If A Ministry Has?
If a ministry has thousands of followers, is that an indication of their holiness? How about influential citizens who support them? Will that make them of God? How about a long list of ministries or outreach programs that encompass everything you can think of? Will that do it? Do any of these things mean that God is behind their work? You know again and again God�s people have turned away to chase after false Gods. Often they were led away by their Kings and Priests to follow after religions that better suited their human natures to follow after Idols which allowed them to peruse lifestyles that God would not condone. There are several examples I could point to but Elijah�s confrontation with Ahab and the prophets of Baal has always struck me as the best example of courage in the face of danger and trust in God. Elijah had been in hiding from Jezebel who fully intended to do away with him. But he returned to set things right� In 1 Kings 18:17-25 17: And it came to pass, when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said unto him, Art thou he that troubleth Israel? 18: And he answered, I have not troubled Israel; but thou, and thy father's house, in that ye have forsaken the commandments of the LORD, and thou hast followed Baalim. 19: Now therefore send, and gather to me all Israel unto mount Carmel, and the prophets of Baal four hundred and fifty, and the prophets of the groves four hundred, which eat at Jezebel's table. 20: So Ahab sent unto all the children of Israel, and gathered the prophets together unto mount Carmel. 21: And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? if the LORD be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word. 22: Then said Elijah unto the people, I, even I only, remain a prophet of the LORD; but Baal's prophets are four hundred and fifty men. 23: Let them therefore give us two bullocks; and let them choose one bullock for themselves, and cut it in pieces, and lay it on wood, and put no fire under: and I will dress the other bullock, and lay it on wood, and put no fire under: 24: And call ye on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of the LORD: and the God that answereth by fire, let him be God. And all the people answered and said, It is well spoken. 25: And Elijah said unto the prophets of Baal, Choose you one bullock for yourselves, and dress it first; for ye are many; and call on the name of your gods, but put no fire under. 450 prophets for Baal alone and another 400 for the Grove ( the Grove was not a stand of trees but an area set aside for several Idols centralized around the alter of Baal) that must have been a pretty pervasive religion to support that many prophets to keep them fed and sheltered the people must have supported them. Elijah tells them to gather all of Israel it would seem that everyone had fallen prey to this Idolatry. It was going to take a large demonstration to turn them back to the understanding that only Jehovah was God the I AM. Before Elijah went to the mountain he cried �I, even I only, remain a prophet of the LORD� believing he was the only person left who was willing to speak out against the king and prophets of Baal. He was bereft his grief was so deep to see God�s people so far from the truth. I can imagine that every man who finds himself speaking on behalf of our Lord will feel the same at one time or another as the world encroaches more and more on the Church and the Truth of the Gospel. These prophets of Baal cried out to Baal for Hours slashing open their own bodies tearing at their own flesh to appease him in a vain hope to gain his attention but to no avail. That must have been quite a scene 850 men slashing at them selves crying out to a non-existent deity. Elijah waited he allowed them to exhaust themselves so that they would know that all their efforts were in vain and when he did act to make sure that no one could claim it was a trick he soaked the alter and the ground around it with water. And called only once upon the name of the lord. Continuing in Verse 37 37: Hear me, O LORD, hear me, that this people may know that thou art the LORD God, and that thou hast turned their heart back again. Who then sent fire to consume the sacrifice. But not just the sacrifice but Verse 38 38: Then the fire of the LORD fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. Today there are cults and religions that have perverted the Gospel that have turned and twisted the Word of God to suit their own needs. Again I ask???? If a ministry has thousands of followers, is that an indication of their holiness? How about influential citizens who support them? How about a long list of ministries or outreach programs that encompass everything you can think of? Will that make them of God? If any of these will make it authentic then we need to look at Simon the sorcerer he had all this and more. Acts 8: 9 - 11 9: But there was a certain man, called Simon, which beforetime in the same city used sorcery, and bewitched the people of Samaria, giving out that himself was some great one: 10: To whom they all gave heed, from the least to the greatest, saying, This man is the great power of God: 11: And to him they had regard, because that of long time he had bewitched them with sorceries. Do not allow yourself to be influenced by such things Simon eventually saw the real power of God and along with many of his followers gave up his religious scam. Simon could not quite break away from the idea that there was something to be bought and sold in his new faith. When Peter and John came to lay hands on these new believers that they might receive the Holy Ghost Simon made an attempt to purchase this priceless gift. Verse 18 18: And when Simon saw that through laying on of the apostles' hands the Holy Ghost was given, he offered them money, 19: Saying, Give me also this power, that on whomsoever I lay hands, he may receive the Holy Ghost. 20: But Peter said unto him, Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money. 21: Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter: for thy heart is not right in the sight of God. Two thousand plus years and thousands of miles from Samaria we have to be careful that we are not fooled by the Simons of today people who think that God is a commodity, to be bought and sold. The reason this topic is on my mind this week is due to something I encountered in my own neighborhood. On every phone pole�every flat surface there are carefully placed eight and one half by eleven pictures with the caption BELIEVE THE SIGNS.Com�I�m kind of a geek so I opened my laptop and typed it in. I recognized the name immediately. William Branham a charlatan who claimed to be the prophet Elijah. He later inferred that he was the coming messiah at his death his followers were so convinced that he was what he claimed that hundreds of them camped in vigil for three days awaiting his resurrection. This was a man who had created a whole doctrine to suit him. He developed a whole system of legalisms, which made it seem impossible to find salvation without his help and his guidance without his rules salvation was impossible. Making him the one to be worshiped. Distorting the gospel for fame and money is one thing but the worst of all possible reasons he did it for the power he was a self proclaimed faith healer who never healed anyone. Every person whom he claimed to heal from terminal illness died from it and his only excuse was that these people lacked the faith required for healing, funny the apostles healed by their faith not the faith of those being prayed for. Today this movement is alive and well. All this got me to thinking about how hard it can be to sort truth from egomaniacal fiction. This has always been a problem these con artists, snake oil salesmen, and faith healers. Myriad of people ready to deceive and take advantage of millions of people every day. I could easily build a list of false doctrines that would go on for much more time than I have here LETS SEE we have the Latter days Saints (Mormons), Jehovah Witnesses, Christadelphism, Christian Science, the Unification Church, and the list goes on and on without end. I had a hard time figuring out how people could be trapped into this sort of thing how so many are drawn in by counterfeit Christian Churches in our midst. I found an answer in Second Thessalonians 2: 9-12. 9: Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, 10: And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. 11: And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: 12: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. God will not force us to believe the truth he will allow many to believe the lies of the world. He will let us believe that it is more important to be politically correct than to follow his Commands to us. It was a problem in Jesus� time as well hypocrisy was rampant among the Jewish religious leaders they wanted to pretend that they were with Jesus but in actuality they preferred a theology that would benefit them the most; Christ Himself tells us Matthew 15 starting in verse 7 7: Ye hypocrites, well did Isaiah prophesy of you, saying, 8: This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. 9: But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. In our time we have massive ministries that promise people prosperity and happiness but only if you contribute financially to their work. And if you don�t become prosperous the only reason these ministries can give is that your faith was not strong enough that you failed God by your weakness. We have faith healers who regularly fill sports arenas all over the world and claiming thousands of healings every time they appear. I�ve been doing a little reading about how they achieve these so called healings but I�ll save it for another time. There are ministers that never mention Sin or Hell who seldom quote scripture but blatantly promote their latest book as the epitome of what the Christian faith should be. They tell cute stories and tell you to think positive about life and you will then have a positive outcome and if that fails for you then you just weren�t thinking positive enough. But none of these scare me as much as those who want a kinder gentler faith�who want us to ignore great portions of God Word. In an effort to make us accept what they believe to be good in their own eyes. We have been warned that people would come to us to distract and destroy�not just the church but us as well by convincing us that whatever we believe, it is �OK� that everyone regardless of faith will gain entrance into the Kingdom of God they want a broad way. They want an easy Christ-less way�but Jesus tells us. Matthew 7 starting in verse 13 13: Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: 14: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. And in 15 he warns us of those who would mislead us 15: Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Now we know that the gate is not broad and wide�no matter who stands behind America�s pulpits professing this kinder gentler way. God�s word is still true and it is alive but not changing. Many are running after these false Prophets and false Doctrines chasing after what they think is good in Peters 2 epistle Peter finds in necessary to address this problem. Chapter 2: 1- 4 1: But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. 2: And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. 3: And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not. 4: For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment; Outright heresies are easy to spot it is the comfortable untruths we have to be careful of�those things which appeal to our better nature those things�where people point and say �Now Remember Judge not lest Ye be Judged.� Making it seem as if you are the person who is distorting truth. Hoping that our reflexive action will be to recoil and reverse our position that we might not seem harsh or unkind. We are commanded to Love our neighbor but that does not mean that we are to condone our neighbors every action. I have friends who have committed crimes should they not be punished for them. I don�t approve of their life but that does not mean I love them any less. My own father had to turn away from me when I had a conflict with the law. That did not mean he stopped loving me but he could not condone my behavior any longer. And the time had come for me to be responsible for me. And one day we will be held accountable for what we condone. We will be held accountable for what we made excuses for and what we in our own mind thought good even though we knew it was against the commands of our Lord. Many of those who seek to dilute the Gospel will find that our lord will not know them because of their work. Matthew 7 21-23 21: Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. 22: Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? 23: And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. We can�t go chasing after every new change of the wind, we must not fall for every new idea we are required to test it against God�s Word. 1 John 4 starting in 1 1: Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. 2: Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that JesusChrist is come in the flesh is of God: 3: And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world. Remember this is more than just lip service cause anyone can say I�m a child of Christ, but they will be known by their fruit they will be know by their works and they will be known by our lord and God. People are searching to fill the purposelessness in their being looking to fill the meaninglessness of their lives. They have no idea for what they hunger�but it is in fact the Living Word of God they thirst for the living water that comes only through Christ. The world has made the true path hard to find obscured by half-truth, by comfortable politically correct doctrine, by miss-information and ministries that intentionally confuse an abundant life with life abundant. These false prophets have built empires from latter doctrine which is specifically designed to appeal to our weaknesses which are then elevated to equal status with God,�because nothing appeals to human kind as much as power and money. These latter rain prophets come with fancy cars and Lear jets and of course, they claim that only they can give us an insured relationship with God and in the process, we will become rich beyond our wildest dreams. All one has to do is plant a sacrificial seed�and people are flocking to these ministries by the hundreds of thousands. This is akin to the Gnostics who claimed to have special knowledge of God and that only through them can anyone find God. People are desperately hoping too discern some small secret of God some small window of happiness, they are willing to try anything for one small touch of His hand. These false doctrines and false preachers have to be confusing for those who are still young in Christ and unsettling for those who are lost and are truly seeking the understanding of God. We know the way to the Truth in Christ. So, let us be truly blessed and seek His kingdom and His Righteousness and one day all will be given to us. I�m not talking about money and power�I�m talking about real life a life of meaning a life that is truly abundant.. When we awake each morning�We must acknowledge God confirm Christ as our Lord and Savior. Cut away the mistakes of yesterday and Clear our hearts and minds of anything that interferes with our walk with Jesus. Many will tell us that it is foolishness to invest this kind of effort after all Grace is guaranteed the elect, but to accept His underserved redemption and then to fail to act is a hollow life and a hollow faith. Every time one of us moves to a closer walk with Jesus we can expect to be thwarted by not only the world, and not just by Satan�but even our Brothers and Sisters in Christ will try to drag us back to square one. They fail to peruse Holiness and want you to fail as well they do not understand that only by seeking God�s face can we have the relationship with our Lord that He intends. I have no idea when the last day will be but I know that it could happen before I arrive home today. And I personally don�t want anyone to miss out on the opportunity to seek the will of our Father and to be blessed by the life that He has in store for us His Children. Christ tells us that He will come like a thief in the night that no man can predict the day or the hour. But I know that He return is imminent and it has been for two thousand years. When he returns lets be ready to enter into His kingdom knowing that we held to his precepts. That we did not turn away from His truth. That we sought to tell others that Christ is the way the truth and the light�that only through Him and Him alone can anyone enter into His rest.
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