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Late in his ministry, Jesus tipped off his disciples about coming impostors intent on tearing up the church.
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Watch out for false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but underneath they are ferocious wolves.
You can tell who's who by their fruits. Does anyone gather grapes from thorn thorn bushes or figs from thistle plants?
A good tree yields good fruit, but a rotten tree yields bad fruit.
A good tree cannot yield bad fruit nor a rotten tree good fruit.
Any tree that doesn't produce good fruit is cut down and thrown in the fire.
So, again, you can tell who's who by their fruits.
Not everyone who says "Lord, Lord" to me will enter heaven's kingdom. A requirement is to do what my heavenly Father wants.
Many will say to me in that day, "Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name? And in your name have we not cast out devils? And in your name have we not done many works of wonder?"
And then I will tell them, "I never knew you. Depart from me, you who do works of iniquity."
As previously discussed, Jesus is not denying Paul's doctrine of grace here. He means, I suggest, that those who really love him won't be able to help but stick to the strait and narrow path of seeking and carrying out God's will. A real Christian knows that "my yoke is easy and my burden is light" (MT 11:30) and so will want -- perhaps with some hesitancy -- to draw closer to Jesus.
How can we tell the difference between a true disciple of Jesus and a fraud? Know them by their fruits. The fraud is in it for himself, which is to say, in it for the money. A fraud may have all the outer trappings of a born-again believer, but if you watch him closely you will see what he is up to. Is he constantly exhorting his hearers to give money "for the work of God"? Does he show up with overly attentive subalterns as he is squired around in a luxury vehicle? Is he a multi-millionaire (because "God has been good")? If his heart is on money, how can it be on Jesus?
Does he stroke the flesh, so to speak, of hearers with a so-called abundance gospel? He says you can be affluent, having overflowing material goods, if you will only have faith. Whatever happened to storing up riches in heaven and letting go of what moth and rust destroy? The purpose of this line is to attract large audiences who then can be urged to donate handsomely to the charlatan's ministry. If you do that, why clearly you will get a big material reward, pressed down and spilling over! The Bible says so!
The money grubbers say "Lord, Lord" with their lips, in front of people. But that doesn't mean they say "Lord, Lord" in their hearts, with a respectful and loving attitude, or at least a sincere attitude. Primarily, these folks are out for the money, which these days is a rather big temptation for evangelists who can reach massive broadcast and internet audiences. A favorite theme is the "abundance" gospel, in which people are urged to have faith that they can have abundant material blessings.
Certainly, you are right to have faith that God will provide, as you go about doing his will. A real Christian will have abundance, whether he has money in his pocket or not. Why? Because he is happy in Jesus. And to be happy in Jesus, there is no other way, but to trust and obey. Awareness of the love of Jesus and of God's kingdom all around IS life more abundantly! Doing God's will on behalf of the perishing, with plenty of God's Spirit -- that's life more abundantly! That's the big difference between worldly material abundance and true abundance, filled up and spilling over.
What of those preachers and others who seem to, and perhaps do, bring about remarkable cures? Is faith healing sometimes real, sometimes false? Undoubtedly some faith healers engage in chicanery. But quite possibly a healing comes about when the healer convinces an ailing person to BELIEVE in recovery. The patient's belief is what can very often effect an amazing cure -- possibly even ejecting a demon that has gripped and crippled the sufferer. So a bad apple may, by invoking the name and power of Jesus, effect some surprising results -- because Jesus' name has power. Yet, that healer is only in it for the money, and despite his words, doesn't believe in Jesus as Lord and Savior, and laughs at people's credibility.
If such a person is from time to time effecting such miracles in Jesus' name, how can you tell he is a phony? Believe me, his greed will become apparent rather quickly. Why does he need so much money for "the ministry" that he never ceases to dun his audiences for money, money, money? Why does he live in such palatial style when he is supposed to be dispensing the free gift of the grace of God? Notice that he acts nothing like Paul, who picked up odd jobs making tents when he needed some cash. No doubt you will notice other actions that don't seem to match a Christian walk.
Don't get me wrong. Everyone makes mistakes in life. But a true Christian repents, and does what he can to clear the damage. Not so the gospel phonies. They never quit going for the gold -- the wrong gold, fool's gold.
Recall that when people from his old neighborhood saw Jesus, their familiarity bred contempt. They disbelieved in him and his power and as a result they received very little in the way of miraculous blessings (this is why hell is such a terrible fate: there is no Savior on hand in whom to believe). Jesus taught over and over again that belief is the key. Put your faith/trust in him or in God in the name of Jesus and you can expect enormous results. So in some cases, people are cured because the phony money grubber preacher convinced them to believe that Jesus would effect a cure. So what counts is their belief!
We learn that at Nazareth, where his neighbors "knew" him, Jesus
Also, consider the sons of Sceva, who come up in Acts.
But these gentlemen did not realize that their own spirits were unclean. The invoking of Jesus' name in this case not only did not work, it actually backfired. Yet, we always have the possibility of a charlatan doing "lying wonders." Recall Pharaoh's magicians versus Moses. These wonders need not be the simple sleight of hand, misdirection and clever chicanery of the professional magician entertainer. The power could come from a demon or demons. (But, as Jesus said, a house divided won't stand.)
So these fellows (and a number of women) will be able to plead that they have served God with their many cures and exorcisms. But Jesus cuts to the quick: "Those weren't works of wonder. They were works of the devil." Or, "You don't work wonders. You work mischief."
How can we tell the difference between a true disciple of Jesus and a fraud? Know them by their fruits. The fraud is in it for himself, which is to say, in it for the money. A fraud may have all the outer trappings of a born-again believer, but if you watch him closely you will see what he is up to. Is he constantly exhorting his hearers to give money "for the work of God"? Does he show up with overly attentive subalterns as he is squired around in a luxury vehicle? Is he a multi-millionaire (because "God has been good")? If his heart is on money, how can it be on Jesus?
Does he stroke the flesh, so to speak, of hearers with a so-called abundance gospel? He says you can be affluent, having overflowing material goods, if you will only have faith. Whatever happened to storing up riches in heaven and letting go of what moth and rust destroy? The purpose of this line is to attract large audiences who then can be urged to donate handsomely to the charlatan's ministry. If you do that, why clearly you will get a big material reward, pressed down and spilling over! The Bible says so!
The money grubbers say "Lord, Lord" with their lips, in front of people. But that doesn't mean they say "Lord, Lord" in their hearts, with a respectful and loving attitude, or at least a sincere attitude. Primarily, these folks are out for the money, which these days is a rather big temptation for evangelists who can reach massive broadcast and internet audiences. A favorite theme is the "abundance" gospel, in which people are urged to have faith that they can have abundant material blessings.
Certainly, you are right to have faith that God will provide, as you go about doing his will. A real Christian will have abundance, whether he has money in his pocket or not. Why? Because he is happy in Jesus. And to be happy in Jesus, there is no other way, but to trust and obey. Awareness of the love of Jesus and of God's kingdom all around IS life more abundantly! Doing God's will on behalf of the perishing, with plenty of God's Spirit -- that's life more abundantly! That's the big difference between worldly material abundance and true abundance, filled up and spilling over.
What of those preachers and others who seem to, and perhaps do, bring about remarkable cures? Is faith healing sometimes real, sometimes false? Undoubtedly some faith healers engage in chicanery. But quite possibly a healing comes about when the healer convinces an ailing person to BELIEVE in recovery. The patient's belief is what can very often effect an amazing cure -- possibly even ejecting a demon that has gripped and crippled the sufferer. So a bad apple may, by invoking the name and power of Jesus, effect some surprising results -- because Jesus' name has power. Yet, that healer is only in it for the money, and despite his words, doesn't believe in Jesus as Lord and Savior, and laughs at people's credibility.
If such a person is from time to time effecting such miracles in Jesus' name, how can you tell he is a phony? Believe me, his greed will become apparent rather quickly. Why does he need so much money for "the ministry" that he never ceases to dun his audiences for money, money, money? Why does he live in such palatial style when he is supposed to be dispensing the free gift of the grace of God? Notice that he acts nothing like Paul, who picked up odd jobs making tents when he needed some cash. No doubt you will notice other actions that don't seem to match a Christian walk.
Don't get me wrong. Everyone makes mistakes in life. But a true Christian repents, and does what he can to clear the damage. Not so the gospel phonies. They never quit going for the gold -- the wrong gold, fool's gold.
Recall that when people from his old neighborhood saw Jesus, their familiarity bred contempt. They disbelieved in him and his power and as a result they received very little in the way of miraculous blessings (this is why hell is such a terrible fate: there is no Savior on hand in whom to believe). Jesus taught over and over again that belief is the key. Put your faith/trust in him or in God in the name of Jesus and you can expect enormous results. So in some cases, people are cured because the phony money grubber preacher convinced them to believe that Jesus would effect a cure. So what counts is their belief!
We learn that at Nazareth, where his neighbors "knew" him, Jesus
could do no mighty work, other than laying hands on a few sick people and healing them.We can look back to the period when Franz Mesmer healed many people by causing them to believe in his peculiar idea of "animal magnetism," now known as hypnotism.1 Those cures convinced medical scientists that these people had been suffering from forms of hysteria which cause bodily disorders that are non-organic in origin. Yet we should recognize that all disabilities and diseases have strong "psychosomatic" components. Thus, we should not dismiss Mesmer's cures as all of the lightweight variety. While I am not recommending hypnosis as a means of therapy, I am suggesting that the belief of these poor people that they could be cured contributed strongly to their recoveries.
Also, consider the sons of Sceva, who come up in Acts.
Then a group of traveling Jewish exorcists [who made their living as healers] decided to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus when they were performing an exorcism: "We adjure you by Jesus, the one preached by Paul..."These fellows were just doing their customary trade and thought, after what they had seen Paul doing wonders, that the invocation of the name Jesus ought to assure them a profit. We learn from the previous passage of Acts:
(These were the seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish priest and leader.)
The demon answered, "Jesus I know, and Paul I know, but who are you?" The demon-possessed man then leaped up and attacked the whole group, overcoming them so that they fled from the house naked and wounded.
But these gentlemen did not realize that their own spirits were unclean. The invoking of Jesus' name in this case not only did not work, it actually backfired. Yet, we always have the possibility of a charlatan doing "lying wonders." Recall Pharaoh's magicians versus Moses. These wonders need not be the simple sleight of hand, misdirection and clever chicanery of the professional magician entertainer. The power could come from a demon or demons. (But, as Jesus said, a house divided won't stand.)
So these fellows (and a number of women) will be able to plead that they have served God with their many cures and exorcisms. But Jesus cuts to the quick: "Those weren't works of wonder. They were works of the devil." Or, "You don't work wonders. You work mischief."
NEXT PAGE:
Make a joyful noise!
https://secretpath191.blogspot.com/2020/11/make-joyful-noise.html
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