Is there a connection between church membership and money?
“Her princes (leaders) in the midst thereof are like wolves ravening the prey, to shed blood, and to destroy souls, to get dishonest gain.” Ezekiel 22:27
There is no evidence in the New Testament of what we see today perpetrated as “church membership.” Church membership is merely a tool in the arsenal of modern pastors to capture the souls and the money of those ensnared by it.
“Not for that we have dominion over your faith, but are helpers of your joy: for by faith ye stand.” 2 Corinthians 1:24
In the above verse, we see how Jesus’ apostle Paul expressly states that His calling from God is to help the joy, to bless the saints of Christ and never to control or manipulate them – as we see being done through the wolves who operate the church system today.
Church membership today is nothing more than a device of wolves to corral and exploit the people! There’s no biblical justification for it.
Corralling people using weekly “services” in a physical building doesn’t make any man a true prophet unto the LORD. The only thing this ascertains is that such a man is a real estate manager who is conducting a business.
Those with an agenda prove they are not “crucified with Christ” and will only use you! Beware. This is 99% of those in ministry today! Run.
Men who are truly serving the LORD do not seek to control or exploit GOD’s people (2 Corinthians 1:24).
Jesus Christ didn’t come and die for you so that you could be somebody’s good church member. Jesus saved you to be His disciple, His ambassador – to follow Him! (2 Corinthians 5:17-20)
Yes God ordained that there be elders in His body to feed and equip His the members of the one church and yet, not as is many times positioned and performed in the modern church world (1 Peter 5:1-6).
CHECK THE FRUIT: What have the local churches with their church membership corralling ever produced other than a bunch of church goers who are part of a church club? Where are the voices for Jesus is the market places? Look at the fruit of today’s modern churches. It is not reconcilable with the authentic New Testament disciples we see on the pages of the New Testament canon. Acts 1:8; 4:29-31, and 8:4 anyone?
Church membership is a tool to run a scam on the people – to number them as Satan led David to do (1 Chronicles 21). The LORD judged David for doing this and is judging the wolves today who coercively promulgate their church membership scam. God’s people belong to HIM and no other (1 Corinthians 6:19-20; 7:23, etc.). They’ve discovered that “membership” into something causes people to believe they belong and therefore they are more willing to pay due$.
THINK: Let’s follow the money for a moment. In many cases, seminaries are connected to church denominations, right? Okay, so this incentivizes those seminaries to teach “church membership” to the future pastors because that sets the flow of money in motion. When the pastors teach, coerce, and obtain church membership, the money follows. Members feel obligated to give and support what they join, signed up for, and are participating in. There are now part of the club. Real simple business plan.
“Listening to your podcast about church membership. Really good message and I have left my church membership as I think it’s not biblical. The reason I went to this was because I was lonely and it was all for the wrong reasons. I find churches today are like a social club and lack of teaching. Thank you Todd and God bless you.” Penny
Can anyone find church membership in God’s Word among the earliest followers of Jesus? No. If someone is concerned about you becoming a member of their church, that’s a red flag. WHY can’t they just love you as a member of the one blood bought body of Christ? Church membership as it’s done by the 501(C)(3) government churches is against Holy Scripture. Run.
These church membership beguilers know that if they get the member$, the money follows! It’s a busine$$ to them!
CHURCH MEMBERSHIP SCAM BUSTED! Regrettably, millions have signed up to serve and fund a “church”, a false ministry which has as its initiation rite, the scam of “church membership” – something never taught nor enacted by Christ and His apostles. Once you agree to it, an evil spirit follows. This is the deeds and the doctrine of the Nicolaitans which Jesus says He hated! (Revelation 2:6, 15) Nico-Lains; Nico means to conquer and laitans means the people. Nicolaitans means – conquer the people. Beware. Anyone who wishes to debate me on this topic public, come forward. email Todd at: info@safeguardyoursoul.com
Church membership is for nobody’s good except those peddling it. Church membership is designed to make you loyal to their church club, not Christ.
THINK: Let’s follow the money for a moment. In many cases, seminaries are connected to church denominations, right? Okay, so this incentivizes those seminaries to teach “church membership” to the future pastors because that sets the flow of money in motion. When the pastors teach, coerce, and obtain church membership, the money follows. Real simple business plan.
“They want you to become members so you will be obligated to give to tithe to pay the pastor’s mortgage.” Darrel Moore
Many of today’s pastors are con men, marketers, salesmen. Seminaries today are heavy on marketing classes. These greed-driven nicolatain wolves use flattery to set the trap, to spread a net under the feet of their prey in order to snare them. They flatter their prey in order to get them to sign up for their church club where they are expected to participate by giving to fund the club.
“A man that flattereth his neighbour spreadeth a net for his feet.” Proverbs 29:5
If you’ve seen what I’ve repeatedly witnessed, you have observed in some instances, that after the honeymoon period, after they’ve gotten you to sign up for their club, to become a member, the flattery subsides, unless they are dealing with the rich of this world.
The church system, including church membership, has produced horrible fruit, counterfeits, backsliders. Where are the soul winners? No where to be found in the modern church. Satan has succeeded through our rebellion. Fellowship and seeking God is limited to their so-called “church attendance.” Instead of being the church (people of God), they replace it with “going to church” or “service.” It becomes what people trust in. Their “worship” is simply going to church. This is completely un-scriptural. Jesus says “This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.” (Matthew 7:6) Modern Church Exposed
Church membership produces church members with no good fruit. Being truly born again and humbly abiding obedient in Christ produces the good fruit that clearly proves one is in truly Christ (John 15).
“Church” attendance was never ordained by God to displace, to replace the personal study of His Word and the natural, daily, organic fellowship of individual saints. Church membership endears the people, the prey, to the organization and it’s leaders and members and not to the LORD Himself. This has displaced the individual priesthood and fellowship God ordained for each and every individual believer. Lots of people replace personally diligently seeking the LORD with going to “church.” They either merely dabble with or don’t even personally study God’s Word for themselves and yet are members in good standing at these local entertainment centers many call “church.” The pastors have sold them on this lifestyle by promoting and emphasizing church membership and not discipleship.
“Neither as being lords over God’s heritage, but being ensamples to the flock.” 1 Peter 5:3
If the members of Christ’s body are “GOD’s heritage”, what can be added? What did Jesus leave undone? Why do some insist upon getting them to sign up for something else, some club? Is this not a clear example of lording it over “God’s heritage”? Perhaps much evil can be traced back to this trap, this cursed root, practice.
You are bought by the blood of Jesus and the property of God, not man! Get off the roll call of church membership now! Sever the yoke of bondage! By doing this you are denouncing trust in the flesh, in mere men, and declaring that you are Christ’s! You belong to He who bought You with His blood on the cross!
“Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men.” 1 Corinthians 7:23
“No more membership of man’s fellowship club.
God is the Savior of all men, especially
those who believe.
God has ushered in by holy blood fellowship
in the Spirit and there is only one way to enter.
John 14:6” David Taylor, pastor
Do God’s People Need to Join a “Church” in Order to “Love One Another”?
“By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” John 13:35
Have these words of our LORD and Savior been hi-jacked? Recently I read the subtitle of a pro-church membership pastor’s book which read: “How the world knows who represents Jesus.” These words seem designed to convince people that they must join his or a local church organization to walk in God’s love toward His people. Nonsense.
It’s interesting that some of the proponents of formal church membership to their local “church” are now teaching that the world knows God’s people by their connection to what they call “church”, local church membership. Being knowing of Christ, purchased by His precious blood and therefore in His one church isn’t enough so they say. Loving one another doesn’t seem to apply to those who aren’t signed up on their church roll call.
In the above verse, did Jesus say anything the the blood-bought members of His body about signing up to be a member of a local church? Did you read that in John 13:35 or anywhere in the New Testament? No. It’s not there.
In the teaching, the theology of these enterprising wolves, somehow being purchased by the very blood of Jesus is not enough if one doesn’t join a local “church.” They take what Jesus plainly taught a step further by adding to what He taught. Where is church membership as the false church promotes found in John 13:35 or any part of the Scriptures? Nowhere. They say that church membership is required in order to show the world how much love Christians have “one to another.” (John 13:34-35) This is clearly an example of adding to the Word of God (Revelation 22:18-19). Dangerous. Erroneous. Since when was Jesus’ cross not enough to save then unite His people who are full of His love for Him and each other? I’d ask them to use Scripture to demonstrate that Christ’s cross wasn’t enough and how being a part, a formal member of their “church” club is somehow even important, much less necessary. This is trickery being used by greedy, self-serving wolves who are making merchandise of God’s people for their own self-serving purposes (2 Peter 2:1-3). Are these pastors not using the name of the LORD in vain by using His holy name, His holy Word in vain, to coercively manipulate people to believe they have to join their local church?
Fellowship with the people of God is commanded and a necessity for every born again saint. Yet, such doesn’t require being a roll call member of a local church club. There’s no end to the number of ways many pastors manipulate the minds of the people, convincing them that going to their church club is a necessity and that fellowship is defined as being a part of that group. Utter nonsense.
The salesmen we call “pastors” today have to sell you on the notion that you need them. But the Bible informs us that we need 1. Jesus, and, 2. His true body, not those who are practicing the witchcraft of making you a member of their “church” instead of honoring the truth that when God saved you, through the blood of Jesus, He already made you a member of His one true body/church (Romans 12; 1 Corinthians 12; Ephesians 2, 4). 11 times the New Testament uses the term “one body.” And, the apostle Paul severely rebuked the Corinthians for sectarianism – “For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you. 12 Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ. 13 Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized in the name of Paul?” (1 Corinthians 1:11-13)
FLASH POINT: You were purchased at the highest price – the very precious blood of Jesus Christ (1 Peter 1:18-19). You are first and foremost the servant of the Most High, who paid the highest price to purchase you to Himself. You are accountable to Your Maker, Your Redeemer, not mere men who deceitfully pose as His elders and yet act outside of His stated will, His Word. Church membership into a local body, becoming a member, is not of God, period. There is not one instance of Jesus or His apostles practicing church membership into a local church group as is done today.
PLEASE SHARE THIS POST: Church membership in a local gathering is a huge sacred cow that must be exposed for the tyrannical device that it is. It’s Satan whom Jesus says has come “to steal, to kill, and to destroy.” (John 10:10)
Church membership is nothing more or less than a device to control, manipulate, and exploit people.
Modern church leaders claim to be the LORD’s elders and yet they’re doing something Christ and His apostles, the original New Testament elders, never once did – church membership tyranny.
Modern wolves often use Hebrews 13:7, 17 to convince their prey to submit to them. Yet, a close reading of those verses, when you see the conditions, disqualifies most would-be elders as frauds. Why? Because they’re not truly leading you in the Word nor honestly overseeing your soul. If they were, they wouldn’t be practicing church membership to exploit you.
Modern church leaders sell people on how they have to have their membership into the church club in order to give them (the people) the benefits of THEIR leadership, to train them, to oversee them, to teach them. But did Jesus or His apostles practice “church membership”? No. What further price needs to be paid on top of the already shed precious blood of Jesus for God’s people to be His church and to function as His church? Are you beginning to smell a rat? There’s more….
SEEMS to me that God wants His people, first and foremost, to operate as individual disciples of HIS …. read this closely saints….
“For he that is called in the Lord, being a servant, is the Lord’s freeman: likewise also he that is called, being free, is Christ’s servant. 23 Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men. 24 Brethren, let every man, wherein he is called, therein abide with God.” 1 Corinthians 7:22-24
WHY can’t they just let you be your own person? WHY do they feel the need to bring you under their leadership? Did the LORD address this in His Word? He sure did. Take a close look at this verse and capture it for your knowledge, safety, and liberty in Christ:
“While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage.” 2 Peter 2:19
It’s through the lie that they teach you that you need to become a member of their church that they bring you into bondage. This is how they operate. The lie is the bait to get you to take it, to join, and then the hook is set. They throw the net to catch your feet as they set the hook in you to bring you into their boat.
Memorize this, meditate on this nugget of divine truth. The LORD told on His enemies by showing how they operate: “of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage.” 2 Peter 2:19
How are people “overcome”, that is, how are they brought under the rulership of other mere men? How are they brought into servitude to other men? Via church membership, initiation and indoctrination into a system that is not the kingdom and doesn’t come with the blessing of Jesus Christ, the only “Head” of the true church.
Greek for “Overcome” in 2 Peter 2:19:
to make worse, that is, vanquish (literally or figuratively); by implication to rate lower: – be inferior, overcome.
QUESTION: Why do cattle ranchers capture, corral, and brand their cattle?
ANSWER: To exercise control over them. To make money off of them. Right? Yes.
QUESTION: Are you cattle, an animal or are you created in the very image of God? Why then do you allow yourself to be under the bondage of sinful men instead of directly submitted to the only “Head” of the true church?
Wolf Lies Leads to Wasted Lives
Also, have you ever stood back and wondered by the modern church system is not producing true disciples? What is the issue? There’s lots of church-membership, church attendance transpiring. So why so little kingdom fruit is being produced?
Case in point:
How many people do you know who are good church members and also astute biblical students who can earnestly defend and contend for the faith?
Do we really think that what we see, the wasted lives whose life is sucked out via the modern local church experience, is what God intended for His New Testament saints? What God had in mind when He sent His only begotten Son, looks much different than what the apostate modern church world is producing – which is basically perpetual church goers.
ARE you seeking to get people to your “church” or to JESUS?
What is the fruit of your life? Are you merely a church member who attends a so-called church “service” weekly? Are you truly a disciple who is bearing the fruit consistent with true repentance and kingdom living?
Churchianity vs Biblical Christianity-a real walk with Jesus. Which do you have?
Have you read the books of Acts lately? THAT’s God’s will for His New Testament church. It would do us well to studiously read and pour prayerfully over this great book of Acts. Among other things, the book of Acts is a historical record of the earliest followers of Christ after Pentecost which marks the beginning of the New Testament church.
Hint: The only reason someone would want you to sign up as their church member is because they have an agenda. Plain and simple.
Paul said he didn’t exercise dominion over the faith of others. So, why do nearly all local churches today seek to do so by conquering their prey via the right of passage, through church membership into their system? Let’s read again the words of Christ’s apostle Paul who insisted that individual saints be left autonomous:
“Not for that we have dominion over your faith, but are helpers of your joy: for by faith ye stand.” 2 Corinthians 1:24
It’s through church membership that the people are brought into the system so the wolves can exercise “dominion” over Christ’s sheep. Then it by the system that they exercise dominion over the people. The system is the oppression. This is why the earliest saints operated autonomously – outside of the system. They system we see in the New Testament Scripture were the worse enemies of our LORD and we know that because they received the hardest rebukes from Him (Matthew 23).
The initiation is the obtaining of membership. Then, under that deceiving spirit, people are fearful to go against the system, the church rules and regulations and the leaders. So, they’ve surrendered their rights if you will. They’ve surrendered to the system and dropped their God-given ability and responsibility of reasoning. Remember how the Berean believers took Paul to task as they weighed all he spoke against the final authority of the Scriptures? (Acts 17:10-11) Now, when the captor is under the system, he’s now a yes man, a man who won’t go against the grain and like every good cult, when someone questions the system, they have to be disciplined and excommunicated if necessary.
Further evidence of the cultic nature of this scenario where leaders indoctrinate and put a spell on the people, is that even good men who are biblical are prone to fall into this heresy, to be led into it, and say nothing as they simply go with the flow (Exodus 23:2). This is proof of an evil spirit at work, just as it happened to the Galatians who were “bewitched.” (Galatians 3:1)
“O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you?” Galatians 3:1
Modern wolves who perpetrate the practice “church membership”, which is never seen in Holy Scripture, do so because they want you to check your discernment, your God-given reasoning faculties at the door. Why? They want to control you and they don’t want to be questioned or exposed.
Now, WHY do we think they call their meetings a “service”? The Bible never calls the gatherings, the assemblies of God’s people a “service.” WHO are the people really SERVING? Under whose servitude have they submitted? See 2 Peter 2:19.
Did the Early Church Practice Church Membership as it’s Practiced Today?
Nearly anything can be extrapolated using Scripture out of context and yet, the test is whether or not Jesus and His apostles and the early church practiced such. And, they didn’t practice it. Church membership, as we see it in the modern church world, began with the roman catholic church and is not biblical. Also, it causes sectarianism which Jesus rebuked (Luke 9:49-50). Church membership is all about corralling and controlling the sheep of Christ’s pasture.
Let’s not deceive ourselves – most churches, church organizations are a business and operate according to a busine$$ model:
Membership = Money
Connection = Coin
“Once all the apostles were killed off, this system, including church membership, was set up, denying the headship of Christ.” David Taylor (pastor)
Obtaining new members, church membership, new members classes are a part of the church busine$$ $ystem to corral, control, and con the members and most diabolically, to intercept their reasoning, their resources, and their rightful place with Christ, the only “Head” of His body (Colossians 1:18; 2:18-19).
“But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. 2 And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. 3 And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not.” 2 Peter 2:1-3
Most modern local churches are busine$$e$ for the profit of men, not God.
The church membership push is the push perpetrated by greed-driven beguilers to corral, to unduly leverage, to wield ungodly control over God’s people and their resources – time and money. Beware. Run.
Here’s a pitch I ran across on a church website:
“Being a member is your way of saying, ‘I’m all in with the _______ Church Family.’ Membership at _______ Church is a commitment to our family, and a commitment from our family to you.”
Note that the basis, the measure of being “all in” is being sold as joining that local church. And so it’s all about that church family and not the whole body of Christ. It’s about that so-called church “family” instead of “the whole family in heaven and earth is named.” (Ephesians 3:15)
The assembling of God’s people is to be for fellowshipping with God and His people (Acts 2:42). Since the early church, a whole system of antichrist interceptions has been perpetrated by a priesthood of wolves. Anti means in place of. Notice the origins of this system of pushing Christ out. ……. Colossians 3:1-4. Putting ANYTHING in place of Christ is antichrist.
Church membership = control. They want control of you so they can control your resources, your money. Satan has a much larger plan – to control your mind, to quench the work of the Holy Spirit of God in your life.
History of Church Membership: The history of church membership in Protestant and Evangelical churches begins with the Catholic Church, which implements its discipline over all the baptized (christened, water sprinkled), through a tradition-based sacramental system, governing the lives of their captors from cradle to grave. Essentially, in this way the Roman cult corrals and coerces the insistence of membership upon every initiated, water-sprinkled/christened catholic child. Without that cult-initiation rite, that membership to the Roman religion, that person is considered outside of salvation, outside of the “one true church.” Through church membership in the Catholic church, the completely un-biblical sacramental system is enforced. The Catholic sacramental system is the creation, the strategy of devils, designed to strengthen the piety of the Catholic faithful throughout their lives, guiding them safely into the bowels of eternal damnation. Jesus died and rose again that He alone might have preeminence over His true worldwide body. Church membership to a local church or church organization is perpetrated by cross-less wolves and is a direct affront to the Headship of the one, nail-scarred Savior (Colossians 1:18; 2:18-19, etc.).
Church membership, as Satan would have it, produces the fruit of wasted lives who bid Godspeed to the wolves Christ and His apostles often warned us about (2 John 7-11). So many “Christians” today are not kingdom disciples who are bearing fruit daily for the glory of God. They’ve pigeonhole themselves into a local so-called church and spend all our resources and energy on a self-perpetuating religious club. Some call it churchianity as opposed to biblical Christianity.
Church membership inevitably leads to idolatry, where the allegiance is to the local church which becomes an idol. The church organization begins to take precedence, preeminence.
When someone signs up to be a member of the “church” club, inevitably, they begin to trust the club, to rely on their leaders and the organization, and their attendance at its “services.” Their trust in God, their reliance, their desperate crying out to Him, their dependency upon the LORD wanes.
“My walk got even stronger with Christ when I stopped submitting to local churches, because I looked for HIM to give me the answers instead of going to a man.” Veronica
The gathering of the saints of Christ to worship Him together is never to be monetized – used for the self-serving purposes of wolves. This is exactly what we see in the modern church business, just as it was when Jesus cleared the temple (Matthew 21; John 2).
Everything becomes about the church activities, curriculum, people, and leaders, instead of Christ (Colossians 2:18-19; 3:1-4, etc.). The curriculum of weekly church services, a program, a system, causes people to trust in that and not in Christ, daily, moment by moment. Individual accountability and participation in an abiding oneness with Christ is the biblical mandate (Luke 21:34-36; John 15, etc.). Inevitably, church membership and participation in that groups activities becomes the thing people become enthralled in and not Christ. The spontaneity is lost.
“And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers. 43 And fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles. 44 And all that believed were together, and had all things common; 45 And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need. 46 And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, 47 Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.” Acts 2:42-47
Only the LORD Himself can add to His blood-bought church in the earth. Notice “THE LORD ADDED TO THE CHURCH daily such as should be saved” in contrast to false leaders building their own nickels, noses, and numbers via church membership, etc. (Acts 2:47) Mere men who seek to “church the unchurched” are self-willed rebels operating under their own self-serving greedy agenda, using the name of the LORD in vain to build their own empires – void of essential biblical truths such as the virgin birth and divinity of Jesus Christ, hell, judgment to come, the imperative of repentance, holiness, etc. Only Christ, the Head of His body, can add to HIS church which He promised He would “build.” … “I will build MY church.” (Matthew 16:18) While enterprising antichrist’s build their own “churches”, Christ is building His one remnant body, organically!
Read Colossians chapters 1 and 2 closely. Ask God to open the eyes of your understanding as you begin.
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THIS is so very important! Please listen and share to help others (Ezekiel 44:23).
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DOES THE BIBLE SAY TO PRAY FOR FALSE TEACHERS? The Answer May Surprise You.
DOES THE BIBLE SAY TO PRAY FOR OR DOES IT MANDATE THAT WE EXPOSE FALSE TEACHERS?
No, it’s not a sin to pray for the deceived. Yet, isn’t it time we obeying the command of God and stopped giving aid and comfort to the enemies of the LORD and cease caring for them more than the many they are deceiving?
A DIVINE COMMAND: “Now I beseech you, brethren, MARK THEM which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them. 18 For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple.” Romans 16:17-18
Wolf worshippers are first and foremost self-worshipping counterfeits who could care less how many souls their celebrity wolf is leading to hell. All they care about is the sensual thrill they feel in worshipping their demon-possessed false prophet who tells them what they like to hear!
NEVER apologize for exposing false teachings and false teachers. You do such in obedience to the LORD and it results in the protection of the Great Shepherd’s sheep for whom He died (Matthew 10; Hebrews 13:20).
Did Jesus or His apostles ever pray for a wolf? No.
To the false leaders of his day, Jesus says this:
“Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers (snakes), how can ye escape the damnation of hell?” Matthew 23:33
Do nothing to “bid God speed” to the enemies of the LORD lest you be judged with those enemies of God (2 John 10-11). Bidding God speed means to condone, to support, or in any way to further the cause of the enemies of God, namely human agents who are teaching contrary to the Scripture.
So he’s not calling out the wolves and you still sit under that devil? You want to go to hell with him? (2 John 10-11) Repent and run now! (Matthew 7:15; 24:11; Romans 16:17-18; Jude 3, etc.)
Of the false teachers at Galatia, Paul says he wishes they, the false prophets, were “cut off.” Make not mistake, this is violent language.
“I would they were even cut off which trouble you.” Galatians 5:12
To “cut off” means to castrate, to mutilate, to amputate and so Paul is either saying that his God fearing desire is for false teachers to be castrated or taken out completely. There’s no getting around this appropriately violent language. It’s fitting for this situation because the eternal souls of men, the sheep of Christ’s pasture are at stake.
Many self-deceived people today have more compassion for Satan’s hell bound false leaders than they do for the beloved sheep who are being being misled by those wolves in sheep’s clothing! Repent now.
Beware of misplaced compassion. Compassion without discernment, compassion while ignorant, is dangerous.
The the false prophet Elymas, the apostle says:
“And said, O full of all subtilty and all mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord?” Acts 13:10
Can anyone find in this Acts 13 text where Christ’s apostle Paul pray for this Elymas, this named false prophet? I’m sorry, perhaps I missed something here.
There seems to be no end to the novices, perhaps well meaning, who argue out of their own ignorance to defend wolves who are devouring Jesus’ sheep. They come off as if they are highly superior in approaching, dealing with wolves with “love” and accuse those who expose as not doing so. Let’s take a look at who’s walking in true love, and who isn’t.
“Open rebuke is better than secret (hidden, concealed) love. 6 Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.” Proverbs 27:5-6
Hebrew word for “secret” …..
סָתַר
sâthar
saw-thar’
A primitive root; to hide (by covering), literally or figuratively: – be absent, keep close, conceal, hide (self), (keep) secret, X surely.
As you will see below, it seems accurate to observe that we’ve never seen “love” like the love of prey for the wolf that’s tickled their ears and told them what their unrepentant hearts wish to hear (Isaiah 30:9-10; 2 Timothy 4:2-4).
Most wolf protecting enemies of Christ simply don’t know and don’t want to know what God says about this topic. They are under the control of Satan himself, covering for his agents and will be judged with them (2 John 10-11). God doesn’t like cowards (1 Corinthians 16:13; Revelation 21:8). The “fearful” are the first class listed as going to the lake of fire.
Those who defend Jesus’ enemy’s will be judged, damned with them (2 Pet 2:1-3; 2 Jn 10-11).
TYPICAL DEFENSE OF A WOLF BY HIS PREY:
“But wait, he’s led many thousands to the Lord!”
REPLY:
Jesus saves all by Himself, even using wolves at times. That is a front, intentionally taught to you by the wolf to cover, to keep himself from being detected, like sheep’s clothing (Matthew 7:15). After witnessing the “ministry” of this false teacher for years, I highly doubt most of those people truly were saved. He doesn’t even speak of the chasm their sin has caused so how can they truly be convicted and repent? They can’t in most cases. Luke 13:3…. If God truly did save some of them, it was in spite of White, not because of him.
MESSAGE RECEIVED:
“I do applaud your zeal for truth! I personally just think it is wise exercising prudence about knowing the hearts of men or women, only God knows. He will separate the wheat from the chaff.”
REPLY:
Jesus commanded us to “KNOW (Gr. discern) by their fruits” and told us that “out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.” (Matthew 15-16, 20; 12:34) ALL men are known by the fruit of what they teach – either sound or false doctrine (Titus 2:1). Why would the Son of God told us to “KNOW” people by the fruit of their lives if He didn’t want us to discern, to “Judge righteous judgment”? (John 7:24)
God knows all men’s hearts yes and yet GOD commanded us to know people also. How? Jesus says to “know (discern) them BY THEIR FRUITS” and thereby we know that anyone teaching “another gospel” is “accursed” and is the very enemy of Christ and to be “earnestly” contended against and marked, scoped out and identified – so as to protect the body of Christ (Matthew 7:16, 20; Romans 16:17-18; Galatians 1:6-9; 2 Peter 2:1-3; Jude 3-4).
HOW DID JESUS tell us to know/discern others? The FRUIT of their lives (Matt 7:16,20) THE FACT that JESUS told us to “know” (discern) people means He wants us to do so! (Matt 7:16,20) Same chapter as “judge not” v1-5 When Jesus taught us to “judge not” He is speaking in that context of hypocritical judgment and wrongly assigned condemnation. The JUDGE has spoken in a book called THE BIBLE. He’s calling us to pay attention when we read it. His written WORD records for us HIS judgments – the judgments of the Judge. So when a man preaches the Word, he is preaching GOD’s judgments, warnings, and not his own.
MESSAGE TO ME FROM A MAN ATTEMPTING TO CURTAIL THE MARKING OF A KNOWN WOLF:
“Dear Lord Jesus Please show Todd White your Holy Truth. May Todd White find peace and assurance in your wisdom and may he become a light upon a hill guiding others to Christ. Help him to leave behind his old self and ignite in him a desire to unashamedly make known Your Truth and disown and depart from the untruths he has held onto. In Jesus Mighty name we ask, Amen. Matthew chapter 5 verse 44’ But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;”
REPLY:
Can you give chapters and verses where Jesus or His holy apostles specifically prayed for a wolf? Ever read Matthew 23?
Interesting that you seem to hate all those precious many souls Todd White is misleading. Interesting. Why don’t all those precious souls matter to you? If you aren’t defending Todd White, why do you seem to care more for him than those many people he’s misleading?
How intense was Jesus’ apostle Paul about protecting Christ’s flock?
“For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God. 28 Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. 29 For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. 30 Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. 31 Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears.” Acts 20:27-31
In Matthew 5:38-45 Christ is speaking of not retaliating against OUR enemies. Jesus is speaking of how we are to react to OUR ENEMIES, not HIS enemies in Matt 5:44. HIS enemies in specific are those who are misleading HIS people, the sheep for which HE bled to save on that cross. You are misguided and taking Scripture out of context. What did He mandate that His disciple do?
“Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. 4 For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.” Jude 3-4
GOD TOLD YOU TO “MARK THEM” – WOLVES – AND NOT DEFEND THEM! (ROMANS 16:17-18) YOU GOING TO OBEY GOD OR REBEL?
“Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them. 18 For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple.” Romans 16:17-18
Todd White is being marked, scoped out (Gr. skopeo) and named, identified as an enemy of Christ, a wolf in sheep’s clothing (Matt 7:15) so His people can be aware and escape being deceived…. no different than warning your children not to go near the street. Danger.
MESSAGE FROM WOLF JUSTIFIER:
“I believe we can still learn from (false) preachers and pastors biblical teaching, but we must test the spirits. Bring what is taught back to the word. Paul Washer, MacArthur, Spurgeon all preachers. Even today’s motivational speakers. I use what the Holy Spirit blessed me with, discernment, knowledge, wisdom.”
REPLY:
Good morning. Yes and yet, the LORD mandates that we separate ourselves from His enemies who pose as His ministers yet Paul says they are actually the ministers of Satan (2 Cor 11:12-15). Jude 3; Rom 16:17-18 …. we know all men, beginning with ourselves by the fruit…. false doctrine is bad fruit which means the root and tree is cursed. Matt 7:15-21; 12:33
Mat 12:33 Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by his fruit.
Paul Washer, MacArthur, Spurgeon are all calvinist heretics. Everything they say, teach is poisoned with this calvinistic system, a doctrine of devils.
The Holy Spirit blessed you with the Word and so why do you need to even listen to known false teachers? Why would you? (2 Timothy 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:19-21, etc.)
How would you feel if your own husband communed with a sworn enemy of yours? How does Jesus feel by what you’ve just said?
SETTING THE BIBLICAL RECORD STRAIGHT
Jesus commanded HIS people to “JUDGE righteous judgment” (John 7:24) And, He commanded us to know/discern others “BY THEIR FRUITS” and that’s exactly what we’re doing under the command of KING JESUS (Matthew 7:16, 20). Dare you interfere with HIS work and become His enemy? You are bidding Godspeed to evil doers, satan’s wolves in sheep’s clothing, and you will be judged with those enemies of Christ if you don’t repent (2 John 10-11).
Jesus and each of His apostles on record in the New Testament canon warned the flock of wolves who would devour! There is no instance where they prayed for an enemy of Christ, a wolf who was misleading the flock of God.
Here is the list of the 8 evil doers the great apostle was divinely inspired to justifiably identify by name in 2 Timothy – in order to protect God’s people:
1) Phygellus 1:15
2) Hermogenes 1:15
3) Hymenaeus 2:17
4) Philetus 2:17
5) Jannes 3:8
6) Jambres 3:8
7) Demas 4:10 (apostate)
8) Alexander the coppersmith 4:14
Read the book of 2 Timothy and underline these deceivers that the apostle was marking.
How to Pray Effectively for Your Friends and Family! [podcast]
Someone has wisely stated that “We are never more like Jesus than when we are praying for others.” Which of God’s people are on your prayer list? No greater way to serve another than to lift them up to the Father in the name of Jesus! “Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. 4 Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. 5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:” Philippians 2:3-5 […]
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Spiritual Formation—A Dangerous Substitute for the Life of Christ [podcast]
Sometimes we think of spiritual formation as formation by the Holy Spirit. Once again. That’s essential. . . . But now I have to say something that may be challenging for you to think about: Spiritual formation is not all by the Holy Spirit. . . . We have to recognize that spiritual formation in us is something that is also done to us by those around us, by ourselves, and by activities which we voluntarily undertake . . .There has to be method.1—Dallas Willard
Aside from the fact that Spiritual Formation incorporates mystical practices into its infrastructure (remove the contemplative aspect and you don’t have “Spiritual Formation” anymore), Spiritual Formation is a works-based substitute for biblical Christianity. Let us explain.
When one becomes born again (“that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved” (Romans 10:9-10), having given his or her life and heart over to Christ as Savior, Jesus Christ says He will come in and live in that surrendered heart:
Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. (Revelation 3:20)
To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory: (Colossians 1:27)
If the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you. (Romans 8:11; emphasis added)
When God, through Jesus Christ, is living in us, He begins to do a transforming work in our hearts (2 Corinthians 3:18). Not only does He change us, He also communes with us. In other words, we have fellowship with Him, and He promises never to leave or forsake us (Hebrews 13:5).
This life of God in the believer’s heart is not something we need to conjure up through meditative practices. But if a person does not have this relationship with the Lord, he may seek out ways to feel close to God. This is where Spiritual Formation comes into play. Rather than a surrendered life to Christ (through repentance and faith), the seeking person begins practicing the spiritual disciplines (e.g., prayer, fasting, good works, etc.) with the promise that if he practices these disciplines, he will become more Christ-like.
But merely doing these acts fails to make one feel close to God—something is still missing. And thus, he begins practicing the discipline of silence (or solitude), and now in these altered states of silence, he finally feels connected to God. He now feels complete. What he does not understand is that he has substituted the indwelling of Christ in his heart for a works-based methodology that endangers his spiritual life. Dangerous because these mystical experiences he now engages in appear to be good because they make him feel close to God, but in reality he is being drawn into demonic realms no different than what happens to someone who is practicing transcendental meditation or eastern meditation. Even mystics themselves acknowledge that the contemplative realm is no different than the realm reached by occultists. To understand this more fully, please read Ray Yungen’s book A Time of Departing.
Bottom line, it is not possible to be truly Christ-like without having Christ inside of us because it is His righteousness that is able to change our hearts—we cannot do it without Him. It is His righteousness we need:
Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe. (Romans 3:22)
And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith. (Philippians 3:9)
It is interesting to note that virtually every contemplative teacher has a common theme—they feel dry and empty and want to go “deeper” with God or “become more intimate” with God. But if we have Christ living in us, how can we go any deeper than that? How can we become more intimate than that? And if going deeper and becoming intimate were so important, why is it that none of the disciples or Jesus Himself ever told us to do this? As Larry DeBruyn states:
Why are Christians seeking a divine presence that Jesus promised would abundantly flow in them? . . . Why do they need another voice, another visitation, or another vision? Why are some people unthankfully desirous of “something more” than what God has already given to us? Why is it that some Christians, in the depth of their souls, are not seemingly at rest?2
Is There a “Good” Spiritual Formation?
One of the most common arguments we hear defending Spiritual Formation is that there is a “good” Spiritual Formation done without contemplative prayer. To that we say, we have never yet seen a Spiritual Formation program in a school or a church that doesn’t in some way point people to the contemplative mystics. It might be indirectly, but in every case, if you follow the trail, it will lead you right into the arms of Richard Foster, Dallas Willard, and other contemplative teachers.
Think about this common scenario: A Christian college decides to begin a Spiritual Formation course. The instructor has heard some negative things about Richard Foster, Henri Nouwen, and Brennan Manning, and he figures he will teach the class “good Spiritual Formation” and leave those teachers completely out. But he’s going to need a textbook. He turns to a respected institution, Dallas Theological Seminary, and finds a book written by Paul Pettit, Professor in Pastoral and Education Ministries. The book is titled Foundations of Spiritual Formation. The instructor who has found this book to use in his own class may never mention Richard Foster or Dallas Willard, but the textbook he is using does. Within the pages of Pettit’s book is Richard Foster, Philip Yancey, N.T. Wright, Dallas Willard, Thomas Aquinas, Lectio Divina, Ayn Rand, Parker Palmer, Eugene Peterson, J.P. Moreland, Klaus Issler, Bruce Demarerst, Jim Burns, Kenneth Boa and Brother Lawrence’s “practicing God’s presence.” You may not have heard of all these names, but they are all associated with the mystical contemplative prayer movement and the emerging church.
Another example of this is Donald Whitney’s book Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life. Whitney is former Associate Professor at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and currently at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. While his book does not promote contemplative mysticism, he says that Richard Foster has “done much good”3 in the area of Christian spirituality (which we believe is blatantly untrue).
Our point is that even if there is a sincere attempt to teach Spiritual Formation and stay away from the mystical side, we contend that it cannot be successfully accomplished because it will always lead back to the ones who have brought it to the church in the first place.
Spiritual formation is sweeping throughout Christianity today. It’s no wonder when the majority of Christian leaders have either endorsed the movement or given it a silent pass. For instance, in Chuck Swindoll’s book So You Want to Be Like Christ: 8 Essential Disciplines to Get You There, Swindoll favorably quotes Richard Foster and Dallas Willard. Swindoll calls Celebration of Discipline a “meaningful work”4 and Willard’s book The Spirit of the Disciplines “excellent work.”5 In chapter three, ”Silence and Solitude,” Swindoll talks about “digging for secrets . . . that will deepen our intimacy with God.”6 Quoting the contemplative poster-verse Psalm 46:10, “Be still, and know that I am God,” Swindoll says the verse is a call to the “discipline of silence.”7 As other contemplative proponents have done, he has taken this verse very much out of context.
Roger Oakland sums it up:
The Spiritual Formation movement . . . teaches people that this is how they can become more intimate with God and truly hear His voice. Even Christian leaders with longstanding reputations of teaching God’s word seem to be succumbing. . . .
We are reconciled to God only through his “death” (the atonement for sin), and we are presented “holy and unblameable and unreproveable” when we belong to Him through rebirth. It has nothing to do with works, rituals, or mystical experiences. It is Christ’s life in the converted believer that transforms him.8
“For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.” Romans 5:10
What Christians need is not a method or program or ritual or practice that will supposedly connect them to God. What we need is to be “in Christ” (1 Corinthians 1:30) and Christ in us. And He has promised His Spirit “will guide [us] into all truth” (John 16:13).
“But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:” 1 Corinthians 1:30
In Colossians 1:9, the apostle Paul tells the saints that he was praying for them that they “might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding.” He was praying that they would have discernment (“spiritual understanding”). He said that God, the Father, has made us “partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light” (vs 12) and had “delivered us from the power of darkness [i.e., power of deception]” (vs. 13). But what was the key to having this wisdom and spiritual understanding and being delivered from the power of darkness? Paul tells us in that same chapter. He calls it “the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints” (vs. 26). What is that mystery? Verse 27 says: “To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory” (emphasis added).
For those wanting to get involved with the Spiritual Formation movement (i.e., contemplative, spiritual direction), consider the “direction” you will actually be going.
And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight: If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel. (Colossians 1:21-23)
Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. For in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power. (Colossians 2: 8-10)
This article is an extract from the Lighthouse Trails booklet, Is Your Church Doing Spiritual Formation? (Important Reasons Why They Shouldn’t). To order this booklet, click here.
Endnotes:
1. Dallas Willard, “Spiritual Formation: What it is, and How it is Done” (https://dwillard.org/resources/articles/spiritual-formation-what-it-is-and-how-it-is-done).
2. Larry DeBruyn, “God’s Present of His Presence” (https://www.guardinghisflock.org/gods-present-of-his-presence/ ).
3. Donald Whitney, “Doctrine and Devotion: A Reunion Devoutly to be Desired” (http://web.archive.org/web/20080828052145/http://biblicalspirituality.org/devotion.html).
4. Chuck Swindoll, So You Want to Be Like Christ: 8 Essential Disciplines to Get You There (Nashville, TN:W Publishing Group, a div. of Thomas Nelson, 2005), p. 15.
5. Ibid., p. 13.
6. Ibid., p. 55.
7. Ibid.
8. Roger Oakland, Faith Undone (Eureka, MT: Lighthouse Trails Publishing, 2007), pp. 91-92.
This has been an extract from our booklet Is Your Church Doing Spiritual Formation? (Important Reasons Why It Shouldn’t). To order this booklet, click here.
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