And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD." Joshua 24:15


Thursday, June 30, 2011

The Doctrine of the Biggest Mouth

Often the doctrine that wins the day has nothing to do with the truth, instead it has to do with the person in the room who has the biggest mouth.

The guy with the most imposing demeanor, the guy that gets the support of those around him. The truth means nothing to him, only his beliefs, because as we all know he is always right. Mr. Big Mouth and his friends already know everything and they are here to teach others, not to learn.

They may pretend to learn but you can watch them squirm when a question is brought up that they cannot answer, or a question that undermines their beliefs. They begin looking for a way out, a way to continue with their beliefs unchanged. Most of the time they will not even lend an ear to the truth because that would require them to humble themselves and admit they are wrong.

What is the truth? If you were talking to someone about math and the problem of 2+2=4 came up. You would understand that as the truth. The truth we see in math is true regardless of what anyone believes about it. We look at this example and due to the fact that it is simple math we might believe the truth is easy to prove.

However, suppose Mr. Big Mouth stepped up and said that 2+2=5 would that make him correct? Would that damage the truth at all? Suppose Mr. Big Mouth told you this and all of his friends rallied around him and said he was right and you were wrong. Would that damage the truth at all? Would you begin to question yourself about whether or not 2+2 really did equal 4?

However, what if the formula A= π*r2 was brought up and you were asked to determine whether it was true or not. It wouldn't be quite as easy would it? You might actually have to do a little studying to decide whether or not it was true in the first place.

Now, once you determined it was in fact true how would you present it to others that had not studied it for themselves? How would you present it to Mr. Big Mouth, while he laughed at you and called you names? I suppose the unfortunate reality is that you can't. He either accepts it or he doesn't, you have to let him go his own route.

Does that cause damage to the truth? No. He is wrong not the truth. He can lift up his big mouth in protest, and he can convince everyone in the room that the mathematician is wrong. He can make fun of him and do whatever he wants to but it will not change the truth of the formula.

Now to a mathematician the more complex formula A= π*r2 is just as true as 2+2=4 because he understands the deeper truth. For instance, just by showing the formula to a mathematician he would instantly tell you it was true. It is the true formula for calculating the area of a circle.

The same applies to religious truth. The Truth does exist and you either have it or you don't and regardless of what you choose it does not damage the Truth in any way. If by chance someone has a better understanding than you do because they study more that doesn't mean you can negate the Truth simply because you don't understand it.

At each point of growth we truly must humble ourselves in deference to the Truth. We cannot diminish it by convincing everyone that our particular belief is correct or that somehow we all have our own beliefs and no one belief is any better than another's.

Now this begs the question, how do we know when we don't know something? This may sound like a riddle but consider it for a second. You see, Mr. Big Mouth truly believes he is right, sure there is some pride mixed in with it but the point is he doesn't see it as pride he sees it as a righteous defense of the truth.

Since we see Mr. Big Mouth caught in this web and blinded to his faults we should also look at our own faults to see that we too are not following a similar path.

A good sign that you are walking in the truth is that your doctrine will line up with the Bible. If you are ever challenged by someone quoting the scripture it would make good sense to study that point until you ensure that what you believe truly does line up with ALL of the scriptures, not just your favorite ones.

If you find that what you believe doesn't line up with the Bible then you must change what you believe. You must line your beliefs up with the Bible and that means walking a road of oft times being wrong and having to repent. If most of your time is spent repenting and humbling yourself to the scriptures then that too is a good sign.

We cannot simply follow the guy with the biggest mouth and feel secure in the Truth. We must continually study to show ourselves approved and be ready to answer any that inquire to the hope that is within us.

Proverbs 1:7 says "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction."

The Truth truly doesn't have a lot of tolerance for big mouths.

Monday, June 13, 2011

The Milk

For years I believed that all people had to do to be saved was to come to the altar, with a contrite spirit, accept Christ into their heart by believing that He died for their sins and then confess the event with their mouth.

On the surface I still believe this is true because on one level this is what the Bible tells us. However, what if you thought you were coming to Christ but actually it really wasn't Christ, what if you had a counterfeit christ, an antichrist.

Let's look at an earthly example. Suppose you loved a certain rock star. Suppose you bought all his albums and spoke his name to all your friends and family. Suppose you memorized all his songs and watched all his concerts and TV interviews. You loved everything he did and you lifted up his name at every chance. Then one day you decided you loved him so much that you wanted to meet him. So, you go to his house and suddenly realize that even though you have all this knowledge about him, HE DOESN'T KNOW YOU AT ALL.

Suddenly it becomes clear, you are not a disciple you are a stalker.

In this example we can see that no matter how much you know about him and try to follow him and talk about him and love him, if you don't really know Him then it is all for nothing.

Now, we know Jesus is God and not a rock star, so we understand that He is able to look into our hearts and know that we are doing these things, unlike our rock star example. Yet, in the Bible we see this very thing happens to many, many people.

We are told in Matthew 7:23 "
And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity." So how is it possible that even though He knows our heart could we still not be known by Him?

What we see here firstly is that it IS possible to end up in the same context as we saw in the "rock star" example, in spite of the fact that He is God and can look into our hearts. He will still tell the very people that actually do many things in His name to depart from him. How do we end up in this condition?

After all, we called His name "Jesus" when we went to the altar, we believed as well as we could at the time and we talked about him or confessed Him with our mouths. Perhaps we called His name with our lips but our actual hearts are far from him. Could this be true?

We see this is true and we understand that there are pretenders among us. These are the people who don't really put much thought into what they are doing for Christ. They don't study and they are caught up in worldly cares. They will put on a dress or a nice suit on Sunday and go to "Church" and act religious but the rest of the week you can not tell any difference between them and a regular sinner. They spend much more time following NASCAR than they do Christ.

Oh, they bow their heads when the preacher calls for prayer, they recite the national anthem, they love Mom and apple pie. They enjoy good country music that sings about Jesus (every now and again). They love having prayer before a NASCAR race but they love "gentlemen, start your engines" much more. (Do they even still say that nowadays?)

So lets be honest, more than likely YOU are in this group. In truth, you really don't care about the gospel. You're probably not rude about it but you're simply much more interested in the cares of this world than in seeking the Truth. This is no mystery. It is clear to anyone that you don't love Christ as much as you love football or NASCAR or whatever it is you spend your time doing instead of studying Christ. So when you hear the words, "I never knew you", don't be surprised.

This type person is easy to see through so we can move on for those that actually seek the Truth on a deeper level. Those of you that truly care, not superficially.

Knowing that Christ can see our hearts and assuming that we are not simple pretenders how is it that we could miss? We miss by never understanding WHO we are in Christ. To seek Christ is to seek the Truth. When the Truth visits you and you reject the Truth you are actually rejecting Jesus in favor of some other Jesus that you have built up in your mind.

The Jesus you have constructed doesn't exist except in your mind. To seek Jesus, is to be ready at all times to respond to any truth He sends your way and reject none of it.

The gospel is simple but it is straight and narrow and we must conform to His ways. We can expect to find that after we come to Christ we will realize very quickly that whatever it is we thought we knew is almost certain to be found wrong. You will be humbled and the more you study, the more humbled you will become.

You will pick up your cross and follow him. Along the way, your friends and family will not accept you. They will call you crazy and get mad as you draw closer to Christ and farther away from the world, and them.

At some point you will begin to understand the milk. While milk is what "baby" Christians start out with, you cannot even drink the milk until you are born. You do realize that you have to actually be born before you can eat?

So, the acceptance of Christ WILL get you to Heaven IF you die immediately after your heartfelt acceptance of him.

Basically, you would become the thief on the cross, dying just hours after coming to Christ. However, if you continue to live you MUST carry your cross and learn of him and follow his commandments. You cannot stay in the crib and live, but you must first take the milk.

This is where most of the pretenders are. Most of them at some point were actually born again in the spirit, they briefly tasted the milk and at that moment they were truly saved. Unfortunately they somehow began to believe that they didn't have to move on and seek the Truth. So, they lay there and die in the crib having barely sipped the milk.

The first thing most people usually think of after coming to Christ is that they must immediately stop "sinning" and tell everyone what happened and from then on be a totally different person and never look back. As the days roll past and the salvation experience fades in their minds they begin to slip and realize that they can't do this on their own. Soon after they die spiritually, they die, lying right there in the crib with an empty bottle in their mouth.

Why would Christ leave them alone? We know He wouldn't so why do we see this pattern so often? The answer is the so-called "Church" isn't actually leading people to the true Christ. They couldn't be, because a tree it known by its fruits and we see the "Church" today has bad fruit.

The truth is the Church is teaching false doctrines such as the believers will be caught up by a pre-trib rapture and that the physical Jews are God's chosen people. A young believer is never steered to the real Truth.

So, before we can eat meat we must drink milk. Here is the milk. You are born again into the House of Israel, you are indeed spiritual Israel, you are the adopted son of Abraham through Jesus Christ. You are the chosen people, you have the birthright, you are children of the promise, not the physical Jews (or physical anyone for that matter) as the so-called Church tells us today.

When the Church lifts up physical Israel it is actually lifting up the spirit of anti-christ. It is as simple as that.

1st John 4:3 plainly tells us how to recognize the spirit of anti-christ.
"And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world."

In case you don't know, the physical Jews in the land of Israel today flatly reject, deny and "confess not" that Jesus came in the flesh. So let there be no doubt, you cannot deny this and continue to believe your bible, the Israel over there in the middle east is the fulfillment of the spirit of anti-christ. It is the beast that was, and is not, and shall return. They have now returned.

So why in the world do we lead people to the spirit of anti-christ and then expect them to be able to do all the things that Christ expects of them? How foolish can we be to take someone to the anti-christ and expect them to become good Christians?

As Paul tells us in Galatians 3:3 "
Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?" Having become born again, why do we go back to the physical? Yet we do, day after day, waiting to be "raptured" so the "chosen people" can come back to Christ.

You say you don't lead them to anti-christ, but what is that smelly thing sitting there, right smack dab in the middle of your belief structure?

Could it be that you believe the physical Jews are God's chosen people? Do you believe that they are first and we are just the lowly dogs that Christ ended up having to settle for after the true chosen people rejected him?

Do you say that Christ failed in his mission to save the lost sheep of the House of Israel? Or do you hide that belief by saying He will fulfill it "after the rapture"? I used to believe that claptrap, I was taught that dung!

You had better be Israel because those are the people He came to save. You cannot be saved and deny your birthright. You are Israel, not physical Israel but spiritual Israel. He came to save NO ONE else. You are the elect, the chosen people, the sons and daughters of God but only if you are in Christ.

Yet like poor Esau, how eager we are to give away our birthright for nothing. Esau lost his birthright for a bowl of soup, the Church has seemingly given theirs away for even less than that.