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Subject 6 : Heretics
[6-5] In Which Gospel Do You Now Believe? (1 Kings 13:33-34)
“After this event Jeroboam did not turn from his evil way, but again he made priests from every class of people for the high places; whoever wished, he consecrated him, and he became one of the priests of the high places. And this thing was the sin of the house of Jeroboam, so as to exterminate and destroy it from the face of the earth.”
It’s raining softly. Yesterday, while watching TV, I saw Bill Gates saying in an interview that it’s now possible to implant computer chips in the human body. Until now, chips had been implanted in inanimate objects and animals to keep track of them, but now, it’s possible to implant computer chips deep in the human body. This speaks to the fact that the end times described in Revelation chapter 13 are fast approaching. Previously, chips could be implanted in a limited range of bodily parts, such as the thigh or the back of the hand, but as these chips could easily be removed through a simple surgical procedure, they are now implanted deep in the organs of the human body, so that they may not be removed so easily. According to Bill Gates, this is now more than possible. The people of the world, of course, would be quite excited about this new technology. There are certain conveniences that come with this technology; for instance, if someone is kidnapped, you could track him down and locate him by using GPS via satellites. When I heard this news yesterday morning, I was reminded that the age of Revelation is nearing us faster and faster.
We just read some verses from 1 Kings. Recently I have been preaching about heresy, and I am a bit worried that some people may be offended by what I am saying. But now is the time for me to preach about heresy, and I have to continue to do this until our minds can clearly recognize who the real heretics are. I believe that people all over the world must also have the right understanding of heretics for the gospel of the water and the Spirit to be spread even more.
Today’s Scripture passage comes from 1 Kings 13:33-34, and it is written here, “After this event Jeroboam did not turn from his evil way, but again he made priests from every class of people for the high places; whoever wished, he consecrated him, and he became one of the priests of the high places. And this thing was the sin of the house of Jeroboam, so as to exterminate and destroy it from the face of the earth.” It is also written in 1 Kings 12:33, “So he made offerings on the altar which he had made at Bethel on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, in the month which he had devised in his own heart. And he ordained a feast for the children of Israel, and offered sacrifices on the altar and burned incense.”
Both these passages speak about Jeroboam, a man who had committed great sins before God. He had made golden calves to replace God, changed the date of the Day of Atonement arbitrarily on his own, and appointed ordinary people to priesthood instead of Levites. Even worse, he himself performed sacrifices to God.
At that time, a servant of God appeared and rebuked Jeroboam’s deeds, saying to him, “Thus says the LORD: ‘Behold, a child, Josiah by name, shall be born to the house of David; and on you he shall sacrifice the priests of the high places who burn incense on you, and men’s bones shall be burned on you’” (1 Kings 13:2). However, Jeroboam did not turn around from his evil way, but continued to make priests out of ordinary people to serve in the shrines and offer sacrifices. This was a grievous sin before God.
As the Bible mentions, Jeroboam built many shrines throughout Israel. Sacrifices were offered mostly to idols in these shrines. Jeroboam set up golden calves in Dan and Bethel, and made the people of Israel worship them. And he built shrines practically everywhere across the whole northern kingdom of Israel, where the ten tribes of Israel were living. Jeroboam had set up golden calves in Dan and Bethel because he was afraid that the people might return to the southern kingdom of Judah. This alone was a great sin, but he went even further by building a shrine in each village and making his people sacrifice to the idols. Jeroboam’s sins were enough to provoke the wrath of God, and it was because of these sins that his household and his kingdom were destroyed. Jeroboam not only offered sacrifices himself, but he made priests out of ordinary people for them to worship idols at the shrines. He appointed anyone who volunteered as the priests of the shrines. By thus making the people of Israel serve idols, Jeroboam provoked the wrath of God.
As such sins of Jeroboam provoked God’s great wrath, the people of Israel were destroyed by God. It’s because of these sins that Israel lost its sovereignty and its people were massacred by foreigners. This happened all because of the sins that Jeroboam had committed, and because the people of Israel had followed his sins. The destruction of the people of Israel was not because of anyone else’s sins. They were destroyed all because of the sins that Jeroboam had committed against God, and such sins continue to arise endlessly in today’s Christianity also, committed by false prophets. Even in present-day Christianity, such fallacious faith continues to be passed down.
It Is Wrong for Those Who Are Now Ignorant of the Gospel of the Water and the Spirit to Become God’s Workers
When today’s Christian leaders ordain pastors, they do so arbitrarily to their own liking, just like Jeroboam. Churchmen are trained at seminaries, and whoever graduates from a seminary can work as an evangelist or a minister. Some seminary students are there simply because they could not adapt themselves to social life. In many such cases, where people find it hard to make a living, they think that this somehow means that God is calling them, and so they attend a seminary out of their own volition. In present-day Christian communities, anyone who wishes to become a pastor even without knowing the gospel of the water and the Spirit, far less receiving the remission of sin, is committing the same sin that Jeroboam had committed.
The duties of pastors or evangelists are actually given to serve the work of God. Such church offices are established by God Himself for His work. We can see this by looking at how Jesus had called and raised His disciples during His three years of public life. Such disciples of Jesus as Peter, Andrew, and John were seamen making their living out of fishing. But when Jesus went to Galilee and saw them, He had said to them and called them, “Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men” (Mark 1:17). Jesus Himself had called His disciples. As they followed, Jesus took them in as His disciples and taught them, personally raising them to work as God’s servants. Matthew was a tax collector when he received the Lord’s calling. It was the Lord Himself who had made him His worker. The Apostle Paul also said in 2 Timothy 3:14, “But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them.” If anyone receives the remission of sin and is nurtured inside God’s Church, then he can teach and lead others with certainty.
God’s workers are either established by God Himself or appointed by His servants, who call those who are qualified to become God’s laborers. The qualification of God’s servant is not attained through the curricula of the seminary system. Only those who have united their hearts with the gospel of the water and the Spirit are qualified to become God’s laborers. These laborers are personally called and raised by God’s servants. In other words, it’s God’s servants who pick His workers. So not just anyone who wants to become God’s worker can actually become one. Through His servants, God Himself personally calls and raises those who would become His laborers, and He uses them for His work. He thus selects those who would become His servants, trains them, and raises them firmly as His laborers. This is the way how God raises His servants.
In contrast, Jeroboam simply asked anyone he saw fit, “Do you want to become a priest,” and if the answer was yes, then he appointed him as a priest. In other words, after building a shrine in every village, Jeroboam would ask, “Raise your hand if you want to become a priest of this shrine.” Some people would then raise their hands. Jeroboam would then pick someone he liked and say, “You are the priest in charge here.” This is how he appointed priests. The priests that were thus appointed bowed before idols, burnt incense to them, held feasts, and practiced evil, saying, “This idol is the god that has led you.” What Jeroboam did was therefore a great sin before God.
Today, one who is qualified to become God’s servant must be, first of all, someone who has been washed from all his sins by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, and second, he must be someone whose heart is united with God’s work. Those whose faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit is rock-solid, who are fitting in God’s sight, and who have set their minds before the Lord—it is such people who are raised as God’s workers through the preceding servants of God.
God’s workers are raised as Elijah had raised Elisha in the Old Testament. Elijah ran a mission school in the Old Testament time, just as we are now running our Mission School. So he had many disciples. But of these disciples, there was a man named Elisha who followed Elijah particularly closely. Elisha followed him so closely that he called him his lord. He used to fetch water for his teacher to wash his hands. One day, Elisha asked Elijah, “Please let a double portion of your spirit be upon me,” and he finally came to take Elijah’s garments and received twice the power that Elijah had received. So he succeeded Elijah as God’s servant to lead the people of Israel.
Like this, God Himself establishes His servants personally. Today, God’s servants who believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit know that God Himself raises His laborers through His servants. Only the believers in the gospel of the water and the Spirit are qualified to become God’s servants. It is the servants of God, whom God had approved first, that select and appoint those who are fit to become workers from the people of God. That is how one becomes God’s worker. Just as this was the case in the age of the Old Testament, so does the same principle apply to the age of the New Testament. Whom did the Apostle Paul establish as God’s servants? The Apostle Paul raised many people as God’s workers, but of these, he established Timothy, his spiritual son, as one of the most faithful servants of God. In turn, Timothy also raised more disciples. Like this, God’s servants are raised through their preceding servants of God. Of course, they must believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
In contrast, during the reign of King Jeroboam, any of the common people could become a priest just by volunteering. The same thing is happening today also. When some people struggle with their businesses, they think on their own, “Is God blocking me? Should I then attend a seminary?” In many cases, that’s how people find themselves in a seminary. When someone goes to a seminary like this, he graduates after earning enough credits, and is ordained as a pastor in his denomination. He is then unconditionally recognized by people as a servant of God, but he actually teaches a half-gospel, not the gospel of the water and the Spirit. This is one of the greatest evils of today’s Christianity, and it constitutes a grievous sin before God.
Why Has Today’s Christianity Become So Desolate?
The reason why today’s Christianity has turned into a den of wolves in sheep’s masks that serve golden calves is because it has turned into an interest group. My fellow believers, before God, just because one attends a seminary, this does not mean that he can become a minister unconditionally. Only those who have truly received the remission of their sins by believing in the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit with their hearts are able and qualified to become God’s servants. God asks them, “Have you washed away your sins as white as snow by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit? Did you crucify your old self with Christ? Will you indeed go left if the Lord commands you to go left, and right if the Lord commands to go right?” If one answers the Lord’s questions with yes, and wants to abide with the Lord and live his life united with Him, then he can become God’s worker.
Man cannot raise God’s workers and His servants arbitrarily. The servants of God who first believed in the gospel of the water and the Spirit must examine one’s faith with the gospel of Truth, and only if his faith is found fitting is he raised as a worker of God. God’s servants are not raised by sinners. Some of you may then ask, “Even in God’s Church, it’s the predecessors of faith who raise male and female workers, and so how can you say that it’s God who raises them, rather than man?” In God’s Church, God Himself personally raises His laborers through His servants from those who believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
Our church had also raised many workers at its very beginning. At that time, the Church was in desperate need of God’s workers. Although our workers now go through a much more rigorous and detailed selection process, in those days, anyone who professed to believe in the gospel was raised as a laborer in the Church. All volunteers in Christ were accepted 100 percent. And I myself as the leader of the Church had to kneel down and beg, saying, “Please join the Mission School for training. You don’t have to go through the full six-month training period; just three months should be enough. We would be so happy if you would just stick to the program until the end, even if you don’t like it.” As a result, among those who were raised to be workers like this at the beginning, many ended up leaving the Church, as they were not faithful.
This, however, is no longer how workers are raised. If anyone wants to become a worker in God’s Church, he has to be raised by the servants of God who believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. In contrast, take a look at Jeroboam. All on his own, he made a priest out of anyone who wished. This was a grievous sin before God, and as it also led the people of Israel to commit such abominable sins, they were all destroyed together in the end. We must never forget this fact.
Even today, countless people who commit the same sin of Jeroboam continue to arise in Christian communities. Nowadays, if anyone graduates from a seminary run by his denomination, then he is ordained as a servant of God, even if he does not believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Although not everyone with seminary training actually becomes a servant of God, once someone graduates from a seminary of his denomination, he can still be ordained if he wishes. And once he is ordained, he is made a pastor in his denomination. So when he introduces himself to people, he says, “I am a pastor of so-and-so denomination.”
In contrast, our gathering first asks whether or not a pastoral candidate truly knows the gospel of the water and the Spirit through which the Lord has saved us from sin, and whether or not he has indeed been washed from his sins by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit with his heart. Every pastoral candidate must be able to answer sincerely with yes. Unlike us, however, many pastors in today’s Christian communities are ministering even as they have sin in their hearts. Are today’s seminaries teaching the gospel of the water and the Spirit? Are they making their students receive the remission of their sins by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit? Is there any seminary course that teaches this gospel of the water and the Spirit? Do seminary professors know this true gospel? Are they teaching this gospel of the water and the Spirit to their students? Do they appoint their students as God’s servants after teaching this gospel and making them believe in it? No, that is not the case. In today’s seminaries, there is no professor who teaches the gospel of the water and the Spirit, and therefore the students do not know this gospel either. Moreover, faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit is not even the standard on which one is ordained as a minister. On the contrary, each denomination appoints those who believe in its own doctrines as its men of the cloth, not those who believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
Anyone who wants to become a true servant of God must be someone who, first of all, believes in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, and who has also set his heart to live for the spreading of the gospel. He should also have a gift that is fitting for his office in the eyes of his preceding servants of God, and received from God the ability to minister. It is when he is thus judged to be a vessel fit to serve the gospel that he can be appointed as a servant of God. Today, however, many people are unconditionally ordained as pastors solely based on their theological training, even as they do not know the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Moreover, the standard on which pastors are ordained is not found in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Anyone who simply believes in and adheres to the doctrines of a given denomination is appointed as a minister. That is how today’s pastors are ordained in their respective denominations. And that is why they are heretics in Christianity.
Everyone in this world can receive the remission of sin only when he believes in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. The Truth is that it is only through the gospel of the water and the Spirit that one is remitted from all his sins. It is when people believe in the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit that all their sins are blotted out from their hearts. This means that if a seminary does not teach the gospel of the water and the Spirit, and it does not limit God’s servants to only those who believe in this genuine gospel, then such seminaries are all nothing more than institutions that yield heretics. That is why today’s seminaries are said to be so flawed.
1 Kings 12:32 says that Jeroboam installed his priests at Bethel. He gathered together all who wanted to become priests, and from these people he chose and made priests all on his own. Jeroboam appointed priests on his own whim, basically saying, “You shall be a priest at this region; you shall be a priest at that region.” Then the chosen people went to their respective regions and played the role of a priest at the shrines.
Today also, anyone can attend a seminary simply by volunteering. The reality is that if one studies at a seminary and graduates from it, moves onto a graduate school, and lives his life according to the teachings of his own denomination, then he is ordained as a pastor even if he does not know and does not believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Do the preceding pastors who ordain such people into ministry preach the gospel of the water and the Spirit to them? Are today’s seminary professors preaching this true gospel that washes people’s hearts from their sins? Far from preaching this gospel, they are unconditionally appointing anyone with seminary training as a man of the cloth and a pastor, and therefore their denomination is ultimately turning into a den of collective heretics. It’s because of this, because today’s Christians who are ignorant of the gospel of the water and the Spirit are ministering as pastors upon their graduation from seminary, that heretics are being produced. Since these people are appointed as pastors in every region, they gather people all over the village into the churches established by their respective denominations and preach a false, half-gospel that proclaims only the blood of the Cross instead of the gospel of the water and the Spirit, thus leading all their followers to turn into heretical Christians who serve idols.
For Those Who Have Not Washed Away Their Sins with the Gospel of the Water and the Spirit, Emphasizing Only the Gift of Healing Is the Shortcut for Them to Turn into Heretics
Nowadays, those who are ministering in Christian communities are trying to receive the gift of healing because they think it is the critical factor for them to prosper in the flesh and to minister successfully. All that they say to their congregation is this: “I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, no matter whether your soul prospers or not.” Holding revival meetings and inviting people to experience healing, they draw even unbelievers into their fold. They run ads and say to people, “Pastor so-and-so is holding a revival meeting at the so-and-so stadium on so-and-so date. Come at that time. If you come, you will be healed from your physical illnesses. The work of healing will arise in you if you come. All kinds of sick people are healed from their illnesses when this pastor prays, from cancer patients to the lame. Many people who came were actually healed at the last revival meeting.”
People then flock to the revival meeting to experience healing and listen to the Word of God. When the preacher says, “Come forward if you want to believe in Jesus,” many would walk forward. Then the preacher would make them pray to receive Jesus as their Savior. It’s so simple for such a pastor to make them believe in Jesus. The pastor would tell them to repeat after him, saying, “Jesus, I am a sinner.” He would then tell them to repeat after him again, saying, “Lord, I had been destined to hell for my sins,” and people would repeat his words. The preacher would continue to say, “But You died for me on the Cross, and I thank You for that. You shed Your blood for me, washed away my sins, and saved me from my sins. So I believe in You now. Today, I accept you as my Savior. I prayed in the name of Jesus.” When anyone thus gives the same prayer, he is then approved as someone who has received Jesus.
Pastors affiliated with the Pentecostal Church often preach as follows: “God said, ‘I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers.’” God also said, ‘He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.’ Our Lord took away all our illnesses and our iniquities. My fellow believers, our Lord has healed all our diseases. At this hour, I ask you to lay your hand on where it hurts.” Then everyone who is sick would lay his hand on wherever it hurts, from the head to the hand, the heart, the pelvis, the leg, the chest, and so forth. And then the pastor would pray audaciously, “I command in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, get away all diseases! Be healed from all illnesses! I prayed in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen!”
When the pastor is finished with his prayer, the congregation would be all overwhelmed emotionally and say amen to his prayer. He would then say, “Those who were healed at this hour, please come forward and testify,” and someone would step up and say, “I couldn’t raise my hand before, but when I laid my other hand on it while praying at this hour, it was all healed and I can now raise it. Amen! Hallelujah!” Others may say, “I had a heartburn, but now that I prayed, my heartburn is gone.” “I couldn’t walk before, but now at this hour I can stand up and even run.” “I couldn’t see well, but now that the pastor prayed for me, I can see. The Lord has really healed my sickness.” Many at the revival meeting would testify in turn like this.
Countless people, Christians and non-Christians alike, see this and are deceived by it, and they come to believe in Jesus crassly, thinking, “Oh! So I would be healed if I believe in Jesus. I would become rich, and I would also go to Heaven if I believe in Jesus.” However, when these people return home, the heartburn would return and their sight would once again be lost. They would be nothing more than victims of spiritual fraud.
Today, heretics who follow the way of Jeroboam draw people and pray for them under a banner advertising the gift of healing in their revival meetings. Many sick people are desperate. Whatever their ailments may be, they all want to be healed. When neither medicine nor any surgery can heal them, when their greatest desire is to be cured from their illnesses, they are told that they would receive the gift of healing if they believe in Jesus, and that’s why they flock to these revival meetings. And since the seemingly gifted pastor prays for them, it’s possible for them to feel temporarily relieved or improved, depending on their minds’ condition. However, once they are back home, they are very likely to relapse, and their illnesses may grow and even kill them eventually.
My fellow believers, you have to remember that deceived by the Charismatics, countless people are now perishing away both in body and spirit. Among the heretics in today’s Christian communities who do not know the gospel of the water and the Spirit, it’s the so-called ministers who are deceiving people the most with the gift of healing, all the while invoking the name of Jesus. When these false prophets stand before the presence of the Lord, they would all say to Him, “Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?” But the Lord will say to them, “I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!” (Matthew 7:22-23) This is what the Lord will say to such swindlers: “Even as you neither believed in the gospel of the water and the Spirit nor were washed from your sins, you borrowed My name to hold revival meetings only to rake in money, and yet you were respected by people as pastors. When you were living on this earth, you could live comfortably in your flesh, but now is the time for your judgment. You shall be cast into hell! And everyone who listened to you shall be also be thrown into hell.”
My fellow believers, just how many people today are being deceived by the Charismatics? That is what today’s Scripture passage is saying to us. The Bible says that Jeroboam did not turn around from his evil way even after he was warned about his sins, and he kept making priests from every class of people, allowing anyone who wanted to become a priest to serve at the shrines. As this was a sin, both his household and his people were all destroyed.
Changing the law of God’s salvation is such a grave sin that follows the way of Jeroboam. So many frauds are being committed like this in Christian communities all across the world by the modern-day versions of Jeroboam and those raised by them. Even today, the ministry of deception is thriving. A particular characteristic of these deceivers is that they preach only the blood of the Cross, not the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Having made their own framework of salvation claiming that one is washed from his sins through the blood of the Cross alone, they are preaching this false doctrine to their followers. Since they don’t know anything beyond the blood of the Cross, they deceive even themselves into believing that they have been washed from their sins, when in fact there is sin in their hearts. So they eventually hypnotize themselves, thinking on their own, “I am one of the chosen people washed from sin. I belong to God’s people.” Everyone deceived by false prophets is bound to fall into this kind of hypnosis.
Such people are pseudo-saints residing in Christian communities. They are false Christians who are not of God’s people, but only pretending to be so. It’s a fraud for someone who is not a servant of God to believe and act as if he were one. Anyone who resembles a servant of God but is actually different is nothing more than a false servant. Those who resemble true saints but are different from the genuine saints are pseudo-saints and heretics residing in the Christian communities. Such Christians and ministers are not just a handful on this earth, nor are such denominations few and far between. There are many collective heresies inside Christianity. Across Christian communities around the world, there are many who have collectively turned into heretics.
I had also ministered before I was born again. I was young at that time. Yet despite this, I used to be treated with so much respect even by the elderly, as they thought that they would be blessed if they treated God’s servant well. But before I was born again of water and the Spirit, my heart still had sin. Whenever I gave my sermon, my conscience would be so troubled afterwards that I couldn’t even look into the eyes of my congregation. So I prayed to God, “Lord, I preached to them even as I have sin in my heart and I am not without shame. While the words that I preached may be right, I am not upright before You.” At that time, I was ashamed of myself because of my sins, and I was a sinner.
The Lord then spoke to me through a passage from Psalm: “Unless the LORD builds the house, They labor in vain who build it; Unless the LORD guards the city, The watchman stays awake in vain” (Psalm 127:1). God was saying to me, “Did I raise you as an evangelist? Have I ordained you as a pastor? Didn’t you become a minister all on your own? Aren’t you now trying to become an evangelist and then a pastor all on your own? Did I raise you? No, I did not raise you as My servant. You raised yourself as My servant. You are a spiritual swindler.” I knew at that time just how wrong it was for me to tell the congregation to receive the remission of their sins even as I myself had sin in my heart. So I thought about giving up my ministry. At that time, I confessed to God, “Lord, I cannot fulfill this work. My conscience cannot tolerate what I am doing.”
I was thoroughly knowledgeable in the Calvinist school of theology, able to expound on it effortlessly if asked. When I was in seminary, I had considered it very important to at least know theology accurately, and I had studied it very hard to attain its theories and knowledge in detail. But the problem of the sins that were in my heart was not solved. That’s why I was so worried about my sins before God. It was all because I did not know the gospel of the water and the Spirit at that time, but instead believed only in the blood of the Cross. In those days, all the theologians across the world and every minister alike were preaching only the blood of the Cross.
I prayed and prayed to God anxiously. Eventually, God enabled me to realize the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit. I thought that if the High Priest in the Old Testament had passed the Israelite’s sins by laying his hands on the sacrificial animal, then there must be something similar to this in the New Testament also. That’s because the Word of the Old Testament clearly has a corresponding match in the New Testament. So I searched through the Word of God, thinking, “If the Israelite’s sins were passed on with the laying on of hands in the Old Testament, then it must also be written in the New Testament how mankind’s sins were passed on with the laying on of hands.” Whenever I read Matthew 3:13-17, I had always wondered why Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist and was troubled by my lack of understanding, but one day, the light of the Truth came into my heart, and by the grace of God, I realized the Truth once and for all.
It said, “Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness” (Matthew 3:15). At that moment I realized who John the Baptist was. John the Baptist was not just a prophet, but he was God’s servant who would pass the sins of mankind onto Jesus Christ once for all. I then searched the Bible to find out more about John the Baptist. Since Jesus called him Elijah, I looked for Elijah’s account from 1 Kings to Malachi in the Old Testament. I also turned my attention to the birth of John the Baptist, and I found out that he was raised as the representative of mankind. Jesus Himself bore witness of John the Baptist, saying, “Among those born of women there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist; but he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.”
If John the Baptist was the greatest of all those born of women, then he was greater than Moses, Elijah, the Prophet Isaiah, and the Prophet Daniel. He was the representative of all mankind. He was the spiritual High Priest who would pass our sins onto Jesus Christ. He was the last prophet of the Old Testament era. I realized that the sins of the world were to end with John the Baptist baptizing Jesus. I grasped that when John the Baptist baptized Jesus, all my sins and all the sins of the entire world were passed onto Jesus, and that Jesus fulfilled all the righteousness of God by accepting each and every sin of the whole world. At that moment, my mind reached an understanding, realizing, “Oh, so this is the gospel of the water and the Spirit! That is why Jesus spoke about all righteousness in Matthew 3:15!”
What does “all righteousness” mean? It means everything that is right. It means that by “thus” being baptized in a form of the laying on of hands, Jesus fulfilled everything perfectly right. The word “for thus” here is “hoo’-tos gar; (οϋτως γάρ)” in Greek, which means “just in this way,” “most fitting,” or “there is no other way besides this.” In other words, by receiving His baptism from John the Baptist, Jesus fulfilled all righteous work fairly and justly.
“Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness” (Matthew 3:15). By receiving the baptism given by John the Baptist, Jesus fulfilled all the righteousness of God. Just as the High Priest in the Old Testament had passed the sins of his people once and for all by laying his hands on the head of the sacrificial lamb, so did John the Baptist pass all the sins of this world once and for all onto Jesus by laying his hands on His head and baptizing Him. It’s through this baptism that Jesus Christ took upon all the sins of the world. It is by receiving this baptism from John the Baptist that Jesus bore the sins of the world. I realized this Truth thanks to God, as He taught me the gospel of the water and the Spirit. To find out more about the gospel of the water and the Spirit, I searched through both Testaments, and I read every Bible version that I could read, including its original text. Our knowledge of this Word must be biblically accurate, and therefore we have to read and interpret the original text of the Bible exactly as it is.
After I met the Lord through the gospel of the water and the Spirit, I tried to preach this gospel on my own. I had never done anything like this before. All my life I had done virtually nothing but study. But once I knew the gospel of the water and the Spirit, my lips just did not stay quiet. Whomever I met, I had to tell him about the gospel of the water and the Spirit, and I couldn’t help but speak this Truth. Until this person received the remission of sin, I preached the gospel of the water and the Spirit to him. I did not care whom I was speaking to; whether it was a young maiden, a housewife, or a grandma, I had to sit down and talk, and she had to listen to the Word of the Bible. Even though people were not pleased at first to hear the gospel of the water and the Spirit, they all thanked me eventually, once they realized and believed in this gospel and received the remission of their sins. They were all grateful, saying that they couldn’t be happier. It’s here that I found my reward.
Then, as I had majored in theology, I knew very well that there wasn’t any theologian preaching the gospel of the water and the Spirit. No matter how extensively I researched through the literature, I could not find any such theologians. Today’s Christian leaders appoint just anyone to priesthood and accept anyone into their seminary. When some members of the congregation have a tough time trying to make a living, what do their pastors say to them? They say, “Why don’t you attend a seminary?” At the same time, when some members show some dedication to the church work, they are also told, “Have you considered seminary?” Pastors recommend everyone and anyone to go to seminary. Once someone attends a seminary and studies theology, this person is called ‘an evangelist’ in Korea. And once he completes his seminary education and is ordained into ministry, he becomes a pastor from then on. He would then plant a church upon his ordination.
There are many heretics on the face of this planet. It’s because theologians and pastors appoint anyone as a priest that they constitute heretics. In today’s Christianity, anyone can become a churchman, even if he does not know the gospel Truth of the water and the Spirit, nor has he received the remission of sin as white as snow by believing in this gospel with his heart. Consequently, under these unredeemed, blind leaders, Christians are now hearing and learning about only the doctrine of the blood of the Cross. As a result of believing in this Christian doctrine that claims, “All our sins were washed away with the blood of the Cross,” they are sure that as far as doctrinal issues are concerned, they are sinless, even though their sins remain intact in their hearts. Everyone who learns under such ministers is a heretic. That is why so many Christians have become heretics. These people have nothing to do with Jesus. This is the difference between worldly churches and God’s Church.
When worldly Christians find a serious problem in their hearts and have to ask God for His help, their lips cannot open and say straightly, “God, please help me,” for there is sin in their hearts. So when heretics pray, the very first prayer that they offer is a prayer of repentance. Even when they are praying to ask for God’s help, they usually have to offer their prayers of repentance first. While some may give a long prayer of repentance and others may offer a short one, that is about the only difference; whenever they approach God, they all first make sure to offer their prayers of repentance.
In contrast, when the believers in the gospel of the water and the Spirit do something wrong before God, they honestly admit their wrongdoings to Him. And they come out to God by faith assured that they have been saved from their sins, believing that Jesus Christ took upon Himself all their sins through His baptism and washed them all away by shedding His blood on the Cross. However, those who neither know nor believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit must offer prayers of repentance every time they come out to the Lord to pray to Him. Because their hearts still have sin, they cannot help but offer prayers of repentance, saying, “Lord, please forgive me, for I have sinned.” Whenever they try to approach God and pray to Him, they attempt to be washed from their sins by first offering their own prayers of repentance.
Unlike them, those who believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit ruminate on this gospel time after time. The minds of the righteous meditate on the gospel all the time, reminding themselves of the following: “I have no sin. With the gospel of the water and the Spirit, the Lord has washed away all my filthy sins as white as snow. Through His baptism He bore all these filthy and muddy sins of mine, washed them away clean by shedding His blood and rising from the dead again, and has thus made me as white as snow.”
Therefore, we the believers in the gospel of the water and the Spirit can boldly come out to God and pray to Him. Even though we may be insufficient in our deeds and commit sin, we can still pray to God boldly, “Father, please help me.” That’s because God said, “The just shall live by faith” (Romans 1:17). That is why those who believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit are God’s children, His people, and His workers. And they are always helped by God. In God’s sight, it is these believers in the gospel of the water and the Spirit who are orthodox.
In contrast, those who do not know and do not believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit are all heretics. Those who preach only the blood of the Cross and believe that one is somehow saved just by believing in Jesus, even as he has sin in his heart, are also all heretics. Such people are committing none other than the very sin of Jeroboam described in today’s Scripture passage, and all these people are doomed to face the judgment of God. They will be exterminated from the face of this earth, just as it is written, “This thing was the sin of the house of Jeroboam, so as to exterminate and destroy it from the face of the earth.” In the end, they will not be able to enter Heaven. And they are cursed on this earth as well. There are far too many people who are cursed in this world even as they believe in Jesus.
Even among those professing to believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, there are many who have come into the Church without completely realizing this Truth at first, and are leading their lives of faith accordingly. Such people must examine their hearts truthfully once again, asking themselves, “Do I really believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit?” We must believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit truthfully. We must hold onto the gospel of the water and the Spirit wholeheartedly. Only then can we walk with God. Only then do we abide in Christ and avoid turning into heretics. And only then are we not cursed by the Lord. Anyone who does not believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit is accursed.
What about you then? Do you believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit? As God led us to believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, we have received our salvation. And God has thus raised us as His servants. That is how we have become the kind of people who are able to preach the gospel of the water and the Spirit throughout the whole world, and point out how heretics really are before God. I want you all to realize that I am not condemning anyone here, but I am giving such a sermon only to help them reach the right judgment and escape from these heretical groups. I ask you all to realize this.
Now is the time for people to escape from heresy. Many people are mired in the sin of heresy. They, too, must be saved from the sins of the world. They, too, must escape from collective heresy, receive the washing of their sins by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, and thus reach their true salvation. Yet just how many people still remain unable to bring themselves to do this? That is precisely why we must preach the gospel of the water and the Spirit throughout the whole world. We must tell Christians all over the world about heresy, and explain to them why it is that they have become heretics, realizing its reason ourselves first.
It’s such a frustrating tragedy for me to see so many Christians all over the world mourning under the weight of their sins. That is why I am preaching God’s Word on heresy, and why I am going to publish a sermon book on this issue. And this book will be translated into every language of the world to be distributed throughout the entire world. People all over the world will then realize upon reading this book, “I have been trapped in heresy all this time!” It is my sincere desire that many would realize this, accept the salvation that has come by the gospel of the water and the Spirit, and thus return to God. It’s for this reason that I am now preaching this Word.
But it is not enough to preach on this issue just once or twice. After all, aren’t we surrounded by so many heretics? It is among those professing to believe in Jesus that these heretics are found so prevalently. You believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, and so is there any sin in your heart or not? You have no sin at all. But what about those who claim to have received the remission of their sins just by believing in the blood of Jesus alone? Do their hearts remain sinful, or are they sinless? Of course they still have their sins remaining intact. They themselves confess that their sins are still there, and they do actually remain sinful. All that they are doing right now is leading a religious life trapped in heresy before God. They are nothing more than heretics, having fallen into collective heresy.
You must be able to discern those who are trapped in collective heresy from the truly born-again who believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. You must be able to distinguish the genuine gospel from the pseudo-gospels. Those who preach only the blood of the Cross are pseudo-Christians. Even though it may seem as if it’s okay to believe in and preach only the blood of the Cross, it is a fallacious and fake faith. It’s absolutely critical for us to be able to sort out pseudo-believers and not be deceived by them.
Even among newspaper reporters, there are authentic reporters and fake reporters. Fake reporters extort money out of unscrupulous people by threatening to publish their misdeeds. One should demand identification from these fake journalists. Such reporters would then flash their ID quickly and put it away. One should then say, “Show me your ID again. Let me write it down. Let me call up your newspaper and confirm your ID.” They would then retreat and run away. In the spiritual realm also, there are so many false prophets pretending to be God’s servants. Any pastor who seems genuine but is actually fake is a pseudo-pastor. In fact, it’s hardly any exaggeration to say that virtually every pastor is a pseudo-pastor.
Among today’s Christians professing to believe in Jesus, only those who believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit are real Christians. In contrast, those who believe only in the blood of the Cross and whose hearts remain sinful are false Christians, even though they may appear to be genuine. Such a person whose faith appears to be genuine but is in fact false is nothing more than a pseudo-Christian. Therefore, all those who still remain sinners even after believing in Jesus are false Christians and heretics. In some ways, it may seem as if they are more genuine. Since far more people believe collectively as they do, it looks as though they are more authentic Nonetheless, true Christians are only those who believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. It is these believers in the gospel of the water and the Spirit who are the genuine people of faith.
Whenever someone teaches something to me, I always make sure to confirm its veracity. I am not the kind of man who is easily deceived by a few words of theologians. First of all, I confirm the exact meaning of the Word by turning to the original Bible text in Hebrew and Greek. I look at the fundamental source, in other words. The first thing that I look for whenever I come across any teaching is whether or not it is biblically sound. I don’t just dismiss anyone’s teaching blindly. Instead, I first examine whether or not it is biblically founded, and whether or not it is supported by the Scriptures. And when the teaching is found to be biblically sound, then I accept this teaching. I don’t just communicate of my own arguments. Nor do I claim that anything other than mine is unconditionally wrong. I fully accept other people’s teachings as well, as long as they are biblically sound.
The problem, however, is that every gospel preached by today’s Christian heretics is false, and that is why I cannot accept it into my heart. There is nothing wrong now to call false Christians for who they really are, as fake believers. Those who believe in the blood of the Cross alone claim to be authentic Christians, but when I ask them, “Then, tell me how your sins have disappeared,” they say, “I’ve washed away my sins with the blood of the Cross.”
“Is that all?”
“Yes, that’s all.”
“How then did Jesus wash away your sins?”
“He washed them away by shedding His blood.”
“Then what happens if you commit sin afterwards?”
“I would then turn into a sinner again, and so I would have to offer prayers of repentance.”
However, they can’t answer me when I ask them, “The Bible says that the wages of sin is death, and so if you have sin, blood must be shed without fail. Does Jesus then have to shed His blood again to blot out your sins on your behalf?” I then say to them forcefully, “That’s not how the Lord blotted out our sins. He took upon our sins once and for all by being baptized after coming to this earth, and then carried these sins to the Cross and shed His blood on it. That’s how the Lord eradicated our sins.” Not to believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit is heretical. That’s why I say boldly that today’s Christianity has fallen into collective heresy.
However, when we meet people and say such things to them directly, many of them only try to pick a fight with us, as they get offended and their pride is hurt. This is why I’ve put my sermons into a book format to share with people. If anyone does not like my book after reading it, he can just throw it away. A reader may be offended by my book, but at least he won’t try to fight me personally. I, too, travel to various places to preach the gospel of the water and the Spirit, but among those who have heard this gospel from me, many have turned into my enemies. That’s why we are pooling our strengths together to carry out our literature ministry to both those who are abroad and in Korea alike.
Believing in anything else other than the gospel of the water and the Spirit is heretical. Perhaps you feel that I am repeating myself too much here, but I keep underscoring this point because of its critical importance and vast implications. All those who believe only in the blood of the Cross are heretics. Who are heretics? They are those who believe in and preach only the blood of the Cross. Before God, it is those who believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit and preach this gospel that are orthodox.
We must rescue souls from heretical Christianity. We must devote all our lives to this endeavor. In these end times, we must make it clear to everyone to see who really is a heretic and who is an orthodox believer, and thus lead all Christians to return to the gospel of the water and the Spirit. We have now preached the gospel of the water and the Spirit to some degree so far. As such, from now on, we should point out and expose in detail the errors that today’s Christians are making in their lives and the fallacies of their doctrines by comparing them to the real Truth. We have to teach them on this issue ceaselessly while we continue to preach the gospel of the water and the Spirit to them. Only then can they reach their salvation. God has entrusted His work to you and me.
I give all my thanks to our God. I give true thanks to Him.
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