In appearance there is a fine
degree between genuineness and hypocrisy, but a world of difference in fact. A
hypocrite can fool you, but never a righteous man. There are those little clues
if you look for them. A hypocrite will try to impress you with the money they
give, plaques on the wall, degrees flaunted, anything to impress others. Of
course, God sees right through all of that, and so do men and women of God. Why
shouldn’t they? That’s what the gift of discernment is all about: Something to
remember though, is that:
" [The]
natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are
foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually
discerned. (I Corinthians 2:1).”
So, don’t try and discern it on
your own. That’s impossible. Spiritual con-men are a dime a dozen. They come in
all shapes and sizes. And, they are tricky, too. Some live piously in
multimillion dollar mansions. Others, fly around in private jets like some
modern snake oil salesmen hawking their spiritual wow-power. The dumb, deaf,
and blind thrill seeker jump around from one charade to the next and when
things do not go as expect, they blame Jesus or at the very least a lack of
faith. Either allegation is, however, in the final analysis, just a bunch of
hooey, though.
Jesus has already warned us that
these purveyors of self-interest would be around peddling their wares, and to
be on the lookout for them (Matthew 7:22, 23). Now, I realize that that is a broad
brush to paint with; however, not all that say, “Lord, Lord" are genuine
(Matthew 7:21-23). The sooner we learn it, the better, too.
Gullibility is not what God had
in mind when He said,
“Is any one of
you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint
him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will
restore the one who is sick. The Lord will raise him up. (James 5:14-15).”
Bogus healings aside,
none-the-less, God does still heal, but He doesn’t need some phony dressed in a
$5,000.00 dollar made suit to do it, though. One from J. C. Penny’s will work
just fine. Laying all sarcasm aside, however, we need to teach those in our
care as under shepherds to be on the lookout for these ravenous wolfs in sheep’s
clothing. They are a dime a dozen, but in the long run the cost is much higher.
Jesus didn’t mince words, when he
felt that bigger issues were at stake (Luke 11:37-54; Matthew 23:1-39; Mark
12:35-40; Luke 20:45-47); neither did Paul (Romans 8:28; Romans 8:30; 2
Corinthians 2:17; 2 Corinthians 11:4; Galatians 1:6–11; Galatians 2:7; Galatians
3:1-5), and, of course much more throughout the Bible. The bottom-line? We,
too, must be diligent to defend our people against these outsiders who raise havoc
among believers at large, and embarrass all of us.
I know that this is old hat for
some of you; however, I grieve each time I see lives ruined by these spiritual
charlatans. Believe me. Some of this grief hits pretty close to home, too.
Let us therefore, content for the doctrine which was
delivered to the saints, once and for all,
JimR_/-
No comments:
Post a Comment