Month: February 2026

What on earth is going on with the church?

I usually like to start my posts with a story of some sort. But I don’t have a story this time, just a heavy heart. Can we be real? If you, like me, are watching what’s going on in the church these days, and feeling all sorts of emotions, not the least of which is dismay and disillusionment, then keep reading.

Let me start by saying, I am a charismatic. Perhaps even a Pentecostal. I speak in tongues. I believe in the gifts of the spirit. I love His presence. I’ve spent years, no decades following the most popular ministries, Bethel, Morning Star, even a little IHOP here and there. I have their books on my bookshelf. I’ve read them, learned from them. Enjoyed them. I’ve gone to the conferences. Listened to the teachings. Believed these people were hearing from God. But I’ve also learned something else, something I didn’t get from them. I’ve learned to read my Bible. Every. Single. Day. For an hour. Since I was born again, many years ago, I have made it my habit to read the word. It’s harder to be deceived when you know the word. But these ministries deceived me. I did not see the scandal coming. 

And that is perhaps why it has been so hard. It caught me off guard. The scandals came out of left field for me. Perhaps they shouldn’t have. I’ve seen the scandals in the Catholic Church, and in the non Charismatic evangelical churches, not the least of which was Ravi Zacharias just 4 years ago. I don’t know why I didn’t realize that God was cleaning house, knocking over tables, if you will. But then I realized that none of this caught the Lord off guard. He actually warned us it would happen in the last days. We just didn’t see it or believe it. If you relate, follow along as I show you from Scripture that non of this stuff should have been a surprise to us, and, more importantly, what do we do now.

In Luke 12:1-3, Jesus warned us about hypocrisy in leadership. 

“Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. For there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, nor hidden that will not be known. Therefore whatever you have spoken in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have spoken in the ear in inner rooms will be proclaimed on the housetops.”

I’m sure the disciples wondered how things could be proclaimed from the housetops, but here we are. Technology solved this problem and the hidden things, done in secret, have indeed been proclaimed into every home. What was He really saying to them? Be careful what you do in secret, especially if you are a leader in the church. I will tell the world!

Jesus also warns us in Matthew 7:21-23:

“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’”

When you really read that passage slowly, it sounds very much like He is referring to the things happening right now and what will happen to those false leaders.  They will stand before Him at the judgment and shout, “look at all we’ve done for you”! Think about the arrogance and pride it takes to stand before the judge of all the earth and say that! I don’t see any fear of the Lord, do you? But what is just as enlightening is actually what came before this particular passage. In Matthew 7:15-20 Jesus tells us:

“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them.”

I want you to think about the imagery Jesus is using here: Thorn bushes and thistles. Have you ever touched one of them? Thorns puncture and hurt deeply. Thistles get stuck in your skin and hurt when you brush against them. Thistles are more subtle in their pain, while thorns are immediate and obvious. Now think about how that relates to wolves in the church. And not just wolves, but ravenous wolves. They are starving, lusting to eat the sheep. What a sad indictment! Shepherds on the other hand, feed the sheep, just like figs and grapes feed our bodies. 

One more. In Matthew 24:4, when Jesus is asked what will be the sign of the end times, He warns us with this:

“Take heed that no one deceives you.”

And then with this in Matthew 24:11:

“Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many.”

So you see, we were warned, we just didn’t want to see it or believe it. Even now, we make excuses for them. Perhaps they didn’t mean it. Maybe they didn’t understand. Surely not my favorite prophet, teacher, pastor, leader! Only the Lord knows their hearts, but truthfully, it’s not looking good for them. Can they repent? Of course! Will they? Only God knows. 

But that is not why I wrote this. Yes, I’m looking at bad fruit, fruit I’ve touched and tasted, and apparently didn’t realize was bad. But what I’m really asking is, where do we go from here? What now? 

And that brings me to this conclusion. We cannot build our houses on a ministry or a leader. That is in fact, building our house on sand. Ironically, this parable comes right after the passages about wolves and people shouting at the Lord on judgment day. In Matthew 7: 24-27, Jesus tells us this:

“Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.”

I would suggest that the winds are blowing, the rain is descending and the floods of scandal have come. The only thing that will keep my house standing is if I have built it on the Rock, Jesus Christ. Do not build your house on anyone or anything else. Do not build your house, your faith, on a ministry or a leader. If these winds, these scandals are rocking your world, making you lose your faith, making you walk away from God, then your house is not built on the Rock! Come to Jesus and trust in Him. He will not lie to you or deceive you. He will not betray you. But you must repent and believe that He is alive and that He is coming back soon. Only then will your house be built on the Rock. 

Let me know in the comments if you have struggled with this issue and how you’ve handled it in a way that does not make you lose your faith.

How do you not become deceived with all the deception on earth?

There’s an obscure little story in the book of 1st Samuel that would be easy to miss, but it’s very important. Saul has become the 1st King of Israel, and the country has been captured by the Philistines, a neighboring nation that hates Israel. Saul, even within a short period of time, just two short years, has already proven himself to be a poor king, unwilling to obey the Lord. The Prophet Samuel has told him that God would not allow Saul’s kingdom to continue past his own life. In other words, his son’s would not become kings after him. With this background in mind, we come to the little story that is almost buried in 1 Samuel 13:19-22:

“Now there was no blacksmith to be found throughout all the land of Israel, for the Philistines said, “Lest the Hebrews make swords or spears.” But all the Israelites would go down to the Philistines to sharpen each man’s plowshare, his mattock, his ax, and his sickle; and the charge for a sharpening was a pim (a small measure of silver)for the plowshares, the mattocks, the forks, and the axes, and to set the points of the goads. So it came about, on the day of battle, that there was neither sword nor spear found in the hand of any of the people who were with Saul and Jonathan.”

Did you catch that? The army had no weapons! Neither sword nor spear. Nothing. Can you imagine a modern day army with no weapons of war? An army that is completely dependent on the enemy to even supply them with the machines to harvest their crops? Only men with sticks and stones, hoping they can defeat an enemy that is more powerful than them? What are the odds that they could defeat such an enemy? I would suggest zero to none.

Now let me ask you a question. Do you, as a Christian, have a sword by your side or in your hand? What am I talking about, you are thinking. Let me show you something in Ephesians 6:11-13 that Paul admonishes us to do:

‘Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.” 

Paul goes on to describe the various pieces of armor, namely the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, putting the gospel of peace on our feet, the shield of faith and the helmet of salvation. You might look at these and think, check, yeah, I believe in Jesus and I think I understand the gospel. No worries, right? But then Paul mentions one more piece of equipment, and I want you to ask yourself if you have one and if it is dull or sharp? Is yours a butter knife, perhaps? I’m being serious. It’s the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. 

The sword of the spirit which is the word of God. Did you know that every time you read the word of God, which is the Bible, you are (proverbially) sharpening that sword? But, and this is a big but, unless you pick that Bible up, you don’t really have a sword do you? It might as well be a butter knife, for it does you no good in a battle. Look at what the writer of Hebrews says:

“For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” Hebrews 4:12

Are you taking someone else’s word for what the Bible says or are you reading it yourself? Are you believing that if you listen to sermons, or are reading a devotional every day, that that is enough to know the Word? What if I told you that when Jesus told us about the last days, the first warning He gave us is that there would be rampant deception. Matthew 24:4 (Take heed that no one deceives you.)

In 2 Corinthians 11:13-15 Paul warns us that there would be many false teachers and prophets, even in his day. He also tells us why:

“For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works.”

The reason they pretend to be ministers of righteousness is because they are not following Jesus, they are following satan. And how my friend, will you ever be able to discern who they really are, unless you have a very sharp sword in your arsenal? You must read and study the word of God. You must sharpen that sword every single day. It is the only way that you will know the truth and know it well enough to hear when you are being lied to and deceived. 

Now lets go back to our story of Israel and the Philistines. Why do you think that they took away Israel’s weapons? That’s an easy answer, isn’t it? Because they didn’t want them to fight and actually defeat them. They even removed all the blacksmiths from the land so they couldn’t secretly make weapons of war. 

With that in mind, why do you suppose we have a modern day church that doesn’t know the Bible? Why do so many people who call themselves Christians, never open their Bible, except maybe in church? I’ll tell you why! Because the enemy has convinced them that they don’t need to read it. They are far too busy doing more important things. I’m too busy. I volunteer at church. I have kids. I have a job. Etc. And so we have an army without weapons. An army that has willingly laid down their arms, and bought the lie, “you don’t need to read the word, just listen to a sermon”, “just read your two minute daily Bible verse or a devotional”. But isn’t a sermon or a teaching or a devotional just someone else’s opinion? 

This blog post is my opinion. It might be true, but in the end, it’s not the word. It’s not the sword of the Spirit. It’s just my opinion. I could be lying to you. I could be deceiving you. How will you know? Take the verses I gave you above and open your Bible and read them, then read what was before and what came after. And might I add, keep reading the whole chapter. Now you are picking up your sword. Now you are sharpening your sword!