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False
Preachers
and
Believers
have
filled
Our
Churches

False
Preachers
and
Believers
have
filled
Our
Churches

False
Preachers
and
Believers
have
filled
Our
Churches

False
Preachers
and
Believers
have
filled
Our
Churches

False
Preachers
and
Believers
have
filled
Our
Churches

False
Preachers
and
Believers
have
filled
Our
Churches
 |
|
If you love the truth, continue in God's word. The Truth of
God shall make you Free.
God warns Christians about false-
Christs, apostles, prophets,
pastors, teachers, workers, and brethren. So, we know for sure that false
workers and believers are there.
God says that false Christs, antichrists, false
apostles, false prophets, brutish pastors, false teachers, deceptive workers,
and false brethren will come from the churches and to the churches. God wants
the true believers to be aware of them and to reject them. They will come as
true worker, but they are deceptive workers.
That is, a false pastor will appear as a true pastor,
a false prophet will appear as a true prophet, a false teacher will appear as a
true teacher, and so on. In short, a false church will appear as a true church.
Even though they appear as true, Jesus Christ says that they are
wolves
in sheep's clothing. They will deceive many. If possible they will seduce even
the very elect with signs and wonders. This means they are within the Christian
world showing themselves as true powerful charismatic workers of the gospel,
even working miracles.
So, if you and I do not know the difference between the true and false workers,
then we will be deceived. The word of God teaches how to know a true pastor from
false pastors, a true prophet from false prophets, a true teacher from false
teachers, a true worker from false workers, a true evangelist from false
evangelists, and so on. The word of God cautions us about them, instructs us to
identify them and advise us to reject them. With this in mind let us study the word of God.
1.
Where are the Deceivers?
Christians are knowledgeable about various cults. But they are not good at recognizing
false prophets, false preachers, or false teachers inside the Church. There are
doctrinal differences between denominations and people do not consider these
differences as false
teachings. Jesus Christ and his apostles have given serious warnings about
deceptive workers. Where are these deceivers?
Ministers of churches never caution about false workers, even though they
criticize
denominational differences. Does this mean that there are no false workers at the
present time? There may be many deceivers who do not want to caution
against themselves or the workers lack discernment to know who are false.
However, this is not a matter to be ignored, since even Jesus
Christ himself gave serious warnings about the false workers. Let us look into the Bible.
2.
Is God for Love and Unity?
If only all Christians unite together and show the love of
Christ to the world, how marvelous that would be! This is the cry and desire of
many good, well meaning, loving Christians. But the love of Jesus Christ is a
little different from this open-arm embracing of tolerance.
"Matt 10:34 Think not that I am come to send peace on
earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. 35 For
I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against
her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law."
God so loved the
whole world, he sent his son to die for them. But, God gives the
privilege to only those, who separate themselves from unrighteous world, to become
his sons and daughters .
"2 Cor
6:14. --- what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and
what communion hath light with darkness?--- 17.Wherefore come out from among
them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I
will receive you, 18. And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and
daughters, saith the Lord Almighty." So, God wants
his people to stand for righteousness and not for tolerance.
3. Planned Deception Or Ignorant Deception
In
the Garden of Eden Satan deceived Eve
with cunning ingenuity. "Gen 3:4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall
not surely die:"
Then with elusiveness Eve deceived her own beloved
husband without knowing what she was doing. "Gen
3:6 ---, she took of the fruit thereof, and did
eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat." Even today,
Satan deceives his followers and they in turn deceive other people. Same as Eve deceived Adam; most of
these people deceive their own loved ones without knowing what they are doing.
Satan told Eve that they will not die. He also said that they will become like God if they
disobey him. Even now the false preachers are doing the same thing. They are preaching to the people that they
are saved from hell (meaning that they will not be punished, or they will not
die a spiritual death), while they continue to live in
sin (disobedience to God).
They misinterpret the meaning of grace as a special privilege which is given to
those who claim the name of Jesus Christ for their salvation. But the
grace of God is given to the obedient believers in order to overcome sin. Grace
is the power of Lord Jesus Christ that rest upon a believer in order to
strengthen him/her at the weak point of the believer. "2
Cor 12:9 And he said unto me, My grace is
sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.
Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power
of Christ may rest upon me." But the grace of
God is neither a license to continue in sin nor a guarantee of admission to
heaven.
They are false workers come under the pretence of
good godly workers. "2 Cor
11:13 For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of
Christ. 14 And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of
light. 15 Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness;
whose end shall be according to their works." Some of them are possessed by
Satan. They purposely twist the Word of God and lie to the people
as Satan lied to Eve. Some of them are like Eve, without knowing they serve the cause of Satan. God says that their end
will be destruction.
They do not
know "the
Salvation according to the Bible." They preach false deceptive salvation.
"2 Pet
2:18
For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through
the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean
escaped from them who live in error. 19
While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption:
for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage."
4.
Good Preachers Or False
Preachers
Take a good sermon of your favorite
preacher. Take a sermon of Jesus Christ. You may take a portion of the
sermon of the mount or any one of his other teachings from the Bible. Compare
the sermons. If the purpose and concept of the sermons are geared in the
same direction, then you have a good preacher. If there is discord then you have a false preacher.
A. Glamour OR God's Will
There are various kinds of ministers of God, preaching many
kinds
of messages with love, compassion, excitement, emotion and charisma. They are very
convincing. Is it possible that they could be false? Please read what Jesus
Christ says:
"Matt 7:21 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."
The true minister of God is the one who does the
will of the Father who is in heaven. The will of the Father for Jesus
Christ was to die in the cross. The will of God for the disciples are to take
their own cross and follow Jesus Christ.
"Matt
26:42 He went away again the second time, and
prayed, saying, O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I
drink it, thy will be done."
The will of the Father for a true preacher is to preach the Word of God
truthfully, but not for personal gain. The will of the Father in Christian
ministry is to present the Church perfect and complete in all the will of
God. If a
minister does not keep himself pure and does not gear his ministry to make the people perfect for the Lord, then the
ministry is not given to him by the Father in heaven. As glamorous as it is,
that ministry was his own
making.
Most of the ministers are building fantastic, spectacular, masterpiece
ministries in the name of God for themselves.
"Col 4:12 ---, always labouring fervently for
you in prayers, that ye may stand perfect and complete in all the will of
God."
The will of the Father in someone's personal life is to keep their
sanctification, which is moral purity. "1
Thess 4:3 For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye
should abstain from fornication:...."
B. Tares And Wheat
From Genesis to revelation almost all the books warns about false workers.
Outwardly they serve God. But inwardly they serve mammon (the things of
the world, for their belly) or they serve Satan. However, they are planted
by Satan in the field of God, the Church world. They are counterfeit and are
false workers. Even though such caution is given to us through out the
Bible, the Christians are
generally very silent about it. The true servants of God are in the midst of
them. "Matt
13:24 Another parable put he forth unto them,
saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which he sowed good seed in
his field: 25 But
while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his
way. 26 But when the
blades were sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also.
27 So the servants of the
householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in the
field? from whence then hath it tares? 28
He said unto them, An enemy hath done this." If Satan has placed his people as
ministers in the Church world, it is not a big surprise that these ministers
will not caution about the false workers. Some of them caution about someone
else in order to hide the fact they themselves are false. Those who preach
clever lies by twisting the Bible in order to sugarcoat sin, are of Satan.
5.
Sheep's Clothing
In the
first two verses, Jesus Christ is telling us to strive hard to enter into
eternal life. Then in verse 15, he cautions about the false teachers. The
false teachers are
good outwardly but teach error deceptively and cause spiritual death.
Their
teaching will be different from the teaching of Jesus
Christ. Beware of them, since they are of Satan.
"Matt
7:13 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.
15 Beware of false prophets, which come to you in
sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves."
A. Fruits By Jesus Christ
"Matt
7:15 Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but
inwardly they are ravening wolves. 16 Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men
gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? 17 Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit." This
is one of the warnings of Jesus Christ regarding false workers. Outwardly
they appear to be very enthusiastic workers of God. Jesus cautions us to look
at the fruits they produce. Those who preach the same message as Jesus Christ
preached, bring good fruits as Jesus Christ has brought. All others bring evil fruits of lies from
the devil. "John
15:4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch
cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except
ye abide in me." Jesus
asks his disciples to abide in him and have Jesus abide in them. In the
Christian world, the statement 'Jesus lives in my heart' became the saying of
everybody. But in another couple of verses Christ says,
"John 15:7 If ye abide
in me, and my words abide in you,--." That
is, if Jesus Christ abides in us then his words will abide in us. Then what he
had preached and taught will come through our mouth. Even in life, we will
produce the same fruit that Jesus Christ produced. Jesus Christ was calling
people to righteousness and holiness so that they may be of the children of the
Father in heaven. Those who do not produce this fruit that Jesus has produced
are not of his.
B. Healings and Miracles
I
personally know a few sick people who desperately needed healing. They
went to Church after Church and healing crusade after healing
crusade in order to be healed. They were looking for celebrity power healers.
They were looking up to so called men of God, who had
various kinds of miracle manifestations. Some of them hiss like a serpent, roar
like a lion, etc. Some of them prophesy great things. Some fell people
down with the breath of their mouth and by the sift of their jacket. They preach strange doctrines, which are different
from the preaching of Jesus Christ. But they were all false workers and are deceiving people.
All their works will be revealed in the final day. "Matt
7:21 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. 24 Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and
doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a
rock:"
C. Discern and Escape
We can write many examples of
false workers. There are plenty of them.
God's people must discern them to escape from them. The best way
is, know the good servants of God, so that we may reject the rest. The
good servants are they, "whosoever heareth these sayings of
mine (Jesus Christ), and
doeth them." They will do
what Jesus Christ has told his disciples to do. But others will preach their own
invented techniques of self-uplifting, using a few verses from the Bible to
support themselves. "2 Cor 11:13 For such
are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the
apostles of Christ. 14 And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an
angel of light. 15 Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also
be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according
to their works."
6.
Are You a Preacher?
Prayerfully
find out what you are; by the things you do (even in your private life) and from
the messages you preach, whether you do the same things that Jesus Christ has
done and preach the same kind of messages that Jesus Christ preached.
If the answer is yes, then you are placed by God in His Church. Continue to do the faithful work.
If your life and your sermons contradict from that of Jesus Christ, then it is
time for you to repent. You don't want to be another Judas Iscariot. "Heb 10:31 It is a fearful thing to fall
into the hands of the living God."
7. Are You a Believer?
Continue to study
and obey the word
of God prayerfully. "John
8:31 Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue
in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;
32
And
ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."
Trust
God faithfully. Believe the word of God. If you obey Jesus,
you will become a child of God and he will give his grace and power to you. He
will make it a glorious beginning and will take care of you until the end. Beware of
false workers. "Phil
1:6 Being confident of this very thing, that he
which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus
Christ: Matt
7:15 Beware of false prophets, which come to you in
sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves."
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