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Saturday, August 16, 2008

Many Shall Come in My Name

It has been oft-times pointed out by many a Pastor that the first warning that Yeshua (Jesus) gives to His disciples in Matthew ch. 24 is to not allow themselves to be deceived, "For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many" (vs. 5). We are told (and rightly so) that He was/is warning His followers that many would come, claiming to be "Christ" (which is the Greek word in exchange for the Hebrew "Messiah", which means "anointed"), and would lead many astray. In fact, He warns of this very thing again in vs. 11 (where He says that false prophets will lead people astray) and again in vs. 24 (in which even false "signs and wonders" accompany them). And it is becoming more apparent, and more pervasive day by day as we see the growth of the "New Age" movement (who's ideas are beginning to permeate even the "Church"), along with random nutballs here and there, claiming to be some incarnation of Christ. The New Age claims that each individual should seek to attain the "Christ-consciousness", thus becoming an individual "christ" (which invariably leads to the notion that if I am an individual "christ", I can save myself - something Marianne Williamson is promoting, via Oprah's XM radio program). So, as we live and breathe day by day, we see more and more of this way of thinking seeping it's way into the American (and world) mindset.

What is far more insidious to me, though, is the underlying meaning of what Yeshua was telling His followers (I believe). For, if you are a follower of the TRUE Messiah, Yeshua (Jesus) of Nazareth, and you are in His word (the bible) on a regular basis (as He indicates that His disciples would do, cf. John 8:31), you (we) will be able to see through the various attempts to get us to follow the multitude of false "christs" out there, or even worse, believe that we are some sort of "christ" ourselves! However, we can still be deceived, if in fact He was/is warning us of something far harder to detect, especially if we do not exercise true biblical discernment (which can ONLY be obtained by acting as Yeshua Himself said would mark His disciples - ABIDING in His word, which means reading, studying, and applying it to/in our lives daily). And this deception will come in the form of the following: someone who claims that they follow Yeshua (Jesus) - says that He (Jesus) is the Christ, and then proceeds to deceive others, by leading them contrary to the bible. Case in point: Oprah. She, while proceeding to promote more and more the teachings and ways of all sorts of New Age mumbo-jumbo, will still quote from Paul, or Jesus, etc. This is pretty easy to see through for many Christians (though there are MULTITUDES of professing "christians" who apparently have little more biblical discernment than a gnat following her). But how about someone like Barak Obama? Though he claims to be a believer and follower of Jesus, it does not take long to listen to his words, watch his actions (via his Senatorial voting records, et al) and see that he is not following the Jesus of the bible. Was HE one of the deceivers Jesus was talking about in Matt. 24, vs. 5? Folks, it gets worse than that. The way many high profile Pastors are going, it makes one wonder, ie. Joel Osteen. Now, before I go on, I would like to say that I will withhold judgment concerning salvation - that is God's and God's alone to make. But I AM told to judge "righteous" judgment (cf. John 7:24), and to take heed that I am NOT deceived. How am I to do that without making judgments? So, please refrain from throwing out "judge not, least ye be judged..." without first understanding the context with which Yeshua spoke those words. Since I mentioned Joel Osteen already, let me justify my mentioning of him. I am not seeking to judge whether he is a true, saved follower of Jesus our Messiah. That's not my job. But I AM to discern whether or not he teaches and promotes biblical truth; and if he does not, then I am to disregard his teaching (cf. Deut. 13). So with this in mind, what do we do with the teachings and actions of Benny Hinn? Kenneth Copeland? How about the now becoming more and more famous Todd Bentley? Shall we dig further? How about someone like Rick Warren, regarding whom there is an ever increasing divide among Christians concerning what he is promoting, his agenda, actions, AND associations? Tell me, is his P.E.A.C.E. plan a biblical plan that brings Yeshua to the Nations, and the Nations to Him, or a humanistically driven plan that unites a conglomerate of religions (contrary to Jesus own words that if He be lifted up, He would draw all peoples to Himself, not to each other in the name of "P.E.A.C.E."? I realize that simply bringing up some of these very popular teachers I put myself in danger of being attacked for being "judgmental", "legalistic", "unloving", etc. My intention is to sound a wake up call (see my second post - July, 2008) to the body of Messiah (Jesus' followers), and urge everyone to begin to take a hard look at where we are going as a whole, and just what we are really willing to stand for. If any/all of these men are truly Christians, and are saved, then I suggest that at the least, they are leading people off course, and thus putting those that listen to them at greater risk of being deceived even further. I do not (I repeat, do not) judge whether or not they are saved. But I do highly question the ideas and teachings that they promote, and all I ask is that you do the same.

"Brethren, be not children in understanding: howbeit in malice be ye children, but in understanding be men." - 1 Cor. 14:20


This brings me to my ultimate point. I believe that the underlying warning that Jesus gave to His disciples in Matt. 24:5 was this: that there would be MANY (can I say it again? MANY) who would come, in His name (don't we pray in His name, ie. His authority?), claiming that He, Jesus, is indeed the Christ, and would deceive MANY. In other words, MANY false "christians" - MANY naive believers who listen to them. Friend. Dearly beloved in Jesus. We MUST seek to take hold of His word, the bible, and dive into it DAILY, seeking the LORD for wisdom, understanding, and discernment, that we might not get sucked into the whirlwind and plethora of false christs, AND false FOLLOWERS (so-called) of Christ. We MUST begin to seek His word, AND obey it.

In the Name of The only begotten Son of God, the Holy One of Israel and our Great God and Savior, the Lord Yeshua (Jesus) Mashiach.

.j.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Amen, amen, amen and amen. I am so tired of being told I'm judging these people. (i.e. Hinn, Copeland, king, Bentley)I'm NOT sitting here and pronouncing judgment on them by saying they are going to Hell. Only God knows their heart. But I HAVE to discern right from wrong. I get told all the time not to "throw out the baby with the bathwater" and to stop discounting all of Todd's "works" as not of God. Yet at the same time, we're being asked to do just that...throw out the discernment with the judging. I'm glad to see someone else standing up and promoting discernment.

JRM said...

Wow. Thanks Lorikate for your comment...it's nice to know that there are others out there that are deeply concerned about the direction that so many believers are going in.

RE: "Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater." I don't think there's even a baby IN the bathwater in many of these cases!

.j.

Unknown said...

LOL. As I tell my mother (who hears that phrase CONSTANTLY from her pastor) Don't throw out the baby with the bathwater...but you still have to throw out the BATHWATER? Right?