Today

Today I had an interesting conversation with my friend from Brazil. Marcel was asking me about the validity of preachers (to use such a term is being very generous) such as Benny Hinn and the like. I bluntly told him that I believed they were teachers of a false gospel and were condemning people to Hell. He was rather surprised and asked why I thought that. I told him it was because they were creating their own version of the gospel which made it all about man when it is supposed to be all about God. He talked alot about his own spiritual feelings and how he had been going to a church that was encouraging him to speak in tongues. Not withstanding the fact that I am not sure of Marcel's own eternal status, I told him that the focus of our spiritual life should not be on our own experiences and what God can do for us but rather on who God is and what His true nature is and the glory in all of that. I told him that this is the reason that so many people are shallow or even false Christians; because it is all about ME and what MY religious feelings are. He told me that he had been reading alot in the Bible lately and I encouraged him to continue to do so because this is the only source that he will get the true understanding of who God really is and how He essentially is all we need for our salvation. Marcel is a very confused guy who is struggling with the myriad perspectives that our American denominations are throwing at him in addition to the animistic Catholicism background that he has brought with him from Brazil. Throughout the years I have known him, he has been on a quest for the real Truth and I have attempted in my feeble way to point him in the right direction. I pray that one day his eyes will be opened to the full glory and light of salvation and he will find in God his ultimate treasure.