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Deception In The Church |
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Are our Churches being deceived today and if so by whom? Satan! Now why would I say that Satan is deceiving our churches and people today? What makes me think that Satan has the authority or power to do such a thing? It's easy to say this and its also easy to prove what I am saying without a bit of doubt. The Bible says so. Let me preface my answer by showing you what Satan is capable of doing. Satan is the master of deception. He deceives entire countries, kings, people of all kinds. Millions today are being led straight to the gates of Hell because they are not in tune with God enough to recognize Satan's tactics and deceptions. Christians are no different than the unsaved when it comes to being a target of Satan. Actually, when you become saved and washed in the Blood of the Lamb, Satan tries even harder to wretch you away from the Lord's Kingdom. Paul, oft times called the greatest of the Apostles, was tempted by Satan. II Corinthians 12:7 says: "And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure". Now understand what I am saying. If the great Paul who was a mighty purveyor of the Lord's Message could be tempted and tortured continuously what makes us think we are better than he? The deception we see today by Satan is that he has caused many of our prominent preachers to be deceived and therefore are teaching untold millions of followers that they can become so built up in their faith through the Lord that they will no longer have difficulties, problems, or hindrances of any kind. This is a false security my friends. You will NEVER experience that freedom until the Lord Himself comes back and puts Satan in his place once and for all. Until then we are in constant battle with Satan and his forces. Jesus Himself was tempted. The only difference between how Jesus handled temptation and the way we handle temptation was that Jesus made a conscience decision to not sin and to rebuke Satan with the WORD! I for one know I am not of the make like Jesus was. I do not know if I could have been so hungry, tired and weak and not given in to some of the temptations that Satan proposed. I would like to think I could. I do know this though! Jesus gave His life for me and assured me that I could defeat Satan with His assistance. When Jesus was tempted, Jesus had not gone to the Cross yet and if I were alive at that particular period of time, I would not have had the assurance of Jesus' sacrifice to buffet me against such temptations. But, back to the main issue. Preachers are so convinced today that they have the power and assurance of a happy, prosperous, healthy, problem free life, that they have fallen into Satan's traps. Christ made it clear that Satan would search us out and look for our weaknesses and concentrate just upon that particular area in our lives to get us to fall into a sense of false security, therefore making us even more susceptible to his leading without us even realizing it. Satan found Moses' weakness which was a temper and used it against him so that he would get angry and strike the rock instead of just talking to it as God had directed. Satan also found King David's weakness which was the beauty of another woman and caused David to become a murderer and an adulterer. Jacob, the mighty Jacob was tempted by Satan because Satan identified his weak spot which was money and riches. I can guarantee you this. Satan will search you out and will identify your weakness and will buffet you with temptations within that particular area and you will be tempted to the point that if you are not firmly rooted in the TRUE WORD OF GOD, you will fall for his deceptions and be led down the broad, easy path which leads to destruction. Satan has a gift of making the narrow path which leads to life look like such a hard path to follow that you will think it has to be the wrong path for why would a loving God make such a path so hard to follow. Remember, Satan is the master when it comes to deceiving people and making us think bad is good and good is bad. Satan is a liar, a cheat and a murderer. He comes to steal, kill and destroy. Many of our prominent preachers today teach that we can be and are "little gods". Nowhere in the Bible are other gods mentioned that were anything other than false gods. God said He is the great I Am. Not the great One Of. He is the First and the Last. The Alpha and Omega. The Beginning and the End. That doesn't leave any room for any other gods of any kind except false ones. Therefore, when preachers tell you that you are a "god", beware because they are leading you down that broad road which leads to destruction. Another way preachers are leading us astray through false gospel led by Satan's deceptive practices is the gospel of prosperity. It is one thing to be blessed by God for being a faithful follower and doer of His word. It is quite another to think that the blessings by God come directly from our decision to make a concerted effort to acquire an abundance of wealth by giving and expecting it to be given back one hundred fold just because we say so. God, Himself makes the decision who gets blessed and who doesn't. Our preachers today are telling the story in just the opposite way. They preach that you can give God's church a check for $100 and expect to receive $1000 back just because you declare it a "faith offering". Where is the faith when you "demand" a return of a designated amount. I do not believe for one minute that I or anyone else has the authority to demand from God that He give us anything except what he wishes for us to have. God certainly blessed Abraham, Jacob, David and many others throughout the Bible but never did any of them know in advance how much or what they were going to be blessed with. Now do not misunderstand, I do believe that we can expect a blessing from God for our faithfulness. I just do not see anywhere in the Bible where it tells us to name our prize. One more way we are being mislead by these preachers who have fallen for Satan's wiles is in the area of health and healing. Jesus for sure paid for our healing. The Bible tells us that "by His stripes we are healed". I believe this. But, when a man gets on a stage and performs miracle after miracle and brags about it and tells all the world how powerful "he" is, something is wrong. We are not to stand on the street corner and brag of our righteousness as the hypocrite does. We are to be meek, humble and holy in our ways before the Lord. I watched a interview with Benny Hinn and Paul & Jan Crouch one day on TBN and was appalled at what Benny Hinn had to say. Benny Hinn claims to be a mighty healer from God and also claims that when he is conducting one of his healing crusades, he is in the Spirit, meaning he is at that time being led by the Holy Spirit and he is not in actual control. Now that is not a bad thing. BUT, Mr. Hinn went on to relate a episode from one of his crusades where a man came up front for a healing and when Benny touched him, he fell backwards and his wig came flying off. While on the floor, this man reached up with both hands to put his wig back on his head. When the man stood back up his wig was on but was a little crooked and Benny thought this looked funny so he thought he would have a little fun with this guy. Benny Hinn then says the touched the man again and once again when the man fell, his wig flew up in the air and the man had to reach up with both hand to grab it and put it back onto his head. This time when the man got up, his wig was a little more disarrayed and Benny thinking this was getting funnier all the time, touched the man again, and yep, once more the wig flew off and once more when the man got up, the wig was even more in disarray than before. Benny says this went on for about four or five times. At this point, Paul Crouch who had been laughing all this while, interjected; Was this still in the Spirit Benny or in the Flesh? Benny, laughingly told him, no, Paul, this was in the Flesh not in the Spirit. Then Benny went on to tell of the next time the man went down, he got up and stuck his hand out to Benny and said: "Wait a minute". He then took of his wig and said: "OK, go ahead". Now this might be funny if it wasn't so sad. Benny Hinn who claims that when he is on stage performing his miracles, he is directed by the Holy Spirit but when he decided to have a "little fun" he was capable of still making a man be slain in the Spirit and fall to the floor while Benny himself was working in the "Flesh". My question is this. Who exactly was the power to have a man slain and fall to the floor so many times in a row coming from if it was not the Holy Spirit of which it wasn't because Benny Hinn himself said he was working in the flesh, not the Spirit when he did this. Many people, millions upon millions world wide are listening to these preachers and believing them for everything they say. Millions upon millions of dollars are being spent by people who cannot afford to spend this money to support these false preachers who are being led by mysterious spirits. Satan is a master. I cannot say this with enough emphasis. SATAN IS A MASTER at deception. He will lie and find a way to make you believe it IF you are not grounded in the Holy Word of God. People, please. I beseech you. Please beware of these teachings. Test what you hear against the Word of God. Do not just take a preachers word for what he says. Don't believe what he says just because he can quote a scripture and make it look like that is what it means. Read for yourself and pray for guidance from God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit so that you will be enlightened to the truth as God would have you to be. Send us your thoughts on this article?
With love and Respect, |