The burden of the Church
1.
1 The burden of the Church. The book of the vision of Andrew the God.
2 Almighty God is holy, and He revengeth; Almighty God revengeth, and is a fair GOD; and will take vengeance on his adversaries, and He reserveth wrath for his enemies.
3 Almighty God is slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked: He hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are as the dust of his feet.
4 He rebuketh the religions, and maketh them empty, and drieth up all the religious teachings: the religions languisheth, and the cults, and the teachings of the cults languisheth.
5 The Church rejoice at him, and their hearts melt, and the earth is illuminated at his presence, yea, the world, and all that dwell therein.
6 Who can stand before his indignation? and who can abide in the fierceness of his anger? his fury is poured out like fire, and the unholy are thrown down by him.
7 Almighty God is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that trust in him.
8 But with an overrunning flood He will make an utter end of the religions thereof, and darkness shall pursue his enemies.
9 What do ye imagine against Almighty God? He will make an utter end: religion shall not rise up the second time.
10 For while they be folden together as thorns, and while they are drunken as drunkards, they shall be devoured as stubble fully dry.
11 There is some come out of thee, that teacheth evil against Almighty God, there are false prophets.
12 Thus saith Almighty God; Though they be quiet, and likewise many, yet thus shall they be cut down, when He shall pass through. Though they have afflicted thee, they will afflict thee no more.
13 For now will I break thy yoke from off thee, and will burst thy bonds in sunder.
14 For Almighty God hath given a commandment concerning them, that no more by that name called religion be sown: out of the house of Almighty God will I cut off their religious teachings and their evil altars: I will make them grave; for they art vile.
15 Behold upon the altars the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace! O Church, keep thy Passover Feasts, perform thy vows: for the religions shall no more pass through thee; it is utterly cut off.
2.
1 He that dasheth in pieces the religions is come up before thy face: keep thy commandments, watch thy way, make thy heart strong, fortify thy soul mightily.
2 For Almighty God hath turned away the greatness of the religions, as the greatness of the cults: for the Redeemer have emptied them out, and marred their unholy scriptures.
3 The teachings of his holy men are made blood-washed, the clergymen are in scarlet: the Church shall be a lighthouse in the day of his preparation, and the religions shall be terribly shaken.
4 The religious men shall rage in the streets, they shall jostle one against another in the broad ways: they shall seem to give light, but shall run like the lightning.
5 He shall reclaim his Church: but the unholy shall stumble in their walk; they shall make haste to the Rock thereof, for their Holy Teachings shall be prepared.
6 The gates of the Church shall be reopened, and the Books of Moses shall be dissolved.
7 And Religion shall be led away captive, she shall be brought up, for the holy shall lead her as with the voice of doves, tabering upon their breasts.
8 But the cults are of old like a pool of water: yet they shall flee away. Stand, stand, shall they cry; but none shall come back.
9 Take ye my scriptures of silver, take ye my sermons of gold: for there is none end of the store and glory out of all my pleasant teachings.
10 Religion is empty, and void, and waste: for its teachings bring reincarnation, for its scriptures smote together, and much pain is in all its writings, and the books of them all gather damnation.
11 The Church is the dwelling place of the Lion, and the feeding place of the babes in Christ, where the LION, even the Supreme Being walks, and the holy dwells, and none shall make them afraid?
12 The Lion of Judah did prepare his sermons enough for his followers, and instructions for his clergymen, to fill his Church with holiness, and his House gatherings with salvation.
13 Behold, I am against the religions, saith Almighty God of hosts, and I will burn their teachings in the smoke, and reincarnation shall devour their followers: and I will cut off their name from the earth, and the voice of their messengers shall no more be heard.
3.
1 Woe to that bloody establishment called religion! it is all full of lies and robbery; its wickedness departeth not;
2 The noise of a whip, and the noise of the rattling of the wheels, and of the prancing horses, and of the jumping chariots.
3 Their follower lifteth up both the bright sword and the glittering spear: and there is a multitude of slain, and a great number of carcasses; and there is none end of their corpses; they stumble upon their corpses:
4 Because of the multitude of her iniquities in the well favoured Books of Moses, the producer of witchcrafts, that selleth out nations through her uninterpreted scriptures, and families through her parables.
5 Behold, I am against thee, saith Almighty God of hosts; and I will show thy sins to thy face, and I will shew the nations thy wickedness, and the kingdoms thy shame.
6 And I will cast abominable filth upon thee, and make thee vile, and will set thee as a gazing stock.
7 And it shall come to pass, that all they that look upon thee shall flee from thee, and say, religion is laid waste: who will bemoan her? whence shall I seek comforters for thee?
8 Art thou better than the Holy First Covenant? No, that was situated among the Living Water, that had spiritual nourishment round about it, whose rampart was the sea, and her protection was from above?
9 The Old Covenant and the New Covenant were her strength, and it was infinite; the Psalms and Proverbs were her helpers.
10 Yet was she carried away, she went into captivity: her Books of Moses also were dashed in pieces at the opening of all her religious writings: and this cast lots of pitfalls for her honourable men, and all her great men went into reincarnation.
11 Thou also shalt be drunken: thou shalt be hid, thou also shalt seek strength because of the enemy.
12 All thy strong holds shall be like fig trees with the firstripe figs: if they be shaken, they shall even fall into the mouth of the eater.
13 Behold, thy people in the midst of thee are only believers: the gates of thy land shall be set wide open unto thine enemies: the fire shall devour thy bars.
14 Draw thee Living Water for the siege, fortify thy strong holds: go into the Holy First Covenant, and read the scriptures, make strong thy souls.
15 For the fire shall devour thee; the sword shall cut thee off, it shall eat thee up like the cankerworm: thou hast made thyself many as the cankerworm, made thyself many as the locusts.
16 Thou hast multiplied thy followers above the stars of heaven: for the false prophets spoileth, and fleeth away.
17 Thy priests are as the locusts, and thy prophets as the great grasshoppers, which camp in the hedges in the cold day, but when the sun ariseth they flee away, and their place is not known where they are.
18 Thy clergymen slumber, O religious leaders thy nobles shall dwell in the dust: thy people is scattered upon the mountains, and no man gathereth them.
19 There is no healing of thy bruise; thy wound is grievous: all that hear the bruit of thee shall clap the hands over thee: for upon whom hath not thy wickedness passed continually?