Monday, April 18, 2016

Beware of False Prophets dressed up like Pastors!

For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect Matt 24:24

But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction. 2 Peter 2:1

Both Jesus and the Apostles warned us over and over and over about False prophets and False teachers who would appear like "Christians", like sheep, like angels of light, but who would, in fact, be agents of Satan worming their way into the body of Christ and introducing false teachings that would deceive many. I've mentioned this before on my blog because I truly believe that we live in an age where there is a tremendous amount of deception going on in the church.  And I'm not just talking about the obvious people like Benny Hinn, Ted Haggart, Jim Baker, or Bob Coy.  I'm talking about your everyday normal pastor or elder, the guy that most people would never suspect at all. The one through which Satan so craftily and stealthily introduces the smallest of deviations from Scripture. Just a little error here, a little error there, all mixed up with truth, and before you know it, the church is off believing the wrong thing, and even in extreme cases, the wrong Jesus.  

In prior posts, I've listed some things that we do and say in church that are not in the Bible, things which have come down through traditions that most Christians accept as the Gospel. Most of these are probably harmless. Things like the way we do communion, the organization of the church, sinners prayer, seeker-friendly programs, etc.   But I'm talking about something much deeper here. Something that affects the core beliefs of Christians. 

In 1987 a man named Jeffrey Hadden did a survey of 10,000 Protestant Clergymen, out of which 7441 replied. Here's his questions and the responses

“Do you accept Jesus’ physical resurrection as a fact?  
"NO" American Lutherans: 13%
"NO" Presbyterians: 30%
"NO"  American Baptist: 33%
"NO"  Episcopalians: 35%
"NO"  Methodists: 51%

“Do you believe in the virgin birth of Jesus?  “No” was the response from 60% of Methodists down to 5% of Missouri Synod Lutherans (MS Lutherans).

“Do you believe in evil demon power in the world today?  62% of Methodist pastors said, “No” varying down to 2% of MS Lutherans.

“Do you believe that the Scriptures are the inspired and inerrant Word of God in faith, history, and secular matters? 
"NO" 87% of Methodists
"NO"  95% of Episcopalians
"NO"  82% of Presbyterians
"NO"  67% of American Baptists
"NO"  77% of American Lutherans
"NO" 24% of Missouri Synod Lutherans

Let me remind you that this was TWENTY years ago!  How much worse is this apostasy now?
Well, you may say, I don't attend one of those denominational churches, and my pastor believes all of the above. Does he?  He may very well, but how do you know for sure? We live in a country where over HALF the Christians do not believe Satan exists. Barna Study 

My husband and I have left THREE churches here in Northern California because of apostasy. Two because the pastor fell and the last because we didn't believe their seeker-friendly programs and preaching-only-half-the-gospel was a good place for us to be.  I guess that has made me a little skeptical about church leaders, which I'm thankful for. In the past, if the Church Beliefs listed on the website aligned with mine, I believed everything the pastor told me. I assumed that he was a man of God who spent tons more hours studying Scripture and hearing from God than I had time for. So, surely he knew more than I did, and had an inside knowledge of interpreting Scriptures

I was wrong. I believe the problem is that MOST Christians are like I was, blindly following what their pastor or elders say. Honestly, they don't know any better because MOST Christians don't read the Bible for themselves.  How can you know if your pastor has gone off track if you don't even know the right track to be on?  Mind you, some deviations are so subtle that unless you know the Bible really well, you will miss them.  That's why it is SO IMPORTANT to be in the WORD everyday. And not just a chapter here and a chapter there. Read the entire Bible once or twice a year. Read and study. And when your pastor or even a friend says something that you aren't sure about, do your research. If you can't it in the Scripture, ask your pastor to show you. This goes for sermons you may hear online or on CDs you purchase.  TEST everything.

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 1 John 4:1

There is a GREAT delusion coming upon the world, and it's going to start in the church. We must be ever more diligent in these last days to keep in the Word and keep in prayer and pray that God keeps us from deception. Don't think you are immune to it. None of us are.   Time to get serious, folks.


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17 comments:

  1. Hi, Marylu! So glad you decided to make a post on that info.:) I know what you mean about pastors and wordly churches. My family and I left our church three years ago, but thank God that we now found a gathering where the Word of God and the Holy Spirit do their work.I pray for all of our brothers and sisters to be dilligent in seeking the biblical truth and in discerning the spirits.We need to be vigilant now more than ever.God keep us all safe in the palm of His hand!

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    1. History is full of examples of men being used by the Almighty without human mentorship. This awe inspiring event is not isolated to the instance of The Holy Prophet TB Joshua. Thorough biblical exploration would reveal many of God’s generals with no record or register of human mentorship. Who was the mentor of Jeremiah, who the Bible says God called right from his mother’s womb? Who was the mentor of John the Baptist, sent from above to prepare the way for the Saviour? Who was the mentor of Apostle Paul, who was blinded on the road to Damascus while intent on the destruction of Christians, subsequently to become a leading figure in New Testament Christianity? What about Moses, Elijah or King David? Human backing and tuition are clearly not a qualification for divine assignments.”

      Today most churches are simply glorified motivational centres that offer nice sounding words without the Resurrection Power. The sincere suffering masses never get what Jesus commanded them to have, FREE HEALING, FREE DELIVERANCE and FREE BLESSING. The time is now, where in every true church, regardless of their religion, mind-blowing evidence of the Father’s LOVE with miracles, signs and wonders will be freely available to the suffering masses for all that come to the Messiah.

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    2. Pastors run churches as their own private business while TB Joshua don’t even own a bank account.
      Sadly, the gap between the so-called religious accusers and the Holy Prophet TB Joshua is ever widening as many leading pastors in the world are becoming more embroiled in the pursuit of money and material gain than the essence of Christ’s gospel and work. Kingdom business seems more like worldly business, with pastors making headlines for expensive acquisitions, lavish living and political speeches as opposed to solving problems, meeting needs and changing lives.
      Ilobi Austin, a catholic in faith, wrote, “While God is ordering the Holy Prophet (T.B. Joshua’s) counterparts to acquire more automobiles and in some cases, private jets with cost in the billion bracket, the same God is asking the Holy Prophet TB Joshua to love humanity like himself and consequently, improve their earthly and heavenly fortunes. Prophet TB Joshua is today, father to the fatherless, mother to the motherless, friend to the friendless and government to the government-less. Little wonder then, that the good Lord magnanimously found him worthy for the arduous task of delivering his people from the vice grip of the devil. Such powers in the hands of such ministers, who have made the criticism of his ministries their pastime, would have seen deliverance going to the highest bidders.”
      Investigations reveal that TB Joshua don’t even own a bank account. He simply gives away freely.

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  2. Wonderful post, MaryLu - thank you!! I love that last verse (1 John 4:1), and yes - we must test everything and stay in the Word to maintain a close relationship with Him. The stats in your posts are always eye-opening and wonderful reminders of our need to remain vigilant - thank you!!

    Love, prayer, and hugs!!

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  3. Yes, the key is to "test everything". Very good post, my friend. We decided not to return to our last church, because one of the deacons was influencing the pastor in the wrong way.

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  4. Amos 8:11.
    " The days are coming, " declares the Sovereign Lord,
    "When I will send a famine through the land---
    Not a famine of food or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the
    Words of the Lord".

    It seems in this day and age of not being able to pray or speak of our love of God where others might hear and be offended that we are feeling that famine as did the ones in the age of Amos.
    That famine cannot touch the hearts of those who thirst after the water of Christ. Yes we need to be aware at all times of God's true words. Read His word daily and keep them close to you always .Share them with other believers and even those who do not believe and pray for them, always lifting them up to our Glorious Father. Be strong take heart and wait on the Lord!
    Thank you MaryLu you always brighten my Spiritual Walk and make me search deeper into God's word !

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  5. Great Post!! I am so thankful for our pastor and church. He preaches the word and believes the TRUTH! I did not realize the percentage of protestants that don't. WOW!! Thanks for sharing.

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  6. Hi Everyone! Yes, these stats really shocked me! And from 20 years ago. I think most of the church is asleep right now and hasn't a clue what is really going on! Thanks for your comments. I enjoy reading them and they mean a great deal to me. :-)

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  7. I think you would have liked my Large Group Time message for Awana a few weeks ago. I lied to the kids. On purpose. I started off by telling them that there is more than one way to get to Heaven. Then I told them that the Bible wasn’t true, it was just a bunch of fairy tales. I had prompted my leaders to be listening and ready and sure enough, a couple kids started mumbling disagreement with me. I played it up, claiming I was their Awana leader, had in fact been in Awana for 20 years. I went to Bible college for goodness sakes! Once all the other kids caught on to what was happening, I admitted that I had lied. Then I shared with them some stories of times recently whether either the pastor, a Christian friend or a Bible study book had said something that contradicted the Bible. I told the kids that the only way to know the truth from the lies is to be reading and studying and memorizing the Bible. So then I gave them more lies and asked them to quote a verse to prove me a liar. For every lie, at least 1 kid in the room could come up with a verse to prove it a lie! Then I sent them home with a list of 37 lies and told them I’d give them a piece of candy for every 5 lies they could contradict with a Scripture passage. And 4 of them actually did it! They got out their Bibles and found verses proving that the statement was a lie! It was a fun game, but hopefully a lesson they will remember for the rest of their lives – that to know what’s true and what’s not, you have to look in the Bible, you can’t just listen to what people say!

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    1. Wow, what an incredibly brilliant exercise to put the kids through! What was the age group? Wouldn't that be a great thing for a pastor to do for his church. Tell them that there were say 3 lies in his sermon that week and to challenge them to find out what they were and use Scripture to prove him wrong? That might actually get people to open their Bibles! Thanks for sharing.

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    2. Great stuff to get the kids to study the Scriptures dilligently!:D Kudos to you! Yes, this excercise will be most helpful to them later on when they encounter the real challenges of life.:)I second what Marylu said, we definitely need this for adults too in the church!

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  8. Exposing the lie of New Age movement:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Im_vn-XMPM

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  9. Exposing Joel Osteen:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GP08zQhY_UQ

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    1. Thank you, Rose, for these videos. I've subscribed to The Vigilant Christian now. I've always known about Joel..something deep inside just cringed whenever I saw him or his books. :-(

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  10. Nice post! My daddy is a preacher, and one if his frequent requests is that those that listen spend time in the word to see of what he is teaching is accurate and Biblical. I was taught that you don't answer Biblical questions with, " I think", or " I feel or " I was taught. We are to give scripture as our basis send foundation. I was blessed to be under my daddy's preaching for 30 years. It isn't the largest church in town, but it has wonderful friendly people, a pastor who loves his flock, and a pastor's wife who does as well. My daddy's admonition to my hubby once in filling in was, " Love the people." If a pastor does, he will preach the whole counsel of God...and be the watchman God wants him to be. Having moved and gone to more churches as I got older, I realize more and more just how blessed I really was those 30 wonderful years. My daddy is still preaching the same old story at the same church, and oh, how I miss being there!!

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    1. Yes, you truly were blessed to grow up in such a wonderful church with a wonderful father. :-)

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