Warning
The Apostle Paul wrote,
“Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, like men sent from God.”
2 Corinthians 2:17
Paul here is referring to false teachers that have entered the church and are getting money from gullible church members.
As Christians we must be careful who we send money to. There have been false teacher from the time of the early church until today. Today in the twenty-first century with the mass media world we live in it’s hard to tell the real Christians from the fake.
There’s a lot out there claiming you give ten dollars, a hundred dollars, a thousand dollars to their ministry and God will bless you ten or even a hundred fold. What garbage.
They treat God like a sugar daddy that doles out cash.
It’s alway been my opinion that all ministries calling themselves Christian should send to those who support them a detailed listing of where every penny goes. I know the church I attend and every church in Canada has to report to there congregation how they spent their money during the year. It should be the same for all ministries.
I know good ministries when asked will give an accounting to you if you ask. I would have problems with any ministry that will not provide and accounting of where the money goes.
It is so easy to twist scripture and put a spin on it that makes it sound like it’s right when it’s not.
Paul writing to Timothy warns,
“For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.
They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.”
2 Timothy 4:3,4.
The message here is Christian beware! My advice is always support your local church first. You know who they are and where the money goes. You know that their teaching is in line with the Bible. If it’s not you shouldn’t be there.
So support your local ministry first. Then if you have something extra left over and you feel God telling you to give to a particular ministry give. But don’t expect huge returns on your money. You should give because you want to, not with the thought in mind that you will get interest on your money like some bank.
Giving to God’s work is part of being a Christian. So be wise as to where you give. Pray and ask God where to give and how much. Do not be swayed by some sweet talking televangelist, evangelist, preacher or teacher.
Please think about it.
Showing posts with label Fake Christians. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fake Christians. Show all posts
Friday 10 July 2015
Sunday 28 June 2015
Christians Beware!
Christians beware
“As I urged you when I went into Macedonia, stay there in Ephesus so that you may command certain men not to teach false doctrines any longer
nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies. These promote controversies rather than God’s work—which is by faith.
The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.
Some have wandered away from these and turned to meaningless talk.
They want to be teachers of the law, but they do not know what they are talking about or what they so confidently affirm.”
1 Timothy 1:3-7
Time and time again throughout the Apostle Paul’s letters to the church he warns against false teachers. Today his warnings need to be heeded more than ever.
Christians are generally a trusting people. When someone say’s they are a Christian we believe them.
When someone speaks from the pulpit be that pulpit in a local church or in the media, and says they are a man or woman of God we believe them.
While I would say the majority of teachers, preachers and evangelist in the world today are honest men and women of God teaching what they believe, I know there are a lot of fakes out there. Men and women who would lead people astray or are trying to separate them from their money.
Sadly especially in the evangelical community in North America there is no real way of policing our faith for fakes.
I know of men and women calling themselves Christians who have threatened to take other Christians to court because they threatened to expose blatantly wrong teaching.
Christians should not be taking other Christians to court. Rather we should be willing to have any dispute we have with other fellow believes at the very least mediated by other believers to see if a solution can be reached.
The apostle Paul notes,
“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.
As Christians we need to on guard against those who teach falsely. Men and women who use the Bible for their own gain or to deliberately deceive others and lead them away from the truth about God and Christ.
That is why I urge everyone who claims to be a believer to read the bible for themselves. To pray and ask God to show them the truth in the scriptures.
To question those evangelist, pastors and teachers they are listening to. Don’t be scared to look up the scriptures spoken on by those whom you listen to.
Ask yourself and God are those scriptures used in the right context or have they been misinterpreted.
If you feel there is a conflict talk to others about your suspicions. Even ask the person you were listening to, to explain themselves better.
If you’re not satisfied then stop listening to them, don’t support them.
I am a firm believer in questioning everything that a pastor, teacher or evangelist says or does.
Christian leaders should be held up to a very high standard. Higher than the person sitting in the pew.
Remember the words of Jesus,
“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.
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 7:21-23
Remember also the words of the Apostle Paul who said,
“What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside?
God will judge those outside. “Expel the wicked man from among you.”
1 Corinthians 5:12,13.
So my advice to Christians in general is to guard against false teachers. Examine everything you are being taught or listening to.
Above all ask God to show you what is right so that you are not deceived or led astray.
Please think about it.
“As I urged you when I went into Macedonia, stay there in Ephesus so that you may command certain men not to teach false doctrines any longer
nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies. These promote controversies rather than God’s work—which is by faith.
The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.
Some have wandered away from these and turned to meaningless talk.
They want to be teachers of the law, but they do not know what they are talking about or what they so confidently affirm.”
1 Timothy 1:3-7
Time and time again throughout the Apostle Paul’s letters to the church he warns against false teachers. Today his warnings need to be heeded more than ever.
Christians are generally a trusting people. When someone say’s they are a Christian we believe them.
When someone speaks from the pulpit be that pulpit in a local church or in the media, and says they are a man or woman of God we believe them.
While I would say the majority of teachers, preachers and evangelist in the world today are honest men and women of God teaching what they believe, I know there are a lot of fakes out there. Men and women who would lead people astray or are trying to separate them from their money.
Sadly especially in the evangelical community in North America there is no real way of policing our faith for fakes.
I know of men and women calling themselves Christians who have threatened to take other Christians to court because they threatened to expose blatantly wrong teaching.
Christians should not be taking other Christians to court. Rather we should be willing to have any dispute we have with other fellow believes at the very least mediated by other believers to see if a solution can be reached.
The apostle Paul notes,
“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.
As Christians we need to on guard against those who teach falsely. Men and women who use the Bible for their own gain or to deliberately deceive others and lead them away from the truth about God and Christ.
That is why I urge everyone who claims to be a believer to read the bible for themselves. To pray and ask God to show them the truth in the scriptures.
To question those evangelist, pastors and teachers they are listening to. Don’t be scared to look up the scriptures spoken on by those whom you listen to.
Ask yourself and God are those scriptures used in the right context or have they been misinterpreted.
If you feel there is a conflict talk to others about your suspicions. Even ask the person you were listening to, to explain themselves better.
If you’re not satisfied then stop listening to them, don’t support them.
I am a firm believer in questioning everything that a pastor, teacher or evangelist says or does.
Christian leaders should be held up to a very high standard. Higher than the person sitting in the pew.
Remember the words of Jesus,
“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.
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 7:21-23
Remember also the words of the Apostle Paul who said,
“What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside?
God will judge those outside. “Expel the wicked man from among you.”
1 Corinthians 5:12,13.
So my advice to Christians in general is to guard against false teachers. Examine everything you are being taught or listening to.
Above all ask God to show you what is right so that you are not deceived or led astray.
Please think about it.
Saturday 15 November 2014
True Christians
True Christians
Some one once asked me a simple thing the other day describe a Canadian coin as he presented it to me. I said it had the queens head on it with the words, Elizabeth II D. G. Regina.
He then turned to my friend and asked him to describe the coin as he presented it. He said it has a beaver in the center, with the words 5 cents with maple leave on each side of it. Below the Beaver is the word Canada and below that the date.
To someone who didn’t know any better we were describing different coins. The thing was I described the front and my friend the back of the same coin.
Mahatma Gandhi was a great thinker. A good man who said,
“Jesus is ideal and wonderful, but you Christians - you are not like him.”
Unfortunately Mahatma Gandhi probably didn’t know what a true Christian is. He had only met those who called themselves Christians.
He like many may have though people from the west, particularly the United Kingdom, and the United States are by default Christians. It is not so. You are not born a Christian simply because your parents were or you live in a particular country.
Jesus told this parable.
“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.
For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in,
I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?
When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you?
When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
“The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’”
Matthew 25:34-40
Gandhi did not see this first group. He see the second of whom Jesus said,
“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.
For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink,
I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’
“They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’
“He will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’
“Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”
Matthew 25:41-46
Many people call themselves Christians and the outside world generally believes them. That goes especially for preachers in the media.
Non-Christians generally don’t know how to tell a “real Christian” from one who is a fake.
Tony Campolo the American evangelist said,
“These issues are biblical issues: to care for the sick, to feed the hungry, to stand up for the oppressed. I contend that if the evangelical community became more biblical, everything would change.”
Tony Campolo
What Campolo is saying is correct. We Christians are called to not only go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature, but feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, cloth the needy, look after the sick, visit the prisoner and invite the stranger in.
The Apostle James wrote,
“What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food.
If one of you says to him, “Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it?
In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do.”
James 2:14-18
The bottom line here is that Christians are to show love to all whom they come in contact with.
Jesus when asked what the greatest commandment was said,
Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment.
And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’
All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
Matthew 22:37-40.
Earlier in Matthew Jesus is recorded as saying,
“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbour and hate your enemy.’
But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,
that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.
Matthew 5:43-45
The Apostle Paul writing,
“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Love never fails....
And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”
1 Corinthians 13:4-8a,13.
This is what makes up a true Christian
Think about it.
Some one once asked me a simple thing the other day describe a Canadian coin as he presented it to me. I said it had the queens head on it with the words, Elizabeth II D. G. Regina.
He then turned to my friend and asked him to describe the coin as he presented it. He said it has a beaver in the center, with the words 5 cents with maple leave on each side of it. Below the Beaver is the word Canada and below that the date.
To someone who didn’t know any better we were describing different coins. The thing was I described the front and my friend the back of the same coin.
Mahatma Gandhi was a great thinker. A good man who said,
“Jesus is ideal and wonderful, but you Christians - you are not like him.”
Unfortunately Mahatma Gandhi probably didn’t know what a true Christian is. He had only met those who called themselves Christians.
He like many may have though people from the west, particularly the United Kingdom, and the United States are by default Christians. It is not so. You are not born a Christian simply because your parents were or you live in a particular country.
Jesus told this parable.
“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.
For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in,
I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?
When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you?
When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
“The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’”
Matthew 25:34-40
Gandhi did not see this first group. He see the second of whom Jesus said,
“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.
For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink,
I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’
“They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’
“He will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’
“Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”
Matthew 25:41-46
Many people call themselves Christians and the outside world generally believes them. That goes especially for preachers in the media.
Non-Christians generally don’t know how to tell a “real Christian” from one who is a fake.
Tony Campolo the American evangelist said,
“These issues are biblical issues: to care for the sick, to feed the hungry, to stand up for the oppressed. I contend that if the evangelical community became more biblical, everything would change.”
Tony Campolo
What Campolo is saying is correct. We Christians are called to not only go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature, but feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, cloth the needy, look after the sick, visit the prisoner and invite the stranger in.
The Apostle James wrote,
“What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food.
If one of you says to him, “Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it?
In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do.”
James 2:14-18
The bottom line here is that Christians are to show love to all whom they come in contact with.
Jesus when asked what the greatest commandment was said,
Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment.
And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’
All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
Matthew 22:37-40.
Earlier in Matthew Jesus is recorded as saying,
“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbour and hate your enemy.’
But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,
that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.
Matthew 5:43-45
The Apostle Paul writing,
“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Love never fails....
And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”
1 Corinthians 13:4-8a,13.
This is what makes up a true Christian
Think about it.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)