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I verily thought with myself, that I ought
to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. Which thing I
also did in Jerusalem: and many of the saints did I shut up in prison,
having received authority from the chief priests; and when they were put to
death, I gave my voice against them. And I punished them oft in every
synagogue, and compelled them to blaspheme; and being exceedingly mad
against them, I persecuted them even unto strange cities. – Acts 26:9
through Acts 26:11
What a thing to have to live with! Those of us who are saved have many
regrets and things we are ashamed of concerning our life before we were
saved. However, most of us simply lived in selfish sin, but we didn’t
dedicate our lives to persecuting Christians and destroying the church. Paul
had to live with the fact that he had mistreated and even consented to the
deaths of Christians for believing in Christ. Now that he is saved he loves
these people, so it must have been a heartbreaking thing for him to
remember, even though he knew God had forgiven him. Surely he didn’t relate
this to King Agrippa in a cold and matter-of-fact way. The fact that it
broke his heart to remember what he used to be had to be evident to Agrippa
and probably was a big factor in “almost” convincing him to be a Christian.
What a terrible thing to mistreat God’s people! Surely there is a severe
judgment for doing such a wicked thing. The strange thing is that most of
those who are going to face such a judgment are not found outside the
church, but inside it. They are standing behind pulpits and pretending to be
men of God while they lead the people astray. This is a much worse crime
than what Paul did before he was saved concerning persecuting the saints.
Why would a man stand in a pulpit and tell the people lies? There are only
two possibilities. First, it could be because he is deceived himself. He is
simply repeating the lies he has been told. That raises another important
question then. How can he be deceived and leading others astray if the Holy
Spirit lives in him, while the Bible promises that the Spirit of God will
guide us into all truth? (John 16:13) The answer is also found in the Word
of God: “…Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.”
– Rom. 8:9
The second is worse than the first. He must KNOW that he is not telling the
truth or that he is withholding truth, but he does it anyway for his own
selfish benefit. He does it for the money. He does it for the position. He
does it to receive the praise of men and to be called “Reverend.” He does it
to be known in the community. He knows what the Bible says, but he cares
more for himself and his selfish ambitions than for the souls of the people
he preaches to.
So you have a man who is unsaved leading other people farther from God than
they already are. Those who might have had a chance; those who might have
listened and received the truth, are blinded by the deceit of an imposter,
and their souls are eternally doomed. He says to them “peace” when there is
no peace. He offers them phony assurance that they are right with God while
they live and love the same worldly things that the rest of the world does.
He draws no lines between holy and unholy, and in fact, whatever criticism
and correction he offers is almost always directed toward those who live
“too” holy and “too” separated from the world and its pollution.
The only difference between a false prophet and a vile criminal is that the
false prophet is much more wicked. He is more wicked and vile than any
murderer who ever sat in an electric chair. If God has a place in hell for
the people like Adolf Hitler or Nero Caesar, because of the careless way
they treated human life, just try to imagine what punishment must await a
man who trifles with the eternal souls of men for his own gain and selfish
interests.
A lady in our church who is a nurse told me that she had seen many men die
in the Veteran’s Hospital where she worked. She said she had noticed that
there are three types of people. First, there are people who are right with
God and ready to die. The time comes and they go out peacefully and death is
a welcome thing for them. Second, she said, are the people who are not ready
and when the moment draws near they are frantic and desperate and fighting
to the last breath. It is a terrible and fearful thing to witness. Then
there is a third group. These are the people, she said, who THOUGHT they
were ready until the moment arrived and then they realized they were not.
She asked, “Do you know who is in that third group many times?” I said I
didn’t and she told me that many of them are preachers who have stood behind
pulpits and not told the people the truth. Their moment of death arrives and
they are crying out to God about what they didn’t tell the people and what
they knew God wanted them to hear. They held back on what they knew or just
didn’t tell the truth because it would have cost them favor with the people
or maybe their job as pastor, or damaged their reputation and fellowship
with fellow preachers. They valued their own interests more than the eternal
souls of men and now they are about to face God with it. No crime ever
committed on earth was ever so wicked as that! No murder, however violent or
gruesome, was ever as worthy of punishment as what that man did when he
blinded the souls of people who might have believed had he told them the
truth.
It seems that every day we hear of those who murder women or little children
for their own lusts. Anyone with any sense of justice feels enormous anger
and revulsion at these evil deeds and desires to see the criminal punished
and taken out of society so they can’t commit such wickedness anymore. How
much more wicked is it when men murder the eternal souls of others so they
can keep drawing their salary, or so they can still be welcomed in the next
preacher’s fellowship?
For what shall it profit a man, if he
shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give
in exchange for his soul? Mark 8:36-37
Considering the value of a soul, what kind of
punishment is deserved by anyone – not just a preacher in a pulpit, who
would mislead and guide someone away from the pure truth of the Word of God?
Take heed about criticizing the man of God who will preach to you the full
counsel of God! You better be careful when you find yourself in disagreement
with a man who will lift up his voice like a trumpet and show you your
transgressions! If you have a preacher who will fearlessly show you the way
of the Lord and what God expects of you no matter what it costs him you
better not undermine him! He is real! You better thank God for him. When you
are voicing your opinions and disagreements you may be doing the same thing
that false prophet does when he stands behind the pulpit. As certainly as
God will judge a lying preacher he will judge you for leading people from
the truth, too.
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