Saturday, August 1,
2015, 9:44 p.m. – The Lord Jesus put in mind the song “My Sheep.” Speak, Lord, your words to my heart. I read 2 Peter 2 (Selected vv. NASB).
False Teachers
(vv. 1-3)
But
false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false
teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even
denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves.
Many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth
will be maligned; and in their greed they will exploit you with false words;
their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.
A heresy is a deviation; “an opinion, doctrine, or practice
contrary to the truth” (M-W). It is similar in nature to apostasy, which means
“departure (implying desertion); apostasy – literally, ‘a leaving, from a
previous standing’" (biblehub.com). There is much heresy and apostasy
within the church today, which has been secretly introduced into the teachings
of the church. It was very slight and subtle, at first, but as the people began
to accept the lies which were cleverly disguised as truth, more and more was
introduced, and more and more was also accepted as truth when, in fact, much of
it was lies.
It works something like this: My husband and I both grew up
with televisions in our homes during the 1950’s through the 1970’s. So, as
children and young adults, TV watching was just part of our lives. TV shows
back then were much tamer than they are now, yet they had many subtle messages
contained within them which were being daily introduced into our minds. In the
1980’s we were introduced to movie rentals. Up to that moment, we had seen
movies mainly on TV, which were edited for television, so renting movies meant
introducing even more stuff into our minds. We got addicted to watching movies,
and soon we had seen most of the ones in the video store, and so we started
buying movies, and introduced even more garbage into our minds. Little by
little we accepted more and more junk, which we should never have accepted, all
in the name of entertainment. The more we accepted, the more we desensitized
ourselves to what we were taking into our minds.
And, this is how heresy gets secretly introduced into the
church, too. The process has been slow and subtle. The more the people of the
church have accepted these subtle heresies, the more they have become
desensitized to them to where they don’t see them. For instance, in 1999 my
husband and I put our TV away for 6 months. At first we didn’t know what to do
without it, but then we did fine, but after 6 months we reintroduced it back
into our lives, which was a mistake. We were both amazed at what we now noticed
that we had not noticed before. We were also shocked at how much we had been
desensitized to the junk so that we didn’t see it. Logic says we should have discarded
the TV then, but it was in 2008 that we got rid of our TV for good, and I have
not missed it one bit. Praise the Lord!
In the protestant evangelical church, which was my
upbringing, I have seen a huge paradigm shift take place in the church just in
the past 15 years. That is when I became aware of the Rick Warren Purpose
Driven movement, which literally transformed evangelical Christianity away from
the foundations of the gospel according to Jesus and his apostles to a
foundation of human teachings and human marketing schemes for the purpose of
drawing in large crowds of people into the gatherings of the church. That is
when I began to notice pastors, who had once preached the true gospel of
salvation, altering and diluting the gospel to make it more appealing to human
flesh. They began to focus most of their time and attention and financial
contributions toward the “Big Show” on Sunday mornings, and on making the world
feel comfortable, non-threatened and not offended by the gospel.
Then, in 2011, I became aware of an even greater deviation
from the truth. This one was not just diluting the gospel to make it more
appealing to the people of this sinful world, or marketing the church just like
any other human-based business, or making church “fun” and “entertaining” for
the world so they would want to come to its meetings. This deviation (apostasy)
moved in the direction of the blending of different religions into one and the
introduction of pagan beliefs and practices into the church in the name of
Christianity. And, the people put up with it easily enough.
Because the church did not blink an eye, for the most part,
when all these other transitions and introductions of destructive heresies took
place, the people were prepped to just accept whatever their pastors fed them
next. Too many people are far too trusting of people in positions of religious
leadership and they often follow them blindly with full allegiance, and thus
they do not test what they hear against the Word to make sure it is truth.
This transition is called “Emergent” or “New Age,” and there
is much deception contained within. I was first introduced to this through the
teachings of a man named John Eldredge, because a loved one of mine was
following this man’s false teachings. Eldredge was a student of Larry Crabb,
and Larry Crabb was a student of the teachings of CS Lewis. The teachings of Eldredge,
Crabb and Lewis all mix pagan mythology and mysticism in with Christianity. And,
a large portion of today’s church has accepted this teaching. This is all
leading to a one-world religion where the people of the world put aside what
divides us and they all come together as one in unity under the New World Order
“beast,” unless they refuse the mark of the beast and choose to stand strong on
their faith in Jesus Christ.
Promising Freedom
(vv. 17-22)
These
are springs without water and mists driven by a storm, for whom the black
darkness has been reserved. For speaking out arrogant words of vanity they
entice by fleshly desires, by sensuality, those who barely escape from the ones
who live in error, promising them freedom while they themselves are slaves of
corruption; for by what a man is overcome, by this he is enslaved. For if,
after they have escaped the defilements of the world by the knowledge of the
Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and are
overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. For it would
be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having
known it, to turn away from the holy commandment handed on to them. It has
happened to them according to the true proverb, “A dog returns to its own
vomit,” and, “A sow, after washing, returns to wallowing in the mire.”
Many, many church congregations today have introduced movies
or movie clips into their worship services. They see this as using parables to
teach biblical truth, but often times the movies from which these “clips” are
taken have situations in them where people who are not married to each other
are involved sexually one with the other. So, they are using what is ungodly
and unholy to try to teach what is godly, righteous and holy, but the two are
in conflict with each other. Or else the movies glorify other sins such as
stealing, lying or cheating, etc. In addition to this, many pastors are very
worldly, and so they introduce worldly thought and actions into their sermons,
oftentimes in order to make them more entertaining. So, meeting together with
the church in these buildings called “church” these days is not much different
than going to see movies in a movie theatre. We have had to walk out of church
meetings because of the sensual nature of what was going on inside.
Many of these modern church congregations and their leaders
prey on the people of this sinful world who are “unchurched” and who lack
biblical knowledge and understanding, because the biblically ignorant are most
likely to believe whatever they are told. At the same time, many of these
leaders, too, are warned against those who hold to the truths of scripture and
who believe in the gospel as taught by Jesus and his apostles, and these
leaders are, thus, being schooled in how to get rid of those with “strong
convictions.” They teach the people that all they have to do is pray a prayer
to receive Christ, and that they don’t have to repent of sin or obey Christ to
be saved. In fact, many of these false teachers tell the people that God
requires nothing of them at all other than the faith to believe, although that
faith is not explained. So, they are promising people freedom from the
punishment of sin and they are giving them a false hope of heaven when they
die, yet they are not free themselves from slavery to sin nor do they teach
freedom from bondage to sin.
Yet, Jesus taught death to sin. He said that if anyone would
come after him, he must deny self (his self-life), take up his cross daily (die
daily to sin and self), and follow (obey) Jesus. He said if we hold on to our
old lives (of living for sin and self) we will lose them for eternity, but if
we willingly lose our lives (die to sin and self), we will gain eternal life
(See Lu. 9:23-25). His Word teaches us that coming to faith in Jesus Christ
means we die with Christ to sin, and we are resurrected with Christ to newness
(new birth) of life, “created to be like God in true righteousness and
holiness” (See Eph. 4:24). Jesus died that we might die to sin and live to
righteousness (See 1 Peter 2:24). He died that we might no longer live for
ourselves, but for him who gave himself up for us (2 Co. 5:15). And, He died
that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us who walk no
longer according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. If we walk
according to the flesh, we will die, but if by the Spirit we put to death the
deeds of the flesh, we will live (See Ro. 8:1-14).
Scripture also warns much against mixing paganism in with
faith in the One and Only true God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The NT
scriptures have set the standard for Christian faith and practice. They have
much to warn us against, but also to encourage us in, if we will spend the time
becoming students of the Word and not be students of movies and ungodly and
humanistic teaching and philosophy, so that we know the will of God for our
lives. Jesus said that his sheep (his followers) know his voice, they listen to
him, and they follow (obey) him, and these are the ones who can’t be snatched
out of his hands. He also said that his sheep don’t follow strangers (false
teachers), but they run away from them.
So, are we listening to the Lord by spending much time in
his Word, hearing what he has to say? And, by obeying what we hear from the
Lord? Are we testing what we hear from humans against the Word of God, to see
if it is truth, or if we are believing lies? And, are we running away from
false teachers/teaching? Or, are we spiritually and physically lazy, and so we
just buy into whatever sounds good to our itching ears, and so we don’t bother
to check it out to see if it is truth or not? We need to follow our Lord in
obedience, and not follow strangers (those who teach what is contrary to the
truths of scripture and the gospel). And, we need to be discerning about what
we are daily taking into our minds. If we are allowing ourselves to daily be
entertained by what is junk and what is sinful, it will fight against us being
able to walk in the Spirit and to live godly and holy lives, pleasing to God.
My Sheep / An
Original Work / June 24, 2012
Based off John 10:1-18 NIV
My sheep hear me. They know me.
They listen to my voice and obey.
I call them and lead them.
They know my voice, so they follow me.
They will never follow strangers.
They will run away from them.
The voice of a stranger they know not;
They do not follow him.
So, I tell you the truth that
I am the gate, so you enter in.
Whoever does enter
Will find forgiveness and will be saved.
Nonetheless whoever enters
Not by the gate; other way,
He is the thief and a robber.
Listen not, the sheep to him.
Oh, I am the Good Shepherd,
Who laid his own life down for the sheep.
I know them. They know me.
They will live with me eternally.
The thief only comes to steal and
Kill and to destroy the church.
I have come to give you life that
You may have it to the full…
They know my voice, so they follow me.
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