Billy Ray Parrish
One of the most interesting and controversial happenings between traditional believers and modern day believers is the worshipping of the fake Christ. Yes, this is a real serious issues that the church needs to have as too many preachers are guilty of preaching and too many believers are guilty of fallen victim to. The growing worship of the fake Christ comes from an adoption of liberal Christianity which preached a watered down version of the Gospel that adds feelings and emotions and led by tradition rather than what Christ wrote.
Let there be no mistake about it: Satan is behind the confusion as God is not the author of confusion. As Christians, we need a humbled spirit just like Paul eventually received. For example, Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:9 “For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.” What Paul says is so humbling and is an example of the way Christ works as Paul, then Saul, persecuted Christians but he would convert and become a great warrior for Christ.
Please note that liberal Christianity does not refer to anything political but rather, a theology. Often times, those who adhere to the teachings of liberal Christianity believe that scripture is not the literal word of God but rather, is something allegorical or a book of made up stories and parables filled with wisdom and good advice.While scripture is filled with wisdom beyond comparison; God’s word is there to be interpreted literal unless noted otherwise. To be on alert of such false belief systems, we are to read and study God’s word and 2 Timothy 2:15 instructs us to “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”
One of the most serious problems with liberal Christianity is it opens the door to acceptance of different beliefs and theories about Christ and His word that are not of God. We, as a nation, have arrived at liberal Christianity because people have stopped studying God’s word and accept almost anything they are told as truth. Because Satan roams this earth like a lion, he sees this and has exposed this weakness for all its worth. Remember, Christ took the word of God literal and since our target is Christ; to be Christ like, we, too, should interpret God’s word as literal.
Let’s take a look at one example of secular acceptance in regards to God’s word in the form of the first five books of scripture. These books are known as the Pentateuch but the new belief is that they were not written entirely by Moses but rather, Moses and other authors who came after Moses. This belief does different things including doubting the authenticity of scripture because, if the new belief is true, the events and the dates would not properly lineup as scripture outlines. Therefore, if scripture is in error as liberal Christianity believes then God is not who He says He is.
Furthermore, if scripture is not accurate then why should we care what it says? This is just some the evils that new ideas and belief systems like liberal Christianity pose. Another problem that liberal Christianity poses it its misinterpreting scripture and to see this, let’s take a look at Luke 12:51 tells us that Christ did not come to Earth to bring peace but rather, division: ” Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division:”
People read this and use it in different ways and at first, if you do not read within context, you would think that Christ is preaching a message of hatred and division but this is not so. When He says to bring division, He knew that His word would not be appreciated and accepted by everyone and this would bring about division and one example is Rome as they hated God’s word because it would take people away from worshipping their gods.
Christ tells the Jewish people that their God, their Father, is Satan because they hated when He said He was the Messiah. They did not like this and became even madder when He told them they worshipped Satan. Jesus says in John 8:44 ”Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.”
Satan does everything he can to stop people from uniting in Jesus including thinking that Jesus only preaches of love and that He does not require obedience. While Jesus does love His creation, He does not just preach a love gospel and does not accept everything that we do. Something that I have learned is that many people see God kind of like a buffet as you can compile all things you like and God accepts it but that’s not God—not the God of the Holy Bible—and this is why we must read it so we do not fall into this trap.
1 John 4:7-8 tells us that “Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.” John 10:34 reminds us that when Jesus says “Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.” This is one of those verses where you must read between the lines and within context. Yes, Christ is the Prince of Peace and He did come to the Earth to bring peace so we know His sword that is referred to is not a literal sword.
Think about when Peter tried to defend Christ in the Garden of Gathsemane. In Matthew 26:52, Jesus tells Peter to “Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword.” The peace that Christ brings is between Him and man and the division that exists is for those who deny Christ and reject His salvation as they will be at war with Christ. Sadly, many people do not see fit to obey God and His word but it’s clear that we must be obedient to Him the best we can as He is the only way to salvation.
1 John 5:2 and 3 tells us that obedience shows that we love God and reads “By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous” and in John 13:17, Jesus tells us that ”If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.” More importantly, we know that Jesus is love and He does all good things but He is also the bringer of truth.
His word is the truth and He inspired the different authors of scripture so to assume or suggest that He would be anything but the bringer of truth outside His word is an unfair and inaccurate characterization. Too many people believe that Christ never says anything harsh or point out bad behavior and He wouldn’t ever call anyone wicked and Matthew 12:39 shows Jesus responding to the Pharisees request of a sign.
To the request, Jesus responds “An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas” (Matthew 12:39). Now, again, this is a scripture that you need to know the full context of as it can be used wrongly if not understood properly. You may ask yourself why Christ would responds in such a manner as the request was not outrageous and seems reasonable but the reason Christ responded in such a way has to do with the fact that He just performed a miracle in their presence but it was not enough for them and they wanted more.
In Matthew 12:22, we read “Then was brought unto him one possessed with a devil, blind, and dumb: and he healed him, insomuch that the blind and dumb both spake and saw.” Jesus knew their hearts and thoughts as they believed Christ was of the devil. This is where Matthew 12:25 comes into play and has become prominent for so many including families and even nations with Jesus saying “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand:”
The division and separation that we spoke about earlier comes from ideologies that corrupt the word of God and liberal Christianity is no exception as it denies that miracles of Jesus but the works of Christ are the building blocks of the Christian faith. Imagine if you will for just a moment devoting your entire life to a movement whether a faith system or any other belief system but the principles that guide your life and the significant authors were nothing but lies. In all honestly, regardless of what you believe in, this makes no sense whatsoever and while I do not like to walk over people’s deepest held beliefs, anyone who belongs to a belief system where this is the case needs to rethink what they believe.
Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand:”
–Matthew 12:25
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