Hidden In Plain Sight

Preach the word!  Be ready inseason and out of season.  Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching.  For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.

2 Timothy 4:  2-4 NKJV 

I found myself listening to a popular radio pulpit pounder the other day.  I wouuld have to admit that I agreed with a part of his message, but I also saw the flaws.  Oh, it was indeed a good message about managing our finances, and who doesn't need that?  However, the entire last part of his speech was a continuous diatribe of how as "Good christians" we should be giving healthily to the whatever church we are affiliated with.  It was at this point that I turned my radio off, disgusted by yet another church money grab.  The message begins innocently enough, telling the audience just how much our Lord has blessed us, and continues to bless us yet today.  Yet, it is here where the narrative takes a viscious turn.  For if God indeed blesses His children, which He does, then He MUST be looking for a payback, right?  Imagine, if you will, that our Lord God is sitting in heaven with a ledger marking down each and every blessing He bestows and at the very same time balancing it with just how much we give Him in return!  Does this sound like a generous, loving God?  Well, that is the message from some in the church these days.  To hear these guys talk, you would never get the impression that our Lord enjoys blessing His children.  Of course, this is not a new teaching, far from it.  For in 2 Timothy 4, the apostle Paul has a warning for his young apprentice Timothy of the false teachings that would come to light in the early church.  Paul knew the truth of the gospel of Christ, and he was exorting Timothy to be on guard against those who would pervert this message.  

"However, the Most High does not dwelll in temples made with hands, as tthe prophet says:  ''Heaven is my throne, And the earth is my footstool.  What house will you build for me?  says the LORD, or what is the place of my rest?  Has my hand not made all these things?'

Acts 7: 48-49 NKJV 

I find it interesting that the very same warning that Paul gave to young Timothy remains true today.  Many times it is not those from outside the church who we must beware of, but those within the walls of the congregation.  Of course, one of the biggest litmus tests of the truth to the gospel of Jesus is Gods holy word.  For the scripture tells us that God is love.  Would anything not exhibiting the love of Christ be considered a false teaching?  Whatever the message, we can be assured that it is our loving God who sent His Son to be sin in our place so that we would be free from the sin that plagued us.  I do not recall seeing anything in scripture where God seeks repayment for His act of selfless love.

~Scott~