I was prompted to write this piece based on a fellow believer sending me a video teaching from a pastor. Unfortunately, and unknown to this person, this pastor’s church has documented Kundalini manifestations in church services and an inter or self-healing ministry. Only God can heal you. I told this person I would try to find a pastor or teacher who is teaching the true and complete Gospel of God as the Acts church did in the first century.
What are pastors teaching and what church are representing?
The list below is some of the things they are teaching and not teaching when clearly,
they should imitate what Jesus did in His ministry and what He taught the
disciples to do for the 1st century Acts church.
·
Only once in my visits to many churches, have I seen
pastors call on the Helper, the Holy Spirit (John 14:16,26). This should be the first order of church
procedure before any Godly function. Jerimiah 33:3 Call to Me, and I will
answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.’ Luke
11:13 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children,
how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask
Him!”
·
The Great Commission given to the eleven
disciples is very rarely taught in the body of Christ today. And He said to
them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. 16 He who
believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be
condemned. 17 And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they
will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; 18 they will take up
serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them;
they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover,” Mark 16:15-17. This is spiritual warfare to set the
captives free. The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath
anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up
the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the
prison to them that are bound; Isaiah 61:1
·
Repentance is seldom taught in the church
today. When in fact the bible tells us
to repent of our sins about 100 times in the Bible. Why? It is the key to
healing emotional/physical sickness and disease. Confess
your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be
healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much,
James 5:16. The prayer is basic: Confess your sins to God, ask God to
forgive you, and ask God to help you repent.
This should be done consistently.
·
The church is not emphasizing the need to
constantly forgive the person who offended you every time the offense comes to
mind. Get rid of all bitterness,
rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of evil behavior.
32 Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just
as God through Christ has forgiven you, Ephesians 4:31-32. Forgive them every time the offense comes
to mind.
·
They are not teaching how to identify the roots
of sickness and disease due to disobedience (sin) as outlined in Deuteronomy
28:15-68 and Leviticus 26.
Repentance is the key to healing according to God’s Word, James 5:16
Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may
be healed.
·
The “Grace” message. Many teach that God in His
“grace” will overlook our sins if He sees that we have made a genuine effort to
do the right thing, mend our ways, and avail ourselves of the help He offers
through the church. If He sees that the
trajectory of our lives is headed in the right direction, then in His “grace,”
He will forgive our sins and grant us eternal life. Fact is, our sins are not forgiven by
works. Our sins are only forgiven if we
confess our sins to God, ask God to forgive our sines, and ask God to help us
change our ways, which is repentance. If we confess our sins, He is faithful
and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1
John 1:9.
·
The church is teaching us to disregard the laws
of commandments, statutes, precepts, and ordinances in the Old Testament. Actually, Jesus presents a chief purpose of
His earthly ministry: to fulfill the law and the writings of the prophets.
Jesus came to accomplish all that the Old Testament foretold and to complete
all the righteousness the Old Testament required and included a stark warning. 17
“Don’t misunderstand why I have come. I did not come to abolish the law of
Moses or the writings of the prophets. No, I came to accomplish their purpose.
18 I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not even the
smallest detail of God’s law will disappear until its purpose is achieved. 19
So if you ignore the least commandment and teach others to do the same, you
will be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven. But anyone who obeys God’s
laws and teaches them will be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven, Matthew
5:17-20
·
They teach ‘there is no condemnation for
those who are in Christ Jesus” as written in the newer translations. In other words, there is no
accountability. You can sin without any
condemnation. They have conveniently left out the condition: There is therefore now no condemnation to
them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the
Spirit, Romans 8:1.
·
They are teaching from the newer translations
that omit, add, or change many of the truths God intended us to know. Revelation
22:18-19 For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the
prophecy of this book, if any man shall add unto these things, God shall add
unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take
away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part
out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which
are written in this book. Proverbs 30:5-6 Every word of God is pure; He is a
shield to those who put their trust in Him. Do not add to His words, Lest He
rebuke you, and you be found a liar. Ecclesiastes 3:14 I know that whatever God
does, it shall be forever. Nothing can be added to it, and nothing taken from
it. God does it, that men should fear before Him. Deuteronomy 4:2 you shall not
add to the word which I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments
of the Lord your God which I command you. Deuteronomy 12:32 Whatever I command you, be
careful to observe it; you shall not add to it nor take away from it.
·
Too often the elderly people are ignored in the
church. Leviticus 19:32 ‘You shall rise before the gray headed and honor the
presence of an old man, and fear your God: I am the Lord. Especially in
leadership roles.
·
Many of the so-called charismatic churches or
large new churches are run by younger people who don’t have the Biblical or Holy
Spirit experience to lead the Body of Christ.
They have little place for the elderly who have knowledge that the younger
leadership need to tap into. To them, old
is not hip or needed?
·
Pastors feel a need to be funny more than is
necessary. Some remind me of comedians or game show hosts.
·
Pastors have become story tellers of
experiences. Let Scripture tell the
stories and give knowledge.
·
Pastors provide too much commentary and
counseling, rather than flooding the sermon with Scripture. Let the Word counsel the congregation.
·
The church in so many cases operate as a
business. Finances have become central to their church. One church I attended
had a whole month devoted to tithing sermons.
·
Churches have separated the body of Christ into
contemporary and traditional services and have placed the children in child
care during services. Did Jesus separate the flock in His ministry? The Bible
is for all ages.
·
Churches are not taking care of the orphans and
widows, which is pure and undefiled region before God, Pure and undefiled
religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in
their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world James 1:27.
·
Very few come to the altar for repentance and
prayer because pastors do not invite them to the altar.
·
Pastors very seldom visit the ministries the
church promotes.
·
The church music of today sounds like a loud
concert with light shows, fog machines and a shaman drum beating rather than
Holy Spirit inspiring music and worship.
·
Too often people proclaim their churches Holy
Spirit filled or led when in fact they don’t know the Holy Spirit or call on
the Holy Spirit.
·
We are seeing an uptick of pastors prophesizing
future events (soothsayers) in the media. When their prophesy does not come
true, they are not asking the followers and God to forgive them. Jeremiah 50:36 A sword is against the
soothsayers, and they will be fools. A sword is against her mighty men, and
they will be dismayed.
·
Many have anointed themselves as prophets
and many believers are following them. In
the Old Testament prophesy it was to point forward to the mystery of God yet to
be revealed. As is true of most of the Old Testament prophets, prophecy has
three components, 1) the pronouncement of specific and often universal
judgement for sin; 2) an appeal for repentance because God is righteous and
willing to forgive; 3) a promise that the remnant who have made God their
refuge will be saved. The pattern of
prophets in the New Testament is to make known the heart of God for His people,
creation, and His church. The Prophets in the new covenant are different than
the prophets of the old covenant.
Pursue love, and desire spiritual
gifts, but especially that you may prophesy. 2 For he who speaks in a
tongue does not speak to men but to God, for no one understands him; however,
in the spirit he speaks mysteries. 3 But he who prophesies speaks edification
and exhortation and comfort to men. 4 He who speaks in a tongue edifies
himself, but he who prophesies edifies the church. 5 I wish you all
spoke with tongues, but even more that you prophesied; for he who prophesies
is greater than he who speaks with tongues, unless indeed he interprets, that
the church may receive edification. 1 Corinthians 14:1-5
·
Many are preaching false doctrine based on what
they have learned or perceived from false doctrinal sources. Not what the Bible
teaches.
·
Many lift up pastors as idols, congregate around
them or name drop.
·
Far too many pastors and ministries you see in
media are for profit, filling their money buckets. Promoting and selling every conference
and book under the sun. Fact is, we only need one book. His Word! Matthew 21:12 Then Jesus went
into the temple of God and drove out all those who bought and sold in the
temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those
who sold doves.
·
The church of today fails to recognize that the
seven churches of Revelation (2:1 – 3:22) are all represented in their
church. Five of the seven churches are
told to repent. All seven has this verse: “He who has an ear, let him hear
what the Spirit says to the churches.”
Are we listening to the Holy Spirit in the matters of the church? The
wise believer takes the time to listen with his spiritual hearing to what the
Spirit is saying to the church. This is
as needed today as it was in the first century. One who hears and follows the
voice of the Holy Spirit does not need to fear the deception that leads to
apostasy. Rather, he will walk where
Jesus requires and will grow in the things of the Spirit of God, which produce
healthy, vibrant, Spirit-filled churches capable of preaching the gospel all
around the world.
·
Very, very few have deliverance/healing
ministries. Unlike Jesus in His
ministry.
·
So many of the pastors or leadership boast about
their credentials and accomplishments. Did
Jesus boast about His accomplishments?
·
How many pastors or churches allow the Holy Spirt
run the serves without time restraints?
These are just a few things that highlight what pastors are
teaching or not teaching. We are being
led astray by false doctrine and the failure to teach what the Word of God
teaches.
There are many who have good teachings, but many are wolves
in sheep’s clothing deceiving us. Beware of false prophets (and
teachers), which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening
wolves, Matthew 7:15. Unfortunately teachers and pastors can open
themselves up to what Satan wants them to teach.
Today's Church is NOT producing the same caliber of
Christianity as those Christians in the Book of Acts.
But, how can we when many Churches are so busy
becoming relevant, contemporary, working to build their own kingdom, preaching
motivational, self-help, preaching a feel-good message, while striving to
becoming the happening place so that they can draw the masses. Or offer
something that would keep them coming so that they can meet the bills and call
themselves a thriving ministry.
Many churches, especially mega churches are under the
false pretense that they are called to grow the church, which is not in the Bible. Rather, God wants us to grow our
relationship with Him.
Many Churches are spending more money on salaries,
buildings, programs and marketing the church as a corporate business and
calling it ministry. Letting the 5013C
dictate their church success. Did Jesus
or the Acts church have a 5013C? The
5013C is issued by the government and they can take it away. Meaning, they control your 5013C church.
In doing so, we have trained the body of Christ to
become more interested in buildings, programs, positions, titles and
entertainment rather than a real book of Acts Christianity. So much so
that if a Church is not meeting in a nice building somewhere, then it is not
considered a valid ministry.
Think about it. if you meet in a home, you do
not pay your pastor, staff, music director, or musicians. You can spend most of your budget on
missions, feeding the hungry taking care of the elderly, the widows, and the
fatherless children, bringing people out of captivity and teaching repentance.
If you spend the Wednesday night service in prayer only and use Sunday School
to teach people how to win their world for Christ. You can teach every member during the week to
share Christ and to be fishers of men.
In the main service the pastor is equipping people to live a selfless,
sacrificing, and servanthood life. The ministry is for the people. The
ministry work is laboring for the Kingdom of God. A type of lifestyle. The home church requires sacrifice and
obedience to truly take us to the place God wants us to be.
You see, should you invite people to this kind of
Church, many people in the community may not consider it to be a "real church
or ministry. For many people would not
get past the fact that you are meeting in a home. Yet this type of home Church is selfless,
servant minded, and actively reaching the world for Christ. They are a body of
believers describes in the "Book of Acts New Testament Church"
Now are we saying that we must go back to this kind of
Church? YES! We must go back to the methods that raised
the caliber of Christians that were meeting from house to house in the book of
Acts. It is not about where we meet. It
is about what we are truly producing at the end of the day.
Reality is the only way to produce Christians of the
same Caliber of those in the Book of Acts is to model the Church after that
of the Book of Acts. Those
Christians who "loved not their life even unto death," Revelation
12:11 Those Christians were selfless, sacrificing servants who
considered themselves bought with a price and no longer their own.
We had the privilege to meet for six years in our
house. We originally called it a Bible
Study, but in fact it was our home church.
We got frustrated with the direction the church was going in. We followed not only the book of Acts, but we
followed what the whole Bible taught to the best of our ability. In doing so, we became “doers of the Word,”
James 1:22. We called on the Holy
Spirit (Helper) to be a major part of our home church. We carried out the
Great Commission, Mark 16:15-18 as Jesus instructed His disciples to do.
We saw many miracles of healing and deliverance every week. We weren’t restricted by time. Many times,
our service lasted 3-4 hours. Bottom
line is we avoided the trappings of the current church of today.
It has been difficult finding a pastor or church that
are teaching the true Gospel of Jesus Christ. I have come to the realization
that the only fool proof teacher is God’s Word (Jesus), In the beginning was
the Word, and the Word (Jesus) was with God, and the Word was God, John 1:1.
The question you have to ask yourself: What Church
will you choose to be a part of going forward?
Tony Sanchez 5-31-21
