Do you remember how many spam calls you got last week? If you accidentally answer their call, you soon discover they all have a sales pitch, trying to sell you a desirable product or play on your fear of losing something very important. It is always a scam of some sort. A person I know responded to spam in the last 30 days and it resulted in a loss of well over $100 thousand dollars.
Have you considered the possibility that there are also ‘religious’ spammers? They too have a pitch offering simulations of true worship that sounds Biblical but is really appealing to a god created in man’s image—created to please the soul or flesh of mankind. Their liturgy and teachings appeal to the mind and/or emotion over one’s spirit and are based on ‘cherry picked’ Bible verses. They offer a way to go to God’s Heaven that will include most everyone, no matter the kind of person they are (not were). Most religious spammers are not bad people. Most are good, well-meaning individuals. They simply are not students of the Bible nor apprentices of Jesus and therefore they preach or teach other speakers material. They were simply spammed by what they heard or have been taught or may not have had much of a personal encounter with the Bible God that changes everything.
How can you know if you attend a spammer led or ‘progressive’ oriented church, or one that subtly deconstructs what you know the Bible does says about God? Unfortunately, far too many attendees don’t personally know what the Bible actually does say about God and His truth because they don’t know how or haven’t taken the time to personally find what it says. Churchgoers come to hear what their pastor tells them the Bible says or their unique spin on what they think He intends to say in His Word. It’s like eating at a fast-food place with unhealthy ingredients you wouldn’t use if you cooked the meal yourself.
Interestingly, the Holy Spirit inspired Paul to write all Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work (2 Timothy 3:16-17, ESV). He wrote in the previous chapter a cure for avoiding religious spammers. Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth (2 Timothy 2:15, ESV). The original word translated Do your best literally means to be eager, zealous, diligent, make every effort, to do your utmost, to do what? To … present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth. It is noteworthy that Paul tells you what to expect when you zealously or diligently study scripture. There are four things it is profitable for; teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness. Did you notice it is NOT just to soothe your bruises or pump you up? The scripture’s teaching helps you get a clear understanding of truth, reproof points out errors when you read or hear them, correction straightens out the curves or distortions in your life, and instruction is to help you know how to make correct decisions and align your values and ways to those of God’s kingdom.
By handling real currency, you can learn to spot counterfeit money. By consistently studying scripture, God’s truth is stamped in your heart so you will intuitively sense if what you hear or read is spam. How are you positioning yourself so God can imprint His truth in your heart so you can spot spam when you hear or see it? If your plan is anemic, I strongly urge you to take responsibility for protecting yourself and those you love from the prevailing winds of deception.
To many people follow this path, because it’s easy. Reading and understanding scripture is Work. They don’t understand that studying scripture will enhance everything they are or do. And the big plus is a relationship with Jesus.