The Doorstep Evangel Newspaper
The DoorStep Evangel is a bimonthly publication of the Empire Baptist Temple. It is freely distributed to Pastors and Missionaries as a ministry to encourage and edify men of God as they serve in this challenging age.
Archived here you will find a sampling of articles that have appeared in the DoorStep Evangel over the years.
Wolves Eat Sheep
Dr. Ronald L. Tottingham
Did you ever ask yourself what it would mean to have wolves in sheep's clothing enter into a flock? Wolves do not eat grass, they eat sheep. (Matt. 7:15 - "Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves." Eat sheep?! Yes, wolves eat sheep.
What is sheep eating? How would one tell if he had a wolf inside his flock? Wolves, you know, are not born again, or saved. So how would one know that there were lost folks (wolves) inside their church? Well,
1. Wolves eat sheep. Paul talks about eating one another in a flock (church) in Galatians 5:15, "But if ye bite and devour one another..." And James brings up the subject in James 3:14-16, "But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work."
This strife and envying is not of sheep but of wolves or it is certainly "wolf-like" as stated in I Corinthians 3:3, "For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envyings, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?" Even Jeremiah tells us in Jeremiah 18:18 that smiting is done by the tongue. "...let us smite him with the tongue..." Again, in James 4:2 we read, "...ye fight and war,..." Folks, wolves eat sheep and come to destroy. John 10:12, "...The wolf catcheth them and scattereth the sheep." And Acts 20:29 states, "Grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock." Wolves eat sheep, but another thing about wolves is that
2. Wolves do not eat grass. Now sheep feed is the preaching of God's Word. We are told in Titus 1:3, "But hath in due times manifested his word through preaching, which is committed unto me according to the commandment of God our Saviour;" And in I Corinthians 1:18, "For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but into us which are saved it is the power of God." Preaching is God manifesting His Word and that is the power of God to the saved (sheep). But wolves do not eat grass (preaching). They eat sheep. So wolves enter in and try to remove grass eating from our eating trough. They would replace it by saying it's not "preaching," but the "study" of God's Word (which translation?). So they would have "Bible studies," videotaped presentations, programs, musicals, short "messages," talks, lectures, testimonials, etc. Wolves dislike long preaching because that my friend is sheep feed!
The Bible says "desire the sincere milk of the word" (I Peter 2:2) and "for the preaching of the cross is...unto us which are saved it is the power of God." (I Cor. 1:18)
Wolves eat sheep, not grass. Pastors who eat on their sheep, or with another pastor share pieces of their sheep among themselves. Could they be wolves? They are (gossips) certainly wolf-like.
Wolves eat sheep, and do not eat grass, but also
3. They do not leave grass droppings. Sheep droppings are a sure proof of sheep as is any droppings are proof and sign of a certain species. If wolves do not eat grass (preaching) but eat sheep then their droppings will show it.
Wolves do not eat grass but sheep. I like to know what so called sheep eat. Some "sheep" are not. They are wolves in sheep's clothing. I like to listen. I like to know what they eat. Is it sports, secular goals, vacations, hunting/fishing, home projects, etc. I know we all talk of these things, but to eat and live of them is different. Does one live a non-Bible related food? Matthew 4:4 tells us that "...man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." Wolves do not eat grass. They don't know how it tastes - to walk with the Lord daily, to know Him in the hidden man of the heart. If they are "biblical" it will be in form, tradition and ritual - religious droppings. The Bible is read for story, studied for dogma teaching. But, "to know Him," wolves do not eat true grass! And that dropping will show it - a secular sheep eating droppings, ie. "walk as men" droppings.
This is a possible way for one to suspect wolves might be in a sheepfold (church). Remember, wolves eat sheep and do not eat grass (God's pure word), and do not leave sheep droppings.