Deception – TGN

In Response To The “We Are Gods” Theology: Part I: Are You A Spirit?

Ebenezer Foster-Nyarko — Mon, 29 Apr 2019 12:32:47 +0000

There is a “New Creation” teaching that is gaining popularity in mainstream Christianity in Africa today which claims that we are “Gods” (yes, capital G). Among many claims to this absurd assertion, there are two that seem to me to stand out as the root.

First, the belief that God is Spirit, and therefore His children (those born again) must be spirits, as He is. On this, Pastor Chris, one of the high priests of this teaching, is on record as saying, “God gives birth to gods!”. The analogy is then given thus: “dog begets dog, bird begets bird, therefore God must beget Gods”. The second hinges on a misunderstanding of the biblical doctrine of adoption. By which they would have us believe that when one is adopted into God’s family, he is somehow entirely transformed into a new species altogether, and ceases to be human. It is the purpose of this article to begin to interrogate the first of the two claims. In subsequent articles, we shall examine the second claim in more detail.

Essentially Spirit?

So, to the first question. Are you a spirit, and not a human?

Proponents of the “we are Gods” theology will start their argument from Genesis, the book of beginnings. They assert and claim that 1) God created us after His likeness and in His image, therefore we are of the same “essence” as God (or in the “God class”); 2) when God created man, he was essentially spirit, which was given a container, namely the body, to dwell in. Thus, they insist that the “real you” is a spirit, and the connection between an immaterial spirit and a physical body is the soul. Let us turn to the Scriptures and examine that passage for ourselves.

Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them (Gen. 1:26-27)
then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.
(Genesis 1:26-27; 2:7).

I believe that those who base on this passage to teach that we are necessarily spirit; the flesh and body being mere appendages, so to speak, prove too much. A close look at the passage will reveal that right from the beginning, the emphasis has been on a unified view of man. Then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. No mention is made here of a spirit nor of any divisions to man for that matter.

Grudem points out from Genesis 1:26-27 the fact that,

Both the Hebrew word for “image” (tselem) and that for “likeness” (demūt) refer to something that is similar but not identical to the thing it represents or is an “image” of. The word image can also be used of something that represents something else.

The fact that man was created in the image of God, therefore, means that man was God’s representetative but not necessarily God. The orthodox view of Genesis 1:26 has always been that man is simply God’s image-bearer. As God’s representatives on earth, we were created to reflect His glory. To point to Him. To reflect His nature. When we manifest God’s communicable attributes, e.g. love, intelligence, relationship, the moral aspects of our being etc., we show what it means to be in His image and likeness. It is difficult to imagine that the original recipients of Genesis would have taken this verse to say that being created in God’s image makes us gods.

To use an analogy, the moon shines at night because its surface reflects light that is coming from the sun. Surprisingly, at its brightness, the moon reflects only a maximum of 12 per cent of the sun’s rays. Reflecting the sun doesn’t make the moon equal to the sun in constitution and nature.

Image-bearers at Creation and at Regeneration

I believe that further support for the preceding can be found in the fact that when we are born again, God purposes to conform us to the image of His Son. Paul says, “For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.” (Romans 8:29).

In other words, God’s cardinal goal for the redemption of sinners is to make them Christ-like; to look like Jesus, The Son. When we show the fruit of redemption, i.e. acting like Jesus and doing the good works which God (re)created us to in Jesus (Ephesians 2:10), we show conformity to His image. And this process of conforming to His image, the Bible says, will continue till Christ comes again when we shall be like Him, when we see Him face to face (1John3:2).

Strikingly, we see this unified view of man emphasised throughout the New Testament. In 1Corinthians 15:51-54, Paul alludes to the fact that when Christ returns, our bodies shall be redeemed so that both body and soul shall be with the Lord for eternity. If the “real us” were the spirit as is claimed by proponents of the “we are gods” theology, then there would have been no need for God to raise the body up again in the last day to unite with our spirits or souls.

When it comes to sanctification, Paul admonishes that we cleanse both body and spirit, so that holiness might be complete in us (2Corinthians 7:1).

Speaking on the subject of remaining devoted to the Lord, whether as married or unmarried, Paul further had this to say: “And the unmarried or betrothed woman is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to be holy in body and spirit. (1Corithians 7:34).

It is evident from the above data that Scripture enjoins holiness in the whole man.

Error always begets error.

In typical fashion, those who hold that the spirit is all that matter, go on to assert that the spirit is sinless. Consequently, some have, because of this false assertion, insisted that believers no longer need to confess their sins, as the “real us” attains sinless perfection when we become born again. Clearly, Scripture disagrees with such an assertion. Otherwise, there would be no need for the call to pursue holiness in both body and spirit.

The question that begs to answer is, why do the prophets of the “we are gods” theology insist that we are spirits? To me, the answer lies in the fact that they need you to believe that you are a spirit, not a human because then it will be easy to believe the other lies that go hand-in-hand with this teaching. Namely, that you cannot be sick (they will tell you spirits don’t get sick); you cannot be poor (they will tell you your “spirit man” is never poor, even if physically you are broke. Therefore still insist that you are rich regardless of your account balance). Some are so bold as yet to say you cannot die (because spirits don’t die). To believe this teaching is, simply, to embrace a lie.

In this first part of this article series, we have shown from the Scriptural data that the claim that being created in the image of God makes us gods is false. Further, we have no support from the creation account nor the New Testament that the “real us” as created by God is a spirit or that man is essentially a spirit, the body being a subservient constituent of the human nature.

To be continued…

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Warning Signs of Bewitchment II

Ebenezer Foster-Nyarko — Mon, 25 Feb 2019 05:52:48 +0000

In the previous article, we considered three signs that could indicate that a Church is veering off the track of sound doctrine.

In this concluding part, we discuss three more warning signs we are heading down the path of bewitchment.

Dear Christian,

Watch it if,

The Pastor and Elders Avoid the Doctrine of Christian Suffering

I have found that an inadequate theology of Christian suffering breeds all kinds of erroneous teachings.

Pastors and teachers who water down or dismiss Christian suffering promise you a Christianity that is entirely devoid of challenges, failures, or any form of hardship for that matter.

When there is no robust theology of suffering, believers are not prepared for the rudiments of living in a fallen world. Pastors who teach a suffering-free Christian life promise their members something the Bible does not.

Jesus said,

Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.

(John 15:20)

In the same breath that Jesus promised to build His church, he predicted that the gates of hell would strive to knock it down, but it will not prevail (Matt. 16:18). Clearly, Jesus wanted His disciples to prepare for persecutions.

We see the apostles of Christ doing the same.

When they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God. (Acts 14:21).

This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are also suffering—

2Thess. 1:5

and we sent Timothy, our brother and God’s coworker in the gospel of Christ, to establish and exhort you in your faith,that no one be moved by these afflictions. For you yourselves know that we are destined for this.For when we were with you, we kept telling you beforehand that we were to suffer affliction, just as it has come to pass, and just as you know.

(1Thes. 3:3-4).

Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.

(2Tim 3:12).

Sufferings and persecutions are part and parcel of the Christian life. Not just persecution suffering, but bodily suffering as well, including sicknesses and disease.

Paul said in this body, we groan as we await the redemption of the body which is to come, when our imperfect bodies will be clothed with immortality (Rom. 8:23, 2Cor 5:1-2).

We see from Scripture that God has ordained suffering as part of our sanctification (1Pet. 4:12-14; 2Cor.12:7-10).

An absence of a robust theology of suffering should cause the alarm bells to go off in our hearts.

The Pastor and Elders Justify an Extravagant Lifestyle

During Paul’s ministry, there were some who opposed his apostolicity, because they thought that he suffered too much to be a true apostle. In contrast to Paul, these false teachers seemed to live large off the congregation that Paul had laboured to establish through the grace of God. Those guys were making a merchandise of the gospel (2 Cor. 2:17, cf 2Pet. 2:1-3).

In his defence, Paul argued that although he had every right to demand material benefits from the congregation, he and his companions refrained from doing so, but instead worked hard with their own hands to not be a burden on them (2Cor. 11:9; cf 1Thes. 2:9). Self-denial is the mark of faithful servants of Christ.

When a Pastor is obsessed with the latest and most expensive cars, is overly concerned about wearing the latest trends in clothes, and brags about his travels around the world, the property he owns or intends to acquire etc, it is a warning sign that all is not well.

Congregations who indulge extravagant elders and Pastors find that there is an undue emphasis on giving to servants of God, mostly, to keep up the lifestyle of extravagance.

Congregations show warning signs of bewitchment when they find that they gradually desire that same life of extravagance, rather than simple living and contentment with whatever God grants them out of His Sovereignty.

You find Yourself Justifying Everything Your Pastor Does and Says Even When It Is Unbiblical

In a church that my family and I attended for a while, the sub-group in which I served set up an online group for Bible discussions. In one our discussions I shared some Scriptural passages that seemed to contradict what the Pastor had taught the previous Sunday and asked if anyone had any clarification or insight on those readings?

One of the responses I got was that as for that ministry, this was what they believed, and if I had a problem with what the Pastor had said, I could always leave the Church.

We eventually left, but the attitude of my sub-group members demonstrated warning signs of bewitchment.

When you find that you stand by what the Pastor always says, even when it is in blatant contradiction of Scripture, then it is a sign that Scripture no longer holds sway over your life, the Pastor does.

Does the Pastor openly show remorse for his shortcomings if he falls to temptation? Does he acknowledge his need of grace and prayers to the congregation, or does he act like a superman? Does he hold Scripture as the overall authority over his life and ministry?

What Can We Do to Help?

Dear Christian. do you recognise any of these signs in your local assembly? If the answer is yes, what can you do to help? I will like to hear your views.

In our next article, we will discuss some practical ways we can contribute to the health of our local church assemblies.

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Warning Signs of Bewitchment

Ebenezer Foster-Nyarko — Mon, 18 Feb 2019 21:18:40 +0000

Churches can get derailed. Congregations that start off as vibrant, Spirit-filled, and Word-centred can easily become fossilised, man-centered and worldly. The Galatian Church is a perfect example of this. In his epistle to the Galatians, Paul wondered how they had so quickly deserted from a gospel of grace to one of works:

I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—

(Gal 1:6)

We can glean from Paul’s astonishment that he least expected the congregation at Galatia to deviate from the right path. In chapter three, he wonders,

O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? (Gal. 3:1-3).

Paul so laboured to preach the gospel to these Christians in such a vivid manner that he believed it was akin to they being eyewitnesses to the crucifixion of the Saviour. Through his preaching of the gospel and work of the Holy Spirit, the Galatian church was born. Shortly after his departure (Gal. 1:6), these folks had come under the spell of false teachers. Throughout the epistle, Paul provides strong reasons why the assembly at Galatia should return to the true gospel. He counters the falsehood that was being peddled by those who were troubling them and distorting the gospel.

There are many parallels of the Galatian situation today. The good news is, we have the benefit of hindsight from the Scriptures to detect falsehood before it gets out of hand. The truth is, bewitchment and deception don’t happen in an instant. They usually start in insipid ways that may be too subtle to detect. Nonetheless, they cast a shadow or warning lights before them. This article points to three warning signs of bewitchment that every Christian should look out for.

Dear Christian, check it if:

The Gospel Is Not Preached.

The Bible is clear that the problem of man is sin. This is the diagnosis, and the cure is salvation; not motivation, nor renovation or anything else for that matter.

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.

(Romans 3:23-25a)

The New Testament is careful to stress that the person of Jesus Christ, his death and resurrection is absolutely; that is, the gospel, is essential to salvation. There’s no salvation without Jesus, his literal death and his literal, bodily resurrection. If Jesus was not raised from the dead, then we are to be most pitied of all people (1Cor 15:14). The finished work of Christ on the cross and His resurrection deserves unparalleled emphasis from every Christian pulpit. Remove that, says Paul, and your preaching is vain, and your faith is equally futile.

The amber lights should begin to flash whenever we notice that the cross is emphasised less and less from the pulpit, and in its place, messages that emphasise how good we are and how deserving we are of God’s (material) blessing are a constant feature.

The Pastor Claims An Exclusive New Revelation from God Apart from Scripture.

God has graciously revealed all we are to know from Him in Scripture. The Scriptural revelation is complete and intended for all God’s people. What we need is to be taught to interpret it accurately, the Grace to understand, and to submit to it. Whenever someone says “God revealed this to me” what people usually hear is, “you can’t challenge this, he got it from God Himself!” So, you will find that for fear of being labeled as going against God, many people will not question anything their pastor claims to have been revealed to them by God.

Scripture alone is inspired, infallible and represents the totality of God’s revelation. Everything else must be measured against this. It is the one objective standard for living here on earth. Everything must be subjected to its searching glance. And if anything goes contrary to its most Holy teachings, we ought to throw it out. No matter how wonderful our spiritual experiences may be, we must not elevate them above the Scripture. We submit to the Scriptural revelation and that alone; they are sufficient. They alone cannot be broken (John 10:35). To add to it is to take from it, and we’ll answer to God on the last day.

Paul told Timothy, “By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you” (2Tim. 1:14) By which he meant, “what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also” (2Tim. 2:2).

Every faithful church merely repeats the same old truths which were passed down from the Lord to the Apostles, and from the Apostles onward to us via the Bible.

The Pastor Regularly Shares His Opinion Rather Than Expounding Scripture.

If you can’t see that the points the Pastor makes actually come from the Bible, your faith will end up resting on a man and not on God’s word.

The central theme of God’s Word is His Son, from Genesis to Revelation. You cannot preach the Bible and ignore Him. Every preacher who is worth his salt needs to center his exposition of Scriptures on Christ. Because if you claim to have a ‘revelation’ from the Bible, but you don’t have Christ at the center of your messages, then you have lighted upon another thing, not the revelation of God, and you may well write your own Bible.

The apostolic pattern is to share less and less of our own opinions and divert all attention to the gospel. Paul said, “For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified” (2Corinthians 2:2). Preachers need to preach Him who called them, lest they disqualify themselves—because “it is required of stewards that they be found faithful.” (1Cor. 4:2).

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God’s Blessings Are Not For Sale

Enoch Anti — Mon, 11 Feb 2019 09:27:24 +0000

Now when Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money, saying, “Give me this power also, so that anyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.” But Peter said to him, “May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money! (Acts 8:18-20).

Simon–not Peter–we are told in the narrative was a magician. Not only a magician but one held in high repute by the people. Scripture records his “magical exploits thus: “But there was a man named Simon, who had previously practiced magic in the city and amazed the people of Samaria, saying that he himself was somebody great. They all paid attention to him, from the least to the greatest, saying, “This man is the power of God that is called Great.” And they paid attention to him because for a long time he had amazed them with his magic.” (Acts 8:9-11).

Here was a magician who has bewildered the people of Samaria with his magic and left them fixated on him for a long time and indeed considered him as somebody from God. But things will change when by the sovereign will of God, the people of Samaria encountered the gospel through the ministry of Philip the evangelist:

But when they believed Philip as he preached good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. Even Simon himself believed, and after being baptized he continued with Philip. And seeing signs and great miracles performed, he was amazed (vv.12-13).

The gospel liberates and in the preaching of it lies the power of God to save and liberate from bondage and deception. Now, permit me to consider the activities of Simon and Philip as a clash of powers, though it is not, for the Sovereign Lord and King, ruler of the heavens and earth has no equal and competitor; but for the sake of argument, we see magic and the power of God through the preaching of the gospel coming face to face. And the power of God prevailed, so that “Even Simon himself believed.”

In response to this great move of God, Peter and John were sent to Samaria to reinforce the faith of the Samaritans so to speak (vv. 14-17). Hands were laid by the apostles on these new Samaritan believers and they received the Holy Spirit. That was when the state of the heart of Simon now an ex-magician was revealed. It appears he had not fully overcome the love for power hence he wanted what the apostles had by offering money. Peter rebuked Simon the magician pointing out to him that the gift of God–the Holy Spirit — cannot be bought with money: “you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money!”

Sadly, what Peter rebuked has become the model for many so called Christian ministries. Money has become a conduit for God’s blessings and gifts. People are promised all kinds of blessings from God if only they will sow a seed—give money. It is common these days to hear preachers arrogantly speaking blasphemous words about money and the blessings of God: “If you want my anointing, sow a seed.” “If you want your ministry to grow like mine, sow a seed.” Everything you want and desire, you are told “sow a seed.” All around us the word of God and his blessings are up for sale by preachers who merchandise the gospel.

It is crucial for us to come to an understanding that God’s blessings cannot be purchased. Everything we receive from God is a result of his grace and mercies. Whatever spiritual gifts we have has been freely given to us by God (Matt.10:5-8; Jn 3:27; Eph. 2:8-9; Jam. 1:5; 1Cor. 12).

What then must be our attitude towards ministers of the gospel and money? Any minister that ties the blessings of God to money must be avoided. He is a false teacher teaching unsound words (1Tim.6:1-10). Does God bless our generosity at all? One may ask. The answer is yes. However, our generosity must not be transactional in our Christian journey. By all means give to support Christian ministry. Give for the cause of the gospel. Give to the poor and needy. However, don’t engage these in a transactional manner because God’s blessings cannot be bought.

Many people give with the hopes of receiving back. It is true that God loves a cheerful giver. But our giving must be influenced by our love for God and the example of Christ that he loved us and he gave himself for us. Amen.

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Are You Living in Deception?

Kwesi Sena — Mon, 26 Mar 2018 15:22:46 +0000

Deception is as old as the human race. Right from the Garden of Eden to the present time deception has been a part of the human experience. Sometimes we are deceived, other times we deceive others and sometimes we deceive ourselves. To deceive means to mislead by a false appearance or statement, and the goal is to mislead others to take an action they would otherwise not take if they had true knowledge. In order words, deception is the opposite of truth.

We are first introduced to the concept in Genesis 3:1, where we read “Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?”

That was a false statement made with the intention to mislead, because the original command from God read, “And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” (Genesis 2:16 & 17)

God had given man everything, yet the devil made it seem as though God was stingy and had withheld everything. That was the first deception, and it was orchestrated by the devil. Hence, the reason why Jesus calls him the father of lies in John 8:44.

As you read the account in Genesis, there is the tendency to have sympathy for Eve, she was naïve and unsuspecting. She blamed the devil for her disobedience and that is clear in her response to God, “…”The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” However, as much as Eve would want us to believe that it wasn’t her fault, God did not let her off the hook. Throughout the Bible God lays the responsibility of making sure that we are not deceived on the deceived. This is emphasized by the many commands of “do not be deceived” (1 Cor. 6:9; 15:33, Eph. 5:6, Gal. 6:7, Jas. 1:16, 1 Jn. 3:7), which means we can only be deceived if we allow it. As Christians we need to guard ourselves against deception. We must examine ourselves constantly, to see whether we are living in deception. In this article I outline six areas where we must constantly evaluate ourselves.

Living in Sin

In Ephesians 5:6 &7, Paul warned his readers, “Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things [sexual immorality, impurity & covetousness] the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore, do not become partners with them” (emphasis added). It is very possible to live in sin and still think that you are a Christian. The Bible says you are deluding yourself. God is holy and anyone who claims to be a part of God must be holy (Lev. 19:1)

There are many today in the Church who presume on the grace of God and go on living in sin, but the Bible teaches that “God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and the truth is not in us” (1 John1:5&6). Again we are taught that without holiness no one can see God. You will not enjoy heaven if you are not striving to live a holy life now because heaven will only be filled with holy people.

Discipline in Christian Living

Paul tell us in Galatians 6:7&8 “Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that he will also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life”

Natural experience itself teaches us that you reap what you sow, it is therefore strange that we don’t apply the same principle in our walk with the Lord. Some Christians mock God with the way they live their lives. There are many who claim they want to know the will of God for their lives, yet never read their Bibles nor spend time in prayer. There are others who claim they desire to live holy lives, yet spend their days indulging in worldly pursuit which predisposes them to sin. You cannot indulge your flesh and expect to live a holy life.

For some people, it will mean putting a stop to that relationship with the guy who keeps pressurizing you to have sex before marriage. Or if you are married, it will mean putting a stop to that flirtatious behaviour which can lead you into adultery.

The Company We Keep

One of the greatest weaknesses of the human species is our inability to judge ourselves rightly. We often overestimate our strength and underestimate our vulnerabilities. This has been the cause of many a Christian fall. One of the areas we can be complicit is in the area of the friendship we keep. We can be deceived into thinking that we can throw our lot with evil people and somehow remain unstained. Paul writes to the saints in Corinth “Do not be deceived: Bad company ruins good morals.” (1 Corinthians 15:33)

We also read in Psalm 1, that “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.” We need to be careful of the company we keep, because they have more influence on our lives than we are prepared to admit. Do not be deceived!

Doubting God’s Goodness

This form of deception seems so unlikely but when it comes to deception, nothing is off limits. Yes, it is possible for a Christian to charge God with evil. There are Christians who blame God for their “difficult lives”. They haven’t denied God, yet deep down in their hearts they harbour bitterness toward God. They blame him for the death of their loved ones, their singleness, joblessness, etc. That is the greatest deception of all. The devil would want us to believe that God is not good, that he is somehow responsible for the evil that happens in our lives. When he is able to sow doubt in our minds about God, it becomes easy for him to lead us into sin. He has been using this plot since the beginning.

But James tells us “Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change” (James 1:16 & 17). God is good, and we must never be deceived into thinking otherwise.

Living in Pride

We are proud because we are deceived. No human being who knows his true condition can be proud. In 1 Corinthians 4:7, Paul asks, “…What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?” In other words, our very lives give evidence against the attitude of pride. We therefore must be very deceived to be filled with pride.

The scary part is that there are Christians who think they are infallible and beyond fall. Ì have met Christians who are of the view that once they become saved, they are beyond sin and do not think it appropriate to even confess their sin to God. John says “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” The Christian life is a repenting walk, “Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he falls.” (1 Corinthians 10:12)

Living in Light of Jesus’ Return

There are those who mock and scoff at the idea that Jesus will return (2 Pet. 3:9-12), in most cases these are non-Christians and so it is easy to disregard them. What is frightening is when a Christian lives as though Jesus will never return. Living a life that prioritizes material and earthly wealth above spiritual priorities is a sign of bad spiritual health. The over-emphasis on material prosperity and physical healing in some Christian circles today is anti-Christian. Contrary to what many pastors would have us believe, health and wealth are not necessarily signs of faithfulness.

Before leaving this earth Jesus told his disciples, “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.” (John 14:1-3).

Therefore the call to Christians to live their best life now, is anti-Christ. If I can live my best life now, why would I long for heaven? Don’t be deceived, for our citizenship is not in this world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

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