Stop sinning to please God

Don’t give your offerings to heretics

 

Some people unfortunately love to be generous to the wrong persons and end up suffering for it. Keeping in context with what I want to say, I mean they give their offerings to heretics but cry when they don’t see good days and times in their life. They are upset when the preacher who committed just a little heresy now is even more blasphemous towards God, that it no longer can be ignored.

Others are mistaken that just because the preacher or ministry belongs to their own denomination, they are not supposed to discern the words and works done by them.  Such a stance is not consistent with what Lord God has given for those who believe in Jesus Christ and must be repented of with immediate effect

It is written in 1 John 4:1-3 that: Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. ² By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, ³ and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already.

Jude 1:3-4 very clearly says : ³ Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. ⁴ For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.

If you sow good seed expect good fruit, but if sow bad seed expect bad fruit. Never be surprised that after sowing bad seed you never see good fruit emerge from it. In a similar way if you put your offerings those who actually preach the Word of God without any deception, you can be sure of good fruit in this life and the one that is to come. Besides, no matter how good you feel about any heretic, never give your offerings to them, lest you end up eating their bad fruit in this life and at Final Judgement.

Ephesians 6:6-14 says: Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. ⁷ Therefore do not become partners with them; ⁸ for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light ⁹ (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), ¹⁰ and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. ¹¹ Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. ¹² For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. ¹³ But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, ¹⁴ for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says,

“Awake, O sleeper,
and arise from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you.”

O people of the faith always keep in the mind what Jesus Christ in Luke 6:38 says “give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.”

No doubt we are to support the preaching of Gospel of Jesus Christ, in both word and deed. Pray for the Gospel to reach the ends of the earth. Pray for those who are preaching the Gospel in true holiness. And yes support them financially as how God leads you to. But at the end of the day do keep it mind, be generous for the work of God but never ever for the work of heretics. Because just like those who will be rewarded for giving unto the Kingdom of God, so also those who support deceivers and liars will receive their due reward in the form of judgement sometimes in this world but always for sure in the world that is to come

 

Further reading:

• 8 Symptoms of False Doctrine  (disciplesofhope.wordpress.com)
• Never trust your Church elders more than God (disciplesofhope.wordpress.com)
• Effects and dangers of preaching an incomplete Gospel (disciplesofhope.wordpress.com)

Quick Reminder: God’s not going to rewrite the Bible

1. “For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle [a tiny mark in the original spelling of a word] will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.” (Matthew 5:18)
2. “And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one tittle of the law to fail.” (Luke 16:17)
3. “You shall not add to the word which I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you.” (Deuteronomy 4:2)
4. “Whatever I command you, be careful to observe it;you shall not add to it nor take away from it.” (Deuteronomy 12:32)
5. “…if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed. For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ.” (Galatians 1:9-10)
6. “For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted, you may well put up with it!” (2 Corinthians 11:4) [I.e. don’t tolerate heresy]
7. “Every word of God is pure; He is a shield to those who put their trust in Him. Do not add to His words, lest He rebuke you, and you be found a liar.” (Proverbs 30:5-6)
8. “If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book; and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.” (Revelation 22:18-19)

Which of the 2 different Bibles you read?

It’s as though [some] Christians’ read from 2 different Bibles. Some Christians read from the “DO” Bible. As they read this Bible, they actually feel a need to DO the things decreed in it. While other Christians read from the “VERBLESS” bible. In this ‘bible’ the commandments from God, magically disappear, or become optional life guidelines. As people read from this ‘bible’, their biblical knowledge grows, but their lifestyle stays pretty much the same as the rest of the world. (By Robert Brownell)

Avoid being overconfident of your own wisdom

O believer in Jesus Christ, never make your own logic and understanding your refuge because its possible to fall into delusion and deceptions if you do that. Always consider yourself in need of wisdom from God above, so that you prevail against the Kingdom of Darkness each time.

How much so then that the Enemy of your soul desires that you depend so much on your own wisdom? For he knows that only the knowledge and counsel of the Lord God is something that he can never defeat nor banish. It’s very easy for the vile Serpent to misguide people who are overconfident or just don’t bother about the principles and edicts of the Kingdom of Heaven.

Think about the times when people despite having the best of jobs and the best of qualifications, have married the wrong person just because they depended on their raw impulses. Know that the bravest of people have fallen prey to scammers just because they didn’t take a second opinion against fraudulent investments. And even the most pious of men and women due to their pride in their religious knowledge rather than humility in Christ Jesus have fallen into soul damning heresies!

Therefore, be on guard O those who call yourselves as God’s friends that you don’t get deceived like Adam and Eve by the Evil One. Safeguard your heart from eating the manna of Judas and Herod, who lost it all for ungodly gains. Avoid the leaven of the Pharisees which is hypocrisy that you be a true follower of the Lord your God all through your life.

• Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. (Proverbs 3:5-6)
• Trust in the LORD, and do good; so shall you dwell in the land, and verily you shall be fed. (Psalm 37:3)
• Trust in Him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts before Him. God is our refuge. Selah (Psalm 62:8)

An Idol is anything that takes the place of God

A true believer in the Almighty will not worship false gods be it idols, treasures or anything else.

Idols need not be only statues, but anything that people try to set up above the Lord God. In this evil and adulterous generation, therefore one must have control over one’s appetites, for anything and everything, lest you become the laughing-stock of your enemies. Your true enemies are first and foremost all those in enmity with the Lord God. Rest of your enemies are just personal and temporal enemies.

Do not be idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.” (1 Corinthians 10:7)

Therefore, my beloved, shun the worship of idols. (1 Corinthians 10:14)

Every evil earthly nature that causes sinfulness towards God must be eliminated from your life if you claim to truly worship the Lord God. Or else its just a waste of time. No matter how natural the world justifies sin to be, get ride of all your base desires, before they all give you the fruit of your unjust labours.

Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: fornication, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. (Colossians 3:5)

Now the works of the flesh are plain: fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, anger, selfishness, dissension, party spirit, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and the like. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. (Galatians 5:19-21)

Debunking the sin consciousness trick used by false preachers

We live in times where apostasy is ever on the rise. There have always been heretics who have misled others into wrong doing by promoting falsehood against the Lord God and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Any man, woman or child who professes faith in the Lord Jesus Christ must be on guard against the attacks on his or her faith, be it from the world or within the church. This nothing new under the sun and has happened since many years. It’s just that the terms and topics of heresies change, but they have one thing in common, they deny the Lord by denying the truth of his Holy Word.

• ³ Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. ⁴ For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.  (Jude 1:3-4)
• But there were also lying Prophets among the people, as there shall be lying teachers also among you, those who bring destructive heresies and deny the Lord who bought them, while bringing upon themselves speedy destruction. (2 Peter 2:1)

 

What is sin consciousness?

There are preachers who say ‘Why do we bother telling people to “stop sinning!” or “be holy!”? When obviously nobody can stop sin or even be holy? Can you?’ They then go on give out verses which prove that Christ died for our sins and he fulfilled the law for us and also how people can end up sinning again and again. Obviously, we are forgiven by the death and resurrection of Jesus. It true that people do sin repeatedly. However what they conveniently skip is the fact we cannot continue to live in sin and must repent of it, every time.

By sin consciousness they go on to say that you are focusing more on your sin instead of being ‘Christ conscious’. What they actually mean is that you are too focused on your sinful nature and repenting from your sins instead of focusing on Jesus Christ. Their main contention is that Christ died for all of your sins be past, present or future so you don’t need to bother about sinning. Basically, even if you sin you won’t miss out on heaven. This is far from the truth in fact.

It is a false doctrine to tell Christians that after their first repentance, they never need to repent again for new sins. The blood of Jesus does not automatically wash away FUTURE sins, sins need to be repented of after they are committed. If you disagree, just ask Ananias and Sephira about their pre-forgiven sin. This is why repentance in mentioned in the Lord’s Prayer.

 

Christ consciousness or obedience to God?

Also the bit which they mention about being ‘Christ conscious’ is hardly a Biblical term. And is in fact used in other religions (refer to this link). That itself should be red flag unto a true believer in Christ.

And any thing about being conscious about Christ must be in keeping with the Word of God or else its just falsehood against the Gospel.

When a Christian wants to meditate on Christ it is not just worshiping the Lord but also obeying him. The following verses confirm that we are to obey Christ Jesus who is the Word God.

• For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ (2 Corinthians 10:4-5)
• [Jesus said,] you are my friends, if you do whatsoever I command you. (John 15:14)
  
• Be doers of the word, and not hearers only. Otherwise, you are deceiving yourselves. (James 1:22)

 

Teaching disobedience by not repenting is a heretical denial of the commands of Jesus Christ

When Jesus himself commands all people to repent of their sin, then those you who call themselves as believers in Christ too much preach repentance and nothing less.  Here are some verses to reflect on:

• From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. (Matthew 4:17)
• Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent. (Revelation 2:5)
• ¹⁸ And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹ Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20)

 

 

No who teaches false doctrine must be accepted by those who believe in Christ

It goes beyond question that those who truly love the Lord Jesus Christ must obey him and believe in Him and adhere to the teachings of the Gospel. Anything away from this is false doctrine which a believer must reject and flee away from.

• ⁶ I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— ⁷ not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. ⁸ But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. 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. (Galatians 1:6-9)
• ⁴⁶ “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you? ⁴⁷ Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like: ⁴⁸ he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built. ⁴⁹ But the one who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the stream broke against it, immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great.” (Luke 6:46-49)
  
• If anyone has no love for the Lord, let him be accursed. (1 Corinthians 16:22)

 

 

Choose repentance anytime and every time instead of getting tricked by the sin consciousness trick

I’ve mentioned this earlier in one of my previous posts but let me say it again; Why does the Lord throughout the Bible keep warning of severe judgement if some were to receive the mark of the Beast? There are verses that say that those who receive it, will never be forgiven (please refer to Revelation 14:9-11). If the Lord knows that some people are going to sin why does he not use the ‘auto forgiven for the future’ stance? Because simply, such a thing does not exist and is wholly inconsistent with the Gospel. You need to repent if you sin. Period.

 

Twin deceptions

A man of God fell into temptation, he said he heard 2 messages from the enemy. Both of these were very crafty and destructive. The first message was “As long as you’re down here in sin, you might as well enjoy the fruit.” When he took this message to heart, he engaged in all kinds of sin that were never even his weaknesses. The second message was, “You can turn back to God tomorrow.” When he took that message to heart, tomorrow never came until a year later in jail.

Never trust your Church elders more than God

Disclaimer: This post is not about bashing nor maligning your Church elders but rather knowing the difference between them and God.

All praise to the Lord God who gives elders in the Church to help us in the mission of preaching the Gospel to all nations and making disciples of them. May the Holy Spirit lead and guide them in the grace of God. I ask this in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in man. (Psalm 118:8)

Never trust your Church elders more than God. Now I do not say disrespect them but rather give due respect to them. However that being said,  never make your Church elders a god  above the Lord God. This will put you in deep error and eventual darkness if you refuse to repent in this area.

Now the Bible says in Jeremiah 17:5-8 :-

⁵ Thus says the Lord:
“Cursed is the man who trusts in man
    and makes flesh his strength,
    whose heart turns away from the Lord.
⁶ He is like a shrub in the desert,
    and shall not see any good come.
He shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness,
    in an uninhabited salt land.

⁷ “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord,
    whose trust is the Lord.
⁸ He is like a tree planted by water,
    that sends out its roots by the stream,
and does not fear when heat comes,
    for its leaves remain green,
and is not anxious in the year of drought,
    for it does not cease to bear fruit.”

By the above verses it is very obvious that we as believers in Christ are not to make flesh our strength but rather are to trust in the Lord God. To make it clear, we cannot let any man, even the one’s who are the Church elders tell us not to pray to God. It’s very obvious that any Church elder who hinders you from worshiping Jesus Christ is a manifest heretic claiming to be a Christian!

So what I just said, is this a new teaching? No, not at all but something that needs to be reiterated. The following verses of Jude 1:3-4 confirm this:

³ Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. ⁴ For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.

Each of those who profess the Christian faith are already warned about certain people who for the record; pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.  And now such people might not be, each and every person you see in Church but just a few you need to beware of.  The basic thing would be to never give heed to any words and philosophies by any one at any level in the Church which contradicts the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.

It’s very rare that anyone in the church might tell you to not worship God, because they know that they will be found out and tackled very soon. However  do be on your guard against such people.

There is a higher chance of people who may misdirect all the glory which is due to God to themselves. No matter what healing you receive by anyone praying for you or laying their hands never praise them like how God is to be praised. It’s one thing to be thankful to the Church elders and another thing to give them the kind of respect which God only deserves. So do know the difference and do not put your elders above God, ever!

Let them alone; they are blind guides. And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit. (Matthew 15:14)

Then there is a subtle trick that the Devil uses to mislead people and most of them fall for it. He simply causes certain gullible Church elders to downplay the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. So to not offend others, they will avoid preaching against certain sins or all sins. But they are okay with offending God though,  by continuing to work their heresies. Some even show the Gospel as a guideline instead of a reality to follow. By making certain things of Gospel such a repentance, good works, prayers etc as optional by falsely assuming that doing the will of God was done away with the Cross, they lead more people to damnation that even the more common vilest of vile sins could. Stay away from their ways and words and you will do a great honor to God.

Just before I close, like I mentioned earlier, not all Church elders are into wrongdoing. In fact their service to God is commendable and their sacrifices for the Kingdom of God are fragrant and undeniable. May God reward them for this. However do be on guard against those who seek more honor for themselves than the Lord God.

Christ be with you!

Keep away from preachers who do not actually preach the Gospel

Would you get surgery done for yourself if the person doing it doesn’t actually practice surgery? Would you like to travel in an aircraft driven by a person who cannot even read the route map?  Would you invest your money in a bank which is on the verge on collapsing? If you said no to any of these questions, then why would you learn the Gospel from anyone who doesn’t actually preach it?

I find it very laughable and amusing to see people who flock to preachers who don’t actually preach the Gospel. Yes, these people will come up with various excuses to continue to waste their time on them. They often say ‘we are not to judge’. So going by that logic they wouldn’t mind if their government transfers all of their money to the ‘vacation for ministers’ fund, because they are not to judge if they go bankrupt. They wouldn’t judge if they were given poisoned food by the restaurants. Probably not if they regard for their well being! However these people will keep pushing the ‘do not judge’ Bible verses upon you as if that will turn their precious little preacher into a true preacher of the Word of God.

Some preachers will totally avoid the mention of Jesus in their entire sermons. Perhaps they never heard of him or maybe they are not trying to please him! Either way that is a massive give away to either correct the preacher or leave him. Some people might think that is offensive, I don’t agree to them. Suppose if you wanted your children to swim but the swimming instructor  doesn’t teach them to swim but only talks about his or her swimming accomplishments , do you or your children truly get your money’s worth for the swimming lessons. You’d most possibly get the children out of that swimming class and join a better one or complain to the management to change the swimming coach. Maybe the management would go half way and instead of removing the coach simply apologize and get the coach to actually teach swimming. If such logic applies to swimming, wouldn’t you and your family’s spiritual life in Christ deserve a bit more better?

There are some people who don’t care if the preacher is preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ or not because of an odd reason. They simply and plainly don’t care to read the Bible either. And if they do, they totally ignore the preachers’ misgivings and in turn open the doors of their heart wide to heresy and ignorance.

Now there are some preachers who do preach parts of Gospel such as forgiveness, healing, and love but avoid anything to do with repentance, holiness and deliverance. These try to make the Gospel palatable to people in order to get the number of people hearing them to increase. However, these do not preach Gospel in its entirety. As a result the person who hears such a preacher is not warned of the traps and temptations and sufferings that they might encounter with their walk with Christ Jesus.  So if the person gives in to sin or remains ignorant of how to receive deliverance from evil, do not be surprised at all.

Do not be the one who refuses to love the truth but rather chooses to live in deception, with deceptive preachers and so share in their eternal judgement!

Bible verses to reflect on:

1. Then the disciples came and said to him, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?” He answered, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be rooted up. Let them alone; they are blind guides. And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.” (Matthew 15:12-14)
2. “Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.’ (Matthew 23:16)
3. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming. The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness. (2 Thessalonians 2:7-12)