9 Bible Passages to a New Life – And Deliverance from False Leaders who Elevate themselves in Place of Jesus
We see people running around calling themselves “doctor” and “bishop” and “prophet,” etc., and they don’t even know the Word. Think: If they had even cursory knowledge of God’s Word, and just a smidgen of conviction, would they be using a title to draw attention to themselves? No (Matthew 23:8-12).
It’s actually quite astounding to see how so many today trade in Christ and their own eternal souls for a cheap, temporary substitute just as Esau traded his birthright for a bowl of soup (Hebrews 12:14-17).
“Let me not, I pray you, accept any man’s person, neither let me give flattering titles unto man. For I know not to give flattering titles; in so doing my maker would soon take me away (remove you from His kingdom).” Job 32:21-22
IF you are calling yourself a prophet or apostle, you are not one! Repent!
Repent and drop the title. Jesus’ kingdom is about HIM, not you!
“Titles serve no purpose other than pandering to the flesh.” David Clifton
Make no mistake: Those using titles are doing so to bring attention to THEMSELVES and not the Savior!
“Reverend” appears just once in God’s Word and it’s speaking about HIM, not a man – “He sent redemption unto his people: he hath commanded his covenant for ever: holy and reverend is HISSSS name” (Psalms 111:9).
OTHER than the Hell bound “doctors of the law” Jesus lambasted, does the title “doctor” appear in God’s Word, Christ’s kingdom? No! Repent.
The gifts and callings of God are gifts and callings to serve and not titles to tout!
Make no mistake, idolatry of mere sinful men is soul-damning sin (Galatians 5:19-21; Ephesians 5:5-9, etc.). God is a jealous God – He says His very name is “Jealous” (Exodus 34:14).
“I am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images.” Isaiah 42:8
Jesus says “ye are all brethren” and teaches against the use of titles among His people since such elevates mere sinful men and steals the glory from Him who bled, was buried, and rose again.
It doesn’t matter WHO among us, Christ’s body, preaches the Word, it just needs to be preached! Jesus is the featured One, not any mere sinful man. “All ye are brethren” (Matthew 28:8-12). Concerning preaching, the Gospel writes: “Therefore whether it were I or they, so we preach, and so ye believed” (1 Corinthians 15:11).
You think you are an apostle or prophet? Read what Jesus taught in Matt 20:20-28; 23:8-12. Repent and stop calling yourself such. Shut your mouth and humbly serve!
We just don’t get it. We don’t begin to understand that He is everything and we are nothing. We have nothing good except Him – Christ! See Romans 7:18, 24. We don’t perceive that Jesus Christ, the LORD, is our only wealth – that He is our “Exceeding great reward” (Genesis 15:1).
“That no flesh should glory in his presence. … 31 That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.” 1 Corinthians 1:29, 31
— YES, there are gifts and callings and functions given by God to the members of His body but not in order to elevate themselves above Him. Certainly we must just listen to Christ and drop all titles (Romans 12; 1 Corinthians 12; Ephesians 4). Here’s a simple question: Why does a person use a title unless he is elevating himself? Why not use the title of “servant” or simply “disciple”? Those words are found all over Holy Scripture, so why not use them? Why O why can’t we just DO God’s will and work and leave the rest to Him? Why do we seek to draw attention to our sinful selves? Have we not the slightest clue from Scripture in our lives as to what Jesus says about humility, laying down our lives, becoming of no reputation, etc.? Think about this. Reason according to Scripture (Acts 17:11; 2 Timothy 3:16). We are not to use titles and especially those not even designated in God’s Word as callings in the true body of Christ, such as the use of the word “doctor” which we see all around us today. The only doctors mentioned in the Word are religious pharisees who are not saved and who used their education (from men) and titles to oust Christ and elevate themselves above others unduly in order to manipulate and to exploit them for their own self-serving purposes (Matthew 23:8-12; Philippians 3:18-19).
Jesus taught against using titles. What title touters are doing is positioning themselves deceitfully over others by using any titles like “apostle” or “prophet.”
“But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren. And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven. Neither be ye called masters: for one is your Master, even Christ. But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant. And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.” Matthew 23:8-12
1 Corinthians 3:21 “Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours;”
2 Corinthians 4:5 “For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake.”
John 7:18 “He that speaketh of himself seeketh his own glory: but he that seeketh his glory that sent him, the same is true, and no unrighteousness is in him.”
1 Corinthians 2:2 “For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.”
Galatians 6:14 “But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.”
Regrettably, and according to Christ’s warnings, the overwhelming majority of men in leadership positions today are not there to simply glorify Christ but rather are “enemies of the cross of Christ” and that’s rather obvious in that their “God is their belly (self-serving carnal appettites),” and “who mind earthly things.” In other words, you don’t get the sense of Christ alone and eternity when you listen to them. The Holy Ghost is not involved because that man has put Jesus aside for the idolatry of building his own ministry or church business.
“(For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: 19 Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.) For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: 21 Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.” Philippians 3:18-21
Regrettably many today run around calling themselves prophets and apostles and bishops, etc.. They are quick to let you know just how wonderful THEY are. These are biblical callings (not titles) and yet we must not pump up ourselves but rather simply do the function of the divine calling. We must simply do the serving and not draw attention to ourselves with titles and the applause of mere men.
In Matthew 20:20-28 Jesus taught that He came to serve us and that we should go forth and serve others, not self. Unduly using and attaching titles to ourselves is under girded with the pride of life.
WHEN a man really repents, he will have no title to tout but only his own depravity and God’s mercy through Christ’s cross to celebrate! Memorize Titus 3:5-6. Posture of Dependency
God’s Not Impressed with Gifts
Recently the question of apostles, prophets, etc. came up:
“And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; 12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:” Ephesians 4:11-12
Ephesians 4:11-12 … The question is, are these titles to be touted or simply functions to serve in? Matthew 20:24-28 right? It seems clear that most who call themselves “apostles” today are using this as a title to self promote…. which would make them “false apostles” which we are specifically warned about (2 Corinthians 11:13). This doesn’t mean there aren’t any apostles (messengers) today though, as you point out, they must be “known” (discerned) “by their fruit” (Matthew 7:15-16, 20). It seems obvious that there ARE elders in the form of apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers, etc., as Ephesians 4:11-12 was written decades after Pentecost, after the original 12 were selected by Christ. These are functions to serve in to be a blessing in humbly serving God by serving His people to perfect/mature/equip them, and not to build a ministry on how wonderful the man is. Jesus is “the apostle and high priest” of our salvation, right? See Hebrews 3:1.
The use of these callings to self-elevate is clear proof one is false. If someone is truly called out by Jesus to be an apostle, which simply means messenger, they aren’t using such a calling as a title to promote self or their ministry. Such would be in violation of what Jesus taught about using titles in specific:
Jesus teaches (Matthew 23):
8 “But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren.
9 And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven.
10 Neither be ye called masters: for one is your Master, even Christ.
11 But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant.
12 And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.”
Greg Locke is a “false apostle”…. and the function, gift of an apostle comes with great suffering such as was the case for Paul. False apostles will never be seen going through what Paul and the other true apostles went through. The frauds of today don’t bear the marks of a true apostle. Genuine apostles today are too busy serving their LORD to stop and glory in what God never intended to be a place of self glory and glamour. Like all true servants, they humbly serve and all the glory goes to Jesus, not them.
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Feedback:
“I have heard plenty of people on TV insist that you refer to them by a title Pastor, Evangelist, Prophet, Prophetess, among others. I even heard one man who says he is a prophet go by master prophet because he said he put in the hours like when someone goes to school to earn their masters degree so he is to be called master prophet….what???? So serving God is compared with punching a clock and putting in time???? Another one said a woman approached her and called her sister so-andso, and she rebuked her saying it is prophetess so-and-so. SO much insisting on titles. I agree how about servant so- and-so” Stephanie J.
“Amen to this! Too many w!ant a title to elevate themselves above others ( i.e., Apostle, Pastor, Minister, Prophet, etc.). Personally, I choose ‘Sojourner’ as I am sojourning here on earth as Heaven is my home. I am a wanderer and bondservant of Christ. Humility is found through serving, not being served.” Turk B.
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Apostasy
The Book of Jude Narrated [podcast]

The Book of Jude:
Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called: 2 mercy unto you, and peace, and love, be multiplied.
3 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.
5 I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not. 6 And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day. 7 Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. 8 Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities. 9 Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee.
10 But these speak evil of those things which they know not: but what they know naturally, as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves. 11 Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core. 12 These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots; 13 raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever.
14 And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, 15 to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him. 16 These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, having men’s persons in admiration because of advantage.
17 But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ; 18 how that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts. 19 These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit. 20 But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, 21 keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. 22 And of some have compassion, making a difference: 23 and others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.
24 Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, 25 to the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.
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Abiding
The Song of Moses: God’s Favor upon His People [podcast]

“And Moses spake in the ears of all the congregation of Israel the words of this song, until they were ended.” Deuteronomy 31:30
Everything we read of the children of Israel was pointing to Christ and to His perfect salvation He would later come and accomplish and bestow upon His beloved people, the body of Christ which is “the Israel of God.” (Galatians 6:16) And so this song is written to us (Romans 15:4; Corinthians 10:11).
At the end of his days, at the end of the 5 books he penned, God gives us through Moses a summation of His salvation work among His beloved people.
“He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye. 11 As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings: 12 So the LORD alone did lead him, and there was no strange god with him. 13 He made him ride on the high places of the earth, that he might eat the increase of the fields; and he made him to suck honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock; 14 Butter of kine, and milk of sheep, with fat of lambs, and rams of the breed of Bashan, and goats, with the fat of kidneys of wheat; and thou didst drink the pure blood of the grape.” Deuteronomy 32:10-14
“32:10-14 The birth and childhood of the nation of Israel are described in verse 10. After the Exodus from Egypt, God guided, instructed, and preserved His people with the love of a mother eagle (v. 11). There was no foreign god who had a part in Israel’s preservation. Why then should the nation turn to idolatry and ascribe the goodness of Jehovah to another? Beginning in verse 13, the song is prophetic. He brought them into the blessings of the Promised Land.” Believer’s Bible Commentary
“Deuteronomy 32:10
a [He found him in a desert land …] The sevenfold preservation of Israel:
1. God found (literally, sustained) him in the wilderness (Deu_32:10).
2. He led him around (Deu_32:10-12).
3. He instructed him (Deu_32:10).
4. He kept him as the apple (pupil) of His eye.
5. He preserved him from idolatry (Deu_32:12).
6. He exalted him among the nations (Deu_32:13).
7. He gave him material prosperity (Deu_32:13-14).
b [apple of his eye] Hebrew: ’iyshown (H380), the dark pupil of the eye; the hole, gate, or door of the eye (Psa_17:8; Pro_7:2)” Dake
“Deuteronomy 31:30-32:14
MOSES’ SONG: THE LORD’S FAVOR UPON ISRAEL
The song of Moses, like the fabled song of the swan, was his last and sweetest. It is probably the noblest ode in the whole compass of the Bible, and is the source from which subsequent singers derived suggestions for their noblest outbursts. The marginal references prove how deeply it dyed the national sentiment.
It excels in the names and designations of the Almighty. He is the Rock: Deu_31:4; Deu_31:15; Deu_31:18; Deu_31:30; Jehovah: Deu_31:6; Father: Deu_31:6; the Most High: Deu_31:8; God: El, the strong, Deu_31:15, etc. What a study are the names of God, scattered through the Bible! Each was coined to meet some need of the human soul. What the rocks of the desert are to its shifting sands God is amid the changes of this mortal existence.
This earlier part of the song is very tender. We are God’s portion; the apple of His eye; as young eaglets, whom the mother-bird is carefully teaching to fly, the favored recipients of God’s richest gifts, Deu_31:13, etc.” FB Meyer
Notice the descriptive language, the metaphors—how the LORD illustrates how He loves, protects, and provides for His people. In Scripture, the LORD uses imagery to communicate truth.
“Moses’ song and what our LORD reveals in this message, is such a beautiful picture of God finding us in our hopeless, miserable, and lost state. He pulls us out of the miry clay and gives us His supply of grace. He then clothes us with His righteousness, seating us in heavenly places in Christ and surrounding us with His care and protection. God’s love and goodness to us.” Karen Cochran
“He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High
shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. 2 I will
say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my
God; in him will I trust. 3 Surely he shall deliver thee
from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome
pestilence. 4 He shall cover thee with his feathers,
and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall
be thy shield and buckler.” Psalms 91:1-4
Read Psalm 91 often so this truth permeates you. Here the LORD uses the imagery of His “winged fowl” creation (Genesis 1:21). GOD made this very creature/bird for the express purpose of showing us how much He loves us and how He comforts, cares and provides for, guides, and protects His own (Psalms 91:1).
“The Song of Moses is recorded in Deuteronomy 32 of the King James Version (KJV), spanning verses 1 through 43. It is a prophetic poem given by Moses to the children of Israel just before his death, serving as a witness and a reminder of God’s faithfulness and Israel’s potential turning away.”
Prayer: Father, please grant that I know and understand You more and more. I love You LORD. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
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Articles
Jesus in Every Book of the Bible

First and foremost, God’s Word was written to reveal Christ.
The Bible is said to be “The only Book where the divine Author is present every time you read it.”
He’s divinely encoded and present on every page of His Word.
“And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me.” Luke 24:44
Every book of the Bible is about the LORD Jesus, who is the central theme, the sacred substance of all of Holy Scripture. If we miss Him, we miss everything, we miss the grand subject and revelation of God’s Word.
“Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. 40 And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life.” John 5:39-40
This makes it clear that we can “search the scriptures,” we can know them, and yet not know the Author.
They knew the Word of God but did not know the God of the Word. They made the choice not to “come to” Jesus thorugh His Word. They made it about themselves, not Jesus.
The Bible is one Book from one divine Author. The divisions are there to help us navigator His Word. – Old and New Testaments, chapters, verses, etc.
“Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law.” Psalms 119:18
The supreme and most important “wondrous” thing we are to behold in Holy Writ, is Jesus Christ.
Amen. Jesus Christ is King of all kings, LORD of all lords.
“Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen. 8 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.” Revelation 1:7-8
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