A Caution

A Caution
Jesus said,
Many will say to me  on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’  
Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ Matthew 7:22,23.
We as Christians live in parlous times. There are those outside the church who would want to see Christ’s message proven wrong. There are even those, extremist, terrorist and others who would want to see the death of all Christians. These people have been around since the dawn of Christianity.
At the same time however there is what I would say is a more dangerous group lurking within Christianity it’s self. These are men and women who claim to be Christians but are not following the teachings of Christ. Men and women who are twisting the teachings of Christ for their own gain. These too have been around from the start of Christianity. The apostle Paul writing to Timothy states.
“For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.  
They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.” 2Timothy 4:3,4.
It can be very easy to see the threat to our faith by those outside our faith. It however is not that easy to see the threat from within.
A lot of times these false teacher will say they believe in God. They will even lie and say they truly believe that Jesus is the Son of God the Saviour of mankind. But in their heart they do not believe this. They will quote scripture both in context and out of context.
They are out to deceive the believer into following them quite often for personal gain or for power.
That is why I urge all Christians to read their Bible. To study the scriptures. To pray, pray, pray, that God will show them the right path and person to follow.
To find a good church that is following the teachings of the Bible. Beware of those who over emphasise money. Every church and ministry needs money but it shouldn’t be the focus of the ministry. They shouldn’t be constantly spending a great deal of time asking for money.
Remember the apostle Paul said,
“And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”Philippians 4:19.
If the ministry is of God, God will supply its needs.
Beware of churches or pastors that ask you to follow them blindly or refuse to answer any question you have no matter how seemingly insignificant.
Remember there will be differences in minor interpretations but there should never be on the core issues of the Christian faith.
The apostles creed while not written by the apostles gives the core beliefs that all true Christians can believe in.
The Apostles Creed
1.I believe in God the Father the almighty maker of heaven and earth
2. I believe in Jesus Christ God’s on and only Son, our Lord and Saviour.
3. I believe Jesus was conceived by the Holy Ghost, and born of the Virgin Mary
4. I believe Jesus suffered under Pontius Pilate; That He was Crucified, died, was buried. That he descended in hell.
5. I believe He rose again on the third day from the dead.
6. I believe that he ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father almighty.
7. I believe Jesus will one day Judge the living and the dead.
8. I believe in the Holy Ghost
9. I believe in the Church which is the communion of the saints,
10. I believe in the forgiveness of sin.
11. I believe in the resurrection of the body.
12. I believe in life everlasting.
These points are not negotiable. They are the core of what all true believers in Christ believe.
To the Christian reading this. I would ask, Are these your core beliefs?
I would ask have you accepted Jesus as the Lord and Saviour of your life? Or, have you only given intellectual consent to Jesus?
Jesus said to Martha,
“Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies;  and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
“Yes Lord” she told Him, “I believe you are the Christ the Son of God, who was to come into the world,” John 11:25,26. 
Dear reader do you believe this?
Please think about it.

Warning

Warning
“For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.  
They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.” 
                                                                                                   2 Timothy 4:3,4.
One of the reoccurring themes in the apostle Paul’s letters is that of watching out for false teachers. Men and women who are leading people astray.
Men and women who stray from sound doctrine, turn to if you will “yes men” people who will tell them what they want to hear. They will turn away from truth.
This happens in North America it seems regularly.
Here in North America there are men and women who are interpreting the scriptures to suite their own beliefs. Some are even interpreting scripture in such away as to scam money from people. Both these groups search the scriptures and ‘cherry pick’ verses that seem to support their way of thinking.
Sadly Christians fall for it. Most Christians believe what they are told without question. They hear an evangelist or pastor quote scripture and never check to see if it’s in context. The definitely never consult a commentary to check the theology.
The prominent thing in North America right now seems to be the so called ‘name it claim it’ crowd. Those who espouse the ‘seed faith’ theory. Meaning sow ten dollars to God’s work (quite often they mean sow into their ministry) to get a hundred, sow a hundred to get a thousand.
They treat God like some benevolent banker that gives, a hundred or even a thousand percent interest.
There are others over the years who have written books some best sellers that are nothing more than twisting of scripture. One of the best known being the Y2K prediction. Saying the worlds computers were going to go wild causing all kinds of problems in the year 2000. It didn’t happen.
The latest is the so called ‘Blood Moon’ prediction. Supposedly predicting events that are about to happen to Israel. Yet there have been numerous blood moons since the time of Christ. None have predicted major events. The closest was the Blood moons that occurred ten months after the six day war. Not a very good prediction.
God when he gives a prophesy tells what will happen before the event not after.
Sadly there are many Christians out there that fall for these things.
We as Christians I believe need to be spending more time reading the Bible ourselves. We need to be praying earnestly and asking God to show us the truths in the scriptures.
We need to be holding evangelist and pastors to account. If they are teaching falsely we need to be asking them to admit they made a mistake.
If they don’t admit their mistake we need to be shunning them.
The apostle Paul says,
“What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside?  
God will judge those outside. “Expel the wicked man from among you.” 
                                                                                        1 Corinthians 5:12,13.
Dear Christian please think about it.

Warning

Warning

The Apostle Paul wrote,
“Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, like men sent from God.” 
                                                                         2 Corinthians 2:17
Paul here is referring to false teachers that have entered the church and are getting money from gullible church members.
As Christians we must be careful who we send money to. There have been false teacher from the time of the early church until today. Today in the twenty-first century with the mass media world we live in it’s hard to tell the real Christians from the fake.
There’s a lot out there claiming you give ten dollars, a hundred dollars, a thousand dollars to their ministry and God will bless you ten or even a hundred fold. What garbage.
They treat God like a sugar daddy that doles out cash.
It’s alway been my opinion that all ministries calling themselves Christian should send to those who support them a detailed listing of where every penny goes. I know the church I attend and every church in Canada has to report to there congregation how they spent their money during the year. It should be the same for all ministries.
I know good ministries when asked will give an accounting to you if you ask. I would have problems with any ministry that will not provide and accounting of where the money goes.
It is so easy to twist scripture and put a spin on it that makes it sound like it’s right when it’s not.
Paul writing to Timothy warns,
“For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.  
They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.” 
                                                                       2 Timothy 4:3,4.
The message here is Christian beware! My advice is always support your local church first. You know who they are and where the money goes. You know that their teaching is in line with the Bible. If it’s not you shouldn’t be there.
So support your local ministry first. Then if you have something extra left over and you feel God telling you to give to a particular ministry give. But don’t expect huge returns on your money. You should give because you want to, not with the thought in mind that you will get interest on your money like some bank.
Giving to God’s work is part of being a Christian. So be wise as to where you give. Pray and ask God where to give and how much. Do not be swayed by some sweet talking televangelist, evangelist, preacher or teacher.
Please think about it.