Bad Shepherds
2 Timothy 4 : Preach the Word
1I charge you therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; 2Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine. 3For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts[g1939] shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; 4And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned to fables. 5But watch you in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of your ministry.
6For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. 7I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: 8From now on there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but to all them also that love his appearing.
[g1939] ἐπιθυμία epithymía
Lust = “a longing (especially for what is forbidden):”
—concupiscence, desire, lust (after).
“It’s easier to fool people than to convince them they have been fooled”
~ Mark Twain
“A time will come
when instead of
shepherds feeding the sheep,
the church will have
clowns entertaining the goats “
~ Charles Spurgeon
ACTS 13:10
And said, O full of all subtilty and all mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord?
Jude 1 : God’s Judgment on the Ungodly (Genesis 4:1-7; Romans 2:1-16)
3Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write to you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write to you, and exhort you that you should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered to the saints.4For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.
The “grace of God” has been turned into
“lasciviousness” which means “unbridled lust”.
Churches have turned Jesus intohuge conferences, concerts, performance art and entertainmentPreachers and singers have been turned into celebrities
Amos 8 : The Basket of Ripe Fruit
11Behold, the days come, said the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD: 12And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the LORD, and shall not find it. 13In that day shall the fair virgins and young men faint for thirst.
Mark 7 : Tradition and Vain Worship (Matthew 15:1-9)
6He answered and said to them, Well has Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.
7However, in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.
Jesus told the Samaritan Woman“YOU DO NOT KNOW WHAT YOU WORSHIP”
John 4 : The Samaritan Woman
21Jesus said to her, Woman, believe me, the hour comes, when you shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. 22You worship you know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews. 23But the hour comes, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeks such to worship him. 24God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. 25The woman said to him, I know that Messias comes, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things. 26Jesus said to her, I that speak to you am he.
To “worship” means “to serve”.
We must worship God in spirit and truth, not by attending an event or concert.
Ears have been turned from the truth
Keeping the commandmentsJudgement and Fear of God
“What the eyes see and the ears hear,
the mind believes.” ~ Harry Houdini
Hillsong Conference 2016:
30,000 people from all over the world are expected to attend the four day conference,
and tickets cost almost $350 each.
Pictures shared by enthused delegates on social media show a packed out Qudos Bank Arena
– and a hi-tech lights and graphics set up that could easily be mistaken for a Beyonce concert.
2 CORINTHIANS 11:
12But what I do, that I will do, that I may cut off occasion from them which desire occasion; that wherein they glory, they may be found even as we. 13For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.
And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.
Preachers have handled the word of God deceitfully and corrupted His word to make profit.
MATTHEW 24 : SIGNS OF THE END
5For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.
These are not followers of Christ
They are public speakers and business men
who use Jesus name and a Christian facade as a platform
to sell books and promote their brand
They have made His church a den of thieves
John 2 : Jesus Cleanses the Temple
12After this he went down to Capernaum, he, and his mother, and his brothers, and his disciples: and they continued there not many days.
13And the Jews’ passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14And found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting: 15And when he had made a whip of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers’ money, and overthrew the tables;
16And said to them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father’s house an house of merchandise. 17And his disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal [g2205] of your house has eaten me up.
[g2205]ζῆλος zēlos, Jealousy | Zeal,
(favorable sense) ardor;
(unfavorable) jealousy, as of a husband
(figuratively, of God), or an enemy, malice:
—emulation, envy(-ing), fervent mind, indignation, jealousy, zeal.
An envious and contentious rivalry, jealousy
(occurs 17x in 17v)
2 Corinthians 11 : Paul and the False Apostles
1Would to God you could bear with me a little in my folly: and indeed bear with me. 2For I am jealous[g2206] over you with godly jealousy[g2205]: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.
3But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
4For if he that comes preaches another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if you receive another spirit, which you have not received, or another gospel, which you have not accepted, you might well bear with him.
[g2206] ζηλόω zēlóō, jealous | Envy
“to have warmth of feeling for or against:”
—affect, covet (earnestly), (have) desire, (move with) envy, be jealous over, (be) zealous(-ly affect).
from
[g2205]ζῆλος zēlos, Jealousy | Zeal,
[g2204] ζέω zéō to be hot
(boil, of liquids; or glow, of solids),
i.e. (figuratively) be fervid (earnest):—be fervent.
They have made Christians pieces of merchandise to profit from.
Revelation 18 : Babylon is Fallen
23And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in you; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in you: for your merchants were the great men of the earth; for by your sorceries were all nations deceived.
Merchants are the ones that deceive the whole earth.
Merchants are people that sell and push products to make $$$
They allure and entice to make people desire/covet their product
2 Peter 2 : False Prophets
1But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privately shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction. 2And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. 3And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingers not, and their damnation slumbers not.
2 Corinthians 2
11Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.
17For we are not as many, which corrupt the word of God: but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ.
2 Corinthians 4: The Light of the Gospel
1Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not; 2But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God. 3But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: 4In whom the god of this world has blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine to them. 5For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake.6For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ
Satan inverts and perverts everything of God subtetlyJesus getting Peter to walk on the water gets perverted intoan analogy for stepping out of your comfort zone andpursue your dreams (desires) in faith.
15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God,
a workman that needeth not to be ashamed,
rightly dividing the word of truth.
Anything based off a “half of a truth”is a WHOLE LIE.The Double Edged Sword
judging the thoughts and intentions of the Heart…
HEBREWS 4 : GOD’S WORD IS LIVING AND ACTIVE
12 For the word of God is living and active.
Sharper than any double-edged sword,
it pierces even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow.
It is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
13 Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight;
everything is uncovered and exposed before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.
Matthew 10 : The Sword of the Gospel (Luke 12:49-53)
34Think not that I am come to send peace on earth:
I came not to send peace, but a sword.
Matthew 7 : Ask, Seek, Knock
7Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you: 8For every one that asks receives; and he that seeks finds; and to him that knocks it shall be opened.
.
has been perverted into asking for things like:material possessions & wealth, fame, popularity, notoriety, success, help in winning a competition or sport, or some type of performance or testthe list goes on…
This statement has been grossly
perverted into Christ gives us strength
“to fulfill our desires, dreams, and ambitions”
Galatians 5 : Living by the spirit
24Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25Since we live by the Spirit, let us walk in step with the Spirit. 26Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying one another.
I had fallen for this as well.
I used to display that verse on the tape I had on my wrist
when I played basketball in high school
What Paul was referring to was
“learning to be content”
even though he was in prison
PHILIPPIANS 4 :
11Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatever state I am, therewith to be content.12I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. 13I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me.
PSALM 34
9 O fear the LORD, ye his saints:
for [there is] no want
to them that fear [h3373] him.
psalm 25 : Fear of the Lord
14 The secret of the Lord is for those who FEAR Him, And He will make them know His covenant.
Malachi 3 : The Coming Day of Judgment (John 1:6-13)
1Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the LORD, whom you seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom you delight in: behold, he shall come, said the LORD of hosts. 2But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appears? for he is like a refiner’s fire, and like fullers’ soap: 3And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer to the LORD an offering in righteousness. 4Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant to the LORD, as in the days of old, and as in former years.
5And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me, said the LORD of hosts.
Robbing God
6For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed.
7Even from the days of your fathers you are gone away from my ordinances, and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, said the LORD of hosts. But you said, Wherein shall we return?
8Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed me. But you say, Wherein have we robbed you? In tithes and offerings. 9You are cursed with a curse: for you have robbed me, even this whole nation. 10Bring you all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in my house, and prove me now herewith, said the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. 11And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, said the LORD of hosts.12And all nations shall call you blessed: for you shall be a delightsome land, said the LORD of hosts.
13Your words have been stout against me, said the LORD. Yet you say, What have we spoken so much against you? 14You have said, It is vain to serve God: and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinance, and that we have walked mournfully before the LORD of hosts? 15And now we call the proud happy; yes, they that work wickedness are set up; yes, they that tempt God are even delivered.
The Book of Remembrance
16Then they that feared the LORD spoke often one to another: and the LORD listened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought on his name.17And they shall be mine, said the LORD of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spares his own son that serves him.
18Then shall you return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serves God and him that serves him not.
From the twitter page of the one of the biggest so called preachers in the world
PSALM 34
9 O fear the LORD, ye his saints:
for [there is] no want
to them that fear [h3373] him.
He lives in a 16,000 square foot house that cost $1.7 million dollars
north-carolina-pastor-1-7-million-home-gift-god-article
It’s ironic that it’s called “Elevation” church…
“To elevate” or rise just like leavened bread
Leavened Bread = “hypocrisy”
Luke 12 : The Leaven of the Pharisees
1In the mean time, when there were gathered together an innumerable multitude of people, so that they stepped one on another, he began to say to his disciples first of all, Beware you of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. 2For there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; neither hid, that shall not be known. 3Therefore whatever you have spoken in darkness shall be heard in the light; and that which you have spoken in the ear in closets shall be proclaimed on the housetops.
Fearing God Alone (Matthew 10:26-31)
4And I say to you my friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. 5But I will forewarn you whom you shall fear: Fear him, which after he has killed has power to cast into hell; yes, I say to you, Fear him. 6Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God? 7But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: you are of more value than many sparrows.
Confessing Christ (Matthew 10:32-33)
8Also I say to you, Whoever shall confess me before men, him shall the Son of man also confess before the angels of God: 9But he that denies me before men shall be denied before the angels of God. 10And whoever shall speak a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but to him that blasphemes against the Holy Ghost it shall not be forgiven. 11And when they bring you to the synagogues, and to magistrates, and powers, take you no thought how or what thing you shall answer, or what you shall say: 12For the Holy Ghost shall teach you in the same hour what you ought to say.
The Parable of the Rich Fool
13And one of the company said to him, Master, speak to my brother, that he divide the inheritance with me.14And he said to him, Man, who made me a judge or a divider over you? 15And he said to them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness [g4124] : for a man’s life consists not in the abundance of the things which he possesses. 16And he spoke a parable to them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully: 17And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? 18And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. 19And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have much goods laid up for many years; take your ease, eat, drink, and be merry. 20But God said to him, You fool, this night your soul shall be required of you: then whose shall those things be, which you have provided? 21So is he that lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.
[g4124] πλεονεξία pleonexía,
covetousness = “avarice, i.e. (by implication) fraudulency, extortion:”
—covetous(-ness) practices, greediness. greedy desire to have more
from
[g4123] πλεονέκτης pleonéktēs,
covetousness = “holding (desiring) more,”
“i.e. eager for gain (avaricious, hence a defrauder):—covetous.”
Ephesians 5 : Imitators of God
1Be you therefore followers of God, as dear children; 2And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us, and has given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling smell.
3But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness [g4123], let it not be once named among you, as becomes saints; 4Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks. 5For this you know, that no fornicator, nor unclean person, nor covetous [g4123] man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.
6Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things comes the wrath of God on the children of disobedience. 7Be not you therefore partakers with them.
Joel Osteen’s House
1 Corinthians 6:10
Nor thieves, nor covetous,[G4123] nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.
Ephesians 5:
For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man,[G4123]who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.
The serpent turned everything upside down
which is what a snare does after taking the bait.
Loving and following Christ
:
has been inverted
into people caring more
about getting people
to love and follow them…
Luke 21 : Be Watchful
35For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth.
…which in this case will turn everything back right side up.
Isaiah 2 : The Day of Reckoning
11The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day.
12For the day of the LORD of hosts shall be on every one that is proud and lofty, and on every one that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low:
Satan is about performance, competition,
ratings, metrics, and success
.
God is about performanceof His covenant and commandmentsDEUT 4 : EXHORTATION TO OBEDIENCE13And he declared to you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even ten commandments; and he wrote them on two tables of stone.
Straight off Elevation Church’s website where Furtick preaches
