Searching for the Truth in the King James Bible;
Finding it, and passing it on to you.
EDITOR:
Steve
Van Nattan
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HOW TO TRASH CHRIST'S CHURCH
During the Apostolic Church era, the Lord planted his Church at Ephesus. The Apostle Paul started the work, and men like Timothy and Titus (probably) continued the work. A very strong church was planted there, and the Apostle John called Ephesus home in his old age. History tells us that Mary ended her days there under the care of John. But, within these strengths, and a great heritage, lurked a practical heresy-- the heresy which finally destroyed the church at Ephesus. Notice... Revelation
2:1 Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write; These things saith he that
holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven
golden candlesticks; The Ephesian church had a great heritage, did they not? They sent out the missionaries from the Bible Institute of Paul in the school of Tyrannus. Six great and mighty churches were planted. This came with much persecution. Historians tell us that the temple of Diana of the Ephesians was a filthy pagan place. Nearly naked female temple prostitutes freely ministered to male worshippers sexually. The Christians would not even walk by that temple. The leaders of the temple of Diana, and city leaders, asked the Christians to simply walk by, take a pinch of incense from a dish, and toss it into the ever burning fire near the entrance of the temple. They were told they needed not enter to worship, only toss the small pinch of incense into the fire, and walk on by. The Ephesian Christians refused. Out of their zeal came persecution, and as is always the case, a very powerful and strong church. For many years, they held their ground, in fact, they never compromised in this thing. But, they did lose their "first love" according to Christ in The Revelation to John. Why? We now know that the pagans in Ephesus, the very good decent socially sensitive pagans if you will, watched the persecution of the believers. They also watched their personal lives. They saw that they were clean, decent, and worthy citizens of Ephesus. Slowly at first, the decent pagans came to attend the fellowship services of the Christians. They liked being with these people with personal standards. They wanted their children to marry such people. Eventually, so many "good godly" pagans were in attendance that a large stone church was erected, and the "house church" of the early days was abandoned. We have spoken to two people who saw the ruins of that stone church, and you Baptist readers will rejoice to know that they had a tank for baptism by immersion. In that tank many pagans must have been baptized, for by and by, the Ephesian church became big, powerful, and was the leading power in the city. They did not toss the pinch of incense into the flame of Diana, but they tossed the pinch of incense into the flame of compromise and greed for easy comfortable religion. The Ephesian church died in about 250 AD. Ichabod !! There are SIX stages of regress from the narrow way:
In this journal you will find the stories of men who started out with fire in their soul-- burning to serve Jesus Christ and preach the Gospel and "teach sinners your ways". Then, one day, they had the opportunity to enlarge their ministry, and / or their pocket book, if they would make just a very small compromise. The pinch of incense was tossed, and the rest of their life became a slough of despond spiritually. Oh, many diddle head saints buy their books, attend their seminars, and send them donations. But, Ichabod is written on their faces. "The glory has departed." The Holy Ghost is nowhere in sight.
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