Which Are You?
Pastor Jerry Wilhite,
author There are two types that profess to be of Christ: one that is of Christ and one that is either been fooled or fooling themselves they are. Those who have a desire to know God and will patiently wait to hear from Him will in time hear and be born again and saved, and those who do not are the ones on the path to destruction: Matthew 7 13. Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: 14. Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. 15. Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. They are on this path to destruction because they are following men who are false prophets or 2,000 years ago a false prophet was a leader, a false messenger and teacher. So, those misled today are those who appear to be of God but are not. Matthew 7 22. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? 23. And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. There will be those who in all ways will appear to be men/women of God but in all truth are false teachers, leaders and prophets. In the above verses Jesus says he would tell them to depart because they are workers of evil, He never knew them. Of course, He knew of them, but they were either false and meant to mislead or just never took the time to know Him and as such were never known by Him. Over the past 12 years the excuse I hear the most why pastors do not hear from God is that they are too busy doing His work to listen. Many attend a specific church, denomination, belief for one of three reasons: They were raised in it, it is where their parents attended and their parents before them. They go from one to another until they find the one that fits their beliefs, and now a days there are more and more out there to the point there is one for every type of belief. They hear the Lord, He convicts them of their sinful life and they continue to listen and then are of the one true church, Jesus in Revelation 2-3 said of the seven churches only one was of Him the rest were not. The problem is if you are looking for justification of a way of life or living a life style then you are already in trouble because Jesus never said go forth and make beliefs based on man but on Him and Him only. Then those who were born into a belief and are convinced because they have heard their entire life one doctrine and they believe because they have heard no other, plus their parents were raised in the doctrine as well and believed. Those who search for goose bumps or feelings have lost it already because it never was supposed to be about the flesh, but the Spirit. Matthew 23 13. But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in. Today, this would be pastors and leaders who hear or read differently from the way they teach, see where they are off a bit, but, instead of expanding their teaching they continue to teach the same thing as has been taught for hundreds of years. Remember, when Jesus came they had had their teachings for thousands of years, and if they had followed Him and not man they would have known the truth. Matthew 23 14. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation. 15. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves. These are pastors and leaders who search for a new member and when they bring this person in and teach him or her their ways it makes it twice as hard to teach them the truth than those who do not know the doctrine of man. I find it always sad that all a person has to do is invest a little time over a six-month period to find the truth and hear from God. And in time from hearing they will know the truth and the truth will set them free of man's doctrines, traditions and teachings. What I find worse than the lies of the world is the lies of the church, yes lies, such as teaching as some do that no one knows until he or she gets to the next life if they are saved or not and, also, that in the beginning God took group A and said they will make it but group B will not. That, to me, says a few things that goes against the teachings of Jesus, one being that no one needs to worry, just be of any belief because it does not matter since it was all decided in the beginning by God. That says God is not a God of love but is mean to put all of us through this, and for what? John 3 16. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. That belief and teaching makes John 3:15-17 a lie, that Jesus came to save all who would believe and that God so loved the world. Then another is if you are baptized of water you are saved, of course that lie goes against so many verses, but I think these two say it the best: Ephesians 2 8. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9. Not of works, lest any man should boast. Saved by grace through faith not of anything we can do, meaning that water baptism could not save anyone. The idea of water baptism's being promoted to the one true baptism is another lie; Jesus and John the Baptist both said that the Baptism of the Spirit was the one true baptism. When those of Acts mentioned water baptism it was mostly because they knew of no other baptism. Matthew 3 11. I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire: John the Baptist, in all four gospels, referred to the baptism that followed of the Spirit was preferred before His, so why was Jesus baptized in water? Because He did all that was done at the time but just like the law He came to fulfill the law and water to baptism of the Spirit. As He went in the water and then came out then the Spirit descended upon Him ending water for Spirit. Acts 1 5. For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence. Those who teach water baptism for anything more than showing of one's faith is like those in Matthew 23:13 when Jesus said they shut the kingdom of God to man and kept them in the flesh and out of the Spirit. They are agents of Satan and will have to answer on judgment day. For me if there was even the slightest chance I was wrong I would do as I do, spend 8-20 hours a day in the word and seeking God until I knew the truth 100 percent. The idea is man has over time come up with new doctrines based on interpreting the word not understanding as promised to all that would listen and hear from Him. John 14 26. But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. We are to be taught by the Spirit, the same Spirit of Whom we are to born again, the same one in which we are to be baptized. John 14 6. Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. Jesus said "I am the way, the truth, and the life." The way is through Him, the truth is found in the Spirit and only in God is their life, which is Spirit. John 4 24. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. God is Spirit, and to worship requires Spirit and truth, and the Spirit is the Spirit of truth. There is a spirit that is not truth and can make anyone think it is truth, it also known as the spirit of religion. John 15 26. But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me: How are we to know the truth, by man or Spirit? Of course, by the Spirit. All man does is bring the knowledge of God, Son, and Spirit, and that God wants a relationship with all people and to save them from death and Hell. The rest is up to God not man, we cannot save, only the Lord can do that. Mark 10 18. And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God. Nothing of man is good, only that of God is good, so all teachings of man by man are based in the flesh not the Spirit and are of the lie and not the truth. You see, when Jesus said in Matthew 28:19-20 go forth and baptize them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. In Greek it is Go forth immerse them in all I have said about the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, teaching them to know there is one God.
And then to ignore John 3:3-12 is taking what works with a belief and leaving out all that does not, and it is not what He told us to do.
First, born of flesh (water(of a woman)) then of the Spirit; this is the only way one can enter, not born in a religion that is man and nothing of man is good, only that of God.