As we continue to study the two churches portrayed in Revelation—the church God is building and the one man is building—we want to be careful not to become reactionary. We instead want to seek a vision for what God is doing so that our hearts are in it, to give ourselves to become part of His work, not just tear down the work of others.
The Reformation’s leaders understood the errors of the institutional church very well, and they illuminated these errors brilliantly. Then, they went on to make some of the same errors as they began to institutionalize the Reformation churches. Their doctrines were based on biblical truth, but when any truth becomes institutionalized, it gets corrupted and politicized. Soon, the Reformers were persecuting and executing the Anabaptists for not embracing their teachings, just as they had been persecuted by the Catholics.
Soon, religious wars were raging all over Europe with Christians fighting Christians. While Christians were so distracted, Islam almost conquered the whole of Western Civilization. This was actually portrayed in the symbolism of the books of Daniel and Revelation, as we will see. It was the Catholics who raised the force and resources to stop Islam while their control over Europe was being decimated.
There is a place for boldly confronting false teaching and false ministries, as we see the Christian leaders in the New Testament doing, but the victory of the truth is to set the captives free from their error, not destroy those who are in error. People are not our enemy; the evil that binds them is our enemy. When the Protestant movements became institutionalized, they took on the same nature as their Catholic persecutors.
In Matthew 12, Jesus explains that Satan cannot cast out Satan, and a kingdom divided against itself cannot stand. Then, He said in verse 28, “But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.”
Was the Lord’s truth intended to seek out and destroy everyone who didn’t embrace it? Of course not! His truth is not sent to destroy and kill. He did not go to the cross to be able to condemn His enemies; they were already condemned. He came to redeem, heal, restore, and give life. If we start to use truth wrongly, we will end up doing evil with it even though our doctrines may be biblically sound.
In Revelation, man’s church becomes a terrible beast that plunders and destroys, but the Lord does not attack it with His church. He destroys it Himself. What God is building is an antithesis to fallen man’s ways, to redeem and restore them, not destroy them. What God is building is not meant to tear down, as all that is built on the fallen nature of man will destroy itself. When this is happening, what God is building will stand, because it is built on the only foundation that cannot be shaken. Then, the nations will come to it, as we see in Isaiah 60:1-3: “Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. For behold, darkness will cover the earth, and deep darkness the peoples; but the Lord will rise upon you, and His glory will appear upon you. Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.”
When examining the errors others have made, we must be especially careful to keep in mind that God resists the proud. The proud are those who think they have the truth because they are wiser or more righteous, and He will resist them regardless of how much truth they have. He gives His grace to the humble, and ultimate humility is knowing that all that we have is by His grace. If we gain understanding and become proud, we, too, will likely fall into the same errors so many have before, just as we see repeated over and over in history.
We are not called to tear down but to help build the city God is building, which will right every wrong man has ever done and bring His righteousness and justice to the whole earth.
© 2025 Rick Joyner. All Rights Reserved.
