The false shepherds

We live in a time where there are many deceiving spirits leading people in the church astray even those who are regenerated by the Holy Spirit.Jesus warned us about the false shepherd in John 10,
'very, very, i say unto you, he that entereth not by the door into the sheephold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a the thief and a robber.'

How many so called pastors who are not washed by the blood of the Lamb are appointed ministers of the gosple just because they have been graduated from bible colleges and have given intellectual consent to the doctrines of scriptures. If in your church you dont hear the voice of the Shepherd through your local preacher ( yes the preacher shold be the mouth of Christ here)then u better watch out. Jesus Said that my sheep will here my voice, when you read God's Word do you feel his voice through the Holy Spirit, when you pray do you feel his love in your heart then you should be able do discern the spirits.

Your local pastor can preach the doctrines of grace,zelaous in his personal convictions and still rob you of the joy and love of God, he can "kill" your soul by his dead fundamental lifeless teaching, if you are wise you should be able to discern the spirit(s). Satan can fill the heart of many who are false ministers (see
2 Corinthians 11: 13-15).

Wild fires are burning in many hearts but the fire of the Holy Spirit is gentle and pure and few kindle thier hearts in its flames.That's why so many socalled revivals today are spurious, deception is sweeping the churches but praise God God still has a ramnant everywhere who have not bowed their knee to baal. Before i pray for revival i want to pray for prophets with the spirit of Elijah who will warn people of false shepherds who lead God's ppl astray.

It is obvious that there is a great deception in the church today, and it's growing.

I listen to Christians talking, as if in some stupor about the future. All they are intrested in is now, and they are blind to the lost and the obvious signs of the end times.

But God is faithful. And He still answers prayer.

As we seek Him we will find Him. He said so.

God bless.

If your spiritual senses (faculties) are alive you can sense in the atmosphere of a church meeting a suffocating presence that tends to quench the fire of the Spirit and a pastor that will discourage you about seeking the Holy Ghost because his dead (or almsot dead theology) lieves no room for such a blessing, on the other hand there are churches and preachers who encourage all kinds of " extraordinary experiences" but unfortunatly the result of such experiences often leads not in a closer communion with the Lord or in a deeper sanctification or fruitful life but in spiritual dillusion and extreme emotionalism.

The devil can be transformed as an angel of light, and he makes his servants to appear as the ministers of righteousness; if we dont have a discerning spirit we are in danger of being deceived.

Jim, I think you're hitting on something we were getting at [url=https://www.sermonindex.net/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?mode=viewtopic&topic_id=14714&forum=36&start=10&viewmode=flat&order=1]here[/url]

Wanted to pass it along.

Also,

your post brings to mind what I read recently in an article by David Smithers called [i]The Seeds of Revival[/i]:

"Evan Roberts, while reflecting on the problems of The Welsh Revival of 1904, once wrote, "The mistake was to become occupied with the effects of the revival and not to watch and pray in protecting the cause of the revival." The lasting success of the next move of God may very well depend upon our willingness to receive Mr. Roberts WARNING! There are many today who are foolishly pursuing the effects of revival at the expense of neglecting the conditions of revival."

"Within nine years of the Azusa Street revival, Frank Bartleman was expressing deep concern for the future of the Pentecostal movement. He recognized that many of the revival participants had become distracted by the effects of the revival and thus lost sight of God's primary purposed for revival. By neglecting the roots of the revival, Bartleman believed they had inadvertently cursed the spiritual fruit they so dearly desired."

Chris

Hi jimdied2sin,

Me too have been in a charismatic church it was actually my first church and i have had there many blessed memories as a new born christian.I also have been lead to the Lord thanks to 2 charismatic missionaries and i praise God 4 that.

In my early walk with the Lord i made mistakes in seeking power and healings and miracles i was lead astray and my focus became the gifts and not the Giver of gifts, i even was so zealous as to pray for the dad baby of my neighbour to come back to life, oh yes God is still the same i have no doubt that he is Allpowerfull to raise the dead but somehow i was out of the center of God's will and i even have experienced what the pentecostals call "baptism of the Holy Spirit" with tongues as evidence but i found out little but little the more i prayed in tongues the more strange and distant i was to the love of God and his grace.To this day i cann't be 100% sure whether this experience was from God or not.

One thing i'm sure the devil is a great artist is couterfeiting the gifts of the Spirit, when i was a member of the charismatic church i saw ppl falling to the ground in an 'unconscience state' and after such a unuasual experience they were as carnal or sinful as before and there were no evidence of work of sanctification in their lives,i heard false prophesies that were never been fulfilled, ppl speaking in tongues that as far as i was able to discern were not really converted and regenerated.

I have also been for a short time member of the Plymouth Brethren and once i stood up to pray with zeal and sencerity and after the meeting someone (who sometimes preached there) made me a remark about my prayer.In such a atmosphere i felt like greiving the Spirit.

My point is that something was goin wrong with these churches i frequented, the first lead ppl in superficial experiences and unusual experiences that resulted not in holiness of life but in emotionalism and spirits dillusions, the second(the brethren) even though they put much emphesis on the Bible and doctrines the preaching was so powerless and cold as to quench the fire of the Spirit if u didnt watch out.

Just wanted to add my $.02
I am so glad that I found this thread because sometimes I feel like I am the only one experiencing disillusionment with the Church. Not wanting to be like Elijah (God, I am the only one…) I pray to the Lord about the very real disconnection of what I hear in Church vs. what I learn from the Word. For the most part I see a depraved sense of greed for power, money, and possessions. I wonder why in the world someone would promulgate the notion that the people of God would be better treated than the Master when we know that He was despised to the point of death. It is pure deception. CH Spurgeon said something to the effect that the old covenant was a covenant of prosperity and the new covenant is one of adversity whereby we are weaned from this present world and made meat (useful) for the world to come. It seems that everyone wants to get to heaven, but no one wants to die. Death to the things of this world is required if we are going to serve the Lord. We cannot serve God and Mammon. I also belong to a Charismatic church and I have found that to try and dispute (even humbly) false doctrines will get you a label of Jezebel.

Actually, I'm a girl :) John 11:40 is my favorite passage of scripture.
I live in Ann Arbor.