Video Talk
Acts 20:29-32 ESV
“I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them. Therefore be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to admonish every one with tears. And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.”
Matthew 7:15-16 ESV: “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits.”
Matthew 10:16 ESV: “Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.”
This is why I do what I do each day. This is why God called me to this ministry 18 years ago, because we are being inundated with wolves in sheep’s clothing, and not just within the gatherings of the church (or what is falsely being called church), but in the government, and in the news media, and in the media, in general, and coming from other places. And this is not just my opinion. The evidence is everywhere you look, pretty much. We just have to eyes to see and ears to hear what is really happening in our world.
And the gospel of our salvation is being diluted, and not many people anymore are teaching the whole counsel of God, but they are teaching an altered gospel message intended to tickle itching ears and to lead people astray from the truth of the gospel. And this also is not just my opinion. The Scriptures warn of us of such a time as this when these wolves in sheep’s clothing will come in and teach what is twisted in order to draw disciples away after themselves. And the Scriptures themselves tell us some of the kinds of things that these false teachers will teach, too.
False Teachers:
[Matthew 7:15-23; Matthew 24:11-14; John 10:1-15; 2 Peter 2:1-22; 1 Timothy 1:3-7; 1 Timothy 6:3-10; 1 John 4:1-6; Jude 1:3-23]
And the evidence is there in the things that these false teachers are teaching. All we have to do is listen to what they are saying and then examine their words against the Scriptures (taught in CONTEXT). For this is what we should all be doing, testing everything we hear and read against the Scriptures (in context) to make certain that what we are hearing and reading is indeed the truth. And no one is exempt from such an examination, either. I don’t care who they are or who they know.
So, I received a critical response to the latest video talk on “Hating the Light; Loving the Darkness.” The responder accused me of this:
“You didn’t tell others not to believe you but that they should pray they should seek study this and find it for them selfs. Its HIS Truth right? If its nots HIS then you will never tell people not to believe you but find it in His word. Sorry some things you posted goes against the word of God taken out of context. Things not written to Christians. Things that will not be told to Christians. Some things you said are true.”
I did review back over the video, and I did give several Scripture references in things that I stated, and I did point people to the Scriptures multiple times, but I did not give Scripture references for everything I said, which is harder to do when doing a short video talk than it is to do when I am writing devotions, for I am just sharing as led by the Spirit like I was sitting across the room from you in my living room. Nothing scripted much at all in the video talks other than the beginning passage of Scripture.
So since I don’t know what I am going to be saying ahead of time, I don’t have all those Scripture references ready at hand, either. But I will try to make it my practice in the future to post the Scripture references in the description section underneath the video. If I forget, please feel free to remind me. And anytime you have a question or a concern about something I said, and you want to know where to find that in the Scriptures, then please quote what I said specifically and I will be glad to supply the Scriptures.
Now, I am also going to be sharing observations about things that I have witnessed personally with regards to the present condition of today’s church, but the Scriptures warn us of this time and what we can expect, and all I am doing is sharing the reality and the fulfillment of those predictive Scriptures from what is apparent for anyone whose spiritual eyes and ears are alert and paying attention to what is really going on. And so I am making you aware, if you are not already, so that you can watch for these things prayerfully, and so that you are not led astray, which is what Paul did, too.
So, yes, please do test what you hear me say, and if you feel I am in error, please bring it to my attention. But please give me a specific quote of what I said so that I can respond to your specific concern. I can do nothing with generalized comments which tell me nothing. And please be students of the Scriptures who read them in their context and then who are applying them to your daily lives. And then please be those who are spreading the truth of the gospel to others so that they can come to know Jesus Christ, too.
The Gospel Truth:
[Matt 7:21-23; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 9:23-26; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14,24; Rom 12:1-2; Rom 13:11; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; 1 Co 1:18; 1 Co 15:1-2; 2 Tim 1:8-9; Heb 9:28; 1 Pet 1:5; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-17; 1 Pet 2:24; Tit 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 3:6,14-15; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]
Come and See
An Original Work / May 20, 2013
Based off John 1:35-51
John, the Baptist, called of God to
Make straight the way for the Lord,
Told his disciples about Jesus,
So two of them followed Him.
One of them who followed Jesus
Told his brother, Simon Peter,
Who then he brought to the Savior,
Who had told them, “Come and see.”
Jesus Christ, our Lord, Messiah,
On his way to Galilee found a man, Philip,
So he told him, “I want you to follow Me.”
Philip then found his friend,
And he told him, “We have found the one
The prophets spoke of – He is Jesus!”
Philip then said, “Come and see.”
Jesus saw the man, Nathanael,
While he sat beneath a fig tree,
Even before Philip called him,
So Nathanael did believe.
Nonetheless the Lord said,
“You believe because of what I told you.
You will see much greater things than these
If you will Come and see.”
Jesus’ calling to each one of us.
He tells us to believe in Him
As our Lord and Messiah,
And to follow where He leads.
He says we must turn from our sins,
Die to sin and self each day,
And put on our new lives in Jesus;
Bow before Him; humbly pray.
I must admit, I’m not sure I even understood what the criticism was saying, much less what it referred to. You are right in asking for comments to be specific. We all make mistakes, but we only learn when we know specifically what they are.
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Yes, it was difficult to understand but I believed it necessary to respond because I want my readers and listeners to know they can test what I say, and they should, and they are welcome to challenge me as long as they give me specifics. And I do want to show that what I am sharing as Scripture really is taken from the Scriptures. Just making myself transparent.
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That’s the way we should always present our case, Sue. The Bible praises the Bereans for checking out everything the apostles said by searching the Scriptures. Anyone who discourages that resembles a cult leader, in my opinion. (Feel free to challenge THAT opinion with Scripture. 😉 )
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Thanks, Annie, I agree.
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On a side note, I had a friend on Facebook who I knew years ago and had just reconnected with her a year or so ago, and she was doing devotional videos with a live audience. And I wanted to challenge her respectfully on something she said, so the Lord led me to write her privately and to ask her two basic questions. One, is she approachable to be challenged, and two, would she be agreeable to having her words tested against the Scriptures. Her answer back to me was a resounding No on both counts. And then she went on to blast me to her followers on her next video and to let her listeners know she is not approachable and she will not have her words tested against the Scriptures. So it is important to me to let my readers and listeners know that I am approachable and I am open to having my words tested against the Scriptures. I just need specifics and not generalities.
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WHOA! Talk about a red flag…!
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Yes, definitely. Very sad situation because her followers didn’t appear to bail after that.
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Fools.
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Hi Sue, I listened carefully to your video pertaining to “Hating the Light; Loving the Darkness.” and I did not find anything that you stated that I would consider misleading or unScriptural. Actually, I would agree that there are many who take John 3:16 and misapply what Jesus stated because they have not taken it in context with the rest of this particular Scripture that includes ALL of John 3:16-21.
I should note that you did mention about “Once Saved, Always Saved”, which as you probably know, has Biblical cases made for it that are both for and against, and these case studies can and do get quite involved. I personally am not a proponent of OSAS either, although I can appreciate the position of those who do, and I can understand how the topic of that particular post, could play into misapplying John 3:16, via the OSAS persuasion, as you inferred. To keep the initial post focused on John 3:16-21, I would have probably not have mentioned the OSAS connection, but I can understand why you did. “Possibly” that particular comment was the reason for the criticism. You’re only human, Sue, and it happens to the best of us.
I did not see any “comments” authorized on that particular post so I would assume that you received this criticism via personal email and you chose to only share the “selected portion” of the criticism you received, as per this particular post. Generally, I post (authorize for release) the complete and unedited comments of any criticism I receive, as long as the individual who has sent it has not extended the criticism into a personal derogatory attack. The reason being, it can serve as a legitimate discussion, where all can learn from, myself included.
When dealing with criticism, specifics are absolutely essential. Generalities which are not specifically identified leaves all concerned in the position of “assuming” and we all know that is not a good way to go. I thought your explanation given, reference speaking unscripted on a video was reasonable, and your offer to clarify, accommodating.
Just my two cents, hope this helps. God’s blessings on you and yours as always, Sue!
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Bruce, thank you for taking the time to check that out and then to respond thoughtfully in the manner that you did. I appreciate everything you stated here.
As far as my mentioning of the OSAS, I do this sometimes, but under the direction of the Holy Spirit, so I make no apologies for it.
And the person’s comment was public, and I can view it just fine. So, if you can’t see it, I don’t have an answer for that, sorry. I did not quote everything he said for a lot of it was really off subject. I only quoted what was on subject.
Again, thank you for your diligence in checking this all out and for your feedback. God bless!
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