This was the Bible Study I put together for last Wendnesday night. Used a series of pictures from WWII, which were of Hitler and the Concentration Camps. The message was well receieved. I'm praying for a desperate awakening amongst our movement. The crop of manipulated people is flourishing now from years of taking advantage of the down and outers, and we are reaping its devestation.
“Tragedy of the Manipulated”
Acts 7: 54-60, 8:1-3
Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it. (George Santayana)
The historical accounts of yesterday become a faint memory, distanced by our lack of desire to revisit the past. (We get lazy. Lethargic. Don’t care. Now is enough to think about)
Another motive of why we don’t want to go there is because something in what we learn may threaten our “Moment,” our “Tradition,” the very purpose of our current life. Fear of what I may find, might change all that I’ve ever believed! (This is flat SCARY! Could I have been wrong all of these years? Think about Paul. How he felt.)
Tonight, we are going back, not to horrify you, but only to awake you! To show the grave error of man and the power that man has to “MANIPULATE” an entire World! (Cause people to think they are on the path to right, but they are completely deceived!)
Consider this. My Wife is almost full blooded German. She was born in 1961. Only a few years prior to her birth, about 30, the Country where her Grandmother lived was going through tremendous change. My wife believes her father was born in Germany. Betsy missed being born there by a mere sliver in history, or time! (I am also part German)
World War 1 had passed, and Germany had fallen economically. The Country’s money was all but worthless. Jobs were lost. The streets were full of the poor. People were desperate. Crime was growing. (Think of Germany as America. A group of people trying to survive.)
In this cry, a Nation was seeking for an answer! People wanted not only change, but something new, a vision, a leader, hope, a way to rise above their current woes and depression! (Sound familiar?)
Saints, this is the hour we are the most vulnerable as humans. We can make the worst choices, accept the wrong things, and believe absolute LIES in this time of distress!
(Show the pictures)
For us to think this can’t happen with Religion, you are entirely deceived! When we come to the Lord, we are in the exact place Germany was; IN DISTRESS! (Lack of money, relationships, our health, emptiness, can all lead us through the doors and into the arms of Religion or a Faith built by men).
Make no mistake about it, why do you think Great Religions go into Countries of destitution. People are “RIPE” to be manipulated, or what we call, indoctrinated! They will believe anything to get something better than what they have!! This is human nature!
Church, we mustn’t be manipulated! I don’t care who we claim to be! We must seek for answers that go beyond man’s power to twist your mind and make you think your way is RIGHT!! If we don’t, we will build our Country without knowing about the “Camps” of HELL! (The Scribes and Pharisees did this through their Holy Hypocrisy! Jesus dying on the Cross was like burning people in ovens, or putting them before a firing squad! And the PEOPLE WANTED THIS BLOODSHED! People like you and me!)
In my opinion, Christianity in this modern World does this to those who won’t follow our way. We banish them, rebuke them, hate them, and then burn them in HELL! We hang Nations and Peoples on Crosses in the name of our righteous pursuit, thinking we are doing the right thing! (Study the Civil War. Study England, during the Dark Ages.)
We have created a worldwide group of people who think they have the TRUTH, but in reality, just like History has proven time and time again, we are nothing but the “Tragedy of the Manipulated”. We grind our axes, and unsheathe our swords, all in the name of LOVE and proclaimed TRUTH! (Remember, the minute mercy leaves the right, IT becomes wrong!)
I’m encouraging everyone I know, research the past, know what your doing, and don’t accept something because a Nation, or a Religion, or a MAN is following that “WAY”! Because, if you don’t, Hitler may be the one leading the CHARGE! (You may be kissing the enemy and not even know it!)
People at the Top become “PAWNS” in the game! Power struggle, Money, and Fear, blind the best of heart! (Paul watched the brutal MURDER of a righteous man, doing nothing!)
Manipulation has been the Apostolic way for many years, just like other Religions. Don’t kid yourself. We are no different, and must stay on guard or the tragedy of History will poison us!
Threaded Mode
