Pharisaical Churches in the Last Days (Part Three)
We continue from Part Two in this series of message. So, apart from the Charismatic Church, there are also the IFB churches. Many of these churches still preach from the King James Bible. They still bear the image of a conservative church even though some of their doctrines are not conservative at all, for example, decisionism. Of all these churches, the Hyles cult has perhaps more than any other, promoted the Scofield Reference Bible and dispensationalism. Jesus warned us in:
Matthew 7:15 "¶ Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves."
Some wolves in sheep's clothing prefer to hide their identities by calling out other less pretentious wolves, and it is a common thing that IFB churches like to call out the less pretentious Charismatic Church for their errors, but are silent to their own. Matthew 7:15 is bridged to:
Luke 11:39 "And the Lord said unto him, Now do ye Pharisees make clean the outside of the cup and the platter; but your inward part is full of ravening and wickedness."
This is where we know that the Pharisees and the false prophets of the Old Testament times are the same group of people. These two entities, though seemingly separate and unrelated, are connected by the word "ravening". In Matthew 24:24, it was the false prophets who shall deceive with great signs and wonders. Their target are the Christians who seeketh after a sign, mainly the Charismatic crowd. But it is not just the Charismatics that have been deceived. Many of the fundamental churches too, have been infiltrated by the religion of the scribes and the Pharisees - the hypocrites. Again, referring to the scribes and the Pharisees, Jesus said in:
Mark 7:6-7 "He answered and said unto them, Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. 7 Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men."
The word of God means absolutely nothing to these hypocrites whose heart were far away from God. They taught for doctrines the commandments of men, not of God. Today, Christianity is overrun by all kinds of theories, theologies, philosophies and traditions. There are many different schools of thoughts today as represented by the "-ism" behind the title, for example, "dispensational-ism", "decision-ism", etc. The "-isms" denote their respective school of thoughts or framework of thinking. These are philosophical ideas which men have invented that would add unto or take away from the words of the LORD in the 66 books of the Holy Bible.
Deuteronomy 4:2 "Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you."
While these churches may appear spiritual on the outside, but within they are full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness. Their words "doth eat as a canker" according to 2 Timothy 2:17. They will come to you privily in the name of Jesus Christ bringing with them all the "-isms" that add unto or take away from the 66 books of the Holy Bible. True Bible-Christianity is pure, even as the words of the LORD are pure words. A truly born again believer does not need the "-isms" to help him understand the words of the LORD in the 66 books of the Holy Bible. He has the Spirit of truth to teach him and guide him unto all truth alongside with the word of truth that he has received.
1 John 2:27 "But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him."
Throughout the four gospel books and the book of Acts, we read of an enemy: the Pharisees, the Scribes and the Saduccees, who were constantly persecuting Jesus Christ and the church. They were the ones who got really angry at the truth - the 66 books of the Holy Bible. The scribes and Pharisees in Jesus' days are now the leadership of Pharisaical churches of modern times. Their strange doctrines have infiltrated the churches, and have taken root as corrupt trees, to bring forth evil fruits.
Matthew 16:12 "Then understood they how that he bade them not beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees."
Today, even though the Pharisees and the Sadduccees who hated Jesus and persecuted the church are no longer with us, but their spirits live on in the form of “... doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees” (Matthew 16:12). In that sense, they continue to make disciples, converting them into “... twofold more the child of hell” (Matthew 23:15) than themselves. Their spirits are alive in churches built upon false bibles, preaching false gospels, and teaching for doctrine the commandments of men, producing false converts.
Acts 7:51 "¶ Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye."
Stephen called the scribes and the Pharisees a bunch of "stiffnecked" people, and he compared them to their fathers from the Old Testament times. Today, the scribes and the Pharisees are still with us. Look around us and see how many Pharisees and Sadduccees there are around us: churches working rebellion against God and calling him a liar by their doctrines. These are the "Christians" who get really upset at the words of the LORD, having rejected the truth for lies, preferring darkness over light, and not possessing the love of God. They scoff at the words of the LORD, and they would not be reproved no matter what. These are the hypocrites who "always resist the Holy Ghost" as did the scribes and the Pharisees.
Matthew 7:21-23 "¶ Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? 23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity."
This passage is the LORD addressing the hypocrites who profess to know him, but in their works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate (Titus 1:16). Not every Christian will enter heaven, because not every Christian is a truly born again Bible-believer.
Job 8:13 "So are the paths of all that forget God; and the hypocrite’s hope shall perish:"
Psalms 9:17 "The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.
The end of a hypocrite is to be turned into hell and the lake of fire to be burn for ever and ever. The Bible calls them "wicked". They heap up the wrath of God according to Job 36:13. Referring to the Pharisees and the Sadduccees:
Matthew 3:7-9 "¶ But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance: 9 And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham."
Notice in this passage that the Pharisees and Sadduccees taught as their doctrine that the natural descendants of Abraham were somehow more favourable to God as compared to the rest of the people in the world, to which John the Baptist rebuked them saying "... think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham." Today, there are many churches which teach that the way God saves a Jew is different from the way he saves a gentile. This teaching has its origin in dispensationalism that places natural Israel in a supernaturally favourable position with God according to their corruption of Genesis 12:3.
Also in the same passage, notice that John the Baptist referred to the Pharisees and the Sadduccees as “trees” in telling them to bring forth fruits meet for repentance. This goes along with what we’ve studied in Part One where I’ve demonstrated from Scripture that the word of God sown in the Type 2 heart will produce hypocrites out of those “stony ground” hearts. The keyword here is “repentance”, and this is where we know that a hypocrite can never truly repent. Christians with this type of heart are as the Pharisees and the Sadduccees who can never bring forth fruits meet for repentance.
Luke 16:28-31 "For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment. 29 Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them. 30 And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent. 31 And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead."
The above passage is taken from the Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus. The Rich Man was a Jew, and yet he burned in hell. He was a natural descendant of Abraham, but he was also sinner like the rest of the people in this world. God did not favour him just because he was born a Jew. Why was he in hell? Notice what the Bible says in verse 30: the reason why the Rich Man was burning in hell (and still is) is because he knew to REPENT, but never did so in his lifetime!! In fact, that was the only thing that was mentioned whereby his five brethren may escape the torments of hell, and repentance is something that a hypocrite in heart can never do.
1 Timothy 4:1-3 "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; Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth."
They would rather die having their conscience seared with a hot iron than to repent and turn unto the Lord for salvation. They would rather work their way to heaven, than to be saved by the grace of God through faith in the word of God, and they teach others to do so. Sadly, some in the church will be deceived by their lies and their system of doctrines, and shall depart from the faith.
2 Timothy 2:17-18 "And their word will eat as doth a canker: of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus; 18 Who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already; and overthrow the faith of some."
A gospel which depart from every word of God is a false gospel. Any gospel that teaches a salvation apart from salvation by grace through faith in the 66 books of the Holy Bible is a false gospel and a doctrine of devils. While the doctrine of salvation in dispensationalism profess to teach a common salvation, it erred in teaching that the world history timeline is divided into seven artificially created periods, and that God has a different plan in each of these so-called "dispensations". This is like Hymenaeus and Philetus who taught that the resurrection is past already when in fact it is still in the future! Their doctrine has a modification effect on the gospel. Their words were like cancer, and the "gospel" they preached has overthrown the faith of some.
2 Timothy 3:16 "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:"
CI Scofield had implied in his note for John 1:17 that believers' faith were tested based upon their "legal obedience as the condition of salvation" to God's plan according to the different dispensations they were born in. That is to say that not all Scripture is applicable to the church (the current dispensation) for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness. The system of doctrine in dispensationalism is to cut up the 66 books of the Holy Bible into sets of Scripture and arbitrarily assign them to different people born in different dispensations (think Delilah!). When asked about their view on the timing of the rapture according to Matthew 24:29 and Mark 13:24, a typical dispensationalist reply would be "No, those verses are not applicable to the church".
This has perhaps led to the splintering out of a group of dispensationalists, called "hyper-dispensationalists", who argued that only the writings of Paul (Romans - Philemon) are applicable to the church, but the rest of the Holy Bible are not.