Following the Map is Not Enough

This morning a storm passed through Galesburg which cooled the temperature and reduced the humidity greatly. I had some time before I needed to run my daughter to work, so I just stayed in bed and turned on the television for a bit. When I turned it on there was a TV evangelist talking about how that the Holy Spirit was speaking to 1000 people right at that time to give some amount of money. (I really did not pay attention to the amount.) What got my attention was this guy saying, "The Holy Spirit is speaking to you to do what I tell you to do." Let me see if I get this... the Holy Spirit is speaking to these people, but then He has to speak to this evangelist to tell him to tell those that He is speaking to already to listen to what the evangelist is saying. Uh, I may be a bit slow, but if the Holy Spirit is already talking to these people, then why did he need to speak to the evangelist to tell him to tell them to do what the evangelist says? Something is amuck here, don't you think? This got the wheels turning and I began to think about how many people fall for stuff like this and follow people blindly. Turn on your TV set for a bit and give a listen to some of these shysters. There is a guy who calls himself "Master Prophet Jordan" who is prostituting the Gospel by selling his services as prophet. Depending how much you are willing to pay, the more he will reveal what god is saying to you. There is Don Stewart who will send you the magical "Green Prosperity Prayer Cloth" with instructions on how to use it, which of course includes sending in your offering; and the more you give, the more you are gonna get. There are countless others... but you get the idea. These men are dangerous. These guys are intentionally leading others astray and making a mockery of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

As I was thinking about all this, I realized how many people actually believe in and follow these guys and would most likely defend them very strongly. For example; I've had countless people call or email me to defend Todd Bentley in Florida. Which made me think that you have got to be careful who you follow... when this thought popped into my head. (I'm finally getting around to the Map reference made above.)

Pictured at the top right of this blog entry is a street map of Galesburg, Illinois. It does not list all of our streets, but using this map, I believe someone who had never been to the Burg before could pretty well find themselves around the town with no problem. It is a pretty decent map which lays out the main streets, so it is a good map for someone who needs to get around Galesburg. But what if I handed you this map as you were trying to find your way around Peoria? Even though this is a good map, it is not going to help you get where you are going. Same thing in the spirit realm.
It does not matter how good your attitude is, or how positive your confession is, or how excited you are in your spirit, you are going to stay lost, because you are using the wrong map. Once you have the right map, you can use your positive attitude, positive confession and positive spirit to move you in the right direction for your life. The Bible provides that right direction, but even still, it must be read right. You cannot look at the south side of a map of Peoria to help you navigate the north-west part of town. In other words, we have to use the Word in the proper context. This is where all these false teachers and shysters lead people astray. They hold up the Bible, say the Name of Jesus... weak, gullible people think they must be right because they used the Word of God and spoke the Name of Jesus, but they are shallow enough in their walk that they do not realize that they are being led astray.

Everyone needs to follow the map... but following "the map" is not enough... you have to make sure you are following the correct map and learn to read it yourself instead of depending on someone else to read it for you.