Category: Church

Here’s the Church, And Here’s The Steeple, Open The Doors And Where’s All the People? – By Thomas J. Koester

The COVID-19 virus caused the emptying of 21st-century Christianity’s churches and cathedrals.

While the empty tomb of our Lord and Savior is, and forever, will be the main power source of Christianity, the Social Distancing edict might have inadvertently caused a miracle. Due to COVID-19, maybe empty church buildings will also become, in a small way, (a) power source for modern-day Christianity. Maybe our closed buildings will mean an opening to global evangelism.

The empty tomb meant that the old religious order of continual animal sacrifices was over. It means that the old order of the priesthood was over. It meant that the veil, which separated you and me from direct access to God, was torn down. And very importantly, it meant that where two or more are gathered, there in their midst is the very presences of God, and no longer confined to the temple made by man. It means that even when we are alone, and without each other, that God is with us and in our very own hearts.

God’s people no longer needed priests. God’s people no longer needed animal sacrifices to make atonement. God’s people no longer had to experience His favor and presence by proxy. And, God’s people no longer were confined to a temple made of bricks and mortar.

Because of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, we are free of all the religious trappings and traditions of men and of the consequences of the law. We are free to be the Church wherever we gather, even as few as two people!

Let us capitalize on our present situation and be convinced, once and for all, that we, as God’s people, are the Church. We are the living church. We, you and I, are the bride of Christ. Our church buildings, plain or palatial, were never meant to be the representation of the world.

Although, sadly, Church buildings had become the identity of Christianity. It is my hope that God’s people will be recognized as the Church and regain her position as the living bride of Christ and the center of Christianity.

One Sunday, Toni and I visited a church in Oakdale, California. When we arrived, we walked in and learned that the Church was emptied except for a few people who were preparing a luncheon, later to be enjoyed by the returning congregation. Rather than their typical service, the Church was in the downtown square, assisting their local community. We were actually pleasantly surprised and not at all offended by the empty sanctuary.

Do not be overcome because we cannot presently occupy a building, but celebrate that with or without buildings that we are the Bride of Christ, and that we’re meant to deliver the Gospel of the Kingdom to every nation and to every people. In doing so, our proclamation will hasten the ending and will launch the new beginning that we’ve all been longing for.

For the past 1700 years, Christianity created and built ornate cathedrals with spires and steeples pointing to the heavens.

Let the truth be known:

“Church steeples can be traced back thousands of years to Egypt and pagan worship. Roman Emperor Constantine and his “Edict of Milan” in 313CE made the Empire officially neutral with regard to religion. Eventually, Pagan and Christian symbols were eventually merged at the Council of Nicea in 325CE, and new doctrines and dogmas were set up by the Holy Roman Catholic (meaning universal) Church, and strictly enforced, under penalty of death.”

Since then, this building emphasizes that along with Christianity, continually orbiting ornate and palatial constructs, we’ve ceased going into all the world with the Gospel and instead invited all the world into our buildings. Over time, the contrast between Christianity and “worldlism” diminished. Rather than the world becoming more influenced by Christianity, the world’s influence had crept into our churches and has negated our need for faith and the Great Commission.

Let’s pray that this COVID-19 virus heals Christianity from its obsession with buildings and steeples and instead goes out, even as few as two-by-two, to all the peoples.

God’s blessings and power to the true Living Church and Bride of Christ – Amen

The Intentional Collapsing of America Through Tolerance – By Thomas Koester

There is an unseen force, which has corrupted all seven pillars of our culture and society.
1. God/Absolute Truth/Freedom to Worship.
2. Traditional Family.
3. Morality/Ethics/Rule of Law.
4. Sanctity of all Human Life/Civility.
5. Independent Private Education/Ungoverned Learning.
6. Work Ethic/Entrepreneurial Spirit.
7. Freedom/Liberty/Self-Governance.
It is the progressive spirit and its gradualism, which had accomplished this in a free and opened society by utilizing the same freedoms guaranteed us by God and afforded to us through our Constitution. The single most deadly word which historians will ascribe to the loss of such a Great Nation as ours is “tolerance.”
Tolerance is the perfect atmosphere in which progressivism and gradualism are required in order to corrupt the Seven Pillars of any culture, society or nation, and religious institutions. Once it takes root, it slowly and patiently corrupts each pillar like rust or dry rot slowly and inevitably destroys foundations.
“If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?” Psalms 11:3
The Spirit of the Age knows this. And, it is the Church, more than any other institution which has permitted this corruption through a single, most basics and simple word called “Love.”
Once we allowed the Spirit of the Age, through our tolerance to exclude from God all other attributes except His divine nature of Love, the World and Spirit of the Age only had to emphasize and exploit the benevolence and tolerance of God to neutralize the Churches obligation and calling. And, we therefore forfeited our mandate of being both the salt and the light of every generation and to every nation.
What will it take in this our Nations most desperate hour?
The Righteous must repent of their own unrighteousness and return to the God of Heaven and Earth and destroy the Golden Calf of the “False Yahweh,”
which we allowed the Spirit of the Age to form in our presence in exchange for worldly relevance.
For who needs to be saved from a loving God? And, what Christian would need to fear such a benevolent and tolerant God?
For God has not changed, His Just and Righteous Wrath and all its fury is being stored up.
Christ Jesus becomes the perfect Lamb of God. The blood of Christ is divine and uncorrupted, and because of the immaculate implantation of the Seed of God into the womb of Mary, a perfect substitute for all mankind was born.
This New Covenant, which God had ordained, expanded the love He had already demonstrated to the people of Israel for centuries past before the birth of Christ. God did not become more loving. His great and amazing love does not trump His other attributes. Rather, God expanded His amazing plan of salvation to all mankind.
“No man can come to the Father except through me,” said Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ is the only access, the only door and the only relevance for all mankind. Belief through faith and obedience in and to the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ is the only way to be saved from the wrath of God against all men of every race and creed Yes, God is a loving God, but until you believe through faith and act in obedience, you are under His just wrath.
Trust and believe in Christ Jesus today. And begin a new year with a new life, and so restore the pillars of our culture, society, and nation, one man and woman at a time. Jesus Christ remains our only hope and our only Savior.
There are things that only the righteous can do that no president or politician can. Reveal the True and whole Counsel of God. Exalt the one and only Living God as He is and not what the world wants.
Our God is no love guru. He is God Almighty, Maker of Heaven and Earth. His love and tolerance are only found in Jesus Christ. He is our only remedy against God’s wrath.

Only God can stop the collapsing of America.