Christ or Christianity?

There is a revolution coming. It is a revolt of sincere followers of Jesus against the religion called Christianity. Those who are seeking to do the will of God sense its coming and are being prepared for it by the Spirit. Those who are intent on maintaining an appearance of righteousness without the substance of it will be shocked and indignant when it happens; but, it will be the work of God, and it will not be stopped. It will bring Christianity itself to an end, to the everlasting glory of the Father and His Son Jesus Christ, and to the very great joy of all who truly love God.

In Genesis 11, when man made his first serious effort to reach heaven by his own wisdom and power, that effort was made in the territory which later was called Babylon. Thereafter, the name Babylon was often used in connection with any place where unordained religious activities occur. Later, in the history of Israel, Babylon became infamous as a place of captivity for the children of God. Many Old Covenant people of God were taken in chains to ancient Babylon by King Nebuchadnezzar. So, to combine these two meanings of Babylon, we see that Babylon is (1) the place where men labor to reach heaven without God's anointing or approval, and (2) a place where God's people dwell in bondage. This is a perfect description of "Christianity."

God's people (Spirit-baptized people) are now scattered among the hundreds of sects which make up Christianity. Not one of those sects is of God; yet, the saints are there. And they are there because they have been deceived by Satan's most successful lie in human history, a deceit which has confused virtually us all at one time or another: to wit, to belong to Christ means that we belong to Christianity. Amid the mass confusion of doctrines and ceremonies which Christianity encompasses, God's children are trying in vain to find their place. My friend, belonging to Christ Jesus has absolutely nothing to do with belonging to Christianity. God is now pulling back the veil which has for so long covered our eyes, and He is setting us free from Satan's definition of life in Christ.

Jesus didn't come to start Christianity. He came to set men free from sin, sickness, and death. The vibrant faith depicted in the book of Acts is not a record of the beginning of Christianity. Christianity is that religion which came later and perverted the spiritual life which is depicted in Acts. The revealed truths found in the New Testament books can be found only in widely scattered bits within Christianity, and those bits of truth which can be found are always - yes, always - mixed with heresies; the result being, as Satan knew it would be, frustration and discourage ment for those who hunger for the knowledge of God. The bewildering array of doctrines and traditions within Christianity has had the effect of discouraging a search for the truth. Using Christianity as his principal tool, Satan has done a masterful job of quenching the saints' thirst for the knowledge of God by making it appear unattainable!

We err when we think of Christianity as something that once was good and pure, but went astray. Christianity has never been of God. It has never been good or pure. Christianity is itself that corrupt thing which infiltrated the ancient church and perverted its faith, just as the apostles forewarned the church (Acts 20:17- 35). Some actually saw it taking place before they died (Gal.1:6-7; 2Tim.1:15; 1Jn.2:18-19). There is no such thing as restoring Christianity to its original purity, because it was of Satan from the moment it appeared.

Historically, the first expression of Christianity was the result of mixing of the faith of Jesus with politics. Roman Emperors, having come to believe that Jesus is Lord, attempted to promote the faith of Christ by human reason and military might instead of by the power and revelation of the holy Ghost - and the results were tragic. The simple truth was cast aside for a more fashionable, and less charismatic, faith. Those who refused to accept this Roman version of the gospel were severely punished, if not murdered outright.

If you have been born, or baptized, into the church of God by the holy Ghost, God is your Father (because the church is of Him) and Jesus is your Master (because he is the head of the church). If you are in Christianity, Satan is your father (because Christianity is of him) and the Pope is your master (because he is the head of Christianity). For this reason, the Spirit is earnestly calling to the children of God, "come out of her My people!" Christianity is an unholy mixture, where carnal men rule over God's saints. It is an ungodly place of incomparable confusion and false claims. Christianity is Babylon.

If Christianity is the way of Christ, how were the Popes and their Crusader armies "turning the other cheek" when they plundered their way across eastern Europe, raping and murdering unsuspecting and innocent people on their way to rescue the "Holy Land" from infidels? And how much more wretched a life could the "infidels" have been living than were those "soldiers of the cross"? Remember, it was the Pope's worthless guarantee of heavenly bliss for any who died in this superstitious venture which helped spur those crusaders to ever greater boldness in their grisly trek to Palestine. Who really believes that the Lamb of God inspired Christianity's torture and murder of multiplied thousands who refused to convert to that religion? Who really believes that Jesus inspired the persecution and slaughter of the righteous men and women through the centuries who were condemned as heretics by Christianity's money-and- power-hungry clergy? Please think about it! How can Christianity's entanglement in politics be justified, when Jesus plainly said that his kingdom is not of this world?

Born-again people just do not belong in Christianity, and the harder they try to fit in, the less power and joy they possess. Christianity doesn't - and can't - allow but a measure of freedom to the children of God who are within her gates, and it is just for that reason that the Father is calling for His children to "come out" of that whorish abomination. If you obey this earnest call of God, you can be certain that God will be pleased, and Christians will persecute you. It is the Christian way of doing things.

The "charismatic" movement of a few years ago, once so full of promise, degenerated into a faith of catch phrases and formulas - mainly because those involved tried to fit their wonderful experience into Christianity. The same thing happened with the revival of the pentecostal baptism which America experienced in the early twentieth century. Pentecostal denominations now have become something else for God's people to come out of, if they would please God. As saints of generations past endured persecution for coming out of the Catholic and Anglican abominations and, later, out of the Baptist, Methodist, and other brands of Christianity, now those who hunger for God's righteousness are having to come out of the groups which boast the newer, nobler-sounding titles of Church of God, Assembly of God, Pentecostal Holiness, Apostolic, and the like.

Mixing life in the Spirit with Christianity has never succeeded in leading believers into the knowl edge of God, and it never will. You must come out! Christianity has put to death every revival of true holiness that has ever occurred. And it consistently accomplishes its destruction of spiritual life by somehow persuading God's children to believe that being a child of God means that one belongs to Christianity, and that, in order to please God, one must stay within the confines of Christianity's white-washed walls. Believing that, children of God quench the Spirit, unhappy as it makes them, so as to fit into Christianity's deadened mold. Child of God, awake to righteousness! Jesus didn't die to bring about Christianity; rather, he died to free us from the darkness of our own ways of living and worshipping God, including the horrible error of Christianity. Becoming a part of Christianity is not a work of the holy Spirit in one's life; rather, it is something we choose to do, and it neither honors Christ Jesus nor pleases the Father. It is a deed done in the flesh, by the will of man, and it has no place in God's kingdom. "Come out of her, My people!" Everywhere that Christianity rules, the Spirit is quenched, slowly perhaps, in cases where the fire burns brightly, but surely nonetheless. Given enough time, Christianity would corrupt and kill every ounce of true spiritual life on this planet. Christianity itself is antichrist - in its nature, in its doctrines, and in its ceremonial forms. The spirit of antichrist is the secret lord of Christianity.

God has heretofore been very merciful and patient, but how much longer will He endure the dishonor brought upon the name of Jesus by Christianity? In the final analysis, we must choose between being a faithful follower of Jesus Christ or being a faithful member of Christianity; and, misguided by superstitious fear, many are making the wrong choice. If you belong to any church other than the one into which Jesus baptizes men by his Spirit, you are guilty of the sin of belonging to Christianity. It is confusion. It is Babylon. And the Spirit is still pleading to God's family, as it has since God's saints began joining themselves to the churches invented by men, "Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remem bered her iniquities" (Rev.18:4-5).

My friend, the cry of the Spirit is this: "Come out of Christianity!" Christianity is a corrupt, thoroughly confused, and helplessly divided religion, which denies the Lordship of Christ Jesus at every turn. "Come out of her, my people!" That, my dear reader, is a divine commandment, not a carnal suggestion.

Members of Jesus's church: people who have received God's Spirit (Rom.8:9; Eph.2:22; 1Pet.2:5; 1Jn.3:24).
Members of Christianity's church: people who have joined that religion.

Jesus's method of becoming a church member: baptism of the holy Ghost (Rom.6:3; Gal.3:27; 1Cor.12:-13).
Christianity's way of becoming a church member: joining.

Jesus's family: all who do the Father's will (Mt.12:48- 50).
Christianity's family: all who join themselves to it.

Jesus's place of worship: in spirit and in truth, in the hearts of sanctified men (Jn.4:23-24; Rom.15:16).
Christianity's places of worship: buildings built by men.

Jesus' sabbath: life in the Spirit (Mt.11:28; Isa.28:11- 12; 1Cor.14:20-22).
Christianity's sabbaths: Sunday mostly. Some, Saturday.

Jesus's communion: fellowship with God and with the saints, in the Spirit (1Cor.10:15-17).
Christianity's communions: ceremonially consuming dead earthly matter: bread, wafers, wine, grape juice.

Jesus's "Word of God": whatever God says (Mt.4:4).
Christianity's "Word of God": the Bible (which version?).

Jesus's garments for worship: righteousness (Rev.7-8), praise (Isa.61:3), and humility (1Pet.5:5).
Christianity's garments for worship: pretty, matching choir robes and ponderous, flowing, ministerial vestments.

Jesus's weapons: faith, love, peace, joy, and other qualities of the Spirit (2Cor.10:3-4).
Christianity's weapons: money, political and social activism, and, at times, torture and military weapons.

Jesus's baptism: with the holy Ghost and fire (Mt.3:11).
Christianity's baptisms: various methods, using water.

Jesus's cross: denying self and doing the will of God. (Mt.10:38; 16:24; Gal.6:12-14; Phip.3:18-19).
Christianity's cross: symbol of the Roman tool of torture.

Questions? Log onto the Internet, Click Here,
and you can E-mail them to: GSAVELLI@aol.com