Promises and Secrets

Promises and SecretsPromises and Secrets

A website for those not afraid to examine their beliefs, compare them to the real world, and make sure they fit.



Churches vs Bible

VIEWPOINT



Few churches actually do what the Bible says to do in some very fundamental places - following God's clear commands and staying holy for Him.

FACT



All churches claim to follow the Bible. Literally most of them do not.

Take a look at what the Bible says to do



Bible says do this:

1. Keep the Sabbath Day holy. (Exodus 20:8-11
8Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. 11For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

)


2. Do not worship God in the same way as the pagans worship their gods. (Deuteronomy 12:3-4,30-31,
3 Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones and burn their Asherah poles in the fire; cut down the idols of their gods and wipe out their names from those places. 4 You must not worship the LORD your God in their way. (Deut 12:3-4)

30 and after they have been destroyed before you, be careful not to be ensnared by inquiring about their gods, saying, "How do these nations serve their gods? We will do the same." 31 You must not worship the Lord your God in their way, because in worshiping their gods, they do all kinds of detestable things the Lord hates. They even burn their sons and daughters in the fire as sacrifices to their gods. (Deut 12:30-31)

, Deuteronomy 18:9
9 When you enter the land the LORD your God is giving you, do not learn to imitate the detestable ways of the nations there.

and Jeremiah 10:2
2This is what the LORD says: "Do not learn the ways of the nations or be terrified by signs in the heavens, though the nations are terrified by them."

)





3. Discern between clean and uncean foods. (Levitiucs 11:1-19
1The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, 2"Say to the Israelites: 'Of all the animals that live on land, these are the ones you may eat: 3You may eat any animal that has a divided hoof and that chews the cud.

4" 'There are some that only chew the cud or only have a divided hoof, but you must not eat them. The camel, though it chews the cud, does not have a divided hoof; it is ceremonially unclean for you. 5The hyrax, though it chews the cud, does not have a divided hoof; it is unclean for you. 6The rabbit, though it chews the cud, does not have a divided hoof; it is unclean for you. 7And the pig, though it has a divided hoof, does not chew the cud; it is unclean for you. 8You must not eat their meat or touch their carcasses; they are unclean for you.

9" 'Of all the creatures living in the water of the seas and the streams you may eat any that have fins and scales. 10But all creatures in the seas or streams that do not have fins and scales - whether among all the swarming things or among all the other living creatures in the water - you are to regard as unclean. 11And since you are to regard them as unclean, you must not eat their meat; you must regard their carcasses as unclean. 12Anything living in the water that does not have fins and scales is to be regarded as unclean by you.

13" 'These are the birds you are to regard as unclean and not eat because they are unclean: the eagle, the vulture, the black vulture, 14the red kite, any kind of black kite, 15any kind of raven, 16the horned owl, the screech owl, the gull, any kind of hawk, 17the little owl, the cormorant, the great owl, 18the white owl, the desert owl, the osprey, 19the stork, any kind of heron, the hoopoe and the bat.

, Leviticus 11:20-38
20" 'All flying insects that walk on all fours are to be regarded as unclean by you. 21There are, however, some flying insects that walk on all fours that you may eat: those that have jointed legs for hopping on the ground. 22Of these you may eat any kind of locust, katydid, cricket or grasshopper. 23But all other flying insects that have four legs you are to regard as unclean.

24" 'You will make yourselves unclean by these; whoever touches their carcasses will be unclean till evening. 25Whoever picks up one of their carcasses must wash their clothes, and they will be unclean till evening.

26" 'Every animal that does not have a divided hoof or that does not chew the cud is unclean for you; whoever touches the carcass of any of them will be unclean. 27Of all the animals that walk on all fours, those that walk on their paws are unclean for you; whoever touches their carcasses will be unclean till evening. 28Anyone who picks up their carcasses must wash their clothes, and they will be unclean till evening. These animals are unclean for you.

29" 'Of the animals that move along the ground, these are unclean for you: the weasel, the rat, any kind of great lizard, 30the gecko, the monitor lizard, the wall lizard, the skink and the chameleon. 31Of all those that move along the ground, these are unclean for you. Whoever touches them when they are dead will be unclean till evening. 32When one of them dies and falls on something, that article, whatever its use, will be unclean, whether it is made of wood, cloth, hide or sackcloth. Put it in water; it will be unclean till evening, and then it will be clean. 33If one of them falls into a clay pot, everything in it will be unclean, and you must break the pot. 34Any food you are allowed to eat that has come into contact with water from any such pot is unclean, and any liquid that is drunk from such a pot is unclean. 35Anything that one of their carcasses falls on becomes unclean; an oven or cooking pot must be broken up. They are unclean, and you are to regard them as unclean. 36A spring, however, or a cistern for collecting water remains clean, but anyone who touches one of these carcasses is unclean. 37If a carcass falls on any seeds that are to be planted, they remain clean. 38But if water has been put on the seed and a carcass falls on it, it is unclean for you.

, Leviticus 11:39-46
39" 'If an animal that you are allowed to eat dies, anyone who touches its carcass will be unclean till evening. 40Anyone who eats some of its carcass must wash their clothes, and they will be unclean till evening. Anyone who picks up the carcass must wash their clothes, and they will be unclean till evening.

41" 'Every creature that moves along the ground is to be regarded as unclean; it is not to be eaten. 42You are not to eat any creature that moves along the ground, whether it moves on its belly or walks on all fours or on many feet; it is unclean. 43Do not defile yourselves by any of these creatures. Do not make yourselves unclean by means of them or be made unclean by them. 44I am the Lord your God; consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy. Do not make yourselves unclean by any creature that moves along the ground. 45I am the Lord, who brought you up out of Egypt to be your God; therefore be holy, because I am holy.

46" 'These are the regulations concerning animals, birds, every living thing that moves about in the water and every creature that moves along the ground. 47You must distinguish between the unclean and the clean, between living creatures that may be eaten and those that may not be eaten.' "

, broken up to make pop-up fit the page).



Your pastor will disagree with this saying it does not apply to Gentiles. However, if you ask him for a reason, he will give you his opinion and his interpretation of what he thinks it should be, but that will differ from what the Bible actually says. If God says something is detestable and will defile you, do you want to do it or eat it?

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Following Christ is not a smorgasbord from which to choose

Most everyone chooses a church because their family or someone they know attends it. That is common when someone does not know what the Bible says about how a congregation should worship, and it is exactly the wrong way to choose your place and method of worship.

Investigate, then join if appropriate

By the time you figure out that your chosen church is not following the original first-century ecclesia, if you ever do find out, you are so ingrained in your rituals and dogma that you feel justified in continuing. Usually you will just claim that your church is true and whoever pointed out the "errors" is just a fanatic or a Jew. Since that has been going on for about 2000 years, no one questions it.

Just because he is smart doesn't make him right

Speaking of your pastor mentioned above, he has been indoctrinated by his denominational alma mater, and teaches exactly what they taught him, much of which is the opposite of what the church down the street teaches, both of which stray from the Bible. That is exactly why there are so many denominations in the world today. It seems that none of these schools read the Bible for what it actually says, but reads it the way they were taught that it means, causing conflict with other parts of the same book. That tradition started with the anti-Semitic "church fathers" in the second century, and continues today.

Know the truth, then seek the church

To find an ecclesia or congregation that follows the word, first know the word (read the whole Book at least once), then find a group that matches the truth. Don't look for a congregation that matches something you already believe unless you can find that belief in the Bible, and your interpretation of it matches the will of the Father (Matthew 7:21
21Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.

). While there are more items for guidance, start with the list at the top of this page. Those items are right from the will of the Father, and I'd bet that your "church" doesn't follow even one of them. Scary? Well, now you know why the path is so narrow, and why not many find it (Matthew 7:14
14But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

).







Disagree? Find an error? Contact us at glenjjr@gmail.com and give everyone your view.