Today’s Devotional – October 2nd (Come Out of Her Big Buildings, My People!)

By admin On September 1st, 2014

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Today’s Devotional – October 2nd

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Come Out of Her Big Buildings, My People! 

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Hong_Kong_Skyline_Restitch_-_Dec_2007.jpg

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Well, it’s not hard to see that this world loves its big buildings! And now, by way of Internet, one can search the amazing skylines of every large city!

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Hong Kong Skyline Restitch Photo by DAVID ILIFF. License CC-BY-SA 3.0

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CHURCH BUILDINGS

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Well, to love all the big buildings is OK for the world.psalm 65 www.thebiblerevival.com public domain

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But what about the church? Where did all the church buildings come from? After all, we don’t read of church buildings in the Book of Acts.

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The only mention of meeting places of churches in Acts, is in the homes of Believers!

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Church Attendance – www.thebiblerevival.com – Public Domain

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WHEN THE WORLD EMBRACED CHRISTIANITY

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So just where did the tradition of building church-buildings come from? And when did this phenomenon begin?

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Well, if one looks at Wikipedia, there is a page devoted to highlighting the earliest church-buildings. And it appears that in the late 300’s, buildings specifically designated to be church-buildings showed up.

.The Christian Martyrs Last Prayer - Wikipedia - US Public Domain

And well, that makes sense! Because it was in the early 300’s, that the world declared peace with Christianity. And, as most people know, the world began to merge its pagan customs and idols into the Church.

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And so, it just makes sense, that Christians were now free to live at peace with the world. No longer was the Church hunted down like outlaws! No longer was the Church on the run!

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And so, with this new “peace treaty”, Christians could now build specially-designed buildings, without fear of having them ransacked or destroyed by their enemies.

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The Christian Martyrs Last Prayer – Wikipedia – US Public Domain

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TRUE CHURCH FLED TO THE MOUNTAINS

.http://www.gutenberg.org/files/18503/18503-h/18503-h.htm

Now as the churches in Europe became more and more apostate, in the mid-to-late first Millennium, A.D., Christians faced new persecution, by false-brethren who controlled those fallen European churches.

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And as a result, Christians eventually had to either pledge allegiance to the fallen churches or flee to the European mountain strongholds.

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But the tradition of church-buildings continued through the New Testament centuries, mostly by the apostate portion of Christianity. And faithful Christians continued to suffer through those Dark Ages, by the hand of the apostate churches, as this old drawing illustrates.

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Thus, during these centuries, for the most part, only the apostate churches could have their grand cathedrals!

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WALDENSES HUNTED BY THE ARMIES OF ROME courtesy gutenberg.org public domain

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WORLD AND CHURCH JOIN HANDS AGAIN

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Milano_Duomo_1856.jpg

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But once the newly invented printing presses began to churn out Bibles by the thousands, then the ruthless apostate churches could no longer hold the great European community in spiritual darkness through ignorance of God’s Word! The general populace could now at last read the Bible for themselves!

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But sadly, as time continued, this Christian Reformation became the dominate power, eventually taking a more relaxed stance, because of the absence of persecution.

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And so, church-buildings were now being built by the Reformationists! And once again, the Church and the World rejoined hands in friendship.

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Milano Duomo – 1856 – Wikipedia – Public Domain

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PEACE & SAFETY AGAIN!

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And so, here we are, hundreds of years after that Great Reformation! And still we see the Church busily raising up their dedicated church-buildings, unafraid of attack and persecution from the world!

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Now why even bring up this subject? After all, what’s wrong with building a church-building?

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Well, there’s nothing in the Bible which condemns specially-designated church-buildings.

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ABOVE PICTURE: The False Prophet – signsofheaven.org – not for commercial uses

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EMPTY SEATS MUST BE FILLED

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However, one problem with church-buildings comes in, when the building is large.

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Okay, so why is a large building a problem?

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Beside the high cost of maintenance, the even bigger problem with a large building comes in, when all the pews have to be filled.

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In other words, if you have a big building, then you need “warm bodies”, as the saying goes. Yes, all those empty seats must be filled. And human nature tends to relax standards in attempt to fill the void.

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And so, because faithful Christians are always just a remnant, then that big church will usually allow many who probably have no business being there.

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Church of Christ worship music – cropped image – wikipedia – share-alike license

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WHY ALL THE PEACE & SAFETY?

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“Think not that I (Jesus) am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword… a man’s foes shall be they of his own household.” Matthew 10:34, 36

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The second problem comes in, when one considers the question: “Why is there so much peace between Christianity and the World, that these dedicated church-buildings can peacefully co-exist with this Anti-Christ world?”

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This is the big problem! Why is the present-day Church enjoying all this peace and safety, in a world ruled over by Satan and his countless minions?

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It reminds one of that saying… “If Satan isn’t coming against you, then maybe it’s because you’re both traveling in the same direction!”

 

Listen to this… “For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. 1st Thessalonians 5:2, 3

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Yes, there seems to be a false covenant of peace between the Church and the “god of this world”. After all, how can Christianity live in peace and safety in this, the Devil’s world?

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Satan presiding at the Infernal Council – Wikpedia – US Public Domain

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MINGLING SACRED THINGS WITH COMMON THINGS 

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The third problem with big church-buildings is that in order to keep the many seats filled, requires ahttp://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:%22Jesus_in_Jeans%22_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1367680.jpg gifted leader who can keep a large church-building full of people. Yes, now all those marginal Christians sitting in the pews must have their itching ears scratched! And so, the tendency is to provide entertainment in the form of comedy, drama, colored lights, attractive singers and speakers, exciting and worldly-sounding music, and many fun social events, etc… And these allurements are combined with prosperity-driven sermons!

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In other words, churches had slowly devolved into social/fraternal organizations, with a veneer of lukewarm religiosity.

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And so, what does all this compromise lead to? Well, it leads to exactly where we are today!

.http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jesus-in-Jeans-by-Peter-Royle.jpg

Listen… “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.” 2nd Timothy 4:3, 4

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Yes, this above passage foretells of a time when the church-world becomes filled with itching-ears gospels. 

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And the reader is encouraged to click on and begin reading this series of devotionals called “Come Out of Her, My People”, to gain a fuller understanding of just why God considers today’s churches to be spiritual Babylon.

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Photo – cropped image – Share -Alike License – Jesus in Jeans – Wikimedia

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.Constellation- Woman of Revelation 12 flees to the mountains Mark 13:14

And therefore, it is no wonder that the trumpet is now sounding the clarion call…

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“Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen…Come out of her, My people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.” Revelation 18:2, 4  

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http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pray_for_Our_Nation_sign_IMG_3291.JPGTODAY’S PRAYER…

“Dear Lord, let me not have a religion which makes peace with Satan’s kingdom, the World! But let my religion be such, that the world will behold in me, the offence of the Cross of Christ…

Pray for Our Nation sign – Wikimedia – Share-alike-lic.

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https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Question_book_magnify2.svg

READ MORE…

To explore deeper into this subject, please read… ““Vanity Fair” & The False Prophet” or you can also read… February 11th (Come Out From Among Them!)

Question book magnify svg – Wikimedia – GNU license

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THE END

.picture - soldiers of the cross - armor up!

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TODAY’S FEATURED HEAVENLY SIGN

Info & pics of constellations on this site from Wikipedia & International Astronomical Union (click here)

 

 

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LOCATING THE DRAGON

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REVELATION 12 DRAGON IS NOT DRACO!

.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:DracoCC.jpg

First, let it be stated, that this Dragon Constellation is not the same constellation commonly referred to as “Draco” (photo to right is Draco, AKA Ursa Minor).

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This Revelation 12 Dragon from Signs Of Heaven, has not been previously recognized. But you will discover that it is a very intricate and complex constellation, once you are comfortable locating it (picture below, left).

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Draco, (Picture right) Ursa Minor Wikipedia share-alike license

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THE DRAGON OF REVELATION 12 CONSTELLATION

Revelation 12 Dragon w/text

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The star-charts below (below, right) are from Wikipedia and are combined into one chart to show these three constellations, which the editor has sketched over with these three constellations, as they appear when in the west. Hopefully, this will be an assist in locating these constellations in the night-sky.

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LOCATION…

Wikipedia star-charts winter constellation in West

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The Revelation 12 Dragon Constellation can be located by finding Orion in winter months. The Dragon is to Orion’s left, and the Dragon’s mouth is right next to Orion’s shield. This Dragon’s mouth is the V-like constellation The Hyades Clusterwhich is also known as the head of Taurus the Bull. The Dragon’s tail-tip is Pleiades and the lower shaft of his tail is partly of Aries  and Pisces. Then with aid of a dark and starry night, you may begin to connect the mouth and the tail with a very long body in an oval shape. The front and back legs are made of a few stars: the front legs partially of stars from Taurus . The back legs and rear fin are made of 6 stars from the Cetus Constellation.

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BODY HARD TO SEE

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The long oval-shaped body has relatively few stars, but can been seen, howbeit with a dark, starry night. The four stars of the front fins are made partially of Taurus .

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FIRST APPEARS IN MID-SUMMER

Dragon of Revelation 12 Constellation

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This Dragon constellation appears in the eastern horizon about mid-summer in the pre-dawn hours, spewing his flood-waters northward toward the Revelation 12 Woman in Travail (not pictured in this chart).

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The Wave of Water is primarily composed of the Constellation Auriga. There are two dimmer stars (#’s 1 & 2) which are closest to the Dragon’s mouth. These two dimmer stars are also part of this Wave of Water, but are not part of the Auriga Constellation.

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THE ZODIAC NAMES

It is not the purpose, nor the desire of www.theheavensdeclare.net to give any validity or recognition to the Zodiac or any pagan deities. But unfortunately, the common names of many constellations (such as Scorpio or Sagittarius, etc.), must be given, solely for the purpose of locating them on star-charts.

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https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Question_book_magnify2.svg

READ MORE…

To explore deeper into this subject, please read… “The Dragon of Revelation 12 Constellation” 

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https://www.pri.org/stories/2011-08-10/revelations-book-revelationTOMORROW:

“October 3rd (The Revelation of Jesus, Part 1: Seeing Jesus in Prophecy)”

Revelation – www.pri.org/stories/2011-08-10/revelations-book-revelation – courtesy www.pre.org

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20+ MINUTE AUDIO JEREMIAH STUDY

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ALL ‘NOBLE BEREANS’ (open-minded seekers of Bible truth) ARE ENCOURAGED TO BEGIN FOLLOWING THIS 650+ AUDIO BIBLE STUDY THROUGH THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH EACH DAY ON THIS DAILY DEVOTIONAL. 

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THIS IS STUDY #273 PRESENTED BY THE LATE HAROLD CAMPING…

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Prophet Jeremiah – www.christianimagesource.com – Public Domain

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Those who are interested in using photos on this page may click on provided link below each photo, to get to Wikimedia Commons for various licensing names, details, and tags, and all other necessary info on any particular photo. Most tall, narrow photos have been cropped or reduced by this website to make them a better fit on phone screens.

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