Religious movements claiming to restore church, prophecy, gospel or truth are bogus.  The church is always whole; she is never flickering like a candle in the wind, never an ember in the ashes.  “You are the light of the world” comes to rescue us from the reformers and their rabbit holes.  A city set on a hill cannot be hid.  The number of people sucked in by slick talkers and people who have departed the faith is not a few. It is incredible that anyone ever believed that the church was ever in decline or that the Bible needs a mother of all transactions.

“See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ.”

Colossians 2:8

The long line of reformers stretches from the disciples’ misconception that Christ may have been aiming to restore “the kingdom to Israel” (Acts 1:6) to James and the Pharisees trying to impose Mosaic instruction on the church (Acts 11:1-5, 15:1-29).  I am not surprised that there are still so-called believers trying to give the reins of the church to Moses and trying to glory in the flesh of the believers by means of circumcision-like practices.

The church has had neither drought nor famine

Any notion of returning to past greatness is serpentine balderdash. The church and all entities can collate their past data in a flash by virtue of technological advances. Lawyers can find all the cases where sentences have been imposed on racist leaders and Bible teachers can locate with a few clicks all the sayings of wisdom that show salvation is an irrevocable gift. We have nothing to gain by listening to people talking about restoring grace and glory in the church. There is no forward movement if the Commandments of Moses became the law of every nation. Thankfully, Christ did not come except to die.  He did not come to make any believer rich, healthy,  or famous, to make a nation a global superpower and definitely not to make America great again.
Every movement, including the famous Protestant Reformation and the growing roster of revivals, makes up the portfolio of the self-serving enemies of the cross.

Fixing what’s not broken

The pitiful souls who end up hearing “Get out of here, I never knew you” (Matthew 7:23) are people who had no root in themselves in the first place. They are not people who believed and lost their faith. They are not people who received eternal life then lost it. They are people who bought the lie that a modern prophet or apostle has insights that are essential in addition to the New Testament record; insights that could only be found in their extra biblical literature and based on their visions and dreams.  The conclusion is that they are not just misguided people; they are evil doers.

“and He will say, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you are from; depart from Me, all you evildoers.’”

Luke 13:27, NASB

Israel wannabes

It is still shocking that Jewish people want to live like Gentiles and still insist that Gentiles must become practicing Jews.  Even the sure-footed Peter slipped up in this regard.

“But when I (Paul) saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas (Peter) in the presence of all, “If you, being a Jew, live like the Gentiles and not like the Jews, how is it that you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews?” (Galatians 2:14, NASB)

Let us not miss the significance of this revelation.  The point Paul is making is that Jewish people are dead wrong in their attempts to turn Gentiles into Jewish people.  Jewishness and lack of it is irrelevant.  Ethnicity and nationality have no relevance whatsoever to the kingdom of God, and have no impact on the revelation of Jesus Christ.  Doing Jewish things is neither here nor there.

“For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, but faith working through love.” (Galatians 5:6, NASB)

The discombobulation of Mosaic law is also clear from the life lived in Christ: faith working itself out in love, not festivals, offerings and litigation. Christian reformers and Israel copycats do not impress me with their extensive organization and secondhand interpretation of the Scriptures. They are Pied Pipers with the catastrophic destination being Sinai, a place where pledges to obey ended with all but two individuals dying in the desert, in unbelief. 

The church that embraces a political agenda is a dud

We know now that all of the movements claiming to have a Christian root are now partners with the Catholic church and the Vatican, mired in a wicked campaign to unite secular and sacred in an attempt to create a government in the name of God apart from the grace and justice of God’s only Son.   They care about the unborn and are hands tied to protect children in their classrooms.   The church will continue to make progress without following evangelicals, Catholics and all the Modern Israel wannabes.  When they admit that Yeshua is not the centre of their joy the church will experience the one accord she needs and rejoice with exceeding joy.