“Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? follow thou me.” (John 21:22)
We are to be following the Lord Jesus, but I fear that most who are born-again are instead following their pastor, some internet preacher, someone they consider a man of God. Such is how cults are formed, by one man with a vision to be a leader, intermixing the Word of God with his own passions and desires, and in some cases such as Jim Jones, David Koresh, the Roman Catholic cult and numerous others, there is no shortage of the weak-minded, those who have not studied to show themselves approved, (2 Tim. 2:15) those that do not seek the face of God, but instead seek someone to lead them to Him.
They are in a sense trapped, but they have willingly walked into that trap.
If one is not well versed in a subject, that one can easily be led astray, they will believe what they are told for many various reasons, they will trust without verifiable truth, without provable facts. “Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the LORD.” (Jer. 17:5)
Have you ever contemplated the fact that Eve was cursed personally, yet Adam was not? He was affected by the curse on the earth, yet no personal reprisal was placed upon him. The man of God is to be the authority in all matters pertaining to the welfare of all that are under his roof, but that does not mean the woman has an excuse if she falls into sin because of his ineptitude in any matter, Eve was cursed yet she was deceived. Being deceived about our walk with Christ is not an acceptable excuse in the eyes of the Lord, we have the complete and inerrant Word of God at our disposal, and yes, there are many so-called translations, but that is still no excuse, if you truly desire to serve the Lord you will take the time to research every one of them if that is necessary, there is no excuse here, a so-called lack of available time and “current pressing issues” are not an excuse that will be heard, if something is important to you, you make time for it, and in the case of following Christ there can be no other venture in life that should take precedence.
“I thought the pastor was right.” “I thought the priests were correct.” “He seemed like a God-fearing man.” All of these and untold more excuses are heard off in the distance in hell.
The leeway that man supposes God to have does not exist, it is the fabrication of those who have no real desire to be willing and obedient servants, of those who still place not only the affairs of life, but their very own lives itself above the call to be obedient, to serve without question the Most High God. “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.” (James 1:5)
This is the wisdom of God, the knowledge of God (Prov. 9:10) and those that truly ask it in tears and great frustration want nothing more than God to be exalted above the heavens in their lives. They follow no man, but they are shown the words of men who have come before them who also reached that point in their lives, the point where their life has no meaning unless it is in service to Christ, they have been crucified with the Lord Jesus Christ.
Those men in your life that you know for a fact are following Jesus you are not to follow, their footsteps are not to be traced, you seek the path of Christ. Are we not told to test the Spirits? (1 John 4:1) What did you think that meant? Do not trust everyone that says they are a Christian, that ask you to follow them, if you do, you may be following the footsteps of someone going straight to hell, and no excuse will be heard, it will be your fault.
