Sean Morris's Letter to the Townspeople of Wells

Dear Townspeople of Wells,

     From the beginning of our move here to Wells, the slander, gossip, and hear-say was incessant. There was talk of us burning down the town, stock-piling weapons, and taking over the town from the get-go, with many other conspiracies. As we walked the streets for personal prayer, as we sang songs and hymns for personal edification, suddenly we were seen as madmen from the start…but why? Our focus has not been, nor ever will be young children. We will preach to those who will hear us, this is true. Often times young adults (older children) are spoken to because young adults are the ones who will hear us. Do you remember how Jesus said to the 1^st century Jews that their children shall be their judges (Matt. 12:27)? Do you know what He meant by this? As for our time in Wells, young adults are often the ones who are out of their homes and in the streets, and most residents will not allow us to approach them on their properties. As for Saturday, we could not help that there was a 4 year old child in the crowd of people at the parade…what else are we to do? God is sending us to speak to you because He does not want you to perish! Would you meet with and hear us while leaving your children at home? If so, we would be glad for it! What else are we to do for a town which is perishing? Hear me, we desire the adults, not the children! And we have pursued you all as our primary focus and desire. We desire whole households saved for the glory of God, not families divided! This issue in Wells is not about the children. Oh that you would hear it! Making this an issue about the children is a Satan-inspired front to deceive you to make it easier for you to escape accountability to the message we are seeking to communicate, a message which you have heretofore denied the allowance of space to simply hear it…and what if God sent us to Wells? Think of it, my dear people. What else do you have to do with your lives? Children are exposed to and taught violence, murder, selfishness, jealousy, anger, vengeance, covetousness, and more just from what is commonly allowed to be seen through the television, what is commonly communicated through peers, and often times, what is commonly seen in the lives of their parents themselves. How is it that this lifestyle is so acceptable, this exposure is so flagrant, and personal prayer, songs sung for purposes of worship, and a zeal to spread the word of God is so condemned? Oh that the sleeping and seared conscience would awake!

     Oh that we could meet one another face-to-face in peaceable, God-fearing dialogue over the truth of scripture, salvation, and eternal Judgment! Dear people of Wells, our desire is for your salvation! It is with this heartbeat we have prayed, fasted, and wept for you all for years. It is for this reason that we have, up to this time, sought to win you all through a mild expression of evangelism which is below the standard rule of boldness which is seen in the scripture. Have you read the scripture lately? God was burdened for souls and He sent bold men. Urgent situations demand urgent and uplifted cries, and so men lifted up their voice in proclamation. It is urgent that men are converted before they die! And how suddenly does death surprise men? We have refrained from open air preaching in the town of Wells for nearly two years because of the intensity of misconceptions in the town and the possible violence which would ensue. We have preached all over this country without restraint, but here we have exercised so much restraint hoping to win you in other ways…but Satan has successfully caused you to flee and treat us like the Black Plague. I wish it were not so, dear people. How can we stop the rampant slanders and lies? Will you talk to us? In the face of all this, we can just stand before you with immovable conviction concerning the message that we preach, come what may, but will you rather meet with us? Can we have a town meeting in which we are invited? Can you give us a fair hearing so as to express the message of biblical Christianity? Concerning the threatened persecutions, we can only affirm the promise that blessed are those who suffer it. We can just stand before you and plead the claims of the gospel of Christ whether you will hear it or not. We can just stand before you, denying the lies. We entrust ourselves and long after the arrival of our final boulevard - the Great White Throne Judgment - for there we will be happily received into the company of men who suffered like things as we from their countrymen, as we do from you (1 Thess. 2:14-16). Oh that you would not fill up the cup of the wrath of God ordained for yourselves by forbidding us to speak the scriptural gospel of Jesus Christ! We do not wish this eternal fate upon you or any man! No! We would rather have a peaceable conversation over the truth, and those of the town who know us can attest that we are peaceable with those who are peaceable. We are earnest, hopeful, zealous, and unwavering…yes, but it is for the love of your souls. “For whether we be beside ourselves, it is to God: or whether we be sober, it is for your cause” (2 Cor. 5:13).

     How many people have died these past years? How many have been struck with diseases? It’s time to turn to Him that binds up the wounds! God knows, The Church of Wells has been yelled at far more than we have ever lifted up our voices to preach, but their voices were raised in hate and ours in love. Alas, what is the volume of our proclamation if it is not heard?! At least God will be able to say that He sent you a messenger. “Give them warning from Me”, God said (Ezek. 3). And if it comes to it that some of us must die, if it is appointed to us by God’s sovereignty that the wrath of Wells Texas cannot be abated until some from the Church of Wells do suffer martyrdom, then so be it. What a privilege it would be to lay down our lives for the elect’s sake! God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, yes, and He will give more of His sons for you, dear people of Wells! God willing some of our number! Our martyrdom may not be meritorious – NO! – but it is a testimony that the biblical Jesus Christ who died for you lives in us (2 Cor. 5:18-21), and He loves you enough to send you such men who are willing to tell you the hard truths of scripture, truths that men need to hear to be saved, and they are willing to seal it with their blood to testify of a God of LOVE! This is not because we are anything, but that Christ is in us, and loves you! Oh that God would confirm my words before the nation, then would you hear (Rom. 8:36)? What will it take that men will hear us and give us a fair space to speak? Nothing is too precious of a cost only that some of you might hear and be saved, dear people of Wells. Before God, I state these things as one that will give an account. Do your pastors love you so? If there was a public square, God willing we would preach there every day! Every day we love you, people of Wells, and we know that there is a truth that you need to hear even if you deny it: “the fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction” (Prov. 1:7).

     We are praying about if the Lord would send us to meet you there at Dairy Queen at 1:30 on Saturday, dear people of Wells. Will you speak to us peaceably? Can we bring our wives? Would you like to meet them and speak to them? We love you.

My sincere love and affection,

Sean Morris on behalf of The Church of Wells.

The Decay of the Inner Man--Clouds without Rain

The Decay of the Inner Man

 Clouds without Rain

     Herein I desire to show you a specific glimpse of the decay of the inner man that now sweeps through the remnant resulting in a bloody massacre of Spiritual men. Oh how the mighty are fallen in the midst of battle, and the weapons of war perished (2 Sam 1:25, 27)! What is this decay which I speak of? It is the reversal of that glorious state of the saint who is walking before the LORD with a perfect and worthy heart: the outward man perishes, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. However this state of decay which I speak of is one in which the outward man is renewed, that is, the love for the world with all its lusts and boasts, his desire to save his life, his confidence in his flesh, his minding of those temporal things which are seen…are kindled and eventually overtake the man and he is overcome. He has forsaken the right way and is gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness (2 Pet 2:15). At the very same time, his inward man perishes and wastes away. (2 Cor 4:16-18) And no man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the Kingdom of God (Luke 9:62). They had been the salt of the earth, but have now lost their savour.

“¹³ Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.¹⁴ Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.¹⁵ Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.¹⁶ Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” (Matt 5:13-16)

     Dear saints I seek to elaborate on a particular type of decaying of the inner man in which though the man has defiled the temple of God, the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit, and thus God in His holiness has destroyed him, a hypocritical form of godliness is maintained (1 Cor 3:16-17). That is to say, he has not openly renounced the faith. He has not necessarily fallen into apparent grotesque immorality in the eyes of onlookers, YET. For some men’s sins are open beforehand, going before to judgment; and some men they follow after (1 Tim 5:24-25). Oh that the LORD Jesus Christ would uncover, reveal, and make known that hypocrisy, that feigned faith in the man whose faith has been shipwrecked lest he be regarded as a Spiritual man yet in truth remain deceived, darkened, drunken, and infantile until that final day! For his form of false righteousness, his seemingly Spiritual rhetoric, his ways of pleasing the masses of professing believers…these will not uphold his soul in that Day. For the Judge is able, righteous, just, and desirous to damn those who had spurned the holy One of God!

     These men choose to maintain a form of godliness, but the life that once reigned within them through the merits of Jesus Christ, the true union with the sap-giving Vine is lost, the connection to the Head is severed, and the soul withers with gangrene and wastes away unto death. This inner impalement is unto reprobation and irrevocable damnation. Such men are spoken of extensively in the epistles.  They count it pleasure to riot in the day time. Spots they are and blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceiving while they feast with us; having eyes full of adultery, and they cannot cease from sin; beguiling unstable souls: an heart they have exercised with covetous practices; cursed children. These are wells without water, clouds that are carried with a tempest; to whom the mist of darkness is reserved for ever. (2 Pet 2:13-14, 17) They are spots in our feasts of charity, when they feast with us, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots; raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever. (Jude 12,13) Surely she that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth (1 Tim 5:6)! Consider a cloud without a rain: clouds are a sure sign of the flow of life-giving streams from the heavens. The people look upon them with expectation. Their appearance gives promises and is a symbol of future prosperity. Yet these clouds bring forth NO rain! Their promises, their symbolism, the anticipation and hope that they elicit from mankind are not at the present time NOR EVER fulfilled. For this reason the LORD of hosts commands His people to hearken not unto the words of the prophets that prophesy unto them: they make you vain: they speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the LORD. They say still unto them that despise Him, “The LORD hath said, ye shall have peace” and they say unto every one that WALKETH AFTER THE IMAGINATION OF HIS HEART, “no evil shall come upon you”. (Jer 23:16-17) These clouds without rain are false prophets and teachers among the people who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the LORD that BOUGHT them, and bringing upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. And through coveteousness shall they with FEIGNED WORDS make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not. (2 Pet 2:1-3)

¹⁸ For who hath stood in the counsel of the Lord, and hath perceived and heard His Word? who hath marked His Word, and heard it?¹⁹ Behold, a whirlwind of the Lord is gone forth in fury, even a grievous whirlwind: it shall fall grievously upon the head of the wicked.²⁰ The anger of the Lord shall not return, until he have executed, and till he have performed the thoughts of His heart: in the latter days ye shall consider it perfectly.²¹ I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran: I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied.²² But if they had stood in My counsel, and had caused my people to hear My words, then they should have turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings.²³ Am I a God at hand, saith the Lord, and not a God afar off?²⁴ Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the Lord. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the Lord.²⁵ I have heard what the prophets said, that prophesy lies in My name, saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed.²⁶ How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets that prophesy lies? yea, they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart;²⁷ Which think to cause My people to forget My name by their dreams which they tell every man to his neighbour, as their fathers have forgotten my name for Baal.²⁸ The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream; and he that hath My Word, let him speak My Word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat? saith the Lord.²⁹ Is not My Word like as a fire? saith the Lord; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in  pieces?³⁰ Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, saith the Lord, that steal My Words every one from his neighbour.³¹ Behold, I am against the prophets, saith the Lord, that use their tongues, and say, He saith.³² Behold, I am against them that prophesy false dreams, saith the Lord, and do tell them, and cause My people to err by their lies, and by their lightness; yet I sent them not, nor commanded them: therefore they shall not profit this people at all, saith the Lord.” (Jer 23:18-32)

     Dear beloved, consider carefully that these clouds without rain are those false prophets who had risen up from among the very people of God! These false prophets had been purchased with the blood of Christ and been on the very path of righteousness! They had escaped the pollution of the world through their knowledge of the LORD and Savior Jesus Christ (2 Pet 2). In the midst of this great falling away, surely many will fall away blatantly, choosing to sin openly in gross immorality rather than to continue in saving faith and to bear reproach with the people of God. But there are certain men who fall away: their inner man decays, the Spirit departs, the man is finally and irreversibly reprobated, and yet, the man continues to appear Spiritual to those babes who are unskilled in the Word of righteousness (Heb 5:13). His form is maintained. His outward man is pristine. His speech is smooth. Surely his pride has corrupted him! And yet the terrifying reality is that many such men have a great following. They are massacring the remnant! They are setting false standards for righteousness! They commend themselves, but they are measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, and are not wise (2 Cor 10:12). They are promising the rain of heavenly peace, salvation, the favor of God, the light of His countenance…and yet there is nothing but imminent wrath and destruction that looms over the heads of these backslidden people. In their pride they wax bold against the true bride of Christ that does hear Christ’s voice and worship Him in Spirit and in Truth. Consider the apostate man Korah and the men who followed him in his rebellion unto their own Spiritual death (Num 16) 

^“20 And the Lord spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying,²¹ Separate yourselves from among this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment.” (Num 16:20-21)

     Consider the backslidden Israelites whom God had disallowed from entering the Promise Land. As Moses declared that God would not allow them to enter the Promise Land specifically because of the decay of their inner men, they mourned greatly, rose up early in the morning, and gat them up into the top of the mountain, saying, “Lo, we be here, and will go up unto the place which the LORD hath promised: for we have sinned”. And Moses said, “Wherefore now do ye transgress the commandment of the LORD? But it shall not prosper. Go not up, for THE LORD IS NOT AMONG YOU; that ye be not smitten before your enemies. For the Amalekites and the Canaanites are there before you, and ye shall fall by the word: because ye are turned away from the LORD, therefore the LORD will not be with you”. But they presumed to go up unto the hill top, were smitten and discomfited! (Num 14) Though their inner man had turned AWAY from the LORD, they maintain an outward form, even declaring that they had sinned, and attempting to “correct” their former wickedness of fearing to take the Promise Land because of the fleshly strength of their enemies.

     A primary example of a cloud without rain is King Saul, specifically during that time in which the Spirit of God had departed from him because of his rebellion and pride, and an evil spirit from the LORD troubled him (1 Sam 16:14) and continued to have a following of many great men. Consider that instance in which he disobeyed the LORD’s command to utterly destroy the Amalekites with all of their plunder. He had forsaken the way of righteousness, loving the wages of wickedness and thus had kept back some plunder. Yet when Samuel came to him he said, “Blessed be thou of the LORD: I have performed the commandment of the LORD.” (1 Sam 15:13-15) See what the LORD had told the righteous prophet Samuel that night:

“¹⁶ Then Samuel said unto Saul, Stay, and I will tell thee what the Lord hath said to me this night. And he said unto him, Say on.¹⁷ And Samuel said, When thou wast little in thine own sight, wast thou not made the head of the tribes of Israel, and the Lord anointed thee king over Israel?¹⁸ And the Lord sent thee on a journey, and said, Go and utterly destroy the sinners the Amalekites, and fight against them until they be consumed.¹⁹ Wherefore then didst thou not obey the voice of the Lord, but didst fly upon the spoil, and didst evil in the sight of the Lord?²⁰ And Saul said unto Samuel, Yea, I have obeyed the voice of the Lord, and have gone the way which the Lord sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites.²¹ But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the chief of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God in Gilgal.²² And Samuel said,Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.²³ For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the Word of the Lord, He hath also rejected thee from being king.²⁴ And Saul said unto Samuel, I have sinned: for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord, and thy words: because I feared the people, and obeyed their voice.²⁵ Now therefore, I pray thee, pardon my sin, and turn again with me, that I may worship the Lord.²⁶ And Samuel said unto Saul, I will not return with thee: for thou hast rejected the Word of the Lord, and the Lord hath rejected thee from being king over Israel.²⁷ And as Samuel turned about to go away, he laid hold upon the skirt of his mantle, and it rent.²⁸ And Samuel said unto him, The Lord hath rent the kingdom of Israel from thee this day, and hath given it to a neighbour of thine, that is better than thou.²⁹ And also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor repent: for he is not a man, that he should repent.³⁰ Then he said, I have sinned: yet honour me now, I pray thee, before the elders of my people, and before Israel, and turn again with me, that I may worship the Lord thy God.” (1 Sam 15:16-30)

     Repeatedly we see pride, hypocrisy, false humility, false repentance…in those whose inner man decays! Such apostatizing and apostate men who are clouds without rain are as those who draw near to Him with their mouth, and with their lips do honour Him, but they have removed their heart far from Him, and their fear toward Him is taught by the precept of men (Is 29:13). Though they had at one time been enlightened to the hidden wisdom which God ordained unto the glory of His people (1 Cor 2:7) they are now dwelling in the wisdom and understanding of the world which will perish and be hidden (Is 29:14)! The WORD of God remains and/or returns to its sealed state unto them! Their false humility and false repentance is as that of the people of Judah who did not turn to Him with their whole heart, but FEIGNEDLY (Jer 3:10).

     Such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great things if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works (1 Cor 11:13-15).

¹² Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord God; Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty.¹³ Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created.¹⁴ Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire.¹⁵ Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.¹⁶ By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire.¹⁷ Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee.¹⁸ Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffick; therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee.¹⁹ All they that know thee among the people shall be astonished at thee: thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt thou be any more.” (Ez 28:12-19)

     Oh apostasy and hypocrisy! What a horrifying partnership having such ruinous qualities! For now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; speaking lies in HYPOCRISY; having their conscience seared with a hot iron (1 Tim 4:1-2). These clouds without rain were once quickened together with Christ, having been forgiven of their trespasses. Surely the handwriting of ordinances that was against them and contrary to them was blotted out, taken out of the way and nailed to the cross. Surely principalities and powers were spoiled, and Christ made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it. (Col 2:13-15) Yet they are beguiled into vile hypocrisy through voluntary humility, worship of angels, intruding into those things which they hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, and NOT HOLDING THE HEAD, from which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God. Yet though they were dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, they again are subject to outward ordinances regarding things which are to perish with the using after the commandments and doctrines of men. These things have indeed a shew of wisdom in will worship, and humility, and neglecting of the body: NOT IN ANY HONOUR TO THE SATISFYING OF THE FLESH. (Col 2: 18-23) Surely they do build not with gold, silver, and precious stones, but with stones, wood, hay, and stubble! For they do glory in men, use worldly wisdom, and defile the temple of God! (see 1 Cor 3:10-23) They do trust to their own righteousness, commit iniquity, and none of their righteousnesses shall be remembered but for their iniquity that they have committed, they shall die for it (Ez 3:13).

“Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort is.” (1 Cor 3:13)

     Oh beloved how great is the need to continue in that true Vine, that glorious olive tree, in His goodness, His Word, regarding both His goodness and severity, being not highminded but fearing…for every branch in Him that bears no fruit, yes that HOLDS NOT THE HEAD, will be cut off and burned! (See John 15, Rom 11). For the wisdom that is from above is first of all pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and WITHOUT HYPOCRISY (James 3:17)! The end of His commandments is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith UNFEIGNED (1 Tim 1:5). If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit (Gal 5:25).

 “Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently:” (1 Pet 1:22)

     At the very same time that waves of Spiritual plagues and apostasy befall the remnant, dreadful rainless clouds are created from such reprobates! They will have a form of godliness. They will make promises. They will use Scriptural rhetoric…but their inner man has decayed. They judge themselves by themselves and by one another. They set themselves as the standard of worthiness with all of their vile leavening hypocrisy, lukewarmness, deadness, piteous, poor, naked, wretched, blind condition. There are impaled members out among you who have a form! Oh that you would beware! Oh that your inner man would not decay! Oh that you would fight to keep the faith, to finish the race! Oh that you would be sensitive to the loss of your first love, of saving faith, of what it means to know Him and be known of Him, to have His love abounding in you, to be dead on the altar as a living sacrifice with Christ, to be humbled and broken in His presence! Do not be deceived! Remember from where you have fallen!

     Dear saints, how can I constrain you to grasp the implications of this inner decay, principally that it will NOT be visible to the vast majority of professing Christendom because they will maintain a form of false godliness, and they will set themselves as the standards? And, God forbid that they be they only standards, the only examples to you of men who please God! For they do NOT please Him! All of their labours are fuel for the fires of judgment! Behold, it is not of the LORD of hosts that the people shall labour in the very fire, and the people shall weary themselves for very vanity? (Hab 2:13). In the presence of this great scarcity of sound doctrine, of converted souls, and pastors anointed by God according to the heart of God, who will rescue you from such inner decay when it is covered up by forms of false righteousness present in the seemingly most Godly saints and teachers in the midst of professing Christendom?! Would that such hypocrisy become manifest lest the people perish! Would that secret sin be brought into the light of all the sheep who do at the present time follow false shepherds! REMEMBER your first love for Christ and the pure heart, the clean conscience that you had as you repented. Do you have it now? How can you give yourself sleep? What peace can you find if you have not been brought nearer to the LORD and Savior, but rather have drifted? There is sure damnation that awaits you. Be not deceived by the voices and forms of those around you! They together walk hand-in-hand, inner man decaying, in their self righteous forms to the gates of hell! Oh would you be spared? Would you consider what it is to have a perfect heart? Dear saints please consider and take heed to these warnings:

“¹⁵ I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.¹⁶ So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of My mouth.¹⁷ Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:¹⁸ I counsel thee to buy of Me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.¹⁹ As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.²⁰ Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me.²¹ To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.²² He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.” (Rev 3:15-22)

“⁴ Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.⁵ Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.” (Rev 2:4-5)

“⁹ But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.¹⁰ For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.¹¹ But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness.¹² Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses.” (1 Tim 6:9-12)

“For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.” (Rom 12:3) 

“Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?” (2 Cor 13:5) 

“¹² Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.¹³ But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.¹⁴ For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end” (Heb 3:12-14)

     There are a few true pastors that the LORD has raised up. And I marvel day by day at the astounding grace of God in revealing some to me. If you have ears to hear would you please read “The Condescension of God”? The author does carry and convey the TRUE BURDENS of the LORD. The messages therein will not whitewash your dead tomb of inner decay, but rather they will slay your carnality that your soul may be spared. If you have any desire to be counted worthy on the Day of Judgment through saving faith in the blood of the LAMB, I implore you to hearken unto such men!

Oh LORD, that our inner man would not decay! That we would not become clouds without rain!

Roots of Apostasy

Roots of Apostasy

     In the midst of this great falling away that we face, He desires for us to be warned by His holy Scripture, given by His inspiration, being profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto every good work, by examples of those who have thus departed from us (2 Thess 2:3, 2 Tim 3:16). For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope (Rom 15:4). Oh dear saints the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the LORD shall consume with the Spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming: Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the Truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should BELIEVE A LIE: That they all might be damned who BELIEVED NOT THE TRUTH, BUT HAD PLEASURE IN UNRIGHTEOUSNESS. (2 Thess 2:7-12)

     Surely these castaways have committed two evils; they have forsaken Christ, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water (Jer 2:13). God commands us to KNOW THEREFORE AND SEE that it is an EVIL THING and BITTER, when a soul hast forsaken the LORD his God, and His fear is not found within him, when he has been allured through the lusts of his flesh, through his great wantonness, when he is brought yet again into bondage, having been overcome, having turned from the holy commandment delivered unto him, for he is as a dog turned to its vomit again and as a washed sow turned again to her wallowing in the mire (Jer 2:19, 2 Pet 2:18-22). O LORD, the hope of Israel, all that forsake Thee shall be ashamed, and they that depart from Thee shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken the LORD, the fountain of living waters (Jer 17:13)!

Why doth a soul depart from the living Christ!?!

     Thus saith the LORD, “what iniquity have your fathers found in Me, that they are gone far from Me, and have walked after vanity, and are become vain?” (Jer 2:15). This is the God and Father of our LORD Jesus Christ, Who hath blessed us with all Spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, who doth open His hand and satisfy the desire of every living thing, Who causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man: that He may bring forth food out of the earth And wine that maketh glad the heart of man, and oil to make his face shine, and bread which strengtheneth man’s heart (Eph 1:3, Ps 145:16. Ps 104:14-15). The just LORD is in the midst of His people; He will not do iniquity: every morning doth He bring His judgment to light, He faileth not; but the unjust knoweth no shame (Zeph 3:5)!

“I speak as to wise men, judge ye what I say” (1 Cor 10:15)

    

“Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea;² And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea;³ And did all eat the same spiritual meat;⁴ And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.⁵ But with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness.⁶ Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted.⁷ Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.⁸ Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand.⁹ Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents.¹⁰ Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer.¹¹ Now all these things happened unto them for examples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.¹² Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.¹³ There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.¹⁴ Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry. ¹⁵ I speak as to wise men; judge ye what I say.” (1 Cor 10)

     Herein this passage is conveyed the root of all apostasy and the Spiritual secret of its avoidance. These Israelites ate and drank of the LORD Jesus Christ. They had been regenerated and had experienced the salvation of the LORD both personally, corporately, and symbolically (e.g. the exodus from Egypt, the Passover, receiving manna in the desert and water from the rock). God Himself had given them bread from heaven to eat, both the carnal means of sustenance, manna, as well as the true bread from heaven which the Father giveth: the LORD Jesus Christ, He Which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world. As He hath spoken, “I am the bread of life: he that cometh to Me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on Me shall never thirst”. (John 6:31-35) When Jesus spoke these Words the Jew murmured at Him, and Jesus said, “Murmur not among yourselves” (John 6:41-43) Oh the woe of mankind that they do murmur against the heavenly manna, our LORD Jesus Christ! From the Israelites whose tempting of the LORD, their inquiring if He was among them, resulted in the coining of the names of the places Massah (testing) and Meribah (quarreling) and whose murmurings were heard of the LORD (Ex 17:7. Ex 16:7), to these Jews who murmured at the very spoken Words of the God-Man Christ, to the early apostates Ananias and Sapphira, Demas, Philetus, Hymeneus, who agreed to tempt the Spirit of the LORD (Acts 5:9), to countless present day regenerated saints who are daily impaled and hardened by the deceitfulness of sin, this has been the root of apostasy in every generation! Oh how they do murmur against the Bread sent from heaven!

     The prophet Isaiah mentions the lovingkindnesses of the LORD, and the praises of the LORD, according to all that the LORD hath bestowed on us, and the great goodness toward the house of Israel, which He hath bestowed on them according to His mercies, and according to the multitude of His lovingkindnesses. For the LORD said, “Surely they are My people, children that will not lie:” so He was their Saviour. In all their affliction He was afflicted, and the Angel of His presence saved them: in His love and in His pity He redeemed them; and He bare them, and carried them all the days of old. But they rebelled, and vexed His Holy Spirit: therefore He was turned to be their enemy, and He fought against them. (Is 63:7-10).

      The apostasy of that Exodus generation, and numerous future generations of Israelites is given as an example to us, as an admonition to us, to whom has come the ends of the world characterized by this GREAT FALLING AWAY, yes, this MYSTERY OF INIQUITY. From these examples we are commanded to:

Not lust after evil things

Neither let us tempt Christ

Neither murmur ye

Take heed lest we fall

Flee from idolatry

Neither let us commit fornication

Neither be ye idolaters

Not lust after evil things

Not lust after evil things

“Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart.” (2 Tim 2:22)

“¹⁴ As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance:¹⁵ But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation;¹⁶ Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.” (1 Pet 1:14-16)

“Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;” (1 Pet 2:11)

Neither be ye idolaters

“And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.” (2 Cor 6:16)

“Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:” (Col 3:5)

“Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin;² That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God.³ For the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles, when we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revellings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries:” (1 Pet 4:1-3)

“Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.” (1 John 5:21)

Neither let us commit fornication

“¹⁸ Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body.¹⁹ What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?²⁰ For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.” (1 Cor 6:18-20)

“But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints;” (Eph 5:3)

“For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication:” (1 Thess 4:3)

Neither let us tempt Christ

“Repent; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.” (Rev 2:16)

“²⁰ Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols.²¹ And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not.²² Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds.²³ And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall know that I am He which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your works.” (Rev 2:20-23)

“¹⁵ I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.¹⁶ So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of My mouth.¹⁷ Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:” (Rev 3:15-17)

Neither murmur ye

“Do all things without murmurings and disputings:” (Phil 2:14)

Take heed lest we fall

“Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.” (Heb 3:12)

“And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.” (Eph 4:30)

    The root of apostasy is unbelief that God Himself is sufficient, that He is powerful and merciful. For God hath spoken once; twice have His people heard this; that power belongeth unto God. Also unto the LORD belongeth mercy: for He renderest to every man according to his work. (Ps 62:11-12) It is a despising of the feast of the LORD prepared in the desert, a detesting of the very Person of the LORD Jesus Christ. The heart which once cried, “But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my LORD: for Whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, And be found in Him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death;” (Phil 3:7-10) now becomes chastened beyond the point of return, the soil hardens, just as the soil of the Israelite earth turned to iron under the just punishment for their transgression of His commandments, and the living waters that once fell upon the fertile soil of their humble hearts ceases to fall under the judgment of the iron heavens (Lev 26:19) resulting in the outcome of the stony and thorny grounds: they are immediately offended when affliction or persecution ariseth for the Word’s sake or the Word within them is choked by the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things (Mark 4:16-19). That very Word which was able to save their souls had they laid apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness and received It with meekness, is disbelieved and rejected (James 1:21)!

     The people of God who do walk before Him with a perfect heart are characterized by united exaltation of the preeminent Christ, in Whom all fullness dwells (Col 1:18-19), and thus they have learned in whatsoever state they are in, therewith to be content. They know both how to be abased, and how to abound: everywhere and in all things they are instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. They can do all things through Christ which strengthens them. (Phil 4:11-13)  For God is able to make all grace abound towards them, that they, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work. For surely He hath dispersed abroad; He hath given to the poor: His righteousness remaineth for ever! (2 Cor 9:8-9) Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with Whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning (James 1:17). Their God does and shall supply all their needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus (Phil 4:19). These elect do know that He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things (Rom 8:32)? By the Spirit these saints do understand what has been freely given to them of God! For as it is written, “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him.” But God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? Even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God! (1 Cor 2:9-12) For we have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but we have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit Himself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified together. And He that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because He maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God. (Rom 8:15-17, 27) The saints do receive even carnal things FROM and IN the Person of Christ, not apart from Him! Consider the rebuke of Nathan to King David after he had committed adultery with Bathsheba:

^“7 And Nathan said to David, thou art the man. Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, I anointed thee king over Israel, and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul;⁸ And I gave thee thy master's house, and thy master's wives into thy bosom, and gave thee the house of Israel and of Judah; and if that had been too little, I would moreover have given unto thee such and such things. ⁹ Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the Lord, to do evil in his sight? thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and hast taken his wife to be thy wife, and hast slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon.” (2 Sam 12:7-9)

     The physical aspects of the blessings given to King David were not his sin; his sin was the lust in his heart that caused him to despise the commandment of the LORD and to do evil in His sight. The physical blessings given to King David, his Kingship, his wives, his deliverance (and certainly there are Spiritual aspects of these blessings) were to be wrought IN GOD, not apart from Him. When men fail to believe in the living Christ for sustenance, and come out from His covering to acquire needs and desires (whether wicked or inherently neutral (e.g. food, shelter), they have departed from Him, they do murmur in their hearts, they do tempt Christ, they do commit idolatry…such repeated occurrences result in eternal reprobation. Oh LORD have mercy! We are not to trust in anything, or desire anything outside of the living Person of the LORD Jesus Christ! For we are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in us. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His. And if Christ be in us, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwells in us, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken our mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth in us. (Rom 8:9-11)

     Oh that we would now, at the present time, at this very moment hear His sayings and do them, that we may be likened unto the wise man which built his house upon a rock, that when the rain descends and the floods come, and the winds blow, and beat upon that house; it fall not for it was founded upon a rock. God forbid that we disobey His sayings and be as the foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it. (Matt 7:24-27) The LORD knoweth how to deliver the Godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished (2 Pet 2:9). For blessed in the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the LORD hath promised to them that love Him (James 1:12)!

^“16 These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, having men's persons in admiration because of advantage.¹⁷ But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ; ¹⁸ How that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts.¹⁹ These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit. ²⁰ But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, ²¹ Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. ²² And of some have compassion, making a difference: ²³ And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.²⁴ Now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy,²⁵ To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.” (Jude 16-25)

“You mark my words, and it won’t be long … when persecution begins in this country [USA], and it strips everything from you, and most of the evangelical church goes totally apostate, and little groups are left to be berated, THEN you will see that Christ is enough.”  ~Paul Washer