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Text Box: FALSE TEACHINGS CAUSE UNFULFILLED EXPECTATIONS The effects of the false teachings of Protestants, Evangelicals, Pentecostalists, Charismatics, and heretics and apostates in general, are quite devastating. One of the most common of their false teachings is the promise of a life of material happiness. Even though Jesus Christ - God, did not promise a life of material happiness for His followers, but a life of happiness in the world to come, the promoters of these false religions and their false dogma teach that Jesus Christ - God, promised a life of material happiness in this world. Occasionally they add as an after thought some concept of happiness in the life after physical death. Search the New Testament for a promise of temporal happiness - happiness in this life - and you will search in vain. Yet “preacher” after “preacher” promotes promises of material happiness as being amongst the most basic of the teachings of Jesus Christ - God. What is the source of this lie? For the most part is is based in a simple truth. When the preacher of falsehood asks his audience (they are not a congregation, they are an audience), “Do you think Jesus (or J__E__S__U__S) wants you to be happy or sad?” and answers the question saying, “He wants (or W__A__N__T__S) you (or y_o_u) to be happy!” he is telling the truth in part; but only in part. Jesus wants us to be happy. He taught us that the life which we experience now is temporary; that the life we will experience after we die in the material world is the permanent life; that life in the material world is a testing and proving time for each human being which will determine whether each individual person is eternally unhappy in Hell or eternally happy with Him in Heaven. He ransomed us with His passion and death but that payment

Text Box: does not negate the free will of each individual to chose or reject that which will result in eternal happiness. But if the preachers of falsehood mention living in accordance with the teachings of Christ as a prerequisite for eternal happiness, they so do only in passing. They focus on the desire Christ has that each of us be happy, and intentionally focus on temporal happiness which is something Christ did not promise. Eternal happiness in the “afterlife” is something they teach is guaranteed if one but believe that Jesus Christ is God. They neglect to mention the Devil believes Jesus Christ is God yet the Devil does not have eternal happiness, he has eternal unhappiness. Most individuals experience at least some form of transient happiness from time to time. These preachers of lies take advantage of the existence of this occasional happiness, using it to induce their followers to abandon any strong focus on the eternal and thereby encouraging focus on the material. This inducement is aided by the false teachers’ guarantee that simple belief that Jesus Christ is God is all that is required for eternal happiness. Since eternal happiness is guaranteed in their teachings, extreme pursuit of and an overriding desire for material happiness become virtuous under their false scheme. Another source these preachers of lies use is the common acceptance that illness and economic hardship or economic depravation are considered to be adverse and evil. (Only rarely are they considered to be opportunities.) As evils they must have a cause or source. In many cultures that cause or source is deemed to be the individual who suffers the illness or economic depravation, or the ancestors, relatives, or associates of those who so suffer. The leaders of falsehood, inspired by the Father of All Lies, teach that that the Devil is the cause of their illness or economic problems. It makes sense, they teach, because God is good, wants people to have material well being, as

Text Box: do people in general. Therefore the evils of illness and economic depravation must be caused by the Devil. These preachers then suggest that since they have the insight to make the situation clear to their followers, obviously they have the insight and ability to lead their followers into economic and physical health. They support this line of thought with citations from the Old Testament which equate material well being with blessings from God. They completely ignore the spiritual situation of the Old Testament. That time was a time of preparation for and anticipation of the Messiah. Material security was necessary for the preservation of the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. After Moses secured the people and Joshua began the securing of the Promised Land, God used material prosperity and good health as rewards to the Jews for following His direction, and material depravation and ill health as punishment for deviating from His instructions. Underlying this was (and is) the reality of spiritual rewards and punishment, but the strength of this reality would only become clear with the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. His Resurrection gave real force, gave reality, to the concept of life after death, and of the resurrection of the dead. Thus, by focusing on the inability of most of the people who lived under the Old Testament to comprehend the reality of life under the New Testament, these preachers are able to cite and quote Scripture passages which focus on seeking material well being for material well being under that system was an indicator of spiritual well being. But there is nothing Christian in that concept, nor is there really anything Jewish in that concept. What happens when material happiness is not achieved by the followers of these false teachers? They are told by their leaders that they have not sown seed that they may reap the harvest. The basic phrase, “sow that ye may reap,” is basically accurate and in conjunction with the basic phrase, “ye will reap what ye sow,” are founded in truth. But while the only guarantee of “reaping”

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