Vain Talkers & Deceivers (In Church)

Titus 1:10-11 says this, For there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, specially they of the circumcision: whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for filthy lucre’s sake.

As I think about this passage in today’s church world, these verses may need to be eliminated in many churches. To say that certain ministers, motivational speakers (who are proclaiming to be preachers of the gospel) mouths must be stop would be considered blasphemy, and you’d probably run the risk of being an outcast of your respective church. In fact, many would defend these ministers by saying “thou shalt not judge” and get scholarly in their voice as they say “touch not my anointed.”

Sadly, we’ll rebuke those who are actually preaching the truth, but will cheer on those who are itching our ears. Now let’s go back to verse 11, Paul was adamant when he said that these false teachers are teaching things they ought not for filthy lucre’s sake. Lucre is another term for money, and to think they’re not receiving it honestly considering these ministers are teaching things that are not of God. People today will listen to leaders (claiming they are of Christ) who are intermingling other religions with Christian views, will pass it off as Christian, and people will blindly accept it.

Let’s slide over to 1 Timothy 6:5. Paul was saying that false teachers were teaching that “gain is godliness” and that we are to withdraw ourselves. Sadly, the minute we hear from the pulpit, “money come unto me now” or “increase” we jump from our pews and cheer. Still trying to understand how wealth is a sign of God’s favor (if that’s the case, then I guess Hugh Hefner would be favored by God due to his wealth). Of course that’s ludicrous, Hugh Hefner is rich by the world’s standard, but truly poor in spirit (keep him in prayer and for many in this world who are poor in spirit). What profits a man to gain the world but lose his soul?

Can we get our priorities back in order?

An Assignment Greater Than You

The title came to me as the Lord was showing me something about what you’ll be reading. The text will come from 1 Samuel 16:1-13. I know this will be familiar to a lot of people, some of what I’ll say you might’ve heard before, or this will be brand new. Either way, I’m letting the Lord lead.

The second half of my dream was this: I was at my job and I had an altercation with someone and I just walked off the job. I went to my therapist and told her that if I go back to the job, I’m going to hurt somebody. Initially my dreams are a shock, but as the day progresses, they get revealed. And actually, my dreams over the past 3 months have a common denominator, and it’s that I have an assignment greater than myself. And I know a few of you reading this have an assignment greater than yourself. I’ll talk about the pros and cons about this later in this post.

Now 1 Samuel 16:1-13 was during the time when Saul was rejected as king and a new king was to be anointed. The Lord sent Samuel to Jesse to anoint one of his sons to be king. Now what struck my interest was the fact that Jesse didn’t even consider David to be the one. It wouldn’t surprise me if Jesse didn’t call David because he was not only the youngest, but he had an assignment (tending to the sheep), and Jesse wanted to ensure that David was on that task. But the Spirit of the Lord had a different plan. In verse 11, Samuel was like “do you have any more?” Jesse responded like this, “there remains the youngest AND (my emphasis) he keeps the sheep.” It wouldn’t surprised me if Jesse didn’t want Samuel to bother David, but again, the Lord had a different plan and told Jesse to get David. And of course, David was anointed to be king. During David’s anointing, he wasn’t groomed like his other brothers when they were presented. He was pulled from the sheep when he was anointed. The beauty of this scenario was that God doesn’t look on the appearance, but the heart. People can look good and put up a front, but their heart can be so dark!

Now David didn’t become king over Israel immediately. He would wait until Saul was dead. BUT, there were some things that David had to do before becoming king over Israel (and he would be the only one equipped to do it – such as take down Goliath). So, what can we take from this? Some of you reading this know that you have an assignment greater than you, and that’s truly a blessing from God.

I’ll start with the cons first: some of you know that you have an assignment greater than you, but you jump ahead of God by jumping into your assignment on your own strength. That’s dangerous and you are of course, out of order! Some will become prideful in that assignment and they will start parading in it for self-aggrandizement (or for bragging rights to look spiritual to others or perhaps to get the kudos from man). Again, you will be out of order!

The pros of having an assignment greater than you: you have been chosen in such a time as this. That means God has His hand over your life. But that doesn’t mean it’s going to be easy, you will be tried. At the same time, you may not have time to prepare for the call (in other words, things that God is doing in your life which are a blessing to you and to others are happening at a pace that you’re not expecting – and that’s actually a good thing). All you have to do is remain humble (and obedient), and be able to adjust your life (as to how you see it) to the will of God.

Are You Being Exploited?

Unexpected Intro: I didn’t plan this introduction, but God just showed me something that is very crucial (so if you’re reading this post around 6:30pm tonight, what I was shown occurred within the past hour. I had written the actual lesson earlier today, of course minus this paragraph). I have found that most people who are being exploited live under the banner of “You Can’t Judge Me!” In fact, they will take that a step further and say, “not only you can judge the person (which we actually can’t do), but you can’t judge the actions (which we can do).” Exploited people will never want to own up to the fact they’re being exploited, so they live in a constant defensive state. They will defend those in the pulpit (who are actually living foul), they will defend those who are not even Christians and say they are Christians, and lastly, they will defend whatever belief system they believe knowing there’s a strong chance their beliefs are wrong.

The focus passage will be 2 Peter 2:1-3. It says: But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed. And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.

I like the KJV’s term for sensuality, they use pernicious ways (translation: sexual immoral).

I remember when I was a baby Christian reading this, and I thought about this one man who came on the radio and he was constantly begging for people to send $500 or $1,000 and that would eventually drive me away from listening to his show. But as I’ve gotten older, I would see ministers and gospel music artists who have pernicious ways, exploiting Christians with their false words. I’ve said it on multiple occasions that we Christians can be so gullible at times. We’ll buy into anything or anyone that says God or Christian, not even thinking a second that a person is NOT a Christian, but actually a Yoruba priestess (translation: an astrologist). And yes, there are supposed Christian ministers following people who are not Christians for the sake of unity and/or coexisting. Now you can say, oh, this is outreach and don’t judge! Are you serious? It’s easier to pull someone off the table (especially if your faith was wavering since day one) than it is to bring someone up to the table (of course, all things are possible with God).

Let’s talk for a minute about what Yoruba is about (since many of us have our heads stuck in the sand). The Yoruba believes that all human beings possess what is known as destiny/fate and are expected to eventually become one in spirit with the divine creator and source of all energy). The thoughts and actions of each person in the physical realm interact with all other living things, including the Earth itself. Each person attempts to achieve transcendence and find their destiny in the spiritual realm of those who do good and beneficial things. One’s spiritual consciousness in the physical realm must grow in order to consummate union with one’s spiritual self. The Yoruba believe in reincarnation within the family. The names Babatunde (father returns), Yetunde (Mother returns), Babatunji (Father wakes once again) and Sotunde (The wise man returns) all offer vivid evidence of the Ifa concept of familial or lineal rebirth. There is no simple guarantee that your grandfather or great uncle will “come back” in the birth of your child, however.

How dare we Christians allowing someone who believe what I just typed to FIX OUR LIVES! If we feel they can actually fix our lives, than every other religion should be able to fix our lives. Jesus is the only one who can fix our lives, if we humble ourselves and give Him our hearts!

One of the reasons why we’re being exploited is because our flesh is being satisfied. The minute someone hear words such as declare, decree, increase or money, we near drop our sanctification cause we now have goose bumps. Never mind if the person speaking it has pernicious ways (or is “fruity”). A leader is to set the example for the church. But of course we don’t hold leaders accountable, we pacify them instead (hence we have the cycle of the blind following the blind).

Of course, this brings me into the next passage from 2 Timothy 4:3-4. The reason why many of us don’t hold people accountable is because we have heaped to ourselves teachers having itching ears and have turned unto fables. Why haven’t we rebuked leaders and/or ministers who go on National TV and say that Jesus is not the only way to heaven? And why haven’t we rebuked those who don’t preach salvation from the platform because I don’t want to offend people? I’ll tell you why we haven’t done it. We’ve been exploited by these false ministers and false gospel artists, our flesh is getting immediate gratification, and we have goose bumps. And as a result, we give to what we know or might not know is false! When we’re in that exploited state of mine, we say what the children of Israel say in Isaiah 30:10 to those who are exploiting us, “prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits.”

Now you know when the world glorifies Christians that constitutes a major problem! James 3:1 says clearly that there should not be many teachers for they will receive the greater condemnation.

In closing, 2 Peter 2:3 (in the KJV) says “and through covetousness shall these false teachers with feigned words make merchandise of you.” This is saying that these people will do what they can to steal your money! Do you get this? Just because your flesh is being satisfied by certain words they say, doesn’t mean they’re legit. They could use the Christian lingo all day long, but you could be giving to someone who’s just a hireling or is part of a religion that’s not even Christian. Try every spirit, not every spirit who says God or Christian is part of the body of Christ, not every spirit in your church is a true to the bone Christian, not every spirit who sings gospel is a Christian. Seriously people, we need to heed 2 John 10-11 when it says “receive them not into your house, neither bid him God speed; for he that bids him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.”

Out of Order

Late last year, my sister Kelly Turner & I were listening to a lesson by Tera Carissa Hodges and one question that a woman asked Tera drew our attention. The gist of the question was this, “I’m a pastor and should I overstep my husband to do what I want do if God is telling me to something?” Tera responded with 1 Peter 3:1-6 and this will be the focus of this blogpost. She broke this verse down and after the lesson was over, Kelly & I had a discussion about it because it’s so prevalent today especially in ministry.

What Kelly & I have found (which Tera also explained to the woman who asked that question) is that many women have that tendency to overstep their boundaries just because they feel they can. 1 Peter 3 talks about how women can lead their husband via her conduct. Tera stated that women need to stay in prayer (if they got a word from the Lord about something they’re supposed to do) even though the husband can’t see what she sees at that moment in time; also, if the husband and wife are on one accord, it will be revealed to the husband in due time. This actually applies to men & women, we all seem at times to go ahead of God and the next thing you know, we’re out of order. When a man is more committed to his ministry over his wife, he’s out of order; when a woman tries to overstep her role in ministry to put down a man or be puffed up, she’s out of order. Humility is required and submission to God’s Word is required. Satan thrives on when we step outside of God’s will because then, we’re out of order!

Now I’m going to turn it over to Sister Kelly Turner.

REALLY! THAT'S THE SPIRIT OF CONTROL IN OPERATION which is A FORM OF WITCHCRAFT; one need not usurp authority unless protocol is given for one to proceed. But do with caution.

I know many won't like me after this; but I wasn't put on this earth to be liked; but to speak the TRUTH as GOD gives it to me. When it's all said and done, man DOES NOT have a Heaven or Hell to put you in....The ONE who has the keys to both....BUT GOD. You better STOP letting folks intimidate you; saying you can't do this and that. GOD has the final say. Learn to submit to the authority GOD has placed over you, whether spouse or not.

When reading the Word of God ask yourself which time and arena was it being said?  Dissect the Word and Read. Not just one verse but the one before and after. Stop skipping verses so one can't get what GOD is saying.

The Word is something you can't afford to play with when dealing with sheep. I've heard so many people tell me they're scared to wear this and cut this or that....Here's the answer...2 Timothy 1:7 which says, For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. Philippians 2:5 says: Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.

Many believers have been taught this from childhood without reading and dissecting the TRUTH of the WORD for themselves. They believed Momma & Poppa, but as my son said: “Who's your Daddy?” When individuals take the blinders off and start seeking GOD wholeheartedly asking HIM to remove barriers and man-made doctrine watch what happens. GOD is about to blow the top off that Religious Legalism spirit.

America: Land of Entitlement?

On July 3rd, 2013: I posted this on Facebook (and these series of questions were asked on a blog by a well-known author) so we can discuss due to the importance of what we are facing in America today: Why do some of the best entitlement benefits go to our leaders—the President of the United States, our Congressional leaders, and other government workers? Once a President or congressman is elected, we the taxpayers take care of them for life. If they are qualified to be our leaders, why can’t they take care of themselves?

My sister & fellow author Angelia Vernon Menchan responded that they can but one of the reasons those jobs are so attractive is because it has been written and decided they didn't have to. I loved her response so much, that I asked her to elaborate for this post.

Angelia: My answer was that politicians could take care of themselves but the perks of being cared for, for the rest of their lives made politics very attractive. Not all are attracted for those reasons but the perks are undeniable. Are they entitled to them, forever? Or do we as voters, taxpayers and citizens have a right to protest and vote these perks away? I feel we do have the right but it is not an undertaking that would be without consequences for all. Does doing away with high level perks trickle down to us and even more losses are incurred. For instance would government workers want to forego retirement or not have a percentage of the thrift savings plans go unmatched? Do we care enough about the overall country to make these changes for the coming generations?

Also we enjoy capitalism and to a great extent that has led to the bankruptcy of our county while many private businesses and CEOs reap millions, even billions. Do we regulate those entities to change that thus changing our culture?

A larger question is as Christians how political should we be if we know we must be in the world but not of the world?

Tremayne: If the truth be told, it’s almost like saying there are rules for a group of people, and there are rules for another group. One thing that comes to mind is the credit card companies (they have rules that we don’t). I’m going to correlate that to the parable of unforgiveness at the end of Matthew 18. A man owed a king a huge amount of money, and the king forgave him. Now the man had someone under him who owed a lot less than what was owed to the king, and the man opted not to forgive him. Now the credit card companies today are no different. They asked for a bailout and they got it, now when we want forgiveness, they closed down our credit, raised our interest rates and demand that we pay it. Sounds like to me, the credit card companies can’t take care of themselves.

One of the tragedies we’re facing today is that we feel that the world owes us a living. And when we don’t get our way, we turn to revolting and civil disobedience. Is this all because we feel entitled? YES!

I add to Angelia’s questions: what are we going to do about it? Complain and continue to allow us taxpayers to take care of them while we are only a day short of bankruptcy? Do we feel entitled or are we going to do whatever we can to make our dreams come true?

When God Isn't "Good" Enough

Yesterday, I was reading a blogpost and it touched my heart and spirit to the core. She's one of my Twitter friends and I asked her if I could post this on my blog and she said sure. With that said, I owe a huge thank you to MiMi Atkins. This is her blogpost entitled When God Isn't Good Enough. Hope this blesses you as it blessed me.

Living a Christian life is amazing and it can also be a very lonely road, especially if you are sold out to Christ and truly content on taking up your cross and following Jesus. The more you study his character and who he was, the more you try to become like him. And that's when I think the issue arrives. In trying to become more like Jesus, I think I failed as I was trying to do the work instead of allowing his love to permeate my being and take full control.  I wanted to be holy and set apart but I lost focus on him and it became about me. Thus, I took my eyes off the focal point - God and began to place them on self and humans. And Luke 14:26 clearly states, "If you can not hate your own life then you can not be my disciple."

Before long, I started to depend on people for things I normally depended on God for. When I wanted to talk and pour my heart out to someone, God wasn't enough. That's sad, I know. I needed to hear a voice and I needed to "hear" and know someone cared at that moment. But guess what, not one single friend would answer the phone when I called or I would text them to call me but they were too busy with their lives to respond. This caused me to get upset with friends and I even lashed out at one because isn't a friend supposed to understand and connect with you to know when you are hurting or you need them? Isn't the connection supposedly so spiritually deep that a friend "feels" you? Or so I thought. I was wrong and once again, God proved to be that faithful friend, always there when I need Him as He took me in His arms and just held me close in my moment of weakness and brokenness. Psalm 34:18 tells us, "God is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit."

You see, God is a constant friend, unlike humans who will be close to you for a season and then drift away for whatever reason. God doesn't do that to us. He is ALWAYS there. Never leaving nor forsaking us. The world can turn its back on you and forget about you but how amazing is it to know God never does that. And when you cease to love God or He is not enough, He doesn't judge you for it or abandon you. It is then that God extends His arms for you the most to return to a love who is waiting there. 

That night, when no friend was there for me, was the night I was reminded (yet again)  that no matter what, God is there and close to the brokenhearted. Like a little girl, desperate for her Daddy, I ran outside and looked into the sky and just held my hands up proclaiming, "God, I'm sorry. I am sooooo sorry that for a moment I forsaked you. I placed humans on a pedestal they should've never been on. I even got upset at a friend. I pray that person forgives me, but most importantly, I need you to forgive me, God. This is not minor because I put others before you and that is idolatry. And I don't desire to have anyone before you, God. I truly don't."

"MiMi," He whispered, "There is not a single person on this Earth who can take my place. Not a friend nor a parent, not even that precious daughter I blessed you with. That's why Matthew 10:37 says, "If you love your father or mother more than you love me, you are not worthy of being mine; or if you love your son or daughter more than you love me, you are not worthy of being mine."  No one comes before me, MiMi. Not one single person. I created you so I know everything about you. I am the only one who truly satisfies and completes you (Psalm 103:5). You have to be complete in me and not rely on humans for what only I can provide. And you see the way I talk to you, that is how you should talk to people when you feel they are wrong - with love. Your God, the one you call Abba Father is love. God is love."

I felt so convicted because I can be pretty harsh with my words and I had been. I felt so guilty, so spiritually broken and erupt. So often we think seasoned Christians have it all together, but we aren't perfect either. We ALL fall short of the glory of God every single day. No matter how "strong" people present themselves via life, social media, or any other platform, these people struggle just like you do because they too, are human. And I feel it is only fair for me to get spiritually naked (transparent) before you to allow you to see that.

And that's when it hit me how easy it was to make someone or something an idol in your life. Prayerfully, no one intentionally does this but it happens. We say often that God is enough but at any moment if our flesh takes control that can diminish and we rely on the unreliable. This is not to say that humans are not good enough but it is to say that they are not GOD enough. Only God can love us as we should be loved - unconditionally. And that is because He created us and only He sustains us in our darkest hours and deepest despairs.

That night, I learned an invaluable lesson. Well several:

•  I still need to surrender my emotions to God. 
• The past hurts from being abused as a child needs to be  TOTALLY surrendered because that is why I rely on humans for verbal acknowledgement.
• People are not perfect so don't EVER expect them to be.
• Friendships aren't replacements for Godship.
• Grace people with the same love God graces me.

I used to think I had it all together and that I had "few" struggles but the thing about dying daily results in daily revelations about self, too. We are always works in progress and that keeps us in need of a Savior - every single day of our lives.  Christians are not perfect and every time I think of all the time I spent in the world, it breaks my heart to look at the residual damage it did to my soul. I gave the devil nearly most of my life and it tarnished a lot in me but I have since returned to my Creator and God fixes "gently damaged goods" everyday. Please pray for me as God softens my heart because I realized that I am hardened in some areas and God can't get through a hardened heart. 

Please realize that we will never be perfect, so stop trying to be. Allow God to do the work in your life. You take a backseat because you aren't equipped to change yourself. Only God can do that. If you are left with conviction after reading this blog, please accept that as you being a mature Christian or person and do not get upset. Yet, get on your knees and cry out to God to be with you and help you die to self. You are  broken and hurt and in dire need of a healer and God is the ultimate healer. Do not put a bandage on a wound that needs a surgical procedure. Allow God to piece you back together. Apologize to anyone you may have hurt and forgive yourself, too. In our quest to be more like Jesus and God, we should remember the key value and token is LOVE and GIVING IT. Always.

"For God so loved, he gave....."

John 3:16

Why We Resist Change

One of my Twitter friends tweeted a question and it goes like this: why do we resist change so much? And who conditioned us to believe that we must remain constant, stagnant or risk the loyalty of one's community?

I told her that I would respond to it via a blog and she so graciously waited till now for me to type this up.

Why do we resist change? They say it’s harder to do what’s right versus what’s easy. Change is very uncomfortable. Think about this for a minute (this is an excerpt from my blogpost Complacency & Hebrew Slaves posted April 2011): In Exodus 1, Jacob & Joseph had died and there was a new Pharaoh in town (who disregarded God's chosen people). God's people were slaves in Egypt and were treated horribly. They were treated so bad that the Egyptians wanted the Hebrew women to kill the baby boys but let the girls live.

Now fast forward a few chapters into Exodus, after Moses gets the children of Israel over the Red Sea, the children of Israel do one thing that's interesting: complain and want to go back to Egypt and be Hebrew Slaves. They said that they got food to eat, notice they neglected to say they got beaten and cruel treatment. God was trying to test their faith and rely on Him but they failed horribly.

Of course the moral to that story is that because they didn’t walk by faith as God wanted them to, they would die in the wilderness.

Luke 14:28 talks about counting the cost before you build a tower. Sadly, not everybody is willing to pay the price. So this is why many resist change.

Who conditioned us to believe that we must remain constant, stagnant or risk the loyalty of one’s community? It’s the devil, hands down! He thrives on our complacency. When the children of Israel were in the wilderness for 40 days, all they did the whole time was complain. And after Joshua got them over into the Promised Land and he died, the children of Israel went back to their ritual of complacency and worshiping whom they chose. The devil didn’t have to do too much because they voluntary chose to do this. Same holds true today. After MLK got us over to the Promised Land and was killed, we remained complacent.

I’m going to close this blog with an excerpt from What Breaks The Heart of God (Part 3 – The Partial Commission). This was posted in March 2013. I want to close it like this because our resistance to change and taking action is no different in the church walls.

Jesus (when speaking to His disciples) said in Matthew 28:19-20: Go, then to all peoples EVERYWHERE and make them my disciples: baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teach them to obey everything I have commanded you. And I will be with you always, to the end of the age.

To me, everywhere includes going to people in your backyard as well as different cities, states, regions, and countries! I remember when I was a young Christian; some of us men went door to door in the city we lived in. It wasn’t to ask them to come to church; the focus was sharing the gospel, and also asking them if we could pray for them for whatever they needed. You don’t hear much about that anymore.

What created this blog was a sermon a heard a few weeks ago about this, and I thought about a conversation I had with a very good friend of mine. My friend was sharing about how churches in the area where she lives think. She said that the churches have a fire for God and sharing the gospel of Christ, but it’s in other countries. What breaks my friend’s heart (and it broke mine when she told me) is that there is a huge mission field in her area (in fact, more than 55% deny the deity of Christ and are worshiping a dead prophet). It’s been said that the churches in that region burn out in their mission work to those who deny the deity of Christ in that area; however, I have to pose a question that must be answered by us Bible-believing Christians: are we sharing the gospel on our own strength? If we are sold out for Christ and we are constantly in prayer, constantly fasting, constantly interceding for anyone who is outside the body of Christ, there’s no limit to what God can do if we would simply be obedient to the Great Commission.