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Scripture Reading: Rev. 2:9b; Exo. 20:8-11; Gen. 17:10-14; Lev. 11; Luke 24:44; 2 Cor. 3:6; Gal. 1:6-16; Phil. 3:2-3; 2 Tim. 1:14; Matt. 13:33; Rev. 2:20, 24; 17:1, 5-6, 16; 14:8; 2 Tim. 4:7c; 6, 14-15, Rev. 2:26; Col. 1:18; 1 Cor. 14:23a, 24, 26, 31, 3-5; Phil. 3:10; 1:19b
Thus far, we have seen that we need to overcome the leaving of the first love, to overcome persecution, to overcome worldliness, and to overcome spiritual death. In this chapter we want to see that we need to overcome the three deformed religions—Judaism, Catholicism, and Protestantism.
We Christians have one Triune God—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. We have one Bible, one divine revelation. We are also one church, one Body. We are the Body, the church, based upon the divine revelation revealed in the one Bible from the one Spirit, the one Son, and the one Father—the one Triune God. If there were no religion, how good this would be! We should be those who hate religion and who love the one Triune God—the one Father, one Son, and one Spirit; the one Bible, the one divine revelation; and the one church, the one Body.
In every religion there are satanic and devilish things, including falsehood, heresy, and idolatry. In the book of Revelation the Roman Catholic Church is seen as a great harlot with many daughters (17:1, 5). The Bible does not tell us how many daughters this great harlot has, but undoubtedly she has many. We have to expose this situation. Every religion must be exposed in our enlightened eyes that we may clearly see the Triune God—the Father, the Son, the Spirit; the Holy Bible, the divine revelation; and the church, the Body of Christ.
Today we have one Bible, yet many who claim to have one Bible are always contending about things in the Bible. One person has one interpretation, and another person has another. There have been many debates and conflicts throughout church history concerning the Triune God. These doctrinal debates and different interpretations of the Bible have given Satan the ground to deceive people and to seduce them to make religions.
Today there are four major religions: Judaism, Catholicism, Protestantism, and Mohammedanism (Islam), which may be considered as a false copy of Judaism. These four religions are very prevailing. We need to consider where we are today. We are not in Judaism, Catholicism, Protestantism, nor Mohammedanism. We are in the one Triune God—one Father, one Son, and one Spirit; in the one Bible, the one divine revelation; and in the one church, the one Body of Christ. In this chapter we want to fellowship about the three deformed religions revealed in the book of Revelation—Judaism, Catholicism, and Protestantism. Each of these three religions is not simple.
Judaism is the religion of the Jews. The Jewish people have the oldest history. The first five books of the Bible, the Pentateuch, were written in approximately 1500 B.C. The Bible covers human history beginning from the creation of Adam about six thousand years ago. From Adam to Abraham was two thousand years, from Abraham to Christ was also two thousand years, and from Christ until today has been about two thousand years. Then there will be another period of one thousand years, the millennium. Thus, this Holy Book covers the history of mankind in time for at least seven thousand years, the entire span of human history. It speaks of the first generation of mankind with Adam and of the second generation with Abel. Then it continues to reveal the generations of human history until today. All the basic factors of the Jewish religion are revealed in the Bible.
Judaism is a religion that was set up, though not fully, according to the decree of the law of God. The law of God decreed by God through Moses is a good base, but this religion was deformed by man to become a satanic religion—“a synagogue of Satan.” In Revelation 2:9b the Lord refers to “the slander from those who call themselves Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.” The Judaizers called themselves Jews, but they were not Jews. They were Jews in the flesh but not Jews in the spirit (Rom. 2:28-29). Merely being the seed of Abraham did not constitute them true Jews. Those who are the children of the flesh are not the children of God (9:7-8).
Revelation 2:9b reveals that Judaism is a satanic religion. This verse tells us that the synagogue of the Jews today is not of God but of Satan. This shows that the religious Jews worship God in name, but actually they are one with Satan, God’s enemy.
The Jewish religion has mispositioned the law given by God as a side line to Christ as the main line in His economy. In his Epistle to the Galatians, Paul uses two women in the Old Testament in Genesis to signify two things (Gal. 4:22-31). These two women are Sarah, Abraham’s wife, and Hagar, Abraham’s concubine. Sarah signifies God’s grace, and Hagar signifies God’s law. The position of the law is that of a concubine, and the position of God’s grace is that of a proper wife. The law was given by God and is of God, but God put the law into the position of a concubine. The Jewish people made the mistake of positioning the law as a wife. This means that they mispositioned the law.
God gave the law as a side line to Christ, who is the main line in God’s economy. In God’s economy there are two lines: one is the main line, and the other is the side line. The main line is Christ, and the side line is the law. The Bible teaches mainly Christ. Christ is the main subject of the Bible. Christ stands as the main line and even the main lane of the Bible. When we drive a car, we do not want to drive in the side lane but in the main lane. We are driving in Christ, taking Christ as our main lane and main line. The Jews, however, are on the side line, remaining with the law as a concubine.
One among the Jews, Saul of Tarsus, later became an apostle. He tried his best to correct the Jews because they were not in the main line. Judaism is satanic because it does not stay in God’s ordained line. According to the Bible, God gave the law to help the Jews realize that they could not keep the law. To try to keep the law is foolish. Instead, we should remain with Christ. We should not get away from Christ. He is our main line. Paul took Christ in such a way, but the Jews would not take Paul’s advice.
According to Paul’s word in Romans 7, the law is the instrument through which sin deceives and kills men (v. 11). The power of sin is the law (1 Cor. 15:56). This fact should warn us not to turn to the law to try to keep it, for in so doing we give sin the opportunity to deceive and kill us. Those in Judaism have all been killed by the law. There are five million members of Judaism in the United States today, and all of them have been distracted from Christ. They are on the side line of the law committing “suicide.” Hagar, typifying the law, and her son were cast out (Gal. 4:30-31). Thus, those under the slavery of the law are driven out of God’s grace.
Hagar brought forth a son named Ishmael. There are many Ishmaelites today fighting against Israel. The issue of Hagar is one who fights against God’s people. Ishmael persecuted Isaac (Gen. 21:9). The Judaizers, the descendants of Abraham according to the flesh, also persecuted the believers, the descendants of Abraham according to the Spirit, as Ishmael persecuted Isaac (Gal. 4:29).
Those in Judaism also have misapplied the dispensational Sabbath-keeping (Exo. 20:8-11). In history God set up a day called the Sabbath. God created the heavens and earth and millions of things within six days. After these six days God declared the seventh day as a day of rest. The Sabbath was God’s rest. Then God charged His people to keep that day as a memorial of God’s creation. Man was charged to keep the Sabbath to remember God’s creation, that is, to remember that Jehovah, Elohim, is the Creator of the universe and of man.
We need to realize, however, that God’s ordination concerning the keeping of the Sabbath was a dispensational ordination. In the Bible God has different ways to deal with people in different ages. In the early age of God’s dealing with man, there was an ordination for man to keep the Sabbath. That ordination was for that age. It was not an eternal ordination but a dispensational ordination. When that dispensation, or period of time, was over, the keeping of the Sabbath was over.
The Jews, however, did not realize this, so they misapplied the dispensational Sabbath-keeping. Before Jesus came, Moses charged Israel to keep the Sabbath. That was according to God’s charge. When Jesus came, however, He was the Sabbath as the rest for God’s people (Matt. 11:28-30). The Sabbath was a type, a shadow, of Christ. When the person comes, the shadow is over. We should not keep the shadow when we have the person. When the person is here with us we do not disregard him to pay attention to his photo. That would be foolish. Thus, when Jesus came, the outward ritual of keeping the Sabbath was over.
The Jews fought against Jesus mainly due to the keeping of the Sabbath day. The observance of the Sabbath was abolished by the Lord Jesus in His ministry (12:1-12). That offended the Jews to the uttermost. They wanted to destroy Him because of this (v. 14; John 5:16). Thus, they misapplied the keeping of the Sabbath.
The Jews also misinterpret the ordinance of physical circumcision (Gen. 17:10-14). In order to keep His chosen people as a particular people, different from the Gentiles, God ordained that they practice circumcision. Physically speaking, circumcision is the cutting off of a piece of flesh. This cutting off, in a physical sense, does not mean anything to our inward being subjectively.
Actually, circumcision signifies that the chosen people of God should cut off the flesh. This is the real significance of circumcision, but the Jews misinterpreted it, making the physical act of circumcision very important. Many Jewish believers insisted that unless people were circumcised according to the custom of Moses, they could not be saved (Acts 15:1). This was an annulling of the faith in God’s New Testament economy and a real heresy, causing a big confrontation in Acts 15. Circumcision was a shadow of the crucifixion of Christ in its putting off of the flesh, as signified in baptism (Col. 2:11-12). The practice of circumcision was counted as nothing in the revelation received by Paul in his ministry (Gal. 5:6; 6:15).
The adherents of Judaism also overstretched the holy diet. In Leviticus 11 God charged His chosen people, Israel, to take care of their eating in a particular way, not following the Gentiles. All the nations, the Gentiles, eat many unclean, defiling things. God is wise. The diet revealed in Leviticus is a very healthy diet, but we need to see that these dietary ordinances were also dispensational.
The holy dietary regulations were annulled by the Spirit in Peter’s ministry (Acts 10:9-20). God wanted to use Peter to preach the gospel to the Gentiles, but the Jews would not contact the Gentiles. To the Jews, the Gentiles were as unclean animals. One day Peter saw a heavenly vision of a great sheet descending from heaven, full of unclean animals. A heavenly voice said, “Rise up, Peter; slay and eat!” (v. 13). Peter refused to do so because he had never eaten anything common and unclean. This happened three times, and then the great sheet was taken up into heaven. The heavenly vision that Peter received annulled the dietary regulations in Leviticus 11.
Actually, the holy diet symbolizes persons who are clean and persons who are unclean, those whom God’s holy people should contact and those whom they should not contact (Acts 10:11-16, 34-35). God revealed to Peter that these unclean animals in his vision were actually people and that he should not call any man whom God has cleansed by the redeeming blood of Christ common or unclean (vv. 15, 28). Peter was taught by the Lord in such a way, but when he was in Antioch, he shrank back and separated himself from the Gentiles out of fear of those of the circumcision. Peter became a hypocrite (Gal. 2:11-14). All of this shows that the Jewish religion had overstretched the significance of the holy diet.
Thus, the law with the practice of the Sabbath, circumcision, and the holy diet constituted Judaism, which was deformed by man to become a religion of Satan. The law was given, not for God’s chosen people to keep but for God’s people to be tested, to be exposed, so that they could see that they are sinful and wicked. We have no capacity to keep the law. Instead, we should put our trust absolutely and fully in Christ. In our life-study of the Psalms we pointed out that the intention of the Psalms is not to charge us to keep the law but to turn us away from the law to Christ. Paul says clearly in Galatians 2 that if righteousness is through the law, Christ has died for nothing (v. 21). Thus, we can see that the Jewish religion has become satanic, “a synagogue of Satan.”
The Jewish religion missed Christ and also disregarded Christ. In the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible, there are many prophecies and types concerning Christ. The Jews missed all these prophecies and types because they regarded only the law and disregarded Christ as the embodiment of the Triune God (Col. 2:9). Outside of Christ and without Him, we do not have the Triune God. The Jews think that they are worshipping God, Elohim, Jehovah, but they do not realize that Jehovah Elohim is embodied in Christ. The entire Triune God is in Christ, so outside of Christ we cannot find God. Christ is God’s dwelling place. Christ is God’s address. Christ is God’s home. If you want God yet do not want Christ, you cannot have God.
The Jews also were the ones who desired to crucify Christ. They shouted again and again, “Crucify Him!” and their voice won (Mark 15:13-14). They did not realize that this Christ as the embodiment of God was ordained by God to be the centrality and universality of His economy. If you disregard Him, you disregard everything.
Christ is typified by the tabernacle, the priesthood, and the offerings in the five books of the Law. God put something very substantial in the Torah. These substantial things were the tabernacle and the corporate priesthood daily serving God in the tabernacle with all the offerings. The Jews took these things formally. They never understood what these things signified. They did not realize that the tabernacle is a type of Christ (John 1:14) to be God’s dwelling place for God’s people to contact God, to enter into God, and to enjoy God. When the Jewish people sinned, they knew that the law ordered them to offer a trespass offering, but they did not realize that this offering is a type of Christ. They had the substantial types, but they did not understand their significance, so they spontaneously disregarded Christ.
The Lord’s word in Luke 24:44 shows that He was prophesied in the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms. In Genesis 3:15 God promised that the seed of the woman would come to bruise the head of the serpent. That was a clear prophecy about Christ. Then God prophesied to Abraham that all the nations would be blessed through his seed, and that seed is Christ (22:18; Gal. 3:16). Isaiah says clearly that a virgin would bring forth a child whose name is called Immanuel (Isa. 7:14). That child is God with man. This was a clear prophecy concerning Christ, but the Jews disregarded it. The Jews had the Old Testament, but they did not care for the prophecies concerning Christ.
Judaism became formal in letter and deadening in quenching the Spirit. The Jewish religion kills man’s communication with God in life. Judaism also contended with the gospel of Christ in God’s New Testament economy (2 Cor. 3:6; Gal. 1:6-16; Phil. 3:2-3). Under the maneuvering hand of Satan, those in Judaism opposed the Lord Jesus (Matt. 12:9-14; Luke 4:28-29; John 9:22). They also opposed the apostle Paul (Acts 13:45-46, 50; 14:1-2, 19; 17:1, 5-6). Acts 21 tells us that the Jews from Asia saw him in the temple in Jerusalem and seized him. As they were seeking to kill him, the Roman commander stopped them and took Paul into custody (vv. 27-33). Later, more than forty of the Jews formed a plot and put themselves under a curse, saying that they would neither eat nor drink until they had killed Paul (23:12-13). Eventually, he was transferred from Palestine to Rome to be judged directly by Caesar (25:9-12). This was the way that the Jews persecuted Paul, the Lord’s servant. Thus, we can see that they disregarded Christ, annulled all the spiritual things, and contended against the gospel of Christ.
The way to overcome such a satanic religion is by holding to the teaching of the apostles (the New Testament) through the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit (2 Tim. 1:14). Our “Torah” today is the New Testament, the apostles’ teaching. We have to hold to this teaching through the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit.
In Matthew 13:33 Catholicism is typified by a woman who leavened the “three measures of meal,” the entire teaching concerning the element of Christ in His person and in His work. The Catholic Church accepted the New Testament teaching, but they leavened it. Bread without leaven is hard to take. Leavened bread is soft and easy for people to eat. This is the reasoning of the Catholic Church. The Catholic people have so-called pictures of Jesus, and many of them believe that this is Jesus. If you ask the priests in the Catholic Church why they do this, they will say that Jesus is spiritual, mysterious, and hard for people to apprehend, so they need something physical like pictures or statues in order to apprehend Him. Our natural being likes to use certain things to make spiritual matters easier to assimilate. This is what the Bible calls leaven.
The so-called pictures of Jesus are of a handsome man, but Isaiah tells us that He had no attracting form or beautiful appearance (53:2) and that His visage was marred more than that of any man (52:14). There is one Catholic cathedral in Manila with a statue of Jesus, and all the worshippers entering into the cathedral touch the feet of this statue. What a superstition this is! One brother who was brought up as a Catholic came into the Lord’s recovery and began to see that Jesus lived in him, so he went back home to tell his relative. The relative responded that she also had Jesus, and she pointed to a picture of Jesus hanging on her wall. Such pictures and statues are idols.
In 1937 when I was traveling in north China, a case of demon possession was brought to my attention. A certain sister had become possessed. I checked with the saints concerning whether there were any idols in her home. Eventually, I learned that on the wall there was a picture of the so-called Jesus, and I told her to burn it. A number of Catholics kneel down, worship, and pray to this picture. When she burned that picture, the demon departed. Idols, including pictures and statues, are the means used by the demons to hide themselves. The so-called picture of Jesus is an idol. By this we can see that the Catholic Church is altogether superstitious.
At a Catholic cathedral in Manila, I saw many people purchasing candles and placing them before the images and idols on the walls. Some of these idols have inscriptions under them that say that if you pray a certain prayer every day for a period of time, you will reduce your dead relatives’ time in purgatory. Purgatory in Roman Catholicism is a place where those who have died go to be purged of their sins through suffering.
Catholicism has taken in many pagan, idolatrous things. G. H. Pember points out in his book The Great Prophecies that Buddha is actually a saint in the Roman Catholic Calendar under the name of Saint Josaphat (see Life-study of Revelation, msg. 51). This is why Revelation 2:24 says that the Catholic Church has the deep things of Satan. The Roman Catholic Church has many satanic mysteries. Even the architecture of the Catholic cathedrals with their stained-glass windows and high ceilings makes them very dark. In addition to this, they are full of idols. In the Roman Catholic Church, the worship of idols is taught. Idol worship is a kind of witchcraft for contacting the demons.
The Catholic Church does not keep the pure truth but has leavened the truths of the Bible with evil, heretical, and pagan things. Once the meal is leavened, there is no way to purify it. Today the entire Catholic Church is a mixture of truth with leaven. They admit that Christ is God, but they call Mary the mother of God and say that she has no sin. This shows again the heresy and superstition of the Roman Catholic Church.
Catholicism is portrayed as the woman Jezebel who calls herself a prophetess, teaching and leading the people of God, even with “the deep things of Satan” (Rev. 2:20, 24). Catholics do not say, “The Bible says...” Instead, they say, “The church says...” The church here is signified by Jezebel. The Catholic Church today is the woman concerning whom the Lord prophesied in Matthew 13, and she is also the Jezebel spoken of in Revelation 2. Jezebel was the pagan wife of Ahab, an evil king (1 Kings 16:30-31), and she did many evil things (2 Kings 9:7). The Catholic Church in the eyes of God is like that evil Jezebel, teaching heresies. This apostate church is a self-appointed prophetess, one who presumes to be authorized by God to speak for God.
The Catholic Church leads people into spiritual as well as physical fornication (Rev. 2:20). One writer spoke of a certain place near a monastery being full of the bones of babies. Thus, we can see that the Roman Catholic Church propagates fornication and promotes idolatry.
The Catholic Church is built up as a religious hierarchy with the pope as the head. Under him are the cardinals, the archbishops, the bishops, and the priests. The cardinals are considered as the pope’s cabinet members for his government. The Catholic Church is a strong and powerful hierarchical organization.
Revelation 17 refers to the Roman Catholic Church as “the great harlot” and also refers to her as “Mystery, Babylon the Great, the mother of the harlots and the abominations of the earth” (vv. 1, 5). The Catholic Church is likened to a harlot who has adopted many heathen practices. Wherever the Catholic Church goes, it picks up the heathen practices of the local people. This is for the purpose of bringing these people into Catholicism.
Revelation 17:6 reveals that the Catholic Church martyrs the saints and the witnesses of Jesus. History tells us that the Catholic Church, the Roman Church, has killed more saints than the Roman Empire did.
Eventually, the Catholic Church will be hated, made desolate, and burned by Antichrist and his ten kings at the beginning of the great tribulation. According to Revelation 17:16, Antichrist and his ten kings will make the Roman Church “desolate and naked,” meaning that they will destroy her, rob her of her riches, and expose her; they will “eat her flesh,” meaning that they will kill her members; and they will “burn her utterly with fire,” meaning that they will annihilate her altogether.
In Revelation 14:8 an angel declares, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the Great, who has made all the nations drink of the wine of the fury of her fornication!” This is the fall of religious Babylon. Religious Babylon is depicted in Revelation 17, and material Babylon is shown in Revelation 18. Religious Babylon will fall first at the beginning of the great tribulation, and material Babylon, the city of Rome, will fall at the end of the great tribulation.
To overcome such a heretical religion is by keeping the faith in Christ’s divine and human person and all His works in His incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection, ascension, descension, and second appearing (2 Tim. 4:7c; Rev. 2:26). The way to overcome the Catholic heretical religion is by our faith in two things: the person of Christ and the work of Christ. We have to believe in Christ’s person and in Christ’s redemptive work according to the New Testament teaching from the first page to the last page. This is why we have to study the New Testament. We say a strong Amen to the New Testament teaching that Jesus is both God, the complete God, and man, the perfect man. He was incarnated, He lived on earth as a human being for thirty-three and a half years, He died a vicarious, all-inclusive death, He resurrected, He ascended, and He descended. He is now in the heavens, and He will appear in His second coming. Because we have studied all these things with all their significances, such a deceiving church can never deceive us. We have a clear view concerning the teaching of the New Testament, the teaching of the apostles. This is the right way for us to keep our Christian faith.
Protestantism practices the works of the Nicolaitans, the works of the clergy in the religious hierarchy (Rev. 2:6). This is a strong sign of today’s Protestant churches. In the Protestant churches there is a hierarchy with the clergy and the so-called laymen. A small number are clergy, and the majority are laymen. If we practice this, we are not in the recovery.
We have to consider whether or not we have the clergy and the laity in our meetings. We may not have the term clergy, but in actuality we may be building up the clergy. As long as we insist on keeping the system of one man speaking without the proper practice of every member of the church prophesying, we are building up the clergy.
Brother Nee saw the truth concerning the church meeting in mutuality revealed in 1 Corinthians 14 in 1937. His ministry on this is in the book entitled The Normal Christian Church Life. In 1948 he spoke concerning this again in the book entitled Church Affairs. But throughout the years, we did not find a way to replace the system of one man speaking with all the saints prophesying. In 1984 I purposely went to Taiwan to restudy our situation in the recovery. In that study I was encouraged and strengthened by the Lord to pick up the practice of the church meetings revealed in 1 Corinthians 14.
Eventually, starting from the church in Taipei, we gave up the practice of one man speaking on the Lord’s Day. Now we practice prophesying in the meetings by all the saints. We realize that we cannot do this in very large meetings, so the church in Taipei divided their three thousand attendants into a number of district meetings. Each district meeting has about fifty saints. Today many of the local churches are practicing the prophesying of all the saints instead of the Lord’s Day message meeting by one speaker.
In Revelation 2:6 the Lord Jesus said clearly that He hates the works of the Nicolaitans, the clergy-laity system (see footnote 1, Recovery Version). We need to reject anything of this system. All of us should be the functioning members of the Body of Christ. Wherever clergy and laity are, hierarchy is being built up. Such a system changes the nature of the churches in the recovery.
Protestantism holds the teaching of Balaam, who put a stumbling block before the people of God, teaching people to accept idolatry and commit fornication (v. 14). Balaam was a Gentile prophet who spoke and taught the word of God for base gain, enticing God’s people into fornication and idolatry (Num. 25:1-3; 31:16).
Protestantism also holds the teaching of the Nicolaitans to build up hierarchy and practice the system of clergy. In the seven epistles to the churches, the works of the Nicolaitans are mentioned first (Rev. 2:6). At first there was only the practice of the hierarchy with the clergy and laity. Later this practice became a teaching (v. 15). Today in Protestantism there is such a teaching. People are encouraged to dedicate themselves to the Lord, offering themselves to be preachers. Then they are sent to seminary, and after their graduation they become the clerical class. This is the practice and teaching in Protestantism.
In today’s Protestantism there is also a disregard for Christ’s headship in His Body (Col. 1:18). In today’s Protestant churches there is hardly any teaching concerning the Body of Christ and concerning Christ as the Head of the Body. In our teachings throughout the years, we have strongly stressed the building up of the Body of Christ and the headship of Christ.
The Protestant churches annul the functions of the members in the Body of Christ. They maintain that to have one man speaking is better than to have all the saints function. They feel that having one man speaking keeps the meeting in a good order and ensures that a good word will be spoken to the attendants. They feel that a meeting left up to all the saints would end in chaos and confusion. By reading 1 Corinthians 14 we can see that Paul anticipated that the practice of all prophesying would not be so easy. This is why Paul charged them to do everything becomingly and in order (v. 40).
We like to be becoming, but at the same time we do not like to be dead. Rather, we want to be living. I used to ask people, “What do you like better—Forest Lawn Cemetery or a playground?” A playground has very little order, but at Forest Lawn Cemetery everything is in order. We do not want to have church meetings that are like a cemetery. Our church meetings need to be very living. The book of Psalms encourages us to make a joyful noise to the Lord (100:1). We need such a joyful noise in our church meetings.
In Protestantism most of the church meetings are kept for the service of the clergy, with nearly no meeting for the manifestation of the gifts of all the members of the Body for the organic building up of the Body of Christ in the unsearchable riches of Christ (cf. 1 Cor. 14:23a, 24, 26, 31, 3-5). Our meetings might be noisy, but out of the noise of all the saints the riches of Christ come out.
We overcome such a dead and dying religion by the pneumatic Christ in His resurrection and by the bountiful supply of the all-inclusive Spirit (Phil. 3:10; 1:19b). On the one hand, Christ is the Son of God. On the other hand, He is the life-giving Spirit. First Corinthians 15:45b says Christ as the last Adam in the flesh became a life-giving Spirit through His resurrection. Thus, today He is the pneumatic Christ. By Christ as the pneumatic One and by the bountiful supply of the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit, we can overcome today’s Protestantism.
