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Faith

The Conspiracy of the Prophets

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What will a person do to maintain the status they have achieved in life. At what point does a Christian leader forget why they chose to be full-time in the work of religion? I say “chose” because those who are truly called to the ministry by the Lord do not do the work of religion, but the work of God. Yet those who choose the work of religion do so for a paycheck. Even so, I believe those who chose religious work started out with good intentions and maybe even sound doctrine.

However, at some point, those people begin to compromise on the doctrine to achieve numerical success. Congregation size, offering size, student enrollment size, book proceeds and paycheck size begin to influence these Christian “leaders” more than the rightly interpreted Word of God.

Rest assured that the Lord will first judge the church. 

1 Peter 4:17 NASB, “For it is time for judgment to begin with the household of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?”

This conspiracy isn’t new. The Old Testament and the New Testament informs us of past deceivers and false prophets to come.

“There is a conspiracy of her prophets in her midst like a roaring lion tearing the prey. They have devoured lives; they have taken treasure and precious things; they have made many widows in the midst of her. Her priests have done violence to My law and have profaned My holy things; they have made no distinction between the holy and the profane, and they have not taught the difference between the unclean and the clean; and they hide their eyes from My sabbaths, and I am profaned among them.” Ezekiel‬ ‭22:25-26‬ ‭NASB‬‬

“But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves. Many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned; and in their greed they will exploit you with false words; their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.” 2 Peter 2:1-3

Our requirement as Christians and stewards of the church and the Word of God rightly divided is to vigorously contend for the truth by sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ.

“I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths. But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.” ‭‭2 Timothy‬ ‭4:1-5‬ ‭NASB‬‬

For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not in cleverness of speech, so that the cross of Christ would not be made void.
1 Corinthians 1:17 NASB

Our responsibility to share the gospel does not include tricking people into coming to church by telling them that sin is not sin. Jesus died on the cross because we sin! He did not die for nothing!

We should not allow false prophets to teach that sin is not sin to appease the masses just to increase numbers. The gospel and the truth has power to do those things on its own when the power of God is not denied that He can and does forgive sin. We must also play our part of not being a judge, but we are to share the love of Christ with no condemnation. It is not our job to condemn people for their sin, but we are not called to say that sin is not sin.

Our faith in Christ who is the son of God, who came to this world as a man, lived a perfect life and died on the cross as a sacrifice for the forgiveness of our sin, and was raised from the dead, and is now alive again and preparing a place for us in Heaven, allows us to be righteous in the eyes of God.

I sin yet I am saved by faith. You sin and can be saved by faith. Telling people that their sin is not sin does not save them from the punishment that is required for sin.

Faith, Life

The False Teachers

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First and second Peter, two short books with a lot to say. I found myself there this week. Many times when I am reading the Bible I come across things that I just have to share. Almost like I have the only remaining Bible on the planet and I must share what I am seeing. It’s not the fact that I may have never read that verse before that makes it new and exciting. Rather, it is events, circumstances, and my own experiences in the world that have changed to the point that the verses now has a deeper meaning.

You probably have your own stories of people in a position of religious authority who may not be teaching or expounding upon the word quite the way you remember hearing it taught in the past. Maybe it is totally wrong and void of theological correctness, but it is more inclusive and less harsh. Yet it gets more people on-board, and the tithes roll on in.

Let’s look at what the Apostle Peter has to say.

2 Peters 2:1-3 – 1 But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves. 2 Many will follow their depraved conduct and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. 3 In their greed these teachers will exploit you with fabricated stories. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping. (www.Bible.com)
 
2 Peters 2:9 – 12 But these people blaspheme in matters they do not understand. They are like unreasoning animals, creatures of instinct, born only to be caught and destroyed, and like animals they too will perish. (www.Bible.com)
 
2 Peters 2:13b – 22 – 13b They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their pleasures while they feast with you.14 With eyes full of adultery, they never stop sinning; they seduce the unstable; they are experts in greed—an accursed brood! 15 They have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam son of Bezer,who loved the wages of wickedness. 16 But he was rebuked for his wrongdoing by a donkey—an animal without speech—who spoke with a human voice and restrained the prophet’s madness.
17 These people are springs without water and mists driven by a storm. Blackest darkness is reserved for them. 18 For they mouth empty, boastful words and, by appealing to the lustful desires of the flesh, they entice people who are just escaping from those who live in error.19 They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity—for “people are slaves to whatever has mastered them.” 20 If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and are overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning. 21 It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them.22 Of them the proverbs are true: “A dog returns to its vomit,”and, “A sow that is washed returns to her wallowing in the mud.” (www.Bible.com)

 

Some of these people say they believe in God, but they try to twist around the word of God and manipulate the meaning of verses in order to fit their desired lifestyle. In the Bible, Paul tells us in both his letters to Timothy what to look for in the later times concerning marriage, diets, and all sorts of daily activities that will be twisted around. (1 Timothy 4:1-4, 2 Timothy 3:1-5). He said that false teachers and prophets would suggest that what is right is bad and what is wrong is good. These people have consciences that are seared. They will quarrel about words and meanings and will give up their beliefs for money (1 Timothy 6:3-10). Paul gives Timothy this charge: 1 Timothy 6:20-21 –  “20Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to your care. Turn away from godless chatter and the opposing ideas of what is falsely called knowledge, 21 which some have professed and in so doing have departed from the faith.” (www.Bible.com)

Our job as believers is not to pass judgement, but to point these people back to grace and truth in Jesus. (Romans 2:1-16) We are not sinless. We are not perfect. We will not be perfect or without sin as long as we live in this world in these fleshly bodies. We simply have to believe in Jesus, that He is God’s son, that He died on the cross and took our punishment, then do our best to live without sin and accept His mercy and grace when we fail.

1 Peter 4:2-6 “As a result, they do not live the rest of their earthly lives for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God. For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do—living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry. They are surprised that you do not join them in their reckless, wild living, and they heap abuse on you. But they will have to give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. For this is the reason the gospel was preached even to those who are now dead, so that they might be judged according to human standards in regard to the body, but live according to God in regard to the spirit.”
(www.Bible.com)

You see, it won’t be enough for them to lead children down the wrong path and to confuse those who do not take time to test their false teaching. No, their desire will also be to try and discredit the true believers, the ones who know and keep the Lord’s commandments. They will call us haters, war mongers, and any other name you can think of to make people turn against the truth. Giving a person a label is the quickest way to turn people against them. Think on that a minute. Any time someone comes out with a differing view from the mainstream, almost immediately a label is spewed out on them.  Hypocrite, bigot, racist, climate change denier, conspiracy theorist, pro-lifer, redneck, backwoods, so forth and so on.

Jesus spoke of the false prophets this way:

Matthew 7:15-20 “15 Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. 16 By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17 Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them. (www.Bible.com)

In their book “Are We Living in the End Times”, Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins write this about false prophets: “Most false prophets have a faulty view of Jesus. Some are blatantly false; the more dangerous ones will accept Him as a god but not God in human flesh. Never trust any teacher who does not believe in the virgin birth of Jesus, His sinless life, sacrificial death, bodily resurrection, and His promise to come again physically to this earth.” (Chapter 4) “Many false teachers are endowed with a natural charisma, which at first makes them seem tremendously spiritual and insightful.” (Chapter 4) They will use the same old tricks they always have. The same type of trick that Satan used on Eve in the beginning. Don’t be deceived.

Even more so now, as the time of Christ’s return draws nearer, false prophets and teachers are popping up almost everywhere you look. Social media web sites are a perfect tool for these false teachers. It is the closest thing that Satan has to being omnipresent. Think about that a minute. How would you distribute false teachings and plant seeds of poisoned fruit to the masses if you were not an omnipresent being? This may be another post topic later.

Grace be with you all.