Is the true gospel in Texas? Part 1

 

I recently recieved an e-mail from a well meaning person suggesting that I find a “good church in Texas” to belong to. 

I have been considering the teaching of an international ministry lately, and I wrote back to this person, reminding him that I am half  French and that Jesus is not ethnocentric, much less a “Texan”.

The Gospel is not an “American” teaching.  I also told him I am disappointed in what I find being taught in the U.S today.  Maybe I’ll be even more disappointed in Europe this summer.     Regardless, here is an exerpt from a book written many years ago by a non-American.   It would benefit many Americans seeking the true gospel to take these words to heart and examine to see if their “Good Texas Churches”  teach the following:

from Sigurd Bratlie’s book, The Bride and the Harlot and the End Times (Chapter 8).
 
Babylon

 

”…Your merchants were the great men of the earth” Revelations 18:23

 

Commerce is one of the harlot’s methods of working.  Here the workers are described as merchants.  This is the harlot’s way of spreading God’s kingdom on earth.  We are well aware of the crude and manifest deceit of the Catholics.  “As soon as the coin in the coffer rings, the soul from purgatory springs.”  Businessmen think only in terms of financial gain – their own advantage.

 

The truth is the narrow way, and it is hard to bear.  You do not gain many followers, nor can you count on much financial gain by speaking about the narrow way.  If you want any financial gain you have to turn the gospel into a lie.  We have already seen how this is done, and there are hundreds of those who travel around and offer heaven at a cheap price.  The important thing for them is to gain followers – customers.  They do not do as Jesus did when some came and wanted to follow Him.  He showed them the “eye of the needle” and let them go through the narrow gate.  “Master, I will follow You wherever You go!”  Notice how Jesus confronts them with the “eye of the needle”.  “Foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.”  Matthew 8:19-20.

 

Another said, “Let me go first and bury my father.”  Then came the “eye of the needle”.  “Follow Me, and let the dead bury their own dead.”  And another also said, “let me first go and bid them farewell who are in my house.”  But Jesus replied, “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”

 

“Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?”  “If you want to be perfect, go sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.”

 

Jesus was not after financial gain; therefore He could speak like that.  He was not eager to gain followers who were well off financially.  Not at all.  He said, “Give it to the poor and come and follow Me.”  We can see that Jesus was not a businessman.

 

The minister’s salary is a great problem in the various denominations and assemblies, and it is important to agree on a sum.  “How much will I get for preaching the gospel?  What will my salary be?  I used to earn well in times of revival.  How are we going to get money in the collection?  Let us try and get ‘him’ to speak here for a while, because he draws large crowds that bring in the money we need just now, because the treasury is almost empty!  No, we cannot afford to invite him, because he has to have a minimum of…for each meeting,” etc.

 

Those who are not entirely bewitched and who have even the slightest insight into the internal affairs of these various assemblies cannot but come to the conclusion that the whole thing is just big business.  Advertisements just like the world’s are used in special Christmas, Easter, or Pentecost issues of their magazines.  They are well illustrated, with an attractive cover, and the contents are light and entertaining.  You can hear that the advertisements cater to the first man – the flesh.  “This is good business, an appealing and profitable publication.”

 

“Babylon the Great” is indeed a fitting name for the harlot.  She is compared to a merchant city.  Her merchants were great men of this earth.  How many preachers there are who have become great in this world!  The Pope in Rome is evidence that defies all contradiction!  And look at her daughters!  The higher up you are in the denominational hierarchy, the more of this world’s glory you will receive.  You become a “fine” fellow with a living standard to match.  You are on familiar terms with the rich in this world, and you gain influence.  You gain the ear of the local politicians, even those on the national scene.  There is no aroma of death coming from you that would make them feel uncomfortable.  2 Corinthians 2:15-16.

 

Just think that in his days Paul could say that many were corrupting God’s word for personal gain.  But the people are drunk – drunk with the wine of the harlot’s fornication.  They are bewitched because all this activity is supposedly carried on in Jesus’ name and for the spreading of God’s kingdom.  “Shame on you for writing such things about religious work!  All you do is judge!”  This is the cry we hear from the drunk and bewitched.  They want none of Daniel’s light, searching into their relationships and affairs while their business is so profitable.

 

“I saw a woman, drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the matyrs of Jesus.  And when I saw her, I marvelled with great amazement.”  Revelations 17:6.

 

Many have had to lay down their lives in the battle against all this witchcraft, and there will doubtless be many more martyrs in the future.  Revelations 6:9-11.  The harlot’s first murder victim was Abel.  Cain also brought an offering, but he was earthly, and Abel’s offering judged his life.  “Repent!”  “No, I would rather kill Abel.”  This is how the harlot began to drink the blood of the saints.  She has continued to this relentlessly down through the ages.

 

You who read this and are beginning to resent the light coming concerning Abel’s sacrifice, you too are beginning to shout with the masses, “Away with Him!”  I would like to give you a warning: Wake up from your bewitched state and acknowledge the truth, and it shall set you free.  Think this over!  It is not the work of the bride that falls under this judgement, but the work of the harlot.  If you are going to defend it, your end will be terrible!  Revelations 18:21.  “But there is also some good there,” you say.  Of course, because in all this sorcery both good and evil are mixed together.  The very essence of the harlot’s work is to mix good and evil, pure and impure, holy and unholy, flesh and spirit, heaven and earth.  “Therefore, thus says the Lord: ‘…if you will take the precious from the vile, you shall be as my mouth.’”  Jeremiah 15:19.  “And they shall teach My people the difference between the holy and the unholy, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean.”  Ezekiel 44:23-

 

Be not afraid of God’s Word that divides and separates.  Go out from the harlot!