Sunday, May 1, 2011

Make Believe Christians


To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: The Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God, says this:

I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot. So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth.

Because you say, “I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing,” and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked,

Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; therefore be zealous and repent.
He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.
Revelation 3:15-22





REJECT AND FLEE LAODICEA

Why is it that many Christians in today’s churches are not talking about the most important questions; such as the rapture, or the tribulation, the forces of evil, or heaven and hell? Why are many pastors not teaching about the important end-times truths? For Christians, the rapture is our hope, it is our deliverance, our entrance into heaven, and it is our reality. But instead there is a constant flow of teaching that tells people what they want to hear. God's Will, His Word and His plan are not the focus. The focus is ME, not HIM. And the truths of the Bible are treated as parables.

Recently, I asked a liberally minded Christian: "if He believed that the virgin birth of Christ is true?" ... Unimportant to me; he replied.

Why the picture of Sergeant Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band here? Because the Beatles soothing message has captured the hearts of millions (including mine.) But they also used their music to deceive. Much of their music was genius. But they often built messages into their music that were not edifying. Their message often disguised immorality in an appealing way. Until their White Album where they just put amoral words to song. Sergeant Peppers is also a secular example of how the "Doctrines of Demons" are often delivered. Very appealing and pleasing to the ear.
(Watch Aleister Crowley who was recognized as the most wicked man in the world ...and was called by Paul McCartney: My Hero; top left.)


Does it concern you that so many people are playing games with God? They say they believe, and will follow Him, but in reality ... they do the exact opposite, and then they play a game with God which I call: “Make Believe Christians.” They profess Christ ... and then proceed to follow themselves, their feelings, wants, logic, goals, plans, lusts, and pride; as well as other religions, and worldly teachings; and then they call it Christianity.

It is the religion of ME … the church of Laodicea.

Laodicea means “People Ruling” which is how millions of believers live out their Christianity in America today. Actually, this is the opposite of “God Ruling.” They have bought into the lie that each person needs to decide for themselves what they believe. That is what is important. After all, isn’t that what freedom of religion means? Well, to a point … yes; but that is not God’s plan for how this is supposed to play out. First, they pray to receive Christ as their savior; and then they decide what that means. Logic, feelings, personal desires and goals rule their thinking; and worldly knowledge guides the decision making process; not God’s Word, or the Holy Spirit. That is not even remotely close to what God’s Word teaches.

Only a couple of nights ago, I listened as they debated on the O’Reilly Factor the question of hell. A supposed Christian pastor has written a book that contends there is no hell, and he is featured on the cover of Time magazine. The idea is that God is love, and no loving God would ever send good people to hell. In a follow up, O’Reilly brought on Pastor Franklin Graham who clearly explained what God’s Word says about hell; and rejected the teachings of the heretic who wrote this book. O’Reilly responded; with his opinion, and a straw man question: “what about all of the innocents who never heard about Jesus … surely a loving God would not condemn them to eternal hell?" O’Reilly a confessing Catholic Christian, argued the point in the same way an atheist would argue the point. Logic, feelings, and unbelief were the basis of his conclusions. God's Truth was not even considered.

O’Reilly is sincere, but sincerely wrong, and worst of all; he speaks with authority and can easily lead astray, and reinforce false teachings to millions of uninformed "good people." Doesn’t He understand that the wisdom of the world is foolishness before God; and also that the one and only God who created the heavens and the earth is all knowing and perfectly capable of meeting every person in their need, no matter how desperate their circumstances.

“Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend to heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the dawn, if I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, even there Your hand will lead me, and Your right hand will lay hold of me.”
Psalms 139:8-10.

The Holy Spirit is omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipotent. Ever Present, All Knowing, and All Powerful. The Creator of all things living.
Jesus raised the dead, calmed the storm, and walked on water. Miracle upon miracle ... nothing is beyond the power of Christ.

Jesus has overcome every possible challenge the world can bring ... "it is finished."
And just like the thief on the cross, He will never desert those who seek Him … no matter how hopelessly lost they might be.


Whenever you hear a Christian saying; “that doesn’t make sense to me” and “this is what I believe” in the same sentence about the Bible … a big red flag needs to go up. Their faith may have been tainted by the teachings of men or deceiving spirits. There is a danger of them judging God’s Word, and creating false doctrine on that particular point. There are many things that don’t make sense to me … in the world, and in the things of the Spirit. But to believe that I am capable of deciding which teachings in God’s Word I will accept or reject, as truth or false; is the height of arrogance and ignorance. And that does not give me license to create a belief based on my human logic and feelings, and call it Christianity.
If you do that... you become a Laodicean. You are the final authority, the ruler of your beliefs;
rather than a follower of the Father God Creator Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and the revealed Truth of God.


So why are they not teaching the meat of the Word in many churches today? Because their motivations, have been misguided. Church growth people have written books that are then used as blueprints that are followed with the purpose of getting more people into the church. God’s Word is compromised so as not to offend … and it is just a downward spiral of decisions based on worldly ideas from that point on.
And the next thing you know, the largest church in America teaches a message to 20 million people each week and when the pastor is asked why he doesn’t teach more about Jesus, the Holy Spirit and the Word of God, his response is; ”that’s not my gift.” So the pastor ends up with 20 million people singing his praises; calling themselves Christians, but in many cases without knowing clearly what that means. Recently, I heard an atheist challenge a well-known Christian on the truthfulness of the story of Noah’s Ark, and the Christian said; “everybody knows that this story is an allegory.” And when the atheist explained what most Christians he knew actually believed it to be true ... the Christian replied that he had never met a Christian who believed in Noah’s Ark, literally. And Christians wonder why unbelievers doubt our profession of faith, and commitment to God’s Word?

The problem is that Laodicea is the church of the Apostasy. The Bible clearly teaches: “But the Spirit says expressly, that in the later times some in the church shall fall away from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of demons” 1 Timothy 4:1 Now what I say is not politically correct; is it? This is beginning to sound like Jesus teaching to the Pharisees. If I’m not careful, the Pharisees of today will be looking to crucify me. That same logic is the reason that many Christians do not teach these things so lacking in the politically correct, inclusive, and tolerant message controlling today's media ... not wanting to offend.

Who are you or I to question whether heresy and false teaching is infecting Christianity ... or not. We are God's elect and He says: "Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God; and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world."
1 John 4:1-3


God bless Franklin Graham for calling an obviously false teacher a heretic on national television.

The scripture makes it clear that the source of the apostasy is seducing spirits and doctrines of demons. Any idea what these seducing doctrines will appeal to? Well that is easy, Satan is very predictable in where he will attack us. Read: Genesis 3:1-6 and Matthew 4:1-11 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. 1 John 2:16 The god of this world is very predictable. All of his schemes to deceive us will be rooted in one of these three areas of temptation.

How will we know the teachers of these false teachings? God’s word is clear; “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 2:1-22 (read full passage) Please note that as you read through the whole passage, Peter does not display any love or tolerance towards the apostates. The Bible is not tolerant towards apostasy and deals harshly with those who are guilty of spreading deceitful destructive heresies and doctrines of demons.

What would be good examples of doctrines of demons? Several immediately come to mind. But remember, these ideas and teachers will be very appealing. There is no hell is a great example. The logical conclusion when we carry this thinking to its end, might go something like this; Jesus is love, he died for our sins; Jesus conquered sin ... therefore: no more sin; we can now do whatever we feel led to do; follow your feelings; you deserve to have whatever you desire. A church that teaches that Jesus is not God; but rather a man of wisdom who was a good teacher, and we just need to learn from him and other great teachers and follow these principles to have a lifetime of prosperity and happiness. Does that sound familiar? It is a lie! How about … the Bible is not God’s truth, for any one of a number of reasons; and no man can know the absolute Truth? Or how about, there are many gods, many paths, and many religions that lead to heaven? Lies, Lies ... and more lies!!! You will always be able to clearly identify these heresies because they will be in direct conflict with God’s Word, and the Holy Spirit will speak to your heart.

The examples are endless and the beginning of the apostasy in America can be traced back to the teachings of Charles Augustus Briggs. His destructive heresies led to the liberal modernist movement in the church which spread to seminaries, and these false teachings have been taught in universities and churches for the past hundred years. A low point was reached with the formation of the World Council of Churches in 1948. The Goal of WCC is to unite all churches on the basis of their liberal tenets, and then to unify all religions. Talk about an evil plan. For more complete details on God's plan, and the end times study that we will be discussing in the months ahead; I suggest you buy “The Footsteps of the Messiah” by Dr. Arnold Fruchtenbaum. It is the most complete and authoritative work on Daniel, Revelation, and end-times prophecies, and it is a complete and easy to understand blending of the sequence of all prophetic events.

These are springs without water and mists driven by a storm, for whom the black darkness has been reserved. For speaking out arrogant words of vanity they entice by fleshly desires, by sensuality, those who barely escape from the ones who live in error, promising them freedom while they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by what a man is overcome, by this he is enslaved. For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and are overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. For it would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn away from the holy commandment handed on to them. 2 Peter 2:17-21

REJECT AND FLEE LAODICEA


God Bless you my friends, Bob

4 comments:

  1. During morning service our pastor mentioned a program this week that mentioned hell did not exist. I wonder if it was the same one, or if that message is getting widespread coverage. Unfortunate indeed when a man purporting to be a minister of God does not heed God's word. It would be nice to live in a time and place where hell is of no concern. I haven't moved into my Father's mansion yet, so I remain concerned for friends and relatives still headed for the reality of hell.

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  2. Yes, biblical doctrines have definitely been watered down, added to, or ignored! Rev. 22:18

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  3. Please don't take this as an insult - because I certainly don't intend it that way. But I've always been curious as to why so many Christians consider the Rapture and the Tribulation to be such essential topics to focus on. So many churches spend so much time teaching about them, and I don't understand why.

    I mean, I'm not trying to refute the idea that we are in the end times, but why should that make a difference in the way that we live or believe? Is it supposed to make us more righteous, more holy, more repentant, or more urgently evangelistic? Or is it just so that we know what's coming? Wouldn't our time be better served focusing on living righteous lives today than learning about things that will happen tomorrow?

    Again - I'm not trying to spark a debate or anything, just curious for your take on it, since were obviously coming at the topic from different viewpoints

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  4. Paula:

    You are right ...

    We do need to focus on living righteously and I am convinced that how we are to do this is explained in 2 Corinthians 5:14-21.

    Those who are focused on living the love of Christ most likely do not need to dwell on end-times ... we already know this story and after the rapture Christians will not have to experience the tribulation ... The tribulation is the last thing I want to focus on, or talk about.

    But I am convinced that prophecy and fulfillment is evidence that demands a verdict for many, including those Christians in this above post. Sharing the love of Christ along with the end-times truths as well have made the difference, that has resulted in many trusting Christ. Our mission is for Christ to warn and reach the lost through us.

    Personally, I received Christ upon hearing the gospel the very first time; but for many friends, prophecies and fulfillments are the evidence that refutes the lies of science and worldly false teachings.

    Of course this recent false prophet has served as a witness that unbelievers can now point to as false evidence, as they attempt refute the truth of God's Word.

    Consistent teaching that stands for a literal interpretation of all of the scripture is what our Lord wants to plead through the body of Christ.

    We are ambassadors for Christ with a ministry of reconciliation ... so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

    God Bless you my friend, bob
    2 Corinthians 5:14-21

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