My Father and your father
Message Preached 10/18//98

        I am here to tell you that Life Gate Church was put on earth, birthed by God, preserved by the Lord Jesus Christ, and led by the Holy Spirit of God to make life better for people. You cannot attend this church and your life not change for the better.
JAM 1:21 Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.
(TLB) JAM 1:21 So get rid of all that is wrong in your life, both inside and outside, and humbly be glad for the wonderful message we have received, for it is able to save our souls as it takes hold of our hearts.

        What is your soul?
1TH 5:23 And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

        The soul dimension is the thinking and emotional part of the being. The psychological term is schema. It means the way we process information. Our schema--soul--is affected by many forces, i.e. environment as a child, the way our parents taught us to think, the way our teachers taught us to think, the media, friends, etc. One major force affecting the schema is the church we attend.
        It is impossible to attend this church and not have your soul--schema change. The reason is we preach an engrafted word. This message will get inside of you and begin attacking your schema. It will war with worldly thoughts and false religious thoughts. It will force you to properly interpret the word of God. It will challenge false religion and discern what we are taught.
        Naturally, the devil does not want your soul saved. If he can get you to schema information improperly, then your soul will not saved. A person could live and die and never experience the kingdom of God. We could live and die and never experience the abundant life that Christ came to give. Salvation is more than saying a prayer after someone. A prayer is a great start, but that prayer does not save your soul! There is a lot more to be done. Salvation for our soul requires the engrafted word. That is what the Bible says. It is the engrafted word that saves our souls. False teaching does the opposite to our souls than what the engrafted word does.
2PE 2:1 But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.
(NIV) 2PE 2:1 But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them - bringing swift destruction on themselves.

        The Bible and apostles warn again and again about the false teachers that teach damnable heresies. What are damnable heresies? They are teaching that damn or curse us. They are false teachings that are not of God. Peter tells us that these false teacher teaching damnable heresies shall be among us. It is not a question of may be among us. Peter says, there shall be false teachers among you. That would mean that false teachers are in our midst attempting to get their poison in us (Mat 23:33).
        These false teachers even deny the sovereign Lord. We may say, “I’ve would never go to a church that taught false doctrine.” The truth is most of us have at some time. The most accepted doctrine today is that Jesus is somehow Lord, but not yet. One day he will come back, rapture the church, whip the antichrist, and really be Lord. The proper name wording for the Lord is the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ is the Greek word for the Hebrew word Messiah and Messiah means King of kings. The Lord Jesus Christ is Lord now! He rules now (1Co 15:24-26). He is as much Lord and King now as he ever will be Lord and King.

        Let me remind you of a few, only have time for a few, false teachings that have been projected in the not too distant pass.
1. In 1987 a book was written named something like “88 Reasons Why Jesus Will Return in 88.” The book sold millions of copies. I didn’t purchase one because I knew it was a false teaching (that is why I am not exactly positive of the title). One week prior to the date the Lord was to come and rapture the church, I preached a message on “7 Reasons Why Jesus Will Not Return in 88.” Of course Jesus did not return, so the author wrote another book explaining why he had miscalculated. He said the Lord would really return in 89. He sold another million books. Of course that book was false also.
        We don’t need to attack people and name names, but we must begin to stand up and declare false teaching and damnable heresies. Until people do, the junk will continue to flow.

2. June 9th. 199? -- Some guy had a vision about how God would snatch all wickedness from the earth on June 9th. He was on TBN and everyone was excited. Well, June 9th came and went and wickedness is worse now than ever. It was a false teaching. The sad part is these people declare that Father God gave them the vision and told them this and told them that. The truth is the devil gave them the vision and told them this and told them that. How long do we listen without challenging?

3. The Late Great Planet Earth, Satan is Alive and Well on Planet Earth. An author wrote these two books. Both predicted the rapture of the church by the year 1988. Both books are still being reprinted today. In the books the author said that the fig tree of Matthew 24:32 was the nation of Israel. When Israel declared itself a nation in 1948 that generation would not pass until the Lord returned and raptured the church. He said the temple would be rebuilt in Israel also. Of course neither happened, but people continue to listen to him and buy his books. I heard one television host call this author the end time “guru.” Today he has an end time television program.
        My question(s) is why do people listen to anything he has to say? Has he ever been correct? Why do people continue to buy the book when it is an obvious false teaching?

4. Antichrist. The antichrist has been the Pope, Henry Kissinger, Nikita Khrushchev, Mikhail Gorbachev, Ronald Regan, Saddam Hussein and others have been marked as the antichrist in my lifetime. It was Hitler and Joseph Stalin just prior to my birth. These false teachers will go on naming people as antichrist. Will it ever end? Will we ever stand up and challenge the lies?

5. The USSR was supposed to be the feared army from the north. The USSR bankrupted and dissolved. Today there is no USSR. Those who taught that were wrong and taught falsely.

6. A few years ago a teaching came out that the temple property in Israel had been purchased and they were about to rebuild the temple. We were told the stones were being cut in the nation of Georgia and were about to be shipped to Israel to begin rebuilding the temple. What a joke! On that temple site sits the mosque of the Dome of the Rock. The Islamic religion will never sell that property. They will never allow that mosque to be replaced by a temple of Judaism.
        Silly Christians believe that stuff and gobble it up as the truth. They want their rapture and tribulation. They should want the truth and to overcome. Instead they think they are going to fly. They are trapped and yoked to false teachings and damnable heresies.

7. Vultures. We call them buzzards in the south. A few years back there was a teaching that vultures were congregating in the land of Palestine. This was supposed to be the sign of the beginning of Armageddon (Rev. 16:16). According to their doctrine, in the great battle, vultures will come and eat the flesh of the kings, etc (Rev 19:17-18). There were no buzzards gathering. It was simply a false teacher devising a damnable heresy.

8. The was with Iraq was supposed to be the beginning of Armageddon. Was it?

9. The beast of Belgium. A huge computer that was supposed to have vast memory was supposed to be the beast. They even named it “the beast.”

10. U.S. News --Prophecy--Heaven’s Gate suicide. Branch Davidian in Waco, Texas. These were preached as signs of the end. Both were several years ago and we seldom hear about either today.

11. Books, Inter net, Tapes, -- The Church and the Tribulation by AMG publishers teaches a great tribulation in the near future. Of course AMG has said the rapture and tribulation was close many times.

12. News Papers -- The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Article on the four-part book “Left Behind”. It has already sold 3 million copies. The amazing thing is it is a fiction writing. At least it recognizes fiction when it sees it.

13. Nancy Fowler has a farm in Conyers, Ga. She has statues of the Virgin Mary that people kiss and pray. Nancy Fowler says that Mary talks to her so last Tuesday, Wednesday October 14, 1998 “tens of thousands of believers flocked to Nancy Fowler’s farm” to hear what Mary had to say. Is that anywhere in the Bible? Is there anything like that in the Bible? How can that be truth when Jesus said, “Thy word is truth” (Joh 17:17).

        There are false teachers teaching damnable heresies. Destructive heresies that destroy the souls of men. They lie. Their damage is because they begin their junk with stuff like I quote from a net site.
“When I saw on the news about the terrorists' attack on the Federal Building in Oklahoma City, I was shocked and terrorized (maybe this is exactly what the terrorists want!). I came in front of the Lord to hear what He has to say. I heard Him say this, (he quotes from Matthew 24, then says), The goal of many Christian organizations is to preach the gospel to the whole world by year 2,000. If I do not understand this passage wrong, the end is very near and will come some time early next century.”

        Now the prediction is “early next century.” When it doesn’t happen then when will it be? The part that so aggravates me is these people say things like “I came in front of the Lord to hear what He has to say. I heard Him say.....” No they do not. Matthew 24 is entirely about the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple which happened in A.D. 70. It was the abomination of desolation that Daniel spoke about. That desolation was only to come on the people of Daniel and the holy city of Daniel. Why thrust your ignorance on others?
        What really ticks me is they make my Lord and Father God look foolish. God must be so confused. It’s going to be 88 no 89, no 2000, no ????? I am tired of people making my Father look like an idiot. “God said this and God said that.” No he did not!
        It is time we arise and challenge these false teachers that teach damnable heresies! I would never allow anyone to think my natural father is a confused idiot. If my biological father can give good things to me then how much more does my heavenly Father do for me? Do I not declare that He is being lied about. The lost world must think, “Well, if God said that and it didn’t happen, does God know what he is doing?” There is no wonder most main line denominations do not want the gifts of the Spirit in their church. “God said this and God said that...” Who want that? It is time we stand and declare, “False Teaching! Damnable Heresies!”
        That is exactly what Father expects us to do. Jesus got so tired of the religious system giving false impression of his Father. He told that religious system that they had a problem. Their problem was their father was not the same as His Father.
JOH 8:38 I speak that which I have seen with my Father: and ye do that which ye have seen with your father.

        Jesus stood and said to them that the stuff they said and taught was not of the Father. They were fools! They were blind guides! They were serpent and vipers. Their father was not the Father of Christ. Their teachings were of their father the devil. Jesus said what he spoke and said was true. His works proved that fact. Jesus told them what they spoke and said was from their father and their father is the devil.
JOH 8:44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

        We must arise and challenge that system of death that makes people twice the sons of hell they are. If we take the lesson from Jesus our example, we will do just that. We will declare, “That is not what my Father says!” Most people never have an alternative message shown them. Many who do will reject that message. Still some have ears to hear and eyes to see. I did. You did. There are more who do, many more!