This Is Messed Up...
Matthew 7 Series - Part 8

This is part 8 of the Matthew 7 Series. These articles are concerned with Matthew 7:13-29 and how the soft-marshmallow approach of the last several decades is failing us. It is past time to stop acting like Pharisees and start to act like Jesus, Paul, John the Baptist and Moses. It is important to read this series in order, especially the first three parts.

Is there anyone out there who reads their Bible today? To be fair there have been and currently are many fake pastors and churches who actively discourage reading scripture. For example, the Bible was translated into the Latin Vulgate translation when Latin when it was still a living language. However, Latin died in the 600's A.D. Yet the Roman Catholic Church continued to use it placing scripture out of reach of most people. This meant people were dependent on their priest for instructions and could not hold them to account when they strayed from or contradicted scripture. Today their official position is that laymen cannot properly interpret scripture. That is a convenient excuse when people find where the Catholic Church contradicts scripture. But we have many good translations available today. Therefore there is no excuse for biblical ignorance, especially by leaders in the church.

There is a systemic problem with churches today. And the root cause is that churches ignore direct commands and instructions in scripture. When a pastor or leader in a church makes things up, claims those things are from God, and is proven to be wrong or a liar by the evidence then they are disqualified from their position as they have shown they are a false prophet. Those that fail to understand scripture or teach against scripture show they are unqualified to be in that position. The ability to teach is a biblical requirement of elders, which includes pastors and leaders. If they don't understand it they can't teach it. And if they contradict it they are not following the real Holy Spirit as the Holy Spirit is the source of scripture. False prophets often start out as bad Bible scholars.

That wolves in sheep's clothing are out there is repeatedly warned about in scripture. The problem is how did they get into these leadership positions in the church when scripture is clear that we are to vet people before we put them in leadership. Peter and James vetted Paul. And Paul later corrected Peter publicly. But almost no one is doing what they are supposed to do anymore.

Heather Schott of Mercy Culture church did a video interview of Dr. Michael Brown which aided the cover up of his abuse of people under him and helped his own efforts to cover up his abuse and sin. It appears that at best she was misled and foolish. And while that is terrible for someone who claims to be a Christian leader to be guilty of, it was not the worst problem with that podcast episode. The worst part is how she introduced the podcast. She said, "...we seek God and His voice in everything. We hear His voice, we know His voice, we obey His voice. We did, and Dr. Michael Brown we stand with you. And I also believe that this is unseating demonic principalities and attacks against the body of Christ to divide when I believe we are in a pivotal hour to prepare the body of Christ for the return of Jesus."

First, whatever voice she heard from it was not God's. This is absolutely clear as there is a pile of evidence against Dr. Brown, including hard documentation. She was wrong. By both the Old and New Testament standard she should never again be listened to again. She has proven herself to be a false prophet who lies when she claims to speak for God. (Prophecy is speaking for God and relaying what God has to say, and may or may not have anything to do with the future.) That is probably the worst sin one can commit. However, that is not the worst problem here.

The worst problem is the cause of Heather Schott's false prophecy. It is how she ended her opening rant: "...we are in a pivotal hour to prepare the body of Christ for the return of Jesus." Here she advertised that she is at best biblically illiterate, and at worst, has replaced scripture with her own nonsense.

The purpose of the church is absolutely not to "prepare the body of Christ for the return of Jesus." It is to build up disciples to spread the gospel. Preparing the way for Jesus was the purpose of the Law, and was only for Jesus' first coming, not the second. She's mixed up the first and second coming of Jesus worse than the Pharisees.

While prophecy about the future is easy to wrongly think applies to our own time, there are a lot of specifics that are easy to understand. Or they ought to be be someone who puts themself forward as a Christian leader. It is absolutely clear that Jesus' second coming will not be to a church and world that has already been transformed into His kingdom. What Jesus will come back to is a world where real Christians are a tiny minority and heavily persecuted. Therefore Heather's opening statement is blatantly anti-biblical in every way. Whatever her motivations or sources, she has demonstrated she should never have been put in a position of leadership in any legitimate Christian organization.

The problem is an epidemic of disrespect for scripture. People who do not respect scripture don't bother with it. And it shows in the fruit they produce. Scripture is the word of God inspired by the Holy Spirit. People who don't respect scripture don't respect the Holy Spirit. Ironically, those are the ones who are the loudest claiming they hear from and follow the Holy Spirit. If they reject the work of the Spirit, they reject the Spirit. Scripture is God speaking to us. Scripture is the guard rails to keep us from straying off into false beliefs and teaching. It is our guide to what is of God and the things that are not of God, such as other spirits or our own sinful desires.

Would you play a game where the rules weren't written down? I wouldn't. Without written down rules a corrupt person could just make them up and change them to whatever gave them the advantage. Such a person could totally take advantage of the other players. I wouldn't want to play under those rules even if I were the one who was in control of the rules. But then, truth and justice are more valuable to me than winning. The beauty of being a Christian is that by being a disciple of Jesus I get truth, justice, mercy, and I get to win in the end.

There are lots of so-called Christians who operate like they can just make things up because they want it to be so or it sounds good. It looks like these are the majority of the people in western churches today. Entire churches are set up on the premise that they can change whatever they want to fit their values while they ignore God's values and His scripture.

The sad thing is we have a permanent, Holy Spirit inspired, tested and true, written guide called the Bible. This is the rock we can build our house on. This is the narrow gate that leads to salvation. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. No one gets to the Father except by Him. And scripture tells us what he said, taught, and commanded thanks to the work of the Holy Spirit. No other path works. Please choose wisely.