5 This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.
6 If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.
7 But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.
If you are a believer in Christ, you have made a life-altering choice...you have surrendered your life to Him, and the challenge we face each day is to make choices that are consistent with our faith in Christ. The enemy would want to lure us to walk in darkness, but we have renounced his darkness and pledged ourselves to pursue the light of Christ. So, we make our choices according to the Word of God, striving to walk in His light.
God calls us to walk in His light, to pursue His truth. We recognize that He has the capacity to bring
us out of darkness into that light, according to Colossians 1:
13 He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love,
14 in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.
Back in 2015, at Halloween, the Greater Church of Lucifer opened its doors in Spring, Texas, which is in the Houston area. The founder, Jacob, told CBN News that "the Luciferians promise to offer people a different kind of 'church experience.'" He said, "As individuals, we seek to express our insight towards attaining apotheosis, Lords of our spiritual and carnal world. As a foundation, GCOL seeks to inspire the few in the masses towards self-excellence and change," adding, "We just want to coexist."
Its website stated: "The Greater Church of Lucifer is only a 'church' as a play on words. We are a gathering of like souls who seek to understand and live within the framework of Luciferianism as we understand it." The story said that "the Christian Examiner observes that the church's symbolism is heavy on Satanism, with horned creatures, fallen angels, winged animals with hooves and a long-horned goat's head."
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God calls us to walk in His light, to pursue His truth. We recognize that He has the capacity to bring
us out of darkness into that light, according to Colossians 1:
13 He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love,
14 in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.
Back in 2015, at Halloween, the Greater Church of Lucifer opened its doors in Spring, Texas, which is in the Houston area. The founder, Jacob, told CBN News that "the Luciferians promise to offer people a different kind of 'church experience.'" He said, "As individuals, we seek to express our insight towards attaining apotheosis, Lords of our spiritual and carnal world. As a foundation, GCOL seeks to inspire the few in the masses towards self-excellence and change," adding, "We just want to coexist."
Its website stated: "The Greater Church of Lucifer is only a 'church' as a play on words. We are a gathering of like souls who seek to understand and live within the framework of Luciferianism as we understand it." The story said that "the Christian Examiner observes that the church's symbolism is heavy on Satanism, with horned creatures, fallen angels, winged animals with hooves and a long-horned goat's head."
There was some protesting by Christians about the "church"'s opening, but not by Pastor Robert Hogan of Spring First Church, according to another CBN News story. He told his parishoners: "I'm not going to be down there picketing," adding, "And could I tell you something: would you not go down there picketing? If you want to picket it, picket it on your knees..."
In August of 2016, Jacob McKelvy, the founder of the Greater Church, paid pastor Hogan a visit. Jacob relates: "I had this burning sensation to go in that church, so I did. Robert wasn't there that day but he called me back. We talked on the phone two hours and then we set an interview for August 11th and we talked for 4 hours that day and I ended up giving my life over to Christ."
In a February service, Jacob and his wife were baptized at First Church. He declared: "We were mired in the shadows of the adversarial influence and knew no love outside of each other. Today I rebuke, denounce and break the satanic covenant by the blood of Jesus."
He was drawn to satanism after his sister died of a snakebite. He told CBN News: "...There was a lot of hopelessness and feeling of powerlessness that drew me to this. When Luciferianism says that you are your own God, that's pretty powerful." Now he says, having given his life to Christ, "The power and peace and wholeness I feel today is far greater than anything that I've ever felt before." McKelvy says about pastor Hogan, "I created a church to destroy dogmatic religion and he still loved me. So if he could still love me for me to be here today talking to you than [sic] there are no excuses anymore."
Amazing story, isn't it! And, as I have suggested before, no one is too far away from the love of God. Even though Jacob had temporarily hardened his heart, the truth, spoken with the love of Jesus, caused his heart to melt and to be sensitive to a relationship with the Lord.
We also recognize that Pastor Robert Hogan was ready to speak when God brought Jacob to him. We can be challenged to think about what we might say we encounter non-believers. We can be confident that God will give us the words, but I think we can make sure that the Word is rooted in our hearts.
Also, recognize the pastor's response to the new so-called "church" in his city - a church that is now...closed. Instead of "protesting," which seems to be common response to so much these days; the pastor encouraged his church to pray. I think there is a direct correlation between that response and Jacob's response to the gospel. It is important that we are praying for those who don't know Christ to come into a saving knowledge of Him.
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