Jesus exhorted His followers not to “labour for that which perishes” but to “labour for that which is eternal” (John 6:27). The prosperity gospel, by contrast, encourages Christians to focus on what they can receive from Christ in the here and now. Much so-called Christian television and radio programming today panders to what people’s “itching ears” want to hear: the promise of earthly gain.
Perverted Thoughts
The devil uses this access to plant temptations in our minds. Sometimes Christians are terribly upset by the ghastly, horrible thoughts that come into their minds. They wonder, ‘How can I be a child of God when I think such terrible things?’
Christians Not Critical Enough
Christians do not sufficiently cultivate a critical attitude towards what they see and hear. The technique of the media is often so subtle and attractive that we can be taken in by it and never realise the content of what is being presented to us. Our minds can be bent without our being aware of what is happening.
You are what you think!
Proverbs 23:7 says, ‘For as he thinks within himself, so he is.’ What we think determines what we do; what we do determines what we become.
The Mind of the Christian
We can fall into an equally dangerous error of thinking that all we need in order to walk with the Lord is a spirit – ‘forget about the intellect’, they say, ‘it only creates prob- lems’. ‘Big mind, big problems; little mind, little problems; no mind, no problems!’ seems to be the attitude. Anti- intellectualism of this kind can be truly disastrous.
Perverted Understanding of Faith
The Word-Faith teachings are corrupt. Their undeniable derivation is cultish, not Christian. The sad truth is that the gospel proclaimed by the Word-Faith movement is not the Gospel of the New Testament. Word-Faith doctrine is a mongrel system, a blend of mysticism, dualism and Gnosticism, that borrows generously from the teachings of the metaphysical cults. The Word-Faith movement may be the most dangerous false system that has grown out of the Charismatic movement so far, because so many Charismatics are unsure of the finality of Scripture.
Strategic Level Spiritual Warfare
I believe, gone are the days when we used to play cows-boys and Indians, for the Christian and the devil is much more exciting. Hence, making Harry Potter and the Lord of the rings a reality that a supernatural world exists, and Christians need to use their authority in possessing this land for the extension of God’s Kingdom.
Walking in the Spirit
The Holy Spirit will take us in hand, time and again, over our breaches of the law of unselfish love; if we respond He will write part of that law in our hearts. We, in fact, are ourselves changed, from one degree of glory to another, but always in the direction of liberty –‘where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom’ (2 Corinthians 3:17).
Is COVID-19 getting you down?
This year it’s COVID-19 and maybe next year it’s something else. They have been testing this and that, mixing our foods with hormones and playing gods with our weather.