Ah, sheep. Aren't they cute little balls of wool? I have heard many stories of how these little creatures manage to escape from the fencing of their fold and then get into trouble, even putting themselves into danger, that could have been avoided if only the naughty little thing stayed put. That stick this shepherdess is holding in the painting isn't just some walking stick, or fashionable accessory, it is a useful tool in shepherding. The Lord doesn't compare us to sheep for nothing. Let's be honest, sometimes, we are as dumb as sheep, maybe more often then we would care to admit. But they aren't as dumb as we think they are. Like I said, they are woolly little Houdini's, much like goats, so that takes some skills to pull off. They test the fence and learn its weakness, then they exploit it--pretty cleaver of them to employ their "I'm just a dumb sheep" act, huh? Though sheep are herding animals, they also exhibit individual self preservation behavior, especially when a predator is about, it's a "better you than me" situation, not one sheep will willingly sacrifice itself for the flock.
And what about when the sheep have a bad caretaker, a hireling, then they are the one to blame when sheep go missing or get injured or get sick, right? And that is when our Good Shepherd goes to work and comes after his lost lil sheep, he binds their wounds and treats their illnesses, and gives the hireling his due, blessed be his holy name! On a side note, I have heard that sheep are also very prone to defeatist thinking. What I means is, if they get sick, according to some shepherds and veterinarians, they apparently think to themselves: "Oh no! I'm sick, I'm going to die!" and then, most of them do just that, they croak. And as I understand it, there is nothing so pitiful as a cast sheep. That means they have somehow rolled onto their back and can't right themselves, they can't get up. After a while, their legs do numb, or go to sleep, and the sheep if found, depending on how long they have been in that position, are somewhat bloated not able to stand on their feet again until the blood and feeling returns to their little twiggy legs and they expel the excess gas. And like all herding animals, they are skittish, and follow their fold, especially when panic sets in. Yep, sheep are a perfect metaphor for us humans.
And what about when the sheep have a bad caretaker, a hireling, then they are the one to blame when sheep go missing or get injured or get sick, right? And that is when our Good Shepherd goes to work and comes after his lost lil sheep, he binds their wounds and treats their illnesses, and gives the hireling his due, blessed be his holy name! On a side note, I have heard that sheep are also very prone to defeatist thinking. What I means is, if they get sick, according to some shepherds and veterinarians, they apparently think to themselves: "Oh no! I'm sick, I'm going to die!" and then, most of them do just that, they croak. And as I understand it, there is nothing so pitiful as a cast sheep. That means they have somehow rolled onto their back and can't right themselves, they can't get up. After a while, their legs do numb, or go to sleep, and the sheep if found, depending on how long they have been in that position, are somewhat bloated not able to stand on their feet again until the blood and feeling returns to their little twiggy legs and they expel the excess gas. And like all herding animals, they are skittish, and follow their fold, especially when panic sets in. Yep, sheep are a perfect metaphor for us humans.
If you don't know what the Word of Faith is all about, then I'm going to share with you just some of their teachings. I want you to understand where I came from, I was a lost sheep! I was so entrenched in the Word of Faith by now, up to this point in my life, after Kyle was born, that I was subtly being led astray into deeper into their briar patch. How? Well, as I gave them my ear, I began to let myself become unsatisfied with where I was in life, and that started to include who I was married to. Believe it or not, this is really what the Word of Faith theology does under the surface. The promoters of their teachings will categorically deny this, of course, or they will tell you that you are misusing them, but the honest truth is that their teachings are doctrines of demons. In retrospect, I can say with great thankfulness, that Robert wasn't completely on board with all of the Word of Faith teachings. So, back then, that is why I felt that he was holding me back from being truly blessed and that is why I began to look for ways to escape my unsatisfactory situation. Little did I know that I was being caught in a trap I wouldn't be able to get out of on my own.
The Word of Faith teaches many sins in subtle fashion. Sins like covetousness, and a thirst for power satisfied via usurped authority, and a haughty pride in being a true "believer" that has been given special revelation knowledge. So, here we have covetousness, rebellion, haughtiness, and pride, hmmm... a very dubious list indeed. This is how it goes, they teach that if you don't like what you drive, or where you live, or what you earn, then don't work hard by honest means, instead, just start naming and claiming what you want, and while you're at it, don't forget the most important key to your financial boom town; your seed faith offerings to your local "name it and claim it" church, or television station. However, they put certain limits on their "name it and claim it" teachings, one of which is that you can't use their teachings on them, and of course, the obvious: you can't violate the 10 commandments. Meaning, you can't commit adultery by naming and claiming someone else's husband for yourself, or someone else's house, etc. Even so, these kinds of sins are a natural by-product, or potential abuse of their teachings, and they know it. That is why they are very careful to instruct their followers against greed, and covetousness on the surface, and they deny that they themselves are guilty of such things, which is outright denial of the facts, something they are really good at, an ability they even brag about. But this confusing and contradictory means of teaching the sheep will only lead to one thing: failure!
The truth is that these people are indeed greedy, covetous, and lawless, because they really do teach you to be discontent with what you have, a practice that the Bible speaks against. The only thing they talk about is money, and as we all know, what ever you talk about the most, is what you care about the most. How do they teach you to be covetous and dissatisfied with your life? They give you a rags to riches story while flaunting their lavish lifestyle in front of your face, and then they claim that they got it all by doing what they teach. In reality, they only have great wealth, because of the vast amounts of cash that they were able to con out of other greedy people, namely their followers. Yes! Their followers are just as greedy as they are!
Dear reader, please hear me when I tell you that this is how con-men and even the lottery works! Think about it! But true to fashion, they hypocritically teach against the lottery, because they rightly claim that God hates gambling. Not only because the sin of gambling destroys families by exploiting the poor, which it does, but also because, according to Kenneth Copeland, only one person benefits from it, the one who wins the loot at the expense of the others! Did you hear that? Did you catch his hypocrisy? He just described how he makes his money. He promises you that you too can be rich, but only if you plant your hard earned cash, or seed faith money (as they like to call it) into his ministry. But what do you get in return? Do you get to drive a Mercedes to work? Do you get a six figure income? NO! You get the
privilege of being a partner of his "ministry", but wait!-- there's more! You also get a free propaganda magazine chuck full of his special revelation knowledge. And let's not forget that you also get the joy of seeing him live high off the hog on the money he swindled out of you and millions of other suckers, monies that could have been used to feed and clothe all of those families. Meanwhile, y'all are barely scraping by. So, yeah, he preaches against the Lottery, because he is in direct competition with it. He just uses God's hatred of swindlers to hide his swindling, pretty poorly, I might add. If you are a sheep that has been following these hirelings, and if you're honest, and I hope you are, then please think carefully of how long you have followed their teachings without you becoming a millionaire like them, before you get too upset at me. And it's time to come clean about your covetousness, and pride. I think that is what keeps most of the sheep snared in their trap, to be honest.
Now then, in contrast to their word of faith teachings, what does the Bible teach? Scripture teaches that godliness with contentment is great gain. But that Scripture doesn't support Word of Faith teachings, and since it is one of many antidotes to their poison, they skirt around it, or come back with some hick saying like: "Well now, you hold on there little missy, God ain't poor and he's content!" or something to that effect, which is utter nonsense. There they go, thinking all things are possible for those who believe they are little gods. The Word of Faith also falsely teaches that God won't send any physical harm upon his children in order to teach them something - because according to the Word of Faith preacher, that is "child abuse." Well, at first, this sounds logical and they justify and reason their position very well from a human point of view, which is of course, flawed. I'll touch on that subject next, as it is an important issue for me. Let us never forget that Satan knows Scripture better than most Christians, and that he is a proficient liar, and master deceiver who can transform himself into an angel of light. This snake in the grass type of metamorphosis also applies to his spiritual and earthly agents - namely demons and false teachers. Even they will tell you that much, but do they admit that they are the deceivers? Don't be ridiculous!
So, by their teachings, if you are experiencing any physical ailment, or financial difficulty, or any other attack on your person, then it is Satan who is attacking you. So you better get to work and overcome him with your "faith", which is a bunch of positive confessions, and seed faith sowing, and careful adherence to their special revelation knowledge that they spoon feed you. However, if you don't overcome Satan, well, then you are solely to blame, because your faith wasn't good enough, your positive confessions must have been too few, or you were in fear, and your seed money just wasn't enough. And don't even think of blaming the people teaching you this stuff either, because they are quick to remind you that their teachings have worked and continues to work for them. But that just isn't true, even though their vast wealth and seeming excellent health are hard to argue against initially, they aren't completely safe from the exacting lens of Scripture and common sense. Dear reader, if everyone in America gave me 1 dollar, would I be rich? Yes indeedy! I'd have about $317 million dollars! BINGO!
These wolves in sheep's clothing put their stolen sheep in a very cruel and dangerous place; one where they are not allowed to question the teachings of word of faith. But fortunately for me, Jesus continued to pursue me, and he finally gave me a good shaking one night (more on that later), which is the start of when he really started to physically deal with me. Jesus loves his little lambs, and he won't let them go without a fight. Even if he has to use his rod on his own stupid little sheep. [Baahh..] Ahem...Excuse me. Like I said, Jesus, the one who loves us, will hurt us as a means of saving us. Yes, Jesus will fight you from trying to leave his grasp. But he won't keep up the fight if you insist on going after a false Jesus that Satan has disguised himself as. God will not exert his will over your own, even to save you, if you willfully run from him repeatedly. Just look at the Children of Israel as a reference. Fortunately, I was not that kind of sheep, or a goat more like- thank you Jesus!
The Word of Faith teaches many sins in subtle fashion. Sins like covetousness, and a thirst for power satisfied via usurped authority, and a haughty pride in being a true "believer" that has been given special revelation knowledge. So, here we have covetousness, rebellion, haughtiness, and pride, hmmm... a very dubious list indeed. This is how it goes, they teach that if you don't like what you drive, or where you live, or what you earn, then don't work hard by honest means, instead, just start naming and claiming what you want, and while you're at it, don't forget the most important key to your financial boom town; your seed faith offerings to your local "name it and claim it" church, or television station. However, they put certain limits on their "name it and claim it" teachings, one of which is that you can't use their teachings on them, and of course, the obvious: you can't violate the 10 commandments. Meaning, you can't commit adultery by naming and claiming someone else's husband for yourself, or someone else's house, etc. Even so, these kinds of sins are a natural by-product, or potential abuse of their teachings, and they know it. That is why they are very careful to instruct their followers against greed, and covetousness on the surface, and they deny that they themselves are guilty of such things, which is outright denial of the facts, something they are really good at, an ability they even brag about. But this confusing and contradictory means of teaching the sheep will only lead to one thing: failure!
The truth is that these people are indeed greedy, covetous, and lawless, because they really do teach you to be discontent with what you have, a practice that the Bible speaks against. The only thing they talk about is money, and as we all know, what ever you talk about the most, is what you care about the most. How do they teach you to be covetous and dissatisfied with your life? They give you a rags to riches story while flaunting their lavish lifestyle in front of your face, and then they claim that they got it all by doing what they teach. In reality, they only have great wealth, because of the vast amounts of cash that they were able to con out of other greedy people, namely their followers. Yes! Their followers are just as greedy as they are!
Dear reader, please hear me when I tell you that this is how con-men and even the lottery works! Think about it! But true to fashion, they hypocritically teach against the lottery, because they rightly claim that God hates gambling. Not only because the sin of gambling destroys families by exploiting the poor, which it does, but also because, according to Kenneth Copeland, only one person benefits from it, the one who wins the loot at the expense of the others! Did you hear that? Did you catch his hypocrisy? He just described how he makes his money. He promises you that you too can be rich, but only if you plant your hard earned cash, or seed faith money (as they like to call it) into his ministry. But what do you get in return? Do you get to drive a Mercedes to work? Do you get a six figure income? NO! You get the
privilege of being a partner of his "ministry", but wait!-- there's more! You also get a free propaganda magazine chuck full of his special revelation knowledge. And let's not forget that you also get the joy of seeing him live high off the hog on the money he swindled out of you and millions of other suckers, monies that could have been used to feed and clothe all of those families. Meanwhile, y'all are barely scraping by. So, yeah, he preaches against the Lottery, because he is in direct competition with it. He just uses God's hatred of swindlers to hide his swindling, pretty poorly, I might add. If you are a sheep that has been following these hirelings, and if you're honest, and I hope you are, then please think carefully of how long you have followed their teachings without you becoming a millionaire like them, before you get too upset at me. And it's time to come clean about your covetousness, and pride. I think that is what keeps most of the sheep snared in their trap, to be honest.
Now then, in contrast to their word of faith teachings, what does the Bible teach? Scripture teaches that godliness with contentment is great gain. But that Scripture doesn't support Word of Faith teachings, and since it is one of many antidotes to their poison, they skirt around it, or come back with some hick saying like: "Well now, you hold on there little missy, God ain't poor and he's content!" or something to that effect, which is utter nonsense. There they go, thinking all things are possible for those who believe they are little gods. The Word of Faith also falsely teaches that God won't send any physical harm upon his children in order to teach them something - because according to the Word of Faith preacher, that is "child abuse." Well, at first, this sounds logical and they justify and reason their position very well from a human point of view, which is of course, flawed. I'll touch on that subject next, as it is an important issue for me. Let us never forget that Satan knows Scripture better than most Christians, and that he is a proficient liar, and master deceiver who can transform himself into an angel of light. This snake in the grass type of metamorphosis also applies to his spiritual and earthly agents - namely demons and false teachers. Even they will tell you that much, but do they admit that they are the deceivers? Don't be ridiculous!
So, by their teachings, if you are experiencing any physical ailment, or financial difficulty, or any other attack on your person, then it is Satan who is attacking you. So you better get to work and overcome him with your "faith", which is a bunch of positive confessions, and seed faith sowing, and careful adherence to their special revelation knowledge that they spoon feed you. However, if you don't overcome Satan, well, then you are solely to blame, because your faith wasn't good enough, your positive confessions must have been too few, or you were in fear, and your seed money just wasn't enough. And don't even think of blaming the people teaching you this stuff either, because they are quick to remind you that their teachings have worked and continues to work for them. But that just isn't true, even though their vast wealth and seeming excellent health are hard to argue against initially, they aren't completely safe from the exacting lens of Scripture and common sense. Dear reader, if everyone in America gave me 1 dollar, would I be rich? Yes indeedy! I'd have about $317 million dollars! BINGO!
These wolves in sheep's clothing put their stolen sheep in a very cruel and dangerous place; one where they are not allowed to question the teachings of word of faith. But fortunately for me, Jesus continued to pursue me, and he finally gave me a good shaking one night (more on that later), which is the start of when he really started to physically deal with me. Jesus loves his little lambs, and he won't let them go without a fight. Even if he has to use his rod on his own stupid little sheep. [Baahh..] Ahem...Excuse me. Like I said, Jesus, the one who loves us, will hurt us as a means of saving us. Yes, Jesus will fight you from trying to leave his grasp. But he won't keep up the fight if you insist on going after a false Jesus that Satan has disguised himself as. God will not exert his will over your own, even to save you, if you willfully run from him repeatedly. Just look at the Children of Israel as a reference. Fortunately, I was not that kind of sheep, or a goat more like- thank you Jesus!