The other night I sat down and watched to Joel Osteen on TV for the first time in several years. As I listened to him, I was very impressed with the delivery of his message. It was very good. But if you scrape off the funny illustrations and analogies, he talked about you have to reach down inside of yourself and you have to keep going and you have to put on a smile, etc. It was all the things YOU had to do. Not one thing of leaning on the power of the Holy Spirit. He even used Scripture to make his points.
I had a hard time sleeping that night. I kept thinking of the arena being packed by people who are just being fooled by a modern day snake charmer. As I watched him that night, they had scrolling across the bottom different venues he will be at in the coming days.
The Bible is very clear warning us of the “tickling of the ear”. I am in a weekly study of 1Timothy right now. It is no coincidence the first verse we read of chapter four says: “The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons.” We have to be very careful who we are listening to and if they line up with Scripture. Paul warned the weak and the new Christian in 2Corinthians 11:3-4- "But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent's cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough."
Preachers have an obligation to preach that –“There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to one hope when you were called—one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. (Eph.4:4-6)
I have no doubt nearly all of those in Osteen’s congregation; sincerely believe what they are listening to is truth. But Osteen has stated he will not preach on sin, the blood, and obviously will not preach about salvation. He is afraid of offending people. Well, brothers, the gospel is offensive to the non-believer. It is not now and never will be easy to be a true Christ follower. This is exactly why hundreds of Christians die every year across the world. Come to think of it, it is a complete insult to them when we shy away from the gospel. Paul says in Romans 1:16-17; “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For in the gospel righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: "The righteous will live by faith."
How do we know if the man preaching is right? You need to know your Bible. You also have to have a close relationship with the Lord. And lastly, you need the discernment from the Holy Spirit to guide you. Remember I told you it was not going to be easy. Just like the fashion designers can tell the knock offs from the real ones, the real Christ followers can spot a genuine from the false ones.
I know this entry has been a little longer than I usually like to go, but this one is very close to me right now. I pray you get closer to Him and that He reveals himself to you.
Blessings!!
I had a hard time sleeping that night. I kept thinking of the arena being packed by people who are just being fooled by a modern day snake charmer. As I watched him that night, they had scrolling across the bottom different venues he will be at in the coming days.
The Bible is very clear warning us of the “tickling of the ear”. I am in a weekly study of 1Timothy right now. It is no coincidence the first verse we read of chapter four says: “The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons.” We have to be very careful who we are listening to and if they line up with Scripture. Paul warned the weak and the new Christian in 2Corinthians 11:3-4- "But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent's cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough."
Preachers have an obligation to preach that –“There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to one hope when you were called—one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. (Eph.4:4-6)
I have no doubt nearly all of those in Osteen’s congregation; sincerely believe what they are listening to is truth. But Osteen has stated he will not preach on sin, the blood, and obviously will not preach about salvation. He is afraid of offending people. Well, brothers, the gospel is offensive to the non-believer. It is not now and never will be easy to be a true Christ follower. This is exactly why hundreds of Christians die every year across the world. Come to think of it, it is a complete insult to them when we shy away from the gospel. Paul says in Romans 1:16-17; “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For in the gospel righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: "The righteous will live by faith."
How do we know if the man preaching is right? You need to know your Bible. You also have to have a close relationship with the Lord. And lastly, you need the discernment from the Holy Spirit to guide you. Remember I told you it was not going to be easy. Just like the fashion designers can tell the knock offs from the real ones, the real Christ followers can spot a genuine from the false ones.
I know this entry has been a little longer than I usually like to go, but this one is very close to me right now. I pray you get closer to Him and that He reveals himself to you.
Blessings!!
1 comment:
Good message and especially for the times we live in. There are plenty of false prophets in operation today. Don't worry it wasn't too long.
Post a Comment