I read the entire New Testament for the first time when I was ten years old. I started preaching when I was 14, speaking to youth groups at first, and in my local Church. Also being a singer and a musician, I put together a trio with a couple of my friends, and as soon as I got my driver's license, the three of us went out several times each month to preach and sing in Churches around Texas and Louisiana. When I turned 16, I applied for and received my first Ministerial License, and at 18, I enrolled in an Assemblies of God Bible College in Missouri, and lived in one of the college dorms.
In January of 1970, while a student living in one of the Bible college dorms, I received a letter one day during mail call. It was from my Aunt Norma back home. She was my Father's sister. While I was growing up, she had been the organist in the Assembly of God Church where I attended, and she was the one who taught me how to play the piano and organ.
But when I was eight years old, and she was 19, she left the Church and started attending the United Pentecostal Church in Port Arthur, Texas. Her pastor was Rev. J.T. Pugh. She was baptized in Jesus' name, and had become the organist in that Church.
I will never forget that hand-written letter. I stood in the hallway on the fourth floor of Welch Hall as I opened the letter. There were several other young preacher-students standing in the hall too, opening their own mail.
It was a normal "How are you doing? Hope you are well..." kind of letter. But it was the last line of the letter that stunned me. She said, "Kenneth, I'm praying for you, because if you don't get baptized in Jesus' name, you're going to Hell. Love, Aunt Norma."
I was shocked. I laughed out loud. I said to all the preacher boys around me, "Hey! Look at this! You want to know what those Jesus' name people believe? My aunt just told me that if I don't get baptized in Jesus' name, I'm going to Hell!!"
I passed the letter around and they all looked at it and laughed and made fun of it.
I didn't hold it against my aunt, because I knew that she was a fine Christian. I just figured that's what she believed.
Over time, that letter disappeared, but I never forgot that last line. "If you don't get baptized in Jesus' name, you're going to Hell."
I didn't believe her, but I couldn't forget what she said.
Years went by. My entire life was about ministry. I preached and sang and traveled for several years with my wife, Dixie. We joined the Pastoral staff in a large Assemblies of God Church, and later moved to another city and started a new Church.
While I was Pastoring that new congregation of about 100 members, someone gave me a cassette tape of a preacher named Marvin Hicks, from Corpus Christi, Texas. It was a recording of a debate he participated in against a Church of Christ preacher. The subject was "Jesus' name Baptism."
At that time, a young preacher was staying in the parsonage with us, while conducting nightly services in our local Church. After service one night, he and I sat up late listening to Marvin Hicks explain the Biblical doctrine of Jesus' name baptism.
After we listened, he and I got our Bibles down, and had our own discussion on the matter. At 2:00 AM, he and I both decided that Jesus' name baptism was legitimate, and we both decided that we wanted to be baptized in Jesus' name. So, in the middle of the night, he and I went to the Church and baptized each other in Jesus' name.
That was in 1976. But I did not understand the urgency of it. I did not preach it or discuss it publicly. I didn't even baptize my wife in Jesus' name.
Not long after that, someone introduced me to the new Charismatic Movement. It's a long story that I won't get into here. It's in my book, LONG WINDING ROAD, if you're interested.
But several more years went by. The Charismatic Movement was very impressive to me at first, but it didn't take long before I decided that it was simply too ecumenical and heretical. I saw so many things going on that I knew beyond all question were unscriptural and not of God. False teachings. false practices and phony lifestyles were everywhere. After a while, I became completely disillusioned with it all.
Within three years, my wife and I left the ministry and stopped going to Church altogether. In short order, at 29 years old, I had become a bitter atheist.
I hate to skip over so many details, but I want to make this as short as possible.
We tried to construct a new life without God, and for a while, it looked as if we would succeed. But many woes came upon us.
Finally, at a point of great distress in our lives, I recognized that I was a fool for denying God. I admitted that 30 months of atheism and godless living had been a tragic mistake.
For the first time in more than two years, Dixie and I decided to pray and read the Bible again. For several months, we fasted and prayed intensely, reading and prayerfully studying the Bible every day.
During that period, while studying the Bible quite intensely, I began to realize the errors of many things I had once believed, and at the same time, began to see how many things in the Bible called for a life of holiness unto the Lord.
One thing led to another. Through a long, convoluted, complicated and stressful chain of events, Dixie and I finally decided that we simply had to find a Church that preached and practiced holiness.
But in the long and short of it, the only people who preached and practiced real Biblical holiness were the Jesus' name people.
On a Wednesday night before Christmas Eve, 1982, we walked into a Jesus' name Church for the first time.
It was like walking through the gates of Heaven. I knew from the moment I stepped in the door that I had found something I had never had before. The prayer, the songs and the preaching were all so profoundly different from what I had known, I nudged my wife halfway through the service, and whispered, "I've got a hook in my jaw."
Shortly after Christmas, my wife, my eight-year-old young son, and myself were all baptized in Jesus' name in that Church.
A light turned on in my soul that night. I began to see and know things about God that had never occurred to me, despite the fact that I had spent thousands of hours in my day, searching the scriptures.
It was a threshold, a gateway into another world; the world of the Apostles' doctrines. I began to see things in the Bible that had I had never seen before. The Oneness of God. The essentiality of the baptism of the Holy Ghost. And "holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord."
I cannot make you see what I see. I cannot force you to understand what I now see so clearly and so plainly. I can only pray that every person who reads this story will open your Bible to Acts 2:38, and read it, the entire chapter, and the entire Book of Acts. You will see - if you will.
Meanwhile, I invite you to study the matter with me.
http://kenraggio.com/KR-Water-And-Spirit-Baptism-And-The-New-Birth.html
P.S. Aunt Norma is 74 now. She was only 29 when she wrote that letter. That was a lifetime ago. Only eternity will reveal how important that letter was. It took 12 years for her letter to have its effect on me personally. But since that time, I've been a Jesus' name preacher for all it's worth. I have personally baptized more than 1800 people in Jesus' name, and have seen many thousands receive the baptism of the Holy Ghost, speaking in other tongues. Now, because of my constant witness on the Internet, the Jesus' name message that I preach is being seen DAILY in over 200 nations and islands of the world. All my websites and web-posts combined make a total of about 100 million impressions per year.
If you don't think people should write letters like that, of if you don't think you should tell someone that they could go to Hell for not obeying the Gospel, maybe you should think again.
---
For thousands of pages of FREE Bible Studies on every subject, including PROPHECIES about the last days, visit kenraggio.com now!
.
Saturday, February 22, 2014
I'm A Oneness Pentecostal. That means...
1. I believe in the Oneness of God, while the rest of "Christianity" believes in a Trinity.
2. I believe in Jesus' name baptism, while the rest of "Christianity" baptizes in titles, and refuses to baptize in Jesus' name.
3. I believe in the essentiality of the baptism of the Holy Ghost and speaking in other tongues, while the vast majority of all "Christianity" do not speak in tongues, and most of them think it is of the devil.
4. I believe in a lifestyle of holiness and separation from the world, while most of Christianity is growing increasingly intolerant of ANY RULES whatsoever, preaching the hyperist hyper-grace the world has ever known.
So.. that also means that I am a very determined Christian, to swim against the current, and feel the endless opposition of nearly everyone around me. I have asked myself a million times if I am absolutely sure that what I believe is right, because I don't want to be painting myself in a corner unnecessarily, or bring unnecessary hardship on myself. But every time, after DECADES of searching, studying, praying, and re-consecrating myself, I come up with the same conclusion:
What I believe is exactly right. I am not in error. I am not a heretic. Apostolic Oneness Pentecostal Holiness is the New Testament Church. All the rest are wrong. So even if the ENTIRE WORLD is Trinitarian, I will keep on being Oneness. Even if the ENTIRE WORLD baptizes in titles, I will baptize in Jesus' name. Even if the ENTIRE WORLD is Baptist, I'm going to keep on talking in tongues. Even if the ENTIRE WORLD says that holiness is legalism, bondage and spiritual abuse, I'm going to keep on preaching and practicing the holy lifestyle.
So, there. That's just the way it's got to be.
The Early Church was Absolutely, Unequivocally NOT Trinitarian
- - -
For thousands of pages of FREE Bible Studies on every subject, including PROPHECIES about the last days, visit kenraggio.com now!
2. I believe in Jesus' name baptism, while the rest of "Christianity" baptizes in titles, and refuses to baptize in Jesus' name.
3. I believe in the essentiality of the baptism of the Holy Ghost and speaking in other tongues, while the vast majority of all "Christianity" do not speak in tongues, and most of them think it is of the devil.
4. I believe in a lifestyle of holiness and separation from the world, while most of Christianity is growing increasingly intolerant of ANY RULES whatsoever, preaching the hyperist hyper-grace the world has ever known.
So.. that also means that I am a very determined Christian, to swim against the current, and feel the endless opposition of nearly everyone around me. I have asked myself a million times if I am absolutely sure that what I believe is right, because I don't want to be painting myself in a corner unnecessarily, or bring unnecessary hardship on myself. But every time, after DECADES of searching, studying, praying, and re-consecrating myself, I come up with the same conclusion:
What I believe is exactly right. I am not in error. I am not a heretic. Apostolic Oneness Pentecostal Holiness is the New Testament Church. All the rest are wrong. So even if the ENTIRE WORLD is Trinitarian, I will keep on being Oneness. Even if the ENTIRE WORLD baptizes in titles, I will baptize in Jesus' name. Even if the ENTIRE WORLD is Baptist, I'm going to keep on talking in tongues. Even if the ENTIRE WORLD says that holiness is legalism, bondage and spiritual abuse, I'm going to keep on preaching and practicing the holy lifestyle.
So, there. That's just the way it's got to be.
The Early Church was Absolutely, Unequivocally NOT Trinitarian
- - -
For thousands of pages of FREE Bible Studies on every subject, including PROPHECIES about the last days, visit kenraggio.com now!
Wednesday, February 12, 2014
It's Time For A Change
Christianity
at large has almost completely abandoned its historic teachings about holiness,
piety, and separation from the world and its ways. Almost all of the ancient landmarks
have been permanently removed. The old paths have been forsaken and forgotten. Most modern Christians have no knowledge of the old paths or the ancient landmarks. Preachers are
traveling the world's freeway at breakneck speeds.
The modern church's identity is more associated with and anchored to the world and its ways than ever before. The original, authentic, New Testament, Apostolic, Pentecostal, Holiness model is almost totally forgotten. The appearance, sound, and spirit is almost completely indistinguishable from the world's. They both look and act just alike.
Hype and artificial excitement have replaced the glory of the Lord. Ichabod is its name.
That will never do.God will not work His wonders in such an environment, as He once worked among consecrated, separated Christians in the past.
Fleshly entertainment and raw adrenaline are repulsive, noxious substitutes for the true fire of the Holy Ghost and the dynamic authority of the Word of God.
Pentecostal doctrines and experience are rarely articulated and practically non-existent in most churches. Teachers teach human-potential, self-actualization, and dream-your-own-dream. Human talent and ingenuity has replaced supernatural power. The sacrificial life is rejected. Self-fulfillment is the new norm.
This is not progress. It is apostasy.
STOP DESTROYING THE CHURCH!
It is time for preachers and musicians to stop modeling rock stars and sports celebrities, and start acting like holy men and women of God.
It's time for Christians to walk out on carnally-minded preachers and musicians. Ask for the old paths. Purge the pulpit of ALL things secular. Demand that the Church and its leaders be what they ought to be. Stop supporting these handsome but ravening wolves.
IT'S TIME for men to take the lead, and be truly godly leaders.
IT'S TIME for women to submit to their husbands.
IT'S TIME for fathers to discipline their children.
IT'S TIME to throw away clothes that are too sexy, too swag or too culturally-hip, and fall in love with ultra-modesty, for GOD's sake.
IT'S TIME for men to act and dress masculine, and for women to act and dress feminine. The unisex look has GOT to go.
IT'S TIME to read the Bible every day - the King James Bible, not other versions that have been shown to be doctrinally corrupt, erroneous and misleading.
IT'S TIME to bring back REAL fasting (doing totally without food), REAL prayer (where men weep between the porch and the altar), and REAL Holy Ghost fire (speaking in tongues, supernatural gifts of the Spirit, signs, wonders and miracles) and fearless, thunderous, pure and unadulterated preaching of God's Word.
That would be A START in the right direction.
Hopefully, at that point, God would have our full attention, and would take us onward and upward toward a more glorious Church than the world knows today.
BUT IF NOT, the day will soon come when true seekers will not be able to find a true Church where they can find eternal salvation for their sinful souls. In many places, that is already the case. God help us all.
- - -
For thousands of pages of FREE Bible Studies on every subject, including PROPHECIES about the last days, visit kenraggio.com now!
The modern church's identity is more associated with and anchored to the world and its ways than ever before. The original, authentic, New Testament, Apostolic, Pentecostal, Holiness model is almost totally forgotten. The appearance, sound, and spirit is almost completely indistinguishable from the world's. They both look and act just alike.
Hype and artificial excitement have replaced the glory of the Lord. Ichabod is its name.
That will never do.God will not work His wonders in such an environment, as He once worked among consecrated, separated Christians in the past.
Fleshly entertainment and raw adrenaline are repulsive, noxious substitutes for the true fire of the Holy Ghost and the dynamic authority of the Word of God.
Pentecostal doctrines and experience are rarely articulated and practically non-existent in most churches. Teachers teach human-potential, self-actualization, and dream-your-own-dream. Human talent and ingenuity has replaced supernatural power. The sacrificial life is rejected. Self-fulfillment is the new norm.
This is not progress. It is apostasy.
STOP DESTROYING THE CHURCH!
It is time for preachers and musicians to stop modeling rock stars and sports celebrities, and start acting like holy men and women of God.
It's time for Christians to walk out on carnally-minded preachers and musicians. Ask for the old paths. Purge the pulpit of ALL things secular. Demand that the Church and its leaders be what they ought to be. Stop supporting these handsome but ravening wolves.
IT'S TIME for men to take the lead, and be truly godly leaders.
IT'S TIME for women to submit to their husbands.
IT'S TIME for fathers to discipline their children.
IT'S TIME to throw away clothes that are too sexy, too swag or too culturally-hip, and fall in love with ultra-modesty, for GOD's sake.
IT'S TIME for men to act and dress masculine, and for women to act and dress feminine. The unisex look has GOT to go.
IT'S TIME to read the Bible every day - the King James Bible, not other versions that have been shown to be doctrinally corrupt, erroneous and misleading.
IT'S TIME to bring back REAL fasting (doing totally without food), REAL prayer (where men weep between the porch and the altar), and REAL Holy Ghost fire (speaking in tongues, supernatural gifts of the Spirit, signs, wonders and miracles) and fearless, thunderous, pure and unadulterated preaching of God's Word.
That would be A START in the right direction.
Hopefully, at that point, God would have our full attention, and would take us onward and upward toward a more glorious Church than the world knows today.
BUT IF NOT, the day will soon come when true seekers will not be able to find a true Church where they can find eternal salvation for their sinful souls. In many places, that is already the case. God help us all.
- - -
For thousands of pages of FREE Bible Studies on every subject, including PROPHECIES about the last days, visit kenraggio.com now!
Tuesday, February 11, 2014
Expensive Choices
I've made a lot of decisions in my life that cost me an enormous price.
But before you assume that I'm talking about the price I've paid for my mistakes, let me intercept that thought.
I won't deny that my mistakes have cost me. In fact, sometimes it seems that I have paid the full retail price and more for every mistake I've made.
But expensive choices do not only come in the form of mistakes.
RIGHT choices can also be very expensive.
Think about it. Adam and Eve lost Paradise for one bite of fruit. God put them out of the Garden. They made the WRONG choice, and it was an expensive choice.
But Abraham made a RIGHT choice that cost him dearly. When God told him to forsake Ur of the Chaldees, and then his family, too - Abraham paid a high price. It was a very expensive choice that Abraham made to do the will of God. But for his expensive choice, God made an everlasting covenant of blessing.
Jacob made an expensive choice when he decided to con Esau out of the family birthright. He spent decades in exile from his family for that expensive choice. Sometimes the price of getting what you want is losing all you've got.
Jesus Christ made an expensive choice in the Garden of Gethsemane that night. He would never have the life that most young men have. He would never marry. Never have children. Never raise a family. Never own a home. Never pursue a career.
At 33 years old, Jesus chose to die.
The catch-22 in this matter is that whether you choose right or wrong - you are going to pay a high price. No matter what your choices, you will pay a price. So many of life's choices are EXPENSIVE CHOICES.
My proposition here is that, when all things are considered, the choices we make for God are completely cost-efficient.
I've made a lot of choices that I know were right, but they cost me almost everything I had at the time.
More than once, I've walked away from family or friends to do the will of God. I didn't want to lose my family or my friends, but I had to do the will of God. It was an expensive choice, but in the end, it was cost-efficient. If I had chosen family and friends over the will of God, I would NEVER stop paying.
To anyone who says that doing the will of God is too hard, I say, "No. The way of transgressors is hard," (Proverbs 13:15).
In the end, doing the will of God doesn't cost at all. It pays. The price you pay to do the will of God is not an expense. It is an investment.
But on the other hand, the price you pay to do as you please is NOT an investment. It is a total loss. You never recover the losses you suffer from disobedience.
Expensive choices.
Anybody knows that it does not pay to invest in merchandise that has no quality. It is smarter to buy an expensive product that is well-made and durable, than to save money up front, and quickly lose it when the product fails.
So it is in the Kingdom of God. God will not be indebted to any man. The price you pay to do the will of God will be rewarded a million times over when you stand before Him and hear Him say, "Well done, good and faithful servant."
Go ahead. Make the expensive choice. Suffer whatever losses, and pay whatever price you have to pay.
This is the Pearl of great price we are talking about. It is the Treasure hid in a field, for which a man will sell all that he has.
Sell all you have. Buy the will of God. Make the expensive choice. Don't hesitate.
Remember, you will never inherit the Promised Land if you won't give up Egypt.
- - -
For thousands of pages of FREE Bible Studies on every subject, including PROPHECIES about the last days, visit kenraggio.com now!
But before you assume that I'm talking about the price I've paid for my mistakes, let me intercept that thought.
I won't deny that my mistakes have cost me. In fact, sometimes it seems that I have paid the full retail price and more for every mistake I've made.
But expensive choices do not only come in the form of mistakes.
RIGHT choices can also be very expensive.
Think about it. Adam and Eve lost Paradise for one bite of fruit. God put them out of the Garden. They made the WRONG choice, and it was an expensive choice.
But Abraham made a RIGHT choice that cost him dearly. When God told him to forsake Ur of the Chaldees, and then his family, too - Abraham paid a high price. It was a very expensive choice that Abraham made to do the will of God. But for his expensive choice, God made an everlasting covenant of blessing.
Jacob made an expensive choice when he decided to con Esau out of the family birthright. He spent decades in exile from his family for that expensive choice. Sometimes the price of getting what you want is losing all you've got.
Jesus Christ made an expensive choice in the Garden of Gethsemane that night. He would never have the life that most young men have. He would never marry. Never have children. Never raise a family. Never own a home. Never pursue a career.
At 33 years old, Jesus chose to die.
The catch-22 in this matter is that whether you choose right or wrong - you are going to pay a high price. No matter what your choices, you will pay a price. So many of life's choices are EXPENSIVE CHOICES.
My proposition here is that, when all things are considered, the choices we make for God are completely cost-efficient.
I've made a lot of choices that I know were right, but they cost me almost everything I had at the time.
More than once, I've walked away from family or friends to do the will of God. I didn't want to lose my family or my friends, but I had to do the will of God. It was an expensive choice, but in the end, it was cost-efficient. If I had chosen family and friends over the will of God, I would NEVER stop paying.
To anyone who says that doing the will of God is too hard, I say, "No. The way of transgressors is hard," (Proverbs 13:15).
In the end, doing the will of God doesn't cost at all. It pays. The price you pay to do the will of God is not an expense. It is an investment.
But on the other hand, the price you pay to do as you please is NOT an investment. It is a total loss. You never recover the losses you suffer from disobedience.
Expensive choices.
Anybody knows that it does not pay to invest in merchandise that has no quality. It is smarter to buy an expensive product that is well-made and durable, than to save money up front, and quickly lose it when the product fails.
So it is in the Kingdom of God. God will not be indebted to any man. The price you pay to do the will of God will be rewarded a million times over when you stand before Him and hear Him say, "Well done, good and faithful servant."
Go ahead. Make the expensive choice. Suffer whatever losses, and pay whatever price you have to pay.
This is the Pearl of great price we are talking about. It is the Treasure hid in a field, for which a man will sell all that he has.
Sell all you have. Buy the will of God. Make the expensive choice. Don't hesitate.
Remember, you will never inherit the Promised Land if you won't give up Egypt.
- - -
For thousands of pages of FREE Bible Studies on every subject, including PROPHECIES about the last days, visit kenraggio.com now!
Tuesday, February 4, 2014
Fake Rolex Christians
I know a man who goes to New York occasionally to buy "knock-off"
watches. He has sources who provide him with look-alike watches of some
of the most expensive, high-end watches anywhere.
Some of these watches, if you bought the authentic version, would cost many thousands of dollars. I saw a fake not long ago that was virtually indistinguishable from a $30,000 watch.
People can buy fake watches on the streets of NYC for $49.
The fakes are actually quite impressive. It is not unlikely that they will work excellently for a long time. Unless you have above-average knowledge of watches, it is nearly impossible to know for sure whether it is the real deal or a fake. About 30-40 MILLION fake watches are manufactured yearly, mostly in China.
It is no wonder that they sell like hot-cakes.
Nobody knows that although the OUTSIDE of the watch looks identical, the INSIDE of the watch is not manufactured to the same exacting standards. You can expect that when the fake one breaks down, that is the end of it. Nobody even knows who the manufacturer is. There is no warranty. You can forget getting a refund. Enjoy it while you can, because when it is over, it's over. It is disposable.
But for a few dollars, it has its temporal value, and for the feel-good experience, a lot of people think its a good value.
People buy CHEAP RELIGION for the same reason they wear FAKE ROLEXES.
They don't want to pay the price!
Unfortunately, a lot MORE people have FAKE RELIGION than wear FAKE ROLEXES.
They go to Church, but it isn't a real Church.
Sure, on the OUTSIDE, it looks like a real Church. It has a big nice building. There are lots of cars in the parking lot. They have a nice sign on it that says "Church." It may have fabulous music, and fascinating lectures. And most people who go there have no clue that it isn't a real Church.
They don't realize that INSIDE, its doctrine is not Biblical. They don't realize that the only TRUE CHURCH has to be made by the Acts 2 model.
They don't realize that going to a fake Church WILL NOT SAVE their eternal souls. They are being duped. When this short-term religion breaks down, it's over. Nobody knows who the manufacturer is, and nobody can fix it.
Not even God Himself will warranty it.
If they don't clearly teach the doctrines that the Apostles taught, they are not an Apostolic Church.
If they don't baptize the way the Apostles baptized, it is not an Apostolic Church. Almost 300 years after the early Church was born, the Roman Catholic Church outlawed Jesus' name baptism as it had been practiced for hundreds of years.
They reformulated baptism, DELETING the name of Jesus, and using only titles - even going so far as to TAMPER with the Biblical TEXT of Matthew 28:19. Here is the evidence:
In the EARLIEST known existing versions of Matthew 28:19, early Church patriarch Eusebius quoted it saying, "Go ye and make disciples of all the nations in the name of Christ..." That was quoted EIGHTEEN TIMES by Eusebius in his writings between 290-339 AD.
So, the OLDEST versions of Matthew 28:19 do NOT say "of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." THAT rendering, using only TITLES and not the NAME of Jesus, first appeared at the Council of Nicea in 325 AD. It was formulated and written by Catholic theologians, not by the original Apostles or Jesus Christ Himself.
Furthermore, and more significantly, the Roman Catholic Church condemned as HERETICS the multitudes of Jesus' name baptized Early Church saints (although Jesus' name baptism was the ORIGINAL formula, and up to that time had been the predominate form of baptism). Their homes and properties were confiscated, and most of them were killed.
The Roman Catholic Church MURDERED the authentic Acts 2:38 Church, and replaced it with an imposter!
The Roman Catholic Church was the first to produce "fake Rolexes."
Moreover, if the modern Church does not preach and practice the Baptism of the Holy Ghost, with the initial evidence of speaking in other tongues, it is not a real Apostolic Church.
It's a fake Rolex.
One more comment: Since the TRUE Apostolic, Pentecostal, Jesus' name Church was built by Jesus Christ, you should take note that the FAKE CHURCH will be judged violently by Jesus Christ when He returns, according to the prophecies of Revelation 17-18. You NEED to know these things.
See: "The Early Church Was Absolutely, Unequivocally NOT Trinitarian"
See also: "Answering the Controversy - Water and Spirit Baptism and the New Birth"
See also: "What's Wrong With The Roman Catholic Church?"
- - -
For thousands of pages of FREE Bible Studies on every subject, including PROPHECIES about the last days, visit kenraggio.com now!
Some of these watches, if you bought the authentic version, would cost many thousands of dollars. I saw a fake not long ago that was virtually indistinguishable from a $30,000 watch.
People can buy fake watches on the streets of NYC for $49.
The fakes are actually quite impressive. It is not unlikely that they will work excellently for a long time. Unless you have above-average knowledge of watches, it is nearly impossible to know for sure whether it is the real deal or a fake. About 30-40 MILLION fake watches are manufactured yearly, mostly in China.
It is no wonder that they sell like hot-cakes.
Nobody knows that although the OUTSIDE of the watch looks identical, the INSIDE of the watch is not manufactured to the same exacting standards. You can expect that when the fake one breaks down, that is the end of it. Nobody even knows who the manufacturer is. There is no warranty. You can forget getting a refund. Enjoy it while you can, because when it is over, it's over. It is disposable.
But for a few dollars, it has its temporal value, and for the feel-good experience, a lot of people think its a good value.
People buy CHEAP RELIGION for the same reason they wear FAKE ROLEXES.
They don't want to pay the price!
Unfortunately, a lot MORE people have FAKE RELIGION than wear FAKE ROLEXES.
They go to Church, but it isn't a real Church.
Sure, on the OUTSIDE, it looks like a real Church. It has a big nice building. There are lots of cars in the parking lot. They have a nice sign on it that says "Church." It may have fabulous music, and fascinating lectures. And most people who go there have no clue that it isn't a real Church.
They don't realize that INSIDE, its doctrine is not Biblical. They don't realize that the only TRUE CHURCH has to be made by the Acts 2 model.
They don't realize that going to a fake Church WILL NOT SAVE their eternal souls. They are being duped. When this short-term religion breaks down, it's over. Nobody knows who the manufacturer is, and nobody can fix it.
Not even God Himself will warranty it.
If they don't clearly teach the doctrines that the Apostles taught, they are not an Apostolic Church.
If they don't baptize the way the Apostles baptized, it is not an Apostolic Church. Almost 300 years after the early Church was born, the Roman Catholic Church outlawed Jesus' name baptism as it had been practiced for hundreds of years.
They reformulated baptism, DELETING the name of Jesus, and using only titles - even going so far as to TAMPER with the Biblical TEXT of Matthew 28:19. Here is the evidence:
In the EARLIEST known existing versions of Matthew 28:19, early Church patriarch Eusebius quoted it saying, "Go ye and make disciples of all the nations in the name of Christ..." That was quoted EIGHTEEN TIMES by Eusebius in his writings between 290-339 AD.
So, the OLDEST versions of Matthew 28:19 do NOT say "of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." THAT rendering, using only TITLES and not the NAME of Jesus, first appeared at the Council of Nicea in 325 AD. It was formulated and written by Catholic theologians, not by the original Apostles or Jesus Christ Himself.
Furthermore, and more significantly, the Roman Catholic Church condemned as HERETICS the multitudes of Jesus' name baptized Early Church saints (although Jesus' name baptism was the ORIGINAL formula, and up to that time had been the predominate form of baptism). Their homes and properties were confiscated, and most of them were killed.
The Roman Catholic Church MURDERED the authentic Acts 2:38 Church, and replaced it with an imposter!
The Roman Catholic Church was the first to produce "fake Rolexes."
Moreover, if the modern Church does not preach and practice the Baptism of the Holy Ghost, with the initial evidence of speaking in other tongues, it is not a real Apostolic Church.
It's a fake Rolex.
One more comment: Since the TRUE Apostolic, Pentecostal, Jesus' name Church was built by Jesus Christ, you should take note that the FAKE CHURCH will be judged violently by Jesus Christ when He returns, according to the prophecies of Revelation 17-18. You NEED to know these things.
See: "The Early Church Was Absolutely, Unequivocally NOT Trinitarian"
See also: "Answering the Controversy - Water and Spirit Baptism and the New Birth"
See also: "What's Wrong With The Roman Catholic Church?"
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For thousands of pages of FREE Bible Studies on every subject, including PROPHECIES about the last days, visit kenraggio.com now!
The Boy Who Put His Finger In The Dike
In 1865, Mary Mapes Dodge wrote a popular fictional tale about some children who lived in the Netherlands in the Old Days.
You may have read it in your schooldays: "Hans Brinker and the Silver Skates."
Apart from the main story-line was a short segment that took on a life of its own and made its way permanently into American culture.
It is called, "The Hero of Haarlem," or "The Boy Who Put His Finger in The Dike."
Here is the story that Mrs. Dodge told (abridged):
Christianity has been compromised. Evil men and seducers have infiltrated the Holy Places in the Church and have brought teachings and spirits that are intended to destroy the very levees that hold the world out.
The modern Church's sacred legacy of holiness preaching, spanning the last five centuries, is being methodically dismantled by men who demand that there is nothing wrong with bringing the world into the Church.
The angry waters are mad at the Church for keeping them out for so long.
The doctrine of separation is being discredited and held in contempt by many of the most prominent and influential of all "Christian" voices in this generation.
But make no mistake about it. If the world floods the Church with its movies, its music, its sports, its entertainment, its comedy, its dances, its liquors and habits, its sacrilege and mockery, its...
There will be no Church remaining if it is left only to the devices of these arrogant, self-serving impostors who bill themselves as ministers of the Gospel.
I may never be able to single-handedly stop the breach in the levee, but one thing I know.
"Haarlem shall not be drowned while I am here!"
I will pursue every breach with the loudest declaration of the Word of God that I can muster.
I will preach holiness and separation from the world until my dying breath.
I will hold up the Word of God and everything I can find in it as the ultimate standard for living. Let God be true and every man a liar.
The Apostle Paul said, “For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ, But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him," 2 Corinthians 11:2-4.
Paul fought against all odds to protect and preserve the Church's virginity.
May Almighty God raise up an army of mighty men today who will "make up the hedge, and stand in the gap" before the Lord that He will not allow the Church to be destroyed.
Oh, there WILL be a Church when Jesus comes. But it will not be so without a fight.
If a teen-age boy named David could stand in the gap for all of Israel and destroy the terrifying Giant Goliath, then maybe, just maybe, you and I can stand in the gap for our generation.
"Haarlem shall not be drowned while I am here!"
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For thousands of pages of FREE Bible Studies on every subject, including PROPHECIES about the last days, visit kenraggio.com now!
You may have read it in your schooldays: "Hans Brinker and the Silver Skates."
Apart from the main story-line was a short segment that took on a life of its own and made its way permanently into American culture.
It is called, "The Hero of Haarlem," or "The Boy Who Put His Finger in The Dike."
Here is the story that Mrs. Dodge told (abridged):
"Many years ago, there lived in Haarlem, one of the principal cities of Holland, a sunny-haired boy of gentle disposition. His father was a sluicer, that is, a man whose business it was to open and close the sluices, or large oaken gates, that are placed at regular distances across the entrances of the canals, to regulate the amount of water that shall flow into them. The sluicer raises the gates more or less according to the quantity of water required, and closes them carefully at night, in order to avoid all possible danger of an oversupply running into the canal, or the water would soon overflow it and inundate the surrounding country.I find myself standing where our young hero stood - looking at a treacherous breach in the dike. Everything that once kept the world out of the Church of the Living God has been breached.
As a great portion of Holland is lower than the level of the sea, the waters are kept from flooding the land only by means of strong dikes, or barriers, and by means of these sluices, which are often strained to the utmost by the pressure of the rising tides. Even the little children in Holland know that constant watchfulness is required to keep the rivers and ocean from overwhelming the country, and that a moment's neglect of the sluicer's duty may bring ruin and death to all.
One lovely autumn afternoon, when the boy was about eight years old, he obtained his parents' consent to carry some cakes to a blind man who lived out in the country, on the other side of the dike. The little fellow started on his errand with a light heart, and having spent an hour with his grateful old friend, he bade him farewell and started on his homeward walk.
Trudging stoutly along the canal, he noticed how the autumn rains had swollen the waters. Even while humming his careless, childish song, he thought of his father's brave old gates and felt glad of their strength, for, thought he, 'If they gave way, where would Father and Mother be? These pretty fields would all be covered with the angry waters - Father always calls them the angry waters. I suppose he thinks they are mad at him for keeping them out so long.'
And with these thoughts just flitting across his brain, the little fellow stooped to pick the pretty flowers that grew along his way. Suddenly the boy looked around him in dismay. He had not noticed that the sun was setting. Now he saw that his long shadow on the grass had vanished. It was growing dark, he was still some distance from home, and in a lonely ravine, where even the blue flowers had turned to gray. He quickened his footsteps and, with a beating heart recalled many a nursery tale of children belated in dreary forests.
Just as he was bracing himself for a run, he was startled by the sound of trickling water. Whence did it come? He looked up and saw a small hole in the dike through which a tiny stream was flowing. Any child in Holland will shudder at the thought of a leak in the dike! The boy understood the danger at a glance. That little hole, if the water were allowed to trickle through, would soon be a large one, and a terrible inundation would be the result.
Quick as a flash, he saw his duty. Throwing away his flowers, the boy clambered up the heights until he reached the hole. His chubby little finger was thrust in, almost before he knew it. The flowing was stopped! Ah! he thought, with a chuckle of boyish delight, the angry waters must stay back now!
"Haarlem shall not be drowned while I am here! "
This was all very well at first, but the night was falling rapidly. Chill vapors filled the air. Our little hero began to tremble with cold and dread. He shouted loudly; he screamed, 'Come here! come here!' but no one came. The cold grew more intense, a numbness, commencing in the tired little finger, crept over his hand and arm, and soon his whole body was filled with pain. He shouted again, 'Will no one come? Mother! Mother!'
Alas, his mother, good, practical soul, had already locked the doors and had fully resolved to scold him on the morrow for spending the night with blind Jansen without her permission. He tried to whistle. Perhaps some straggling boy might heed the signal, but his teeth chattered so, it was impossible.
Then he called on God for help. And the answer came, through a holy resolution: 'I will stay here till morning.' The midnight moon looked down upon that small, solitary form, sitting upon a stone, halfway up the dike. His head was bent but he was not asleep, for every now and then one restless hand rubbed feebly the outstretched arm that seemed fastened to the dike - and often the pale, tearful face turned quickly at some real or fancied sounds.
How can we know the sufferings of that long and fearful watch - what falterings of purpose, what childish terrors came over the boy as he thought of the warm little bed at home, of his parents, his brothers and sisters, then looked into the cold, dreary night! If he drew away that tiny finger, the angry waters, grown angrier still, would rush forth, and never stop until they had swept over the town. No, he would hold it there till daylight - if he lived!
He was not very sure of living. What did this strange buzzing mean? And then the knives that seemed pricking and piercing him from head to foot? He was not certain now that he could draw his finger away, even if he wished to.
At daybreak a clergyman, returning from the bedside of a sick parishioner, thought he heard groans as he walked along on the top of the dike. Bending, he saw, far down on the side, a child apparently writhing with pain. 'In the name of wonder, boy,' he exclaimed, 'what are you doing there?' 'I am keeping the water from running out,' was the simple answer of the little hero. 'Tell them to come quick.'
It is needless to add that they did come quickly.
Christianity has been compromised. Evil men and seducers have infiltrated the Holy Places in the Church and have brought teachings and spirits that are intended to destroy the very levees that hold the world out.
The modern Church's sacred legacy of holiness preaching, spanning the last five centuries, is being methodically dismantled by men who demand that there is nothing wrong with bringing the world into the Church.
The angry waters are mad at the Church for keeping them out for so long.
The doctrine of separation is being discredited and held in contempt by many of the most prominent and influential of all "Christian" voices in this generation.
But make no mistake about it. If the world floods the Church with its movies, its music, its sports, its entertainment, its comedy, its dances, its liquors and habits, its sacrilege and mockery, its...
There will be no Church remaining if it is left only to the devices of these arrogant, self-serving impostors who bill themselves as ministers of the Gospel.
I may never be able to single-handedly stop the breach in the levee, but one thing I know.
"Haarlem shall not be drowned while I am here!"
I will pursue every breach with the loudest declaration of the Word of God that I can muster.
I will preach holiness and separation from the world until my dying breath.
I will hold up the Word of God and everything I can find in it as the ultimate standard for living. Let God be true and every man a liar.
The Apostle Paul said, “For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ, But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him," 2 Corinthians 11:2-4.
Paul fought against all odds to protect and preserve the Church's virginity.
May Almighty God raise up an army of mighty men today who will "make up the hedge, and stand in the gap" before the Lord that He will not allow the Church to be destroyed.
Oh, there WILL be a Church when Jesus comes. But it will not be so without a fight.
If a teen-age boy named David could stand in the gap for all of Israel and destroy the terrifying Giant Goliath, then maybe, just maybe, you and I can stand in the gap for our generation.
"Haarlem shall not be drowned while I am here!"
- - -
For thousands of pages of FREE Bible Studies on every subject, including PROPHECIES about the last days, visit kenraggio.com now!