OzoZapletal (Pixabay)
by Leonard V Johnson
There is grave confusion involving religion today around the world. According to
Leftist-Wikipedia, there are some 45,000 different “Christian” denominations
worldwide. 1 Then there’s Judaism, Buddhism, Islamism, Shintoism, Taoism,
atheism, Confucianism, agnosticism, and evolutionism. And even the last two are
“religions,” or at least, a “religious belief.” How did this world come to have so
many denominations of “Christianity,” and so many various religions? One person
believes in this god or goddess, and that person believes in nothing at all. Where did
the truth go?
Besides, what is religion? Its definition in the Webster’s Dictionary, and the
dictionary I have in my office library, has four separate senses ──
re▪li▪gion \ri-‘li-jən\ n [ME religioun, fr. L religion-, religio supernatural
constraint, sanction, religious practice, perh. fr. religare to restrain,, tie back
── more at RELY] (13c) 1 a: the state of a religious b (1) : the service and worship of God or the supernatural (2) :
commitment or devotion to religious faith or observance 2 : a personal set or
institutionalized system of religious attitudes, beliefs, and practices 3 archaic
: scrupulous conformity : CONSCIENTIOUSNESS 4 : a cause, principle, or
system of beliefs held to with ardor and faith ── re▪li▪gion▪less adj 2
In essence, religion is defined as “the service and worship of God or the
supernatural.” It has to do with mankind’s relationship to our Creator. It also has to
do with what happens in the afterlife. That really is the academic and secular
definition. That’s the function of religion. Sadly, however, there aren’t many people
who truly understand who and what God is. The Lord GOD Himself says, “ … he
who comes to God must believe that He is, …” – Hebrews 11:6. Because how can
you worship a being if you don’t even know that He is?
The Apostle Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus in Athens, said to the men
of Athens, “I perceive that in all things you are very religious; for as I was passing
through and considering the objects of your worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. …” – Acts 17:22, 23. They didn’t even
know who it was they were worshiping!
And not only that, but there are also not too many people ── or the estimated 4,300
separate religions worldwide 3 ── that truly understand what and why humanity is.
And take a look at that “religion” of evolutionism. They have humanity scurrying
out of the oceans with a tail and then evolving to become a bipedal animal. That
makes us no more important to the overall purpose of the universe than a rock. Does
humanity have an immortal soul? Upon death, do we cease to exist? Do some of us
“go to a heaven” after dying, and some “go to hell”? Or is there something else that
occurs?
My wife tells me all the time, “You don't know ── you have not died yet! No one
knows!” And I tell her that I know because the LORD God has shown me. The Lord
GOD has revealed His living truth ── this mystery among mysteries ── to His
Church! Additionally, many in this generation are unaware of the gospel message that the Father sent to the entire world through His begotten Son, Jesus Christ ── the soon-coming
kingdom of God. Most do not know what the kingdom of God is. Most don’t even
know what salvation is. Is salvation “going to heaven”? Is eternal salvation “having
children”? Is eternal salvation ── or what they call “eternal security” merely an
absolute belief in a God? Is there even a thing as “eternal security”? What? Why are
there so many answers and misunderstandings ── such ignorance? Again, why is
humanity on planet Earth? Were we, as evolutionists like to believe and preach, just
a tag-along on a 7-billion-year-old asteroid that struck the young Earth and deposited
us here? Or are we a “glitch in the matrix”? Using the living word of God, I can
prove to you that we did not just come along by evolution – did not come along by
happenstance. As infinitesimal and unimportant as it might at first appear, the Earth
── a tiny particle within a much larger cosmic neighborhood, positioned in a
relatively quiet part of the Milky Way Galaxy, sitting in one of the many galaxy’s
spiraling arms, called the Orion Arm ── and like the great Italian astronomer and
physicist, Galileo Galilei, who was condemned by the Roman Catholic Church and
tried for heresy on April 12th, 1633, for his heliocentric model and belief ── most
will not believe me when I state that “planet Earth is the most important planet in
the whole of the known universe.” We are here for a grand purpose.
I watch a lot of science programs on many different YouTube channels. A couple of
my favorites are
Astrum and
Veritasium. And when I watch a simulation of the
Opportunity or Perseverance trudging along on the surface of Mars ── I find it so
fascinating! Or watching a video of the images taken by the
New Horizons spacecraft
of the “dwarf planet” Pluto! The awesome wonders of a so-called “bag-like sea
creature” that became known as human!
4 What our human mind can develop and
create! How great it is to know that only within days after being born, two astronauts
came back to Earth from the Moon ── November 24th, 1969!
Now, I would like you to consider and ponder ── how could men come to know
about the truths of God? The truth about who and what God is, and what and why
mankind is. The truth concerning why mankind was placed here on Earth. What our
grand purpose is. What was and is the true gospel message. What salvation is.
Adam and Eve disobeyed our Creator God. They didn’t believe that what He said,
He meant. Because God ── the Elohim, the family of God, which at this time
consists of God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ ── said unequivocally, “’ Of
every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good
and evil you SHALL NOT EAT, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely
die.’” – Genesis 2:16, 17. Upon the eating of that forbidden tree, mankind as a whole
was cut off from God. All, except a few that God would call ── like Seth, Enoch,
Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, etc. That is one of the greatest misunderstandings
among the professing religionists and churches. It is the most prevalent
misunderstanding. Most call this world God’s world, and that God is desperately
trying to get everyone saved. In truth, this is not God’s world ── it is Satan the
Devil’s world. And God, right here, cut off the overall of humanity from Himself.
Since the beginning of humanity, and even from the first known civilizations of the Tigris and Euphrates, the ancient Sumerians and Babylonians, the nations have not
known who or what God is.
Faithful Servants
But look what God did do. “God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in
time past to the fathers by the prophets.” – Hebrews 1:1. Seth – his lineage is
significant as it was a continuation of worship and faith to the LORD God. God spoke with Enoch ── who walked with God, and pleased God (Genesis 5:24;
Hebrews 11:6). Noah ── who found grace in the eyes of the LORD, a just man,
perfect in his generations and walked with God, became heir of the righteousness
which is according to faith (Genesis 6:8, 9; Hebrews 11:7). Abraham ── who
obeyed when he was called and believed in the LORD (Genesis 15:6; Hebrews 11:8).
Isaac and Jacob ── who by their faith became heirs “of the same promise” (Hebrews
11:8-9).
And we are not specifically told that Abram was seeking God. Abram and his father,
Terah, lived in ancient Ur of the Chaldeans. Ur was a major Sumerian city-state in
ancient Mesopotamia. It was well-known for its wealth, religious practices, and
culture. And its pantheon of gods. Among this pantheon of gods was Nanna, their
supreme god. Of course, their Moon god and other gods were just mere distant
objects of worship; they never personally interacted with men. But when Abram
heard the voice of YHWH, Abram obeyed. And certainly, upon seeing YHWH when
He appeared to Abram, that was the deciding factor in his building an altar and
beginning to worship Him! – cf. Genesis 12:1-4, 7. He didn’t say, “I don’t want to
leave!” He departed as the LORD had asked. This is why he is called the father of
the faithful. So, in a sense, we became the human children of Abram through Jesus
Christ if we have accepted the glorious promise of salvation.
And then there was Moses ── the Egyptian root msy (“child of”) or mose has been
considered as the possible meaning of his name. The suffix mose appears in Egyptian
pharaohs’ names like Thutmose (“born of Thoth”) and Ramose (“born of Ra”). But
also, an explanation could be a link to the Semitic root השׁמ, m-š-h, meaning “to draw
out” (Exodus 2:10) 5
Again, we are not specifically told that Moses was seeking God. God’s living word
does not specifically tell us whether there was any contact between Moses and his
biological family after he was weaned and taken back to Pharaoh’s daughter, until
much later. We are told that he came to know that the Israelite slaves were his
brethren (Exodus 2:11). Who told him? Pharaoh’s daughter knew Moses’ sister,
Miriam, who had stood afar off and watched her baby brother float down the Nile.
Could it have been that Miriam, or even his mother, had visited him secretly in his
youth and explained to him about his true family history and about YHWH?
Reuel, or Jethro, his father-in-law, later in life and the priest of Midian ── in fact,
the name Reuel means “friend of God.” ── and from all we can tell from God’s
word is that he was a good man with great integrity. Midian was a region whose inhabitants traced their lineage to Abraham through
Keturah (Genesis 25:1-2), indicating that at least some Midianites would have
retained a memory of the LORD of Abraham. 6 Jethro’s recognition of the LORD is
indicated in his declaration of faith in Exodus 18:11 ── “’ Now I know that the
LORD is greater than all the gods; for in the very thing in which they behaved
proudly, He was above them.’”
But again, as did Abram, when the angel of the LORD “appeared to him in a flame
of fire from the midst of a bush” and had called out to him from the midst of that
bush, and announced just who He was, ‘I am the God of your father ── the God of
Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob … Come now, therefore, and I will
send you to Pharaoh that you may bring My people, the children of Israel, out of
Egypt’ (Exodus 3:1-22; 418) ── after much convincing that the LORD would be
with him ── Moses obeyed.
And so, like those before him, the knowledge within the first five books of God’s
living word ── which are attributed to Moses ── he didn’t just make up from the
top of his head. This knowledge was revealed to him by the LORD ── the great and
awesome “I AM WHO I AM” The LORD God of his fathers, the God of Abraham,
the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob! The very God that we worship and praise!
I tend to like the answer given to the question: “How did Abraham learn about the
God YHWH?” from
Dan Fefferman on
Biblical Hermeneutics, “Civilizations that
originated from Shem may have preserved the LORD's name and the story of God's
saving them from the Flood.” And I agree, as I stated earlier, “Seth – his lineage is
significant as it was a continuation of worship and faith to the LORD God.”
Let’s take a look at the Apostle Paul, whose Jewish name was Saul ── possibly
named after King Saul. He came to write the majority of the New Testament. He certainly didn’t know that the God of the Old Testament was the God that had
‘become flesh and come to dwell amongst us’ – John 1:14. He certainly wasn’t
seeking our Lord Jesus Christ! Instead, he was out seeking those who were of the
Way, that he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. But, as he journeyed to do such
a thing, he was struck down by a blinding light, falling to the ground ── blinded.
The Lord Jesus spoke to him, which those traveling with him also heard, but saw no
one, “’ Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?’” Saul immediately answered,
“Who are You, Lord?” Saul addressed our Lord Jesus with κύριε, which is akin to
“Sir.” 7
Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, had arranged that a man by the name of Ananias
would receive Saul in Damascus, so that he might regain his sight and be filled with
the Holy Spirit. The Apostle Paul had three years, unaccounted for, in which he had
gone to Arabia (Galatians 1:15-17), later stating, “’ Have I not seen Jesus Christ our
Lord?’” – 1 Corinthians 9:1.
So, after his conversion, he did not immediately “confer with flesh and blood,” nor
did he immediately go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles; he went to Arabia
and spent three years conversing directly with our Lord Jesus Christ. He received
the knowledge that he had written directly from our Lord Jesus. How did the original
apostles receive their knowledge? They received it directly from our Lord Jesus!
Father God Must Call
Notice the Book of John and chapter 6 ── our Lord and Savior Jesus Himself said
──
“’ No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; …’” – John
6:44.
There’s no ambiguity in that statement. If Father God doesn’t draw you, if God
doesn’t call you, you cannot come to Jesus. Surely, because Father God has drawn
you, that’s why you’re reading this article. The LORD God isn’t trying to save the
whole world ── in this present age. Notice also the Book of Romans Chapter 3 ──
“As it is written: ‘There is none righteous, no, not one; 11) There is none who
understands; There is none who seeks after God.’” – Romans 3:10-11.
In reality, people are not seeking their Creator God ── unlike replicant Rutger Hauer
in the 1982 movie Blade Runner! Abraham did not seek after God. God drew him.
Now, the LORD God actually called me twain. The first time was in 1981 ── I
began to feel an overwhelming desire to begin attending church services with my
paternal grandmother. And I did, for 3½ years. Until I started questioning many of
their doctrines and asking too many questions, and I was asked unceremoniously and
quietly to stop attending at the age of 16. The second time was around 2004 at the
age of 35. For those 19 years, I wanted to go my own way; I wanted to retire as a
truck driver. Yet, God had other plans for me. Our Lord Jesus Christ said to all His
disciples, “’ You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you
should go and bear fruit, …’” – John 15:16. And Father God doesn’t draw someone
just as a favorite to receive eternal salvation. God is not a respecter of persons ──
Acts 10:34.
I know how Father God called me. As our Lord Jesus Christ struck the Apostle Paul
with a blinding light and temporary blindness ── his sight having been restored
after visiting Ananias, being baptized, and filled with the Holy Spirit. Upon his
obedience to the LORD God. Immediately preaching our Savior throughout the
synagogues ── that Jesus of Nazareth was (and is) the Son of God! The LORD God
struck me down in a completely different way.
I was born with transposition of the great arteries (TGA) ── a rare congenital heart
condition where the main arteries that move blood out of your heart are in the wrong
places. Now, that doesn’t make me special, but it did mean that I had extremely low
odds of surviving in 1969. The condition was considered a grave emergency, and
without treatment, over 50% of infants with transposition would die in the first
month of life, and 90% in the first year. 8 In fact, my mother had told me when I was about 5 years old that on the day I was born, she would often repeat to me old stories ── a small ball of light that had floated across the lawn and landed upon her shoulder, spoke to her. It had told her that I would not need
another operation and that someday I would travel around the world speaking with
thousands.
In 2010, the very year that I would develop atrial fibrillation ── an irregular heart
rhythm caused by scar tissue buildup, causing chaotic electrical signals in the atria,
causing me to receive an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) ── I was
traveling to Jacksonville. I had stopped to get a cup of coffee, and upon exiting the
store and jumping back in the driver’s seat, I had left the driver’s side door ajar. I
immediately had this feeling come over me, and heard a voice (surely in my mind)
that said, “Look up──now!” I looked up, and an evil-looking man was standing
directly in front of the car, staring at me. I instantly pulled my left leg inside the car
and locked the doors. He continued to stand there a few moments more and then
turned and slowly walked away. I heard a voice say to me, “See, all these many
years, I have kept you safe.” I began crying and praising Almighty God!
Not long after that, I was watching a sermon online where the minister had held up
a Bible to the screen and said, “If there is anyone who needs a healing from Jesus,
and IF you believe He will heal you, touch the screen and you will be healed! If you
believe!” I touched the screen while praying to God the Father and Jesus Christ for
the healing of my heart from scar tissue buildup, which caused my heart to develop
atrial fibrillation, and as I did, I began to feel an intense warm sensation cover my
whole body, from the soles of my feet to the top of my head and then back to my
heart. God had healed my heart of scar tissue! I began to feel an overwhelming desire
that pierced my soul, spirit, joints, and marrow, which was an unbelievable notion
that I somehow needed forgiveness. I needed to be cleansed of all my tales of
rebellion. I needed to be washed of my mistakes, my failures, and more importantly,
my sins. And no one could accomplish this task in my life, except for this One Being!
The following day, I was baptized, had hands laid upon me, and was filled with the
Holy Spirit.
Now, Father God certainly has dealt with each of us, individually, in our own unusual
circumstances and incidents that caused us to have to make a decision – and to find
AT LAST, THE ANSWERS TO THE REALLY BIG AND LONG-LASTING
QUESTIONS OF MAN’S TROUBLES IN THIS WORLD!
Good Tidings for This Age!
I want to speak about two prophecies for our time that I want to bring your attention
to.
Notice the 14th chapter of the Book of Isaiah ──
“’ The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the LORD’ …” ──
this is speaking of John the Baptist, in the wilderness, who cried out, ‘Prepare the
way of the first coming of Christ’; there is a New Testament passage that is
undeniably certain of this. “ … Make straight in the desert A highway for our God.” – Isaiah 40:3.
Again ── “’ The voice said, ‘Cry out!’ And he said, ‘What shall I cry?’” – vs. 6.
“O Zion …’” ── now at that time, Zion was the city of David. It is referred to as
another term for ancient Jerusalem that was situated on a ridge south of the present-day Old City. In this New Covenant era, it means the Church of God, the Church is
often called Zion. “ … You who bring good tidings, Get up into the high mountain;
O Jerusalem, …’” – vs. 9.
Good tidings is the good news ── of the kingdom of God, of our Lord Jesus Christ.
And what is the definition of the word “gospel”? The word gospel in Greek is
euangelion, meaning good news. So here in this prophecy, the Prophet Isaiah is
speaking about Zion that brings the gospel. It doesn’t mean the “Zionist movement.”
In the New Covenant, it means the Church of God, which brings the gospel message.
“ … Lift up your voice with strength, Lift it up, be not afraid; Say to the cities of
Judah, ‘Behold your God!’” -vs. 9.
And
we have! We produced a sermon entitled
“’ Blow the Trumpet!’” that has gotten
over 1.0k views since it was published, and has reached 11.3% of the audience in
Judah, modern-day Israel!
“’ Behold, the Lord GOD shall come with a strong hand, And His arm shall rule for
Him; Behold, His reward is with Him, And His work before Him.’” – vs. 10.
Brothers and Sisters,
we are doing that work.
In my Personal From… Some Prehistory Facts: I explain what we mean by “the work.” The work before His
glorious and powerful second coming. And
we do lift up our voice with God’s strength, and
we are not afraid. John the Baptist was the one crying out before the acceptable time,
our Lord Jesus Himself saying,
“’ Assuredly, I say to you, among those born of
women there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist; …’” – Matthew 11:11.
And our Lord wasn't talking about any greatness in the man, but was talking about
that fact that … well… recall back in the Book of Luke chapter 1, we’re told that
John the Baptist would “ ’ turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,’ and the
disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the
Lord.’”
These are the two verses which our Lord Jesus was referring to, when He inspired verse
5 of the Book of Malachi, chapter 4 – “’ Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet
Before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD.’”
Also, notice chapter 3 of the Book of Malachi, the last book of the Old
Testament ──
“’ Behold, I send My messenger, And he will prepare the way before Me. And the
Lord, whom you seek [which is our Lord Jesus Christ], Will suddenly come to His
temple, Even the Messenger of the [New Covenant], In whom you delight. Behold,
He is coming,’ Says the LORD of hosts.” – Malachi 3:1.
This, of course, has a dual application. In Matthew, Mark, and John, we find that
John the Baptist was the messenger identified here. The Messenger of the New
Covenant was our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Notice the next verse ──
“’ But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears?
For He is like a refiner’s fire And like launderers’ soap. 3) And He will sit as a
refiner and a purifier of silver; He will purify the sons of Levi, And purge them as
gold and silver, That they may offer to the LORD An offering in righteousness.’” –
Malachi 3:2-3.
Did that happen at our Lord Jesus Christ’s first coming? Yes.
A “refiner’s fire” is the process used to remove impurities from precious metals. The
heat required to melt gold and silver is enough to destroy any impurities, a method
used to generate purer alloys. This wonderful metaphor is being used for the
Levitical priesthood of Israel. He has “purged” them ── The Levitical priesthood
ended with the death of our Lord Jesus Christ!
“’ Then the offering [under the New Covenant] of Judah and Jerusalem Will be
pleasant to the LORD, As in the days of old, As in former years.’” – Malachi 3:4.
And here verse 5 switches to His glorious and powerful second coming! ──
“’ And I will come near you for judgment; I will be a swift witness Against sorcerers,
Against adulterers [physical and spiritual adulterers], Against perjurers, Against
those who exploit wage earners and widows and orphans, And against those who
turn away [strangers] ── Because they do not fear Me,’ Says the LORD of hosts.” – Malachi 3:5.
The Work of God in this Ministry
One way that we serve our LORD God is that we produce sermons and articles ──
both
audio and video.
We have our websites:
https://www.churchofjesuschristonlineministries.org/ and
https://www.owensborocojc.com/. Our original website, launched in early 2019, has
had over 412,200 visitors according to the website’s Google Analytics. And our new
website, which was launched just this April, has had ── at the time of this writing ──
nearly 40,000 visitors already!
Our Soundcloud channel:
https://soundcloud.com/cojcom, which has- at the time
of this writing ── 294 tracks, since its launch in 2016, only has 1,853 plays. Frankly,
we’re a little disappointed with Soundcloud. Upon asking our friend Dakota, who is
23 years old and into modern technology, what he thought about Soundcloud, his
response was, “Nobody listens to Soundcloud anymore; they’re listening to
Apple Music or
Spotify.”
Since 2015, our
YouTube channel, with 213 videos, has had over 12.0k views. A few
of our top geography locations are Egypt, Israel, the U.K., and India. On our
BitChute channel, with 123 videos, we’ve had over 40.0k views in 6 years and 4
months!
I also, when asked and am able, will travel across the United States and abroad to help explain
and to solemnly testify of the kingdom of God, and to help persuade others
concerning Jesus Christ from both the Law of Moses and the Prophets, and from the
New Testament ── the living word of God! Proclaiming and witnessing to others,
as an ambassador for Christ, the only sure hope of eternal salvation and of true and lasting world peace.
Also, as our LORD God tells us, we help in whatever capacity ── when we are able
── orphans and widows of our brethren and our community in their troubles (James
1:27).
Sadly, Adam and Eve did not believe the Lord GOD when He spoke to them in
person. Our Lord Jesus Christ preached to thousands when He was here, and when
the Apostle Peter had stood up in those days among the midst of the brethren, the
number was about a hundred and twenty. Only about one hundred and twenty ──
after 3½ years! The people of that day just simply did not believe what He said.
And, in the comment section of
our latest posted sermon on our BitChute channel, I
was called some of the worst names a person can surely be called (of which I have recently deleted, it was that vile). Imagine what the
people called our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. He tells us, brethren,
“’ If the world
hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you.’” – John 15:18.
So, as John the Baptist cried out from the wilderness some nearly 2,000 years ago,
announcing, “’ Repent, for the kingdom from heaven is at hand! Prepare the way of
the LORD; Make His paths straight.’” – Matthew 3:1-3. Announcing to the people
of Judah of the soon-coming establishment of the kingdom of God. So today in the
21st century, His Church is also crying out from this spiritual wilderness of religious
deception and confusion, announcing ── as our Master, Savior, and our High Priest
certainly did ── “’ The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent,
and believe in the gospel.’” – Mark 1:15. □
Bibliography:
1) Wikipedia contributors. "List of Christian denominations by number of members." Wikipedia, The Free
Encyclopedia, 7 Dec. 2025. Web. 12 Dec. 2025.
2) Webster M. Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, “religion,” Merriam-Webster, Incorporated,
convocation, 1996, pp 988.
3) Vedantu.com, List of Religious Populations in the World (2024), Viewed 12 December 2025.
4) Han. J., Bag-like Sea creature was humans’ oldest known ancestor, University of Cambridge, 30 January 2017.
5) Wikipedia contributors. "Moses." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, 8 Dec. 2025. Web. 12 Dec.
2025.
7) #2962 The Strongest Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, pg. 1623.
