What Is The Truth?

You know, over the last few years we experienced a lot of division in the church. Why? Because some men and women have started to move away from God's Word, the Bible. They look at the Bible, and then they only believe those verses that they like - the rest of it, they push it out, and then... they add their own beliefs to the words of the Bible.

So, in other words, they want to change the Bible to fit in with their lifestyle, instead of changing their lifestyle, to fit in with what the Bible says; with what God's Truth says. This is very dangerous, especially for young Christians.

So today, I want to share with you three false teachings of the church, or spiritual leaders that you should avoid.

Let's get to it... Now, the Bible is very clear about false prophets and teachers. It warns us in 1 Timothy 4:1-2,

"Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils; Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron."

This was happening even at the time of the apostles, and it is happening today. But how will you know... when someone teaches the truth, or when they lie? You test what they say with Scripture, with the Bible.

And if you don't know what the Bible says, and you call yourself a Christian... then you need to read it, you need to study it, and it will change your life, and you won't be so easily misled.

All right, now with that in mind let's start with the first false teaching that you need to know about: And this first false teaching is spreading like cancer. What is this teaching? That it is God's will for every Christian to be rich and to be healthy. Is this true? Well definitely not. God does promise us peace, even if you are going through hard times; He does promise us peace. But he doesn't promise us that we will always be healthy and wealthy.

Just because you're a Christian, doesn't mean that you will suddenly have a perfect life. That only happens when we go to Heaven and the new Earth. But the Bible is actually very clear on this, and it says that you will have trials and tribulations in this life.

John 16:33 says: "These things I have spoken unto you, that in Me, ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world."

So, we will experience hard times in this world. And you know, there's a lot of people who are deeply hurt by this false teaching. Because, let's say, they have a health problem, and they pray, and they pray, "God please, just help me now... just take this away from me..."

And then they go to these preachers, these false preachers and teachers, who have the audacity to say, "Well, it's because you don't have enough faith...." You know, you can't use God like a genie and just make wishes. You go to Him humbly, and you ask Him, just like Jesus did in the Garden of Gethsemane;

Luke 22:42, "Jesus said, "Father if Thou be willing, remove this cup from Me: nevertheless not My will, but Thine be done."

So, you can go to God, and you can ask Him, for health... to heal you...for whatever problem you might have... I mean it's amazing - we have doctors today as well, and He can use the doctors to heal you.

But you can go and pray, and ask God for a miracle, because it still happens today. You can even ask Him to bless you financially... but that doesn't mean that He's always gonna say yes.

Sometimes He will stay quiet, and sometimes He will say no, for a reason; and you need to accept it. Look at the example of Job: he lost everything. He lost his kids, his wealth, his health - he lost everything. But then at the end of it, God used it to bring him closer, and he restored everything; In fact, He actually gave Job more than he had. Twice as much, the Bible says.

And this is what Job said after all he experienced; all those trials and tribulations; This is what Job said: "I have heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth Thee." So, you see, Job only heard about God but now he sees who God really is.

Now he has a deeper relationship with God. You know, sometimes God will allow pain and suffering, in your life; to teach you something. We all go through different types of pain and suffering.