A warning message

Dear fellow Christians, but non-Christians, please read as well for your own enlightenment, and especially you anti-theists, please read, as I have something to say to you too.

Beware of false teachers and prophets. They exist, they happen. I was recently shown a video of a guy named Todd Bentley, a man who in Florida is well known for his unusual method of healing. This man is not of God. He apparently cures people with violence and assault. In oe video, he is giving a speech documenting a few of these incidents. He tells of when he is brought a man who is suffering from stage 4 bowel cancer, and Todd "cures" him by kneeing him in the gut. He then describes how he then felt like God's presence was not there. He asks himself why? Why is God not here? (I do not wonder why God had decided to leave that particular meeting) - the answer came back, he claims from heaven, that it is because he has not kicked that old lady in the front row in the face. So he proceeds to do so. He describes that as his boot touched the old lady's nose, she fell down under the power of the Holy Spirit. he then goes on to describe, how the Spirit called him to run down the aisle, and punch someone straight in the gut! He also then described how he then asked how he could help out the Pastor who was leading the service. Apparently, the call came back that he should "leg drop" the pastor (for those of you who don't know, a "leg drop" is a move in WWF wrestling).

At another meeting, he stirs up the crowd into a frenzy by telling them that Jesus would be visiting them, in person, the following evening (he had just gained this knowledge down from Heaven, apparently). This is preaching that he knows about the second coming of Christ, which is directly against what the bible says! He whips the crowd into a further frenzy, yelling for angels to come down from heaven. Personally I'd prefer the Holy spirit, not angels- which to do what he was doing could be classified as worship of angels - another biblical no-no.

My warning is this - beware of false teachings. if something doesn't at first seem right, or biblical, then it probably isn't from God. Test any teaching you hear, and know your bible well. Because these false teachers and false prophets can fool you with their methods - this is how they become big in the first place - by giving you what you want, by telling you what you want to hear - this is how the Devil does his work! We need to be mindful, and think through everything. The Bible teaches us that we must not disobey the laws of the countries we live in (unless they go against the laws of God, such as in some nations where it is illegal to be a Christian). To kick someone in the face is assault, and this goes against the laws of the nation, and therefore the laws of God. Since there is no clause anywhere in the Bible that tells you you should kick people in the face to bring God into the room, then what this man did was to break the laws of God, under the supposed clling of the Holy Spirit. this meant that the Spirit ENCOURAGED HIM TO BREAK THE LAWS OF GOD. Either reject a God who contradicts himself, or accept that this man cannot possibly be of God. Please do not defend him by talking about the people who have come to Christ through him. whilst as they might have, the ends does not justify the means. God judges people on their motives, not on their eventual actions.

My Message to the Atheists is this - People like this misrepresent God. People like this do not represent God. People like this do not represent Religion on any matter - the same goes for other religions, and extremists of those faiths. they do not represent their religion, nor do they represent the beliefs of that religion or belief system. Please do not think that they do. As I said above, by this evidence we could reject God, if we accept that this man is a representative of Him who lives on High. Do not consider misrepresentations of faith, made by man, who is by nature a sinful being, but instead, focus on the Christ. Follow his example, his teaching, and find out for yourself if Jesus of Nazareth was who he said he was.

To the Anti-theists. This man is not an argument against religion. this man is an argument for it. Now let me explain why. Look at the people who Todd Bentley was talking to. They were completely taken in by a madman, a man who is so clearly not of God. Does this not say something about the sad state of the world? That people are so desperate, so longing for God, that they are willing to accept a conman for a prophet? That they were willing to accept someone so violent, abusive, and non-biblical as someone who has a direct conversation with the Almighty? What is this world coming to, that people like this can get anywhere in the Christian circle and gain a following, because they offer hope that is so blatantly false? wake up to the destruction that Atheism is doing to our planet. It leaves people without hope, without love, without purpose. It will only lead to destruction, as people try to cling on to anything that fills that great void in their lives.

I felt that void once too. For a short period of my life I felt like I was without God, I doubted his existence - and my life felt horrible - it felt like there was nothing there, a complete void of nothingness that would swallow me up - I thought I would be free, but i could see that I would just brunning from one thing to another, to distract me. It was a painful few weeks as I found my faith again, and found God. I had to cling on blindly, to something i wasn't even sure was there, because I did not know what I would do without my faith. That great void of nothingness is haunting, so people turn to anthing for acceptance, forgiveness, love, belonging - drugs, sex, violence, gambling, money, materialism. The thing to do is stop running away from a void that can be filled by God and the Holy Spirit, because God's love is exactly what this world needs.

Hmm, two opinions in one. makes up for not posting for a while I suppose...