What are you hearing in your local church; life or death? (Pretty long😋)

Believers, most times when we think of areas of "Satan at work," we imagine red-light districts, war, poverty, child-molestation, ritual killings, fornication and adultery, idol worship/juju, the kind of demonic oppression that gets people rolling on the floor and foaming at the mouth; acts of sin in general.

While the kingdom of darkness works hard at keeping the world that God so loved locked down in such suffering, captivity and depravity, these overt manifestations are usually the work of minions or lesser devils. Satan himself and his other "spiritual wickedness in high places" demons have a different and more refined approach to their work of stealing, killing and destroying. They work through their ministers in the church! How? See what Paul says of them in 2 Corinthians 11:15-

"And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. 15 Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works."

These ministers of Satan don't show up looking ugly in red underwear and wielding black pitchforks. They are pastoring churches and preaching their brand of righteousness straight from the pulpit. They sound and act extremely moral and righteous and preach strongly against sin. They preach a lot about righteousness and living a godly life but herein lies what exposes them as agents of Satan (some unwittingly!): their own method of attaining righteousness in the sight of God is never through what Christ has done to make us righteous and enjoy God's blessings but on what we must do by ourselves; we who can do nothing without Christ.

They preach righteousness according to works (of the Law) and not the righteousness (by faith) that is freely given as a gift to all who believe in Christ and through the obedience of Christ, as it is written in Romans 5:19-

"For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man's obedience many will be made righteous."

Also see 2 Corinthians 5:21 "For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in Him."

Remember Paul's words in Philippians 3:9 "and become one with Him. I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ. For God’s way of making us right with Himself depends on faith."

They preach this verse in reverse. They deceive many into thinking that a person can be made right with God by their own effort at keeping the Law, a teaching that is in stark contrast to Romans 3:20 which says: "For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are."

Believers, once a person has the Lord as his righteousness, right living will follow. "All these things will be added unto you." But these wicked pastors put the cart before the horse. Their weapon is accusations, like their father Satan the Accuser.

They point out and accuse people of particular sins, usually cosmetic things like dressing/hairstyle, club-hopping and "comedians in the church" and make you believe that your salvation or godliness (being like God) depends on how good you are and what you do. They never tell you that without Christ as the SOLE source of a person's righteousness, in the sight of God, the "good and holy" person who only lied about his location on the phone for a good reason is in the same boat of unrighteousness as the child-molesting serial killer. James 2:10 says:

"10 For the person who keeps all of the laws except one is as guilty as a person who has broken all of God’s laws."

In essence, they preach after the pattern of their master Satan who deceived Eve into believing that she would "be like God" (be godly!) by her own effort: if she ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. This tree is a picture of the Law which tells us what is good and what is bad; the tree was desirable to Eve as it is desirable to many in the church today; and it is still killing those that eat from it, those who live by the Law; those who try to be godly (attain to righteousness) by their own effort: "for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life."

Galatians 5:4 says 

"For if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the law, you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God’s grace."

But these false doctrine preachers actively preach righteousness before God through keeping the Ten Commandments! Isaiah describes this self righteousness as "filthy rags" (menstrual rags in the original Hebrew text) in Isaiah 64:6.

"We are all infected and impure with sin.

When we display our righteous deeds,

they are nothing but filthy rags."

Believers, beware of such teaching. It leads to death!

Remember what Titus 2:14 says of our Saviour Jesus Christ: 

"who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works." 

This shows us that people who are sinning are in captivity and a price (death) needs to be paid for them to be free; a price that Christ paid with His blood (the wages of sin is death) and is free for all who believe.

But these evil pastors preach that one can redeem oneself from the lawless deeds that hold one captive by sheer self-will and determination. Right there on the pulpit, they shoot the only weapon of the Accuser: accusations aka "every tongue that rises against you in judgment." 

Such ministers say things like "You are still stealing" "You don't love your neighbour as yourself" even "Abraham was going to sacrifice his son but you can't even give so and so!" They then ask: "how can God bless you when you are still doing such and such?" But they never point you to the only One, Jesus Christ, who can get you out of that prison of sin. They point you to yourself who can do nothing without Christ! They try to make you your own sacrificial lamb, but the lamb used for sacrifice for sins has to die.

They point out and highlight sins when in Christ, under The New Covenant, our Lord God remembers our sins no more (Hebrews 8.) Romans 8:1 tells us there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus but under their false teaching, people are made to feel condemned because their accusations are true, and after condemnation comes judgment in the form of death preceded by its symptoms (the curse.) A death that Christ already died for the world! They are saying that Jesus who died to save us from sin will not save you from your sins unless you by yourself stop sinning!

Believers, believe right. Christ died to redeem us from EVERY lawless deed (acts of sin.) How could our Saviour use the very sins that He came to redeem us from as an excuse for not saving us? It is His gift of no condemnation that makes us go and sin no more! Why would you need a Saviour if you can stop sinning all by yourself? It is Christ's "Neither do I condemn you" that makes us "go and sin no more."

Such ministers reduce the finished work of Christ to a footnote in their preaching. Our Saviour's name is mentioned in the "in Jesus name" at the end of each prayer point but according to them, the "real work" is in the various fasts undertaken, various vigils, neglect of the body and seeds sown in order to receive from God. This is a gross misrepresentation of our loving Abba Father who gives us all things freely with Christ! Romans 8:32 says:

"He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?"

But with such ministers, receiving from God, attaining right-standing with Him and enjoying His blessings depends on your ability to keep the Law and "do good deeds" and not what Christ has done. According to them, being free from generational and other curses depends on you, a Christian, attending their "deliverance services" while clutching childhood pictures that they often ask you to bring along, an action that is in stark contrast to Galatians 3:13-

"Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”, 14 that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith."

Believers, don't be deceived. Believe right. In Christ, God is our Abba Father. Would you really withhold care and protection from your own child because he disobeyed you? Would you let your neighbour's dog bite him to death because you've warned him to stay indoors several times? No! You will train your child in the way he should go and keep him from harm for as long as you can! How much more our Father in heaven who so loved the world that He gave His own Son to die for us! In Christ, we are His own little children! He hates sin because it destroys man that He so loves, so gave His own Son to pay the wages of our sin. In Christ, we have the gift of no condemnation by which we go and sin no more. This is the only way to have victory over sin.

A good fake product is one that most closely resembles the original. By God's grace, get away from these preachers of righteousness by works of the Law. They seem to be godly and religious but their way leads to death.

Many of us are aware that some pastors dish out this horrid mixture of part-Law and part-Grace but still attend their church because we feel that we can get nourishment from the Grace part. This is akin to eating a mixture of fresh bread and concentrated acid and expecting that your body will only make use of the bread! The letter kills. Why don't you ask the Lord our Shepherd to lead you on the path of righteousness and make you lie down in green pastures where you get to feed on life today? He loves us so.

The Holy Spirit will teach you all things.

Believe Right and you will Live Right.