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Let no man take your
crown!
Frank Borg
Since the death of Mr.
Herbert W. Armstrong in
January 1986, Satan has
leveled a tireless
attack against God’s
Church aimed at
deceiving and
spiritually destroying
as many of God’s
begotten children as
possible. He has blinded
the Laodiceans (Rev.
3:17) and caused the
most part of the
remainder of God’s
begotten children to be
driven into a state of
deep spiritual sleep
(Matt. 25:5). Despite
Satan’s astounding
success in deceiving
tens of thousands of
God’s people in recent
years, God’s Work and
goal will not be
thwarted! Those few deep
within the inner court
of His temple,
comprising His remnant
Work, continue to be
spiritually alert and
perceptive to what is
happening to His Church
in this end-time (Matt.
16:18).
Vanity – always a
problem!
Over the last two
decades or so, Satan has
succeeded in fragmenting
God’s Church into
hundreds of splits and
splinter groups – each a
counterfeit of the one
organization through
which God is working and
delivering Truth. A
number of men who
today lead these
organizations have
meanwhile appropriated
various titles to
themselves - including
apostle, prophet, That
Prophet - each giving
his own interpretation
as to why they feel
these titles pertain to
themselves! Essentially,
vanity has motivated and
tricked these men into
exalting themselves,
believing that it is
their divine right to (mis)appropriate
various scriptures to
their end and to think
that God will honor
their unbiblical
teachings and reckless
advice which they impose
on their followers!
These same men also
reject deeper
understanding which
means they are rejecting
God, His voice and His
revelation. They are
essentially telling God
they do not need Him,
nor want to listen to
Him, while alienating
themselves and their
followers from deeper
Biblical understanding
being given by the Head
of the Church, Jesus
Christ. In so doing,
these leaders are
teaching error! This is
a grave mistake and each
will be held
accountable!
Interestingly, as these
leaders assign
themselves titles and
responsibilities which
are not theirs to take,
they manage to hoodwink,
seduce and hypnotize the
‘faithful’ who form part
of their organization.
It is weird to see so
many blindly and
unquestionably submit to
the unbiblical requests
of these same physical
leaders. By doing so,
individuals deepen the
loyalty toward a man
(their physical leader),
while unwittingly push
God into second, third
or worse place. These
actions mean that so
many individuals are
digging themselves into
a deeper spiritual hole
because of a failure to
test their leaders
(Rev. 2:2), and prove
all things that are
being taught in their
organizations (1 Thess.
5:21). Instead of making
a stand for God and a
stand for that which is
right, most seem to
prefer to go along with
the prevailing current
they find themselves in,
presumably because it is
easier or more
convenient to do so but
also because the
leadership has seduced
them with craftiness and
cunning words (Eph.
4:14; 2 Cor. 11:13-14).
Lulling God’s people
into this sort of
complacency is possibly
the number one trap
which Satan uses in his
effort to destroy God’s
Family and His Work
today! It is Satan’s
tactic to shift people’s
faith in God to faith in
a man! In doing so, most
of God’s people are
shamefully refuting
vital admonition given
throughout the pages of
the Bible. Most have
carelessly brushed aside
the oft repeated
biblical warning to “Let
no man deceive
you”! (1 John 3:7; Eph
4:14; Eph 5:6; Mark 13:5
etc). Satan is a
master at his job, and
he won’t give up!
Learning lessons from
Church history
What is equally alarming
is that many begotten
children of God have
forgotten a crucial
lesson from Church
history. Scriptures
confirm that Church
leaders in Ephesus, the
first of God’s seven
Churches, claimed to be
apostles when they were
not (Rev. 2:2)! Vanity
demanded that these
leaders in Ephesus
propelled themselves to
preeminence among the
people of God. These
rebellious leaders
administered false
teachings and took it
upon themselves to
suspend brethren from
the fellowship of God’s
people for not adhering
to their unbiblical
teachings! Note the
following scriptures,
outlining this problem
faced by those in the
Ephesus Church:
“I wrote unto the
Church, but Diotrephes,
who loveth to have the
preeminence among
them receiveth us
not. Wherefore, if I
come, I will remember
his deeds which he
doeth, prating against
us with malicious words:
and not content
therewith, neither doth
he himself receive the
brethren, and forbiddeth
them that would, and
casteth them out of the
Church”. (3 Jn. 1:9-10).
Many in the Church in
Ephesus went right along
with the teachings of
their misguided leaders.
Human nature teaches us
that brethren who did
this wanted to hang onto
their leaders coattails
and be in their ‘good
books’ for personal
physical gain – albeit
temporary and irrelevant
in the grand scheme of
things and in God’s
eyes. They trusted these
leaders ‘in faith’ –
blind faith!
Clearly, there were
those in Ephesus who
were not spiritually
alert or perceptive
enough to see what was
going on in God’s Church
at the time! They
submitted to their
leaders without question
or hesitation even
though their leaders
were evidently not
following Christ but
their own selfish
desires and agendas. God
tells us to follow a
human leader only as
that leader follows
Christ (1 Cor.
11:1). That is
God’s government in
action! God doesn’t tell
us to follow a man
irrespective of what he
says and does. That
would be foolish (Prov.
14:7)! A true leader of
God must follow Him
closely and hear His
voice! It is our
individual
responsibility to
ascertain this by always
keeping God in the
forefront of our minds –
proving all things and
testing what our
physical leaders teach
to ensure they are
following God and
accepting deeper
understanding! Few in
Ephesus remembered this
vital lesson – to watch,
pray, prove, test and
place their faith in God
and not in a man. Notice
how God praised the
faithful in Ephesus who
looked to Him, and not
to men:
“I know thy works, and
thy labour, and thy
patience, and how
thou canst not bear them
which are evil: and thou
hast tried them which
say they are apostles,
and are not, and hast
found them liars:
And hast borne, and hast
patience, and for my
name’s sake hast
labored, and hast not
fainted…to him who
overcometh will I give
to eat of the tree of
life” (Rev. 2:2-3, 7).
Test your leaders
The faithful in Ephesus
‘tried’ their leaders!
Strong’s indicates that
this means they ‘tested,
scrutinized, examined
and proved’ their
leaders! This lesson in
testing and examining
the leadership should be
learnt by all! We should
all be diligently doing
this today and always,
ensuring we do not fall
into one of Satan’s more
successful traps which
we are here discussing.
This problem we read
about during the Ephesus
Church is history –
our history – and we
must know it lest it
repeat itself! We should
all know, remember and
learn from Church
history so that the
negative does not repeat
itself in our lives!
None of God’s people
should have any excuse!
All of God’s begotten
children need to be
cognizant of the fact
that most of the seven
Church’s of God
throughout history went
off track. Their leaders
started off well, but
many veered off their
spiritual course (Rev. 2
& 3). Why? Because these
leaders and God’s people
did not learn the
lessons from history! To
stick with God, begotten
members throughout
history had to
constantly and
continually test their
leaders and prove all
things to ensure that
they remained with the
Trunk. God pleads with
us to take heed of this
vital lesson and ensure
that we ‘try the
spirits’ whether they
are of God or not. There
are many that claim to
be used by God and are
not (1 John 4:1) so we
should beware of this
number one trap used by
Satan!
Don’t allow yourself to
be deceived
The Bible is replete
with scriptures
admonishing us not to
allow any man to deceive
us. Let us take a look
at only a few of these
examples:
-
“Little children, let no
man deceive you” (1 John
3:7).
-
“That we henceforth be
no more children, tossed
to and fro, and carried
about with every wind of
doctrine, by the sleight
[fraud] of men,
and cunning craftiness,
whereby they lie in wait
to deceive” (Eph 4:14)
-
“Let no man deceive you
with vain words” (Eph.
5:6).
-
“Take heed lest any man
deceive you” (Mark
13:5).
-
“Take heed that no man
deceive you” (Matt.
24:4).
“Be ye followers of me,
even as I also am of
Christ” (1 Cor. 11:1).
If Christ isn’t leading
a Church, we should be
weary: “Go from the
presence of a foolish
man, when thou perceive
not in him the lips of
knowledge” (Prov. 14:7).
God calls a leader
‘foolish’ if he refuses
Biblical Truth which is
brought to him! Wouldn’t
it follow that those who
follow this type of man
are also foolish?
Remember that God’s
Church is not stagnant,
but continually grows in
grace and knowledge (2
Peter 3:18). His one
Church is set apart by
Truth (John 17:17). The
onus is on each
individual to test their
respective physical
leaders and prove
whether what they teach
is Truth! We are living
in serious, dangerous
and urgent times! Prove
where Christ is working
by searching for His
Truth. Above all, prove
everything with the Word
of God! You have nothing
to lose but much to gain
by testing your leaders
and proving ALL things!
Let no man take your
crown! Remember that one
of Satan’s more
successful traps is to
deceive the leadership –
that way he can easily
get to you!
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