There is Authentic Christianity and there is Pretend Christianity

Many years ago, when I was a new believer, I wasted time running to someone I thought was a seasoned Christian. Quickly, I found out that many believers are not using Biblical wisdom to counsel others; they use watered-down scripture mixed with psychology rather than pure wisdom from God.

After years of listening to the suggestions of church attendees, I began to pray for wisdom, even if it meant leaving everything behind that I was taught, to follow Christ. I was ready to do it.

 
Then is when God began to open my eyes to all the false teachings of Christians that are nothing more than man's wisdom with a little out-of-context scripture thrown in to make it sound like it came from God.

When I prayed for truth and nothing but the truth, I didn't realize that many of the things churchgoers think are biblical were not at all from the Bible. The standards I heard sounded good, but when I compared them with scripture, there was no resemblance.

 
Just because someone "says" they are a Bible believer does not mean it is so. Even if someone has a degree from a seminary does not mean they have the truth. Many think that just knowing a little Bible and acting like they love it does not mean they follow it or even know enough to make good decisions.

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.’"

Any portion of scripture mixed with human wisdom negates God's Word and is dangerous in the lives of those who live by the manmade version.

 
We cannot go wrong by asking Christ in us to show us the truth, however, it will mean we will lose friends and family who are dedicated to maintaining their position in the cultural Christian community. Most Christians today search for ways to agree with everyone around them to feel safe and comfortable.
My goal is to agree with God, there is safety with Him when we seek Him with all our heart!

Jeremiah 29:12-13 "… 12 Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart."

Did the Church Miss the Point of Worship? Interview with Tom Wadsworth

Never Share Certain Things with Just Anybody

I watched an excellent video this morning entitled "Things that we should never tell others".

 
Christians are some of the most open and loving people who trust unconditionally often. While I enjoy trusting others, I am also 72 years old and understand that there are few people in the world with whom we can share things about ourselves who will keep our confidences with loving kindness because of their deep Christlike love for us.

 
The maker of this video is a man I do not know, but this particular video contained good advice that we all could learn from. His channel is called "My Retired Life."
I confess there have been many times in my life when I have regretted sharing my opinion or things that have happened to me to those who used them later to judge me falsely or gossip to others about me. My bad decisions were held against me, even though they were resolved many years ago and no longer exist.

 
The five things that the man in the video shared were: 1) Regrets, 2) Pain, 3) Resentments, 4) Our plans, and 5) Our finances.

When we share these things with those who are only interested in having information to misinterpret for purposes of gossip or control over us, we have sabotaged our own lives. It is best to remove those from our lives who love to gossip and judge things that are none of their business.

 
When we walk with Christ, we have no need to share everything about ourselves with people. People tend to make their own interpretations without full knowledge, and they are frequently predisposed to jealousy.

 
Most people don't want to hear about our illnesses, they judge our regrets and resentments that we had to work through, they are jealous of our plans and will negate them merely because it doesn't pertain to them, and they will either become jealous of or attempt to use us when we share information about our finances. If our finances are not what they think they should be, they will judge that too.
Some of us have shared that we were sinful before we were born again, but the details are not necessary to convey that we were just like the unbeliever before Christ saved us.

 
The above-mentioned things not to share are only a distraction to the gospel. If the Holy Spirit compels us to share something that will be helpful to the hearer, then we can share, but continually sharing these things regularly to others is not wise.

Oversharing is possibly an indication of an insecure person who is looking to be validated by the hearer. The need to be exonerated or supplied with attention is not helpful to our walk with Christ or in our witness. Perhaps it is better for unbelievers to see more what we have become in Christ than the ills and pratfalls of our past.
1 Corinthians 6:11 "And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God."

 
Perhaps it is enough to say to an unbeliever, "I was once just like you", rather than lengthy details about our sin. After all, it's not as much about individual sins as it is about our sinful nature that motivates the individual sins. No one can say they were not sinful before they were changed by Christ.

 
Colossians 3:7-8
"When you lived among them, you also used to walk in these ways. But now you must put aside all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips."

Praise God, He changes us, and praise God that He knows everything about us! No one can understand us like Jesus Christ!

It is best to dwell on what God did for us and not on what we used to be before He changed us, that would give the enemy a foothold.

Don't Beg for Funds from People, Ask God

Don't ask people for anything, don't promote your ministry, just do what God told you to do, and He will support you. Then we know it will be God Who did it.
What a blessing when God is the One Who knows exactly what is needed, then when our needs are met, we can praise Him alone.

 
God wants us to ask Him, not people. Then, when He provides, He gets all the glory.
Philippians 4:19 "And my God will liberally supply your every need according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus."

 
When we ask others to supply our needs, we fret, seek after people, and depend on them. God wants us to depend on Him in perfect rest and peace, that He will provide His way, His timing, and through those whom He wants to help.

 
Isaiah 26:3 "You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you."

God will compel others to help whom He wants to help. When we decide to beg people for funds or food or anything, we are depending on them instead of Christ.
I once knew a woman whose husband left her. She depended on God for everything and saw frequent miracles as she trusted Christ for everything. Then one day, she remarried in disobedience to God. Her first husband was still alive, but she didn't want to be alone, so she met another man and married him.

 
Luke 16:18 “Everyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and he who marries a woman divorced from her husband commits adultery."

After the remarriage, this woman shared with me that she was perplexed because before she married the second man, God was meeting all her needs in miraculous ways, but after the second marriage, she didn't see any more miracles.

 
When we decide to do things our own way, we miss many blessings God may have had for us. When we move out in inspiration and dependence on people, we lose the connection between the Holy Spirit and ourselves.

 
Many believers today are missing blessings because they are dedicated to the culture more than Christ. They are fearful of losing friends and family. They are fearful of the rejection of the culture as a whole if they do not fit in.

 
It is possible to be full of joy, peace, and all the rest of the fruit of the Spirit through all the rejection. When Christ is first, whether or not we are loved by people doesn't matter, we are fulfilled in every way, even when we are alone.

Colossians 2:9-11 "…9For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity dwells in bodily form. 10 And you have been made complete in Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority. 11 In Him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of your sinful nature, with the circumcision performed by Christ and not by human hands."

Ephesians 1:22-23 "And God put everything under His feet and made Him head over everything for the church, / which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all."

Philippians 2:9-11 "Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the name above all names, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

Jesus Christ and all the apostles were rejected by most people. God said it would be this way, that most people are headed toward hell and will reject the love and goodness of Christ. We have no reason to believe it will be different for us.

 
John 15:18 “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you."
May those who love Christ take comfort in knowing that He is all we need all the time. If He sends someone of like mind to come around to encourage, hallelujah, what a blessing, but if not, we remain faithful and full of joy.

 
And, don't forget, we have brothers and sisters in Christ all over the world going through the same things, and one day we will all meet at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb and be together forever.

Let There Be Continual and Lasting Growth

It is possible to go to church all your life for 50 years and never change. Many people are no more loving at the end of their lives than they were at the beginning of their salvation experience.

 
For some, it was a lack of growth because of the lack of edification within the body of Christ, and for others, they never were changed by Christ because they wanted only to be a part of a club out of pride, but never loved Christ.

 
John 14:15 "15 If 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—…"

There are many pretenders who attend churches today who want the companionship of "nice" people, as well as feeling safe with these people, but they don't want Christ. They want Christ when they need Him, but don't want Him to bother them with His principles and commands.

 
There are many such people within the churches today who practice the rituals of attending and doing what the man up front tells them to do, but have no intention of being changed by what they hear.

 
We want to be believers who are growing and changing to be more like Christ all the time. We want our walk to be different from when we first began with Him.

 
May each believer seek to be changed by Christ as we seek Him every day for His purposes and not our own.

Rediscovering the Biblical Purpose of Church Gatherings (Hint: It's Not ...

God's Order Within the Church Gathering

A young woman once told me that when she "goes to church" she raises her hands in worship and feels a sense of being all alone with God even though she was surrounded by people. She thought this was a good thing.

I was so sad to hear this since in the Word of God we are called to "gather together to edify one another." We do not worship in ritual or outward appearances but in our hearts and daily service to God. God never gave a building to meet in because our bodies are His temple. We can meet in buildings but it is human nature to elevate the place even more than elevating Christ. That special building is treated with reverence, but Christ often is not.

 
It makes no sense to go to gathering to "offer sacrifices to God" as was done before He died and rose from the dead. We go to receive from God what He has for us. Nothing we could do would be acceptable as a sacrifice when He already paid the best of all sacrifices, of His own Body on the Cross. Nothing we could "do" for him is worthy.

 
Our worship is in the heart, Spiritual and in Truth. Nothing outward could add to that.

 
There is no need to go to a gathering if we go there and act as though we are alone with God, we can do that at home, in the park or in our car driving somewhere. We gather with other believers to build one another in the faith.

 
1 Thessalonians 5:11: "Therefore, encourage (eduft) one another and build each other up, just as you are doing."

 
God's purpose for the gathering of believers was to build up one another in the faith, speak the Word to one another, edifying one another to be equipped for service the rest of the week while we were not in the gathering.

For years, I was discomforted by what was going on in the churches we attended, except for one, which was "the Brethren" who were closest to the Biblical model of the gathering. I didn't know all that was wrong with the mainstream gatherings, but just knew something was terribly off.

 
God clearly said these things;

 
John 4:24 states, "God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth." This is not an outward ritual, but in our hearts, which is why he said the following:

Romans 14:4-6 "…4 Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand. 5 One person regards a certain day above the others, while someone else considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. 6He who observes a special day does so to the Lord; he who eats does so to the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who abstains does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God.…"

We come together to help one another grow; there is not only one who speaks from an elevated position, but everyone participates as led by the Holy Spirit, man, woman, and child.

 
1 Thessalonians 5:11 "11 Therefore, encourage and build one another up, just as you are already doing."

1 Corinthians 14:26-33
"26 What is the outcome then, brothers and sisters? When you assemble, each one has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation. All things are to be done for edification.
27 If anyone speaks in a tongue, it must be by two or at the most three, and each one in turn, and one is to interpret;
28 but if there is no interpreter, he is to keep silent in church; and have him speak to himself and to God.
29 Have two or three prophets speak, and have the others pass judgment.
30 But if a revelation is made to another who is seated, then the first one is to keep silent.
31 For you can all prophesy one by one, so that all may learn and all may be exhorted;
32 and the spirits of prophets are subject to prophets;
33 for God is not a God of confusion, but of peace.
As in all the churches of the saints,"

According to the Bible, all who gather participate; one man may lead, but all interject and engage as led by the Holy Spirit.

 
In the false gatherings today, those who wish to speak are silenced as the culture considers it rude to interrupt, but God tells us to be free to interrupt if the Holy Spirit leads us to add to what the speaker is saying or correct it.

 
Women are not to lead but are free to interject as led by the Holy Spirit. Women are forbidden from disrupting things by asking questions and chattering about things not pertaining to edification.

 
God said that women were allowed to prophesy, meaning speak the things of the Word, as long as she is covered.

 
1 Corinthians 11:10-16 " 10 For this reason a woman should have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels.
11 In any case, in the Lord woman is not independent of man, nor is man independent of woman.
12 For just as woman came from man, so man comes through woman. But all things come from God.
13 Judge for yourselves: Is it proper for a woman to pray to God with her head uncovered?
14 Does not nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a disgrace for him,
15 but if a woman has long hair, it is her glory? For her hair is given to her for a covering. 16 If anyone intends to quarrel about this, we have no other practice, nor do the churches of God."

There are two separate words here for covering, one is the hair and the other is the veil over the hair; it has nothing to do with modesty or covering the hair, it has to do with the Authority that comes from Christ for each the man and the woman.
The head covering is a picture of the church for the woman and the uncovered head of the man is a picture of Christ. These practices are symbols of Authority, the man as the symbol of Christ and the woman a symbol of His church.

 
So many rules are followed that God never gave in the modern church gathering. Some people are elevated above others and even treated in a worshipful way, totally against the Bible.

This is why I began saying years ago, Protestants have their protestant popes and think they are different from the Catholics. When we elevate someone to a higher position because they have a degree, have been chosen as special, and are treated as an authority over the rest of the congregation, we are practicing popery.

 
Leaders lead by example and teaching, but only the Holy Spirit has Authority over each born-again believer.

 
We know that the phrase "women are not allowed to speak" must mean something other than total silence because of the verses in 1 Corinthians.

 
Women are commanded not to teach over men or have authority over, but this does not disallow a woman from prophesying (speaking forth the word of God) as led by the Holy Spirit. Otherwise, we would have to negate 1 Corinthians 11.

 
When we read the Scriptures, it is important to keep all passages in the context of the entire Bible. And, never forbidding any believer from expressing their heart as led by the Holy Spirit, this can even include children.

 
1 Corinthians 14:26 "26 What is the outcome then, brothers and sisters? When you assemble, each one has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation. All things are to be done for edification. "

Notice this; "brothers and sisters", each one having a psalm, a teaching a revelation, a tongue and an interpretation. EACH ONE, this suggests to me that everyone born-again has something to offer from the Holy Spirit, in an orderly fashion, not stepping out of their gender role in their interactions.

 
Completely disallowing someone to speak or interact is not Biblical, however, there are gender roles in leadership that a woman should not cross.

 
The key to it all is this; "being led by the Holy Spirit." No one can go wrong who depends on the Holy Spirit to compel them.