I was surfing the Internet the other day, looking for other ministry's
that teach and preach on grace, and there are quite a few. In fact,
there were so many to look at that the waves weren't enough for my surf
board to ride. :) However, if there was one thing I did notice about
many of these "Grace Ministry's" is just how clever they lure
people into believing that what they are really teaching is 'grace.'
But if we were to spend enough time browsing through many of these
sites, we would see a whole lot more than just a fancy, colorful website,
with the pastor's picture in it, and 1-800 phone number and address
listed on the site. Although the site is very appealing, professionally
designed and well organized, yet, when one looks at the teaching list
and read many of the posted articles on grace, it is not grace at all.
Most of them start out their introduction with grace, but as one scrolls
a little further down on many of these so called grace sites, one will
soon run into a bunch of religious legalistic 'snags' that is totally
contradictory to what Christ and Paul teach concerning the true Gospel
of Grace and Peace. There is a married couple here in the Colorado Springs
area that have a grace teaching ministry, and one of the teaching tapes
they offer is called: "Deceived By Grace".
For those of us who have a pretty good and clear understanding of grace,
many of these sites aren't too much of a problem. But for those of us
who don't have a pretty good understanding, they can be easily suckered
into many of these 'law mixed with grace sites'. Although I believe
to some degree that many of these sites do come close to fully understanding
grace, yet for the most part they can be very much deceiving.
The couple who are known for their Grace Ministry Church here in Colorado
Springs, teach that the teaching of grace can be deceiving if the person's
behavior and actions do not correspond with what God would expect from
a true convert. Do you see how deceiving, luring, crafty and manipulating
many of these so called 'Grace Ministry's' can be?
In other words, "Yes, we are saved by grace, but we can also fall
from grace the minute we go back to a sinful nature lifestyle."
Friends, my website may not have all of the fancy, colorful, appealing
designs that leads people into thinking: "Boy, look at what a nice
and presentable site this is. They must be preaching the true grace
of God." Friends, just because someone has a large ministry,
they are well known, have a beautiful fancy and organized website,
wears a three piece suit, have their telephone and picture advertised
on their site or business cards, doesn't mean that they are teaching
grace? The '3 Amigos' were leading Paul to believe that they were preaching
and teaching the Gospel of God's Grace, and look at what Paul says in
Galatians chapter 1 that they were really preaching. A PERVERTED GOSPEL.
A Gospel of Grace mixed in with the dead works of the law. No, I am
not jealous of any of these ministry's. I have nothing to prove, nor
am I in a popularity contest with any of these ministers or ministry's
because I don't get paid like they do, and I don't ask for money like
they do. To them the preaching of the Gospel is a business and a full
time job because they rather live off the people's ignorance than to
get an honest 5 days a week 8 hours a day job.
The question that we need to ask ourselves when we surf the Internet
and find many of these so called grace ministry's is: "Is it really
a message of grace?" Anyway, just my thoughts on the subject. If
your surfboard is riding the unconditional waves of God's grace, then
you won't have to worry about being tossed to and fro with every drifting
wind of doctrine. Your landing on sand one be one of sinking but of
standing, walking and thanking God for His Amazing gift of grace.
Grace N Peace
Eddie Narvaez