Tag: Unity

 

Legalism and Lawlessness

  • Legalism brings division where God intended for there to be unity, and lawlessness brings unity where God intended for there to be division.
  • One afflicts the flesh and the other indulges in it, but both are insubordinate to His will.
  • One has an appearance of righteousness and the other doesn’t but both are insubordinate to His will.
  • One claims a virtue of discipline and the other claims love but both are insubordinate to His will.

Both miss the mark. Both achieve the same end of causing the heart to bow to another. Both deceive. Both are devices of the enemy that lead to the same end. Whether by much or by little, whether gentle or harsh, whatever is done apart from His time, apart from His way, is a device of the deceiver, and is insubordinate to His will.

~Jeff Neufeld

 

 Never Cry Wolf

Wanted: Compliant Church Goers – No Discernment Required

Years ago a  drug-using career criminal uttered the phrase “Why can’t we all just get along?”,  and now the church has seemed to make this their theme.  Don’t try to be theologically correct, never disagree publicly over Biblical truth, never notice or warn about sin – just fall in line and be nice.

I attempted this at the church my husband and I attended for 21 years, after falling into line and being nice for years.  I was charged with being a slanderer and a gossip.  I even got called a Pharisee.  If you haven’t been branded a Pharisee yet, you just aren’t trying.  

 

The funniest part of being called a Pharisee for an expressed adherence to the Bible is that Pharisees imposed extra-Biblical rules on everything.  That’s what they were known for – so if someone calls you a Pharisee for following the Word, you know they are confused.

Living out the stain of  Biblical accuracy will also bring out the following:

  • You have a  ‘religious spirit’
  • You are being ‘judgy’
  • You have a critical spirit
  • You always have to be right

I recently read an article on disagreeing on doctrine vs personal offense.  Essentially this means that if you disagree publicly with a public message and your pastor is offended, church discipline is inappropriately applied.  I was disfellowshipped, not for being in sin, but for standing up for the Word. 

The Apostle Paul warned in the book of Acts, chapter 20, about savage wolves coming in among the church “not sparing the flock.”  It would seem the worst attack on Believers is not from the obvious evil out in the world, but it’s an attack from within. Not only are unaware sheep being savaged, but the sheep who recognize the danger are being silenced.  In my experience, a pastor with sound doctrine was defending false doctrine for the sake of unity.  I never thought I’d see the day that wolves were being used as Border collies to herd the sheep but here we are.

Whenever I hear “you don’t always have to be right”, it only makes me wonder why not.  Why strive to be wrong some of the time?  It’s not my accuracy I’m standing up for and it’s not as if we don’t have a way to measure any given opinion.  

Is it too much to ask, that we find our unity on the common ground of irrefutable truth?  If my experience is anything to go by, tragically, the answer is a resounding YES.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Idol of Evangelism

Selling a Fake Jesus

 

I just finished reading a short yet masterful book called Letter to the American Church by Eric Metaxas and I stole the title of this piece from chapter nine.

The book is described as a “bucket of cold water thrown into the face of a sleeping church” but I didn’t find it unpleasant in the least, only refreshing.

The topic is a slumbering church in a time of horrific evil and Christians who will not utter a peep.

Let me just say one more thing about the book:  Read it.

So what’s my problem with evangelism?  If it saves even one soul from an eternity in hell, shouldn’t it be of utmost importance?

It turns out that’s a big “IF”, huge even.  The American church has been put on notice already, but I have a particular bone to pick.  The Jesus we’ve been selling isn’t the real deal.  I’ll give you one example:  The Chosen.  It’s a tv series created by temple Mormons about Jesus.  We’re looking to people who don’t know Jesus and have no relationship with Him to tell us about our lord.  We’ve lost our minds.

The Jesus being sold today has one main attribute: his engaging kindness.  He loves everyone.  He died to save everyone.  He would never say anything that would drive anyone away from . . . hang on.

Ever hear of the rich young ruler?  He wouldn’t sell all he had to follow Jesus and so walked away in sadness.

How about the Pharisees of whom Jesus said:

You are of your father the devil and your will is to do your father’s desires.  He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him.   When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.  But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me.  Which one of you convicts me of sin?  If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me?  Whoever is of God hears the words of God.  The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God. ~John 8:44-47

I don’t believe this is a truth vs love passage.  I don’t think Jesus was deliberately destroying relationships in order to be truthful.  I think that many, when they hear the truth will run toward it so it would make sense that Jesus would cut loose people who are not of God so that people belonging to God may find Him.  The fact of the matter is that you cannot separate truth from love, or love from truth.  If you do, you end up destroying both.  That truth and love cannot be destroyed is still accurate, but you can destroy truth and love in a person’s life.  You are killing people by being too ‘kind’ to tell the truth.

I have found that you can tell a hard truth and some people will walk away from the faith but others will be saved.  In the Book of Acts, there’s the story of Sergius Paulus, a proconsul described as an intelligent man who called for Barnabus and Saul (Paul) in order to hear the word of God.  There was another man, Elymas the sorcerer who ran interference because he wanted to turn the proconsul away from the faith.

Here’s Acts 13:9-12

Then Saul, who also is called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him and said, O full of all deceit and all fraud, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, will you not cease perverting the straight ways of the Lord?  And now, indeed, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you shall be blind, not seeing the sun for a time.  And immediately a dark mist fell on him, and he went around seeking someone to lead him by the hand.  Then the proconsul believed, when he saw what had been done, being astonished at the teaching of the Lord.

Evil must be confronted for the light to get through.  We are called as Christians to be many things, not merely evangelists, but people with a sound mind and firm spine to stand for the truth.  Oddly enough, not everyone likes that.

I see Jesus as a huge rock in a fast-flowing river that causes the watercourse to split in two and continue thenceforth as two different streams.  One to life and one to death.  “We must have unity” my foot!  

Do you know what drives church building these days?  Especially evangelizing mega churches?  Unity.  The price we pay for such massive togetherness is to sacrifice the truth.  Staying accurate on doctrine will necessarily drive people away.  

So for the uber-large gatherings, commonality is stressed and accuracy is out the window.  If Jesus is truth, then we are sacrificing Him all over again.  Will he be happy with us if we misrepresent him to the point that people dash off to a winsome Pied Piper and never know the Truth?

We can say things like “We won’t fight over non-salvation issues” and let error run rampant.  We might play music that entices people with high emotion and a good time but doesn’t extol God.  We might invite popular teachers in to create a huge event, but sound teaching is passed over.  We might intentionally create such a welcoming environment that no one is offended, ever.  If the idol you serve is a huge church, know this, Molech will exact tribute.  It’s God’s church, he will fill it or empty it at His will.  Serve the Lord alone.

 

We’ve all seen images of a parched wanderer lost in the desert, crawling through the dunes until finally, he spots a huge body of refreshing water glimmering in the distance.  With his last ounce of strength, he pushes on to his salvation, only to find it’s a mirage.  

Now imagine that scene with a crowd of cheering “Christians” with signs saying “Get your cold water here!” or “Keep Going, You’re Almost There” or “Beach Towels – $5”.

Kindness and encouragement are the utmost cruelty if what you’re selling is a lie.

 

All or Nothing

There IS No Third Bucket

I attended a very large church in Post Falls, Idaho.  This past Easter, at all associated locations, we had north of 14,000 people attend services.  I don’t mind the crowds, since I do think the goal is to have Heaven be full but I have been forced to question what is being sacrificed to keep those numbers at peak performance.

In our church, there is a concept about Biblical doctrine.  Some things are “salvation” issues known as First Bucket matters.  There are also Second and Third Bucket topics.  I’m not sure what those are.  You’d have to ask one of our pastors.  I am more convinced than ever that the entire Word of God is to be studied, comprehended, and applied.  The minute we start relegating to the third bucket, or the dustbin, we’ve proven we can dismiss all of it.  But of what import is the Word of God, if we’re striving for big tent unity?  That seems to be a question our church leadership has already settled to their satisfaction.

Jesus never once needed to embrace bad theology in order to love people correctly. ~Israel Wayne

The following is from The Bible in Context:

You cannot just believe parts of the Bible and not others. You either believe all of it or none of it. God’s Word is not a buffet where you get to pick and choose.

Notice the “every word”, i.e all of it👇🏼

But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.’” Matthew 4:4

The Israelite’s were commanded to eat all the Manna and not leave any. We know the manna is a “type” of Christ – our bread of life.
Moses said to them, “Let no man leave any of it until morning.” Exodus 16:19

See the parallel?

Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread out of heaven to eat.’” Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread out of heaven, but it is My Father who gives you the true bread out of heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven, and gives life to the world.” Then they said to Him, “Lord, always give us this bread.”

Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst.
John 6:31-35

“Why do you call Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say? Everyone who comes to Me and hears My words and acts on them, I will show you whom he is like: Luke 6:46-47

Doctrine absolutely matters. The doctrine you believe is the doctrine you will live out. Wrong doctrine leads to wrong practice and wrong belief. The first piece of the armor in Ephesians 6 is the Belt of Truth.

The Trinity: God is one “What” and three “Who’s” with each “Who” possessing all the attributes of Deity and personality.

The Person of Jesus Christ: Jesus is 100% God and 100% man for all eternity.

The Second Coming: Jesus Christ is coming bodily to earth to rule and judge.

Salvation: It is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.

The Scripture: It is entirely inerrant and sufficient for all Christian life.

If what you believe differs from what the Word of God says, you are in error in your doctrine. There is no person alive today who does not hold to doctrines. They may pretend to be free of doctrine and just “feeling” their way around the world, but they hold to doctrines just as tightly as you and I do. They just don’t realized how much they have been deceived by the enemy, by others, and by allowing themselves to be deceived.

The sermon just yesterday was basically sound on the topic of giving grace to each other and topping the list of next steps “If you haven’t already, establish a regular routine of being in the Bible’.  The problem is, I’ve delved into the Bible more in the past year than in my entire preceding 65 years on this planet.  The more I absorb, the more I realize I’m not on the same road as my pastors.

Even yesterday, a point made in the sermon was the need to “give grace to God” when He doesn’t respond the way we want.  Well, it sounds kind of sweet, but I kept thinking it was simply a misstatement.  I comforted myself about the vast gulf of a mistaken understanding of the nature of God, Life, Eternity, the Universe, and Biblical inerrancy by excusing it as nerves on the part of the pastor.  Right up until the moment he said it again with even more force and clarity.

The Bible I’ve been reading speaks of Christians needing patient endurance amidst persecution.  It fails to mention extending loving forgiveness to a God who may just have gotten it wrong.

As we veer toward a crowd-pleasing, man-centered faith that puts us in the catbird seat of extending grace to God I realize my options are narrowing.

You might tell me, go to your pastor first, which I had not done prior to making my frustrations known on social media.  Our senior pastor called me and offered a meeting.  The meeting lasted two and a half hours.  I can tell you that the lead pastor is rock solid on doctrine but that the church is veering distinctly into dangerous territory.  Almost like the Titanic with a rudder that is strong but too limited for the size of the vessel.  So next step, speak to the pastor who appears to represent the Emerging church doctrine.  Check.    He’s been sought out, and people have been brushed off.  It’s being made all too clear that any verbalized concerns will be firmly put down with the advice, literally from the pulpit to “ZIP it!”  Another meeting is being requested following this most recent sermon.  

 

After being told we’re to avoid many topics that only start fights, I must rebut that we are attempting to “gently instruct those who oppose the truth”.   Perhaps, in this case, simply ignoring the truth is more accurate.  Failing to learn, present and uphold the truth is the most subtle form of opposition, though.  The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth should be the standard.

“If we can’t have unity and agreement upon The Truth, then we can’t have unity.  True Unity is in the unity of the Spirit of Truth.”  ~The Bible In Context

When we can decide which scripture is crucial and heap the rest of it in a pile of irrelevance, it might give us nothing left to fight over.  On the other hand, it might give us the most strenuous contest ever since many of us recognize that walking away from sound doctrine is deathly serious.  Forget the Third Bucket – it doesn’t even exist.

 

 

The bygone era in which I was raised contained an oft-quoted maternal challenge:  “If all your friends ran off a cliff, would you do it too?”   We always prefer to think we wouldn’t but we should stop flattering ourselves.  Truly independent thinkers are rare enough to draw vilification straight from the gate.

In settings where conformity and submission are considered desirable traits, as in Christian churches, there is more pressure to abstain from critical, independent thought.  We just call it “unity.”

A couple of references from the Book of Ephesians are enlightening.  There is one passage that speaks of how Christians should behave with gentleness, longsuffering, bearing with each other in love and “endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” ~ Eph. 4:3.  Further in the chapter, we can read about roles Jesus himself has given us, apostles, prophets, evangelists, etc. “for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of knowledge of the Son of God, . . .”

There are also passages about division,  not all of them censorious.  In Titus 3:10, we are told to reject a “divisive man after a first and second admonition.”  Christians are also warned to “watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have received.” In Corinthians 1:10 “I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought.”  Clearly, Christians aren’t meant to quarrel and jealousy seems to be cited as the source of strife. (Corinthians 3:3)

One-upmanship is never appreciated unless you are the one who is doing the upping. Yet, what if a separate, reasoned, informed stance is promoted within the church and there’s no motive except to save lives and/or souls?  

Is ignorance the overwhelming glue that ties a church together?  Must we close our eyes, plug our ears, hold our noses and swallow the government-mandated evil swill of submission to a clutch of Satanists?

I’m not just talking about the current bio-weapon of choice which Bill Gates of Hell calls a vaccine, although if you read my other posts, you know I’d rather take a bullet than the shot.   The fact that this jab changes the victim’s DNA is not even in dispute and also the patents which claim control over the injected are already in place, so the church should wake the hell up.

I’m also talking about the ‘woke’ church.  How abortion laws should be left untouched.  How transgenders are fine, how homosexuality is not really a sin.  How the founders of Black Lives Matter are making a valid point.  Never mind them laughing at all the hapless white people saying “But, but why don’t y’all stop killing each other?”

You want to brand me as divisive?  Fire away.  I’m still going to take scriptural integrity and spiritual fidelity over singing Kumbaya with a bunch of folks heading straight to the grave.

For anyone who sees a lack of unity as a sign of immaturity, remember Jesus saying, “Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth.  I did not come to bring peace but a sword.” ~Matthew 10:34

At some point, the Church has to stop taking the name of God in vain.  I don’t mean the shallow interpretation of not using God’s name as a cussword.  I mean don’t call yourself a Christian and then be anything but.  We have to actually DO what God says.  We have to follow Him.  Then we can be unified.  Then Jeremiah 32:38 kicks in:  “They shall be My people, and I will be their God; ‘then I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear Me forever, for the good of them and their children after them.”

Until that threshold is achieved, Jesus has something to say about the times we’re currently in.  In Revelation, the Church is called to repentance and there are listed consequences if we don’t.   I know some Christians assert that everyone has their name written in the Book of Life and that Christians’ names are never blotted out.  Only unbelievers are erased, they tell themselves.  That could never happen to ME.  Uhm, check this out – Jesus is talking to YOU.

 Rev. 3:5. “He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.  He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”‘  

As for the rest “All who dwell on the earth will worship him [the Beast], whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.”

It would seem there are three categories: 

  • Name Written in Book of Life
  • Name Written in Book of Life and Blotted Out
  • Name Not Written in Book of Life

The lemmings don’t just run off a cliff, they get blotted out afterward.  I’m imploring you to break loose from the herd because that cliff is now in plain view.  Stop running and stand.