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Someone has said to me that the “Bible belt” is the Bible “buckle.” This is a good name for it. I moved here believing that there would be mostly Christian people living here but I have learned that the “Bible belt” areas are worse in many ways than areas outside of the belts. It makes sense to me now because if the Devil was ever going to have any success in his war against God then he had to find a way to get all these professing Christian people off the straight and narrow path. The Devil’s strategy:

  • get people fighting against each other
  • convince people to believe false doctrines
  • appeal to their flesh and lure them into worldly and carnal desires

The Devil’s strategy is succeeding too. I imagine there have been many people like myself who have discovered the same about the “Bible belts” realizing they just walked into a trap. This may sound crazy but if I had known what all was going on in this “Bible belt” then I probably would have sought out an area that was mostly populated with atheists to live thinking that life would be more peaceful and less dangerous among people who had no religion at all. At least there would be opportunity to share Jesus Christ with others.

Nashville, TN is one of the biggest traps where the spirits of jezebel, satanism, and witchcraft hang over this city. Most everyone here seems to be enchanted by this demonic spell of worshiping people, glorifying man, trying to impress others in all sorts of ways. It is a trap that is very easy to fall into.

The Comfort Trap

The flesh always gets in the way. It is only natural to want peace and comfort but who is benefiting from this? What eternal gain is being sought by seeking our own comfort? It is all well and good to desire to live among fellow believers but God does not want us to crawl into our comfort zone and do nothing. This life on earth is not about how many material things we can collect, or how famous we can become, or how many friends we can accumulate. It is not even about us. I have never found any scripture that says we are promised riches, comfort, or a good or easy life. I have heard many preachers, televangelists, and self-proclaimed prophets teaching that riches, fame or favor, and comfort belong to Christians, but this is contrary to what my King James Bible says. In Bible times, the people who served God and followed Jesus went through stuff. Many went through some really bad stuff. People were persecuted and even lost their lives. Sometimes this was when the miracles came. For instance, when Shadrach, Meschach, and Abednego refused to serve Nebuchadnezzar’s gods so the king sent these men into a fiery furnace (read Daniel 1-Daniel 3). These men were not seeking riches or miracles. They were willing to die for serving the one true God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. In the midst of their faithfulness to God was when Jesus Christ appeared in the furnace with them and the miracle came which kept these men from being destroyed by that fire. Rather than being destroyed God manifested this miracle, not to bring any glory to Shadrach, Meschach, and Abednego at all, but to bring ALL GLORY to the power and goodness of God. And what do we hear Nebuchadnezzar say when he witnessed Jesus Christ in that fire and the survival of these three men?

Then Nebuchadnezzar spake, and said, Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who hath sent his angel, and delivered his servants that trusted in him, and have changed the king’s word, and yielded their bodies, that they might not serve nor worship any god, except their own God. Daniel 3:28

No one was living Beverly Hills style and celebrated like people who profess to be Christian today are doing. These people should be ashamed of what they are doing because it is despicable.

My grandfather never took money from the church people like these charlatans do today. Grandpa kept a church secretary who took care of the money that came into the church. Grandpa took very little. He worked another job to make a living. He did not make his living by taking from the church. The Devil has perverted absolutely everything that belongs to God including the role of a preacher.

If preachers today actually worked for a living then it might bring some humility to them. They have no time for people because their motivations and priorities are wrong. Furthermore, I believe that many of them were never called by God to preach in the first place.

The Bible Belt ‘Spoils’

Christians are God’s children. If parents gave their children everything they wanted then the children would never learn what love is. They would never learn the scriptures which say to love others as yourself (Mark 12:31). They would never learn discipline or what sacrifice is about (Job 36:10, Matthew 16:24-25). They would never learn humility or what the scripture means to esteem others as better than oneself (Philippians 2:3). If parents gave their children everything they wanted then they would be raising high-minded, self-centered spoiled brat monsters who would turn into savages willing to kill for what they want. BINGO! Just what we see in the counterfeit church today!

God does not want people snuggling up with their friends so they can remain in a safe comfortable place. God wants to move people. He wants to send “His” people out onto the battlegrounds where the hurting and lost people are (Matthew 10:16). What good is God if we remain in our comfort zone edifying ourselves and our friends? How can God use people who are seeking to make themselves comfortable and to impress others? He can’t. That is just it. He can’t!

People who cannot step out on their own without their friends are probably not genuinely saved because boldness comes with genuine salvation (Acts 4, Ephesians 3:12, Philippians 1:20). The Bible says that we must separate ourselves from the world (2 Corinthians 6:17-18). This does not mean to pack up and leave the planet. We are to keep busy and occupy until the Lord comes but in the meantime we live on this earth where there is nothing more important than reaching the lost. In these end times, the religious church goers who make up the counterfeit church are just as lost as the atheist or someone who has never heard of Jesus Christ at all.

Apostates are like liberals

It is impossible to converse with them. No matter how one attempts to have a conversation they will keep talking in circles. They hold onto the few verses their false teacher taught them and never hear anything you say or anything in scripture that is contrary to what they want to believe, especially those who follow the false prophets. These people claim to hold to the Bible but they are deceiving themselves. What these false prophets teach is that they are wiser and more knowledgeable than everyone else because they get their information from God. They are adding words to the Bible claiming that what they know came from the Lord. And what does the Bible say about this?

Every word of God [is] pure: he [is] a shield unto them that put their trust in him. ADD THOU NOT unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar. Proverbs 30:5-6

For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and [from] the things which are written in this book.

He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus. Revelation 22:18-20

They all scream “You have no right to judge” while overlooking the unrighteous judging they do. What does the Bible say about judging?

But foolish and unlearned questions avoid, knowing that they do gender strifes. And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all [men], apt to teach, patient, In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; And [that] they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will. 2 Timothy 2:23-26

Someone asked me recently who I would lead others to listen to concerning their beliefs and teachings. Seriously? You have to ask? The answer should be real clear just by reading the very first page of our website.

JESUS CHRIST!

There is no one else. There are no “tickle the ear” teachings in the Bible. It is the false teachers and false prophets who do that. A list of false teachers, apostles, and prophets should not even be necessary. People should be reading their Bibles and have the ability from their own study to discern who is false and who is real. People used to ask me what I thought about this person or that person and if they were false. I finally learned that these people do not really want to know my answer. They just want me to agree with them. When they do not like my answer then they get mad and run. When are people going to learn to let go of the idols?

If you demand only positive, good feeling, good sounding sermons with coffee and doughnuts to boot then something is wrong. Most likely it is not Jesus Christ whom you love. It is self-adoration, glorification, and attention that you really seek.