2010-02-12
Good Morning Dear Ones,
The Holy Spirit leads me to continue writing about discerning false teaching from what we learn from the Sermon on the Mount. This subject was very much on the mind of Christ when He spoke, because so much of it was prevalent. Last week, we looked at MT 7: 15, “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.” Very recently, I viewed a program about a man given a name, Wayne Bent, when he was born, which he later changed to Michael Trevessor, when he began a cult in New Mexico. What he was teaching was very frightening to me, because he spoke to his followers with such gentle tones and made such awful suggestions that led to their hero-worship of him. He bought a plot of land when he began his “church” for the followers and himself to live on in trailers. All their worldly goods were given to this so-called leader, and enough was meted out to each follower for his basic needs. He taught his followers that the world would end on Oct. 31, 2007. Among the outside community there was much concern that mass suicides would result when his lie didn’t come true. Bent’s genetic son had been a police officer, but left his job to become his dad’s second in charge. As time went on, Michael began sleeping with married and single young women in the group, some under age. Eventually, he was arrested for statutory rape and other charges, but not before considerable emotional and spiritual damage to his followers was accomplished. He was sentenced to a long stay in prison.
Now, let’s look at MT 7: 16-20, the parable of a tree and its fruit. “You will know them by what they do. Thorn bushes do not bear grapes, and briers do not bear figs. A healthy tree bears good fruit, but a poor tree bears bad fruit. A healthy trees cannot bear bad fruit, and a poor tree cannot bear good fruit. And any tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown in the fires. So then, you will know the false prophets by what they do.” Now, if we look at the modern day example above, it can be seen that Christ’s words said so long ago still apply now. They will forever. One of the pressing questions that we must ask is: Can a seemingly bad tree be changed to a good tree? In nature, the answer is, “yes.” An example is the grafting of one kind of walnut tree to another to produce an orchard of disease-resistant, hardy trees. In Spirit, it is also true. The power of the Holy Spirit to take a person leading a sinful lifestyle and supernaturally transform him to a believer in Christ who genuinely repents of his prior sins is known to be true. RO 12: 1-2, “So then, my brothers, because of God’s great mercy to us I apple to you: Offer yourselves as a living sacrifice to God, dedicated to His service and pleasing to Him. This is the true worship that you should offer. Do not conform yourselves to the standards of his world, but let God transform you inwardly by a complete renewal of your mind. Then you will be able to know the will of God-what is good and is pleasing to Him and is perfect.” This leaves us to the question of “many are called but few are chosen” [MT 22: 14]. Is it God’s decision that some people are so sinful that they simply can’t be chosen? We simply don’t know. Certainly, more people than not choose to reject their invitation to repent and become believers in Jesus Christ. Hence, the competition from such groups as the Muslims, Hindus, Taoists, and others to choose to reject Christ’s deity. Moreover, there is an increasing group of secular people, who reject the spiritual side of their personalities entirely. The tragically sad truth is that they will move through their earthly lives and end up spiritually dead.
Such considerations as these lead to more questions than answers. I believe with all my heart that God does leave some questions unanswered, so that we are brought to developing faith in Him. Spiritual and eternal life vs. death is one of the few true dichotomies in this life. One either chooses to take “the hard road through the narrow gate” [MT 7: 13-14] that leads to eternal life, or he doesn’t. There is no in between. It is at this juncture that we must pray for wisdom and discernment [PS 51: 6; PS 119: 125], so that we ask God to improve our chances of recognizing the “wolves in sheep’s clothing” among us. When I was young, I did not. The net result was my own time in a cult and also at one time being a follower of Marharishi Mahesh Yogi. God allowed others to plant briars around me, and then gave me the strength spiritually and emotionally pull myself out of this morass. He was preparing me for the faith I have and service I do now. Not everyone mired in such groups is as blessed as I am, and I know it well. If you are reading this message, there is a good chance that you too have had a checkered past and are now one of the chosen. We should never take this blessing for granted, nor should be deem ourselves better than anyone else. If we do, we are eschewing the humility that Christ wants us to have in our lives. While it may seem odd, I am choosing to end this week’s message with MT 11: 28-30. If we meditate on this, we can learn a lot about what Christ wants for us. “Come to Me, all you heavy-laden; and I will give you rest. Take My yoke and put it on you; learn from Me, because I am humble and gentle in Spirit; and you will find rest. For the yoke I give you is easy, and the burden is light.” We have the hope of the resurrection. I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t give that up for anything or any one!
PRAYER: O Lord, we come to you vulnerable and full of sin. You open our hearts by the power of the Holy Spirit and instruct Him to enter in them gradually. At the same time, He is teaching us to close off that portion of our hearts which allows us to be vulnerable to false teaching and evil of the devil. None of this happens overnight or without our cooperation, but we are mere mortals not capable of supernatural acts. Our perceptions are limited, unlike Yours. IS 55: 8-9, “’My thoughts, are not like yours, and My ways are different from yours,’ says the Lord. ‘As high as the heavens are above the earth, so high are My ways and thoughts above yours.’” We recognize our spiritual poverty without You. That is why we ask You today to give us the wisdom and discernment to not only recognize false teaching and the evil of the adversary when we encounter it, but also to remember that Your Son, Jesus Christ, equipped us to battle that evil and those lies to victory in His holy name [EPH 1: 18-20]. It is He Who went to the cross, taking the world’s sins with Him. It is He Who allowed the sacrifice of His physical life, through His obedience to You, so that we, who will listen to the truth and believe it, can be saved [JN 3: 16; RO 3: 24-25]. Just as David had Your help when he slew Goliath with a simple sling shot [1 SAM 17: 45-47], we ask for Your presence and intervention when we are faced with “wolves in sheep’s clothing.” Their clever lies can lead us to spiritual death, if we allow ourselves to become entangled in them. It is the devil’s work that believers have divided themselves in to all these denominations over church polity and/or theological differences of opinion. We were always meant to be one in the Body of Christ. Only You are the Source of all truth; no human being’s teaching can supersede Yours. We can learn about the truth from Your word [2 TIM 3: 16-17], from direct contact with You in prayer, and by the circumstances of our lives. We thank and praise You for making the truth of Your teaching available to us and for always listening to our prayers. You are a glorious God, and most praiseworthy. In Christ’s name, we pray. Amen.
Next week, we will examine Christ’s Sermon on the Mount teaching on the Two House Builders, in MT 7: 24-27-more on gaining discernment in the face of false teaching. There is a verse that I cite often, because it gives me such great comfort. It is 2 CH 16: 9, “The eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to Him.” Think about that! PS 33: 13, “The Lord looks down from heaven and sees every person.” That has monumental ramifications in every facet of our lives. The only people who should be afraid of that are purposeful sinners, choosing a lifestyle of rejecting God. Those of us who have faith can find that very comforting. God never allows us to have a test that will break our spirits [1 COR 10: 13]. He will allow us to be tested, only so much as it will strengthen our resolve and faith through learning more about ourselves that we didn’t know. And then, there is IS 35: 4, “Tell everyone who is discouraged, ‘Be strong and do not be afraid! God is coming to your rescue, coming to punish your enemies.’” We need only look into the past to see the truth of this statement. Hitler was an enemy; he and his 3rd Reich don’t exist anymore. The same can be said of the ancient enemies of the Jews, the Ammonites, Amalekites, Edomites, and Moabites. They too are gone. The Gnostics and Selucids are gone. We can go on and on. The Communist hold over the former USSR is gone. Surely there is still sin in the world, because not all the adverse consequences of sin have been suffered. But our Lord has promised us an end to sin [DN 9: 24-27] in His own perfect time. We must be patient as we wait for Him, so He has given us PS 27: 13-14 as encouragement. Praise and thanks be to Him!
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn