Recognizing False Teaching in Christianity: Signs and Consequences

Recognizing false teaching in Christianity requires discernment and awareness of one's thoughts and actions.

The Holy Spirit's work in a Christian's life produces sanctification and a desire to live according to God's standards.

False peace and security can lead to a trap of God's wrath and rejection.

True righteousness comes from aligning oneself with God's standard of holiness through obedience.

The The Holy Spirit showed my husband Lee in a prophetic word just recently that when we as Christians ponder upon and get absorbed in our own thoughts and justify our reasons or rationalize by which we will live, then we will suppose or presume these thoughts, which are no more than carnal reason, which are fleshly and sensual thoughts, we think them as true and accurate and authoritative. And if our lives are driven by these sensual, worldly, and non-spiritual thoughts which compel and motivate us to do and say the things that govern our behavior rather than eat and feed upon God's holy word, which carries a promise with it to change us from the inside out and ultimately bestows upon us the mind of Christ in a burning desire deep within the soul to live by his holy standards and conduct in the profoundness of his righteousness and purity. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. And this will produce wisdom and discernment and keen awareness that God's Holy Spirit is alive and ever present within your soul. You become so aware of this fact that you care not to defile this preciousness of his work when it comes to the temptation of sin. Now, we can liken this to Joseph and Potiphar's wife. She was so infatuated with Joseph's physical being that she contrived a well thought out plan to entrap and ensnare him to commit adultery with her. And when she approached Joseph, along with the hordes of evil spirits of lust and perversion, which trailed along with her in presenting this violation and temptation to sin, Joseph said, how then can I do this great evil and sin against my God? You see, sin has longings and desires, and these are directed towards something that is absolutely forbidden in God's eyes. And this lust and perversion that trailed after Potiphar's wife, who was Egyptian, and this represents the cares of the world, carried with it a sin so violent that it is driven to overcome, to overwhelm and overthrow any and all self-control that you may have. It has one aim, and that one aim only, and that is to completely engross your mind with earthly, fleshly, and sensual perishable things that will steal and snuff any spiritual life that God the Holy Spirit may have planted within you. Lust and perversion bring estrangement or separation from God and will eventually destroy any hope of eternal life because one eventually succumbs to the temptation of sin and becomes rather a slave to that sin and ungodliness. Please understand that lust not only involves sensual pleasures and sexual cravings, but it also is an obsession, an inordinate desire for things and stuff and for wealth, for food, for personal acknowledgement, for anything and everything that stands in the way of being an idol and causes you to focus upon these things which compel you to love and obey the lust of the eye, lust of the flesh, and the pride of life, which are forbidden in 1 John 2.15 when Jesus said, Do not love the world or the things in the world. and if anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. Verse 16, for all that is sin in the world, the lust of the eyes, lust of the flesh, and pride of life is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it, but he who does the will of God abides forever. You see, all of these natural appetites compel us to obey the lusts of our flesh. And these can be perverted into sin. But as Christians, if we are truly learning in Christ and have our being in him, then we are able through the power of his spirit to resist the lusts with their passions and enslavements. And since sin separates us from God and destroys the life of the spirit in us and leads us to take pleasure in whatever displeases God and violates his righteousness, then God will finally give us over to the desires and lusts of our flesh. You see, there is an order with God, because God is a God of order, and godly order brings harmony and peace with it. And the order here is that God has given every true Christian his spirit, called Holy Spirit. And the work of God's precious spirit is to produce a sanctifying influence of himself within your soul. And Peter tells us in 1 Peter 1-2, he says, You who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father through the sanctifying work of the Spirit for obedience. Hear that? You were chosen for obedience to Jesus Christ and the sprinkling by his blood. You see, no one will see the Lord without this purifying work of his spirit. And this work within creates a desire in your soul to live in accordance with God's standards. Sanctify means to be set apart from sin. And when you understand this by the eyes of your spirit, you will just be appalled and aghast at the habitual sinful ways and practices that go on in your life. You see, you can't know this if you're not set apart from sin and the spirit opens and enlightens your eyes to see this. You won't be aghast or appalled at the sin in your life. See, to live in God's righteousness means that you are aligning yourself with his standard of holiness. And this refers to a state of being that conforms with his authoritative standard. And this requires obedience on yours and my part. Righteousness comes from the root word dikia. And in Greek it means straightness. and this straightness or uprightness defines God's character. This is not an attribute of God, but this is just the way God is. He does not change and he never will. He is rigidly righteous and this means that he is immovable, firm, he's set like a rock, he's unflinching and inflexible when it comes to his holiness and his purity and uprightness. and his hatred of sinful practices in his people. Righteousness is God's holy rectitude. He is upright in everything and every way, and he expects this of his holy people. So therefore, those who profess to be his people, he holds them accountable to his standard of righteousness, because now yours and my uprightness is defined in terms with God's righteousness. Nothing else will suffice as a standard or rule for God's holy people. Nada. Nothing. And the reason that so many professing Christians are driven by rules and thoughts of their own minds and thoughts and are compelled to say and do the things that they do is, again, because the life-changing revelation of God's word has no power in changing their old sinful and sexual selfish nature to produce the mind of Christ and the desire to live according to his will. The Holy Spirit showed Lee through a scripture that by doing this, these people are actually setting their own table and are feasting from it. God's word says in Psalm 69, verse 22, it declares that people are setting a snare for themselves by feasting at their own table. Psalm 69, 22. Let their own table, with all of its abundance and luxury, become a snare to them. And when they are secure in peace, at their sacrificial feast, let it become a trap to them. And these same verses, precious church, are quoted by Paul in Romans 11, just as in David's time. Paul, too, is describing the character of people in his time who, by the perverseness of their own decisions and ways to honor God by their self obedience to him proved rather to be a trap that would invoke God wrath and rejection rather than the blessings which are promised only for those who are in right relationship with Jesus Christ. So many times, these kind of people live in a false peace, and feel that they are secure and in no danger at all, and deceivably think also that God loves them just the way they are. And this is where David says, in effect, Lord, these who sit in their pride with all of their comforts and luxuries of life, let this false peace become a trap for them. Let your punishment suddenly fall upon them when they least expect it. And as I've mentioned, Paul used the same term in his epistle, in the 11th chapter of Romans. And let's look at this, please. Turn with me. Let's go there to Romans 11, beginning in verse 6, please. But if it is by grace, his unmerited favor and graciousness, it is no longer conditioned on works or anything men have done. Otherwise, grace would no longer be grace. It would be meaningless. What then shall we conclude? Israel failed to obtain what has sought God's favor and obedience to the law. Only the elect, those chosen few, obtained it, while the rest of them became callously indifferent, blinded, hardened, and made insensible to it. Verse 8, as it is written, God gave them a spirit, an attitude of stupor, eyes that could not see, and ears that should not hear, that has continued down to this very day. Verse 9, and David says, Let their table their feastings, banqueting, become a snare and a trap, a pitfall, and a just retribution rebounding like a boomerang upon them. Let their eyes be darkened or dimmed so that they cannot see, and make them bend their back, stooping beneath their burden forever. But please understand here, it was not with malicious or malignant words that he repeated the same thing that David had spoken in his day. Their table should become a snare and a trap and a stumbling block to them because, because, because they were rejecting the Messiah, the very one who came to set them free from the law of sin and death. This was a prophetic proclamation set in motion from the very beginning of time. And this is saying that the same evil will fall upon them in each generation as it fell upon the disobedient in the times of David and in the times before David. These words were proclaimed by David and yet were prophetic in type and analogous of the Christ to come. what should have been a blessing to these disobedient pride-filled people has now become a curse for them instead the temporal earthly blessings that they enjoyed at this time have become a stumbling block and a punishment and a curse all because they rejected the Messiah whose kingdom was not of this world but was from above They could not see or be privileged to know the greatness of the work of the Holy Spirit in their soul, which was to become known as enlightenment to the eyes of their spirit, that this manifested greatness is due to the price that Jesus Christ paid for them upon the cross. This greatness of the soul, dear ones, is to make them an heir of his glory. Jesus' precious blood, his death, his burial and resurrection was the price and the cost that he paid to have each one of us whom he saw before the foundation of time. And we have people like this in every generation. They can only see to the end of their noses. They have no spiritual vision or understanding that the true eternal joys lie beyond this earth. They did not see or understand, because of their evil, lusts, and idolatrous preferences, that the fulfillment of the biblical promises are for those who qualify because of right relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Corinthians 1.20 declares, For no matter how many promises God has made, they are yes and amen in Christ Jesus. This system of God's grace and inheritance of his many promises and the enjoyment of his many promises, which see us through and aid us on this Christian journey, are found only in those who believe in and live in Jesus Christ by conforming to the standards of his righteousness, which is ordained by God, his Father in heaven. And the word believe carries with it the firm belief and understanding that one must be completely loyal and faithful to Christ, their Savior. They must be committed to him and carry a deep respect and reverence for him as the ruler of their hearts. They must put their trust in him and place their lives in his care. This is called commitment. and this is actually living in Christ. Jesus said to live in him is likened to the analogy of the branch and the vine. He said he is the vine and we are the branches. And if we are not attached continually, please hear that, continually to him, drawing life, giving nourishment from him, from his word, then we will dry up and will eventually be cut off from him completely because we're living apart from his godliness. You see, this life devoted to living a godly life is not just a moral life, but it is truly a godly one. 2 Timothy 3.12 declares, Indeed, all who delight in piety, that is faith and holiness, are determined to live a devoted and godly life in Jesus Christ and will meet with persecution and will be made to suffer because of their religious stand. This life is lived in Jesus Christ. Do not miss it. And again, it is analogous of the branch being connected to the vine, which Jesus spoke of in John 15, verse 5, saying, I am the vine and you are the branches. Whoever lives in me and I in him bears much abundant fruit. There's going to be proof of it, dear ones, of being connected to Christ Jesus. There will be abundant fruit. However, apart from me cut off from vital union with me, you can do nothing. Verse 6. And if a person does not dwell in me, he is thrown out like a broken off branch and withers. And such branches are gathered up and thrown into the fire and they are burned. We are the branches. And Jesus is the vine. We may be a moral person, but yet not one who is connected to Christ. And there are many nice people who would never think to steal or commit adultery or fornicate or use foul language. These people use nice, correct, proper language and can be very courteous, but if they are not connected to Jesus Christ, they will perish. We can be a good neighbor, a good friend, a good employer, a great husband or wife, But without life in Jesus Christ, all will perish. You see, it is not only a godly life, but a Christian one. We are not only to live godly, but we are to live godly in Jesus Christ. Let me repeat it. We are to live godly in Jesus Christ. And this means that we are to be governed by the revelation of Jesus Christ in the word of God. And this is not something that we can just mouth with our words. This precious church is something that evidences itself in your nature, in your character, and it spills forth in your actions, your deeds, and your words, and define quickly who you belong to. either the tree of life or the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And this conformity for a Christian in Christ is to be in agreement with the very nature and character and the image of the one who died for us. And this means we are in binding oath and in obedience with the righteous requirements of God our Father. And this means we find it pleasing and we desire to harmonize with all that God's word requires of us in order to look like our pattern who is again Jesus Christ. We will desire to conform to our perfect example and be moved by his grace and depend upon his ability to intercede and protect us and lead and guide us. Now, having said all this, you may be asking, well, where are we going to go with this word today? And when Lee shared his revelation with me, what he didn't know is that the Lord had impressed a subject upon my heart, which I was to give today, and this subject is called, Could You Be Guilty of Denying Jesus Christ? Could you be guilty of denying Christ? And what the Holy Spirit had shown Lee in regards to many in the church who live in the realm of their own lukewarm imaginations and are guided and driven by their fleshly passions and lusts rather than living in the realm of being guided by precious Holy Spirit I said, this is perfect for what the Lord has given me today as a subject to be developed and taught. Don't you just love how the Holy Spirit works? Here a little, there a little. We each have a part in gifts as members in God's church, and we certainly want to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit when he is giving someone else whom you trust a part to be fitted into the whole. So what has God shown in Lee in terms with this word? Let their own table with all of its abundance and luxury become a snare to them. and when they are secure in their peace, let it become a trap or a snare to them. And this is saying that many, many thousands upon thousands of believers who call themselves Christians and sit in ignorance and are deaf and blind and without the true life of Jesus Christ shining in their hearts because they've taken the Lord's grace lightly and have instead become hardened and calloused and insensitive to his word, which should have changed and renewed their darkened souls by arousing their spiritual senses and implanting or impregnating the revelation of truth in the fallow ground of their hearts. And God says in Romans 11, verse 8, that he's given them over to a spirit of stupor or apathy or lethargy lethargy because of their indifference to living his way and their disobedience to diligently and habitually apply this life-changing word once they heard it. So in regards to what we have discussed in laying the foundation for this word, which I have called again, could you be guilty of denying Jesus Christ? Then the question has to be asked. When people do things on and in their own power and live in the realm of their imaginations and are driven by their own lusts and thoughts, which are in all actuality in opposition to Jesus's command, where he says we are to obey his every word. Then my question to you is, are we not denying his name when we continually do things according to our own unregenerate nature? Will we not walk about as pretenders of the faith, just warming the pews of the churches each Sunday? 2 Timothy 3.5 declares, although these people hold a form of piety, or piety means true reverence for God, They deny and reject and are strangers to the power of it. Their conduct belies the genuineness of their profession. Avoid all such people. Turn away from them. You see, true piety or genuine godliness is having a deep reverence towards God. It means having a vital and real union with him through the power of his Holy Spirit. And to be guilty of denying Christ means that we will refuse to allow the Spirit's workings of sanctifying us or setting us apart from our sinful and ungodly ways so that we truly see and live in the realm of God's truth. We live in a day where the church of the living God has grown so cold and indifferent to the pure, unadulterated word of God. She has taken the truths of God and mixed it with untruths and therefore cannot discern the difference between the two. And the Lord spoke to the people in the Pergamos church in Revelation 2.12. He said, 14, and yet I have a few things against you. You tolerate some among you who do as Balaam did when he taught Balak how to ruin the people of Israel by involving them in sexual sin and encouraging them to go to feasts of their idols. Yes, you have some of these very same followers of Balaam amongst you. Verse 16, change your mind and attitude or else I'll come to you suddenly. I'll fight against them with the sword of my mouth. Let everyone who can hear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches. Everyone who is victorious shall eat of the hidden manna, the secret nourishment from heaven. And I will give to each a white stone. On the stone will be engraved a new name that no one else knows except the one receiving it. The word of the Lord was to forsake these false doctrines that were impregnating the church. History confirms that when the people are given over to serve idols, we have many idols today, that they will depart from the one true God. And this practice was quickly infiltrating the church then, as it is in our day today, too. And this word said that where these people live was in the very center of where Satan had established his throne. And how many know that Satan has a right to us and establish his throne in the midst of idolatrous and sinful people? You see, when we sin, Satan has rights to come and set his throne up in the midst of our sin. The church had remained loyal to Jesus, but it was tolerating those who held these false doctrines and practices. And God knew that if he didn't give them a strong rebuke, that they would all become infected in time like leprosy. And so he gave them a choice, and it was a simple choice. They were to repent and turn away from these wicked practices and enjoy eternal life or persist in tolerating evil, which would in time invoke God's righteous anger and wrath. What does this mean to deny Christ? How can you personally be guilty of denying your Savior? Well, first of all, to live a life that denies Jesus Christ, please hear this. To live a life that denies Jesus Christ is to ignore what he teaches and commands in his word. Are you guilty of that? As you learn and hear the truth, do you put it off and think, oh, I'll get around to that tomorrow. That's for older people, not for me today. Oh, God knows my heart. Now I'll overcome that fleshly thought or passion and desire in time and yet make no real effort in overcoming it now while today is called today and you have breath. You see, we live in a generation where many professors of the faith want to have it both ways. They love the world, and yet they've had a witness or someone told them that hell is real. So Jesus becomes their insurance policy, so to speak. He becomes to these kind of people like Santa Claus who comes down the chimney just in time to deliver the gift of eternal life when they might need it. They want to enjoy all the pleasures and the gadgets and the stuff that the world has to offer. They want to be popular and well-known, and they become then known as people-pleasers in God's eyes at the expense of working out their own salvation. They have no real zeal or fervency for Jesus Christ and his cause. And so many churches have turned worship in their churches into a worldly spectacle. All the lights and the smoke, which is the false Shekinah glory of God. How profane. And the noise that the world would enjoy. And it becomes like an amusement and much like a rock concert in many churches around the world today. people remain backslidden just like in Elijah's day and they couldn't decide whether to follow God or their many Baals which were their idols and Elijah cried out to the people in 1 Kings 18.21 saying how long will you halt and limp between two opinions if the Lord is God follow him And if Baal, then follow him. And the people did not answer him a word. These people were denying their God. And today millions in the church are denying their Savior, Jesus Christ. And one of the worst things that one, a Christian, may possibly do in his lifetime is to openly deny his Savior before the presence of any man or woman. This seems to be the way that most people view the denial of their God and his son, Jesus Christ. But unfortunately today, millions and millions of professing Christians are not even aware that they are denying Jesus Christ in so many ways. Because the world is so strongly ingrained in the lives of these multitudes of millions They do not see where there are sinful practices and sinful words and deeds and actions in business in school in their workplaces in their careers and even amongst their unbelieving family members. And these are all red flags and beacons that are loudly proclaiming the denial of Jesus Christ. And please, I am not talking about new babes in Christ. who remain in a place of ignorance and are not willfully sinning. These are babes. But I'm talking about believers who have sat in the pews of churches for years and have heard the word of God and preached and taught and are still the same as they were years ago and have remained hardened in their hearts so that the true fruit of God could not take root and bring the beautiful and necessary change that would bring them into eternity. You see, without sensitivity to God's spirit and his word, no true believer could claim the victory over the evil of sin which lurks within the depths of their darkened souls. In Luke's gospel, in Luke 22, verse 31, Jesus said to Peter, Simon, Simon Peter, listen. Satan has asked excessively that all of you be given up to him out of the power and keeping of God, that he might sift you, all of you, like a grain. But I have prayed especially for you, Peter, that your own faith may not fail. And when you yourself have turned again, strengthen and establish your brethren. because of Peter's self-confidence. Jesus was letting it be known that his pride and also that he was insensitive to his words. Peter's faith weakened and he caved in and he denied his Lord three times when asked by the world, are you one of those who follow that man they call Jesus? You see, yours and my sin is shameful to God. Even after Jesus brought Peter this correction, Peter's pride and overconfidence was still in the way. Because in verse 33, Peter says, Lord, I'm ready to go with you both to prison and death. But Jesus said, I tell you, Peter, before a single cock shall crow this day, you will deny me three times. You will utterly deny that you know me. And as I said, our sin is shameful before God. Because we do not carry out the commitment or the vow that we made to him. And that is that we would completely give him our lives and obey him in all that we do. And all that the scripture says you shall love the Lord your God with all of your mind. And all of your heart. And with your entire being. And with all of your might. with everything that is in you. You'll love him no matter what. This will be first in your heart. And if you've never made that commitment in a real and living way, then you have no promise of eternal life. I'm here to tell you that today. You have no real commitment and you have no Savior who will freely give you the promises and blessings which will bring you safely into his eternal kingdom. You see, feasting at your own table, that is, on your own minds and thoughts, is very hazardous to your spiritual health. And it eventually brings the shameful act of denying the Christ who was given to save you and me. In John 2.21, the word declares, Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is the antichrist who denies the Father and the Son. Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either. He who acknowledges the Son has the Father also. Very few today are standing in the true faith alongside Jesus Christ. I'm afraid we have many antichrists sitting in the church today who have denied their Christ. We've been talking about those who profess Christianity and take on the name of Christ, but are really unbelievers by their outright disobedience to conform to his word and his holy standards of righteousness and purity. These are really antichrists. And if we are not obeying the dictates of Christ's gospel, then we are actually opposing him by our disobedience and willfulness in doing things our own way according to the dictates of our mind of reasons and imaginations. Jesus said, will I find faith on the earth when I return? And let me say this. The only ones having faith on the earth when Jesus returns will be his elect. Fleshly minds of reason cannot understand the things of God when they are guilty of unbelief. yes indeed it is unbelief that drives professing Christians to willfully do what they want to do and when they want to do it unbelief is the mother of all sin and because people have preferred to sin then God gives them over eventually to the things that they lust for and desire and I do not feel that I have to give a list to provoke you to thought in this subject today which which is called, Could You Be Guilty of Denying Christ? Do you have eyes and ears to hear and see the truth of this glorious gospel? Anyone who cannot see this truth, to say the least, is denying Jesus Christ. Yes, they can say the word and many can repeat it verbatim, but their hearts are far away from God and they know him not. until they come to see the sin in their own lives and hate it and loath it as much as their creator does. And there are many who stand behind the pulpit today who are guilty of denying Jesus Christ. Many of them live double standards and prove this when their lives are publicly exposed and their sin is laid bare before the whole world. And we should not be surprised that this is on the increase because Jesus said this would be the case with the deceivers in the latter days. How can we be assured in our lives that we will not fall into the category of being guilty and denying our Christ? The true condition of your heart must accept and take on a serious warning of being aware always in the depths of your being regarding these few things. And that is that you carry about a fearful expectation and sense of God's judgment. And that you remember always that Jesus said he would deny those who deny him. And this means when you willfully sin in any way, fashion, or form, you are guilty of denying Jesus Christ. And Satan then has a right to come and set his throne up in your midst and govern your activities, your life, your business, and everything that belongs to you. And you should be keenly aware that Jesus Christ Hold your eternal destiny in his hands. Only Jesus Christ holds the place where you will go for eternity in his hands. Luke 12, verse 4. Jesus says, I tell you, friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that they have nothing more they can do. But I warn you whom you should fear. Fear him who after killing has power to hurl into hell. Yes, I say to you, fear him. So this is why we should always carry about that fearful expectation or judgment of who holds our final destiny in his hands. And also, and lastly, remember that blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is the greatest of all sins. And in fact, it is unforgivable. But when you are close to Christ, this will be impossible because you know him who loves you with a passion. You see, dear church, God cares about every detail in your life. And he loves you so much that he's given you his beloved son. And he's given you his spirit at all times, even in the times of trial. Precious Holy Spirit is given to you to help mold and shape your entire being into the one who resembles your Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, through his almighty power. And when you come to know and love him in this real intangible way, he will not let you fall into air and be guilty of denying Christ, the one who paid the price and cost to own you. But he will faithfully bless you beyond all measure and will bestow upon you the mind of Christ and a burning desire deep within your soul to live by his holy standards and conduct in the profoundness of his righteousness and purity.

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