DO YOU STILL BELIEVE?

Now more than ever before it has become a great necessity to check over and over again that one is still on that right path to life. There are indeed many paths that appear to end in life but end in death instead. Believers must be circumspect in the times that we are in. Some years ago, I wrote a blog similar to this and at the time I thought a number of us were mixed up about our faith. In my opinion, we had gotten so mixed up with the world that we were almost a high breed (neither believers nor unbelievers): I guess that should have made us “carnal believers” but we definitely didn’t see ourselves as “such” and if we go by scriptures, even “such” have, in reality, lost access to eternal life which is the knowledge of Christ. I recall that I mentioned, in that blog, that I had just listened to a sermon by Billy Graham and I wept through it all at the end of which I could not help but pray the sinner’s prayer along with those who yielded to Jesus Christ on the day he preached the sermon. Little did I know then, that it could get as bad as it is today when we are so lost we have lost our identity completely and even now deliberately misinterpret scriptures to make them useful for our purpose albeit, evil purpose.

 

John 17: 3 “And this is the way to have eternal life-to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, the one you sent to earth.”

Proverbs 16: 25 “There is a path before each person that seems right, but it ends in death.”

There is no doubt that the scriptures have always been misinterpreted but it used to be because people were deceived and/or deluded or even possessed by satan more than anything else; it was hardly deliberate. Today however, the story is different. People who once loved and made Jesus Christ Lord over their lives, willfully interpret scriptures wrongly for their own selfish purpose. They know what they teach is wrong but they feel the need to deceive; luring people away from the true faith and largely because they want to meet their own self-imposed goals which often sound godly but are demonic because of the underlying wickedness. Some only want to start or even grow their churches to mega church status so they prey on unsuspecting believers, wickedly using them as tools for accomplishing their personal goals; damaging them with lies and then argue that it was their responsibility to seek out the truth for themselves. Yes it is indeed their responsibility to do so; but it is also every believer’s responsibility to tell truth to each other and present The Truth just as He is. Jesus is Truth and so is His word. The Word of God can never be shrouded in lies and remain truth. The pulpit belongs to God and most be used to push His agenda only – Jesus Christ the son of God who is The Word made flesh.

John 1: 1 & 14 “In the beginning, the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the word was God … So the Word became human and made his home among us.”

Galatians 1: 8 & 9 “Let God’s curse fall on anyone, including us or even an angel from heaven, who preaches a different kind of Good News than the one we preached to you. I say again what we have said before: if anyone preaches any other Good News than the one you welcomed, let that person be cursed.”

There is no doubt that these are “perilous times” and walking with God today is tougher than it has ever been but it is not the job of believers to mislead others; that is satan’s job and anyone who does it long enough is bound to become possessed with his spirit. Warfare is at a heightened level and so many soldiers are dying in the battle field. Evil is stirring us right in the face now and we have lost strength. A lot of us have gone to sleep – the sleep of death. That deceitful and destructive sleep which makes you think you are doing great as a believer when indeed, you have lost your salvation. I used to think warfare has become really subtle in the current days but it hasn’t. The enemy has infiltrated our ranks and unlike Jesus our Master, we have fallen for every one of his temptations. Many of us like to argue that it is tough because we fight “new demons” today. I beg to disagree. It’s the same demons despite the different manifestations.

2 Corinthians 10: 3-5 “we are human, but we don’t wage war as humans do. We use God’s mighty weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments. We destroy every proud obstacle the keeps people from knowing God. We capture their rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ. And after you have become fully obedient, we will punish all disobedience.”

It is not possible to be “in the flesh” and perceive or identify our common enemy and his works. Yet we are comfortable remaining there not mindful of the fact that he wants us there anyway, to weaken us knowing that we are ill equipped to war at this level because the weapons of our warfare are spiritual and spiritually empowered. If we allow ourselves to be led by the Holy Ghost, no enemy will successfully attack us. The devil ought to flee from us as we resist him and not the other way round. Our faith is not powerless but our lies and lifestyle have made it so. We can’t continue with this powerless gospel. We can’t continue to make the Word of God of no effect. It is time to start again. Jesu Christ is coming soon.