to God, that is, through religion. Religiously inclined people love religion. It does not matter from one end of the spectrum to the other how people choose to express themselves religiously. Religion is still religion.
They love the religious atmosphere of church because it gives them something to do to salve the guilt of condemnation. Many well-meaning Christians are unaware that they go to church and do religious things out of a false sense of duty. They go because it makes them feel good.
Religion is foreign to God. He requires no religious thing of us.... Religion stinks in the nostrils of God because it keeps us from having intimate relationships with Him. Our relationship is with our religion or with our church.
Flesh man deceives himself into thinking that if his religion makes him feel good, it must be good; therefore, he goes on doing his religious things. For such a one, church is often the religious thing he does. Yet, at the end of the day, after all is said and done, nothing is any different in him than it was before he engaged in that religious activity. He is just as empty on the inside as he was before. An abiding relationship with the Father through Jesus Christ is the only food that fills the soul to satisfaction.
Religious Systems
The religious systems that make up and govern that Thing we call church characterize spiritual Babylon. Just as Judah and Jerusalem were once in Babylonian captivity, so are God’s people today who are joined to church in their hearts.
The brick and slime are the sectarian doctrines, creeds, traditions, festivals and celebrations, liturgies, rituals, lectionaries, polities, heritages, and ecclesiastical calendars. These things stand in place of or alongside a personal, living, dynamic relationship with God. These things that govern church have little to do with the Kingdom of God.
Most of us were born and raised in spiritual Babylon and have never known anything else. We have never seen what the body of Christ looks like as a pure and holy bride. Even though we know that all is not well within what we call church, we think that it can be fixed or at least made better, but it cannot.
The Fall of Babylon
This Babylonian church will fall just as did historical Babylon.... God’s judgment upon historical Babylon foreshadows His judgment upon spiritual Babylon. When we go to Babylon, we are more than captives in Babylon. We run the risk of becoming Babylonians.
If we stay in Babylon and in our idolatries, we can expect God’s judgment to fall upon us. We can expect a time when God will empty the Babylonian systems of His children, leaving them childless and without husbands. Isaiah 47 has as much to do with God’s impending judgment upon us in spiritual Babylon as it did upon historical Babylon.
“Come out of her, My people, that you might not be partakers of her sins, and that you not receive of her plagues” (Revelation 18:4). Coming out of spiritual Babylon is not easy. We are comfortable there. The institutionalized church makes us feel safe, secure, and sufficient. It gives us status, position, reputation, security, and identity. We have become institutionalized within the institutions of our own making.
Chapter 7 — Institutionalized
Bob and Joy, Chris and Jena, Troy, Rachel, and Darlene felt connected to one another in the Spirit of Christ and began meeting in each other’s homes. They sang spiritual songs, shared revelations and teachings the Lord gave them. Bob did most of the teaching. He had the gift for it. They prayed for each other’s needs. People were free to come and go as they pleased. When word got out that God was showing up at their meetings, more people started coming.
They soon outgrew their living rooms and decided to rent a meeting room elsewhere. They took up a collection for the expenses. The crowd grew and they decided Bob needed to go full time as their pastor. The money was plentiful and in order to act responsibly, they decided to open a bank account. The bank required a name. So they named themselves. They continued to grow and decided to save rent expenses by buying their own piece of property. They elected elders to oversee the business they were growing into.
Several years later, they occupied their fine new building for which they were indebted. But something different had happened. People no longer felt as free to come and go as they pleased. They were expected to be there and expected to pay their tithes there. They had a budget now. They went from being a fellowship of believers to a church. The day they gave themselves a name, they became a Thing. They institutionalized themselves.
Its Own Existence
Institutions seem to take on existences of their own as if they had minds of their own. They often become greater than the sum of the individuals who instituted them. They can take over and consume everything and everyone around them. Yet, these institutions are devoid of life. They mesmerize, neutralize, ensnare, and enslave us. We become enmeshed with them and they become our idols.
It is not long before our altruistic institutions — orphanages, nursing homes, colleges, universities, seminaries, hospitals, cemeteries, church edifices, and “ministries” — become more important than the people for whom they were initiated. People exist to serve and preserve them rather than them existing to serve the people.
Their marketing programs may claim that they are meeting personal needs, and they may even be meeting personal needs, but the underlying motivation of their marketing schemes is often to increase their customer base in order to maintain or increase the institution.
Institutions often garner large sums of money from the people associated with them. People feel good about giving to them, but oftentimes come to realize that most of their time, energy, and resources are consumed merely to fuel the system. Altruism within the system is too frequently reduced to a token. Many TV ministries use altruistic appeals to tug on the emotions of potential donors, but end up using most of the money to keep their own ministry machine cranking.
Institutional Prison
It is strange enough that these institutions seem to take on an existence of their own. It is stranger yet how our institutions institutionalize us.... The longer we stay in our institutions, the more we become like them.
Brooks had “done time” in Shawshank prison for fifty years. He spent many of those years as the prison’s librarian. Then it happened. He was paroled. Good news? Not for Brooks. He went crazy. They released him, and days later he was found hanging from a noose of his own making.
The newer inmates didn’t understand. They sat around on a rock waiting for Red to explain. Red had already spent most of his life behind those walls himself. He knew the score.
Red answered philosophically. “He was institutionalized. Been in here fifty years. This is all he knows. In here, he’s an important man. He’s an educated man. But outside he’s nothing. Just a used-up con with arthritis in both hands. Probably couldn’t get a library card if he tried... These walls are funny. At first you hate them. Then you get used to them. Enough time passes, you get so you depend on them. That’s institutionalized.”
Becoming Like Them
Jesus told us that we were in Him and He was in us, just as He was in the Father and the Father was in Him. That was not my experience growing up in the institutional church. I felt more joined to it than to Christ. I was in it and it was in me. I was programmed to be one with it and to bring others into that illegal, unholy, mystical union with it. We are either in Christ or in the harlot.
Becoming Dependent Upon Them
We become dependent upon our institutions. We trust in them to take care of us. In a similar way, our institutions need us. The authorities within them need for us to be dependent upon them and the institution in order to perpetuate their existence and that of the institution.... Institutions may start out to do good, but by their very nature, almost always end up fostering dependency.
When we see the truth and attempt to speak against the abuses of institutionalization, we are viewed as the enemy. We are of no use to the institution. When we cease to be of use to the institution, the institution seeks ways to expel us.... Believers who dare to stand outside of this system are thought to have backslidden.
The Corporation Church
The corporation church, like corporations in the world, have distinct characteristics. They are typically human-initiated and governed, management-based, profit-oriented, success-driven, client-friendly, product-focused (programs and services), and image-conscious.
This corporation church mentality is a modern invention of the western world which is completely foreign to the New Testament expression of what it means to be the body of Christ.... Yet this worldly concept is promoted as the only way to do church.
Institutional Rules and Regulations
Many things have been started in the Spirit and founded upon solid scriptural principles, but were later institutionalized. The process is quite simple, natural, and common. Once the activity has begun, men tend to want to organize it. They wish to put some kind of structure around it in order to control it or at least maintain control within it.
Institutional structure is generally made of rigid rules and regulations. Once set in place, these rules are hard to change. They become the authority over even those who made them. Even the people who make them bind themselves to the rules and, thereby, elevate the rules as the higher authority.
Organization requires rules. Once we institute rules and regulations to govern our relationships with one another, we have almost always institutionalized ourselves. We restrict the Holy Spirit’s liberty to lead us. Control is one of the greatest enemies to our liberty in the Spirit. The rules men make to control church life are likely to become unhealthy boundaries. We often become slaves to these rules.
All too often, however, the rules of the institution supersede the word and Spirit of God.... Church rules confine the activities of the Holy Spirit.... We need to distinguish between God’s law which sets us free in Christ and church laws which impose restrictions upon us and bind us to men.
Chapter 8 — THE Ministry
Read the entire, uncut chapter in the previous articles THE Ministry, Part 1 and THE Ministry, Part 2.
n's Bits, where Brian gets to share at length about various topics stirring inside of him.
The Harlot Church System, Part 4
8 September 2014
This is the fourth in a six-part series of articles presenting excerpts from Charles E. Newbold’s book The Harlot Church System, taken from chapters 9 through 11.
In this book, the author’s thoughts and arguments build from one chapter to the next. Therefore, if you have not read the previous parts yet, I strongly encourage you to do so now before you read today’s article. This is especially important because throughout the book, Mr. Newbold uses words like church, “it,” “Self” and “Thing,” with very precise and special meanings. In order to understand what he means by these words, you will want to read his introduction in Chapter 1 of Part 1 very carefully.
As I shared previously, Entire sentences highlighted in this color are MY emphasis — thoughts which struck me as especially important. All other emphasis is the author’s, or implied by the author. If the flow of thought from paragraph to paragraph feels disjointed at times, that’s because it is! Except for the three articles in which I share entire chapters, I’ve taken paragraphs which were spread throughout each chapter, so there can be large chunks of text missing in between the paragraphs I’ve included here. That’s why you need to buy your own copy and read the whole thing!
Chapter 9 — The Nicolaitans
Consider these three virtues of God’s true ministers: they will say what God says, do what God says do, and be what God wants them to be. They cannot do otherwise.... it takes all three virtues to be a true minister of God: say what God says to say, do what God says to do, and be what God would have one to be.
Balaam was a false prophet. He was bound to say what God wanted him to say. He was forced even by his jackass (donkey) to do what God wanted, but it was not in him to be what God would have him to be. He was greedy and sought to increase himself in power, position, riches, and domination. He put Himself above the concerns of God and God’s people. We are much like Balaam when we ask God to bless our flesh rather than denying our flesh to obey God.
After twelve years behind the pulpit, I turned away from God and left the ministry. Following my conversion years later, God pinned me down in what I call my wilderness experience. It lasted for many years. God put me through His school of the Holy Spirit. This was a time of learning the word of God for myself, of receiving revelations, and of being purged of many spots and wrinkles.
The Rise of Bishops
This Nicolaitan spirit is deceptive and deadly. It is deeply entrenched in most of the men and women who have been trained and nurtured to minister in the church system. Nicolaitan personalities have ruled in the churches since the first century A.D.
According to New Testament records, elders were appointed in every city and they existed in plurality. No man was given that responsibility alone. Elders were not called bishop nor pastor. They were elders who shepherded the flock of God among whom the Holy Spirit had made them overseers (which is the Greek word episkopos, also translated “bishop”) — Acts 20:28.
The terms elder, shepherd, and overseer refer to the same person. Elder has to do with who they were. Shepherd has to do with what they did. Overseer has to do with how they did what they did. An elder is one who is called of God to perform a function in the body of Christ and was never intended to be a position, office, title, or institution in the Kingdom of God.
This unscriptural “office” of bishop was the seedbed in which the hierarchical system of clergymen took root and flourished in the eventual rise of the Roman Catholic Church. The power of the office of bishop was such that simony became an issue in the church. Simony is the buying and selling of ecclesiastical (church) positions. Similarly, nobles, kings, and emperors were known to have appointed and investitured bishops and abbots in order to have political control of the church.
Jesus exhorted His followers regarding this need for veneration: “But you are not to be called Rabbi: for one is your Teacher, Christ; and all you are brethren. And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven. Neither are you to be called masters: for one is your Master, Christ. But he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he who humbles himself shall be exalted” (Matthew 23:8-12).
I boldly declare that the Nicolaitans today are all those who promote the clergy system, which separates the so-called “professional” ministry from the so-called laity. They are those who seek to increase themselves in power, position, riches, and domination and generally do so at the expense of the saints. This “clergy system” is the work of the harlot spirit in the churches.
The Nicolaitans are those shepherds of Ezekiel 34 whom God prophesied against for feeding themselves when they should have fed the flock. They ate the fat and clothed themselves with wool, killed those who were fed, did not strengthen the diseased, did not heal those who were sick, did not bind up those who were broken, did not bring back those who had been driven away, did not seek those who were lost, and ruled over the ones they did have with force and with cruelty. Their flocks were scattered and became meat to all the beasts of the field.
Chapter 10 — The Marks of the Pharisees
The association between Satan and the Pharisees is without dispute. Why did Jesus call the Pharisees snakes? What objection did He have to them? After all, they were devoutly religious and zealous to keep the law.... Jesus hated the way the Pharisees misused and abused authority.... Only Jesus is the head of His body, the ekklesia (1 Corinthians 11:3; Ephesians 1:22,5:23; Colossians 1:18).
Jesus hated the hypocrisy of the Pharisees.... Hypocrisy is pretending something on the outside that does not exist on the inside.... The whole climate of church is clouded with hypocrisy. The church should be the one place we can go and feel safe enough to be ourselves, but it is not. We put on our masks and hide behind our Sunday morning smiles long enough to fulfill our obligations to God, feel good about doing it, and get to the restaurant before the other churches let out. Sunday morning church has little to do with how we live the rest of the week.
Legalism
Jesus hated the mean legalism of the Pharisees.... Legalists in churches still bind people to church systems and orders, church buildings, church services and rituals, church giving, and church work — things that have nothing to do with Jesus or the Kingdom of God. People are made to feel guilty and unspiritual if they do not go to church.
We do not keep the Sabbath by going to church on Sunday or by napping all day Sunday. We keep God’s law by entering into Jesus through faith. Jesus is our Sabbath rest (Hebrews 4:1-10). He is our righteousness. Jesus is not looking for a people who will keep the Sabbath day holy. He is looking for a people who will keep themselves holy (separated). Keeping the Sabbath day is not how we keep ourselves holy. Holiness is the work of God’s Holy Spirit in us, separating us from the love of the world.
Holiness is a change of nature from within us as the result of God’s work in us. It is not what we do outwardly, but who we are inwardly that matters to God. We are as phony as the Pharisees if we think our righteousness could ever depend upon what we do outwardly — the clothes we wear, the way we fix our hair, the food we eat or don’t eat, the way we worship, or going to church. We live, move, and have our being in Jesus every moment of every day.
Recognition and Position
Jesus hated the ’ desire for recognition and how they pursued admiration for themselves.... Jesus hated the self-inflated desire of the Pharisees to be above others.... Many are preoccupied with building a kingdom for Self rather than building the Kingdom of God. They build church systems and church buildings rather than people. Worse yet, they confuse the one for the other.
Jesus hated their desire for position.... Insecure people in ministry get their strokes from being in the ministry. There they gain power, position, recognition, security, financial income, and their sense of significance. Mature believers find that Jesus alone is their all in all.... True leaders do not exalt themselves.
Rebellion and Stubbornness
Jesus hated the rebellion and stubbornness of the Pharisees.... Many of the Pharisees had to have known from their thorough knowledge of the scriptures that Jesus was Messiah. Too many coincidences existed between Old Testament prophecies and the events of Jesus’ life and death for those to be ignored. They knew! But did not want to believe (John 9:39-41).
Many leaders in the church system today should know that “their” membership is held hostage by the rigidity of their belief systems and governmental systems, but they refuse to set them free. They teach and preach church, church works, and church membership as “the way.” They need commitment from their membership in order to build a kingdom for themselves.
People are stuck in those places. Those who run the churches invite us to stay put in their place forever and shame us for going from place to place. Those who remain in these places are served up the same day-old, worm-infested manna. Spiritual growth is minimal, if at all. Any growth one might experience is most likely experienced outside of and in spite of that place.
Spiritual growth is, in reality, a spiritual journey. It is a journey that answers the call of Jesus, “Come, follow Me.” “But Lord, let me first go bury my father.” To which He still replies, “Let the dead bury the dead” (Luke 9:59-60). If you find yourself in a dead place, get up and follow the Way, Jesus. Jesus is the Way, not a place. If we are to follow Jesus, we must not get stuck in a place. Church as we know it today is a roadblock to Jesus.
Devouring Others
Jesus hated the way the Pharisees took advantage of widows.... Pharisees are takers, not givers, though they pretend to be giving something in return for offerings and donations.
This practice occurs everyday on so-called “Christian” television and radio. Great promises are made by televangelists to their fleeceable viewers who send them contributions. “Send me a donation of $50 and I will send you this anointing oil from Israel.” The “Jesus” junk they offer is ridiculous. Bracelets, special study Bibles, books, healing cloths. Some will promise to pray for you or send you a book if you send them a donation. What if you do not? Are they still willing to pray for you and send the book? These gimmicks are used to increase their data and support base.
Proselytizing
Rather than bringing others to a faith in and relationship with Yahweh (God), the Pharisees brought them to their religious observances of traditions, days, and rituals; thus implying, “This is the way, walk in it.” In so doing, they put others under bondage to their law. Their motivation was to increase their own sphere of influence.
As with the Pharisees in Jesus’ time, present-day Nicolaitans lead their converts to believe that salvation is assured by being associated with their form of religion. In so doing, they preach “another Jesus” and make their converts twice the children of hell as themselves (Matthew 23:15). Jesus came to set men free. Binding others to our religious practices is an offense to Him. We are to join people to Jesus in order to set them free.
Self-Righteous
Jesus hated the snobbish self-righteousness of the Pharisees.... Self-righteousness is thinking that our righteousness has something to do with how well we perform. It suggests that we can appease God by being good or doing good works, by keeping the law, or such foolish things as fulfilling our Sunday morning obligation. The Pharisees kept the law in order to be saved by the law. Paul expressly stated that “the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life” (2 Corinthians 3:6). They knew the law, but did not know the Spirit of the law.
We are the righteousness of God in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:21). It does not say we “will be,” “we should be,” or “we almost are,” it says “we are.” It has to do with being and not with doing. We are because Jesus made us to be who we are in Him through His own finished work on the cross. There is nothing in fallen, sinful man that has the potential to save himself or to be good enough for God to put His saving stamp of approval upon him.
Nicolaitans today spiritually slaughter the sheep of God when they use them for their personal and sordid gain.... These present-day Nicolaitans, who bear the marks of the Pharisees, are the doorkeepers in spiritual Babylon. Babylon is the Great Mother of Harlots (Revelation 17:5).
Chapter 11 — Jezebel
Spiritual harlotry is seeking anything for Self. It is the flesh hungering to enhance itself. We all have harlot hearts and are easily deceived. When this idolatrous harlotry is brought into our assembly life as the body of Christ, we have the Jezebel spirit in operation. Our idolatry and spiritual harlotry may not be so blatant as hers, but is just as much a hindrance to having an intimate relationship with our Lord.
The Jezebel Spirit Defined
The Jezebel-harlot spirit is seeking anything for Self. It is the idolatry of Self — self-love. Philippians 2:21 reads, “For all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ’s.” Whoever seeks his own is into self-love... self-love is idolatry, and all idolatry is spiritual harlotry. Our sin nature is prone to self-love and his condition is made worse by the enticement of demonic spirits.
The harlot spirit is present anytime we try to build something in the flesh for Self. In contrast, the Holy Spirit is present when we set our hearts to build only for Him and by Him. We deceive ourselves when we think that our great church building programs are for Him. They are not. They are for Self. Many well-meaning, but ill-informed Christians try to exploit the Holy Spirit to advance themselves. Many fake the presence of the Holy Spirit to make their church or their services look good. This is wrong. We have not been given the Holy Spirit to make the harlot look good.
She Leads God’s Servants Astray
Eating things sacrificed to idols is what we do when we allow the old, arrogant, self-centered, self-promoting man of flesh and sin to rule rather than allowing the Holy Spirit to rule. It is the lordship of the harlot instead of the lordship of Jesus Christ.... Those in the churches today who violate God’s sheep in order to increase themselves in power, position, and domination are, likewise, causing the sheep to eat things sacrificed to idols — the idols of self-glorification.
If the Jezebel spirit can succeed in getting God’s bond-servants to worship other gods, to get their eyes off of Jesus and onto themselves, she will have caused them to commit spiritual fornication and to eat things sacrificed to idols. She will have caused them to commit sins that are an abomination to God. When we lift up this Thing we call church and join people to it, we turn their hearts away from the one who should be their first and only love, Jesus Christ.
False and True Prophets
The “Ahabs” in the churches today surround themselves with “yes” men. They will continue to bow down to their own Baals and consult with their own prophets of Baal as long as they are addicted to bigger, better, and more. Bigger, better, and more of anything. Bigger, better, and more of everything. Bigger church buildings. Better salaries. More members. Greater offerings. Increased honor, recognition, and reputation. Even when they know this is leading to their destruction, their insatiable appetite for increase drives them on. They do it anyway.
The Jezebel spirit kills the prophets of God. Ahab’s Jezebel is noted for having killed the prophets of the Lord (1 Kings 18:4,13).... If Jezebel cannot kill the prophet of God outright, she will try to seduce him into some immoral, illegal, or unscrupulous act in order to derail him.
The Jezebel spirit in the churches today is no less a threat to the servants of God. Many true and godly servants of Christ have been spiritually and emotionally damaged and disfellowshipped from the churches because they sought to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit against the interest of their rigid denominational traditions.
The Jezebel spirit attempts to destroy the spirit of Sonship when it is preached, perverts the revelation when it comes forth, and holds many people hostage to the religious systems of men.... The Jezebel spirit seeks to position herself as queen.... The Jezebel spirit wants more than anything to rule in the churches and to rule over God’s elect. She targets the leadership when she can.
This idolatrous system of men’s traditions, bundled in this Thing we call church and typified by the Jezebel spirit is destined to be destroyed.
Other articles in this series:
Part One: Chapters 1-3
The Harlot Church System, Part 5
9 September 2014
This is the fifth in a six-part series of articles presenting excerpts from Charles E. Newbold’s book The Harlot Church System, taken from chapters 12 through 14.
In this book, the author’s thoughts and arguments build from one chapter to the next. Therefore, if you have not read the previous parts yet, I strongly encourage you to do so now before you read today’s article. This is especially important because throughout the book, Mr. Newbold uses words like church, “it,” “Self” and “Thing,” with very precise and special meanings. In order to understand what he means by these words, you will want to read his introduction in Chapter 1 of Part 1 very carefully.
As I shared previously, Entire sentences highlighted in this color are MY emphasis — thoughts which struck me as especially important. All other emphasis is the author’s, or implied by the author. If the flow of thought from paragraph to paragraph feels disjointed at times, that’s because it is! Except for the three articles in which I share entire chapters, I’ve taken paragraphs which were spread throughout each chapter, so there can be large chunks of text missing in between the paragraphs I’ve included here. That’s why you need to buy your own copy and read the whole thing!
Chapter 12 — Naboth
The story of Naboth in 1 Kings 21 reads like a parable and has striking similarities to the circumstances surrounding the death of Jesus. It continues to speak to the present condition in the church. Reading about Naboth as a parable further exposes the nature, deeds, teachings, and work of the Nicolaitans and the Jezebel spirit. Ahab particularly further defines the Nicolaitan spirit.
Nearly every person, place, and part in this story has symbolic meaning. Naboth’s name means “sprout.” As such, he is a type of Jesus, the root of Jesse (Isaiah 11:1). He lived in Jezreel which means “God sows.” Jezreel is a type of the Kingdom of God wherein God sows the good seed of the word to bring forth His vineyard (Luke 8:1-15). Naboth’s vineyard represents the general assembly of called-out-ones, which is the body of Christ — all those who are born from above by the eternal seed in Christ.
Jesus is the true vine, the Father is the vinedresser, and we are the branches. We abide in Him and He abides in us (John 15:1-8). We are the fruit of that vine as well. We must know that the enemy of our faith seeks to steal, kill, and destroy (John 10:10) doing whatever it takes to claim God’s vineyard for himself.
The Inheritance
We as God’s vineyard are His inheritance.... Likewise, we have our inheritance in Him.... Our redemption in Christ Jesus is a wonderful inheritance for us (Ephesians 1:14). It is what God wants for us. Likewise, our redemption is an inheritance for God (Ephesians 1:18). It is what God wants for Himself. It, too, is a very personal thing with Him.
It is little wonder, then, that Satan would pull the strings on his Ahab marionettes to rob us and God of our inheritance. Satan, like Ahab, wants God’s vineyard for himself. His primary mission in our lives is to destroy those of us who are heirs and joint-heirs with Christ. False shepherds sneak into the fold as wolves in sheep’s clothing to claim God’s inheritance for themselves. Pastors refer to congregations as their people. We identify a body of believers as “Brother Bobby’s” church. We cannot possess what God owns. We belong to one another in the kingdom of God, but we are never to own one another. We are His sheep and the sheep of His pasture.
Ahab wanted the vineyard for a vegetable garden and not for the grapes and wine it could produce. He wanted to change its character. The Ahabs of today change the character of God’s holy vineyard. They clone others to look like themselves to satisfy their own agendas rather than permitting the Holy Spirit to conform others into the image of Jesus. Satan gains control of God’s vineyard through the self-aggrandizing personalities of the heavy-handed Ahabs that rule the churches.
The Proposition and the Plot
David Fitzpatrick emphasizes: “I do not believe the life of the people should be consumed in helping a leader accomplish his goals in life.” In bold simplicity he asserts, “We must release people, not possess them.”
Jezebel not only failed to submit to the headship of her husband, but usurped the headship of her husband. She ruled the roost. As such, she is a type of the harlot church system in which people are the heads and not Christ. Their headquarters are in cities rather than in the Kingdom of God. Through these systems the Jezebel spirit plots and schemes to accomplish its personal ambitions and agendas.
The Execution
The Ahabs and Nicolaitans in the church today still intimidate believers with fear; for example, they may tell them they will be out of God’s will if they leave their church.
Hebrews 13:13 charges us saying, “Hence, let us go out to Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach.” Going outside of the camp for us today is like coming out of the harlot church system. You cannot live a laid-down, Spirit-led life in it. You will either be controlled by those who rule it or by the Holy Spirit.
Church membership is voluntary. If you have voluntarily placed yourself under false leadership such as we have in the harlot church system, you are under false headship. If, on the other hand, you permit yourself to be led by the Holy Spirit and that runs contrary to the agenda of the leadership in your church, you will most likely cause trouble. If those who rule it cannot control you, they will put you out, find ways to silence you, or at best, ignore you.
The Possession
Possessiveness and ownership are main traits of the Nicolaitan and Jezebel spirits.... The ancient story of Naboth, Ahab, and Jezebel had been given as a preview performance on the stage of history. Only the names of the characters were changed. 1 Kings 21:15-16 could just as well have read, “And it came about when the Jezebel spirit heard that Jesus and all of the apostles were dead, that it said to the Ahabs / Nicolaitans (clergymen), ‘Arise, go down to the called-out-ones, to take possession of them.’” This is exactly what happened, and they have ruled the churches from the second century A.D. until now.
Balaam’s strategy remains the same to this day: “If we cannot curse them, we will seduce them into the harlotry of Self.” Whatever it takes, the Ahabs and Nicolaitans must possess “their own.”
The Elijah Spirit
Stumbling over his own ineptness, Ahab asked Elijah, “Did you find me, O enemy of mine?” (1 Kings 21:20). The Ahabs will always view the true prophets of God as their enemies, for the true prophets do not say what the Ahabs want to hear.
The Elijah spirit is being released today in part to speak judgment against the Ahabs and Jezebels who teach and seduce God’s servants to commit fornication and to eat things sacrificed to idols (Revelation 2:20). How we give our affections, time, money, energies, children, and the like to these idolatrous church systems we are in!
The Validation
Jesus’ parable of the vineyard in Matthew 21:33-46 sounds strangely like the story of Naboth because of the coveting, the murder, and the judgment contained in it.... This parable just as well speaks of the condition of the church system today, and the Nicolaitans in that church system today perpetuate the attitude of the Pharisees, Sadducees, scribes, and rulers. Once again, the Spirit of the Lord testifies that the vineyard (the called-out-ones, ekklesia) will be taken from them and given to those who will nurture the called-out-ones into the fullness of Christ. They will be shepherds who will seek nothing for themselves.
Ahab is a type of Self on the throne. Jezebel is the harlotry of seeking something for Self. When it comes to that Thing we call church, she connives to be on the throne — practicing her witchcraft to possess God’s inheritance in the saints.
Chapter 13 — Witchcraft in Everyday Life
Witchcraft, as a work of the flesh, has two dimensions to it. One is the strict, familiar concept that it ordinarily brings to mind.... We think about voodoo dolls, ouija boards, tarot cards, crystal balls, palm reading, seances, astrology, meditation, parapsychology, psychic phenomena, and mental telepathy.
The other dimension of witchcraft, is broader and more subtle. I define it as anything we do to manipulate other people to do things against their wills in order to achieve our own self-centered desires. Manipulation is an attempt to control someone else. Control and manipulation are the practice of witchcraft. In our day we do not use witch’s brew to control other people. Rather, we do such things as play on emotions, withhold affection, provoke fear, provoke guilt, intimidate with anger, lie and deceive, or use self-pity.
The practice of witchcraft in this broader sense of the term abounds in our lives and has devastating effects upon us in our everyday life. If we can see how it works in everyday life, perhaps we can see how widely it is practiced in this Thing we call church.
The Widespread Effects of Witchcraft
Most of us practice witchcraft without having an awareness of it. The practice of witchcraft is so subtle and common we either do not recognize it or have become de-sensitized to it. We just experience the frustration of it.
The practice of witchcraft is the principal cause of trouble in the world. It is the principle cause of trouble in the home between husbands and wives, parents and children, brothers and sisters who try to manipulate one another. It is the cause of strife between friends and nations. It is the major source of conflict in churches.
Guilt feelings, fear, depression, suspicion, mental ruminations and rehearsings, anger and bitterness, fantasies, confusion, jealousy, compulsions, and obsessions may be caused by the fleshly practice of witchcraft. Poverty, crime, sickness, disease, and conflicts in relationships are also among the effects of witchcraft.
Indications of Witchcraft
Witchcraft is indicated by lying and deceit.... When we lie, we are hiding some truth in order to make something happen or to prevent a consequence from happening. Truth never has to be twisted, manipulated, forced, or in any way tampered with. Once it is tampered with, it is no longer truth. It has become a lie.
Witchcraft is indicated by one’s attempt to unduly control his life and the lives of others. Insecure people try to make their worlds safer by building rigid structures for themselves and for others in their lives. When we are insecure, we think we need to control God, other people, our environment, and every circumstance of our lives. We attempt to control what we feel, think, say, and do.
Witchcraft is indicated by fear, worry, doubt, anxiety, and restlessness. When we are no longer able to control other people nor believe that we can trust God, we panic. However, we no longer need to fear, manipulate, and control other people and circumstances once we know who we are in Christ Jesus.
Witchcraft is indicated by self-strength.... Witchcraft is indicated by pride.... Self-abasement is false humility. It is pride in disguise.... Witchcraft is indicated by stubbornness.... Witchcraft is indicated by cursing.... Witchcraft is indicated by rebellion. It is the will of the flesh rising up against the will of God.... Any ambition for Self is going to lead to the practice of witchcraft. Self will try to use people and coerce them to do things against their own wills.
Witchcraft is indicated by talkativeness. Talkative, rambling, interruptive persons are self-absorbed. They are preoccupied with their own thoughts and are not really hearing what other people are saying. Consequently, they frequently misunderstand what other people are trying to say. They may use their talking to control and cling to others out of fear of losing them, even though their incessant talking has the reverse effect and drives listeners away. It is difficult to communicate with such persons.
Witchcraft is indicated by unforgiveness. We practice witchcraft when we deliberately withhold forgiveness from others in order to manipulate their feelings or actions. We think we are punishing them by withholding forgiveness, but we are mostly punishing ourselves. We can be held hostage by our own unforgiveness of others and by the unforgiveness of others toward us. Ultimately, however, we who refuse to forgive become entangled in the root of bitterness. Bitterness can kill us.
Witchcraft is indicated by impatience. Impatience means we are in a hurry for something to happen. We rush through traffic, get angry at people who get in our way or slow us down.... We get impatient with circumstances, other people, ourselves, and God. “Why doesn’t He do this or that?” Impatience is pushing for something for Self in disregard for others or for God’s timing and will.
Witchcraft is indicated by distrust in God. That is what motivates us to resort to it. It disregards the reality of the lordship of Jesus Christ. When we surrender to His lordship, we enter into a trust relationship with God. We trust that He is absolutely sovereign and that the Holy Spirit is our competent guide. We are secure in knowing who we are in Christ. No one can put fear, guilt, or condemnation upon us, nor can they provoke us to anger. We seek God’s will only and not something for Self (which is usually at the expense of others). We will passionately determine to keep other people free of our control and manipulations.
Witchcraft is a negative and destructive force of the human flesh and will. Any form or degree of witchcraft is an abomination to God. It is a counterfeit to the Holy Spirit. God’s life-giving Holy Spirit will not abide where witchcraft is practiced. Just as we practice witchcraft in everyday life, we can be sure that it is also being practiced in the churches.
Chapter 14 — Witchcraft in the Church
When people bring their manipulations and control issues into the life and affairs of the church, they practice witchcraft in the church — witchcraft being: anything we do to manipulate other people to do things against their wills in order to achieve our own self-centered desires. Wherever it is practiced, or however slightly it is practiced, witchcraft is still witchcraft.
The structures of denominations and institutionalized churches are headed by man; therefore, they are out of scriptural order. Those who rule the churches may say that Christ is the head of their church, but He is not. He cannot be the head of many different bodies. He is the head of His body. There is only one body of Christ. If Jesus were in charge of these man-ruled organizations, there would be no need for men and women to politic for positions. If He were the head of the churches, there would only be one church because there is only one body of Christ. On the contrary, the churches are divided one against the other.
Appeals For Money
Self-seeking people who rule the churches depend upon other people to make themselves and their churches successful. Naïve and unsuspecting members are deceived into believing that giving to these churches ruled by people with personal agendas are “as unto the Lord.” These ministries often make people feel guilty if they do not give as much as they might freely choose to give. They extract tithes and offerings from their constituency, deceiving them into believing that they are “seeding” into the Kingdom of God when, in fact, they are empowering the kingdoms of men.
They falsely teach that their churches are the storehouses [ into which should be brought the tithes and offerings, see Malachi 3:8-10 ] for those members who “belong” to them. Many of them accumulate wealth and lavish it back upon themselves in the building, maintenance, and preservation of their organizations and institutions while the poor around the world go without food, clothing, shelter, and the gospel of the Kingdom of God.
Jesus never even slightly suggested that, “Inasmuch as you build your buildings and preserve your institutions, you have done it unto Me.” Rather He said that inasmuch as we feed the hungry, give a drink to a stranger, clothe the naked, visit the sick and imprisoned, we are doing these things to Him (Matthew 25:35-40).
Flattery and Hype
Self-seeking people who rule the churches often flatter their prospects in order to win them in. “You two have so much to offer. It’s a shame you aren’t involved in a church somewhere.” That one has been used on my wife and me a few times. We were said to be the poster couple for one church we attended. I think it was meant to flatter us, but it did not.
Hype is what leaders do to pretend the presence of God. These leaders have to make their services look like God is moving in their midst whether He is or not. He is not, so they substitute hype for Spirit. They try to make things happen that are not happening, or try to make it look like things are happening when they are not.
Hype is the practice of witchcraft. We see and hear it in many “charismatic” church services, conferences, and meetings when the praise and worship leader prolongs the energized music for an hour or so, pretending that the Holy Spirit is present or hoping to invoke His presence. When the Holy Spirit chooses not to manifest Himself, the congregation may be brow-beaten for not singing loud enough, clapping their hands long enough, praying hard enough, or dancing in the Spirit wildly enough.
“Put your hands together and give the Lord a clap offering.” “Somebody give me an amen!” We are manipulated to do and say things that we do not want to do and say — things that are not in our hearts to do and say. We fake it anyway because we do not want to stand out in the crowd, to be thought of as rebellious, or to be accused of quenching the Spirit. When we fake something, that makes us a fake — Pharisees.
Performance Mentality
“Christian” entertainment is big business today. The self-seeking, secular-owned executives within the so-called “Christian” music industry are driven by the corporate bottom line. If that which we call “Christian” can become an industry, it is not the real thing. Christian “artists” (the big ones are called “stars”) are the product of this profit-driven industry and are themselves often driven by the need for popularity, money, and possibly winning the coveted Dove award. I suppose this award is considered Christian because of the dove which symbolizes the Holy Spirit. Why do so-called Christian entertainers even want a trophy? Who are they performing for? Do they have a special cabinet at home in which to display them? Is their motivation to gain fame and fortune the same as those in the world? Or is it a sacrifice of praise to the Lord without regard for personal gain?
Authors, Bible teachers, TV personalities, evangelists: Are your efforts entirely to serve the Lord, or to serve Self? If for the Lord, then they are Holy Spirit inspired. If for Self, then they are driven by witchcraft.
False Assurance of Salvation
In spite of the fact that Christians own the churches, many who belong to them are Christian in name only. They have only a religious relationship with God. Their real relationship is with their religion and their church. God is distant to them. They go to these Things we call church because it makes them feel righteous. They have performed their religious duty. This gives them a false assurance of salvation. Church leaders foster this sense of false assurance of salvation by making people feel they are okay because they attend and support their church. People are made to feel guilty when they do not.
Dennis Loewen wrote:
Years ago I heard a tape by Leonard Ravenhill. He told of having lunch with a pastor who was one of the recognized national leaders of the American church. He asked the question, “When will the church start ministering the salvation found in Jesus Christ?” The pastor replied, “We are ministering salvation!” Ravenhill disagreed, “No, you are ministering the assurance of salvation.”
Ravenhill had it right. “Assurance” is being dispensed weekly for an hour’s attendance and a few dollars in the collection plate. This, by far, is the main product being sold by the present-day church. This is their bread and butter, and nobody better mess with it.
Jesus promised we would be hated and despised for the sake of the gospel. He knew the world would not be the main threat any more than it was for Him, but that our enemies would kill us thinking they are doing God a service.
American Christianity is no less apostate than the Babylonian (Jewish) mess Jesus encountered in Jerusalem. It’s undeniable. Churches are doing a brisk business in the souls of men dispensing the assurance of salvation and making the process so easy that nobody has a chance to become poor in spirit or mourn for their sins.
When we get into their faces and tell them they can no longer deceive the people with this false assurance of salvation, all of the promises of Jesus about being a persecuted disciple will be made manifest.
Other articles in this series:
Part One: Chapters 1-3
The Harlot Church System, Part 6
10 September 2014
This is the last in a six-part series of articles presenting excerpts from Charles E. Newbold’s book The Harlot Church System, taken from chapters 15 through 18.
In this book, the author’s thoughts and arguments build from one chapter to the next. Therefore, if you have not read the previous parts yet, I strongly encourage you to do so now before you read today’s article. This is especially important because throughout the book, Mr. Newbold uses words like church, “it,” “Self” and “Thing,” with very precise and special meanings. In order to understand what he means by these words, you will want to read his introduction in Chapter 1 of Part 1 very carefully.
As I shared previously, Entire sentences highlighted in this color are MY emphasis — thoughts which struck me as especially important. All other emphasis is the author’s, or implied by the author. If the flow of thought from paragraph to paragraph feels disjointed at times, that’s because it is! Except for the three articles in which I share entire chapters, I’ve taken paragraphs which were spread throughout each chapter, so there can be large chunks of text missing in between the paragraphs I’ve included here. That’s why you need to buy your own copy and read the whole thing!
Chapter 15 — Legalism
Those who rule the churches are typically legalistic. Technically, legalism is the literal, strict, and excessive conformity to a law or religious order. Bob Hughey says, “Legalism is the system by which we do things to try to get to God.” It is putting confidence in the flesh in an attempt to find acceptance with God.
Of all the deceptions perpetuated in the church system, legalism is the most frightening because it looks so right, but is so terribly wrong. The works of the law — or in present-day terms, church laws and church work — are presented as “the way” to salvation rather than the work of God’s grace through Christ Jesus. These works become substitutes for Jesus.
In each of these denomination, I still have to “do” something in addition to believing in Jesus in order to be one of them — at the very least, I would have to join their church. I would be expected to join something Jesus never required me to join, something that did not even exist in New Testament days — church. So, what is it they want me to join?
Legalism Is the Outward Doing of Things
Legalism is based on performance. It implies that we are rewarded for what we do and are chastised for what we do not do. It is based on works. This is precisely why the churches are dead.... Whenever we go back under law, whether it is Old Testament law or modern day church law, we fall from grace.
Law is doing. Grace is being. Law has to do with what we “should” do, but cannot. Grace has to do with what God has already done for us. We call a people to be like Mary, to sit at the feet of Jesus, but we love to have the Marthas around. Most of the activities in the churches depend upon the Marthas (Luke 10:38-42).
If I try to legislate what you must do to act like a good Christian, then I am under the law and putting you under the law. If, on the other hand, I introduce you to Jesus, who is the perfect law of God, and He legislates His law from within you by changing your nature, then I bring you to the grace of God. Grace is the power of God at work within you to perform His word within you. Faith actively pursues the grace of God. Faith will never pursue law.
Legalism Attempts to Perfect By the Flesh
Unless a change of nature has taken place on the inside of us, the changes on the outside are in vain. We are phony. The inside of us always has a way of shining through that thin, transparent, gilded exterior we exhibit to others.
The law of God has been deposited within our human spirits and we have been transformed by it. Therefore, we no longer live according to the outward working of the law, but by the inward working of God’s law. That’s grace!
Legalism Is Devisive
Legalistic people tend to be divisive. They may not intend to be divisive, but their legalistic ways cause division. The more legalistic they are, the more they tend to splinter over little, non-essential things.... Silly and petty rules in the churches often cause divisions and deep hurts which sometimes lead to rejection of individuals by their own families. Churches of every kind have divided over non-essential issues. Churches by their very nature are programmed to splinter.
There is only one body. This one body of Christ is not and cannot be many bodies. Therefore, if that which you are in can be divided, it is not the real thing.
Legalism Is Empty, Mechanical Ritual
Legalistic people do works out of a joyless sense of duty, thinking that God will be pleased with their performance or that He might grant them “merited” favor. It is empty ritual. So it is with foot washing. Some traditions believe that foot washing is an ordinance like water baptism and the Lord’s supper. They may set aside arbitrary times once a month, every three months, or once a year to wash one another’s feet.
When the Holy Spirit leads someone to wash another’s feet, it can prove to be powerful and meaningful and usually conveys a message of spiritual significance; but to impose foot washing as a requirement for being saved, for being right, or for being spiritual is to turn it into legalistic dead works. The same can be said for any act of worship or service. When things are done mechanically, they are generally meaningless works of the flesh.
Legalism Is Judgmental
What we judge is different from how we judge.... This entire book is a judgment against that Thing we call church. We are to discern what God is saying. We then speak those God-given revelations, visions, dreams, and understandings given to us in order, if need be, to call one another to repentance. We call sin, sin. We judge what God judges, but when we bring our own agendas, opinions, or feelings into the situation, we turn righteous judging into critical, legalistic judgmentalism.
Legalism Is Bondage
The bondage of legalism occurs when our laws, rules, and regulations put God in a box and then we try to fit everyone else into those same boxes. If they do not fit into the box, they are considered outsiders and even infidels.
The Lord dealt with Larry about using doctors. Larry had come to a place of confidence in the Lord that all things were under His control. It was no longer a question of healing with Larry; it was a question of God’s will being done. Larry had faith. It was not his faith, but the Lord’s faith in him to endure whatever sickness and infirmity that came upon him without subjecting himself to medical treatment. Larry was careful not to make this a rule for everyone. Had He said, “The Lord has shown me it is wrong to go to doctors and therefore it is wrong for anyone to go doctors,” he would have moved from grace to legalism. If we make going to doctors or not going to doctors a rule for everyone, we are legalistic. Those laws soon become impossible requirements for salvation.
Most Christians are bound by what their church system says is proper Christian practice.... They rarely know why these things are required of them. Church systems have no life to give. Moreover, they quench the Spirit with their carnal meetings, formalities, traditions, rituals, dogmas, rules, programs, and regulations.
Legalism Is a Curse
We tend to make religious laws and systems out of the truths of God and follow them instead of following God. The Kingdom of God has to do with the living reality of Jesus Christ and the power of His Holy Spirit who is at work within us to bring about God’s ultimate intentions. Jesus could never be squeezed into the systems and formulas we concoct out of our carnal minds. Watch out for them! They are killers.
At best, the laws that are put on us by religious people in the church systems can only be observed outwardly. No change of nature has taken place. Therefore, any requirement for us to adhere to a belief system, join and regularly attend church, dress a certain way, perform certain rituals, or abide by certain laws, rules, and regulations puts us under a curse. We are trying to make ourselves righteous by laws we cannot keep in our hearts.
Legalism Is Bewitching
Our teachings (doctrines) often become the gospel we preach. An acquaintance of mine once said of himself, “I preach faith.” Then he declared, “It works.” However, the apostle Paul proclaimed that he preached Christ and Him crucified. Jesus is what works and Jesus is not an it. How astonishing that faith, the appropriate solution to the law, could be so skillfully turned back into law. Many well-meaning and God-seeking believers have been mesmerized by that false teaching.
Some denominations have made water baptism and membership into their church the way of salvation. Consequently, people are being inadvertently baptized into the name of that church rather than into the name of Jesus. What an affront to Jesus!
Any practice, teaching, doctrine, ritual, program, rule, regulation, system, organization, association, or church government that binds and oppresses people rather than setting them free in Christ is not of God. It is legalism. Legalism is fleshly. Flesh is manipulative. Manipulation is the practice of witchcraft — manipulating others to do things against their will.
Chapter 16 — The Demons of Witchcraft
Whenever we have one of these Things we call church, it is a work of flesh. If flesh, then it is idolatrous. If idolatrous, then it is demon infested. If demon infested, then it is going to be driven by manipulation and control which is the practice of witchcraft in the broad and more subtle definition of the term. If it is the practice of witchcraft, then the demons of witchcraft will be swarming.... The stench of flesh attracts the demons of witchcraft.
The Spirit of Babylon
Spiritual Babylon takes on tangible form in this Thing we call church. Church is idolatrous. In the Bible, demons are associated with idolatry.... So, too, this Thing we call church is possessed with demons — all the demons of spiritual Babylon.
I was born and raised in spiritual Babylon as were many in the church. It was all I knew. It was in me, and I was in it. As a minister in that system, I found identity, significance, validation, power, support, and hope. It was a major stronghold in my life.
Even after my conversion and separation from the system, I experienced times when I would be overcome by this spirit of Babylon. I wanted to go back into the system — the very thing that had spiritually bankrupted me before. The pull was so compelling at times that I was certain it was the voice of God calling me. The call contradicted the revelations and understandings I had been given about the church system, but I could not see the truth while under its veil of deception. After a while, that veil would lift and I would come to my senses.
When this Babylonian spirit is further exposed, I believe three other main demonic influences are seen working in concert with each other to take rule over carnal churches. They are a matriarchal spirit, a Jezebel spirit, and a spirit of witchcraft. These spirits operate as three in one to form the “unholy trinity” in opposition to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Empowering the Matriarchal Spirit
The pastor who wants domination over “his” sheep suppresses their gifts and ministries that he might have the rule over them. He wants — that’s Jezebel; he suppresses — that witchcraft; he rules — that’s the matriarch. This unholy trinity is gender-non-specific. It operates through male or female to secure its domination over its house. The true Patriarch over the ekklesia of God is Father-God. Anytime His people submit to any other spiritual authority for headship, the matriarch takes over, whether the leadership is male or female.
The church system as a whole is structured for this unrighteous domination of a few people over many people. Phil Perry says regarding the harlot church system that “it will either make you domineering or keep you weak.” Witchcraft and Jezebel in these Things we call church scheme to empower some people with ungodly authority and imprison others under that ungodly authority.
Drones of Witchcraft
Paul wrote, “Now the Spirit speaks expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and the doctrines of devils” (1 Timothy 4:1). He later added that “the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears. And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned to fables” (2 Timothy 4:3-4).
Demons whisper into our itching ears, and we succumb to their deceits when we have not settled the issue of utter surrender to the lordship of Jesus Christ. We still lust for Self and do not love the truth. Remember, the Lord was talking to the assemblies of the called-out-ones in Asia [Minor] when He mentioned the doctrine of Balaam in Revelation 2:14, the doctrine of the Nicolaitans in Revelation 2:15, and the doctrine of Jezebel in Revelation 2:20-24. These were false teachings that threatened the simplicity and purity of the devotion of the saints to Jesus.
Demons and People
If we are seeking something for Self, we will despise those who threaten us. Some would kill if they could. The demons in the churches are many and vicious. Many churches have become more of the battlefield for injury than a triage center for healing.
Those who rule within these Things we call church may be few in number, perhaps only one. It may be the pastor, but not necessarily.... Quite often, those in control are “lay” persons who not only rule the church, but control the pastors as well. They may be male or female.... One pastor friend of mine told me years ago that when he went to a new church situation, his first task was to discover who the “chief” was in order to find a way to work with him or her.
Witchcraft and the Holy Spirit
If we cannot wait on God to bring a thing about, we are wanting something God has not ordained. If God ordained it, we should be able to wait for Him to bring it about in His timing. His timing is perfect. The nature of the Holy Spirit in us is to rest, wait, listen, and then act only when it is time to act. The Holy Sprit is patient, gentle, kind, and long-suffering.
We have to let people be free. We have to let them be free to be who they are and where they are at any given point and time in their lives. Any act of control that creates bondage for another person is the subtle practice of witchcraft.
Chapter 17 — The Deep Things of Satan
Read the entire, uncut chapter in the article The Deep Things of Satan.
Chapter 18 — Who Shall Ascend?
This chapter is a prophecy which Mr. Newbold received on February 4, 1987, which he included as the last chapter because it serves as a thorough summary of and closure to all of the preceeding chapters. Buy the book to read it!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
THE PAGANS ORIGINS OF THE TRINITY DOCTRINE
Many people assume that God the Father, Jesus Christ the Son, and the Holy Spirit form what is commonly known as the trinity. The doctri...
-
The Worship of Baal-Peor This article has been updated and compiled into the book, "Turning the World Upside Down" The Spir... -
Discography [ edit ] Lanny and Marietta Wolfe 1963 Song In My Soul "The Wolfe Trio With The Calvary Apostolic Church Choir" ...
-
And so it was with the pipes.... Satan and Music Should rock music be for our churches today? ‘Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God...
No comments:
Post a Comment