Wednesday – June 1, 2016
The rocks will cry out if we don’t, in this case the camels will cry out. Wow, we are at Wednesday, hump day, already. No matter the course of your week or mine thus far we must know that God is good, better than good, and we are more than conquerors in any cooked up situation of the enemy. Remember, spiritual victories are not automatic because you say you love Jesus, and go to Church. Victories are produced by God through the pure of heart.
Today, tomorrow, and Friday will be a special teaching then on Monday the 6th of June I will return to our text in Colossians. Ordinarily on Thursday I speak of the Seven Pillars established by Wisdom and frequently focus in on the Pillar of Religion. Then on Fridays I generally have a picture of a Church and remind us all to pray for the Church, not the buildings, but the people. Any of you who have been reading The Three Minute Word or for that matter my other writings know that I have a deep concern for “the church”. The church is so far in the ditch and they think they are in the middle of the road. We have just been talking about issues that the Apostle Paul brought up to the people of Colossae and Laodicea.
Colossians 2:8 (KJV)
8 Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.
Colossians 2:18 (KJV)
18 Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind,
Unfortunately brother and sister these things in one form or another are going on wholesale in Churches everywhere. His people called by His name are swallowing the doctrines of devils.
1 Timothy 4:1 (KJV)
1 Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;
Why? One might ask. Primarily laziness, and being consumed with the cares of life.
Each Friday I have a picture of a Church building. I want to explain how I select those pictures and the significance of each one. On Tuesdays I select a State to honor and use as a reminder to pray for our governments (local, state, federal) across the United States. For example this week it is the State of Nevada. What I do then is look at a list of the oldest Churches in that state and select from among them to post in the publication. The selection of a particular building does not mean that I endorse or repudiate that denomination. I endorse and repudiate no denominations, they have all arisen by the work of the devil. God is not into division. This year I have posted buildings of the following denominations: Episcopal, Congregational, Baptist, Presbyterian, Lutheran, United Methodist, Catholic, and Mormon.
There are those among us that believe all Catholics need to be saved and that Mormonism is a cult. If a person believes something that I do not believe does that mean they are headed to hell? In 2012 when Mitt Romney, a Mormon, was running for office, many in the “Christian” church did not vote for him because he was Mormon (a cult) which had the effect of voting for President Obama. Jesus said you shall know them (followers of Jesus) by their fruit.
Matthew 7:15-17 (KJV)
15 Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
16 Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?
17 Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.
The fruit of President Obama has been the promotion of abortion, same sex practices including marriage, restriction of the freedom of speech, restriction of the freedom of religion, he has been divisive between ethnic and racial groups as well as economic groups, and the restriction of the God given freedom to defend oneself. Mr. Romney was not in favor of any of those ungodly policies.
Let’s look for a good definition of a cult. I have looked at five different sources.
- I looked at the Noah Webster 1828 edition of the American Dictionary of The English Language and it is nowhere to be found. It appears that the equivalent word of that period would be the word sect. Today instead of sect we would say denomination.
- Next, I looked at the Webster 1913 edition and found that it was simply, a system of religious belief and worship. This definition would fit your church or mine.
- I looked at Webster’s 1959 edition which offered the following more extensive definition. A system of worship of a deity; as, the cult of Apollo. 2. Hence: a. the rites of a religion. b. Great devotion to some person, idea or thing especially such devotion viewed as an intellectual fad. c. A sect. (Authors note – in Scripture a “sect” is associated with heresy) This definition was perhaps a little more helpful.
- I looked at my Microsoft Word program for synonyms and found the following; sect, religious group, faction, party, trendy, off beat, alternative, out of the ordinary.
- I checked the Online Etymology Dictionary which defined a cult as; an organized group of people, religious or not, with whom you disagree. This fifth definition of a cult is probably reflective of the beliefs of the “Christian Church”.
I think you can see that the definition of a cult is not easily found. It appears that a cult is whatever we say it is, and they from their prospective may call us a cult. The proper definition for a cult will not be found in the world system because the world system is a cult produced by the spirit of antichrist. If I lost you right there, tune in tomorrow.
By Dr. David R. Wood, Author, Bible Teacher, and Prophetic Voice
