Matt 7:15; "Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.
Acts 20:29; "I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock;
Both Jesus and Paul warned about the wolves. In a way, TalkJesus is a church, whether we like it or not... this is a body of believers, so we qualify.
I'm not moderator, and I don't think I would make a good one. I am thankful for the moderators we do have. I have spoken to all of them individually a few times over the years.
But I do consider myself an "overseer" of sorts on here of sorts. I'm not the only one, I recognize a few others, even though they may not view themselves that way.
Acts 20:28; "Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.
If you've posted more than,... oh.. I don't know say 50 messages on here in the last 10 years. I probably know who you are. The moderators know who you are. I suspect Chad knows who you are.
That goes for both "the flock" and... "the wolves". In case you didn't know it, the wolves are here. I could easily call out a few of them by name.
Matt 10:16; "Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves.
I usually see two different kinds of wolves on here. The "nice" kind, and the "mean" kind. Aren't all wolves mean? Not necessarily.
It seems Eve saw the serpent as a friend with good advice. Not everyone who looks like a friend, really is.
Lately I see some people on here preaching about who is and who isn't saved. That isn't always a bad thing, but some of them seem to think no one but themselves are saved.
The next best thing is.. "unless you believe exactly how I believe" you aren't saved. It seems often these are newer accounts that I don't recognize from more than a week or two ago.
I don't know how they could possibly know what we all believe, but whatever it is we believe.. it's wrong, and they are right. They will freely tell you so.
Because we don't believe exactly how they do... we're all going straight to hell. I've heard some of these teachers say the rest of us are too "dumb or stupid" to understand the Bible anyway.
No wonder God wants to throw all us dummies in hell.
The other kind of wolf, tells us God is love, everyone is saved, no one will go to hell, God won't send anyone to the lake of fire. We have a few of those wolves around here also.
Live however you want to live, sin as much as you like, God doesn't care. Grace, grace, grace, Love, love love, God loves you is the only message they care about.
In a way the "nice" wolves are worse than the mean wolves, more people like that message and they start buying it.
I heard an old preacher friend of mine once say, when you have a wolf problem, you buy a gun. I'm beginning to think he was right. Not that we should literally shoot anyone, but
we do need to keep these people from "eating the sheep". If you're an elder, overseer, or moderator on here.... you're responsible for the flock, like it or not, you will be held accountable. (myself also)
So how do we protect ourselves from wolves? The obvious answer is know the Bible. All of it. Yes, it's a big book. Yes, some of it is hard to understand.
But once you know the Bible.. (start small, learn a little, then a little more, etc...) before you know it, you know a lot more than you think you do.
If you're a seasoned Christian, I'm not speaking to you here. You know who you are. I'm talking to the babies, the new Christians, the young Christians. Maybe not young in age,
but young in their walk and beliefs. Wolves like to go after the young, easy prey.
Wolves often use use half truths, much like the serpent in the garden. The quote half verses, they say parts of the Bible don't apply to them, or sometimes they mix two half verses to make a new verse.
(A LOT of Christian music does this today, I would even say the majority)
Us shepherds need to recognize each other, help each other. Fight off the wolves together. Sometimes the shepherds are bickering between themselves (and there is a time for that, we don't have to agree
on everything) but when the wolves come, let us band together, protect the flock... and then we can go back to our petty debates, once the threat is gone.
This has happened a number of times, and it's great when it does. We have "chased off" more than a few wolves on here over the years.
In the meantime, I don't always try to chase the wolves away... I simply try to put up a sign that says "Danger: wolf". I don't recall ever saying those exact words here in TalkJesus... but I have said
things like.. "that is Mormon doctrine" or "that is Jehovah's witness doctrine" or antimonists, or universalist, or whatever the case might be... the new sheep need to be looking for these warning signs.
I don't have a monopoly on the truth, I don't know it all... but I know the bible fairly well (as I said, I'm not the only one) and I know a wolf when I see one.
Luke 10:3; "Go; behold, I send you out as lambs in the midst of wolves.
Acts 20:29; "I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock;
Both Jesus and Paul warned about the wolves. In a way, TalkJesus is a church, whether we like it or not... this is a body of believers, so we qualify.
I'm not moderator, and I don't think I would make a good one. I am thankful for the moderators we do have. I have spoken to all of them individually a few times over the years.
But I do consider myself an "overseer" of sorts on here of sorts. I'm not the only one, I recognize a few others, even though they may not view themselves that way.
Acts 20:28; "Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.
If you've posted more than,... oh.. I don't know say 50 messages on here in the last 10 years. I probably know who you are. The moderators know who you are. I suspect Chad knows who you are.
That goes for both "the flock" and... "the wolves". In case you didn't know it, the wolves are here. I could easily call out a few of them by name.
Matt 10:16; "Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves.
I usually see two different kinds of wolves on here. The "nice" kind, and the "mean" kind. Aren't all wolves mean? Not necessarily.
It seems Eve saw the serpent as a friend with good advice. Not everyone who looks like a friend, really is.
Lately I see some people on here preaching about who is and who isn't saved. That isn't always a bad thing, but some of them seem to think no one but themselves are saved.
The next best thing is.. "unless you believe exactly how I believe" you aren't saved. It seems often these are newer accounts that I don't recognize from more than a week or two ago.
I don't know how they could possibly know what we all believe, but whatever it is we believe.. it's wrong, and they are right. They will freely tell you so.
Because we don't believe exactly how they do... we're all going straight to hell. I've heard some of these teachers say the rest of us are too "dumb or stupid" to understand the Bible anyway.
No wonder God wants to throw all us dummies in hell.
The other kind of wolf, tells us God is love, everyone is saved, no one will go to hell, God won't send anyone to the lake of fire. We have a few of those wolves around here also.
Live however you want to live, sin as much as you like, God doesn't care. Grace, grace, grace, Love, love love, God loves you is the only message they care about.
In a way the "nice" wolves are worse than the mean wolves, more people like that message and they start buying it.
I heard an old preacher friend of mine once say, when you have a wolf problem, you buy a gun. I'm beginning to think he was right. Not that we should literally shoot anyone, but
we do need to keep these people from "eating the sheep". If you're an elder, overseer, or moderator on here.... you're responsible for the flock, like it or not, you will be held accountable. (myself also)
So how do we protect ourselves from wolves? The obvious answer is know the Bible. All of it. Yes, it's a big book. Yes, some of it is hard to understand.
But once you know the Bible.. (start small, learn a little, then a little more, etc...) before you know it, you know a lot more than you think you do.
If you're a seasoned Christian, I'm not speaking to you here. You know who you are. I'm talking to the babies, the new Christians, the young Christians. Maybe not young in age,
but young in their walk and beliefs. Wolves like to go after the young, easy prey.
Wolves often use use half truths, much like the serpent in the garden. The quote half verses, they say parts of the Bible don't apply to them, or sometimes they mix two half verses to make a new verse.
(A LOT of Christian music does this today, I would even say the majority)
Us shepherds need to recognize each other, help each other. Fight off the wolves together. Sometimes the shepherds are bickering between themselves (and there is a time for that, we don't have to agree
on everything) but when the wolves come, let us band together, protect the flock... and then we can go back to our petty debates, once the threat is gone.
This has happened a number of times, and it's great when it does. We have "chased off" more than a few wolves on here over the years.
In the meantime, I don't always try to chase the wolves away... I simply try to put up a sign that says "Danger: wolf". I don't recall ever saying those exact words here in TalkJesus... but I have said
things like.. "that is Mormon doctrine" or "that is Jehovah's witness doctrine" or antimonists, or universalist, or whatever the case might be... the new sheep need to be looking for these warning signs.
I don't have a monopoly on the truth, I don't know it all... but I know the bible fairly well (as I said, I'm not the only one) and I know a wolf when I see one.
Luke 10:3; "Go; behold, I send you out as lambs in the midst of wolves.