The Church Power Has Gone

“But Peter said, “I do not possess silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you: In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene—walk!” (Acts 3:6)

In Revelation chapters two through three our Lord identifies seven churches of Asia. These were real churches during the days of the apostle John, each with its own characteristics. These churches also characterize the Church from the time of the apostles to today.

Ephesus – (Apostles) the church of the apostolic age; legalistic
Ephesus was doctrinally sound, but had lost their first love. The era ranged from about 30-100 AD and the church had become legalistic.

Smyrna – (Martyrs) the church under severe persecution; persecuted
Smyrna was faithful unto death, and Jesus pronounced nothing against them. They suffered mightily for the Lord. The era ranged from about 100-313 AD.

Pergamum – (Constantine) the church settled in the world; liberal
Pergamum stayed true to the Lord, but allowed the way of Balaam and the Nicolaitans to enter their midst. The church began with Constantine and the era ranged from about 313-590 AD.

Thyatira – (Popes) the church in idolatry; pagan & cultic
Thyatira’s strength was service, but they allowed the spirit of Jezebel to corrupt them. This church began with the popes and ran from about 590-1517 AD.

Sardis – (Reformation) the church that is dead, yet with a believing remnant; dead
Sardis had no strengths. They were a dead church. The era was the Reformation from about 1517-1790 AD.

Philadelphia – (Missionaries) the church in revival; alive
Philadelphia was strong in mission work, and Jesus offered no negative comments against them. The era was about 1790-1900 AD.

Laodicea – (Apostate) the church in the final stage of apostasy; worldly
Laodicea had nothing good said about it by Jesus. Its weaknesses are that it is lukewarm, pompous, apathetic and worldly. It began with the time of German criticism from about 1900 AD to present.

Even though remnants of some of the churches can still be seen today, we are now in the final stage; i.e. the Laodicean church.

When studying the book of Acts isn’t it exhilarating to see the power of God that was in the beginning of that Ephesian church age? In Acts 2:41 we are told that about 3,000 souls were added to the Church. In Acts 4:4 we are told that 5,000 men heard and believed. (Obviously, there were women and children that were also saved.) Keep in mind, these numbers are from Scripture and are real, true numbers. I strongly doubt that that many have been saved at one time since then.

God has not changed. The Gospel has not changed. The power of God has not changed and is still readily available. So what happened from then until now?

The church was growing in leaps and bounds during the apostolic era (Ephesus) since the power of God was unleashed.

Satan hated this of course, so persecution became extreme (Smyrna). Much to Satan’s surprise, the church grew even stronger. The blood of the saints just increased the roll call of Heaven.

Satan decided that if persecuting the Church made it grow, maybe it would be better to co-mingle it with the world (Pergamum). This was accomplished through a Roman emperor named Constantine who embraced the Church and welcomed it into the empire of Rome. Sure enough, the fire quickly began to fade.

But that’s not enough, says Satan. So popes and cardinals were installed to be over all the commoners in the Church (Thyatira). The emphasis of the Church is taken from Christ and put upon men and sacraments. One earthly man now determines what all will and will not believe and follow.

Thankfully there was a rebellion called the Reformation begun by Martin Luther who finally realized that it is grace that saves, not works (Sardis). Splinter churches came from this movement, but many of the practices of the Catholic Church were kept and continued. Not much had changed but the actors on the scene. The church was dead.

Only God can bring the dead to life, and that He did on the mission fields (Philadelphia). Men gave their lives to print the Holy Scriptures and put them in the hands of the commoner. Many others gave their lives to carry the message of the true Gospel to their own countries and others far away. Thousands upon thousands began coming to Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, but Satan wasn’t finished.

This would never do, so Satan got men to thinking about higher criticism, and from German criticism we learned that “God is dead.” We have now become so much smarter than God; we don’t need Him (Laodicea).

Dr. J. Vernon McGee related an incident that sums up what has happened to the Church down through the ages.

“An incident is told of one of the early saints of the church in Rome who walked in on the pope as he was counting money. Realizing that he had walked in on something which was private, he started to walk out. The pope said to him, “No longer can the church say ‘Silver and gold have I none.’” As the saintly man continued walking out, he said, “Neither can the church say to the impotent man, ‘Rise up and walk.’”

Look around you at our churches today. What do we have? We have plenty of silver and gold. There are millions of dollars in cash and assets owned by the churches of the 21^st century. How much of these ‘riches’ are being hoarded and used for selfish gains? How much is being freely and gladly provided to further the Gospel of Christ? Yes, we have the silver and gold, but we do not have the power.

Now before some get their tail-feathers ruffled, some of our churches can be identified with Philadelphia, for example, but by and large, we are neck deep in the Laodicean age. We think we are rich, but we are poor. Now how can that be?

As Jesus said we are neither hot nor cold. We think we’re rich and need nothing, but we are wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked.

Then He goes on to say, “I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.

As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.

Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.

To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.

He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.” (Revelation 3:18-22)

There were three critical components of the Gospel the apostles always preached that we rarely hear today.

Sin – We are sinners in need of a Savior.

Blood – Jesus shed His blood on the cross for us.

Resurrection – Jesus rose from the grave.

We have no power because we have forsaken what the Gospel is all about. It isn’t about buildings, bank accounts, beautiful stages, comfortable pews, opinionated sermonettes, the good life, no worries, no problems, health and wealth, and comfort. It is about:

“And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.” (Luke 9:23)

Grant Phillips

Email: grantphillips@windstream.net

Pre-Rapture Commentary: http://grant-phillips.blogspot.com

Rapture Ready: https://www.raptureready.com/featured/phillips/phillips.html

 

I was reading our state (commonwealth actually) news this morning and noticed that one of our senators wants to introduce a bill to legalize marijuana in Kentucky. This got me thinking about Satan’s battle plan, i.e. just keep knocking over the dominoes.

Allow me to list just a few observations.

We’ve had alcohol in the large cities for many years. However, I can remember when Lexington, KY used to “close down the sidewalks” in the days of the Blue laws (Sunday laws). Not so now. The wild nightlife can now be found just about anywhere in this city any day of the week.

The Kentucky lottery began in April 1989. The excuse was to use the money for education; schools, class rooms, teachers, etc. [Update: didn’t happen. Teachers are using their own money for the classroom, haven’t received a decent raise in years and their pensions are going down the tubes.]

Over the last few years or so, most all of the smaller communities have practically outlawed smoking, BUT, not to worry, it has been replaced with … that’s right … you got it … ALCOHOL!

And now, as I said earlier, we may be considering the legalization of marijuana.

It is true that smoking is not good for us, but when did you ever hear of smoking causing anyone to be a loud-mouth jerk, or inflict harm on another person? The answer … never, but alcohol and drugs are destroying lives and families, taking lives and destroying minds.

Something’s wrong with this picture. I’m just speaking for good ole Kentucky for now, but to me, this isn’t progress. We’re regressing, not progressing. Let’s consider a few more dominoes.

From 1962-1980; prayer, the Bible and the Ten Commandments were removed from the public schools. Corporal punishment is now practically nonexistent. No wonder, generally speaking, our children are little spoiled, self-centered brats.

I don’t know the exact year for Kentucky, but no fault divorce began in the 70s. Is it any wonder why there are so many divorces and so many folks just shacking up?

In the 60s movie ratings began. The things seen and heard at the movies and on television today could gag a maggot. Prior to the 60s we would not worry about decent people and children watching a movie or the television, but today?

Of course we can’t forget June of 2015 when the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 to legalize homosexual marriages. It probably won’t be long until the Supremes also force the acceptance of transsexual lifestyles upon every state and commonwealth.

The Bible clearly and definitively calls homosexuality a sin.

Also, the Bible makes it clear that we are born male or female. We are either one or the other. Science agrees. Males are born with one Y chromosome and one X chromosome. Females are born with two X chromosomes. If you have one Y chromosome and one X chromosome, you are a male. If you have two X chromosomes, you are a female. We are either male or female when we are born. That cannot be debated.

Capital punishment, for all practical purposes, is also nearly non-existent. And we wonder why capital crime is through the roof. A mistreated dog can get more justice than an innocent human being.

All these brilliant moves (and many I haven’t listed) have resulted in a society that has become more and more corrupted, and that is exactly what Satan wants. Man cannot make society better, especially those in the political arena.

As can been seen by the dates, these things did not happen overnight, but the more dominoes that fall increases the speed of the remaining dominoes falling. Every year I think, “Surely, we’ve sunk about as far as we can go,” but each year proves me wrong. I shudder to think what our society will look like in a few more years.

Our society and even many professing Christians have the mistaken idea that the majority must be right. If most of the people say it’s okay, then it must be okay. That isn’t what Jesus said, and I’m going with His words.

“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” (Matthew 7:13-14)

I suppose based on the world’s conclusion of the “majority” is where we also get the misconception that there will be far more people in Heaven than in hell. Again, based on what Jesus said in the Scripture verses above, there will be far fewer people in Heaven than in hell. Let me make it real clear. Most people will leave this earth and spend eternity in hell. Hell will have an overflowing abundance of human beings that stayed on the “broad road to destruction.” The only exception that could, maybe, alter this is the millions or billions who will be in Heaven because they were under the age of accountability when they died, or were not mentally competent.

I’ve never been one to follow the majority. The majority is most always a losing cause. Let me give one example. In 1 Kings 18:17-40 we’re told about an incident that happened between Elijah and Ahab’s prophets. Now keep in mind, there were 450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of the Asherah in the majority, not including Ahab and all the other followers of these false gods. There were two in the minority, Elijah and God. Over 850 to 2! Read the account and see who was right and who was wrong. By the way, what happened to the false prophets?

Elijah’s secret weapon was God. If we are on God’s side, we are always correct in our position with whatever circumstance is at hand. With that said, the Bible assures us that God is not on the side of any of the actions I mentioned earlier that our society has so willingly accepted.

While writing this article, a dear sister in Christ wrote to me, informing me of California adopting what is known as the ‘bordello’ law for long-term care centers. The article is entitled “California adopts ‘bordello’ plan for long-term care centers” and was posted by Bob Unruh on October 5^th, 2017 at the WND website (www.wnd.com). Please take the time to read the article. It is eye-opening to the continued degradation of our society.

In part this new California law, which takes effect January 1^st, states that males may room with females and share shower facilities with females. Also, employees can be punished criminally via a criminal fine and be imprisoned for up to a year. A care facility can suffer heavy fines and have their license revoked by the Department of Public Health and even be fined up to $150,000 under the state Fair Employment and Housing Act.

It will be a criminal offense for any private-care facility to “move or evict a transsexual resident for acting out their transsexual behavior, even if other residents are disturbed by it.”

The employees will be committing a criminal offense if they do not address the transsexual residents as “he” or “she”, no matter their biological sex. They are also required to dress the transsexual resident in women’s clothes (or vice versa), including underclothing, cosmetics, etc.

This law applies to senior homes, convalescent homes, skilled nursing facilities, the developmentally disabled, pediatric day health and respite care.

Surely, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9)

I stand convinced that we are quickly approaching God’s judgment. Our hearts have become blackened and our rebellion against God is frightening. As the dominoes fall, true Christians need to take a stand.

Satan knows his time is short and he also knows the heart of man. Many dominoes have fallen since the early sixties and even earlier, and they continue to fall. I repeat that all the dominoes have not fallen at once, just one at a time, but now we live in a world that couldn’t even be imagined in the forties and fifties. What society accepts as normal today would have caused a nationwide rebellion when I was a child. Isn’t it amazing how things can change in just one lifetime, just one domino at a time?

The sad conclusion is that for each generation it will continue to get worse and worse, but for each younger generation, it will seem more and more acceptable.

Grant Phillips

Email: grantphillips@windstream.net

Pre-Rapture Commentary: http://grant-phillips.blogspot.com

Rapture Ready: https://www.raptureready.com/featured/phillips/phillips.html