20200711 | Apostate Protestantism | Pastor John Lomacang (tvsdac)

this morning i want to encourage you to turn your hearts to the lord first in prayer and then in asking for the lord to give you a a mind that's calibrated ears that are going to hear what the spirit has to say it is my responsibility to be informed but i don't want information to become the focal point of the gospel i'm going to say that again it is my responsibility to be informed socially economically politically and religiously but there's a delicate line between being informed and being distracted and i don't want to be distracted by all the things that are taking place on one side we have the social impact the covets going up and down on the other side we have the the financial impact those of you that are looking at your retirement look like us on a seesaw one week up one week down those of you looking at the political environment that's just to be so unstable and and toxic all every every window political doctrine is flying and then on the other side the impact to religion in america and around the world and so as i read and inform myself and and try to be balanced i've asked the lord lord keep me from keep me from becoming cynical keep me from becoming drawn in by what's happening around me and stay center centered on the gospel of christ amen somebody because we could be so information intensive that we could be informing our church very well and forming people very very well but no transformations and the lord did say be transformed by the renewing of your mind but he also said present your body as a living sacrifice holy and acceptable to god which is our reasonable service so just giving you an overview this message although the title is apostate protestantism if i could give it a subtitle it would be what the christian needs to be in an hour like this what god is calling us to be in an hour like this and what an hour could not have ever predicted we will be where we are today what should the christian be in an hour like this bow your heads with me gracious father in heaven we thank you lord for your word is sure it stands fast forever and ever and it is done in truth and brightness and we pray today lord as we calibrate our minds this is an hour that is a challenge for anyone that names the name of christ but father we want to be able to distinguish between those calling the name of jesus and those reflecting the character of christ and the devil has done his job to blur the lines but we pray that your word can sharpen those lines and as it were bring us into a clearer focus send now your spirit into this place and into our hearts that not only will we be clear locally but whoever is joining and watching may they get the message too but may all the glory go just to you in jesus name i pray amen you know the book of revelation diving right in guides the last days scenario and i appreciate the fact that we have a guide and i've seen the other side of the story where people have not had a guide i've seen leaders of other churches and denominations playing darts with a blindfold on did you get the picture they're throwing their darts hoping to hit something prophetically but because they cannot see they are missing the bullseye but i praise god that he has given us as a people and we have to be humble about it we can't be arrogant and say we have the truth we have to say the truth has us we don't have the truth it's god's truth but we have to be clear that because god has given us glasses that the continued study of the word keeps clear keeps wiping our glasses whenever the world fogs it up the study of god's word wipes off our glasses right rosemary god keeps that glass clear he wants us to be clear to see where we're headed so we've been given a guide through the book of revelation it is the last day component it contains all the components of the last day and it helps us also today specifically to improve our understanding of the development of apostate protestantism now why is this component of the three-way attack so amazing because this is the only component that is still being developed we know the dragon satan and what he did in the garden of eden what he did in heaven we know what he did during the dark ages sorry sorry what he did during the old testament times how he challenged even jesus to try to get him to fall and when jesus left then he passed the baton as i said satan continued working but he passed the baton through the power of rome pagan rome and then papal rome but when the church came to america papal rome couldn't follow it here god opened the earth and help the woman and america was born but protestantism along the way has become neutered and transformed into apostate protestantism because the principles that were established during the dark ages no longer are a guideline to christians in the last days so we have a plethora of thousands and thousands of denominations and we have prophets par par so many but many are false prophets and they're throwing darts trying to figure out how this thing is going to work itself out while god is saying surely i will do nothing unless i reveal my secret to my servants the prophets so god will never leave his church in the dark he will always let us know so that gives us bob a higher level of responsibility we can't hold that knowledge we've got to let that knowledge guide our minds and let it be so much in the part of our transformation that it says to the world not only do we know what's coming but we're getting our lives personally ready on the basis of character so that when jesus comes we won't be left behind i mentioned last sabbath i was going to talk about dominionism and i'm not going to spend a whole sermon on dominionism because it is so it is so steeped in politics that as i was re-looking at that i thought to myself almost every person that's actively involved in this in this jail called dominionism which is very much a part of a pros apostate protestantism is active in some branch of politics and religion today and i know because of this sensitive environment we live in that if i stood up here going down the path naming names and talking about people i would be inadvertently judging a person who may later have a change of heart and i would have labeled them something other than what god sees so i want god to be the final judge is that all right so i'm going to stay with the scriptures i'm going to let the bible as i learned when i was working at bank of america i learned how to identify real money so that when the counterfeit showed up i was able to tell right away when you study god's word your mind will be so calibrated to the truth that when the counterfeit shows up you'll say that's not little red riding hood that's a wolf but in a nutshell dominionism is the theocratic idea that regardless of your theological view your financial means or timetable that means when your movement came into being dominionists believe that christians are called by god to exercise dominion over every aspect of society by taking control of political and cultural institutions they believe it is their job to take the government and make it christian they believe it's their job to impact every government every institution on the planet and design it to fit what they believe but that's not our constitution that's not what this nation came into being as and i know as many of us would love to say this is a nation that's this is a christian nation that's not really true this is a nation with christians in it but god has given this nation the freedom that whatever you believe however you want to live it's your responsibility and it's your right but you will have to stand before god to give an account with what you've done with that freedom but today christianity is being hijacked and it's losing its focus on the gospel because of this terminology is called wedge issues i was talking to a church member yesterday and i said do you know what a wedge is well a wedge in the midwest is different from a wedge in new york you know a wedge in new york you use a wedge to hold the door open but in the midwest you use a wedge to split wood anybody follow it you use a wedge when wood seems hard to split you get a wedge and you can just tap that wood and it splits wedge issues now follow the follow the analogy you'll never know what's on the inside of the wood until it's split wedge issues hear me today the wedge issues that are being pushed from politics to christianity are revealing who we are on the inside so while they get you mad at this issue and that issue and you say i don't like what money is being paid for i'm going to be so general on this area i don't like what this what's happening on this side of the aisle or that side of the aisle and i want to support that candidate and this candidate brethren we are being seduced by wedge issues just to get somebody to the next term or the next office and the church is being seduced by wedge issues that are important to the seducers not neces not necessarily important to those who are being seduced and the gospel is being hijacked and the gospel is being lost on the table of wedge issues now i know what the wedge issues are but i'm not going to mention any of them because they're so divisive that today we live in a society where if you mention anything politically right away people are either listen to you or shut you down and you know what i'm so glad that you guys are seventh-day adventists because if i had to try to convince some of you about the sabbath by telling you the truth you'll stay on the other side of the coin because the intention of wedge issues is to say to you forget what you believe theologically this is what you need to believe and support politically and the church is being hijacked dominionism is separating christians from each other by wedge issues that's why i was talking about this last week people argue on facebook adventists sorry seventh day adventist arguing over seventh day adventists on facebook not because of the doctrine of what happens when you die but because of their wedges over here and your wedges over here you embrace your political issue they don't they you embrace your political issue over they embrace this you don't and you're arguing on the wedge issues when the devil is using a wedge to reveal who we are on the inside so today i'm going to talk about what we need to be who we need to be in the closing moments of life and the closing moments of earth history who we need to be during this three-way global attack in the setting of wedge issues now let's look at revelation revelation says it very clear revelation 16 verse 13 and 14 which has been the scripture that i've catapulted now now did we go to first john 4 verse 1 had we read that yet okay wonderful i believe my elder read that but revelation 16 is the framework that has covered the last six sermons the framework that has covered the last six sermons let's look at that again this morning the revelator john is shown by the lord this panoramic picture of last day events he says i saw three unclean spirits like frogs coming out of the mouth of the dragon watch this you got to watch out what's being said out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the what kind of prophets false prophets that's the three-way coalition and what are they for they are the spirits of what demons we are in the midst of a demonic attack not only on the society both financially politically and economically but the church is downwind and it's surely involved in that demonic attack what are they doing performing signs which go out to the kings of the earth and of the whole world to gather them to the battle of that great day of god almighty now let me shift the title is apostate protestantism apostate protestantism could not exist unless it was protestantism first in other words it is impossible to depart from a cause that you were never loyal to i want you to grab that because you ready for the tightening of that statement if someone was never loyal to the sabbath they could never apostasize from keeping the sabbath if someone was never loyal to the belief of the position of the spirit of prophecy in our church they could never depart from the position of the spirit of prophecy in our church if someone never believed the truth about what happens when you die they could never depart from the belief and the truth of what happened when you die i was amazed as i read this again apostate protestantism because i'm i'm clearly aware that when protestant sins be when protestantism began it began solar scriptora solafide sola gratia by faith alone the bible alone god's grace alone the righteousness of jesus alone there was these there was these norms that stood alone alone alone alone alone but somewhere along the way as politics seeped into and began to being poured into the swimming pool of protestantism it started changing the nature of the water and it was no longer safe to dive into that pool because it was no longer just protestantism satan did his job during the dark ages after the protestant reformation began that rome in the second phase began to attack everything that protestantism stood for and today we have the combination of satan rome and the false prophets all of it today we are living in the midst of all three of them working together so protestantism in a great degree this phrase apostate protestantism not only applies to those who departed from a thus saith the lord which there are millions but the last application of it is we've got to be aware that we do not depart from what we know to be the truth of god's word can you say amen because we have a great responsibility you know you've heard people that say i've met not met but i've spoken to people on the phone that say to me i'm no longer a seventh day adventist and i said to you and i and i said to this guy i we had a conversation the spirit of arrogance i could not even tell you how arrogant it was it's a guy that departed from adventism he came to the conclusion that well the sabbath no longer needs to be kept arrogant as the day is long and he said i'd love to debate you i said i don't debate folk who don't want to stand on the truth i'm not going to give you access to my mind or my audience to make you pour venomous lies into their minds because you know what that was the problem with eve she entertain a conversation with a liar you don't debate you don't debate about the truth you reflect the truth you reveal the truth amen somebody i don't have to debate you whether or not this is truth you've got to stand before god and tell me that what he blessed is no longer relevant you've got to stand before god and tell him that what he blessed is no longer relevant like i said to somebody who sent me a text somebody sent me an email actually i was preaching about a month ago and somebody mentioned something and when i said when i mention the word trinity i got a i got an email from somewhere around the world i won't tell you where but they said the moment you said trinity from the seventh from the seventh-day adventists they said the moment you said trinity i don't want to hear anything you have to say after that because i don't believe in the father son and the holy spirit i said to that person i wrote them back i just became paul the apostle i said you sound just like the jews on the day that stephen rebuked them before they stoned him to death he said to the jews in that day you resist the holy spirit just like your fathers did i said so if you resist the one that is going to be the one to seal your life don't try to tell me to put my life on the line because you reject the holy spirit they never call me back they never email me back brethren i believe in the work of god's holy spirit can the church say amen but people these are these wedge issues that's what i'm talking about the devil's got his wedge issues in adventism and he got his wedge issues in protestantism he's got his wedge issues in every corner of the world and unless we are careful we will fall into the quagmire of being split open only to stand before god and see that on the inside we do not represent what we say on the outside what is apostasy apostasy is the rejection of christianity by someone who formerly was a christian the term apostasy comes from the greek word apostasia meaning defection departure revolt or rebellion it has been described as a follow this a willful falling away from or rebellion against are we living in those days the apostle paul says we are here's what he says in second thessalonians 2 and verse 3 he says let no one deceive you by what any means that day will not come unless the falling away comes when first and the man of sin is revealed the son of perdition brethren the final phase of satan's attack will be through apostate protestantism i never forget that phrase that kenneth copeland i won't mind mentioning him because he's so out there anyway i never forget that phrase in the video that kenneth copeland he he repeated before a room filled with clergy he said do you mean to tell me that the last 500 years we've been known as protesters i want you to grab this lord give me wisdom seventh day adventists have been protesting since 1863. now what why what have we been protesting scriptural injustice because we refuse to settle for a scriptural lie am i right should we stop protesting now now i'm glad you said that because when injustice and a lie seeks to live those who know differently must protest so that lie must die but wedge issues have said no coalesce acquiesce let the government tell you what to do and brethren we are headed down that path read revelation 13 when the government can shut you up because they don't support your convictions and that's why evangelicalism is saying we don't want to be called protesters anymore we want to be called evangelicals that's the difference between an evangelical and a protestant we believe if it's not truth we must protest it so that the character of god is upheld and the character of god is represented in the life of one who claims to be connected with christ amen so when i hear truth when i hear truth i say praise god when i talk to somebody and a lie slips in i'm unashamed i say okay okay i heard what you just said but that's not scriptural and i've done that on every occasion people that i've just met pastor that i've just met clergy of different denominations you know they say well you know sabbath doesn't really matter i said wait wait wait wait wait wait the sabbath doesn't matter god says remember and you say it doesn't matter remember you got to answer to him for that i've gone to places that are totally not seven-day adventists i've taken my books bob does the same thing pass them out so that if i don't ever meet you again you know that you had at least an exposure to truth so that what you believe will not be the death knell of your christianity but look at how important this issue is because apostate protestantism with these wedge issues are trying to are trying to show that we are not on the inside what we claim to be on the outside that's why the last message given to the world is not about the three unclean spirits listen to the voice of god's messenger ellen white she says in christ object lessons these powerful words she says page 415 christ object lessons the last message of mercy to be given to the world is a revelation of what his character of love watch how the children of god the what the children got us the children of god are to manifest his glory where in their own life and character they are to reveal what the grace of god has done for them in other words the world i'm going to say it and say it again at the end of the sermon if you want to know the difference between if you want to know the difference between good news and fake news don't look at television look at the christian because i shouldn't just be a person telling you what the gospel is but i should be a person revealing what the gospel is people have been praying lord show me your glory he says i would love to do it but i want to do it through you so instead of god revealing himself to us he wants to reveal himself through us and these issues the church is being attacked that's why people can cuss each other out on facebook can be mean and and hard and so politically give me another word so politically constipated that nothing good comes out that gives god glory forgive me lord if i got too close to the edge we got to get that stuff out and get jesus in what do you say because people don't care what you believe if it doesn't make a difference in your life they don't care about what you believe that's why when you look at the three-way attack the first attack in the beginning satan attacked the authenticity of the character of god he attacked the authenticity in other words he said to the angels god is really not who he says he is and how good was he at that he convinced one-third of them that god was not who he said he is and they followed him to the pits of hell perfect angels if he could do that to perfect angels what could he do with those whose minds are not kept by the word of god and by the spirit of god he can make he can make a spectacle out of us satan's first attack was against the authenticity of god and right now as we looked at the revelation 16 scenario what i want to help you understand is from the fall of lucifer to the time of christ it was the purpose of the dragon to war against the character of god by attacking the people of god and we're now going to peak in an old testament scenario go to first kings with me we're going to look at a first kings scenario in the old testament to help you see how satan was successful how he was successful in getting a people that god had given all the components of truth he was successful in getting them to abandon their allegiance to god we dive into the story in the book of first kings chapter 16 and i'm going to dive right to the scripture now because the setting is omri dies and ahab his son takes his place amri was one of the kings of israel he was an evil man but his son comes along and as you've heard before the apple doesn't fall far from the tree so ahab continues the trek of evil and the bible says in verse 30 of first kings 16 now ahab the son of omri did evil in the sight of the lord more than all who were before him that's got to be bad you know if we say we have a member in our church as more evil than any church member we ever had that's got to be bad verse 31 says and it came to pass and i love the way the prophet says this as though it had been a trivial thing brethren character is never a trivial thing as though it had been a trivial thing for him to walk in the sins of jeroboam the son of nebat that what did he do he took as wife jezebel the daughter of ethbayal king of the sibonians and he went and served baal and worshiped him now you might think well he probably didn't have a lot of experience no wait wait wait wait wait he had experience of all the men that came before him solomon being the first one solomon said a cadence that affected ahab that affected jeroboam that affected all the leaders before him and after him what did solomon do solomon was the first king of israel you know what he did his first wife was an egyptian he married the daughter of the very nation that held israel in bondage and from that day on the bible says solomon loves many strange women when you look at the spiritual parallel to that what the bible essence is saying here when the person that god calls links himself to an institution the woman that departs or doesn't even identify with god she doesn't get converted to what you believe you get converted to what she believes that's what we are told be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers because in every case you study the life of israel they fell down the path of worshiping the same way that the jezebel worship had demonstrated they worshipped the god that she worshiped they follow the patterns that she worshiped they did everything that the worshipers of baal did and what made it so bad is that ahab as a king of israel condoned it he condoned it but i want to make something very clear what he condoned god didn't condone and the people that were held under his influence belong to god what i love about the lord is when we when we lead folk astray that god loves god does not leave their return in our hands god takes their return in his hands and for those that don't want to tell the truth to bring people back god will send somebody to tell the truth that they will come back what do they do what do they do the formula of apostasy is this the stewards of light created an alliance with the storage of darkness secondly in this union with ahab and jezebel he solidified his relationship through a binding merger marriage he didn't just peek at the bail worship he united with it a binding merger but most satanic was he abandoned god-based theology for satanically based ideology theology on one side ideology on the other the bible describes how god warned them before this day came look at deuteronomy chapter 12 and verse 30. is it all right if i use the bible that's the only safe place deuteronomy 12 and verse 30 look at how god warned centuries before it occurred the lord said i'm going to clear out everybody that's blocking the way from you get into the promised land while i destroy them please just let the destroyed stay to the side the lord said to them take heed to yourself that you are not ensnared to follow them after they are what destroyed from before you and that you do not inquire after their gods saying how did these nations serve their gods i will do likewise the the worshipers of god are in most danger when we start becoming attracted to that which leads us away from allegiance to truth and light and god's word look at the pattern in the bibles that cadence is continual continually revealed in every generation there is an example of someone who was formally allegiant to god one of the very well-known ones is saul remember saul ended up at the in the presence of a witch of endor guaranteeing her safety if she brought up an evil spirit from the ground and he said god believe me no harm will come to you that's the depth at which a person can fall when they fail to listen to the guiding voice of god what happened to saul can happen to anybody who chooses that when god says something and it no longer rings with welcome in my ears and i shut god off there is no good end to anybody that shuts off the voice of god but you notice one of the first principles of apostasy you may want to write this down to remember it one of the first principles of apostasy that was illustrated in this story thus far is ahab led israel to worship like those that did not know the truth he led them to worship like those that did not know the truth wow and when you look at the patterns of apostate protestantism today it mirrors the patterns of apostate israel because it's not possible to serve a false god and a true god with the same beliefs i've heard it today i've spoken to a lot of clergy and i've heard people say well doesn't really matter we serve the same god what difference does it make you keep the sabbath i don't you keep the commandments i don't we serve the same god that's not what the scripture says that's not what the bible says the second principle of apostasy is to minimize the requirements of god and maximize the rituals of men minimize the commandments of god and maximize the rituals of false gods that's what happened that's what led israel down they minimized what god said remember they forgot and they maximize what god said do not even embrace and whenever truth is preached elijah was called the troublemaker can i say something today come on say yes if the truth causes trouble i am going to be a troublemaker amen that's the best kind of trouble to be in sister yvonne call me a troublemaker peter was a troublemaker come on somebody i was down and uh down at uh pastors meetings in 2015 just before general conference session and mike tucker good friend mike tucker the ministry said are you staying out of trouble i said no why should i he said when you preach the truth you're going to get in trouble right but if god before you who can be against you and the answer is nobody paul says you can't do anything against the truth only for the truth so now the story transformed because what happens is ahab sends out a notice to find elijah we got to kill that troubler and then ahab shows up and says to i mean elijah shows up and says the ahab servant go tell ahab i'm here he said now wait a minute wait they've been looking for you they've been looking for you and they haven't found you yet so i'm going to go tell them you're here and when i come back you're going to be gone and i'm get killed he said no i'll be here i'm not running i'm done running so ahab comes out and look at how ahab grieves elijah here's what he says to elijah first kings 18 17. here's what he said to elijah then it happened when ahab saw elijah that ahab said to him is that you o troubler of israel are you the one causing all this trouble let me make a point when we keep saying remember the sabbath day to keep it holy some christian leaders say you guys are causing trouble but i have freedom in my heart to say with god says remember i'm going to join with god and say remember also everyone that stands for the lord but i love the response of a i love the response of elijah look at verse 18. look what he said look what he said he says in verse 18 i have not troubled israel but you and your father's house have they have been armor you and your father's house is responsible for this mess in that notice the central issue in every apostasy is the same here is here's the identity of that central issue in that you have forsaken what the commandments of the lord and followed the baal or the baals you are the one that's guilty don't put it on me i didn't do anything to get to this place you are the one that did this you are the one responsible for what's happening you are the one that caused this trouble you are the one to blame for what's taken place and i want to tell you brethren what he did was the reason why god was going to call them together and the bible says here in revelation chapter 16 verse 16 this gathering must take place you know why because in every apostasy there's a showdown on the road in every apostasy a showdown is coming why and i love this part because god is not content to allow his children to be permanently held in bondage to the enemy i know that was so deep yet to think about that god loves us so much that he is not content to allow his children i'm gonna get a little deep and i'm gonna put a little bit of salt in the water he is not a he's not content to allow his children to abandon christology for politics so while all this stuff is grabbing the attention of those claiming to be connected to christ god is saying we're going to get we have to have a showdown the purpose of the showdown was not a throw down but a get back god didn't call them together to throw them down further they were already as far as they can go god called them together to get them back look at what look what the bible says he called them together to get them back first kings 18 verse 21 and elijah the bible says came to all the people and said look at this the proposition how long what's those two words how long will you falter between how many opinions two opinions here is the principle of here's the question that's going to get apostate protestantism either back online let me rephrase that here's the situation or the statement that's going to pull people out of apostate protestantism back in line with jesus or solidify them where they are the lord is saying clearly if the lord is god what are the next two words follow him but if baal do what follow him what was the response but the people answered him not a word oh my brethren there's a day coming that we can't keep silent anymore we must all appear before the judgment seat of christ you can't say i'ma stay here and don't say anything about it because the lord's going to come into the wedding feast and said how did you get in here without a wedding garment and you say nothing you're going to still be cast outside we've got to make our minds that we are going to decide that god is god and we are going to serve him because he is god which brings me to the third principle of apostate protestantism god does not accept worship from a divided heart i think that's so clear i have never i don't even have to repeat it god does not accept worship from a divided heart husbands and wives i know my wife won't i want her heart and you are my heart praise god from whom all blessings flow but in the showdown here's what the condition was here's what god wanted to do god was calling them not only for showdown but this reveals what god wants to do in the last days the bible says then elijah said to all the people come near to me come let's get together so all the people what came near to him and what did he do first kings chapter 18 verse 30. what did he do so all the people came near to him and what did he do he repaired the altar of the lord that was what broken down let me make it very clear today with dominionism on one side the left against the right the center not knowing which way to go wedge issues over here wedge issues over there fox abc nbc msnbc cbs al jazeera bbc please if there's only one place that we need to be looking to stay central it's a thus saith the lord because all these things are breaking down the altar but god is saying to the church that's living in the midst of apostasy he's saying it's time for us to repair the altar that was broken down what do we what are we called to repair we are called to repair true worship not just emotional worship not just worship based on feeling but worship based on the word of god amen somebody look at isaiah 58 the lord told them and this by the way when you read isaiah 58 this in fact was directed to israel it's amazing that isaiah the prophet was writing this directing this to israel when israel was the one that was keeping the sabbath look what he said talking about repairing isaiah 58 12-14 the prophet says those from among you shall build up the what old waste places that means those things that have been tried and true and proven build them up you shall raise up the foundation of what many generations meaning don't just jump on the bandwagon of something that just falls in line make sure that you're standing on that which has been tried and true and proven by god's word raise up the foundations of many generations you shall be called the repairers of the what breach the restorers of what streets to dwell and notice rebuild raise up repair restore what's he talking about amazing he's talking about this to the christian to the to those who were serving god to the old testament church verse 13 he says if you turn away your foot from the what from the sabbath from doing your pleasure on my what holy day and call the sabbath day what delight the holy day of the lord honorable and shall honor him not what not doing not doing what your own ways did we get that no finding your own pleasure nor speaking your own words forgive us lord because it doesn't take nothing but the end of the sermon to go from religion to politics but that float up there then he says if you guard your heart on how he wants us to honor the sabbath it's not a matter of a day it's a matter of also a relationship then you shall delight yourself in the lord and i will cause you to do what right on the high heels of the earth and feed you with the heritage of jacob your father y for the mouth of the lord has that what he has spoken god is saying if we honor him the way that he must be honored he will bless us i want to tell you i need a blessing i don't know about you but god will not bless that which is not honorable to him he wants us to be those who are not just saying i am this or i am that he wants us to say this is who i am not by declaration but by character by life by action by word by deed by what i do not just by what i say and i'm going to tell you the only thing we're taking to heaven is our character right i ain't taking my ipad not taking my cell phone some of the young people might say well i don't know if i want to go i remember the story of a 13 year old girl that jumped down in the subway in new york city because her cell phone fell she jumped down to get it and got run over by a train the news was the news was interviewing other young people this happened on their way home from school other teenagers they were interviewing they said this is a tragedy majority of the teenagers said i would have done the same thing and the news reporter said you could replace a cell phone but you can't replace a life they said but there's so much valuable stuff on my cell phone i can't replace it which one is more valuable that's what's happening in our world today israel just israel israel distorted the character of god satan said that god's character is not valid but after israel fell the lord said a second phase of attack would come let's look at that second phase of the attack because the the invalidation of god's character was satan's role but now rome came along in the second of three parts rome came along and rome during the dark ages and you all know it rome distorted the character of god and god knew that it was going to happen look at daniel 7 25 the lord knew that it was going to happen and i'll tell you exactly in a brief overlay how they distorted god's character and the effects are still today in the christian church speaking of this that fourth beast of daniel 7 the bible says he shall speak pompous words against the most high shall persecute the saints of the most high that was the means whereby they imposed the distortion of god on the people they this is how you better believe or you're going to die they imposed the distortion of god's character on the people not only that shall intend to change times and law and the saints shall be given into his hand for a time and times and what else a half a time god's character and god's law were attacked during the dark ages but god's character and god's law are both inseparable and immutable it cannot change why because god does not change i had a chance to study a little bit the dark ages and many of you have read about it but the dark ages represents an era when god was connected to atrocities lies and persecutions that are too hideous to recall and it was done in the name of god now i want you to grab this don't get mixed up on the details but i want you to see this was that is is saying that they distorted god's character and understatement that's an understatement way understatement god was painted as a vicious tyrant that eternally torments people that disagree with him that's not god his character was distorted god was seen as an exacting autocrat demanding a lie allegiance that's not who god is he says if you love me keep my commandments god was shown to be an oppressor of conscience and a thief of liberty that's why he raised up america to give liberty and justice to all men bowed to statues and god was seen as cold and rigorous men were burned at the stake so god was seen as angry and vengeful men were torn apart in dungeons and god was seen as a butcher that is never satisfied god's character was distorted but i want to make a point right here to give god the glory god was not content to have his character so attacked he was about to turn it around for his glory amen he was about to get a people pull them out of this quagmire set them up and say i want you to take on the responsibility of showing the world who i am and rome did it so well through the power of satan the bible says in daniel 8 and verse 12 because the transgression an army was given over to the horn to oppose the daily sacrifices and he cast truth down to the ground he did all this and he prospered he did all that the bible says and he prospered he was successful he was prosperous he did it all and he prospered that's what happened during the dark ages but now god wasn't done yet and now i'll go to the last phase of my message god wasn't done yet so god raised up protestantism you know there are very few protestants today a protestant is one that still opposes anything that does not measure up with god's word protestantism was raised up for a number of reasons one to correctly restore the character of god by pointing people to jesus through the written word they didn't have a bible satan tried to invalidate the character of god rome distorted the character of god so god said one more shot what i want to do now is rightly represent my character to the world and i want to say this before i reveal the third part of it when we say we know god from that moment on people begin to measure or form their opinion about what a christian is based on what they see in your life is that fear to say when you say you know god or when you say you know somebody oh i know so and so they say well tell me about them yeah you know when we say we know god from that point society is going to form their opinion about god based on what they see present in our lives how we how we talk how we live how we worship how we act outside of the church they're going to say now that's what i want to be i'll give you a small example when i met my mom when i met my mom for the first time before i was 26 years old you know i was abandoned at three months old you know that story my mom left me at a babysitter that was the beginning of both uh a curse and a greater blessing on the way i didn't know who she was but i came to find out who god is when i met her and she was on the phone repenting for abandoning me i never forgot the lord said to me forgive her and i said mom i'm not concerned about the last 25 years i forgive you she said what did you just say i said i forgive you i don't care about the last 25 years i forgive you you know what she said to me she said because you forgave me i want to become what you are and my mom was the first one that god gave me the blessing as a pastor to baptize fell asleep in jesus you know why because at that moment i could have either i could easily say to my mom and i now no i've talked to my wife about this i know why god took so long to to introduce me to my mom because if i met him when i was 14 i was angry if i met him when i was before i got married i was angry if i met her shortly after the lady who raised me died i was angry i wanted to tell her because wait a minute i got to fix you so i don't break her further and after i said that to my mom she said do you realize what i've done in my life i said it doesn't matter what you've done god will forgive you and i had the privilege of baptizing her here's my point it has to matter how we treat other folk when we say that god is our father it has to matter if it doesn't matter we are misrepresenting the character of god protestantism was established to rightly correct the way the world saw god jesus said to thomas have i been with you so long that you haven't seen the father so the world could say to us how long have you been a christian how long have you been in seven or eight minutes how long has it been and i still can't see the father in you see apostate protestantism the last phase a product a movement that began to restore god's character somewhere along the way got seduced into politics and is now misrepresented the character of god so much so that we live in a climate today when somebody says i want my rights regardless of my skin color we say i have a problem when christians have a problem with giving everybody the right to the same rights you have you know why because if my brother regardless of your beliefs denominationally even if you're not a christian i should be so transformed that your your persecution bothers me that's the purpose of this next text let's look at it we always think about it in the context of sabbath but look at it that's why that's why john wrote he who says i know him john 1 john 2 4 he who says i know him and does not keep his commandments is a what liar and the truth is not in him not only are there ten commandments but the principle of the commandment is love the lord your god with all your heart love your neighbor as yourself so we we often say well no no no no that's not the commandment no that's included in the ten that's the that's the two nails that hold up all ten commandments love god and love your neighbor but the writer in the bible says how can we say we love god whom we haven't seen and we don't love those that we do see the real measure of christianity in the last days is we can't go the way of apostasy we have to go we have to go the way of christology can the church say amen the ten commandments and truth are permanently and indelibly connected to the christ the character of god they are connected to the character of god now what did the door what the lord promised to do when he came what did he promise to do look at john 17 verse 3 that's why we read this passage that's why we read this passage and this is eternal life what is eternal life john 17 3 and this is eternal life that they may know you the only true god and jesus christ whom you sent that they may know i want the world to know that i know jesus not just by what i say but by how i live right and the parameters of the gospel are outlined in scripture what is apostate protestantism apostate protestantism exists when a church no longer preaches against sin listen to the sermons turn your television on tomorrow listen to all the stuff listen to if anybody's talking about how to have a transformed life or are they talking about your ship coming in or the butterfly wings is going to spread jesus did not come to give us butterfly wings he came to save save us from our sin he says so clearly in matthew 1 21 she shall bring forth a son and you shall call his name jesus why for he will save me from my sins should it be clear that the lord has saved me come on somebody it ought to be abundantly clear that i'm not just a member of a church but i'm a son and daughter of god right would you want your children to behave so that they represent you anybody but i i know appearance that say when the kids are acting up the mother say go get your son but when are they doing right the mother says that's my son nobody likes to identify with rebellion and neither does god but i've been reading lately my wife and i like to read a lot together and she was reading a book a beautiful book together and and one of the things that i remember the writer saying he says one of the pitfalls of christians today is when we look at a wrong being done either in a society or in a relationship or in the world and we dismiss it by saying we are all sinners anyway when you read the bible this is why we abandoned that ideology we're all sinners anyway if christ has made no difference in your life then don't tell people about your christianity they want to see not what you believe they want to see what impact it has had on your life that's why paul says in romans 5 19 for as by one man's disobedience many were made what sinners watch this that's who we were can you say that with me that's who we were were because according to this passage when you come into the relationship with christ you go from a person who was a sinner by character to one who is righteous by whose character by christ's so also by one man's obedience many will be made what come on say it righteous when paul the apostle read the book of acts read philippians read corinthians when paul traveled he said this is what he said are you ready for it are you ready for the hook he didn't say greet the sinners in rome you know what he said he said greet the saints in rome now i can't boast about righteousness but i could boast about the righteousness of jesus i could thank him for imputing that to me i could thank him for covering this this flesh until the day he replaces this flesh praise god for that but the dismissive gospel always says we're sinners anyway so very quickly the ten areas very quickly i'm gonna shoot through them and you keep up with me the ten ways to identify apostate protestantism here's the first one protestantism is apostate when it separates jesus from truth when it separates jesus from truth now you might say how is that possible well why would jesus say these words john 4 and verse 23 notice the words of christ but the hours coming and now is when the what kind of worshiper the true worshiper will worship the father in spirit and truth for the father is seeking such to worship him now why did pastor john include that scripture why did he do that because apostate protestantism says it doesn't matter what you believe let's unify on this issue and as you heard turn as you heard tony palmer say it right on our screen when i played that video the young man and that that that garb he was saying to all those pastors at kenneth copeland's meeting he said get rid of your doctrines what you believe doesn't matter god will straighten it out when we all get to heaven remember that so just let's let's go ahead and embrace jesus that's why these these subversive movements these dominionistic movements these movements that are seeking to tear down scripture and just get us together on issues was the catapult behind things like promise keepers get sixty thousand men in a stadium and as bill hybels once did he said on the count of three mention your denomination and it sounded like a cacophony of confusion he said now let's do this all over again on the count of three everybody say jesus and sixty thousand men yelled jesus he said now that's the only thing that we should unify on forget everything else it doesn't even matter that's not scripture come on somebody but apostate protestantism is saying throw this out and pick up this political book throw this out and pick up this issue throw this out and stand behind that wedge issue that's not really important anymore this is causing trouble second evidence of apostate protestantism is when it teaches that doctrines don't matter look at you ought to read some of this stuff it blows me away when political leaders say when religiously to say doctrines don't matter well here's what the bible says first timothy chapter 4 and verse 16 this is what paul told this protege that young man coming up after him he said to him he said take heed to yourself and to the what and to the doctrine continue in them why look at the two blessings for in doing this you will save both yourself and those that what that hear you when i say remember the sabbath day to keep it holy somebody finds the lord of the sabbath come on say amen when we begin to communicate the three angels messages somebody find the god of the three angels messages but when we say doctrines don't matter we start unifying on issues and the truth of god's word is no longer important but he said sanctify them through thy truth thy word is truth john 17 17. the third evidence of apostate protestantism is when we are told that keeping god's law is bondage that's happening in our world today when keeping god's law is bondage but what did david say psalms 19 verse 7 notice what he says let's read that together the law of the lord is what perfect converting the soul the testimony of the lord is what sure is what sure making wise the simple what is he saying when we stay on the track that god has laid on the ground we cannot go left or right we cannot lean on liberal or conservative because jesus is our only example the church is in danger the church is in danger and the world is trying its best to break it down that's why i have to make it clear principle number four of apostate protestantism lord give me wisdom to say this right i'll read john 19 15 and i'll tell you what it is when jesus was standing on one side and barabbas was standing on the other and they said which one would you want and those who had held the truth for centuries said give us barabbas and then they said what about your king we pick up the story here in verse 15 of john 19. but they cried out away with him away with him these were those who had had the truth for more than 1500 years and they said that about christ and pilate said to them shall i crucify what your king the chief priests answered what we have no king but caesar now i want you to get this one because remember the unclean spirits are going to the kings of the earth and of the whole world they're going to the kings of the earth they're trying to get you to line up with any king but jesus so when we pick a king that is not a follower of jesus or living by the principles of christ we align ourselves on one side or the other but if you notice in the crucifixion where was jesus he was in the middle come on somebody help me out he wasn't on the right he wasn't on the left he was where in the middle coincidental no providential the church has to remain balanced and the more we allow the left and the right to pull us we miss the man in the middle come on lord i'm doing what you asked me we miss the man in the middle we've got to keep our eyes on the man in the middle i told you i was going to stay away from political issues but i cannot stay away from pointing us to jesus principle number five principle number five protestantism is apostate when unity is based on issues and not based on the word of god look at what revelation says is going to happen and this is going to happen when america repudiates the principles of protestantism the bible says this is going to happen they're going to unify with rome these are of one mind revelation 17 13 these are of one mind and what are they going to do they will give their power and authority to the beast my brethren the only one today that is worthy of the power and authority that god has given to us is jesus that's the only place i want my power and authority to go to give my power and authority to christ alone to christ alone you know when i talked about rome this this came to me i was doing some gauging there the other day when i talked about rome and the change of the sabbath and the state of the dead and all the things that was said in the convert catechism and you know it was amazing how people beautiful message wonderful when god calls us back to accountability we have to keep in mind while all those things are true the highest call each one of us has is not so much to look at what's wrong all around us but what's wrong within us evidence number six of apostate protestantism is when we no longer reflect christ in our lives but what did jesus say through the apostle john first john 2 and verse 6. let's read that together are you ready he who says he abides in him what ought himself but also to walk just as what just as he walked years ago some of you are old enough you remember that song walk like an egyptian anybody remember that or walk this way you know and they had that video where they go i was walking like this brethren i want to walk like jesus come on somebody out that's the call we have when we walk like jesus people see christ in us and although the elementary aspects of it may be coming forth in this message the most elementary aspect of it is are we showing the world who christ is or are they seeing us only in profession and not in practice i pray that the second is more true they are seeing us in practice rather than just profession number seven protestantism is apostate when we speak like the world and not like christ luke 6 and verse 45 here it is again a good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth what brings forth good and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth what evil what's the principle let's say it together for out of the abundance of the heart what happens the mouth speaks now this is powerful because when rome came up the bible says the little horns spake when america abandoned its protestant principles the bible said they speak they speak like a dragon who should we speak like we should speak like christ amen principle number eight very powerful we are calibrating all the principles of the kingdom number eight protestantism is apostate when financial gain is more important than loyalty to christ now why is that important because the world is getting to the place where you can't buy or sell if we get to the place where we cannot buy or sell except we have that mark my question to you is this are you going to still stand with christ or are you going to jump ship just to sustain your ability to buy and sell you'll never know that until you make that decision right now but why is it important notice the words of christ he says clearly he says clearly to what's in matthew 6 and verse 24 are these words he says no man can serve how many masters two masters for he will he will either hate the one and love the other or else he will be loyal to the one and do what else despise the other and watch this while the world is being reconstructed financially while the new world order is being put together while the kings of the earth and the merchants of the earth are so organizing things that the people of god will not have mercy we have to decide whether we're going to worship money or whether we're going to worship god because it's coming down if they take that almighty dollar i did a program yesterday or day before yesterday with age with child impact international they say in america we are we are getting subsidies the government is helping those out who don't have the money but the majority of the world is not getting that financial help and they have to make decisions do i remain loyal or do i give in do i live a life of a thief do i steal to sustain my life or do i trust god when all the sustenance that i look forward to no longer exists let me tell you my brethren god promises and he'll do it god promises that he'll supply all our needs when we are faithful like elijah god will send us a federal express raven and feed us hey he is able he he'll do it he'll put the treasure of the gentiles into the hands of his children god will supply all of our need what do you say principle number nine of apostate protestantism is apostate when it does not embrace equality for all of god's people look at what jesus said through the apostle paul he made it clear equality for all galatians chapter 3 verse 26 to 28 for you are all what are we sons of god through faith in christ jesus for as many of you as we're baptized into christ what have we done we have put on christ but now look at the transition and this is important in today's society in the eyes of christ look at verse 28 there is neither what jew nor greek there is neither what slave nor free there is neither what male nor female for you are all how one in christ jesus just let that simmer because i just have one more protestantism is apostate when this world becomes more important than the eternal world i don't know about you but jesus is not coming to invite me to go to the middle east jesus is coming to take us to the new jerusalem and i'm looking forward to that but but here's why it's so important because paul the apostle puts this in perfect perspective when we embrace what i'm about to show you in the book of philippians chapter 3 and verse 20 when we embrace this next text it will govern the way we respond to everything happening around us here it is philippians 3 and verse 20. notice what the apostle paul says about the importance of focusing on the world to come he says for our together citizenship is in heaven from which we also eagerly wait for the savior the lord jesus christ where's your citizenship where is it now this is important because if your citizenship is on earth you're going to fight about what's happening on earth but because my citizenship is in heaven i'm not fighting about earthly things i'm doing what jesus said to the disciples give to caesar what's his give to christ what's his i'm on my way to get out of here i'm gonna go get you a mansion bill i'm gonna come back to get you i'm getting ready for my departure what about you don't get drawn into this apostate category fighting over issues in the world do your citizen best but don't forget that you are citizens of a greater and more eternal kingdom a couple of days ago i was going through my file cabinet as i close it's going through my file cabinet because i started putting stuff in um you know those clear cartons you buy in walmart you don't clear out the old junk you just buy no more cartons so i bought some cartons to put my file cabinets to make my file cabinet and as i was going through my file cabinet i found two passports my wife's passports and these are both passports that connected to her connected her to where she was a citizen england there she was young and cute now she's older and cute and i looked at that picture and i said she said i've changed i said yes you have change and then she said to somebody just a few days ago who also became a citizen recently i'll keep his anonymity clear but he said i made a choice to have dual citizenship i'm a citizen where a citizen of where i've come from and i'm a citizen of where i live now i was the only one that had nothing to say i said well i was born in america i'm a citizen in america but you know what i'm going to say something different from now on i was born in america come on somebody help me out but my citizenship is in heaven now watch this here's why i'm saying this i want to start living like where i'm going to be headed not living like where i came from the problem in america lord help me say this right is the battle that we are facing now is all over where we all have come from and not where we're headed if we start focusing on all where we're headed we start realizing wait a minute i'm not a citizen here either and neither are you so let's start loving each other because if we're all headed to the same place i need to get to know my neighbors before we move in come on somebody help me so my citizenship is in heaven my citizenship is in heaven praise god for that that's why i must repeat this quote before i end again because to me this is the key of who we are going to be in the midst of this quagmire of a political cancerous environment racial tension disease and what else else whatever else is coming financial ruin whatever is coming this is what the people of god must remember the last message can we read this together the last message of mercy to be given to the world is a revelation of what his character of love the children of god are to do what manifest his glory where in their own life and character they are to reveal what the grace of god has what done for them i told you i was going to say it twice so here's the second time if you want to be able to tell the difference between good news and fake news don't look at television look at a christian amen because my life should be good news but if i don't live what i profess i who i am fake news if i don't live what i profess i not that network or that i and fake news if i don't live what i profess i am fake news who wants to be good news who wants to be goodness i want to be good news i want to be good news it was november 9th 1965 i was seven years old [Music] and the lights went out in new york it was the first blackout i experienced my dad was on his way home and when he got home he talked about his experience being on the train coming from manhattan to brooklyn when all the power in new york went off but to this very day i learned something from him that i still do to this very day my wife knows what it is i always have a flashlight i have one in my backpack i have one under my bed i could pick up a flashlight anywhere in my house i always have a flashlight papa said he walked around during the day in the house with a flashlight in his back pocket it's bright outside on that day when the city was in abject darkness in our house we had lights in every room because you know what he did he's from the old school some of you might appreciate this he was from the old school when they actually had kerosene lamps he made sure his lamp was trimmed and ready to burn so when the lights went off we were in the kitchen with a candle and that candle was burning down we were waiting for papa to come home i was too young to know what to do but mama had that thick old candle all you had those thick candles in the middle of the kitchen stove in the middle of the kitchen table it was burning down slowly and we were waiting for papa to come home when papa came home he said oh we don't need candles we have kerosene lamps and we had ignored those lamps for so long but when the power went out papa took those lamps down and like a man who said i knew this was coming took it off clean off the lamp shade it was all dusty because it had never been used i watched him as a young man he rolled the wick down into the oil and then rolled it back up so it get a little wet struck that match and lit that wick and he says we have enough oil if the power doesn't come on we have enough oil for two more days my brethren my sisters there's a blackout coming and the world and the christian church is going to realize it doesn't have enough oil but today i'm calling our church thompsonville our viewers christians to do something that will not seem to be important until the lights go out and that's why jesus said let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your father which is in heaven the light's about to go out but hey i got news for you the lights are already out it's already dark in this world but i'm saying and my appeal to you and those of you that are joining us on the feed my appeal to every one of you today is this simply do you want your light to shine if you want your light to shine that you are a citizen of a different kingdom would you please stand with me thank you precious father for keeping me away from the quagmire of all the political jargon getting back to the basics what it means to be a christian loving a father in heaven the world is already dark it's just going to get darker until the prophet said gross darkness will cover the people it is in that gross darkness that you said but the glory of god shall be risen upon you and will be seen upon you father i pray today that your people will not wait till the lights go out but they'll get that spiritual dipstick and sink it down in their hearts to find out if there's enough oil for the trials that are ahead of us i say today father give me oil in my lamp keep me burning for your glory for those around me to see that my life is not what i profess but by your grace my life is what you have made it i don't want to be just a preacher i want to be a reflection of who you are our people we don't want to be just members we want to be children of the most high god and so today lord when the voices are calling and the pulpits of america are increasing in its dogma and attacks both right and left we pray father that we could be center and remember there's a man in the center who demands that we not forget who he is he died to save us he rose to change us and he's coming back one day to deliver us so may we not fear the dragon the beast and the false prophet may we be aware of them but may we be so shielded by your grace so fill by your spirit that when the world calls us to check their box we check the box of jesus and when this is finally done lord may the fire that you ignite in us today continue burning that we can go from one world to the next that have never known the power of redemption and tell the redemption story but begin it today in this church in the lives of its family in the lives of the membership in the lives of this ministry our school in this community may this church be a place where the light of god's glory is always seen and when the day comes that everything behind us is no longer there may we stand in your presence and see your glory in jesus name i pray and all of god's people said amen and amen

Channel: Thompsonville Seventh-day Adventist Church

Views: 16,619

Keywords: Adventist, 3ABN, Sermon, Church, Last Day Events, Sabbath, Saturday, End Times, Prophecy, SDA, Religion

Id: LEtv_SergCM

Length: 89min 1sec (5341 seconds)

Published: Mon May 17 2021