Hebrews 12:2, “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
I counsel with many believers who email me with their problems. I always keep everything confidential. I don't mention names. I am not a licensed counsellor, so I don't give advice to people, I simply share biblical principles with them, to help guide them to make their own right choices. Life, when you boil it down to simplest terms, is nothing but a series of thousands of decisions. Little decisions affect big decisions later on.
I have learned that many believers who think they are having a crisis of faith, are really just focusing on the wrong things in life. I am as guilty of doing that as anyone. When we start focusing on life's problems, we allow fear to override our courage, worry to control our faith, and hate to override our love. What saith the Scripture? ...
Matthew 14:26-30, “And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit; and they cried out for fear. But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid. And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water. And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus. But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me.”
The Apostle Peter walked on water, obeying the Lord's command. But Peter quickly sunk into the Sea of Galilea when he lost his focus on Christ. Peter didn't see the raging storm first and then sink. No, he first took his focus off the Lord and then sank. I love this little true precious Bible story, because it teaches us as Christians the importance of KEEPING OUR EYES ON JESUS! What saith the Scripture? Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” John 15:5, “I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.”
Without the Lord Jesus Christ no believer is going to be effective at serving the Lord. Now corrupt churches, like the Harvest Baptist Church of Guam, achieve worldly success by going through the religious motions, but the power of the Holy Spirit of God is absent. They achieve high attendances on Sundays, but they use manmade machinery to accomplish their work. They pray in vain, because they worship God with their mouths, but their heart is far from Him (Matthew 15:8). How do I know that? It is very simple, they uses and promote umpteen different Bible versions. These modern revisions are Devil's Bibles! You can only trust the King James Bible in the English language. I also know that Harvest worships God afar off because they preach a perverted gospel, a false plan of salvation. This Calvinist heresy is commonly known as 'LORDSHIP SALVATION' and it is deadly, let me tell you!
Now I love the folks at Harvest Baptist Church on Guam, and I love the folks at their cult headquarters at Bob Jones University in South Carolina. However, I love God and THE TRUTH more! Jesus told the Samaritan woman in John 4:24 that no man would be able to worship God, except in two things: spirit and truth. Harvest does not care about truth when they use, sell and promote multiple different versions of the Bible, confusing everyone. Just as Jesus said to the Samaritan woman in John 4:22, “Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews.” The BJU crowd don't know what they worship! How can they when they don't even know which Bible God authored.
How can the Bob Jones crowd worship God, when they cannot even discern the true Gospel, which is by God's free grace through faith alone without works. When BJU adds turning away from your sinful behavior to be saved, they don't know what they're talking about. John 4:22a, “Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship...” I use ONLY the inspired and infallible King James Bible. I believe ONLY the free grace Gospel by faith along, not turning from bad habits to receive God's gift of eternal life (Romans 6:23; Ephesians 2:8-9). Matthew 15:8-9, “This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.” When Marty Herron, John MacArthur, Charles Phelps, Sam Horn, Steve Pettit or Gary Walton require you to 'TURN FROM YOUR SIN' to be saved, you KNOW that they are worshipping God in vain, because they are teaching the commandments of men instead of the commandments of God almighty in the Bible.
We are living in a perverse generation today. This gender-bending generation doesn't even know what it means to be male or female anymore. Our churches do not know which Bible God authored. Our churches cannot discern which plan of salvation is the right one. Sadly, of all things, it is our nation's Bible colleges that are the major source of damnable heresy creeping into the churches today. Moody Bible Institute, Bob Jones University, Maranatha Baptist University, Faith Baptist Bible College And Theological Seminary and Liberty University ALL preach Calvinist false gospel. I wouldn't send my dog to these religious institutions, and I don't even have a dog. Seriously, why should parents spend and invest $100,000 for their child to come out of a stupid Bible college with less fire, less faith and less confidence in the Word of God than when they enrolled? If you don't believe me, please listen to Evangelist Lester Roloff (1914-1982):
“But you see, the attitude of this generation is: If you got a lot of education, Boy we've got it made! I mean that's it; I mean, you're just super-duper! ... Any kind of education that doesn't strengthen your faith in Jesus is an abomination!!! And the average college graduate comes out with less faith and less fire, than he had when he went in. I'm talking about in the Christian schools, in the seminaries, and in the Bible schools across this country; now that ought not be!” [emphasis added] —Brother Lester Roloff, a needful quote from the MP3 sermon titled, “'THE LIVING BIBLE' EXPOSED!”
I wouldn't give you a dime for BJU today. Their clothing standards are extremely low for females students, now allowing them to wear tight slacks during sports, revealing their buttock crevice. Whatever happened to good old fashioned decency? I'll tell you, raising such high standards means seeing your enrollment number of students tank. BJU needs the money to pay all their faculty, maintenance, nurses, et cetera. Jesus emphatically stated in Luke 16:13 that NO MAN can serve God and mammon. Money should only be used as a tool to further The Great Commission, not become a means to make a living. Although nearly every Bible college would agree, their low moral standards, cultish behavior, lack of doctrinal soundness and indifferent attitude toward the infallibility of the Bible speaks to the contrary.
The problem with most believers today is not a lack of faith, but of focus on the Lord. Today's Bible colleges are sadly focusing on money, which is why they are indifferent toward truth. Money always gets in the way of spirituality. The Bible says the LOVE OF MONEY (or the desire for money) is the root of all evil. The love of money corrupts Bible colleges and churches. Harvest Baptist Church on Guam is all about making money, sustaining careers of their BJU graduates, preparing young people to pursue college training for careers. Harvest advertises this as a selling point to parents. I saw a YouTube commercial yesterday from HBC, luring parents on Guam to enroll their children into Harvest Baptist Academy, so they receive college prep courses. You see, it's an education business. I've said it many times before... Harvest is a big school with a church on the side!!!
What is your focus dear reader? Hebrews 12:2, “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Most people have their life's priorities all wrong? This includes Christians. I think many marriages fail because couple's have the wrong priorities. Money out not be a priority in any marriage. Fearing and obeying God should always be everyone's top priority (Ecclesiastes 12:13). Every married couple ought to decide to keep their focus on God, and loving each other, and nothing else matters! When you start focusing in other places, you'll get off course.
The King James Bible is our navigation compass throughout life. When you think or realize that your life has gotten off course, use the navigator. What saith the Scripture? Psalm 119:105, “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.” Please keep your focus on Jesus. That means staying focused on God's Word. John 5:39, “Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.” To be honest I get discouraged all the time. I feel like God never answers my prayers. And the professed believers who claim that God answers their prayers all the time, are big liars! I have watched their lives, and they have just decided that God always answers their prayers, and so they go around saying that, making them sound spiritual.
The truth is that you feel like God doesn't answer your prayers anymore than I always do. But you know what, I pray all the time without ceasing. Why? It's not because I am a good Christian, I'm not. It's certainly not because I am confident that God will answer my prayers, I truly gave up long ago on expecting God to answer any of my prayers. I mean that. I have zero confidence that God will answer any of my prayers. At age 54, I have yet to see even one prayer answered, where I can say without any shadow of a doubt that God did something in response to my prayer. So why do I bother to pray? It is simply because I HAVE FAITH IN GOD (Mark 11:22). I am 100% confident that God could, and will, answer my prayers if He wants to. I just figure that God has already given me everything that I need, so that I didn't have to ask Him. But I don't know, to be honest. The Bible says in 2nd Corinthians 5:7 that we walk BY FAITH, and not BY SIGHT. So I am commanded to pray, whether I see results or not. That requires a much greater faith. Perhaps God wants to give me a greater reward in eternity. My main prayer for the past several years has been to find a wife.
But regardless of what happens, I am going to stay focused on the Lord. Hebrews 12:2, “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” This insane world doesn't know Jesus, but I do, and He is precious, lovely and the great joy of my every moment of my miserable existence. Thank you Lord for loving and redeeming a broken sinner like me!!!
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