The problem is you! The congregation is the problem!
People who know the truth of God’s word tell me that how I am speaking is how all sincere men of God started, until the people derailed them! Everyone who shares this view and understands the root always ends it with the people. The truth is, the thought of what I could become in the future is a concern for me, knowing how many of the renown men of our days have ended up! The ones who were so on fire for God are now so on fire for self. One cannot use the left hand to count the number of Men of God in the land who will not be hit by God’s impending Judgement. Men who have been lured away by the desire to grow their Church, by the desire for the material things of this world, by the desire for power and fame. Men who have given up Christ and his message and now promote themselves. My sincere prayer is that I may want nothing but Christ till the day I breath my last! Nothing but Christ!
Pastors under-estimate the power of the people, but the scriptures is abundantly clear, that the current day gospel of Christ without Cross and without Cost is inspired by the people.
“Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry” – 2 Timothy 4: 2-5 NKJV
If you notice the verse above very well, you’ll notice who gets the teachers – the people! The reason why your pastor is preaching nonsense by Jesus’ standards is because of you! This is why you are getting this message on Facebook, and I’m not calling your Pastor aside, your pastor is simply responding to the law of demand! The unfortunate reality in the Bible however is that when the Pastor finally repents and gets it right with God, the people will still be destroyed! Time and time again.
Let’s look together at a simple Case study in Luke 20: 1-8
“Now it happened on one of those days, as He taught the people in the temple and preached the gospel, that the chief priests and the scribes, together with the elders, confronted Him 2 and spoke to Him, saying, “Tell us, by what authority are You doing these things? Or who is he who gave You this authority?”
3 But He answered and said to them, “I also will ask you one thing, and answer Me: 4 The baptism of John—was it from heaven or from men?”
5 And they reasoned among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will say, ‘Why then[a] did you not believe him?’ 6 But if we say, ‘From men,’ all the people will stone us, for they are persuaded that John was a prophet.” 7 So they answered that they did not know where it was from.
8 And Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”
What restrained the Church leadership from answering Jesus’ question? “If we say “from men”, all the people will stone us! The fear of the people, is the beginning of false doctrine! What made Saul do the sacrifice that took the kingdom away from him? The people! What made him not totally destroy the Amalekites? The people! Why were the Pharisees against Jesus? The money and the people – they were losing face with the people. What derailed the GOs Bishops and Most Senior Pastors? Believe it or not, the people!
The Law of Demand states – In economics, the law of demand states that, all else being equal, as the price of a product increases (↑), quantity demanded falls (↓); likewise, as the price of a product decreases (↓), quantity demanded increases (↑). In simple terms, the law of demand describes an inverse relationship, and an elasticity, between price and quantity of demand. There is a negative relationship between the quantity demanded of a good and its price. The factors held constant in this relationship are the prices of other goods and the consumer’s income.
This is perfect for products and services, and interestingly applies to the Gospel as well.
In simple terms – The Costlier the Gospel, the less the demand! The Cheaper the gospel, the more the demand. People love the concept of Christ without the Cross and without a cost – If I follow Jesus, I will not suffer because Jesus already suffered for me. I will live in Joy and have plenty, I will move forward and make progress. It’s cheap, and many go for it!
“Don’t look for shortcuts to God. The market is flooded with surefire, easygoing formulas for a successful life that can be practiced in your spare time. Don’t fall for that stuff, even though crowds of people do. The way to life—to God!—is vigorous and requires total attention” – Matt 7:13-14 (MSG)
Watering down the Gospel makes many more people go for it. Many more people are not saved, we just have many more contributing to the offering baskets.
There are 3 reasons why the demand curve slopes down to the right
Substitution effect – people will replace you with other messages if yours is too costly.
Income effect – people’s capacity to listen more is affected by how easy or cheap the gospel is.
Law of Diminishing Marginal Utility – Decreasing additional satisfaction. Even when the gospel is cheap, there is only so much of it you can take.
All the elements that shift demand are controlled by the people – tastes, expectations, number of people, other alternative gospels and capacity of the people to endure sound doctrine. So once your Pastor wants to stay in demand, the messages will be custom built to meet needs! Needs that can also be met by motivational scammers (sorry speakers) and humanistic self help philosophies.
When the Bible commands that you run away from anyone reducing God to what they use, it’s for your good, and for your Pastors good. When false teachers and prophets see that the people are abandoning lies and demanding for the truth, they may get their chance to repent.
Here are watch out signs when a Pastor is compromised
1. They bypass self-denial and the cross – Saying no to self and taking up the cross—meaning, giving up the claim to our own lives, dying to this sinful world and renouncing its claims—is a fundamental part of discipleship. This is entry class, not maturity. Luke 14:25-33
2. They go light on sin – They do not warn the people as the Bible recommends. They gloss it over under grace.
3. They are loved by the world – Do you sometimes wonder if Paul could have spared himself much of that beating and disrepute? How come the world loves our Bishops? How come the world is what makes up majority of the congregations?
4. They tell the flesh what it wants to hear – “Don’t make us uncomfortable, preacher! Don’t make us squirm! Stop confronting us with the standards of a holy God!”
5. They get away from the Word and give way to myths – Oh, their messages are filled with scripture quotations, but their philosophy is not Jesus’ philosophy. They are into self help and so many exciting things you find in books. They use their Bibles for what they want to achieve.
Is your Pastor Compromised? Get out of there, RUN! 1 Cor 10:14. You will be saving 2 souls on the long run.
Kind Regards
Adeolu Akinyemi
WhatsApp: 08037228919
