{"id":630977,"date":"2013-01-10T10:45:43","date_gmt":"2013-01-10T10:45:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/provbaptist.org\/?p=630977"},"modified":"2013-01-10T17:53:08","modified_gmt":"2013-01-10T17:53:08","slug":"hearing-the-shepherds-voice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/provbaptist.org\/?p=630977","title":{"rendered":"Beware of Toxic Theology"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.\u00c2\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hand.\u00c2\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>I and the Father are one.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d [John 10:27-30, ESV]<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Those remarkable words from Jesus in John 10 were spoken to a group of unbelieving Jews who wanted Jesus to say that He was the Messiah, the predicted Christ of prophecy.<\/p>\n

The reason they wanted Jesus to declare Himself in this way was to have a charge against Him. Then they could accuse Him of blasphemy, which they already were doing and would later do.<\/p>\n

But they needed more than a Jewish religious offense to bring it to Rome\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s attention. They needed a political charge. So to declare Himself to be the Christ (Messiah) was to declare that He was the true King of Israel. This way they could charge Jesus with sedition against Rome.<\/p>\n

Our Lord\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s answer is that He already told them what they needed to know in order to know who He is. The problem is that they were not His sheep. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s why they didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t believe even though they physically saw the second person of the Godhead in human form.<\/p>\n

They didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know God and yet they all professed to know God. Their version of God was false and their murderous hatred of God incarnate proves that they didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know God at all.<\/p>\n

Then Jesus made this defining statement, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d The sheep of Jesus hear His voice; they are known by Him; and they follow Him.<\/p>\n

But what about those who say they know and follow Jesus while rejecting many of the teachings clearly declared in His Word? And what about those who call themselves Christians while they listen approvingly to the voices of false teachers and false shepherds?<\/p>\n

Here\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the question of the hour: Do the true sheep of Christ have the Spirit-given ability to recognize when they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re not<\/em> hearing the voice of the one true Shepherd?<\/p>\n

It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not an easy question to answer because it is possible<\/em> for undiscerning, untaught, or new believers to be swayed by religious rhetoric from false teachers. False teachers pose as messengers of light. They say what the lowest common denominator wants to believe.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Most false teachers on television, like Joel Osteen or Joyce Meyer, are very slick in their presentations. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no wonder that they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re so popular and have such a wide following. They say positive things like \u00e2\u20ac\u0153God wants everybody to have the best in this life.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d But they define “best” in only temporal terms.<\/p>\n

Satan\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s deception often runs along these two lines.<\/p>\n

He either tries to convince people that God is bad and doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want them to have all the good there is to be had (in other words, God is holding out on you). This tactic was first employed by Satan in the Garden of Eden (Gen. 3).<\/p>\n

Or he takes the opposite approach and convinces people that God wants everybody to have all their dreams and desires fulfilled right now in this life. Then he offers a counterfeit \u00e2\u20ac\u0153best\u00e2\u20ac\u009d in place of God\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s genuine best for us in Jesus Christ. The latter is happening now.<\/p>\n

To someone without any knowledge of Scripture or without discernment, it sounds very attractive. But the voice of the one True Shepherd is not in the messages of these false teachers. The underlying premise of the positive confession theology and prosperity preachers in general is nothing but religious paganism. It’s all a charade.<\/p>\n

Prosperity Theology is based on pagan principles. For example, they teach that your spoken word has the power to bring your desires into existence. They teach that you control your own destiny through your words of positive confession into the universe.<\/p>\n

You profess<\/em> it and then you possess<\/em> it, they say. So you are in control of providence, not God. You are the author of your own story, not God. That’s their message.<\/p>\n

They may use the name of Jesus (which they do) and even quote Bible verses (which they do), but they always do so out of context<\/em>.<\/p>\n

This gives them the appearance of credibility and actually makes them more dangerous than a secular motivational speaker.<\/p>\n

In fact, if they didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t claim to be Christian preachers who are \u00c2\u00a0teaching God\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s principles, I wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even bother to warn people about them. But it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s much worse than that and far more dangerous because it poses as Christian teaching and people are actually believing it.<\/p>\n

That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s because many people in the visible church will accept anything from someone who says the name of Jesus and quotes a verse or two of Scripture.<\/p>\n

Even the cults do this.\u00c2\u00a0The cults all give lip-service to their own version of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Jesus\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and cults always appeal to the Bible as one<\/em> of their sources, but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s never Scripture alone or with God\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s intended meaning.<\/p>\n

Joel Osteen has become skilled in the art of ambiguity. He tries to be as vague and non-committal as possible on biblical doctrine. But he is in fact a pantheist who teaches that God can be found in every religion. He’s also a legalist who teaches that we earn God\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s favor through living and thinking the right way.<\/p>\n

He teaches that Mormons are his \u00e2\u20ac\u0153brothers in Christ\u00e2\u20ac\u009d because they claim to believe in Jesus and their claim is no different from his, Osteen says.<\/p>\n

When asked about Bible doctrines or the exclusivity of Christ, he says \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know about any of that. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t study those things.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

But all of Osteen\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s claims are identical to what Satan wants the masses to believe: that all religions have God in them; that all roads lead to heaven; that people don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t need to believe the gospel to be saved; and that if you live a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153good life\u00e2\u20ac\u009d you have God\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s favor and eternal heaven. This is false according to the teaching of Scripture.<\/p>\n

Osteen and others like him are slick con-artists in the employment of Satan. They are deceiving and beguiling the masses. They are not<\/em> followers of Christ. They follow Satan, teach his lies, and cunningly do his will.<\/p>\n

This is not the voice of the Shepherd; it is in fact the unmistakable voice of Satan who disguises himself as an angel of light just as the servants of Satan disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds (2 Cor. 11:14-15).<\/p>\n

When a follower of Christ knows the Bible and has been well-taught in doctrine, they see through the ploys and tricks of Satan. Immature Christians may not see it as readily\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 and those who aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t His sheep have no way of discerning truth from spiritual error.<\/p>\n

Therefore, all followers of Christ need to be aware of the deception taking place in the spiritual arena in our day. Religious television (like TBN) is rife with false teaching by religious con-artists.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Faith-healer\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Benny Hinn even claims to have raised dead people back to life. An incredible claim! Did Benny Hinn actually raise dead people? Of course not. And he knows he can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t raise dead people. It’s a false claim with the same credibility as an “urban legend.”<\/p>\n

He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s lying to make desperate and hurting people send him their money. Hinn and other false teachers get wealthy at the expense of poor people who are desperate and hurting. True healing from God won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be\u00c2\u00a0connected with the financial aggrandizement of some phony healer. God’s healing is without an exchange of money.<\/p>\n

If Benny Hinn could really heal the sick and raise dead people he should go to the hospitals; go to the children’s hospitals, go to the morgues, go to the next funeral of someone known to be dead. That would make the news and silence the critics.<\/p>\n

He can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t heal any deformity or raise the dead. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a liar who deceives people in order to get earthly riches at the price of his own eternal perdition. These false teachers are certainly not followers of Christ in spite of their lying claims.<\/p>\n

Tens of thousands of gullible people are now intoxicated with the poisoned Kool-Aid of these false teachers, false healers, prosperity teachers, and word-faith teachers\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 and it is spiritually (and sometimes physically) deadly.<\/p>\n

Therefore, Jesus said, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d God is our true Healer. He can heal anyone of anything, but only according to His good purposes.<\/p>\n

It isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t always God\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s will for us to have physical healing in this life. God has a purpose in our brokenness and infirmities. Many godly people have physical infirmities in this life, including the Apostle Paul himself, who suffered physically throughout his ministry.<\/p>\n

The only way to know and follow Jesus is through saving faith in Christ and then by knowing and believing Scripture. Go deep into God\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Word. Learn the doctrines of Christianity. Get to know the True Savior.<\/p>\n

Become familiar with the Good Shepherd\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s voice. Stop watching toxic religious television. Stop buying their books. Hear the Shepherd\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s voice and come away from Satan\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s camp.<\/p>\n

Then you will understand the prayer of David in Psalm 17 where he asked the Lord to deliver him \u00e2\u20ac\u0153from men of the world whose portion is in this life\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (Ps. 17:14).<\/p>\n

For the joy of His sheep and the glory of the Shepherd,
\nPastor Kevin<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u0153My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.\u00c2\u00a0I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Beware of Toxic Theology”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":966729,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/provbaptist.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/630977"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/provbaptist.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/provbaptist.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/provbaptist.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/provbaptist.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=630977"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/provbaptist.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/630977\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/provbaptist.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/966729"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/provbaptist.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=630977"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/provbaptist.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=630977"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/provbaptist.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=630977"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}