The Religious Poisoning of America, by Pastor Bob Hallstrom: Poison is defined by Webster as: �To corrupt. Our youth are poisoned with false notions of honor, or with pernicious maxims of government.� (Webster�s Dictionary, 1st Ed. 1828)
From this definition we learn that poison is not always something we take internally but may also be something that affects the brain. When our minds are poisoned with maxims of religion which are contrary to the true religion of God, then we have poisoned brains. Unfortunately, in this day and age we are constantly bombarded with political, economic, and religious poisoning.
When it comes to religious poisoning, most of us spent our youth gong to Sunday school, along with years in the pews, during which time we were bombarded with a religious ideology which is simply not supported by the Scriptures. One of the reasons for this poisoning is the manner in which Sunday school is taught and sermons are presented in the pulpits of America.
A few years ago I turned on the TV set one Sunday morning and a prominent TV preacher announced that he was going to take his message from James 1:1-8. I was most interested in this because I wanted to hear what he had to say about the first verse which states: �James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting.� (James 1:1)
We have all been told at least once that although this book is addressed to Israel, it has since become applicable to us gentiles. But being a little smarter than I was in days gone by, I have since learned to read for myself and have been able to determine that the Epistle was plainly written to Israel in their dispersion, and nowhere in the epistle does it state it is now to be applied to the gentiles, any more than the epistle to the Hebrews can be applied to anyone other than Israelites.
I wanted to listen to this TV evangelist because I wanted to see if his mind was as poisoned as mine had been, and whether or not he had found the antidote.
Well I am here to tell you that it turned out to be worse than I expected. He did manage to begin by reading the first eight verses, but then he went into a dissertation on something which I cannot even begin to remember, and only once in the next half-hour did he eve refer to the verses which he had read. In other words this very prominent national televangelist spent 30 minutes poisoning the minds of his listeners.
In spite of the fact that poll after poll tells us that over 90% of Americans claim to be Christians, yet we still hear the same thing over and over and over again: �Do you know Jesus as your personal savior? If you don�t won�t you bow your head at this time and ask Him to come into your heart?�
It seems to me that since over 90% of the people in this country already claim to know Jesus, that the majority of emphasis would be on something besides �do you know Jesus?� Please do not misunderstand me: The knowledge of Jesus and salvation is extremely important; it�s the foundation of the Christian religion, but once we have poured the foundation, shouldn�t we proceed with the construction of the rest of the house?
Let�s assume for a minute that every person in the United States has confessed Christ as Lord and Savior. Now what do we do? Or more importantly, what will the clergy of America do now? I�ll tell you what they would do; they would still be preaching �Do you know Jesus?� they are like a broken record and do not want it fixed, and I submit there are several reasons for this.
First: Of all the majority of preachers in America have to preach the party line. That�s right, they are just like a Republican or a Democrat; they belong to a party and that party has a platform. These religious parties are called Catholics, Lutherans, Baptists, Methodists, Mormons, Jews, etc.
Some of these �parties� even send their ministers suggested topics and sermon outlines for every Sunday of the year, and Bible studies are planned for years in advance (Most of them produced by the Jew - WM). Thus we have formalized the teaching of religion to the point of absurdity and the preacher in the pulpit must espouse the party line or he is kicked out.
I once met an ex-preacher who was a party-line preacher and had been for some twelve years. One day in early December a few members of the church came to him and asked him if he would explain the first five verses of Jeremiah 10. He said he would be glad to and opened his Bible and read: �Hear ye the word which the Lord speaketh unto you, O house of Israel: Thus saith the Lord, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them. For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the ax. They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not. They are upright as the palm tree, but speak not: they must needs be borne, because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do good.� (Jeremiah 10:1-5)
After he read this he closed his Bible and was silent for a few minutes, and again one of the individuals asked. What does that mean to us? The preacher answered: �I don�t know what it means to you but I am going home and take down my Christmas tree.� Needless to say his answer was not the party line and two weeks later he was removed from his position by the hierarchy of his religious party.
This is only one of the ways in which organized Christiandumb has silenced Biblical scholarship. Preachers will either espouse the party line or they will be removed. And of course, these party-line preachers are dependent upon their organized religious party for their monetary support, and if they are removed they have no way of making a living and they, and their wife and children will no longer have a roof over their head nor food to eat.
Thus the inspiring studious minister who wants to be led by the Spirit, who wants to learn from the word of God, and who has the audacity to expound on the word of God as led by Holy Spirit rather than by the religious party, well, he is now out of a job. He must now seek employment outside his religious party or become an independent, and the bottom line is that there are very few, if any, modern-day preachers who dare to or can afford to be true Bible scholars.
And this is just one of the ways in which organized religion has stifled the freedom of religious expression and poisoned the minds of the people in the pew. These preachers can talk about the Constitution of the United States and the Freedom of religion all they want to, but that freedom of expression only exists as long as they espouse the poison of the party line.
I thank God that I am not a party-line preacher and have the opportunity to expound upon the Word of God as led by the Spirit and not by some religious party.
The poisoning of religion in America is like leaven in a loaf of bread: it starts within and permeates the whole lump of dough. Of course, we understand that Scripturally, leaven represents the false doctrines of the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the Herodians (The Jews - WM). These people are no longer among us, at least in name (Not by the names of Pharisees, Sadducees and Herodians, they are presently called Jews), but alas they are among us in practice, ad the pulpits of America are filled with preachers who are leavening the church with false doctrines.
Let me give you a vivid example of what I am talking about. We are taught from the pulpits to love our neighbor as ourselves and to turn the other cheek. No this doctrine is preached to the extreme; there is no limit to the amount of abuse we must take. This doctrine has resulted in making walking the streets or the riding of subways of many major cities of America unsafe for decent men, women, and children. But from the pulpits we are told to mind our own business, to pray for our neighbor and to turn the other cheek until we have all been raped, mugged, robbed and killed.
This doctrine has made jungles out of the streets of some American cities to the point that many people are arming themselves with knives and guns in the hope of protecting themselves from this poison in our society. Then when a person is threatened by muggers and robbers, pulls his trusty gun from his pocket and guns down a few of them, he is arrested, jailed and tried as a common criminal. Obviously, if he had loved his neighbor, he should have turned the other cheek, he should have become black and blue from the mugging, or he should have handed over his money, or passively allowed himself to be killed � then he would not have been charged with a crime for not �loving his neighbor;� that is, for pulling a gun and shooting those who would deprive him of his life, liberty and property.
You may say that I am carrying things to an extreme. Well I don�t think so. Remember the Bernhard Goetz case in New York � Bernhard was minding his own business on a subway where he had been mugged and robbed more than once, when once again, he was approached by some of those whom he is supposed to love and turn the other cheek to, and he pulled a gun and shot them. And what happened to Bernard? He was arrested and tried like a common criminal. And what for? For defending himself from those whom he was expected to love.
I would interject here also that there is the case where Federal Agents persuaded Randy Weaver to cut the barrel of a shotgun off; and when he did it happened to be 1/4th inch too short. What did he get for his trouble? The Federal Agents shot his 14 year old son to death, and his wife was shot by a Federal Sniper, a murderer, through the head in an attempt to kill three people with one bullet. No doubt if he had done so successfully he would have been given a huge bonis and promotion - WM).
So when Bernhard attempted to make the subway safe for himself and perhaps his neighbor, he violated the doctrine of some churches (also those he shot were black and we know that nothing had better happen to the blacks today - WM). Bernhard was branded as un-Christian and a criminal when all he wanted to-do was to ride the subway in peace and safety. Isn�t this the type of doctrine that is taught in many churches today? Bernahard should have �loved his neighbor.� He should have welcomed this scum in the neighborhood. He should have allowed this menace to continue even though riding subways is unsafe for men, women, and children. Love your neighbor. Love your neighbor. Turn your cheek. Don�t you want to be a good Christian? When the (so-called - WM) ministers of God and our fellow brethren are continually telling us such things, how can we avoid a sense of guilt when we attempt to defend ourselves from the onslaught of violence, vice, and corruption?
I tell you that those ministers who would have you allow yourself to be robbed, mugged, raped, and even murdered are not true preachers of God � they are false prophets who bring to you the doctrines of Ba�al.
Ladies and gentlemen, these are the latter days and we have been warned about false prophets in these days. Christ Himself stated: �For false Christs and false prophets shall rise, and shall shew signs and wonders, to seduce, if it were possible even the elect.� (Mark 13:22)�And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. For there shall arise false Christs, and false Prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.� (Matthew 24:11, 24)
Here we are warned that one of the sings of the end of this age will be the coming of false prophets. And as I listen to the preachers, and teachers of God�s word today, I almost invariably hear false teachers. What I hear are seducers of God�s people. What I hear are false prophets.
Keep in mind that the word �prophet� is not necessarily someone who foretells the future , but it also refers to teachers of God�s word. So a prophet is a teacher of God�s word, and one who teaches falsely the word of God is a false teacher or a false prophet.
Being teachers of God�s word they are automatically given credibility by Christiandumb. These people supposedly have divine inspiration and are commissioned by their particular denomination. But I tell you, it is a lie! It is a lie! It is a lie!
The enemies of God have their agents everywhere and they are busy drawing people unto them. They are in every denomination, every religious organization and especially organizations such as the World Council of Churches.
Is it any wonder that Scripture tells us they shall deceive many. Aren�t they all in prestigious positions and organizations? (One of the worst of this lot of false preachers is Robert Schuler of the Glass Cathedral - WM) Therefore they and their false doctrines are readily accepted by Christiandumb. Yes, my friend, they shall deceive many. I hope, and it would be my prayer that you are not among the deceived. In Matthew 24:42 we are told: �Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord shall come.�
Christ�s warning was that we are to watch; that we be alert for the false prophets, so that we might see the folly of these prophets and reject their teachings in order to stand and be counted worthy.
It is only natural to move with the current of the river, but the way of the current, or the way of the masses, is more often than not the wrong way. It is the way of the false prophets; do not my brethren, be fooled by the slick and smooth tongues of these false prophets. Don�t be fooled by their �letters� and prestigious positions of authority. �Watch therefore,� and: �Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.� (2 Timothy 2:15)
If you study the Word of God FOR YOURSELF, you will not be fooled and led astray by the false prophets.