THE 3 WISE (IN THEIR OWN EYES) MONKEYS OF "THE CHURCH"

"Let no man deceive himself. 

If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world,

let him become a fool, that he may be wise.

For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God."

(1 Corinthians 3:18-19)

Left monkey: 

"Deception in MY church? What deception is that then? I don't see any!"

Centre (pastor) monkey: 

"Don't you go telling me I've opened the door of MY church to deception! Not listening!"

Right monkey: 

"Yeah, I see deception in MY church, but no way am I gonna open MY mouth about it!"

ARE YOU A WISE (IN YOUR OWN EYES) MONKEY?

DO YOU NEED TO OPEN YOUR EYES, YOUR EARS, YOUR MOUTH?

DON'T BE HONEST WITH ME... BE HONEST WITH YOURSELF...

AND MORE IMPORTANTLY STILL, WITH GOD!

* * * * * * *

PLEASE NOTE: The previous post inviting anyone to write in and "paint on the blank canvas" is still very much open for submissions! See:

https://watchman4wales.blogspot.com/2022/11/a-blank-canvas-im-inviting-you-to.html

A BLANK CANVAS I'M INVITING YOU TO SPLASH SOME PAINT ON!

"How is it then, brethren? when ye come together, 

every one of you hath a psalm, hath a doctrine,

hath a tongue, hath a revelation, hath an interpretation.

Let all things be done unto edifying."

(1 Corinthians 14:26)

For this post, I'm going to do something I've never done before in the nigh on 10 years that this blog has been running for. Instead of offering something focused upon my own concerns, I wish to present you with a blank canvas, and invite you to take up a brush and palette so to speak and present here a picture of what it is that might be perturbing YOU... a loudhailer I'm handing over to you, my friends, if that analogy may make more sense, to give expression to what are your own concerns... and please, please don't be shy of doing so! I want to hear YOUR voice, not just my own echoing hollowly back at me!

It would seem likely to me that most people who happen upon this site do so because they've used a search engine, to try and find something that may have been written on a particular topic that they are having some issue with, and perhaps then be able to grapple with it the easier for being hopefully a little better informed, and just maybe having their unease validated.

In this context, through my endeavouring to warn and inform about apostasy, error and deception in the body of Christ (or perhaps more accurately what would claim to be it!), one most humbling aspect of the work has been that the Lord has been pleased to use it to give comfort and encouragement to marginalized, isolated and fellowship-starved believers that they are certainly not alone in what they see and feel... even if everyone around them is fully on board with the things that they themselves cannot bear witness to and in no way make themselves party to. 

When such folks as these walk away from "doing church" - not to leave the Faith but in order to keep it! - a very lonely road is almost certain to await. That road is of course the Narrow Way, and it is the uncompromising Remnant who are the ones who travel it, those who refuse to bow the knee to BAAL, by which I mean here the Brazenly Apostate Assembly of Laodicea, which is what today's institutional "Christianity" has on all fronts become, in such stark and dark fulfilment of Scriptural prophecy that a great apostasia, a falling away from Truth, would come in the Last Days... days which have now very much arrived! 

THIS SITE IS NOT MEANT TO BE ABOUT ME BUT ABOUT US, AND WHAT TOGETHER WE ARE UP AGAINST IN THIS EXTREMELY LATE HOUR, WHEN ALL AROUND WE ARE SEEING NOT A POSTMODERN 'NEW REFORMATION' DAWNING AS SOME WOULD HAVE IT, BUT A NEW 'DARK AGE' DESCENDING. EVERYONE HAS SOME CONTRIBUTION TO MAKE WHEN WE COME TOGETHER, AS THE SCRIPTURE WHICH HEADS THIS POST MAKES PLAIN, AND IT MATTERS NOT A JOT WHETHER A "MEETING OF THE SAINTS" OCCURS FACE-TO-FACE OR VIA AN INTERNET PLATFORM LIKE THIS ONE. FACT IS, WE ALL HAVE A PART TO PLAY.

ON THIS BASIS, ANYONE WHO IS MOVED TO SHARE A THOUGHT, AN IDEA, A WORRY, A TESTIMONY, AN ENCOURAGEMENT, A QUESTION, AN ANSWER, A TALKING-POINT... OR ANYTHING THAT MIGHT BE ON THEIR MIND, THAT BLANK CANVAS I'VE MENTIONED IS THE COMMENTS SECTION FOUND AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS PAGE. RATHER THAN THE NORM OF HAVING A SPECIFIC SUBJECT I'VE WRITTEN ABOUT THAT YOU CAN RESPOND TO, THIS TIME THE SUBJECT MATTER IS FOR YOU TO COME UP WITH! WILL YOU TAKE ME UP ON THIS INVITE OR NOT? IT'S OVER TO YOU GUYS...

 

METHODIST MADNESS... COMING TO A "CHURCH" NEAR YOU?

"And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, 

made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.

And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh:

she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.

Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, 

and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh."

(Genesis 2:22-24)

"Sorry, Eve, but I'm marrying Steve... 

and it's gonna be a church wedding!"

GOD'S DECISIONS V. HUMAN REVISIONS

Clearly, in God's creation, and for evermore in His sight, there is no such thing as non-binary identity, and also in His strictly binary intent for the human race there is to be no union in wedlock of any couple other than a man and a woman. (Which thing models Christ and His Bride). This is how God designed and decreed it to be, and anyone who wishes to contradict Him by forging and fostering their own fleshly edicts regarding these things is in open rebellion to Him!

It's dreadful enough when secular law-making institutions challenge and throw out the Almighty's clear-cut order of things, as did the British Government in legalizing same-sex "marriage" back in July 2013, effective from March 2014. But when "Christian churches" - I use the term VERY loosely! - do likewise, it should surely drive home to us the grim warnings of 2 Timothy 3, that "in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be (amongst other nefarious things!)... Without natural affection (i.e. with UNnatural affection!)... But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived." When it comes to this question of "UNnatural affection" the Book of Romans presents us with a critically important teaching concerning lesbianism and homosexuality:

"Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves... For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient... without natural affection... Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them."

(Romans 1:24, 26-28, 31-32)

Having pleasure in them that do them... Have you, friend, seen the words/pictures - as I have - of ordained "Christian" ministers expressing unashamed delight over their now being allowed to wilfully join same-sex couples in UNholy "matrimony?" Assuredly, such Bible-disbelieving hirelings are called not by God but rather by our mortal Enemy, and have no fear of the One who they would claim to serve! But one Day they will have to give account, and then they will tremble before Him - as will ALL who in their madness gave their assent at last year's Methodist Conference for these things to happen, in open revolt against what the Creator has unambiguously mandated!

WHEN IS 'ONLY' NOT ACTUALLY 'ONLY' BUT 'ALSO?'

Let's look at the Methodist Church's absurdly contradictory new position on marriage, which reads: "The Conference confirms resolution 10/9 of the Conference of 2019, amended to read as follows: The Conference amends Standing Orders as follows: 011A Marriage (1) The Methodist Church understands that marriage is given by God to be a particular channel of God's grace, and that it is in accord with God's purposes when a marriage is a life-long union in body, mind and spirit of two people who freely enter it. Within the Methodist Church this is understood in two ways: that marriage can only be between a man and a woman; that marriage can be between any two people. The Methodist Church affirms both understandings and makes provision in its Standing Orders for them." (Source: https://www.methodist.org.uk/media/22318/conf-2021-daily-record-7-weds-30-june-2021.pdf)

Having two conflicting positional "understandings" shows no positional understanding at all! It's like having a denominational 'Statement of Beliefs' saying, "We believe that Jesus is the only Way, but at the same time we also believe that there are other ways!" This quite incredible double-mindedness - which would be laughable in its absolute inanity, indeed insanity, were this not so terribly serious a matter! - was approved by a massive majority of 254 for and only 46 against. And prior to the Conference itself, of the 30 local synods all but one confirmed that they were in favour of the change. If anything truly screams out the level of apostasy now on display in the Methodist movement, these figures surely say it all! 

How any genuinely born-again, Bible-believing and God-fearing Christians can possibly be OK with remaining ensconced in a Methodist pew after this is frankly absolutely beyond my understanding! They need to register their own personal vote right now... with their feet, as they run out of the door and never return! As it is written concerning such pride in great institutional sinfulness, "Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues." (Revelation 18:4). And does this Scripture not bring a rather loud echo to our spiritual ears of the angels' urgent admonition to Lot, to flee from unnatural affection-soaked Sodom before Judgment fell from Heaven? 

Unblock your ears, my friends, if they be waxed up with lukewarm Laodicean liberality, and hear that echo while there is yet a window of opportunity to do so! Run as fast as you can, and never under any circumstances look back!

ABOMINATION IN ACTION

Let's look now at just how the rubber meets the road, by examining here one local (to Wales) example; this is NOT a hypothetical, but an actual case, sad to say. A lesbian couple asks their local Methodist assembly if they can get married there, but they - and all credit to them for standing firm on the Word! - decline the request, which they thankfully can. Undaunted, the couple approach another Methodist church nearby, who are only too pleased to agree to their request. With the unanimous backing of the congregants, the equally keen female minister formally applies to the Church hierarchy for their official approval, and in due course the necessary certificate of authorisation is granted. From that moment on, this particular lesbian or any other same-sex couple wishing to do so can be "married" there. Obviously not in the sight of the True God! (See: https://www.penarthtimes.co.uk/news/20615472.first-ever-same-sex-marriage-penarth-church/)

What of the bigger picture, concerning the position held by other (supposedly) Christian groupings here in the UK on this question? I've focused here in this article on the Methodists, but the United Reformed Church, the Society of Friends (Quakers), the Unitarian & Free Christian Churches, and the Scottish Episcopal Church also permit same-sex "marriage." Anglicans could well follow suit in the not too distant future, with the Church in Wales having already allowed the blessing of such unions on their premises, voting to do so just last September. Welsh bishops passed the Bill for this unanimously, with the clergy voting 28 to 12 in favour with 2 abstentions, and the laity by 49 to 10 with one abstention. Such statistics again show that the writing looms large on the wall, this time for the Anglican communion! What is firmly under God's curse, men and women see fit to blissfully bless, and in the process are weighed and found wanting. Very badly wanting! Shall the sporting of a meaningless dog-dollar allow its wearer to escape the Almighty's righteous Judgment? I think not... (See: https://www.itv.com/news/wales/2021-09-06/church-in-wales-passes-vote-to-allow-same-sex-couples-to-have-marriages-blessed)

IN CONCLUSION: COMPLIANCE OR DEFIANCE?

We are to conform to Christ, not cavort with the world and its evil ways. Whether we humbly and obediently comply with the Word of God, or arrogantly and rebelliously defy Holy Writ, is of fundamental importance in establishing exactly where we stand in relation to Him... and He in relation to us. 

Are we with Him or against Him and His unchangeable statutes of righteousness? If it be the latter scenario, the consequences could not be more serious... or more eternally bitter!

"And there shall in no wise enter into it (the New Jerusalem) any thing that defileth,

neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie:

but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life."

(Revelation 21:27) 

LADIES IN LEADERSHIP & HUSBAND-AND-WIFE CO-PASTORSHIP.

"Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection.

But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man,

but to be in silence. For Adam was first formed, then Eve.

And Adam was not deceived, 

but the woman being deceived was in the transgression."

(1 Timothy 2:11-14)

PREAMBLE

OK. I'm going to be ruffling more than a few feathers here, but hey, what's new about that?! There are things that really need to be said and said clearly, though few in the Body it seems are prepared to muster the Biblical integrity to give voice to them; so please or offend I will say them myself here, as I am of the Spirit heavily burdened and emboldened to. 

Here goes then...

CONCERNING WOMEN IN POSITIONS OF AUTHORITY OVER MEN 

Female leadership in Christian assemblies: is it right, or is it wrong? Answer: it is utterly wrong! Period. Anyone claiming to be a Bible-believing true follower of The Way should know this full well, but it would appear that either not too many do in fact know this or, if they do, choose to revolt against God's declared proper order of things in the governance of the ekklesia. Our ladies are to support, but they are not to lead. This is nothing whatsoever to do with misogyny; it is everything to do with the decree of God as revealed in His Word. Usurp, as used by the apostle Paul in the above Scripture, is a weighty word indeed, meaning to take another's rightful position and designated authority illegally. Mark well then, that this is no secondary but very much a primary matter, which should be of grave concern to us all in our accountability before God! And men who allow this to happen have to all intents and purposes spiritually emasculated themselves, and should hang their heads in shame for so doing!

When what has been ordained by God is brazenly overturned, there is then a very real problem in any assembly that does so, for how can He possibly truly bless and prosper what stands in resolute opposition to the leadership ordinance that He has laid down in His Word? In such circumstances, any perceived "increase" can thus be attributable only to the heavy dilution of Biblical truth, an insipidness which caters only too well to those with fleshly, itchy ears to be tickled. Such "growth" is not healthy, but tumorous! There is a very definite order of things in relational matters; the following key Scripture concerning this quite unambiguously states:

"For the husband is the head of the wife, 

even as Christ is the head of the church:

and he is the saviour of the body."

(Ephesians 5:23)

A most critical point is being made here. Christ is the head of His Bride, as modelled by a husband being the head of his wife. As all Christian fellowships are to be a faithful reflection of this Godly order of things, clearly the "helpmeet" is not to assume the position of the groom: an earthly shepherd, as representative of the heavenly Good Shepherd, can only be a man. Male/female role reversal in such headship is not just a cavalier rejection of, but actually a wilful and sinful rebellion against Divine mandate.

A veritable multitude of assemblies, both denominational and independent in nature, now have a lady fronting the operation with the congregants happily sitting under such a travesty and calling her 'Pastor!' (Actually, the use of 'Pastor' as a title of office - just like the blasphemous use of 'Reverend' - is something of the flesh, not of the Spirit, as pastoring is a functional gifting and not a titular elevation of an individual above everyone else within any given ekklesia; all are of equal status in Christ, being the many diverse but co-dependent parts of one Body). 

CONCERNING WOMEN IN POSITIONS OF ASSEMBLY OVERSEEING

With female shepherding of a flock being ruled out Scripturally, what perhaps of overseeing the affairs of a fellowship, i.e. being an elder/bishop/deacon? Well, in a nutshell, the same ruling applies, with women being similarly excluded from such a position, as 1 Timothy 3 makes so obvious. When the criteria for such stewardship is outlined here, all references for candidacy are given exclusively in masculine terms: man/husband/he/his... Could the instruction be any clearer? We actually find the same male-only edict for ordaining elders in Titus 1:5-9; my friends, please check out these important references for yourselves.

THE RISE AND RISE OF HUSBAND-AND-WIFE CO-PASTORSHIP

The issue of women in positions of ecclesiastical leadership is one of long-standing, of course, becoming pretty much a don't-even-go-there, "elephant in the room" situation. It's all part and parcel of the great Falling Away in these, the Last Days, when anything goes and it is the one who dares to question unbiblical doctrine and practice who is deemed to be the trouble-maker for raining on their apostate parade. But surely I cannot be alone in my concern in noting a now highly fashionable leadership trend, being the appointment of husband-and-wife co-pastorship of assemblies? 

Over in the States, such an arrangement was long in place at Bethel, Redding, with Bill Johnson and his recently deceased wife Beni heading up the show. (I use that word advisedly). Joel and Victoria Osteen's co-pastorship of Lakewood, Houston is another prime Stateside example. I mention these well-known theatres of falsehood to give a little taste of how deep and dire deceptions, like NAR Dominionism (Bethel) and the "prosperity gospel" (Lakewood) can go so neatly hand-in-hand with a married couple being in joint control. Corruption of spiritual truth in one way will inevitably breed corruption of spiritual truth in other ways also. 

I publish below a list of such co-pastored establishments here in little ol' Wales, which is unlikely to be exhaustive, but will I think serve to show how widespread this problem really is:

            Abergavenny. Gateway Church (AOG) - Chris and Lyra Vaz (Community Pastor)

            Abertillery. Elevate Church (Elim) -  Pete and Adele (Surname not supplied)

            Bedwas. Hope Church (AOG) - Bryan and Misty Elliott

            Bridgend. Compassion Church (Elim) - Lem and Tobey Turner

            Bridgend. Vine Christian Centre - Alex and Jane Ashton

            Cardiff. Audacious Church (AOG) - Jonny and Miriam Cummings

            Cardiff. City Church (Elim) - Dominic and Catherine De Souza

            Cardiff. Vineyard Church - James and Jen Rankine

            Cardigan. New Life Church - Doug and Janice Bell

            Cwmbran. Victory Church (Elim) - Clyde and Bekah Thomas

            Kenfig Hill. Bethel Community Church (AOG) - Des and Jackie Duffy

            Llandrindod Wells. Festival Church (AOG) - Erold and Klara Ferreira

            Llanelli. Myrtle House Church (Elim) - Bill and Ellen Chapman

            Maesteg. Bethel Community Church (AOG) - Des and Jackie Duffy

            Merthyr Tydfil. New Beginnings Church - Les and Carol Bevan

            Newport. King's Church - Dave and Faye Edwards

            Newport. The Warehouse Church - Robbie and Donna Howells

            Newtown. Hope Church (AOG) - Simon and Denise Curgenven

            Old Colwyn. Sure Hope/Festival Church (AOG) - Jay and Chloe Lusted

            Pontllanfraith. River Church Wales (AOG) - Dave and Ruth Thomas

            Swansea. Cornerstone Church - Julian and Sarah Richards

            Swansea. Liberty Church - Mark and Mary Ritchie

            Wrexham. The Community Church - Nick and Sue Pengelly

These are set-ups where the married hierarchy are each shamefully known as pastors; there are other places where they are described as the leaders, e.g. Hope (Pontypridd). We might also note well concerning the many-membered New Wine Cymru signs-and-wonders-chasing umbrella organisation, that it has been hugely influential in this whole area of promoting unscriptural female leadership. It holds annual 'Women Who Lead' conferences, unsurprisingly presided over by Sarah Richards of Cornerstone, Swansea as listed above. Husband Julian just happens to be NWC's National Leader, while not only Sarah's but the names of others appearing on this list are on the NWC National Leadership Team. Yes, birds of a feather and all that! (See: https://newwinecymru.co.uk/about/whos-who). 

Before concluding, we might perhaps touch upon a potential personal benefit arising from a wife being appointed to pastorhood alongside her husband, i.e. getting on the "church payroll" and so increasing/doubling the household income! Such a happy (?) state of affairs definitely applies in the case of The Warehouse Church in Newport, where the Howells take home a combined annual income of £59,000. Not too bad a little earner, huh? But then, The Warehouse is a "prosperity gospel" operation, with Robbie being such a fan of Kenneth Copeland that he sits on the board of the UK branch of his "ministry." (See: https://register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk/charity-search/-/charity-details/4008839/financial-history; also: https://register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk/charity-search/-/charity-details/326392/trustees)

CONCLUSION

However much the principle of "equal opportunities" might apply in the world at large, it has absolutely no bearing on that which, though it is IN the world, is not OF the world. God in His wisdom and purposes has assigned men and women different roles, complimentary but distinctive. And public teaching and preaching is to be at all times undertaken by an Adam and not by an Eve, in obedience to the Creator's sovereign intent. My friends, let us absolutely honour and cherish our ladies, our most precious sisters in the Lord, for all their wonderful giftings, abilities and contributions. But let the practice of our Faith in leadership matters be never other than an uncompromising upholding of God's instructions to us, of how we are to present ourselves as a Body in proper, acceptable witness to the Word written and the Word made flesh - all glory to the Name which is above all others!

* * * * * * *

Further recommended reading:

https://www.gotquestions.org/women-pastors.html

https://www.gotquestions.org/women-elders.html

* * * * * * *

PERCY IS A PROPHET - THE PERNICIOUS "PIED PIPERS" OF THE NEW APOSTOLIC REFORMATION AND A DOCTRINE OF DEMONS!

"For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine;

but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers,

having itching ears;

And they shall turn away their ears from the truth,

and shall be turned unto fables."

(2 Timothy 4:3-4)

Such a Hell-fabricated fable as is warned of in this Scripture is a doctrine of demons  known as Dominionism, which is the favoured fare of multitudes in counterfeit evangelicalism today. It has seduced many thousands, perhaps even millions of folks into following a "Jesus" of men's imagination, rather than the True Jesus of the Bible. But Dominionists, toting the 'New Apostolic Reformation' (NAR) tagline, have precious little time for the Word of God, for they have superseded it with a manifesto of the flesh, a triumphalist mandate of their own minds' making. Which is? To conquer "the seven mountains" of all human endeavour on the Earth and - with their proud pantheon of assumed Apostles and Prophets in charge of everything, naturally! - set up the Kingdom before the Lord will, indeed can, return! But the lower-case lord of the NAR, it should really go without saying were it not for the most lamentable fact that so very many denizens of delusion cannot or will not see it, is "the lord of the fraud," an identity-thieving, fantasy-weaving, messianic mega-impostor.

My friends, the little poem that follows is a spoof, but there is a most serious intent behind the writing of its sardonic lines, a message which it is my fervent hope and my prayer that you might duly take to heart in these perilous times of deepest deception, with its quite unprecedented plethora of pernicious "Pied Pipers!"

* * * * * * *

PERCY IS A PROPHET

Percy is a prophet, a key player in the NAR:

Bill and Beni Johnson always said that he'd go far!

Once at Bethel, Redding, Heidi Baker loves to tell,

Percy took the stage and then the glory cloud just fell!

Percy shares a platform with the biggest names around;

With Dutch Sheets, Lou Engel and Rick Joyner he'll be found;

James Goll plugs his latest book as too good to be missed:

It's now up there in the New York Times best seller list!

John and Carol Arnott are among his closest friends;

Much time with Mike Bickle and Chuck Pierce, Percy spends:

They'll discuss the details of the NAR Apostles' plan

To set up the Kingdom by the hand of mortal man!

Cindy Jacobs sings his praises, Che Ahn does the same;

Paula White avers that he's their movement's brightest flame!

"When the seven mountains have been scaled," she was to state,

"Percy's contribution will have been so very great!"

Percy meets with angels; he hangs out with Jesus too,

Who he says has taught him all that he's to say and do!

Sid Roth has him on his show as often as he can;

Todd White claims he's never met a more anointed man!

Percy is a buddy of Joe Biden - Trump as well! -

For he has the White House under his amazing spell;

He can cause both great and small to eat out of his hand,

Be it in the U.S.A. or in some foreign land!

Percy's had an audience in private with the Pope -

Came away proclaiming, "Francis gives us all such hope!

Centuries of discord can - and must - be put aside:

Doctrine's unimportant! As one flock we must abide!"

Percy's words are weighty, and delivered with such power

All who hear them hail him as the hero of the hour!

"We will have dominion!" he's always heard to say,

"Signs and Wonders will become the norm of every day!"

Percy's YouTube videos get millions of views:

"He is simply awesome!" his subscribers all enthuse.

Angel feathers flutter down upon him as he speaks;

Gold dust suddenly appears on his hands and cheeks!

Percy's social media accounts are all the rage:

Countless are his friends on Facebook and his WhatsApp page;

Followers on Twitter seem to double by the day:

They can't get enough of him and all he has to say! 

Even though his proclamations never come to pass,

No-one seems to mind at all: folks flock to him en masse!

Percy tells them smooth things that the crowds just love to hear:

Nothing from the Word of God which might upset their ear!

Percy isn't real: this his story here related,

Has - to get across a vital warning - been created:

It's all an invention, an illusory depiction,

JUST AS ALL THINGS NAR, MY FRIENDS, ARE SIMILARLY

FICTION!

* * * * * * *

"The prophets prophesy falsely,

and the priests bear rule by their means;

and my people love to have it so:

and what will ye do in the end thereof?"

(Jeremiah 5:31)

PRIDE AND PITFALL / THE SOBERING STORY OF DANIEL DAVIES.

 "For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, 

he deceiveth himself."

(Galatians 6:3)

"Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall."

(Proverbs 16:18)

Quite a few years ago now, I penned the little poem which follows. Whilst certainly intended to raise a smile, the underlying intent was serious indeed: to highlight the absolute folly of our taking pride in a self-congratulatory and self-satisfying, but absolutely illusory righteousness.

* * * * * * *

THE SOBERING STORY OF DANIEL DAVIES

One Daniel Davies, 'Chief Deacon' at Zion,

To show lesser mortals his holiness, planned

To spend a whole night in the den of a lion,

Emerging next day with it licking his hand!

"See sense!" his friends pleaded, "Dan, this could get ugly -

At least take a cudgel," they begged, "or a pistol!"

But Daniel Davies declined, smiling smugly,

And caught the 12.40 from Cardiff to Bristol.

"A deacon must do what a deacon must do!"

The beat of the wheels of the train seemed to echo;

From Temple Meads Station he made for the zoo,

And straight to the lion-house went for a decko.

That night, the soft moonlight saw Daniel stand

Within the den's walls, of all caution bereft.

Next morning, the lion WAS licking his hand...

The only thing was, it was all that was left!

* * * * * * *

Pride is a pitfall. A snare which, although every single one of us is all too prone to fall into in some way or other, so few it would seem are prepared to even acknowledge its deadly presence, never mind be open to do something about it! All self-deception has pride at its core. It's what makes us so adamant that we are profoundly right when in actuality we are profoundly wrong. All resistance to correction of error has its roots - and its full flowering - in pride, the total disinclination to "lose face." Pride is always the promotion of self with the relegation of others, and is the sanctimonious suppression of the modesty with which we should be marked as the people of God that we (proudly, perhaps?) claim to be. 

PRIDE is both a word and a worldview which has 'I' as its centre! It deafens us to our need to decrease that the Lord might have increase; it blinds us to our helpless dependence on Him; it tells us in our weakness that we are strong; it kids us that in our foolishness we are wise; it panders to an unfortunate thirst for pre-eminence over our fellows; it makes us feel foremost in word or in deed or in both. It is the great pretender, the ever ready contender against grace. It wantonly tramples upon the fruit of the Spirit. It's the face of fabricated righteousness, of obstinacy and obtuseness. It is, if we might somehow muster enough honesty to admit it, a systematic self-strangulation of what should be our flesh-subjugating, Godly humility!

How are we so incredibly eager to emulate the antichrist ego of the Enemy of our souls? How have we so wretchedly forgotten that Lucifer became Satan through the exercising of pride? Just how can these things be so? Is it not perhaps because we routinely refuse to let go of any soul-flattering feelings of worthiness that warm the cockles of our heart, that very heart which we should know only too well "is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked?" (Jeremiah 17:9). 

PRIDE and its soulmate SIN could perhaps be seen as a pair of bookends, holding up our self-serving voluminous treasury of self-righteousness and self-delusion. Can we - dare we? - individually and collectively take a big hammer to these ghastly twin props to all ungodliness? For if we do, then maybe, just maybe, in their smashing we can come to truly discover the fulness of the freedom that is in Christ. And in finding this most precious but rarely unearthed of Heavenly jewels, we might then live for Him and His glory rather than for ourselves... and our vainglorious, self-centred pretentiousness! 

Let us all, dear friends, constantly and with a brutal honesty, examine ourselves for the toxic contamination that is pride, and diligently rid ourselves of any such pollution as may have entered us. One Day the faithful in Christ are to reign with Him in His Millennial Kingdom, are they not? But, in this very context, let us remember that it is very clearly written - in both Psalm 37:11 and Matthew 5:5 - that it is the meek, and not the proud, who shall inherit the earth!

"For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes,

and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world."

(1 John 2:16)

"Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion,

walketh about, seeking whom he may devour."

(1 Peter 5:8)

A CRY AGAINST THE PRETEND PASTORS OF TODAY'S "CHURCH!"

"Many pastors have destroyed my vineyard, they have trodden my portion under foot,

they have made my pleasant portion a desolate wilderness.

They have made it desolate, and being desolate it mourneth unto me;

the whole land is made desolate, because no man layeth it to heart."

(Jeremiah 12:10-11)

History has a most unfortunate habit of repeating itself, something that 'The Preacher' observed so very well when he penned this great Biblical truth which has echoed down the ages right to the present day: "The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun." (Ecclesiastes 1:9).

Pastorship. The selfless shepherding of the flock, nurturing and protecting. A calling of the Lord. The exercising of a sober duty of care on His behalf. At least that's the theory. But in practice? Well, very sadly that's a different story altogether, as a whole host of pretend pastors today endlessly and unashamedly emulate the pretend pastors of Jeremiah's time. And so the vineyard is again destroyed, the Lord's portion once more trodden underfoot. The Church-so-called has in all directions become a desolate "anything goes" wilderness, an uninviting and disturbing Surrealist landscape where nothing is quite as it seems and reality morphs into whatever we want it to be; Truth becomes subjective rather than objective, and wide open to individual interpretation. Pretend pastors are everywhere driving the sheep off the narrow Way and onto the broad road. 

Few there be who have eyes to see that contemporary evangelicalism has become not a beacon of blessed hope but an absolutely catastrophic car-crash! The pastors pipe, the people dance, but it's all a charade, a masquerade, a hollow sham; it's just a fairground hall of mirrors where the true shape of how things really are is completely distorted. An alternative reality is come into play. We are at a topsy-turvy time when wreckage is somehow seen as revival, spiritual trash as treasure and spiritual treasure as trash, poison as purity and purity as poison in the relentless turning of things upside down and inside-out and back-to-front. As it is written, 

"Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil;

that put darkness for light, and light for darkness;

that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!

Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes,

and prudent in their own sight!"

(Isaiah 5:20-21)

So very many who present themselves as pastors in these, the End Times, are not in any sense faithful shepherds but rather they are shameless users of God for their own personal advancement. Their commitment is not to what is in the flock's best interests but to that which is perceived to be in their own. They have an agenda to be fulfilled, which in essence is their pre-eminence. Their desire and their drive is for elevation and esteem, power and position, societal status, salutations in the marketplace, a plump pay packet and a pension pot, and lashings of mint sauce please on those tasty lamb cutlets. But all this must of course be assiduously hidden away under a well-varnished veneer of righteousness.

But let's not make the mistake of exonerating the people sitting under these pretend pastors, seeing them as their hapless victims. The fact of the matter is that they are fully complicit and culpable in the relentless degradation and abuse of the Faith once delivered that we are so painfully witnessing on all sides. These people have simply got what they want, which is to have their itching ears tickled; it is they who have heaped to themselves these fleshly frauds and made them fat; if this was not so, these wolves in shepherds' clothing could neither ascend to the lofty positions they occupy nor stay in them. Period. A multitude of folk just happen to be only too pleased to be deceived. 

Is your pastor apt to teach, and is his doctrine sound? Is he open to correction if it is not? Is he available to his congregants, or unattainable in an unassailable ivory tower? Does he uncompromisingly preach on the centrality of the Cross of Christ and the inherent depraved nature of fallen man and the essential need of a Saviour and repentance for sin - and with the whole heart and not just (quite insufficiently) with the head? Does he expound upon Biblical eschatology? Hold to the inerrancy of the Word and urge the testing of everything against it, including what he himself says and does? Does he speak on Judgment, Hell and the eternal damnation of the unsaved? Or does he religiously (I use the word advisedly) shy away from such things? 

Does he diligently warn about great antichrist deceptions like the New Apostolic Reformation, or the Word of Faith movement, or ecumenicalism, or the utterly demonic curse called the Toronto Blessing? Or is he silent about the likes of such atrocities, or has even actively embraced and happily promoted them? (And note well, my friends, that in asking all these things I've referred to your pastor as 'he' - but be it clearly understood that if your pastor, or co-pastor for that matter, is a 'she' then you are NOT in a Biblical fellowship on this one count alone!) The bottom line here is, are you supporting a truly God-commissioned shepherd or a "career Christian" who is a mere hireling appointed of the flesh and not of the Spirit? "Ah, but he's such a nice man!" you might say. Friends, always remember that a whited sepulchre is no less a tomb for having an attractive external coating. And it is always going to be something of the dead, not of the living!

This then is the pitiful place we've arrived at: a one-time lush and fruitful vineyard in deep denial of its own self-destruction. We have a plethora of both pretend pastors and counterfeit-cuddling, wilfully myopic congregants, who together constitute not a real but a synthetic and savourless salt of man's manufacture. In the grace of God, let there among the discerning Remnant always be found the heart of Jeremiah, that weeps for the wretched unfaithfulness of those who, in their resolute championing of artifice over authenticity, somehow still have the temerity to call themselves God's people!

BE A BEREAN, AND LET GOD'S WORD CONFIRM OR CONTRADICT: LET US EARNESTLY CONTEND FOR THE FAITH ONCE DELIVERED!

"The brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea:

who coming thither went into the synagogue of the Jews.

These were more noble than those in Thessalonica,

in that they received the word with all readiness of mind,

and searched the scriptures daily,

whether those things were so."

(Acts 17:10-11)

What does it mean to be a Berean? Well, in essence it is the diametric opposite of someone who is negligent to ever use the Bible as the litmus test to determine whether what is being taught is fact or fiction. My friends, let's note and note well that the Bereans were commended by Paul for continually checking... not just bits but the whole body of his teaching against the authority of the written Word. It is so very important that we do likewise, for all false teachers (of which there are a multitude in this age of rampant apostasy!) present their lies on the back of truths to snare the unwary. So while it is extreme folly to test nothing at all, let us also be aware that checking out just the odd one or two assertions made from the front is totally insufficient, for these just might be quite legitimate and a person thereby slyly primed to happily accept all the dross that they haven't been careful to examine against the Scriptures. Woe betide those who, like the folks of Thessalonica, fail to let God's Word confirm or contradict what is being taught to them, and can then effectively end up copiously drinking draughts of spiritual strychnine!

With this in mind, I've been moved to set forth a couple of acrostics here to hopefully drive home the point I so wish to make, that when it comes to our precious Faith which is being drenched daily with deception, we are assuredly to always BE A BEREAN and to EARNESTLY CONTEND! 

BE A BEREAN!

Brothers and sisters, check absolutely

Everything for correctness

Against our benchmark, which is the

Bible, the inerrant Word of God,

Endeavouring always to discern that which is

Right from that which is wrong, refuting 

Error wherever it is found, and holding to 

All Truth in humble faithfulness,

Never neglecting to test every single spirit!

* * * * * * *

"Beloved, believe not every spirit, 

but try the spirits whether they are of God:

because many false prophets are gone out into the world."

(1 John 4:1)

* * * * * * *

EARNESTLY CONTEND!

Every believer in Christ Jesus is to

Absolutely uphold all that He is and ever will be, as

Revealed in God's Holy and unchangeable Word,

Never consenting to but rather boldly condemning

Erroneous teaching, false doctrine and deception,

Standing unflinchingly for the Faith

That was once delivered unto the saints!

Let then all the Enemy's leaven be properly purged by

You and I, that we be presented wholly pure before Him!

Compromise is to be given no place, our steadfast

Obedience being of paramount importance;

No different Jesus or gospel or spirit is ever to be accepted:

Truth must be held to be utterly non-negotiable, being the very 

Essence of the unmovable markers of the 

Narrow Way that we are called to

Diligently and dutifully tread!

* * * * * * *

"It was needful for me to write unto you,

and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend

for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints."

(Jude v.3)

* * * * * * *

THE PROFESSING CHURCH HAS NOW COMPLETELY GOT ITS ACT TOGETHER! - HAVING A FABLE-OUS TIME AS THE WORLD BURNS!

"And they shall turn away their ears from the truth,

and shall be turned unto fables."

(2 Timothy 4:4)

Have I completely lost the plot in declaring that the professing Church has now completely got its act together? No, my friends, I say this because that's exactly what it is: an act. A show. A performance. An entertainment. A pantomime. A farce. Treading the boards. Theatre, impure and simple-minded. A total reality disconnect. It's all stagecraft and script, characterization and cue, cast and crew, limelight and laughter. Smoke and mirrors. A masquerade. Actors playing a religiously rehearsed part. Role-takers on a roll, donning a disguise. Pretence is the name of the game. It's make-believe. A production and a seduction. Yes, the professing Church has really got its act together, to the rapturous applause of the Enemy of our souls and a standing ovation from the oh-so-happy hordes of Hell!

(Note: I use the word "Church" here simply to distinguish the Drama Club, if I might call it that, from the uncompromising illusion-resistant Remnant). 

My friends, I ask in all urgency and sincerity, are you abiding in Truth or taking refuge in falsehood? Can you discern between what is of the Holy Spirit of God and what is of the unholy spirit of antichrist? Do you diligently desire to test the spirits, or accept them one and all without question or pause? Is your faith just a showing? A line you are toeing? How deep has the Seed of the Gospel been sown? Has it shrivelled or grown? Are you truly redeemed or merely playing out a scene on a stage? Is the sweet smell of your prized fruit in actuality the odour of its rapidly advancing decay? If I cause offence in asking these things, I offend out of genuine concern, for this is all absolutely a matter of life and death, of Heaven and Hell, eternity gained or eternity lost. The stakes could not possibly be in any way higher! Something I wrote to a good friend just the other day, and subsequently included in my reply to a comment on a recent article, I think bears repeating again here:

"People aren't joining the dots; neither do they have any desire to, for they don't want to see the picture of how things really are. They shut their eyes and their ears to the birth pangs which are getting ever more intense and closer together: witness the horrific war in Ukraine coming immediately after Covid, which are both massively significant in smashing the current (old) world order for the New World Order to arise from the ashes of the created chaos. The global economy is being crashed; we are seeing hyper-inflation, such as brought Hitler to power. A new Fuhrer is waiting in the wings. But the established Church cannot see the wood for the abundance of trees; it has for the most part been turned to fables, and so become unable to point men to Truth at the very time they need it most."

Yes, of course there are exceptions to what is the general rule, but they are very few and far between, a whisper scarcely to be heard for the cacophony of crassness that the institutional Church has so wilfully and woefully become. It's how it is, as the Word told us it would indeed be in the Last Days, a body given over to fables. Full many a fellowship is having a fabulous time, in the exact meaning of that word: FABLE-OUS! Nero may have fiddled while Rome burned, but the Biblical Jesus-rejecting Church-so-called is emulating his insane folly, singing with such gusto the praise and worship of a counterfeit "Jesus" as the whole world burns courtesy of the arsonists of Hell.

No fable is able to save, only damn. In these, the End Times, I urge you not to get your ACT together but to get your FACT together! Which is that the grains of sand in the hourglass of God's patience have all but run through, and His Judgment is coming and is even now but a hair's breadth away! Let us prudently remember that those who claim to be His people will He put first in line to give account; as it is indelibly written:

"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)

* * * * * * *

Some related reading:

https://watchman4wales.blogspot.com/2017/09/the-most-heinous-identity-theft-ever_10.html

https://watchman4wales.blogspot.com/2021/02/deception-spirit-of-age-in-which-we-now.html

https://watchman4wales.blogspot.com/2018/06/the-rock-parable-of-apostasy.html

THE HULL IS HOLED AND THIS SHIP IS GOING DOWN, AND FAST - THE IMMENSE FOLLY OF HOLDING ON TO THIS FALLEN WORLD!

"For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh,

and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life,

is not of the Father, but is of the world.

And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof:

But he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever."

(1 John 2:16-17)

It was the early hours of 15 April, 1912. Up in the loft of his father's old corn mill at Gelligroes, just south of Blackwood in the South Wales valleys, keen early amateur radio enthusiast Artie Moore was ensconced at his home-made wireless station. One can only imagine his consternation when a Morse-coded urgent SOS signal came through faintly on his receiver: "Require immediate assistance. Come at once. We have struck an iceberg. Sinking..." Artie rushed to alert the local Constabulary. But neither they nor the neighbours he told believed him. After all, wasn't the 'RMS Titanic' unsinkable? It just couldn't be true... but in due course everyone found out that it was! 

I happened upon this little-known piece of local history some years ago now, but today the story has taken on a whole new level of meaning for me, for I see in it such striking parallels to where we as an entire society are at some 110 years on. Friends, if you would be so gracious as to bear with me for a few moments, I'll endeavour to explain why I consider this tragic episode of so long ago to have an inestimable relevance as an aid to understanding the ultimate in human disasters that is right now globally so fast unfolding. Ignore the analogy if you will, that is your prerogative, but please be aware that you do so at potentially your own peril. I can only urge you to heed the warning while there is yet time to do so.

Consider. The passengers on that ill-fated super-liner trusted in the shipbuilders, the technology, the strength of the steel, the rivets and the nuts and the bolts of it all, its impressive sleek lines, its powerful engines... they trusted in the captain and the crew, the stokers and the stewards, the bosuns and the baggage handlers... and the proud fluttering flag of the White Star Line. That their passage was safe and secure was never doubted; they dined and they drank, they danced to the band or slumbered in their comfortable berths until the very moment the iceberg sliced through those thick steel sheets like a knife through butter. When that hull got suddenly holed, the ship was going nowhere except down; its fate was irrevocably sealed.

Most folks today are like those doomed passengers on the Titanic; they are trusting to the wrong things: the devices and artifices of men. They are putting their faith in the likes of Big Pharma and Big Tech, scientific advancement, a renegade religiosity and a political sharp lancing of the boil. And why is this? Because they love the world, and the things of the world which they are unwilling to let go of; and in this determined bear-hugging of the temporal is their immense folly made manifest. 

Curiously dove-tailing into this parable is the grim tale of another doomed steamship which was recently told to me, and I in turn am much moved to share it here to further nautically illustrate the point I so very urgently wish to make.

It was the Autumn of 1859. The 'Royal Charter' was rounding the Isle of Anglesey, returning to Liverpool from Melbourne on what would prove to be the last of its regular sailings between the UK and Australia, being torn apart in a terrific storm with hurricane force winds. Most souls aboard, which included a large complement of goldminers returning home with their spoils after striking it rich on the other side of the world, were lost. Whilst many of the unfortunate travellers were killed by being dashed against the rocks by the huge waves, it would seem that others were drowned, unable to swim to safety owing to the heavy belts of gold strapped around their persons weighing them down. Their unwillingness to part with their glittering earthly gain caused them to perish with it. 

And as it was with them then, so too will it be with us now, if we cannot bring ourselves to unbuckle our own weighted belts. Those vain things which we so highly prize will prove to be our demise! As it is written:

"For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world,

and lose his own soul?

or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?"

(Matthew 16:26)

We have a stark choice to make. We can either manacle ourselves to this fallen world or cement ourselves to the solid Rock. My friends, don't make the wrong choice. Eternity is an awfully long time for regrets! Let this Scripture, in the grace of God, cling like a limpet to your understanding:

"For whosoever will save his life shall lose it;

but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's,

the same shall save it."

(Mark 8:35)

Or as John rendered it:

"He that loveth his life shall lose it;

and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal."

(John 12:25)

Let's be under no illusion. The inescapable reality is that the hull of this great vessel that we have been voyaging on is now fatally fractured; it's taking on water at a colossal rate, and it's going down into the very darkest of depths, and fast. DO NOT BE DECEIVED THAT IT IS OTHERWISE! The Restrainer is holding it up only until the last person prepared to let go of the rail and take to the lifeboat that is Christ Jesus has done so. Then will close the age of grace. If you're still gripping for all your white-knuckled worth onto the rail of this stricken ship as she so rapidly sinks beneath the waves, then you're going down with it.

LET GO!

"Take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting,

and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares.

For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth.

Watch ye therefore, and pray always, 

that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass,

and to stand before the Son of man."

(Luke 21:34-36)