Greetings Brethren, and
welcome to our 3rd instalment of What’s Wrong With This
Picture?
I’m not talking about
these pictures because I feel we’re directly guilty of them; I only use them as
a talking point for us to address fundamental problems in our collective belief
systems that creates loopholes for the enemy.
In today’s picture, we
have Satan and Jesus, Again!
On the left is Satan,
arms akimbo, jeeringly taunting the Christ; on the right is Jesus, peaceful and
calm, confident of the actions of His “followers”.
First of all, we have
already established in Part 1 of this series that the devil is too small to
have these kinds of conversations with God. Secondly, Jesus does not have a
Facebook account, so to “follow” Him there doesn’t grant anyone access to
Heaven.
There’re dozens of
images like these on Social Media based on the same theme:
If you’re truly a
child of God, you will “Like” this, or “share” this or “follow”, etc.
If you don’t do any of
the specified actions, then you’re not a Believer, you don’t have “time for
God”, or more directly (as in our subject for today), you’re a “Satan Follower”.
The antics of this
image are summed up in one word: MANIPULATION!
I was filled with
anger when I saw this; but unfortunately, we as ministers sometimes use these same
tactics to blackmail our members into doing what we want them to do.
We established
yesterday that the work of the Kingdom is a mandate on every believer, but sometimes
I hear Job’s accusing voice asking me as a fundraising minister, “Will you
speak wickedly on God’s behalf? Will you speak deceitfully for him?” (Job
13:7 NET)
I tuned to a Christian
channel one day and heard a Man of God commanding me to “Go to the Phone
NOW! Delay is disobedience”. I was really rattled by that approach. I came to
hear the word of God from you and be blessed and all I get is condemnation and
judgment for every time I spend looking at you instead of going to the phone. (It
also seems like you don’t want my brain to analyse what you just asked me to do).
Most blessed is that
pastor whose members are so established in Christ that they are “Rooted and
built up in Him, and established in the faith”; converts who are not easily
“tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the
sleight of men, and cunning craftiness,” (Col 2:7; Eph 4:14).
Brethren, Heb. 13:9 says,
“It is a good thing that the heart be established with grace”.
God’s children will do
more out of genuine love for Him than out of fear or emotional blackmailing.
The average Christian
now feels as though God was more in love with them when they were stark sinners
than now that they’re His children. He would willingly die for them then; but
now He wouldn’t raise a finger to solve their problems if they didn’t “act”,
“serve”, “sow”, etc.
Before we judge Mr.
Tirmah, let’s check our ways; and establish ourselves in “the love of
Christ, which passes knowledge” so that “we being delivered out
of the hand of our enemies might serve Him without fear”(Eph 3:14-21; Luk
1:74).
AMEN
More Blessings await
you today; you’ll not miss them in Jesus Name.
GREG ELKAN
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