If we considered Jesus’ definition of a disciple, we would likely conclude the percentage of professing Christians today who are true disciples to be less than 10%. As seen in the Gospels, far more people followed Jesus than became His disciples. So, we don’t want to discount those who do not comply with all the requirements of disciples as not true believers or not truly redeemed. As the apostle Paul said, “the Lord knows those who are His” (see II Timothy 2:19), indicating God will judge them, not us.
That being understood, there are biblical criteria for judging false teachers, false shepherds, false prophets, and false brethren. I was shown “false brethren” create the most damage to the body of Christ, since few know how to discern them. Such people do damage by “stealing the children’s bread.” They are so high maintenance that they consume all the leaders’ and ministries’ time and energy, so little is left for God’s true children.
We find people like this in virtually every fellowship. They’re the ones constantly demanding the leaders’ and groups’ attention without ever changing. Of course, this doesn’t mean everyone who requires a great deal of ministry is a false believer. There are people who have deep needs, but they should not remain that way.
Looking at the church overall today, there are far too many high-maintenance, low-impact Christians. Every maturing Christian should require less maintenance and become more high impact.
The church is in the condition it is for several reasons, which we will cover, but perhaps the biggest is Freudian psychology. This is profoundly antichrist, anti-God, anti-family, and has been a major gate of hell releasing much chaos into the world, as well as infiltrating much of modern Christianity. This psychology leads to the black hole of self-centeredness from which few can escape. It also replaces the only solution to all our problems, which is Christ.
Jesus is the answer to every human problem. By seeing His glory with unveiled faces, we are changed (see II Corinthians 3:18). If we see His glory through veils, He is distorted, and such change will not conform us to His image but to something else. The thickest, most opaque veil of all is fallen human nature, which is what we see when we look at ourselves through the ultimate character destroyer of self-centeredness. The love for God and people we are called to walk by is opposite this.
The ultimate premise of Freudian psychology is that someone else is always the reason for our problems, and we are all victims. Of course, Freud blamed God mostly for this, as well as our male-dominated, patriarchal society. This stemmed from Freud’s own bad relationships, which he blamed for all his problems.
If you have been trapped in this most terrible snare of our time, here is your way out: accept the fact that none of your problems are the result of your environment or your experiences, but how you react to them.
This should be the best news for anyone who truly wants to be healed and delivered from what hinders them from becoming who God created them to be, because this means our healing, deliverance, restoration, and freedom are dependent only on us. It is our choice to make, but choose we must.
God said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it” (Genesis 4:6-7).
Having a “fallen countenance” is the term used here for depression. “Doing what is right” is not only about obeying commandments, but also about making the right choices. The right choice for a Christian is to follow the Lord—not an opinion or a philosophy but the Person who is the Way.
As we will cover next week, the good news is we can choose to never be depressed again. The way to do that is easy to understand, but not always easy to do. Though at times a difficult choice to make, following Him will always and ultimately be easier than any other choice.
© 2023 Rick Joyner. All Rights Reserved.
