Let’s face it, we live in a time when more and more people are becoming lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, …and lovers of pleasure, rather than lovers of God. This is seen in religious circles day after day. Consider just a few of these come-ons the tv preachers and their clones direct at Christians: how to claim promises and stand on the Word, how to pray prayers that will get answered, how to declare and decree what you want, Jesus has given you all authority in heaven and on earth, learn who you are in Jesus, how to this and how to that, all appealing to the greed and desires of the self.
Dear friends, I am not trying to find fault with anyone. I am simply pointing out the necessity of following Jesus closely today, because so many religious people are preaching and teaching that Christians should lift themselves up to God’s level. It is prevalent in many churches today. As I noted in the previous paragraph, ministers are telling people such things as to claim and/or stand on the promises of God, even though Jesus refused to do it in Matthew 4:7, and to declare or decree things which is bypassing God and was proven to be sin in Job 42; and to usurp authority, (since the beginning of the church and the giving of the Holy Spirit the Bible says nothing about the authority of the believer); others are insinuating that the elect who cry to God day and night are wasting their time (Luke 18:7), saying they can now pray prayers that are sure to be answered (someone has a book that supposedly teaches how to do this.)
If what these people are saying is true, why didn’t any of the men who were moved by the Holy Spirit to speak for God mention them in the Scriptures they wrote? They didn’t mention them because no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will. Those who preach such things as those mentioned above do so by acts of their own human will, moved not by the Holy Spirit, but by their own lusts and desires.
Having been conceived in iniquity, the self is averse to submitting to another and snatches on to any lifeline it can find. These false teachers supply lifelines. Do you not want to endure the trial by fire which comes with faith? Don’t worry, you can bypass the trial by exercising authority over your situation. Do you not want to wait for an answer to your prayer? Just decree what you want and it will come to pass. Do you not want to cry out to God day and night? Buy this book and learn how to pray prayers that will be answered quickly.
I cannot stress this enough— there are so many false teachings floating through Christendom that it’s mind-boggling. They are propagated mostly by unscrupulous men and women who preach for their own profit, but some decent folks have also inadvertently fallen prey to some of these false doctrines. Again, I am not sitting in judgment of anyone, I am simply speaking the truth as it has been revealed to me. I am not adding to, or omitting, anything. I have been called for this purpose.
“For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect,” Matthew 24:24.
Please weigh this letter on the scales of the Word of God.
Jon David Banks, God’s most unworthy servant
jondavidbanks.com 