When the Lord Jesus
Christ showed up the first time His “Bible-believing”, Bible-preaching,
soul-winning, praying, tithing, fasting, sabbath-keeping followers not only did not recognize Him, they despised and
rejected His teachings and chose Barabbas over Him. The most common rebuke the
Lord gave His people concerned their inexcusable ignorance of the word of God:
“Ye do err not knowing the scriptures...Have ye not read...Is it not
written...” Even well-known preachers of the Bible went to hell (Mt 23:33; Jn 8:44) and were rebuked for
not understanding salvation and the new birth (Jn 3:10; Mt 23:15). I put Bible-believing
in quotes because of the undeniable fact that the Lord wasn’t crucified by Bible
believers who went by what His Bible said; He was crucified by theologians
who went by what other books said the
Bible meant.
According to
Ecclesiastes 1 history repeats itself. Therefore, if the Word of God were to return
today most of His born-again, “Bible-believing”, Bible-preaching, soul-winning,
praying, tithing, fasting, Saturday- or Sunday-keeping followers not only would
not recognize Him, they would despise and reject His doctrine and choose the
Antichrist and his doctrine over Him while believing they were doing God a
service. And when He rebuked them by quoting what the Bible says, they
would tritely respond with, “I think that’s just your interpretation...I don’t
think that applies today...Most modern translations have a different
reading...I don’t think that was meant to be taken literally...That’s not what
my church teaches...I think you’re majoring on the minors”, and other assorted
sophistry intended to dodge Scripture because conforming to the Bible has
been replaced with conforming to church tradition (“doctrine”). Even today’s well-known
preachers of the Bible do not know what salvation is and do not understand the
new birth because the church once again is relying on worldly wisdom and Reason
by exalting theology while rendering lip service to Bible study and the
inspired literal word of God.
This book is intended to be a wake-up call for
those who believe what the Bible says. It is meant to introduce them to
the fact that, just as Eve was deceived by the subtlety of Satan, they, too,
just may be tradition-bound, Bible-rejecting, blind followers of men who know
neither the Scriptures nor the power of God. It is hoped they will get a
glimpse of the sad fact that while they are piously teaching new Christians not
to smoke or to use “the f word”, they are unknowingly rejecting the authority of God and are in danger of
going to hell. And when I say that, I am not just speaking to those unskillful
in the word of righteousness. Neither am I merely including the proud old but
generally liberal mainline denominations such as the Episcopalians, Lutherans,
Methodists, and Presbyterians. I am also addressing those denominations,
independent or not, that generally consider themselves to be champions of
“orthodoxy” and “fundamentalism” such as the Assemblies of God, Baptists,
Churches of Christ, and today’s popular nondenominational mega churches. And,
lest anyone think I’m favoring some cult, I include in that group the Roman
Catholic, Mormon, Jehovah’s Witness, and Seventh-Day Adventist churches. If
I’ve left any group out please be assured that I believe that just as it was
during the time of the First Coming so it is today: To be affiliated with any denomination is to be linked with apostasy.
(My definition of cult: Any religion that allows or encourages people to
think something within the organization – such as a book, a person, or a
committee – has doctrinal authority equal to or greater than the Holy Bible.)
I hope to help those individuals who are trying
to ensure that their relationship with Jesus Christ is in accordance with the
Bible – not tradition – because they know that the Word of God and the word of
God are inseparable. Many people, however, will read this book just to see if I
agree with their pet doctrine(s) or not. Today many
Christians, when looking for a Bible study, are not humbly looking for
something that will train them up in the way they should go by teaching them
the hard truths of God; they are smugly looking for something that will tickle
their ears by assuring them that, in spite of their appalling ignorance of the
word of God, they are somehow already on the path of righteousness. They want
to read, not study; and they want to agree,
not learn. In other words, they
prefer to waste their time with “Bible studies” they don’t need because
they already know and agree with everything in them!
Those people are already offended by this introduction and will not like this
book because they prefer books that make them feel good about themselves – not
books that show them to be part of the modern Babylonian captivity. Immature
Christians will ignore the major and damning tenets of this book that show the
church and its doctrines to be corrupt. They will do so by taking offense at
trivial things I may say along the way that they disagree with – but that do
not affect their Christian walk in any way! In other words, because they
cannot deal with the major and far-reaching reasons this book was written,
they’ll strain at gnats, swallow camels, quit studying, and go find something
less challenging. Keep that in mind as you read this book because it is not for
babes in Christ; this is a meaty Bible study written for soldiers; the gloves
are off. It’s time for some Swordplay; for as iron sharpeneth iron, so a man
sharpeneth the countenance of his friend. There is too much pabulum in the
pulpits, which has turned men into panty-waisted, effeminate, supercilious
little sissies whose “Christian” world is so far removed from the fight that
it’s no longer sticks and stones that hurt – it’s words! That’s what lip
service does.
The Lord is a man of war (Ex 15:3). He wants us to be men of war (Ju 3:1,2; Ps 144:1; 1 Ti 6:12). Sadly, we’re having trouble
producing men let alone warriors. The modern church has filled our
ranks with medics and psychologists whose carnal preoccupation with social
acceptance has made “Christianity” unappealing to and even hostile towards
warriors. Being for men of war, this book is very direct; you’ll have no
trouble knowing what I’m saying. My directness will offend those modern
Christians who do not understand war and what is needed to participate in war.
I say again: Modern Christians understand neither war nor the total involvement
needed to successfully participate in war.
This is written for those who look at the
slickly-packaged modern Christianity around them and quietly wonder if they’re really serving the Lord – because there
are still a few good Christians who wonder if their church (with plenty of fine
people in it!) really is on the right path or if it, too, has been leavened in
these dark last days. They realize churches today are mainly successful because
they get hold of unsaved people ignorant of the Scriptures, pump them full of
traditional denominational explanations for the same verses that, amazingly
enough, are also used to support the different doctrines of other
denominations. Now loaded with leaven, the new converts accept the fervent
assurances that they are lucky to have ended up in the one denomination that
has escaped apostasy, and are quickly sent out to make more converts. Most
converts enjoy the fellowship, are proud of their new knowledge of the Bible,
are grateful to their denomination, and become passionately loyal to it while
thinking loyalty to their denomination is the same as loyalty to Christ and His
Scriptures. The soldier has probably been through those stages. He will be
intrigued with this book. But he will also want to cautiously ensure that no
well-meaning but deluded nut is going to get him to stray from the Bible, so he
will spend a lot more time in the Bible than in this book in order to see if
these things be so. He has seen enough to know that all denominations claim to
go by the Bible, and that even his own is filled with many people who could easily
be duped because they are ignorant and unmotivated. He finds it vaguely
troubling that so many Christians who know nothing of the Bible and who
couldn’t care less seem to be an acceptable part of the church. He is
motivated by Christ and therefore is humble and honest enough with himself and
with God to quietly wonder if all is well with his soul. If he is an ignorant
dupe he knows how to find out, and the Comforter and the Bible are all he needs
because he knows that no matter what the doctrine is, if it is not in the
Bible it did not come from God.
---------- page ii
----------
This book is not going
to waste your time going over a bunch of stuff you already know. There will be
no automatic chorus of amens! as you go through this because it will show you
that some of your most basic, fundamental, unquestioned beliefs are just plain
wrong. When you complete this Bible study you will have
a mature understanding of God, world history, the Bible, doctrine, and
Christianity. If you are a mature Christian and think you
already have a sufficient grasp of doctrine, the historical section will show
you why the doctrinal section is so important and necessary to your
understanding of modern Christian apostasy. It will become evident as you go
through this book why it is intended for mature Christians; it calls for a
slow, methodical, disciplined pace because the meat of this work is the
referenced Scripture, not what I’ve written. I cannot and should not convince
you of anything; that’s what the Bible is supposed to do. I do not expect you
to go through this material once or twice and agree with everything in it. I do
expect those of you who accept the authority of the Bible to be stunned. The
consistency of this stuff and how well it fits with and explains other things
in the Bible will not be what stuns you; it will be what makes you think there
just might be something to this book. You will be stunned because you will
begin to glimpse the shocking condition of the body of Christ if even half this stuff is true. You will stop
wondering how Satan will someday deceive the church and will see that he has
already done so. You will begin to see that we’re not entering the dark last
days of apostasy; we’ve been in them for at least a thousand years. As you read
The Age of Reason you must gird your loins by realizing the following:
Any book that really does expose apostasy in the modern church and
really does teach correct doctrine is going to be offensive to Reason and
Tradition: It will not be widely received and acclaimed. And it cannot
reveal the truth to you unless you treat it as a Bible study. I say again: A
commercially-successful book or an hour-long sermon or videotape cannot teach
the truth about Christianity; the truth has never been that popular, that
simple, or that easy. Apostasy can only be revealed by serious Bible study –
which is why most Christians will remain apostate. Therefore, do not assume The
Age of Reason is wrong just because it challenges some of your most
cherished and fundamental beliefs; it is going to do just that!
You will begin to feel
overwhelmed, insignificant, and helpless as the massive, all-encompassing
spread of leaven becomes more apparent. You will also see how frustrating it is
trying to converse with other Christians about any of these topics. That is why
I wrote this book; I had to go back to the beginning and walk you through this
stuff step by step so you could see that each step is sound. If you take the
time to search the Scriptures and verify that each step is sound, you will find
at the end of the journey that you have reached a conclusion that is
horrifying, inescapable, exhilarating, and challenging. Horrifying
because the gates of hell have done much to make evil good and good evil. Inescapable
because the Scriptures actually say it and you believe them. Exhilarating
because you are beginning to see the truth that has been buried for so long by
tradition, and because you are delighted that the Lord has brought you to the
point where you are a rarity because you can by faith accept completely what He
says – you really are His follower, His disciple, His friend. And challenging
because there is much to be done in your life and in the church. There
really is a war going on over doctrine and you must gird up your loins and give
your life to the church as Christ did for you.
It took me years to learn, understand, accept,
and act on these Scriptural truths. It was a growth process. I pray it won’t
take you as long as it did me. Daily Bible study is not an option; it is a
requirement. (Half of you just fell by the wayside.) The far-reaching scope of
this book makes it seem complex at first. It’s not. Just verify each
step as you take it so you can build on it. Do not forget it and
do not fail to apply it. You will see how consistent God is, as well as
how society got off track.
My overall purpose is to help and encourage
Christians to believe and act on the words in the Bible, because they are
the actual words God chose to be on paper, and because a person’s relationship with the Bible is an exact picture of his
relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. Most Christians already think they
have a great relationship with Christ and are already on the road of truth. I
believe they are wrong. So, tell the Lord you want to know His will so you can
properly serve Him, ask Him to help you with His word and to keep you from
error, and thank Him for the rewarding fellowship you experience when studying
His word, and may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.
INTRODUCTION ALL WE LIKE SHEEP HAVE GONE ASTRAY |
2 pages |
To go to chapter H1 click Lucifer's Rebellion |
The Age of Reason is a free Bible study/Christian history that shows how and why modern Christianity became apostate. |