Religious Thieves

Berean Baptist on August 12, 2019

The eighth commandment says, “Thou shalt not steal.”  The subject is thievery which is a command broken in myriads of ways. There is an important aspect of this command that might have escaped your attention. This aspect is that of religious thievery. False teachers are guilty of theft in a most serious way.

Theft is taking place as you read this and as you got to church on Sundays. Across our country and the world, there is an insidious lie that is told which says that God offers health, wealth, and prosperity to those who plant seeds of faith in the ministries of prosperity preachers. These seeds are dollar bills, of course, and the bigger the seeds the more the growth of prosperous trees that are large enough for the fowls of the air to lodge in. This false teaching encircles the globe so that good missionaries in many countries say it is the biggest hurdle they face in preaching the true gospel of Christ. In other words, the biggest threat to salvation is not Islam, Buddhism, animism, or other false religions. The worst is the perversion of Christianity.

In a sermon about ten years ago, John Piper who was then pastor of the Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, made this statement: “I don’t know what you feel about the prosperity gospel—the health, wealth, and prosperity gospel—but I’ll tell you what I feel about it…hatred.” He went on to say, “It is not the gospel, and it’s being exported from this country to Africa and Asia, selling a bill of goods to the poorest of the poor: ‘Believe this message, and your pigs won’t die and your wife won’t have miscarriages, and you’ll have rings on your fingers and coats on your back.’ That’s coming out of America—the people that ought to be giving our money and our time and our lives, instead selling them a bunch of crap called ‘gospel.’”

Admittedly, Piper used strong language that I probably would not use from the pulpit, but his deep disgust for a false gospel is reflected in his disgusting description. The prosperity gospel is theft when it asks for money to fulfill a promise that will not come true because it is based in a lie. It dupes people into believing material goods are the gauge of good hope in Christ. It teaches people to seek satisfaction in this world’s offerings when God clearly says we must set our affections on things above.

Piper made another heart stopping riveting statement. He said, “I’ll tell you what makes Jesus look beautiful, it’s when you smash your car, and your little girl goes flying through the windshield, and lands dead on the street . . . and you say through the deepest possible pain, ‘God is enough.’”

When we preach this gospel, “God is enough, Jesus Christ is enough—He is all I need”—we do not steal from the people. We do not take—we give. We give the best possible gift they can receive. We give them hope that never fails to bring lasting peace. The worst thief is a religious thief. Souls are the commodity he takes from unsuspecting seekers. Souls seek the kingdom of God without realizing Satan has his thieves seeking them.

Praise God for those who preach truth! Let us stand with those who do and let us stop the mouths of the thieves of the glorious gospel. Without apology, we will fight religious thievery!

                                                                                    Pastor V. Mark Smith

Religious Thieves

Berean Baptist on December 3, 2018

The subject of the 8th commandment is thievery which is a command broken in myriads of ways. I want to mention an important aspect of thievery that might have escaped your attention. This is religious thievery. False teachers are guilty of theft in a most serious way.

Theft is taking place as listeners attend many churches. Across our country and the world, there is an insidious lie told which says that God offers health, wealth, and prosperity to those who plant seeds of faith in the ministries of prosperity preachers. These seeds are dollar bills, of course, and the bigger the seeds the more the growth of prosperous trees that are large enough for the fowls of the air to lodge in. This false teaching encircles the globe so that good missionaries in many countries say it is the biggest hurdle they face in preaching the true gospel of Christ. In other words, the biggest threat to salvation is not Islam, Buddhism, animism, or other false religions. The worst is the perversion of Christianity.

In a sermon about ten years ago, John Piper who was then pastor of the Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, made this statement: “I don’t know what you feel about the prosperity gospel—the health, wealth, and prosperity gospel—but I’ll tell you want I feel about it…hatred.” He went on to say, “It is not the gospel, and it’s being exported from this country to Africa and Asia, selling a bill of goods to the poorest of the poor: ‘Believe this message, and your pigs won’t die and your wife won’t have miscarriages, and you’ll have rings on your fingers and coats on your back.’ That’s coming out of America—the people that ought to be giving our money and our time and our lives, instead selling them a bunch of crap called ‘gospel.’”

Admittedly, Piper used strong language that I probably would not use from the pulpit, but his deep disgust for a false gospel is reflected in his disgusting description. The prosperity gospel is theft when it asks for money to fulfill a promise that will not come true because it is based in a lie. It dupes people into believing material goods are the gauge of good hope in Christ. It teaches people to seek satisfaction in this world’s offerings when God clearly says we must set our affections on things above.

Piper made another heart stopping riveting statement. He said, “I’ll tell you what makes Jesus look beautiful, it’s when you smash your car, and your little girl goes flying through the windshield, and lands dead on the street . . . and you say through the deepest possible pain, ‘God is enough.’”

When we preach this gospel, “God is enough, Jesus Christ is enough—He is all I need”—we do not steal from the people. We do not take—we give. We give the best possible gift they can receive. We give them hope that never fails to bring lasting peace. The worst thief is a religious thief. Souls are the commodity he takes from unsuspecting seekers. Souls seek the kingdom of God without realizing Satan has his thieves seeking them.

Praise God for those who preach truth! Let us stand with those who do, and let us stop the mouths of the thieves of the glorious gospel. Without apology, we will fight religious thievery!

                                                                                                                                                             Pastor V. Mark Smith

Living in Wisdom

Berean Baptist on February 5, 2018

It is impossible for the natural man to choose a holy and righteous life, or essentially the things that will make him healthy and wholesome. The health I am speaking of is not necessarily physical although many of us have a very difficult time making the right choices in that area. I am speaking of choosing health for the soul—the ability to come to Christ in salvation and to begin a course of living for God.

Righteousness eludes every person who does not know Christ. Our fallen nature prevents us from choosing godliness which is the reason we need the Lord to change our hearts. Jesus said we must be born again. This infers the old life must be replaced with the new life that only He can give. Until the Holy Spirit opens our eyes to this truth, we remain carnally minded and cannot please God (Romans 8:6-8).

In regeneration, God changes the disposition of the mind and gives the ability to choose the right path instead of repeating the frequent failures of the past. However, this new capability does not mean we possess immediate wisdom to use it. As we well know, there is a sanctifying process in which good choices are cultivated by prayer, study, and practical experience. Wisdom in this case is not a sudden miraculous endowment as God gave Solomon. This wisdom is best described as discernment achieved through repetitive training. In fact, it is wisdom that will never show itself unless great care is taken to work on it daily. When we indulge sin on a regular basis without being cautious to protect ourselves from it, the heart grows cold and calloused and strongly resists correction. The spiritual man can become a couch potato that never heeds the call to work out our salvation (work out your own salvation—Phil. 2:12).

The first way the Bible tells us to discern properly is in our moral choices. Because the moral character of a Christian is changed, it is possible to choose ways of living that are consistent with the Bible’s commandments. Many of these ways we never thought of before and were never bothered because we did the opposite. With the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, comes the ability to see sin differently, and rather than enjoy its pleasures, we are grieved in our heart and broken by it.

The second area of discernment concerns doctrinal distinctions. All right choices whether moral or theological are governed by our doctrine. For example, the Gnosticism of the first century led to very immoral lifestyles because the doctrine of the body/soul relationship was wrong. We should recognize that every false doctrine leads to unbiblical thinking. Wrong thinking leads to wrong practice and to compromise which in turn becomes bad lifestyle choices.

There are moral and doctrinal distinctions that must be made. We do not have the option of ignoring them. The best place you can learn how to make right choices is to attend church and sit under good doctrinal preaching. Living in wisdom is not mystical. It is to follow the objective truth of God’s word.

 

Pastor V. Mark Smith