There are few things in life that really bother me.
I've seen so much advertizing and the reality that follows that I just smile when I hear a local bank's radio ads about how much they care for the community and want to help you. Truth is, if it would make the directors an extra dollar and a half they would foreclose on your house with no qualms whatsoever. Noticably, over the last few years, Americans are waking up to the fact that our government is in the business of controlling information and controlling people for the benefit of an elite few. This used to bother me, but I've realized that governments all do that. This is a sinful world. I can live in the midst of its corruption and walk around humming and whistling. Because I don't really live here. Just passing through. Also, I believe in God's justice; He will set everything right in the end.
The Kingdom of God is the home of God's children. And while that Kingdom has some elements visible and operative on this earth, its full glory and realization are future.
Here and now, our actions have effect in that eternal Kingdom. That fact is what lends weight to our behavior. I heard President Obama speechifying recently about President Clinton's legacy. Except for his effects on the Kingdom of God, it doesn't matter. If the world lasts a little longer, Americans will care no more about Mr. Clinton than about President McKinley. Who? So what kinds of things really do bother me? The same things that got Jesus and His closest followers irritated: influential people, posing as godly leaders, who use that influence to deceive the naive, in order to gain more influence for themselves.
That bothers me.
To put a point on it, consider the often repeated mantra of the so called "progressive Christian movement," to the effect that "We only believe in Christ crucified; you cannot know anything else for sure." This is the postmodern adaptation of the same old lie Satan used in the garden. "God didn't really say that, did He?"
Here is the great irony. Please let this sink in; your understanding of this may deliver you from the corruption of this deception. While these "progressive Christian leaders" condescend to anyone who claims to know any Truth, and smirk at the backward fundamentalists and evangelicals, they themselves CONSTANTLY make truth claims! About everything! Yes, it is absurd.
If I were an artist or more technically savvy, I'd put together a meme. I envision Jesus seated, teaching Truth to a group. He proclaims, "What do you mean, is doctrine important? I'm TEACHING here!"
Let it sink in.
-David
Wednesday, November 27, 2013
Wednesday, October 30, 2013
Get Real: What Makes a "Real" Christian?
John 8:31 "If you dwell within the revelation I have brought, then you are actually my disciples."
This was one of Jesus' closing remarks after a long discussion, recorded by John, with a group of questioners, some believers, some not. What He meant is not in question. The idea "dwell within the revelation" is a Hebraism for "obey what I teach." I checked 40 or 50 other translations and paraphrases (even really poor ones like THE MESSAGE), and none have cared to lighten up what Jesus is saying here. All through these questions and answers, Jesus reinforces the idea that people are either lost or saved, believing or unbelieving, rebellious or obedient, headed to Heaven or Hell.
There is an old country song (was it Tim McGraw?) about the "words in red," a reference to the practice of some editions of the Bible to print Jesus' own words in red ink. There are several web sites up now, produced by people somewhere in the progressive church category of Christendom, in which writers like to call themselves "red letter Christians." Perusal of their content reveals that they choose the moniker because they claim to believe the words of Jesus to be true and authoritative, but question or dismiss much of the rest of Scripture.
The irony of their arguments struck me anew the other day as I was reading John. In fact the teachings of Jesus are altogether in line and consistent with those of Paul, James, Peter, Jude and the other New Testament writers. For example, many progressive Christians cannot stomach the idea that God is a just God who will judge all people one day, and consign to Hell all those who maintained rebellion against Him. But Jesus clearly and often taught about eternal punishment. In fact, He also repeatedly taught that many people who take for granted that they are His people in fact are not at all. I know full well that this idea is especially troublesome to American Southerners, who generally assume that all more or less respectable people are headed to The Good Place. But it just ain't so. Take Jesus' word for it. The flip side of Jesus' saying as quoted in the introduction above, is that those who do not submit to Jesus' teaching are actually NOT his disciples. So, to make another example, if Jesus taught that the rebellious will die in their sins, ending in eternal punishment, and a teacher among you maintains that Jesus is too nice for that, and will sooner or later save everyone, what are we left to believe about that teacher?
What I'm trying to say is "Wake Up and Smell The Coffee!" Get real. Grow up, think and deal with God for yourself. God calls on us to follow His light, while many Christian groups all around are slinking along in lockstep with American postmodern culture.
John 8:31 "If you dwell within the revelation I have brought, then you are actually my disciples."
Tuesday, October 15, 2013
God Is Not The Author Of Confusion
Not confused, are you?
I'm sure some of you are quite confused. We get reports via the grapevine. You know we are telling you the truth, but for your own reasons you "stay in line" and continue down the path of least resistance.
I Cor.14:33 God is not the author of confusion but of peace.
A local Christian false teacher recently responded to a request for clarification re: her beliefs on the subjects of universalism, the Lordship of Jesus, the authority of Scripture, etc. Her response was, "I'm resting my certainty on Christ crucified. That is as far as our conversation needs to go."
Guess why God revealed Himself and His ways to us in the Bible. So we could KNOW stuff! Of all the nasty lies promulgated by the "progressive church," one of the nastiest is the idea that we live in a postmodern, enlightened world, and cool, hip , educated people now understand that you cannot really know anything with certainty. We answer; no one knows the whole mind of God, but some things He has revealed quite clearly, so that we can know them. Vapid excuses for ignorance will not stand up at the judgment.
For the thinkers among you, Yes, there is a really schizo dilemma in our culture. While all the scientific world is based on knowing, and building on that knowledge, the postmodern philosophers and their duped minions are happy with the idea that you cannot really know anything. How often we have heard "I am not so arrogant as to claim that I know anything with certainty, so please stop trying to back me into a corner about what I believe." In the next breath they will claim "The Bible says. . ." And we ask "Why quote the Bible if you don't believe it contains any real, absolute Truth?" Even while asking, we know why they use the Bible. Because even as they deny the Bible's authority over them, when they pose as "Bible teachers" they effectively gain credibility with the immature and the untaught. So the Bible is referred to in order to support pet ideas. But not in good faith. Frankly, they use the Bible much as Satan did (Matt. 4).
No, God really is not the God of confusion. The way out of confusion is to sort out the truth. Establish what is true and real, and build on it. Remember Jesus' parable about the two builders (Matt. 7:24-27)? His challenge is to listen to His teaching and obey it. Even that simple instruction by our Lord requires that we distinguish His teaching from all the other voices out there.
The peace that God talks about does not come as result of just being agreeable and tolerant. It becomes possible only when we obey the Truth (Philippians 3), when our thinking lines up with God's thinking. Any other kind of peace is a shallow substitute.
Please listen. In this world created by God there are laws at work. There are natural, physical laws always operative, and there are spiritual laws, rooted in the character of God, always operative. We are fools if we think we can pick and choose which of these laws we will abide by; they are all operative regardless of our preferences. This just IS. We can observe it around us, and God has revealed this to us in His Word. So to use a line here or there in the Bible to support a pet idea, while ignoring the clear revelations of God that the Church has always called DOCTRINE (don't be intimidated by the word; it just means "teaching,") is foolish. That, in fact, is the hallmark of the false teacher.
So let me make a homegrown illustration. Long time ago we had a pet Black & Tan Coonhound pup. Jonah. A most beautiful animal: at the time of my story about twenty pounds of bones, loose skin, paws and ears. So I was working at the kitchen table with a block of styrofoam, a carving knife and a vacuum cleaner, trying to fashion a flotation device for a project. . . The pup was snoozing at my feet, and I was carving, carving: then vacuuming up all the little white beads that fell around me, when I noticed that some had fallen on the pup. So I impulsively swung the vacuum wand down toward him. Now I did not intend for this to happen, but when the tip neared his ear, it sucked it right up! He came off the floor with round eyes and all four limbs stretched out to the side. A few seconds of pandemonium. Now again, I did not intend this. God's physical laws were at work. Physical laws or spiritual laws: we submit to them or else.
Somewhere very early in His revelation God said "These are my ways; walk in them."
Monday, October 7, 2013
Don't Be Fooled
Our overarching theme is know God by knowing and submitting to His Word. DIUR.
We all have a few people around us we think we know pretty well. How about you? How did you get to the point where you think you know those people well? I think there are only two ways: paying attention to their communications to you, and observing their behaviors, historically and with you, over a long period of time. For example, I know my wife well, and I trust her implicitly, because over a period of almost forty years I have been given no reason whatsoever to mistrust her. I always think of her when I hear Neil Young sing the line "I never believed in much, but I believed in you." This is a fascinating subject to me, but I don't want to ramble on about knowing people.
How about knowing God? A more challenging subject, as first you must be alive to Him. According to the Bible, everyone who comes into relationship to God comes from a state of spiritual deadness into spiritual life. To say you know God, it must have happened that at some moment of time in your life, you were "born again" into the kingdom of God (John 3). Subsequently, coming to know God better is much like knowing any other person better. Communication and observation.
There is one God. Does everyone know Him? No. Will everyone ever know Him? No. Are some people who claim to know God fooling themselves? Yes. Are there Christian teachers, who claim to know God, but are deceived or deceivers? Yes. Ironically, one mark of a false teacher is that they often claim that God speaks to them a lot. Truth is, God can speak to anyone He wants, obviously, but in the ages-long history of salvation, direct revelation from God is rare and unusual. God's normal, every day method of revealing Himself is by illuminating our minds as we hear or read His Word. It should be obvious that if someone claims "God told me this," or 'God told me to do whatever," and that message is clearly contrary to what God is known to have revealed (the Bible), then that person is deceived or a deceiver.
So, how do we know God better?
(1) by observing His work in history (Paul wrote that such is one reason God has kept for us the history of His dealings with Israel; cf. I Cor. 10). This is concrete.
(2) By paying attention to His revelation to us in the Scriptures. Also concrete.
(3) By daily relationship to Him, which is real but subjective. I'd suggest these daily experiences must be weighed against means (1) and (2).
You regular readers are aware that we are distracted lately by the false teachings of the movement called "progressive Christianity." The movement is corrupted by a twisted concept of the love of God. Progressive adherents want to believe God is so overwhelmingly soft, soothing and fuzzy that there is no room in His character for holiness or wrath. I can imagine the scene long ago when a minion first suggested this ploy/false teaching to Satan. They may have held hands and danced in a circle, shouting "I love it! I love it! I love it!" Admittedly it is an effective and powerful lie and has fooled lots of people. But to you who have read the Bible at all, it must be recognized as damning and obviously false. Lets remember. When Moses had a glimpse of God, what was his experience (Ex. 33)? How about Isaiah, whose experience was only a vision (Is. 6)? The Jesus Culture band got it right in one of their recent releases, "One Word." Have you heard it? The word is HOLY.
Know God. Read His Word. He'll open up your heart and mind. He will reveal His love to you, but He is much, much, much more.
-David
Monday, September 23, 2013
For The Record
Forward, by Libby:
I know that it must seem like the attention we give this matter is excessive. And I understand how uncomfortable this is for some people, because it feels too personal. Because the person whose teaching we are examining and refuting is someone I know and used to count as a friend, it may seem to those looking on like a personal vendetta. It is not. Once and for all, we want to straighten that out.
There is nothing personal about this, and we here at DIUR have no grudge or vendetta against any one person. We only follow the Biblical mandate to test the spirits of church leaders, and if their teaching proves false, to face it head-on (see this previous post, and this one, for more on identifying and dealing with false teachers).
Believe me friends, there have been many times that I prayed this particular burden be taken from me; I have little joy in the doing of it. But I'm afraid that if we were to stop now, because the pressure to do so was so much, or because we were causing such discomfort or anxiety to people we care about, or because of the massive blow our reputations have taken because of it, we would be doing a grave disservice to the One who called us. We must see it through, and it is with a heart for obedience that we do so.
By David:
We feel it necessary, since we have heard stories around our community, and since Ms. White continues to spin this thing as a personal "tiff," to provide our local readers with an overview so you can judge for yourselves the accuracy of the stories you have read and heard.
I know that it must seem like the attention we give this matter is excessive. And I understand how uncomfortable this is for some people, because it feels too personal. Because the person whose teaching we are examining and refuting is someone I know and used to count as a friend, it may seem to those looking on like a personal vendetta. It is not. Once and for all, we want to straighten that out.
There is nothing personal about this, and we here at DIUR have no grudge or vendetta against any one person. We only follow the Biblical mandate to test the spirits of church leaders, and if their teaching proves false, to face it head-on (see this previous post, and this one, for more on identifying and dealing with false teachers).
Believe me friends, there have been many times that I prayed this particular burden be taken from me; I have little joy in the doing of it. But I'm afraid that if we were to stop now, because the pressure to do so was so much, or because we were causing such discomfort or anxiety to people we care about, or because of the massive blow our reputations have taken because of it, we would be doing a grave disservice to the One who called us. We must see it through, and it is with a heart for obedience that we do so.
By David:
We feel it necessary, since we have heard stories around our community, and since Ms. White continues to spin this thing as a personal "tiff," to provide our local readers with an overview so you can judge for yourselves the accuracy of the stories you have read and heard.
It has happened that, over the past six months or so, readers (including us) of the blog FEED YOUR STRENGTH have been challenging the teachings of the blogger, Debi White. Ms. White has never answered direct, pointed questions about her teaching, choosing instead to close her blog to comments. Forgive me this observation, but that move suggests she sees herself more as an oracle than a blogger, and above being questioned. While never responding to us, Debi did continue to make swipes at us in her blog, and continues to this day to frame the situation as a personal grudge or misunderstanding. That is simply not the case. We are trying to hold up Debi White's teaching to the light of the Scripture so that others can see it for what it is. That is it. We have never cast any aspersions on her character, lifestyle, history. . .not at all. In fact, I finally pointed out just this in an email I wrote her on August 24, to which, as usual, she did not respond. But we open that letter to you. We want you to understand and judge the situation for yourself.
Thanks again for reading. Our hope is that we can encourage you to commit yourself to knowing God and His ways better, particularly by reading and studying His Word, and letting His Spirit illuminate your mind. The text of my email to Debi follows.
8/24/2013
Debi:
I was struck a couple days ago with this realization. While Libby and I and others have challenged your teaching/writing pointedly over the past six months (you have been asked to clarify your belief about Jesus being the only Lord, about universalism, about whether one should admonish re: the flagrant sin of another professing believer), you have never deigned to respond directly or clearly at all. You have responded, however, in your way, by closing your blog to comments, and making, in writing, "back-handed" swipes at our motivations and character.
Do you see? While we are trying to "turn the light onto" your teaching, you seem to be, apparently, hoping the light will fade. . . then making swipes at our character and motivation.
You have written that we have "mistreated you," that we have "talked negatively about you to others," that we "have callous hearts," that we have a "haughtily perceived superiority," that we "are unwilling to let God work," that we "lie."
For the record, we purposed at the outset to make the challenges to your teaching nonpersonal. Speaking for myself (David), I know precious little about your lifestyle or history. But regarding my lifestyle and history: in my memory, no one has ever made the kind of accusations against me you have. And I can say with certainty that I have never had a conversation about you outside my nuclear family. But I'm not really troubled by your slander. It goes with the territory.
So, a heads-up. We are not acting whimsically. Not reactionary. just doing what our Lord has called on us to do. On to the next step.
David Nitz
Thursday, September 5, 2013
No Offense, Ms. Witherspoon
by David
I'm astounded sometimes at the foolishness of people who write for the "progressive church" audience. (I'm purposely using the term "foolish" in the Biblical sense of choosing contrary to God's ways. Cf. the Proverbs.)
There is concerted writing and teaching toward the conclusion that God doesn't really mind if we live immorally. This bs teaching is done with full knowledge that the Bible, from Genesis to the Revelation, constantly calls God's people to be holy. I don't think I need to multiply Bible references here; if you belong to God, He has already taught you this; you know this to be true.
Believer, when God called you to follow Him, he "called you with a holy calling" and began to change your heart (mind, emotions and will). If, beforehand, you were into pornography and sexual immorality, God called you to follow His ways, stay within His boundaries, view other men and women as brothers and sisters (not as meat, or a possible sexual conquest). We live in a thoroughly debauched culture, in which people are shocked at nothing. Nevertheless, here and now, Jesus call us to cleanness. Light in darkness. Sadly, I must report to you (in the event no one ever told you) that many groups of people in America who meet together on Sundays and call themselves Christ-followers (or whatever is the fad this year) live lifestyles not substantially, morally-speaking, different from the lifestyles common to the lost world around them. The Apostle Paul wrote that these days would come, so we shouldn't be surprised. But he also challenges us to be alert, aware and to hold true in these last days.
But back to my original theme, let me share the ideas of a couple blogs I've read lately to illustrate my point. A couple months ago a local pastor was commending and forwarding a blog written by another "progressive" pastor titled something like "In Celebration of Yoga Pants." In his blog this oh-so-cool dude wrote that one of his favorite pasttimes is hanging out in his local Starbucks to ogle the women customers in yoga pants. Wink wink, smirk smirk. In another blog recently, the writer (who identifies herself as a 60ish woman), relates with approval the following story about her inlaws. A supposedly happily-married woman gives her husband permission to have a fantasy girlfriend, one at a time. The blogger writes "Men are apparently wired to notice women, cute celebrity women at that, so why not join the game, give it a for-fun voice and create one less avenue for tension?" I feel that no one among God's people should even take the question seriously, much less feel it needs to be answered; but there the question stands in all its foolishness. Firstly, fellow-blogger, I should not be the one to tell you this. Your mother should have taught you that men do not view attractive women as "cute." In the real world of men, kittens are cute. A bad joke may be sarcastically cute. Men do not watch a shapely derriere in yoga pants because it is cute. Men do not pay special attention to a particular actress or to their hot next-door neighbor because she is cute. It is lust. To label it otherwise is demonic. God says so.
One of the greatest challenges facing Christian men is to keep a clear conscience. To this end, historically, serious followers of Jesus have even quit their homelands to escape a morally corrupt culture. Hoping that their children would fare better in an environment less hostile to their faith and calling.Let's just call sin sin. Don't make light of it. Don't minimize it. Jesus died so that we can be free from the bondage of sin. I heard a story about a young, graduating student who was being questioned about his beliefs and convictions who was asked "What do you think about sin?" He answered "I'm against it." Me, too.
I'm astounded sometimes at the foolishness of people who write for the "progressive church" audience. (I'm purposely using the term "foolish" in the Biblical sense of choosing contrary to God's ways. Cf. the Proverbs.)
There is concerted writing and teaching toward the conclusion that God doesn't really mind if we live immorally. This bs teaching is done with full knowledge that the Bible, from Genesis to the Revelation, constantly calls God's people to be holy. I don't think I need to multiply Bible references here; if you belong to God, He has already taught you this; you know this to be true.
Believer, when God called you to follow Him, he "called you with a holy calling" and began to change your heart (mind, emotions and will). If, beforehand, you were into pornography and sexual immorality, God called you to follow His ways, stay within His boundaries, view other men and women as brothers and sisters (not as meat, or a possible sexual conquest). We live in a thoroughly debauched culture, in which people are shocked at nothing. Nevertheless, here and now, Jesus call us to cleanness. Light in darkness. Sadly, I must report to you (in the event no one ever told you) that many groups of people in America who meet together on Sundays and call themselves Christ-followers (or whatever is the fad this year) live lifestyles not substantially, morally-speaking, different from the lifestyles common to the lost world around them. The Apostle Paul wrote that these days would come, so we shouldn't be surprised. But he also challenges us to be alert, aware and to hold true in these last days.
But back to my original theme, let me share the ideas of a couple blogs I've read lately to illustrate my point. A couple months ago a local pastor was commending and forwarding a blog written by another "progressive" pastor titled something like "In Celebration of Yoga Pants." In his blog this oh-so-cool dude wrote that one of his favorite pasttimes is hanging out in his local Starbucks to ogle the women customers in yoga pants. Wink wink, smirk smirk. In another blog recently, the writer (who identifies herself as a 60ish woman), relates with approval the following story about her inlaws. A supposedly happily-married woman gives her husband permission to have a fantasy girlfriend, one at a time. The blogger writes "Men are apparently wired to notice women, cute celebrity women at that, so why not join the game, give it a for-fun voice and create one less avenue for tension?" I feel that no one among God's people should even take the question seriously, much less feel it needs to be answered; but there the question stands in all its foolishness. Firstly, fellow-blogger, I should not be the one to tell you this. Your mother should have taught you that men do not view attractive women as "cute." In the real world of men, kittens are cute. A bad joke may be sarcastically cute. Men do not watch a shapely derriere in yoga pants because it is cute. Men do not pay special attention to a particular actress or to their hot next-door neighbor because she is cute. It is lust. To label it otherwise is demonic. God says so.
One of the greatest challenges facing Christian men is to keep a clear conscience. To this end, historically, serious followers of Jesus have even quit their homelands to escape a morally corrupt culture. Hoping that their children would fare better in an environment less hostile to their faith and calling.Let's just call sin sin. Don't make light of it. Don't minimize it. Jesus died so that we can be free from the bondage of sin. I heard a story about a young, graduating student who was being questioned about his beliefs and convictions who was asked "What do you think about sin?" He answered "I'm against it." Me, too.
An aferthought
by Libby
When my dad sent me this post to review and add my afterthought, at first, I didn't feel that I had anything to say; he pretty much covered it, as far as I could tell. But as I reread it today in preparation to post it, I can't help but feel so discouraged. Anyone that knows me knows that I spend a lot lot of time on the offensive: I fight for the Gospel of Christ, I fight for His bride, I fight against this treacherous progressive rubbish that is swallowing my brothers and sisters whole. I put on the full armor of God and I charge into battle. It's what I do. But friends, I still have my days. I still have my days where I'd just like to shrug off His armor, sink to the ground, hang my head, and allow the discouragement to wash over me. And this particular post ..that it's even necessary ..has me feeling like this.
I think there are a few reasons why this topic has me so disheartened. It's all just so worldly, and people don't see it. That emotional infidelity could in any way be construed by any right-headed Christian as a wise way for couples to avoid tension is just so mind-blowingly worldly. I'm literally ...I think the word to describe me is "aghast," that an older Christian woman, whom the Bible tells us we young women are to turn to for counsel, would try to tell us that it's no big deal for our husbands to be emotionally unfaithful to us. My heart just sinks. Who can we as young women turn to when this insidious trash is what the elder women in our church spew at us?
As a woman of faith, who does her best to model herself after the Proverbs 31 woman, to be a constant helpmeet, a trusted friend and lover, I absolutely deserve my husband's fidelity, both emotional and physical. Because do you know what your husband is saying to you when he says that he would like to pretend that Reese Witherspoon is his girlfriend? He's saying that you are not enough. He's saying that God's design for two people whom He has joined together in marriage (a relationship that He specifically designed to reflect that of His Son with His Church-bride) is not enough. And that's not okay.
Because the fact of the matter is folks, we are ALL wired to live contrary to God's will. All of us. Does that mean we just give up? Give in to our sinful natures in order to "create less avenues for tension"?? Gees, of course not! Being a follower of Christ is hard work! It's a daily struggle that only His grace gets us through, but like anything else, the more we practice, the easier it gets. The more a man submits his natural lustful desires to Christ, the more he practices keeping a clean heart and being grateful to and for the wife God has given him, the easier it will be for him to turn his eyes and his heart away from any woman, real or imaginary, who might tempt him. And sisters? You are doing him no favors by sheepishly giving him permission to gallivant through a fantasy world with a supermodel on each arm. Because you are in fact giving him permission to sin against you and against his Creator. There are powerful words in the Scripture about lust, the sanctity of marriage, and how your husband is to treat you, and laying in bed next to you at night and fantasizing about "dating" celebrities is not part of His plan .
Brothers and sisters, the marriage union is perhaps the most beautiful earthly thing God has designed for us, and it takes two avid partners, ardently throwing their whole selves into it, for it to weather the storms of this broken world and blossom into the personally fulfilling and God-honoring institution it is designed to be. It must be purposefully, jealously, fiercely guarded. Do NOT let the Enemy in, whether he be in the form of a hot neighbor, an ex-girlfriend, general discontent, or an imaginary Reese Witherspoon. Don't rob yourselves of God's perfect design for your marriage by playing worldly games, because a happy, healthy, God-centered marriage is more absolutely beautiful and fulfilling than any imaginary tryst could ever be.
Friday, August 16, 2013
Because It Needs To Be Said: A Pointed Response to Feed Your Strength
Because It Needs To Be Said, pt. 1
by David
We follow a number of blogs. We read most just because it is interesting to see what people are thinking, (no matter how goofy or outrageous) and go on to the next, based on the Great Apostle's pattern and instruction ( ICorinthians 5:12) of leaving all those outside the professing Church to God to judge. But those who profess Christianity we are responsible to deal with. For example, I read a blog by a guy who is a very thoughtful hedonist. He thinks the highest good for people is to experience pleasure. The thinking of most Americans is thoroughly hedonistic, of course, but they don't know it. This man, however, understands precisely what he believes, and he makes a good argument for the continued development of opioid psychotropic drugs, so people could just feel good all the time, without all the unpleasant side effects of the drugs now available. I disagree, but he's not my problem.
I'm saying the Church is commanded to discipline itself. This idea is obvious and inarguable throughout the New Testament Scriptures. So if people (particularly teachers) who call themselves Christians live a lifestyle which the Bible says is completely unacceptable in the Church, or if they teach ideas obviously and dangerously wrong, that is my problem. Yours, too, Brothers and Sisters, whether or not you have the courage to accept the responsibility.
One of the blogs we follow, mainly because the blogger is known to us, so it is of particular interest, is FEED YOUR STRENGTH. I would point your attention to the August 10 edition. Usually the subject of the blog is self-help or love yourself, and such. But the blogger, while identifying herself as an Evangelical Christian (at another time a "recovering Evangelical") is enthralled with the teachings of progressive, postmodern, heretical Christian teachers, notably Richard Rohr and Rob Bell, and regularly passes along their thinking for her readers.
A favorite theme in FEED YOUR STRENGTH is that it is wrong for any of us as God's people to disapprove or make a judgment regarding the beliefs or behaviors of another person. This position is wrong-headed and not Biblical on its face (please review our earlier writing on this subject), and now FEED YOUR STRENGTH is helping us make our point by carrying the argument to ridiculous extremes. Out of the Biblical record of David and Bathsheba and subsequent events she draws the conclusion that since God can make beauty from ashes (Isaiah 61:3), one must never disapprove of another's behavior. Let's think about that. . . and make some current comparisons.
Firstly, a personal story comes to mind which is not so current. I was once called to a pastoral position in a church which had been devastated by the behavior of the former pastor. The man had used his position of influence over the church families to find victims for his pedophilia. In fact, the remaining group was so traumatized they swore to one another to keep it all a secret, and I didn't even know what I was getting into. Now, when the story did come to light, what should my counsel have been to those families of young, injured boys? Now, now, we musn't disapprove?
Today, on a larger scale, human trafficking for the sex trades is a business estimated at 9.5 billion dollars in the USA alone, victimizing an estimated 300,000 children. Many professing Christians are involved in this tragedy. Should we disapprove, approve or stand aloof?
Otherwise. During 2010, about 1.6 million children ages 0 to 11 and 1.2 million children ages 12 to 17 lived in a household in which at least one member age 12 or older was the victim of violent crime during the year. Approve, disapprove or stand aloof?
I'm sitting a the keyboard this morning shaking my head at the absurdity of the position I'm arguing against. At the evil of it. Also a little in awe at how brilliantly insidious the Enemy is.
Let me draw your attention all the way back to David and Bathsheba. Let's pick up the story in 2 Samuel 12. In response to David's sinful behavior, did God approve, disapprove or stand aloof? In fact He sent His prophet Nathan to deliver one of the most intense judgments in recorded history. Recorded for US.We are asked in FEED YOUR STRENGTH to buy the twisted logic that since God does indeed bring beauty out of ashes for his people, therefore we should not disapprove of evil. I disagree with that teaching, and in doing so I stand firmly in the spirit of the Word of God, and with the clear revelation everywhere in the Book.
Since most of you reading these words have grown up in the American postmodern, postChristian culture, where nothing is considered absolutely wrong or absolutely right, where the idea that we must never judge the morality of anything sounds okay, I feel I must labor to simplify and clarify what I am trying to tell you. Let's try some questions.
In your group which calls itself Christian, which of the following is disapproved? abortion? casual sex? robbing the minimart? beating up gays? sleeping with your neighbor's wife? abandoning your family for another, more desirable mate? It would seem that, according to the logic espoused by FEED YOUR STRENGTH, none of these practices should be disapproved.
According to God and His Revelation (the Bible), all these practices, common and considered cool in American pop culture, ARE disapproved and condemned. When a Christian sister or brother blunders into one of these practices, it is our responsibility to pull him out.
Because It Needs To Be Said, pt. 2
by Libby
My life is very full; i have a two-month old and an almost-3-year-old, both rather high maintenance, and I really have time for little else. Even now the little one clings to my chest like a spider monkey while i try to type around him on a tiny laptop balanced on a Boppi, and I can smell that the the big one needs a diaper change, and all the diapers are still in the washing machine. But I feel strongly that yesterday's FEED YOUR STRENGTH needs to be answered, as it is running in the same vein as her August 10th post, and is dangerously misleading.
Let's start with a little background. When Paul sat down to pen the letters that are included in the Bible today, he wasn't sitting down with the intent to "write the Bible." He was writing to people in local churches, during a certain time and who were dealing with certain issues. He was writing to exhort and encourage individuals and church bodies that needed specific exhortation and encouragement. Thus, it is important to take into account the historical context of each letter and consider to whom Paul was writing and what issues they may have been struggling with at the time.
And here's another thing: when someone uses a few verses from a chapter to try to make a point, it is our responsibility to crack open the Bible and read the verses preceding and succeeding, probably just read the whole chapter, and ideally read the whole book. Because there are plenty of verses that, when taken out of context, can be used to say pretty much anything one might want them to say.
So let's briefly examine Romans 14, and see if we can't suss out where Paul was coming from and what he meant when he exhorted the Romans not to judge each other.
Since its inception, the Mosaic Law was the Jewish people's only connection to God. They had to follow rules upon rules in order to have any hope of salvation, they studied and memorized and rigidly lived by the Torah, and disobedience was unthinkable. Jesus' life, death, and resurrection changed everything. Everything. And this was extremely difficult for your average Jew to accept. We're talking about trying to cast aside thousands of years of indoctrination, and their entire way of life. And as time passed, some believers were able to throw off the old law and live easily in the new freedom that Christ's blood afforded them, and others not so much. Some really struggled with things like working on the Sabbath or eating meat that, under the old law, would be considered unclean. Understandable, I'd say.
So in Roman church at this time, this was causing some strife. Christians were being uppity and judgmental with each other about these things; and the truth of it is, these things were pretty much inconsequential. The Roman Christians were hurting each other and causing divisions over things that didn't matter anymore. Here Paul tells them (and us) that their hearts' intent and their desire to honor and glorify God are what really matter, and that they shouldn't be hateful and judgmental about things that hold no import in the Kingdom of God.
So to put this idea into a more current context, consider this: any number of Believers come out of a tradition that tells them that worship is best achieved through singing hymns, and contemporary worship music is lacivious and unholy. And on the other side are the Believers who say that hymns are archaic and boring, and contemporary worship music is more relevant and therefore more conducive for effective worship for Christians of today. And both sides feel very strongly about this, going so far as to condemn fellow Believers that don't see things they way that they do. But what Paul is basically saying here is, "It's all good, don't let this kind of thing tear you guys apart." And he's also saying that if contemporary music makes you feel lacivious and unholy, by all means don't listen to it! But don't condemn those who worship best when they can jump and dance and wave their hands in the air. Because it's all good if your heart is clean and God is glorified.
In verse 14, Paul says. "Whoever regards one day as special does so to the Lord. Whoever eats meat does so to the Lord, for they give thanks to God; and whoever abstains does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God." He is referrring to the inconsequential issues. But do you hear what he is NOT saying? He is NOT saying, "Whoever gets drunk at the bar every weekend does so for the Lord." He is NOT saying, "Whoever has sex with someone he or she is not married to does so to the Lord." He is not saying that each Believer has carte blanche and we are never ever to speak into their lives. In fact there are numerous places in his writings where he says the exact opposite!
Friends, this post-modern thinking, this subversive idea that, as Believers, we can't really know the truth, and make any deiscernments based on that truth, is the most dangerous thing facing the Church today. It is the crafty and evil work of the enemy, convincing an entire generation of Christians that we can't really know the truth, that right and wrong are subjective, and it's never our place to exhort or admonish other Believers. Because what it has created is an entire generation of Christians who Believe that pretty how much however they are living is okay because they are on their own journey and travelling at their own pace and God is totally chill with that. And if you don't know what the dangerous problem with this thinking is, we here at Dwell In Us Richly have been blogging on it for months. Because it's insidious and terrifying, and it's tearing down Christ's precious Bride from the inside out.
Friends, the only remedy for the spiritual sickness that has beset the Church is getting into the Bible and studying God's revealed words for ourselves. Because it's easy for someone with an agenda to cherry-pick a verse or passage and twist it to mean what they want. And it's easy for us to read or listen to what they're preaching and say, "Hm. I guess that sounds true enough,' and walk away thinking we know what's up.I often have people tell me, "Christianity is not all about the Bible, it's all about relationship with God." And this is true to a point, but think of it this way. Your relationship with God is like a big mansion full of rooms and cabinets and drawers, but most of them are locked. The Bible is the master key to open them. Now, if you want to, you can sort of guess or ponder or wait for a revelation to tell you what's in all these rooms and cabinets and drawers, or you could listen to other people tell you what they think is in them. Or you could just stick that key in all those locks and discover and study and marvel at what's inside for yourself. And until you do, you're just fooling yourself, robbing yourself of the fullness and richness that's waiting for you, and possibly leading others astray in your wake.
God revealed His Word to us for a reason. It is not just a book or a tool, it's an essential part of our faith.
And like always, I invite conversation. I know for some of you this is quite personal, but the truth must be sought. It must be defended. It must.
by David
We follow a number of blogs. We read most just because it is interesting to see what people are thinking, (no matter how goofy or outrageous) and go on to the next, based on the Great Apostle's pattern and instruction ( ICorinthians 5:12) of leaving all those outside the professing Church to God to judge. But those who profess Christianity we are responsible to deal with. For example, I read a blog by a guy who is a very thoughtful hedonist. He thinks the highest good for people is to experience pleasure. The thinking of most Americans is thoroughly hedonistic, of course, but they don't know it. This man, however, understands precisely what he believes, and he makes a good argument for the continued development of opioid psychotropic drugs, so people could just feel good all the time, without all the unpleasant side effects of the drugs now available. I disagree, but he's not my problem.
I'm saying the Church is commanded to discipline itself. This idea is obvious and inarguable throughout the New Testament Scriptures. So if people (particularly teachers) who call themselves Christians live a lifestyle which the Bible says is completely unacceptable in the Church, or if they teach ideas obviously and dangerously wrong, that is my problem. Yours, too, Brothers and Sisters, whether or not you have the courage to accept the responsibility.
One of the blogs we follow, mainly because the blogger is known to us, so it is of particular interest, is FEED YOUR STRENGTH. I would point your attention to the August 10 edition. Usually the subject of the blog is self-help or love yourself, and such. But the blogger, while identifying herself as an Evangelical Christian (at another time a "recovering Evangelical") is enthralled with the teachings of progressive, postmodern, heretical Christian teachers, notably Richard Rohr and Rob Bell, and regularly passes along their thinking for her readers.
A favorite theme in FEED YOUR STRENGTH is that it is wrong for any of us as God's people to disapprove or make a judgment regarding the beliefs or behaviors of another person. This position is wrong-headed and not Biblical on its face (please review our earlier writing on this subject), and now FEED YOUR STRENGTH is helping us make our point by carrying the argument to ridiculous extremes. Out of the Biblical record of David and Bathsheba and subsequent events she draws the conclusion that since God can make beauty from ashes (Isaiah 61:3), one must never disapprove of another's behavior. Let's think about that. . . and make some current comparisons.
Firstly, a personal story comes to mind which is not so current. I was once called to a pastoral position in a church which had been devastated by the behavior of the former pastor. The man had used his position of influence over the church families to find victims for his pedophilia. In fact, the remaining group was so traumatized they swore to one another to keep it all a secret, and I didn't even know what I was getting into. Now, when the story did come to light, what should my counsel have been to those families of young, injured boys? Now, now, we musn't disapprove?
Today, on a larger scale, human trafficking for the sex trades is a business estimated at 9.5 billion dollars in the USA alone, victimizing an estimated 300,000 children. Many professing Christians are involved in this tragedy. Should we disapprove, approve or stand aloof?
Otherwise. During 2010, about 1.6 million children ages 0 to 11 and 1.2 million children ages 12 to 17 lived in a household in which at least one member age 12 or older was the victim of violent crime during the year. Approve, disapprove or stand aloof?
I'm sitting a the keyboard this morning shaking my head at the absurdity of the position I'm arguing against. At the evil of it. Also a little in awe at how brilliantly insidious the Enemy is.
Let me draw your attention all the way back to David and Bathsheba. Let's pick up the story in 2 Samuel 12. In response to David's sinful behavior, did God approve, disapprove or stand aloof? In fact He sent His prophet Nathan to deliver one of the most intense judgments in recorded history. Recorded for US.We are asked in FEED YOUR STRENGTH to buy the twisted logic that since God does indeed bring beauty out of ashes for his people, therefore we should not disapprove of evil. I disagree with that teaching, and in doing so I stand firmly in the spirit of the Word of God, and with the clear revelation everywhere in the Book.
Since most of you reading these words have grown up in the American postmodern, postChristian culture, where nothing is considered absolutely wrong or absolutely right, where the idea that we must never judge the morality of anything sounds okay, I feel I must labor to simplify and clarify what I am trying to tell you. Let's try some questions.
In your group which calls itself Christian, which of the following is disapproved? abortion? casual sex? robbing the minimart? beating up gays? sleeping with your neighbor's wife? abandoning your family for another, more desirable mate? It would seem that, according to the logic espoused by FEED YOUR STRENGTH, none of these practices should be disapproved.
According to God and His Revelation (the Bible), all these practices, common and considered cool in American pop culture, ARE disapproved and condemned. When a Christian sister or brother blunders into one of these practices, it is our responsibility to pull him out.
Because It Needs To Be Said, pt. 2
by Libby
My life is very full; i have a two-month old and an almost-3-year-old, both rather high maintenance, and I really have time for little else. Even now the little one clings to my chest like a spider monkey while i try to type around him on a tiny laptop balanced on a Boppi, and I can smell that the the big one needs a diaper change, and all the diapers are still in the washing machine. But I feel strongly that yesterday's FEED YOUR STRENGTH needs to be answered, as it is running in the same vein as her August 10th post, and is dangerously misleading.
Let's start with a little background. When Paul sat down to pen the letters that are included in the Bible today, he wasn't sitting down with the intent to "write the Bible." He was writing to people in local churches, during a certain time and who were dealing with certain issues. He was writing to exhort and encourage individuals and church bodies that needed specific exhortation and encouragement. Thus, it is important to take into account the historical context of each letter and consider to whom Paul was writing and what issues they may have been struggling with at the time.
And here's another thing: when someone uses a few verses from a chapter to try to make a point, it is our responsibility to crack open the Bible and read the verses preceding and succeeding, probably just read the whole chapter, and ideally read the whole book. Because there are plenty of verses that, when taken out of context, can be used to say pretty much anything one might want them to say.
So let's briefly examine Romans 14, and see if we can't suss out where Paul was coming from and what he meant when he exhorted the Romans not to judge each other.
Since its inception, the Mosaic Law was the Jewish people's only connection to God. They had to follow rules upon rules in order to have any hope of salvation, they studied and memorized and rigidly lived by the Torah, and disobedience was unthinkable. Jesus' life, death, and resurrection changed everything. Everything. And this was extremely difficult for your average Jew to accept. We're talking about trying to cast aside thousands of years of indoctrination, and their entire way of life. And as time passed, some believers were able to throw off the old law and live easily in the new freedom that Christ's blood afforded them, and others not so much. Some really struggled with things like working on the Sabbath or eating meat that, under the old law, would be considered unclean. Understandable, I'd say.
So in Roman church at this time, this was causing some strife. Christians were being uppity and judgmental with each other about these things; and the truth of it is, these things were pretty much inconsequential. The Roman Christians were hurting each other and causing divisions over things that didn't matter anymore. Here Paul tells them (and us) that their hearts' intent and their desire to honor and glorify God are what really matter, and that they shouldn't be hateful and judgmental about things that hold no import in the Kingdom of God.
So to put this idea into a more current context, consider this: any number of Believers come out of a tradition that tells them that worship is best achieved through singing hymns, and contemporary worship music is lacivious and unholy. And on the other side are the Believers who say that hymns are archaic and boring, and contemporary worship music is more relevant and therefore more conducive for effective worship for Christians of today. And both sides feel very strongly about this, going so far as to condemn fellow Believers that don't see things they way that they do. But what Paul is basically saying here is, "It's all good, don't let this kind of thing tear you guys apart." And he's also saying that if contemporary music makes you feel lacivious and unholy, by all means don't listen to it! But don't condemn those who worship best when they can jump and dance and wave their hands in the air. Because it's all good if your heart is clean and God is glorified.
In verse 14, Paul says. "Whoever regards one day as special does so to the Lord. Whoever eats meat does so to the Lord, for they give thanks to God; and whoever abstains does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God." He is referrring to the inconsequential issues. But do you hear what he is NOT saying? He is NOT saying, "Whoever gets drunk at the bar every weekend does so for the Lord." He is NOT saying, "Whoever has sex with someone he or she is not married to does so to the Lord." He is not saying that each Believer has carte blanche and we are never ever to speak into their lives. In fact there are numerous places in his writings where he says the exact opposite!
Friends, this post-modern thinking, this subversive idea that, as Believers, we can't really know the truth, and make any deiscernments based on that truth, is the most dangerous thing facing the Church today. It is the crafty and evil work of the enemy, convincing an entire generation of Christians that we can't really know the truth, that right and wrong are subjective, and it's never our place to exhort or admonish other Believers. Because what it has created is an entire generation of Christians who Believe that pretty how much however they are living is okay because they are on their own journey and travelling at their own pace and God is totally chill with that. And if you don't know what the dangerous problem with this thinking is, we here at Dwell In Us Richly have been blogging on it for months. Because it's insidious and terrifying, and it's tearing down Christ's precious Bride from the inside out.
Friends, the only remedy for the spiritual sickness that has beset the Church is getting into the Bible and studying God's revealed words for ourselves. Because it's easy for someone with an agenda to cherry-pick a verse or passage and twist it to mean what they want. And it's easy for us to read or listen to what they're preaching and say, "Hm. I guess that sounds true enough,' and walk away thinking we know what's up.I often have people tell me, "Christianity is not all about the Bible, it's all about relationship with God." And this is true to a point, but think of it this way. Your relationship with God is like a big mansion full of rooms and cabinets and drawers, but most of them are locked. The Bible is the master key to open them. Now, if you want to, you can sort of guess or ponder or wait for a revelation to tell you what's in all these rooms and cabinets and drawers, or you could listen to other people tell you what they think is in them. Or you could just stick that key in all those locks and discover and study and marvel at what's inside for yourself. And until you do, you're just fooling yourself, robbing yourself of the fullness and richness that's waiting for you, and possibly leading others astray in your wake.
God revealed His Word to us for a reason. It is not just a book or a tool, it's an essential part of our faith.
And like always, I invite conversation. I know for some of you this is quite personal, but the truth must be sought. It must be defended. It must.
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