The Good Shepherd, The Wolf, Or The Leopard

The Bible describes three types of Spiritual Leaders. John 10 contrasts the good shepherds, those who sacrifice their lives for their sheep, with hired hands. Unfortunately these good shepherds are very hard to find today. Virtually all of today’s Christian leaders must be associated with the hired hands. This is explained in Are You In Christ’s Sheepfold?

Isaiah 11 mentions two types of church leader; wolves and the leopards. The wolves correspond to the hired hands that we saw in the John 10 passage. They are the men who twist the word to their advantage. They are not the scoffers that preach peace when there is no peace, They do have a clue about the righteousness that God requires. They have some degree of fear of the Lord, but they continue in their self ambition, exalting themselves, seeking the approval of men while ignoring Paul’s examples and doing evil.

The third type of church leader is the leopard. These are the Antichrist preachers, preachers of the “Churchiosity gospel”. These men actually scoff at God, and have no real fear of the Lord.

These scoffers come in many forms: Preachers of the seeker friendly gospel[trying to make the Gospel more palatable], the prosperity gospel,… . These folks may even preach about the lukewarm laodicean churches of Rev 3, but they presume their church is OK.

I don’t know which group is larger, the wolves or the leopards, but I don’t think there can be any good shepherds at Today’s Weak Churches.

Good shepherds understand about servant leadership, the leaders washing the feet of the flock. Jesus Foot Washing Example and Servant Leadership.

Good Shepherds understand about the Gathering commands Gatherings About God Or Gatherings With God THE MAIN Believer Gathering Must be a Believer Gathering

Good Shepherds understand that Christ requires volunteer ministers. Paul exampled the tent maker preacher. He tells us that he would rather die than accept pay for preaching, that he did this to give us an example to follow!  The Church Leader’s Dilemma: Follow Paul Or Accept Pay

It is really important for us to know what kind of leader we follow. The Is 11 passage spells it out for us. This is a prophecy about the millennial reign. I believe this is happening now. Lets take a look.

A Branch from David’s Line NLT Isaiah 11:1-16

1 Out of the stump of David’s family will grow a shoot— yes, a new Branch bearing fruit from the old root[talking about Jesus]. 2 And the Spirit of the LORD will rest on him— the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD. 3 He will delight in obeying the LORD. He will not judge by appearance nor make a decision based on hearsay. 4 He will give justice to the poor and make fair decisions for the exploited. The earth will shake at the force of his word, and one breath from his mouth will destroy the wicked. 5 He will wear righteousness like a belt and truth like an undergarment. 6 In that day the wolf[harlot preacher] and the lamb[Immature true seeker] will live together; the leopard[antichrist preacher] will lie down with the baby goat[false follower-evildoer]. The calf and the yearling will be safe with the lion[self-ambitous ones], and a little child will lead them all[the humble seeker, those coming to Jesus as a little child].

Lets look into the what this passage is telling us. It seems like these wolves and leopards will still be with us thru the millennium. The thing to note is who sits down with the leopard, the baby goat. Remember the story of the sheep and goats in Matthew 25:41.  The goats were the ones who didn’t help the hungry, the poor or the sick.  They are the ones who will be thrown out.

The lambs, the immature sheep are teamed up with the wolves, these hired hands. The mature sheep are not mentioned.  I think that the mature, those knowing the difference between what is good and evil,  between what is right and wrong will be able to separate themselves from these fallen teachers. They are shown the abomination standing in the holy place, and they flee from him. This separation is called out in God’s word.  Our Assignment – To Ignore Todays Blind Leaders

Summary

The John 10 passage tells us that the sheep know the voice of the Good Shepherds. If we are following one of the wolves, it means we are an immature sheep, that we don’t know the difference between right and wrong. If we are following one of the leopards, we are an immature goat, an evildoer that will be discarded at the time of judgment!  If you are in this group there is no time to waste!

Dear God,

Please help us to really seek you. Please give all seekers the gift of discernment, so that they can recognize these wolves and leopards for who they are. Please give them the humility, desire and strength to turn from these self ambitious teachers to team up with others and become your good shepherds, your royal priesthood. In Jesus mighty name we pray, Amen.

Glenn

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The Good Shepherd, The Wolf, Or The Leopard

The Good Shepherd, The Wolf, Or The Leopard

The Good Shepherd, The Wolf, Or The Leopard

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PS. Here is the full passage NLT Isaiah 11:1-16

A Branch from David’s Line

1 Out of the stump of David’s family will grow a shoot— yes, a new Branch bearing fruit from the old root[talking about Jesus]. 2 And the Spirit of the LORD will rest on him— the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD. 3 He will delight in obeying the LORD. He will not judge by appearance nor make a decision based on hearsay. 4 He will give justice to the poor and make fair decisions for the exploited. The earth will shake at the force of his word, and one breath from his mouth will destroy the wicked[I believe this is part of the sixth seal and will happen in 2012]. 5 He will wear righteousness like a belt and truth like an undergarment. 6 In that day the wolf[harlot preacher] and the lamb[Immature true seeker] will live together; the leopard[antichrist preacher] will lie down with the baby goat[false follower-evildoer]. The calf and the yearling will be safe with the lion[self-ambitous ones], and a little child will lead them all[the humble seeker, all coming to Jesus as a little child]. 7 The cow will graze near the bear. The cub and the calf will lie down together. The lion will eat hay like a cow. 8 The baby will play safely near the hole of a cobra. Yes, a little child will put its hand in a nest of deadly snakes without harm. 9 Nothing will hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain, for as the waters fill the sea, so the earth will be filled with people who know the LORD. 10 In that day the heir to David’s throne will be a banner of salvation to all the world. The nations will rally to him, and the land where he lives will be a glorious place.11 In that day the Lord will reach out his hand a second time to bring back the remnant of his people— those who remain in Assyria and northern Egypt; in southern Egypt, Ethiopia, and Elam; in Babylonia, Hamath, and all the distant coastlands[rapture? Rebuilding Jerusalem? Not sure]. 12 He will raise a flag among the nations and assemble the exiles of Israel. He will gather the scattered people of Judah from the ends of the earth. 13 Then at last the jealousy between Israel[contenders with God – real seeker followers] and Judah[the church] will end. They will not be rivals anymore. 14 They will join forces to swoop down on Philistia to the west. Together they will attack and plunder the nations to the east. They will occupy the lands of Edom and Moab, and Ammon will obey them. 15 The LORD will make a dry path through the gulf of the Red Sea. He will wave his hand over the Euphrates River, sending a mighty wind to divide it into seven streams so it can easily be crossed on foot. 16 He will make a highway for the remnant of his people, the remnant coming from Assyria, just as he did for Israel long ago when they returned from Egypt. [He will return and directly shepherd his followers feeding them with seven channels of spiritual nourishment, overtaking nations both eastward and westward]

e Good Shepherd, The Wolf, Or The Leopard