Grant Phillips

The Church Is A Buffer :: by Grant Phillips

Published on: by RR7

The true Church on earth consists of people from all walks of life. There are different labels over the door of their assemblies. They may not even be part of a local group of organized believers meeting in what is commonly called a church (building). They all have one thing in common though. All have put their eternal soul in God’s hands by their belief in His Son, Jesus Christ. They all believe that Jesus died for them and walked out of the grave just as He said He would. They are all sealed with the Holy Spirit, the Comforter that Jesus promised.

Jesus lives through His Church, and He is the Head of the Church. The Church is His bride who He will soon return to claim and transfer to His Father’s house. While on this earth, the true Church, sprinkled in many geographic locations, witnesses and prays for others, that they may also know Him and be with Him for all eternity.

Since Satan’s days are quickly running out, he has gone into full battle mode against the Church in America as he has elsewhere. This once Christian nation has become a cesspool of rebellion against the one and only true God. Satan is working in overdrive to destroy any witness the Church may have on others who do not know Jesus. He is like a spider that lures unsuspecting souls into his web of lies, binding them in their entrapment and killing them off at the end.

The voice of the Church was once heard loud and clear in America, but now the voice is not so loud, and the waters of truth have been muddied by false prophets and satanic lies. A fundamentalist Christian is today classified along with a fundamentalist Muslim. In other words, both are crazed lunatics, so says the world.

What is fundamentalism? To make it easier, maybe we should ask, “What does fundamental mean (since fundamental is the root word of fundamentalism)?” I’ll explain it with an example. Two very important fundamentals of football are; blocking, tackling. If the players do not know how to block and tackle, the game will fall apart. If basketball players can’t dribble a basketball, there will be nothing but chaos. The chess player must know what manner of move each piece on the chessboard can make, or there will be a quick defeat.

Fundamentals are the basics. They’re sometimes called; meat and potatoes or nuts and bolts. The fundamentals hold it all together and cannot be altered.

The fundamentals for Christianity are those commands of God, in the Bible, that cannot be altered. For example:

  • God says there is one way to be saved, and that is through Jesus Christ. Regardless of what the world says, that cannot be altered.
  • God says that all have sinned against God and will face judgment if without Christ. That cannot be altered.
  • God says that we are saved by grace and not works. That cannot be altered.

No true Christian would ever try to force Christianity down someone’s throat. Yet we are classified with a group of people who will take your life if you do not convert to their religion. That is their foundational belief and it cannot be altered. Those in their religion, who do not believe and practice that, are not being true to their own fundamentals.

The world still wants to stop the voice of true Christianity and follow the voice of Islam. Now why is that? Maybe it has something to do with Satan knowing he is running out of time. So which of the two fundamentalist are actually a crazed lunatic? (Hint: It isn’t the fundamentalist Christian.)

The world wants the Church gone, just as the nations surrounding Israel want her gone. Israel’s enemies will never succeed, and they will be dealt with personally by God, possibly very soon. What about the Church?

The Holy Spirit through the true Church is the only thing standing between sanity and lunacy, and the world doesn’t even realize the danger approaching. As I said, the world wants the Church gone. Someone once said, “Be careful what you wish for.” That day is fast approaching. When? Don’t know, but it could be at any time. Jesus says He will come for His bride as a thief comes to break into one’s house. There will be no announcement. There will be no signs, but it will happen.

Right now, the Church is still here. The Christian needs to warn as many as possible of the coming judgment of God. If you don’t know Jesus Christ as your personal Savior and Lord, call upon Him now to open your eyes while you open your heart to His invitation. Heed His call to you while you can. Once the Church is gone it will be much harder, perhaps impossible, for you to be saved.

When Jesus comes for His bride (the true Church), the Holy Spirit (the restrainer) will be taken out of the way and then the wicked one (the Antichrist) will be revealed to those left behind. (2 Thessalonians 2:1-12)

Those who are left behind will then be wishing for the “good old days” when the Church was still upon earth.

There are many false prophets today calling themselves “Christian.” If you don’t know someone you can trust, I would advise the following; Get a Bible. Ask Jesus to save you. Then ask Him to lead you in understanding as the Holy Spirit guides you in reading your Bible. Start with the book of John.

One more time, currently the Holy Spirit works through the Church to provide a buffer (if I may), but once the Church is gone, all the evil Satan can produce will be unleashed upon mankind. Currently, evil is rearing its ugly head and getting worse by the day, but what we are seeing today is nothing compared to what is coming during the seven years of Tribulation on earth.

Grant Phillips

Email: grantphillips@windstream.net

So Close, But So Far Away :: by Grant Phillips

Published on: by RR7

I’ve often thought what it would have been like to have been one of the twelve disciples who spent three years on earth with Jesus in His humanity. For three years these men were with Him day and night. They saw His face, heard His voice, and the words He said. They heard and saw much that we are not privy to today.

“And there are also many other things that Jesus did, which if they were written one by one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written. Amen.” (John 21:25)

To me, the one disciple that jumps off the page is Judas, revealed at the end of Jesus’ ministry to be a false disciple. Nevertheless, one wonders how anyone could spend three years with Jesus, day and night, shoulder to shoulder and miss the mark. He didn’t just miss the mark, he became a traitor to someone he spent three years with in close proximity, to someone who loved him and would give him eternal life if he believed, to someone who never did anything to him, to someone who proved during those three years that He is God in the flesh. However, Judas chose to succumb to Satan.

Satan tried to draw Peter away from Jesus by luring him to dispute Jesus’ words (Mark 8:31-32). Jesus rebuked Peter by saying (in verse 33), “Get behind Me, Satan! For you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.”

Jesus warned Peter in Luke 22:31 that Satan desired him that he may sift him as wheat. In verse 32 Jesus told Peter He was praying for him that his faith does not fail, and when he is converted to strengthen his brethren.

In Luke 9:46-56; 22:24 and other Scripture passages, we see that the disciples had a problem with their pride. Each was vying for title of being the greatest.

Let us remember that Jesus was also tempted by Satan (Luke 4:1-13), but never sinned. Also, Peter reminds us, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” (1 Peter 5:8)

Back to Judas, we see in Scripture passages like Mark 8:33; Luke 22:3; John 6:70; and 13:2, 27 that Judas was listening to Satan and obviously preferred Satan’s message to Christ’s. We know also from John that Judas was a thief (John 12:6).

So Judas, this man who spent three years with God in the flesh (Jesus) on earth, night and day, is now seen lying on a bunch of rocks with his guts spilled out on the ground. A broken rope dangles from a tree above; a thief, a traitor and a murderer who now resides in hell, because he never believed in Jesus as his Savior.

This son of perdition was Satan’s man of the hour and now he resides with his father.

There will be another man in the future who will also be the man of the hour for Satan. He shares many names with his father. Just a few of those names are; Antichrist (1 John 2:22), man of sin and son of perdition (2 Thessalonians 2:3), the lawless one (2 Thessalonians 2:8), the beast (Revelation 11:7), little horn (Daniel 7:8), and the prince that shall come (Daniel 9:26). These two men (Judas and the Antichrist) are unlike any other in that Satan consumes their very being.

Since Satan can be in only one place at a time, most of mankind never deals with Satan directly, but those fallen angels of Heaven who followed him in his rebellion, work diligently on his behalf.

When Peter said, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:” (1 Peter 5:8), we can be sure that Satan’s angelic followers are working as his proxy to drag as many to hell as possible.

So perhaps we see more clearly why so many are drawn to hell by Satan’s lies even though they may have had Christian parents, or been raised in the church and heard sermon after sermon about their need for Jesus Christ. Satan’s lies are very deceptive and very enticing. Judas found out, and so will the future Antichrist.

Why is it that this country began and was founded on a strong Christian foundation, but today is spewing out nothing but the vilest sins against God that could be imagined? Why is it that one generation was raised in the pew, and the next has no interest in God? Paul had the answer.

“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” (Ephesians 6:12)

Mankind has one great weakness that Satan relies on. We generally won’t accept what we can’t see. We live in a physical world, and most are entirely unaware of the spirit world that wrestles for our souls.

In this country especially, availability in knowing about Jesus is all around us. There are true Christians in many families. There are churches on most street corners (some who are still faithful to Jesus). There are books, magazines, and Christian movies. Even in prisons, Bibles are available. The anti-God force has had much success in pushing anything to do with Jesus out the door, but despite that, the opportunity to know Jesus is often very close by. Many lost souls are so close, but yet so far away from knowing the Truth. That’s why it is so important for those of us who know Jesus as Savior and Lord to be His witness in a fallen world.

Those in Jesus day saw His miracles, heard Him speak and saw the sinless life He led, but most still did not come to Him to be saved. They were close to the Truth, but still so far away.

Even though the knowledge of God is not as near as it once was due to Supreme Court legislation, Jesus is still near to any who will reach out to Him. Only a cold heart will keep Him far away.

Grant Phillips

Email: grantphillips@windstream.net