Thus far, we have seen that we need to overcome the leaving of the first love, to overcome persecution, to overcome worldliness, and to overcome spiritual death. In this chapter we want to see that we need to overcome the three deformed religions-Judaism, Catholicism, and Protestantism.
We Christians have one Triune God-the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. We have one Bible, one divine revelation. We are also one church, one Body. We are the Body, the church, based upon the divine revelation revealed in the one Bible from the one Spirit, the one Son, and the one Father-the one Triune God. If there were no religion, how good this would be! We should be those who hate religion and who love the one Triune God, the one Father, one Son, and one Spirit; the one Bible, the one divine revelation; and the one church, the one Body.
In every religion there are satanic and devilish things, including falsehood, heresy, and idolatry. In the book of Revelation, the Roman Catholic Church is seen as a great harlot with many daughters (Rev. 17:1, 5). The Bible does not tell us how many daughters this great harlot has, but undoubtedly she has many. We have to expose this situation. Every religion must be exposed in our enlightened eyes that we may clearly see the Triune God-the Father, the Son, the Spirit; the Holy Bible, the divine revelation; and the church, the Body of Christ.
Today we have one Bible, yet many who claim to have one Bible are always contending about things in the Bible. One person has one interpretation, and another person has another. There have been many debates and conflicts throughout church history concerning the Triune God. These doctrinal debates and different interpretations of the Bible have given Satan the ground to deceive people and to seduce them to make religions.
Today there are four major religions: Judaism, Catholicism, Protestantism, and Mohammedanism (Islam), which may be considered as a false copy of Judaism. These four religions are very prevailing. We need to consider where we are today. We are not in Judaism, Catholicism, Protestantism, nor Mohammedanism. We are in the one Triune God-one Father, one Son, and one Spirit; in the one Bible, the one divine revelation; and in the one church, the one Body of Christ. In this chapter we want to fellowship about the three deformed religions revealed in the book of Revelation-Judaism, Catholicism, and Protestantism. Each of these three religions is not simple.
Judaism is the religion of the Jews. The Jewish people have the oldest history. The first five books of the Bible, the Pentateuch, were written in approximately 1500 B.C. The Bible covers human history beginning from the creation of Adam about six thousand years ago. From Adam to Abraham was two thousand years, from Abraham to Christ was also two thousand years, and from Christ until today has been about two thousand years. Then there will be another period of one thousand years, the millennium. Thus, this holy Book covers the history of mankind in time for at least seven thousand years, the entire span of human history. It speaks of the first generation of mankind with Adam and of the second generation with Abel. Then it continues to reveal the generations of human history until today. All the basic factors of the Jewish religion are revealed in the Bible.
Judaism is a religion which was set up, though not fully, according to the decree of the law of God. The law of God decreed by God through Moses is a good base, but this religion was deformed by man to become a satanic religion- “a synagogue of Satan.” In Revelation 2:9b the Lord refers to “the slander from those who call themselves Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.” The Judaizers called themselves Jews but they were not Jews. They were Jews in the flesh but not Jews in the spirit (Rom. 2:28-29). Merely being the seed of Abraham did not constitute them true Jews. Those who are the children of the flesh are not the children of God (Rom. 9:7-8).
Revelation 2:9b reveals that Judaism is a satanic religion. This verse tells us that the synagogue of the Jews today is not of God but of Satan. This shows that the religious Jews worship God in name, but actually they are one with Satan, God’s enemy.
Home | First | Prev | Next