Do you question?

 Do you question?

"Jesus answered: "Watch out that no one deceives you.  

"For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Christ,' and will deceive many." Matthew 24:4,5.

The apostle Paul stated,

"For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.  

They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths." 2Timothy 4:3,4.

The Gospel of Christ has been around in excess of two thousand years. In that time it’s truths have been twisted by charlatans for their own purpose.

These men and women were around when Paul and the apostles were around and they warned against them.

These men and women are around today. That is why we must be carful. That is why we must read the Bible for ourselves and know what we believe and why we believe it. So that no one will call us to fall away from Christ.

I firmly believe we as individual Christians have the right to question any teaching that we may suspect as wrong. Going as far as asking the pastor, teacher or evangelist why they teach what they teach. To prove that what they are teaching is true. 

Do you ever question what is being spoken from the pulpit or by men and women claiming to be teachers of Gods word in the media?

Perhaps you should.

Please think about it.

Who are you bowing too?

 Who are you bowing too?

The Psalmist writes,

"I will praise you, O LORD, with all my heart; 

before the "gods" I will sing your praise.”

                                                               Psalm 138:1.

It is important that we as Christians are not ashamed to praise God. The world has many ‘gods’ and sadly all too many people calling themselves Christians are bowing down to these gods be it the god of materialism, a politician, or even a preacher, teacher or evangelist.

As Christians we must always keep our priorities strait. We must focus on God and praise Him with our whole heart.

Are you praising God or are you bowing to the gods of this world?

Please think about it.

Do you follow preachers blindly?

 Do you follow preachers blindly?

The apostle Peter writes,

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

Many will follow their shameful ways and will bring the way of truth into disrepute.  

In their greed these teachers will exploit you with stories they have made up. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping" 2 Peter 2:1-3

Here Peter warns about false teachers arising. Introducing heresies and denying Jesus.

One commentator states they will “commercialize” the Christian faith for their own gain. It is happening today.

There are many especially in the media that are stating things that Jesus never taught. They are twisting the words of Jesus for their own gain. Sadly many of these prosperity doctrine preachers are seen as the face of Christianity in the media.

These people are giving God a black eye.

There only purpose is to line their own pockets.

When I speak to people especially none Christians and they note how commercialized Christianity seems to be I agree with them. 

Peter warns, "In their greed these teachers will exploit you with stories they have made up."

Sadly many people are blindly trusting these preachers, teachers, and evangelist.

As Christians we need to look carefully at the people we follow. We need to check what they are saying against the Bible. We need to ask the question are these people truly following the teachings of Christ?

Do you do this? OR do you blindly believe the preachers, teachers, and evangelist because of their ‘position’ in the media or church?

Please think about it.

A Word of Caution

  A word of Caution

Jesus said,

"Many will say to me  on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?'  

Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'" Matthew 7:22,23.

The apostle Paul wrote,

"For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.  

They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths." 2Timothy 4:3,4.

The apostle Peter states,

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

Many will follow their shameful ways and will bring the way of truth into disrepute.  

In their greed these teachers will exploit you with stories they have made up. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping."2 Peter 2:1-3.

Someone has said,

I believe in God; I just don't trust anyone who works for him."

                                                                               Author Unknown.

Sadly this is true of many non-Christians here in North America. North America someone has said, “suffers from freedom.”

Meaning, we have so much freedom anyone can do and say almost anything. And especially in the United States if someone speaks out against you can sue them.

Thus anyone can claim to be a Christian preacher, evangelist or teacher and not correctly presenting the Bible. They can and many will present and say almost anything. The reason most of the time is to get rich.

So what I am saying here to anyone reading this is to be careful as to who you listen to or follow when it comes to following a particular pastor, evangelist or teacher.

Listen to what they are saying. Then compare it to what the Bible says and see if it is in context. See if what the preacher is saying is truly what the Bible is saying. 

If not at the very least question the preacher about what he or she said. If they don’t want to clarify it with you, wont talk to you, or their explanation does not make sense, stop following or listening to them.

The bottom line is be careful. Pastors, evangelist, and Christian teachers are human and make mistakes. But if they don’t correct themselves that becomes a problem.

Always remember if there are mistakes made by the preacher it’s not the Bibles fault it is the one who is interpreting that’s the problem.

Please think about it.

What you say

What you say
James the half brother of Jesus and leader of the early church in Jerusalem writes,
“Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.  
We all stumble in many ways. If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to keep his whole body in check. 
When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal.  
Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go.  
Likewise the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark.  
The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell. 
All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and creatures of the sea are being tamed and have been tamed by man,  but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. 
With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God’s likeness.  
Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be." James 3:1-10.
Here is a warning to anyone who would want to be or considers themselves to be teacher. That they will be judged more strictly.
James goes on to tell all believers in Christ to watch what they say. That out of their mouth can come praise to God and the cursing of men.
Over the years I’ve see way to many men and women claiming to be Christians condemning other faiths and lifestyles. Something Jesus never did.
I believe, believers in Christ Jesus have been given a sacred duty to proclaim the Love of God to all who will listen. To proclaim God’s saving grace to all mankind.
People however will not listen to you if you are speaking out against their faith or their lifestyle.
Jesus set for us an example. Jesus is recorded as sitting down with what the pharisees called “sinners and tax collectors” (Mark 2:16,17). People the pharisees rejected.
Sadly today there are many claiming to be Christians who by not “taming their tongue” are turning people away from Jesus. Potentially sentencing them to a Christless eternity.
While you might disagree with another persons faith or lifestyle we as Christians have no right to judge them. Billy Graham the great American evangelist said,

“It is the Holy Spirits Job to Convict, 

God’s job to judge 

and 

my job to love, 

                     Billy Graham

As believers in Christ Jesus we need to watch what we say and reach out with the Love of God to all who will listen to us.
Please think about it.

A Sermon for the Ages

A sermon for the ages

Many contemporary pastors and evangelist have said many things about Jesus. Here however is what the apostle Paul said about Jesus. He was speaking to the learned men of his day in Athens. Never the less his message is a message for the ages and thus a message for we who live in the twenty-first century.
The men were philosophers who had beliefs of their own. Unlike many today however they were open to new teachings. They were men that had open minds who truly wanted to learn.
Men who wanted to know the truth.
The book of Acts records the following
“So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there.  
A group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to dispute with him. Some of them asked, “What is this babbler trying to say?” Others remarked, “He seems to be advocating foreign gods.” They said this because Paul was preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection.  
Then they took him and brought him to a meeting of the Areopagus, where they said to him, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting?  
You are bringing some strange ideas to our ears, and we want to know what they mean.” (All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas.) 
Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “Men of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious.  
For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you. 
“The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands.  
And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else.  
From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live.  
God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.  
‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’ 
“Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by man’s design and skill.  
In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.  
For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead.” 
When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered, but others said, “We want to hear you again on this subject.”  
At that, Paul left the Council.  
A few men became followers of Paul and believed. Among them was Dionysius, a member of the Areopagus, also a woman named Damaris, and a number of others."
                                                                                                  Acts 17:17-34
Think about it.