Read The Bible

It is crucial that we as disciples read and memorize the Bible. So many deceptions are out there and we must guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:17). 

Most errors or heresies begin when people deviate from God’s Scriptures. For instance the Orthodox says The Holy Spirit proceeds only from the Father, when Scripture declares the Spirit comes from both: 

“But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.”(John 14:26) 

“When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father--the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father--he will testify about me.” (John 15:26) 

“Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you and with that he breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit.” (John 20:21-22)

The concept that Christians will be raptured and escape great triubulation falls apart from a rudimentary reading of Scripture: 

 “Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.” (Matyhew 24:9-13) 

“This means that God’s holy people must endure persecution patiently, obeying his commands and maintaining their faith in Jesus.” (Revelation 14:12) 

“And the beast was allowed to wage war against God’s holy people and to conquer them. And he was given authority to rule over every tribe and people and language and nation.” (Revelation 13:7) 

“You will be hated by everyone because of me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.” (Matthew 10:22) 

“In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.” (2 Timothy 3:12) 

Those who claim you must tithe use Malachi 3, out of context, which is a chapter about priests tithing, and we are all priests now, “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light,” (1 Peter 2:9), and “from Jesus, the Christ, who is the faithful witness and the first begotten of the dead and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us and washed us from our sins with his own blood, and has made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.” (Revelation 1:5-6, Jubilee Bible 2000). Jesus said no need to tithe, “When Peter entered the house, Jesus preempted him. “What do you think, Simon?” He asked. “From whom do the kings of the earth collect customs and taxes: from their own sons, or from others?”“From others,” Peter answered.

“Then the sons are exempt,” Jesus declared. “But so that we may not offend them, go to the sea, cast a hook, and take the first fish you catch. When you open its mouth, you will find a four-drachma coin.d Take it and give it to them for My tax and yours.” (Matthew 17:25-27) and we are sons now, “You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3:26). God lives in us and we in God (1 John 4:15), so then why should we tithe? Giving a gift is fine, but a tithe is compulsion, and the Apostle forbids this giving: “You must each decide in your heart how much to give. And don’t give reluctantly or in response to (peer) pressure (compulsion). “For God loves a person who gives cheerfully.” (2 Corinthians 9:7) 

Pastors make a big deal about the sabbath like their Pharisee forerunners did when Jesus said of the Sabbath: 

“One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and his disciples began to pick some heads of grain, rub them in their hands and eat the kernels. Some of the Pharisees asked, “Why are you doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?”

Jesus answered them, “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? He entered the house of God, and taking the consecrated bread, he ate what is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions.” Then Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.” (Luke 6:1-5) 

“Then Jesus declared, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. Therefore, the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.” (Mark 2:27-28) 

The Sabbath was for rest, not religious toil!: “Six days you shall labor, but on the seventh day you shall rest; even during the plowing season and harvest you must rest.” (Exodus 34:21) 

There are Churches that ban alcohol when Jesus drank wine: 

“For John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon.’ The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and you say, ’Look at this glutton and drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and of sinners!” (Luke 7:33-34) 

Exorcists decieve people into an obsession with demonology, when exorcist in Greek means “one who conjures demons into people,” (The Hebrew-Greek Key Word Study Bible: NASB-1977 Edition, Dr. Spiros Zodhiates) and Jesus alone through faith can caste out demons. Proof exorcists are not the same as true deliverance from sound and balanced ministers, “And God was doing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, so that even handkerchiefs or aprons that had touched his skin were carried away to the sick, and their diseases left them and the evil spirits came out of them. Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists undertook to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, “I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul proclaims.” Seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva were doing this. But the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I recognize, but who are you?” And the man in whom was the evil spirit leaped on them, mastered all[a] of them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. And this became known to all the residents of Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks. And fear fell upon them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was extolled. Also many of those who were now believers came, confessing and divulging their practices. And a number of those who had practiced magic arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted the value of them and found it came to fifty thousand pieces of silver. So the word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily.” (Acts 19:11-20). Real deliverance has a person get delivered through Jesus and tjey are in their right mind, not constantly having to run to deliverance minister about new demons, “When they came to Jesus, they saw the man who had been possessed by the legion of demons, sitting there, dressed and in his right mind; and they were afraid. ” (Mark 5:15). A real deliverance has the person freed from bondage snd in their right mind as Jesus did with the man who had Legion. Beware of exorcists who seek to lead you away from “a pure snd simple devotion to Christ.” (2 Corinthians 11:3). 

Pastors make family almost a demi-god with slogans like “family is everything,” but Jesus disowned his cruel abusive family members, “One time Jesus entered a house, and the crowds began to gather again. Soon he and his disciples couldn’t even find time to eat. When his family heard what was happening, they tried to take him away. “He’s out of his mind,” they said.Then Jesus’ mother and brothers came to see him. They stood outside and sent word for him to come out and talk with them. There was a crowd sitting around Jesus, and someone said, “Your mother and your brothers are outside asking for you.”

Jesus replied, “Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?” Then he looked at those around him and said, “Look, these are my mother and brothers. Anyone who does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.” (Mark 3:21, 31-35), and “For even his own brothers did not believe in him.” (John 7:5). 

People build cathedrals and buildings for God, when God doesn’t want buildings: 

“But that night the word of the Lord came to Nathan, saying:

“Go and tell my servant David, ‘This is what the Lord says: Are you the one to build me a house to dwell in? I have not dwelt in a house from the day I brought the Israelites up out of Egypt to this day. I have been moving from place to place with a tent as my dwelling. Wherever I have moved with all the Israelites, did I ever say to any of their rulers whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, “Why have you not built me a house of cedar?” The Lord declares to you that the Lord himself will establish a house for you.” (2 Samuel 17: 4-7, 11) 

“David found favor with God and asked for the privilege of building a permanent Temple for the God of Jacob.  But it was Solomon who actually built it. However, the Most High doesn’t live in temples made by human hands. As the prophet says, ‘Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. Could you build me a temple as good as that?’ asks the Lord. ‘Could you build me such a resting place? Didn’t my hands make both heaven and earth?’  “You stubborn people! You are heathen at heart and deaf to the truth. Must you forever resist the Holy Spirit?” (Acts 7:46-51) 

And we Christians are now the living temples of God the Trinity: 

“Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?” (1 Corinthians 3:16)

“Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;” (1 Corinthians 6:19) 

“What agreement can exist between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: "I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be My people." (2 Corinthians 6:16) 

“so that, if I am delayed, you will know how each one must conduct himself in God's household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth.” (1 Timothy 3:15) 

“But Christ is faithful as the Son over God's house. And we are His house, if we hold firmly to our confidence and the hope of which we boast.” (Hebrews 3:6) 

There are Calvinists and Messianics who say you cannot know you are saved and that you must practice the law or ecclesiastical exercises when Scripture says you can know you are saved: 

“because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.” (Romans 10:9-10) 

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

“He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” (John 3:16-18) 

“While Paul and Barnabas were at Antioch of Syria, some men from Judea (Jewish Pharisees) arrived and began to teach the believers: “Unless you are circumcised as required by the law of Moses, you cannot be saved.” Paul and Barnabas disagreed with them, arguing vehemently. Finally, the church decided to send Paul and Barnabas to Jerusalem, accompanied by some local believers, to talk to the apostles and elders about this question. The church sent the delegates to Jerusalem, and they stopped along the way in Phoenicia and Samaria to visit the believers. They told them—much to everyone’s joy—that the Gentiles, too, were being converted.

When they arrived in Jerusalem, Barnabas and Paul were welcomed by the whole church, including the apostles and elders. They reported everything God had done through them. But then some of the believers who belonged to the sect of the Pharisees stood up and insisted, “The Gentile converts must be circumcised and required to follow the law of Moses.”

So the apostles and elders met together to resolve this issue. At the meeting, after a long discussion, Peter stood and addressed them as follows: “Brothers, you all know that God chose me from among you some time ago to preach to the Gentiles so that they could hear the Good News and believe. God knows people’s hearts, and he confirmed that he accepts Gentiles by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as he did to us. He made no distinction between us and them, for he cleansed their hearts through faith. So why are you now challenging God by burdening the Gentile believers[b] with a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors were able to bear? We believe that we are all saved the same way, by the undeserved grace of the Lord Jesus.” (Acts 15:1-11) 

“Anyone who confesses Jesus Christ as Som of God, God lives in them and they live in God.” (1 John 4:15) 

We must test all that is taught with Scripture and the Holy Spirit, “Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.” (1 John 4:1). Do not take a minister’s word as gold, only take The Word of God Himself as recorded in Holy Bible, and in your relationship with Him as gold; His personal revelations to you will always be in perfect harmony with Scripture and never contradict it for Jesus is same always, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” (Hebrews 13:8). 

Know the Bible and memorize it, and cultists and false prophets will not prevail over you. Armed with Scripture ans the Holy Spirit gift of Discernment (1 Corinthians 12:7) you will have a bulwark against deception. Amen.