Listening to an Internet audio sermon recently, the pastor told his people that if they thought he was not ordained of God, speaking a message from God, then they should go look for a church where they believed this was happening. He repeated his words finishing with, “then get out now!” I don’t know why he said it, but my first thought was, “A man who fears God, will never fear people.” How different he is from the average pastor or elder. Asking myself why they don’t speak like that when they ought to, denominationalism came to mind. In other words, the church would appeal to the hierarchy of their denomination and soon that man would be out on his ear!
The average pastor knows this; he also knows his career and livelihood depends on not upsetting the apple-cart, so he wouldn’t dare speak to his people like this man does. But it is not only the pastor who’s concerned about those things, so too are the denominational big-wigs. If people walk out of their churches they have multiple dilemmas on their hands. Where’s the money going to come from to keep the denomination going? What about their church building debts and maintenance? If all of that goes down the tube then so do they! The kind of men running those things (for a large part) will never allow that to happen come hell or high water! They’ll jump in and defend that stuff quicker than you can blink an eye!
The Internet pastor is a preacher of righteousness: ‘upright before God’ – and it’s his vision that the men and women sitting under his leadership be on the path of righteousness. In other words, if you’re in Christ you have imputed righteousness, therefore become what you are. For the kingdom of God is not food and drink, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit Romans 14:17. No righteousness, no peace; no peace, no joy; no joy, no Holy Spirit! However, people in churches not in possession of these rarely get up and leave, they band together, call in the Moderator ( a man equally lacking in righteousness) and they go into political overdrive to ensure the man in their pulpit is the one who has to, “get up and leave now!”
A preacher of righteousness entrusts himself to nobody but his Lord, Jesus. It is not that he’s a distrustful man; it is that he doesn’t rely on or seek any of them for approval on what he’s going to say. Many Christians are not comfortable with that kind of man in their pulpit. They would never admit it and would be shocked if you suggested it, but it is only ‘yes-men’ they’re comfortable with. They’ve been around their church since its inception, thirty or forty years ago, the previous pastors learned what was expected of them; that’s the unspoken message imparted to all newcomers. The man who heeds their message becomes a sell-out; like the people who hired him he goes nowhere spiritually, righteousness gets kicked to the curb and everybody is happy.
Now, if that same pastor was a Christ-reliant man he would pick up on what kind of people he had interviewing him. Just like his Lord Jesus, who knew what was in man John 2:25, he would know there was bound to be the odd pretentious hypocrite among them and he would speak to that by declaring up front that he was a man of God, sent to bring the word of God, “no compromise, no people-pleasing, no pussy-footing, no watering down of the Scriptures – take it or leave it! So different would he be from the sell-out whose only concern it is for marriage equality, asylum seekers, women’s rights and, “the way we treat the planet.” Christ-reliant pastors and elders know that people who push for these but never righteousness, are either deceived or phoney religionists – or both!
A preacher of righteousness is only too aware of his obligation to watch over every soul the Lord has committed to his trust Hebrews 13:17. And he knows the only effective way of succeeding in that task is to bring the whole counsel of God to them. Anything less and he runs the risk of having blood on his hands Acts 20:26-27. To properly edify, exhort and comfort his people 1 Corinthians 14:3, he must speak what the Holy Spirit gives him, not what any religious spirit wants to give him. When he stands before the Lord to give his account of those souls, like the apostle Paul, he wants to be totally sure He can look Him in the eyes, not lower them in shame like multitudes of Bible-compromising, people-pleasing sell-outs will do on that day.
A compromising pastor once told me no matter what happened to him, he couldn’t lose his salvation. I didn’t give it much thought at the time because I didn’t know what I now know about righteousness. He caused quite a few in his church to backslide and others to walk away from God. I don’t know his heart as to his salvation, but I know he’ll be made accountable for the souls of those who were under his charge; he will shudder at the judgment seat! After he left that church, preservation of denominational traditions overruled all hope of righteousness ruling the day and it is the same to this day. Unless there’s a hunger and thirst for righteousness from the people Matthew 5:6, things will stay the same until the Lord comes to remove those among them who are His.
God’s people must be taught to believe the word of God – the Bible … believe every word regardless of whether we understand them or not, or like them or not. As far as Jesus is concerned, we live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God, not some words Matthew 4:4. Righteousness is the key to spiritual vitality for us all and that’s how you get it. Lots of Christians ask God to build their faith to believe for material things yet wonder why they don’t get them. One reason they don’t is because they only believe Scriptures they want to believe and vehemently reject those they don’t want to believe. That’s why there’s no spiritual vitality expressed among those who carry on with their foolish, pagan-type behavior about the need for equality and rights etc.
God’s people must turn away from sell-outs in the pulpit and turn (or return) to righteousness. If we don’t, we cannot expect God to protect us in this increasingly evil day. The promises of Psalm 91:1-16 are reserved for he and she who dwells in the secret place of the Most High. Only the righteous shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. Only the righteous can legitimately say of the LORD, ‘He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust. Don’t expect God’s protection from criminals in high places or low places without embracing righteousness. It is the goal of criminals in high places to control every facet of your life and it’s the goal of criminals in low places to survive. If maiming or killing you is necessary for that, he or she will do it without giving a second thought.
The Internet pastor told his people that Satan can’t pray, can’t trust God and can’t express faith. Some Christians can’t do that … at least, not effectively. It would be wise for such a one to ask, “Who’s got my ear?” If it’s Satan, no wonder you can’t. If he can’t, he’ll make sure you can’t! So, it all comes back to your attitude towards the Scriptures; the one who believes them all can pray, can trust and can express faith. And when he or she is confronted with Satan, he has to step aside. We better believe that; God is relying on Bible-authoritative Christians in these last days. We are the only witnesses to the truth of Jesus and His word in these increasingly evil, end-times. The unrighteous are looking for reality in Christians – only the righteous have it.
God’s people must know how to discern spiritual evil – in fact, evil spirits! The lies, the deceit, the corruption and the perversion expressed by politicians, lawyers, judges, bankers, business people, police, doctors, school teachers, religious people of all kinds and church leaders is at an all-time high. And, for the most part, Christian mouths are closed about it all. They tut-tut street junkies, whores and thieves, but not those in suits and skirts! Liars, deceivers, corrupters and perverts hate Jesus; He tells them their works are evil John 7:7, and that offends them – especially are those in the professional world offended. The reality Christians must embrace is, these “professionals” have targeted us – they’re coming after us and our gospel. If you’re not righteous you’ll cave in to them.
Righteous Christians are gifted by the Holy Spirit with spiritual discernment. So when we come up against liars, deceivers, corrupters and perverts, we don’t fight them in the flesh, we do so in the spirit – spiritual warfare, not physical warfare. In other words, when we’re confronted by a liar or a pervert we know we’re dealing with a demon. Multitudes of Christians don’t believe that, so if I was a pastor laboring in teaching that realty to my people and they continued to reject it, I might tell some to get up and leave now too! They only hinder the work of the Holy Spirit by staying. Demon spirits are subject to our spirit in Jesus’ name; they have no authority over us. Lots of Christians do believe that, but it’s only the righteous Christian who engages in battle and stays in it until it’s won.
Righteousness, being the key to spiritual vitality also means of course, that we allow no lies, deceits, corruptions and perversions to be a part of us. That should seem obvious but denominationalism is full of it …. and when push comes to shove, if it means that’s what it’s going to take for denominational big-wigs to preserve their denomination, careers and livelihood, they won’t hesitate to engage in it. And they’ll do so in the same manner as those who got rid of Jesus. They’ll use their positions, their titles, their qualifications, their Bible knowledge and all the religious talk that comes into their unrighteous hearts and heads. You name it, they’ll do it. They’ll even pray asking that, “Thy will be done Lord,” before they get started.
Jesus tells us, That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit John 3:6. Sadly though, Christendom consists of multitudes that operate their lives in the former, but sincerely believe they’re doing it in the latter. Truth is the two can never mix; the two can never harmonize. The one must die for the other to live. Otherwise, the key to spiritual vitality – righteousness, can never be fully realized in a Christian’s life. The pastor who fears God more than he fears people will make it his business to preach nothing unless he can be sure it leads to righteousness; the sell-out who fears people more than he fears God will preach anything – as long as he’s sure he’s not upsetting the apple-cart! “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you” Matthew 6:33.