056. You Cannot Serve Two Masters

Many leaders of large powerful churches are false guides who will lead you astray. Leaders of false churches will not tell you that you need to follow Christ. To the contrary, leaders of false churches will tell you that you need to follow them.

Yet, you cannot serve two masters. 

You must choose to follow only Jesus Christ.

If you do so, you have chosen to have fellowship with Christ.

You are then directly and only accountable to Christ, and are to be lead by the Holy Spirit.

If you choose to follow Christ and only follow Him, how can a church have any authority over you?

You will then have authority under Christ, who is your master.

True leaders and disciples of Christ know they are equal with everyone else. They are not above others. They lead others on the way of truth, to Christ. They are servants. True leaders and disciples have humility. "And Gideon said unto them, I will not rule over you, neither shall my son rule over you: the Lord shall rule over you." (Judges 8:23) 

Leaders of false churches accept the praises, honors, and titles of men. They do not turn away such praise when it comes, nor do they deflect it to God, who is the source of all goodness. They do not tell others the truth that Jesus taught, "Why callest thou me good? none is good, save one, that is, God." (Luke 18:19). No one is worthy of praise and honor. The Lord said "let no man glory in man" (D&C 76:61; 1 Cor. 3:21). Praise and honors of men should be rejected by disciples of Jesus Christ. Leaders of false churches affiliate and make friends with the world. They associate with other world leaders and governments, with the wealthy and the elite. False religious leaders do not stand up for truth nor do they rebuke the wickedness around them. Instead, they try to appease the wickedness about them in order to hold onto their positions of power. 

Leaders of false churches claim to be God's only true representatives. Yet, God does His will in His own way and will call and work with whosoever He chooses. We cannot decide for ourselves that we are a leader of others or that we are a representative of God. We cannot force God to do what we want. He chooses and calls who He decides to choose and to call. All we can choose to do is to follow Christ, or to choose our own way which leads to darkness and despair. God is not limited to our programs, our decisions, our councils, or our policies. God wants to lead us back to Him which may involve a path that is totally contrary to what your church is doing. We must come to know Him so He can direct our efforts and lead us in a better way than we could dream up ourselves.

Leaders of false churches will tell you that the church is the body of Christ. The truth is that the body of Christ are those who come to know Him. The body of Christ is composed of those who obey His words and commands, and serve Him. If we wish to be a member of the body of Christ, we must leave the ways of false churches and the world (pursuing lusts of the flesh, endless entertainment, opulent luxuries, selfishness, ego, pride, etc). The assembly of God is not an earthly church. Membership in an earthly church and following church leaders are not the way to heaven. You are not saved because you have a church membership and you go to a church. Dependency on church leaders leads many true believers in Christ astray because they get entangled in false doctrines and practices that actually pull them away from Christ.

We must be lead by Christ's spirit, and have a real and living relationship with Him where He knows you. Do not let leaders of false churches rule over you and deceive you. The only way of salvation is to follow Jesus as His disciple, having repented by turning to Christ and separating yourself from all ungodliness and evil, been baptized, and then continue to pursue the light and truth that God has imparted to you. Christ frees us from sin if we repent and do these things. Christ commands us to live a clean and pure life. Seek fellowship with Jesus Christ. Seek to know Him, to abide in Him, and to follow Him. Then, assemble yourself with other people who are striving to be disciples of Christ and have also taken the Holy Spirit as their guide (D&C 45:57).

Then, you will be serving the true Master who is Jesus Christ instead of one of a multitude of false masters who will enslave you.