Are our pastors leading us astray?

Gideon · August 5, 2018

Consider: When was the last time you heard a sermon with any sort of a warning, an exhortation, or a rebuke coming from the pulpit of your church? We are living in an age where the gospel message is nothing but good things, where things like repentance, counting the cost, or hating ones life are deemed unnecessary to those who have come to the deeper understanding of grace.

As we read the New Testament, there are countless scriptures from various men of God, including Peter, Paul, James and John and yes, even Jesus Himself that are there for warning, teaching, correction, rebuke, chastening and instruction in righteousness.

We pride ourselves as “spirit filled believers” that we believe and take to heart the whole word of God, that every word is God breathed. But do we? Do we really? You see, the truth is,that we are sitting under pastors and teachers that we admire, that we think we are in agreement with, but when was the last time you heard your pastor warn you about sin, or worldliness, or the love of money, or of a gospel that tickles itching ears?

You see, if we find that as we sit under our pastor, listening to him share his take on the gospel with us Sunday after Sunday, and almost never do we hear the balance that we see so clearly in the New Testament, is there not a red flag that ought to pop up in our souls?

We are told that in the last days, men are going to heap to themselves teachers that will scratch their itching ears, telling them what they want to hear, rather than what they need to hear. Hmmm.... Maybe it is not the pastors leading us astray, but visa verse. Ouch.

Paul tells us in Romans 11:

Behold therefor the goodness and the severity of God. On them which fell, severity, but towards thou goodness, if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise, thou also shalt be cut off.”

Romans 11:22

My point here is not to say we are missing all the “bad stuff” so let’s concentrate on that, fill everyone with fear, and a healthy dose of legalism, and restore balance to our gospel. What I am trying to point out is that our gospel compass has become flawed, and just concentrating on those perceived negatives for a while will not fix it. Darkness approaches. Will we be raptured away? Perhaps. Perhaps not. But if we do not get our gospel compass fixed, it will not matter.

And how do we escape this situation where we talk a lot about God but have somehow let ourselves be led astray from the real purpose of the gospel, which is our abiding in Christ Himself?

I pray you hear my words. Until we can admit that we are desperately in need of discovering the HOW of abiding in Him, where it is no more us that live, but Christ who now lives in us, we can heap together more pastors that will fill us with a gospel with no balance, or, conversely, align ourselves with hard God-fearing pastors that warn us till the cows come home to beware this, or beware that, and it will make little difference. Both lack one thing..... life.

In these last days, God is even now beginning to awaken us to our great need, and praise God, to His greater supply. The early church flourished and turned the world upside down, not because of their missionary programs, or because of their lavish sanctuaries replete with great programs for the children. The love they shared was plain to be seen by others on the outside, all because of one thing. The life of Christ was beating in their breasts.

Is this not the great fix desperately needed for our broken compass? We have been healed, but only slightly. We have been trained to defend our take on the gospel for if we do not, and admit that our take on it has shortcomings, we will open floodgates of doubt. But let us remember, it was Laodecia who said ‘We have need of nothing.’ If we are to get anywhere, honesty with God is the first order of business.

God has a walk for each one of us that defies what we can even imagine. Our birthright is victory over the world, the flesh and the devil. We are told that we are to be made overcomers, yet how we limit the Holy one of Israel to do that for us. In the coming days, the church is going to be shaken. The mother of all church splits is about to take place..... the sheep and the goats will part company.

And what will the determining factor be as to which side we end up on? Simple.

Does our heart hunger after Him?

When He asks each one of us “Lovest thou me more then these?” .... with ‘these’ being anything we can think of., or even all of them rolled up into one... will our answer be ‘yes, Lord.’?

Blessings,

Gideon

Michael37 · August 5, 2018

13 minutes ago, Gideon said:

You see, the truth is,that we are sitting under pastors and teachers that we admire, that we think we are in agreement with, but when was the last time you heard your pastor warn you about sin, or worldliness, or the love of money, or of a gospel that tickles itching ears?

Not me, nor those I am in fellowship with. The "pastor-centred" congregation is a pagan concept that is bound up in the worldly Greek practices of philosophy, rhetoric, and oratory. My kind are done with all that. Interesting post though Gideon, very perceptive.

Fidei Defensor · August 5, 2018

1 hour ago, Gideon said:

Consider: When was the last time you heard a sermon with any sort of a warning, an exhortation, or a rebuke coming from the pulpit of your church? We are living in an age where the gospel message is nothing but good things, where things like repentance, counting the cost, or hating ones life are deemed unnecessary to those who have come to the deeper understanding of grace.

As we read the New Testament, there are countless scriptures from various men of God, including Peter, Paul, James and John and yes, even Jesus Himself that are there for warning, teaching, correction, rebuke, chastening and instruction in righteousness.

We pride ourselves as “spirit filled believers” that we believe and take to heart the whole word of God, that every word is God breathed. But do we? Do we really? You see, the truth is,that we are sitting under pastors and teachers that we admire, that we think we are in agreement with, but when was the last time you heard your pastor warn you about sin, or worldliness, or the love of money, or of a gospel that tickles itching ears?

You see, if we find that as we sit under our pastor, listening to him share his take on the gospel with us Sunday after Sunday, and almost never do we hear the balance that we see so clearly in the New Testament, is there not a red flag that ought to pop up in our souls?

We are told that in the last days, men are going to heap to themselves teachers that will scratch their itching ears, telling them what they want to hear, rather than what they need to hear. Hmmm.... Maybe it is not the pastors leading us astray, but visa verse. Ouch.

Paul tells us in Romans 11:

Behold therefor the goodness and the severity of God. On them which fell, severity, but towards thou goodness, if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise, thou also shalt be cut off.”

Romans 11:22

My point here is not to say we are missing all the “bad stuff” so let’s concentrate on that, fill everyone with fear, and a healthy dose of legalism, and restore balance to our gospel. What I am trying to point out is that our gospel compass has become flawed, and just concentrating on those perceived negatives for a while will not fix it. Darkness approaches. Will we be raptured away? Perhaps. Perhaps not. But if we do not get our gospel compass fixed, it will not matter.

And how do we escape this situation where we talk a lot about God but have somehow let ourselves be led astray from the real purpose of the gospel, which is our abiding in Christ Himself?

I pray you hear my words. Until we can admit that we are desperately in need of discovering the HOW of abiding in Him, where it is no more us that live, but Christ who now lives in us, we can heap together more pastors that will fill us with a gospel with no balance, or, conversely, align ourselves with hard God-fearing pastors that warn us till the cows come home to beware this, or beware that, and it will make little difference. Both lack one thing..... life.

In these last days, God is even now beginning to awaken us to our great need, and praise God, to His greater supply. The early church flourished and turned the world upside down, not because of their missionary programs, or because of their lavish sanctuaries replete with great programs for the children. The love they shared was plain to be seen by others on the outside, all because of one thing. The life of Christ was beating in their breasts.

Is this not the great fix desperately needed for our broken compass? We have been healed, but only slightly. We have been trained to defend our take on the gospel for if we do not, and admit that our take on it has shortcomings, we will open floodgates of doubt. But let us remember, it was Laodecia who said ‘We have need of nothing.’ If we are to get anywhere, honesty with God is the first order of business.

God has a walk for each one of us that defies what we can even imagine. Our birthright is victory over the world, the flesh and the devil. We are told that we are to be made overcomers, yet how we limit the Holy one of Israel to do that for us. In the coming days, the church is going to be shaken. The mother of all church splits is about to take place..... the sheep and the goats will part company.

And what will the determining factor be as to which side we end up on? Simple.

Does our heart hunger after Him?

When He asks each one of us “Lovest thou me more then these?” .... with ‘these’ being anything we can think of., or even all of them rolled up into one... will our answer be ‘yes, Lord.’?

Blessings,

Gideon

Preach it brother! ✝️

I am often baffled how pastors ignore swaths of Scriptures from the woes of Pharisees (Matthew 23, whole chapter) to take up your cross and follow Jesus (Luke 9:23) to the fact we are all a royal priesthood (1 Peter 2:9-11) and God lives in us (Colossians 1:27, 1 John 4:-5, 1 Corinthians 3:16) to Persecution (John 16:33, Matthew 24:9, 2 Timothy 3:12, Revelation 14:12) to the fact that the Lprd never wanted a building or temple (2 Samuel 7: 1-53, 2 Chronicles 7:1-30, Acts 7:46-51) but has made us His temple (Hebrews 3:6, 1 Timothy 3:15, Ephesians 2:22, 2 Corinthians 6:16, 1 Corinthians 16:19, 1 Corinthians 3:16, 1 Corinthians 3:9), and that fact we must suffer if we are to share Bis glory (Romans 8:17).

frienduff thaylorde · August 5, 2018

11 hours ago, Gideon said:

Consider: When was the last time you heard a sermon with any sort of a warning, an exhortation, or a rebuke coming from the pulpit of your church? We are living in an age where the gospel message is nothing but good things, where things like repentance, counting the cost, or hating ones life are deemed unnecessary to those who have come to the deeper understanding of grace.

As we read the New Testament, there are countless scriptures from various men of God, including Peter, Paul, James and John and yes, even Jesus Himself that are there for warning, teaching, correction, rebuke, chastening and instruction in righteousness.

We pride ourselves as “spirit filled believers” that we believe and take to heart the whole word of God, that every word is God breathed. But do we? Do we really? You see, the truth is,that we are sitting under pastors and teachers that we admire, that we think we are in agreement with, but when was the last time you heard your pastor warn you about sin, or worldliness, or the love of money, or of a gospel that tickles itching ears?

You see, if we find that as we sit under our pastor, listening to him share his take on the gospel with us Sunday after Sunday, and almost never do we hear the balance that we see so clearly in the New Testament, is there not a red flag that ought to pop up in our souls?

We are told that in the last days, men are going to heap to themselves teachers that will scratch their itching ears, telling them what they want to hear, rather than what they need to hear. Hmmm.... Maybe it is not the pastors leading us astray, but visa verse. Ouch.

Paul tells us in Romans 11:

Behold therefor the goodness and the severity of God. On them which fell, severity, but towards thou goodness, if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise, thou also shalt be cut off.”

Romans 11:22

My point here is not to say we are missing all the “bad stuff” so let’s concentrate on that, fill everyone with fear, and a healthy dose of legalism, and restore balance to our gospel. What I am trying to point out is that our gospel compass has become flawed, and just concentrating on those perceived negatives for a while will not fix it. Darkness approaches. Will we be raptured away? Perhaps. Perhaps not. But if we do not get our gospel compass fixed, it will not matter.

And how do we escape this situation where we talk a lot about God but have somehow let ourselves be led astray from the real purpose of the gospel, which is our abiding in Christ Himself?

I pray you hear my words. Until we can admit that we are desperately in need of discovering the HOW of abiding in Him, where it is no more us that live, but Christ who now lives in us, we can heap together more pastors that will fill us with a gospel with no balance, or, conversely, align ourselves with hard God-fearing pastors that warn us till the cows come home to beware this, or beware that, and it will make little difference. Both lack one thing..... life.

In these last days, God is even now beginning to awaken us to our great need, and praise God, to His greater supply. The early church flourished and turned the world upside down, not because of their missionary programs, or because of their lavish sanctuaries replete with great programs for the children. The love they shared was plain to be seen by others on the outside, all because of one thing. The life of Christ was beating in their breasts.

Is this not the great fix desperately needed for our broken compass? We have been healed, but only slightly. We have been trained to defend our take on the gospel for if we do not, and admit that our take on it has shortcomings, we will open floodgates of doubt. But let us remember, it was Laodecia who said ‘We have need of nothing.’ If we are to get anywhere, honesty with God is the first order of business.

God has a walk for each one of us that defies what we can even imagine. Our birthright is victory over the world, the flesh and the devil. We are told that we are to be made overcomers, yet how we limit the Holy one of Israel to do that for us. In the coming days, the church is going to be shaken. The mother of all church splits is about to take place..... the sheep and the goats will part company.

And what will the determining factor be as to which side we end up on? Simple.

Does our heart hunger after Him?

When He asks each one of us “Lovest thou me more then these?” .... with ‘these’ being anything we can think of., or even all of them rolled up into one... will our answer be ‘yes, Lord.’?

Blessings,

Gideon

And sadly all those tickling concepts has led to a mother of all abominations of delusion . But no worries , some of us have already began warning out against

this big hand join with hand delusion . Oh there is a split going on all right . We got one side being tickled to death under inclusvism and joining hand with hand for unity

and we got a wee tiny side saying , OH no ya don't , we aint havin no part of that and will warn against it . I got a video for ya Gideon .

Its a short one . But it is WHY we have been seeing this unity move increasing in all churches . ITS exactly where its leading too.

And wait till you hear their own words . And all religions shall come together and worship GOD for world peace . YEAH , that is their words

and they say they will bring salvation to the world by world peace and unity . YEAH , what a lie .

And folks like beth moore and Kenneth Copeland ,and scores of others are talking about their so called awakening , their so called healing the WOUND of division .

ITS all been planned out and sadly its working on many . OH their will be a church split all right , a counter move to expose this wicked false unity .

unity for the sake of unity leads all to the beast . Should I explain that , cause it is what is going on .

WHEN those leaders of religions met , they agreed to join unconditionally as one for world peace and unity , they are lost Gideon , but THEY THINK and SAID

its IS GODS WILL for world peace and unity . Got the pope and Kenny talking about how satan is the FATHER of division and JESUS is the uniter for world peace.

BUT OOOPS .

FOR JESUS HIMSELF said , DO you think I came to bring peace on earth , I tell you nay , but rather DIVISION .

WE got massive lies being sold all under the banner of a false love , a false unity , a false liberty , a false freedom , a false image of god .

We need to step up and both encourage and rebuke , warn and remind, IDETNICAL to how the apostels did . CHANGE NOT ONE concept . SPEAK by the SPIRIT

and you wont change one concept . But if a man speaks of his own mind , THEY DO .

frienduff thaylorde · August 5, 2018

IF any man loves GOD , he will love Christ , if any truly loves Christ , they KEEP and DO HIS SAYINGS .

and I don't ever rememember JESUS saying to join hands with false teachers , with other religions , that we all worship the same GOD in different ways .

NO HE DID NOT . and many folks have forgotten something or never knew it .

JESUS was not just some wise man who knew truth . PEOPLE HE IS , as in IS THE TRUTH . now let that sink in for a wee bit .

and the next time these folks come hollering ecumuncal unity with contrary mindsets or people. WE BETTER REMEMBER , UH NO , JESUS IS THE TRUTH

and He never made mention of allah or budda or the dire need for all to join and do good works for world peace .

CAN ANYONE HERE , imagine JESUS saying this kind of an answer to the next question I write .

If a lil boy stood up and asked JESUS , JESUS , what about my atheist father , he did good works , he heard your name , but rejected to follow you

but he did take me to church , IS he saved . DO WE REALLY THINK JESUS WOULD DECIEVE That boy and say WHAT POPE FRANCIS DID .

I TROW NOT . I mean he told men let the dead bury their dead , if a man came up to JESUS and asked him will gays go to heaven

WOULD he have said OH , WHO AM I TO JUDGE .

WOULD JESUS say things like , PREACHIG THE GOSPLE IS LIKE JIHAD . WOULD JESUS say having a personal relationship with HIM outside or organized false religion

IS DANGEROUS . THEN WHY ON EARTH are folks going back into ROME and having UNITY with that . AND would JESUS

tell the world , that all religions are children of GOD and finding their own way TO GOD in their own religion .
FOLKS , if any churches are preaching and focusing on this unity, YA BETTER FLEE THEM fast . ITS A MAJOR DECEPTOIN to allure all INTO THE DEADLY SNARE

that leads to perdition .

frienduff thaylorde · August 5, 2018

And we got to keep on correcting and reminding all, THAT JESUS not only paid the price of our sins , HE CAME TO DO THIS AS WELL,

TO SET US FREE FROM SIN . the last half of that seems to never get taught anymore . But I say this , WE are servants to whom we obey

whether of sin unto death or OBEIDANCE unto righteousness . JESUS did not come to give us liberty TO SIN

HE did not come to let us feel free IN SIN

HIS TRUTH will SET US FREE......FROM SIN , from the POWER of darkness. FROM the POWER of darkness . FROM the power of darkness.

NOW , lets get busying correcting any in error and correcting errors taught . And be on guard , this inclusive bear hug mentatliy for unity and world peace

is gone viral in many places all over .

frienduff thaylorde · August 5, 2018

Folks we better FOLLOW ONLY CHRIST and test all . BUT we better be SURE ITS THE TRUE JESUS WE FOLLOW and not a phone book one .

OPEN a phone directory . Look up JOSE GARCIA , or john Edwards , or Elizabeth Johnson . OR other names .

I bet we see people with the same names . BUT LET ME ASK YA , does that MEAN they the SAME PERSON .

SO as I said , BETTER KNOW WHICH JESUS YOU FOLLOW , for many say his name , OH but dear the JESUS they preach DONT SEEM AT ALL , like the ONE IN THE BIBLE .

And if we follow the phone book or church book jesus , oh dear where we think one who does that ends up . I mean , if they follow another gospel , another jesus

I CAN ASSURE US ALL, IT WONT BE ETERNAL LIFE at the end . WE end up in the location OF WHO WE BELEIVED <WHO WE FOLLOWED , led us .

AND ONLY JESUS can save . BETTER LEARN HIM . Go back to bibles , Go back and read the apostels letters , go back and read HE who spoke from heaven

in revelations . IF ONE DOES that , I assure you , HE WONT SOUND A THING like the god getting preached in many of todays churches . AND THAT is scary news for many .

BUT their is good news , IT AINT TOO LATE to OPEN BACK UP THOSE BIBLES and learn HIM for yourselves . HURRY NOW , HURRY .

warrior12 · August 5, 2018

At the judgement seat, it would not be the pastor who would have to answer for you, but you for yourself. There are many topics that a pastor can preach on and it is his choice and spiritual leading to choose what would be the topic of the day. A pastor has to preach the whole gospel that contains many of life's chores , that would relate to the gospel.

Now let's ask, when was the last day that you the christian picked a book or audio sermon and listened to it in your own private dwelling and was reminded of the fear of the Lord and to eschew evil ect. You say you are a believer, then, the onus is on you to take the initiative to seek out the full narrative of the gospel and put into practice it's teaching, being it from the pulpit or on your own time of study and fellowship.

A pastor pulpit message does incorporate repentance and salvation message if one would take the time to listen. Is not what most sermons are about anyway. If you want to hear the scream and shout and thumping of the pulpit with the pastor fist type of sermon, then I would not want to be in congregation of that sort. A message can be sent like a dagger to the heart in many ways.

2 Timothy 2 King James Version (KJV)

¹⁵Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

¹⁶But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness.

Neighbor · August 5, 2018

17 hours ago, Gideon said:

Consider: When was the last time you heard a sermon with any sort of a warning, an exhortation, or a rebuke coming from the pulpit of your church? We are living in an age where the gospel message is nothing but good things, where things like repentance, counting the cost, or hating ones life are deemed unnecessary to those who have come to the deeper understanding of grace.

As we read the New Testament, there are countless scriptures from various men of God, including Peter, Paul, James and John and yes, even Jesus Himself that are there for warning, teaching, correction, rebuke, chastening and instruction in righteousness.

We pride ourselves as “spirit filled believers” that we believe and take to heart the whole word of God, that every word is God breathed. But do we? Do we really? You see, the truth is,that we are sitting under pastors and teachers that we admire, that we think we are in agreement with, but when was the last time you heard your pastor warn you about sin, or worldliness, or the love of money, or of a gospel that tickles itching ears?

You see, if we find that as we sit under our pastor, listening to him share his take on the gospel with us Sunday after Sunday, and almost never do we hear the balance that we see so clearly in the New Testament, is there not a red flag that ought to pop up in our souls?

We are told that in the last days, men are going to heap to themselves teachers that will scratch their itching ears, telling them what they want to hear, rather than what they need to hear. Hmmm.... Maybe it is not the pastors leading us astray, but visa verse. Ouch.

Paul tells us in Romans 11:

Behold therefor the goodness and the severity of God. On them which fell, severity, but towards thou goodness, if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise, thou also shalt be cut off.”

Romans 11:22

My point here is not to say we are missing all the “bad stuff” so let’s concentrate on that, fill everyone with fear, and a healthy dose of legalism, and restore balance to our gospel. What I am trying to point out is that our gospel compass has become flawed, and just concentrating on those perceived negatives for a while will not fix it. Darkness approaches. Will we be raptured away? Perhaps. Perhaps not. But if we do not get our gospel compass fixed, it will not matter.

And how do we escape this situation where we talk a lot about God but have somehow let ourselves be led astray from the real purpose of the gospel, which is our abiding in Christ Himself?

I pray you hear my words. Until we can admit that we are desperately in need of discovering the HOW of abiding in Him, where it is no more us that live, but Christ who now lives in us, we can heap together more pastors that will fill us with a gospel with no balance, or, conversely, align ourselves with hard God-fearing pastors that warn us till the cows come home to beware this, or beware that, and it will make little difference. Both lack one thing..... life.

In these last days, God is even now beginning to awaken us to our great need, and praise God, to His greater supply. The early church flourished and turned the world upside down, not because of their missionary programs, or because of their lavish sanctuaries replete with great programs for the children. The love they shared was plain to be seen by others on the outside, all because of one thing. The life of Christ was beating in their breasts.

Is this not the great fix desperately needed for our broken compass? We have been healed, but only slightly. We have been trained to defend our take on the gospel for if we do not, and admit that our take on it has shortcomings, we will open floodgates of doubt. But let us remember, it was Laodecia who said ‘We have need of nothing.’ If we are to get anywhere, honesty with God is the first order of business.

God has a walk for each one of us that defies what we can even imagine. Our birthright is victory over the world, the flesh and the devil. We are told that we are to be made overcomers, yet how we limit the Holy one of Israel to do that for us. In the coming days, the church is going to be shaken. The mother of all church splits is about to take place..... the sheep and the goats will part company.

And what will the determining factor be as to which side we end up on? Simple.

Does our heart hunger after Him?

When He asks each one of us “Lovest thou me more then these?” .... with ‘these’ being anything we can think of., or even all of them rolled up into one... will our answer be ‘yes, Lord.’?

Blessings,

Gideon

Hi, seems I am always the contrarian when it coms to those lamenting the state of things today. I disagree in that the Holy Spirit has led me to church after church that embraces the entire Bible not just a New testament, and ones that teach the entirety of the Bible even the Bible that Jesus read and quoted. For me there is no "we" there is you and there is me, each perceiving the sate of things differently, perhaps both saints in Christ jesus, but definitely having very different experience as result of our own conversation from rebellion to submission as bond-servants of Jesus. God has led me to multiple strong local bodies of Christ Jesus for my own santification. The demands and the opportunities have been both privilege and duty. I cherish each local body of Christ where the Holy Spirit has led me.