Leaving Beyond – Grounded In Scripture

Written by: April J. Buchanan

They did not hurt you. They told you the truth, and your heart was set against it.

It felt like harm because the truth stood in direct opposition to your feelings and your delusions. It exposed your pride. It spoke what Scripture says about you, not the Joel Osteen version of you, where you affirm yourself, speak your fantasies into existence, and nurture delusions of grandeur. No. It spoke what Scripture says about all of us, and about those who are deceived and who deceive others.

You do not love the truth. You believe that you do. But when confronted with it, you immediately posture yourself against it. You regard those who proclaim it as beneath you, less anointed, less spiritual, unable to touch you because you believe yourself to be above them. You imagine that you possess an anointing they lack, a level they cannot reach. You hold an inflated view of yourself, and you despise having it exposed.

From your lofty position, built on sand, you slander those who warn you. You feign pity for them. You tell your followers to forgive them because they just do not understand what it costs to get where you are. You frame yourself as misunderstood, persecuted, and spiritually superior.

You are wrong.

They understand the cost. They are simply unwilling to pay that price because it stands in direct opposition to God. What you are building is not founded on truth. And truth exposes both you and your work for what they are.

Those who love the same delusion encourage you, flatter you, and inflate you further. You refuse to come down from what you have built long enough to hear the truth, so that by God’s grace you might repent. Why? Because repentance would cost you everything.

It would cost your reputation. It would cost your inflated self image. It would cost your false anointing. It would cost your false authority. It would cost the loyalty of those who follow you because they love what you say. That cost is more than you are willing to pay. And you do not realize that it may cost you your soul.

Those who are in Christ have counted the cost as well, whether coming out of the world or coming out of deception like yours. It costs them much. But He is worth it. They have forsaken all for Him, their pride, their reputation, and even relationships.

You, however, are building by using His name for your own elevation. Scripture warns about you. You are under delusion. You are deceived. And you love it.

You have many who encourage your delusions of grandeur because they love them too. Tell them smooth things, and they will devote themselves to you with fierce loyalty.

Christ is building His church. His Word sanctifies her, builds her up, joins her together, unites her, and sets her on a firm foundation. She is set apart not only from the world, but from every false professor who works lawlessness in His name, blaspheming Him while leading many souls to hell. Those who follow you are not victims. They love it.

You are surrounded by women who cheer you on, who tell you how amazing you are, how anointed you are, how valuable and untouchable you are. They convince you that everyone else is the problem. They lead your heart further into rebellion.

You were born in sin. Your heart is naturally hostile to God. You love words that appeal to that sinful heart, words that flatter and inflate. Worse still, many are willing to speak those words in Jesus’ name. They lace lies with just enough Scripture to make them sound spiritual.

They tell you that those who cling to the Bible lack the Spirit. And so your heart hardens against anyone who warns you. You look down on them as pitiable, inferior Christians because they do not have what you have.

But your heart is in rebellion against God.

You believe you are doing great things in His name. And you are doing things in His name, but what you call good is evil. Every time you attach His name to your wicked words and works, you blaspheme Him.

You will not submit to Scripture. Your desires are against it. You claim to love the Word, yet when you speak, you speak from your heart, not from the text. You feel the rush, the tingle, the spiritual high, and you believe God is speaking through you in that moment.

You cannot be bound by what He has already said because you believe He is saying something new. You think your words are powerful. You believe your impressions are revelation. You believe God is speaking through you, and therefore Scripture must make room for you.

You do not love the truth. You prove yourself its enemy.

You seek a new word because you have no appetite for the “old one”. You refuse to give God rest until He gives you something, your breakthrough, your healing, your miracle, your promise. Your prayers and worship revolve around your anointing, your authority, your desires.

And then you hear something in your heart. And you obey it. And you believe it is God.

You do not know that your prayers were amiss, that your desires were governed not by the Spirit, but by the flesh. You do not submit your will to God. You attempt to bend God to yours.

And yes, you may get what you desire. But it is not a blessing. It is not proof of faithfulness. It is not evidence of anointing.

Sometimes God gives us over to what we demand, and what we mistake for blessing is judgment.

You ask amiss because your heart is in rebellion. You refuse to admit that what you want does not please God. You abuse His promises, demanding that He fulfill words He never spoke.

Your heart is sinful. Your desires are not from the Spirit. Your will is not transformed.

Your speech is cloaked in spiritual language, and your works boast of how special you believe yourself to be. You do not know what manner of person you truly are.

You have believed a lie. You love it. You guard it. And you close your ears to the truth.

Unless you repent, you have made sure your path. Deception will encounter true holiness, and what a terrifying revelation that will be for many.