Due to issues with my computer I will be republishing one of my most listened to podcast Intro
This is Dreamwalker1960. In today’s study, I will do something I rarely do. Name, names. As a reminder though, you can read the transcripts of all my podcasts at dreamwalker1960.com. Also, you do not need to download podbean if you wish to listen. You can use Listen Notes, iHeart Radio, Amazon Music or Audible, Google Podcasts or Apple Podcasts. As well as Pandora, Spotify and PlayerFM. All you need do is do a search for Dreamwalker1960.
Discussion
Now this is a topic that many have heard before. But it is one that needs to be heard many times in many cases for people to listen to and hopefully finally acknowledge. This is also one of the many sticking points that cause numerous others to say there is no God and there is no Jesus. Why? Because they wish to be their own gods. The person fully in control of their own lives.
John 14:6 – Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.”
How this one statement can cause so many to react with such a violent reaction. Yet that is the way of it. This is what Peter had to say about those that at one time had known the ways of Jesus Christ, yet they wished to be their own masters:
2 Peter 2:1-2 – But there were also false prophets in Israel, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will cleverly teach destructive heresies and even deny the Master who bought them. In this way, they will bring sudden destruction on themselves. 2 Many will follow their evil teaching and shameful immorality. And because of these teachers, the way of truth will be slandered.
Let us look at this last verse more closely in the KJV.
2 Peter 2:2 – And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of.
Pernicious ways – G684 – apóleia – destruction, ruin, loss, perishing; eternal ruin, damnable (-ation); perdition, waste
Shall be evil spoken of – G987 – blasphémeó – to slander, to speak lightly or profanely of sacred things.
Many that deny the existence of God and Jesus Christ use examples of false teachings from those that profess to being “Christian.” However, what they teach does not follow the Bible and thus do not follow God or His Son.
Now I will do something I rarely do. Name, names. From 1974 to 1989 Americans were bombarded with the fantastic showmanship of Jim Baker and his wife Tammy Faye Baker. This showmanship gave birth to the PLT club (Praise The Lord club). Which resulted in a show modeled after the Tonight Show which ultimately led to a theme park. All of this if you truly understand the Bible is not what those that truly seek a Christian lifestyle seek to live like. All this behavior caused people to be self-focused and thus world focused. Which is totally opposite the teachings within the Bible. This “ministry” was exposed as a con which resulted in Mr. Baker being arrested and sent to prison for five years.
This is a prime example of a false teacher. I have no doubt that at some point in his early life Mr. Baker was saved and born again. Yet he allowed the world and money to ultimately become his true god. As a result, millions of people were conned out of their hard-earned money. In some cases, those wishing to retire at his theme park. This shattered many. Also in the same time frame was Jimmy Swaggart who also suffered in a sexual scandal as did Jim Baker. Both shattered the belief of millions causing them to move further away from God and thus causing an increase in those that say God is not real.
As you can tell I am not a fan of televangelists. Nor am I a fan of mega-churches. I will not deny this, as you can tell.
Why?
Because they became a business.
What is a business?
A particular company that buys and sells goods and services per Cambridge dictionary.
Sells goods and services.
To sell is to give something to someone else in return for money, also per Cambridge.
This is how it is for most churches. The larger it is, the more this applies. There are even those that specialize in it.
Matthew 6:24 – “No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and be enslaved to money.
Yet this is what these places have chosen for their masters. They use the facade of God to gather their true master. Worldly riches, wealth, and property. A prime example of this is Joel Osteen. Whose wealth is proudly stated by himself as being more than $100,000,000. All of it given to him by his “ministry.” A business formed upon teaching others to get wealthy here on this earth and not in heaven. Again, opposite the teachings of the Bible.
Matthew 6:19-21 – “Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. 21 Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.
So, Osteen is proud that his riches are of the world and not of heaven. Which verifies he is another of these false teachers Peter is referring to as is shown here:
2 Peter 2:3 – In their greed they will make up clever lies to get hold of your money. But God condemned them long ago, and their destruction will not be delayed.
This extreme example is why I am no fan of televangelists or mega-churches. Neither truly gives a person the needed fellowship with fellow Christians, but most importantly with Jesus Christ. Nor do they learn the true message within the Bible. In addition, they are not even told to seek a true relationship with God through His Son by learning. Truly learning what is within the Bible. Not by just reading but by studying the gospel.
2 Timothy 2:15 – Study and be eager and do your utmost to present yourself to God approved (tested by trial), a workman who has no cause to be ashamed, correctly analyzing and accurately dividing [rightly handling and skillfully teaching] the Word of Truth. [The Amplified Bible (classic)]
It is verses like this that we should be learning. Yet I have never heard any teaching that included it. Which includes those teachings which says we are not to store up treasures on earth, but in heaven. As well as the fact that we can only get into heaven through Jesus Christ.
1 Timothy 2:5 – For, There is one God and one Mediator who can reconcile God and humanity—the man Christ Jesus.
John 10:9 – Yes, I am the gate. Those who come in through me will be saved. They will come and go freely and will find good pastures.
So, if we truly study the Bible and come to know the truth within it. We can all come to one conclusion. That there is a God that created the universe that we now live within. With this understanding we can see the power of our Creator. The genius of a God able to create something so complex yet with similarities to other aspects of creation. Like how when mapping the universe, it is like the neural pathways of the human brain. Such coincidences are impossible, this verifies that God does exist.
So, if God is real. Since there is true historical evidence of Jesus beyond the Bible. Then the resurrection is real as well. So is our salvation. For all of humanity it is real. All someone has to do is accept that truth and ask Jesus Christ into their lives as their Savior.
Then they need to learn the Bible. Not just read it. Learn it! Learn the truth of what is taught within it.
They should also seek to be baptized. Not sprinkled. Submerged underwater thus symbolizing being buried. And then rising again. Born anew in the name of Jesus Christ. Then you must seek out for the filling of the Holy Spirit who was sent to us by God in the name of Jesus Christ.
John 14:26 KJV – But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
All must be done in and for Jesus. For only He is worthy of our adoration. Having taken our place upon the cross. Having suffered the brutal beating and whipping that we deserved and not Him. To have nails pierced through His limbs. Instead of us suffering that agony. Yet He willingly surrendered what so many clings to in this temporal world. Our life. Jesus Christ surrendered His life so that all who ask Him to be their Savior will have an enteral life that will last billions upon billions of years. Not just a mere one hundred at the most. But an eternal life.
Yet there are many out there that deny any of this as truth. As fact. Why? Because they wish to be their own master of their destiny. A destiny that will end the moment they die without accepting Christ as their Savior. This world does offer delights and pleasures that seem to be amazing. Yet once a person achieves a goal. Is there not a realization when this happens? There is a void. A sense of letdown, if not loneliness. This is because this person was not seeking after the true goal of true satisfaction.
True satisfaction can never truly be found in this fleeting existence. All is ever temporary here in this mundane existence. As it should be.
For our true goal should be to seek after the everlasting. People try to be everlasting by trying to become a part of history. However, very few remember people from the past. It is shown within the Bible that all manmade history will be forgotten anyway.
Isaiah 65:17 – For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.
If you truly wish to become eternal seeking after He who offers it to all. For all will receive it. Many though will find the eternity they are given will be filled with nothing but eternal suffering. That is because they did not seek after the true eternity that only comes from Jesus Christ. For He is the only way to the true and complete eternal life that is worth seeking after.
God Bless