Here at the ministry we are always going through cleansing as God speaks to us to get rid of things in our homes and in our lives. We do not always understand the reason for getting rid of the things but then ours is not to question but to obey. While recently going through a cleansing I began to go through boxes that had not been opened in years getting rid of things as the Holy Spirit led.

While going through the boxes I found a wooden fish ornament given to me by a friend a few years ago.

It’s shaped like a fish and colored like a fish. The scales, eyes and mouth have been painted on with care. It has been meticulously handcrafted so that the body even moves like a fish when you wiggle it. The model has been carefully shaped and sanded so it even feels somewhat like a fish.

Despite all the superficial resemblance, the care in crafting and the attention to detail, it will never be a fish. It will always be a model and never the real thing. It will never be truly alive.

It can be like that with churches. Many churches have wonderful rituals and music. They claim the name Christian, but they don’t believe in the Bible or in the sacrifice of Jesus for our sins. They tell us that the resurrection was a myth and that Jesus wasn’t born of a virgin. They say it is ok to willfully sin that God will forgive you for your un-Godly lifestyle.

They speak only of God’s love, but never His wrath. They present the world with a nice looking model that seems like a church, but without Christ and the truth of God's word they will never be truly alive.

Make no mistake; God’s Word is true. Jesus was God incarnate come as a baby and born to a virgin. He was crucified for our sins, died on the cross and resurrected. He sits at the right hand of God and is coming again for those who believe in Him and to judge the world.

If a church preaches anything different, it is as of little value to your eternal soul as my wooden fish would be to a man dying of hunger.

In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage--with great patience and careful instruction, For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. 2 Timothy 4:1-4

Until next time, may you know the truth and be surrounded by real fish. May you look at God's word as truth and not what some person tells you he thinks it means. When Jesus says cast your net on the other side you better be ready to obey and leave whatever it is you caught to get what God really has for you.

All those wooden fishes, no matter how good they look, won’t do you a bit of good when the time comes to save your soul from hell!

Darrel Mason

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