Today the Lord needs a recovery of truth and life because Christianity is filled with apostasy.
Just like Jeroboam did in his time, so today in Christianity there are “centres of worship” set up by today’s “Jeroboams” because of their ambition and selfishness.
The Lord desires to have the universal priesthood of His people, and the New Testament offers the provision of life and the revelation of the truth as antidotes to apostasy. Oh, Lord Jesus!
Among the kings spoken of in 1 and 2 Kings, Jeroboam stands out, for he took the lead to bring the people of Israel into idolatry and apostasy.
May the Lord open our eyes and impress us with the need to escape and be saved from the way of Jeroboam so that we would not be in apostasy nor would we set up high places or idols that replace the true and living God.
May we remain in the pure and clear word of God, the truth in the Bible, and may we never compromise the truth for our convenience or preference.
The truth is the truth; we have to speak the truth and hold to the truth, even when we think that the truth is too high and our condition is too low.
Jeroboam did five main things in leading the people of Israel into apostasy; first, he made two calves of gold and put one in Bethel and the other in Dan to distract the people of Israel from going to Jerusalem, the place of God’s choice, to worship God.
He told them it is not convenient for them to go to Jerusalem, so he set up these two idols for them to worship closer to where the people lived. Oh, Lord.
Secondly, he built a temple at the high places and appointed priests from among the common people, not from the tribe of Levi.
Third, he ordained a day that he devised in his heart as a feast for the people.
Fourth, he himself offered sacrifices on the altar and placed the priests in Bethel.
And fifth, he went to the altar even though he was not a priest.
Jeroboam’s apostasy became a serious sin that caused him and his entire family to be destroyed under God’s judgment.
We should not think that this is what an evil king did a long time ago, so it has nothing to do with us; we need to see the application of this to our experience today.
Today Christianity is in apostasy, for they have left the way ordained by God and chose to worship God in the way they desire, with the priests or leaders that they prefer, and they have idols that keep them in the “groups” and “denominations” they belong to.
May the Lord shine the light of His truth on us to expose any apostasy in us, any system that we set up in our being to replace the way ordained by God and to divide us from the other members of the Body of Christ.
May the Lord have mercy on us and save us from any apostasy, and may we remain in the pure revelation in the word of God, worshipping God according to His way and in the place ordained by Him.
May we be one with the Lord for His recovery of truth and life and the recovery of the function of all the members of His Body.
The Centers of Worship and Divisions in Christianity are caused by Selfishness and Ambition
![Has a nation [ever] exchanged [its] gods, / Even though they are no gods? / But My people have exchanged their glory / For that which does not benefit [them.] Jer. 2:11 For My people have committed two evils: / They have forsaken Me, / The fountain of living waters, / To hew out for themselves cisterns, / Broken cisterns, / Which hold no water. Jer. 2:13 Your own wickedness will correct you, / And your apostasies will reprove you. / Know therefore and see that it is an evil and bitter thing, / That you have forsaken Jehovah your God / And that My fear is not in you, / Declares the Lord Jehovah of hosts. Jer. 2:19](https://i0.wp.com/www.agodman.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Has-a-nation-ever-exchanged-its-gods-Even-though-they-are-no-gods-683x1024.webp?resize=450%2C675&ssl=1 "Has a nation [ever] exchanged [its] gods, / Even though they are no gods? / But My people have exchanged their glory / For that which does not benefit [them.] Jer. 2:11 For My people have committed two evils: / They have forsaken Me, / The fountain of living waters, / To hew out for themselves cisterns, / Broken cisterns, / Which hold no water. Jer. 2:13 Your own wickedness will correct you, / And your apostasies will reprove you. / Know therefore and see that it is an evil and bitter thing, / That you have forsaken Jehovah your God / And that My fear is not in you, / Declares the Lord Jehovah of hosts. Jer. 2:19")
After the division of the kingdom of Israel from the kingdom of Judah at the time of Jeroboam and Rehoboam, Jeroboam led the people of Israel into idolatry.
He set up idols in Bethel and Dan (1 Kings 12:29); he set up another centre of worship because he feared the loss of his kingdom (vv. 26-27).
Because he didn’t want to lose his kingdom, he set up idols in a rival centre of worship.
The origin of these idols was his ambition and selfishness, for he wanted to have a kingdom for himself.
If we apply this principle today we will see that the situation is the same among Christians today.
There are so many divisions in Christianity, and all of them are caused by selfishness and ambition.
Certain ones are ambitious to have their own empire, so they ignore and neglect God’s choice.
In the Old Testament, God’s unique choice was Mount Zion with the temple in Jerusalem; it is here that the Holy of Holies was and the Lord’s oracle was present.
But Jeroboam was ambitious, selfish, and self-seeking, so he set up another centre of worship. This other centre of worship was actually a cover-up for his ambition.
Today there are millions of genuine believers in Christianity, but they meet in different centres of worship.
Apparently, these centres of worship are established for the worship of God; actually, they are set up to fulfil a man’s ambition to have an empire.
In a real sense, the founders of many Christian groups are today’s Jeroboams, and the centres of worship set up by them are centres of ambition and selfishness for them to have an empire.
This does not happen only in Christianity but also in the church life; some brothers may be raised by the Lord to minister the word and serve, but they may desire to have an empire for themselves.
The most trouble is caused by the leading ones.
It is a fearful thing for a brother to be allowed to bear responsibility in God’s church, for so many problems can arise because of what they are and what they want to gain.
Some brothers may be so much used by the Lord, and they render much eternal help to the saints, but they want to have their own thing, their own work, their own church, and their own empire. Oh, Lord Jesus!
In Christianity today with the many worship centres there are also “idols”, shiny, attractive, and interesting things that keep people there.
These idols keep people from God and hold them in a certain system, far away from the true worship of God in His way and in the place of His choice. Oh, Lord Jesus!
We may read the story of Jeroboam and think that, if we were in Israel at that time, we would have not followed Jeroboam to worship the golden calves, but actually, most likely we would have.
Just look at what is happening in Christianity today; if we’re under the shining of the Lord’s light, we will realize that there are many “idols” in so many Christian groups today and there are many worship centres set up by ambitious and selfish people to keep the dear believers in Christ from the place of God’s choice and distract them from the way ordained by God to meet and serve.
May the Lord have mercy on us and save us from doing things according to our ambition and selfishness, and may we be saved from bringing our natural man with his desires and intentions in the service of God in the church.
May we allow the Lord to shine on us, on our living and service before the Lord in the church, and may we let Him purge anything of apostasy in us and keep us in the way of God according to His holy word.
Lord Jesus, we open to Your shining. Enlighten us concerning the way we meet and serve. Save us from being in apostasy. Save us from setting up centres of worship that are different from the unique place ordained by God. Save us from setting up systems of worship and meeting that are different from the way ordained by God in His word. Keep us in Your holy, pure, and sanctifying word. Keep us one with You, Lord, and one with all the saints in the Body. Recover us by Your life and light and keep us walking in the light and in life so that we may live the church life according to Your ordained way. Shine on us, dear Lord, and expose anything of our ambition and selfishness. Save us from bringing our natural man with its desires and intentions in the service of God in the church. Keep us in the pure church life, worshipping God according to His desire and in the place of His choice!
Because of the Apostasy in Christianity today, the Lord needs the Recovery of Truth and Life
Because today’s Christianity is filled with apostasy, the Lord needs a recovery; He needs to recover a group of people back to His original intention in HIs word.
The Lord needs the recovery of truth and life (Jer. 2:11, 13, 19; Rev. 2:6, 15; 1 John 1:1-2, 5-6; John 18:37b; 10:10b).
He wants to bring back some who are willing to remain in His word and allow the divine revelation in His word to lead and guide them.
May we realize that all such things as worship centres and different ways of worshipping God that is not according to His ordained way are like broken cisterns which hold no water.
Apostasy begins here, as Jer. 2:13 says; when we forsake God as the fountain of living waters, apostasy comes in. Oh, Lord!
We may still read the Bible, spend time with the Lord, and even share in the meetings; however, all these may be a cloak for ambition and selfishness.
When the priests in the Old Testament went into the tabernacle to serve God in His presence, they had on their garments at the bottom pomegranates and bells.
Pomegranates are for the life supply, but the bell is an alarm to sound, a warning.
We need to have both the life supply in the word of God and in the meetings of the church, and we also need the holy warnings in God’s word.
May the Lord have mercy on His apostate children to cause them to return, and He will heal their apostasies.
Regardless of where we are, we can return to the Lord, and He will give us the provision of life and the revelation of the truth.
The apostles dispensed the provision of life and the revelation of the truth as antidotes in dealing with apostasy and the decline of the church (1 John 1:1-2, 5-6; John 18:37b; 10:10b; 2 Pet. 1:3-21; 2 Tim. 1:1, 10; 2:15, 25).
Even at the time of the early church, apostasy came in.
The way the apostles dealt with it is by truth and life, the provision of life and the revelation of the truth. We need the recovery of truth and life.
Daily we need to enjoy the Lord as life and be in the truth.
We need to be reminded of the things in the word of God so that we may be established in the present truth. Sometimes we may think we know the things we read in the Bible or hear in the meetings or through the ministry, but we need to be reminded about them again and again so that we may be established in the present truth.
We need to have in our heart highways to Zion, not to Dan or Bethel, where the different worship centres are.
May the Lord recover us by His life and truth so that we may be saved from any apostasy.
In Rev. 2:6 we see one of the aspects of the apostasy: the works of the Nicolaitans.
In His economy, God intends that all His people be priests serving Him directly.
In the Old Testament, He wanted all His people to be priests (Exo. 19:6), but because they worshipped the golden calf (Exo. 32:1-6), they lost the priesthood and only the tribe of Levi, because of their faithfulness to God, was chosen to replace the whole nation of Israel to serve as priests to God (Exo. 32:25-29; Deut. 33:8-10).
This is not what God intends: He wants no mediatorial class between man and God but that all His people would be priests.
So in the New Testament, He returned to His original intention according to His economy, and we all as believers in Christ are priests to God – we are a royal priesthood (Rev. 1:6; 5:10; 1 Pet. 2:5, 9).
However, at the end of the initial church, even in the first century, the Nicolaitans came in, which is a class that overcomes over people, a clergy.
Rev. 2:6 clearly says that God hates the works of the Nicolaitans.
May we be those in the Lord’s recovery of truth and life, and may we be recovered to the proper church life with no clergy-laity system.
May we be brought back to the enjoyment of Christ as life and the constitution with the truth in the word of God so that we all as believers in Christ may serve God as priests to God.
In His economy, God hates the mediatorial class of people; He wants all His people to be priests to God. This is why we need the recovery of truth and life and the recovery of the function of all the members of the Body.
Lord Jesus, thank You for Your recovery of truth and life. Keep us in Your word, being filled with the truth and allowing the truth to operate in us and uplift our experience of Christ as life. Save us from any apostasy. Keep us enjoying the provision of life and the revelation of the truth so that we may have the antidote to deal with apostasy and the decline of the church. Amen, Lord, keep us enjoying You as life and partaking of You in Your word. Keep us in the proper church life enjoying Christ in the Word and growing in life so that we may function as priests functioning in our measure for the building up of the church as the Body of Christ!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by brother Ricky Acosta in the message, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1979, vol. 2, “The Genuine Ground of Oneness,” chs. 1-3, by Witness Lee, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-study of 1 and 2 Kings (2022 summer training), week 11, entitled, Apostasy, the High Places, and the Recovery of the Genuine Ground of Oneness.
- Hymns on this topic:
– As members of the Body / Christ we would manifest, / Each learning how to function / His fulness to express; / We would not be spectators / But each as members move, / None bringing death or damage / But each our profit prove. (Hymns #867 stanza 1)
– We limit not the truth of God / To our poor reach of mind, / By notions of our day and sect, / Crude, partial and confined. / Now let a new and better hope / Within our hearts be stirred: / The Lord hath yet more light and truth / To break forth from His Word. (Hymns #817 stanza 1)
– There’s a church in New York City, / Honoring the risen Christ; / Caring for the other churches— / Following in truth and light; / With them in coordination, / We the kingdom will possess; / Fighting as one mighty army, / Till the kingdom’s manifest. (Hymns #1263 stanza 5)
PS. You can watch the first three messages from the Genuine Ground of Oneness via youtube – very good sharing by brother Lee on this topic.
About aGodMan
According to the principle in 1 Kings 12:26-30, in many Christian groups there are “idols” set up to attract people and to hold them. These “idols” keep people from God. Following the example of Aaron at Mount Sinai, Jeroboam made two golden calves and told the people that they were the God who brought them out of Egypt. We may wonder why the children of Israel could be so blind as to accept these idols as God… However, if we had been there, we probably would have followed Jeroboam and would have been one with him. We need to be clear about the situation in Christianity today. If we are under the shining of the heavenly light, we will realize that in so many Christian groups “idols” have been set up in place of God. These “idols” attract people into those groups and then keep them there. Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1979, vol. 2, “The Genuine Ground of Oneness,” pp. 257-258
God in His economy intended that all His people be priests serving Him directly. In Exodus 19:6, God ordained the children of Israel to be a kingdom of priests. This means that God wanted them all to be priests. However, because they worshipped the golden calf (Exo. 32:1-6), they lost the priesthood, and only the tribe of Levi, because of its faithfulness to God, was chosen to replace the whole nation of Israel as priests to God (Exo. 32:25-29; Deut. 33:8-10). Hence, there was a mediatorial class between God and the children of Israel. This became a strong system in Judaism. In the New Testament, God has returned to His original intention according to His economy, in that He has made all believers in Christ priests (Rev. 1:6; 5:10; 1 Pet. 2:5, 9). But at the end of the initial church, even in the first century, the Nicolaitans intervened as the mediatorial class to spoil God’s economy, spoiling the universal priesthood of all believers… In the proper church life there should be neither clergy nor laity; all believers should be priests of God. Because the mediatorial class destroys the universal priesthood in God’s economy, the Lord hates it. Rev. 2:6, footnote 1, Recovery Version Bible
Because of the apostasy in Christianity today, with so many worship centres and systems that replace the unique place of God’s choice and His ordained way to meet and serve, the Lord needs the recovery of life and truth, and He needs to recover the function of all the members of the Body.
Amen! O Lord, save us from selfish ambition and make us those who are ambitious for Your interest & intention to be realised here on earth. We must be under no illusion.
The Lord hates our selfish ambition and He will reject the works that issue from the desire to have our own empires.
May the Lord make us those who hate the idols that have been established by today’s Jeroboams.
Amen Lord! Save us from being “present day Jeroboams” save us from ambition, may You be our centre, we want to be one with God’s choice and desire.
May the heavenly light shine upon us to see all the idols setup in the place of God in our hearts!
amen brother so many Christians today are not meeting in the unique place of God choice instead they are meeting according to their preference
Als,o we need to see that we are priest, we all have been called to function but this is not the case in today’s Christianity they have a system of one man teaching and the rest not functioning
may the Lord save us from this
According to the record in the Old Testament with the setting up of alternative places of worship, the source of this was selfishness, self-seeking and ambition.
This issued in division, idolatry and a mediatorial class (the tribe of Levi) and ultimately of the apostate practice of the Nicolaitans in the early church!
Amen Lord!
Made us a kingdom, priests to His God and Father, to Him be the glory and the might, forever and ever. Amen
Amen Brother. Praise the Lord that He has saved us and brought to the Ground of Oneness.
The Lord hates the works of the Nicolaitans which we also hate because it spoils the universal priesthood of God’s Saints to all function as Priests to God.
Most or all of Brothers and Sisters in the denominations have been captured by the idols of selfishness and ambition.
We pray and ask the Lord that even as he has delivered me and many more from this evil system, many more will be delivered and recovered to become functioning Priest of God for His Eternal Economy. Amen
Yes, Lord keep us from our own ambition!
Amen brother.
Rev. 2:6 But this you have, that you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.
O Lord save us from any ambition and hierarchy in the church. Keep us humble and love you and the brothers with all our hearts, soul, mind and strength!
Amen Lord cause us to see the seriousness of this…do save us from and ambition to build something for ourselves, may we hate the works of the Nicolaitans which you also hate and really live the reality of the kingdom of priests
Praise the Lord, He has brought us out of Christianity and into the proper church life where we can give Him the proper worship which He desires and the accomplishment of His eternal economy.
Amen brother. Lord, save us from ambition and selfishness. May we take Christ as our way to honour God’s choice.
Just look at what is happening in Christianity today; if we’re under the shining of the Lord’s light, we will realize that there are many “idols” in so many Christian groups today and there are many worship centres set up by ambitious and selfish people to keep the dear believers in Christ from the place of God’s choice and distract them from the way ordained by God to meet and serve.
May the Lord have mercy on us and save us from doing things according to our ambition and selfishness, and may we be saved from bringing our natural man with his desires and intentions in the service of God in the church.
May we allow the Lord to shine on us, on our living and service before the Lord in the church, and may we let Him purge anything of apostasy in us and keep us in the way of God according to His holy word.