"Never allow anything to fuss your relationship to Jesus Christ,neither Christian work, nor Christian blessing, nor Christian anything. Jesus Christ first,second and third; and God Himself by the great indwelling power of the Spirit within will meet the strenuous effort on your part and slowly and surely you will form the mind of Christ and become one with Him as He was one with the Father. The practical test is- "Is Jesus Christ being manifested in my bodily life?"- Oswald Chambers
" My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words,but with a demonstration of the Spiritual power so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power."-1 Corintians 2:4
"The man without the spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to Him and he cannot understand them because they are spiritually discerned." 1 Corinthians 2: 14-15.
Today the pulpits and Christian television programs are bombarding with so many messages in the name of Christ, but mostly honed towards a self-promoting, prosperous and successful living. I don't know how many preachers of today can be counted to give such messages as Paul the apostle or Oswald Chambers. Surely there are now many who preach with power and energy to the extent they jump, shout and sweat. No doubt these preachers get auditoriums filled audience who are sincere in seeking God and hungry to be inspired and ministered .How do these people discern the ones who are preaching under the influence of indwelling Holy Spirit from the ones who are fake?
Recently I watched the 'Kumare' documentary on NetFlix where the man faking as the spiritual guru was able get mass followers so quickly because people are ever seeking for love, acceptance and guidance. When they see someone elevated as a spiritual leader providing what they seek, they fall prey to him. Strangely when Kumare revealed himself to his followerd who he really was- a young man from New Jersey donned in Jeans and T-shirt conning them in religious garb and wisdom for a while, his followers didn't run away. They were thankful that Kumare gave them something to hold onto and make them a better person. All human beings want to be loved and to live a decent life. No one wants to become a bad or wicked person.
Unfortunately, circumstances make them to do what they do and who they become. They don't like what they do nor they want to continue to live the mediocre and miserable life they do. So, they seek out remedy. They become vulnerable to false teachers and spiritual gurus who prey on them. We, Christians are in no way better. We smile, we hug, we pray and we counsel for gospel sake. But, when we are pushed to a corner, our masks tend to fall out. When we are called out to the challenge of being real, we hit the floor. We are found to be fake too if we don't manifest Christ in our daily lives. The world is watching us. Unless our relationship with Christ is like the Vine and the branches, we cannot demonstrate spiritual power to impact lives.
"The religion of Jesus Christ is a religion of personal relationship with God and has nothing to do with possessions. A sense of possessions is sufficient to render us spiritually dense because what we possess often possess us.....When we no longer seek God for His blessings,we have time to seek Him for Himself." Oswald Chambers.***
