The God Who makes the world and all that is in it, He, the Lord inherent of heaven and earth, is not dwelling in temples made with hands, neither is He attended by human hands, as if requiring anything, since He Himself gives to all life and breath and all
Acts of The Apostles 17: 24-25, Concordant New Testament
The other day I came across an ad for a local church which proclaimed that those who attended would somehow be "Transformed." I immediately thought to myself, transformed from what? Transformed into what? I feel that like a good deal of those within the mainstream church, that this particular house of worship had fallen into the same old institutional church theology. That man is a sinner, and that he needs to somehow be "Transformed" from that into one that is more agreeable to God. But wait, hasn't this already been accomplished? Did not God, after I was created in His Likeness, declare all to be "Good" {Genesis 1:31}? So, how is it that one who has been declared "Good" by the Father needs to be transformed into something else? Are we not already complete in the Lord? Yet, I'm not at all surprised since we're dealing with the centuries old lie of the mainstream church. The lie that has been perpetrated for thousands of years, that we have somehow been separated from He Who created us. Therefore, having become separated from God due to our sin, we need to be transformed into something which He will find more agreeable to Him. What would that even be? For if God has declared His creation to be good, what changes need to be made? God has not declared His creation to be somewhat good. He has not declared it to be partially good. No, the Father has proclaimed that His own creation, mankind included, is now GOOD. It seems that the only way that one would disagree with this heretical belief of mine is if they adhere to the theology of the mainstream man-made church. Sadly, this theology of the church flies in the face of what we see in the scriptures. Jesus Himself has proclaimed that we live in union with He and the Father {Johns Account 14:20}. The apostle Paul speaks to how he has died with Christ and that Jesus now lives in him {Paul to the Galatians 2:20}. Is this scriptural evidence not proof enough that we're not apart from God? The theology of the church is based around man as a born sinner {Paul to the Romans 3:23} and his constant struggle to return once again to the Lord. Yet Paul speaks to our "Being justified gratuitously in His grace" in the following verse. So, if we have been justified in the grace of the Father, are we still considered a sinner? I suppose you would be if you adhere to the false teachings of the church.
Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see if they are of God, for many false prophets have come out into the world
First Epistle of John 4: 1, Concordant New Testament
Thousands of years ago, religious authorities put to death many of the followers of Jesus, including His own disciples, for the words which they spoke. The apostle John spoke of the need to "Test the spirits" to see if they are indeed of God {First Epistle of John 4:1}. We can indeed test the spirits, or examine the words and teachings of the church, in order to see if they are of the Lord. This is what I have attempted to do in my writings. I may have come across as pretty critical of the church, but this is due to my own testing of the spirits. I see the revelation introduced by Paul of our life in Christ. What I did not see was that same teaching spoken in the church. In fact, there is indeed a discrepancy between the theology spoken within the church and that of a few key parts of scripture. The insistence of the church that man remains a sinner is but one example of this disconnect. Yes, we were born sinners, but we were crucified beside Jesus on the cross. That man is now dead. What remains is our life in the Father. To continue to speak to our old sin identity is but one of the lies of the modern church. For what God has declared to be good has no need to be transformed.
~Scott~
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