All false teachers have this one message in common: "Relax, God cant' be hard. He won't hurt you--He loves you. A loving god wants you to enjoy life." The enemy's trick is to move you away from the awesome reverence and fear of a holy God who judges sin. All false doctrine has this one aim--to undermine the fear of God in you.

Only the powerful, absolute fear of God kept Adam and Eve from disobeying Him. It was not their love for God, nor their daily communion. It was this: "The Lord God commanded the man,  ye shall not eat of it [the tree of the knowledge of good and evil]: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die" (Genesis 2:16-17).

But Satan came with a smooth message: "Ye shall not surely die" (3:4). This was a total perversion of truth - another gospel! Yet it was just what Eve wanted to hear. You see, something inside her resisted God's commandment. The Lord's restriction seemed too much of a yoke, and she chafed under it.

Satan knew this was in Eve, and he began to undermine the fear of God in her immediately: "Did God really say this? God is not like that. You have the wrong concept of Him. Do you think He will deny you knowledge and wisdom, when He Himself is Knowledge and Wisdom? What kind of a god do you think He is? You surely will not die!"

You may sit under strong preaching that seems like a heavy yoke. You may chafe under it and say, "I don't like it!" But don't be deceived: It is the very thing that brings you freedom, peace and joy. Yet still you cry out within, "I can't serve God this way. I want liberty!"

There is a teaching currently circulating in the charismatic movement about a new liberty. It says, "Come sing and shout and speak in tongues--and then go out and live like the devil!" That isn't freedom. It's Satan saying, "You shall not die. God is not hard. He's too loving, too merciful." Satan found a gospel that suited the lust of Eve's flesh--and he'll find one to suit the itching ears of restless Christians!

I've heard from godly, heartbroken youth pastors who have been fired from their churches or are quitting. They preach holiness and the fear of God to the teenagers, but the pastors and parents are complaining that they bring a bondage to the youth: "We don't want you preaching that stuff to our kids." These teenagers (some of whom are preacher's kids) are living in total rebellion. They are disrespectful, fooling their parents, lusting after the world. And the messages about holiness and the fear of God are shaking these kids up because they're never heard it before.

We have raised an entire generation that is totally devoid of the fear of God. They have never known anything about judgement. They've always had everything they've wanted. They say, "We want rock-and-roll," and their parents say, "don't upset them. Bring rock-and-roll into the church and give it Christian lyrics." Or, "they're going to have sex anyway, so let's give them protection."

These youth have never known God's fear, because pastors and parents have made God out to be the great appeaser in the sky. Only a handful of Christian youth today walk in holiness. Why? Because pastors are too weak to preach the gospel in the pulpit--and because parents are living double lives, and their kids know it!

Some Christians have written to me, "Brother Dave, you preach so hard. Do you preach that way all the time in your church? Do the people take it?"

My answer is this: We are called to preach the Word with such power and authority that it will produce a constant fear of God in every hearer. Those who won't forsake their pet sins won't stay, because they will be offended. They will turn away their ears from the truth and will seek out teachers to cater to their lusts (see 2 Timothy 4:1-4).

God's Word says, "By the fear of the Lord men depart from evil" (Proverbs 16:6). Here is what I believe a true gospel message must produce in us:

A hatred for sin that allows no excuses or alibis.

A conviction for all spiritual laziness and compromise.

An inner knowledge that God does not wink at our sins.

A conviction that we will reap what we sow.

A righteous, holy fear of God.

A confidence that He will deliver us from every sin we hate and resist.

Are you uncertain or unconvinced about the need to walk in the fear of God? To end that once and for all, see Isaiah 11:1-3. This passage prophesied about One on whom the Spirit of the Lord would rest--One who would be given "quick understanding in the fear of the Lord." This passage is talking about Jesus! And if Jesus walked in the fear of the Father and delighted in it, so much more should we!

Beware of any message that breaks conviction for sin, that produces a spirit of non-vigilance, that eases you back softly and whispers, "All is well." All such tranquilizers are false gospels!

It beats me u know. . . . , .all d gospel we hear today are about financial freedom and posperity while relegating the fear and teachings of God. Above all, lack of love among the brethren who are called the body of Christ is the biggest weapon the enemy is using to wage war against the church.

Quite the contrary,madam osisi,the preaching of fear is the number one sign of an evil church.Why preach fear of a god that is supposed to be loving?How do you do the calculations?To fear a god and love that same god at the same time.Absolute bullocks!It can't be done.You either fear god or love god, because they are two opposites.

jagunlabi:

Quite the contrary,madam osisi,the preaching of fear is the number one sign of an evil church.Why preach fear of a god that is supposed to be loving?How do you do the calculations?To fear a god and love that same god at the same time.Absolute bullocks!It can't be done.You either fear god or love god, because they are two opposites.

@Jagunlabi, ask yourself the question:


1. Do you fear your earthly physical father in certain issues.

2. Do you love your earthly physical father in certain issues.

3. Do you respect your earthly physical father in certain issues.

4. Do you realise that to certain people and under certain circumstances, fear, respect, love can be misintepreted to mean the same thing or opposite of each other, hence are invariably related to the issue of obedience.

5. @Jagunlabi, Why then does it sound so difficult for you to understand that its possible to love, fear and respect the Heavenly Father of the Bible (creator of Heaven and Earth in 6 literal days) all at the same time.

6. @Jagunlabi, Why then does it sound so difficult for you to understand what Osisi is talking about.

7. Osisi abeg keep up the good work jare, i have likewise lost respect for a lot of our so called churches, (i recently sent an email to a number of different pastors of two churches i respected, trying to get some clarifications on some fundamental questions about an important issue in the bible, to my suprise non of them has yet to respond till now , )

My answers to ya questions;
1.No fear in ANY issue
2)Love in ALL issues
3)Respect in most issues,but not all.
4)Misinterpreted,yes,hence the confusion
5)I can understand why believers fear the biblical god because he is such a sadistic maniac(my physical father isn't,by the way.THANK GOD).I mean who wouldn't fear such a mass murderer?But love and respect?Na!Not really.With love comes no fear,but respect.
6)See above.A being,any being that is "ALL LOVING" can never,and i repeat never invoke fear.You christians are totally confused.
7)FEAR is the currency of choice of religions that lack any spirituality.

No2Atheism:

@Jagunlabi, ask yourself the question:


1. Do you fear your earthly physical father in certain issues.

2. Do you love your earthly physical father in certain issues.

3. Do you respect your earthly physical father in certain issues.

4. Do you realise that to certain people and under certain circumstances, fear, respect, love can be misintepreted to mean the same thing or opposite of each other, hence are invariably related to the issue of obedience.

5. @Jagunlabi, Why then does it sound so difficult for you to understand that its possible to love, fear and respect the Heavenly Father of the Bible (creator if Heaven and Earth in 6 literal days) all at the same time.

6. @Jagunlabi, Why then does it sound so difficult for you to understand what Osisi is talking about.

7. Osisi abeg keep up the good work jare, i have likewise lost respect for a lot of our so called churches, (i recently sent an email to a number of different pastors of two churches i respected, trying to get some clarifications on some fundamental questions about an important issue in the bible, to my suprise non of them has yet to respond till now , )

1.No fear in ANY issue

2)Love in ALL issues

my physical father isn't,by the way.THANK GOD

, an oxymoron , if there ever was one,

hmm, the phrase "spare the rod, spoil the child comes up", , funny though, i never hear a child who loves the rod or the person holding the rod.

Let me guess, u never even feared your earthly father even while growing up as a child right, (current state of mind shows why)


talk about bold faced untruths ,

1. Yes u now respect him (ur earthly father) because u now understand why he did what he did why u were still young
2. Yes True Bible believers who have been saved grow and learn (like children) hence the occurence of "biblical fear" during the process of growth into spiritual adults (after which we now understand why we feared in the first place, after which the fear turns into respect and ultimately into obedience in certain cases)

Christians are the most confused people i know. they dont know the real from original in their own faith.

Fear in this context is being misinterpreted.

It simply means understanding that there is no justification for sin, small or great. Neither is there grace in sin.
Fear in this context does not imply fearing or revering ur pastor to the level of a demi-god.

The fear of God is paramount to a Godly life.

going to stock up my food pantry

Bible warnings of false churches/ preachers

2 Peter 2:1-3:
The Danger of False Teachers
1 But there were also false prophets in Israel, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will cleverly teach destructive heresies and even deny the Master who bought them. In this way, they will bring sudden destruction on themselves. 2 Many will follow their evil teaching and shameful immorality. And because of these teachers, the way of truth will be slandered. 3 In their greed they will make up clever lies to get hold of your money. But God condemned them long ago, and their destruction will not be delayed.

Romans 16:17-18:

Paul’s Final Instructions
17 And now I make one more appeal, my dear brothers and sisters. Watch out for people who cause divisions and upset people’s faith by teaching things contrary to what you have been taught. Stay away from them. 18 Such people are not serving Christ our Lord; they are serving their own personal interests. By smooth talk and glowing words they deceive innocent people.

Osisi, reading through your post, you made good points no doubt about it. But in my own view, there is no doubt one need to fear God, but your emphasis on fear was too extreme like the type of fear one will have when one sees the lion in an open field and no where to hide.

Definitely, we need to fear God, just as we need to reference Him, obey Him, love Him and ,


Number one sign of a False Church? DOCTRINE

Other Signs: The Pastors' Lifestyle, The Atmosphere in the Church, The Attitude of the Brethren and others as God gives one the Grace to discern

It beats me u know. . . . , .all d gospel we hear today are about financial freedom and posperity while relegating the fear and teachings of God. Above all, lack of love among the brethren who are called the body of Christ is the biggest weapon the enemy is using to wage war against the church.

Thats why we have gay christians,juju christians, robberchristians, clubbing and partying christians and so on.They think that once they have money(mammon),there's peace and all is well,while others are only doing the will of God in vain

Image123:

Thats why we have gay christians,juju christians, robberchristians, clubbing and partying christians and so on.They think that once they have money(mammon),there's peace and all is well,while others are only doing the will of God in vain

Correct!!

I am just plain sick of these 'breakthrough and sweatless triumph' messages. Jesus sweat blood on his way to fulfil his destiny and people are making monkey noises with gibberish interpretations of the bible.