The Church: The Preachers Of La-o-di-cea

"Because you say, I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing'- and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked." Revelation 3:17

    The prosperity gospel has spawned a new breed of preachers who preach a dangerous and seductive Message that promotes the worship and Devotion to fleshly lusts and Devotion to men and not to God! It sounds good and it definitely looks good, why, who wouldn't want to drive around in a Bentley, wear a diamond encrusted Rolex, have a six figure income, million dollar digs and an entourage of yes-men, body guards and stooges to do your dirty work? In the TV show The Preachers of LA, these so called "Bishops of Bling" are portrayed as men of God held in high esteem because of their ability to draw a crowd and preach the word of Goaud! (a Pentecostal two syllable word for God)

    Poor old Jesus wouldn't have held a candle to these boys who jump and sway the masses with their new, all about me gospel of get all you can, and can all you get! No talk of self denial, sacrifice and death by crucifixion, and oh no, don't mention the blood because it will scare the big tithers away! Keep the drama flowing and the image gleaming in the people's eyes, blinding them to any glimpse of truth, why, someone might accidentally get saved in this madness. The whole nation and even most parts of the civilized world have been led astray by this perverted and dangerous gospel that ultimately denies the word of God and nullifies the redeeming work of the cross of Christ. No repentance, no forgiveness, no forgiveness, no salvation, and so a multitude of lost church folks emerges who worship man and the promotion of self and not God. Charlatans, snake oil salesmen and false profits have infiltrated the true church of the living God and replaced the basic principles of discipleship with the art of salesmanship and false signs and lying wonders.

    With the rise of this brood of vipers, the true church of the Lord Jesus Christ has been polluted with false doctrine, a perverted and dangerous gospel, and the solid rock of true revelation has been lost to a generation who have chosen to follow these false shepherds onto the broad road that leads to destruction and damnation! The world has seen this travesty and the church has been made into a laughingstock for mockers to poke fun at anything that resembles the ministry of the Lord Jesus, making it hard for the true believer to preach the gospel and make disciples. What is the real tragedy is the fact that very few have even dared to renounce this bunch of false prophets and regain the spotless image of the true Bride of Christ, the most powerful entity in the universe! 

     "Thus says the Lord God to the shepherds: Woe to the shepherds of Israel who feed themselves! Should not the shepherds feed the flocks? "You eat the fat and clothe yourselves with the wool; you slaughter the fatlings, but you do not feed the flock. "The weak you have not strengthened, nor have you healed those who were sick, nor bound up the broken, nor brought back what was driven away, nor sought what was lost; but with force and cruelty you have ruled them." Ezekiel 34:2-4

A DEN OF THIEVES

    Then Jesus went into the temple of God and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. And He said to them, "It is written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer,' but you have made it a den of thieves.' " Matthew 21:12,13

    What do you think Jesus would do today if He walked into one of our shining multi-million dollar sanctuaries filled with book stores, CD's and coffee shops, not to mention our smooth merchandising tactics for selling anything from water from the Jordan river to anointing oil from Jerusalem. Why you can get anything you want from these new on-line super stores for Jesus, from crosses to crafts, even pictures of our Lord Himself, but what would He would do with all of this nonsense? I can tell you one thing, that's why He isn't in most of our assemblies, because of all the hype and promotion of things pertaining to rotten, stinking fleshly desires and lust! 

    God's holy bride has gone a whoring after the world and defiled herself with lusts and pleasures, forgetting Who her Husband is, she has spread her legs to the world! There is absolutely no respect nor honor for God or His Word in most of our services and His presence has long since gone from our assemblies filled with half-hearted pew-sitters and seekers, who if they heard one anointed gospel Message they would run for the hills in fear of the convicting power of God's Holy Spirit. Just say it ain't so, but the proofs in the pudding, the reality is this: we have grieved the Holy Spirit away because of our worldly attitude and our ungodly handling of the things of God and we have invited the world into our assemblies for the sake of church growth and have made no attempt to make disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ!

    There is absolutely no fear of God, nor reverence for His presence as we waltz in to our comfortable auditoriums, sipping our Starbucks coffee and flippantly joking and talking about our success in business, sports or anything else but spiritual things. Our kids have no respect for God or their elders and sit in the back and mock and joke about whatever, being handed over by their parents to un-trained and in some cases lost babysitters who entertain them with ungodly music and games to hold their attention. Do you think God doesn't see, or grieve over our excessive Devotion to the world and its ways? It's no wonder our children are committing violent acts of aggression, mass murdering their peers and teachers and committing suicide by the thousands, even adolescents who are making suicide pacts with one another out of boredom. May God have mercy on us!

    "Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to Baal,, and walk after other gods whom you do not know, and then come and stand before Me in this house which is called by My name, and say, 'We are delivered to do all these abominations'? "Has this house which is called by My name, become a den of thieves in your eyes? Behold, I, have seen it," says the Lord." Jeremiah 7:9-11

ICHABOD, THE GLORY HAS DEPARTED

    "But go now to My place which was in Shiloh, where I set My name at the first, and see what I did to it because of the wickedness of My people Israel." Jeremiah 7:12

    The prophet Jeremiah was speaking of what God had done to the house of Eli in Shiloh where His corrupt sons, Hophni and Phinehas were priests which was a type and shadow of the time of Jesus where the Pharisees were in charge of the temple. This story in I Samuel speaks of a true church, the mother of Samuel, Hannah who was barren until she prayed for a son, Samuel who was dedicated to God as first-fruits and represented the Christ birthed in the midst of an ungodly and corrupt priesthood.

    Because of the corruption of the sons of Eli who represent a fat, apathetic and lethargic priesthood with absolutely no spiritual discernment, and the fact that Eli would not discipline or restrain his lost sons from stealing the offerings and bedding the temple prostitutes, the whole thing was an absolute travesty like it is today in the world of mega churches and false prophets. Samuel on the other hand was a true prophet of God called to speak the un-compromised word of the living God to the backslidden nation of Israel. The danger of allowing a corrupt leadership to stand in the very Headship of the Lord Jesus Christ unabated is because it gives our enemies opportunity to enter our assemblies to rob, kill and destroy, and because we have been lied to about submitting to our authorities," they have been allowed to pollute and pervert to the point it has grieved away the Spirit of God!

    We would do well to look at what God did to Israel and the house of Eli because of the on-going corruption of the very priesthood of God. First of all the Philistines, a type of the powers of darkness were allowed access to steal the ark of God which carried His divine presence, and to defeat Israel by destroying their forces and ultimately bringing to pass the prophecy that Samuel delivered to Eli that his house would be judged, thus his sons were killed, he fell over backwards and broke his neck and died, and his daughter-in-law delivered his grandson Ichabod, (inglorious or shameful) only to die, and the glory and presence of God departed and Israel's enemies prevailed! May God have mercy on the true church of the living God today and dispel the darkness that has invaded the assemblies of the righteous by ejecting this brood of corrupt leadership from standing in the Headship of the Lord Jesus Christ!

    "And now, because you have done all these works." says the Lord, "and I spoke to you, rising up early and speaking, but you did not hear, and I called you, but you did not answer, "therefore I will do to the house which is called by My name in which you trust and to this place which I gave to you and your fathers, as I have done to Shiloh, (the house of Eli) "And I will cast you out of My sight, as I have cast out all your brethren." Jeremiah 7:13-15

Your servant in Christ, Timothy Laughlin
  Minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ