Christianity, Current events, faith

False Shepherds and True Sheep

So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs.He saith to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my sheep.He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep. (John 21:15-17)

This command by Jesus to Peter is the command to all who sit in positions of ministers, pastors, and other clergy. Not that it made Peter the supreme Apostle of the head of the church, but gave to him his main duty. To teach the Gospel message to the Christian faithful. To essentially be the head drill instructor at the boot camp for Christians, the Church building.

All Christians are given the command to evangelize. And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen. (Matthew 28:18-20)

This command to Peter was a command to train those that already followed Christ. The sheep are already followers, as told by Christ in John 10:27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. Now, this is not to say that everyone sitting in a pew or taking the title of Christian is a sheep. One must remember  that a barn will hold sheep and goats.

But today, one sees fewer sheep. This can be attributed to a few things. Many are find the world, run by Satan and his minions, to be attractive. Some are leaving because God does not do things as they believe he should. And because the shepherd has been working within the confines of trying to get the world to accept Jesus, that they water down the Word of God or replace it with a love only doctrine. They have traded their righteous cloaks for wolf hair and fake wool.

Looking back to the history of Israel, we see that even the prophet Ezekiel called down the priests for subverting the words and will of God. And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God unto the shepherds; Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves! should not the shepherds feed the flocks?Ye eat the fat, and ye clothe you with the wool, ye kill them that are fed: but ye feed not the flock.The diseased have ye not strengthened, neither have ye healed that which was sick, neither have ye bound up that which was broken, neither have ye brought again that which was driven away, neither have ye sought that which was lost; but with force and with cruelty have ye ruled them.And they were scattered, because there is no shepherd: and they became meat to all the beasts of the field, when they were scattered.My sheep wandered through all the mountains, and upon every high hill: yea, my flock was scattered upon all the face of the earth, and none did search or seek after them.Therefore, ye shepherds, hear the word of the Lord;As I live, saith the Lord God, surely because my flock became a prey, and my flock became meat to every beast of the field, because there was no shepherd, neither did my shepherds search for my flock, but the shepherds fed themselves, and fed not my flock;Therefore, O ye shepherds, hear the word of the Lord;Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am against the shepherds; and I will require my flock at their hand, and cause them to cease from feeding the flock; neither shall the shepherds feed themselves any more; for I will deliver my flock from their mouth, that they may not be meat for them. (Ezekiel 34:1-10)

Jesus rebuked them for teaching false things. But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows’ houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation.Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.Woe unto you, ye blind guides, which say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is a debtor!Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifieth the gold?And, Whosoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing; but whosoever sweareth by the gift that is upon it, he is guilty.Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifieth the gift?Whoso therefore shall swear by the altar, sweareth by it, and by all things thereon.And whoso shall swear by the temple, sweareth by it, and by him that dwelleth therein.And he that shall swear by heaven, sweareth by the throne of God, and by him that sitteth thereon.Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel.Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also.Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness.Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous,And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets.Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers.Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city:That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar.Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation.O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.(Matthew 13:38)

Jesus told Peter to feed his sheep, tend his lambs, feed his sheep. This is the duty of every man that runs a ministry or stands in the pulpit. Preachers, like Kenneth Copeland and Todd White, have a tendency to get full of themselves. They have forgotten that they are God’s sheep. That they are to feed them (expound upon Holy Scripture), tend them (take them from the milk to the meat), and feed them (prepare them to go into Satan’s realm of the world).

Today many denominations, churches, universities, and clergy feed the sheep of God spoiled milk and rancid meat. In the terms Jesus used, it can be called the leaven of the Pharisees. False rules and false teaching. These charlatans prey upon the weakness of an unlearned body of believers who have come to follow the men and women in the pulpit and not the Christ they speak of. They have turned the mercy giving and righteous judging Christ into a hippie.

Jesus and the Apostles have spoken of these various times. Christ said that men would come pretending and would only be wolves in sheep’s clothing (Matthew 7:15). These false teachers use perverted scripture to fleece the sheep. With only enough truth to make it sound good. Then there are the feel good preachers like Joel Olsteen and Steve Furtick. These are self help gurus that put on a mask of Jesus to spew their feel good message that is meant to elicit a reaction more than it is to teach and ready the Christian for battle.

These types, and the ones, who have allowed the sin of the world to permeate the church and fill the minds of their congregations with all sorts of blasphemies and unrighteousness. Pastors like Lutheran pastor Anna Helgen call upon a non-binary god (little g) with a ‘sparkle creed’ of faith. Pastor Reverend Megan Rohrer is a person that cannot understand what gender he/she was created as. These types of pastors, as well as seemingly normal pastors, have fulfilled the words of 2 Timothy. The goats in the church, as opposed to the sheep, don’t want to hear the true word of God. So they have pastors that tell them what they want to hear, not caring that it will lead them to a fiery, eternal end.For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. (2 Timothy 4:3-4)

Charles Spurgeon said it this way. “A time will come when, instead of shepherds feeding the sheep, the church will have clowns entertaining the goats”. And we have seen the fall of the church from doctrine of God to the dream world of Satan. There are still men of God that preach the inerrant truths of the One Holy God. But they get slammed. And Jesus said this would happen to anyone one that followed Him and did not stray from the truth. If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.But all these things will they do unto you for my name’s sake, because they know not him that sent me. (John 15:18-21)

Jesus also did not say that the church or the true believer was to be treated nicely and loved, as many false preachers and ‘Christians’ proclaim (Matthew 10).  And Jesus gave the end result of such defiance. To the false preachers he says,Then said he unto the disciples, It is impossible but that offenses will come: but woe unto him, through whom they come!It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones. (Luke 17:1-2). And to those goats that believe they are sheep he makes it clear. Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. (Matthew 7:21-23)

Paul gives a grave warning about false preachers and admonishes those that listen to them. I am amazed that you are so quickly turning away from the One who called you by the grace of Messiah, to a different “good news”not that there is another, but only some who are confusing you and want to distort the Good News of Messiah.But even if we (or an angel from heaven) should announce any “good news” to you other than what we have proclaimed to you, let that person be cursed!As we have said before, so I now repeat: if anyone proclaims to you “good news” other than what you received, let that person be under a curse!Am I now trying to win people’s approval, or God’s? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Messiah. (Galatians 1:6-10)

For those preachers that change or subvert the Word of God, the warnings for you are clear. You will be held accountable. For those who want their ears tickled and make peace with the world, REPENT. For those that want to hear the true Word of God and not hear, I never knew you… Hear the words of the prophet Jeremiah in chapter 51 (run away from of Babylon) and the the words given to John while on Patmos. And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory. And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies. And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.(Revelation 18:1-5)

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