The World, A Reflection of the Church

By Gary Amirault

I've done it!!! In 7 words I have gotten the whole world and church mad at me. The world certainly does not want anything to do with those self-righteous hypocrites who are always dangling them over this abyss full of eternal flames that will roast them for all eternity. The world certainly does not want to be associated with a church who walks in hypocrisy and sees its God as a hypocrite also.

On the other hand, the church is even more offended at the thought that someone would have the nerve to compare the glorious people of God with the wicked world and find a perfect match. You may think that I chose the above title just to get attention . . .an exaggeration for effect, an advertising ploy.

No! No! No! No!

The above title says exactly what I mean, and there is not one ounce of exaggeration in it. Of course, if you are a Christian puffed up with pride, self-righteousness, patriotism, fear, unbelief, and all the other things we are clothed with that we won't 'fess up to, you cannot even begin to think that you smell of an aroma that stinks, that is not of the sweet smelling type that is pleasing to our Father.

Over the next few issues of Dew from Mount Hermon, we will look at the world's problems. We will lay out the top 20 or so of the "biggies." Then we will try to find the source of those problems. If I am right, the source of all the problems of the world will bring us to a Scripture we Christians know so well, at least in our heads.

I know I began this article in what appears as somewhat of slap-stick style, but if I didn't do it that way, I probably would have attempted to do what Jesus did a couple of times, braid a cord and start cleaning out the temple with a whip. It would certainly lead to a crucifixion and the only one that really counts for anything has already happened.

Please keep in mind that we will only highlight the major problems of the world and the church. Each one of the problems (sins) would take many books to thoroughly cover. The church has made a mess that has literally covered the 7 continents of the world. Now already I can hear the Protestants complaining that the mess I am probably going to talk about refers to the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches. Having read some of the early Protestant Reformators' writings, I noticed they very often referred to the Catholic Church as the fulfillment of Revelation 17 and 18. They did not have the vision to look 400 years ahead to see what kind of churches would emerge from their own teachings.

Since the Scriptures say that the love of money is the root of all evil, and since that was one of the leading causes of the Protestant Reformation, let us begin with this point. The world will readily admit that money is the foundation of their systems. The present day church is not yet humble enough to expose her true motives.

When Rome sent a man by the name of Tetzel into Europe to sell indulgences to collect money to build St. Peters Cathedral, it was the last straw for Martin Luther. Indulgences were pieces of paper which granted one to commit crimes and be forgiven for a certain sum of money; the greater the sin, the greater the sum of money. Since most Americans are very ignorant of European history, they are equally ignorant of most of the history of the church. For almost 1500 years church history was European history. European political, economic, and religious history were really one and the same. For those of you who have never visited or seriously studied Europe, it is very difficult to comprehend how totally the church controlled things. It claimed the right to your life on earth and retained the right to determine your life in eternity.

Thousands of books have been written on the corruption of the Roman Catholic church and they have just skimmed the surface.The buildings the Roman Catholic Church built were incredibly expensive buildings. The church owned about one third of all the land in Europe. Positions in the church were sold to the highest bidder. One could not receive decent employment unless they were in the Roman Catholic church. Life or death was determined by whether you were Roman Catholic.

Back to our friend, Tetzel. One of Tetzel's favorite jingles was, "Sobalt der Pfennig im Kasten klingt, Die Seel' aus dem Fegfeuer springt." My German is very rusty but a rough translation would go like this, "As soon as the penny rings in the box, the soul springs out of Purgatory." This was one of thousands of different ways the Roman Catholic Church brought Europe into total depravity, poverty and religious darkness while the Priesthood became richer, greedier, and more blood thirsty..

One would expect this kind of behavior from the rulers of this world, but not from church leaders who follow the man who said, "He who is greatest in the kingdom, let him be servant of all".

I did an audio tape a couple of years ago entitled "The Church is a Rich Whore". In it, I reference some material which shows how much money, stocks, bonds, and real estate the American Church owns. The American Church alone owned back in the 1970's over 1 trillion dollars worth of steeples, padded pews, golden cups, girdle manufacturing companies, multimillion dollar skyscrapers, and major interest in companies who make bombs, bullets, and tanks. Every time America kills someone overseas, the American Church makes a profit. By the 1970's, the Protestant church surpassed the Catholic church in the game "church Monopoly." For the moment the "Protestors" to the Roman Catholic church's wealth, are the richest group in the world. For detailed information on this topic, write for the tape, The church is a rich whore. By the way, I am not saying there is no need for buildings and such, but it has gotten far out of line.

On top of being far richer than any corporations in the world, the church wants to be tax exempt on its income. Jesus said, "Render unto Caesar what is Caesar's," and the church says, "I want a tax break on my greed."

Now what does this greed cost the world? Get this. The mortgage interest the American church owes on the buildings it has constructed would feed the world's poor!

America is the richest nation in the world and yet it has the greatest debt in the world. The American church is by far the richest body in the world and yet its debt to bankers is the cause of the hunger of the world.

Jesus said to feed the poor and you will be doing it unto Him. He didn't say, "Go to the world's banking system and borrow billions of dollars and pay usery of many billions more for buildings you will use for only a few hours a week which will be half empty or more for the few hours they are used. A company would be out of business in a minute if it used it's resources the way a typical church does. One day we will each give an account of how we used the resources Jesus has given us. What do you think He will find?

One of the leading causes of inner city poverty is the fact that churches own huge chunks of these cities and they are not taxed on the property. Our cities tax bases are out of balance because of the greed of the church. Christians are to trust their life to Jesus Christ, yet some of the leading life insurance companies are owned by churches. I can't get into great detail in this short article, but the above mentioned tape goes into great detail about how filthy rich the American Church has become. "Because you say, 'I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing'-and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked-'"

The church says that it "sees", that it is God's "spokeswoman" here on earth, that it is the prophetic voice of God. It has the keys to knowledge. We do not have to go to far back into world history to see the church telling the world the earth is flat and is the center of the universe. Anyone disagreeing with this was in danger of being burned alive.

The world today is full of idolatry. When one looks at the religions of the world, we see nothing but idols. Hinduism is plagued with thousands of false images, the Moslems have their "Holy Places", Buddism, although supposedly not a theistic religion, is filled with images of demons, the American Indian conjures up evil spirits, the African has his witch-doctor, the Western nations worship law, nationalism, art, political systems, organizations, man, money, and sex. What you give your time and money to, is what you worship. The world is full of false images of God and its leaders are blind. Look at the leading Christian nations' recent past leaders and see how blind we are. Ronald Regan's wife had a personal "astrologer. Hillary Clinton "channels" to conjure up dead ex-presidents' wives for advice. Both of these presidents claimed to be Protestant Christians.

The point I want to make is this: The world is full of false images and concepts of the Creator and their relationship to Him. Most of us can see that the Roman Catholic is also full of idolatry, Mariology, worship of men, places, etc. But the average Protestant, Charismatic, Pentecostal, Sonship, Present-truth, etc. Christian can't see that his/her image of our Father is just as false and wicked as the rest of the world's images. The church has an image of the Creator of the Universe and mankind, as someone who will ultimately torture, roast, tear to pieces, boil alive, hate, despise, reject, mutilate, most of mankind and He will not end the matter with the grave. He will keep the show going forever! We become what we behold as our highest thought. Look at the image of the Father of all mankind we Christians have projected to mankind and it will become obvious why the world is in the mess that it is in. We are the "people of God." What we speak into the world will manifest. Look, Christians, and see the fruit of our lips! We are reaping what we have sown and I pray our Father will very soon open our eyes and give us a spirit of repentance that we may humbly undo the evil we have perpetrated on this earth.

Now I understand our Father is Sovereign and allowed us to make the mistakes we have made, but He allowed us to become self-righteous hypocrites, who have dragged the name of our Father through the mud so that we would be delivered from judging falsely once and for all time. We have made our Father to look like a two faced hypocrite who can't make up His mind whether to fry you or buy you. And this image of God comes from born again, Spirit-filled, tongue talking, supposedly prophetic people who claim they know God!

So in this issue, we looked at two major problems in the world, money and debt, and false worship. I hope you are beginning to see they are nothing but reflections of the real problems which is in the institution called "church". Let us stop pointing the finger at the world and deal with our own guilt.

In this section we just touched the tip of the iceberg. In future issues we will look at all the major problems of the world and will find their counterpart right in our own backyard, or should I say, right in our own steeple covered, stained-glass, padded pew, tithing, tax-exempt church. Some of the problems we will look at in future issues are world hunger, child abuse, wars, prejudice, crime, corrupt government, abortion, sex, evolution, environmental pollution, false peace, the breaking up of the family, and other problems that plague the world. We will then show how each one of these problems can be very quickly solved if the church would only do one simple thing.

"If my people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and TURN FROM THEIR WICKED WAYS, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
--2 Chron. 7:14

Please remember two things, the heathen is our land, our inheritance, and it will not be healed until His people turn from their wicked ways. The idols of the earth will not be removed until His people remove the idols of their heart. Ezekiel Chapter 14 would be a good chapter to read right now. . .

. . .and then pray,

. . .and turn,

. . .and be forgiven

. . .and be healed!