Setting Forth A True Example Of Christianity

Let no man despise thy youth;

but be thou an example of the

believers, in word, in conversation,

in charity, in spirit, in faith, 

in purity. till I come, give attendance

to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine.

1Timothy 4:12-13

     The words written by Paul to Timothy has an immediate application for Timothy, but, as does the Bible, what is written for an immediate situation or person, may, and often does have application for all children of God. Timothy was to be an example of true Christianity, and by extension, we who are Authentic Christians are to set forth an example according to Scripture. 

     I wrote earlier about the Sozo Movement and feel the need to expand upon this heresy. Taken from the website for Bethel Church here in Redding and their School of the Supernatural, some things you should know for this same teaching is to be found in other Churches: (I have for delineation from what I write and what others have written have italicized and made the font bold): 

 SO, WHAT IS SOZO?

The Sozo ministry is a unique inner healing and deliverance ministry in which the main aim is to get to the root of those things hindering your personal connection with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Thus with a healed connection with Father, Son and Holy Spirit you can walk in the destiny to which you have been called.

• Sozo is an inner healing/deliverance ministry
• Sozo is simple, fast, Spirit led and effective
• Sozo finds issues in minutes instead of years

Sozo helps heal your relationship with God to enable you to fulfill your destiny
 
The SOZO ministry is a unique inner healing and deliverance ministry in which the main aim is to get to the root of those things hindering your personal connection with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. There are six tools that the SOZO team uses:

• Father Ladder
• Four Doors
• Presenting Jesus
• The Wall
• Trigger Mechanisms (Advanced Tool)
• Divine Editing (Advanced Tool)

By using these tools and following the Holy Spirit, wounds are healed, strongholds broken, truth revealed, and “doors” closed.
 Works and money are always at the core and this teaching by this so-called Christian Church,or other Churches using this method of teaching and is no different from any profit making business:
 Why a suggested donation?

The Sozo staff are independent contractors and are not Bethel Church staff.

What about donations for church members?

Church members have the same "suggested donation". Be aware to not bow under the spirit of entitlement. Pray against it long before you begin sessions and release a spirit of generosity over your church and ministry.

Here is what the Bible actually teaches:

We are saved by God's work,
not by good works

 Not on the basis of deeds - Literally "not out of works" - placed first in the sentence for emphasis.
Spurgeon comments...
This is a very practical Epistle. See how closely Paul keeps to the doctrines of grace. He is never like Mr. Legality, he never teaches that we are to be saved by works; but, being saved by the grace of God alone, and being made heirs according to the hope of eternal life, we are then, out of gratitude to God, to abound in everything that is good, and holy, and kind, and after the mind of Christ
Many of the modern translations (including the generally more literal NAS) ignore the important original Greek word order. The first word in Greek is "not" (absolute negation).

 The gospel emphatically denies the possibility of attaining salvation by human effort or merit.

SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS

Horatius Bonar writes that...

Ritualism, or externalism, or traditionalism are all different forms of self-righteousness; man's self-invented ways of pleasing or appeasing God, or paying for admittance into heaven. These forms of self-righteousness are a human apparatus for procuring God's pardon. They are the means by which the performer of them hopes to win God's favor—perhaps, also, man's praise—most certainly, his own esteem.
Every act, or performance, or ceremony, which honors self, exalts self, or gives prominence to self—is an accursed thing. It is an abomination in the sight of God—however religious, or sacred, or solemn, or devout, it may seem to man.
It is to self-righteousness in some form or other, that man is always tending. Man attempts to make up for this badness, or to cover it over, by works, and devotions, and ceremonies. All this is pure self-righteousness.
The religion of self-righteousness in our day consists of works, feelings, fancies, music, rites, festivals, fasts, gestures, postures, garments. It is something which gratifies self; which pleases the natural man; which makes a man think well of himself; which gives a man something to do or to feel in order to earn pardon and merit heaven. Pride, religious pride, is  at the root. Ritualism is man's expression of rejection of Christ. It was self-righteous religion which crucified the Son of God. All human rites and ceremonies are man's ways of getting rid of Christ. What can all these things do? Can they save? Can religious postures save? Can religious garments save? Can religious candles save? Can religious music save? Can religious architecture save? Can religious cathedrals save? No! They lead away from Jesus! They make void the cross, and trample on His blood! (Paying for admittance into heaven)
     This was said better than what I could have said, but the bottom line is to become informed so that you will not be deluded and duped into a heresy that may sound truthful but at its core is Satanic. Run from this!
  
then answered the LORD unto Job
   out of the whirlwind and said,
Gird up thy loins now like a man:
    I will demand of thee, and declare
thou unto me. Wilt thou also disannul 
    My judgment? wilt thou condemn Me,
that thou mayest be righteous? Hast thou
    an arm like God? canst thou thunder
with a voice like Him?
                 Job 40:6-9

Work with God: not for Him

Richard L. Crumb