Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Success: Climbing the Ladder of...Satan?

Regarding the recent "uprisings" in the Middle East, which should our government and Department of Justice be focusing on and going after:

A man who did a film/video which denounces Islam and Muhammed...or the people who brutally attacked and murdered 4 Americans in a planned assault on our American Embassy in Libya?

If Christians...and Americans in general...cannot see that speaking out on sin...proclaiming the truth of the Word of God which states that ANY OTHER religion is FALSE (other than Christianity - accepting Jesus as God: born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, died on the cross for our sins, arose 3 days later, ascended to the Father, and He is coming again)...is now being consider "hate speech"...then they are blind and deceived.

Satan is at work in all of this. Sadly, many WITHIN the Church are blindly SUPPORTING Satan in this. Many are saying speaking out against false teachers and false prophets is an "attack" against ministers. They fail to realize it is actually a DEFENSE of God's Word...and a rebuke of what God's Word says rebuke: false doctrine.

We seem to have come to a time in America and in the Church where SPEAKING OUT...telling the TRUTH...is considered SIN...while false doctrine coming from false prophets and false teachers is simply considered "a difference of opinion."

In these cases...Satan has WON!

Satan's primary goal in our modern age has been to do just that: get LIES labeled a simple "difference of opinion", causing TRUTH to now be just "one of the acceptable doctrines or teachings" which is OK to speak from the pulpits of churches across America. Yet, further, Satan continues to push that TRUTH is actually "hate speech."

Can you see it? Here is the progression:

1. Get LIES labeled as "just a difference of opinion."
2. Allow LIES to be taught SIDE-BY-SIDE with TRUTH.
3. Get TRUTH labeled "hate speech."
4. Get "hate speech" silenced.
5. Leave LIES as the only words allowed spoken in pulpits.

This cannot be BRUSHED OFF and IGNORED. We are living in that progression...actually BETWEEN point 4 and 5!

Church...Christians...WAKE UP!

I dare you to SEEK GOD...and I dare you to QUESTION and REBUKE those who fill the pulpits of churches across America...those ministers who refuse to mention anything like I have spoken here...those who only speak of "an attack of Satan" when they are being rebuked for their insistence to preach and focus on FALSE DOCTRINES...teaching "God wants Christians rich and comfortable", as they INTENTLY focus on EARTHLY COMFORT, never warning the Church of the things which Jesus, Peter, Paul, John, and much of the ENTIRE BIBLE would focus on:

1. False teachers and false prophets will come in the last days, preaching and speaking words of "comfort" and "blessing"...with their messages VOID of WARNING and REBUKE and CHASTISEMENT...with messages centered on ANYTHING that will make people simply FEEL BETTER about themselves.



 2. Getting caught up on EARTHLY PLEASURES and EARTHLY CONTENTMENT while seldom focusing on ETERNITY.

 3. Salvation is indeed a "free gift"...but if OBEDIENCE does not follow...if WORKS are not BIRTHED from that gift...then that GRACE was "without effect"...and that makes a MOCKERY of grace.

 4. REPENTANCE FOR SIN is needed ANY time we sin...not just in the act of receiving salvation! We cannot sin and simply claim "GRACE!"...all the while ignoring CONFESSION and REPENTANCE with allows FORGIVENESS.

 5. Christians are NOT promised "favor" as the Body of Christ! Remember...the body of Christ...the actual physical body of Jesus...had to be "BROKEN"! God's Word actually promises Christians this: we will be increasingly hated, despised, rejected, persecuted, hunted, imprisoned, and murdered. And there lies the problem: American Christians have lived in luxury and have NO REAL IDEA what TRUE PERSECUTION is. American Christians have mistaken DISCOMFORT for PERSECUTION! Sadly, the American Church has been so pampered and coddled and pacified that it has scarcely left the cradle...all the while proclaiming itself "A MATURE, STRONG BODY"...while never truly experiencing the type of persecution that other Christians face around the world.

Too many dismiss this truth because they simply do not like the messenger. Yet...if the Church of God General Overseer...or the leader of any other denomination...spoke these EXACT same words, these same people would be shouting "AMEN!" And even then...many would only be shouting in agreement with puckered lips! And...if that bluntness offends you...I wonder why the TRUTH of that statement does not offend you even MORE!

This is EXACTLY what I just felt the Lord speak to me about that word and thought:

"Do not worry, Ron. Most American Christians would TOTALLY dismiss John the Baptist today. In their version of Christianity, John would be OUT OF PLACE and OUT OF TOUCH and not IMPORTANT ENOUGH to listen to. Today's Christians demand any message to be delivered by someone they deem WORTHY. So, instead of following TRUTH, they have actually been just following MEN. Yet, in their blindness, they worship at the feet of HIERARCHY...willing to accept almost ANY doctrinal position as long as it comes from the elected 'authority'. This is what has led to such rampant excesses within the Church, as most called to preach My Word have simply viewed their calling as 'climbing the ladder of success'. In doing so, MINISTRY has become just a MEANS TO AN END...instead of MINISTRY being the goal...to minster MY WORD to each and every lost soul! As they focus on those already 'saved'...teaching false doctrines of wealth and gain and favor and earthly blessing...the command to 'do it unto the least of these'...keeping the focus on the hungry, the poor, the homeless, the lost...has been largely ignored. Many will claim 'We minister to all of those groups!', yet any true evalution of their ministry shows almost ALL time, money, and energy spent is spent on those who are labeled 'MINISTRY PARTNERS'...and the cycle of 'CATERING TO SUPPORTERS' is a perpetual MERRY-GO-ROUND. It is a system which heaps praise on a LEADER...no matter the message that the LEADER speaks! It is a system which claims ACCOUNTABILITY...yet is actually a system of ACCESSIBILITY: a system of MAN by which AGREEMENT and PRAISE gives one some access to those in leadership. It is the system you saw as a young man, Ron. Remember? It is a ministry system in which YES MEN are rewarded. It is a system in which YES MEN are encouraged. It is a system which PROMOTES conformity...yet it labels 'trying the spirits to see if they be of God' as DISSENSION and TROUBLEMAKING. It is a system in which FALSE TEACHING and FALSE DOCTRINE flourish. And...it is the SAME system which imprisoned John the Baptist...and then BEHEADED him. Just as with John, it is the RELIGIOUS who HATE the cry of the prophet. They hate the prophet for his MESSAGE...and the fact that he doesn't fit their mold."

I once spoke and wrote these words:

I fear that some are seeking to climb the corporate ladder...only to find the ladder was leaned against the wrong wall!

That, I believe, is a message for the Church. And many ministers and Christians and churches are busy "climbing the ladder"...yet it is leaned against the wall of FALSE DOCTRINE/FALSE TEACHING/FALSE PROPHETS.

It is your choice to accept my words or to simply reject them. But...I am sure these words are written under the urging of the Holy Spirit. May God bless and use these words in ways beyond my ability.

In Christ,
Ron

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