It has never been a time like this in our society when the true gospel is under siege. That should bother every true believer because, by reason of the siege, the church as well is under siege equally.
As a result of this siege, many Christians, even men of God, are in bondage and fast slipping into hell. If therefore you become a victim or casualty yourself, who will you blame?
This is because the Bible clearly states that we shall know the truth and the truth shall set us free. John 8:32 “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
One folly aspect of this situation is that some who answer men of God are upholding and brandishing falsehood, while they regard and terms those preaching the true gospels as fake pastors.
Apostle Paul explained to us the reason this is so, by what he said in 2 Corinthians 11:13-15, “for such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ.
And no wonder! For Satan, himself transforms himself into an angel of light. Therefore, it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works.
Since Satan transforms himself into the angel of light, his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness. How then are we to know and recognize the ministers that are of God and ministers that are of Satan?
Of a truth, this is a difficult situation because some ministers are so vocal even though they are of Satan. You see, many of these fake pastors, but because they use the bible which they twist, they appear as if they were the genuine men of God. If we are not careful, we may end up falling prey to them.
What Then Is The Solution, And What Should We Do To Avoid Falling Prey To Their Activities?
To answer your question, I wish to say first and foremost that the central truth is the word of God and to be safe is to make the word of God the standard of our living and not revelations and visions.
The book of Psalms 12:6 says, “The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. Also, Psalms 138:2b says, “For you have magnified Your word above all Your name”. Furthermore, Psalms 119:89 says, “Forever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven”.
In other words, we should make the word of God the standard for our living and should subject everything to the scrutiny of the word of God. We should never believe any revelations above the word of God.
To this end, any teachings or revelations that contradict the bible, such should be disregarded as not of God, and as such, they are from Satan who transformed himself into an angel of light.
That is to say, if we are to survive the onslaught of the devil this end time, we must study and be in command of the word of God, which will enable us to discern between the false and the true messages from God or from Satan.
In this case, we should be able to ask ourselves what the bible says concerning any teachings, especially the visions and revelations of some who call themselves men and women of God.
Any teachings, visions, or revelations that contradict the bible are total falsehoods and come from the pit of hell irrespective of who received such visions and revelations.
Secondly, Apostle John also specifically told us what to do with such a situation as can be seen in 1 John 4:1 “Beloved, believes not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world”.
Bringing it home, we shall be looking at the necessary things about how to resolve the situation of knowing which teachings and revelations are from God, using an example of treading teachings/revelations.
To this end, we shall be looking at the so-called revelations of one Sis Linda with respect to what Paul said in 2 Corinthians 11:13-15 “for such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ.
What then shall we say of Sis Linda and her revelations? Please, the first thing we need to do is what 1 John 4:1 asks us to do, “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. In other words, we need to try the spirit behind sis Linda’s revelations.
I am not saying that Sis Lind did not have revelations, but the bone of contention is who made those revelations to her, considering that it contradicts the word of God in many ways.
First, Sis Linda, in her very words, said that she was a drug addict, a prostitute, who said she saw demons surrounding her deathbed before she died She was a chronic sinner before she died.
Please, I wish to ask when did the Holy God, stop making revelations to his saints and decided to reveal His deep secrets to a vessel laden with iniquity as sis Linda, who was a chronic unbeliever before the said revelations. Please, I need an answer.
Secondly, Sis Linda claimed that after her death that Jesus appeared to her and took her and escorted her on a tour of heaven and hell. How did she know that it was Jesus of the Bible?
What Sis Linda did not show us is the proof that the entity that appeared to her is the real Jesus. Do we sincerely require that proof, since the Bible already cautioned us that Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light?
Thirdly, before her own so-called revelations, there are many people who had similar revelations of heaven and hell, how many of such other revelations mentioned ever seeing any living person of been in heaven or hell?
One single proof that gave that revelation a deadly blow is that no living person had ever been seen in heaven or hell. That alone puts a question mark on Linda’s revelations as not from God.
Another folly aspect of her revelations was that they took place in Sierra Leone, but she did not see ministers of God from Sierra Leone, but only saw men of God from Nigeria. Nigerians Christians please we need to wake up to reality and stop our mumu.
Some commented that Sis Linda was almost weeping warning people about hell and as such that what she is saying is the gospel truth. True, whether the warnings of Sis Linda is true or not is another thing.
Please read what happened in Acts 16:16-17 “Now it happened, as we went to prayer, that a certain slave girl possessed with a spirit of divination met us, who brought her masters much profit by fortune-telling.
This girl followed Paul and us, and cried out, saying, “These men are the servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to us the way of salvation.”
I wish to ask you, “what that slave girl was saying about Paul and Silas, was that not the gospel truth”?. Did that make that girl be from God?
As you reflect on what I had said so far, the book of Romans 14:5b cautioned us. “Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind”. Please keep a date with us, as we will continue our discourse on the topic next in part two. Shalom!