PREACHERS AND LEADERS, WE MUST GET THIS, RIGHT!!!
The Religious Ministers Has Zeal Without Biblical Knowledge;
Apostle Winfree James R Sr, Writer, And Blogger
Romans 10:2 - For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge.
Matthew 17:2-5 - He was transfigured before them... Then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with The Jesus Christ. Apostle Peter said to Jesus, "Lord it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will put up three tabernacles, one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah." While he was still speaking a bright cloud enveloped them and a voice from the cloud said, "This is My Son whom I love; with Him, I am well pleased, Listen and Hear Him and Obey Him. Jesus, The Living Temple"
Luke 22:49-51 - When Jesus' followers saw what was about to happen, they said, "Lord, should we strike with our swords?" And one of them struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his right ear. But Jesus answered, "No more of this!" And He touched the man's ear and healed him.
When biblical faith and grace leadership truth is on target, it can be extremely effective for the kingdom of God. The early Christ Believers were zealous Christ Believers. They were more than committed to the cause of Christ, they were zealously committed to the Lord and His Kingdom. Many of them even sacrificed their lives in order to share and to spread the word of the Lord. No wonder there was the phenomenal growth of Christ Believers and Followers in the first few centuries after Christ. They built lives, Not religious buildings or personal get rich kingdoms.
When religious zeal in leadership is off target, however, it can be extremely destructive in its effects on the kingdom of God and the cause of Christ. The Judaizers, the Devil faithful Servants, who tried to undermine the Gospel efforts of the Apostle Paul, had religious zeal, but it was "zeal without knowledge" ( Romans 10:2 ). Following the example of the Pharisees who had zealously sent their Messiah to the cross in the name of religion, these unbelieving Jews attempted to distort and even destroy the simple faith in Christ of many early Christ Believers. Just in our daily spiritual religious leadership, they are building up the world's kingdom and the Devil kingdom and his people.
But not only-Christian religious Ministers are not the only ones who are guilty of zeal without knowledge. Even well-meaning members can wreak havoc in the Church because of misguided zeal. Many times the advance of the kingdom has been hindered or held back and the cause of Christ has been hurt by Christians whose zeal is "without knowledge." Religious zeal can be misguided in the area of doctrine ( how we think ), and in the area of means ( what we do ). Let's consider two incidents in the life of apostle Peter which God has included in His Word to illustrate these two forms of misguided zeal.
Building Shrines And Human-Built Religious Buildings
Apostle Peter's response to his experience at the Mount of Transfiguration is an illustration of misguided zeal in the area of doctrine. "Let us build three tabernacles...." Apostle Peter must have thought that this was an appropriate gesture of doctrinally sound faith, but he couldn't have been further from the truth! His motive is to be commended, but his theology was way off-target. In his religious zeal, he actually demoted Christ, the Son of God, to the level of mere men! God the Father had to remove Moses and Elijah from Peter's vision and speak audibly from the cloud in order to get Elder Peter's thinking back on the right theological track. "This is My Beloved Son, with Him I Am well pleased. Listen to Him." Although the idea of building three religious church shrines to commemorate this event certainly involved commitment and zeal, it was misguided zeal. Pastors and Founders of our day are doing this very sinful thing, calling them the church or the house of prayer or even the houses of God. And All of the Churches wealth and blessings is just supporting sinners and the world, Not Christ true living Churches.
Misguided religious leadership zeal in the area of doctrine is certainly seen in Christendom today. It can be evidenced in the literary churches shrines and religious -buildings when distorted thinking elevates material buildings and lands to unhealthy importance, and the cause of Christ living Church, His Saints or Believers receives a secondary place. But it can also be evidenced in ways other than literal shrine church-buildings. Anytime a "social gospel" is preached and practiced, misguided doctrinal zeal is involved. The value of the saving work of Christ, which is of the utmost importance, is demoted to a status below the material needs of mankind! While Christ true biblical leaders have a definite responsibility to bring relief to the many needs of the living Church, and we should establish relief ministries to help build relationships with hurting God fearing and faithful Believers first, our primary focus must always be on their need for support of His heavenly spiritual family and then reach the lost with our love to one another showing and our light shining.
Getting Health And Wealth
Another example of misguided zeal in the area of doctrine is the teaching that God wants to make every Preacher and Founder "healthy and wealthy first." Many Ministers today are zealously promoting this false doctrine. The "prosperity gospel" actually teaches that the faith of Christians who are not experiencing good health and growing wealth is somewhat suspect. How devastating this false doctrine must be to Christians who have been particularly called by God to a life of suffering! Jesus Christ Ministers always ministers and bless the saints first before themselves. Rich Preachers & Poor Members is a Sin!!!
The distortion and sin of this misguided "doctrine" are clearly seen when the "Christian Ministers prosperity lifestyle" is contrasted with the lives of those believers who, in this life, have sacrificed all opportunity for personal gain for the work of the Lord. The commitment to Christ of these dedicated people of faith is definitely more in line with Scripture than the commitment to self of the misguided zealots of the prosperity gospel. ( See Luke 9:23-25,] [ Philippians 4:12] and [ 2 Timothy 3:12 ] for starters!) God has not planned for all Christians to be poor or sick, but health and wealth are not guaranteed for any Christian--regardless of the zealous teachings of the prosperity preachers.
The religious zeal of gay activists for the acceptance of homosexual lifestyles within the Christian church, the religious zeal of feminists "Christian Pastors and Leaders" who favor one-world religion are further examples of doctrinal "zeal without knowledge." The fact that false doctrine may become popular and be promoted by many people (perhaps even the majority!) doesn't make false doctrine any less false! Let's be careful that the doctrine we hold is not distorted by zeal without knowledge!
Cutting off Ears
Peter's defense of the Lord in the Garden of Gethsemane is another occasion on which the apostle Peter illustrated "zeal without knowledge." In this case, it was misguided zeal in the area of means or method. When Apostle Peter cut off the right ear of the high priest's servant, he was zealously committed to defending the Lord. He probably was aiming to cut the servant's head off, but in the excitement and emotion of the moment he missed and only got an ear! Even so, his intention was to defend his Lord and Master at all cost--even to death. Perhaps Peter wanted to prove that he really meant what he had said a few hours earlier in the Upper Room. (See John 13:37.) In any case, Peter showed a lot of courage and religious zeal here, but it was misguided zeal! Jesus true should always bless and be His blessings, and Never curse anyone. Read and study Matt 5:44- Lk 6;28- Rom 12-14 and James 3-9.
Zealously standing up for the Lord was not the problem. Even the use of physical force was not the real problem. The Bible indicates that there is a time and place to use physical force as a means of expressing religious zeal. The Lord asked Gideon, for example, to physically pull down and destroy the idol that his father had set up in their back yard (Judges 6:25). Our Lord Himself used physical force to drive the moneychangers from the Temple (John 2:15). On that occasion, He quoted Psalm 69:9, "The zeal for Thy House has consumed Me.
The problem was the means Elder Peter used. He lashed out with his destructive sword without even the faintest "green light" from the Lord. Brother Peter was not sensitive to the Lord's mind and direction at this point. The result was an action that God would never approve of. Without direction from the Lord, religious zeal is an accident waiting to happen! Religious zeal out of control (God's control) can disrupt and destroy the work of the Lord for years to come! And it can happen suddenly, as brother Peter's case. We need to be extremely careful of the means we use to channel our religious fervor and zeal.
Disciplining without Grace
Misguided zeal in methods and means comes in all sizes and shapes. Everything from discipline in the church to fundraising techniques can be mishandled by religious zealots. In the area of church discipline, for example, many churches have been destroyed because of a few overly-zealous "perfectionists." While church discipline needs to be employed more frequently these days, carrying discipline to extremes is misguided zeal. The biblical emphasis in discipline is always on restoration. Unfortunately, the history of the church is filled with examples of graceless discipline carried out with destructive zeal.
It often seems that the Christians who are most zealous for discipline are those who need to listen to these words of Jesus: "Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?... You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye" (Matthew 7:3-5). Zeal in church discipline must be tempered with wisdom, gentleness and humility: "If someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted" ( Galatians 6:1 ).
Evangelism is another area in which misguided zeal can wreak havoc. There are many methods, techniques and means that can be used to evangelize unbelievers. Without the Lord's direction, however, misguided evangelistic zeal can actually drive people away from Christ! Should you shout across the fence to your new neighbors that they are going to hell if they don't accept Christ as their personal Savior? The truth of your statement may be doctrinally sound, but the means of communicating the gospel may be better served by building a friendly relationship and "earning the right to be heard"! The Lord often practiced this means of evangelism as he deliberately went out of his way to rub shoulders and build relationships.
Fundraising For Religious Purposes And Self-Gain/ Preachers And Founders And Spiritual Leadership, you All are doing ministry wrong and backward.
Zealous means used in fundraising can certainly hinder the growth of the kingdom of God. Think of the damage that has been done to the cause of Christ by unscrupulous fundraising schemes--made in the name of Christ! Christians are certainly not immune to the biblical truth that "the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil" ( 1 Timothy 6:10 ). the blessings and kingdom finances are for the needs of the Lord's people first.
The desire for unnecessarily large church buildings or elaborate programs or lavish salaries have justified the fusion of religious zeal with the never-satisfied sinful nature of man. Fund-raising strategists actually develop never-ending lists of new programs or projects, so the funds will never cease to flow from Christian givers!
Unbelievers have been turned off and new Christian Believers and Followers have been stumbled by constant pleas for money by religious leaders and television ministries. The Name of Jesus Christ has been mocked and maligned by skeptics when religious leaders zealously raise funds "for the Lord's work" by offering gimmicks ( like "Religious stuff and things") or unbiblical promises of material "rewards" for giving. The means we use to raise funds for the Lord's work is an area where Satan knows he can get an easy foothold. The subtleties of the enemy are easily masked because we all are so vulnerable in the area of money!
A biblical example of fund-raising is found in 2 Corinthians 8. Here the believers were encouraged to share in a project to help fellow-Christians who were in need--not a building, not a program, not a salary for the Apostle Paul, but help for needy Believers in Christ! And when funds were raised for the biblical building project of the Tabernacle, the people were actually told to stop giving when the funds for the project were sufficient { Exodus 36:5-7)! Has such a letter ever been sent out by a Christian ministry in modern times?! Let's be very careful not to employ "zeal without knowledge" in fundraising Ministers and Television Ministries!
Peter meant well on the two occasions we've examined, but on the first occasion he actually demoted and defamed the Person of Christ by his misinformed doctrine, and on the second occasion he temporarily disrupted the program of Christ by his misguided means! How many "Moses and Elijah" items will the Lord have to remove from our crowded vision, so that we will learn to honor Jesus above everything else, and combine our zeal with sound doctrine? How many "cut off ears" will the Lord have to heal before we learn to ask Him before acting, and be guided to combine zeal with wisdom? Let's be zealously committed to Christ and His kingdom, but let's be sure that our doctrine is sound and our methods are Christ-Will and Purpose, the Truth that is knowledgeable in doctrine and wise in God's Love! Amen Living And Loving Church.
We Are Leading One And All To The One, Lord God Jesus Christ!
God Loves His Cheerful Givers, Be One.
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