Questions

Question

The apostle Peter states,

“But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves.  

Many will follow their shameful ways and will bring the way of truth into disrepute.” 2Peter2:1,2  

Evangelist Charles H. Spurgeon as said,

"A time will come when instead of the shepherds feeding the sheep. The church will have clowns entertaining the goats." Charles H. Spurgeon.

Strange as it seems I understand what Spurgeon is talking about. You see before I retired I was a professional clown and magician. I always said it was my job to make people believe I was the biggest idiot in the room. I use a carefully scripted combination of words and movement to make people think things came out of thin air. 

Every sentence I used every move I made was there to fool my audience. Like any good magician I used just enough truth to make things plausible. The rest was pure deception.

Sadly it is the same with many pastors and evangelist. Particularly those in the media.

While there are a lot of very honest Christian men and women in the media. There are also a lot of charlatans. Their only purpose to build themselves up and line their pockets.

These are the people that the apostle Peter was talking about in 2 Peter 2:1.2. 

Unfortunately as someone pointed out to me in church many of these false teachers have become the face of Christianity here in North America. They have done exactly what Peter said, brought “the way of truth into disrepute”. 

As Christians. True believers in Christ Jesus, we must be on our guard. We must make sure not to support such ministries. 

I feel if we support any ministry we have the right to ask questions. Both financial and theological questions. We need to ask where every penny is spent. Even to the point of asking the salary and benefits the pastor or evangelist gets. 

Not only that we should be asking for a doctrinal statement of any Christian group we support.

I know the church I attend every year gives account to its membership where the money goes and that includes the pastors salary. We also have a doctrinal statement on the church website and paper copies at the church.

If while you are looking at both the financial and doctrinal statements and things don’t add up or there is any doubt in your mind you shouldn’t be supporting them.

There are many good ministries out there who are speaking the truth. Who are financially responsible. Taking care to spend every penny prayerfully. Ensuring what is spoken from the pulpit is doctrinally correct. These are the ministries we need to support.

Have you ever questioned the teachings of any ministry you’ve supported?

Please think about it.