Hypocrisy

Hypocrisy: The freedom of the Unfaithful Christians

“Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. There is nothing covered that won’t be made known. Therefore whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in an ear in private rooms will be proclaimed on the rooftops” (Luke 12:1-3).

Hypocrisy, this is the message the Lord wants us to present to you this week. Hypocrisy is a freedom that many unfaithful Christians enjoy. But, they stand condemned already (Matthew 7:26-27). It is easy to fool and deceive people by hiding our shameful acts, but God has recorded all our works (Psalms 139:16). In my short walk with God, I have observed two types of Christians: those who want honour and praise from man (John 5:44), and those who truly fear God and wouldn’t hide their ways from man.

If we take a closer look at those who want honour from man, like the Pharisees, they hide their shameful ways from everybody. They only display their best behaviour, and like many preachers today, they expect to be held in high esteem (Luke 11:39-43). They expect to be served by others because of their walk and experience with God. The hypocrite is known to be loud, rude and they like to show off. The Lord revealed to me that such believers allow no one to correct them; they foolishly judge themselves. They lack humility and all Godly attributes that should identify them as children of God. I have seen how some pastors bestow honour on those who give large sums of money in the house of God. This is hypocrisy! (Matthew 6:1).

The Unidentified Christian is a Hypocrite

A few years ago I worked as a packer in a warehouse. I drank alcohol and smoked with most of the men I worked with. They were familiar with all my worldly ways. While being employed there, I became born-again. The born-again experience was one of the most exciting moments in my life and I immediately shared my new life with my colleagues. Being still a baby in Christ, I started witnessing to my still drinking and smoking colleagues. At the same time, I became the laughing stock of many, but this did not discourage me from continuing to witness to them. There was an old former pastor who was the warehouse manager. I had known him to be a very kind man, but I did not know he was saved. Only after I shared my testimony with him did he identify himself as a former pastor. He was a light hidden under a bed (Luke 8:16).

I have also worked with many younger Christians, and some are children of pastors. Many do not differ in their behaviour from their more worldly counterparts. They sound like pastors in retelling the message they heard, but they have a strong appetite for worldly sinful pleasures (1 John 2:15-17). Let me share with you some of the weapons Satan employs today in attacking our youth: he attracts them through cars, clothes, technology and booze. These are but a few of his weapons. They are promised the world, and not God, by some preachers. They are encouraged to become what they want to be. I once visited a church meeting where I heard how the youth were encouraged to be like worldly stars. They were not shown to the good Biblical stars like Daniel, Joseph, Esther, Ruth or Timothy. I confess the truth here in Jesus name: there are ministers of the gospel who not only practice hypocrisy, but they preach it, preaching it as a way of life! The hypocrite hides his identity when he is among the unbelievers because he acts like them. But when he finds himself among the brethren, he acts like children of light (2 Corinthians 11:14) – they have two personas! The persona with the greater power and influence is the one controlling them, and unto such do they belong (Matthew 6:24). This is an addictive way of life, and the hypocrite only emerges as the fool, not God or others. BEWARE of hypocrisy!

During the early 1990s I was led astray by some “brothers” who were worldlier in their speech and conduct. These gentlemen justified worldly music, wine drinking and abortion. I was encouraged to be defensive of my integrity, which I did not have. This is when lies subtly started to make their home within me. I was deceived and hooked to a hypocritical lifestyle. This was all I had: a life of lies with no truth as a foundation. I had the knowledge about God, but I was dead inside, without any humility and fear for God. I became my own judge, and if others were to judge me, it had to be along my criteria. Oh, how deceiving this was! I became a troubled soul and I knew that only Jesus Christ could free me from this deception of hypocrisy. When I repented and accepted His truth, He told me that I must not always go off defending myself when I was being accused. I must be humble and leave room for Him to judge (1 Peter 2:23).

Are we self-appointed judges to justify our sinful ways, to seek honour from man, or will we fear God and allow His word and truth to convict us so that we enjoy His freedom? If we always do things to impress others, but neglect to do what the Bible teaches, we are being hypocritical.

Also, do we honour the word of man more than God’s Word, by actually doing and following wrong behaviour to please others? If you are doing so, you are being a hypocrite!

Do you love to disguise your behaviour when you see Christians by identifying yourself as a Christian, but when you find yourself with unbelievers you freely do and say the things they do? If so, then you are a hypocrite and no doubt you are possessed by demons!

Contrary to hypocrisy, the God fearing believer displays a quiet, yet humble and content spirit. They only stand for the truth and for Christ’s glory (1 Peter 4:11). The truthful Christians are identified by their truthful speech and conduct (1 John 1:6). They are further known to be humble, having an easy, childlike spirit, and they love correction (2 Samuel 12:13-23).

In conclusion, I beseech you to love the Lord and live under the conviction of His Word.

Yours in faithful service to Christ,

Brother Glenn.

Salvation Received on Deathbed

Brethren, this week's article is a testimony the Lord commanded us to share with you.  This is an amazing testimony!  I urge you read the testimony first before going to the vision, because the testimony clarifies the vision.  Let us open with this Scripture, "We are confident I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord"(2 Corinthians 5:8; Luke 23:43)

This past Saturday (June 15, 2013), Charis and I attended my nephew's funeral in my home town.  I was asked by my aunt to go pray for one of her sick neighbours, a woman I last saw 30 or so years ago and affectionately call Aunt Lily.  I went to Aunt Lily’s house accompanied by my daughters Charis and Jaydeen, son Johnny and my neighbour’s daughter (age 8 years) who went with us to the funeral.  We knocked on Aunt Lily’s door and she replied by knocking on her bedroom window, indicating that we could enter.  She could not speak as she had a mask over her mouth.  We entered her room with greetings and I explained to her who I was.  She removed the mask and tried speaking to us but there was a problem as she was struggling to breathe.  She coughed profusely and put the mask back on.  I spoke a few encouraging words in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and I asked her if she needed to accept the Lord and receive healing.  She nodded in agreement and I asked the children who accompanied me to join me in prayer and faith for her healing.  I prayed for her and led her to the Lord in prayer.  Immediately after she accepted the Lord, she removed the mask and spoke with ease and without difficulty.  When we saw this miracle right in front of us we rejoiced with her.  I asked her if we could take a few pictures of her to share her and our joy with others, she heartily agreed.  As we left, I went to exchange my final greeting to her by her bedroom window.  While she was waving me goodbye, I took a final picture of her from the outside.  We have included pictures we took before we prayed for her and after prayer.

Briefly, Aunt Lily told us how she was diagnosed with cancer and had suffered severe pain as she underwent treatment.  She had not been saved (born again) and she had unforgiveness towards the doctors who treated her and caused her skin to burn.  She showed us on her chest/neck area the burning scars from the chemotherapy.  Soon after her explanation, we bid farewell to her and we all left rejoicing.

Yesterday (Sunday, June 16, 2013) around 3:00pm I received a telephone call from my sister, informing me that Aunty Lily has just passed away.  Upon hearing this news, I REJOICED in the LORD and exclaimed, HALLELUYAH!  I rejoiced not because she died, but because she died in the LORD!  We wanted to share this testimony with you so I asked the Lord in prayer last night if He could show Charis whether Aunt Lily made it to Heaven.  Glory to JESUS CHRIST, HE SAVED her on her death-bed! We rejoiced when we saw her speaking by herself without the mouth mask, but we are EXCEEDINGLY JOYFUL that she accepted the Lord and died in Him.  The Lord Jesus Christ said, "SHE IS FREE!!!!” in a LOUD VOICE!  Rejoice therefore with us that Heaven received a soul (Luke 15:7).

Below are the pictures we took:

This picture was taken before we prayed for Aunty Lily. She tried speaking to us but choked due to too much air. Her voice was husky and frail.

I took this picture after praying for her. You can see the burning wounds inflicted by the chemotherapy on her neck. As I was witnessing to her, I noticed two Bibles by her bedside and I told her to never close the Bible. She immediately got hold of one Bible (the Afrikaans one) and while she opened it to read, I told her to start reading from Matthew and pray once we were gone.  In Heaven, Charis saw her completely healed!

This was the final picture I took of Aunt Lily before we left. As she was waving, she praised the Lord and she reached for my hand for a final greeting through the window.

I took this picture of my witnesses to this great testimony close to Aunt Lily's bedroom window.

Below is an account of the vision that the Lord showed Charis this morning (previous visions are documented here).

“SHE IS FREE”: A Vision of a Deceased Woman in Heaven

Vision given to Charis on June 17, 2013

I had a vision from the Lord this morning.  I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Go outside!"  As I went outside the house, the CLOUD of the Lord appeared in a dazzling white light with the Lord inside the cloud.  I was transported into the cloud and I had a small white umbrella to cover me from the glorious splendor of the Lord.  Immediately thereafter, I found myself in Heaven.  The Lord disappeared and the umbrella was taken from me.  I then saw Aunt Lily in Heaven sitting cross-legged on a wooden chair with glass-like pillars.  Aunt Lily waved to me come over to her and she smiled and said in Afrikaans: "Se jou pa ek se dankie dat hy vir my gebid het en my na die Here toe gely het.  Die Here wou my nie genees het nie, Hy wou my net huis toe [Heaven home] geneem het het soos jou pa gese het. Dit is baie lekker hier in die Hemel.”  I replied and said, “Ek sal so maak en dit is n plesier van my kant af.” Translation: “Go tell your father I say thank you that he prayed for me and led me to the Lord.  The Lord did not want to heal me, but He wanted to bring me home in Heaven as your father said before he prayed for me.  It is very nice up here in Heaven!”  I (Charis) replied and said “I will tell him and it is only a pleasure from my side.”  She then showed me that the burn scars that had been inflicted on her chest by the chemotherapy were gone.

Aunt Lily then got up from the chair and she started to turn around like a little girl rejoicing in a pure white dress with silky white bally-like shoes.  There were pure white lily flowers with her name on the side of the road.  I saw her picking these flowers and blowing them in the air.  She turned around and looked at me smiling, and she jump up with her hands in the air.  As she jumped, she was suspended in the air and I saw a BEAUTIFUL GOLDEN CROWN with the name “LILY” on it as it placed on her head.  I then saw a rainbow-shaped banner appearing on her right side in yellow ink: "SHE IS FREE"!!!!  I told her "Ek moet nou gaan" (“I have to go”).  She looked at me and smiled.  I returned the smile and turned around and the vision was over.

In conclusion: Do not undermine God and what He wants to do for other people.  Go out in obedience and pray for the sick and preach the gospel to populate HEAVEN!  Be blessed in Jesus name as you share this vision and testimony!

This is a suggested way of leading someone to the Lord after sharing the gospel with them, you may click Here. 

Grace to you in Christ's freedom,

Brother Glenn and Charis.

Self-Pity and Our Relationship with God

This article on self-pity will be limited to our relationship with God, and not approached from a psychological perspective. In this article, we will look at how people's self-pity results in an estranged relationship with God. Self-pity, as used here, can be defined as paying attention to oneself. Additionally we have posted a new vision given to Jaydeen.

"The Israelites said to them, if only we had died by the Lord's hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death" (Exodus 16:3).

Again, "As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up, and there were the Egyptians, marching after them. They were terrified and cried out to the Lord. They said to Moses, 'was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? Didn't we say to you in Egypt, ' leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!" (Exodus 14:10-12).

There are over 40 different references in the Bible on incidents of self-pity, and these wild emotions led to God's wrath against the Israelites. Job was even bold in his self-pity when he declared "I loathe my very life; therefore I will give free rein to my complaint and speak out in the bitterness of my soul" (Job 10:1). This feeling of self-pity can evoke a lot of negative emotions, such as unworthiness, boastfulness like in Job's situation, and strong feelings of hatred. This feeling was expressed when the people wanted to stone Moses and Aaron (Numbers 14:10).

How Can We Control Self-Pity?

The emotional feeling of rejection forms part of the human personality. We all suffer in controlling this emotion. Biblically, self-pity is a sin and leads many people astray. This becomes the Devil's hot-bed. He works on our feelings against God and turns us into grumblers and complainers. When we pity ourselves, we operate outside the command of love for God and others. We withdraw our love from others and concentrate on loving ourselves. I can recall may times when the Lord has given a word to Charis, saying that He has a message [of rebuke] for me. My reaction, like that of many other people, is one of defending my actions, when in truth I was really wrong. This deceiving spirit of self-pity is evident when God chastens and judges us. During such times, we often pity ourselves. It is very dangerous in that we usually do not recognise it as sin, and neither do we realize that this strengthens our 'old man'.

As a consequence, we deprive ourselves the opportunity to overcome our weaknesses. At the root of self-pity is our reluctance in admitting our faults. I always express gratefulness when God attacks my weaknesses and points me to correction. This is the ministry I inherited from God: to point people to His truth and will.

Furthermore, as many of you are aware, the Lord speaks through prophetic visions to Charis. This gift is commonly known as a 'word of knowledge' (1 Corinthians 12:1-2). He shows her in a vision the wrong behaviour of a believer and then gives a word of correction. We have inquired from the Lord for many believers who humbly took the Lord's rebuke of them on some ungodly behaviours. There were however, some self-righteous (pity and egotistical) people who accused the Lord of being mistaken. This sin has resulted in them not hearing from the Lord for their own well-being. I tell you the truth in Christ Jesus: the Lord has showed us that He withdraws His discipline from disobedient and self-righteous Christians. We are all sinners, and as a result we are in constant need for correction (Romans 3:23).

There were brethren who fellowshipped with us in this ministry, who scorned the Lord's discipline and left to spread malicious gossip. The Lord exposed their folly by revealing some of the wrong things they were busy doing. The humble ones returned, acknowledging God's truthfulness and Holiness, while the self-righteous ones went off bearing sour fruit.

In conclusion, the Lord calls on all Christians to walk in humility of heart and in obedience as a counter attack against self-pity. The fruit of the Holy Spirit gives us refreshing and God-centred feelings (Galatians 5:22). Remember the goal of our salvation is to be with the Lord, and the Bible says, "Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in His holiness" (Hebrews 12:10 NIV). "…without holiness no one will see the Lord" (Hebrews 10:14 NIV).

I encourage you: your self-pity is loathsome to God and you hinder the Holy Spirit to do His work of transforming you into the likeness of Christ, so STOP YOUR GRUMBLING AND COMPLAINING! STOP OVERESTIMATING OF YOURSELF and become a humble servant. You are called to serve and experience testing, which is the way of the cross to be identified as a true soldier of the cross (Philippians 2:6-11).

Are you in the habit of pitying yourself, grumbling, complaining, or overestimating yourself, instead of humbling yourself before God? Here is a Prayer of Sincere Repentance. For any questions or comments on this article or our ministry, please contact us.

Being Honest

A Brief Appeal For Help

First, we have added a short vision this week for your encouragement.

Brethren, as a ministry, God has placed us in a community to serve and care for the needy around us. As many of you are aware by now, we operate from a home-based ministry with no facilities. When the Lord called us (My wife and I) into this ministry, He commanded us to ask believers to come and pray with us. After weeks of prayers the Lord commanded us to fast for three days. Soon after our fasting, He designated witnessing areas and sent us out into the streets to preach the gospel. This is what we have been doing ever since. This ministry is operating through the individual donations of believers. Our work is not to serve tables (Acts 6:2). This is essentially a Christian ministry caring for the poor. We are called to witness! However, through our recent articles the Lord also ministered to us to show care to members in our community.

As it is, we have a 76-year old grandfather who lives on government grant with his wife and grandchildren. He has been coming to us for help with his electricity bill, which is always three times more than his income. We have made numerous inquiries on his behalf with no success. Due to our several unsuccessful attempts and mild strokes he suffered, we prayed as a team and were led by the Lord to request a small donation for him so that we might buy an electricity generator for him and cancel his electricity account.

We therefore appeal to you brethren in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to join hands with us and place a donation via PayPal or Western Union so that we may warm a heart and house this winter. The apostle Paul, in his appeal for help from the Philippians believers, stressed that he was not interested in the gift, but what may be credited to their Heavenly account (Philippians 4:17). The Lord Jesus Christ, being the Leader of this ministry, appeals to you through us to help this family. If you need further information on how to donate, kindly send us a message via our contact form. God’s riches blessing be upon you for your generous offering to Him (Proverbs 19:17).

God’s Model for Human Society: Honesty

The Lord has commanded me write to an article on honesty this week. We will be rather brief in this presentation. The Lord Jesus Christ commands all His children to walk in honesty, no matter the circumstances. Honesty is defined as being truthful or having integrity. The Bible also says, “So then, putting away falsehood, let all of us speak the truth to our neighbours, for we are members of one another” (Ephesians 4:25). Likewise, we have been reminded that our Lord Christ is coming back for a spotless bride (Ephesians 5:27).

King David also reminds us that to dwell on God’s holy hill (Heaven) we must walk blamelessly and do what is right, and speak the truth from our hearts (Psalm 15:2). Similarly, Job was commended for his integrity [honesty/uprightness] (Job 1:8). If we are not honest, we hide the truth and act deceitfully (Genesis 3:8). The Lord says that we must admit our mistakes by being truthful (1 John 1:9) and this is the way our honesty is being expressed. We are imperfect beings and sin is presented in our state of being (Romans 3:10). Christ died for sinners, so when we admit and confess our wrongs He gives us His Honesty [forgiveness] (1 John 1:9).

The best weapon to fight dishonesty is walking humbly and admitting our many shortcomings. This is honesty. The Lord appreciates truthfulness, and this is also the case with many people. I am not insinuating that we should go about and blame ourselves for everything. There are people who lack self-confidence and blame themselves if certain things happen that are beyond their control. This is sinful! Honesty is not proven through feelings of inferiority. Just recently the Lord rebuked a sister for blaming herself for something she did not do. Sadly, but true, if we lack faith we lack confidence, and if so we hold to no truth.

There would be no need for honesty if we were perfect; God simply wants us to admit our weaknesses to Him and to one another by looking to His flawless perfection (Job 34:10-12). The benefits of honesty are guaranteed peace, blessings and eternal life (John 14:23). There would be no need to hide from God or our neighbour nor do we have to worry about our needs, for God who looks over His word to see it accomplished will provide. While I might have mentioned this before, I repeat it again for your benefit: the Lord once told Charis that He sees the Word in the hearts of people and this is His delight to bless, heal and deliver.

Gracious regards and peace to you!

Brother Glenn.