“I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago…such a one was caught up to the third heaven…and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.”                                                                                                                                (2 Corinthians 12)

 

Reader, one (1) of the difficult parts of being a pastor or a minister is protecting those entrusted to him by God.  One (1) of the ways that a pastor must defend those entrusted to his care is correcting their incorrect, improper, unScriptural, unsound, unBiblical beliefs, even the ones (1’s) that might comfort them.

A shepherd of sheep must watch out for all the toxic elements that a sheep might ingest.  A flock may find harmful weeds or poison berries in a field, but the shepherd must keep the sheep from ingesting these poisons even though these elements may be attractive, may smell favourabley, and may even taste good. The same is true of a servant of God, called to “feed [M]y sheep.”

Martin Luther was a great man of God…he was a man that God exalted and magnified.  In Luther’s day, like in our day, there were deceivers and liars seeking to “make merchandise of you.”  In Luther’s day the Dope ,…err rather Dope…..mmmm pope, wanted a great basilica to be build. The way these scheisters and cons,  i mean “holy men of a god” planned to pay for this monstrosity (dedicated to their ego and pomp) was to sell indulgences.  Indulgences were pieces of paper that the plain and uneducated people were told would release their loved ones from purgatory. But this was a limited offer.

Reader, I know it sounds imbicilic but these were the dark ages when no one had the Scriptures to hand. The common people were told what to believe by the filthy, lying Catholic church of (s)atan just as they are today.  I’m not joking, many of today’s catholics are as ignorant as their predecessors were five-hundred (500) years ago.  I heard a woman say that she must depend on the teachings of her pedoph…errr….priest because she, as a lay catholic, does not have the spiritual understanding of the Scriptures. These men and women who are part of the catholic abomination are still in the dark ages…I am not joking and it is not funny.

Luther, as he was labouring to reignited the hidden Gospel and the glorious doctrine of the imputed Righteousness of Christ, had to deal with an anti-christ named John Tetzel. John Tetzel was the Richard Tilton of the dark ages (Research Tilton). This enemy of Christ, who was filled with all unrighteousness, would roll his stage into a village of very poor persons.  He, with great pomp, would set up his stage and would preach about the fires of hell.

Once he worked the people up with fear and guilt tactics he would begin offering the indulgences.  For a specified amount of money, which these people could not afford, Tetzel would write upon a pope blessed document the name of a loved one who was in hell or purgatory.  With this document purchased and signed, the trust-abused person would think that a loved one was expelled from hell or purgatory.

Luther was enraged and and the effect of this righteous indignation was Luther’s ninety-five (95) thesis. Luther’s thesis was nailed to a door for all to see. As God times all things perfectly the typeset printer had been invented.  The common people would soon read Luther’s thesis and many would be set free from catholic tyrany.  This period of history is called the Reformation.

During the Reformation many things changed:
*Many catholic “churches” were destroyed.
*Statues destroyed
*Many priests were injured and killed…if history is correct, hundreds of thousands were killed in protestant revolts against the catholic church.  That is where the word protestant comes from, protest-ant.

Luther, during these months, was thought dead. Luther was not dead but in protective exile. In this exile, Luther translated the New Testament from Greek into the German language. The New Testament was translated into the language of the common people. This caused all manner of strife and threats of war.

However, God had His way as He always does and the Reformation was the first (1st) bright light to expel the darkness of those ages. The Gospel was proclaimed again and the inputed Righteousness of Christ was taught again. [SideNote: Do not think that the Gospel was bound though. God ALWAYS has a witness. The Gospel was alive and well….only in pockets, here and there.] The Reformation was God’s chosen time to enlighten the world with the Glorious Gospel of Christ.

What does the above have to do with what our article’s titles imply? It is elementary, my dear, Watson, What the depraved and now extra crispy John Tetzel was to the common people of Luther’s day is what all these non-sensical books about Heaven are today. If you were to walk into a bookstore that markets to Christ-ians or even Walmart, you could find many books about someone dying, going to Heaven, and coming back to write a book about their experience.

There have been movies made stating the same unsound and un Scriptural experiences. Reader, I understand, I get it.  These books and movies are inspiring…I will not deny that but they are not Scriptural. These productions do not line up with God’s Word.  Paul and John both saw things in the heavens above. That is Scriptural; what is also Scriptural is both men were forbidden to speak of what they saw and heard, save what the Lord wanted revealed.

So with that Scriptural knowledge, with that pure word, are you really going to believe a four (4) year old boy went to Heaven and returned to write a book? Again it is a neat and inspiring thought, but it is false in it’s very nature.  It is no different than a demon presenting itself as a little girl.

In fact, that young boy grew up and was favoured with God’s gift of Salvation. With that, he confessed the book was all made up. Reader, No one goes to Heaven and comes back to talk about it.  You might say, “Hey! Wait a minute, didn’t you just write that Paul and John went up and came back?” I did, but they DID NOT TALK ABOUT IT.

Think logically. God does not allow Paul or John to disclose what they saw and heard, save what Christ wanted revealed, but in our time God willed that a four (4) year old boy would, “Come up” and return to speak of all he saw and heard??? That will not do. It is unsound and an unacceptable fallacy. These works or productions are NOT worthy of all acceptation… these fallacies are unworthy of all acceptation.

Reader, You want to be on the side of truth and purity concerning Scriptural matters, right? You must not allow yourself to be made merchandise of.  Another book, “Jesus Calling” is rank with danger and unsoundness and even corruption. This book is written as Christ is First Person. What i mean by that is this author is speaking as Christ.

If you know me, you know I enjoy Sherlock Holmes. There are many books called pastiches produced regarding Holmes.  A pastiche is a work of a different author than the original; the new author writes in the voice of the original writer. This is acceptable as it is fiction.

“Jesus Calling” is not the same as a pastiche. This author is speaking as Christ, in the first person. I’ve seen this before. It is usually a female that speaks in the first person as Christ. These authors write and in some cases speak aloud in the Person of Christ. This tripe is usually an element of the charismatic (mostly made up of alpha females) movement.  When I say charismatic movement, i do mean  the tongue talkers, snake handlers (by the way… I have played with many snakes and once a person has the snake in his hands the snake will be patient because the snake does not want to fall; it has nothing to do with faith at all).

In summary, Read the Scriptures, learn the Scriptures. If you are up on your Scriptural knowledge, you will not fall into these types of unsound and unScriptural, and to be very forthright, embarrassments of yourself.  I do not know if any of you read or believe these machinations of (s)atan, I have no idea what you read, but if you are reading any of the books we are speaking about, please stop.  Stick with the Scriptures and not the traditions of man or the merchendising of of your faith.

Luther had to tell his flock that all they had spent their money on were lies and it was not an easy thing to explain….the people had hope, false hope and Luther had to show them the truth.  It’s not easy telling loved one that they are wrong…but a loving shepherd must do what a shepherd must do.

Godspeed.