In Amos 8:11-12 the Lord God says, "Behold, the days are coming that I will send a famine on the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of HEARING THE WORD OF THE LORD. They shall wander from sea to sea, and from north to east; they shall run to and fro, seeking the word of the Lord, but shall not find it."
In Jeremiah 23:30-31 the Lord says, "Behold I am against the prophets who STEAL My words every one from his neighbor. Behold, I am against the prophets who use their tongues and say, 'He says.'"
Our pastors and preachers today are the ones supposedly giving out the Word of the Lord to the people in their churches and congregation. How many of us have sat in a church service and had a pastor tell us that "I believe that GOD HAS GIVEN ME a message for you today"? Then, all of a sudden, we are given a power-point presentation where the 7 points in his message ALL start with the same letters and/or words, etc. It's just so perfect - almost like it came off the internet........hmm?
Do you realize that you can get free sermons online? Do you realize that Christian bookstores carry many books with sermons for pastors to use? Do you realize that when a pastor makes a statement like the one above to his congregation, but he didn't actually get it from God but from a book or from a sermon website - that pastor has just told his congregation A LIE, according to God's Word?
Ezekiel 22:28 God says, "Her prophets plastered them with untempered mortar, seeing false visions, and divining LIES for them, saying, 'Thus says the Lord God', when the Lord had not spoken." Many of our pastors and teachers are "STEALING words from one another" - that's breaking Commandment 8 of the Ten Commandments. Since lying is always "the 2nd sin" - these same pastors and teachers turn right around and tell their people that "this is the Word that God gave them". Lying is breaking Commandment 9 of the Ten Commandments.
So, when did it become acceptable to our Lord and King - for a pastor or teacher to take sermons and messages from OTHER PEOPLE and then tell their church congregations that these are actual messages that God gave to them? Why do you think many pastors are doing this in these last days? One answer maybe that, "This is what I was taught to do in Bible college/seminary." My guess is that they would answer that question with the answer, "I don't have the time." Well, if that is their answer - then they have also just broken Commandment 1 of the Ten Commandments which is "Thou shall have NO OTHER GODS BEFORE ME".
If you are in the ministry and reading this post today, it's my prayer that you will choose to honor God and His commandments with your life and ministry. Stop "stealing" your messages from other sources. Stop "lying" to your congregation that God "spoke to you" when He didn't - because you just got the sermon out of a book or off the internet - and not from God's Word for yourself. Lastly - Stop the "idolatry" of putting other things or people before God in your life. If you have time for the newspaper, TV, internet, sports events, etc. - you have time for God. It's just a choice of which one gets first place in your life and ministry. There is a famine in the land today of HEARING GOD'S WORD - and your congregation NEEDS YOU to be God's messenger of TRUTH to them - and to set the example for them to follow in regards to keeping a personal relationship with God in this busy world we all live in.
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