Daily Devotional, Year 3 – September 12 (The City of Morality, Part 5: “The Christian Fraternity House”)
By admin On February 16th, 2021.
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Daily Devotional, Year 3 – September 12
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The City of Morality,
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Part 5:
“The Christian Fraternity House”
To read Part 1, click here… “January 5th (The City of Morality)”
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In John Bunyan’s earth-shaking tale, “Pilgrim’s Progress”, the main character, Christian, was on his way to the Celestial City, to get that great Burden off his back (the burden of sin).
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But on that way, he met up with a fellow named Worldly Wiseman, who informed Christian that such an arduous journey was not necessary.
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He told Christian that all he needed was to go to the Village of Morality!
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Christian in Pilgrim’s_Progress wiki pub dom.
Worldly Wiseman – Pilgrim’s Progress, p34 – Mr Worldly Wiseman – Wikimedia – Public Domain
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THE VILLAGE IS NOW A HUGE CITY!
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And so it is today!
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Only this Village called Morality is now a full-grown city!
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Yes, a great portion of today’s Christendom has become just that! The City of Morality!
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And there are many Christians who, like Bunyan’s pilgrim, have been duped by that old deceiver, Worldly Wiseman!
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Oh yes, wouldn’t you know it! Worldly Wiseman is still around!
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And still, he’s busily misdirecting simple-minded Christians into going to the City of Morality instead of continuing onward and upward to Zion, the City of God!
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New york times square – cropped image – terabass – wikipedia – share-alike license
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“ITCHING EARS” GOSPELS
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Now concerning this apostate spiritual condition of today’s churches, the Apostle, Paul made the following prophecy
… “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth,” 2nd Timothy 4:3, 4
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So here, God is forewarning us that the day will come when the churches and so-called denominations will end up in utter apostasy!
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FALSE DOCTRINES
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But how did this happen?
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Just how and when did this apostasy occur?
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The very simple answer is, that ever since the beginning of the church era, the Devil has been bringing in one false doctrine after another!
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Luther – 95 Theses – Wikipedia – US Public Domain
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HOLY SPIRIT REPLACED BY COUNTERFEIT SPIRIT
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And yet, in these end-times, Satan has even more aggressively stepped up his deadly assault on the churches.
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And this Master Deceiver has been giving them such a worldly appeal, that even abject unbelievers are willing to join up and become regular members.
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Thus these earthly-minded congregations have now devolved into a mere worldly, fraternal organization, howbeit with a thin veneer of religiosity.
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And ultimately, the Holy Spirit was finally taken out of the way, as it was foretold in 2nd Thessalonians 2:7, 8, 9… “For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way…And then shall that Wicked be revealed…with all power and signs and lying wonders,”
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Yes, Satan has moved into the churches and is now counterfeiting the workings of the true Holy Spirit, with “all power, signs and lying wonders!”
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ABOVE PICTURE: The False Prophet – www.signofheaven.org
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HIP AND TRENDY CHURCHES
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What happened is, that some decades ago, erring church leaders began to give the churches a type of fashionable “make-over”, in hopes of attracting a greater number of parishioners.
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And it worked! Yes, by making the worship services so charismatic and even fun, the denominations and local congregations became non-threatening fraternal/social organizations.
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Church music – Singers & Dancers – cropped image – Wikipedia – Share-alike License
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THE SO-CALLED “FREE-WILL GOSPEL”
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And because the church-world has largely accepted a so-called, “Do-it-
yourself free-will gospel”, parishioners were led to believe that merely saying the Sinner’s Prayer, or by water-baptism, or church-attendance, etc., proved they had become saved.
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And combined with the current-day prosperity-driven gospels now being preached, church attendance was absolutely painless!
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All that was now required was a certain level of moral behavior, and some degree of personal religiosity and, “Voila! I’m a saved and sanctified soul!”
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Audience hands – cropped & altered – Wikimedia – Universal Public Domain
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A CHRISTIAN FRATERNITY
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And so, what we are now seeing, is a church-world devolved into little more than a religious version of some fraternal organization: weddings, funerals, baby-showers, social events, sports events, movie-nights, picnics, outings, car-washes, game nights, family nights, holidays, plays, dances, sensual-fashionable-music-sing-a-longs, breakfasts, luncheons, dinners, school events, beside their personal Mammon-seeking lives, all working together to make modern-day church membership very appealing to unsanctified multitudes in the world.
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And by this huge metamorphosis, they have finally transformed church-going into a harmless fraternal club, serving up a watered-down gospel as a weekly complement to their world-loving lives (howbeit, all this being void of the “offence of the Cross” of the self-sacrificing Christ. Galatians 5:11).
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PS Krøyer – Hip hip hurra! Kunstnerfest på Skagen – 1888 – Wikimedia – Public Domain
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FRATERNITIES OK FOR THE WORLD?
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Now for the world, being a member of a fraternal club may not be such a bad thing!
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And today’s fraternal organizations may indeed be filled with nice, friendly, and moral people.
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But for the Church to become a social/fraternal club?
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That’s an entirely different matter!
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Elks Lodge – by Joe Mabel – cropped image – Wikimedia – Share-alike License 1.2
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TRANSFORMED!
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Rather, the purpose of the local congregations was to provide a safe-place for the encouragement to fully engage in the daily transformation of the soul, into the glorious image of Christ.
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Listen to Paul…“My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you…” Galatians 4:19
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In this above verse, Paul was extremely concerned that Christians would be deceived and seduced back into the world, leaving them destitute of true holiness, thus becoming spiritually bankrupt!
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Transfiguration – Bloch – Wikimedia Commons – US Public-Domain
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WOLVES IN SHEEP’S CLOTHING
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And so, because the worldly-minded are now coming by droves into today’s family-friendly and fashionable congregations, these unconverted church members have unwittingly become “fair game” for Satan to transform them into “wolves in sheep’s clothing”.
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And as active members of the church, these false brethren now began to hold various church offices, thus empowering themselves to determine and relegate their own low level of religiosity to be preached (and lived by) in that particular local congregation.
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ABOVE PICTURE: The False Prophet
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“COME OUT OF HER, MY PEOPLE!”
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Well, here is one more great reason why God now considers today’s world-loving churches and local 
congregations to be Babylon.
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And He is now calling His people to make an end-time exodus out of these apostate organizations and flee to the spiritual Mount Sion!
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“And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, My people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.” Revelation 18:4
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James Tissot – The Flight of the Prisoners – Wikipedia – US Public Domain
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TO READ PART 6, CLICK HERE…
September 13 (The City of Morality, Part 6: “The Pharisees of Prosperity”)
James Tissot – The Pharisee and Publican – Brooklyn Museum & Wikimedia – US Public Domain
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TODAY’S PRAYER…
“Dear Lord, Let me not be deceived, discouraged, or detoured into the wrong direction, onto a counterfeit, look-alike pathway. Keep me on the true Heavenward Pathway…
Prayer for USA – Wikimedia – Creative Commons Attribution 2.0
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READ MORE…
To explore deeper into this subject, please read… OCTOBER 17 (A World of Lies, Part 8: It’s a Cuttlefish World! The Enemy Within! Continued: Insufficient Repentance) or you can also read… DECEMBER 14 (A Form of Godliness, Part 2: When Evil Wears A Smile!)
Question book magnify svg – Wikimedia – GNU license
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THE END
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TODAY’S FEATURED HEAVENLY SIGN
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THE FIVE WISE VIRGINS STARS
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“Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom.
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And five of them were wise, and five were foolish. They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them: But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.”
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Matthew 25:1-4
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WIKIPEDIA STAR-CHART
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This constellation was identified on May 22nd, 2014. It is simply five stars, two from the Serpens Constellation, and three from the Hercules Constellation.
Wikipedia Star-Chart – Corona Borealis
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What gives this constellation impetus and significance is that it appears as five evenly positioned stars, in a slight oval pattern, as if they were sitting in a meeting, listening, or perhaps watching someone.
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Second, they appear to be gathered in front of The Crown of Revelation 12 Constellation. (just below Corona Borealis in this Wikipedia star-chart, in which the editor of this site sketched in these two constellations)
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READ MORE…
To explore deeper into this subject, please read… “The Five Wise Virgins Stars”
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TOMORROW…
September 13 (The City of Morality, Part 6: “The Pharisees of Prosperity”)
James Tissot – The Pharisee and Publican – Brooklyn Museum & Wikimedia – US Public Domain
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20+ MINUTE AUDIO JEREMIAH STUDY
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ALL‘NOBLE BEREANS’ (open-minded seekers of Bible truth) ARE ENCOURAGED TO BEGIN FOLLOWING THIS 650+ AUDIO BIBLE STUDY THROUGH THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH EACH DAY ON THIS DAILY DEVOTIONAL.
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THIS IS STUDY #253 PRESENTED BY THE LATE HAROLD CAMPING, FORMER CEO OF FAMILY RADIO…
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Prophet Jeremiah – www.christianimagesource.com – Public Domain
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Those who are interested in using photos on this page may click on the provided image credit link below each photo, to get to Wikimedia Commons for various licensing names, details, and tags, and all other necessary info on any particular photo.