The World--A Reflection of the Church

The Sin of Adultery

By Gary Amirault

The Bible contains the writings of several men who seem very difficult to understand. The church has always had a difficult time with these men's writings. And yet we know all Scripture is profitable to those who exercise themselves with them. One of these men whose writings are difficult to understand, is Ezekiel. He says many things that are difficult to understand. His visions seem so bizarre, complex, and strong.

Paul, was another of those writers who, at times, almost wrote as if he was driven mad with his jealousy for his converts. I will quote both of these men in this article, which may make the writing of this article difficult enough. But what will make this article even more difficult is that I feel driven by the same passion and vision these men had. I really think I understand what they are saying. I can see through their madness and see their passion, which makes them appear almost bizarre to many eyes. Believe me when I say, these two men would not be welcomed in most of today's churches scattered across this globe.

While writing this article, I came to grips with the difficulty of trying to express the powerful truths these men saw. As I wrote, I thought to myself, "Many will consider this the writing of a madman. Few will really understand and few will be affected by these words." Nevertheless, I write . . . for the few who are given ears to hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches. Below, the reader will find Chapters 8 and 9 of the book of Ezekiel. Please read them slowly and carefully. As you read the chapters, at first, do not apply anything you might read to anything beyond yourself. Judge yourself first! And then allow the Spirit to rise up and let you see the magnitude of the vision which extends far beyond the individual soul and the nation of Israel.

Ezek 8:1 (NKJV) And it came to pass in the sixth year, in the sixth [month], on the fifth [day] of the month, as I sat in my house with the elders of Judah sitting before me, that the hand of the Lord God fell upon me there.
2 Then I looked, and there was a likeness, like the appearance of fire--from the appearance of His waist and downward, fire; and from His waist and upward, like the appearance of brightness, like the color of amber.
3 He stretched out the form of a hand, and took me by a lock of my hair; and the Spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven, and brought me in visions of God to Jerusalem, to the door of the north gate of the inner [court], where the seat of the image of jealousy [was], which provokes to jealousy.
4 And behold, the glory of the God of Israel [was] there, like the vision that I saw in the plain.
5 Then He said to me, "Son of man, lift your eyes now toward the north." So I lifted my eyes toward the north, and there, north of the altar gate, was this image of jealousy in the entrance.
6 Furthermore He said to me, "Son of man, do you see what they are doing, the great abominations that the house of Israel commits here, to make Me go far away from My sanctuary? Now turn again, you will see greater abominations."
7 So He brought me to the door of the court; and when I looked, there was a hole in the wall.
8 Then He said to me, "Son of man, dig into the wall"; and when I dug into the wall, there was a door.
9 And He said to me, "Go in, and see the wicked abominations which they are doing there."
10 So I went in and saw, and there--every sort of creeping thing, abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel, portrayed all around on the walls.
11 And there stood before them seventy men of the elders of the house of Israel, and in their midst stood Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan. Each man had a censer in his hand, and a thick cloud of incense went up.
12 Then He said to me, "Son of man, have you seen what the elders of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in the room of his idols? For they say, `The Lord does not see us, the Lord has forsaken the land.' "
13 And He said to me, "Turn again, [and] you will see greater abominations that they are doing."
14 So He brought me to the door of the north gate of the Lord's house; and to my dismay, women were sitting there weeping for Tammuz.
15 Then He said to me, "Have you seen [this], O son of man? Turn again, you will see greater abominations than these."
16 So He brought me into the inner court of the Lord's house; and there, at the door of the temple of the Lord, between the porch and the altar, [were] about twenty-five men with their backs toward the temple of the Lord and their faces toward the east, and they were worshiping the sun toward the east.
17 And He said to me, "Have you seen [this], O son of man? Is it a trivial thing to the house of Judah to commit the abominations which they commit here? For they have filled the land with violence; then they have returned to provoke Me to anger. Indeed they put the branch to their nose.
18 "Therefore I also will act in fury. My eye will not spare nor will I have pity; and though they cry in My ears with a loud voice, I will not hear them."
9:1 Then He called out in my hearing with a loud voice, saying, "Let those who have charge over the city draw near, each [with] a deadly weapon in his hand."
2 And suddenly six men came from the direction of the upper gate, which faces north, each with his battle-ax in his hand. One man among them [was] clothed with linen and had a writer's inkhorn at his side. They went in and stood beside the bronze altar.
3 Now the glory of the God of Israel had gone up from the cherub, where it had been, to the threshold of the temple. And He called to the man clothed with linen, who [had] the writer's inkhorn at his side;
4 and the Lord said to him, "Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and cry over all the abominations that are done within it."
5 To the others He said in my hearing, "Go after him through the city and kill; do not let your eye spare, nor have any pity.
6 "Utterly slay old [and] young men, maidens and little children and women; but do not come near anyone on whom [is] the mark; and begin at My sanctuary." So they began with the elders who [were] before the temple.
7 Then He said to them, "Defile the temple, and fill the courts with the slain. Go out!" And they went out and killed in the city.
8 So it was, that while they were killing them, I was left [alone]; and I fell on my face and cried out, and said, "Ah, Lord God! Will You destroy all the remnant of Israel in pouring out Your fury on Jerusalem?"
9 Then He said to me, "The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah [is] exceedingly great, and the land is full of bloodshed, and the city full of perversity; for they say, `The Lord has forsaken the land, and the Lord does not see!'
10 "And as for Me also, My eye will neither spare, nor will I have pity, [but] I will recompense their deeds on their own head."
11 Just then, the man clothed with linen, who [had] the inkhorn at his side, reported back and said, "I have done as You commanded me."

The sixteenth chapter of Ezekiel likens Jerusalem which represents God's leadership, as a whore who "erected her shrine at the head of every road, and built your high place in every street." "an adulterous wife who takes strangers instead of her own husband. Now these passages clearly speak of Israel, and more importantly, Jerusalem. The judgments which Ezekiel spoke about certainly came upon this land and the city Jerusalem. But the book of Ezekiel is a highly spiritual book. The story of Israel and Jerusalem are for examples, types, symbols, and aids to help us discern spiritual truths. I encourage all of you to read the first half of the book of Ezekiel in the near future. But for now, let's look at one more short passage before we connect these passages with the subject of "spiritual adultery."

Ezek 14:1 (NKJV) Now some of the elders of Israel came to me and sat before me.
2 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying,
3 "Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their hearts, and put before them that which causes them to stumble into iniquity. Should I let Myself be inquired of at all by them?
4 "Therefore speak to them, and say to them, `Thus says the Lord God: "Everyone of the house of Israel who sets up his idols in his heart, and puts before him what causes him to stumble into iniquity, and then comes to the prophet, I the Lord will answer him who comes, according to the multitude of his idols,
5 "that I may seize the house of Israel by their heart, because they are all estranged from Me by their idols." '
6 "Therefore say to the house of Israel, `Thus says the Lord God: "Repent, turn away from your idols, and turn your faces away from all your abominations.
7 "For anyone of the house of Israel, or of the strangers who dwell in Israel, who separates himself from Me and sets up his idols in his heart and puts before him what causes him to stumble into iniquity, then comes to a prophet to inquire of him concerning Me, I the Lord will answer him by Myself.

As you go through this article, keep some of these images in mind: walls, high places on every street, idols in the heart, God's people as a whoring, adulterous wife. Be certain that you do not look beyond the condition of your own heart upon the first reading of this article. Only after a thorough examination of one's own heart should one look at how wide spread this condition has become.

Who can deny that the family unit is falling apart? Divorce is on the rise. Live-in relationships are being accepted as a normal form of lifestyle whether it be heter or homosexual. Adultery is ever increasing and it seems, based on watching the lives of some of our recent Presidents, that we accept adultery in the lives of those who we vote to lead us into the future.

Now most Christians would say that this is the way of the world. Christians do not believe in nor practice adultery. Christians support ministries such as Promise Keepers and Focus on the Family which stress the importance of a healthy family life and the virtue of fidelity in marriage.

Yet the statistics seem to prove otherwise. Bill McCartney, founder of the Promise Keepers organization in his audio tape entitled "What is a Promise Keeper," quotes the following statistic pertaining to Christian ministers: 37% of the ministers surveyed acknowledged they had "inappropriate sexual relations with someone in the church." (The statistic doesn't seem to include sexual relations with those "outside" their church.) Now my question is this: "If this is the condition of the leaders of Christianity, those who spend hours upon hours in prayer and study, counseling their constituents not to engage in adultery, then what might be the state of affairs among their congregations? And how does this state of affairs affect their children? From Resurrection Magazine we read "An analysis of Planned Parenthood's clinic visit records highlights a dismal truth. Nearly 35,000 medical charts from fourteen affiliates coast-to-coast revealed that 62% of the girls receiving abortion identified themselves as Evangelical Christian. Another 20% professed to be either Catholic or Orthodox. Of those 82%, a full 76% identified their local church membership and pastor! The notion that it is primarily "rank heathens" or "flaming liberals" who are aborting their future away simply doesn't hold up. The scandal of Planned Parenthood has become the scandal of Christian churches. Sowing the wind, they have reaped the whirlwind (Hos. 8:7)."

While the illegitimate children of the children of Christians all over christendom are falling into unmarked graves, the stars of the heavens (church leadership) are falling in ever increasing proportions into the sin-bed of adultery.

How is it that the church can so easily see the sins of the world and yet cannot see our own? How can we accuse the unbeliever for the very same things we do? And how do we justify our throwing the stones? What makes us think that God will soon fly us away from this stinking world and pronounce judgment upon the unbelieving world while pardoning His own people for the very same sins? Do not the Scriptures declare that judgment will begin at the house of the Lord? And if we reap the same judgment we expect the world to receive any day, why are we not trembling?

Well, I personally believe the church-at-large has gone mad and can no longer reason. It has become blind to its mountain of sin and nothing short of the judgment of God will bring the proper correction within the church. God's judgments are always for correction. However, the church does not believe that. The church teaches that God's judgments are His vengeance, His retribution, His finally getting even with His enemies. Well, if that is the case, then let us look at what will happen to the church, contrary to what its leaders have been selling (yes, selling!) to the church as the gospel truth.

Before we look at the judgment of the church, let us try to discover how the church could possibly come to the condition where it hates the world and those who are in it to the point of looking forward to making a quick escape from it, while the world suffers the Great Wrath of God. (I am referring to the doctrine of the pre-trib rapture, a teaching which a large part of the fundamentalist evangelical church embraces.)

I think any unbiased person would see little difference between a typical church-goer and a non-Christian--perhaps there might be more self-righteousness and pride in the church-goer. Often, when trying to point this out to an average Christian, immediately the walls go up and instead of being meek and humble, up would go the walls. One of the first lines of defense is usually something like, "Not all who say they are Christians are actually Christians," or, "Our church or denomination is not like most denominations." Another good one goes something like this: "The devil is always after the church and God understands that." Here's another good self-justifier: "You are the accuser of the brethren and therefore I don't have to see if there is any validity to what you are saying." I imagine the Pharisees of old used that one on Jesus. Of course the best one, (because there is an element of truth in it) is: "Christians aren't perfect, just forgiven." Many fundamentalists and evangelicals would also disassociate themselves from Roman Catholics and Orthodox which would, according to them, account for much of the bad reputation of the church. But the leading evangelists and spokespersons of evangelicalism such as Billy Graham, Chuck Colson, Bill Bright, etc., see the Roman Catholic church as a part of the church. Billy Graham and most evangelists like himself send millions of those who "made decisions for Christ" back to the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches. In short, the excuses are very thin whitewash, which do not hide the hypocrisy very well. The end of this continuous whitewash is that an average human being sees very little difference between a Christian and any other human being.

The Southern Baptist Convention recently set a boycott of Disney Productions because of its anti-Christian and pro-homosexual position. Disney is finally being shown for the New Age spirit which it has had since its inception. The reason it has taken all these years for Christians to see this can only be accounted for by the fact that the church is much more "of the world" than it cares to admit. But before it points its finger at a worldly organization which does not know its "right hand from its left," how is it that the Southern Baptist Conference cannot see the fact that many of its leaders and constituents are Masons, whose magazine is even entitled "New Age," is not equally abominable!? How can the Southern Baptist organization hail Billy Graham as perhaps the greatest Protestant leader, when he sends thousands of his converts back to the Roman Catholic church which is full of child-molesting priests, homosexuals, lesbians, people who worship the dead, call a cracker the very body of Jesus Christ, and practice a host of abominable things. When will leading Evangelical organizations begin to see, for example, that even Mickey Mouse (the mouse was an unclean symbol in the Bible) isn't as kosher as he appears. Can they not see that these Scriptures in Ezekiel describe the church far more than they could ever describe worldly organizations such as Disney? (By the way, These symbols, Mickey mouse and Donald Duck, which the church almost made its mascots, are now being used by Disney to promote homosexuality.)

The fact of the matter is, the church is as sick as the world. One person I was discussing this problem with on the Internet blamed the church's problem on "secular humanism." Give me a break! The church-at-large simply refuses to acknowledge that perhaps she, herself, is in fact the real problem.

Well, now let's see if we can track down how the institution called "church" got into this condition. We find the condition of adultery a serious problem for the church right from the beginning. We find Paul, in 2 Corinthians, sounding almost like a madman trying to explain something very crucial, which he perhaps felt he wasn't getting through to one of the early congregations of believers, the Corinthian assembly.

"Oh, that you would bear with me in a little folly-and indeed you do bear with me. For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. For I have betrothed you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. 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! For I consider that I am not at all inferior to the most eminent apostles." 2 Corinthians 11:1-5 NKJV)

Further in the chapter, Paul sounds even more mad. He sounds like a jealous lover, and that is exactly what he was. He was fighting for the very life of the church because it was right at the door of committing spiritual adultery. Beginning in verse 16, he continues in his "folly:"

"I say again, let no one think me a fool. If otherwise, at least receive me as a fool, that I may boast a little. Seeing that many boast according to the flesh, I also will boast. For you put up with it if one devours you, if one takes from you, if one exalts himself, if one strikes you on the face. To our shame I say that we were too weak for that! But in whatsoever anyone is bold-I speak foolishly-I am bold also. Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they seed of Abraham? So am I. Are they ministers of Christ?--I speak as a fool-I am more: in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequently, in deaths often."

He continues in his boasting almost like a madman into Chapter 12. What drove Paul to act so, in his own words, foolishly? The bride, who Paul was raising up, was being seduced by those who were preaching "another Jesus, another spirit, another gospel!!!" These false messages were causing Paul's converts to follow false images of Christ and so commit spiritual adultery. Paul writes and acts like a mad lover trying to keep from losing his loved one and that is exactly what was happening.

Those deceiving the Corinthians were Hebrews, and more than Hebrews, they were very important ones coming from Jerusalem itself. This is why Paul compares himself with them trying to persuade these Greeks that he was every bit all that these others were and more. You see, the Scriptures declare that salvation is of the Jews. (1 John 4:22) Paul felt compelled to declare he was every bit a Jew of Jews, since these Corinthians were obviously being deceived by the credentials these seducers were presenting.

This problem Paul faced in Corinth was a problem which haunted Paul throughout his ministry everywhere he went. To the Galatians after a brief greeting he immediately addresses the exact same problem. He said:

"I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed.

Paul doesn't stop with this invective. In Galatians 5 verse 12 he becomes even more mad, to the point where the King James translators felt they needed to hide what Paul was really saying. The New King James reads:

"I could wish those who trouble you would even cut themselves off!"

Now when we use a sentence like the one above in English, we picture being separated from each other, but Paul's subject is circumcision, which was the initiation ritual for a male to enter into covenant relationship with God under the Mosaic Law. Of those who were compelling Paul's converts to go back under the law of which circumcision is the first step, Paul says he wished they wouldn't stop at just cutting of their foreskin. He wished they would go all the way and cut off their penis so they couldn't reproduce their false gospel! Better translations than the King James Version make this very clear.

Paul, in Galatians, is very explicit. He speaks of marriage and bearing the fruit of marriage, which is children. This letter is addressed to the "churches or ecclesia" in Galatia. They were "called in the grace of Christ," (Gal. 1:6) yet they were turning away from Christ to another, which would mean they would bear another's children. (I am speaking spiritually.) Paul also spoke spiritually, and for those Christians who have been taught the literal approach to the Bible, unfortunately, most of the Bible won't make much sense because the whole Bible from cover to cover is a spiritual book and it's true message is locked. Only the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth, can unlock the true message of its pages. Unfortunately, churches such as the Roman Catholic church take advantage of this by telling its people only the priests can explain what this Book actually means. They replace the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth with loyalty to the Roman Catholic church, the Pope, his priestcraft, Mary, dead Saints, relics, and a host of others idols which will keep the people in religious darkness. Only the priesthood ordained by the Pope, the mythical successor of Peter, can explain what the Book means. Back to Paul.

Paul, a man, speaks of his labor for the Galatians as if he birthed them as a woman:

"I am afraid for you, lest I have labored for you in vain...My little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you." (Gal. 4:11, 19) This is very symbolic language, or is it? Is there a deep truth about the fact that these churches who had gladly received the gospel, the seed, and treated Paul as if he were Jesus Christ Himself, had not yet had Christ formed in them due to this "zealous courtship" from these other high-powered teachers? His strong, almost madman like warnings are perhaps best summarized in the powerful statement, "A little leaven leavens the whole lump." (Gal. 5:9) Paul was saying that if they bought a piece of this gospel which these other teachers were peddling, the whole thing would be ruined.

Galatians Chapter four shows clearly how blind the modern church has become. Paul shows the proper way to read the Bible. He takes the two children of Abraham one from a bondwoman and one from a freewoman, one according to the flesh and the other through promise and tells us they are "symbolic." Then Paul goes even further and tells us that the Mosaic covenant or law is actually a woman who gives birth to children of bondage and it is represented by Hagar. The freewoman is really a spiritual city which is the mother of us all. Then Paul quotes the Scripture, "Cast out the bondwoman and her son, for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman." (Gal. 4:30 quoting Gen 21:10,12) This is how the Bible should be read and interpreted. Paul did this under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. How often have I heard from Christians, "You can't do that to the Bible, you are spiritualizing!" Well, those who are not able to see beyond the types and shadows of the Bible are still babes and cannot eat strong meat or even worse . . .they have been aborted and someone has to, as Paul put it, "labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you."

The Roman Catholic church ultimately places "church tradition" above the Scriptures. The battle cry of Protestantism in its fight against the horrible abuses perpetrated by the Roman Catholic church through mixing tradition with Scripture, is the motto "Sola Scriptura," that is, "Scripture alone." While this may seem to be a good practice, a banner which most of the Protestant church still waves, this principle has caused as much misunderstanding of the Scriptures as the Catholics with their "traditions of the church." You see, only by the spirit of revelation, can one do what Paul did with Hagar and her son and connect it with the Old Covenant. The Protestant church through its "Sola Scriptura" doctrine, has misinterpreted the scriptures as badly as the Roman Catholic church has added to Scripture! The letter must be spiritually discerned through the Spirit of Truth, the Spirit of revelation. While the Protestant, Pentecostal, and Charismatic church may give a little lip service to this truth, they have only taken small steps toward truly spiritually discerning and "rightly dividing the word." If the reader will not allow the spirit of revelation to be at work while reading the Scriptures, the Bible will benefit no more than any other "self-help" book. But with the spirit of revelation at work, the Bible becomes much more than something to memorize.

So then, the Bible plus "traditions of men" leads to error and Sola Scriptura also leads to error. The Scriptures must be opened by the Spirit of Revelation if we are going to come to the place of being able to see clearly enough to be able to worship the Father in Spirit and Truth. If you are being convicted right now by the Holy Spirit, stop reading, go to prayer, and ask Jesus to send you the Spirit of Truth Who will lead you into all truth. Don't continue reading. Go to prayer in humility and as a child. Put away your wisdom and ask that the mind of Christ be formed in you. Please do it now!

Back to the article. Those of you who have been Christians for any length of time, know that much of Paul's writings center on "grace through faith" for righteousness as opposed to works of the flesh or law-keeping. He sounds much different than James, Peter, and sometimes even Jesus. James with his "grace and works" seem to contradict what Paul was saying. Jesus, when He said He did not come to destroy the Law but to fulfill it, also, on the surface, seemed to say something different than Paul. Peter seemed to walk in something so different from Paul that Paul rebuked Him to his face. Paul was bold enough in the declaration of his gospel to say that if anyone preach another gospel, other than the one they received from him, that them be cursed!

Now hear this! These Galatians received the gospel seed from Paul as if he were Christ Himself. He called them "churches in Galatia." We are dealing with Christians here! And yet Paul, after begging, crying, pleading with these who he labored for . . . these very ones had, "become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace." (Gal. 5:4)

Now I am not going to quote the many dozens of Scriptures which declare an end to the Old Covenant and that we, as citizens of the New Jerusalem, have a new law, the Law of the Life in Christ Jesus. We are a new temple and a new priesthood. Jesus Christ is the High Priest and we are partakers of the New Covenant. We, Christians, have become a "royal priesthood." Millions of Christians really do not understand this, but in this article I cannot deal with this topic in any depth. (For those who want to study this further, write for the audio tapes Two Gospels, Which Laws to Keep, and the tracts New Covenant Versus Old Covenant and The Purpose of the Law. The topic of the present article is "spiritual adultery" and its reflection into the physical world.)

Paul likens the Old Covenant, a two-sided agreement between Yahweh and Israel, with Hagar and her son. What we call the Old Covenant is also called the Mosaic Covenant or the Mosaic Law. It consists of hundreds of laws, statutes, rituals and ordinances of which the capstone is what is commonly referred to as The Ten Commandments. Paul tells us to "cast out the bondwoman and her son" which is likened to the Mosaic Covenant. Now some of you are a little queasy right now. I just mentioned the ten commandments, those sacred words Christians for centuries have tried to put in schools, Congress buildings, into our legislative laws etc. We see this cornerstone proudly displayed in our Sunday school classes. Surely, we can't let such a good piece of the Old Covenant go! Sound like the children of Israel and that little snake on the pole which they didn't want to let go? (Look up the word "Nehushtan" in your concordance for a further explanation of what I am talking about. 2 Kings 18:4)

What does Paul say of the capstone of the written laws of Israel? In 2 Corinthians Chapter three, Paul again addresses the same subject with which we are dealing. He comes to the capstone of the Old Covenant, that part which was "written in stone," and called it the ministry of condemnation, the ministry of death. ( 2 Cor. 3:7) Paul said the glory which came from lawfully condemning someone was fading away even as he spoke. Its full end was right at the door which came to perfect fulfillment at the destruction of Jerusalem, the temple, the genealogical records, and the priesthood, along with every type and shadow contained in the Mosaic Law. (Destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in 70AD) The shadow was passing because the door to spiritual reality had been fully opened. Jesus Christ had prepared the way to the better things to come, the better covenant, the better priesthood, the better temple, etc. The penalty for breaking the Law was death. In Adam all died. All were under the death sentence. Jesus Christ, the last Adam became the substitute for all those who died in the first Adam. The fulfillment of the Mosaic Law really boiled down to an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, and a life for a life. Jesus Christ died for each person who died in the first Adam. How many is that? "In Adam all died." (2 Cor. 15:22) Now once He died for all, there was therefore no further need for the Mosaic system which was just a temporary arrangement until the "fullness of times." Jesus Christ sat at the right hand of the Father and brought forth what the Law of Moses pointed to.

Under the system of the types and shadows whose purpose was to help point the way to spiritual reality, Moses was typified as God Himself. As a matter of fact, the Scriptures tells us that Moses was as God to Pharaoh. (Ex. 7:1) But the Scriptures equally show us very plainly and prophetically that Moses and what he typified could not get us into the promised land. Moses died overlooking the promised land and as sign and truth to us. Christians must learn to rightly divide the word. The Bible even declares that no one knows where he was buried. This is very significant.

"A little leaven will leavens the whole lump." (Gal. 5:9) "Oh foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified. This only I want to learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh? Therefore he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, does He do it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?-- just as Abraham 'believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.' Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham. And the Scriptures, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, 'In you all the nations shall be blessed.' So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham. For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse!"

The curse of the law is death! Moses and his law is dead! You are no longer married to it. You are married to Jesus Christ!

But some would say, wait a minute, the Scriptures also say that the law was a "schoolmaster or tutor." We may not need the schoolmaster after school, but we still have within us what he taught us. Sorry, but the Greek behind "schoolmaster" does not refer to a teacher nor his teachings as we may have been taught. It was a term used to describe a person who walked a boy to school to protect him from possible danger, a guardian, so to speak. The King James Bible mistranslated that word. Some of the better translations have corrected this error. Yes! I did say error! And the King James Bible has many more serious errors just like this one, some of which involve key Christian doctrines!

Let's get down to business. When Christians come "under" anything from the Old Testament, whether it be the Ten Commandments, dietary laws, building "houses of the Lord" like church buildings, or add any other "do's and don'ts" from any other system of this world to the finished work of Christ, His Law of the Life in Christ Jesus, His new priesthood, His New Covenant, His New City, the mother of us all ... anything added to this is committing harlotry, fornicating with a dead person! Whether it be the dead Moses, or a living pastor who has seduced his followers into trusting in works of the flesh for salvation. I have been in over two hundred churches in my Christian walk and probably all of them have been involved with these dead works in some form or another! They were fornicating with death and producing still-born, diseased or illegitimate children. (I am speaking spiritually although the statistics from Bill McCartney and Planned Parenthood clinics seem to indicate it applies to the natural as well.)

Paul describes the difficulty of separating the things of the flesh and the things of the spirit. There is a war which wages within all new believers. In today's church system, few Christians seem to be winning this war on this side of the grave. He writes, "O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? (Romans 7:24)

Years ago, I heard a very graphic illustration on this verse of Scripture. The pastor, while preaching on this verse, pointed out that one of the penalties for crime in Biblical days was to take the victim of a crime, which resulted in the death of the victim, and chain the dead person to the one who killed him. The Romans did not believe in long prison terms. Can you picture yourself dragging a dead corpse, stinking, stiff, and cold, clinging to your body? How quickly we would all lose physical and emotional strength. Eventually we would go insane. The pastor who gave this illustration explained that this is what the reader of Paul's letter would see in their mind when Paul wrote that verse. I have heard other pastors say they heard the same illustration. I have not been able to document whether this was, in fact, a method used by the penal system in Jesus' day, but the illustration does point to a reality which a true believer faces. We should take what Paul is writing about in the light of this illustration. There are millions of people in the world who see Christians like this illustration, dragging about a dead corpse while madly claiming they are saints smelling with the fragrance of Jesus, who have passed from judgment to life, not realizing they smell from the filthy works of fornication with death itself! The very divisions in christendom come from adherences to different sets of "laws." A body divided cannot stand! We put on a front of unity, but it's a lie and the world knows it.

I cringe as I write about how often I used to hand out thousands of tracts to people on the street trying to "get them saved." How superficial I was! What made me think that sticking a piece of paper into the hands of a stranger, telling him I was giving him an opportunity to escape from an eternal barbecue prepared by my God, if only he would follow the "Roman road" and come to our church, would somehow bring him to Christ? But then, I was told that we had no time to prepare a person to receive from us. Any day now, Jesus was coming. And if we didn't save them soon, they were all going to hell. Can't you see the smell of dead works written all over this kind of thinking!? I couldn't see while I was under the spell of this harlot, who almost drove me to insanity trying to get my parents saved before the "Day of God's wrath." To my parents, I was a madman. They were concerned that I had gone insane and wondered if I needed hospitalization. My dear brother or sister; looking back at the thousands of tracts I handed out to strangers on the street, I see it now like thousands of "quick screws" - trying to produce life without a legal relationship. (Please pardon the expression, but it says it like it was.) I now see the mean spirit in which many Christians often give out tracts. A quick word, either accept it or go to hell. When I see this kind of evangelizing today, I see it as spiritual rape!

Recently, I got an E-mail from someone on the Internet who I do not know. Here is what it said: "You are a damn idiot bastard who is going to be the first one in hell, if there is such a place and there is any justice in the world." This man has never spoken to me. He doesn't know me. If he spent a little time with me, he would have discovered that I was technically a bastard and his words cut me very deeply. Is this the spirit of Christ? I have met many born-again Christians who are very quick to write people off, no patience, no relationship, no other time to truly love people with actions. Just a quick warning of "hell," job finished, and off to another. Christians, this is nothing short of spiritual rape! I had to plead guilty to this charge myself. (Better late than never.) Father please forgive us all for the things we do under the spirit of the whore, who rules over Christendom in the modern church.

I could spend a great deal of time illustrating the main message of this article "spiritual adultery in the church," but I have to come to a close. This sin will be judged and her judgment is found in the book of Revelation. This is a spiritual book and the sins in this book are spiritual as well. The lake of fire will properly deal with this sin for we read in Revelation 21:8,

But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murders, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death."

"I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. (John 15:5,6)

Please note these are branches "in Christ" which are thrown into the fire. They are not the unbelievers of the world! Vengeance-filled Christians picture the world's unbelievers burning in excruciating pain in this place for all eternity. I have read hundreds of tracts and handed out thousands warning the world of the wrath to come, never having understood that judgment really begins in the house of the Lord, and that the sins which God looks at are sins of the heart. "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery.' But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in the heart." (Matt. 5:27,28) People, while the church says she hates the world and can't wait to get out of it, the American church alone owns over a trillion dollars worth of stocks, bonds, mutual funds, church buildings, factories, missile manufacturing facilities, insurance companies, etc. A more spiritual inventory of her worldly possessions is found in Revelation 18:9-20. There are those who say it speaks of Rome, others say it's physical Jerusalem (which I don't disagree with), but on a much higher level, this passage perfectly describes christendom. If you have eyes to see, so be it. And if you are blind, but sincere of heart, pray, and the Father will send you the spirit of revelation and open your eyes.

In the meantime, for those of you who are beginning to see where the real judgment is coming to, it's time to repent, turn from our wicked ways (2 Chronicles 7:14), and ask for forgiveness from our Father and from those who we have offended. Then He will heal our land, that is, the world. There are supposedly 2 billion Christians of the face of the earth. What do you think would happen to the world if Christians truly saw our self-righteousness and the grossness of all our sins and went to the world with a broken and contrite heart asking for forgiveness of the horrible way we have treated the unbelievers of the world? I am reminded of Jacob's fateful meeting with Esau after his wrestling match with an "angel of the Lord."

I realize I have touched on many subjects in this article which have probably sparked a thousand questions. Due to the restraints of the size of this publication, I have to stay brief. We have produced audio tapes and other literature which deal with some of the questions which may be raised. We will (Father willing) write other articles which will open this up further. In the meantime, I encourage all of you to get the ways of the harlot out of you. This usually requires leaving the religious system you frequent for a season. (Or maybe forever.) Be washed of her filthiness, and return to the Bridegroom and live "under" the Law of the Life in Christ Jesus." "A new commandment I give you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another." (John 13:34) Obviously, we will not be able to do that apart from truly receiving experientially and not through Scripture memorization, the true love from Jesus Christ. One cannot receive the power of the new kingdom while covenanting and coming under the power of the old covenant under which is only death. Most of Christendom is not married to Jesus. She just uses His name. Come out from under her seducing spirit and be once again joined, engrafted into the True vine in which is abundant life and the true fruit of the Spirit. Those of you who are in born-again churches, do not think you are not under her power. This spirit is probably stronger in the so-called "born again" environment than in dead mainline denominations. The Pentecostal and Charismatic movements are also by no means excluded from this harlotry, even though they claim to be "filled with the Holy Ghost." There is probably not a Christian including myself, who does not need to cry out to the Holy Spirit for a real good, honest heart examination. How quickly we run to doctors when our physical heart seems to be having problems. Yet in the spirit, when our hearts are not full of love, mercy, and the ministry of reconciliation, we are in spiritual danger, yet we do not run to the throne of grace for healing. We run to quacks, pastors playing god, "anointed" ministries selling potions and the newest Ten Steps to Prosperous Living, and other sorceries too numerous to mention. Repent means to turn . . . turn your heart to the Father of us all. May we all be delivered from our love affair with death itself!