I heard a sermon the other day where the Pastor talked against buying lottery tickets, drinking alcohol and tattooing our bodies. He taught passionately about staying away from worldly vices. However, he was not as responsible and passionate about teaching his flock the one true way to be saved. He did not teach them how to become the One True Ekklesia – The Body of Christ. No! He invited listeners to become a part their “church.” I believe the quote was that…

“You can come by letter or on your ‘Christian experience’ or as a ‘candidate’ for baptism.”

Parenthetically speaking, the preachers these days seem to preach for a positive response – to get the congregation to applaud and agree with them and therefore be pleased with them.

The Pastor never emphasized the eternal Commandments of God nor God’s ordained plan and command of how to properly respond to His Grace and Mercy in Christ Jesus. He never preached the importance of dying to all of our sins, being buried in a watery grave in the name of Christ Jesus and being raised to a new life in Christ by virtue of the gift of the Holy Ghost.

His sermon was no more than a well written, well delivered and well performed speech that stirred emotions and challenged social ills but offered no real divine salvation or divine power.

And what is worst is the fact that no one seems to realize that if they avoided all vices and cured all social ills and treated everyone right and joined a “church,” they would still be damned without being born of the water and of the Spirit as commanded by Christ and by God. (John 3:3-7 and Acts 2:38)

No one seems to realize that neither Jesus nor his apostles taught or preached the way that many are teaching and preaching and whooping (hooping) today.

There was no ‘hooping going on when the apostles of Christ preached the Gospel of the KINGDOM OF GOD and of Christ.

There weren’t any sermons directed against the government when the apostles preached.

There weren’t any sermon lessons that focused on pleasing and entertaining the people, developing social programs, wealth building, prosperity gospels and changing the Law of God to accommodate the imaginations and immoralities of mankind.

Christ and His apostles taught and preached GOD’S Unadulterated TRUTH, exposing sin, demonstrating the power of Christ’s Blood and the integrity of God’s Holy Word.

Christ and his Apostles did not entangle themselves with the world’s political or religious systems but submerged and consecrated themselves unto God (YHVH) and submitted themselves to His divine and supreme theocracy over their lives. They preached and taught by the empowerment and guidance of the Holy Spirit to the pleasure and glory of GOD the Father in the name of Christ Jesus. They didn’t have a Bible.  They didn’t always use Holy Scripture to speak divine and eternal truth. They spoke as the Holy Spirit gave them revelation, direction and utterance. They had no concern for being politically correct or staying within the boundaries of a denominational belief system or complying with organizational rules and federal restrictions or maintaining some humanly contrived ritual, tradition or philosophy.

They had been born again, endowed with power from above – the Holy Spirit. They saw a new day dawning and a brighter light shining. No religion nor church on earth could compare with God’s Glory that they saw in and through Christ. This Glorious Salvation was too wonderful for Words and yet our tongues spoke for us in the Holy Ghost.

We are born again as free and holy members of Christ, for the “Truth” Has Made Us Free.

We are free to preach God’s message without concern for personal safety, public praises or accolades. We are only concerned with pleasing God and giving Him All Of The Praise and The GLORY and the Honor.

We are His property and subject to His will. As such, we cannot be entangled with the world and adequately and faithfully serve Him.

The Holy Scripture tells us to “Come out from among them!” (2 Corinthians 6:17 )

REPENT!!!

I Pray that the FATHER draws every reader of this article to Himself and reveal to them the wonderful glory of His LOVE in Christ so that their eyes may be opened and their heart’s pricked unto repentance so that their souls may be redeemed from the world and sanctified unto God. Amen!

Now as for me, I teach and preach by His HOLY Spirit and …

~ Bishop O.W. Prince ~

Disclaimer:

The references made in this post are not specific to any one particular preacher or sermon but a collage of various sermons and preachers that I have experienced over the past 10 to 20 years. Some elements of this post are virtual and illustrative in nature for the purpose of education and spiritual illumination.  Some creative license was used for the purpose of demonstration and clarity.  This post is not a personal attack on any one individual or entity but an indictment against misleading and false preaching and teaching.