Christian Ignorance

by Frederick Hoehn, copyright 2014, all rights reserved.

Chapter 1

A while back I was going to relocate from one American city to another.  I had too much stuff.  So I decided to donate a piece of equipment to a church.

But I arrived prior to the office hours of the church.  So I left the donation at the door of the church office.  I called later to make sure they had found the donated piece of equipment, and they had.

The woman at the church that I spoke to by phone asked for my name.  I said I preferred to remain anonymous.  So she started to explain why she wanted my name, and I hung up.

So, this woman works at a Christian church office, and is apparently totally unaware of Jesus’ instruction in the Bible that when you give, don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing?

Wouldn’t you think the Pastor would want his office staff to be better educated than that on the teachings of Jesus?  And that was a major church in that city.

Other Christians are ignorant of the fact that as Christians, not only are our sins forgiven, but also, we have a right to divine healing from God.  In Ex 15:26, “I am the Lord who heals you.”  Psa 103, “Who forgives all your sins, who heals all your diseases.”  1 Pet 2:24, “By whose stripes you were healed.”

When Jesus died on the cross, it paid for our sins.  When Jesus took the stripes from the whips of the Roman soldiers, it paid for our healing.

Rom 8:2, “For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made us free from the law of sin and death.”  Matt 8:17, “Himself took our infirmities and carried our sicknesses.”

But when Christians today have a health problem, do they turn first to the Lord for healing, or to the medical profession?

Some Christians do know to turn to the Lord for healing, but many just automatically turn to the doctors.

Some might say, “Well, if God wants to heal me, he knows where I live.”  No, Jesus said, “Seek and you shall find.”  You ask the Lord for healing, and you put your faith with it.

You get healed by faith.  But if you’re going to wait and see if God is going to do something, He’s waiting for you to do something.

Kenneth E. Hagin was an authority on divine healing, and wrote nearly a hundred books, most of which are best sellers (sold a million copies).

Hagin himself received a miraculous healing as a teenager from an affliction that was supposed to kill him before age 21.  I believe he passed on at about 86.  Some of his books are at Amazon.com

Dr. Charles Stanley is Pastor of a church in Atlanta, GA, but he’s ignorant of the fact that Jesus wants His people to have the Baptism with the Holy Ghost with the speaking in unknown tongues.  (You speak in a language you’ve never learned.)

Stanley is a Baptist.  No doubt some of the Baptists will go to heaven, but if they’re followers of Charles Stanley, they’re missing God’s will.

One of my books is about Pastor John Osteen, who was a Baptist pastor until he got the Baptism with the Holy Ghost with the speaking in unknown tongues.

Then, his Baptist church kicked him out for getting what the Lord wants all Christians to have.  So, he went out and started Lakewood Church in Houston, TX.

When Osteen went to be with Jesus, his son, Joel Osteen, took over as Pastor of Lakewood Church.  Last I heard, they had thirty thousand members, and meet at the large Compaq Center in Houston.

Someone might say, “Well, my family has gone to this church for two centuries, and my Great Granddaddy went here.”

Norvel Hayes had a good answer for that.  He talked like this:  “Did you ever consider that your Great Granddaddy might have been wrong?”

If Christians would study the Bible for themselves then they would know when false doctrine is being taught.  But the choice of a church is an important decision that Christians should ask God for guidance on.

After you receive the Baptism with the Holy Ghost from Jesus, pray some every day in the unknown tongue.

Romans 8:26, “Likewise, the Spirit also helps our infirmities, for we don’t know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit makes intercession for us with groaning that can’t be uttered in articulate speech.”

The benefits of Rom 8:26 come when you pray in unknown tongues.  If you haven’t received the Baptism with the Holy Ghost, ask the Lord for it, and when you pray, believe that you receive the things you ask for, and you shall have them. (Mark 11:24)

Another benefit of praying in tongues is that you’re building up yourself on your most holy faith. (Jude 20)  And we get things from God by faith, so it’s very desirable to have strong faith.

Martin Luther was a Catholic Priest.  But as he studied the Bible for himself, he found 95 things where the Catholic church had wrong Theology, (Luther’s “95 Theses”).

So Luther left the Catholic church, like Jesus said to do in the book of Revelation.  (“Come out of her, my people.”  Rev 18:4)

I believe the Catholic church is the Great Whore that sits on the waters of the book of Revelation.  Either the Catholic church, or the combined Catholic church with some Protestants predicted by David Wilkerson (main character in “The Cross and the Switchblade.”)

Luther stopped being a Catholic and became a Protestant.   Hats off to you, Martin Luther.

There was an event in the news recently, and they told how Pope Francis dealt with the problem.  He prayed to the virgin Mary about the problem.

I have news for the Pope.  Mary is no longer a virgin.

When Mary conceived the baby Jesus, there was no man involved.  The Spirit of God made her pregnant.

She remained a virgin until after Jesus was born.

But then, Mary lost her virginity to her husband, Joseph, and they had at least six children the normal way.

We don’t know the names of the daughters, but the names of the sons are James, Joses, Simon (not Peter), and Judas (not Iscariot).

There is no scripture anywhere in the Bible authorizing anyone to pray to Mary.  To pray to Mary is to commit the sin of idolatry, in violation to the Ten Commandments of Exodus chapter 20.

And if you pray to Mary, she can’t hear you.  And how do I know that?  Kenneth E. Hagin was called of God to be a Teacher and a Prophet.  Hagin taught that people in heaven don’t know the details of what’s happening on earth, like if you got a new dress.

If Mary made it to heaven, and I expect she probably did, she’s just another sinner saved by grace.

Perhaps she never sinned sexually, but there are many other ways to sin.  The Bible says, “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” (Rom 3:23)  The only one who never sinned is Jesus.

Seeing then that people in heaven don’t know the details of what’s happening on earth, how would Mary even know that someone on earth is praying to her?  Well, she wouldn’t, that’s all.

If you pray to God, He knows you’re praying to him.  But if you’re going to treat Mary as if she were God, well, for one thing, she’s not, and for another thing that would be to commit the sin of idolatry in violation of the Ten Commandments of Exodus chapter 20.

Some have said, “But we’ve seen visions of Mary.”  If you look in the Book of Revelation, chapter 13, there’s a false prophet that tries to get people to worship the Antichrist.  Satan has some ability to give false visions and signs and wonders.

Joseph Smith, founder of the Mormon religion received a false vision.  He said God the Father and Jesus appeared to him and spoke with him.  No they didn’t.  God told Moses, “No man can see my face and live.”

If Smith had really seen God, it would have killed him.

Satan wants people to commit the sin of idolatry by praying to Mary, and Satan will try to persuade you that it is right to do so, but it’s sin to pray to Mary, and to pray the Rosary.

But some might say, “But the Pope prays to Mary.”  Yes, and that’s one of the reasons that Jesus’ people should come out of the Catholic church, like Jesus said to do in Rev. 18:4.

And if Mary made it to heaven, the Lord’s not going to trouble her and inconvenience her by making her listen to prayers from people who have no business praying to her.  Surely the Lord is shielding her from that, which means that prayers prayed to Mary, including the Rosary, accomplish no good purpose.

Another thing wrong with praying the Rosary is that Catholics use prayer beads.  They pray the Rosary, then push a bead over, then pray it again until all the beads have been pushed over.

But Jesus said, “When you pray, don’t use vain repetitions like the heathen do, for they think they’ll be heard for their much speaking.”

Evidently, the Catholics also think they’ll be heard for their much speaking, in violation of Jesus telling us not to do so.

You pray to God, not Mary.

I think the Muslims also use prayer beads.  I guess they don’t know that Jesus said, “When you pray, don’t use vain repetitions,” and yet, the Muslims say that Jesus is one of their prophets.

But if Jesus is one of their prophets, why don’t they know that Jesus said, “When you pray don’t use vain repetitions?”   I’ll tell you why, because they read the wrong book.  They read the Koran, (or, Quran), when they need to be reading the Bible to find out what the Prophet Jesus said.

Another thing Christians are often ignorant about is demons.  Demons are fallen angels, who rebelled against God when Satan did.  Demons afflict people with diseases like cancer and other diseases, including mental and emotional problems.

One reason that Psychiatrists and Psychologists have such low cure rates is that many of them don’t know that they’re dealing with demons.  Those doctors write prescriptions for medicines, but those medicines don’t get the demons out of the patient.

The demons need to be cast out by a Christian.  But some Christians don’t know that Jesus gave us authority over demons in Luke 10:19, “See, I give you power…over all the power of the enemy.”

Also in Mark 16:17,18, “These signs shall follow those who believe, in my name, they’ll cast out demons…”

The Christian commands the demon to go with his words spoken from his (or her) mouth.

But Jesus did say that there’s a kind of demon that doesn’t go out except by prayer and fasting.

Chapter 2

Another thing that some Christians are ignorant of is how to achieve financial prosperity.  In Luke 6:38, Jesus said, “Give, and it shall be given to you, good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over shall men give into your bosom.”

The Lord said to bring the tithe (10 percent) into the storehouse, and he would open the windows of heaven to bless you.

Jesus said, “If you love me, keep my commandments.”  But how can we keep his commandments if we don’t know them?  And how can we know them, if we don’t read the Bible?

If you’re reading the Bible every day, you’re on the right track.  But if the Bible is just collecting dust on a shelf somewhere, your future is in jeopardy.

We feed our bodies every day, don’t we?  We must feed the inner man also, the spiritual man inside, with the Word of God.

“I have hidden your word in my heart so I won’t sin against you,” says the Psalmist.

Another thing some parents are ignorant about is parenting.  I heard a man say he wanted to let his children make their own decisions about religion.

No, that’s wrong.  The Bible says, “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he won’t depart from it.”

Make sure you’re right with God yourself, and then teach your children the Bible also, because if you don’t, they’re likely to wind up in a fiery hell, where there’s crying and gnashing of teeth, and where their worms don’t die.

I heard a man once say that he was both a Christian and a Hindu.  No, Christians believe in one God, but the Hindus believe in many gods.  Better get your Theology in agreement with the Bible.

You can’t be both a Christian and a Muslim.  Christians believe Jesus is the only begotten, virgin-born Son of God, and savior of the world.  The Muslims say that Jesus was not the Son of God.

I know a man who quit being a Christian.  He thinks he caught Jesus in a lie.  The man is mistaken.  Jesus didn’t lie.

I believe the man has become “hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.”

What does he think, that on Judgment Day, he’ll prove Jesus to be a liar?  That’s not going to happen.  On Judgment Day, Jesus will show how that man has earned a place for himself in hell.

That man demonstrates a falling short, dreadfully, in the area of Fear of God.  The Bible says, “The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom.”  But, having lost his fear of God, where is the man’s wisdom?

If you have a healthy fear of God, you’ll try not to accuse the Lord of lying.

My Mother was a Christian on earth, and then went to be with Jesus in heaven.  My Dad was an Atheist.  Atheists say there’s no God.  God has something to say about Atheists.  God says, “The fool has said in his heart there’s no God.”

Then my Dad died and went to hell.  How do I know he went to hell?  Because the only alternative to hell is heaven, and you don’t go to heaven unless you qualify in the sight of God by getting born again (John chapter 3).  My Dad didn’t get born-again.

And why would a man try to get right with God, if that man is saying that there is no God?

Romans 10:9,10 tells us how to get born again, “That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in your heart God raised him from the dead, you’re saved.  For with the heart man believes for righteousness, and with the mouth, confession is made for salvation.”

At one of the places I used to live, we had a Maid, Minnie.  Minnie said she was a Christian.  But in talking with her a little, I was surprised at how little she knew of the Bible.

I asked her, “Do you read the Bible?”  She answered, “I don’t have time to read the Bible.”  But don’t we all have the same twenty four hours a day?

I’ve seen her go into a room, and do the maid’s job of making up the room, and then turn on the TV, and sit down and watch TV for a while.

I don’t say it’s wrong to watch some TV, but shouldn’t that wait until after the daily Bible reading had been done?

You can get a New Testament and Psalms that will fit in your pocket or purse.

I don’t think Minnie’s income as a maid allowed her to afford having a car, so she must have been taking public transportation to get to work.

Riding along on the bus, couldn’t she have read a Psalm or a chapter in the New Testament?

Recording angels in heaven write down in books what we say and what we do.  We’re told in the book of Revelation that the books will be opened on Judgment Day.  The Bible says we’ll be judged for every idle word.

Is Minnie really going to try to tell Jesus on Judgment Day that she didn’t have time to read the Bible?  The Lord will say that she did have time to read the Bible.

___James chapter 1

1 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes that are dispersed around, greetings.

2 My brothers, count it all joy when you fall into various temptations,

3 Knowing this, that the testing of your faith works patience.

4 But let patience have its perfect work, so you'll be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.

5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God for it, who gives to all men liberally, and won't find fault, and it shall be given to him.

6 But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering.  For he that wavers is like a wave of the sea driven by the wind and tossed.

7 For let that man not think that he'll receive anything from the Lord.

8 A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.

9 Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted,

10 But the rich, in that he is made low, because as the flower of the grass he'll pass away.

11 For the sun has no sooner risen with a burning heat, but it withers the grass, and the flower of it falls, and the grace of the fashion of it perishes, so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways.

12 Blessed is the man that endures temptation, for after he's been tested, he'll receive the crown of life, that the Lord has promised to those who love him.

13 Let no man say when he is tempted, "I am tempted by God," for God can't be tempted with evil, nor does he tempt any man,

14 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away by his own lust, and enticed.

15 Then when lust has conceived, it produces sin, and sin when it's finished, produces death.

16 Do not err, my beloved brothers.

17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, nor shadow of turning.

18 He chose to father us with the word of truth, so that we would be a kind of first fruits of his creatures.

19 So, my beloved brothers, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger,

20 For the anger of man doesn't accomplish the righteousness of God.

21 So, lay apart all filthiness and the unnecessary naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.

22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.

23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like a man seeing his natural face in a mirror,

24 For he sees himself, and goes his way, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.

25 But whoever looks into the perfect law of liberty, and continues in it, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.

26 If any man among you seems to be religious, and doesn't bridle his tongue, but deceives his own heart, this man's religion is for nothing.

27 Pure religion and undefiled before God the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

___James chapter 2

1 My brothers, don't have the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons.

2 For if a man with a gold ring comes to your assembly in fancy clothes, and a poor man in dirty clothes comes in also,

3 And you have respect to him that wears the fancy clothes, and say to him, "Sit here in a good place," and say to the poor, "Stand there, or sit here under my footstool,"

4 Aren't you then partial in yourselves, and have become judges with evil thoughts?

5 Listen, my beloved brothers, hasn't God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him?

6 But you have despised the poor.  Don't rich men oppress you, and bring you before the judgment seats?

7 Don't they blaspheme that worthy name by which you're called?

8 If you fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, "You shall love your neighbor like yourself," you do well,

9 But if you have respect of persons, you commit sin, and are convicted by the law as sinners.

10 For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.

11 For he that said, "Do not commit adultery," also said, "Do not kill."  Now if you don't commit adultery, yet if you kill, you've become a breaker of the law.

12 Speak in such a way, and do, as those who'll be judged by the law of liberty.

13 For he shall have judgment without mercy, that has shown no mercy, and mercy rejoices against judgment.

14 What does it profit, my brothers, though a man says he has faith, and doesn't have works?  Can faith save him?

15 If a brother or sister needs clothes, and lacks daily food,

16 And one of you says to them, "Depart in peace, be warmed and filled," but you don't give them the things that are needed for the body, what good is that?

17 Even so faith, if it doesn't have works, is dead, being alone.

18 Yes, a man could say, "You have faith, and I have works, show me your faith without your works, and I'll show you my faith by my works."

19 You believe that there is one God, you do well, the devils also believe, and tremble.

20 But don't you know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?

21 Wasn't Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son on the altar?

22 Do you see how faith worked with his deeds, and by works faith was made perfect?

23 And the scripture was fulfilled that says, "Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness, and he was called the friend of God."

24 You see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.

25 Likewise also wasn't Rahab the prostitute justified by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way?

26 For like the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

___James chapter 3

1 My brothers, don't be many masters, knowing that we'll receive the greater condemnation.

2 For in many things we offend all.  If any man doesn't offend in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body.

3 See, we put bits in the horses' mouths, so they'll obey us, and we turn around their whole bodies.

4 Look also at the ships, which though they're so large, and are driven by fierce winds, yet they're turned around by a very small helm, wherever the captain wants.

5 Even so, the tongue is a little member, and boasts great things.  See how great a matter a little fire kindles!

6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of sin, so is the tongue among our members that it makes dirty the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature, and it is set on fire by hell.

7 For every kind of animals, and of birds, and of snakes, and of things in the sea, gets tamed, and has been tamed by mankind,

8 But no man can tame the tongue, it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.

9 With it we bless God, the Father, and with it we curse men, who are made after the likeness of God.

10 Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing.  My brothers, these things ought not to be.

11 Does a fountain send out at the same place sweet water and bitter?

12 Can the fig tree, my brothers, produce olive berries?  Or a vine, figs?  So no fountain can yield both salt water and fresh.

13 Who is a wise man, possessing knowledge among you?  Let him show out of a good lifestyle his works with meekness of wisdom.

14 But if you have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, don't glory, and don't lie against the truth.

15 This wisdom doesn't descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish.

16 For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.

17 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be reasoned with, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.

18 And the fruit of righteousness is planted in peace by those who make peace.

___James chapter 4

1 Where do wars and fightings among you come from?  Don't they come from your lusts that war in your members?

2 You lust, and don't have, you kill, and desire to have, and can't obtain, you fight and war, yet you don't have, because you don't ask.

3 You ask, and don't receive, because you ask wrongly, so you can consume it on your lusts.

4 You adulterers and adulteresses, don't you know that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God?  Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world is an enemy of God.

5 Do you think that the scripture says for nothing, "The spirit that lives in us lusts to envy?"

6 But he gives more grace.  So he says, "God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble."

7 Submit yourselves therefore to God.  Resist the devil, and he'll run away from you.

8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.  Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double minded.

9 Be afflicted, and mourn, and cry, let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.

10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he'll lift you up.

11 Don't speak evil about each other, brothers.  He that speaks evil about his brother, and judges his brother, speaks evil about the law, and judges the law, but if you judge the law, you're not a doer of the law, but a judge.

12 There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy, who are you that judges someone else?

13 Go on now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we'll go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and make a profit,"

14 Actually, you don't know what will happen tomorrow.  For what is your life?  It is a puff of steam, that appears for a little time, and then vanishes away.

15 For you ought to say, "Lord willing, we'll live, and do this, or that."

16 But now you rejoice in your boastings, all such rejoicing is evil.

17 Therefore to him that knows to do good, and doesn't do it, to him it is sin.

___James chapter 5

1 Go on now, you rich men, cry and howl for your miseries that shall come on you.

2 Your riches are corrupted, and your clothes are moth eaten.

3 Your gold and silver are rusted, and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh like fire.  You've heaped treasure together for the last days.

4 See, the wages of the laborers who have reaped down your fields, which you've kept back by fraud, shouts, and the shouts of those who've reaped have entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabbath.

5 You've lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton, you've nourished your hearts, like in a day of slaughter.

6 You've condemned and killed the just, and he doesn't resist you.

7 Be patient therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord.  See, the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, and has long patience for it, until he receives the early and latter rain.

8 You also be patient.  Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is getting near.

9 Don't grudge against each other, brothers, so you won't be condemned, see, the judge stands at the door.

10 Take, my brothers, the prophets, who've spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience.

11 See, we count them happy that endure.  You've heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord, that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.

12 But above all things, my brothers, don't swear, not by heaven, nor by the earth, nor by any other oath, but let your yes be yes, and your no, no, so that you don't fall into condemnation.

13 Is anyone among you afflicted?  Let him pray.  Is anyone merry?  Let him sing psalms.

14 Is anyone sick among you?  Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord,

15 And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up, and if he has committed sins, he'll be forgiven.

16 Confess your faults to each other, and pray for each other so you'll be healed.  The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man is does a lot of good.

17 Elijah was a man subject to the same kind of passions that we are, and he prayed earnestly that it wouldn't rain, and it didn't rain on the earth for three years and six months.

18 And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.

19 Brothers, if any of you strays from the truth, and someone converts him,

20 Let him know, that he that converts the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.