All across the world, billions of people attend a church regularly. There
are over one billion Roman Catholics alone. Surprisingly, Nigeria has the
highest church attendance worldwide, at 89% (50.1% Muslim and 48.2%
Christian).[1]
The lowest church attendance rate is in the Soviet Union, only 2%.[1]
In 2013, the Pew Research Center reported that 37% of all Americans attended
church on a weekly basis.[2]
Obviously, most people who attend churches are not true Christians. Muslims admittedly are not Christians. Of the 221,000 members of the Unitarian Universalist Church, 17% claim to be atheist. But in this article, I'm addressing the churchgoers who actually profess to be Christians. Biblically, most of them will not make it to Heaven. They will seek to enter into Heaven, but will not be able. Luke 13:23-24, “Then said one unto him, Lord, are there few that be saved? And he said unto them, Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able.” Do you know why they will seek to enter Heaven? It is because they think they have a right to enter, but they will find out the horrifying reality that they don't! Satan deceived them.
“There is power in this Gospel message. Most people just don't know how to present it... The clarity of the Gospel is what makes it easy for them to believe.”
—Pastor Yankee Arnold, a quote from the excellent MP3 sermon titled, “WHY GRACE CAN SAVE THE WORST MAN!”
We see this frightening truth in Matthew 7:21, “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.” We find a precious passage of Scripture in John, which tells us the Father's will. God's “will” simply means to “do what God wants us to do.” John 6:40, “And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.” God's will is to BELIEVE on Jesus, the only begotten Son of God, the Christ. Please read the excellent book by Michael P. Bowen, “I NEVER KNEW YOU: THE COMING GREAT WHITE THRONE AND HOW TO AVOID IT!” (.pdf book). Here's an excerpt from the book.
Of the 6,000 independent Baptist churches in America, many of them have been deceived by the Devil. Many of them have adopted the modern Alexandrian Bible revisions, which have been corrupted by Satan. Those perverted revisions pervert the Gospel. These corrupt Bible translations teach false repentance, aka, Lordship Salvation. They are going about to establish their own righteousness. Romans 10:3-4, “For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.” The religious folks in Matthew 7:21-23 boasted of their “MANY WONDERFUL WORKS”! They were going about to establish their own righteousness just as Romans 10:3-4 condemns. They were “IGNORANT OF GOD'S RIGHTEOUSNESS,” which is “THE GOSPEL.”
So many hundreds of millions of churchgoers falsely “think” they are going to Heaven, but they have never believed the Gospel. Singer, Amy Grant, is a listed member of the Church of Christ, a religious cult that requires water baptism, public confession, turning away from sins, et cetera. This is NOT the Gospel. The Church of Christ is of the Devil. You cannot be born-again by following the plan of salvation set forth by the Church of Christ. The Lord plainly stated in the Scriptures that believing in Him alone is the way to be saved. John 14:6, “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” As simple as this Scripture is, most religious people have added all sorts of unbiblical requirements to God's plan of salvation. I've heard numerous of Pacific Garden Mission's UNSHACKLED program totally corrupt the Gospel.
Like it or not, God sent His only begotten Son into the world to pay for everyone's sins, so that He could freely offer the gift of eternal life to WHOSOEVER wants it. Salvation is not reformation, nor education, nor rehabilitation; but rather, regeneration. YE MUST BE BORN-AGAIN! (John 3:1-7). Beware of anyone who talks about being saved by inviting Jesus into your heart, committing your life to Christ, starting a relationship with Jesus, turning from sinful ways, forsaking the world, turning over a new leaf, changing your lifestyle or trusting Jesus without mention of the cross, for you may do all of these things are never be saved at all. Satan's greatest weapon is to con people into living the Christian life without ever being born-again!!! We are saved by believing THE GOSPEL!!!
All across the United States, churchgoers are being deceived by corrupt preachers who've bought into the Devil's false repentance. I'm talking about heretic's on salvation; such as, John Piper, Jack Chick, David Cloud, Paul Washer, Charles Lawson, John MacArthur, Chip Ingram, Billy Graham, Rick Warren, Joel Osteen, John Hagee, Charles Stanley and many others. Judas “repented” in Matthew 27:3, that is, he turned from his sins, but still went to Hell.
One frustrated man commented that Jack Chick (1924-2016) is a godly man, and that I shouldn't criticize him. Well, why is a “godly man” telling people that God won't save them unless they are “willing to turn from sin”? Jack Chick says that on the back page of every one of his 800,000,000 Chick Tracts!!! Nowhere in the Holy Bible are we told that we must “be willing to turn from sin,” in addition to “admit that you are a sinner,” as Jack Chick requires. All that the Bible requires is to admit that one is a sinner in God's sight (Romans 3:19). This is necessary, otherwise no one would ever come to Christ by faith to be saved. A man must see his need for redemption and the dear Savior. Repentance is “a change of mind” unto the Gospel itself. We are saved by BELIEVING the Gospel Romans 1:16, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.” There you have it folks!
The average churchgoers is trusting in a false hope to get them to Heaven. Ironically, most of them think they are trusting Christ, when in reality they are only partially trusting Christ, plus something else. Adding anything (no matter how seemingly small or insignificant) to the Gospel, cannot produce the new birth by the Holy Spirit of God. Most people refuse to believe that simple faith in the Gospel is sufficient to be saved. Man's sinful pride compels him to add human effort to God's grace, which always results in a false Gospel of grace combined with works. Please listen to the awesome MP3 sermon by Pastor Ralph Yankee Arnold titled, “Caught Between Grace And Works.”
We are warned in Matthew 7:13-14, “Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” What does the Bible mean by saying that the gate is “strait” and the way is “narrow” which “leadeth unto life”? My friend, it simply means that it is so easy and simple to be saved, that few people ever find it.
The Scriptures confirm this truth in 2nd Corinthians 11:3-4, “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.” Anyone who requires turning away from sinful behavior to be saved is teaching “ANOTHER GOSPEL.” This doesn't mean that God gives permission to a believer to commit sin, because He doesn't (Romans 3:31; Hebrews 12:6-8). There is only one Gospel (i.e., Good News), which is that Jesus Christ DIED on the cross for our sins, He was BURIED, and three days later He bodily RESURRECTED from the dead (1st Corinthians 15:1-6). Anyone is who admits they are a needy sinner in God's eyes, and receives Christ's sacrifice on the cross as payment for their sins, believing that He was buried and miraculously raised up the third day, is saved. It's that easy and simple, which is why Matthew 7:13-14 calls it a “strait” gate and a “narrow” way, and warns that there are “few” that find it.
Don't take my word for it. Look how the Roman Catholics add the Seven Sacraments to the Gospel, corrupting it. No one who sincerely follows the teachings of the Catholic religion will ever go to Heaven. No priest can forgive your sins. The ungodly Catholic pope recently extended the “power” to priests to forgive abortions. My friend, even the wicked Pharisees knew that no one can forgive sins except God. Mark 2:7, “Why doth this man thus speak blasphemies? who can forgive sins but God only?” Jesus forgave sin because He is God! Catholic priests cannot forgive sins. The satanic pope cannot grant anyone the power to forgive sins. The Catholic church is of the Devil. If you don't believe that, I'm sorry that you are going to Hell. That is where Catholicism leads.
Satan fully knows that the easiest way to take souls to Hell with him is to corrupt the simplicity that is in Christ, by perverting the Gospel. The most tragic thing that I see today in the churches is indifference, taking the things of God lightly, and a blatant disregard for the truth. I mean, the average church couldn't care less about the purity of God's Word, evidenced by their use and support of the Alexandrian Bible revisions. It is wicked beyond imagination. Do you think God takes it lightly that there are hundreds of Bible translations circulating in the churches today? God spews out lukewarm churches (Revelation 3:15-16).
So what do you think God does with dead churches? They are not churches! So as far as God is concerned, they are no different than the heathen religious world (Matthew 6:7). If your church uses Satan's Bible revisions, you are NOT in a church!!! God only blesses His incorruptible seed. Satan's translations are corruptible seed, which can only produce spiritual miscarriages. A man with no hope is better off than a man with a false hope, because the man with no hope is still searching. God hates a false hope. The churches today are filled with nothing but false hope. They give false hope to the world's masses, promising eternal life when in reality they will burn in the Lake of Fire (Revelation 20:11-15).
Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses deny Christ's deity, and require water baptism to be saved. This is not the Gospel. They have another Jesus, another Gospel and another spirit (2nd Corinthians 11:4). I could go on and on. And I'm not even talking about Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims and Judaizers who openly reject Jesus as the Messiah. I'm just talking about psuedo-Christian churches that falsely profess faith in Christ. In actuality, they are only partially trusting in Christ, plus something they've added.
We see an example of this in Acts 15:1, “And certain men which came down from Judaea taught the brethren, and said, Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved.” Those wicked false prophets added circumcision and keeping the law (aka, Lordship Salvation) to the Gospel. They were sincere, but they were of the Devil, because they were helping the Devil hinder souls from being saved (2nd Corinthians 4:3-4). Notice Acts 15:24, “Forasmuch as we have heard, that certain which went out from us have troubled you with words, subverting your souls, saying, Ye must be circumcised, and keep the law: to whom we gave no such commandment.” There's nothing new under the sun. False prophets have always been with us. Beware of anyone who adds to the Gospel. There's a sinful tendency to try to save ourselves as humans. Adam instinctively attempted to cover his shame after sinning against God, with fig leaves. Instead, God killed an innocent animal to provide animal skins for Adam and Eve. This symbolized the slain innocent Lamb of God. Also, Cain instinctively tried to please God with a sacrifice of grain from his fields. God rejected it. But the Lord had respect unto Abel's offering,
