Joan Boney ... apostle/prophet
Countless numbers of people who identifying themselves as Christians are actually trusting in humans but they think they are trusting in God. They attend church and think they are Christians because they attend church, because they tithe at church, because they have been baptized.
There is such a difference between trusting in God and trusting in a minister or a church group.
Only when you are born again by the Spirit of God can you trust in God.
Here are some examples:
When God showed me to go on radio and exhort the church, I was in a prayer group. Someone in the group told me I should take each message to my pastor before I recorded the message and have pastor approve the message. I am born again. It was God who gave me dream telling me to go on radio and even gave me call letters for the exact radio station. (in 1980) I turned to God in prayer and asked him if I should take message to pastor to review as this woman in prayer group told me to do. I was immediately reminded of the following: I know WHOM I have believed. (II Tim. 1:12) It was God who put me on radio, not the pastor. It would be God who gave me the messages to speak on radio. My faith is in God not man.
A few years ago, a woman in our little church group moved to Lubbock where I live. She called me and asked if I would meet her and help her select a lighting fixture for her house. I told her I would do this. Before leaving my house, I prayed: "God please help us to find the lighting fixture and help us to do it quickly so we won't have to hunt for it all day." When we went into the business that sold fixtures, I looked up at ceiling and immediately saw a fixture that would be appropriate. I said nothing until this woman had looked around. Then I pointed out this fixture. She liked and and bought it. As we left the store, I asked her if she prayed before coming to the store. She replied: "No ... I knew you would." Her faith was in me. My faith was in God. (I don't believe she is born again though she has been in church since she was a baby.)
Several years ago, a woman was afraid her elderly father was going to become a great problem for her. She asked me to pray about this. (She did not have faith to pray. Her faith was in me, not in God.)
People in church groups often have faith in their ministers but they show by their actions they don't have faith in God.
There are vast numbers like this in church groups.
This is a way of personal destruction for unless you are born of the Spirit of God and have a personal relationship with God, you will not be saved.
Jn. 3 ... Jesus says ... Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. 4Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born? 5Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. 6That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. 8The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.
Paul explains:
Romans 8 ... v. 9 ... Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his... v. 14 ... For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
So many people today have followed a family member to church and many were taken to church as babies and it is a way of life to them to be at church. But many of these same people have never been born again. They are simply copying other humans. Their faith is in other humans. Their faith in is going to church. Their faith is in tithing. Their faith is in baptism ... Because of these things, they think they are OK. But their faith is not in God. Their faith is in other people's faith.
Mt. 7 ... Jesus said ... Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? 23And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
Here is an example of being born again.
Mt. 16 ... When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am? 14And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets. 15He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? 16And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. 17And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. 18And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
God revealed to Peter that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. No man revealed this to Peter. God revealed Jesus to Peter. (Therefore Peter's faith would be in God who revealed Jesus to him.)
This is the revealed word from God. And it is upon this revealed word from God that Jesus builds HIS church. And the gates of hell will not stand against that word God reveals.
Only when this happens are you the church. And when this happens and you believe what God says, we have the promise that God gives us HIS Spirit. Eph. 1 ... Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: 4According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: 5Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, 6To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. 7In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace; 8Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence; 9Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself: 10That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him: 11In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will: 12That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ. 13In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, 14Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.
In church groups today, sitting side by side in the congregation are children of God and children of the devil. Jesus explains this as follows: Mt. 13 ... Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field: 25But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. 26But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. 27So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares? 28 He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? 29But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. 30Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn. 31Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field: 32Which indeed is the least of all seeds: but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof. 33Another parable spake he unto them; The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened. 34All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in parables; and without a parable spake he not unto them: 35That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world. 36Then Jesus sent the multitude away, and went into the house: and his disciples came unto him, saying, Declare unto us the parable of the tares of the field. 37He answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man; 38 The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one; 39 The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels. 40As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world. 41The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; 42And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. 43Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.