Dear friends, yesterday I posted a letter, “Whatever Happened…?” A couple people thought I was complaining and finding fault with the church. Nothing could be further from the truth.
#1 — The faults of the church are evident. No one has to look for them — they stand out like spines or quills on a porcupine.
#2 — Not many people realize it but the devil is being preached in many churches, and those who preach him claim they are doing it in the name of Jesus.
Number two is why I say the things I say. I am an ambassador for Christ and He is not pleased with what He is seeing. People are being led astray by false teachers and preachers every day.
The devil’s mission has been to turn souls away from God since the beginning. He does this by enticing people to sin. I’m aware of two ways he does this. He appeals to our flesh, trying to entice us to give in to our old natures in any and every way he finds us vulnerable. If he cannot accomplish this, he uses the same tactics he used on Jesus in the wilderness. He brings Scriptures to our minds and suggests that we take it upon ourselves to make those Scriptures come true. He tells us the promises of God pertain to us and that we need to make them work. From this one point he has convinced many Christians they have the authority of Christ. He has convinced others that they can speak things into being; and still others that they can declare and decree things into being.
He was successful in turning Eve away from God, but he failed with Jesus. Jesus, being the Son of God, did not fall prey to the temptation to put God to the test by claiming the promise that God would give His angels charge over Him, and bear Him up, lest He strike His foot against a stone. Jesus, instead, humbled Himself and became obedient to God.
If the devil cannot get us to turn from God by indulging in our sinful natures, he will try to entice us to lift ourselves to a place where we are equal to God, as he did Eve. Thus the spreading of the rumor that we have the authority of Christ, and the rumor that we can declare and decree, or just speak things into existence.
Before I posted the letter yesterday, I posted a request for any one with the authority of Christ to come to the panhandle of Texas and heal a Christian lady of cancer. I also offered to pay all their expenses. Quite a few of my FB friends have said they have the authority of Christ, but none of them responded.
I did this for one reason, it was an attempt to get each one who claims to have all this authority to have a little sit down with their conscience. I knew that if they did this they would have to consider whether they really believed they have Christ’s authority, or not. And whether they believed they have His authority or not, they would have to admit they are belittling His holy name; for if they have His authority and refuse to use it, or if they don’t really believe they have that authority and yet claim to have it, they are dishonest and need to repent and stop dragging the Lord’s name through the mud.
I am very serious about this. Jesus’ name is being misrepresented daily, and I find it offensive. He is my Savior, my Shepherd, He knows me and He loves me. He ordained me to preach His gospel, and He did so by the laying on of His own hands. It is my responsibility to destroy speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and to take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. And so I endeavor to fulfill the Lord’s will, and I do so for the sake of the church.
No, I am not finding fault and judging the church, I have forsaken all that is in the world for the sake of the church. And if I can provoke anyone to have a sit down with their conscience, and face reality (which is Jesus) and forsake their dishonesty of holding on to teachings they don’t really believe (if they really believed today’s world would have been turned upside down by now), then I will receive a reward when it’s all over. And I would gladly forego the reward if it would but help the church.
One gentleman took it upon himself to sit in judgment of my letter and accused me of being critical and judgmental, and a murmurer and a complainer. He then proceeded to “set things straight for me,” as he put it. He justified his right to do this by saying he was “under the umbrella of the ministry of Rev. Loran Helm.”
I believe this man was dragging Rev. Helm’s name through the mud for he misrepresented him by not only judging me for things he didn’t understand, but also condemning me for those same things. Fortunately, when Jesus told me of my call He told me there were two others in the U.S. with that same call, and that Loran Helm was one of them. I never met Bro. Helm but I knew he was a true servant of God because of what Jesus told me. Had Jesus not told me about him I may well have come away from the reprimand of the gentleman with the belief that Loran Helm was a man who also sat in judgment of people, for the gentleman inserted himself as an authority to sit in judgment of me by virtue of his being under the umbrella of Rev. Helm’s ministry.
So, as this man misrepresented Rev. Helm, many today are misrepresenting Jesus, and that is what my letter was about. It was not a fault-finding mission; it was a call to wake from sleep that Christ might give you light. It was a plea to face reality (which is Jesus) and offer your conscience to God and allow Him to reveal any flaws it might contain. God desires truth in the innermost being, and in the hidden parts He makes us to know wisdom.
Therefore if one believes he has the authority of Christ, he has it; and if he has it, he can use it. However, it is more than evident that those who claim to have it don’t use it because they cannot make it work; hence, living a lie and calling it faith. My friends, God is not mocked. It is time we awake and confess our dishonesty.
It is time to stop using the Word of God as a book of facts we can use as proof that we are right about things. It is time we submit ourselves to the Word of God and allow it to divide our souls and spirits, and to judge the thoughts and intentions of our hearts. It is time to grow up.
Jon David Banks, God’s most unworthy servant
jondavidbanks.com 