Touching on a taboo subject

To Titus, my own son after the common faith: Grace, mercy, and peace, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ our Savior. For this cause I left you in Crete, that you should set in order the things that are lacking, and ordain elders in every city, as I had appointed you… Titus 1:4-5

In most religious organizations it would be considered rude or inappropriate to ask the leadership to give a sound Biblical justification for their specific claim to spiritual authority over God’s people. The question would be taboo, and Christians so dumbed-down that they would probably never consider asking the question.

How could such a vital question become off-limits?

True men of God welcome such questions, they don’t hide from them.

Many today would just assume that any ordination will do, even if the organization is corrupt. Such naivety dishonors God. It is the bad fruit of a superficial approach to the Word of God.

And please note the above text, that ordination is of elders, plural. There is not one NT precedent where an elder was ordained to be the head of a church. That would be a false ordination, as it is unbiblical. (Elders/Pastors/Shepherds/Overseer-Bishops are the same gift in the NT)

Biblically, ordination was only done under Apostolic authority. There a number of men mentioned by Paul as being apostles, like Timothy, Titus, Barnabus etc. but there is no mention that they were specifically ordained as apostles. They were ordained as elders, and then later began to function as apostles.

I will leave it with this question: Do we have a sound Biblical foundation for our expression of church and our understanding of spiritual authority?

Do we realize how serious it is for men to claim to have God-given authority over God’s people? And how more serious it is when Christians naively submit themselves to unbiblical expressions of spiritual authority?

Cyrus the Great in Biblical Prophecy

One of the truly astounding prophecies of the Bible is found in the last verse of Isaiah 44, together with 45:1ff, (an unfortunate chapter break). It has to do with Cyrus, king of Persia. According to the historian Herodotus (The Histories i.46), Cyrus was the son of Cambyses I. He came to the Persian throne in 559 B.C. Nine years later he conquered the Medes, thus unifying the kingdoms of the Medes and the Persians.

Cyrus is mentioned some twenty-three times in the literature of the Old Testament. Isaiah refers to Cyrus as Jehovah’s “shepherd,” the Lord’s “anointed,” who was providentially appointed to facilitate the divine plan. God would lead this monarch to “subdue nations” and “open doors” (an allusion to the Jews’ release from Babylonian captivity). He would make “rough places smooth,” i.e., accommodate the Hebrews’ return to their Palestinean homeland. (WRONG! they returned to the LAND OF ISRAEL) He would ultimately be responsible for the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the reconstruction of the temple.

Amazingly, the king would accomplish these noble tasks even though he did not “know” Jehovah (45:4, 5). In other words, though he was a pagan in sentiment and practice, yet, as an unconscious tool in the hands of the Lord, he would contribute mightily to the Jewish cause, and so, indirectly, to the coming of God’s greater Anointed, Jesus of Nazareth…

…What many people do not realize in reading Isaiah 44:28ff is that this heathen ruler was named by the prophet long before the monarch was even born. Isaiah prophesied in the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah (1:1). His ministry thus occurred in the latter portion of the eighth century B.C. (ca. 740 – 701 B.C.). This was some one hundred fifty years before Cyrus came to the throne!

https://www.christiancourier.com/articles/264-cyrus-the-great-in-biblical-prophecy

The Blood Moons are a sign but not THE sign

You wanna skip the war?

a) We are in a war

b) Jesus has already won this war

c) When we believe and cleave to Him, believing He has won, we overcome

When the dragon speaks he speaks a lie

I don’t get obsessed with the great falling away, but we do have a duty to warn people. Watch this address by the pope. Nothing he says here is true. It is all a lie. He says that Mary was saved bcos she suffered and earned redemption etc.. etc.. Is this true? Does Mary help save us today? True or false? Can praying the rosary bring world peace? True or false?

Who is the father of liars? Satan. Where do all lies originate from, according to Jesus? Satan. So this man, who claims to be OUR leader and our SHEPHERD (imagine that!) is animated by satan, in that everything he says is a lie, or a double talk (self contradiction). Do you really want to have fellowship with demons and support this fraud? You should expose the lies, not make an agreement with them.

EXTREME MERCY

Sinners, who deserve to go to hell, go to heaven. The Cross is the EXTREME MERCY of God – it is extreme salvation by extreme love. God’s mercy is as extreme as His judgment is extreme, for Jesus Christ took upon Himself the full and extreme judgment for our sins on the Cross. The Cross was the extreme judgment opening the door for extreme mercy to extremely bad people.

The supremacy of Christ

The supremacy of Christ (Col. 1:13-23). No one comes even close. He is incomparable. Perhaps the one regret we will have when we see Him in glory is that we did not proclaim His supremacy and glory enough, we were distracted.

The first thing to consider when we consider the supremacy of Christ is whether He has the supremacy and the preeminence in our heart and life.

The Way of Faith

Most mornings i go jogging. I love the time spent with God on the open road under the open expanse of sky. I jog along a road. Stretched before me is tarmac. Someone has rolled out this carpet of road so we can run along it. It would be pretty hard if there weren’t no road laid out.

The walk of faith with Jesus is similar. He has His way we are to walk in, walking with Him, yoked together with Him. He rolls out His way before us and we run down that road, His road.

He only expects us to run down the road which He lays out before us. This is the walk of faith. If Jesus has a way for me, He must make a way first, and then lead me on it. It’s not my responsibility to make a way, but to discern the way He is making before me to travel on.

Sometimes the road only appears when we take the next step of faith. But it does appear before our foot touches down on the ground. Every place on which the soles of your feet shall tread shall be yours (Deut. 11:24).

Like, when the Israelis reached the Red Sea, with the Egyptians in hot pursuit. There was no road ahead, in the natural. But by faith God rolled out a road for them thru the Red Sea. Same thing when they reached the Jordan River in peak flood. As soon as the priests stepped into the water God rolled out His road for them to walk on.

So look ahead at the day and the week and the year like that, that if you are seeking the Lord with all your heart and trusting Him, and have surrendered your will to His, that He will roll out a road, a way, for you to go forward on.

Jesus requires faithfulness to Him. Then we gotta know what it is, in relation to Him, we need to be faithful with.

The Truth is a Person

How we respond to Scripture truth is firstly a moral issue before it is an academic or intellectual one.

Judgment is already pronounced

Jesus said that His words will judge on the last day. People need to know that when they read the inspired Word of God they are staring into the face of the very thing which will judge them. Judgment is already pronounced, and it’s up to them which side they will be on.

What’s the problem?

A Christian visits your house church and feels uncomfortable. You ask him, what’s the problem? He doesn’t know, but he feels nervous.

Is there anything happening here which is unbiblical? If so, please do share it from the Scriptures.

Is there a lack of love, care and concern for you? If so, please tell us.

Does the fact we are all equals make you nervous? Or the fact that people are free to share the things the Lord is teaching them and free to speak of Him?

Are you nervous bcos the Holy Spirit is leading the meeting and it is not following a program or liturgy?

Or are you nervous bcos you are not personally secure in the Lord, and may have hidden things in your life, and therefore you are guarded about the prospect that anyone might get too close?

Also:

The dynamic in play in house churches is the freedom. So, what people are like in real life, in normal living, is the very shape and nature the church fellowship will take. If most of their time is spent thinking about worldly things, then when they come to church they tend to share from that perspective. So, it only “works” when people are actually walking with the Lord every day. If not, it is a disaster. And this is the very thing which contributed to the birth of the church system in the first place – how to manage carnal Christians so there is “order” and they don’t start fighting or arguing in church.

Critical Thinking

Quote:

Critical thinking has been defined as:

“the mental process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and evaluating information to reach an answer or conclusion”[2]

“disciplined thinking that is clear, rational, open-minded, and informed by evidence”[3]

“reasonable reflective thinking focused on deciding what to believe or do”[4]

“purposeful, self-regulatory judgment which results in interpretation, analysis, evaluation, and inference, as well as explanation of the evidential, conceptual, methodological, criteriological, or contextual considerations upon which that judgment is based”[5]

“includes a commitment to using reason in the formulation of our beliefs”[6]
in critical social theory: commitment to the social and political practice of participatory democracy, willingness to imagine or remain open to considering alternative perspectives, willingness to integrate new or revised perspectives into our ways of thinking and acting, and willingness to foster criticality in others.[7]

the skill and propensity to engage in an activity with reflective scepticism (McPeck, 1981)

disciplined, self-directed thinking which exemplifies the perfection of thinking appropriate to a particular mode of domain of thinking (Paul, 1989, p. 214)

thinking about one’s thinking in a manner designed to organize and clarify, raise the efficiency of, and recognize errors and biases in one’s own thinking. Critical thinking is not ‘hard’ thinking nor is it directed at solving problems (other than ‘improving’ one’s own thinking). Critical thinking is inward-directed with the intent of maximizing the rationality of the thinker. One does not use critical thinking to solve problems – one uses critical thinking to improve one’s process of thinking.[8]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_thinking

It’s rare to find a Christian who exercises sound, critical thinking when it comes to the Christian life and to the church, and to understanding and applying the Word of God. The “church system” has discouraged critical thinking in a similar manner to which the RCC did in the dark ages and still does.

Reality Church

One of the main themes of my book Reality Church is, that the way it was in the beginning is the way it was always supposed to be.

I’ve not yet heard a valid biblical reason why church today cannot be the same as it was in the beginning. Just the proposition scares the willies out of some people.

It’s generally not perceived in these days that the Lord Jesus COMMANDED (not suggested), thru His Apostles, how His church is supposed to be, how He wants it to be.

It would be rare to find a Christian today, who, when he reads the NT, sees the directions for the church and Christian living as direct commands from God – that the NT pattern for the church is a direct command from God.

We believe nothing has changed. When we read the epistles we are back there 2000 years ago sitting at the feet of the Apostles and heeding everything they said. Nothing has changed in the sight of God.

Love is fellowship

True fellowship is a command of the Lord, and many today do not honor the Lord in this respect. Our response to His commands and teaching is how we honor Him and worship in spirit and truth. Obeying the NT pattern of fellowship and relationship is how we first honor God as disciples of Jesus, cos it is the reality of our love for the brethren.

Many “go to church” but they don’t have real relationships, real fellowship.

When Jesus takes every burden away

Do you know what it’s like to have Jesus remove every burden and every yoke, every care and anxiety? I do. And many do. …The glorious liberty of the sons of God.

A man for all seasons…

If you want to know what the pope really thinks, start listening to what he says when YOU are not his intended audience.

~ Michael Fackerell

http://www.romereports.com/pg155711-pope-s-mass-the-church-is-our-mother-she-cleanses-us-of-our-sins–en

Christian Witchcraft

If you’re practicing that words have power in that they shape your life and future, you’re practicing witchcraft. Words have power in that they are influential – but they do not have the power to create things. A positive attitude is nice but it does not change reality and neither do words. Positive and negative confession is the very foundation of witchcraft. A confession is the same thing as an incantation or spell in witchcraft and other branches of occult philosophy. The belief that words have creative power is occultic in origin and is not a historical Christian teaching. It was brought into Christianity through Kenneth Hagin, whom got it from EW Kenyon, whom got it from Phineus Quimby of New Thought fame – and he got it from the occult. Also a student of Quimby and Occultic New Thought was Mary Baker Eddie of Christian Science fame. She coined the phrase ‘YOU POSSESS WHAT YOU CONFESS”

http://thewordonthewordoffaithinfoblog.com/2013/02/07/ex-word-of-faith-testimony-ex-wofer-is-also-a-former-witch-who-says-the-word-of-faith-is-witchcraft/

Yonggi Cho’s use of false spiritual authority

http://www.charismanews.com/world/42903-pastor-david-yonggi-cho-sentenced-to-3-years-for-embezzling-12-million

The secret behind explosive “church growth” in South Korea is that people are brainwashed into thinking that the ones they think are spiritual authorities have the God-given authority to order them around like an army officer. Everything functions around a military-like command-authority structure, from how they have church meetings to “planting new churches”.

I did not say that Cho is abusing his spiritual authority. The NT describes true spiritual authority, and it can be abused. This is not a case of that, this is a case of false spiritual authority. In the first century such a man would not have been recognized as having any spiritual authority to begin with.

The gift of Eternal Life

I have eternal life. If you have eternal life, shout it from the rooftops.

According to this present world’s values, eternal life doesn’t rate very highly. Money and fame talks louder.

Jesus promised eternal life to those who believe in Him. Have you received His promise? Do you HAVE eternal life in you, right now? And if you do, is there any chance you may have overlooked the glory or underestimated the value?

In general, i think we barely appreciate the gift of eternal life. If we did, we would tell the world.

…For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and show unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us…

1 John 1:2

How to stand against a lie

How to stand against a lie, against an evil accusation, against a hot wind from hell?

You will need to be stronger than the lie, just as a tree must be stronger than the hurricane wind if it is to remain standing.

If the lie is stronger than you it will most certainly topple you.

You will have to settle it in your heart that the Truth is greater than a lie, and that a lie can never overcome the Truth, that the darkness can never overcome the Light.

And you will find the Person, who is the Truth, Jesus Christ, becomes your strength.

Having done all to stand, stand…