Family of God: Re: [FamilyofGod] Deception through False Signs and Wonders

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On Fri Jan 14th, 2011 12:56 AM EST George wrote:

>Amen Michael! I couldn't agree more.
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>Brother in Christ, George...
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>Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be
>filled.
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>________________________________
>From: Michael J. Knight <michaelnight82@yahoo.in>
>To: FamilyofGod@yahoogroups.com
>Sent: Thu, January 13, 2011 7:34:33 PM
>Subject: [FamilyofGod] Deception through False Signs and Wonders
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>Deception through False Signs and Wonders
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>There is a lot of deception in Christendom these days through false signs and
>wonders – just as Jesus warned us in Matthew 24:24, and as Paul did in 2
>Thessalonians 2:9.
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>Paul also warned us in 2 Corinthians 11:1-4about the nature of this deception:
>It is being deceived by another Jesus, another spirit and another gospel.
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>• "Another Jesus" – who does not ask anyone to take up his cross and to die to
>his self-life daily.
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>• "Another spirit" – who gives people thrills and exciting feelings but does not
>give them power to be holy.
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>• "Another gospel" – that requires no repentance and that caters to people's
>earthly needs but does not deliver them from sin (which is the root-cause of ALL
>their problems).
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>Thus people are being made "twofold the children of hell" (Matt.23:15).
>To escape deception, we must look at Jesus and see how today preachers compare
>with Him.
>Do they have the same primary objective?
>The very FIRST promise in the New Testament is "Jesus - He will save His people
>from their sins" (Matt.1:21). This is the main purpose with which Jesus came to
>earth. So a truly Spirit- led ministry will seek to free people from sinning.
>Everything else – including healing and miracles and prophecy will be secondary.
>Do they have the same attitude?
>We are commanded in Scripture: "Let this attitude be in you which was in Christ
>Jesus" (Phil.2:5).We should therefore compare the attitude of every preacher
>with that of Jesus. We should ask ourselves these questions about every preacher
>we hear:
>(i) Is he a humble man - as Jesus was?
>(ii) Does he lead people to freedom from sin and genuine holiness – as Jesus
>did?
>(iii) Does he ask people to give money to him or to his ministry? Jesus never
>did.
>(iv) Can ordinary, poor people contact him easily – as they could contact Jesus?
>For further confirmation, we could ask these questions as well:
>(a) Does he lead people to Christ – and not to himself?
>(b) Are his children God-fearing?
>(c) Has he built at least one godly church?
>(d) Are his main co-workers godly men?
>Do they have the same approach to healing?
>In the Gospels, we do not read of Jesus preaching even one sermon on how to
>receive miracles or healing. But He actually healed thousands of people.
>In Acts of the Apostles, we do not read of the apostles preaching even one
>sermon on how to receive miracles or healing. But they actually healed many
>people. (The 21 epistles in the New Testament also make no mention of physical
>healing at all – except for one passage in James 5:14,15, where it is the elder
>who is urged to have faith and not the sick person!)
>But what we find today (especially over Christian TV) is the exact opposite of
>this: We hear hundreds of sermons on miracles and healings – but we hardly ever
>see any genuine, miraculous healings. Most of the so-called "healings" shown
>over TV have proven to be fakes or unsubstantiated by independent sources.
>Jesus and the apostles did however speak a lot about being free from sin. But we
>hardly ever hear a sermon today (over TV or from church pulpits) on how to be
>free from sins like anger, lusting after women and the love of money (as Jesus
>preached in Matthew chapters 5 and 6).
>In Scripture, there is a name for anything that is the opposite of what Christ
>did: "anti-Christ". Today, this spirit of antichrist has spread widely in
>evangelical Christendom. This is one proof that Satan has penetrated Christendom
>deeply with deception.
>Why does God allow deceivers among His people?
>In Deuteronomy 13:1-3, we are told why God allows such deceivers to move freely
>among His people:
>"If a prophet arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or
>the wonder comes true, concerning which he spoke to you, saying, `Let us go
>after other gods and let us serve them,' you shall not listen to the words of
>that prophet; for the LORD your God is testing you to find out if you love the
>LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul".
>God allows false prophets to do real signs and wonders and to prophesy things
>that come true, in order to test His children – to see whether they love Him or
>the gods that the false prophets invite them to follow. Two of the main gods
>that false prophets invite Christians to follow these days are the gods of
>"money" and "entertainment".
>• Money. People are urged to seek for wealth and health by giving money to the
>preacher's ministry. Peter however rebuked the magician Simon when he tried to
>give Peter money in order to purchase God's gifts (Acts 8:18-23).
>• Entertainment. Churches have become places of entertainment where worldly
>music styles and other worldly programs are promoted to attract people. Thus
>Satan (the ruler of this world system) has succeeded in making Christians
>worldly-minded and ineffective for God.
>Millions of Christians follow the teachings of these false prophets today
>because such teachings satisfy their fleshly lusts. Thus these false gods have
>become the idols that Christians worship in most churches today.
>He who has ears to hear let him hear.
>Remember
>Only one life, will soon be past,
>Only what is done, for Christ will last.
>The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of
>the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen. (2 Corinthians 13:14)
>Love & Prayers,
>Michael J. Knight.
>http://groups.yahoo.com/group/A-C-T-S/
>What we are is God's gift to us. What we become is our gift to God.
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