I have found only one, maybe two restaurants capable of duplicating the taste of this home-cooked marvel. But I have seen & heard MANY preachers & churches that are preparing "Christians" today for a Deep-Frying. It's because what they are preaching, (like shrimp frying in the kitchen) smells & tastes soooo good. But listen to me - The message will kill you! It will clog up your spiritual veins until one day you'll be dead.
The message that is preparing Christian's to be deep-fried, is rolling them in a batter of UNSCRIPTURAL GRACE. This isn't my first experience with it. I have a real story to tell you. Been there, done that.
A long time ago, in a land far, far, away, I personally witnessed a ministry which desperately wanted to duplicate another church's revival. To accomplish this, they imported the same evangelist from the other move of God and began holding services. This time though, the evangelist didn't preach the same life-changing, heart-piercing word as before. Rather, he served-up a fluffy, sugar-coated message consisting of, "You can do what you want to and still go to Heaven". There was no anointing. No lives were transformed, and there was no revival. In fact, it ended in tragic devastation.
After the tragedy of this story was over, the ministry having folded, marriages broken up, (and other sad details I am leaving out), I discovered an alarming yet enlightening fact: The evangelist preached this message of "grace without self-denial", because HE WAS AN ALCOHOLIC. He created a Gospel message which allowed his sin. In other words, it was like:
"And man said, let us create god in our image and our likeness
and let us rule and reign over Him." Genesis 1:26 very distorted
When we don't follow the Word of God, we create an image of God (an Idol!) that we can live with. Then is the prophecy of the last days fulfilled:
II Timothy 4:1- I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: 2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. 3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, 4 and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.
IF WE CAN'T PREACH ABOUT SIN, WHY NOT??
* Is there sin in our lives we are covering?
* Are we too afraid of people and their opinion of us?
* Do we love the darkness, rather than the light?
* Are we afraid that if we preach on sin, people will quit giving and we won't be able to pay our bills? Jesus response to that is what Peter
told Simon the Sorcerer...
"Peter said, "To hell with your money! And you along with it.
Why, that's unthinkable-trying to buy God's gift! You'll never
be part of what God is doing by striking bargains and offering bribes.(Acts 8:20-23) Msg.
I offer this humbly, strictly judging only myself and no other, realizing I need the grace and mercy of God as much as anyone. But this danger must be brought to light and confronted. We all need to realize the cooking batter that is trying to be applied to our lives, and question if we aren't being prepared to be DEEP-FRIED.
Sure, it might look good, smell good, and taste good. But isn't THAT what got us into this mess in the first place?? Ask Adam and Eve when you see them.
