I always thank the Lord for the bulk of godly men who are preaching from the Word and are preaching the true biblical gospel message of Christ. They all were used by God greatly to help me mature in my walk.
However, there was one truth that I had overlooked all these years that I've been professing to be a follower of Christ. I have not taken heed of the admonition of the apostles Paul and John to test everything against Scripture and to search Scripture to see if these things taught to me were really so.
All the years that I lived my Christian life, I've never come to a daily practice of TESTING everything against the Word of God. I've been accustomed to sit under a preaching and take things hook, line and sinker! I was always confidently convinced that unless it was really an obviously false gospel (like the one coming from a Word of Faith teacher or a Prosperity Gospel preacher), the teachings of most pastors will always bring an uncorrupted message.
The gospel message is the most critical message a person should get unadulterated! I strongly believe now that it is for one's GENUINE salvation that one should HEAR from the Truth in God's Word in order to have faith on the Grace that is freely given to us through Christ Jesus. The journey with the Lord begins with this crucial message of Hope. But not all of Christianity today preach about the TRUE message of the gospel.
Having been exposed to Christianity through an evangelical community in the past, my mind has always been made up that those who pray the sinner's prayer attained the Grace and salvation that is in Christ. It wasn't until God was maturing me in my walk with Him that He showed me the errors of that practice, and I came to realize that it was opposed to what the Word of God calls sinners to do--to repentance. I had a false profession in the past but God led me from that erroneous path into the path of Truth in Repentance.
Majority of western Christianity today has accepted this easy belief system where a person can say a sinner's prayer during a pastor's altar call and will then be welcomed into the "family of God." There was no call to repentance, to turning away from sin, to counting the cost of following Christ! Everything was fire insurance... trying to make you believe that one is going to heaven because one has uttered the prayer and that nothing can ever separate the person from God's love now that he/she is "saved"... not considering the fact that so many professing Christians today show NO SIGN of regeneration at all!!! So many STILL love this world that God has supposedly taken them out of!
Yet, it wasn't just the easy altar call... it wasn't just the Sinner's prayer that God brought me to see the error. Time after time God brings me to a point in my life when He magnifies His Word so much that I can't help but see the error in whatever counterfeit or erroneous "christian" belief I've held on to.
Lately, He's done it again. God has challenged the view of end-time events that I've always been taught and I've always accepted to be true. It is a pivotal moment because the change of view that He's allowed me to have led me to truly COUNT THE COST of following the Lord Jesus! It has allowed me to have my profession of faith in check, as well as keep me standing strong in the Faith with which I have.
Let me share this passage in Scripture...
26These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you. 27But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him. (1 John 2:26-27, KJB)
God has clearly said in His Word that we have this anointing in us that teaches us ALL things and IS TRUTH, and is no lie. Every true believer and follower of Christ receives the anointing of the Holy Spirit upon his/her salvation which leads one into all truths. We are sealed by His Spirit and this anointing is what will TEACH US of all things. God said that in the new covenant HE will teach us His precepts... and that we will no longer have the need for another man to teach us because GOD will be our teacher!
But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. (John 14:26)
Oh, how we've neglected this Word from the Lord today! So many out there... and God's Word calls them "seducers"... are out to convince you that you STILL need someone to teach you about things and that you STILL need to have someone help you to understand the bigger picture! Many in Christianity today are TOTALLY DEPENDENT on the teachings of another mortal being!
We have become a people that so easily and eagerly follow whatever teacher that would present themselves to be WISE and REALLY KNOWLEDGEABLE of the things written down in God's Word. Many today simply open their Bibles on Sundays during the reading of God's Word for that day and for the rest of the week leave the Holy Writ to gather dust at one corner in the house!
HOW can GOD teach us if we never even bother to SIT DOWN BEFORE HIM AND LEARN FROM HIS TRUTH IN HIS WORD? We have been listening to SEDUCERS all this time and have taken all of their teachings hook, line and sinker!!!
I would encourage everyone to sit down and spend time studying Scripture. I would encourage us to RETURN TO THE TRUTH IN GOD'S WORD AND LEARN FROM HIM and not from somebody else. These are critical times we are living in and Jesus warns of a great "falling away" of many. He spoke of the love of many growing cold and brethren betraying one another because of becoming OFFENDED.
I will soon post about my change of view on End-time events and I pray that you will sit with the King himself and allow the anointing in you to teach you of all things. HE WILL TEACH YOU IF YOU LET HIM. HE WILL SHOW YOU IF YOU WILL NOT COME FILLED BY THE TEACHINGS OF SEDUCING SPIRITS. He will teach you into ALL TRUTH!