Friday, April 20, 2007
I can’t seem to get away from the turmoil that is going on in what passes for Christianity today. The more I read of church history the more you see the same thing repeated again and again throughout the ages.
I can see where the fear of a state sponsored religion can raise red flags. I’m sure most people don’t understand what has happened in the past when one church became “the church” of the state. In times past that meant persecution of any other church or religion that didn’t conform. At this stage in history one would hope that the killing and other forms of persecution wouldn’t happen but stranger things have happened. If we happened to be part of the “sponsored” church would be find it in our heart to stand against unfair treatment of those outside of our “club”?? Human nature seems to want to belong to the main group and shun those that can’t seem to accept what is deemed “the norm”. I think we all feel we would do the right thing but I know for a fact it’s really easy to get caught up in the flow of the crowd or whatever and follow the leaders without putting any thought into it!!
It appears to me that God has shined new light into those that were willing to hear it. As they began sharing it with others it caught on and the people moved forward in their walk with Christ. As it grew men became worried that it might get out of control so they began setting rules and regulations on the people. The scriptures were there and the Holy Spirit was available to teach everyone but the leaders were afraid to let go of their control and never taught the people that they could hear from God thru the scriptures on their own. Sure enough God raised up a new group of people that would hear from Him and the fight was on again. When you stand back and look at all of this you are able to see that it was man attempting to maintain control of what God was trying to do and once that happens the Holy Spirit moves on.
That said we can move onto this whole emerging church thing!! I know I’m a late comer to all of this but I am unable to get past it. Once again some of these people had valid questions about the practices of the organized church. We brought up the leaders of said bodies refused to address them other than to say this is how we think it should be done and if you don’t or won’t go along we won’t fellowship with you. At that point another part of Christ’s body was split away to attempt to function on its own! As this happened people moved into the void and began teaching that the authority taught by the OC [organized church from here on] was wrong and there didn’t need to be anyone in charge everyone should be in charge of themselves. Isn’t it clever how the enemy takes scripture and twists it just a little to get people moving in the wrong direction?? If you have ever been at sea you know that a slight misdirection can move you way off course down the road and make you miss your destination by a bunch. Could it be that the enemy has wormed his way into this new camp and set them off course and that it feels so good that many are following figuring that it must be right because it feels so good and so spiritual?? The things that they now accept and condone come out of so called religions that worship false gods and idols. We cannot worship Jesus in the same manner we once worshiped an idol or false god. He just will not accept that.
The question then becomes; how do we reach those that are being led astray?? There is no use trying to get to the leaders because they are already feeling the power and the money that comes from being in charge. They say there are no leaders but look behind what is happening and you see people directing the flow of things. Who do you suppose is behind all of that?? A lot of mainline churches are jumping on the bandwagon because it seems so hip and they want to be part of it. I’m sure there are a lot of well meaning believers that are getting sweep away in this stream. I myself spent several years in the “word of faith” thing. There seems to be none or very few from the OC that are willing to do anything other than criticize. Is it that the OC is afraid to look at their practices in the light of the scripture for fear of finding they are to stiff and turn the seekers off with all their rules and regulations?? The word says Jesus is the “bread of life” but I doubt He gave anyone the whole loaf!! It appears that it’s time to move out of our comfort zones and exam our walk and when we find error or whatever we must be ready to change. Maybe at that point those being swept away by this new wave will actually see Christ in us and begin to exam what they are believing and following. Not many people have been led to the light that is Jesus Christ by being beat over the head with the gospel club. There must be some love to go along with the correction if you want to make any impact!!
What say you??
Friday, April 20, 2007
Saturday, April 14, 2007
Wondering!!!
Saturday, April 14, 2007
I know you should try to post something on your blog daily to keep interest up. The problem for me is that at times I feel sort of dry while I am working thru things with the help of the Holy Spirit and don’t want to post something just for the sake of doing it. I feel there is no use in rambling on in my own natural self. At the moment I am working my way thru 1 Cor. 6:14-20 and trying to figure out how we could be hooked up with those that practice eastern religions and say that’s from God when He tells us in His word to come out and be separate. I understand that we need to be among them but only to bring them to Jesus. I don’t think we should be telling them that there is some sort of truth in what they are doing or that they can be worshiping Jesus in the same manner they worshiped their false gods.
Some feedback on this would be helpful!!
I know you should try to post something on your blog daily to keep interest up. The problem for me is that at times I feel sort of dry while I am working thru things with the help of the Holy Spirit and don’t want to post something just for the sake of doing it. I feel there is no use in rambling on in my own natural self. At the moment I am working my way thru 1 Cor. 6:14-20 and trying to figure out how we could be hooked up with those that practice eastern religions and say that’s from God when He tells us in His word to come out and be separate. I understand that we need to be among them but only to bring them to Jesus. I don’t think we should be telling them that there is some sort of truth in what they are doing or that they can be worshiping Jesus in the same manner they worshiped their false gods.
Some feedback on this would be helpful!!
Sunday, April 8, 2007
Are we unable to see any new light?
Sunday, April 08, 2007
Here it is Easter Sunday and I feel the Holy Spirit speaking in my spirit about all the turmoil going on in Christianity today.
There seems to be 2 camps [that’s probably not enough but will do for this entry] out there at the moment. One believes there is no new knowledge to be gleaned from the scripture and the other thinks that maybe the scriptures are really saying what we have thought all these years and we need to look elsewhere for direction. This has brought around a lot of hokey stuff from eastern religions and other false beliefs from outside Christianity in the name of ministering to the unbelievers of the world.
As I read the words of Jesus this morning as He was tempted by satan in the wilderness the words His response to the temptation it struck me just how important what He said was to this whole argument!
Matthew 4:4 (NKJV) 4But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’”
This whole thing took place right after Jesus was baptized and the heavens opened up and God told the world there that this was His beloved Son in whom He was well pleased. You can imagine just how upset the devil was over that. The reason he was tossed out of heaven was because he attempted to take God’s glory for himself and here is Jesus getting what he [satan] had always wanted.
Romans 12:2 (NKJV) 2And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
Here is Paul telling us that our minds must be renewed. Along with that we are told we come to Christ as babes and must grow into mature followers of Christ on “the narrow path” once we enter thru that “narrow gate”. We know how growing up was and how we learned things that supposedly grew us into mature adults and that it took years [some never made it] to reach some semblance of maturity. Why then do we assume that what ever someone told us when we came to Jesus was all the truth we would ever need and anyone who dared challenge that must be from the devil?? When Jesus left this ball He said He would send us the Holy Spirit to lead us into all truth. Have we allowed that to happen in each of our lives?? Or have we allowed some sort of pattern set by men to form and run our walk?? If we are all different parts of the body with a job to fulfill wouldn’t we all need to be trained [by the Holy Spirit] in our job?? Why are we so afraid [if I may use that word] to allow any new revelation into our lives?? Are we afraid Jesus will demand more than we are willing to do or give up?? Have we once again drove those off that were just trying to learn and grow in the Lord because they dared question our set patterns of following Jesus?? Has the camp of the enemy supplied the answers they felt they were looking for in eastern mystics and the likes?? I would urge you to read 2 Cor. 14-18 to see what Paul has to say about our dealings with unbelievers. Please don’t attempt to turn the gospel into something that will accomplish your political agenda. Go before Jesus and see what He has to say about all that. The greatest need out there in the world is that they all find Jesus before this is all over. You can feed the hungry and house the poor all you want but if you don’t lead them to Jesus you have allowed them to enter into eternity lost and destined for hell. Let that roll around in your spirit for awhile!!!
What say you???
Here it is Easter Sunday and I feel the Holy Spirit speaking in my spirit about all the turmoil going on in Christianity today.
There seems to be 2 camps [that’s probably not enough but will do for this entry] out there at the moment. One believes there is no new knowledge to be gleaned from the scripture and the other thinks that maybe the scriptures are really saying what we have thought all these years and we need to look elsewhere for direction. This has brought around a lot of hokey stuff from eastern religions and other false beliefs from outside Christianity in the name of ministering to the unbelievers of the world.
As I read the words of Jesus this morning as He was tempted by satan in the wilderness the words His response to the temptation it struck me just how important what He said was to this whole argument!
Matthew 4:4 (NKJV) 4But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’”
This whole thing took place right after Jesus was baptized and the heavens opened up and God told the world there that this was His beloved Son in whom He was well pleased. You can imagine just how upset the devil was over that. The reason he was tossed out of heaven was because he attempted to take God’s glory for himself and here is Jesus getting what he [satan] had always wanted.
Romans 12:2 (NKJV) 2And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
Here is Paul telling us that our minds must be renewed. Along with that we are told we come to Christ as babes and must grow into mature followers of Christ on “the narrow path” once we enter thru that “narrow gate”. We know how growing up was and how we learned things that supposedly grew us into mature adults and that it took years [some never made it] to reach some semblance of maturity. Why then do we assume that what ever someone told us when we came to Jesus was all the truth we would ever need and anyone who dared challenge that must be from the devil?? When Jesus left this ball He said He would send us the Holy Spirit to lead us into all truth. Have we allowed that to happen in each of our lives?? Or have we allowed some sort of pattern set by men to form and run our walk?? If we are all different parts of the body with a job to fulfill wouldn’t we all need to be trained [by the Holy Spirit] in our job?? Why are we so afraid [if I may use that word] to allow any new revelation into our lives?? Are we afraid Jesus will demand more than we are willing to do or give up?? Have we once again drove those off that were just trying to learn and grow in the Lord because they dared question our set patterns of following Jesus?? Has the camp of the enemy supplied the answers they felt they were looking for in eastern mystics and the likes?? I would urge you to read 2 Cor. 14-18 to see what Paul has to say about our dealings with unbelievers. Please don’t attempt to turn the gospel into something that will accomplish your political agenda. Go before Jesus and see what He has to say about all that. The greatest need out there in the world is that they all find Jesus before this is all over. You can feed the hungry and house the poor all you want but if you don’t lead them to Jesus you have allowed them to enter into eternity lost and destined for hell. Let that roll around in your spirit for awhile!!!
What say you???
Saturday, April 7, 2007
Jesus as head of all!!
Saturday, April 07, 2007
It’s been awhile since my last posting. I have been looking deep into this emerging church thing. Once again it seems we have a large divide between the Body of Christ. I’m sure the enemy camp is rolling on the ground laughing about it. It appears that the old line Christians didn’t or wouldn’t listen to the concerns of those that were feeling unfulfilled in what was going on in the established church. I think they may have had some good questions and some real concerns in the beginning. When they got no dialog to speak of the winged it on their own and have now become so confused and involved with the mystics of the past they are out in left field somewhere. So now the EC [established church from here on out] is paying attention to them by writing everything they can tell them how off the wall they are. The problem still seems to be a war rather than any sort of dialog.
As I read back thru the history of the church the same story reruns over and over again. A move of God begin to sweep over the people and Jesus is held up as Lord of and head over what is happening. People then become so worried that the message may get corrupted they feel they have to make rules and set up programs and penalties to keep the word pure. At that point anyone that disagrees on even some small points are branded trouble makers or even heretics. About the time they begin killing these people God sends a remnant off into hiding somewhere. They may not fully understand what is going on because they just want to go somewhere they can worship Jesus for who He is and not have to follow some silly rules set up by man. At some point down the road of history God brings these people to the forefront again to begin bringing His son Jesus back to the center of and head of His body here on earth. The cycle begins all over again with the same result.
The question then become; are we in one of these cycles today??? The scary part of what is going on now is that the new movement seems to have lost their “firm foundation” and appear to be adrift is a sea of anything that sounds good or fits into some sort of social gospel that they have grabbed onto. All of their works appear as really good deeds but is that all Christ died for?? I can’t seem to locate anything in their stuff about the cross and what it means for our every day walk with Jesus. There seems to be an approval of anything that people feel good about or with. They keep saying there is good in all things but I’m not seeing that in the scripture. The word says “no one comes to the Father except thru the Son”. How can there be any truth leading to eternal life in something that was started by some man?? Was there anyone in these other cults [may as well call them what they are] that died for our sins & rose from the dead –sits at the right hand of the Father to plead our case?? If the whole purpose of what’s going on today is to get as far away from what the scripture tells us they seem to be doing a bang-up job of it!!!
Then of course there is the EC out there launching bombs at these people rather than looking at what they hold sacred. Could it be that a lot of their doctrine-rules-programs or whatever came from man rather than from the Holy Spirit?? Is it time to bring every thing you believe every form you follow every rule you hold sacred and open them up to examination or have them become so set in stone that it is impossible to even think you may be following “the traditions of man”. Didn’t Jesus have something to say about that?? I know I get a check in my spirit when I read a lot of their stuff but at that point I need to go to the word of God to see what it says and not just reach back to something I was told by some man.
Question #2 then becomes, What ever happened to the concept of Jesus as the head of His body here on earth?? It would seem to me man has a death grip on the church and refuses to let go no matter what the Holy Spirit attempts to do.
What say you???
It’s been awhile since my last posting. I have been looking deep into this emerging church thing. Once again it seems we have a large divide between the Body of Christ. I’m sure the enemy camp is rolling on the ground laughing about it. It appears that the old line Christians didn’t or wouldn’t listen to the concerns of those that were feeling unfulfilled in what was going on in the established church. I think they may have had some good questions and some real concerns in the beginning. When they got no dialog to speak of the winged it on their own and have now become so confused and involved with the mystics of the past they are out in left field somewhere. So now the EC [established church from here on out] is paying attention to them by writing everything they can tell them how off the wall they are. The problem still seems to be a war rather than any sort of dialog.
As I read back thru the history of the church the same story reruns over and over again. A move of God begin to sweep over the people and Jesus is held up as Lord of and head over what is happening. People then become so worried that the message may get corrupted they feel they have to make rules and set up programs and penalties to keep the word pure. At that point anyone that disagrees on even some small points are branded trouble makers or even heretics. About the time they begin killing these people God sends a remnant off into hiding somewhere. They may not fully understand what is going on because they just want to go somewhere they can worship Jesus for who He is and not have to follow some silly rules set up by man. At some point down the road of history God brings these people to the forefront again to begin bringing His son Jesus back to the center of and head of His body here on earth. The cycle begins all over again with the same result.
The question then become; are we in one of these cycles today??? The scary part of what is going on now is that the new movement seems to have lost their “firm foundation” and appear to be adrift is a sea of anything that sounds good or fits into some sort of social gospel that they have grabbed onto. All of their works appear as really good deeds but is that all Christ died for?? I can’t seem to locate anything in their stuff about the cross and what it means for our every day walk with Jesus. There seems to be an approval of anything that people feel good about or with. They keep saying there is good in all things but I’m not seeing that in the scripture. The word says “no one comes to the Father except thru the Son”. How can there be any truth leading to eternal life in something that was started by some man?? Was there anyone in these other cults [may as well call them what they are] that died for our sins & rose from the dead –sits at the right hand of the Father to plead our case?? If the whole purpose of what’s going on today is to get as far away from what the scripture tells us they seem to be doing a bang-up job of it!!!
Then of course there is the EC out there launching bombs at these people rather than looking at what they hold sacred. Could it be that a lot of their doctrine-rules-programs or whatever came from man rather than from the Holy Spirit?? Is it time to bring every thing you believe every form you follow every rule you hold sacred and open them up to examination or have them become so set in stone that it is impossible to even think you may be following “the traditions of man”. Didn’t Jesus have something to say about that?? I know I get a check in my spirit when I read a lot of their stuff but at that point I need to go to the word of God to see what it says and not just reach back to something I was told by some man.
Question #2 then becomes, What ever happened to the concept of Jesus as the head of His body here on earth?? It would seem to me man has a death grip on the church and refuses to let go no matter what the Holy Spirit attempts to do.
What say you???
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