“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires; and will turn away their ears from the truth, and will turn aside to myths,” 2 Timothy 4:3,4.
This time has come. There are preachers chomping at their bits to tell you anything you want to hear. If you don’t care to learn obedience through suffering, one will convince you that you can use the authority of Christ to change your circumstances. Another will tell you that you no longer have to resist the devil and wait for him to flee; you can now use the authority of Christ and bind the devil, or just command him to leave. Do you want to go further and be like the Creator? Some will go so far to tell you that life and death are in the power of the tongue, and you are to be an imitator of God, and therefore it is His will that you imitate Him and speak things into existence, just as He did in the beginning. Whatever you want, there is preacher somewhere who will twist scriptures in a way to suit you.
Many of these preachers are nothing more than motivational speakers, who appeal to the flesh and give it a temporary emotional high. They have formulas for nearly every promise. And none of their formulas require you to submit to Christ. On the contrary, their formulas are only workable if you raise yourself up to the level of Christ.
It’s sad, but true, that for every vulnerable lamb, there is a ravenous wolf waiting to pounce. And no-one is more vulnerable than one who begins to follow Jesus, only to shrink back at the first sign of trouble. To keep moving forward in troubling times, we must submit ourselves to Jesus, trusting Him to deliver us when and how He wants. We must surrender ourselves to Him 100%. This is not easy to do. When someone tries to do it and fails, and does not admit his failure, he begins looking for ways around his troubles. At that precise second, the second he begins looking for alternatives, he enters a realm of vulnerability, where the powers of darkness set their sights on him and begin assailing him with fiery darts.
These fiery darts often come in the form of scriptures, much like Satan used against Jesus in the wilderness. And these scriptures most often come from ravenous wolves disguised as shepherds. These wolves concentrate on a few scriptures that appear to apply to your situation. They conveniently leave out the truth that these same scriptures pertain only to those who have denied themselves, taken up their cross, and are following Jesus; those whose desire is ‘not my will, but thine be done’; those who seek first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness.
These wolves are experts at putting the cart before the horse. They seduce people who have not given themselves 100% to Jesus, and teach them the tricks of the trade — declare this, decree that; claim this, claim that; speak life, speak things into being; move this mountain, move that mountain, etc. They teach the vulnerable anything and everything that will keep them from submitting to the authority of Jesus. They even claim that all Christians have been given the authority of Jesus, dissuading them from submitting to Jesus. And they do this for the simple reason that they themselves have been deceived by the powers of darkness, and are now working together with Satan, preventing as many people as possible from submitting to Jesus. They have believed a lie, and, in effect, preach Satan, and call him Jesus.
These wolves in sheep’s clothing are not interested in the truth; they are interested in themselves; and God has given them over to their delusions. And believing their delusions are from God, they expound on them, thinking they are workers of God. These are the ones to whom Jesus will say, “Depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness,” Matthew 7:23. And those who fall prey to their delusions will suffer the same outcome, unless they repent and submit themselves to Jesus.
Some of these people know they are thieves deliberately preying on vulnerable souls, but most of them don’t know they’re wrong. They think they’re right because they call on the name of Jesus, and use His name. But, in reality, they are doing exactly what the devil tried to tempt Jesus to do — exalt Himself and claim His right to the promises that pertained to Him. The devil tried hard to tempt Jesus to put God to the test, thereby exalting Himself to God’s level, as did Eve. However, unlike Eve, and these self-proclaimed prophets of today, Jesus did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, and emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant. These ravenous wolves today teach people to do the opposite; thus, though they claim to preach Christ, they are, in reality, anti-Christ; this is the spirit of lawlessness that is engulfing the masses.
The lying spirit behind these false teachers is the exact same spirit who lied to Eve, telling her she would not die if she ate the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden, whereby she became like God, knowing good and evil. It is the spirit who tempted Jesus in the wilderness. It is the spirit who, if he can’t get someone to turn against Christ, will try to entice that person to raise himself up to Christ’s level. This spirit has been an enemy of the divine order since the beginning. He thrives on insubordination because he himself is insubordinate. He delights in disobedience, which springs from lawlessness; whereas, God delights in obedience, which springs from submission.
This is very serious. There is God, who is the head of Jesus; there is Jesus, who is the head of man; there is man, who is the head of a woman, 1 Corinthians 11:3.This divine order was established in the beginning, Genesis 3:16. Whoever resists this divine order is guilty of insubordination, which is likened to iniquity and idolatry, 1 Samuel 15:23. These wolves and their followers proclaim the opposite. They subvert scripture, undermining its very foundation, teaching that man is equal to Christ: man has the same authority as Christ; man has the power to speak things into existence; man can decree a thing and it will be established, etc. etc. etc.
Dear friends, Jesus will one day return to receive His bride unto Himself. She will be holy and blameless and beyond reproach. She will offer herself to Him in complete submission, her only desire being to please Him. She will be spirit of His Spirit and the two shall become one. No man who exalts himself to the level of Jesus, and no woman who exalts herself to the level of a man, will be a part of this holy union.
Sadly, there are countless numbers in our churches entangled in this mystery of lawlessness, spouting verses and verses of scriptures, unaware they are promoting the spirit of anti-christ. Most who have fallen prey to these lies have done so because of their own selfishness; but some who have fallen prey are sincere Christians who became caught up in this heresy because its followers use scriptures, having not realized that scriptures are the devil’s most often used ploy.
Satan is crafty, he is savvy in his use of scriptures; and it is only by the grace of God that we can overcome him. The mystery of lawlessness, which has been at work since the days of Paul, is now unfolding before our eyes; the man of lawlessness is at the door. We must be on our guard, while at the same time, caring for the weak among us, snatching them out of the fire.
I have been asking the Lord for some time now to let me write an uplifting letter that might encourage His people. Last week I heard from the Holy Spirit that the times are such that I need to draw attention to the mystery of lawlessness and the sinfulness of some of the teachings being peddled today. I humbly ask that you please give prayerful consideration to the content of this letter.
Jon David Banks, God’s most unworthy servant
P.S. Please weigh everything I say on the scales of the Word of God.
jondavidbanks.com 