Demons of Righteousness: High Road to Hell
WHO'S GOT THE TRUTH?
Some of the devil's most devoted disciples are among the best-behaved people on earth.
The Origin of Satan – Library of Rickandria
The most deceived of them experience victory over sin.
Some are Seventh-day Adventists devoted to doing the will of God but who are victims of satanic delusions.
Should it surprise us that demons can deceive and empower well-intentioned people?
The Power of Demons over Mortal Flesh – Library of Rickandria
Well, think of the beaming faces of young Moonies testifying how they used to be slaves of drugs and sinful relationships before the "divine principles" of "Reverend" Moon sanctified them.
Sun Myung Moon (Korean: 문선명; Hanja: 文鮮明; born Moon Yong-myeong; 6 January 1920 – 3 September 2012) was a Korean religious leader, also known for his business ventures and support for conservative political causes. A messiah claimant, he was the founder of the Unification Church, whose members consider him and his wife Hak Ja Han to be their "True Parents", and of its widely noted "Blessing" or mass wedding ceremonies.
Unification Church - Wikipedia
Consider also the New Agers who exchange cigarettes for carrot sticks through the power of Hindu-style meditation.
The pagan power channeled to them in New Age meditation chambers certainly isn't the Holy Spirit.
HOLY GHOST vs. Holy Spirit – Library of Rickandria
New Agers and Moonies, rejoicing in victory over sinful habits, know not that their spiritual state is worse than before they became overcomers.
Well, why would the devil bestow victory over sin?
Before addressing this, let's affirm once again that genuine victory over sin is a basic fruit of the gospel.
God has plenty of power that He intends for us to claim.
But so does Satan!
The Fall of Satan – Library of Rickandria
Our crafty foe wants to seize our souls through his deceptions.
Thus, for all that God offers, the devil has a counterfeit—even a counterfeit victory over sin, to lure us away from the cross so we trust in our own character attainments and thus forfeit salvation by grace.
Did Jesus Die on a Cross or Tree? – Library of Rickandria
All true believers yearn for total victory over sin, and the devil knows it.
As we reach out for Jesus to pull us out of one gutter, Satan tries to snatch our hand and drag us into another.
Bad as it is to be snared in the slime of sinful indulgence, the ultimate deception is the opposite ditch off the gospel free way:
legalism.
People imagine they are following God when in reality another force is empowering them.
Remember the Pharisees, those paragons of piety.
They had conquered the flesh and its lusts to the point that they fasted twice a week.
But Jesus said these trophies of self-discipline and the disciples of their zealous evangelism were actually sons of hell.
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves. Mat 23:15
"Lord, I thank Thee for what Thou art doing in my life,"
prayed the Pharisee in the sanctuary as he scorned the struggling soul who cast himself upon God's mercy.
That model of self-mastery knew not that his own soul was in bondage to demons-not demons of self-indulgence but demons of self-righteousness!
Demons of righteousness?
Yes!
The Bible warns of spiritual zealots who preach Christ-but not Christ as our only hope.
They preach a gospel, but one of merit rather than mercy.
For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy:
for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.
But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him. 2Co 11:2-4
This false gospel brings them "into bondage" (verse 20) —bondage to demons of righteousness:
For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.
And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.
Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works. 2Co 11:13-15
White magic
Satan's wolf-in-sheep's-clothing strategy multiplies his power to deceive.
Take witchcraft, for example.
HISTORY OF WICCA IN ENGLAND: 1939 – 1991 – Library of Rickandria
According to the Encyclopedia Americana,
"magic to cause harm is often called black magic or sorcery, and magic intended to help or cure is frequently termed white magic."
SAUCE: "Magic," Encyclopedia Americana (Danbury, Conn.: Grolier, 1991), v. 18, p. 84.
Do you see the deception?
For those eager to indulge in evil, the devil has black magic (I lament the racial overtones of that term, but such is the world of witchcraft).
And for those who admire the miracles of blessing Jesus per formed, Satan has white magic.
Black magic or white magic—he doesn't care whether people do evil or do good as long as he is in control.
Herod I or Herod the Great (c. 72 – c. 4 BCE) was a Roman Jewish client king of the Herodian kingdom of Judea. He is known for his colossal building projects throughout Judea. Among these works are the rebuilding of the Second Temple in Jerusalem and the expansion of its base—the Western Wall being part of it. Vital details of his life are recorded in the works of the 1st century CE Roman–Jewish historian Josephus.
In Christ's day, Herod by the demons of indulgence killed John the Baptist for the sake of lust, while the Pharisees by demons of righteousness killed Jesus for the sake of law.
John the Baptist (c. 6 BC – c. AD 30) was a Jewish preacher active in the area of the Jordan River in the early first century AD. He is also known as Saint John the Forerunner in Eastern Orthodoxy and Oriental Orthodoxy, John the Immerser in some Baptist Christian traditions, and as the prophet Yaḥyā ibn Zakariyā (Arabic: النبي يحيى, An-Nabī Yaḥyā) in Islam. He is sometimes alternatively referred to as John the Baptizer.
LUST – Library of Rickandria
In succeeding centuries, the emperors of Rome were playboys in their palaces, as the bishops of Rome venerated monastics in the desert and promoted perfectionism (with purgatory as a fire escape for those not quite worthy of heaven).
Miles Williams Mathis: ROME – Library of Rickandria
Today, Satan continues his two-pronged assault from opposite extremes.
Madonna Louise Ciccone (/tʃɪˈkoʊni/ chih-KOH-nee; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. Referred to as the "Queen of Pop", she has been recognized for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, songwriting and visual presentation.
The singer Madonna embodies immorality, while the virgin Madonna images celibacy.
In Christian art, a Madonna (Italian: [maˈdɔnna]) is a religious depiction of the Blessed Virgin Mary in a singular form or sometimes accompanied by the Child Jesus. These images are central icons for both the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches.
No church is immune from demonic attack.
You can be sure that this church, entrusted by God with the truths of the final remnant, is a special target of both the demons of indulgence and the demons of self-righteousness.
In some Seventh-day Adventist churches, demons of indulgence champion a cheap gospel that compromises lifestyle and doctrine.
Sin isn't taken seriously.
Sabbath rest becomes just a vacation from the office and classroom.
To many, hell and the judgment are outmoded myths.
The pleasures of the world become a chosen lifestyle in which people celebrate their supposed freedom in Christ with a glass of California wine.
Meanwhile, demons of righteousness pull other church members toward the opposite extreme, promoting obedience and victory apart from gratitude and assurance in Jesus.
Members under their influence are zealous for doctrine but devoid of God's love.
They live in the desert at Mt. Sinai.
Their lives are like the burning bush, but with the flame of God's blessing gone out.
Not satisfied with burning off sin's dead leaves, they have broken off life's in nocent branches.
Finally, they become an unadorned stump of stern spirituality.
Counterfeit victory
Recently I interviewed a member who told me how Satan had given him victory over sin.
Through reading various private publications, he became obsessed with acquiring a sinless character worthy of heaven.
As he prayed, he received a power that brought victory over every sin on his checklist.
Meanwhile, a hard-hearted, critical spirit displaced his:
- love
- joy
- peace
Then an inner voice told him to join an independent group.
He became deeply involved with them, but eventually their Waconian-style mind control methods opened his eyes.
Cheadle Hulme School - Wikipedia
Having come to his senses, he fled to Calvary for refuge from the demons of righteousness.
He's back in church, eager as ever to keep God's commandments, but now he trusts in the blood of Christ rather than in his own attainment of sinlessness to qualify him for heaven.
His wife told me how terrible it had been to live with a man that attained "perfection."
She discerned that his spiritual power was inspired by an alien force.
The Demonic Craving for Flesh – Library of Rickandria
Though amazingly victorious over the usual besetments, he had ceased being a loving husband.
"By their fruits you shall know them," Jesus said.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Gal. 5:22
God's true Spirit always works through the joy and peace that come from believing in Jesus.
Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost. Rom. 15:13
We might fast all day and pray all night for the Holy Spirit, but without faith in the blood of Jesus our earnest incantations are in vain.
Another spirit may possess us.
Remember, evil spirits are deceptive, luring us from opposite directions.
We can steer away from one ditch and plunge into the other extreme.
At stake is our eternal destiny.
Legalism versus liberalism
This colossal conspiracy between demons of indulgence and demons of righteousness manifests itself in a tug of war between legalism and liberalism.
The liberalism here warned against is not warm-hearted, open-minded, Christianity that calls for a commitment to social justice for the poor and oppressed.
Miles Williams Mathis: Those Damn Liberals – Library of Rickandria
Liberation in Christ from all injustice is a basic element of koinonia.
What is koinonia? | GotQuestions.org
But false liberalism from the demons of indulgence is a counterfeit spirituality that marches in step with secular humanism, carelessly and flagrantly violating God's law while waving the banner of love.
Such liberalism maximizes love and minimizes law, whereas legalism majors in law and tends to minor in love.
Not realizing that living God's love involves keeping His commandments —and vice versa—both liberals and legalists have a superficial concept of religion.
Both groups are skating on thin ice, yet they are true Christians if their faith, though shallow, is sincere.
The blood of Christ covers honest ignorance—but not willful blindness.
And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent: Acts 17:30
Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth. John 9:41
Intense religiosity isn't necessarily sincerity.
The clergy who crucified Christ retained zeal while succumbing to hypocrisy.
The True Birthdate of Jesus – Library of Rickandria
Spiritual fervor can be a smoke screen for secret sin and also an attempt to atone for bad habits with good works.
Only God knows when legalists and liberals go so far as to forfeit what feeble faith they might have.
The church at Galatia crossed that line into damnation, having turned away from
"the grace of Christ, to a different gospel."
I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: Gal. 1:6
In abandoning their faith to legalism, they were taking the high road to hell:
Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace. Gal. 5:4
Zeal is no substitute for faith.
When ignorance becomes willful unbelief, people squander their salvation.
Before proceeding, we must further clarify our terms.
Legalism is not strict faithfulness to God in harmony with His law out of an appreciation for salvation in Christ.
Rather, it's an attempt to be good enough through one's personal spiritual attainment instead of through Christ's atonement.
We must avoid church legalism—but we also must steer clear of illegalism.
Lukewarm legalism and liberalism
Many legalists and liberals have a superficial spiritual commitment that accompanies their superficial concept of God's law and grace.
Jesus said of them:
his people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. Mat 15:8
Lukewarm legalists and liberals are more religious than they are secular, yet their worship is more an exercise than an experience.
They claim Jesus as Saviour while not knowing how much they need His salvation.
They sing about a closer walk with Christ when, more than that, they should be clinging to Him for their very lives.
Lukewarm liberalism is not outright worldliness but a subtle yet serious undermining of behavioral principles to which faith must remain faithful.
Lukewarm legalism even more deceptively compromises Christianity, because it vigorously promotes God's law while shunning fanatical extremes—yet it neglects the caring and compassion that are the essence of true commandment keeping.
Lukewarm legalists and liberals don't have the commitment to join the self-denying ministries that represent their respective beliefs; they would rather sit back and send donations (tax deductible, of course).
Lukewarm liberals talk about following Christ's loving example like Mother Teresa, but they would rather applaud her than go and do likewise.
Mary Teresa Bojaxhiu (born Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu, Albanian: [aˈɲɛzə ˈɡɔndʒɛ bɔjaˈdʒi.u]; 26 August 1910 – 5 September 1997), better known as Mother Teresa or Saint Mother Teresa, was an Albanian-Indian Roman Catholic nun, founder of the Missionaries of Charity and is a Catholic saint.
Lukewarm legalists also speak much about following Christ's example, in terms of fulfilling the law's requirements as He did.
But they fail to entirely devote themselves to the high standards they champion.
Two roads to hell
Carnally minded liberals take the low road to hell.
God says love not the world, but they heed not His warning.
If You Notice These 5 Signs, God Is Warning You! – Library of Rickandria
They:
- do what the world does
- watch what the world watches
- eat what the world eats
and dress like the world dresses.
They claim the name of Christ as their ticket to heaven, but unless they repent, they will tragically wake up 1,000 years too late facing hellfire.
How to Truly Repent (And Be Forgiven) – Library of Rickandria
And who will be with them in the second resurrection unto damnation?
The legalists, who took the high road to hell, having rejected comfort in Christ as well as the pleasures of the world.
They spurned the blood of Jesus to make health reform their gospel, sipping lukewarm soy milk and eating oil-free tofu burgers sprinkled with organic bean sprouts (and perhaps raw wheat germ).
Imagine their surprise when they wake up in the resurrection of damnation and find themselves keeping company with good-time Charlies and sultry harlots.
"God!" they shout with shaking fists.
"If we knew we were going to hell, we wouldn't have fasted twice a week!
At least we would have watched MTV!"
All their good works amounted to nothing in the judgment.
They had taken the high road to hell.
Let's recall that it wasn't a gang of hungover drug addicts or a commune of leftover hippies from the sixties who crucified Jesus.
Miles Williams Mathis: The Hippie Matrix – How the Government Infiltrated the Environmental, Hippie, Progressive & New Age Movements – Library of Rickandria
His murderers were the sternest, strictest religionists of history, and they killed Him in the name of Moses, the lawgiver.
In Abrahamic religions, Moses was the Hebrew prophet who led the Israelites out of slavery in the Exodus from Egypt. He is considered the most important prophet in Judaism and Samaritanism, and one of the most important prophets in Christianity, Islam, the Baháʼí Faith, and other Abrahamic religions. According to both the Bible and the Quran, God dictated the Mosaic Law to Moses, which he wrote down in the five books of the Torah.
With sweat pouring down their clenched faces, they scaled the Alps of spiritual discipline, determined to plant the banner of self-righteousness on the snowcapped heights.
Often, they peered below them, scorning the wretched sinners cruising in their convertibles down easy street, the low road to hell.
"Commandment-breaking fools!" they scoffed.
"Maybe you're having a good time now, but you don't know what's waiting for you around the bend in the road on the other side of Mt. Sinai."
Then, redoubling their efforts, they pressed onward and upward to what they imagined was their just reward.
Occasionally they would strenuously sing:
"I'm pressing on the upward way, new heights I'm gaining every day!"
They imagined that when they finally gained the summit, God Himself would be obliged to step aside respectfully and let them march on through heaven's golden arch of triumph.
Finally, after endless self-denial and exertion, they proudly reached the top.
But—nobody was there waiting for them.
No smiling angels handing them crowns of jewels never worn before.
It was:
- bleak
- foggy
- cold
Very slippery, too.
They wandered around up there, shivering and sliding, trying to keep warm.
Suddenly their feet slipped on a patch of ice, and they found themselves skidding down the other side of the mountain.
Screaming in terror, they plunged over an unseen cliff and down, way down, all the way down to hell.
Hell in the Bible – Library of Rickandria
Having rejected the gift of God in Jesus Christ, they reaped the same reward as those who took the easy way out of religious responsibility.
"What then shall we say?
That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith; but Israel, who pursued a law of righteousness, has not attained it.
Why not?
Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works.
They stumbled over the 'stumbling stone.'
As it is written:
What shall we say then?
That the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith.
But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness.
Wherefore?
Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law.
For they stumbled at that stumblingstone; Rom. 9:30-33
Unfair?
No.
God owes us nothing but wrath.
As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: Rom. 3:10
Nobody gets the wages deserved in the vineyard of the Lord.
All we deserve is death.
For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Rom. 3:23
It is of the LORD'S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. Lam 3:22
Well, if we all are unworthy, can we just live as we please?
No, that's the low road to hell.
We must surrender what fallen Adam offers us in exchange for God's gift in Christ.
Lucifer’s Flood & the Little Season: Adam – Library of Rickandria
He leads us up and away from this world on the straight and narrow road to eternal life—the way of the cross.
The way of the cross leads home!
Let's not confuse this with Satan's counterfeit straight and narrow road:
not the way of the cross but away from the cross up the toilsome slopes of self-righteousness, then plunging over the cliff into damnation.
The high road to hell.
Demons of indulgence or demons of righteousness, the devil doesn't care which team you're on as long as you're playing on his ball field.
Black magic or white magic, Satan doesn't care which you involve yourself with as long as you are under his spell.
Carnal liberalism or legalism, he doesn't care whether you take the low road or the high road, as long as you end up with him in the lake of fire.
The playpen and the workbench
All of us are vulnerable to both legalism and liberalism; in fact, to some extent both legalism and liberalism afflict every human being, saved or unsaved.
We know what it's like to be tempted to indulge appetite, thanks to the demons of indulgence.
And we all know what it's like to feel guilty about sins confessed and forsaken.
God has forgiven us, but we still feel guilty.
We are Condemned Death Row Prisoners with a Possible Stay of Execution – Library of Rickandria
What's wrong?
Spiritual harassment from the demons of righteousness.
Whereas the passions are the playpen of the demons of indulgence, the conscience is the workbench of the demons of righteousness.
Depending upon one's personality, environment and attitude, there may be a predisposition that puts either legalism or carnal liberalism on center stage— yet the other is also there, hiding behind the curtains.
Even straightlaced legalists experience wild fantasies that they dare not indulge or even acknowledge.
And on the other hand, reprobates despite their sinful lifestyle have invisible, unfulfilled yearnings for legalism.
Legalism (theology) - Wikipedia
Their conscience may be rusted and warped, but it still works.
When particularly troubled by conviction they sin with a frenzy, seeking to silence God's still small voice.
In their sober moments they make sporadic resolutions to overcome addictive or abusive habits, hoping to work their way back to the father's house from the playpens and pigpens of their far-off land.
But they are deterred by the steep stairway to God they think they would have to climb.
Many fear they could never be forgiven, or if they got past that hurdle they could never walk across the tightrope of divine expectations for daily living.
Thus hopeless, they remain helplessly trapped by the latent legalism that often smolders underneath the surface of sinfulness.
Liberalism and legalism may both be active, often in binge/purge behavior.
Demons of indulgence tempt people to go on a binge of sinning.
Then demons of righteousness take over and tempt the defeated ones to purge themselves of sin and climb the steep stairs back to God.
This is how guilt from an ice cream feast is followed with a week of atonement fruit fast.
Extremes of both liberalism and legalism sometimes get entangled in an incongruous mess.
One zealot whose family I counselled assigned his wife daily readings in health and dress testimonies, forcing her to adopt rigid and outmoded standards.
Meanwhile he enjoyed the charms of well-adorned girlfriends and regularly molested his daughter.
Most church members wouldn't descend to such degradation, but all of us suffer cravings for both legalism and liberalism.
Without the moment by moment intervention of the Holy Spirit, unenlightened conscience pulls us toward legalism and unrestrained flesh pulls us toward liberalism.
We may train ourselves not to heed these cravings or to suppress one kind beneath the other, but the fact remains that both legalism and liberalism in varying proportions attract each of us.
Despite disagreements about theology and differences in lifestyle, we have much more in common with fellow believers and lost sinners than we realize or might want to admit.
Unaware of their shared weaknesses, proponents of legalism and liberalism view the errors of the opposing camp and thank God they don't participate.
Their continual contention is fueled by extremism on both sides.
Christ-centered legalists and liberals
We must not condemn extremist legalists and liberals; many are tragically sincere.
They may even devoutly follow Jesus as their example.
The True Birthdate of Jesus – Library of Rickandria
Christ centered legalists pursue a relationship with Him mostly for the sake of strength to fulfill the law as He did so they can be saved.
Trusting in their own attainments rather than in Christ's accomplishments on their behalf, they unwittingly compete with His substitutionary merits.
It matters not whether they depend on their own strength or on Christ's; the fact is they are trying to become good enough to go to heaven.
This is legalism—Christ-centered legalism.
Its victims want to love Jesus with all their hearts, but they worry more about their own love for Him than they rejoice in His love for them.
Christ-centered liberals also seek a relationship with Jesus, more for His comfort and companionship than for strength to obey His requirements.
They feel uneasy about the commandments, seeing them as a set of strictures generating guilt and legalism.
Declaring that relationships are more important than rules, Christian liberals devote themselves to following Christ's example by relieving suffering.
Their misguided compassion on moral matters such as homosexuality and abortion is based more upon human reasoning than upon Bible principles.
Many regard misconduct as moral sickness and an expression of low self-esteem rather than as sin.
They see humanity as inherently good but deprived of love.
Their solution is the popular gospel of affirmation and self-worth that denies or downplays the Bible doctrine of human depravity and regards Christ more as an understanding friend than as a Saviour from the condemnation of the law—when He is both.
Identical solutions
Solving the shortcomings of liberalism begins with gaining respect for God's law.
Humanistic morality is insufficient;
There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. Pro 16:25
Lest we drift away from God on the shifting tides of relativism, we need the anchor of His absolutes.
Genuine love does not deny or downplay the law but fulfills it.
Love worketh no ill to his neighbour:
therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. Rom 13:10
Liberals need the Ten Commandments to teach them truth.
They must learn that being good citizens isn't enough to make them good people.
God is absolutely holy, and none can ever become righteous enough to deserve acceptance; the only hope of relieving sin's debt is the gift of God's grace in Christ.
Perhaps surprisingly, the solution for legalists also is a deeper understanding of God's law.
They would hunger and thirst for Christ's righteousness—His alone—if they fathomed the hopelessness and sin fulness of their own supposed goodness.
Before they can truly appreciate the Saviour, they must comprehend what He is saving them from.
For that, they need the convicting testimony of God's law.
Legalists major in minors.
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith:
these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. Mat 23:23
They try to pry out the specks of dust from the liberals' eyes while neglecting the beams of their own blindness.
They speak of "raising the standards," not knowing that Sinai's righteous standard is much higher than their own comprehension.
To God, the inhumanity of man toward man is our greatest sin, while heaven-born love fulfills the law.
The irony of such legalism—any kind of legalism, lukewarm or otherwise—is that its own standard is too low.
It cannot adequately measure and quantify the absolute holiness required by God's commandments.
Remember, the law condemns not just obvious sins of commission such as:
- killing
- stealing
- fornicating
but also sins of omission.
Neglecting to bear one another's burdens violates the law of Christ.
Withholding an encouraging word of witness is a sin.
Any failure to show the total love of Christ in every situation is sinful behavior.
Thus, by God's standard, all of us are sinners, unworthy servants.
We all fall short of accurately reflecting Christ's char acter of caring.
Our only hope is to come to the cross and lay hold upon His mercy to atone for our guilt before God's law.
Any time the law is mentioned, though, those who tend toward liberalism will raise the charge of legalism.
Actually, those who rightly regard God's law can never live as legalists, hoping to be saved through success in keeping the commandments.
Honoring the high demands of the holy law produces what the Bible calls,
"the fear of God,"
which involves respect for His righteousness.
Convinced that we cannot do business with Almighty
The Masoretes – Library of Rickandria
Fleeing Mt. Sinai, we find refuge at Calvary, crying:
"Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!"
Thus, saved from the curse of condemnation, our gratitude for life-giving grace unites us to the Saviour.
We become Christ-centered instead of law-centered.
We also cease being sin-centered, since faith in Christ requires that we shun the world's counterfeit fulfillments.
Ancient Lot learned this the hard way after pitching his tent toward Sodom.
Lot (/lɒt/; Hebrew: לוֹט Lōṭ, lit. "veil" or "covering"; Greek: Λώτ Lṓt; Arabic: لُوط Lūṭ; Syriac: ܠܘܛ Lōṭ) was a man mentioned in the biblical Book of Genesis, chapters 11–14 and 19. Notable events in his life recorded in Genesis include his journey with his uncle Abraham; his flight from the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, during which his wife became a pillar of salt, and being intoxicated by his daughters so they could have incestuous intercourse with him to continue their family line.
Today's environment is even more treacherous; even the air waves around us have sodomized with televised temptation.
Many liberals let the devil ravage them with his allurements.
They need to repent of this spiritual fornication, but they don't welcome warnings about breaking God's law.
They want a pastor who affirms them in loving themselves rather than one who guides them in loving God and losing themselves for Christ's sake.
Without old-fashioned repentance for sin, however, confidence in God's mercy amounts to presumption.
Mere infatuation with God's forgiveness is not faith.
Remember, happy songs of praise and even fervent prayers can be an exercise in damnation:
He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be abomination. Pro 28:9
Assurance of salvation
Having forsaken what the world offers for what God offers us at Calvary; we may rejoice in His salvation.
Carnally minded liberals overlook the importance of repentance before claiming assurance in Christ.
They refer to the welcoming arms of the prodigal's father, forgetting that the repentant son came home empty-handed.
He wasn't bringing back the wine bottles of his former lifestyle.
When listening to lukewarm liberals, one pictures St. Peter at heaven's gate happily handing out lollipops to everyone alike, no matter how they lived.
Going to the other extreme, legalists would portray the mythical gatekeeper with his arms crossed, wearing a suspicious scowl, grimly disqualifying any poor soul who had recently indulged in a chocolate milk shake.
Many legalists consider any assurance of salvation as something of a questionable amusement.
Others have fallen prey to a cruel and deceptive counterfeit:
"Sure you can have the assurance of salvation!
Just pray for the Holy Spirit's power to overcome all sin, and then based on your victorious experience, you can know you are saved."
That sounds simple enough, except that all of us are sinners.
So, who can have any assurance?
We had better find a better basis than our own perfection.
Since liberals who are carnally minded enjoy assurance, mistaken though it is, their worship is emancipated from anxiety about the Almighty.
Sometimes their services are sophisticated and sometimes boisterous. Legalists, by contrast, have an aura of counterfeit reverence that may reflect spiritual apprehension.
They are solemn and subdued.
Everything is decent and in order—as it should be—yet there is no heartbeat in their worship.
But watch them come alive Sunday afternoon during the Redskins' football game.
See them clapping and celebrating.
Does their refusal to rejoice in heavenly things while they adore the things of this world say anything about their spirituality?
Not that it's necessarily wrong to watch a football game, nor is enthusiastic praise the only proper worship format.
The point is that whatever our style, we must worship God in spirit as well as in truth, with our hearts and souls as well as with our minds.
If we are incapable of spiritual emotion but full of enthusiasm as sportaholics, perhaps our faith is fundamentally flawed.
God alone can judge.
And remember, He will do just that.
A holy God must ultimately punish sin in even the least of its manifestations.
So let us hide ourselves in Christ.
Only through the Lord's mercies are we not consumed; thus we must cease making sinlessness our hope of salvation.
Whatever good is in our lives is never good enough to make us worthy.
When we learn to respect the height and depth of God's law, we will become ashamed of our own works and glorify the works of Jesus Christ.
We will cease being enamored with all we are doing for Him and feel our utter need of what He offers us.
We will consistently and exclusively present the truth as it is in Jesus.
Then the Sabbath will no longer be a tightrope on which to perform our holy acts; we will honor it as the memorial of Christ's accomplishments.
Heaven's sanctuary will no longer be a furniture showroom of denominational antiquities; when we think of Christ's final phase of priestly ministry, as symbolized by the second apartment, we will focus on the mercy seat, the throne of grace.
For a long time, God has been waiting there to meet with us.
As we make ourselves at home in His merits, Christ's coming will no longer be the cursed threat of those who lack assurance of salvation; it will indeed become our blessed hope.
Is the church going through?
Speaking of assurance, it's amazing how many Adventists have none regarding personal salvation— they don't even believe in it—yet they proclaim once-saved always-saved for our organizational structure:
"No matter what happens, the Seventh-day Adventist Church is going through to the kingdom!"
Lucifer’s Flood & the Little Season: The Kingdom of Heaven & the Kingdom of God – Library of Rickandria
One man told me:
"Even if the General Conference president and I are the only ones left in the church, I'm staying with the ship."
Let us thank God for spiritual leadership, but then we must pause and consider for ourselves:
What is this "ship" of salvation?
Merely having our names recorded on the books of the Adventist Church?
Or is it the gospel of Jesus Christ in the context of biblical truth?
And what do we mean by "the church" that is "going through"?
Do we mean that God will preserve a remnant in the last days who keep His commandments and have the faith of Jesus?
Or do we imagine that the Seventh-day Adventist organization is guar anteed a once-saved, always-saved status?
While some Adventists are harsh and irrational in their criticism of the church and its institutions, others are caught up in blind denominational patriot ism.
Have they forgotten the principle of conditional prophecy?
Obedience to God's covenant has always been the condition of salvation—and that goes for organizations as well as individuals.
So how can we insist that it is impossible for our church to forfeit favor with God, no matter what we do?
The arrogance of such a statement is exceeded only by its ignorance.
Do we imagine ourselves immune from the rejection suffered by the Jewish nation—God's chosen people—when they rejected the gospel?
Let me affirm again my personal appreciation for those leaders of integrity God has given to our church.
How sad that we tend to criticize them more than we pray for them.
If we could look past our own limited perspective and see the multi-faceted dimensions of the problems they wrestle with, we might cherish greater appreciation for what they are doing.
Speaking personally, I'm not an administrator; I just don't have that talent.
Whatever mistakes are being made in this church, I'm certain that I'd be making 10 times as many if I tried to do the job.
(If that sounds humble, let me assure you that I have every reason to be!)
So, I had better pray more than criticize.
How about you?
And let's not allow the things that are wrong keep us from rejoicing in all that is right about our church.
While we praise God for whatever He is doing, we also need the courage to confess and confront our undeniable spiritual problems.
While our songs and sermons insist that we want Jesus to return, perhaps many of us are no more eager for Christ to come than for Attila the Hun to come and invade our prosperity.
Attila (/əˈtɪlə/ ⓘ ə-TIL-ə or /ˈætɪlə/ AT-il-ə; c. 406 – 453), frequently called Attila the Hun, was the ruler of the Huns from 434 until his death in early 453. He was also the leader of an empire consisting of Huns, Ostrogoths, Alans, and Gepids, among others, in Central and Eastern Europe.
Such seems to be is the spiritual state of many members.
We don't smoke, but we're not on fire.
We don't drink, but we refuse to be under His influence.
We don't dance but neither do we delight in His salvation.
This lethargic attitude causes our Lord to lament:
I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot:
I would thou wert cold or hot. Rev 3:15
We Adventists have long recognized the relevance of this rebuke to our own generation.
We could be rejoicing in the New Jerusalem but instead are languishing in Laodicea.
Being selfish and indolent, we are yet somehow proud of ourselves for possessing the pillars of truth.
Many Adventists have yet to learn the truth within the truth.
Like the Pharisees of old, are we zealous sabbatarians who have resisted Sabbath rest?
We know where the dead are, but we have not been alive in Christ.
We accept the sanctuary doctrine, but we ignore the daily intercession of our Priest.
We talk of His soon return, yet we live as if He never will.
God attempted a breakthrough in 1888 with the truth as it is in Jesus.
Still, we slumber, more than a century later.
Yet the pillars of our truth remain.
And since this is the only denomination that has claimed those pillars of truth, we are indeed the fold God seeks to prepare for His sheep from Babylon.
No question about it.
Enfeebled and defective though we be we are still God's chosen movement of destiny.
But where do we go from here?
Thank God, there's still hope.
Christ's warning to Laodicea closes with a heart touching invitation to His lukewarm church and a glorious promise for eternity:
Behold, I stand at the door, and knock:
if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.
To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne. Rev 3:20-21
Our church has here a wonderful, glorious promise if we repent, but a fearful warning if we refuse to get down to business with God.
One thing is certain.
Jesus wasn't bluffing when He threatened rejection of Laodicea.
Ellen Gould White (née Harmon; November 26, 1827 – July 16, 1915) was an American author, and was both the prophet and a co-founder of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Along with other Adventist leaders, such as Joseph Bates and her husband James White, she was influential within a small group of early Adventists who formed what became known as the Seventh-day Adventist Church. White is considered a leading figure in American vegetarian history. Smithsonian named her among the "100 Most Significant Americans of All Time".
Ellen White recognized this when she warned in 1888 that:
"if the Church should go into darkness the Lord would raise up others to finish the work—that He had agents that He could call into action at any moment." Ellen G. White, quoted in LeRoy E. Froom, Movement of Destiny, p. 255.
Evidently, we Adventists don't have an exclusive franchise on God's truth, nor is He obligated to wait forever until we finally sing His song.
One hundred and fifty years ago, the Lord entrusted a New England man with a special message for the community.
He hesitated and squandered his opportunity, perhaps thinking that God was obliged to wait.
Then one morning he woke up and somebody else was singing his song.
The Lord chose a humble teenager to take his place.
The rest of the story is history, the history of Ellen White and the Seventh day Adventist Church.
Four essentials
Let us beware that history does not repeat, this time against our favor.
To preserve our heritage, I see four essential goals we must achieve and maintain:
1.
Uphold Christ crucified as the central focus of our public proclamation and personal beliefs.
Remember our mandate:
"Of all professed Christians, Seventh-day Adventists should be foremost in uplifting Christ before the world." Ellen G. White, 1888 Manuscripts, p. 68N.
Until this actually happens, we will never be the people God wants us to be.
Jesus is the way, the truth and the life.
Any belief or lifestyle standard that denies or diminishes this is a doctrine of devils.
2.
Keep the Bible alone as our rule of faith and teaching.
Authorized King James Version vs. New Bible versions – Library of Rickandria
Some fellow Christians consider us a cult because too many of us have done with Ellen White what the Pharisees did to Moses.
While some Adventists ignore her prophetic gift, others seek to enthrone her as lord over the Word, its final authority.
The way to truly honor Ellen White is to do what she says and keep the Bible first and foremost in our teaching.
3.
Keep the law of God as our standard of holiness, not cultural standards that don't make sense.
Let us put the emphasis where God does on faithful obedience and loving service, not exaggerating the importance of trinkets and trivia.
There must be sufficient tolerance for individual worship styles and the freedom to serve God according to one's individual talents and personality.
Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. 2Co 3:17
4.
Affirm the historic doctrines of the church but be open to learn more about the truth as it is in Jesus.
We must guard every pillar of our faith, while seeking constantly to upgrade our appreciation of truth as it is in Jesus.
Remember,
But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day. Pro 4:18
God wants us to be ever growing, never holding back.
Perhaps right now many of us need to get jolted by some lightning and thunder from Mt. Sinai.
That might wake us up from both liberalism and legalism.
Then we will be able to hear that still, small voice from Calvary:
"Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."
Drawn by that tender love to make an uncompromised commitment, we will welcome lifestyle standards—but we will also acknowledge that vegetarian virtues are not kosher enough to qualify us for the kingdom.
Realizing that we have been forgiven much, we will love much.
Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost. Romans 15:13
With the faith of Jesus in our hearts, we will finally be keeping the commandments of God.
No longer will we be satisfied offering merely the turtledoves of tithe.
Restored to the joy of His salvation, we will offer bullocks of personal sacrifice.
That's what it will take to finish the work of God.
Nothing less will do.
The final overcomers from the tragedy of the Titanic, we get a symbol of the saints who survive the shipwreck of legalism and liberalism in the last days.
Miles Williams Mathis: The Titanic – The Fraud that Keeps on Giving – Library of Rickandria
Imperiled passengers on that sinking ship no longer segregated themselves into first class, second class and steerage.
They crowded together on the sloping decks, praying and singing as they waited for the lifeboats.
Likewise, when our human institutions and organizations collide with the icebergs of earth's final crisis, we will not mind mingling with one another while waiting for Jesus, our lifeboat.
No longer will we segregate ourselves along:
- racial
- cultural
- economic
lines.
Huddled together under the shelter of His wings, we will sing:
"Nearer My God to Thee."
And we will mean it.
The church will then finally experience koinonia, that quality of community that the earliest Christians enjoyed after Pentecost.
Meanwhile, may God save us from both the demons of indulgence with their carnal liberalism, and the demons of righteousness with their legalism.
The Power of Demons over Mortal Flesh – Library of Rickandria
In the final time of trouble so soon to burst upon us, the world will be caught in the clutches of Satan's deceptions.
But there will be a remnant people who keep the faith.
Here is the patience of the saints:
here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus. Rev. 14:12
By keeping God's commandments, the final remnant overcome the demons of indulgence.
And by cherishing faith in Jesus, they overcome the demons of righteousness.
So let us beware and be wise.
Amid the worldliness around us, God offers His church victory over sin, but so does the devil.
May we resist his temptation to jump from the frying pan with the demons of indulgence into the fire with the demons of righteousness.
Demons of Righteousness
Demons of Righteousness: High Road to Hell – Library of Rickandria