Deception Within the Church

Many people use the term "pastor" as a title or a position, it is neither, it is a calling from God and no one is to follow the pastors, they are to follow Christ.

The order of the gathering of believers has been culturalized to ignore the Word of God in favor of a model of the Catholic church in which there is a hierarchy.

The only ultimate leader in the Church is Christ Himself.

Leaders are to lead by example and by teaching but have no authority over their brothers and sisters. Everyone is to submit to everyone else and the leaders are accountable to those they lead.

1 Corinthians 14

"Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others pass judgment. But if a revelation is made to another who is seated, the first one must keep silent. For you can all prophesy one by one, so that all may learn and all may be exhorted, and the spirits of prophets are subject to prophets; for God is not a God of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints."

One man may lead the study of God's Word but all other men will evaluate and interject as led by the Holy Spirit. This modern idea that a "Pastor" preaches and everyone else must remain silent is not only unbiblical but it leaves the congregation with the distorted idea that the one speaking has all authority over everyone else. It also leaves weak believers to think that that paid pastor up front is the mediator between them and God.

There is only one mediator between each individual believer and God that Father and that is Jesus Christ.

1 Timothy 2:5-6 "5For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, 6who gave Himself as a ransom for all—the testimony that was given at just the right time.…"

No one has authority over another believer, only the Holy Spirit has this distinction. When we allow others to dictate what we should believe and what we should be doing we are negating the Holy Spirit Who lives in us, He becomes subject to the human leader, clearly a perverse human idea.

Acts 4:12

"Salvation exists in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved."

1 Corinthians 8:6

"yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we exist. And there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we exist."

It seems radically ridiculous to trust a man when we can trust Christ, our Creator and our Savior Who lives inside of us.

It is human nature to desire a king we can see rather than trusting God Whom we cannot see. Those who are Spiritual will trust Christ alone. We listen to others and evaluate what they say according to the Bible but we never follow them the way we follow Christ.

Following a man negates Christ Who lives in us.

Psalm 118:8-9

"It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man. It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in princes."

Matthew 15:9

"In vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’”

2 John 1:9

"Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son."

Galatians 1:9

"As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed."

Many preachers today are teaching ideas devised by men who have not been deceived by secular colleges or seminaries that have reduced their teaching to secular psychological methods that are not Biblical. There is much scripture twisting going on in the church because of the paid pastors who were trained in these places.

It is more important than ever now in these last days to evaluate everything that is said and done according to scripture and reject what is not of God. We must depend solely on the Holy Spirit for our wisdom as we seek Him for truth.

Many years ago I asked God to show me wisdom that I not believe anything that is not truth that I have been taught all my life. It is astounding what He has been showing me through His Word. My eyes are being opened more all the time to the "religious deception" and "religious practices" that happen every week in the apostate churches.

My encouragement to everyone is to ask God for truth, do not follow men and wait for Him to reveal it as you study and read His Word.

Don't Leave Out Some of the Scripture, Read ALL of It

Why do people say if you love someone you should forgive but rarely say if you love someone you will confess your offense against them? It seems the one who should receive an apology is the one who is chastised to let off the hook the one who did the offense. This is backward to what God says in His Word.

The popular belief is that we go to someone privately always and only, but God says we are to go public with the offense if the private visit does not produce repentance in the offender.

Matthew 18:15-17

“If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.

The modern church forbids public rebuke for false doctrine. Then to add insult to injury the church demands that you go privately when the sin was public. They forget the passages that say, "rebuke in the presence of all, that all may fear when someone is bringing false doctrine.

1 Timothy 5:19-21 "…19 Do not entertain an accusation against an elder, except on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 20 But those who persist in sin should be rebuked in front of everyone so that the others will stand in fear of sin. 21 I solemnly charge you before God and Christ Jesus and the elect angels to maintain these principles without bias, and to do nothing out of partiality."

The modern church discourages believers from obeying God's word by making rules against His principles.

I am confused why so many times half of the scripture principle is left off to bring good feelings but often does not resolve anything. God's way is sometimes difficult but it is the best way that resolves Problems.

People do this too with other scriptures about judging. They say "don't judge" and leave out the part that says we are not to judge others for doing what we are doing too. However, they neglect all the other passages that tell us to judge righteously.

We are to judge those in the church according to their conduct. If we did not then no one would be accountable and sin would run rampant.

We are a family and responsible to one another to help our family members continue in obedience to Christ.

Many people refuse to judge sin but will judge others over things God never said to judge them, such as judging someone as legalistic for judging by God's standards. There are those who judge according to the cultural standard and not according to God's Word, this is wrong and against God's Word.

In our culture today there is a propensity to ignore the part of God's Word which instructs us to do the hard things. The difficult commands are the ones that resolve problems and yet weak believers want only to be praised rather than growing in holiness through instruction, correction, and rebuke.

2 Timothy 4:1-3 "1 I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of His appearing and His kingdom: 2 Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and encourage with every form of patient instruction. 3 For the time will come when men will not tolerate sound doctrine, but with itching ears, they will gather around themselves teachers to suit their own desires."

We are living in that time now, the time of resistance to the principles of God and believers adhering more to the standards of the culture than they do to the Word of God.

Keep looking up and keep obeying no matter what anyone else is doing and no matter how many friends you lose for obeying Christ. We will never regret doing what is right in the eyes of God.

Want God's Blessing? Then Obey Him!

God never endorses our actions that go against His own character.

If anyone says to you that God sent their second spouse after a divorce we can clearly refute it with Scripture in which Jesus Christ says;

Luke 16:18

“Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery; and whoever marries her who is divorced from her husband commits adultery."

When someone becomes angry at the Scripture that we quote, their disinterest in Christ is showing. Many people do not realize what they reveal about themselves when they rage at us for defending the principles of God.

Fighters think they are defending themselves against us, but really they are denying Christ. To deny His principles is the same as denying Him because He is the very essence of His own principles.

I am always astounded when anyone thinks there is no problem with ignoring Scripture to justify their sin or angry attitudes.

Whenever anyone says anything my first thoughts go to what God says. If someone does not know the Bible their first thoughts are going to be what the rest of the culture thinks rather than what God thinks.

The Bible has been treated disrespectfully through dismissiveness. Those who turn God's Word into a book of suggestions that they can ignore do not realize the power of the Word and the importance of Jesus Christ! He is the WORD, the Bible is His Words and they are not suggestions they are commands to be obeyed.

When we miss the mark and negate one of His principles we ought to be ashamed and confess it to be cleansed.

1 John 1;9 " If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

Notice the word "If", this means if we do not confess we will not be cleansed and the sin and even hardness of heart grows. We can only grow in holiness in direct proportions to how often we confess, that which is not right and desire to be cleansed from it.

The sin must be dealt with in the heart and according to God's Principles in His Word. If it is corrected on the outside without a heart change it will only be temporary and the sin will be repeated. We must confess it seeking cleansing so that the sin does not return time after time again and again.

Confession of sin to be cleansed are not just words they are a heart mentality that results in a lifestyle change. It isn't easy to confess to someone, pride has to be ignored followed by obedience to the commands of God. This is the exercise God gives us for the inner heart change.

When we do the hard work of confessing, then is when we will avoid the sin again. This is also the remedy for excessive pride. The more we confess, the more our pride diminishes. When there are no consequences for our behavior there is no motivation to seek a change in ourselves, there is more justification of sin and pride grows radically.

Proverbs 28:13

"Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy."

Psalm 32:5

"I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,” and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah"

James 5:16

"Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working."

It is a command of God to confess our sins to be cleansed. When we ignore God's commands we're ignoring Him and He will stop speaking to us.

I do this with family and friends who ignore me or dismiss me, I stop communicating. It would be silly to keep speaking when someone is not listening or not interested.

Psalms 66:18-20

"If I regard wickedness in my heart, The Lord will not hear; But certainly God has heard; He has given heed to the voice of my prayer. Blessed be God, Who has not turned away my prayer Nor His lovingkindness from me."

John 9:31

"We know that God does not listen to sinners, but He does listen to the one who worships Him and does His will."

There are those who think they can live any way they please and when things get tough they can cry out to God and He will help them. The only prayer that God will hear and heed for the unsaved one is the prayer of repentance when there is a desire to be changed by Christ.

Deuteronomy 1:45

"And you returned and wept before the LORD, but He would not listen to your voice or give ear to you."

Psalm 18:41

"They cried for help, but there was no one to save them--to the LORD, but He did not answer."

I always feel bad when someone tells me their woahs but will not change their behavior to correct the problem.

I was one of those people who didn't need very many or huge consequences to correct my wrong behavior. Then over the years, I learned not to do things unless directed by God. It took years for me to learn to trust the Holy Spirit and not my emotions or the culture.

I cannot praise God more for His Holy Spirit who goes with me everywhere, I cannot imagine being without Him. Hallelujah!!!

Come Out From Among Them

The devil will make problems up where there are no problems. He will make us think we must stay in contact with someone who is attempting to ruin our walk with Christ, using the excuse we must stay in their life in case they are going to have a "come to Jesus" moment.

The problem with this thinking is that when we fear not being available we are not trusting that God can do it without us.

The devil would have us believe God cannot work in someone without us. Chances are good that the people we are afraid of avoiding have a better chance of listening to someone else they are not familiar with.

Often family familiarity is a hindrance to openness for many people. God never commanded us to remain friends with unsaved family members just in case they might want to hear the gospel. More often than not God moves us out of the way so family unbelievers can experience life with others they might listen to, or he may remove all their Christian contacts so they will see their need for Christ.

The point of all this is that we must be led by the Holy Spirit not the guilt that cultural Christians place on others.

2 Corinthians 6:14 "

Do not be mismatched with unbelievers; for what do righteousness and lawlessness share together, or what does light have in common with darkness?"

If a family member shows up at your door asking to know more about Christ we can rejoice and be ready with the answer. However, God told us to shake the dust from our feet when they show disinterest or revile us for sharing the most important information with them that they will ever need.

Remember we are not the only resource our relatives have, God has many thousands of ways of creating contact with believers and He also knows the right timing when the unsaved will be ready to hear.

And, it is nonsense that just hanging around believers being good friends without speaking the gospel will cause them to like Jesus. More often than not remaining friends and saying nothing only validates their rejection of Christ.

We are not family or friends with those who do not love Christ. They are His enemies and ours too. We are told to love our enemies and treat them respectfully but there is no command to be close friends with them, just the opposite.

2 Corinthians 6:17

"17 Therefore, come out from their midst and be separate,” says the Lord.

“And do not touch what is unclean;

And I will welcome you."

This is very clear. We must share the gospel with the unsaved but we should not fashion our lives around them.

Moving Through These End Times of Insanity

We don't even always have to say or do anything, just our presence makes unbelievers uncomfortable, not because of us but because of Christ in us.

They think they are uncomfortable around us because something is wrong with us but it is Christ that stirs their demons.

They will even make up stories that something might be wrong with us because gossiping to others helps them feel more comfortable about their dislike for us.

It is a human phenomenon that people need others to validate them and gossiping even without evidence calms their disquieted spirit.

When we have Christ living in us we have no need to gather flying monkeys around us to support us. We know the truth and that truth sets us free from the bondage to human relationships according to a culture.

We have Christ and there can be no better support than Him. We feel no need to justify "feelings" we might have about anything, we can go to the word of God and evaluate rationally those feelings as we ignore them in terms of our actions. Our actions and words are not to be based on our feelings.

Feelings are neither right nor wrong, however, they do reveal something inside of us that needs attention. When we feel easily offended by things that are not worthy of notice, then we know that we have an insecurity within us that needs to be dealt with.

Often I have seen family members show offense about something but they will not tell me what it is, usually right after I have expressed my personal opinion about something or even after I have done a kind act for someone as though the kind act was foolish.

Because we are believers and followers of Christ the world will want to pretend we are doing wrong things when they were not only not wrong but even good.

To the unbeliever bad will be called good and good will be called bad. This mentality of turning reality around to be the opposite of what it is, will be, and is, common in our day. These are the last days of apostasy, we will find this not just in the world but in the church that the world has infiltrated.

I don't know about you but these things actually comfort me because they prove the prophesy of the word of God to be true and that we are living in it right now as we move through the end of the end times. Hallelujah!!!!

Those Who Love Christ Speak of Him and His Principles More Than Anything or Anyone Else

I can't count the number of times a "Christian" became angry when I pointed out something that was not Biblical, merely because they liked the unBiblical stance.

My challenge today to you and to me is to evaluate everything we hear, everything we were taught and everything we think we like and ask the Holy Spirit to show us the truth about it.

In doing this we must be willing to stand against the "Christianized" culture of our day because much of what churchgoers believe is not Biblical and is even against the Word of God.

2 Timothy 4:1-8 "4 I solemnly exhort 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:

2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; correct, rebuke, and exhort, with great patience and instruction.

3 For the time will come when they will not tolerate sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance with their own desires,

4 and they will turn their ears away from the truth and will turn aside to myths.

5 But as for you, use self-restraint in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.

6 For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come.

7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith;

8 in the future there is reserved for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing.""

This was written as an admonishment to ALL born again believers, men, women and children who love the Lord must walk in accordance with the Word of God, the Bible.

Jesus Christ is the Word, He is the embodiment of His Own Word, to negate His Word to follow human traditions is to negate Him.

John 14:15-16 "15If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. 16And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Advocate to be with you forever—…"

Those who claim to be Christian and fight against the truth of God's Word are not born again, no matter how much they believe they are saved. Many people who know the truth but will not follow it think they are saved but will hear these terrible words from God:

Matthew 7:21-23

I Never Knew You

21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.

22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’

23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’"

Your works are not evidence of your salvation, Your fruit is the evidence, so what is the fruit?

Galatians 5:22-23

"22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law."

The Fruit of the Spirit are the character qualities of Christ and every born-again believer has that Fruit.

Those who love Christ will connect deeply with all other believers who love Him. When we find ourselves experiencing a sense of disconnect with someone who attends church but has no fruit we may be encountering someone who was never born-again.

John 13:34-35 "…34 A new commandment I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you also must love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are My disciples if you love one another.”

When we have a sense of disconnectedness and disrespect from people who say they are Christians we are very likely in the presence of someone who is a "cultural Christian" who does not have the fruit nor do they love the brethren. Their form of Christianity is based on head knowledge alone and not an authentically changed character.

2 Timothy 3 describes the end times apostate church in which we are living today.

These people have a form of religion but do not know Christ.

"2 Timothy 3:1-5

Difficult (ragingly insane) Times Will Come

3 But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come.

2 For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, slanderers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy,

3 unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good,

4 treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,

5 holding to a form of godliness although they have denied its power; avoid such people as these."

Notice that these false believers have a form of godliness, mostly concocted based on their own desires while practicing mean-spirited lack of self-control over their own mouths and conduct.

These who pretend to be Christians have contempt for those who wish to obey the Bible fully. They will say the true Christian is legalistic when they insist on obedience to God's Word.

God gave me a phrase that explains the difference between obedience and legalism. "Legalism is following man's rules and ideas that God never made and Obedience to God is obeying His commands and principles in His Word. His word is not, as some say, "a book of suggestions", His Word is His very essence. To deny His Word as optional is to deny Him.

Denying Christ is not just saying they don't believe in Him. Denying Christ often is saying they DO believe in Him but in their lifestyle and chosen beliefs they deny Him.

Titus 1:15-16 "…15 To the pure, all things (the things of God) are pure; but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure. Indeed, both their minds and their consciences are defiled. 16 They profess to know God, but by their actions they deny Him. They are detestable, disobedient, and unfit for any good deed."

Most anger from "Christians" toward believers occurs because the believer chastised another believer to bring them back to obedience to God.

We see this often because most "Christians" who attend gatherings every week are disobeying more of Scripture than they obey. They do this because they have never been born again and do not have a love for Christ that is prominent in those who have Christ living in them.

We are clearly living in the last days of apostasy that God said would look very much like the days of Noah and the days of Lot. Everyone wants to be seen as good people while attaching the name of "Christian" to themselves but they do not want to submit to Him.

The devil works diligently in these false believers to undermine them, discredit and discourage them but they will have no effect. Christ in the born-again believer sustains them through all things. They are alone a lot, but fully joyful and dedicated to Christ no matter what comes at them.

Hallelujah!!!!

BOOK of DANIEL: Life Lessons | Hosts: Tim Moore, Nathan Jones & Dave Bowen