One of the greatest challenges we have in Christ follower-ship is laziness. Sadly, many religious people love to talk, but hate to read. As such, when you show them clear, incontrovertible, and unambiguous Scripture that disproves their denominational beliefs and dogmas, they will go ‘spiritual’ and cite ‘the letter killeth.’
Unfortunately, for them, Scripture warned us that “no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.”-2 Peter 1:20.
God’s Holy Spirit would not contradict God’s Words.
The reason many pastors make merchandise of such people is that they are not noble Christians. It has nothing to do with the pastors. Many of them are opportunists and an opportunist will always take advantage of an opportunity.
What do I mean?
Acts 17:11 says:
“The Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.”
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Notice that the Berean believers listened to Paul, and understood what he said, yet, still went home to cross check what he said with Scripture, and only then did they accept it.
If you try that with many Christians you will be surprised. Rather than cross check their pastors words with Scripture, they will try to adjust Scripture to suit their pastors words.
Fact check your pastor. Fact check me. Fact check anybody who purports to teach you God’s words. Christ did not say ‘search your pastor’. He said “search the Scriptures”-John 5:39.
There are so many fallacies that exist in Christianity today, because of this blind follower-ship of pastors. I will try to address a few.
Silent Prayer: Too often, Evangelical and Pentecostal pastors preach against silent prayers. However, the very first recorded prayer of a man to God in Scripture is a silent prayer.
We see this in Genesis 24:45:
“Before I finished praying in my heart, Rebekah came out, with her jar on her shoulder. She went down to the spring and drew water, and I said to her, ‘Please give me a drink.’
The prayer referenced above is from Eliezer, Abraham’s servant.
Also, some of the most potent prayers in Scripture were silent, including Hannah’s prayer in 1 Samuel 1:13 “Hannah was praying in her heart”, and the prayer of the woman with the issue of blood, in Matthew 9:21 “she said within herself, If I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole.”
Meditation: Sadly, I have seen big time mega pastors condemn meditation as a satanic practice originating from Oriental religions. But in truth, Meditation Originates From Scripture, Not From Buddhism or Other Eastern Religions.
We see this in Genesis 24:63:
“Isaac went out to meditate in the field at the eventide: and he lifted up his eyes, and saw, and, behold, the camels were coming.”
Because of that teaching, many Christians have been robbed off a practice that is as spiritually wholesome as prayer. That is why many people are anxious, depressed, or even suicidal.
Meditation is to the human spirit what medication is to the human body.
In fact, you cannot have spiritual insight or understanding without meditation (Psalm 119:99).
The Black African Practice of Pouring Libations Is Also A Scriptural Practice: Too many Black African Christians condemn every aspect of their own culture, but a lot of Black African practices are Scriptural, because Moses was married to a Black African woman (Numbers 12:1) and her Black African father was his mentor (Exodus 18:24).
One Black African practice we see in Scripture is the art of pouring libations to God. We see this in Genesis 35:14:
“Jacob set up a stone pillar at the place where God had talked with him, and he poured out a drink offering on it; he also poured oil on it.”
Moses’s Black Wife Taught Him Circumcision Before God Gave Him The 10 Commandments: Many big time Pastor preach that circumcision originates from the Law of Moses. No. That is not true.
Abraham was the first person in Scripture recorded to practice circumcision, but by the time of the 430 year sojourn in Egypt, the ancient Israelites had forgotten their God and his practices and were living just like the Egyptians.
As an aside, the word Egypt does not even exist in the Old Testament. The actual word used in the original Hebrew Scriptures is Mizraim, which encompasses more than the geographical location of the current nation of Egypt.
Mizraim was the name of a Black man, who was the son of Ham, the father of the Black race, and brother of Cush. Cush is Hebrew for Black and till today, Black Africans are called Cushites (Genesis 10:6 and Genesis 2:13).
In the Quran (which I read in Arabic), Egypt is known as Misr or Misra, depending on how you render the Arabic مصر into English.
Moses did not even know what circumcision was, because he did not circumcise his son on the eight day. And because of this, God wanted to kill him, until his Black African wife rescued him.
We see this in Exodus 4:24-26:
“At a lodging place on the way, the LORD met Moses and was about to kill him. But Zipporah took a flint knife, cut off her son’s foreskin and touched Moses’ feet with it. “Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me,” she said. So the LORD let him alone. (At that time she said “bridegroom of blood,” referring to circumcision.)”
The Practice of Medical quarantines started from Scripture: The #COVID19 pandemic exposed a lot of pastors. Many of them called the lockdown and quarantines ‘satanic’ and an attack on the Body of Christ. Some even said it is part of the anti-Christ agenda to stop church services.
In actual fact, quarantines and lockdowns originate from Scripture.
We this in Leviticus 13:4-5:
“If the shiny spot on the skin is white but does not appear to be more than skin deep and the hair in it has not turned white, the priest is to isolate the affected person for seven days. On the seventh day the priest is to examine them, and if he sees that the sore is unchanged and has not spread in the skin, he is to isolate them for another seven days.”
This Is Why The Levites And ONLY The Levites Were To Receive Tithes: The greatest attraction of people into Evangelical, and Pentecostal ministry is tithe. It has attracted so many people, who see it as a means of financial gain. If you try to teach Evangelicals and Pentecostals the truth of what Scripture says, they will cite Malachi 3:10:
“Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, That there may be food in My house, And try Me now in this,” Says the LORD of hosts, “If I will not open for you the windows of heaven And pour out for you such blessing That there will not be room enough to receive it.”
But notice that that verse says “That there may be food in My house.” It does not say that there may be money.
Tithes are a strictly agricultural tax. And the only time Christ mentions tithes, He mentioned them strictly in agricultural terms. We see this in Matthew 23:23:
“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices–mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law–justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.”
There is no single instance of paying monetary tithes in Scripture.
Why did God require the ancient Israelites to pay tithes of their farm produce?
Joshua 13:14 gives the answer.
“But to the tribe of Levi he gave no inheritance, since the food offerings presented to the LORD, the God of Israel, are their inheritance, as he promised them.”
When the Israelites got to the Promised Land, God instructed Joshua not to apportion any land to the Levites. And because they had no land by which they could farm, God asked all the other tribes to bring a tithe of their agricultural harvest to the House of God, so that the Levites could eat food and also perform the grain, meat, oil and wine sacrifices.
That is why Malachi 3:10 uses the term “That there may be food in My house”.
But you may ask, what about Abraham? Abraham did not tithe his income, or his farm harvest. Abraham tithed ONCE. And he only tithed from military plunder, also called spoils of war, and we see this in Hebrews 7:4:
“Just think how great he was: Even the patriarch Abraham gave him a tenth of the plunder!”
The disciples and the early Christians never collected tithes. They took free will offerings-Acts 2:44-45. Not one person in the New Testament is recorded as paying tithes.
If a pastor justifies tithing using the Old Testament, ask him or her why they do not also justify polygamy since the Old Testament allows it-2 Samuel 12:8, or slavery-Deuteronomy 20:11, or other extreme forms of punishment for sexual offences-Leviticus 20:13.
Finally, stop saying ‘this Christianity is confusing’, or ‘I am just confused’. You are not confused. You are lazy. The reason why is because you listen to different pastors and prophets and men of God, but you do not read Scripture. As a result, you are “tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming.”-Ephesians 4:14.
Christ following is easy. Pick up Scripture and read it for yourself. And then do what it says, no matter what anyone tells you to the contrary.
Reno Omokri
Gospeller. Deep Thinker. #1 Bestselling author of Facts Versus Fiction: The True Story of the Jonathan Years. Avid traveller. Hollywood Magazine Film Festival Humanitarian of the Year, 2019.