Shut The “Hell” Up!!!

Cause just what is it that you’re really telling me,
when you say you love God but live the life of Be-elzee?
Even demons tried to say, “Son of God, what up?”
Jesus would turn ice grill and say, “Shut up!”
How you gonna try and praise the Most High,
when you know your native tongue is a lie -Cross Movement, Hold It Down

Now that we’ve got your attention, before you go getting all mad and thinking we’ve fell off we can explain:

Lies, deceit, hypocrisy and words of destruction all originate from hell, and it’s time that those who speak such things shut up! We’ve find it interesting that any time Jesus encountered demons, his response was to tell them to shut up and then He commanded them to leave.

” I know who you are—the Holy One of God!” “Be quiet!” Jesus said sternly. “Come out of him!” Then the demon threw the man down before them all and came out without injuring him. - Luke 4:34b,35“

When confronting Satan he went one step further by shutting the devil up by proclaiming the Word of God. You can see a perfect example by revisiting the Temptation of Christ during His 40 days in the desert.

The point we wanted to make today is that there are a lot of people who are merely saying the “right things”, more specifically there are people who are “preaching” and “singing” messages that may be correct according to scripture…but they themselves don’t subscribe to it, they say one thing while their lives say something totally different, making them both liars and hypocrites.

Personally, we think that this type of hypocrisy does major damage to the Body of Christ, from our own experiences and from personal testimonies of other people one of the main grievances sited against Christians is this “hypocrisy.” In fact we can recall a quote by Ghandi, in which he stated that He didn’t have a problem with Christ…it was His Christians he had trouble with.

We feel the need to point out that the spreading of the Gospel is more than the verbal spewing of religious information or stating random generalized facts about God. It’s more than digging through scriptures merely to find something new and interesting to preach to our congregations. It’s much more than merely transferring information from our heads to the heads of the listener.

As we stated earlier, proclaiming a message that may be true according to scripture, but not believed by the one delivering the message (whether they be preacher/teacher/singer/rapper) is the equivalent of lying, and as we also stated lying originates from and only serves the purposes of the kingdom of darkness in other words hell, hence the rather dramatic post title. All drama aside it really is time that we start silencing the lies and the hypocrisy.

So what are we suggesting? Are we suggesting that you start identifying the hypocrites and liars and command them to “Shut the Heck Up!” No, not at all, because that would be equally distracting and disruptive. What we are suggesting is the following:

Start with yourself:

Check yourself, make sure that you are not contributing to the lies and hypocrisy. Place a high priority on making sure that you not only say what is right, but that you also live out and carry yourself in a way the coincides with and supports the messages in your teachings, sermons and songs.

Have a Circle of Accountability:

Many people who are in ministry are basically running a muck, they travel from event to event, under the banner of spreading the gospel through their ministry, while having no covering of their own. They submit to no one and have no one that is in a position to challenge them and hold and keep them accountable. Surrounds yourself with people who will keep you accountable and challenge you to grow. The people who are in your circle that trust you…help keep them accountable. Pastors, avoid the trap of “cherry picking” that’s when you come up with the topic and then find scripture to support what you are teaching, make sure that you are infusing your message with the power that comes from victoriously living out those scriptures yourself.

Walk It Out:

The most effective witnessing by far is being a living breathing example of the gospel. By walking it out you can be the visual that accompanies your spoken words. When we walk it out we present irrefutable evidence that our message is real, failing to do so adds insult to already injured individuals and adds to the lies and hypocrisy.

Pick One or the Other:

Many Christians are far too frivolous with their words, when the lights, camera and microphones are on they speak one thing, but once they are off of the stage they speak something totally different. Scripture dictates that this should not be so; (James 3:10)

” Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be.”

Be consistent with your words, don’t just speak the word during your church service or event, be instant in season and out of season, be found at all times speaking and living the same thing.

These are just a few suggestions. The gospel message will be an offense to some, but we need to make sure that “we” are not the cause of the offense. Let’s do all that we can to help the effective spread of the Gospel. We leave you with the words from the first verse of the song Hold it Down, by the Cross Movement, read and then think on it fam! (you view the entire song lyrics by clicking on the title of the song)

Hold it Down

by the Cross Movement

<but what do you do when life’s a must

< Is what your screaming
< but your meaning is leaning
< cause that would make your existence no different than a demon
< < Cause though we too were condemned, each man now has a choice
< to choose Christ and rep with more than your voice
< Cause just what is it that you’re really telling me,
< when you say you love God but live the life of Be-elzee?
< Even demons tried to say, “Son of God, what up?”
< Jesus would turn ice grill and say, “Shut up!”
< How you gonna try and praise the Most High,
< when you know your native tongue is a lie

Think On It…..