To our friends in the US, inclusive of L. Ray Smith you are indeed a brave bunch. You are forging a new kind of reformation that finds much accord with many Australian Christians. Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus from Brisbane Australia.
The idea of the Babylonian captivity of the church in general and in succinct terms is no new doctrine or teaching as in line with earlier reformers centuries much earlier. Martin Luther used the term in the title of one of his works attacking the papacy and the Roman Catholic church in the 16th century.
But as Ray has elaborated, it is also true that Babylonian captivity is rife within the fundamentalist churches in America and is an endemic problem worldwide. It is therefore no new end time phenomena or teaching, but has always been with us ever since the last apostles framed the New Testament. It is all in God's purpose. We know heresies began to creep into the churches soon after the death of those apostles who knew Christ first hand.
Issues within the churches Babylonian captivity is the lengths many churches are going to in extortion of money and there are well established guidelines now. Many other independent thinking Christians of other “folds” are now questioning the tithing and first fruits offerings of the Old Testament as a required act of giving in the present church. One that is now posted on many web sites that is insightful and in total agreement with Ray is the tithing metaphor story called: “The Trail of Pastor Jones”. This is a succinct and accurate exposing of the scriptures as to the inaccuracy of tithing within the churches demanded by pastors.
On matters of the mistranslated Hell issue, this has added additional teachings of error since the major evangelization of America, inclusive of Australia since post World War II. It has reached an unrealistic fever pitch and has lost touch with the real reality of scriptures. The true reality is that Christ died for the SINS of the WHOLE world. We cannot hope to change these self willed men convinced of their hellish doctrines of eternal burning and so called justice. It will take a generation – a new breed of Christian and belief into the next generation.
Reminds me of the words: Matthew 23:23 "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.
Bye for now – keep up the good work. The truth sets us all free.
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Topic: Greetings from Australia (Read 5572 times)