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Who do you follow?

Discussion in 'General Baptist Discussions' started by th1bill, Jan 11, 2011.

  1. th1bill

    th1bill Well-Known Member
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    2Ki 22:12 And the king commanded Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam the son of Shaphan, and Achbor the son of Micaiah, and Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah the king's servant, saying,
    2Ki 22:13 Go ye, inquire of Jehovah for me, and for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that is found; for great is the wrath of Jehovah that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not hearkened unto the words of this book, to do according unto all that which is written concerning us.

    There are many paths for a man or a woman to follow today but when all of this is over only one will have been the correct path. Any Christian, should be able to tell you that and if they are following that path, they can point you down that trail and explain to you why it is the only path to eternal happiness. At the same time, in many Christian Churches, there are Pastors that are teaching, exactly, the opposite to this great truth.

    There are men, Rick Warren, Joel Osteen and many others that have become very successful in the eyes of the world about them. They are in the business of building Mega-Churches and that, in and of itself, is a problem. Christianity is not a business and it, in it's purest form, is not a religion! When we examine John 1:1-3 and then pray for God to teach us and we yield our minds, in prayer, to the Holy Spirit in meditative study, the Holy Spirit teaches us that Jesus, the God of the Old Testament, created Adam for fellowship and not for religion. (Gen. 1-3)

    If we will take the time to act like the Berean Believers (Acts 17:10-14) we can never be mislead and taught to believe lies. Rick Warren and Joel Osteen are very inspiring, motivational, speakers and both of them pretend to teach what the Word of God has to say, but do they? Mr. Warren is the pastor of Saddleback church in California and Joel pastors? A mega-church, here in SE Texas. Mr. Warren and Mr. Osteen have books published and are become rich through their ministries. The first question about any leader in any church, myself included, is, “Does their teaching reflect the teaching of the Bible or do they use the Bible as a prop in their teaching?”

    Over the past 21+ years I have often been accused of bilking the masses to become rich but the truth is that I began my ministry while I worked 5 and 6 days a week as a truck driver and today I live off my Veteran's Pension. I have, over the years received a few small, unsolicited, gifts from anonymous benefactors that choose to remain unannounced and their gifts have all been used to purchase computer parts and software to the benefit of the work God has led me to perform in His name.

    In the case of the mega-church leaders it is imperative that we guard our hearts and not be swept along with the crowd. The truth is that the crowd is on it's way to Hell ad God has called nobody to go there! Now, in the case of Joel Osteen, he rode his father's coat-tails into the ministry and is a great motivational speaker, but pulling yourself up by your boot-straps is not scriptural! In Psalm 46:10 and by chain-referencing from there we learn that we are to depend on God and not ourselves.

    In the case of Rick Warren we must be even more attentive to what proceeds out of his mouth. While Mr. Warren is seen, by the press, to be in a different light from Fred Phelps, of Westboro Church, I place them in the same light! Fred is teaching hate and Rick is teaching put your Bible down and listen to me! (See the Purpose Driven Life Course) Any man, woman or child that is being taught the Word of God, from the Word of God will see Red Flags popping into the air when any of these men and many, many others are teaching.

    When any person sits in my class, hears me preach or reads a message published by me, the very first item they need is to have their copy of the scriptures in their hand. In class I can accept nothing less but on the World Wide Web I know that this is not the case from the questions I am presented after a message. The truth of the matter is that today we must choose who we will follow and if you choose to follow me you are lost... eternally! My family and I have chosen to follow God and my message to you is to do the same! God has lead me into this Teaching Ministry and I have food to eat, a warm trailer to live in and my wife has a nice GMC truck to get me to the VA and to church with. I have my needs met and my riches are laid up for me in Heaven, where, after this short period, I will reside forever. My dearest hope is to see you there also!

    May God always bless you just as He is me!
     
  2. mets65

    mets65 New Member

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    I know this is kind of off subject but I think it's important. There's lots of good devotionals out there but some of them you don't even need your Bible for them. I always like to find devotionals that require you to get out your Bible and open it up. Not that I wouldn't have my Bible out, but sometimes it's easy to get caught up in the readings and just leave your Bible tucked away. I think it's so important to read straight from your Bible every day.
     
  3. th1bill

    th1bill Well-Known Member
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    I can only comment that I wish you didn't find your comment off subject because I find it to have hit the center of the Bulls-eye!
     
  4. blackbird

    blackbird Active Member

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    Bill

    Here's how I do it

    The Apostle Paul made the statement-----"Follow me, even as I follow the Lord Jesus Christ"

    Now----in my search for good, quality Bible Study teachers/preachers I put them to the same test

    I ask

    Is the guy I'm listening to following the Lord Jesus in his(ex. the particular radio teacher I'm listening to) teaching???

    If he is----then I can follow him in his teaching

    In a nutshell---there are only a few that I follow along with on radio----

    the late, great Dr. Adrian Rogers and his Love Worth Finding--I know the fella is dead but his words are still living on the airwaves

    Dr. David Jeremiah

    the late Dr. J. Vernon McGee

    Dr. Charles Stanley

    Allister Begg

    One of our Administrator's----Sue Weindorf----her pastor is on the airwaves----top notch teaching----I think his name is Dr. Jim Davis---I catch him on Wednesday nites riding home from church on a local Birmingham radio station

    As for the ones you mention in your post--------admittedly---Osteen is a waste of precious Television time!!:sleep::sleep:
     
  5. mets65

    mets65 New Member

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    Well you had a long post and I only pulled out a small quote. I didn't want you to think I skipped over everything else.
     
  6. nodak

    nodak Active Member
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    Good thread.

    I have and use a plethora of good study Bibles. Have some excellent devotional material.

    And just today in my quiet time realized every single one of them takes away time and focus on the Word of God.

    And so, for this year at least, I plan to take a sabbatical from them and just read a plain text version in quiet time.

    Oh sure I'll read the SS lesson and attend preaching.

    But it really is time for me to get out of systems debates and doctrinal studies and just spend some serious time in the Word.
     
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