Counterfeit Christianity (Part 1)
Rev. Steve Marlowe
Christians are encouraged to rejoice always, pray without ceasing, and give thanks in everything; this is God's will. So do not quench God’s Holy Spirit, by which we receive all joy. As it is written, “Test all things; hold fast what is good” (1 Thessalonians 5:21). We must know that what we believe is from the revelation of God. To follow our own way may seem right, but “He answered and said, ‘It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God’” (Matthew 4:4). We must no rely on ourselves, but only on His Word, the Bible. All Christianity is based on the revelation of God. Any imitation of the authentic revelation of Him, that replaces the original doctrine of God is counterfeit. All doctrines and traditions never revealed by the Lord are counterfeit. False doctrines and traditions cause counterfeit Christianity.
The Bible tells us that Satan deceives the whole world (Revelation 12:9). Without relying on the Lord’s revelations we could find ourselves caught up in the deception of the demonic forces that cause instability of good and evil in our society.
In Matthew 7:13-14, our Savior warns us to:“Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.”
Few there be that find it. This should cause everyone to be concerned about any doctrine or tradition not given by the revelation of God. There are more than two billion Christians, and there are many divisions. Clearly, the Demonic forces have influenced a lot of deception in many who claim to be Christian. It should be pointed out that these Christians do not know that they are deceived, but they should know. What can we, as Christians, do to ensure that we are not deceived? We must rely on His word and the discernment of God’s Holy Spirit.
In John 14:25-31, we read what YAHSHUA said, “These things I have spoken to you while being present with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you. Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. You have heard Me say to you, ‘I am going away and coming back to you.’ If you loved Me, you would rejoice because I said, ‘I am going to the Father,’ for My Father is greater than I. “And now I have told you before it comes, that when it does come to pass, you may believe. I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in Me. But that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave Me commandment, so I do. Arise, let us go from here.”
Do you know, for sure, that the church you grew up in, or converted to, is practicing what Christ has taught, and His apostles continue to teach as written in the Gospels that belong to Christ? It is not a matter of sincerity or following the majority. After all, all religions are not equal, and not all churches worship in spirit and truth, but hold to the traditions of men. Traditions never authorized, or revealed, by God.
As the apostle Peter stated in Acts 4:8-12, we read: “Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, ‘Rulers of the people and elders of Israel: If we this day are judged for a good deed done to a helpless man, by what means he has been made well, let it be known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of YAHSHUA the Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by Him this man stands here before you whole. This is the ‘stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone.’ Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
The Scriptures tell us that there is no other name, and yet by the tradition and linguistics of mankind, we have other names. The name “Jesus” has only existed in this form since the 17th century. The name found in the 1611 King James Bible is not the name of Jesus (gee-sus), but the name of Iesus (ee-sus). Iesus transformed from Iesous (ee-sous), and Iesous is the transliteration of the common Aramaic name in the first century of Yeshua. We are told there is only one name given by the revelation of God, but by the tradition of men, by linguistic evolution, we have another name. Yet very few professing Christians began to grasp the enormity of deception perpetrated here. The Savior warned us about this.
Our Lord warned us, and we read in Mark 7:5-8, “Then the Pharisees and scribes asked Him, ‘Why do Your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders…?’ He answered and said to them, ‘Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written:
‘This people honors Me with their lips,
But their heart is far from Me.
And in vain they worship Me,
Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’
For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men…’”
YAHSHUA is the revealed name, but many preach in another name Jesus. As the apostle Paul warned us.
We read in 2 Corinthians 11:3-4, “But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted—you may well put up with it!”
Indeed, another name, that makes for another different Christ. Please prayerfully consider whether you have been misled into assuming that you are truly following the revelations of God, and specifically the name He revealed so that you do not hold to a counterfeit name never revealed by God from Heaven. Satan offers Christians a counterfeit Christianity. The apostle Paul warns of the power and deception of Satan.
We read in 2 Corinthians 4:3-4, “But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.”
Satan is also called “the prince of the Air.” And we, by believing in the name YAHSHUA, are freed from the bondage of Satan that leads to eternal consequences.
We read in Ephesians 2:1-3, “And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.
Satan, the father of lies, the great counterfeiter, is a powerful personality. He was created to be an angel, a cherub of the cherubim. His original name is Heylel, or in Latin, Lucifer, a name that means “light bringer,” in Hebrew; but due to his rebellion, he now brings darkness to mankind as the adversary of the God of Light. Why did this happen? What was Heylel’s motive? The Bible tells us.
We read in Isaiah 14:12-15, “How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, You who weakened (deceived) the nations! For you have said in your heart:
‘I will ascend into heaven,
I will exalt my throne above the stars of God;
I will also sit on the mount of the congregation
On the farthest sides of the north;
I will ascend above the heights of the clouds,
I will be like the Most High.’
Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol,
To the lowest depths of the Pit!”
The Bible further tells us, that Satan can possess kings, and so the king of tyre was possessed, and God calls on the prophet of Ezekiel, calling him the “son of man,” to take up a lamentation and prophesy.
And we read in Ezekiel 28:11-19, “ Moreover the word of the Lord came to me, saying, “Son of man, take up a lamentation for the king of Tyre, and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord God:
“You were the seal of perfection,
Full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.
You were in Eden, the garden of God;
Every precious stone was your covering:
The sardius, topaz, and diamond,
Beryl, onyx, and jasper,
Sapphire, turquoise, and emerald with gold.
The workmanship of your timbrels and pipes
Was prepared for you on the day you were created.
“You were the anointed cherub who covers;
I established you;
You were on the holy mountain of God;
You walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones.
You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created,
Till iniquity was found in you.
“By the abundance of your trading
You became filled with violence within,
And you sinned;
Therefore I cast you as a profane thing
Out of the mountain of God;
And I destroyed you, O covering cherub,
From the midst of the fiery stones.
“Your heart was [b]lifted up because of your beauty;
You corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor;
I cast you to the ground,
I laid you before kings,
That they might gaze at you.
“You defiled your sanctuaries
By the multitude of your iniquities,
By the iniquity of your trading;
Therefore I brought fire from your midst;
It devoured you,
And I turned you to ashes upon the earth
In the sight of all who saw you.
All who knew you among the peoples are astonished at you;
You have become a horror,
And shall be no more forever.” ’ ”
Heylel, Lucifer, now Satan, the devil, also known as the serpent, a red dragon, wanted to be like the Most High. He is the original egalitarian, for he said, “I will be like,” that is equal, “to the Most High.” He wanted to be like the Preeminent Son of God, the Lord YAH! Satan is a cherub and not a son of God. God made him for a purpose to serve as a cherub, but he wanted to usurp the will of God, the Sovereignty of God, and force his own self-determined will against the creator. Based on his egalitarian argument, he convinced a third of the host of the Kingdom of Heaven to agree with his egalitarian argument. We find this in the Book of Revelation.
We read Revelation 12:3-4, “And another sign appeared in Heaven: behold, a great, fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads. His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth, to devour her Child as soon as it was born.”
Satan convinced even the sons of God, the elohim, to agree with him, and rebel against God the Father’s anointed preeminent Son of God, who is the Lord of lords, the God of gods, as all things were given to Him, our very own YAHSHUA. The sons of God are the elohim, as this was declared in the Kingdom of Heaven, and as recorded in Psalm 82:6.
We read, “I said, ‘You are gods [in Hebrew “elohim”], and all of you are sons of the Most High.’”
Because all hell has broken loose on earth, and this is why, YAHSHUA now has all power and dominion given to Him by His God and Father to destroy Satan and his fallen angels, now known as demons, who have enslaved mankind on the earth, and our Lord and Savior will free us from the wages of sin, which is death. Because Heylel, Lucifer, had all these things in his heart, the Father and God of our God and Lord YAHSHUA, purposed the following:
And we read Hebrews 1:5-14 “ For to which of the angels did He ever say: “You are My Son,
Today I have begotten You”?
And again: “I will be to Him a Father, and He shall be to Me a Son”?
But when He again brings the firstborn into the world, He says: “Let all the angels of God worship Him.”
And of the angels, He says: “Who makes His angels spirits and His ministers a flame of fire.”
But to the Son, He says: “Your throne, O God, isforever and ever; A scepter of righteousness isthe scepter of Your Kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness;
Therefore God, Your God, has anointed You
With the oil of gladness more than Your companions.”
And: “You, Lord, in the beginning, laid the foundation of the earth,
And the heavens are the work of Your hands. They will perish, but You remain;
And they will all grow old like a garment; Like a cloak, You will fold them up,
And they will be changed.
But You are the same,
And Your years will not fail.”
But to which of the angels has He ever said: “Sit at My right hand, till I make Your enemies Your footstool”?
“Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation?”
THE END (Part 1)
