THE TRUTH vs OPINION
If it’s not in the bible it’s not the gospel, opinion is just that opinion and the minute you make your opinion the message you become an enemy of God.
One disciple who started God-inspired and then got in trouble by moving into the realm of opinion is the Apostle Peter. In Matthew 16:16, Peter told Jesus,” You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God,” a powerful revelation, and Jesus told Peter in the next verse, v17,” Blessed art Thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. Wow, Jesus told Peter that God the Father had revealed this revelation to him. God had shown Peter something that was the fulfillment of Old Testament scripture, and right after throwing this powerful world-changing revelation out there for the whole world to contemplate.
Namely, that Jesus was the promised Messiah. Peter goes over into the realm of the flesh and personal opinion. When did Peter move over into the realm of personal opinion when his expectation of what should happen was not what God intended to happen? In verse 21, Jesus starts to tell Peter that he is going to die on the cross. Peter starts rebuking Jesus and trying to talk him out of God’s purpose. It sounded like a good idea for Jesus to avoid the cross, but it was a flesh idea, and all mankind would have perished if Peters’s idea had been acted upon because of that, Jesus rebuked Peter and said, “Get the behind me, Satan.” Peter went from being an anointed man of God flowing in powerful biblical revelation to a tool of Satan in a matter of minutes, all because he shifted from the word to opinion. In this hour we must stick close to the word.
Churches and some Christian leaders are dumping the bible so they can embrace the culture; religious culture and secular culture can be in opposition to the word. If it ain’t in the book, it’s the ideology of a crook, Satan, forsake it. Many have chosen delusion over truth. Delusion is the act of tricking or deceiving someone: the state of being deluded. You can be deceived by an outside source, the devil and the culture, or an inside source, your own made-up false ideals about God and the word of God created in your own mind, self-made delusions (self-deception). The funny thing is that Scripture teaches that if we practice sin continually, we will begin to delude ourselves into believing that sin is not sin or even sinful. We will start to believe the lie. The same principle applies when it comes to preaching opinion rather than the word. If you preach your opinion long enough, you will begin to think it is the word of God. That’s a dangerous place to be, living out of your own fleshly mind and its opinions instead of out of the anointed word of God. God watches over his word to perform it. He does not watch over your opinion to perform it.
A Prophetic Meeting
I had an encounter at a meeting once where a prophet started flowing powerfully under the anointing, then the anointing lifted, and God was done. The prophet wasn’t done he wanted to dazzle the crowd with more, then he started speaking, I knew it was flesh, he told me a heavy set lady in my church who plays the piano was in sin and someone else was stealing the money. At the time, I did not have a church, and when I had a church, there wasn’t a heavy-set woman playing the piano. That old devil called pride made him try to dazzle when God was done. He had to force that word out, and the Holy Spirit was grieved, but he kept right on going; the church knew it was a false word, and after the service, they came down and apologized for the fake word because it was a prophetic solid church, and they knew. Promoting opinion over the word is often an attempt to get the world to like you or accept you. A minister or Christian is asked a question about scripture or sin, and instead of quoting scripture that would offend man and convict sinners, they give an opinion based on the world’s idea of right and wrong and offend God and comfort sinners in their sin. The sinner walks away feeling affirmed and going to hell, and the minister or Christian has retained his or her popularity, and still, God is offended by men giving in to that need to dazzle that pride that makes us step outside the word in order to be accepted by the world.
Humility is forsaking man’s idea and embracing God’s. When the anointing stops, and the words end, we should humble ourselves and follow the Spirit’s lead. If you’re going to offend someone, offend the culture, not God, speak the truth. The knife of a surgeon is sharp, it’s called a scalpel, it’s purpose is to cut away damaged tissue without doing damage to the surrounding tissue. If a surgeon has a dull blade he is no longer a surgeon, he is a butcher he will cause all kinds of damage to the area he is trying to fix and the surrounding tissue. The word is a sharp two edged sword, its purpose is to convict, purify and transform, but if the person who speaks it stutters at the truth and dull’s the blade that person will cause all kinds of damage not only to the world but to the church. He or she leaves the world unconvicted and unconverted and causes the church to go astray. It’s the pure word that produces conviction, brings repentance, sanctification, healing, deliverance, and wisdom, the word of God, a pure, uncompromising word, a sharpened blade, not a dull one.
Sharpen your blade, meditate on the truth of the word, and speak it. Don’t be a butcher, be a surgeon!!!!!!!! This generation is hungry for a real, authentic word from God, unfiltered and uncompromising, Bold Holy Spirit, anointed, unfiltered preaching that is full of faith, power, and righteousness. The same fear of man that causes us not to preach righteousness is the same fear of man that causes us to stutter at the River of God, where the miracle power of the Holy Spirit flows. That spirit that wants to dazzle men instead of honoring and obeying God. Don’t be addicted to man’s praise or admiration. Forget about pleasing man and reject the fear that comes from not being able to please man so that you might obey God. Come alive in Christ, draw from the river of truth, from the word, from the Spirit of God, and flow in God’s truth. Jesus told Peter, men have not told you this, but my Father who is in heaven, stay in that place of revelation that flows from heaven.
