BROTHERS! . . . It is now becoming a world full of violence and to push any congregation out into that violence just to witness (to gain more tithe money) is a tragedy. This behaviour is virtually what the congregation is pushed into and if these goals are not reached, we have an unhappy Pastor who will preach harder at us making our life feel as though we are unfulfilled in our belief.
This is the evil of religion, which destroys the good name of Messiah. Religion is a business and is high pressure sales - if the congregation are not educated and equiped in it's doctrines, then they are shamed and become vessels of menial tasks to the leadership.
To actually be on the end of a congregant witnessing to you in such a desperate manner (as they do), turns out to be a demoralising experience instead of someone being nice to you. This hard sell is what has given religion such a bad reputation and it is not the behaviour Messiah sent forth His emissaries with. When Messiah sent forth His followers He said, "Behold I send you out as sheep among wolves," Yahusha then gave instruction (not like the pastor above), but said, "be as gentle as doves and cunning as snakes."
This instruction from YAHUSHA IS WARNING US NOT TO HAVE FOOLISH AND LOUD BEHAVIOUR AS WE WITNESS TO PEOPLE, BECAUSE WE ARE DEALING WITH UNCLEAN SPIRITS AS WELL AS A PERSON TRAPPED IN SIN. If we are not loving but offensive, the spirit of religion will jump up and bite us in the face. They will then behave as the Pharisees did with Yahusha, who wanted to destroy Him. If we are not gentle and cunning in our behaviour and check to see if the person is really interested in deliverance, the unclean will grab our words and twist them around to wrong meanings and shout from the hill-tops that we are trouble makers, then we will fail in our task.
Whilst we witness to people, if our behaviour is like a bull in a fine china shop,
we can't hope to get our message through the unclean barrier. Remember "GENTLE & CUNNING IS THE WAY." A very dangerous element has moved into our countries, as it did in the days of Yahusha, so the flock had to be very careful with their behaviour or they could be thrown into prison or killed. The religion of that day were against the followers of Yahusha as they are today.
Just remember we are heading towards this world being full of violence and if our behaviour is Turah-based we can be wise and cunning. We are not looking for a "church" to worship in, or a synagogue or a mosque - we are being careful who we mix with, because the times are changing and our behaviour must also. Scripture says if we are living the fruits of righteousness, there is no law against our behaviour.
By Chris Hilton . . .