Dear all,
I am taking a short respite from my reviews of The Harbinger and its critics fo the moment to bring to every person's attention the scams that have beset our land.
If you can remember that there is God delights in our prayers (Proverbs 15:8b), and that there is only One God and One Mediator between God and men, the Man, Messiah Jesus (1Timothy 2:5), and understand and fully convinced in your heart and in your mind that Jesus answers the prayers of His children who abide in Him (John 14:13, 15:7), and all whom the Father gives Him, come to Him and those who come to Him He will not turn any of them away (John 6:37); you won’t be taken in by this scam below.
Be on the alert, be vigilant; be as wary as serpents, but as innocent as doves (Matthew 10:16); don’t be taken in by scam artists and religious telemarketers passing themselves off as servants and teachers of the Most High God, and those who use mail order to scam widows, and the poor, the elderly, and the disabled. God will bring them into judgment for their activities. And be wise with the mammon of unrighteousness (Luke 16:8), and not be fooled by its promoters who prey on the poor, the ignorant, and the unsuspecting.
Today’s money changers are on TV and they’re pitch is for God’s people to give to God what they call “seed for sowing” in order for them to receive from God, twisting the Scriptures to scam unsuspecting and Biblically unknowledgeable people of their money. The more brazen ones actually attach a specific dollar figure to the giving, like $1000.00 per person, and make all sorts of promises purporting to speak for God.
What’s more, they trivialize and trifle God’s grace by placing conditions on it, as though God’s people must earn their way into God’s blessing. They twist the truth that there is great blessing in giving, but the Bible never places a dollar amount to anything, whereas even under the law of Moses there were the tithes, then the offerings; and they varied. The Scriptural mandate for Biblically balanced giving is found in Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians, where he is referencing the collections made for Jerusalem (1Corinthians 16:2, Acts 11:29-30) during the period of the great famine which swept the land in the days of Claudius (Acts 11:28). Indeed, the mark of a true servant of God is one who gives to help the needy and the poor, because as Paul quotes Jesus as saying, “It is more blessed to give than to receive,” (Acts 20:35); not one who hoards from the collection plate to amass wealth for himself, as these religious telemarketers and quick mouthed scam artists do every day on television and on the radio.
There are good servants of the Lord on TV and on the radio, men such as Dr. Charles Stanley, Dr. John MacArthur, Dr. Chuck Swindol, Dr. James MacDonald, and many more, I am only saying to be on the alert for those who call themselves apostles, yet they were did not live in the time of Jesus or were among those who witnessed His bodily resurrection from the dead.
Tip; if a preacher on the radio or on television spends almost his entire sermon on giving to his ministry, turn the dial, he is not preaching the Gospel, and no one is getting saved; they’re getting scammed. I stand on that statement regardless of who that preacher might be. I dislike religious telethons. There is a time and place for them, but not at the expense of preaching the Gospel, and anyone who spends more costly air time to pitch for money and not pitch for Christ is a charlatan and out to be called on it.
This is an age of great deception and there are many out there who will someday stand before the Judge of all creation and ask Him who it is that He does not know them, when they did all manner of things in His name; and He will tell them by showing them that what they failed to do for others – since they were so busy collecting for themselves and living in the lap of luxury, while a good many people suffered all manner of financial hardship while giving of what meager resources they had – people whom these scam artists could’ve helped with their vast wealth and mega churches, but did not – they will go into eternal punishment for not having done to the least of Jesus’ brethren what was in their power to do and did not in this life (Matthew 25:31-46).
As James, the Lord’s brother charged, these people are not doers of the word, but hearers only (James 2:14-26), because they read their Bibles and use them to hear selectively from what they use to manipulate other to do for them and do nothing for those among God’s people who have great needs which are not being met, because no one steps up to help them. And yet the Scripture are very precise as to our conduct (Micah 6:8), and for this reason many among us wear the Talit and Tzitzit – the fringes, to remember to do good to our brethren and our neighbors (Numbers 15:38-39, Deuteronomy 22:12), and not just wish them well and be on our way without a care about them.
Every reputable ministry has the means and an order and its own procedures as to how this is done, and ministry differs from ministry as to how they do it; but the fact is that they do it, whereas the false prophets and the false teachers do not, but everything they do, they do for themselves and not for others.
You’ll know them by their fruits (Matthew 7:15-20); as their empires grow, and they build for themselves great buildings and amass great wealth, but do not help the poor among God’s body, and therefore not do what the Lord has commanded them and us to do (Matthew 7:16-23), even though they will claim to have done great miracles and signs in Jesus’ name; it will be made self-evident who they are, and they are many. Their teaching will become increasingly heterodox and stray from the Good Word of God.
As you grow in the knowledge and grace of God, the Holy Spirit will give you discernment about such things, so that God’s elect might not be fooled in these times of great deception where things and people are not as they appear to be. Great deception. Be on the alert, and ask God for discernment, and study the Scriptures thoroughly so that you won’t be taken in with the rest.
God bless and keep you safe and alert,
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