Churched Christian Pagans - destination - Heaven or Hell?

Psalm 1

 

Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.

 

But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.

 

And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.

 

The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.

 

Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.

 

For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.

 

 

 

I have been pondering the topic of this blog for several weeks waiting and waiting till I felt the time was right to post.  Sometimes, my topics come and I just sit down and write.  But, sometimes I ponder and subsequent events happen that add a deeper dimension to my thoughts.  This was such a time. 

What do I mean by "churched Christian pagans?"  I consider churched Christian pagans to be those who wittingly or unwittingly practice "Christian Yoga," walk labyrinths, practice contemplative prayer and practice the presence, following the lying signs and wonders movement and the prosperity gospel.  Warren Smith, Caryl Matriciana, Johanna Michaelson and many others have really good videos and materials on what constitutes new age paganism in the church.  Google them and look for their videos on You Tube. 

 

 

I love my family and friends.  Almost without exception they claim to be Christians and followers of Jesus Christ.  I am not God and therefore, I cannot know if they truly belong to Jesus Christ or merely make lip service to Jesus Christ.  My husband and I were so deceived for so long; being lead astray first, by the prosperity gospel, then by the lying signs and wonders crowd replete with gold teeth and feathers etc.  As you know, if you have read my first post, it wasn't until someone pointed out the obvious - if they have all this healing power why aren't they at the hospitals healing children and all the sick people there - well duh!  That gave me pause for thought and finally we begin to wake-up.  It was a process though and I begin to read the good, the bad and the ugly about everyone we had been following.  Talk about being hit with a two by four!  This blog was born from that experience and I have been relentless in my pursuit not to be deceived again and to warn others when I see a WOLF!

 

 

What truly drives me crazy though, is worrying about will they be left behind to experience the Tribulation and will they make it to Heaven!!!!????  Unfortunately, I cannot know but I can examine the scriptures and publish what I find.  Hopefully, people will examine the scriptures to determine if they are in the Faith, whether they are a sheep or goat, wheat or tare!

 

 

I recently had a run in with a Face Book member over an obvious WOLF.  I had first heard of this WOLF a couple of years back when our Insurance Agent spoke of her book.  Her name Sarah Young, he told me how awesome her book "Jesus Calling" was and how it had energized him.  It rang a bell in my mind and I thought, "I think that book is heretical."  I listen to so much in apologetics things often get jumbled all together.  I forgot about that incident until recently.  I begin to see little references here and there on my Face Book page from various friends, cousins and even one of my Jewish friends.  So, I decided it was time to do some research and post it to Face Book and warn them away from this book.

 

One particular posting elicited quite the response.  What made this so difficult was the responder is a licensed minister, involved in prison ministry and preaches at a retirement home from time to time.  He also reads the bible through every year.  He either did not read the various research items I had posted or just refused what was clear proof that this book was channeled from a demon spirit.  

 

So, what does the bible say in regards to these kinds of things?  I guess we need to see what our instructions are concerning extra biblical literature.

 

1 John 4:1 Beloved believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. 2 Hereby know ye the Spirit of God:  Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: 3 And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is the spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.

 

The first job is to try the spirits.  How do you do that??  Jesus told us.  

 

Matthew 24:23-27 Then if a man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. 24 For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. 25 Behold, I have told you before. 26 Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold he is in the secret chambers; believe it not. 27 For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

Here is the list then people who say Jesus is here or Jesus is there.  People who say they found Jesus out in the desert or in the secret chambers/private rooms of their homes or in their room at some Christian retreat.

These people love to write books - so just analyze what they are saying.  Most of them want to tell you about some mystical experience they had and gladly elaborate and give many details!!

Then where do you find Jesus!!  There is only one place, the whole counsel of God, the Holy Bible.

John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

The second thing to do then is to search the scriptures.

Acts 17:11 These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.

These same groups of people also like to take some scripture passage and mangle it to pieces to either prove their experiences or add credence to their encounters.  So, you have to go into God's Word, look up those passages and run every reference to other passages in the bible.  Putting them altogether will give you a clear understanding of that passage.  Anyone that gives a meaning to those scriptures outside the parameters of God's Word is presenting another "jesus."   Because Jesus is the Word and does not contradict Himself!!

Now to the issues of destinations - Heaven or Hell.  If you have been fooled by WOLVES, you probably feel as my husband and I felt - we felt like we had committed total betrayal towards our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ and our Most Holy God and completely IGNORED the warnings of the Holy Spirit in our hearts and mind that something wasn't right!!  We both read/listened to the bible consistently and all the way through over and over for years!!  Yet, we were deceived.  So, take heart there is life after deception for those who will humble themselves, repent and get back on the straight and narrow!  But what about those who refuse the correcting truth of God's Word and allow pride to rule them?  Those who refuse to try the spirits, study God's word and repent?

In the book of Ezekiel we find the parameters that Ezekiel has to work in when he warns the wicked and the righteous.  The passage is Ezekiel 3:17-21.  We know what happens to the wicked man but what about the righteous man?

Ezekiel 3:20 Again, When a righteous man doth turn from his righteousness, and commit iniquity, and I lay a stumblingblock before him, he shall die: because thou hast not given him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he hath done shall not be remembered; but his blood will I require at thine hand.

In this passage the righteous man that turned from his righteousness to commit sin will die without his righteousness being remembered.

In Ezekiel 9 we find another episode dealing with abominations. God was sending men into the city to slaughter the old and young, both maids, and little children, and women.  Before the slaughter begins God wants those marked who cry over the abominations that have been committed against God.

Ezekiel  9:4 And the Lord said unto him Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the forehead of  the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof. 

We see two things in these Old Testament passages.  First, the righteous man who sins without repenting will die in his sin without any remembrance of his righteousness.  On the converse the men that wept and sighed because of the abominations that were being committed, were not only saved but they were marked so that would not be destroyed with those committing the abominations.  This is certainly something worth pondering.  But these were Old Testament events that dealt with Israel and under the old covenant.  What can we find in the New Testament dealing with the followers of Jesus Christ.

As we know we are admonished to study the word and examine ourselves to see if we are actually in the faith.

II Corinthians 13:5 Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves.  Know ye not your own selves, how  that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates? 

How do you examine yourself to see if you are in the faith?  It is not enough to go to church and read your bible.  You must look further than the things that you are doing to the things that are inside of you in light of God's Word.  I want to be careful here, because we all sin and fall short of God's glory and while we should be consistently growing in grace towards our Lord Jesus Christ, we are always going to fail and sin while we are in these mortal bodies.  That's why we need to daily repent of our sins and keep moving towards the mark.  And yes you may be deceived but eventually if you Love the Truth of God's Word and Jesus Christ (which is pretty much the same things seeing He is the Word) then God will eventually lead you out of the deception.  Chapter 3 of II Timothy is a good place to start, not only to examine yourself but how to spot a WOLF.

II Timothy 3:1-8 This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. 2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, 4 Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; 5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. 6 For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts , 7 Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. 8 Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith.

In case you are wondering exactly what that word "reprobate" means, basically it means castaway, rejected and by implication worthless.  So, a reprobate has been rejected from the faith.  They are not of the household of God.

II Thessalonians 2:10-11 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. 11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie. 

I John 2:19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us  they would no doubt have continued with us: that they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.

In the end we cannot possibly know what is in anyone's heart but our own.  So, please look honestly in your heart and compare what you find in there to God's Word.  You can't be perfect but you can know whether you value God's Word over the latest craze in Christendom.  Be true to His Word alone.  And it is pretty easy to spot a WOLF they will be redirecting you to HERE and THERE, the DESERT and the SECRET CHAMBERS and not to the BIBLE.

Finally, remember WOLVES, GOATS and TARES run with the TRUE BRIDE of CHRIST.  Mark them using the list provided in II Timothy 3:1-8 and stay away from them!!