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How
can a church operate under those conditions? Simply: a church
in this condition is not what God desires for a church. Just because
a man or a woman claims that God has chosen him/her to speak for Him
does not mean they are telling the truth. They may really believe
they are. Listen to what God said in the Old Testament about false
priests.
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Then
the word of the LORD came to me saying, “Son of man, prophesy
against the prophets of Israel who prophesy, and say to those
who prophesy from their own inspiration, ‘Listen to the
word of the LORD! (NASB) Ezekial 13:1-2
O Israel, your prophets . . . see falsehood and lying divination
who are saying, ‘The LORD declares,’ when the LORD
has not sent them; yet they hope for the fulfillment of their
word. “Did you not see a false vision and speak a lying
divination when you said, ‘The LORD declares,’ but
it is not I who have spoken?”’” Therefore, thus
says the Lord GOD, “Because you have spoken falsehood and
seen a lie, therefore behold, I am against you” . . . (NASB)
Ezekial 13:4-8 |
There are many who want to speak for God and hope to speak for God,
but God is not speaking through them. That is why God gave us 1 Timothy
4:1-3; 2 Peter 2; 2 John 9-11, and Jude.
These individuals speak confidently and boldly. A common mark of a
false teacher is one who claims to have a corner on the truth. Since
when? God says that He gave us the Bible so that each of us
can know the truth. God also gave us spiritually gifted teachers,
but none of them can claim to have special knowledge and to be the
only true person who knows the true meaning of scripture.
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But
you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all know. (NASB)
1 John 2:20 |
Where are true men of God? God
has some of them here and there. In the book of Revelation, God
tells us about seven churches which existed about A.D. 100. Revelation
2-3 describes these seven churches. Five of the churches are rebuked
by God because they are willing to tolerate 1) false doctrine, 2)
a lack of love for God, 3) sexual sins, and 4) spiritual laziness.
There were only two churches which were good. Two out of seven! It
is hard to find a God honoring, Bible teaching, godly pastor. Recently,
a pastor said that God is more interested in our love than in our
holiness. That is simply not true. One who loves God will pursue holiness.
One wonders if he is struggling with sin in his own life.
Conclusion: God
has His men spread throughout the world preaching His Word. They may
not be great speakers or be very charismatic. But He has His faithful
men throughout the world preaching and teaching His Word. A series
of previously answered questions may be of interest about when one
should leave a church.
There are several answering questions about pastors and their qualifications
(Question 415 and Question
435). The other group of questions are about a sinning leader
(Question 142, Question
143, Question 181, and
Question 275). |
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