Test All Spirits

The saying goes that “you can’t believe everything you hear” and “things aren’t always what they seem”. Those two phrases cannot be truer today. There's much deception in this world. Even worse, there's deception within the Church. With so many Christian denominations, which one is right? Granted, no single church congregation is perfect, for we are all human at the end of the day, but there are churches at least strive to do their very best to stand strong in the Lord.

As it says in 1 John 4:1, King James Version, Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. With the way the world is today, we cannot be so naïve, especially when it comes to spiritual matters. As aforementioned, within Christianity, there are so many denominations, which one is true? To avoid division, we cannot put the particular denomination that a believer associates with to be above all others. Jesus warned against this when one of His disciples told Him that they forbade someone who was casting out demons in Jesus’ name [Luke 9:49]. 

In Acts 17, while Paul was in ministry, he went to preach in a church of Berea and the congregants were wise in verifying his speech by searching the Scriptures (Old Testament).

As Jesus also did forewarn, that we have to be wise as serpents but harmless as doves [Matthew 10:16] because there are many false prophets out in the world. I’ve come to believe that it’s worse for someone’s heart to be turned away from God but in whatever that person is doing still believes that they’re serving God than for one to be turned away and convert to other religions all together. 

We even have to test what is preached in our own churches. We have to be aware of things like “prosperity gospel” and “replacement theory”. Prosperity gospel is teaching that one just has to believe and tithe a whole lot to “get rich quickly” in a sense, that all of one’s natural needs will be met through faith. The prosperity gospel’s underlining message is that one’s natural needs, namely money/wealth & health, are above worshiping God for who He is; putting natural/earthly blessings above spiritual blessings.

Sadly, I believe that all parties involved in prosperity gospel are victims: the congregation for tithing & offering in order to obtain blessing above having an intimate relationship with the Lord and the “pastors” that teach on this. The congregants are the obvious victims because they are being fed a false doctrine and believing that faith alone will get them rich. The pastors are victims in a spiritual sense. Jesus said that what comes out of a man defiles the man [Matthew 15:20; Mark 7:15] and therefore are defiling themselves and risking eternal damnation. Their preaching of “prosperity” ends up feeding their own and not their sheep. 

We’ll get to replacement theory in another blog.

Now, maybe you’re church isn’t preaching on this but sometimes what you hear in a Sunday morning sermon just doesn’t sit right with your spirit. Don’t be afraid to do some biblical research on it or even ask the preacher on it.

The Truth about Repentence

What is repentence? Repentence is asking to be forgiven of your sins; it's coming to terms with them and true repentence resutls in NEVER going back to that sin. People would often ask for forgiveness, and are forgivene, but then would fall again. That doesn't happen with true repentence, which results in newness of life (Acts 11:18). It's the goodness of God that leads us to that repentence (Romans 2:4), since He is just a God of love & mercy.

Though repentence is a New Testament doctrine, the best Old Testament expample us Psalm 51, where David repents for his ilicit relation with Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah the Hittite, one of his best generals, Those events can be read in 2 Samual 11.

How to win a Muslim for Christ

There's no specific way to win anyone for Christ. We just have to preach His word and display His love. But if you want to win someone of another religion, such as Islam, you would have to know a thing or two about it -- namely, it "holy" text, the Qur'an.

Our brother in Christ does a great job in proving to the Muslim who questioned this brother's preaching of Jesus Christ of Nazareth is the true Savior. The Christian brother quotes both the Bible & Qur'an by stating that only Jesus has the ability to atone for man's sins, being sinless, while Mohammad was sinner like everyone else.

Enjoy & God bless :)

Every Christian needs Prayer

Every Christian needs prayer. Not the prayer where s/he is reciting something to God or for others to see and hear, not the prayer that asks God for something, and that's it, but the prayer that brings spiritual intimacy with God. Prayer should be a conversation between you and God; it's a two-way street. Prayer is the spiritual communication that binds and strengthens your relationship with God, as natural communication keeps earthly relationships strong.

We, as believers and children of the Most High God, must make time to spend with Him each and every day. This, I know I'm guilty of not doing lately. This conviction came upon me while reading a Bible plan via The Bible App (developed by YouVersion) called Prayers of Jesus. Though Jesus is the Alpha and Omega, King of kings and Lord of lords, He still needed prayer during His earthly ministry. He often "went to a private place and prayed", away from the multitudes, and away from His discilpes. Not only did He need His space, sorta speak, He needed to spend time with the Father.

We all need to spend time with out Heavenly Father. Let's make a point to do so every day.

My Dream is to reach out to Muslims for Christ

I dreamt last night that I was in some cafe (possibly a Starbucks), where there were a few Muslim girls, and two in particular stood out to me -- they were reading Bibles! The two girls, each looking about 10 & 17 years old, had different colored hijabs, one dark pink to red and the other light blue. I started talking to the younger and ask her either why she was reading the Bible or if she knew who Jesus was. From there, I started to tell her about the salvation that Jesus offered for us on the cross. Then I looked over to the other girl, sitting at another table, but this time her hijab was off, around her neck, with her curly blond hair out and hanging over the scarf that was around her neck. I started a conversation with her about Jesus, as well, and then I woke up.

Ever since I started reading about Islam and researching the "Islamization of the West", I grew a fondness to reach the average Muslim-American, which I'm sure are mostly moderate, with the gospel. I've begun to believe that the only way to combat Islam rising in the West, after getting the word out about it, was to bring the gospel to any Muslim who would litsen, any Muslim who is searching for truth. So many of them have come to know Christ by seeing Him in a dream/vision, a Christian telling them about His everlasting love, or both by one way confirming the other.

The truth is, there are Muslims out there that are genuine people -- just wanted to live out their lives like everyone else, to be happy. We can't label them all as "terrorist". Granted, the vast majority of the world's terrorists are Muslim, but the vast majority of Muslims are terrorists.

Therefore, if you, as a believer & redeemed of the Lord, are asked by a Muslim about the truth of Christ, lovingly tell them. Display Christ and rememeber, we love Him because He loved us first (1 John 4:19).

God bless :)

Do not give evil for evil

See that no one renders evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what is good both for yourselves and for all. Bible.com/app
1 Thessalonians 5:15 NKJV

This verse really spoke to me this morning. In a world where one takes vengence on another for a wrong-doing, even within the Church sometimes, you probably would ask yourself, where is the love in forgiveness? That's why it's more important every day to show the love of Christ. Let us not render evil for evil, but show love & forgiveness to those who have wronged you, just as Christ has forgiven us. Whether that person has asked for your forgiveness or not, hold no grudge. Jesus did say that if we cannot forgive another person, He will not forgive us.