The Idolatry of Preference

It’s a cornerstone question, but this is an all too often neglected question.

What is it that makes something Christian?

What is it that determines whether something is in fact truly Godly, biblical, or Christian?

Does YHWH Almighty God, His Word, and His Messiah’s examples determine these standards?

Does POPULARITY determine whether something is in fact truly Godly, biblical, or Christian? In other words, if the majority of people who claim to follow Christ have chosen to believe that a certain doctrine belief or practice is now to be considered, ‘Christian,’ does it then suddenly TRANSFORM, and BECOME Godly, Biblical or Christian, because the majority of professing believers have decided to accept it; regardless of whether or not YHWH, His Words, or His Messiah truly endorses those things?

Does LONGEVITY make something Godly Biblical or Christian? In other words, the mainstream of Christianity has accepted some Anti-Biblical doctrine belief or practice for a great length of time, (let’s say 1700 years or so); does the fact that they have accepted these things for so long cause these things to TRANSFORM and to BECOME Christian, regardless of the fact that they are Anti-Scriptural, simply because we have accepted and enjoyed them for so long?

Does a Pope, an Emperor, a King,  Ruler, or a denomination cause something to TRANSFORM and to BECOME Christian? In other words, if YHWH Almighty God has set a specific Standard in His Word, but a powerful earthly ruler has chosen to endorse a standard OPPOSITE to what YHWH Almighty has already declared, will YHWH Almighty Creator of Heaven and earth, step aside? Will YHWH honestly say anything close to the following?

‘Well, yes I am the Creator, and yes I said that certain attitudes and behaviors are SIN, but since your rulers have decided to call Godly what YHWH has called SIN, I will go ahead and CHANGE. I YHWH will now REVERSE what I have declared, and I will now ENDORSE and BLESS the beliefs and behaviors which I previously rejected and CONDEMNED as SIN, because your kings and rulers prefer THEIR NEW standards instead of upholding MY Standards. I, YHWH will change. I will overrule MY Own Standards and endorse what your rulers have said instead of upholding what I, YHWH have already decreed.’

Will YHWH Almighty God do that?! NOT a CHANCE!

Beloved, there is NOT one single righteous standard to even remotely indicate that YHWH Almighty will EVER reverse or change ANY standard concerning sin or righteousness which HE has decreed, in order to support what some Pope, Emperor, King, or Ruler has preferred, over what God has said.

Surprisingly though, many Christians, (even professing Protestants), routinely live as though Almighty God will somehow reverse Himself, as though He will now bless what He has called sin, because some Pope or other ruler has favored the practice, even against what Almighty God has decreed.

This is a challenging video. The truth is that any time that we choose to do what WE prefer, instead of learning, choosing and doing what YHWH says that HE prefers, we are then in danger of falling into Idolatry. We make an IDOL of OUR preferences, instead of worshiping YHWH the Almighty Creator in spirit and in Truth. This is often most evident in WHAT and HOW we celebrate. Choose what HE prefers, over what you prefer.

God Wants Me to be Happy

Some time ago Victoria Osteen, the wife of Mega-church pastor Joel Osteen made a STAGGERING claim from the pulpit:

Based on that clip I created the following poster or Meme:

Upon seeing this meme, a reader  on Facebook asked me:

"Are you on a witch hunt?"

It's a fair  question which deserves an answer, to which I reply in an open letter, in case other readers had the same thoughts. Here is my reply:

Am I on a witch hunt? That would depend solely on your point of view as to WHICH paradigm of "Grace" you choose to apply. You see, if you approach grace as many do; from a paradigm that trains you to believe that loving grace means we must accept EVERYTHING and ANYTHING that someone says, as long as they say it in, "Jesus Name," then yes, by THAT paradigm, you would consider me to be on a witch hunt. If you approach grace from a paradigm that tells you that in order to be loving and gracious, one must tolerate and indulge sin, and unrighteousness, because being loving and gracious means we must accept an tolerate everyone and everything, no matter how unbiblical it is, then yes, by THAT definition, I would be on a witch hunt; because my comment points out grievous error, and doesn't give you warm fuzzy huggable feelings. If it doesn't feel NICE, therefore, it can't be Christian, according to how many people have re-defined what that means.

On the other hand, if you approach and you define love and grace from a truly BIBLICAL paradigm, then there is NO WAY that I would be on a witch hunt, because the statements I made are in fact TRUE; and love does not rejoice in iniquity, but it rejoices with the TRUTH, (1 Corinthians 13:6).

NOWHERE in Scripture does it teach that God's ultimate joy is to see us be happy. That's false teaching and it makes it harder for us to become truly effective disciples. That's why that paradigm MUST be challenged, and exposed, for the darkness that it truly is, (Ephesians 5:11).

His ultimate objective is to see us transformed, and conformed into the image, the likeness and the character of His Son Jesus Christ, (Yeshua the Messiah); THAT IS His ultimate Joy. That's HIS Goal (Ephesians 4:11-15; Romans 8:29). His ultimate goal is to transform the church into a proper Bride for His Son. THAT is HIS goal, (Ephesians 5:27). His ultimate joy is that we would worship HIM in Spirit and in TRUTH (John 4:23-24). THAT is what the Father SEEKS. God's goal for us is that we would TRULY OVERCOME the world, and NOT conform to the world, (Romans 12:1-2; Revelation 21:7).THAT is God's ULTIMATE Joy. THAT is God's ULTIMATE Goal. Our being, "Happy," takes a far DISTANT second place AFTER those goals in God's priorities.

She may have been caught up in the excitement of the moment, but when Mrs. Osteen declared what she did, she spoke AGAINST a WHOLE LOT of Scripture, and based on how she defined "God's greatest Joy" being about making us happy, she just made it a lot HARDER for people in her congregation to accept, to tolerate, and to submit to God's CORRECTION in their lives, by making happiness the expectation instead of making God's Character and His Righteousness the expectation. She planted the seed that if we don't feel happy about whatever is going on in our lives, then it surely must not be of God. That is a destructive heresy to any up and coming disciple who hears and digests those words; and who builds their expectations about God based on those words.

IF God can reach HIS stated BIBLICAL goals in our lives by allowing us some happiness, He will CERTAINLY do that. 

At the same time, IF reaching HIS stated goals requires His correcting us, His spanking us, and His breaking us in some areas; IF reaching HIS stated goals requires Him to make us very decidedly NOT HAPPY, he will do that as well, and that is PERFECTLY RIGHT for Him to do that as our Father,and we should NOT build contrary expectations to that, (Hebrews 12:1-7), because His greatest Joy is our character, NOT our happiness. That's a CRITICAL distinction we don't want to miss, (Isaiah 5:20-24; Isaiah 55:7-9).That's WHY making these clear distinctions matters so much, because they create expectations within us, which will either power or they can pollute and poison our faith. 

Brother Michel Lankford

Choose WHOM You will Serve

Whether we understand it or not, every decision we make is in fact is spiritual decision, notwithstanding other factors.   Romans 6:15-16, tells us that we become servants, or slaves, (in effect worshipers), of whatever we obey. If we obey YHWH, then we are worshipers of YHWH. If we honor and obey someone other than YHWH, we become worshipers of someone else. So if we want to know who we truly worship, then we must scrutinize exactly WHOSE Commandments  and WHOSE customs we actually OBEY, because that proves whom we truly worship.

A Quick Review: Remember What the Almighty Defines to be SIN

"If you want to walk correctly with your Heavenly Father, you MUST make sure that you define your terms the way that HE does."- Michel Lankford

 How Does God Define What it means to SIN

Summary at a Glance

Scripture Defines Sin as Follows:

• Sin Means to "Miss the Bulls-Eye" Mark of YHWH's Highest Standards (HARMATIA Greek Strong’s #266; E.g Romans 3:23; Romans
  6:23).
• Sin Means to Violate, to break or to walk outside of YHWH's Laws Commandments and Instructions (ANOMIA Greek Strong’s #'s 458-459; e.g. 1 John 3:4; Hosea 8:1; Daniel 9:11; James 1:25; James 2:12).
• Sin is anything done outside of Yahweh’s definition of Love (e.g. 1 Corinthians 13:4-8; Matthew 22:36-40; Deuteronomy 6:5; Leviticus 19:18; Leviticus 19:34).
• Sin is anything done outside of faith in Yahweh (Genesis 15:6; Habakkuk 2:4; Romans 14:23b).
• Sin is anything done outside of obeying Yahweh and outside of obeying Messiah, who Himself also Obeyed Yahweh (e.g. Exodus 20:6; Deuteronomy 5:10; John 5:19; 8:31-32; John 14:15, 21, 23; John 15:10; 1 John 2:1-6; 1 John 3:24; 1 John 5:1-3).
• Sin is anything done outside of purposefully and intentionally glorifying Yahweh (1 Corinthians 10:31; Colossians 3:17-23).
• Sin is any time that I know what Yahweh considers to be good, and I choose not to do it, or I choose to do something else instead of what Yahweh has taught me to be what He considers good (James 4:17; cf. Isaiah 5:20-24).

The BIG Dilemma:  Modern Christianity often teaches that in order to live under grace we supposedly must not concern ourselves with God's Laws, Commandments, and Instructions anymore. The problem is that living outside of God's Laws, Commandments, and Instructions, is in reality what the New Testament defines to be SIN.  In fact, the Messiah Himself SAID that those who live a lifestyle of living outside of  God's Laws, Commandments, and Instructions, (Lawlessness/ANOMIA), and those who cause others to stumble into  living outside of  God's Laws, Commandments, and Instructions, (Lawlessness/ANOMIA); they WILL NOT inherit the Eternal Kingdom. According to Messiah, those who live a lifestyle of ANOMIA, or those who cause others to stumble into ANOMIA; they will be CONDEMNED to the place of weeping and gnashing of teeth, (Matthew 13:41-42; Matthew 24:12-13; Matthew 7:21-23).

 

Since Messiah CLEARLY SAID that LAWLESSNESS; ANOMIA; A.K.A. living outside of  God's Laws, Commandments, and Instructions, they will NOT be saved; they will be CONDEMNED to the place of weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matthew 13:41-42), THEREFORE, living outside of  God's Laws, Commandments, and Instructions, (ANOMIA), and then teaching others to live outside of YAHWEH'S Laws, Commandments, and Instructions, CANNOT possibly be what it means to live under Grace.

"Doing what MESSIAH said will be CONDEMNED, CANNOT be what it means to live under Grace."