Hi Janet. This isn't a spelling error. Many spellings in 17th Century English appear different to what we have now. You can see several of these differences in the Bible; one that comes to mind is the word 'throughly', what we spell as 'thoroughly'.
Dear Lord Jesus, Have mercy on Antoinette and bring relief from her back pain. We ask that You will bring great improvement to her spine as you did for me. Keep her healthy so that her body will be strong to heal and repair the effects of scoliosis. Cause her heart to be strong and healthy. Thank you. Amen.
Dear Heavenly Father, Kenneth is laying his brother before You today and asking You to bring him to salvation soon. Help Kenneth to be an effective witness to his brother, holding out the gospel to him in love and faith in what You alone can do for his brother. We offer these prayers in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Dear Heavenly Father, touch Martha's husband through Your Holy Spirit and bring the gospel to him and have it take root in his heart for his salvation. Remove from him all and any obstacles and objections he wishes to put up against the truth of Christ, Your Son. Soften his heart and cause him to see his need for salvation from his sins. Give him a contrite heart and repentance to turn to Jesus and believe. We ask this in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Hello James, I will pray for you and your wife today.
Dear Heavenly Father, James and his wife need support as they are aging. We ask that You will connect them with local believers and services where they can get the help they need and also the fellowship and friendship they need. Father, we ask that You fulfill their need quickly and keep them safe and healthy. We ask this of You, Father, in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Dear Heavenly Father, Bonnie and her family need Your help in blending together this family in a way that is healthy. Please keep this granddaughter well so that grandpa does not get sick from her. Protect this family from illness. Bring a cure to the cancer in Bonnie's daughter, allowing her to fully recover from bowel cancer. Have all of the treatments be successful for her and give her a long life with her daughter. We ask these things in the name of Jesus, Amen.
Dear Heavenly Father, in the name of Jesus, we ask that Olivia's dad will have all of the cancer removed from his body in this next operation. We ask that You will cause the cancer cells to die off and restore him to health once again. Amen.
Dear Heavenly Father, Charlene would like to be able to use her legs again. We ask You today, in the name of Jesus, to bring ability back to her legs. Amen.
Texsis, thank you for the reminder. I will continue to pray for these requests. There is so much going on that is against God in all spheres of our families, communities, country, and world. May God restrain evil and especially protect the young ones in every way. Amen.
Dear Marco, I will pray for you to be re-united with your daughter.
Dear Heavenly Father, this father is suffering grief from concern about his daughter. We ask that You will place this child in the best environment for her to grow strong and healthy. Allow Marco to regain custody of this young one. Bring healing from abuse to this daughter and lead her to faith in You through Jesus, Your Son, our Savior. Amen.
Heavenly Father, we ask You to deepen Althea's commitment to You through Jesus our Lord. Mature her in Your Word and give her true knowledge of You and Your will. Teach her to interpret Scripture properly and be filled with Your truth daily. Grant Althea sincere desire to draw near to You and to commune with You in prayer and meditating on Your goodness and holiness. Give her a true view of Who You are. Bless her today and every day.
Father, we lift up Althea's daughter to You today and ask that You will deliver her from drug and alcohol use and whatever else that has control over her. We ask that You soon bring her to salvation. Do not tarry Lord since these abuses endanger her so. Cause this daughter to see that she is in dire need of You and turn her heart to You in faith.
We ask these things of You, Father, in the name of Your Son, Jesus. Amen.
A beautiful article from C H Spurgeons brother Spencer, thanks for sharing.
I think the problem of lukerwarmness is the major problem in true Christianity nowadays. Christians often compromise themselves with the sinful world. This is satan's victory over us. Lukerwarmness is just a step before a sinful life. If he manages to drive us there then the next stage is not far away. Satan doesn't care especially with the main stream denominations. Those are dead churches anyway, they don't produce work, they don't preach salvation, they give the impression to their followers that if they attend their litturgies and join in the celebrations and their churche's customs and try to be good people then they are saved, which is wrong. There are genuine believers in those churches that love God but they are not many and they are confused about God's things. So the attention of devil is on true/reborn christians. Since he knows that he can not drive true christians to sinning easily, he tries to make them looser and looser bit by bit, bit by bit and then if he manages that he drives them to sinning and eventually to destruction, salvation can be lost if one stays in their sins and dies in them (my opinion).
If we want to be used by God in His work on earth we must devote ourselves in Him, there must be no compromise. Light can not be compromized with darkness, if so then the light becomes less bright and eventually goes off, like in the 5 unwise virgins.
I suppose this could be a sixth fact or point. Recognition of when a prayer is being answered needs to be addressed. My earlier comment on God answering things NOT according to our request is probably more common than we sometimes like to admit.
One personal example is my dad who was very much against believing that Jesus is Lord; or sin; the Rapture and basic concepts whose mind has gone to the point that he is asking questions about basic facts about Jesus. In this case His not remembering has allowed him to disengage from all his defenses and perhaps that can allow at least a less biased reaction to information he is given. His salvation BTW is something others can be praying about.
When it comes to family members; God often uses others to reach them as it is always harder to "see the forest through the trees" or practically speaking avoid seeing the sins that those who are in the immediate family have that can be used against their testimony. We can be thankful that there are those out there who are coming forward among the youth today out of all sorts of sins and many great testimonies can be seen on You Tube. I think that there needs to be a better way to incorporate these testimonies in videos shown at other churches; as well as facilitating to get these people involved with ministry travelling to other churches. That should really be the focus of Christian musicians as well (I won't get into the whole "Christian music industry" here other than that comment). In prayer specifically we need to seek those as we seek that one lost sheep. When preaching the Gospel we should be ready to offer prayer and we should never just be content with scheduled prayer. Life simply doesn't work that way. Needs come up and should be met; a proactive approach should occur more often in church; and that involves at times those trained in discipling. Men need to equip men; and women other women. The more we know God the better we pray.
The following are the fundamental rules of Bible study that the Bible lays down:
> Christ is the author of the whole Bible. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we behold his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. John 1:1,14
> the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit 2 Peter 1:21
> Christ spoke in parables (earthly stories with a spiritual meaning). But without a parable spake he not unto them: and when they were alone, he expounded all things to his disciples. Mark 4:34
> We compare spiritual with spiritual. Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. 1 Corinthians 2:13
The historical-grammatical method of interpretation employed by the churches seeks to discover the writer's intended meaning, customs of the times, and the writer's intended audience and thus fails to recognize that God is the author and that the Bible is written for us today.
Moreover, the method of Bible interpretation employed by the churches fails to recognize that as we approach the end of the world, and the coming of the bridegroom, God is unsealing truths that have been kept sealed until the time of the end ( Daniel 12:9-10). This is spoken of in the Bible as a vision that will speak at the end and not lie ( Habakkuk 2:2-3).
God ultimately must lead us into truth as we apply these principles and pray for understanding with a view to being obedient to His Word.
Perseverance in prayer. In light of the previous discourses; the proper attitude toward God is paramount. This is why certain charismatics or anyone else "declaring" blessings is on thin ice. God blesses who He chooses and curses as well; we can see this principle in Romans 9:18. Genesis 49:25 states how God blesses universally for those who FEAR the Lord. Clearly fear of the Lord is necessary for the beginning of understanding ( Prov. 9:10 and many other texts).
The basic thought here is that if a motivation is wrong clearly one can spend all day pounding the table whether alone or with a whole crowd and not expect results. Once we can establish that we aren't aware of wrong motives; then we still stand the chance that God is going to say "no" to the request. What is fairly certain is that He will reveal either a different answer to the prayer; or He will after some length of time answer it. One fairly clear indicator of which prayer we are asking for is whether if He delayed it 20 years if we would even want to see it happen; case in point someone who we want to marry; how will they look like or act a couple decades later? If God answered it at that time we'd better not pin our hopes on superficial things alone that pass by; but on eternal character issues. Oftentimes I have found after years of time an answer just seems to occur when we have forgotton about certain issues. We should certainly be encouraged from examples of individuals praying for family members to be saved for decades where it finally happens. We should rejoice when a dictatorship is finally overthrown after a great amount of time such as Communism in Russia; or a breakthrough such as in with abortion when it can finally see a downturn after countless millions in the US have been slaughtered.
Fact Five: We should focus prayer on our enemies at least as much as our friends. It is hard to find fault for those praying for their enemies to be saved.
Fact Two (continued). The emphasis of prayer related to the edification of the Body should be fairly obvious with the overwhelming emphasis on such in the Epistles. Other than the Book of James we should note that there is not ANY instruction about right vs. wrong types of prayer in scripture. When we consider the nature of Paul's sufferings often associated with imprisonment; we see that his concern was for the state of the churches; with only a passing request for his own needs. It should go without saying that we should put the needs of others above our own (Phillippians 2:3-4). We are asked to remember those with "like temptations" ( 1 Peter 5:9). Although this doesn't directly address prayer; it does discuss the Devil prowling about; certainly in spritual warfare prayer is tied in (see Ephesians 6:18-20). The preceding verses in this chapter explain about the full armor of God which probably is a separate fact for praying with authority.
Fact Three: Personal application. When we have a proper perspective on lifting His name up in praise and considering the saints above ourselves; we then get to our personal devotions and prayers. I think it should be said that we should do as much work as we can with the opportunities available to be the "hands and feet" of Christ in service. For our own needs; we pursue possibilities; and seek "in and out of season" ( 2 Tim. 4:2) to perform our jobs and live our personal lives working "heartily unto the Lord." ( Colossians 3:23-24). This is not to puff ourselves up; but to ensure that our own laziness; or any other vices may not interfere with God answering prayers; or unnecessarily turn people off when opportunities arise. To trust God for blessings based on His promises rather than seeking self gain may only be something God Himself can judge in each individual case. Gaining access to "more of the Holy Spirit" certainly is a win/win situation ( Luke 11:13).
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 exhort us to pray continually. We should note that giving thanksgiving and rejoicing in Christ are other factors. Meditating on the Word day and night ( Joshua 1:8) certainly would be the other principal act associated with answered prayers. This verse in greater detail gives the exhortation to DO the things in the Word; and gives the added benefit of prosperity and success. This causes us to look at Solomon's prayer for wisdom when God also gave Him what He DIDN'T ask for in terms of exceedingly great riches. 1 Kings 3:5-15 shows this coming to pass; but of course the later sins that Solomon committed despite being warned of God to avoid basically caused the downfall of Israel.
There are obvious guidelines of what to avoid in seeing answered prayer in the Book of James chapter 4. We should note that this passage can be broadly taken for ANY type of lust (sexual; power; material gain) that comes from the world; flesh or the Devil. This would be something that hopefully would be limited to new; immature believers or the prosperity preaching crowd.
There are a number of basic concepts that need to be covered here providing that we are at least attempting caution as to the warnings in James; including our character not being "double minded" for example; where a person is warned that they should expect nothing from God. (see James 4:8).
Fact One: The primary purpose of prayer should be for the sake of God's Kingdom. The most obvious conclusion should of course be in accordance with the Lord's Prayer that HIS will is done and His Kingdom comes; and that He gets all the power and glory. ( Matthew 6; Luke 11 version somewhat abbreviated). That prayer is written as a general concept of prayer; only asking for "daily bread" as a request for human needs. It is not to be rehearsed as a mantra.
Fact Two: Prayers need to be secondarily for the edification of the Body. (more in next section)
How was Church everyone (if you went). Mine talked about Revelation 19 & 20 featuring the defeat of Satan and the mocking trinity. They will one day be thrown into the lake of fire, and all evil will be finished! Amen! God has promised us a victory over all sin! Judgement will be completed and evil will be vanquished. I just can't stop thanking God for all that he has done and will do for me and all believers. Thank you God for everything, for this wonderful promise and victory.
For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? 1 Peter 4:17
I believe the Bible teaches that 1 Peter 4:17 applies particularly to the day in which we are living. And that God has commanded all true believers to leave the local churches and congregations. If you go into virtually any church today and drill down to what they believe, the Bible is NOT the ultimate authority. And that they are teaching a works / grace gospel which is not the gospel of the Bible. The Bible teaches, I believe, that we are in the period of The Great Tribulation, Read Matt 24, where Christ has abandoned the local churches and congregations, God the Holy Spirit is no longer saving there, and Satan is actually rulling there.
Wonderfully though God, in His incomprehensible Mercy, is still saving OUTSIDE of the churches "a great multitude which no man can number" Rev 7:9 during this period of the Latter Rain.
I'm sure many will take issue with this. But I would encourage anyone to check out searchinghisword for messages and literature that are faithfully declaring what the Bible is teaching about our day.
May God lead us into truth as we search out His Word, the Bible.
Solid archaeological evidence was found by men named Rast and Schaub in 1973.
Those cities showed the evidence of the destruction mentioned in the Bible was accurate however there is no mention that it is still burning.
God bless.
Thank you and enjoy these Holidays.
God bless you.
Dear Lord Jesus, Have mercy on Antoinette and bring relief from her back pain. We ask that You will bring great improvement to her spine as you did for me. Keep her healthy so that her body will be strong to heal and repair the effects of scoliosis. Cause her heart to be strong and healthy. Thank you. Amen.
Dear Heavenly Father, Kenneth is laying his brother before You today and asking You to bring him to salvation soon. Help Kenneth to be an effective witness to his brother, holding out the gospel to him in love and faith in what You alone can do for his brother. We offer these prayers in the name of Jesus. Amen.
I will pray for your husband's salvation today.
Dear Heavenly Father, touch Martha's husband through Your Holy Spirit and bring the gospel to him and have it take root in his heart for his salvation. Remove from him all and any obstacles and objections he wishes to put up against the truth of Christ, Your Son. Soften his heart and cause him to see his need for salvation from his sins. Give him a contrite heart and repentance to turn to Jesus and believe. We ask this in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Dear Heavenly Father, James and his wife need support as they are aging. We ask that You will connect them with local believers and services where they can get the help they need and also the fellowship and friendship they need. Father, we ask that You fulfill their need quickly and keep them safe and healthy. We ask this of You, Father, in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Dear Heavenly Father, Bonnie and her family need Your help in blending together this family in a way that is healthy. Please keep this granddaughter well so that grandpa does not get sick from her. Protect this family from illness. Bring a cure to the cancer in Bonnie's daughter, allowing her to fully recover from bowel cancer. Have all of the treatments be successful for her and give her a long life with her daughter. We ask these things in the name of Jesus, Amen.
Dear Heavenly Father, in the name of Jesus, we ask that Olivia's dad will have all of the cancer removed from his body in this next operation. We ask that You will cause the cancer cells to die off and restore him to health once again. Amen.
Dear Heavenly Father, Charlene would like to be able to use her legs again. We ask You today, in the name of Jesus, to bring ability back to her legs. Amen.
Dear Heavenly Father, Maurice's daughter is in need of a good report from her doctor. We ask for this in the name of Your Son, Jesus. Amen.
Dear Heavenly Father, this father is suffering grief from concern about his daughter. We ask that You will place this child in the best environment for her to grow strong and healthy. Allow Marco to regain custody of this young one. Bring healing from abuse to this daughter and lead her to faith in You through Jesus, Your Son, our Savior. Amen.
I pray that your daughter today.
Heavenly Father, we ask You to deepen Althea's commitment to You through Jesus our Lord. Mature her in Your Word and give her true knowledge of You and Your will. Teach her to interpret Scripture properly and be filled with Your truth daily. Grant Althea sincere desire to draw near to You and to commune with You in prayer and meditating on Your goodness and holiness. Give her a true view of Who You are. Bless her today and every day.
Father, we lift up Althea's daughter to You today and ask that You will deliver her from drug and alcohol use and whatever else that has control over her. We ask that You soon bring her to salvation. Do not tarry Lord since these abuses endanger her so. Cause this daughter to see that she is in dire need of You and turn her heart to You in faith.
We ask these things of You, Father, in the name of Your Son, Jesus. Amen.
I think the problem of lukerwarmness is the major problem in true Christianity nowadays. Christians often compromise themselves with the sinful world. This is satan's victory over us. Lukerwarmness is just a step before a sinful life. If he manages to drive us there then the next stage is not far away. Satan doesn't care especially with the main stream denominations. Those are dead churches anyway, they don't produce work, they don't preach salvation, they give the impression to their followers that if they attend their litturgies and join in the celebrations and their churche's customs and try to be good people then they are saved, which is wrong. There are genuine believers in those churches that love God but they are not many and they are confused about God's things. So the attention of devil is on true/reborn christians. Since he knows that he can not drive true christians to sinning easily, he tries to make them looser and looser bit by bit, bit by bit and then if he manages that he drives them to sinning and eventually to destruction, salvation can be lost if one stays in their sins and dies in them (my opinion).
If we want to be used by God in His work on earth we must devote ourselves in Him, there must be no compromise. Light can not be compromized with darkness, if so then the light becomes less bright and eventually goes off, like in the 5 unwise virgins.
Have a blessed week.
I suppose this could be a sixth fact or point. Recognition of when a prayer is being answered needs to be addressed. My earlier comment on God answering things NOT according to our request is probably more common than we sometimes like to admit.
One personal example is my dad who was very much against believing that Jesus is Lord; or sin; the Rapture and basic concepts whose mind has gone to the point that he is asking questions about basic facts about Jesus. In this case His not remembering has allowed him to disengage from all his defenses and perhaps that can allow at least a less biased reaction to information he is given. His salvation BTW is something others can be praying about.
When it comes to family members; God often uses others to reach them as it is always harder to "see the forest through the trees" or practically speaking avoid seeing the sins that those who are in the immediate family have that can be used against their testimony. We can be thankful that there are those out there who are coming forward among the youth today out of all sorts of sins and many great testimonies can be seen on You Tube. I think that there needs to be a better way to incorporate these testimonies in videos shown at other churches; as well as facilitating to get these people involved with ministry travelling to other churches. That should really be the focus of Christian musicians as well (I won't get into the whole "Christian music industry" here other than that comment). In prayer specifically we need to seek those as we seek that one lost sheep. When preaching the Gospel we should be ready to offer prayer and we should never just be content with scheduled prayer. Life simply doesn't work that way. Needs come up and should be met; a proactive approach should occur more often in church; and that involves at times those trained in discipling. Men need to equip men; and women other women. The more we know God the better we pray.
The following are the fundamental rules of Bible study that the Bible lays down:
> Christ is the author of the whole Bible. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we behold his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. John 1:1,14
> the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit 2 Peter 1:21
> Christ spoke in parables (earthly stories with a spiritual meaning). But without a parable spake he not unto them: and when they were alone, he expounded all things to his disciples. Mark 4:34
> We compare spiritual with spiritual. Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. 1 Corinthians 2:13
The historical-grammatical method of interpretation employed by the churches seeks to discover the writer's intended meaning, customs of the times, and the writer's intended audience and thus fails to recognize that God is the author and that the Bible is written for us today.
Moreover, the method of Bible interpretation employed by the churches fails to recognize that as we approach the end of the world, and the coming of the bridegroom, God is unsealing truths that have been kept sealed until the time of the end ( Daniel 12:9-10). This is spoken of in the Bible as a vision that will speak at the end and not lie ( Habakkuk 2:2-3).
God ultimately must lead us into truth as we apply these principles and pray for understanding with a view to being obedient to His Word.
Perseverance in prayer. In light of the previous discourses; the proper attitude toward God is paramount. This is why certain charismatics or anyone else "declaring" blessings is on thin ice. God blesses who He chooses and curses as well; we can see this principle in Romans 9:18. Genesis 49:25 states how God blesses universally for those who FEAR the Lord. Clearly fear of the Lord is necessary for the beginning of understanding ( Prov. 9:10 and many other texts).
The basic thought here is that if a motivation is wrong clearly one can spend all day pounding the table whether alone or with a whole crowd and not expect results. Once we can establish that we aren't aware of wrong motives; then we still stand the chance that God is going to say "no" to the request. What is fairly certain is that He will reveal either a different answer to the prayer; or He will after some length of time answer it. One fairly clear indicator of which prayer we are asking for is whether if He delayed it 20 years if we would even want to see it happen; case in point someone who we want to marry; how will they look like or act a couple decades later? If God answered it at that time we'd better not pin our hopes on superficial things alone that pass by; but on eternal character issues. Oftentimes I have found after years of time an answer just seems to occur when we have forgotton about certain issues. We should certainly be encouraged from examples of individuals praying for family members to be saved for decades where it finally happens. We should rejoice when a dictatorship is finally overthrown after a great amount of time such as Communism in Russia; or a breakthrough such as in with abortion when it can finally see a downturn after countless millions in the US have been slaughtered.
Fact Five: We should focus prayer on our enemies at least as much as our friends. It is hard to find fault for those praying for their enemies to be saved.
Fact Two (continued). The emphasis of prayer related to the edification of the Body should be fairly obvious with the overwhelming emphasis on such in the Epistles. Other than the Book of James we should note that there is not ANY instruction about right vs. wrong types of prayer in scripture. When we consider the nature of Paul's sufferings often associated with imprisonment; we see that his concern was for the state of the churches; with only a passing request for his own needs. It should go without saying that we should put the needs of others above our own (Phillippians 2:3-4). We are asked to remember those with "like temptations" ( 1 Peter 5:9). Although this doesn't directly address prayer; it does discuss the Devil prowling about; certainly in spritual warfare prayer is tied in (see Ephesians 6:18-20). The preceding verses in this chapter explain about the full armor of God which probably is a separate fact for praying with authority.
Fact Three: Personal application. When we have a proper perspective on lifting His name up in praise and considering the saints above ourselves; we then get to our personal devotions and prayers. I think it should be said that we should do as much work as we can with the opportunities available to be the "hands and feet" of Christ in service. For our own needs; we pursue possibilities; and seek "in and out of season" ( 2 Tim. 4:2) to perform our jobs and live our personal lives working "heartily unto the Lord." ( Colossians 3:23-24). This is not to puff ourselves up; but to ensure that our own laziness; or any other vices may not interfere with God answering prayers; or unnecessarily turn people off when opportunities arise. To trust God for blessings based on His promises rather than seeking self gain may only be something God Himself can judge in each individual case. Gaining access to "more of the Holy Spirit" certainly is a win/win situation ( Luke 11:13).
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 exhort us to pray continually. We should note that giving thanksgiving and rejoicing in Christ are other factors. Meditating on the Word day and night ( Joshua 1:8) certainly would be the other principal act associated with answered prayers. This verse in greater detail gives the exhortation to DO the things in the Word; and gives the added benefit of prosperity and success. This causes us to look at Solomon's prayer for wisdom when God also gave Him what He DIDN'T ask for in terms of exceedingly great riches. 1 Kings 3:5-15 shows this coming to pass; but of course the later sins that Solomon committed despite being warned of God to avoid basically caused the downfall of Israel.
There are obvious guidelines of what to avoid in seeing answered prayer in the Book of James chapter 4. We should note that this passage can be broadly taken for ANY type of lust (sexual; power; material gain) that comes from the world; flesh or the Devil. This would be something that hopefully would be limited to new; immature believers or the prosperity preaching crowd.
There are a number of basic concepts that need to be covered here providing that we are at least attempting caution as to the warnings in James; including our character not being "double minded" for example; where a person is warned that they should expect nothing from God. (see James 4:8).
Fact One: The primary purpose of prayer should be for the sake of God's Kingdom. The most obvious conclusion should of course be in accordance with the Lord's Prayer that HIS will is done and His Kingdom comes; and that He gets all the power and glory. ( Matthew 6; Luke 11 version somewhat abbreviated). That prayer is written as a general concept of prayer; only asking for "daily bread" as a request for human needs. It is not to be rehearsed as a mantra.
Fact Two: Prayers need to be secondarily for the edification of the Body. (more in next section)
Amen.
For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? 1 Peter 4:17
I believe the Bible teaches that 1 Peter 4:17 applies particularly to the day in which we are living. And that God has commanded all true believers to leave the local churches and congregations. If you go into virtually any church today and drill down to what they believe, the Bible is NOT the ultimate authority. And that they are teaching a works / grace gospel which is not the gospel of the Bible. The Bible teaches, I believe, that we are in the period of The Great Tribulation, Read Matt 24, where Christ has abandoned the local churches and congregations, God the Holy Spirit is no longer saving there, and Satan is actually rulling there.
Wonderfully though God, in His incomprehensible Mercy, is still saving OUTSIDE of the churches "a great multitude which no man can number" Rev 7:9 during this period of the Latter Rain.
I'm sure many will take issue with this. But I would encourage anyone to check out searchinghisword for messages and literature that are faithfully declaring what the Bible is teaching about our day.
May God lead us into truth as we search out His Word, the Bible.