While driving today, I happened to hear a news report about a well know pastor/evangelist. The report stated that the pastor had received a very clear message from the Lord. The message was that he needed to get a new private jet to take the Good News of Christ around the world. This pastor said that the Lord was also very specific and very clear on what airplane he was supposed to get. This plane will seat 16 people comfortably and will only cost about $54,000,000 dollars. The report went on to say that the Lord also told him to go to the people to raise the money so that they could all be involved in taking him, and the Good News, around the world. Need I say that I was skeptical after I heard the report and it brought to mind the words of Christ.
"7 Therefore Jesus said again, “Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. 8 All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. 9 I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12 The hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. 13 The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.14 “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me" John 10:7-14 NIV
During the time that Christ taught this, times were dire. The Pharisees were using the their power and authority to miss-lead the people, to keep the people under their control. They made the people responsible for much more than what the Mosaic Law and Levitical teachings commanded. Some of them even lived extravagant lives, all off of the hard earnings of the people. Christ was using symbolism that the people were very familiar with to explain to the people that the way things were being done was not the way that is was supposed to be. Christ symbolized the people as sheep. Sheep in those days, knew the voice of the shepherd that was responsible for their care. They knew his touch, his care, they knew him. But there were also those "hired shepherds" that cared nothing for the sheep. They only wanted the care of the sheep for the wages that they would receive. When trouble loomed for the sheep, the "hired shepherd" would flee as he cared nothing for the sheep, only his profit. Christ was explaining that the people were doing exactly the same things as the sheep. They were allowing themselves to be manipulated by the "hired shepherds", the Pharisees.
There are those in ministry that seek the profits that ministry can bring. People are willing to give all they have to get healed, to get happy, to get married, etc. etc. They existed in Christ's day, and they exist today. Another example of this can be found in the book of Acts where the individual wanted to pay for the Holy Spirit so that he could do the things that the Apostles were doing.
As believers, we need to be ever mindful of how the enemy works. I am not condemning those that do the things that the pastor I heard about do, but neither am I condoning. The Word teaches us that we are to be ever mindful of the devices that the enemy uses against us. We are to "test the spirits" to see if they are from God. How can we be sure that the Lord has spoken in such a way as to ask for an airplane? Maybe we can't, but the point is, if God wants us to go, He will always confirm and provide a means to go. Christ asked the disciples to go and to take nothing for their journey, that they would be provided for, and they were. We have to also bring to attention that as Christ went about on His ministry, they were provided for, but I doubt that they had big mansions or expensive rides. On the contrary, they always gave and the people had need.
The Word teaches us that in the last days, these sorts of things were going to happen and that they would become even worse. Money is a powerful motivator. It gets people of all sorts of creeds and beliefs to do strange and extraordinary things that most would not do if it were not for the love of money. If we pay attention to the teachings in Scripture, we should be givers as people have need. It is easy to see many of today's preachers in big houses with fancy cars and expensive toys, and to also see the congregations and people they lead suffering and needing with little to no means of taking care of themselves, ready to defend to the death the giving that they give to their teachers as they are lead to believe that he is the anointed of God. This is not supposed to be so. We are to distribute to all as all has need! Even the Apostle Paul worked as a tent maker so that he had no need to live off of those he ministered to.
What I am teaching today is that we are to be careful of the "hired shepherds". Can God use them to bring salvation to the lost? Absolutely He can! God can use anyone or anything to speak to His beloved children. But we also need to be aware, as our passage today teaches us, that there are also those that are seeking to benefit off of us by using the Word and the love of God to their benefit. Seek the Lord and His voice in those you are allowing to lead and teach you. Seek their motives, question them, hold them accountable to God and His Word. None of us can ever stress enough that none of us is above the Lord. Remember, even Paul rebuked Peter and Jethro advised and counseled Moses. As believers we are to teach, and rebuke in love, never in anger or hatred. Be ever mindful and cautious of those in the ministry that build their lives off of the lives of the people they lead.
May God Richly Bless You Today!
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