We all know that ha sa tan is the deciever and that at this game
he is very good at it... so has the church been compromised?
Have the original teachings of the apostles been so watered down
that we as believers have lost all fear and reverence for
Yahweh?
Have we become to casual with Yahweh?
Taking an exerp from an article by Roderick C. Meredith which can
be found in full here....
http://www.tomorrowsworld.org/cgi-bin/tw/booklets/tw-bk.cgi?category=Booklets1&item=1140203084
"Since Babylon
was the source of this paganism, we can easily see how Rome's early
religion was a form of Babylonish worship that had developed under
different forms and different names in the countries to which it
had gone. In his well-documented book, Pagan and Christian creeds,
Edward carpenter wrote: "The similarity of ancient pagan legends
and beliefs with Christian traditions was so great that they
excited the attention and undisguised wrath of the early
Christian... not knowing how to explain it, they fell back to the
theory the devil, centuries before, caused the pagans to adopt
certain beliefs and practices" (p. 25).
Carpenter also quoted Tertullian, and early "church father" living
between 160-220 AD, as saying: "The devil, by the mysteries of his
idols, imitates even the main part of the divine mysteries"
(ibid.).Also, Carpenter, noted: "Cortez, too, complained that the
devil had possibly taught the Mexicans the same thing that God
taught Christendom" (ibid.). The famous Spanish explorer found that
the originally pagan inhabitants of Mexico were already practicing
he same pagan rites, and had many of the same pagan beliefs, that
the Roman Catholic church had assimilated!
Since the practices of today's churches are not the same as the
early true church recorded in the New Testament, it is vital to
know whether there has been a purposeful mixing of false pagan
practices with the true teachings of Christ, the apostles and the
Bible. Many historians, such as Edward Gibbon, have noted the
change brought about by great numbers of pagans flocking into the
early Christian church and mixing their pagan customs and beliefs
with those of the church (see Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,
Vol. 1 chapter 15).
Notice how today's churches have sprung from the same root as
paganism! Satan has created an entire system of "counterfeit
Christianity." He has cleverly guided vain religious leaders to
introduce completely pagan ideas, concepts and practices into
"Christianity." Since the world "Christianity" is stamped on the
outside of the package, most people assume that the religion of
Jesus Christ is being offered. Little do they realize that totally
false concepts of god, of Jesus christ and His message, of the
purpose of eternal life and of the way to eternal lifeĀhave been
wrapped up in a package called "Christianity." But theirs is a
"counterfeit" Christianity that has cut most of mankind off from
the true God, and has caused enormous confusion, suffering and
death!
Note these excerpts from Pagan and Christian Creeds: "The Christian
church has kept itself severely apart from discussion of
heathenism, taking the stand that it, the church, represents a
unique and divine revelation and has persuaded mankind of this
to
such a degree that few people nowadays realize that it has sprung
from just the same root as paganism and that it shares by far
the most part of its doctrines and rites with the latter"
(Carpenter, pp. 11-12)."