Got Fruit ?

I generally stay away from politics & celebrity commentary,however as I was motivated yesterday to post on the topic of false doctrine which involved both a celebrity and a political figure anyway, I’m going to continue answering a comment in post format, due to the length of my answer(s).

The cause: Comments submitted by “L” of Longing For a Holiday at Sea [thanks for the kick-start ]

Holiday Longing Says:
April 4th, 2008 at 8:58 pm e

Isn’t it amazing the influence Oprah has in so many ways? Look at Obama’s rise. Don’t you think she helped, just a little? And when she touts a book, it becomes a bestseller. Let’s pray for her salvation! But what’s so insidious (as I suggested above) are the strands of junk making their way into the evangelical church from the insiders.

The effect:

On the Double “O” theory:

“L”, Yes I do think that Obama’s swift rise in popularity was and is the result of backing from some very powerful and influential figure(s). Perhaps Obama and Steadman are one and the same?? Enough of conspiracy theory playing though, as I honestly don’t have all of the facts on neither of the candidates, I’ve not followed much, too busy studying the Word.

On the internal perversion of the “church”:

TBN, Benny Hinn, Juanita Bynum, & Joel Olsteen are names, based on my own observations and readings that I would lump in under the category of “Suspect”.

• TBN: let’s just say that I don’t think that The Lord had TV in mind as a replacement nor supplement to true fellowship and worship, but don’t take my word for it.
• Benny Hinn: documented cases of false prophecy, and Non-Scriptural doctrine, (Google: Binny Hinn 9 Trinity)
• Juanita Bynum: the last time I visited the site (Sept. 2007), I saw little if any acknowledgement of God (Proverbs 3:5-6)
• Joel Olsteen: as the “shepherd” of the flock, he’s doctrinally weak, comes off as a mix of spirituality and self-empowerment, Scripture seems to be an afterthought to his message.

To spread the wealth it is my opinion, that surely there are a smaller churches and small-time evangelists as well, that have flaky doctrine that we don’t hear about.

Is the assumed explosion of heresy insidious?

The answer is YES! Should we be surprised by the epidemic? In my opinion, NO. The reason being, that we have been forewarned of these things to come. If a believer hasn’t heard for themselves, check out the Books of 1st & 2nd Thessalonians as well as 1st and 2nd Timothy (specific verses purposely omitted for the seeker to find for themselves) which warn of false teachers and false doctrines, the early church was affected by theses same problems and they would come to affect the modern day church as it is written.

Closing comments:

Paul commended the Ephesians I believe it was, for their earnest efforts to study the Word and to scrutinize doctrine habitually. An oversimplified compliment to that thought is this: If each professing “Christian” took God’s Word to heart (application) as a survival guide for this realm that their next life depended upon, versus assuming that filling the pews is the same as seeking to know God’s will, then perhaps the “flock” would not be at such great risk from deception in the first place. This is not a statement to say, “quit going to church”, rather “quit going to church for the spiritual checkmark on the attendance records” or to make yourself feel good about being at church. Be in the true church, the body of Christ.

I leave you with this piece of Scripture commonly heard in a secular sense to meditate on. The context of the Scripture was addressing man’s profitless toiling because we live in a world of repetition, comparing the succession of generations to the patterns of celestial bodies, and earthly elements such as the seas, rivers and winds.

“There’s nothing new under the sun”
Ecc. 1:9