Counterfeit or Real?

 If I hand you a stack of hundred dollar bills, a very large stack, and I tell you in that stack there are genuine currency and counterfeit, and I want you to separate the good from the bad, do you think you could do it? What if I tell you that if you separate them correctly you get to keep all the genuine currency? I imagine you would at least try to separate them, wouldn’t you? You'd start by examining the bills one and a time, looking for differences. Suppose you look at every single one and can't find any differences, what would you do? You know there are counterfeits in there, but you have to be able to spot the minute differences. The only way counterfeiters get away with what they're doing is by doing it convincingly. It is any wonder we see cashiers holding the currency up to the light, running a highlighter over it, etc? They are looking for watermarks, for things that the government has added to their genuine money to help make it easier to detect the counterfeit. So, having picked up a few tricks of the trade through real life and movies, tv shows, documentaries and so on, do you keep trying to distinguish between the two? How long would you try? I mean that's a really large stack of 100 dollar bills, and there's no telling how many are counterfeit, could be only five, or ten. I think it's safe to say we'd all try very hard to figure out the real from the fake, especially if there is no time limit on your separating them, and you can use all kinds of resources, just shy of anyone else doing it for you- you have to do it yourself. 

So, why don't we examine our religions the same way? Why don't we examine our beliefs with the same intensity? Why do we skate by assuming as long as we believe, as long as we are good people, as long as the good outweighs the bad, as long as no one is hurt, so on and so forth- that it doesn't really matter what you believe. There are so many different religions, so many different beliefs, and you know what… this is the big point… MANY are going to think they are following Jesus, truly following Him and doing His will, but they won't be. They are duped. They are going to be blindsided when Christ tells them to get away from Him, that He never knew them. Didn't you read that in your Bible…

Mat 7:21  Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. 

Mat 7:22  Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? 

Mat 7:23  And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

They are using Jesus' name to do all their wonderful things, happy, safe, secure believing all is well with their eternal life. The thing is, they are following a counterfeit religion set up by Satan, not God. And the counterfeit appears so close to the real thing most people cannot tell at all which is which, or think it even really matters.

Satan has set up our world- or rather his world- just as he wants it, and it's a world filled with deception. Study, study, study and study some more. Don't ever be afraid to be told something you are shocked to hear - take it to your Bible, take it to prayer and let God guide you, let the Holy Spirit work in you to bring you to only the truth. Don't be ashamed to need a lot of time to delve into a deep study of the word of God, before giving an answer to someone posing hard truths, or what they perceive to be hard truths. 

Our eternal life is worth digging deep into God's word, our eternal life is worth praying constantly, our eternal life is worth so much more than we can imagine or want to imagine. We'd rather just get on with our lives and let come what may. Serious studying? We'll leave that for others who are inclined towards that. We'll leave our field of treasure alone, we won't dig up the whole thing just to find truth, and still more truth. We'll content ourselves with knowing enough already. We'll just sit back and relax and let the pastor, priest, minister, etc do the studying and give us what we need when we go to see them. 

Our eternal life is worth KNOWING the true from the counterfeit, no matter how many years you've invested in your particular religious beliefs. You may be in the same religious organization as your mom and dad, and even your grandparents and great grandparents- it's a tradition to follow that organization- a family thing. You may be brand new to a religion and like all its shiny new ideas. It doesn't matter old or new, you need to follow truth!

God would have us know truth! All will be given an opportunity.  Just as you'd take that very large stack of 100 dollar bills and do your best to find what's true and what isn't, invest that much and more energy and effort in your eternal salvation- it's worth far more than all the money in the entire world, if you believe that then act on your belief- prove it!

May God bless us and keep us, may His peace, mercy and grace be with us all as we seek Him in all TRUTH! Open our hearts and our minds to truth, keep us from ALL the evil that would deceive us in any way whatsoever! All through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior we pray, now and forever!

Amen!

*******

(Excerpt) 

A.T.Jones

1895 lecture

COME OUT OF HER MY PEOPLE

Let us look, then, a little further at how much is embraced in Babylon. In other lessons you remember we read certain texts which from this side, as it were, showed that all the world is going to honor the beast, the papacy, and do her bidding--all except those whose names are written in the book of life. But there are some further texts on this subject that we can read. Turn to Rev. 17:8, particularly the last part of the verse. I shall read all the verse, however:

The beast that thou sawest was and is not and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit and go into perdition, and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was and is not and yet is.

They shall wonder when they behold the beast that was and is not and yet is. Now there are going to be some people that will not wonder at that a particle. All the world will be wondering at it, surprised at it, astonished at it, and considering it in wonder, but there is going to be a set of people who will not be in any way concerned about that and these are going to be the ones whose names are in the book of life. 

They are the ones who do not worship the beast and his image.

I read that verse particularly to connect with the thought of the other evening, that "all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life"; all kingdoms of the earth committed fornication with Babylon; the inhabitants of the earth are made drunk with the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and this showing also that all the world is connected with her and out of this wonder she will, and indeed by means of it, raise herself to the place where the scripture shall be fulfilled.

Let us just here ask a question: Taking this just as these scriptures speak it, "All the kingdoms of the world" are joined to Babylon in fornication, in illicit connection. The inhabitants of the earth are made drunk with the wine of her fornication. What is it then, what alone must it be, to come out of Babylon? Nothing short of coming out of the world itself.

There is another word here, too. Turn to Revelation 18, and we will read and see how much there is connected with it. We read up to the 10th verse Friday night. Now begin with the 11th verse: And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her, for no man buyeth their merchandise anymore.

Now I am going to read this slowly, and when it is ended, I want you to see how much of the traffic of mankind she does not control.

The merchandise of gold and silver and precious stones and of pearls and fine linen and purple and silk and scarlet and all sweet wood [that would be fine, fancy, costly, decorative woods], and all manner of vessels of ivory and all manner of vessels of most precious wood and of brass and iron and marble and cinnamon and odors and ointments and frankincense and wine and oil and fine flour and wheat and beasts and sheep and horses and chariots and slaves and souls of men.

That is controlled by Babylon. How much then of the traffic of the world is left? None. Then when the time comes for the general boycott to be set up, it is going to be easy enough for her to say a man shall not buy or sell, because all the traffic of the world is under her hand. Nobody can buy or sell who does not do as she says. But when she controls all of this and God says, "Come out of her," it is plain that obedience to that call will carry us right to the place where His will is accomplished in a complete separation from her. The very fact that our names are in the book of life and our refusing to do the bidding of Rome, brings us out absolutely and sets us in such a place that we shall have no sort of connection with her, not so much as for anything to eat.

Let us study this a little further. When our allegiance to the truth of God, our giving ourselves to God, leads to that place where we are absolutely separated from anything on the earth to eat or drink, how in the world are we going to live? Ah, there is the promise: "Bread shall be given him; his water shall be sure." Well, then, as in our allegiance to God we will be forced to absolute separation of every kind from the world and all that is in it; is it not now high time when we ourselves by our own choice shall be utterly separated in heart and affection from the world and all that is in it?

Further, here are the kingdoms of earth that are connected with her too, and they are going to be used by her to execute her will upon the people of God. Then, when that thing is done, it will force a separation from all connection with them or any dependence upon them for anything. But when that time comes, how in the world will we get along? How will we be protected, what shall we do, when mobs attack us and people commit outrages upon us? What in the world shall we ever do for protection? How can we live in the world then? Would it be safe to be so separated from the governments of earth that we could not prosecute any who offer violence to us? That we could not hold the law with its penalties as a menace over the heads of those who would stone our churches or tear down our tents or do us harm in other ways? Well, that time is going to come anyway, when we shall be outlawed and all these kingdoms under the power of the beast will be simply tools for executing her wrath upon us. Not only is this time going to come, but it is now at hand.

But when the very shaping of things by Babylon shall force us into that position, what shall we do? How shall we ever live? Well, from our side of the issue, what is it that is to bring us there? It is only allegiance to God that will ever put us there. Very well, then, will allegiance to God help us when we get there? Will allegiance to God furnish us the protection that we shall need when that time comes? You all say, yes. Well, if allegiance to God should in heart bring a man to that place now, do you think it would be too much of a risk for him just to break loose and put his trust altogether in God right now? Do you think anyone would be going too far just now to put his allegiance upon God and his trust in him for protection, just as fully as though there was no government on the earth at all.

Everybody whose name is in the book of life is going to be forced there by the very powers of earth themselves. Then why should not we let the word of God and His power lift us there now? I would rather have the work of God and His power put me in a place than to have the course of evil and the powers of the earth force me into it by the very force of circumstances. I would far rather cheerfully choose wholly the Lord and His way at once, than to linger and linger with my affections and trust and dependence upon the powers of earth, perfectly willing to have it this way longer, but because I cannot have it so and get into heaven, I will finally allow myself to be broken loose and take the consequences--and go to heaven. No, sir. I would far rather "cut loose" from the world and everything in it or about it and put my trust steadfastly upon God, just as though there was nobody in this universe but God.

I believe there is a text that covers this whole ground. Turn to Jeremiah 17:5:

Thus saith the Lord: Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord.

If my heart leans for support in any confidence toward something or somebody that is not God, where is my heart? Surely it is departing from the Lord. Now look at the next verse:

For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh.

Brethren, we want to be able to see when good cometh. But what will hinder a man's seeing when good comes? Trusting in man, making flesh his arm. Looking to any man, to any invention of men, to any combination of men, will do that. "Maketh flesh his arm." Depending upon any organization of flesh, any combination of flesh, and making that my arm, will keep me from seeing when good comes? Why? Because my heart is leaning on somebody besides God. I may try to satisfy my conscience that I can use that as an instrument of God to hold me up, but the Lord does not put it that way. He makes a clear distinction between God and man, and between trusting in the Lord and trusting in the arm of flesh. I would rather lean altogether upon God and have him use flesh if he wants to, to hold me up, than to lean upon the flesh to be held up and expect God to do it that way, for when we lean upon the flesh, on the organization of flesh and the power of this world and of man and expect to give God the credit for it--the truth that is we will give the combination or whatever it is we are leaning on the first place. But God must have the first place. And therefore when we lean altogether upon him, He can use whatever instrument he pleases to hold us up or to do whatever He chooses with us. But the one important thing in it is that he that trusts in man and makes flesh his arm shall not see when good comes. And that is an awful risk to run in our time.

He shall be like the heath in the desert and shall not see when good cometh, but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land, and not inhabited.

And that scene of desolation--a salt land and not inhabited--will be about the place where Babylon finds herself at last.

But ah! Look at the other side: "Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord." In the Lord through man? No. In the Lord through the arm of flesh? No, sir. In the Lord Himself, and whose hope the Lord is.

For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters and that spreadeth out her roots by the river and shall not see when heat cometh but her leaf shall be green and shall not be careful in the year of drouth, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.

There is going to come a dreadful drought. But God has fixed it so that a man need not be afraid of the year of drought, nor careful at that time. He has been careful before the drought comes; his trust is in God, and when the drought comes, his trust is in God still. But note the difference. The one who trusts in man and makes flesh his arm shall not see when good cometh, and this man that trusts in the Lord shall not see when heat cometh. This is the better way. Let us take it. When calamities come, they will not affect this man; he will not care for them at all.

Now let us turn to the 16th chapter of Revelation and read another thought that seems to me to be expressive of how much Babylon covers. Rev. 16:13, 14. I am not reading this for the point of time when the verse applies; I am reading it simply to get the limit of Babylon's dominion, how much is covered by her, how much is under her dominion:

I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet. For they are the spirits of devils working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world to gather them to the battle of the great day of God Almighty.

16th verse: "And he gathered them."

19th verse, after the seventh plague, when the end comes: " The great city." What great city? Babylon, all the way through.

The great city was divided into three parts and the cities of the nations fell and great Babylon came into remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.

So then, the great city, Babylon, is divided into three parts. Now do those three unclean spirits that come out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet have anything to do with these three parts into which the great city is divided? I believe they have. I believe that they definitely point to that. I believe that the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet express these three parts into which she is divided when the time of her ruin comes. And we all know what the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet are, and the three unclean spirits working miracles coming out of their mouths, going forth to the whole world to gather them. Therefore, from this it is also clear that Babylon controls the world, the whole world. Then what does it mean to come out of Babylon?

Another situation: 2 Tim. 3:

This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemous, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy[--and through the whole category there of nineteen sins] having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof.

Now what made Babylon the mother? I mean what produced her first? The church leaning upon the arm of another, separated from her own husband, turning to another, leaning upon the arm of another than her rightful Lord--that is what made Babylon. The church, pretending to be the church of Christ, joining herself to another lord, makes the adulteress, the harlot. And thus came Babylon the great. and as she is the one that has led in all that wicked course and set the wicked example for all the rest to follow, she is described as "the mother of harlots."

Then when God in the Reformation would have healed Babylon and she would not be healed, Christianity started in the world independent of her again. But when the professed Protestant churches have followed her ways and turned away from their rightful Lord and put their trust, their hope, upon earthly governments, earthly kingdoms, and joined themselves to these, they are the daughters; then there is Babylon and the daughters, the beast and the false prophet. So that you see the profession of religion without the power of God, the profession of godliness without the power of it, and those professing it, seeking and depending upon the kingdoms and nations of the earth for the power that they know they lack themselves--all this is fitly described as the combination of the form of godliness without the power. Babylon, the mother and daughters, embraces the world in the last days, and Babylon, the mother and daughters, is the form of godliness without the power.

Therefore it is plain that the third chapter of second Timothy does describe Babylon. The third chapter of second Timothy is in that place a description of Babylon, just as much as Rev. 18 is in that place a description of it. And when the passage from 2 Tim. 3 closes by saying, "Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away," that cry, "From such turn away" is in that place the call out of Babylon just as "Come out of her my people" is in its place the call out of Babylon.

The form of godliness without the power is the bane of any profession of religion. And now it is the bane of all of them in the world. And the success of this grand scheme to bring about the union of all denominations and the unity of the faith, which is being diligently worked from the pope of Rome up to many professed Protestants is only to put the seal of completeness upon it.

Down in Ohio last August at the camp meeting of another denomination the leading minister of the camp, preaching the Sunday sermon to thousands of people on the millennium and the hope and the prospect of its coming, giving as one of the great signs of the millennium the patent fact that "Protestants and Catholics are all wheeling into line," and hundreds of the people responded, Amen.

Now that is an actual fact, not only a fact as to that meeting but that sort of scheme that has been framed in the minds of those who are going more and more into Babylon, is a fact, and the scheme will be worked by them in all its parts to bring the millennium and the kingdom of God at last by preparing the way for the king. And thus when the Savior comes, He will find the whole combination of the kingdoms and churches of the earth gathered together into one body, professing to be Christianity, yet with none of the power of Christianity, and promising themselves and the world the grand, glorious millennium that has been for so long looked for over all the earth and the speedy coming of the kingdom of God. We know well enough also that then their king really will come, presenting himself as Christ and will be received as Christ. There will be some though who will be disconnected from that whole system--those who have obeyed the call, "Come out of her, my people," those whose names are written in the book of life. These will not receive the king of Babylon to reign over them. And then, as was proposed by the National Reformers away back in 1886 even, that scripture will be used against these: "These, mine enemies, that would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before my face." That brings logically enough the death penalty, as in the 13th chapter of Revelation, upon all who will not worship beast and image. The whole combination under the dominion of the earth and the dominion of evil spirits--the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet--Satan and all the instruments of Satan in all the earth, in combination---will be set up as one grand system of Christianity, when it is all one grand system of deviltry.

What then could show a more universal reign of the form of godliness, not only without the power but denying the power? For this form of godliness will deny that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, that is the Spirit of God. Every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come--not that he did come, but now is come in my flesh--Christ in you the hope of glory, Christ abiding within, God reigning in the kingdom of God that is within you--that is what this signifies. Every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God. And this is that spirit of antichrist. And ye have overcome them, little children, because greater is He that is in you, in you, in you, than he that is in the world.

Therefore, all this shows as plainly as A B C that in the last days the whole system of the world and worldliness, will be combined into this one grand system of the form of godliness, without the power and denying the power also, and growing worse and worse. And the cry, "From such turn away," is simply another form of the cry, "Come out of her my people." And wherever this cry is heard, it means simply, Come out of the world, separate from the world and from the things that are in the world, in heart and in mind, as completely as though the world had already vanished away. "Come out of her, my people."