NOT TRUE!

I was surfing the net the other day doing some research for a possible article I was thinking of writing and came across a “Christian” Web Site, which seem to be devoted to calling every major Christian leader a false teaching. They had this toll free number you could call for more information so I call it out of curiosity.

It was a recording, which basically was one of those “fire and brimstone” types of messages. All I sense was an awful lot of hate between what was on the web site in terms of content and also from the recording.

What it came down to was doing a lot of quoting scriptures to prove how they had it right and if you didn’t agree with their idea of salvation you were going to hell. And they had their big “hit” list of ministries and well-known pastors they had official declared as not representing the Lord.

I had to agree that there were a few names on their list that I personally didn’t regard as necessarily faithful in conveying the message of salvation by faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. But there were others that to me were about as basic and faithful to the truth as one could expect.

It is so difficult at times when it comes to spiritual concepts in terms of Christianity to always sort out what is true from what is not. There are so many voices that claim to speak for the Lord and often some have huge following. But that in itself doesn’t mean they truly speak for God.

I if this causes problems for those who read the scriptures it causes even greater problems for those who are not believers. They have a tendency to lump all voices into the same group. I can hardly blame them for that.

To me, I believe God knows the heart and he also through the power of the Holy Spirit is able to touch the souls he knows will respond to the message of salvation. And all pastors are above all else, human. That means they will be imperfect. They might be completely in harmony with the truth on one aspect of spirituality and incorrect on another.

What I feel is most essential is that the foundation be correct. Basically that means to me that we are saved by faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. We can’t earn our salvation and will never be worthy of it. Salvation is a free gift from God’s grace and love.

Beyond that foundation we can disagree over the tenants of following the Lord. And we will. The hard part is truly listening when the message of salvation is preached. God kept it simple so we would understand it. But that doesn’t keep us from complicating it. The concept that we can’t earn our salvation doesn’t keep people from wanting to add a few “thou must” to the idea of salvation. That is the crossroads where many a believer often gets sidetracked. Only the power of the Holy Spirit can guide us beyond such spiritual pot-holes in the life of faith. I pray we see them before we stumble and are able to let God bring us to where only his truth is the one that matters and not the opinions of men.