The SIZE of your CHURCH does not measure the TRUTH of your MESSAGE. The Amen! which springs forth from GOATS is a sign of DELUSION...not of Gods BLESSING and APPROVAL. There is one major crisis in the Church today...and that is one of DISCERNMENT. Mega-churches are FULL...yet there is a FAMINE of TRUTH. Is this just my OPINION? Peter said in 2 Peter 16 said For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty. When Peter declared truth...it was not STORY TIME...nor was it the CHRISTIAN COMEDY HOUR...nor was it the Christian version of Entertainment Tonight. How did we get here? 2 Timothy 4:2-4 Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. 3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; 4 and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. Paul told Timothy that people would not endure sound doctrine. What amazing words! Why? The word endure denotes something NOT liked...NOT appreciated...NOT wanted...NOT recognized as essential. And...for Paul to say these people would not even endure sound doctrine tells us that the people actually do not even WANT the truth! To these itching ears...the TRUTH is IRRELEVANT! I watched an old movie just this past Saturday night...one I have seen many times before. It is one of those movies that is so INTRIGUING to me. It contains such a heart-rending story...and its theme brings to mind so many aspects of the Church...and of society...today. The movie is called The Ox-bow Incident. In this movie, 3 men are caught in a canyon, assumed to be rustlers of cattle. A posse, upon finding the 3, tell them they are guilty of murder...as a rancher was said to be dead and some of his cattle missing. The 3 men declare their innocence. These men tell their story...saying that they bought the cattle from the rancher. They tell the posse that when they left the rancher...he was still alive...and they know nothing of his death. But...the posse is not interested in fact-finding. There is simply no interest in investigating the claims of the 3 men. Guilt is assumed...and the posse is only interested in any and all circumstantial bits and pieces that point to the 3 mens guilt. That is...all except 7 men...7 members of the posse...as they sense that a miscarriage of justice is about to be carried out. These 7 men stand against the rest of the posse. In the end...the majority rules...and...with no investigation...the 3 men are declared guilty and a lynching begins. 3 men die...but not before one is allowed to write a letter to his wife...and another is allowed a time of prayer and confession before being put to death. Those who demanded the lynching are proud...arrogant...and steadfast in their beliefs. Only moments after the lynching, the local Sheriff arrives...just as the posse is exiting the canyon. The deputy in charge of the posse triumphantly declares that they caught and hanged the men declared guilty of cattle rustling and murder. The Sheriff...astonished...tells the posse that the rancher THOUGHT to be dead was not dead at all...and the men who had ACTUALLY been guilty of assaulting him and stealing his cattle had already been caught! The Sheriff asks one of the men he KNEW would not be a part of a lynching to tell him who was involved in the lynching. The man hesitates...and then says, All but seven. The movie ends as the men now sit in the saloon...quiet...dejected...bridled by guilt. With that...one of the seven begins to read aloud the letter written by one of the 3 men to his wife. It bears a striking resemblance to the words Jesus spoke from the cross...as Jesus said: Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. How sad that a posse would not take the time to discover the TRUTH! How tragic that the TRUTH took a back seat to BELIEF! How devastating it is to learn TOO LATE that what you BELIEVE is a LIE! So many in churches today...from the PULPIT to the PEW...want to believe what they want to believe. And...if anyone DARES attempt to REVEAL the TRUTH...they simply will not ENDURE hearing it! No...all many want today is a quick soundbite...a over-simplified mantra...a trite and powerless cliche...a false word...a declaration...a promise of a new season...a hyped-up, over-inflated positive affirmation that gives them their quick Jesus fix and allows them to pursue the FABLES as devised by all the wolves in sheeps clothing! The FAMINE of TRUTH throughout the land is bringing DEATH...yet the DELUSIONAL goats stumble headlong over a CLIFF...falsely believing they are diving deep into the things of god! Yes...the PULPITS of FALSE TEACHING are deep indeed...but their DEPTH is NOT found in TRUTH! God is calling the Church back to the Bible...and He is leading the flock away from the New York Times Best Seller list! The FABLES of men have been touted enough! The WISDOM of men has been exalted above the TRUTH of God...and God is thundering: Enough is enough! Church: We do not need MOTIVATION...we need DEDICATION! We do not need INSPIRATION...we need OBEDIENCE to Christ! We are not called to seek WEALTH...we are called to find WISDOM! We are not called to seek SIGNS and WONDERS...we are called to WORSHIP God in SPIRIT and in TRUTH! We do not need more CONFERENCES...we need more CONSECRATION! We do not need more HYPE...we need more HOLINESS! We do not need to build a FOLLOWING...we need to build the KINGDOM of GOD! We do not need to a better mental picture of OURSELVES...we need a bigger view of GOD! We do not need CHRISTIAN TELEVISION...we need Christians who will TELL-A-VISION...taking the message of the GOSPEL of Jesus Christ to the lost we encounter day in and day out! We do not even need to endure sound doctrine...we need to LOVE sound doctrine! Fables may entertain CHILDREN...but it is time for the Church to now GROW UP!
Posted on: Mon, 08 Dec 2014 05:12:11 +0000
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