Come Out from Among Them and Touch Not the Unclean Teachings

Most Christians feel like they have had an epiphany. God has shown them something that has convinced them that God is real and that He is their Father. And they know that it is through His Son Jesus Christ [in English speaking realms] that our salvation is possible. All of this is a good beginning.

But that is about it in most denominations concerning spiritual growth. Oh, we have the charismatics and Pentecostals who try to experience what the early apostles had. Some of them, however, are soon shipwrecked by storms of sin and lack of His knowledge.

And we have those who are the legalistic brethren, whose leaders provide hoops to jump through for the laity–pay your ties and offerings, come to church regularly. However, they fail to see that they are “buying a stairway to heaven.” And then, there are those who fall for the scam of the prosperity doctrine, as if God’s physical blessings can be bought with a hundred dollar bill. And many more.

So, there some sit. Frustrated and alone in a religious crowd. Stilted and stunted. Not knowing what God wants them to do. They are stymied because their pastors, priests and preachers have led them astray–because they do not know the way themselves. “If the blind lead the blind, they both fall into the ditch,” Christ said. They do not see God’s purpose nor his plan to accomplish his purpose. They know that Christ and His love plays a big part in life’s story, but they are blind to the bigger picture–the vision that God has for his world. This does not surprise God; He is the Author of the book.

It is all written down in the scriptures of truth, the Holy Bible, the best seller of all time. This sacred book says that Christians all over who seek God will find Him. And He will break the chains of sin that holds their hearts in frustration and captivity. And He will reveal Himself to certain seekers. But they will not be reached in cavernous church buildings that reverberate with “Christian rock music” [oxymoron of the year]. Nor will they be reached in the hushed tombs of Catholic cathedrals nor Protestantism’s church houses.

No, the true seekers will be reached by the quiet words spoken and written down by His teachers, pastors, evangelists, prophets, and apostles. Not the Sunday school teachers who sincerely endeavor to please God but are stifled by doctrinal errors.

Yah’s teachers know His purpose. They know His plan to accomplish His purpose. They are sent by Him to explain that purpose and plan; that is their job. And His purpose is this: He is Love, and He is reproducing Himself—in us, His chosen ones [His elect].

Teaching truth is a thankless task. Just ask Peter, James, John, and Paul. I remember an early truism taught us at the beginning of our missionary days: “There is nothing in this for you.” Meaning: “You are dead and your life is hid with Christ in God.” That was some heavy words for a “babe in Christ” some fifty years ago. But “I can see clearly now.”

May we all continue to seek Yah’s face. His face is the Anointed One’s face. The prophet Daniel saw His face. It was “as the appearance of lightning, and His eyes as lamps of fire” (Daniel 10:6, 5-9).  The apostle John saw His face, also. “His eyes were as a flame of fire” (Revelation 1:14, 13-16). If we seek Him, we will find Him, and He will change us in a mighty way.   Kenneth Wayne Hancock