EPHESIANS 5:10-11 - How can a true member of the Church of Christ obey this very important instruction?
“Carefully determine what pleases the Lord. 11 Take no part in the worthless deeds of evil and darkness; instead, expose them.”
When the Apostasy took place in the first century Church of Christ it was none other than God himself who ordered His people to “come out”. What was the reason God asked His people to come out? He said:
“Come out of her, my people,’[a]
so that you will not share in her sins,
so that you will not receive any of her plagues”
so that you will not share in her sins,
so that you will not receive any of her plagues”
The reason is clear: so as not to share in her sins, so that they will not receive any of her plagues. Most definitely, anyone will argue that he is not taking part in the evil that the leaders are doing so he need not come out. But is this really the case? Can anyone remain and not follow orders? I’m sure you and I agree that if one will remain inside he will share in her sins and will also receive her plagues. But most of all, refusal to come out is an outright disobedience to God’s order.
For better understanding let us study some of the events that took place in the First Century Church of Christ that prompted God to order His people to come out of her. In the book of Revelation 18:2 this is documented:
“Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and has become a dwelling place of demons, a prison for every foul spirit, and a cage for every unclean and hated bird!”
How did the Church become the dwelling place of demons? In support of the above, below is an excerpt from the book written by Peter de Rosa entitled Vicars of Christ: The Dark Side of the Papacy
Quotes from Vicars of Christ: The Dark Side of the Papacy
"Impeccable Catholic sources, papal documents, letters of reforming saints, all paint the same depressing picture. Monasteries full of women; every friar had his 'Martha', every nun her lover. Bishops, in every sense the fathers of their people, kept harems."
"Young men who spent their youth in rape and adultery were rising in the ranks of the clergy. They were spending their nights with four or five women, then getting up in the morning — in what state, he leaves to the imagination — to celebrate mass."
" ... many monasteries were the haunts of homosexuals, many converts were brothels."
"As to the sex-starved secular clergy, they were so often accused of incest that they were at length forbidden even to have mothers, aunts or sisters living in their house."
"Promiscuity was rife in monasteries and convents. The great Ivo of Chartres (1040-1115) tells of whole convents with inmates who were nuns only in name. They had often been abandoned by their families and were really prostitutes."
"There also crept in the infamous cullagium, a charge for keeping concubines... bishops and archdeacons themselves benefited from this sex-tax; in Rome, it was the pope."
"In the year 1250, Bishop Grosseteste of Lincoln wrote to Pope Innocent IV. Of priests he said: 'They are in truth teachers of heresy, inasmuch as the word of action is mightier than the word of speech.' "
"In the year 1414, King Henry V asked the University of Oxford to prepare articles for the reform of the church. Article 39 began: 'Because the carnal and sinful life of priests today scandalizes the entire church and their public fornication goes completely unpunished ...' "
"In the parish of St John Zachary in London, there was a church service of a very remarkable kind. It provided a brothel exclusively for priests and nuns ..."
"St Alban's Abbey, for instance, was nothing but a den of prostitutes serving the local monks. Nuns were regularly raped therein and the entire place, in a phrase worth of Shakespeare, was 'a riot of seed and blood'..."
"The overall report (in England) said that 144 religious houses were equal in viciousness to Sodom; countless convents, served by 'lewd confessors', were full of children; clergy — abbots, monks and friars — were carrying on not merely with whores but with married women..."
"After six centuries of strenuous efforts to impose celibacy, the clergy were a menace to the wives and young women of parishes to which they were sent."
"Across the border lived Henry, Bishop of Liege. The man was a legend beyond his lifetime. Henry was finally deposed by Gregory X at the Council of Lyons in 1274 'for deflowering virgins and other mighty deeds'... He ended murdered by a Flemish knight who was outraged at what the bishop had done to his daughter."
"During Borgia's reign, the Florentine friar Savonarola said the nuns were worse than harlots. As to the clergy, 'one priest spends the night with his concubine, another with a little boy, and in the morning they proceed to the altar to celebrate Mass. What do you think of that? What do you make of such a Mass?' "
"The evil was too deeply rooted; the last opportunities for reform long lost... A proverb passes from mouth to mouth: 'The profession of the priest is the surest road to hell.' "
"Impeccable Catholic sources, papal documents, letters of reforming saints, all paint the same depressing picture. Monasteries full of women; every friar had his 'Martha', every nun her lover. Bishops, in every sense the fathers of their people, kept harems."
"Young men who spent their youth in rape and adultery were rising in the ranks of the clergy. They were spending their nights with four or five women, then getting up in the morning — in what state, he leaves to the imagination — to celebrate mass."
" ... many monasteries were the haunts of homosexuals, many converts were brothels."
"As to the sex-starved secular clergy, they were so often accused of incest that they were at length forbidden even to have mothers, aunts or sisters living in their house."
"Promiscuity was rife in monasteries and convents. The great Ivo of Chartres (1040-1115) tells of whole convents with inmates who were nuns only in name. They had often been abandoned by their families and were really prostitutes."
"There also crept in the infamous cullagium, a charge for keeping concubines... bishops and archdeacons themselves benefited from this sex-tax; in Rome, it was the pope."
"In the year 1250, Bishop Grosseteste of Lincoln wrote to Pope Innocent IV. Of priests he said: 'They are in truth teachers of heresy, inasmuch as the word of action is mightier than the word of speech.' "
"In the year 1414, King Henry V asked the University of Oxford to prepare articles for the reform of the church. Article 39 began: 'Because the carnal and sinful life of priests today scandalizes the entire church and their public fornication goes completely unpunished ...' "
"In the parish of St John Zachary in London, there was a church service of a very remarkable kind. It provided a brothel exclusively for priests and nuns ..."
"St Alban's Abbey, for instance, was nothing but a den of prostitutes serving the local monks. Nuns were regularly raped therein and the entire place, in a phrase worth of Shakespeare, was 'a riot of seed and blood'..."
"The overall report (in England) said that 144 religious houses were equal in viciousness to Sodom; countless convents, served by 'lewd confessors', were full of children; clergy — abbots, monks and friars — were carrying on not merely with whores but with married women..."
"After six centuries of strenuous efforts to impose celibacy, the clergy were a menace to the wives and young women of parishes to which they were sent."
"Across the border lived Henry, Bishop of Liege. The man was a legend beyond his lifetime. Henry was finally deposed by Gregory X at the Council of Lyons in 1274 'for deflowering virgins and other mighty deeds'... He ended murdered by a Flemish knight who was outraged at what the bishop had done to his daughter."
"During Borgia's reign, the Florentine friar Savonarola said the nuns were worse than harlots. As to the clergy, 'one priest spends the night with his concubine, another with a little boy, and in the morning they proceed to the altar to celebrate Mass. What do you think of that? What do you make of such a Mass?' "
"The evil was too deeply rooted; the last opportunities for reform long lost... A proverb passes from mouth to mouth: 'The profession of the priest is the surest road to hell.' "
Peter de Rosa, Vicars of Christ: The Dark Side of the Papacy,
pages 455-56.
Publisher: Crown (January 13, 1988)
ISBN-10: 0517570270
ISBN-13: 978-0517570272
pages 455-56.
Publisher: Crown (January 13, 1988)
ISBN-10: 0517570270
ISBN-13: 978-0517570272
(Peter de Rosa is author of many books including Bless Me, Father, Christ and Original Sin, and Jesus Who became Christ. In Vicars of Christ. He dispels myths about the papacy in favor of hard facts, and provides everyone, Catholic and non-Catholic alike, with the true, alarming story of the dark origins of the Church.)
These are just some of the events kept secret by the papacy and we are so thankful that there were men of untrammeled courage during those times who did not keep a blind eye on what was going on. They were those who believe and espouse the saying that “the pen is mightier than the sword” thus meticulously set their hands and kept a record of history. We, therefore, can safely say that these men are God’s instruments and fulfillment of what is written in the book of Mark 4:22 saying:
“For there is nothing hidden which will not be revealed, nor has anything been kept secret but that it shoud not come to light.”
Today, in our time, it is safe to assume that there are hands that God is using to document the parts that each of us play in the history of the Church of Christ in these last days, how the obsession and greed for power and money plundered the Church that our Lord Jesus Christ will present to God without blemish.
“that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.” Ephesians 5:27
This, my dear brethren is the silver lining in the horizon, the light at the end of the tunnel giving us an assurance that behind the dark clouds enveloping the Church of Christ today the hope of restoration is there. God will not totally abandon his people, we the true members of the Church of Christ are the ones that our Lord Jesus will present to God without blemish on that most awaited day of Judgment.
But we have work to do, my dearly beloved. The repeat of history is upon us, the Church of Christ today has again become the dwelling place of demons, a prison for every foul spirit, and a cage for every unclean and hated bird!” It follows without saying that our Almighty Father has repeated His order again to “Come out of her so that we will not share in her sins, so that we will not receive any of her plagues.”
But be vigilant lest you be swayed by wrong interpretation. We are not coming out of the true Church of Christ. We are coming out of the church that has become the dwelling place of demons. Those who will come out are the true members of the true Church of Christ that heeded the clear instruction from God to come out of her and take no part in the worthless deeds of evil and darkness. This is the reason why we are unrelenting in our noble effort to expose them.
In closing, dear brethren, let us ponder very carefully on what Ephesians 5:10-11 is telling us. It says: “Carefully determine what pleases the Lord. 11 Take no part in the worthless deeds of evil and darkness; instead, expose them.”
What is it that we are going to determine?
It says “what pleases the Lord”.
How are we going to determine it?
It says “carefully”.
What is it that the Lord wants us not to do?
It says “take no part in the worthless deeds of evil and darkness.”
How did the Lord describe the deeds of evil and darkness?
It says “worthless.”
What else was the clear instruction from the Lord concerning the worthless deeds of evil and darkness?
It says “expose them.”
How could we possibly obey this specific instruction from the Lord when we are with mingling with them following their every order and mandate? Many of our brethren were expelled by just simply asking about the veracity of corruption that is going on in the Church. How much more if we “expose them” as instructed? This is where separation comes in as written in 2 Corinthians 6:17:
Therefore “Come out from among them And be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, And I will receive you.”
What is the parallel and supporting verses concerning separation? In Matt 13:49-50 this is what should guide us in our decision making:
So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come forth, separate the wicked from among the just, and cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.”
God is making His appeal to us dear brethren, the restoration will come when we unite and make a definitive stand to follow and obey His instruction. Otherwise, there will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.
