Missing foundational Biblical strategy that must be put back into the play-book.

Posted: February 5, 2015 in Uncategorized
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As Christians living in a world who even rejects the idea of God leave alone the fact that God is over all, we must learn to live and speak based upon the authority of His Word not our intellect. Take for example dealing with one who believes a women has a right to love and and marry another woman or man loving and marrying another main. We will never even begin to pull down this stronghold in their thinking with our intellect we must allow the world of God and Holy Spirit to accomplish this.

For the Word is clear that God has authority to define what is right and wrong, good and evil, based upon his pure and holy character . God makes clear to man that he will be judged based upon his obedience to the command God has given. God’s grace is evident, for he does not hide his law. In love, God tells man the way to life and exhorts him to walk in it.

For we do not wrestle again flesh & blood ( the corrupted thinking is the fruit of a corrupted flesh over-ruling the truth of the Spirit) but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Such thinking is a idol in ones mind lifted up in attempt to out-rule the laws of the Lord.

So many have actually been turned away from the Gospel as good intending believers wrestle with them in their own strength using “Human wisdom” as a weapon to convince them. This is where many are in error. I can stand outside ones house and hold up a sign all day long telling them they are sinning and destined for Hell and all that will do is fuel the rebellious spirit already ruling that individual’s life. David Wilkerson us to say something along the lines of “You can drag a sinner to the alter and they’ll just roll away but when they drag themselves there you can bet they are there to stay”.

In order to pull such mental and spiritual idols down we must spend time in prayer, praying that the Spirit pull down their walls of defense and begin to soften their hearts as well as time in fasting. We also must learn to pray the Word – speaking out scriptures in our prayers. Then we are to share the Word in truth coated with the Love of the Father having the discernment of the Spirit to do so.

David Platt writes in his new Book Counter culture:

Godless worldviews thus leave us with a hopeless subjectivity concerning good and evil that is wholly dependent on social constructs. Whatever a culture deems right is right, and whatever a culture deems wrong is wrong. This is precisely the worldview that prevails in American culture today, where rapid shifts in the moral landscape clearly communicate that we no longer believe certain things are inherently right or wrong. Instead, rightness and wrongness is determined by social developments around us.

He is right on with this statement. Today’s Church must return to its Biblical roots going back to the Word and studying how the first century Church impacted and changed the culture around them whereas the Church today is just the opposite as it is being impacted and changed by the culture around it.

We the Church, must wake up and take our rightful place in this world as the Lord Gods ambassadors representing His Kingdom and take a true stand to see the homosexual agenda stopped in its tracts, see to the ending of abortion and defend marriage. We must seek to stop the ever trending gospel of self-help and return to the first love of the Church seeking to see His kingdom established here on earth. But in doing so we must first shed our love and desires for the things of this world – but that is a post all in itself for another day….so stay tuned!!!!

~ Russ Welch

Is just a belief of Jesus enough for salvation?

Posted: January 30, 2015 in disciples life
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Since 2010 I have been studying the RED LETTERS with a deep and longing desire to know for sure what Jesus taught about being His disciple. There are so many messages out their today from a universalist view that we can live as we please to the greasy grace doctrines of all is forgiven so live life the way you choose after all Gods Grace covers it all. I know that I can do nothing whatsoever to earn my salvation yet at the same time I was haunted by the words, “depart from Me for I never knew you”.

The group of men I have been blessed to mentor/disciple and I are about to engage in David Platt’s study series from his book “Follow me. A Call to Die. A Call to Live. I have already read the book and much like Radical, I believe David does a good job at causing his readers to search the scriptures with regard to being a true disciples and not be found in the masses of deceived people, who think they are disciples. For those who only desire a comfortable, sacrifice free life, enjoying the pleasures of this world with no true desire to be ruled over, this book will anger you. For those of you who desire a deeper understanding into what it means to live the life of a true disciple of Jesus Christ, this book will help you on that road.

Below is an excerpt from the first chapter. Enjoy:

WHAT ABOUT BELIEF?

Amid this emphasis on the cost of following Jesus, you might wonder about passages in the Bible where it seems that salvation involves simple belief. Jesus tells Nicodemus that “God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” Paul and Silas tell the Philippian jailer, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved.” According to the book of Romans, “If you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

Based on these passages, you might conclude that believing in Jesus is all that’s involved in becoming or being a Christian. This is absolutely true, but we must consider context in order to understand what the Bible means by belief. When Jesus calls Nicodemus to believe in him, he is calling Nicodemus to be born again— to begin an entirely new life devoted to following him. Likewise, when the Philippian jailer believes in Christ, he knows that he is joining a community of Christians who are being beaten, flogged, and imprisoned for their faith .

The cost of following Christ is clear.

In the same way, Paul tells the Roman Christians that to believe in the saving resurrection of Jesus from the dead is to confess the sovereign lordship of Jesus over their lives. In each of these verses (and scores of others like them), belief in Jesus for salvation involves far more than mere intellectual assent. After all, even demons “believe” that Jesus is the crucified and resurrected Son of God.  Such “belief” clearly doesn’t save, yet such “belief” is common across the world today. Just about every intoxicated person I meet on the street says he “believes” in Jesus.

Scores of people I meet around the world, including some Hindus, animists, and Muslims, profess some level of “belief” in Jesus. All kinds of halfhearted, world-loving church attenders confess “belief” in Christ. We can all profess publicly belief that we don’t possess personally, even ( or should I say especially) in the church. Hear the shouts of the damned in Matthew 7 as they cry, “Lord, Lord!” Jesus replies to them, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.”  Clearly, people who claim to believe in Jesus are not assured eternity in heaven. On the contrary, only those who obey Jesus will enter his Kingdom.

As soon as I write that, you may perk up and ask, “David, did you just say that works are involved in our salvation?” In response to that question, I want to be clear: that is not what I am saying. Instead, it’s what Jesus is saying. Now I want to be very careful here, because we could begin to twist the gospel into something it’s not. Jesus is not saying that our works are the basis for our salvation. The grace of God is the only basis of our salvation— a truth we will explore further in the next chapter. But in our rush to defend grace, we cannot overlook the obvious in what Jesus is saying here (and in many other places as well): only those who are obedient to the words of Christ will enter the Kingdom of Christ. If our lives do not reflect the fruit of following Jesus, then we are foolish to think that we are actually followers of Jesus in the first place.

DANGEROUSLY DECEIVED

Consider a recent study which found that four out of five Americans identify themselves as Christians. In this group of self-proclaimed Christians, less than half of them are involved in church on a weekly basis. Less than half of them actually believe the Bible is accurate, and the overwhelming majority of them don’t have a biblical view of the world around them.

The pollsters went even deeper, though, to identify men and women who are described as “born-again Christians” (as if there is any other kind). These are people who say they have made a personal commitment to Jesus and who believe they will go to heaven because they have accepted Jesus as their Savior. According to the research, almost half of Americans are “born-again Christians.” But out of this group of “born-again Christians,” researchers found that their beliefs and lifestyles are virtually indistinguishable from the rest of the world around them.

Many of these “born-again Christians” believe that their works can earn them a place in heaven, others think that Christians and Muslims worship the same God, some believe Jesus sinned while he was on earth, and an ever-increasing number of “born-again Christians” describe themselves as only marginally committed to Jesus.  Many people have used this data to conclude that Christians are really not that different from the rest of the world. But I don’t think this interpretation of the research is accurate. I think the one thing that is abundantly clear from these statistics is that there are a whole lot of people in the world who think they are Christians but are not.

There are a whole lot of people who think that they’ve been born again, but they are dangerously deceived. Imagine you and I set up a meeting for lunch at a restaurant, and you arrive before I do. You wait and wait and wait, but thirty minutes later, I still haven’t arrived. When I finally show up, completely out of breath, I say to you, “I’m so sorry I’m late. When I was driving over here, my car had a flat tire, and I pulled over on the side of the interstate to fix it. While I was fixing it, I accidentally stepped into the road, and a Mack truck going about seventy miles per hour suddenly hit me head-on. It hurt, but I picked myself up, finished putting the spare tire on the car, and drove over here.” If this were the story I shared, you would know I was either deliberately lying or completely deceived. Why? Because if someone gets hit by a Mack truck going seventy miles per hour, that person is going to look very different than he did before!

In light of this, I feel like I’m on pretty safe ground in assuming that once people truly come face-to-face with Jesus, the God of the universe in the flesh, and Jesus reaches down into the depth of their hearts, saves their souls from the clutches of sin, and transforms their lives to follow him, they are going to look different. Very different. People who claim to be Christians while their lives look no different from the rest of the world are clearly not Christians. Such deception is not just evident in the United States; it’s prevalent around the world. As I was praying through the countries of the world recently, I came across Jamaica, a country that is supposedly almost 100 percent Christian. The prayer guide I use made this statement about Jamaica: “It enjoys one of the world’s highest number of churches per square mile, but the majority of self-proclaimed Christians in Jamaica neither attend church nor lead a Christian life.”

As I read this, my heart was overcome by the unavoidable conclusion that multitudes of men and women in Jamaica think they are Christians when they are not. They join scores of people in countries around the world who call themselves Christians yet don’t follow Christ. Spiritual deception is dangerous— and damning. Any one of us can fool ourselves. We are sinful creatures, biased in our own favor, prone to assume that we are something when we are not. The Bible says that the god of this world (Satan) is blinding the minds of unbelievers to keep them from knowing Christ   Couldn’t it be that one of the ways the devil is doing this is by deceiving people into believing they are Christians when they are not?

Platt, David (2013-02-05). Follow Me: A Call to Die.  A Call to Live.

What does a “Luke-warm” Christian look like?

Posted: January 29, 2015 in Uncategorized
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Here it is 3:22 am in the morning and I am wide awake with a troubled heart. I had a terrible night sleeping as my heart was heavy with the thought of all of our brothers and sisters being slain in the Middle east and in part of the continent of Africa by Muslim extremist. I wonder how many Christians in this nation are burdened by this fact or are they so busy worrying about their own little world that the passion of the Lord for His Children around the globe has not found its way into their hearts. Just looking at my 10 year old son and thinking of the little ones who even though giving the opportunity to renounce Christ and bow to a false god, willingly accept death rather than renounce their Lord.

Are our Children being raised with the same reverence for the Holy God we serve or are we simply raising up an army of lip service saints unwilling to face the true call of Christ. After all what is the message today coming out of main-stream Christianity in this nation? Is it not in large but a message of self help, personal financial wealth built around the theme of all that God will do for you rather than the true message of the Lord of what we should be doing for our neighbors out of our love and gratitude to a Holy Loving Father in Heaven? We even have churches putting on seminars about retirement plans were as Jesus taught that we are to store our treasures up in Heaven.

Is it not sad to anyone else that we live in a day when sacrifice is a foreign word in much of the Church. In fact I would dare say that much of the call to follow Christ put forth by Jesus Himself has been greatly watered down to a point where one would have to ask the question are such people who answered the modern day call really followers of Christ at all?

Everyone seeks the blessings yet few want to be in the position to empty themselves for another. People understand the word servant in that “isn’t that what others do”? One needs but to look around and listen to other Christians talking to see that so many seem to have a dim flame of the passion at best for the lost whereas the first century Church had a bright burning FLAME.

Now I can say with full confidence that it is not because the Bible had changed over time rather that the content or delivery of message of the Bible has been twisted to suite a people who want to live in comfort rather than living a life sold out to the One who brings true comfort to those in need. I know there will be those who flare up and call me out as judging others and so be it but I write this not to judge anyone rather to judge the message of the modern day Church against the message taught in the Word. I ask with with and in the authority of Gods Holy Word where is the fruit of ones salvation?

Have we become so spiritually blind that we can not see that this nation right now reaping what it has spiritual sown for the past 50 plus years? Have we gone to far? I would emphatically say no, for the mercy of God is there still waiting for His House to humble itself, repent for its neglect and love of the world and turn back to Him as its first love.

Ye the hour is urgent and we must turn back to the foundational teaching of our faith as found in the Word of God from which we can clearly see that the radical call to follow Christ has not changed. For at this time I would I dare say that if Paul or Peter where alive today they would rightly dispute that what some consider today as being an overly radical follower of Jesus Christ was in fact normal Christianity in the first century. Or the real question to consider would they even recognize the average go to Church on Sunday believer as a true follower of the Master they submitted and committed their lives to follow even unto death.

So in light of how Jesus called people to follow Him and the definition to which Christ said would define a true follower, one must ask Am I a “Luke-warm Christian”. The following is a list of what might be considered a Luke-warm Christian was derived from Francis Chan’ book Crazy love as he explored this very subject:

1.  Lukewarm people attend church fairly regularly. It is what is expected of them, what they believe “good Christians do, so they go. (Isaiah 29:13)

2.  Lukewarm people give money to charity and to the church…as long as it doesn’t impinge on their standard of living. If they have a little extra and it is easy and safe to give, they do so. After all, God loves a cheerful giver, right? (1 Chronicles 21:24; Luke 21:1-4)

3. Lukewarm people tend to choose what is popular over what is right when they are in conflict. They desire to fit in both at church and outside of church; they care more about what people think of their actions (like church attendance and giving) than what God thinks of their hearts and lives (Luke 6:26; Rev. 3:1; Matthew 23:5-7).

4.  Lukewarm people don’t really want to be saved from their sin; they want only to be saved from the penalty of their sin. They don’t genuinely hate sin and aren’t truly sorry for it; they’re merely sorry because God is going to punish them. Lukewarm people don’t really believe that this new life Jesus offers is better than the old sinful one (John 10:10; Romans 6:1-2).

5.  Lukewarm people are moved by stories about people who do radical things for Christ, yet they do not act. They assume such action is for “extreme” Christians, not average ones. Lukewarm people call “radical” what Jesus expected of all His followers (James 1:22; James 4:17; Matthew 21:28-31).

6.  Lukewarm people rarely share their faith with their neighbors, coworkers, or friends. They do not want to be rejected, nor do they want to make people uncomfortable by talking about private issues like religion (Matthew 10:32-33).

7.  Lukewarm people gauge their morality or “goodness” by comparing themselves to the secular world. They feel satisfied that while they aren’t as hard-core for Jesus as so-and-so, they are nowhere as horrible as the guy down the street (Luke 18:11-12).

8.  Lukewarm people say they love Jesus, and He is, indeed, a part of their lives. But only a part. They give Him a section of their time, their money, and thoughts, but He isn’t allowed to control their lives (Luke 9:57-62).

9.  Lukewarm people love God, but they do not love Him with all their heart, soul, and strength. They would be quick to assure you that they try to love God that much, but that sort of total devotion isn’t really possible for the average person; it’s only for pastors and missionaries and radicals (Matthew 22:37-38).

10.  Lukewarm people love others but do not seek to love others as much as they love themselves. Their love of others is typically focused on those who love them in return, like family, friends, and other people they know and connect with. There is little love left over for those who cannot love them back, much less for those who intentionally slight them, whose kids are better athletes than theirs, or with whom conversations are awkward or uncomfortable. Their love is highly conditional and very selective, and generally comes with strings attached (Matthew 5:43-47; Luke 14:12-14).

11.  Lukewarm people will serve God and others, but there are limits to how far they will go or how much time, money and energy they are willing to give (Luke 18:21-25).

12.  Lukewarm people think about life on earth much more often than eternity in heaven. Daily life is mostly focused on today’s to-do list, this week’s schedule, and next month’s vacation. Rarely, if ever, do they intently consider the life to come. Regarding this, C.S. Lewis wrote, “If you read history you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were precisely those who thought most of the next. It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this” (Philippians 3:18-20; Colossians 3:2).

13.  Lukewarm people are thankful for their luxuries and comforts, and rarely consider trying to give as much as possible to the poor. They are quick to point out, “Jesus never said money is the root of all evil, only that the love of money is.” Untold numbers of lukewarm people feel “Called” to minister to the rich; very few feel “called” to minister to the poor (Matthew 25:34, 40; Isaiah 58:6-7).

14.  Lukewarm people do whatever is necessary to keep themselves from feeling too guilty. They want to do the bare minimum, to be “good enough” without it requiring too much of them. They ask, “How far can I go before it’s considered a sin?” instead of “How can I keep myself pure as a temple of the Holy Spirit?” They ask, “How much do I have to give?” instead of “How much can I give?” They ask, “How much time should I spend praying and reading my Bible? Instead of “I wish I didn’t have to go to work, so I could sit here and read longer!” (1 Chronicles 29:14; Matthew 13:44-46).

15.  Lukewarm people are continually concerned with playing it safe; they are slaves to the god of control. This focus on safe living keeps them from sacrificing and risking for God (1 Timothy 6:17-18; Matthew 10:28).

16.  Lukewarm people feel secure because they attend church, made a profession of faith at age twelve, were baptized, come from a Christian family, vote Republican, or live in America. Just as the prophets in the Old Testament warned Israel that they were not safe just because they lived in the land of Israel, so we are not safe just because we wear the label Christian or because some people persist in calling us a “Christian nation” (Matthew 7:21; Amos 6:1)

17.  Lukewarm people do not live by faith; their lives are structured so they never have to. They don’t have to trust God if something unexpected happens-they have their savings account. They don’t need God to help them – they have their retirement plan in place. They don’t genuinely seek out what life God would have them live – they have life figured and mapped out. They don’t depend on God on a daily basis – their refrigerators are full and, for the most part, they are in good health. The truth is, their lives wouldn’t look much different if they suddenly stopped believing in God (Luke 12:16-21; Hebrews 11).

18.  Lukewarm people probably drink and swear less than average, but besides that, they really aren’t very different from your typical unbeliever. They equate their partially sanitized lives with holiness, but they couldn’t be more wrong (Matthew 23:25-28).

Written by Russ Welch

2015 A Joseph Type Year

Posted: January 28, 2015 in Uncategorized
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Prepare – Prepare – Prepare

God is speaking to His kingdom seeking men and women to make some specific preparations for the near future.

The love of God is perfect and complete. The provisions of God are also perfect and complete. There is no end to the love God has for His people, and likewise there is no end to the provision God has for His people. Yet for many people including Christians there are times and seasons when the provisions seem lacking and insufficient. Assuredly there is no lack in God’s resources of provisions, so why the lack? We know that we cannot blame God for our lack. We also know that because he is defeated, the devil cannot take or hinder unless he is allowed by our beliefs or actions, mainly by our lack of exercising the authority we have over him in Christ Jesus.

That narrows the problem down to human beings as the cause of hindrances and disruptions that cause the lack of provision for the people of the world. The reality is that man in Adam was given the job of managing all of God’s resources on Planet Earth. Mankind in general has not done a good job of managing God’s world for Him.

As a result of the imbalances created my man’s mismanagement of God’s provisions the world is currently in grave disorder.

There are some primary world management decisions that now urgently need to be made at the level of our individual life business matters.

Up until the fresh revelation of the true gospel of the kingdom came about in many pure hearted holy sons of God, there was not a people on earth who could rule the business of life and world management according to the plan of God.

We can always expect that people, who do not seek the kingdom of God and do not love and honor God, will not manage their lives and subsequently the world according to the will and plan of God.

Fallen mankind will always manage the assets and provisions of God with natural human thinking and earthly wisdom which are always infected with some level of need and greed. The unmet need for God within the people causes a vacuum of real joy and satisfaction in their lives. Their lack of deep joy and personal satisfaction leads to strong desires for pleasure to fill that void. The worldly people will manage their provisions and assets for personal pleasure instead of seeking God’s direction for managing the business of their lives. Collectively, as the people mismanage their lives they mismanage the assets and provisions of the world.

Urgent Kingdom Management for 2015

Good times with increase in money and goods will cause natural minded people to live more extravagantly and to be at ease during the current season of increase. Without the ability to hear from God, the natural assumption for many will be a false belief that the future will continue as today. When sudden changes come about they will be unprepared and suffer greatly as a result.

The good times of this short season are for the preparation for the hard times ahead.

Probably many if not most of you reading this are familiar with the biblical account of Joseph in the book of Genesis. Joseph was told of a coming good year followed by seven very lean years. Through a series of extreme trials and finally favor with the leader of the nation he was given place to prepare the nation by storing huge amounts of grain during the plentiful harvest of the good time to provide for the nation and others in the area during the years of famine. The result was the survival of many people and that all the land and money was brought to the leader of that nation in trade for food to sustain their lives. Israel (Jacob) and all of His sons (Joseph’s brothers) and their families with all that was with them were also fed and sustained through the time of famine.

Today God is speaking to those with ears to hear, His kingdom people, as to how to prepare in the good season of bountiful supply for the hard season that is coming. IT IS URGENT THAT GOD’S KINGDOM PEOPLE SEEK GOD’S DIRECTION NOW AS TO WHAT PART HE HAS FOR THEM IN THIS TIME OF PREPARATION. Only by hearing and seeing in the Spirit what God is doing and what our part is in it, can we know what we should do in preparation.

These seasons including the good and the hard times are steps into the greater fullness of the kingdom of God on earth.   

This is all part of the great transition and transformation taking place on Planet Earth. The words of God regarding the restitution of all things for all things is at hand. The harvest of the world includes the cleansing of the filth of the earth and the eventual end of all things that are not planted by God. Then the planting of the LORD shall come forth upon the land and the kingdoms of this world shall be the kingdoms of our God. The holy purified sons of God will manifest the fullness of Christ Jesus King of kings and Lord of lords upon this earth and of His kingdom there shall be no end.

The restoration of the kingdom of God on earth began at the cross of Christ Jesus. Adam had given the kingdom rule to Satan way back there in the Garden of Eden. Christ Jesus began the process of restoring the kingdoms of earth to the rightful owner at the cross. Mankind must first be restored to the status of pure holy sons of God to effectively bring forth the rule from heaven on earth to restore the kingdom of God.

Spiritual Preparation

God has been calling out and preparing a people for a long time. We have now entered a season of final preparation. Absolutely nothing that defiles, nothing that is apart from the perfect holy love and power of God can remain in the mature people that are prepared by God to rule and reign in the kingdoms of this world. All frivolity and foolishness of self-interests and need are washed away in the magnificent glory of His absolute all-consuming love, transforming frail human beings into holy men and women as heaven filled beings on earth – literally the collective Body of the Son of God. One perfect Son of God on earth and in heaven.

This is not just preparation for survival. It is preparation to live and move upon earth wholly by the will and power of Spirit God. True citizens of heaven growing forth on earth walking in the Spirit and glory of the living God bringing heaven’s perfect order to all systems and all creation in and on Planet Earth according to the perfect will and plan of Almighty God.

Personal Preparation

The perfect pearl has come. The treasure has been found. Give all we have and all we will have into the hands of the living God. Buy and sell, do business under the direction of God by the Spirit. Hear all that He is saying to you and hold back nothing from Him. Plow, plant and harvest as God says when and where He says. Move into the center of His will and presence whatever it takes and wherever it is. Bask in His presence and trust in Him with your whole heart. Seek only His kingdom and His righteousness. Quickly abandon all pleasure seeking and began fully kingdom seeking. Serve mightily and do not move where or when God is not saying. Waste nothing and have no relationships with people that God does not establish. Lean NOT to your own understanding but seek Him in all matters.

There is no set formula for everyone. Do not listen to the naysayers or the merchandisers hawking their end time stuff. Nothing is too big for God. Throw off all limitations and move heartily in all that you do for it all is unto the Lord and not unto man. You are dead and your life is hidden in Christ and is now going to come forth in this season of great activity and prosperity for the purpose of preparation.

Corporate Preparation

Connect tightly where God’s love and guidance has taken you. God will lead you to leave ALL CLOSE CONNECTIONS with those who follow the enemy. This may include some family and some long term relationships. Do not expose the king’s treasury to those who are not sanctified by the fire of the Spirit of God. Do not linger in close connections with anything or anyone who is not truly seeking the kingdom. Be prepared to join with others to quickly enter into corporate endeavors of kingdom business and supply. THE SPIRIT OF GOD CAN GUIDE YOU IN ALL OF THESE ADJUSTMENTS.

Bringing it all down to two simple words of guideline or direction: HEAR and OBEY!

Hear God in your spirit. See what He is saying and doing in your spirit. Move quickly with precise actions in perfect accord with what and when God is saying. Do not fear isolation or separation and be ready to make corporate adjustments with kingdom partners but do not fear independent actions when God calls for it. God will blend things together and bring along those who should be there as the work is being done.

Abandon and disregard all previous training and experience that does not align with the reality of the kingdom of God coming forth in your life. Allow the Spirit to work in you miraculously and gloriously far beyond where your natural mind or your previous training could possibly take you.

Love – Love – Love

Love God – Love His people – Love the workings of Holy Spirit in your life.

You are on a journey of love. Be sensitive every moment in every encounter to only move toward love. Love will guide you like sonar in sub marine animals and submarine vessels. Love will radiate from you and will bounce back a signal of love when it meets love. When it does not meet love it will bounce back a different signal of uneasiness or contention. Love is a discerner of hearts that bypasses natural signals which can be falsified. True love from God recognizes love in others and is drawn to it as deep calls unto deep.

Spiritual discernment can provide specific details of that which is ahead and yet unseen. Much like radar that can feed back detail information about a situation that is yet unseen to the natural eye. Also Holy angels can feed back detail information like a digital imaging device on a drone. Also similar to modern drones, angels can intervene to powerfully affect the situation. The spiritual provisions from God are capable beyond human understanding. They are unlimited and are only made available to the fully mature Sons of God to carry out His will and ways to establish the kingdom of God on earth.

There can be no self-life and no will or agenda apart from God in His mature Sons. There can be no other allegiances in the heart or life of the Sons of God. The only seeking of the heart of true sons is God and His kingdom.

Ron McGatlin
www.openheaven.com
basileia@earthlink.net

A season of decreeing and reaping what is sown.

Posted: January 20, 2015 in Uncategorized
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The Lord said that 2015 was a year to decree a thing according to His will so for my family I decree the following scriptures “We are the lenders and not the borrowers….we are the head and not the tail……the devourer has been rebuked, cut off and stopped” (Deut 28:12-13, Mal 3:11)

Of course these blessings are tied to the position of obedience as it states in Deut 28; And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God. And Malachi 3:11 is tied too: Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts.

Sadly many today want the blessing yet they run from the sacrifice of obedience. Yet when one totally surrenders to the leading of Holy Spirit after a while obedience is not a burden rather it becomes natural as the spirit man is built up to rule over the flesh. It almost become second nature. But don’t get me wrong once you have one victory over one area, Holy Spirit will keep you humble as He points out yet another area of the flesh which is rebellion.

The good news is that God the Father is filled with mercy and grace, as we trip and fall He pours His mercy out on us and backs it up with His grace to empower us to get up and move forward. It is the position of surrender for which He looks for, a condition of the heart, rather than the outward signs of obedience which are done yet with a bitter heart.

So don’t think that His blessings are withheld or taken away for a slip up for they are not. But they are withheld from those who have a selfish heart seeking what they may gain with no love or reverence for the Giver.

It is like the child who is rewarded even though they didn’t get and A or maybe not even a B, for the parent saw that they gave it their best. With that reward the good parent continues to encourage the child to try a do better next time.

With that being said let us rejoice in our God, for even as the better parent, our loving God will give the child as many resources as necessary to help them in their struggle to reach the finish line. And surrender Him all praise, glory and honor for God the Father has given us the best in His Son and in Holy Ghost.

When thou didst say “Seek My Face,’….Thy face, O Lord I will seek” (Psalm 27:8, NASB).

God wants us to enter into a new relation with Him. Not just like a little child, full of requests for things from his father, but as a mature son or daughter who knows the Father, is in tune with the Fathers will, begins to think and act like the Father, and can take responsibility in the Fathers kingdom.

So dear brothers and sisters as I started this post out I mentioned that entering this year I kept hearing the Lord say “This is a new season, a season of decrees happening quickly, a year of My suddenlies falling like a heavy rain”

It’s really not that hard – study the Word of God, spend time in prayer with Him, ask Holy Spirit to show you how to gain a deeper and closer relationship with the Father then start decreeing according to His will and purpose. In closing I want toi decree a few more things over my family as an example for you:

I decree for my house (my wife, son and myself )a new season of closeness to God the Father, a year of greater and deeper revelations, a years of being in-tune with the Fathers divine purpose and Will for us on a daily basis. I decree that this shall be a year of expansion, enlarging our area of Kingdom influence to the glory of our God.

I decree 2015 to be a year where we see 100 fold expansion of souls coming into the Kingdom by our spreading the message of the Kingdom of God with unadulterated purity, bowing not to the fear of man rather with Holy reverence to our God.

I decree this to be a year where besetting sins are defeated and His Righteous Holiness shadows our lives day and night like a tight fit coat.

I decree and call forth as the Father has shown me in the Spirit that this shall be a year of expansion financially to meet those needs according to His purpose. I decree a year of greater discernment to see the enemy plans before hand and Heavenly wisdom to cut the enemy plans short.

Brothers & sisters, we will reap based upon what we sow…..Please keep in mind that our words have power and they are likened to spiritual seeds. What are you planting for this New Year will be the harvest you shall reap.

I was sharing with my sister Roxanne the other day about the power of praying forth the Scriptures for Gods Words contain power. Do you recall Elijah praying for the heavens to close up and the rain to cease and the rains stopped?

Now Elijah the Tishbite was a prophet from the settlers in Gilead. “I serve the Lord, the God of Israel,” Elijah said to Ahab. “As surely as the Lord lives, no rain or dew will fall during the next few years unless I command it.” (i Kings 17:1)

Now Elijah was praying for the Word of God found in Deut chapter 11 which reads; “And then the Lord‘s wrath be kindled against you, and he shut up the heaven, that there be no rain…” (Deut 11:17).

So again friends, there is power in Gods Word and when we combine it with our prayers miracles, signs and wonders begin to happen around us. We can sow the promises of Gods Word into our lives!!!

What are you going to plant this year friends……… I challenge each of you to Decree a thing according to the Will of the Father with unwavering faith and watch as the miracles, signs and wonders of Heaven appear around you as a witness to your walking according to the Fathers heart’s desire…..

Time to tear down the walls…

Posted: November 17, 2014 in disciples life, Kingdom Teaching, teaching
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Even as Russia after WW2 built the wall to separate Germany into two nations, so has the prince of this world sought to build a wall dividing the Church.

For there seems to be an ever increasing gulf between Right & Wrong, Truth & lies. Love & hatred in this nation and all nations for that matter that has caused a stumbling block for many in the Church. It is the area of homosexuality and the Church. Even as President Reagan called out to Gorbachev to “tear down the wall” so do I hear the Spirit crying out to the prince of this world holding captive a division of the Church to tear down the walls of deception!

Did Jesus die for homosexuals? Truth

Jesus did, even as He died for adulterers, thieves, drunkards and other sinners.

It is true that Jesus, because of His love for all, will accept any person into His Kingdom even if they do not repent from their sinful life style and continue to live a life as a murderer, adulterer, thief, and or homosexual?   LIE

The Bible states that:

Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. (1 Cor 6:9-10) TRUTH.

We are to stop all murders, thieves, adulterers, drunkards, homosexuals and any other person bound in sin from entering our Churches. Wrong – HATRED.

In fact we are mandated to invite all people into the Church to hear the Gospel message proclaimed that they may come to the saving Knowledge of Christ and His cross so that they may be set free from the prison of DARKNESS and brought into the Kingdom of God. Right – LOVE.

Jesus said that greater love hath no man lest he lay down his life for his friends. Even as Christ was a friend to sinners, so must His followers to the very point of putting to death their personal prejudices with regard to those living a life opposition of a Christian and be willing to reach out to them with the saving Truth of His Gospel, even if that means being spit upon, beating, put in jail and or put to death. Truth, Right and Love.

The Church needs to realize that in its accepting all life styles as being acceptable to God is not based in love rather it is actually based in hatred, birthed in Hell in order to keep a people from coming to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, leaving them in the prison of darkness destined for an eternity in Hell separated from God and His Love. Yes, the Gospel preached in truth is offensive to the sinner yet it must always be presented in Love and not hatred. For we too once were separated from God in fact the Bible states we, while in our sinful state, were enemies opposed to God.

So let us always remember the Mercy that God showed us and walk in the Grace of our Lord in our delivering the Gospel. While at the same time let us not be silenced by the world’s view of what is politically correct or incorrect or what is or isn’t hate speech. For the worst kind of hate speech is the silence of a people who know and hold the keys of truth to set the captives free. Such a people are those who consider themselves before the welfare of their neighbor and Jesus calls us to love our neighbor before ourselves.

Silence does not equal love any more than the shout of truth equals hatred.

Awake, awake o Sleeper, for indeed it is time to wake up from your slumber you precious Bride, for your Warrior Husband has issued to call war…….for the war has intensified as the wedding is soon to take place!!!

So let us start being such a people, sounding the Trumpets of Truth as loud as we can till we see the true walls of hatred being torn down……

~Russ “Rush” Welch

The End of the Age of Grace Is at Hand

Posted: October 28, 2014 in Uncategorized
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radicaldisciples's avatarRadical Disciples - A Remnant Revolution

I am not a prophet. In-fact, I do not even have the gift of prophecy. Instead, I am a Christian who reads the news each day, including the prophetic news websites and I consider myself a “watcher on the wall.”

As such, I feel the need to sound the alarm. The signs in the world today all point to the end of the Age of Grace and to the imminent arrival of the Rapture. We are, quite literally, in the very last moments of the opportunity that mankind has to find salvation through repentance of sin and faith in Jesus as the Savior of the world. At this moment eternal life in heaven with Jesus is a free gift. Very soon now that will change. Salvation will still be attainable, but at a very high price.

The vast majority of people seem to feel exceptionally uncomfortable when I mention the…

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New writings coming soon………

Posted: October 28, 2014 in Uncategorized
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Been busy with school, ministry and work……will be writing some new articles soon….been is a season of heavy revelation about the Kingdoms function here on earth at this time as well as the time to sound the alarm calling Gods people back to repentance and living Holy Sanctified set-a-part lives unto the Glory of the Lord….

Obituary for the American Church

Posted: December 28, 2013 in disciples life, Kingdom Teaching, teaching, wilderness
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by Mike Breen

From time to time I will have the people I’m discipling write out their own pastoral obituary. I ask them to write out how our enemy would take them out, rendering them unable to serve their family and communities. As you can imagine, the answers vary, but always serves as a really helpful exercise as they are forced to confront issues of character, etc.

You see, taking the same exercise I’ve used with pastors, for the past year I’ve been thinking how the enemy would/might be trying to take down the American church. Now what I’ve noticed is that the original temptations Jesus faced (which can best be boiled down to Appetite, Affirmation and Ambition) are somehow warped and insinuated into the culture. As each culture is distinct and different, a smart enemy would come at each culture in subtle ways, tempting them in ways they don’t see or expect, and with things that would look different from culture to culture.

For instance, the issues the European church deal with are actually quite different than the ones the American church is dealing with – even though often times they are put under the same broad umbrella of “Western Church.” Sure, there are some similarities, but the attack is different. More nuanced.

But those original temptations of Appetite, Affirmation and Ambition are slowly insinuating themselves into everything we call CHURCH. We just often don’t recognize it or see it.

And so this is how, if our enemy gets his way, the American church could be taken out:

A culture of CELEBRITY (affirmation)

A culture of CONSUMERISM (appetite)

A culture of COMPETITION (ambition)

The original temptations of Appetite, Affirmation and Ambition are creeping into everything we call CHURCH.

CELEBRITY

The idea of celebrity is deeply woven into American culture and values. All you have to do is look at the ridiculous nature of Reality TV and you see how Americans are constantly craving celebrity (either to be a celebrity or to find the next celebrity and stalk their every move). Now there is nothing dark or sinister about “celebrity” in and of itself. You can’t find an argument that says Jesus wasn’t a huge celebrity in his day.

However, there is a difference between being famous and being significant. If Jesus was famous, it’s because he was doing something significant. The problem with many pastors is they make decisions, develop personas and define success from the lens of what will make them a celebrity/famous (even if they don’t know it or see that they are doing this). So in American church culture, it’s pretty easy to become a celebrity: Grow a HUGE church. Now all in all, it’s not terribly difficult to grow to be a giant church if you have the right tools at your disposal – but that doesn’t mean the ends justify the means of getting there.

For instance, though Jesus was a celebrity in his day, he was willing to say things that ran people off in droves. In fact, the book of Mark chronicles the way (from about the mid-point of the book on) how people left Jesus to where, at the end, virtually no one was left. NO ONE wants to be associated with him for fear of the consequences. That’s a Charlie Sheen-esque flameout (obviously without the character issues!). That’s not something you see too often in American churches.

I suspect it’s because riven deeply into the American psyche is the desire to be a celebrity. And American pastors are very susceptible to this. Many subtle things happen in people who desire to this kind of celebrity status:

* They can disengage community and isolate themselves, setting themselves up for moral failure.

* They can make decisions that are numbers driven and not always Kingdom driven.

* They can skew to a shallow understanding of the Gospel as opposed to a holistic one that leads people to discipleship.

* They can put the good of their church (their personal Kingdom) over the good of God’s Kingdom.

Question: In what ways are your decisions made by a subtle undercurrent of ambition and a hope for celebrity?

CONSUMERISM

We live in a culture that revolves around consuming. Every TV commercial, every store, every credit card company, every bank, every TV show or movie, every piece of clothing, car or product, every website, every restaurant every everything is tailored to fit your desires, needs or personal preference. We are easily infuriated when things don’t happen exactly as we want them. We exist in a place that implicitly says this: “We are here to serve you and meet your every whim and desire. Let us take care of you.” What’s more, it’s never enough.

We live in a culture that revolves around consuming.

Eventually the house or the car get older and we want new ones. The clothes aren’t as fashionable and we want something more in style. That restaurant is getting boring, we must find another. Our favorite TV show is wearing thin, so the search begins for the next favorite. And on and on and on. This is how we are wired to think in the United States. And it is all backed up by this rationale: You’re worth it. You deserve to have what you want, how you want it, when you want it. And for the most part, the church plays the exact same game.

We do as best we can to provide as comfortable an experience as humanly possible, using every means at our disposal to attract them in (and then keep them in). So we tailor what we do around their wants and desires. That’s Marketing 101, right? The problem is at the end of the day, the only thing that Jesus is counting is disciples. That’s it. He doesn’t seem to care too much about converts, attendance, budgets or buildings. It’s about disciples. And, by nature, disciples are producers, not consumers.

Yet most of our churches are built around feeding consumers. I’d argue 90% of the church’s time, energy and resources are linked to this. But the issue is this: The means you use to attract people to you are usually the means you must use to keep them. In other words, if you use consumerism to attract them to your church, it often means you must continue using it to keep them or else they will find another church who will meet their “needs.” And yet, that consumer mentality is antithetical to the Gospel and to the call of Discipleship.

Disciples aren’t consumers, they are producers. Jesus cared about disciples more than anything else.

The means you use to attract people to you are usually the means you must use to keep them.

Question: In what ways is your church community using consumerism as the means to draw people to a Gospel that is, in and of itself, anti-consumerism?

COMPETITION

You will never find a more hyper-competitive culture than you do in the United States. As a foreigner living in this land, I can attest to that with the utmost respect. Americans love to win, they love the struggle of the journey and love holding up the gold medal of victory. Now don’t hear me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with being competitive, it’s just how competition has become warped and twisted within our culture. And it’s that, at least in the church, we are competitive about the wrong things.

Much of the American church finds itself competing with the church down the road. “Are we bigger than them? Do we have more influence than them? Do we have the best/biggest youth group in town? Do people like to get married in our church building? Do people like our church better than theirs?”

The fact of the matter is that there is a battle, we do have an enemy and we should be competitive – but against our enemy! What we haven’t seen is how crafty he is. This seems to be the alliance he has struck with the American church: “I’ll let a good chunk of your churches grow, just not at the expense of my territory.”

Disciples aren’t consumers, they are producers. Jesus cared about disciples more than anything else.

And so what happens? 96% of church growth is due to transfer growth and not churches striking into the heart of our enemy’s territory. We’ll consider it a win because we have the new service or program that is growing – but that growth is mainly from people coming from other churches. That’s not a win! That’s a staggering loss.

Furthermore, for many pastors, we don’t think we’ve won until we’ve won AND someone else has lost. Seriously?! For sure, we have an enemy and we should be competitive, but we should be competing against our enemy, knowing that the final battle has already been won, and not competing against our own team members.

So gifted and skilled is our enemy, so conniving is he, that he has convinced us that beating the people on our own team is victory while he stands back and laughs, rarely having to ever engage in conflict, protecting his territory. He is beating us with a slight of hand, with a clever distraction, turning us against ourselves. Question: In what ways are you competing (both in actuality or simply in your mind) against people who are on your own team?

In all honesty, it isn’t that the American church will ever truly die or cease to exist. It will always be there. But it is entirely possible that if these three critical issues aren’t addressed and dealt with, it will be a hallow shell that is spiritually listless.

If we think through Celebrity, Consumerism and Competition, the anti-body against all of these is sacrifice. Learning to lay down what builds us up and giving to others instead. Learning to serve, rather than to be served. Looking for anonymity rather than celebrity. To build a culture of producers rather than a consumers.

To live in a vibrant, sacrificial community fighting a real enemy rather than competing against the same community God has given us to fight WITH rather than AGAINST. It’s about sacrificing what we want for the glory of God and the advancement of his Kingdom, regardless of our advancement or desires.

Clearly this is what Paul was getting after in Philippians 2:6-11 when describing the attitude of Jesus as taking on the attitude of a servant, willing to sacrifice all acclaim and equality with God. It was a willingness to set aside and sacrifice celebrity, consumerism and competition at the altar of the incarnation.

Fifty years ago, as these three subtle threads were being woven into the American church, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., serving as a prophetic voice, said this:

If today’s church does not recapture the sacrificial spirit of the early church, it will lose its authenticity, forfeit the loyalty of millions, and be dismissed as an irrelevant social club with no meaning for the twentieth century.

We are now into the second decade of the 21st century and we find ourselves still, for the most part, refusing to sacrifice what we want for what God is asking of us and his Church. Will we have the courage to sacrifice as Christ sacrificed? Will we do the things that cost us so that his Kingdom may advance?

About The Author

Mike Breen has been an innovator in leading missional churches throughout Europe and the United States for more than 25 years, and leads 3DM, a movement/organization that is helping hundreds of established churches and church planters move into this discipling and missional way of being the church.  Twitter: @mike_breen

Another Gospel Revisited

Posted: July 30, 2013 in disciples life, Kingdom Teaching, teaching, wilderness
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Another Gospel Revisited

The Mrs. and I have been occupied with interior work at the house for what seems like forever and I have been unable to get to our computer most of the time. Obviously, this has put me behind on the articles I write, but finally I am able to squeeze in some time.

I wrote an article last month titled “Another Gospel” of which most people followed my line of thought, but with no surprise, there were a few who zeroed in on one issue that was totally irrelevant.

The accusations were primarily that I supported Hank Hanegraaff, simply because I mentioned a book, one book, he wrote, and recommended it for reading since it pertained to my subject matter. I have written numerous articles, and those who have taken the time to read them should know I do not support everything Mr. Hanegraaff believes. I was even accused of speaking unfavorably of Billy Graham. I still haven’t figured out where that one came from.

Let me see if I can make this real simple for some of you. The subject matter of the article was about “another gospel by false prophets.” It had nothing to do with the Rapture, dispensations, replacement theology, or anything else. That was it; “another gospel by false prophets.” I even gave a few examples of my line of thought, as shown in the following paragraph from the article:

Some of the blasphemies these scoundrels spew from their venomous mouths strive to elevate themselves over God. For example they teach: Jesus is not God; We are gods; Jesus suffered in hell and battled Satan; God can do nothing without our permission; God lost His right to rule; We can speak into existence anything we want; God wants us to be rich; Jesus was rich; If we are sick or poor, it is because we lack faith; Our money to their ministry is “seed” faith; We can order Satan around; There are three gods; and on and on and on they go. This is just a sampling! It seems they each try to top their buddies by coming out with something even more ludicrous than what has been said beforehand by another of their kind.

Toward the end of the article I stated the following:

While writing this article, I came across a book on this very subject that I would recommend. It is called “Christianity in Crisis 21st Century” and it is written by Hank Hanegraaff. He goes into the specifics of what I have been warning about for a long time now and examines the false teachings of many of these false teachers with another gospel. In his book, many quotes from these false teachers are discussed.

I still recommend this book, not every book he wrote, but this one, for further reading for those who are interested. Does that mean that I agree with everything in the book? Of course not! You’re adults. Read the book. Check the information as best as you can. Compare what is said with God’s Word, the Bible, and let God guide your thoughts.

The “Dear Abby” column is in most all newspapers and is heavily slanted toward support of homosexuality and gay marriage, not to mention other atrocities. Does that mean you aren’t going to read another newspaper? Of course not! Does that mean you and I support all that we read in the newspaper? Of course not! Common sense people! Use it! I might recommend you read my hometown newspaper, but I certainly do not support much of what is written in it.

Mr. Hanegraaff and I do not agree on some issues, but I feel he is a Christian and understands how and why God saved him. I do not know the man, but he is my brother in Christ, I am not going to turn my back on him simply because we do not agree on some issues that are not of an eternal consequence, or just because a few people are so narrow minded.

This reminds me of all the attacks by Christians against one of their own when a book called The Harbinger was introduced. There is no doubt in my mind that Mr. Jonathan Cahn is a Christian and my fellow brother in Christ, even though I’ve never met him either, and what he had to say was well worth reading.

Instead of attacking the veracity of those who are truly Christians, we need to stop turning a blind eye from those who are nothing but charlatans and leading people away from Jesus Christ instead of toward Him.

The subject matter of “another gospel” and the false prophets delivering a false gospel that is not Christ’s Gospel is of extreme importance. Millions of people today are being duped into believing much of this garbage that is being shoveled out. Why is that? It is so because most of those who call themselves Christians are ignorant of God’s Word. They’re generally fine people, but many are blind to what God actually says. They wouldn’t know the truth of God’s Word if it bit them on the nose. For those who are not Christians and believing this nonsense, their eternal state may be at stake.

Now if I may, I’ll throw in a little end time “stuff.” We are in the last days of the Church Age. Some of the greatest signs that the Church Age is nearly over are apostasy, false prophets, false teachings, greed and indifference from alleged church leaders, etc. These so-called leaders are everywhere. They are in the pulpits, on the stage, on the television, on the radio, on the Internet, and they love to write books.

I have personally heard much of what has been said by these false prophets (teachers) mentioned in Mr. Hanegraaff’s book, and he didn’t address them all. There are too many. He mentioned some that “maybe” I would not have been as critical, and others he mentioned that I would have been even more so.

The false teachings coming from these snakes can only come from one source. That source is an evil heart being guided by sin and nudged forward by Satan’s influence.

Partly due to the saturation of false teachers in our society with another gospel, which is a false gospel, we are most definitely in the Laodicean age of the church. If you haven’t read Revelation 3:14-22 lately, maybe you should. It is a very clear photograph of our current spiritual condition in this country.

[Jesus said,] “Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?” (Matthew 7:15-16)

Often these false prophets come across as God-fearing folks, but that isn’t the case. They always mix some truth in with their false teachings, and if you are not familiar with what the Bible actually says, you will likely become another one of their victims. They know what to say, and how to say it. They often use the righteous tone of voice that is normally accepted as being very Christ-like, but they are far from Christ. They take verses and even passages and twist them to their own perverted gospel. They are not of God! Beware of them!

The apostle Paul told the Corinthians, “For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. 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” (2 Corinthians 11:13-15).

Paul is saying the same thing that Jesus said. The false prophets are devious in portraying themselves as belonging to Christ, but they do not. Satan also masquerades as a Christian, if I may put it plainly, but we all know, or should know, where he stands.

Paul told Timothy, his protégé, “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables” (2 Timothy 4:3-4, NKJV).

This is EXACTLY what has happened today. Another gospel sounds so much nicer to the ear than the gospel which says that we are condemned without true faith in Jesus Christ, that Jesus is the only way to God, that there is no other way, that God is in charge and He will have His way regardless. In other words, the true Word of God is found in His book He provided for us; i.e. the Bible, not from the mouths of arrogant apostates.

My dear friends, Jesus was not rich while on earth. His desire is not for us to be materially rich (even though some may be) but spiritually rich.

Our physical healing is not nearly as important as our spiritual healing. By His stripes we are healed … spiritually, if we will just repent and believe.

God is in absolute control of everything, and it is by His grace that we are saved.

Jesus did not suffer in hell. It was finished at the cross. He said so.

Jude wrote a very short book, but what a punch it packs. He said, “But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ; How that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts” (Jude 17-19).

Many, many, many of the so-called spokesmen (and women) of today who say they speak for Jesus, are lying to you. They mock God, and if they do not repent and call upon Jesus to save their souls, they will spend eternity in hell. There may be even some who are Christians, but are out of God’s will. Their soul is secure, but they are inviting the Father to take them out to the woodshed, and they will have no reward in heaven.

Folks, just because these false teachers may look nice, wear nice clothes, have the “churchy” smile, provide beautiful music, pray, and maybe even produce a tear now and then, does not mean they are of God. Their father is Satan.

Jesus says of them, “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not” (John 8:44-45).

The Pharisees, Sadducees, false prophets, scribes and hypocrites of yesterday are the false teachers of today. They will lead you away from God, not toward Him. Beware of another gospel.

“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–not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. 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. 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. For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ” (Galatians 1:6-10, ESV).

Grant Phillips

Email grantphillips@windstream.net

http://www.raptureready.com/featured/phillips/phillips205.html

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