Many churches have appointed leaders, o tei arata'i i te nunaa o te Atua ia faaho'i atu i Aiphiti. There are church leaders, who have come up with all kinds of doctrines that deviate from the the Bible (Te Parau a te Atua) and causes the people to stay the way they are and live in sin, instead of causing the people to enter the process of sanctification and committing their whole lives to Jesus Christ and follow Him. It’s just like the people of God in the Old Testament, who were redeemed by God from the oppression of Pharaoh, but while they were in the wilderness on their way to the promised land, they didn’t like God’s appointed leader Moses and God’s way of doing things. The people of God wanted to appoint a new leader, who would lead them back to Egypt.
The people of God wanted to appoint a new leader and return to Egypt
So they said one to another, “Let us appoint a (Hou) leader and return to Egypt (Ua numera 14:4)
The people of God were on their way to the promised land. When they arrived in the wilderness of Paran, God promised Moses, that He would give the land of Canaan to the children of Israel. God commanded Moses to send from each tribe one man, to search the land of Canaan. Moses obeyed the te faaueraa a te Fatu and sent the twelve heads of the children of Israel to spy out Canaan.
I muri mai 40 mahana; mahana, the twelve men returned to Moses, Aamui, and the congregation. They confirmed, that the land flowed with milk and honey. Tera râ,, they also said, that the inhabitants were strong and the cities walled and very great. When the congregation heard their words, they became troubled.
The twelve men saw the same things, but they didn’t share the same report.
The good and evil report of the twelve spies
Because Caleb had a good report and believed that they were well able to overcome it. No reira, Caleb stilled the people before Moses, by saying that they should go up at once and possess the land.
But the other men didn’t share the same opinion. They didn’t believe, that they were able to go up against the people because, in their sight, they were stronger. They brought up an evil report, Te e te: “the land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of great stature. And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight” (Ua numera 13:31-33).
The children of Israel didn’t listen to Caleb and his good report. But they listened to the evil report of the other men. Because when they heard the evil report, they lifted up their voice and cried and wept that night.
The congregation began to murmur and complain
The congregation didn’t listen to the words of Caleb and the words and the promise of God and didn’t believe in His ability. But they listened to the words of the other men, who relied on their own abilities instead of God’s ability.
Tōmāoho, the people began to murmur and complain against Moses and Aaron. Ua ui ratou, why God couldn’t have let them die in the land of Egypt or in the wilderness, and why God had led them to a land, where they would fall by the sword and where their wives and children would be a prey
By believing the words of men, they had allowed a worst-case-scenario into their mind, that didn’t line up with God’s scenario.
God promised to give them the land. But the people believed the report of the eleven men above the words and the promise of God. They listened and relied on them, instead of listening and relying upon God. No te mea ïa e, that the people were led by fear, that was caused by the evil report, they wanted to appoint a leader, who would bring them back to Egypt.
They wanted to appoint someone, who would bring them back to their old life, that they missed so much.
They would rather live in bondage under the rulership of Pharaoh and serve strange gods, so that they could live after their will, fulfilling the lusts and desires of their flesh, then live in freedom and be depended upon God and serve Him and live according to His will.
Te ma'itiraa i te feia faatere, who lead the believers back to Egypt (Te ao)
E, what happens with the congregation of God (Te ekalesia.) I teie nei. Believers have become a poieteraa apî in the spiritual world, by faith in Jesus Christ and by regeneration. They have been bought with the blood of Jesus Christ and redeemed from their sin nature.
They have been redeemed from the power of the devil and darkness, o vai reigns in the lives of people through sin. Terā rā…
Because of the love for the world and themselves, many Christians don’t want to oomo i te ahu o te taata apî.
They have the ability to live in freedom, but many rather choose to live in bondage. That’s because many people don’t want to submit to the Word and don’t want to die to the flesh. They want to hold on to their old trusted live and the ē and his nature.
No reira, many don’t enter the place, that God has prepared for them.
Many people do not spiritually mature and grow up into the image of Jesus Christ. But they stay the old carnal man, who lives after the flesh in the bondage of the devil and is led by the weak and beggarly elements of this world.
Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods. I teie nei râ, i muri iho i te reira, ua ite anei outou i te Atua, mea 'oe, mea nahea to outou tauiraa i te mau mea ino e te maitai, i te vahi i reira outou e hinaaro faahou ai e riro ei mea? Ua ite matou i te mau mahana, ava'e., e hō'ē, matahiti (Gal 4:8-10).
They repented before the eye, but not in the heart
To whom our fathers would not obey, but thrust him from them, and in their hearts turned back again into Egypt (Ā'ati'a 7:39)
Many Christians repented before the eye, but not in their hearts. Te ti'aturi nei ratou e, e mea, that by visiting a church and doing ‘good works’ they are saved. Tera râ,, their hearts remain unchanged.
They don’t want to listen to the Word, let alone submit to the Word.
Aita, they want to lead their own lives with the idea in their minds, that they will go to heaven when they die. That’s why they believe in Jesus, vai Fa'a'aro'a, tere, and maybe have a task in their congregation.
But because their hearts remain unrepentant and unchanged, they reject the Word and return to their old habits and their old comfortable life.
They look for leaders, who preach after their itching ears and after the will and desire of their unrepented hearts. So that they won’t have to change, but can live their own life.
E tae mai te taime e ore ai ratou e faaoromai i te haapiiraa tumu; tera râ, i muri a'e i to ratou iho mau hinaaro, e haapao ratou i te mau orometua haapii, mā'u; E e fariu ê ratou i to ratou tari'a i te parau mau, e e fariuhia ïa i ni'a i te mau rave'a (2 E hō'ē 4:3-4)
They seek, just like the children of Israel, for leaders, who will lead them back to Egypt; Te ao. So that they can stay carnal and live after the will, lusts and desires of their sinful flesh and do what they want to do.
Many Christians want to stay carnal and don’t want to be told what to do
Many Christians don’t like to be confronted with their conduct and their lives. They don’t want to be disciplined and corrected by the Word. Aita ratou e hinaaro e a tuu i to ratou tino and be rejected and persecuted by the world and the people around them. Aita, they want to be liked and accepted by the world. They want to have a carefree and comfortable life, mai te ao nei.
And that’s why many preachers and church leaders are being appointed, who are unspiritual and live after the flesh.
Aita ratou e parau nei i te mau parau a te Atua, but the words of men, that will lead the people back to Egypt; Te ao, in the bondage of the devil. Te ti'aturi nei ratou e, e mea, that they are free and live in freedom, but they are wrong.
God had chosen and appointed Moses as a leader
Moses was not a leader, whom the people would have chosen and appointed. Because if it was up to the people, they would have rather chosen and appointed someone else as their leader.
Someone like Aaron, who allowed himself to be intimidated by the people and did what they wanted to do (Exodo 32). Tera râ,, God had chosen and appointed Moses as the leader of His people, to represent Him.
Have believers become lukewarm and passive for Jesus Christ?
Due to all these modern humanistic teachings, many passionate believers, who have started with a true and sincere heart, have lost their zeal and fire. Many believers have become lukewarm and passive for Jesus Christ, God and His Kingdom, and don’t obey the truth.
In many lives, Jesus is no longer the center.
Many believers are no longer focused on how they can exalt Jesus and please the Father with their lives. But they are focused upon themselves and their own kingdom. They are looking for ways, to be prosperous and successful in this world. They want the same things as the world, but only better and more.
Instead of living after the Spirit, they keep returning to the flesh and live in the bondage of the poor beggarly elements of this world, just like the children of Israel.
Auê te mau tamarii orure hau, i ni'a i te Fatu, e titau i te a'oraa, eiaha râ no'u; e taua tapo'i ra e te hoê tapo'i, eiaha râ no to'u Varua, ia faarahi atu â ratou i te hara i ni'a i te hara: Ua haere atu i Aiphiti, e aita vau i ani i to'u vaha; no te haapuai ia ratou iho i roto i te puai o Pharao, e te ti'aturiraa i te ô o Aiphiti! Na reira, e haamâ outou i te puai o Pharao, e te ti'aturiraa i te û o Aiphiti, o to outou ïa huru ê (Isaiah 30:1-3).
Many church leaders preach a gospel of men
The gospel doesn’t focus on Jesus, the cross and the blood, saving souls and sanctification; ua tuu i nia i te taata ruhiruhia with his sins and iniquities. But the gospel has become a humanistic prosperity gospel, full of human grace, that focus on…. Tagata.
Oia mau, the Lord takes care of you. He blesses you and provides for you so that you don’t have to worry about a thing. i teie mahana i teie nei, the gospel only focus on material prosperity, pārahi, and riches of men. No te mea, that is what carnal believers want to hear.
They don’t want to be corrected and disciplined by the Word. But they want to fellowship, ia faaanaanatae, motivated and pampered and experience warm fuzzy feelings in church. They don’t want to renounce the things they love but are an abomination to God.
No reira, they have chosen and appointed leaders, or looking for a church, who fulfill their lusts and desires and preach according to their flesh and will.
Many church leaders preach what the people want to hear
These leaders, who have been appointed by the people are in service of people. That’s why these leaders preach, what they want to hear. Because the more people they attract, the bigger the congregation, the fame, Eaha te tahi mau moni rahi a'e.
These church leaders think they please God and serve Jesus. They consider growth as an indicator, that they operate in faith and walk in God’s will. But instead of teaching, correcting and raising Christians in the Word, so that they mature and grow up into to likeness of Jesus Christ and keep the body of Christ holy, pure and righteous, these leaders lead the people of God back to Egypt; into the bondage of the world; the devil and darkness.
They are no longer the light that shines in the darkness, but they have become one with the darkness.
'Ia riro ei miti no te fenua’
