A good number of years ago Neil Diamond wrote and sang a song that still resonates with me today. That song: “Brother Love’s Traveling Salvation Show.”  I suppose a number of people can interpret it any number of ways, but I interpret it as both humorous and as a slight against preachers who have more interest in promoting themselves with their “healing” services than they have in promoting the gospel of Christ. The Scriptures are rather plain-spoken about such people – and they need to be called out (2 Corinthians 11:13-15; 1 John 4:1).

“It has been said that God has performed many miracles through Chiles,” we are told. During the days of the prophet Isaiah, God’s prophet was preaching to and against the charlatans of his day. The standard by which any and all preachers were to be judged was the written word of God (Isaiah 8:20). The subjective feelings of a person were only accorded respect when that person lived by the Lord’s expressed word. For the individual or individuals eternity hung in the balance!

It may seem harsh to some to call out preachers who promote things contrary to the Lord’s written words, but it is necessary (Jude 3). It may be that these self-promoting preachers are doing many good things in the community and, if so, there will be nothing negative coming from me in that regard. On the other hand, whatever good may be done or may have been done does not allow a compromise of the Lord’s written Word. In fact, the good deeds that is (or are) done by any and all will not be that which judges us on Judgment Day; it will be the words spoken by the Lord Himself 9(John 12:48).

The challenge, therefore, to all religious folk is to measure everything by the Lord’s word (Romans 15:18; 1 Peter 4:11). RT