End-Time Events Part V

True Discipleship of the True, Biblical Christ

 

The Crucial Conditions of Discipleship Laid Down By Jesus

How very, very far this is from the conditions of true discipleship of the True Christ, laid down by Jesus some 2,000 years ago:

“If any man come to Me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life /Greek – psychan, from psyche/ also, he cannot be My disciple.” Luke 14:26. “The one finding his (psyche) shall lose it, and the one losing his psyche on account of Me, will find it.” Matthew 10:39.

Christ Must Be Greater to the Soul Than All Creation

Inherent in the Call of Christ is the premise that the True, Biblical Christ, Who is the Creator God, must be greater to the soul than all creation, including the closest blood relatives and even self, one’s psyche, in Greek.

The True Call of Christ Breaks Up All Influences Except That of the True, Biblical Christ

The true call of Christ breaks up the relationships of immediacy, severs the controlling influence of even those closet to us, crucifies self, and places us in direct dependence upon, and union with, Christ the Mediator, Christ the Creator. The human is lifted above the controlling influences of man – even those closest to Him, even self, even one’s psyche, and placed under the direct control of the True Biblical Christ, his Mediator and Creator. 

The Breach of Discipleship is Opposite of New Age “Connectedness”

This is the radical breach of discipleship – just the opposite of Robert Schuller, Rick Warren, and Wilkinson, and Walsch, and Dyer’s ‘connectedness” with everyone else through pantheism.

The True Mediator, Christ, Protects Us From the Ravages of Pantheism By Himself Being Our Reality

In true discipleship, even self is rejected and forsaken for Christ. Self is crucified, denied. Only Christ is King – not father, mother, wife, children, brothers, sisters, or self – only Christ. Then all relationships are entered into only through Christ, the Mediator. This is our great protection from the terrible ravages of the sea of pantheism that is rising all around us. 

True Sanctification

In true discipleship of the True Christ, we are then prepared for sanctified and holy living, for sanctified relationships with others in which the union with Christ always remains supreme and unchallenged.
  

Supreme Allegiance To the Claims of Christ

Christ did not teach the interconnectedness of all humanity through the internal, conjured up ‘dream” that everyone already possesses and just has to find inside. That is pantheism. No, He said that He came not to bring peace, but a sword. (Matthew 10:34) Even the closet family members would be divided over the issue of supreme allegiance to the claims of Christ.  (Matthew 10:35,36.

“For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.

“And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household.

“And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after Me, is not worthy of Me.

“He that findeth his life shall lose it; and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.” Matthew 10:35-39.

Hated By All Men For Christ’s Sake

Jesus told His disciples: “Ye shall be hated of all men for My name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.” Matthew 10:22. There is no teaching of Jesus of interconnectedness of Oneness, of interconnectedness by “Dreams” with all that is. That is pantheism. “If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you…If they have persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept My saying, they will keep yours also. John 15: 19,20.

True Discipleship Forsakes All For the Christ Who Is Greater Than All Creation

The true disciple forsakes all for the true Biblical Christ. Christ must be held by the believer to be greater than all creation.  The true disciple finds the Pearl of great price. He finds the Hidden Treasure. He sells all that he has to find and buy that Treasure, that Pearl. He then possesses all the unreachable riches of Christ, the things which eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath entered into the heart of man. He knows Christ and Christ knows Him. He then understands the depth of the revelation of God given by the Holy Spirit. He then possesses the very love of God that binds him in ties of love for eternity with all of Christ’s true disciples, who have met the conditions of true discipleship.

Jesus is The I Am, As God Claiming the Supreme Affection of the Soul

For God to be God to us, He must be acknowledged as God, as Creator, as the I Am, -above, separate, and distinct from creation. Only One Who is God can make this kind of a claim for discipleship, Jesus said, “Unless ye believe that I Am, you will die in your sins,” John 8:24.

We must find God before we enter into relationships with man – even believers – and even then those relationships must be established only through the Mediator. As Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote, “Whoever cannot be alone should beware of community.” –Bonhoeffer, Life Together, 83, quoted in A Year with Dietrich Bonhoeffer, New York: Harper San Francisco, 2005, p. 313.

Obedience to The Call of Christ Makes Us Individuals

We must find the true, Biblical Christ, Who calls each one of us alone, separately, and then brings us together with other true disciples, always in Him. In the call of Christ, called alone and separate from all others, we become individuals. This is the basis of individuality, which lies at the foundation of all Western law, thought and practice. We must be willing to be called alone and stand-alone before Christ before entering into any other relationships – relationships that always take place with Him as the Mediator. 

Called Separately, Follow Alone

“Through the call of Jesus men become individuals. The honest-in-heart, they are compelled to decide, and that decision can only be made by themselves. It is no choice of their own that makes them individuals: It is Christ Who makes them individuals by calling them. However, men are frightened of solitude, and they try to protect themselves from it by merging themselves in the society of their fellow-men and in their material environment.”  -Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship, p. 105.

Follow Thou Me

When peter asked Jesus about what the future held in John’s discipleship, saying, “Lord, and what shall this man do?

“Jesus saith unto him, if I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? Follow thou Me.” John 21: 21,22. In other words, Peter, John’s discipleship is not your concern. Your concern, Peter, is, Follow thou Me. 

Pantheism is An Effort To Hide From the Call of Christ By Merging One’s Self In Creation

The “Dream” message of pantheism ‘connectedness” and “Oneness” is this very effort to hide from the call of the One True Christ by merging one’s self in pantheistic Oneness of being “one” with all that is – the message of the pantheistic New Age Christ. It is Adam and Eve’s effort to hide themselves amongst the trees of the Garden from the presence of the Lord all over again.

Nothing Can Protect A Man At the Moment of His Call By the True, Biblical Christ

“All this is only a cloak to protect them from having to make a decision. They are unwilling to stand alone before Jesus and be compelled to decide with their eyes fixed on Him alone. Yet another father nor mother, neither wife nor child, neither nationality nor tradition, can protect a man at the moment of his call. It is Christ’s will that he should be thus isolated, and that he should fix his eyes solely upon Him.

Christ Delivers Us From Immediacy With the World…And Thus From the Idolatry of Pantheism as Well

“At the moment of their call, men find that they have already broken with all the natural ties of life. This is not their own doing, but His who calls them. For Christ has delivered them from immediacy with the world, and brought them into immediacy with Himself. We cannot follow Christ unless we are prepared to accept and affirm that breach as a fait accompli. It is no arbitrary choice on the disciple’s part, but Christ Himself, Who compels him thus to break with the past.” – Bonhoeffer, 105,106.

True Discipleship of the True Christ is the Opposite of Pantheism

Thus, true discipleship of Christ is the opposite of pantheism. True discipleship means an utter break with all creation, and an eternal union with the Creator – Christ. That is why the Sabbath, and Creator worship, which rest upon the Creator-creature distinction, go hand in hand – particularly in these last days of pantheism – an omega of apostasy. Jesus said, ‘The Son of Man is Lord also of the Sabbath.” Mark 2:28.  

The Call of Christ Sets Up a Barrier Between Man and the World

“We must face up to the truth that the call of Christ does set up a barrier between man and his natural life. However, this barrier is no surly contempt for life, no legalistic piety, it is the life which is life indeed, the gospel, the person of Jesus Christ. By virtue of His incarnation, he has come between man and his natural life. There can be no turning back, for Christ bars the way. By calling us, He has cut us off from all immediacy with the things of this world. He wants to be the center; through Him, alone all things shall come to pass. He stands between God and us and for that very reason He stands between us and all other men and things. He is the Mediator, not only between God and man, but between man and man, between man and reality.” – Bonhoeffer, Cost of Discipleship, 106. 

True Discipleship Completely Delivers Us From the Foul Idolatry of Pantheism

By cutting us off from all immediacy with the things of this world, from all immediacy with other man’s natural life, from all immediacy with other men, by establishing His Lordship an His Mediation over our lives, we are utterly and completely delivered from the foul idolatry of pantheism, which rests upon the opposite position of “oneness” with all that is.

Accepting the True Christ Means True Freedom and Individuality; Pantheism Means the Collapse of Freedom and Individuality

Pantheism means the end of the Christian economy, the collapse of freedom, the destruction of individuality. This is why the Servant of the Lord warned that the union of Protestantism with Spiritualism and Romanism would spell the destruction of liberty of conscience.

The True, Individual Christian Constitutes A Standing Threat To The Collectivism of Pantheism

The individual who stands alone in Christ constitutes a standing threat to the collectivism of pantheism. This is why there will be a universal death decree against the faithful, for the Sabbath is the sign of our union with the true, Biblical Christ. In addition, Satan, the Christ of the New Age, seeks the destruction of his arch-foe Christ, and all His followers. Therefore, every development in the rising tide of pantheism must be seen as a mortal threat to true liberty in Christ.

How very, very different true discipleship of the True, Biblical Christ is from the concocted, occultist, self-ginned “dream” pantheism of the New Age.

Clearly, the merger between spiritualism, or pantheism, in this case, and evangelicalism has taken place, in fulfillment of the warning of the servant of the Lord:

“The Protestants of the United States will be foremost in stretching their hands across the gulf to grasp the hand of spiritualism; they will reach over the abyss to clasp hands with the Roman power; and under the influence of this threefold union, this country will follow in the steps of Rome in trampling on the rights of conscience.” GC 588.

Evangelicalism and Spiritualism Have Clasped Hands With the Roman Power

Through Ecumenical Jihad, evangelicalism and spiritualism have clasped hands with the Roman power. Already the drive is under way to ultimately trample on the rights of conscience. Now evangelical leaders are promoting the Ten Commandments Day, and were held on May 7, 2006, a Sunday, starting what may become a drive ultimately to pass a National Sunday Law. Step by step humanity has been led down this road of accepting the New Age Christ, who will appear one day soon as Christ in stunning portrayal along the lines of the description in Revelation 1: 13-15. (See GC 624).

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