Churches despise the altar and defile the Gospel of Christ as they honor human beings above Him.

Malachi 1:6b-8

Click for a description of the mark of the beast.
Click for a description of the image of the beast.

“Yet you say, ‘In what way have we despised Your name?’ “You offer defiled food on My altar, but say, ‘In what way have we defiled You?’ By saying, ‘The table of the Lord is contemptible.’ And when you offer the blind as a sacrifice, is it not evil? And when you offer the lame and sick, is it not evil? Offer it then to your governor! Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you favorably?” Says the Lord of hosts.” Malachi 6b-8

Before the coming of Jesus Christ, in the Old Testament, God gave specific guidelines for making offerings and sacrifices on the altar. The foremost guideline was that the animal sacrifice was to be unblemished, healthy, and free of defects. This was to be the “scarlet cord” pointing to Jesus Christ as the pure and unblemished Lamb of God who would take away our sin by the sacrifice He made on the altar of the Cross. As quoted, “…knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.” 1 Peter 1:18-19

The heart, mind, and soul of the Israelite priests held very little value for the Living God, and it showed in what they offered to Him as a sacrifice. The diminishing of the value of God involved the Israelites honoring other people and human authority instead of honoring the Living God ad His authority, as said in verse 6a. They were saying to God, ‘In what way have we despised Your name?’ The answer is that they placed “defiled food” on the altar, which means that the part of the animal sacrificed to God was blemished in some way. They considered the table where the sacrifice was laid to be nothing sacred and regarded it as meaningless in their utter disregard for the word God. The sacrifices were far from being unblemished because the animals were the worst of the flock. They were blind, lame, and sick.

Obviously, the Israelite priests felt better served to kill and burn the lame, sick, and blind animals in the fire as a sacrifice to God and to keep the best of the flock for themselves. They were more concerned about the quality control of their earthly possessions and valuables than they were about the quality of their heart, soul, and mind. In essence, they felt the quality of human relationships was much more important than living for God. This describes today’s culture, who fills the churches, as they put the practice of humanism above living for God through Jesus Christ. Humanism attaches prime importance to human beings, and common human needs, rather than to God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. Today, humanism is empowered by the atheistic entity that has power over physiology to give people what to feel, think, say, and do.

Those of today’s churches do not feel that they are doing anything wrong in honoring people, in the name of joining with the community family through humanism, even though they have abandoned the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They are prone to ask, “In what way have we despised God?” In their demeanor, they boast, “Who is like the beast? Who is able to make war with him?” Revelation 13:4 This is the beast of the image and mark of the beast.

The answer to the question of how today’s churches despise the Holy name of God are clearly stated, as quoted below.

“You offer defiled food on My altar.” Jesus Christ sacrificed His life on the Altar of the Cross to be in conformity to the will of God to atone for our sin. This is the most important Altar and Sacrifice we will ever know. The churches of today defile this Altar by rejecting the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the message of the Cross. They lift up human beings and live by human authority rather than honoring God and His authority. Also, there is the altar of our soul where we come to God, by way of the Altar of the Cross, to offer ourselves as a living sacrifice to God by living for Jesus Christ. The altar of our soul is being defiled by today’s churches because our heart, soul, and mind are not being fed the Bread of Life, the testimony of Jesus Christ. They see universal human needs as the replacement to Jesus Christ and rely on human rationale to solve the world’s dilemmas.

This is the pure food of the word of God, the true Gospel of Christ, as described by the Apostle Paul, “Now I make known to you, brothers, the gospel which I proclaimed to you, which you have also received, in which you also stand, by which you are also being saved, if you hold fast to the message I proclaimed to you, unless you believed to no purpose. For I passed on to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised up on the third day according to the scriptures…” 1 Corinthians 15:1-4

“By saying, ‘The table of the Lord is contemptible.’“ A table is where food is placed, and people eat from whatever is available and set there to nourish themselves. The table of the Lord is where the word of God sets, where the testimony of Jesus Christ is offered, and where we fill up on the Holy Spirit. The churches of today imply that the table of the Lord is worthless, they totally disregard and disrespect it.

Instead of feeding the congregation with the word of God, the principles of humanism are taught, which are empowered by the atheistic entity that has power over physiology to give people what to feel, think, say, and do. Instead of feeding the congregation with the testimony of Jesus Christ, the churches teach that honoring human beings and honoring human authority brings salvation to humanity. Instead of feeding the congregation to nurture growth in the Holy Spirit by the remission of sin, the churches teach that Holiness comes by not recognizing sin, and thus canceling the born-again experience and the chance for a new lifestyle in Jesus Christ.

If we love Jesus Christ, and if the churches love Him, then we and they will feed His sheep with His Gospel, “So when they had eaten breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me more than these?” He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.” He said to him, “Feed My lambs.” He said to him again a second time, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?” He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.” He said to him, “Tend My sheep.” He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?” Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, “Do you love Me?” And he said to Him, “Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You.” Jesus said to him, “Feed My sheep.” John 21:15-17

“And when you offer the blind as a sacrifice, is it not evil? And when you offer the lame and sick, is it not evil?“ The priests were offering the worst of the flock as a sacrifice to the Lord, as they kept the best of the flock for themselves. The quality of earthly possessions meant more to them than the quality of the spirit, mind, and soul. This shows that their heart, mind, and soul had no respect whatsoever for offering the Living God the best of what they had. It’s obvious to see that the churches of today are not offering the best of what they have to God, through Jesus Christ, in the presence of the Holy Spirit. They are offering to God those who are blinded by humanism, lame in not being able to walk with Jesus Christ, and sick with a soul, spirit, and mind absent of the Holy Spirit. The churches offer God those who honor human beings and human authority but not honoring God and His authority. They are more concerned about earthly quality of humanity than they are of eternal quality of the spirit.

Our Lord Jesus came to heal the blind so that they could see God’s will for them. He healed the lame so that they could walk with Him in service to God. He healed the sick to bring health in the Spirit of God. The healing of the blind, lame, and sick was an offering to God His Father, not to offer them broken and downcast, “Jesus answered and said to them, “Go and tell John the things which you hear and see: The blind see and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them. And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me.” Matthew 11:4-6

“Offer it then to your governor! Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you favorably?” The Holy Spirit poses the question, “If the lame, blind, and sick were offered to the governor of this world, would that be acceptable?” The governor of this world is the entity with power over physiology to give people what to think, feel, say, and do. This entity enlivens the image of the beast to speak and live through people. Would people be accepted favorably by this atheistic entity who were blind to its presence, not able to walk by the thoughts feeling, words, and behaviors given, but were sick in that they were a liability to its agenda and culture? The Holy Spirit says, “Offer them then to your governor!” Of course, the atheistic governor of this world would not be pleased because it would be powerless to build a global culture on those unable to be groomed to the mark of the beast by what they are given to say and do.

God wants people to see Him through Jesus Christ by the remission of sin who live in the presence of the Holy Spirit. God wants people who walk with Him side-by-side with His Son Jesus Christ. God wants people who are healed in the spirit, soul, and mind by being born-again through Jesus Christ. God is not pleased with today’s churches who honor human beings and human authority but have no honor for Him, Jesus Christ, nor the presence of the Holy Spirit.

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“….to you who do not hold to her teaching and have not learned Satan’s so-called deep secrets,“
‘I will not impose any other burden on you, except to hold on to what you have until I come.’”
“I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown.”
Revelation 2:24-25, 3:1