| Subject: Tares in the Wheat |
Author:
Hillbilly
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Date Posted: 20:35:28 09/03/14 Wed
2 Corinthians 11:14-15 And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. 15 Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.
Jeremiah 23:1-2 Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! saith the LORD. 2 Therefore thus saith the LORD God of Israel against the pastors that feed my people; Ye have scattered my flock, and driven them away, and have not visited them: behold, I will visit upon you the evil of your doings, saith the LORD.
More and more we are seeing in the news the headlines of fallen leaders in the Christian world. Pastors, priests, evangelists, elders, bishops; you name it and they are making headlines for all the wrong reasons. We have embezzlers, adulterers, pedophiles, sodomites, lesbians and the common run of the mill adulterer. What is happening?
In the church I am a member of we have been disappointed in 4 of the last 6 pastors we have had. One proved to be a liar and we got rid of him. Two left their wives for another woman after they left the church. They evidenced no sign of infidelity while pastoring our church but the realization of their forsaking their vows hurt us and caused a feeling of distrust in others that should not be there. The fourth turned out to be a closet homosexual who got caught soliciting a minor and it later came to light that he had been engaging in sodomy for a number of years before getting caught (be sure your sins will find you out) . Again this all came to light after he resigned his pastorate but the fact remains that he was doing this as a minister of God and preaching against the very thing he was guilty of. All of these men we had confidence in when we called them as pastor.
The average person in the pew looks up to his or her spiritual leader as being true to God's word and dedicated enough to say no to the licentiousness of the world The shepherds are abandoning and betraying the flocks in record numbers. They are also abandoning the flocks and leaving them to the wolves that are on the prowl; Wolves who would like nothing better than to scatter and destroy those in the fold
The Apostle Paul saw all this and did his best to warn those in his day as well as all the churches down through time until today. Look at what he wrote: Acts 20:28-31 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.
Paul was the champion of the flocks. As long as they had him guarding the gates he would not allow perversions of the gospel nor wicked acts to go unpunished among the brethren. His warning is for those of us who don't have a "guard at the gate". Paul left it square in the laps of those who would have to fill in the gap and make up the hedge after he was gone. (Eze. 13:5, 22:30) To fail to do so would bring the judgment of God on the people. We, now as then, want a champion to protect but I am afraid the champions today will have to be the congregation. I say that because too often the leadership is betraying their calling. They are preaching false doctrine and leading the people to accept things that are abominable to God. When this happens it is up to the laypeople to stand against evil from the pulpit.
Far too often God's ministers have become Satan's ministers and sadly most of the people don't know enough Bible, nor have the guts to stand against spiritual perversion, nor the willingness to stand against carnal perversion. This "what can I do about it" attitude permeates the children of God until we have largely become useless to God as laborers for Him.
Many today truthfully lament the fact you can't tell much if any difference in the standards in the Church as opposed to that in the world. How can you bring them into your church when you are afraid of what your pastor will be doing?
I fear that Satan is filling pulpits in larger numbers than God is. More and more what God calls abomination and sin is acceptable to the ones who do the preaching. This has made it more acceptable to those sitting in the pews.
Matthew 15:7-9 Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying, 8 This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. 9 But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.
God help us to stand strong and bold against the tares in the pulpits that preach to the wheat in the pews.
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