Tag: Romans 16:18

Dream Catchers

I recently shared a sermon titled The End Times and The Unsuspecting. The sermon is based on Romans 16: 18 which reads:

[18] For such men are slaves, not of our Lord Christ but of their own appetites; and by their smooth and flattering speech they deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting.

The “men” are people trying to deceive Christians into error.  The “unsuspecting” are those Christians who go through life unaware of the demonic snares. 

They are not aware of the spiritual fact that if we have something that belongs to or is dedicated to the devil or his kingdom, he has a legal right to be in the Christian’s home or life. We have, as Paul warns us not to do, “given place to the devil”.  The word “place” means we have given him ground to stand on in our lives.  A “beachhead” may more properly describe it. 

As I was reviewing the PowerPoint, when I reached the section stating that “unsuspecting Christians participate in or have an unhealthy interest in occult practices”, the Holy Spirit impressed me that I needed to add Native American spirituality to the occult practices list.  I had created the list from Deuteronomy 18: 10-14 which contains most of the occult practices God considers an abomination. So, I added it to my notes and made a few comments during the sermon.

I found out later some church members were convicted by the Lord to dispose of their Native American “dream catchers’ hanging over their beds.  Goes to show that only the Lord knows the hearts of His lambs. 

As a follow up, I would like to share a short article on “dream catchers”.   The author is Nanci Des Gerlaise, a Native American Christian woman of Cree First Nation. Nanci’s father and grandfather were both medicine men or shamans; therefore, she has first hand knowledge concerning the occult powers behind Native American spirituality. May your spiritual eyes be opened if you are involved in this snare. God bless you! Carl

Dream Catchers—Those Popular Spidery “Sacred Hoops”

November 21, 2019 by Lighthouse Trails author

By Nanci Des Gerlaise
(author of Muddy Waters: an insider’s view of North American Native Spirituality)

Dream catchers—those spidery “sacred hoops” with feathers. They originated with the Ojibwa tribe during the ’60s and ’70s, supposedly to protect a sleeper by “catching” bad dreams or evil spirits. Then they caught on with other tribes and spread through the New Age movement into popular culture. Today, it is not uncommon to see dream catchers in gift and variety stores.  Dream catchers are even used in some public school settings, as the following describes:

Every classroom displayed at least one dreamcatcher—a magical spider web inside a sacred circle. The students explained that dreamcatchers protect them from evil spirits and nightmares by catching the bad dreams but permitting good dreams to pass though the center. According to fourth grade teacher Ms. Preston, the amber crystal in the center of her dreamcatcher meant proper spiritual alignment with the energy of the universe.1

But you can be sure, most of the general public has no idea of the meaning and purpose of dream catchers.

Basically, using a dream catcher in its intended purpose is nothing more than a form of practicing occultism. How can an inanimate object “catch” evil spirits, much less bad dreams? And why attempt to “catch” evil spirits or nightmares when you cannot fight them physically?

Although Native people can sometimes see into the spiritual world of darkness, dream catchers, or anything having to do with the occult, merely attract evil spirits and demonic activity and provide no means of protection from them. Using dream catchers is an open invitation for more spiritual works of darkness.

If you are a born-again Christian, you have a Protector—God Almighty—who stands between us and the evil realm. We need nothing more than Jesus Christ Himself who overcame all works and powers of darkness by His death and resurrection. If we pay attention to God’s Word and not to seducing spirits, we can walk in His freedom from fear.

Ephesians 6:12 says that our battle is not against “flesh and blood,” but is against “principalities,” “powers,” “the rulers of the darkness” and “spiritual wickedness in high places.” And in Hebrews, we read:

Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. (Hebrews 2:14–15)

(To understand more about Native Spirituality, read Muddy Waters, by Nanci Des Gerlaise).

Notes:
1. Berit Kjos, Brave New Schools (Kjos Ministries, http://www.crossroad.to/Books/BraveNewSchools/1-globalvillage.html), ch. 1.

Easy, Easy, Easy

“It is an easy thing to be godly from the teeth outward.”

Preceeding quote is from Matthew Henry’s (1710 AD) comments describing false teachers in Romans 16:18. 

One godly characteristic the false teachers exhibited was “Christian” speech. From the teeth outward they appeared godly. In other words, they used Christian lingo and profess to be Christian but inwardly, in their heart, they are ravenous wolves sent by satan to mislead the true born again Christians. They use their oratory skills and cunning to lead Christians astray. The scripture says

“… and by their smooth and flattering speech they deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting.” (Romans 16:18)

The Lord Jesus warned about these people:

“Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. [16] You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they? [17] So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. [18] A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit. [19] Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. [20] So then, you will know them by their fruits. …. (Matthew 7: 15-20)

Don’t be “unsuspecting” but be a fruit inspector. The Lord Jesus is telling you and me that by examining the fruit of their lives you can recognize the ravenous wolves despite their Christian words, mannerisms, associations, and their smooth and flattering speech.

In another blog we will discuss some of the fruit you should look for.

THEREFORE, “Gird your minds for action, keep sober in spirit” (I Peter 1:13) and “be on alert, your adversary, the devil, prowls about…seeking someone to devour” (I Peter 5:8).

Carl

Choose Your Bible Teachers Wisely

“It is better to be divided by truth than to be united in error. It is better to speak the truth that hurts, and then heals, than falsehood that comforts and then kills. Let me tell you something, friend, it is not love, and it is not friendship, if we fail to declare the whole counsel of God. It is better to be hated for telling the truth, than to be loved for telling a lie….”

Adrian Rogers

Today if you share the whole counsel of God as expressed by the Holy Spirit in the Bible, you are defined as being negative or even a corrupter of the good news. It is believed by some that you should only share about the positive things in scripture: grace, love, “the mystery”, peace, security and a beautiful future.

Today, through the emergent church and others, Christianity is being redefined and losing its scriptural moorings. The word of God is being cherry picked to make it fit into contemporary culture. Eventually, the subjective experiences of Christian mysticism will replace the objective truths of scripture, leading to the rejection of orthodox doctrines that have strengthened believers for centuries.

To help us understand how God intended the Truth to be shared, we will look at Acts 20: 17-38, Luke’s account of Paul praying with the Ephesian elders on his way to Jerusalem. From his discourse we can discern what he had previously shared with these Gentile and Jewish believers:

  • He “did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable…” (verse 20)
  • He “solemnly testified to both Jews and Greeks of repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.”
  • He says his ministry was “…to testify solemnly of the gospel of the grace of God.”
  • He says that he is “…innocent of the blood of all men for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel [or purpose] of God.”
  • He warned these “overseers” to “Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock…” because “after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock…”
  • He specifically warned these church elders that “from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them.”
  • He tells them “Therefore be on the alert…”
  • He tells them “…remembering that night and day for a period of three years I did not cease to admonish each one with tears.”
  • In closing, Paul “…commended you to God and to the word of His grace which is able to build you up and give you the inheritance…”
  • He taught them through his example of hard work to help the weak and “remember the words of the Lord Jesus….’It is more blessed to give than to receive.'”

As you can see from an overview of this text that Paul shared what would be termed today “negative” truth with this church. Following are some observations that can be drawn from Paul’s statements:

  1. The parameter he used for sharing was, is it profitable to them. His first priority was their spiritual well being, not their subjective feelings, nor his reputation, financial status or social status.
  2. There were serious, eternal issues at stake; therefore, he testified solemnly of the way to salvation and to the gospel of the grace of God. There was no showmanship or frivolous handling of the truths of God but there were tears as he admonished [instructed and warned] each one.
  3. These were serious matters that Paul would be held accountable to Jesus Christ for; therefore, he shared with them the whole counsel of God so he would be innocent of the blood of all men. He shared the positive, the negative and everything in-between.
  4. We Christians do not like to be warned that we could be deceived. Yet, Paul stressed to these church leaders that there were savage wolves, people activated by the devil, who would destroy church people’s lives and that some of them, the elders, were these very savage wolves. Not a very positive statement. He did not build up their self-worth, positive image, or encourage them. He told them a hard truth.
  5. He told them to remember the words of Lord Jesus about giving; thereby, pointing to the ultimate authority of knowledge.

Therefore, dear Reader, if you are in a church that does not give you the whole counsel of God, the positive, the negative and everything in-between, I advise you to get up, grab your Bible, and run out the door. If they are just tickling your ears and giving you what your flesh or the contemporary culture wants you to hear, you’re in, or headed for great deception. Find yourself a pastor who loves the sheep enough to tell them the truth, even when it is not popular, and fears the Lord instead of man. A pastor who loves you more than he loves money and popularity.

Why should you do this?

Because the savage wolves are still here! And they still want to lead you astray and devour you and your love ones.

Peter said in 2 Peter 2:1, as there were false prophets before the Lord Jesus came the first time, there would also be false teachers among the New Testament believers, who would secretly introduce destructive heresies alongside of biblical truths. They would use the Holy Scripture to camaflouge their lies.

This is why the Lord Jesus gave certain offices to His Church that would produce a certain Result:

….gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, [12] for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; [13] until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. [14] As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming;…

Ephesians 4:11-14

These men mentioned in verse 14 above, are savage wolves. By the preaching and teaching of the whole counsel of God, the Church is protected from these destructive, demonized people, whose goal is to destroy. If you have ever watched a wild animal attack and devour another wild animal, you know how powerful this analogy is. No mercy, no stopping until the victim’s life is snuffed out. We once had a hawk knock a wood duck out the sky and they fell in front of our dinning room window. Watching the hawk kill the duck was a sobering reminder of the life and death struggle in the physical world and the spiritual world.

Therefore, choose your spiritual teachers very wisely, including the spiritual books you read. Do some research and find out what the author believes before you expose yourself to their teaching.

Remember what Adrian Rogers said at the beginning of this post.

“It is better to be divided by truth than to be united in error. It is better to speak the truth that hurts, and then heals, than falsehood that comforts and then kills.

“Falsehood” is what savage wolves give unsuspecting hearts (Romans 16:18) to ensnare them. “Therefore be alert…”

May you be growing into the “measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ“. Thank you for your time.

Carl

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