Walking in the truth just as we were commanded to do by the Father. Remember the truth shall set us free. The Holy Spirit is here to guide us into all truth and the Father is looking for worshipers to worship Him in Spirit AND truth. The reality is that the brand of false teaching we have been discussing seeks to supplant truth with experience. If we are honest however, experience is rooted firmly in what we feel. Most charismatic services are exercises in trying to generate the next big emotional experience and trying to pass if off as being Spiritual. Here is today's deep theology beloved. There is no spiritual experience that is devoid of Scriptural truth. Any spiritual experience that is not firmly grounded in Scriptural truth is in fact not from God. There are no additional revelations God forgot to place into His Word beloved. The reason why so many of these charlatans claim direct revelation is that if they were to rely on the Word of God it would expose them for the frauds they are. We continue in our key verses:
And now I ask you, dear lady--not as though I were writing you a new commandment, but the one we have had from the beginning--that we love one another. And this is love, that we walk according to his commandments; this is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, so that you should walk in it.
God has not changed beloved. The truths of God are eternal and do not shift like the sands of this world. It is not enough to merely pay lip service to the concept of love. It may sound pious to say "God is love" but it is also incomplete. Most Christians who follow this sloppy agape love fail to see their own carnality in their beliefs. They overly romanticize this love. In some cases they over-sexualize it. Let these few verses resonate in your Spirit beloved. THIS IS LOVE -- that we walk according to His commandments! Why do you bother calling me Lord if you refuse to do what I say? Experiential Christianity talks a good game about love but without doctrine they are simply making it up as they go along.
It is not love to hold someone's hand as they jump off a cliff. It is not love to turn a blind eye to sin. It is not love to allow someone to wallow in false doctrine. It simply is not. It is cruelty. Discernment ministries are not about judging false teachers beloved. It is about setting free captives to false teachings. It is crucial we understand some fundamental truths. The god that is preached by Bill Johnson, Todd White and Andy Stanley is false. He cannot save anyone. How do we know this? Because the Bible tells us so. The Bible teaches us that only the Gospel has the power of God unto the salvation of man. Your intentions do not matter to God. Only what you place your faith in. the Bible says that we can believe in vain! That we can spend or lives thinking we are serving God only to discover when it is too late that He never knew us. What and who we place our faith in matters greatly. Consider the Corinthian Church:
But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough. Indeed, I consider that I am not in the least inferior to these super-apostles.Even if I am unskilled in speaking, I am not so in knowledge; indeed, in every way we have made this plain to you in all things. -- 2Corinthians 11: 3-6 (ESV)
The primary worship leader for Bill Johnson's "Jesus Culture" tells a personal testimony of a waking visitation from Jesus, who whisked her away to the throne room of God. There she met the Father face to face she claims, and He ripped out a piece of His own heart to mold a miniature version of her to worship Him. That was not God because the Bible assures us that no one can see the Father and live. She follows a false jesus and believes in a false gospel. Note the mocking here from Paul towards the false teachers of his day who considered themselves above the Apostles. For the record, Bill Johnson considers himself a living Apostle. Do not fall for false gods and false gospels. Your experience will not set you free beloved. Only the truth will. We continue:
For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. Such a one is the deceiver and the antichrist. Watch yourselves, so that you may not lose what we have worked for, but may win a full reward. Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son.
There are many deceivers in the world beloved. We have only highlighted a few in this devotional. It is interesting here that the example of such a false teacher provided by John is one who denies the deity of Jesus Christ. Who does not confess that the Christ came to us in flesh. If that is ringing a scriptural bell let us go back to the Gospel that bears John's name:
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. -- John 1: 14 (ESV)
Did our experience become flesh beloved? No. The Word became flesh. Jesus Christ is His Word. You cannot minimize His Word without minimizing Him. You cannot deny His Word without denying Him. These are no trivial matters. These are the matters that determine life and death. Are we supposed to merely know His Word? Be familiar with it? Use it occasionally as it suits us? Strip mine it so we can glean life applications? No. No. A thousand times no. If we are not abiding in His Word then we do not have God! We must be living in His Word; not our experiences. If we insist on correct doctrine above all else, we prove to not only have the Father but the Son as well. The key verses conclude:
If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting, for whoever greets him takes part in his wicked works.
Ouch. I understand these are not easy lessons beloved but they are vitally important as we see from the extreme language God chooses to employ here. We see Christians every day turn a blind eye to false teaching. They wink and nod at the likes of Joel Osteen, TD Jakes, or Kenneth Copeland. They defend the indefensible in Joseph Prince, Bill Johnson, or Benny Hinn. I hear the lament all the time -- what's the big deal? Yet these key verses make it very clear for us today. We are to have nothing to do with them. We are not to receive them. We are not to allow the false teachings to even enter our homes. We are not to greet any false teacher, whatsoever. To do so, is to actually take part in his wicked works.
Consider that very carefully beloved. People watch us very closely once we claim Christ as Lord and Savior. Who we lead them to matters. Who we lend our credibility to matters. The Bible says we are either gathering people to Christ or scattering them away. When we retweet or repost quotes from voracious wolves, even if that particular quote is benign, we are in fact scattering people away from Christ. We are in fact taking part in their wickedness. We need to be vigilant and careful. Experience apart from doctrine leaves things up to our wicked hearts. Love without truth embodies the carnality of this world devoid of the real Savior and the only Gospel that can save us. The devil knows his time is short. Do not fall for his schemes. What we believe and who we listen to does matter.
Reverend Anthony Wade -- February 11, 2017
