5 Traits of a False Prophet

Following is a list of traits prosperity preachers seem to have in common.

False Perfection. All of the folks who take on these personas (yes, they're playing characters) put on an air of flawlessness that seems kind of grotesque and cartoonish from arms-length. But this is a very necessary part of the formula, because they represent the absence of every problem that you or I seek to escape. Their teeth are whiter, bank account is bigger, and they are never, ever sad. If they just seemed like a regular person, why would we want to emulate their lives?

False Authority. False prophets always claim to have access to information you can't otherwise access without them. But seriously, if your loved one who died wanted to connect with you, do you think that they'd do it through a bleach-blond in stiletto pumps? Similarly, if God had a message for you, don't you think it could be conveyed by a mean other than through a guy with perfect hair, capped teeth and a $5,000 suit?

False Hope. Along with this authority, there is some sort of reassurance or certainty offered. But it's always transactional or conditional in nature. Buy tickets to my show, purchase my book, come see me on tour or put your check in the offering plate and

How to Discern Spirits

Dr. Basil Frasure, a counselor and minister with the Fellowship Church of San Angelo, Texas, has written a fascinating article, "Discerning of Spirits." Dr. Frasure has authored several psychology self-help books, including How to Destroy the Evil Tree, a popular and informative book on overcoming generational curses, as well as Bringing Every Thought Captive, Vol. 1, also a great self-help book, which he describes as an informative manual on Whole Person Counseling. He also has designed and taught competent counseling courses.

In the course of his article, Dr. Frasure explores just what kind of spirit visited Job's friend, Eliphaz. This episode appears in Job 4:12-21:

Now a word was secretly brought to me, and my ear received a whisper of it. In disquieting thoughts from the visions of the night, when deep sleep falls on men, fear came upon me, and trembling, which made all my bones shake. Then a spirit passed before my face; the hair on my body stood up. It stood still, but I could not discern its appearance. A form was before my eyes; there was silence; then I heard a voice saying: "Can a mortal be more righteous than God? Can a man be more pure than his Maker? If He puts no trust in His servants, if He charges His angels with error, how much more those who dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, who are crushed before a moth? They are broken in pieces from morning till evening; they perish forever, with no one regarding. Does not their own excellence go away? They die, even without wisdom."

Dr. Frasure writes, "One of the best ways to discern the nature of a spirit is to check the Word of God. Does what the spirit says match up with the Word of God?" When we apply biblical themes and principles to Eliphaz' encounter with the spirit, it does not pass the "smell" test.

When we closely examine the nature of the being that troubled Job's friend, we learn that this spirit appealed to the carnal desire for a special revelation. If we remember the content of serpent's appeal to Eve, "Your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil" (Genesis 3:5), we see a similarity.

We notice that the spirit came at nighttime, in the form of a nightmare, an approach that could be characterized as intimidation, not an approach that God chooses to use with believers. We remember from Paul's second letter to Timothy that "God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind" (II Timothy 1:7).

Generally in Scripture, when people express fear at the appearance

Reason Behind Paul Shaving His Hair and Taking The Vow (Acts 18:18)

[For he had a vow] …. The most remarkable vow among the Jews was that of the Nazarite, by which a man made a solemn promise to God to abstain from wine, and from all intoxicating liquors, to let the hair grow, not to enter any house polluted by having a dead body in it, or to attend any funeral. This vow generally lasted eight days, sometimes a month, sometimes during a definite period fixed by themselves, and sometimes during their whole lives…. Those who made the vow out of Palestine, and who could not come to the temple when the vow was expired, contented themselves with observing the abstinence required by the Law, and cutting off the hair where they were. This I suppose to have been the case with Paul. His hair he cut off at the expiration of the vow at Cenchrea, though he delayed to perfect the vow by the proper ceremonies until he reached Jerusalem, Acts 21:23-24. (from Barnes' Notes, Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 1997 by Biblesoft)

Paul stated once, "For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win the more; and to the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might win Jews; to those who are under the law, as under the law, that I might win those who are under the law; to those who are without law, as without law (not being without law toward God, but under law toward Christ), that I might win those who are without law; to the weak I became as weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some" (I Corinthians 9:19-22).

Even though Paul strongly taught that Christians are no longer under the Old Testament covenant, Paul wasn't against keeping the customs of that Old Covenant so long as they did not interfere with his keeping the law of Christ. Thus when Timothy, who was Jewish because of his mother's ancestry though he had never been circumcised, traveled with Paul to Jerusalem, Paul had him circumcised, so that Timothy might be able to work among the Jews of that area. "Then he came to Derbe and Lystra. And behold, a certain disciple was there, named Timothy, the son of a certain Jewish woman who believed, but his father was Greek. He was well spoken of by the brethren who were at Lystra and Iconium. Paul wanted to have him go on with him. And he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in that region, for they all knew that his father was Greek" (Acts 16:1-3). The circumcision of Timothy had nothing to do with the keeping of the Old Testament, it was a means of allowing Timothy to fit in so he might teach among those who firmly held that circumcision was essential.

"So Paul still remained a good while. Then he took leave of the brethren and sailed for Syria, and Priscilla and Aquila were with him. He had his hair cut off at Cenchrea, for he had taken a vow" (Acts 18:18). The shaving of the head in connection with

God's Divine Strategy at Work

Welcome to our Bible Study.  We are studying spiritual applications from Acts. My topic today is God's Divine Strategy. Throughout the Book of Acts, the Spirit of God is portrayed as actively leading God's people. The apostles, for example, were led by the Spirit in dramatic and dynamic ways. There was a human side to the planning, planting, and development of the early church, but the leading of the Spirit was decisive for them.  My text is Acts 16:6-10.

One, Paul and Silas were forbidden by the Spirit to speak the Word in Asia.

Paul and Silas were traveling westward through territory known in the Bible as Asia.  The places they visited are now in the country of modern Turkey.  In verse 6, Luke says, "They passed through the Phrygian and Galatian region, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia." Here, we see the Holy Spirit at work in changing the plans of Paul and Silas.   

When Luke says that the Spirit had forbidden Paul to speak the Word in Asia, he implies that Paul wanted to do so. No doubt, at some point, Paul had made his desire known to his missionary team. 

Although Luke does not mention Ephesus, the chief city of Asia, it seems likely that Paul wanted to proclaim the gospel there.  Ephesus was a great commercial, religious, and cultural center. However, the Holy Spirit postponed Paul's preaching there. In God's time he went to Ephesus for ministry.  He went there near the end of his (Acts 18:19-21) second missionary journey and returned on his third journey. 

Two, the Spirit of Jesus did not permit them to go to Bithynia.    

After Paul and Silas arrived in Mysia, in the northwest of modern Turkey, they wanted to turn north into the northern province of Bithynia. Apparently, they had a strategy they wanted to implement. The northern part of Bithynia was on the southern coast of the Black Sea. A key city in this northern province was Nicea. This would be a great place to take the gospel.

Now, for a second time, the Holy Spirit intervened. The "Spirit of Jesus" did not permit the missionary team to go to Bithynia. This was an historic moment in the history of the church. The Spirit turned the attention of Paul and his team to Europe instead of to Bithynia. Throughout the Book of Acts, the pivotal moments are described as coming from the Spirit. God's strategy for world evangelism was Europe before Asia.

The title "Spirit of Jesus" is used for the Holy Spirit. This is the only time this title is used in the Bible. However, we have the "Spirit of Christ" in Romans 8:9, the "Spirit of Jesus Christ" in Philippians 1:19, and the "Spirit of His Son" in Galatians 4:6. All four titles express the close relationship there is between Christ and the Spirit. Christ and the Spirit are One and yet different; they are different, yet one. 

Three, Bithynia would be reached in God's time.

Within fifteen years, Peter took

WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY ABOUT EATING FOOD/MEAT THAT HAS BEEN SACRIFICED TO IDOLS?

One of the struggles in the early church concerned meat which had been sacrificed to idols. Debates over what to eat might seem strange to most of us in modern society, but to the first-century believers, it was a subject of great consequence. As the apostles dealt with the issue, they gave instructions on several broader topics with application for today:

Unity within the church. In the early years of the church, as Gentile converts began joining Jewish believers in local fellowships, an issue arose concerning the eating of meat. Greco-Roman society was saturated with idol worship, and it was common for meat sold in the marketplace to have been consecrated as a sacrifice to false gods prior to its sale. The Jews would have nothing to do with such meat, wary of “unclean” food-handling practices and believing that to partake of consecrated meat was to give tacit approval of idol worship—kind of a “second-hand” idolatry. The Gentiles rejected the notion that such meat was tainted and held that they could eat meat sacrificed to idols without endorsing idolatry—they had not actually offered the sacrifice, after all. The matter was becoming a point of contention within the church.

The church in Syrian Antioch, comprised of both Jews and Gentiles, struggled with this issue (Acts 15). The Jerusalem Council settled the matter by urging Gentile converts to abstain from meat sacrificed to idols (Acts 15:29). This decision was made not to promote legalism but to keep peace within the church. Since eating meat offered to idols was a divisive issue—carrying the possibility of scandalizing fellow believers—abstinence was expedient. Compliance with the council’s directive assured that, at the next church potluck, a Jewish believer could eat the brisket he was served with confidence, knowing it had never been part of a sacrificial cow. And the Gentile believer could not be accused of participating in idol worship.

With its ruling, the Jerusalem Council affirmed the need for deference, or consideration for the scruples of others. The principle is one of self-denial; we should be willing to lay down our personal rights for the sake of maintaining unity in the body of Christ. Spiritual growth takes priority over personal preferences.

Causing a weaker brother to sin. In 1 Corinthians 8:4-13, Paul clarifies the teaching on this subject. First, he says that eating meat offered to an idol is not immoral, because “an idol is nothing at all.” An idol is an inanimate object. “Food,” he says, “does not bring us near to God; we are no worse if we do not eat, and no better if we do.” The meat itself is amoral. However, there is more to consider, namely