* By thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned. (Mt. 12: 37)

 

Matthew 12  Jesus says:

33 Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by his fruit.

34 O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.

35 A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things.

36 But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.

37 For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.

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A man gets caught by his own words as in the following example of Adam:

Genesis 3  (After Adam ate the fruit of the tree and tried to hide from God)

8  And they (Adam & Eve) heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden.

(Sin causes us to want to hide.)

9 And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?

(Adam is going to condemn himself by his own words.)

10 And he said, I heard THY voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.

11 And HE (God) said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?

***

A man in the Philippines sent me an e-mail, where he identified himself as being a pastor.

But at the bottom of the email, this man called himself "Reverend."

He showed what he really was by signing his letter "Reverend."  He was not a minister of God, for ministers of God will not call themselves "Reverend" for it is not in the Bible to do this.

Ministers of God will call themselves by the ministries that Jesus gave to the church after the resurrection.

Ephesians 4:11-12  And HE (Jesus) gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;  For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:

Real ministers of God will notice from the New Testament Bible what Paul called himself:

Romans 1:1 Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God,

Real ministers will notice what Peter called himself in the Bible.

I Peter 1:1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,

A real minister of Jesus will notice from the New Testament Bible that there are evangelists in the church, and prophets.  But no man in the Bible called himself "Reverend."

Psalm 111:9 HE (God) sent redemption unto HIS people: HE hath commanded HIS covenant for ever: holy and reverend is HIS name.

In a subsequent email, the man in the Philippines revealed his true motive.  He asked me to send him a laptop computer, he said he preferred laptops to tablets, and he asked me to send him a projector.

I replied to him:  "You are a beggar and a thief and an extortioner, and unless you change, you will be a beggar, and a thief, and an exhortioner all the rest of your life."

God said to me:  "You never allowed anyone to call you "Reverend."

Once in 1980, a woman came to me asking:  "What do we call you ... Reverend?

I was shocked! and replied to her, "Oh, no.  You call me Joan like Paul called himself Paul."

I know it is very evil when a man allows anyone to call himself "Reverend" ... He wants praise of men and he wants to be idolized by other men.

 

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