Rediscovery

Still Blogging, Just Not Here.

2011-04-20T09:35:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to say once again that I'm still blogging, but for whatever reasons I decided to change blogs. I'm now at bookofreservations.blogspot.com. Com visit me and see what I've been up to over there if you haven't yet!

I ended my hibernation early...

2011-02-26T23:24:00.000-08:00

I've begun to write again, but this blog has gotten stale for me for the time being so I'm moving my writings to a new blog. I've gotten quite a bit prepared so there should be something new ever few days or so. Check the whole thing out at:
http://bookofreservations.blogspot.com/

Here's a teaser for the first blog post I've put up there:

There's a change in the air. Over the last several years the wind has shifted. I don't have exact statistics, but there is a definite switch in people's approach to spirituality. It's an huge move too. Not just a few people here and there, but massive numbers. Thousands are leaving the churches that have dominated the religious scene for the last few decades. In case that did sink in, let me say that again. Thousands of people are leaving your average, impersonal, corporate churches, and they know it. The future is about as bleak for all the smaller churches who are trying to emulate these massive, failed experiments too.

I do not write this in a condescending or condemning spirit. I truly empathize with those who are stuck in those places. What I am doing here is writing this in the spirit of truth and love. I believe the most deceitful and hateful thing a person can do is ignore a harmful situation, thinking that it will eventually just go away. We need a return to authenticity, and it is a lack of just that, along with many other contributing problems that has led American and Western Christianity to where it is today.

Christians, genuine, born-again Christians are tired of counterfeits, fake spirituality, and copies of the real thing. They are becoming more and more discriminating in their searching and yearning after Christ, the kingdom of God, and His righteousness. They are gaining, and training, an uncanny sense to be able to discern the authentic faith from the false ones.

Read on at http://bookofreservations.blogspot.com/2011/02/authenticity-can-i-get-some.html

A Psalm For Giving Thanks

2010-11-25T07:35:00.000-08:00

Psalm 100

His Steadfast Love Endures Forever
A Psalm for giving thanks.

1 Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth!

2 Serve the Lord with gladness!
Come into his presence with singing!

3 Know that the Lord, he is God!
It is he who made us, and we are his;
we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving,
and his courts with praise!
Give thanks to him; bless his name!

5 For the Lord is good;
his steadfast love endures forever,
and his faithfulness to all generations.

Preaching To Spiritually Exhausted People

2010-11-13T20:34:00.000-08:00

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

This is an honest and genuine look at one of the biggest, yet most smothered and hidden problems facing churches today. Pastor Alan Kraft talks about Preaching to the Spiritually Exhausted in the article I read and comment on in this video.

Jesus said, "Come to me, all who labor are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Is the Church a place where people can find rest today for their weary souls, or just another place that wears people out even more, despite good intentions of course. Is there any good news left in Christianity once you get hooked and pulled in through the door, or was that good news just the bait that has since been switched on you and replaced with a different message?

With years of study in God's word, Kraft brings us an insightful and refreshing look at what God intended for the Church to be and do, what mesaage we are to be bringing and how discipleship is supposed to be done. Kraft doesn't offer us a patronizing lecture based soley on his own personal experiences, but based on God's word. Unlike so many others who are out there offering advice on the church, Kraft isn't setting himself and his "perfect" example up as the standard - he sets God's word up as the standard and even admits that he's still making mistakes.

Link to article: http://www.stoptryingharder.com/Preaching_to_the_Exhausted.pdf

New 95 Theses, Part 14

2010-10-31T09:26:00.000-07:00

Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, the public bulletin board of his day. In like manner, we, Athanasius and Chrysostom*, post these 95 theses on the door of the Internet. Like the original theses, these are debatable, for we believe that it is through vigorous debate that the spirits are tested and truth is revealed.

In publishing these theses, we do not intend to foment division, but to expose those who are creating division within the body of Christ. We are not addressing any particular church body or person, but invite all who love the Gospel of Jesus Christ to engage in this debate. We do so in the spirit of the great Reformer, Martin Luther, as we implore the mercies of God upon His Church, for the sake of Jesus Christ, the Lord of the Church and Bishop of our souls.

84. To create and sustain saving faith, God established the office of the holy ministry in the church to preach the Gospel and administer the sacraments according to our Lord’s institution.

85. No one may publicly preach, teach, or administer the sacraments in the churches without his being called and ordained.

86. Those who introduce novelties into the church are the true agents of division.

87. The ordination of women is a novelty that has caused great division in the church.

88. The introduction of worship forms not held in common by the churches is a cause of division and a stumbling block.

89. The church belongs to no man but to Jesus Christ, the incarnate Son of God, and Lord of the church.

90. Woe to the false prophets who cry, “Unity, unity” when there is no unity.

91. Again, woe to those who say, “Peace, peace,” when there is no peace.

92. Again, woe to those who say, “Gospel, gospel,” when there is no Gospel.

93. Blessed are those who say, “Cross, cross,” when there is no cross.

94. Christians are to be exhorted that they be diligent in following Christ, their Head, through all suffering, death, and hell;

95. And thus be confident of entering into heaven through many trials and tribulations, rather than through the assurance of outward peace, unity, and happiness.

******

HAPPY REFORMATION DAY!

If you don't know what it is, Watch the movie Luther today. Reformation Day is celebrated in honor of the day Martin Luther posted the original 95 theses to the doors of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany on October 31st, 1517. He unintentionally began a Reformation that he ended up continuing once he saw that the Medieval Catholic Church was not willing to listen to the sound reason and logic of Scripture.

It is only because of God that we are not all worshipping Mary, praying to the saints, and blindly following the anit-Christ spirit that possesses the Pope and being taught that we have to pay and work our way into heaven through indulgances, penance and other works of man-made tradition and laws. A lot of people don't realize how heavy a debt they owe to Luther for the getting the ball rolling in the fight for freedom of religion.

In Luther's day there were not 30,000+ different denominations like there are today. There was only one "church." You did not worship how the Scriptures told you to, but you worshipped how the Catholic Church told you to. They held great power over the people and had immense sway on the ruling authorities of the time. What Martin Luther did should have gotten him killed, which nearly the entire civilized world was trying to do at one point.

Many of those who came before Luther that made similiar discoveries in the Scriptures and tried to let people know were swiftly executed, like John Hus, who was burnt at the stake for his confessions of faith. Only by the grace of God was Luther allowed to live long enough to see his work of freeing the minds of thousands from the tyranny of the Catholic Church. To this day the Catholic Church hates Martin Luther and calls him a heretic.

We owe the memory of Martin Luther respect and honor, the same way we owe the many brave military men and women, who have given up their lives for our individual freedom, respect and honor. Even though I may not hold the same views as a Democrat, I still honor a soldier who was a Democrat for his service and bravery. Even though we all may not be "Lutheran" we still owe Martin Luther the respect of a father figure. We are all his children in a way, unless you're a Roman Catholic of course.

May God richly bless you with the unconditional forgiveness of all your sins, won for you by the vicarious death and resurrection of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ! Amen.

Brandon

*Notice: I am not the original author of these theses. I am simply passing them along, nailing them to another door on the internet.

Entire Sanctification - True or False Doctrine? Part 3

2010-10-31T07:45:00.000-07:00

On this episode of Rediscovery I discuss the doctrine of Entire Sanctification. True or false? What is it in the first place? What does Scripture say about this type of ideology? Can one actually become perfect and without sin? If this doctrine is not true, does it really pose any risk to anyone? Should we be concerned about it or those who believe it? Has anyone ever actually claimed to have experienced the manifestation of what this doctrine teaches? These questions and a lot more will be covered in this video.

The "New 95 Theses," Part 13

2010-10-30T21:23:00.000-07:00

72. Worship is doctrine put into practice.

73. As one worships, so one believes.

74. As one believes, so one worships.

75. Christian worship consists of God’s service to us through His giving and our receiving in faith the gifts of Christ’s Word, Body, and Blood, and our service to God by our prayer, praise, and thanksgiving.

76. Worship that is focused on principles for Christian living obscures the Gospel of Jesus Christ and His gifts and is detrimental to faith and salvation.

77. While Christian liberty allows that worship forms need not be altogether the same in every time and place, unity in faith and practice requires that worship forms must not be altogether different in every time and place.

78. Worship forms serve as identifying banners in the confessional field of battle.

79. Peculiar and novel worship forms obscure the unity of the churches and extol the creativity of the worship leaders.

80. In matters neither commanded nor forbidden in the Word of God (adiaphora), the churches of God are free to change ceremonies according to circumstances, as may be most beneficial and edifying to the churches of God. (Epitome, Art X.4)

81. Such changes must avoid all frivolity and offenses, particularly with regard to those who are weak in faith (Epitome, Art X.5).

82. Where the Gospel is at stake, concessions in ceremony must not be made so as to suggest unity with those who deny the Gospel (Epitome, Art X.6)

83. Therefore, it is contrary to the doctrine of adiaphora to hide the substance of Lutheran doctrine behind a non-Lutheran style of worship.

******

One more post to come completing the posting of all 95 of these "New 95 Theses." That will be up tomorrow. I encourage you to read through these again if you've been folloing them. They challenge the common practice in the American church today. They challenge the norm and the average. They expose challenging questions and problems that deserve to be answered and accounted for.

I don't know how God will use this. Perhaps 50 years from now someone will stumble upon these, like I stumbled upon Luther's 95 theses nearly 500 years after he wrote them. Perhaps, like those did to me, these also will cause someone to begin asking the hard questions that need to be asked again.

The Reformation that began on October 31st, 1517 continues to this day. The Reformation that God began through Martin Luther has swept across the world. In small pockets and growing in speed and strength, young and old alike are rediscovering the call to return to God's word as the final and absolute authority in all things spiritual and religious, abandoning the false, subjective, experiential religion that is passed off as modern day "Christianity."

This move back to truths that were uncovered during the early Reformation days is wide, diverse and sweeping! Individuals, pastors, laymen, the learned and the uneducated alike, churches and even communities, are hearing and answering the call to arms; the call to return to and defend the faith once delivered to the saints. They are acknowledging the warning of the hidden dangers, being disguised as truth and godly religion that has for far to long been growing in its focus on the Christian and our ministries, obscuring any possible focus on Christ till there is barely any trace of Christ and His ministry left in our churches.

Dancing on the Devil’s Grave

2010-10-30T20:34:00.000-07:00

by William Cwirla
Halloween has become a major commercial holiday in this country, second in potential profit making only to the Christmas season. The average American family now spends well over $100 each year in tricks, treats, and scary decorations.

What do we Christians do with Halloween? Is it innocent fun or something to avoid?

History
Halloween is short for All Hallows Eve, that is, the evening before All Saints Day, a Christian holy day on which Christians honored the saints (the “hallowed” ones), the heroes and martyrs of the faith. For Lutherans, All Hallows Eve is also Reformation Day, the day Martin Luther posted his 95 Theses for debate on the door of the Castle Church at Wittenberg.

In the Middle Ages, people had a profound sense of the demonic. Just think of Luther’s Reformation hymn, “A Mighty Fortress:” “Though devils all the world should fill, all eager to devour us.” People believed that the demons were especially active on the eve of All Hallows. People carved gourds with ugly faces and set them out to guard their homes. This was similar to the practice of carving grotesque gargoyles on the drain spouts of cathedrals to ward off devils. People paraded in the streets dressed up in costumes and masks to confuse the demons and confound their schemes.

The holy day of All Saints has all but died out, especially in Protestant Christianity, which barely recognizes the saints let alone honors them. Popular culture has latched on to All Hallows Eve and turned it into another money-making gimmick. Much of the fun is innocent, albeit bad for the teeth. Children dress up as Power Rangers, ballerinas, and SpongeBob SquarePants and gorge themselves with candy begged from the neighbors under special dispensation from parents and dentists.

There is a darker, more sinister side to Halloween, however. Satanic and pagan groups have made Halloween their own special “high holy day.” Animal shelters warn owners of black cats to keep them indoors so they are not harmed. A night that was once a confrontation with the devil has become a celebration of all things devilish. The old nature always prefers the darkness to the Light.

Ought Christians participate? The easy answer would be a flat out, fundy “no.” But every road has two ditches, and Halloween is no exception.

On the One Side
There is the danger of taking death and the devil too lightly. Make no mistake: The devil is real. He isn’t some red guy with a pointy tail and a pitchfork. He is a liar, the father of lies, and a murderer. He masquerades as an angel of light, appearing to be very religious in order to deceive people and draw their focus away from Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 11:14).

A baptized believer belongs entirely to the Lord and has no fellowship with the devil and his demons. So when Christians take part in the darker side of Halloween, they may create the false impression that death and the devil are not serious business, or that it’s okay for Christians to dine with the devil once and a while, as long as their spoons are long enough. No faithful Christian who takes sin, death, and devil seriously would want anything to do with that.

On the Other Side
There is the danger of taking the devil too seriously. Contrary to what some impressionable types seem to believe, the devil is not all-powerful, all-knowing, almighty, or present everywhere. He is a fallen angel, a creature of God turned against his Creator. He stands chained and defeated by the death and resurrection of Jesus. He is a liar and a loser, and his only hope with the short time that he has left is to convince the world that Jesus’ death on the cross isn’t enough to save us.

Jesus Christ has conquered death once for all people, once for all time. He has defeated the devil by His death on the cross. We can live in confidence, free from fear of death and the devil, knowing that God is at peace with us in the death of Jesus, that Jesus is risen from the dead and that we, too, will rise. Christ has conquered. The devil is defeated. “He’s judged, the deed is done.”

The Middle of the Road
Jesus didn’t hang on a cross so that His Christians could go around with a dour look on their faces judging everyone around them. When Christians become overly critical of Halloween, they may create the false impression that Jesus does not reign now over all things, including the devil, that He has not conquered death by His dying and rising, or that the devil is to be feared more than God.

Sour pietism on the part of Christians confirms the world’s mistaken notion that Christianity is nothing more than a religion of rules ruled by moral nannies who want to suck the fun out of everything. Martin Luther reminded us that we need to spite the devil every chance we get. Luther sure did, often in rather colorful ways. Halloween certainly affords the opportunity to sass the “old, evil foe.”

Having defined the ditches, let’s get back to the question that started this whole discussion. Ought Christians participate in Halloween? It all depends. Of course, I don’t expect baptized believers in Jesus Christ to be dancing in the woods around bonfires while chanting pagan prayers to the mother goddess or sacrificing black cats, ecumenical liberalism notwithstanding. On the other hand, the devil’s chief work is to draw us away from Christ’s death and resurrection and have us focus on our works, prayers, and piety. He seems to be doing a pretty decent job of that in mega-Christianity. Generally speaking, the cultural silliness associated with Halloween has about as much to do with the devil as Christmas has to do with the incarnation of the Son of God.

How Do We Decide?
Love of neighbor and concern for his or her salvation will give us pause for a few questions. What will your neighbor, your family, your children, your brother or sister in Christ think of your Halloween celebration? Will it help or hinder their faith in Jesus? Does your Halloween fun witness to the victory and freedom of Jesus’ death and resurrection, or does it lift up the powers of darkness and death? Does it draw undo attention to the dark and demonic, or does it poke fun at those things that already stand defeated? Are you able to talk frankly about the reality of death and the devil with your children and tell them of the victory of Jesus?

Freedom in Christ is always tempered by love for your neighbor. You are completely free in Jesus to serve your neighbor in love (Rom. 14:1–23).

In the end, you must decide for yourself how and to what extent you and your family will participate in Halloween festivities. Context is important. Local mileage may vary. The best advice I can give is to spite the devil, honor Christ, and wipe that sour look off your face. Remember who you are in Holy Baptism: a baptized priest in Christ’s holy priesthood “that you may declare the wonderful deeds of Him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9).

---

About the Author: Rev. William M. Cwirla is pastor of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Hacienda Heights, Calif.

Entire Sanctification - True or False Doctrine? Part 2

2010-10-30T19:25:00.000-07:00

Entire Sanctification - True or False Doctrine? Part 1

2010-10-29T18:42:00.000-07:00

The "New 95 Theses," Part 12

2010-10-28T21:08:00.000-07:00

61. The old papacy was a friend of Caesar; the new papacy is a friend of Mammon.

62. The old papacy bound a man’s conscience for the sake his wallet; the new papacy binds a man’s wallet for the sake of his conscience.

63. The old papacy promulgated infallible dogma; the new papacy promulgates undebatable visions.

64. The old papacy claims to sit on the seat of Peter; the new papacy claims to sit on the mandate of the majority.

65. The old papacy reserved the right to judge doctrine and practice; the new papacy judges doctrine and practice by commissions and committees.

66. The old papacy issued “bulls;” the new papacy issues task force reports.

67. The old papacy had a college of cardinals; the new papacy has high-priced consultants.

68. Just as popes and councils have erred in the past, so synodical leaders and synodical conventions err in the present.

69. A synod that is concerned for the true unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace does not excuse unionism and syncretism.

70. Unity in doctrine and practice means discernible interchangeability in teaching, preaching, and practice.

71. Unity in doctrine and practice does not consist in signing confessional statements, but in word and deed.

In 3 Paragraphs or Less...

2010-10-25T17:47:00.000-07:00

"...[They have made it all] about what we're doing. The whole church today in America is obsessed with what we are doing to change the world, not what Christ has done to save the world 2000 years ago that we are to proclaim to the ends of the earth until Jesus comes!" -Dr. Michael Horton

Sadly, this is so true. Today, people primarily define the Church by what it does. This should not be, brothers and sisters in Christ. We exist, not because of what we do or will do as a church body, but because of what Christ has done 2000 years ago for us to even be here, calling ourselves the Church in the first place. We were defined to exist by what Christ did through His life, that is living perfectly to fulfill the law, and then dying as a Perfect Sacrifice for our inability to live perfectly, that is our sin, and making full atonement for us in our weakness.

Where ever God raises people from the death of walking in sin, to life in Christ, that is where He creates the Church and it is defined by Christ's finished work, not ours. That is why we are called the Body of Christ and not the body of our own works-righteousness. Some, being ashamed of the Gospel of Christ which is the very power of God, are more inclined to being defined by works-righteousness rather than what God defines the Church as. So be it, but let them not call themselves the Church until they repent and believe in Christ alone as their definition. Is there any wonder why we are called Christians, and they want to reject the term and call themselves "Christ-followers?" We are not Christians because we follow Christ, but we follow Him because we are made Christians (created in Christ) to do the good works, which God prepared in advance for us to walk in (Eph 2:10).

May God richly bless you with the forgiveness of all your sins, won for you by Christ and His vicarious death on the cross!
Brandon

Understanding the Gospel

2010-10-24T09:22:00.000-07:00

Finally got the intro cut into the video instead of it being separate! Enjoy!

The doctrine of the Gospel is discussed. What is it? What do the Scriptures say it is? What is a a different or false "gospel?" We take a look at what Jesus and the apostles, Peter and Paul said the Gospel was. Also, we take a brief look at several false "gospels" that are popular today.

Use, copy and share freely as long as the integrity of the orginial content is maintained.

An "Inconvenient" Truth form Scripture

2010-10-22T21:18:00.000-07:00

The following is a passage of Scripture that some would like to ignore, or pretend isn't really there, or explain away... pretty much do anything with other than actually acknowledge that it is there and true. The reason it is inconvenient for some is that it contradicts their preconceptions on theology and doctrine. Read this passage carefully and let the text speak for itself. What does it mean? Don't ask what does it mean to me, or what does it mean to my denomination, but ask yourself this question, "What does God mean?"

1 Peter 3:18-22

18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, 19 in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, 20 because they formerly did not obey, when God’s patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water. 21 Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 22 who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him.

These words, inspired by God the Holy Spirit Himself, that the apostle Peter recorded for us, are Scriptural. They are truth. What does the passage say baptism does?

Some people think baptism is "symbolic." They say that baptism is just an act of obedience. They say that baptism is only a way for the Christian to make a public declaration of their faith and commitment. If you think this is what baptism is then I would challenge you to find a place in Scripture where it says these things.

Where do we get the idea of baptism from in the first place? From Scripture, right? So then doesn't it follow simple logic to allow Scripture to define for us what baptism is, and does?

Does 1 Peter 3:21 say that the symbology of baptism now saves us literally? No.

Does it say that literal baptism only symbolically saves us? No.

Does it even say that the symbol of literal baptism figuratively saves us symbolically in the literal sense of the salvation that we receive in reality? No.

It is quite simple actually. The passage quite clearly states that baptism (literal, not symbolic) now saves us, (literally, NOT symbolically).

God can choose to saves us by whatever means He wishes to use. In His word He has told us that He has chosen to use Baptism as a means of His grace. Both are literal, not symbolic. The grace bestowed on us, through faith, for the sake of Christ in our literal, physical baptism, literally saves our literal eternal souls from God's literal, eternal wrath for our literal sins against Him.

When we read the Bible plainly, and simply, understanding it literally where it is to be taken literally, then it is so much easier and simpler to understand than trying to make all that symbolical stuff fit into it. The symbolism enters in when man doesn't want to accept God's word for what it says. When we read it, being open to what it means without us imposing our preconceived notions on it about what it already is going to say, it becomes quite clear what it means, doesn't it. Now the only question which reamains is, are you going to believe it?

The "New 95 Theses," Part 11

2010-10-22T14:07:00.000-07:00

Lutheran Critique

2010-10-21T18:51:00.000-07:00

I just read a couple critiques of Lutheranism over at http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/ written by David J. Stewart. Well, I gotta say, this guy really showed me the light! Here all along I thought Lutheranism was one thing, you know, the thing that Lutherans themselves had taught me about Lutheranism, and I guess I was being deceived all along! I guess I had better repent of my false beliefs and become a Baptist who reads nothing but the 1611 KJV Bible. In case you don't know, that was completely tongue-in-cheek. I have no intention of recanting from Lutheranism, unless someone can show me from Scripture why it is wrong. Oh, and I love my new, shiny ESV Lutheran Study Bible.

I respect what this guy is trying to do on this website. He's trying to stand up for the truth, expose lies and deceit and warn people about false doctrines that will have eternal impacts on their eternal souls. Even though I disagree very much with a lot of his conclusions I can appreciate the principle that is behind what he's doing. I'm not angry that he wrote against Lutheranism. I don't get angry when anyone writes against my beliefs. I do think he is very poorly informed on what we believe though.

Here's my take on his writing. I am going to give him the benefit of the doubt and just guess that he's not intentionally lying about any of the facts. I would assume that someone like he, who is so concerned about the truth wouldn't deceitfully malign something just to make it look bad and support his personal opinion. Now, he may very well be, but I am guessing not. Here are some of the problems I have with his critique:

1. His information on Lutheranism is not well researched at all. He makes many mistakes and says many things that are just plain not true.
a. It seems that he didn't actually study Lutheranism independently for himself, but rather had some friend share a few opinions of theirs with him that he took as gospel truth against Lutheranism and didn't actually check the facts for himself.
b. Very likely he has not studied personally the writings of Luther and other Lutheran theologians, but read an anti-Lutheran writer, assuming it all had to be true.

2. He makes the common mistake of thinking that Lutheran doctrine was invented by Martin Luther and is not found in Scripture anywhere, whatsoever.
a. It's also convenient that he doesn't give hardly any of the passages from whence Lutheran doctrine comes.
b. Martin Luther actually did not formulate and write down much of what is contained in the Book of Concord.
c. Just because Luther said it or wrote it, or just because someone claims that it came from the man named Martin Luther, does not mean it is in fact true Scriptural doctrine, which is the requirement for it to be Lutheran doctrine.

3. He quotes Martin Luther out of context on almost every occasion that he quotes him so that it sounds like Luther is saying something he is not. Unstudied critics of Luther often do this.

4. He obviously doesn't understand the difference between a "Lutheran" organization and Lutheran Denominations because he compares one to another as if they are the same.

5. He doesn't seem to understand the difference between liberal, post-modern Lutheran denominations and the more conservative, historically confessional Lutheran denominations.

6. He quotes a line here or there from Lutheran books like the Book of Concord out of context and makes it sound like it is saying something it is not.

7. He makes the common mistake of thinking that just because one single Lutheran said it, they all must believe that way.
a. just because someone makes the claim that they are "Lutheran" does not mean you should just automatically assume that they do in fact believe, confess and teach the Lutheran confessions. If they do not, neither should you consider them a Lutheran, as would logically follow, right?
b. When he quotes Darel E. Paul, he unwittingly quotes a man who was on his way out of Lutheranism, defecting to Roman Catholicism. On this he bases his idea that Lutheranism and Catholicism are essentially the same. Darel E. Paul wrote this article, claiming he was Lutheran, as he was on his way out of it into Catholicism.

8. He comes up with stuff that I have no idea where he got the idea from, like the idea that Lutherans worship Mary.
a. The "evidence," if it can even be called that, which he gives is very vague and most comes from those who left Lutheranism for Catholicism. How embarrassing. Should have done your homework buddy.
b. Confessional Lutherans abhor the worship of Mary, the Saints, false gods and idols.

9. He doesn't give a whole lot in Scriptural evidence, and sometimes none for his opinion that Lutheran teachings are false. He does use, some Scripture, but there again it's out of context.
a. He often follows an out of context Lutheran quote with, "Blasphemy!!!" "What a lie of Satan!!!" "How arrogant!, How blasphemous!, How damnable!" "What a Hoax!" As if saying these things is supposed to automatically make it Heresy
b. He leaves out, edits out, or is just plain ignorant of the immense amount of Scripture that is in the very source for many Lutheran teachings.

10. My guess is that he has never actually met and spoken with a true Lutheran, otherwise they would have easily been able to correct him of his many embarrassing mistakes.
a. Us Lutherans are not hostile to others who have questions. If you think we're wrong on an issue, we're more than willing to talk about it civilly.
b. If he had talked to a Lutheran, they would have been able to help clear up most of his confusion, asssuming he actually want to know the truth.

11. He claims that Lutherans add works to faith which is a completely false statement and makes me wonder if he even understands that Lutherans are comepletely against works-righteousness to a nearly obscene extreme.

12. Many of the teachings that he references he adds things to which make them sound false and heretical.
a. It would be nice if he could actually talk to a Lutheran who could talk back and say, "Wait a second. We don't believe that! When did I ever say we believe that? Where did you get that crazy idea from?"
b. He does a horrible job at correctly representing any Lutheran teaching, thereby butchering the whole thing.

13.Last but not least, I too was once anti-Lutheran and made the some of the same mistakes that Mr. Stewart has. I am speaking from a lot of the correction and experience that I received. Once I was actually willing to listen without my own preconceived ideas and actually try to understand what Lutheranism taught, and what the Scriptures said, instead of only listening to debate it, having already decided it was wrong before I even knew what it was that was wrong, then it actually began to make a lot more sense than what I thought I already knew.

Near the end of one of his articles he says, "I am amazed at how few websites there are EXPOSING the heresies of the Lutheran false religion." Well, Mr. Stewart, perhaps that is because they are better at research than you and actually discovered that Lutheranism is not a false religion. Perhaps they wanted to know the truth and so they sought it out instead of jumping to wild conclusions and taking any anti-Lutheran writer for his word. But hey, what do I know... I'm just a Lutheran after all.

Mr. Stewart also says, "It is a good indicator of the apostasy of our generation that so many believers actually think that Lutherans are Christians." Sir, with all due respect, perhaps it is a good indicator of your ignorance when it comes to what Lutherans really believe and what Scripture says that you think they are a cult in the first place. Mr. Stewart, if you were a little more open to actually learning what real Lutheranism is, instead of your own made up version of it, I bet you'd probably even be tempted to become a Lutheran yourself.

Now, having said all that I will say that there are some "Lutheran" churches and denominations out there that have abandoned true Christian teaching. As a confessional Lutheran I do not consider them Christian, but false and pagan. In fact there are some "Lutheran" churches who have gone over to worshipping a "goddess" in their services. If we could, we would demand firstly that they stop calling themselves Christian, and secondly that they cease and desist using the name Lutheran to identify themselves by. Sadly, this cannot be. Just as Mormons call themselves Christians, false Lutherans can still call themselves Lutheran even though they barely resemble Lutherans at all anymore. Because these "Lutherans" are ashamed of the Scriptures and the Lord, Jesus Christ, I am not afraid to name the largest "Lutheran" denomination that is hardly Lutheran at all anymore: The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). We do not condemn them, but lovingly call them to repentance and forgiveness in Jesus name. Those who are truly Christians in this heretical denomination we encourage to come out from among them and join your true Lutheran brothers and sisters in Christ in the confessional Lutheran churches.

God's blessings in Christ,
Brandon

The "New 95 Theses," Part 10

2010-10-21T15:30:00.001-07:00

The "New 95 Theses," Part 9

2010-10-20T15:30:00.000-07:00

Pure doctrinal seed yields good fruits

2010-10-19T18:44:00.000-07:00

‘From what has been said you can gather how foolish it is, yea, what an awful delusion has taken hold upon so many men’s minds who ridicule the pure doctrine and say to us: “Ah, do cease clamoring, Pure doctrine! Pure doctrine! That can only land you in dead orthodoxism. Pay more attention to pure life, and you will raise a growth of genuine Christianity.”

That is exactly like saying to a farmer: “Do not worry forever about good seed; worry about good fruits.”

Is not a farmer properly concerned about good fruit when he is solicitous about getting good seed? Just so a concern about pure doctrine is the proper concern about genuine Christianity and a sincere Christian life.

False doctrine is noxious seed, sown by the enemy to produce a progeny of wickedness. The pure doctrine is wheat-seed; from it spring the children of the Kingdom, who even in the present life belong in the kingdom of Jesus Christ and in the life to come will be received into the Kingdom of Glory.

May God even now implant in your hearts a great fear, yea, a real abhorrence, of false doctrine! May He graciously give you a holy desire for the pure, saving truth, revealed by God Himself!’

— C. F. W. Walther, The Proper Distinction Between Law and Gospel

The "New 95 Theses," Part 8

2010-10-19T15:30:00.000-07:00

The Power of God

2010-10-18T22:42:00.000-07:00

I saw this picture and instantly thought of the old revival meetings that I used to attend where during the service at some point there was bound to be an outbreak of some kind of crazy manifestation that was supposedly the power of God or the Holy Spirit moving. I saw people fall over, people break out into uncontrollable bursts of ecstatic mumbo-jumbo speak (they called it tongues), people who shook uncontrollably in a convulsion-like state, others who would be in a trance like state, sometimes completely frozen in place for a long period of time, others who would sprint around hooting and hollering like the Holy Spirit had lit their tales on fire and still others who would be laughing hysterically at nothing. The list goes on, but I need not go into anymore detail.

Now, before you try to dismiss me by saying, "The natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God..." Let me tell you that, as embarrassed as I am to say this, I was actually one of those who participated. Yep, I used to be all wrapped up in that stuff and at one time I actually thought it was the real thing. I was so deceived. I was so naive! I was also very serious about this stuff. I completely believed that this was the epitome of Christian worship. If you weren't doing this kind of stuff, well, then you just weren't spiritual enough! You just didn't "get it." You were not an elite Christian, but a "dead Christian," or not a real Christian at all.

"I've heard many of the people in this movement say, "If this stuff wasn't going on here I wouldn't be going to this church."

I can not be thankful to God enough, having had first hand experience with this kind of circus show act, that I was rescued from this unbiblical, insane, demonic deception. Think those words are too strong? They're coming from me. You have to understand that I more than qualified to speak to this situation. I once lived in it. This stuff could definitely be spiritual. I have very little doubt that it is. I would say that I'm 99.99% sure that it is spiritual in almost every case. The only question I would ask is, when the spirit moves, what spirit is it? Is it the Spirit of the One True Living God, or is it a demonic spirit, sowing confusion, lies, distractions and giving people what they want - a nice show of signs and wonders? I've heard many of the people in this movement say, "If this stuff wasn't going on here I wouldn't be going to this church." Doesn't that show us something about their heart and what they're really seeking? It isn't God... it's the signs, the miracles, the wonders. They want to be amazed and dazzled with a big, bright magic show! They don't want God. They want what God can offer them to entertain them.

Herod wanted Jesus to entertain him by going for a little walk across his pool. When Jesus refused him his sign and wonder, Herod turn our great God and Savior back over to the people who wanted to kill Him. Herod's attitude can tell us a lot. He wasn't looking for God, he just wanted to be entertained with a magic show!

I do not believe that all people in the Charismatic movement are intentionally seeking the sign above God, but their conscious intentions do not excuse them either. I do believe that many who are trapped in this movement are genuinely there to do their best to love and worship God. Like me, back then, they were just told this was the best way to do it. Like me, back then, they have a lot of zeal, but not according to knowledge - the knowledge of God. They may think they have a great love for God, a great fervor for God, a great passion for God, but take away all the supposed signs, wonders and miracles, and I honestly wonder how many would stick around to hear about Jesus.

"Would they embrace that Jesus who didn't take Himself down off the cross when mockers mocked?"

Dry, plain old Jesus. Would they embrace the Jesus who didn't "prove" Himself before the entertainment hungry crowds at Herod's court? Would they embrace the Jesus, who did not speak a word in His defense when accused? Would they embrace the Jesus who didn't stop the beatings, the cursing, the spitting, the whipping or the hair from being torn from His face? Would they embrace the Jesus who hung naked, bruised, crushed, rejected, with iron spikes through his hands and feet and who didn't utter a word of protest when he was crucified? Would they embrace that Jesus who didn't take Himself down off the cross when mockers mocked? Somehow I don't think so. Instead of embracing that powerless Jesus they would have been the ones in the crowds, some of whom had seen the miracles performed by Jesus' very hands, crying, "Crucify Him! Crucify Him!"

This powerless Jesus is embarrassing to the Charismatics. All He offers is forgiveness of sins, bought with His shed blood. He doesn't offer them the victorious, miraculous, sign and wonder filled life that they want - that they've been promised - He offers them a life of picking up their own cross, of being hated and ridiculed for the seemingly foolishness and weakness of following a man who hung on a cross. On top of that, the reason Jesus Himself said He had to die was offensive. He was dying for our sins, the sins of the world, because no one is righteous, no not one, and all have fallen short of the glorious standard of God. This is not esteem building news. This does not puff up the ego. This doesn't pat the self's pride on the back and say, "Good job boy!"

Where does our hope lie? Where does true power reside? It's not in the wacky antics of the Charismatic movement or their false signs and wonders. It resides only in the Gospel, the good news that God saves bad people, like me and like you, each and everyday. He doesn't save us through acts of great power and impressive shows of the supernatural. God saved us through the humiliation, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. God saves us through what some people call weakness, through what philosophers would call foolish and through what the world sees as a stumbling block.

"Yet so few realize and see it for what it is - a true, modern day miracle!"

The gate narrow, yet just wide enough that God, in His infinite wisdom and mercy, can push us, fighting and kicking, through that gate. He doesn't sugar-coat it either, He demands that we repent, which requires us to humble ourselves and acknowledge in the first place that what He says of us, that we are sinful and depraved, is true. He demands that we believe in Jesus Christ as the only way to Him and out of our sins. This does not seem very palpable, and rather foolish to us today, especially in our post-modern, politically correct society. In order to push us through, we have to die to ourselves, our desires and what seems good and right in our own eyes, but we don't want to die! So God has to kill us completely and make us new creations in Christ.

It takes a radical, extreme measure to deal with us. This is the power of God manifesting in our lives today! This is it! Yet so few realize and see it for what it is - a true, modern day miracle! God works in us, the old man of sin who walks in the desires and passions of the flesh, killing, burying and raising anew, a creation that can love God and do good works predestined for him to walk in!

"Jesus didn't pull any punches, and the rich young man went away sad because he had much wealth."

Remember the rich young man whom Jesus pointed to the law of God, the Ten Commandments, to show him his sinfulness, then, even when the man thought he was good enough, Jesus showed him a very specific sin that was first and foremost in his life - the sin of loving money above God. Jesus didn't pull any punches, and the rich young man went away sad because he had much wealth. What Jesus said following that really shocked the disciples. He said it would be easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to make it into heaven. This shocked the disciples because the rich were seen as blessed by God, therefore having been pleasing to God to merit such favor, they should certainly be the most likely to make it into heaven!

The disciples respond in dismay to Jesus words that the rich are not the most likely to get into heaven. "Who can be saved," they asked! Jesus came back with a peculiar answer. He said, "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."

With God all things are possible! Acknowledging, confessing and repenting of our sins is impossible for man. Not so with God. Believing with faith in the Gospel is impossible for man. Not so with God!

John 1:11-13

11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. 12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

Not by our will, our power, our understanding or our decision. It was God's will, God's power, God's peace, made with us through Christ's death for our sins, that surpasses our understanding and God's decision that made us children of God Himself.

1 Corinthians 1:18

18 For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

The word of the cross is a foolish word to many, but for us who are being saved, the Christians, chosen by God, just as He chose the Hebrew people long ago when they did not know Him, the word of the cross, the Gospel of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ is, though it seem foolishness and weakness to the world, the very power of God Himself poured out for us, on us and working through us in our justification and sanctification. May God receive all the glory forever and ever. Amen.

"Do you seek the Christ of the Scriptures, or do you seek and follow after just what you can get out of the Christ of your own imagination?"

Think about what I've said here. Test yourself. Jesus had a lot of followers when He was working miracles, feeding thousands from a handful of loaves and fish and healing the sick, the blind, the lame and the lepers. When He went to the cross though, where were the multitudes? Even most of His disciples left Him, running in fear and shame. Even those that said they would die for with Him rather than leave Him, ultimately left Him to carry out the rest of His work on earth alone and dejected. Do you seek the Christ of the Scriptures, or do you seek and follow after just what you can get out of the Christ of your own imagination? Do you confess and believe in Christ, even in His humiliation and death, or do you readily admit that if He weren't doing the things you want Him to you will send Him packing and find your "Jesus" elsewhere? I think that's a very valid question that we should all ask ourselves.

May God grant us all repentance and faith in the good news that Christ finished the work, even when we betrayed and left Him, through a vicarious atonement of all our sins, imputed to us worthless beggers who's most righteous works are like filthy rags before the sight of God. Receive the forgiveness of your sins today - Christ has given us the assurance of this and made it a reality. That's a powerful promise that you can count on for sure!

Brandon

The "New 95 Theses," Part 7

2010-10-18T11:29:00.000-07:00

Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, the public bulletin board of his day. In like manner, we, Athanasius and Chrysostom, post these 95 theses on the door of the Internet. Like the original theses, these are debatable, for we believe that it is through vigorous debate that the spirits are tested and truth is revealed.

In publishing these theses, we do not intend to foment division, but to expose those who are creating division within the body of Christ. We are not addressing any particular church body or person, but invite all who love the Gospel of Jesus Christ to engage in this debate. We do so in the spirit of the great Reformer, Martin Luther, as we implore the mercies of God upon His Church, for the sake of Jesus Christ, the Lord of the Church and Bishop of our souls.

31. To be in the church is to be in union with Christ through faith.

32. Regardless of the number of people in attendance, the church does not grow unless men are granted repentance and faith by God through the action of His Word.

33. Scripture clearly teaches that the means by which God grants faith are the the hearing of the Word of Christ (the Gospel) and the water of Holy Baptism.

34.Therefore, even if a congregation, through their own marketing methods and business prowess were able to draw 100,000 people every Sunday, if the Gospel is not heard and the sacraments are not administered according to the Gospel there is no church and the true Church of Jesus Christ has not grown by a single soul.

35. If numerical growth is a measure of God’s approval, then we must conclude that God approves of Islam and the Mormons.

36. If financial success is a measure of God’s approval, then we must conclude that God approves of pornography and gambling.

37. Cancer and crabgrass both grow rapidly, as does the church that obscures the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Keep posted for the next batch of theses!

May God richly bless you with the unconditional forgiveness of all your sins, won for you by the vicarious death and resurrection of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ! Amen.

Brandon

I'm gonna see the Dead Sea Scrolls!

2010-10-17T09:43:00.000-07:00

Today my wife, our daughter and I will set out on a long journey. Danger awaits around every museum corner, peril hangs from the ceiling and ninja will be jumping out of the shadows left and right, but we will ultimately triumph! We are on our way to see the Dead Sea Scrolls, and nothing, not even ninja will be able to stop us! Okay, now back to reality. But seriously, we are really going to see the DSS's.

Now, I don't believe that a pilgrimage of any type makes you more holy or pleasing to God than you are already through faith in Jesus work for you. I give no credence to a pilgrimage for its ability to prove that one is more pious than another. A crippled and blind man who has simple, child-like faith in the Gospel is many times over, more pleasing to God than the man who thinks his trip to see artifacts is, in and of itself, pleasing to God.

That being said, I am very excited to go see some of the oldest, extant manuscripts of the Bible that we have today! It is actually something that I have dreamed about and thought long and hard about. Awhile back I had heard that the DSS had come to Minnesota and were on display, but then I thought I had heard they had left. I was too busy to even think about planning a trip to see them. When I heard that they had left I was pretty upset that I had missed them and have had it in the back of my mind that I will someday have to travel to the Holy Land just to see these precious, priceless artifacts.

Speaking of priceless, did you know that on July 1, 1954, all 972 documents were purchased by Prof. Mazar and the son of Prof. Sukenik, Yigael Yadin, for US$250,000 and brought back to East Jerusalem? Isn't that crazy? These things are priceless, yet it would seem that God worked providentially in this situation to allow the DSS's to be purchased and preserved by a country which was friendly to them.

So how is it that we are now fortunate enough to go see these today? They are on exhibit at the Science Museum of Minnesota! It turns out that they never left but have been their since March. Somehow I got the impression they were only there for a month... They will only be there till 10/24/2010. I highly suggest that you go see them. It will be well worth it! Photography is not allowed so this is probably the extent of the media I will be able to provide.

These scrolls can only be put on exhibit once a year and then they have to be put in the dark for at least a year, according to Dr. Katz, so the likelyhood that there will be another chance like this for anyone in this area to be able to see them again this easily will be highly unlikely. Maybe they'll come back to this area in another 50 years or so, if we're all still around at that time. Hope you get to see them if you want to!

Brandon

P.s., here are some more, shorter, preview videos.

Who, Me? A Sinner???

2010-10-16T13:39:00.000-07:00

The doctrine of sin is discussed. What is it? What do the Scriptures say sin is? What is a wrong understanding of sin? Original sin, also known as sin nature, actual sin, sins of commision and ommision, and the depravity of human nature are discussed. Also, we take a short look at the "unforgivable sin."

Use, copy and share as long as the integrity of the orginial content is maintained.

New 95 Theses, Part 6

2010-10-13T00:52:00.000-07:00

Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, the public bulletin board of his day. In like manner, we, Athanasius and Chrysostom, post these 95 theses on the door of the Internet. Like the original theses, these are debatable, for we believe that it is through vigorous debate that the spirits are tested and truth is revealed.

In publishing these theses, we do not intend to foment division, but to expose those who are creating division within the body of Christ. We are not addressing any particular church body or person, but invite all who love the Gospel of Jesus Christ to engage in this debate. We do so in the spirit of the great Reformer, Martin Luther, as we implore the mercies of God upon His Church, for the sake of Jesus Christ, the Lord of the Church and Bishop of our souls.

27. The true means by which fallen sinners are reached is the preaching of Christ and His sacraments. (Romans 10:17)

28. The true need that mankind is seeking but does not know is justification by grace through faith for Christ’s sake.

29. Since justification is through faith and not through works, natural man neither seeks it nor desires it.

30. Therefore, the teaching of justification by grace through faith is neither seeker-sensitive nor relevant to a world that naturally seeks self-justification.

Rules for thesis debate:

1. Select the thesis or theses you wish to discuss and make you points about each one individually and specifically.

2. Do not debate "generally." The points are made specifically, so discuss specific points and debate accordingly if you wish to.

3. Enjoy reading and the discussion. Thesis debate can be quite exhilarating. It's a shame we have nearly lost this ancient polemic art form.

Keep posted for the next batch of theses!

May God richly bless you with the unconditional forgiveness of all your sins, won for you by the vicarious death and resurrection of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ! Amen.
Brandon

New 95 Theses, Part 5

2010-10-12T17:00:00.000-07:00

Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, the public bulletin board of his day. In like manner, we, Athanasius and Chrysostom, post these 95 theses on the door of the Internet. Like the original theses, these are debatable, for we believe that it is through vigorous debate that the spirits are tested and truth is revealed.

In publishing these theses, we do not intend to foment division, but to expose those who are creating division within the body of Christ. We are not addressing any particular church body or person, but invite all who love the Gospel of Jesus Christ to engage in this debate. We do so in the spirit of the great Reformer, Martin Luther, as we implore the mercies of God upon His Church, for the sake of Jesus Christ, the Lord of the Church and Bishop of our souls.

22. The church is holy sheep who hear the voice of their Shepherd.

23. How can sheep hear the voice of their Shepherd when false shepherds preach self-help and pop-psychology?

24. Purveyors of purpose-driven relevance are not shepherds of men’s souls but wolves in sheep’s clothing.

25. Purveyors of relevance claim that self-help, life-applications and biblical principles are the means to reach the unchurched because they meet people’s felt needs.

26. Yet a person’s greatest need is one he does not by nature feel, namely the need for the righteousness that comes from God through faith in Jesus Christ.

Rules for thesis debate:

1. Select the thesis or theses you wish to discuss and make you points about each one individually and specifically.

2. Do not debate "generally." The points are made specifically, so discuss specific points and debate accordingly if you wish to.

3. Enjoy reading and the discussion. Thesis debate can be quite exhilarating. It's a shame we have nearly lost this ancient polemic art form.

Keep posted for the next batch of theses!

May God richly bless you with the unconditional forgiveness of all your sins, won for you by the vicarious death and resurrection of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ! Amen.

Brandon

New 95 Theses, Part 4

2010-10-12T00:49:00.000-07:00

Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, the public bulletin board of his day. In like manner, we, Athanasius and Chrysostom, post these 95 theses on the door of the Internet. Like the original theses, these are debatable, for we believe that it is through vigorous debate that the spirits are tested and truth is revealed.

In publishing these theses, we do not intend to foment division, but to expose those who are creating division within the body of Christ. We are not addressing any particular church body or person, but invite all who love the Gospel of Jesus Christ to engage in this debate. We do so in the spirit of the great Reformer, Martin Luther, as we implore the mercies of God upon His Church, for the sake of Jesus Christ, the Lord of the Church and Bishop of our souls.

17. The true gold of the Church is the Most Holy Gospel of the glory and the grace of God.

18. But this treasure is a stench in the nostrils of fallen and sinful men because it exposes man’s complete lack of ability to save himself by his own religious efforts.

19. On the other hand, the fool’s gold of self-help is preferred by sinful men, for it creates the illusion of moral progress and a life that is pleasing to God apart from repentance.

20. The gold of the Gospel is the net by which Christ would make us fishers of men.

21. The fool’s gold of self-help is a snare by which purpose-driven purveyors of relevance attempt to capture the riches and approval of men.

Rules for thesis debate:

1. Select the thesis or theses you wish to discuss and make you points about each one individually and specifically.

2. Do not debate "generally." The points are made specifically, so discuss specific points and debate accordingly if you wish to.

3. Enjoy reading and the discussion. Thesis debate can be quite exhilarating. It's a shame we have nearly lost this ancient polemic art form.

Keep posted for the next batch of theses!

May God richly bless you with the unconditional forgiveness of all your sins, won for you by the vicarious death and resurrection of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ! Amen.

Brandon

An Issue of Straining Gnats and Swallowing Camels?

2010-10-12T00:42:00.000-07:00

Is the side of the debate, over baptism by immersion versus sprinkling, washing or dipping, that takes the stance that the only valid baptism is one where a person is completely immersed, from head to toes, an example of straining gnats and swallowing camels?

The Pharisees where a group of religious people who were renowned for their outward appearance of keeping the law of Moses. They were so good at it that they had to make up additional laws that didn't exist in Scripture to begin with. It seems that Moses didn't give them enough laws in the Torah and they needed more to obey so they started making up their own traditions and works that would set them even further apart from the general Jewish populace. From the outside, they looked very, very righteous indeed.

In Jesus' 7 Woes which He pronounced on the Scribes and the Pharisees, He said this in the fourth woe:

Matthew 23:23-24
23 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. 24 You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel!

The significance of the gnat and the camel can be clearly seen when we remember that both were considered unclean animals in the Mosaic commands regarding ceremonial cleanliness. It was the practice of the Pharisees to drink with their teeth clenched in order that they would not swallow a gnat that may have flown into their cup. They would easily be able to pick the little creature out of their teeth. When Jesus said, "straining gnats and swallowing a camel," they would have gotten the picture immediately. Jesus was exposing their utter hypocrisy. We can all imagine the clownishly foolish caricature of a man methodically picking the little drowned gnats out of his teeth and then opening wide to gulp down a gigantic camel. Only a man blind to the huge difference in his actions would continue on, thinking he was remaining ceremonially clean, when in reality he was kidding himself.

The Bible Knowledge Commentary gives us this additional insight into this passage:
While meticulously following the Law in this area (Lev 27:30), they failed to manifest the justice, mercy, and faithfulness demanded by the Law. They were majoring on minors, straining out a gnat, while minoring on majors, swallowing a camel. Being so busy with small details, they never dealt with the important matters. Jesus was not saying tithing was unimportant; He was saying they were completely neglecting the one area at the expense of the other. They should have been doing both. Since they were not, they were blind guides.

I brought up the fact that the Pharisees came up with new ways of being holy, new works to make them more righteous which were essentially their own made up rules. Often times these would look like they were Scriptural, giving it the appearance of really being true, but Jesus called it "traditions of men," while leaving the commandment of God (Mark 7:8). In Mark 7:8-12, Jesus rebukes the Pharisees for neglecting to care for their parents as commanded by the Law of God. What was their excuse for doing this? They despised the good commandment of God and told their parents, "Whatever you would have gained from me has been given to God." They were essentially refusing their elderly parents the help and care that God required of them in order to devote that time, service and money that was rightfully their parents, to something that would bring them glory and fame before the eyes of men, namely, the synagogue and their lifestyle of over-the-top religiosity.

What the Pharisees failed to realize was that God's command to care for their aged parents was a far greater good work than anything they could do in "ministry." In fact they were neglecting the ministry (service in vocation) that God had called them to as the children of their elderly parents. One act of humble service to father and mother in seasoned age is seen as greater and more pleasing by God than tens of thousands of acts of servitude and self-sacrifice in a ministry where one has neglected and left their parents to fend for themselves without proper means to do so. Can we rightly say that we love our neighbor when we leave our own dear father and mother helpless and alone? What kind of lunatic thinks that is righteous? They are mad, foolish and not a good servant of God, but a wicked servant of Satan who seeks the public's affirming nod above that of God Himself! They may look holy to the world, but that "holiness" will be burned away as chaff in the flame of God's purifying fire, and then what will be left of them? Nothing.

In the same way that the Pharisees strained the gnat and swallowed the camel, as Jesus so aptly put it, is it not splitting hairs to insist upon someone having to be fully submerged in water? Are we not taking baptism out of the category of a Gospel gift and making it about obedience and another law that we must now follow, or we are not really 100% Christian? Baptism is a gift, a physical means, mixed with the Word, by which God works in us His grace. Baptism is God's work to us and in us. Does the method in which the water is applied really matter that much? I was fully immersed in a pool in my grandparent's back yard when I was baptized. I was baptized with water and in the name of the Father and in the name of the Son and in the name of the Holy Spirit, just as Jesus commanded His disciples should do. My daughter was also baptized with water and in the name of the Father and in the name of the Son and in the name of the Holy Spirit, just as Jesus commanded His disciples. She however was baptized by a Vicar (student pastor) and her head was washed over a Baptismal font.

Now, some would say that she's not been truly baptized. They would insist that she must be fully submerged in water because the Greek word for baptize, βαπτίζω (baptizō) means immerse. Ah, but that's only one of the many, many meanings. That is the meaning they want to use because it best fits their preconceived beliefs about the subject. Did you know that the word can also mean, and in many cases more often, wash, dip, cleanse, ceremonially cleanse, purify by washing, or even cause religious experience. The Intermediate Greek-English Lexicon tells us that βαπτίζω (baptizō) means to dip in or under water. Are you noticing a big problem with the immersion only people yet? They have ripped one possible meaning out of the myriad of different meanings this word can have and have insisted that this is the only possible meaning that it can have and therefore you have to be baptized this way, no if's, and's or but's about it!

It is possible that we can become so legalistic in a matter like this where Scripture, and therefore God, has not clearly and authoritatively told us that this is this way it has to be, that is baptism by full submersion only, and never by sprinkling, washing, or dipping or pouring, that the real significance and what is truly important in baptism is minimized, downplayed or lost altogether. Just like the Pharisees forgot that the weightier matters of God's law dealt with justice and mercy and faithfulness, we too can forget that the weightier matters in baptism do not revolve around so much in how the water is applied, but rather in what God is doing in us and to us in our baptism. Baptism is in a way a physical manifestation of God's grace and mercy, His very saving power, being poured out on us. I would defy anyone to find a passage in Scripture that says baptism is a public declaration of our faith or that we've made a decision for Christ. All it would take is one clear passage. Just one would suffice. Show me the Scripture and I'll thank you for correcting me.

I'll say this much. If you want to be immersed, then by all means, be baptized by immersion. I am definitely NOT saying that their is anything wrong with this method of applying the waters of baptism. If you want to be sprinkled, washed, dipped or poured on, then be baptized. Just be baptized. The important thing is not how the water makes contact with you, or by how much of you the water makes contact with, but simply that the water makes contact and that you're baptized in the name of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, as Jesus commanded. What makes it a baptism is that there is water mixed with God's Word being applied to you - this is what is clearly instructed of us in the Scripture. I think it's interesting that the ones who believe it means immersion only are the only ones who refuse to baptize in any other way. I've never known of anyone who believes that pouring is an acceptable method of baptizing someone, to reject immersion. Many Lutherans pour water over the head, but would have no problem with fully immersing someone if asked to do so. Again, the important thing is that the person is baptized.

To end on a fun note, I've borrowed this joke about two minister friends from opposite sides of the baptism debate having a conversation about it.

*****

Two long time friends were walking in the cool of the morning discussing the mode of baptism. Both had graduated seminary at the same time, moved to the same town, and each started their ministries there: One a Baptist - the other a Presbyterian (Go figure...)

Let's listen in to their conversation:

Presbyterian: So let me get this straight...you believe a person isn't baptized unless they have been fully immersed in water - is that correct?

Baptist: Correct. We believe in full immersion - not pouring or sprinkling.

Presbyterian: So if you walked a person into a stream up to their ankles that wouldn't consist in an actual baptism?

Baptist: No sir, no baptism.

Presbyterian: What if you got them wet up past their knees?

Baptist: Still not good enough.

Presbyterian: What about if they waded in to their waist? Would you pronounce them baptized?

Baptist: No, no, no...what about immersion do you not understand?

Presbyterian: Please forgive me, I am slow sometimes...I really do want to understand you and I thank you for your patience. Just a couple of more questions and I'll move onto other edifying topics. What if they were immersed up to their chest?

Baptist: No.

Presbyterian: Neck?

Baptist: No.

Presbyterian: What if they walked all the way in, held their breath, and were up to their eyeballs in water?

Baptist: No, they have to be immersed.

Presbyterian: I think I understand now...You and I agree after all! Wait until the next Presbyter meeting!

Baptist: Wha...What do you mean? Did I convince you that immersion is the only way for baptism to be properly administered?

Presbyterian: On the contrary - you gave me great evidence against it!

Baptist: I did?!?

Presbyterian: You sure did. You convinced me that getting your feet wet doesn't make one baptized. You convinced me that getting wet up to your knees or waist doesn't make one baptized. You convinced me that being up to your chest or neck in water doesn't make one baptized. You even convinced me that being up to your eyeballs in water doesn't cut it.

Baptist: So?!?

Presbyterian: So what that tells me is that both of us deem water being administered to the head as sufficient to consider one baptized.

*****

May God richly bless you with the unconditional forgiveness of all your sins, won for you by the vicarious death and resurrection of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ! Amen.

Brandon

New 95 Theses, Part 3

2010-10-07T15:00:00.000-07:00

To read Part 1 Click Here

To read Part 2 Click Here

In publishing these theses, we do not intend to foment division, but to expose those who are creating division within the body of Christ. We are not addressing any particular church body or person, but invite all who love the Gospel of Jesus Christ to engage in this debate. We do so in the spirit of the great Reformer, Martin Luther, as we implore the mercies of God upon His Church, for the sake of Jesus Christ, the Lord of the Church and Bishop of our souls.

12. Apart from the Holy Spirit, the seeker cannot understand the things of God for these are “spiritually discerned” (1 Cor 2:14).

13. The natural man does not naturally seek the Gospel. “I was found by those who did not seek me; I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me” (Is. 65:1)

14. The true Seeker of men’s souls is our Lord Jesus Christ who came to seek and to save the lost by His death on the cross (Luke 19:10).

15. The truly “seeker-sensitive” church proclaims God’s wrath against our sin and His mercy for Jesus’ sake.

16. The preaching of Christ crucified is a stumbling block to purpose-driven pragmatists and foolishness to church growth consultants.

Rules for thesis debate:

1. Select the thesis or theses you wish to discuss and make you points about each one individually and specifically.

2. Do not debate "generally." The points are made specifically, so discuss specific points and debate accordingly if you wish to.

3. If you wish to contra debate someone who is debating generally, first ask them to narrow their complaint to its specific points, to clarify if they will.

4. If you do not like the rules of debating when it comes to theses simply do not do so. I will take the liberty of deleting any comments that do not deal specifically with the specific points of these theses.

5. Enjoy reading and the discussion. Thesis debate can be quite exhilarating. It's a shame we have nearly lost this ancient polemic art form.

Keep posted for the next batch of theses!

May God richly bless you with the unconditional forgiveness of all your sins, won for you by the vicarious death and resurrection of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ! Amen.

New 95 Theses, Part 2

2010-10-06T21:15:00.000-07:00

If you haven't read the first 5 theses Go to Part 1

Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, the public bulletin board of his day. In like manner, we, Athanasius and Chrysostom, post these 95 theses on the door of the Internet. Like the original theses, these are debatable, for we believe that it is through vigorous debate that the spirits are tested and truth is revealed.

In publishing these theses, we do not intend to foment division, but to expose those who are creating division within the body of Christ. We are not addressing any particular church body or person, but invite all who love the Gospel of Jesus Christ to engage in this debate. We do so in the spirit of the great Reformer, Martin Luther, as we implore the mercies of God upon His Church, for the sake of Jesus Christ, the Lord of the Church and Bishop of our souls.

6. Relevance, self-help and pop-psychology have no power to work true contrition over sins and faith in Jesus Christ.

7. Like clouds without rain, purpose-driven preachers withhold the proclamation of the forgiveness of sins won by Christ on the cross and enslave men’s consciences to the law which they cleverly disguise as so-called 'Biblical Principles'.

8. By teaching tips for attaining perfect health, debt-free wealth, and better sex in marriage, the purveyors of relevance undermine true fear, love and trust in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

9. They are enemies of Christ, who distort the Word of God by tearing verses from their original context in order to use them as proof texts for their self-help, pop-psychology agendas.

10. Injury is done the Word of God when it is used as a source book for practical, relevant “life applications.”

11. In the name of relevance, our Lord Jesus Christ is reduced to a life-coach whose “gospel” assists and motivates people to achieve the objectives of their self-centered delusions of grandeur.

Rules for thesis debate:
1. Select the thesis or theses you wish to discuss and make you points about each one individually and specifically.

2. Do not debate "generally." The points are made specifically, so discuss specific points and debate accordingly if you wish to.
3. If you wish to contra debate someone who is debating generally, first ask them to narrow their complaint to its specific points, to clarify if they will.
4. If you do not like the rules of debating when it comes to theses simply do not do so. I will take the liberty of deleting any comments that do not deal specifically with the specific points of these theses.
5. Enjoy reading and the discussion. Thesis debate can be quite exhilarating. It's a shame we have nearly lost this ancient polemic art form.

Keep posted for the next batch of theses!

May God richly bless you with the unconditional forgiveness of all your sins, won for you by the vicarious death and resurrection of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ! Amen.

Reformation Day is Coming! New 95 Theses

2010-10-04T16:04:00.000-07:00

In honor of Reformation Day, October 31st, I am going to begin posting several theses each day from the "New 95 Theses," written in the same spirit that the original 95 theses, penned by Martin Luther, were. I plan to post approximately 5 a day, 3-4 days a week until October 31st. I will also include the introduction to the theses by their original authors with each posting. I invite you to the same healthy, respectful debate and discussion that the original authors did as well. If you do wish to debate let me offer you these rules for debating when it comes to theses.

1. Select the thesis or theses you wish to discuss and make you points about each specific.
2. Do not debate "generally." The points are made specifically, so discuss specific points and debate accordingly if you wish.
3. If you wish to contra debate someone who is debating generally, first ask them to narrow their complaint to its specific points, to clarify if they will, so you can be sure to not make a fool of yourself.
4. If you do not like the rules of debating when it comes to theses simply do not do so. I will take the liberty of deleting any comments that do not deal specifically with the specific points of these theses.
5. Enjoy reading and the discussion. Thesis debate can be quite exhilarating. It's a shame we have nearly lost this ancient polemic art form.

Without further ado, I offer you, "The New 95 Theses!"

***** ***** *****

In publishing these theses, we do not intend to foment division, but to expose those who are creating division within the body of Christ. We are not addressing any particular church body or person, but invite all who love the Gospel of Jesus Christ to engage in this debate. We do so in the spirit of the great Reformer, Martin Luther, as we implore the mercies of God upon His Church, for the sake of Jesus Christ, the Lord of the Church and Bishop of our souls.

1. When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said “Repent,” He willed that the whole life of believers should be one of repentance.

2. To “repent” means to be contrite for one’s sins and to trust Jesus Christ and solely in His completed work for one’s forgiveness, life, and salvation.

3. Those who describe the Christian life as purpose-driven deny true repentance, confuse the Law and the Gospel, and obscure the merits of Christ.

4. Impious and wicked are the methods of those who substitute self-help and pop-psychology for the Gospel in the name of relevance.

5. This impious disregard for the Gospel wickedly transforms sacred Scripture into a guidebook for living, a pharisaic sourcebook of principles, and sows tares among the wheat.

***** ***** *****

Keep posted for the next batch of theses!

May God richly bless you with the unconditional forgiveness of all your sins, won for you by the vicarious death and resurrection of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ! Amen.

Closer to God

2010-09-29T18:00:00.000-07:00

The closer one gets to God in this life,
More freedom and joy do they have in all that transpires,
Freed to love God and do anything they want.
Only question is, who are they and what are their desires?

The closer one gets to God in this life,
The more holy and righteous they'll be.
The closer one gets to God in this life,
More of what God sees they will see.

The closer one gets to God in this life,
More sin in their life will there be,
Not because they sin more now than before,
But more of what God always saw, they now see.

The closer one gets to God in this life,
More repentance does that one now need.
The closer one gets to God in this life,
The more aware they will be of every wrong deed.

The closer one gets to God in this life,
Farther away from God will they seem now to be.
The closer one gets to God in this life,
The more need for a Savior they will begin to see.

The closer one gets to God in this life,
The more they despair of their own righteousness.
The closer one gets to God in this life,
The more one trusts alone in Christ's work for us.

The closer one gets to God in this life,
The more does "free-will" begin to look like a myth.
The closer one gets to God in this life,
The more one realizes that even their faith is but a gift.

The closer one gets to God in this life,
More narrow and excluding does that narrow way seem.
The closer one gets to God in this life,
Fewer do they know whom on Christ alone truly lean.

The closer one gets to God in this life,
The more do false brethren and teachers apear.
The closer one gets to God in this life,
The more disgust and grief for false doctrine do they rear.

The closer one gets to God in this life,
More of God's word does that one learn to wield.
The closer one gets to God in this life,
The more the church becomes another mission field.

By Brandon Hanson
Copyright 2010
Free to be copied and distributed free of charge (cannot be sold) so long as the integrity of the original content and order is maintained and proper credit is given to the author.

If This Is Misunderstood, Everything Else Is Too!

2010-09-27T12:27:00.000-07:00

REDISCOVERY

Understanding the Law of God

Intro

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Thank you for watching I hope that I was able to serve you through learning and study of God's word and I pray that the Holy Spirit enlightened you, especially as we looked specifically at God's law.

May God richly bless you in Christ!

Brandon

2010-09-26T15:07:00.000-07:00

A little intro I made for my video blogs. I may not use it just for time sake in the actual videos, but decided to post it anyway just for the fun of it. Enjoy!

Brandon

P.s., New video series will be up shortly

Magic Scripture Twisting

2010-09-19T20:56:00.001-07:00

Article on judging as mentioned in the video:
http://cicministry.org/commentary/worldview0016.htm

Part 1 & 2 of the radio show where Pastor Bob DeWaay talks more about the Believer's Call To Judge: http://cicministry.org/radio_series.php?series=judging

Creeds, Confessions and Catechisms

2010-09-12T13:18:00.000-07:00

A video that takes a look at the new teaching of "Deeds, not Creeds" and explains where this idea has gone wrong.

What's a Lutheran?

2010-09-09T19:19:00.000-07:00

What's a Lutheran?

Click on the link above for a comprehensive overview of Lutheranism.

Good, Informative, Truth

2010-09-09T14:43:00.000-07:00

I don't know how old this is, but update the glasses and the clothes and it could have been broadcasted yesterday. That's how relevent it is to our situation as it still stands today with the issues being talked about in this video. This is long, but good. What do you think?

2010-09-09T11:56:00.000-07:00

Warn Everyone!
You have to be completely and utterly spiritually blind to not know that something isn't quite right in the mainstream American church today. Something is amiss. Even if you can't quite place your finger on it you have to notice it. Many of us also know that there are false teachers out there. We have some concept of the damage they can do even if we don't fully comprehend it. At worst, we know it is bad. At best, we understand it the way the Scriptures teach it.

The question that many of us wrestle with is this: is it really our job to call these false men out, to point out problems with teachings that don't align themselves with the Bible? Don't we have better things to do? Isn't warning people of false teachers and teaching the job of someone else? Who am I to say that I think someone else is wrong?

There are countless, pitiful excuses that people come up with for not being discerning. Everything from not wanting to "be judgmental" to not wanting to be "divisive." These arguments are completely illogical. Jesus told us to judge, we are called to test everything by Scripture. Most importantly, we are to warn other people, not only of a future judgement in hell, but of the false teaching that will lead them there. If we do not we will be guilty of their blood. We will be murderers in God's eyes because of our silence. Murder is the crime, silence is the tool, and our selfishness in putting our own convenience and public image first is the motive. Take a look at what the apostle Paul said Acts 20:26-32 about just this issue.

26 Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all men.

27 For I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God.

28 Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.

29 For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock.

30 Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves.

31 Therefore watch, and remember that for three years I did not cease to warn everyone night and day with tears.

32 “So now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified. (Emphasis added as italics and bold letters)

What do you think?

Perhaps you've heard something similiar to this?

2010-09-08T16:53:00.000-07:00

Spontanious Combustion: The Human Kind

2010-09-08T15:44:00.000-07:00

My mind has been so chalk full of ideas and subjects (mostly Christ-centered) to write about that I've gotten about 5 or more posts ready to go flying off the presses, but there's the matter of the final drafts being polished and ready. That takes more time than shooting off a random blog post. There's the fact checking, Scripture referencing, and spelling/grammar checking. Then there's the issue of determining whether or not the post I put out is actually good and worth a person's time to read. It doesn't all have to be serious, but still.... I don't want to be putting out worthless information.

Remember, thoughtless people think everyone else is just being very thoughtful of them. So put that in your pipe and smoke it.

All this sometimes makes me feel like I'm about to spontaniously combust: the human kind. There, I put out my first, real, worthless blog post. I knew it would happen sooner or later. Now back to grinding the axe. I'll have a new sharp and shiny one up and swinging in no time.

"Get Out Before I Call the Cops On You!"

2010-09-04T12:18:00.000-07:00

So I was having random thoughts today about things that have happened in the past to me personally. It's not that I'm bitter, or unable to forgive, but often I look back and find laughter-worthy humor in my past, especially when dealing with less than rational people who are very important to themselves in their own eyes. Now, certainly, I am not immune to stupidity and if you just ask my wife she can share with you a couple stories about how I've fallen short of the Glory of God on more than one occasion, but she wouldn't do that, I hope... lol.

So anyway, let me turn this around and help you relate to this situation by giving you a little illustrated example. Let's say we had both agreed to come together to discuss things in which we felt we may not quite see eye-to-eye on. How will we really know though until we discuss it together? So you come to my house. We sit down and begin to have a mostly respectful discussion.

Now before we go any further, let's just say that when we had discussed to meet I had informed you that there was going to be one (1) additional person. However, when you show up, I have in fact brought two (not 1, but 2) additional people. What does this look like to you? Would you begin to feel at all a little bit uneasy? Would you not begin to think that some kind of funny business was going on? Why would you be informed of one extra person coming, but now two people who are on "my side" are showing up? Hmmmmm.

So, the discussion continues. How it ends up playing out is that our talk lasts around 2 1/2 hours or more and I speak for probably about 2 hours of that time. I have very large lungs you see, and it hurts to hold all that air inside. So I tend to be a little long-winded and dominate every conversation and every discussion and by default most people end up agreeing with me just to get me to shut up (not in real life, but just in this scenario).

Out of the half hour that is left, you're lucky if you get to discuss your point of view on the matters at hand for even 15 min, which you somehow manage to do, but you're quite uncertain as to whether or not you were even understood or if you were just being listened to so that the others could gang up on you with responses contrary to whatever you say. Now, the point of this all is not to get the others to agree with you. That's not what I'm getting at. The point of this discussion is simply to have a discussion and then determine if there is anything left to agree on, or at least that's what you were made to believe when I scheduled the discussion time with you.

Okay, let's just skip to the end. We've been talking now for right about 2 1/2 hours, I mean, I've been talking for 2 hours, my two companions have each gotten little turns that may have possibly added up to 15 minutes, but they mostly just agreed with me and tried to back up what I was saying, and you got to talk for 15 minutes. So what do you learn from this? Don't trust me next time I assure you that we'll have a "fair" discussion where I will act as a moderator. Just assume that I'm telling you another bold faced lie.

So what has been accomplished during this discussion other than waste nearly a 5th of your day? Well, nothing. Other than stealing a 5th of your day that you'll never get back and making myself out to be a liar.

I think that I should interject here another reminder that I'm not telling this little tale because I'm mad that the roles were once reversed in my own life and I was in the position that you, being in my story above, are now. I am simply writing a memoir of my past experiences and I assure you that I am not angry about them as much as I find it comical and funny. If you were sitting here with me we'd bother be laughing.... or I hope you'd be laughing... lol.

So I continue. If you think that how I've treated you so far is by far one of the most amazing things anyone has ever done in an unfair manner to you, you haven't seen anything yet. The night is getting late. I've fully expounded on every point of view that I had and you have, well, you've just barely gotten a few words in edgewise. I've decided that I've talked enough that even someone as.... um, slow as you should have gotten the picture by now. So I say, "Well, I think we've gotten a lot accomplished here tonight. Shall we end in prayer?"
To which you respond, "To be quite frank, and I mean no disrespect, but I don't think a single thing has been accomplished here because I don't feel like I was even heard and I don't think that anything was adequately and thoroughly discussed. So, no, nothing was accomplished tonight and I would like to meet again to have another discussion sometime again in the near future."

Now, you'd think that would be just fine with me, right? I mean, I was the one who initially invited you to discuss things, right? I made the first step and your response, if anything, should indicate that you're actually serious about having a real discussion, and not a one-sided and biased lecturing.

So how does this story turn out? Well, I am going to play the part of an irrational, self-important person who cannot stand to be questioned, debated, or shown that I'm wrong and will not ever be able to tolerate not being able to force someone else to submit to my point of view. What I tell you from this point is basically this:

"I will never meet with you again to discuss anything in the future! You have wasted my time. The only reason this has gone nowhere is because you're to arrogant to see the truth! I see a lot of pride and rebellion in you!"

Now that's not all. Wait for it. Next you try to protest and defend yourself. How is wanting to have further respectful discussions something that would come from you being prideful? So what is my reply?

"Get out! You had better get out of here before I call the police!!!"

Yes, this actually happened to me. One year ago (not on this exact day) I had an encounter with this type of a person (the one I was portraying myself as in the story). I laugh about it now, but I was actually invited to this person's office, promised a meeting with himself and another person, to have a "discussion." When I show up, there are two other people there beside himself. The "discussion" takes much longer than I ever perceived that it could, and most of the time was spent by him talking his head off, telling me his life stories and woes and then trying to use those as poor examples as to why I should see things his way. Once we were done, he acted as if I was now of a like mind with him (never even asked) and looking quite content with himself tried to close in prayer. So I politely pointed out that I had in fact not been given the chance to really discuss anything, and as this was supposed to be a "discussion," not a lecture, I would like to meet again.

His response told me that he really had no intention of discussing anything in the first place and that he was very unhappy that he had done ALL that talking and to no avail. I guess I could have lied so as to not cause such detrimental damage to his ego and pride, but that wouldn't have been very "Christian" of me, would it now? So how was my virtue and honesty rewarded? Well, I was kicked off the premises with the threat of having the police called if I would not. Let me remind you that it was he who had invited me to his office. It wasn't like I was there without an official invitation. I do not make it a practice to intentionally violate the privacy of another person's property by trespassing onto it. You would think that a simple request for me to leave would have been enough. Yet, for some reason, he felt compelled to have to add into his demand that I leave, the threat that the police would be called in the case that I didn't. Well, I gotta give him props for assuming the worst about people and getting right down to business about it. Oh, yeah, and props for pulling the wool over my eyes and fooling me into thinking it was actually going to be a fair and equal discussion. It takes a pretty good lie with a straight face to get that by me.

I think that this is a clear case of always having to "win the argument" and if you can't, just treat them like they're stupid and will never understand and throw them off your property to shut them up. You know, don't even give them a chance to give a reasonable response to your false allegations and such. Yeah, that'll show 'em! It'll show them how utterly irrational you are! Do you smell the oder of a nasty smelling superiority complex?

So, I did hear back from this guy later, through another person, who said that by saying he was going to call the police he didn't mean that I couldn't come back and that I would be welcome to. ROFLOL!!! Is he completely delusional??? Insane in the membrane??? LOL!!! Oh my! Would you ever in a billion years think that I would still consider you my welcome guest if I invited you into my home, you acted in nothing but respect for me, and then you were told by me, the host, to get out or I would call the cops??? Okaaaay! LOL! No, you'd think, "I guess I'm not welcome there. That guy must hate me or think I'm a complete moron!"

See, I told you I just laugh about this situation now. Laugh or cry, right? LOL! Well, I just thought I would share that little adventure with you all so you could have a good laugh too. I certainly don't want you to feel pity for me. This is certainly not the worst thing that's ever happened to me. I spent enough years in the military for worse to happen, lol. At the time I can tell you I was pretty angry and hurt by it and wondered what in the world I had done to deserve that kind of treatment, but now I just feel pity for the poor guy who did it. I may be the victim of his poor judgement and rude actions, but he's the one who has to live with himself for the rest of his life, knowing deep down inside how rotten he is for doing things like that to me and others... yeah, it's not the first time. I just didn't believe all the stories till it happened to me. So, take it for what it's worth. A fun story, and a new person to add to your prayer list. Turn the other cheek when people insult you right? Oh, and when you can't win a one-sided discussion (on your part) and you know you're wrong anyway, just kick 'em out and call the cops! LOL!

Blessings and many laughs,
Brandon

A Closer Look At How We Are Saved

2010-09-03T10:42:00.000-07:00

Here I quote a segment from an article I saw in the newspaper. However, it doesn't really matter where it came from because if you just listen or pay attention when you read "evangelistic" writings, this kind of instruction is very common. I'll warn you upfront that this is a false path to salvation. If you follow this path you'll get sooooo close, and then miss it all together. Are you ready? Watch for the one thing that makes this whole "call to salvation" heretical and anything but saving. Let's read.

“You cannot work your way to heaven, for no human is good enough to earn salvation. You cannot buy your way to heaven by giving large sums of money, even though it seems like that by the messages on a lot of Christian television. You cannot clean yourself up and then come to God. The only way to true salvation and freedom from sin is through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, turning to him and asking him to forgive your sins, and surrendering your life completely to his lordship over your life.”

Did you catch it? Did you see the "work" that you have to do in order to be saved that was interjected into it? If you don't know your Bible you can miss it so easily and you'll never even notice that you were fed a spoonful of poison instead of medicine.

That whole segment, save the last portion, is true and if you compare it to the text of the Bible it would agree. The last portion of the last sentence, which reads “and surrendering your life completely to his lordship over your life,” does not exist anywhere in Scripture! There is no command in Scripture telling you that if you are to be saved then you must surrender your life completely to God’s Lordship over your life. It matters not how you word it. Some people say "surrender," others say "dedicate," and I've hear the word "commit" more times than I care to remember. Today we'll just take a close look at the word surrender. All the others follow suite.

In one breath, the writer is telling us that we are not going to get to heaven by doing good things or giving money. Works. This is correct. Nothing we do will get us into heaven. The Bible is very clear in this matter when it says in Ephesians 2:8-9, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” In the next breath, the writer is telling us that in order to be saved we need to completely surrender our life to God. Okaaaaay, so how are all the Christians out there, including even my self and the writer, doing with that little condition to our salvation that mysteriously cannot be found in the Bible? What does it mean to surrender completely?

Having served in the U.S. Army for 7 years and having been deployed twice overseas as infantry to combat zones, one of which was the hostile land of Afghanistan, I have a little understanding of the word “surrender.” It is something that I am thankful we were never required to do. All the same, I did have quite a few chances to consider what that word truly meant. Surrender is described in the Merriam-Webster online dictionary as such:

1 a: to yield to the power, control, or possession of another upon compulsion or demand b: to give up completely or agree to forgo especially in favor of another

2 a: to give (oneself) up into the power of another especially as a prisoner b: to give (oneself) over to something (as an influence)

So to completely surrender our life to God would be to yield all control of our lives over to God; to give Him possession of our lives and the things that we do with them; to give our desires, our actions, our rights and our will over to God. If we have truly surrendered, then we will not have one area of our life that is out of the will of God. We will be perfectly obedient to His every command. Not just partially, but in complete perfection.

When we compare our lives to God’s requirements for us, those things that we’d have to be doing or abstaining from (the “shall” and “shall nots”) how do we all measure up? Are we doing pretty good? Are we getting close to perfectly and completely surrendering our lives to God? Let’s just take a quick look at our lives in contrast to God’s 10 Commandments or, “conditions of surrender,” His law.

One of these commandments tells us that we are not to murder. “Okay, doing pretty good with that one,” most of us might think. But did you know that Jesus came and explained that law in greater detail. He said that if we’re even angry with someone and say a harsh thing against them we are thereby guilty of murder in God’s eyes and will spend eternity in hell for that one thing! How many of us are now guilty in God’s eyes? I am.

What about the commands to not covet our neighbor’s belongings, nor his wife or any other person to whom he is related? Have you ever felt covetous of someone’s family member? Maybe you’ve always wanted a different dad, a dad more like “Billy’s” dad! Have you ever not been content with what God has given you through the honest work He has providentially allowed you to do with your own hands? Have you ever felt envious of another’s belongings and wanted it for yourself? I’m guilty again. How are you doing?

Did you know that God has also commanded us to not commit adultery? What about the person who has never slept with anyone but their own spouse and then only after they were married? Are they keeping that command? Well, Jesus had to go and spoil our own self-righteous fun again by opening the law up and explaining the depth to which this law delved past our actions and into our thoughts. He said that if a man were to even look at a woman and have lustful thoughts, that he was guilty of adultery and had not obeyed that commandment either. Of course, this goes for both men and women. If you have ever looked in lust on another person then you are guilty of breaking this command. I do not know of a single person that I could say doesn’t break this commandment at many points in their life.

God’s law, in each and every point applies to more than just our actions. He sees the intent of our heart. He sees our thoughts and what we do in our imaginations. If the only reason we do not steal something is because we are afraid we’ll get caught (but we still coveted after it) we are guilty of coveting and stealing because we still had intentions to do it even if we didn’t end up doing it or “resisted” the temptation. God demands perfection, if we are to truly be considered completely surrendered to Him. He doesn’t grade on a curve or give letter grades. There is no A+ through F. There is perfection and then there is failure to fulfill ALL that the law demands of us. Remember, surrender means “to yield to the power, control, or possession of another upon compulsion or demand.”

So, based on this extra “requirement” that many people reveal to us, which God has not revealed to us in His word as the way by which we can be saved, how are you doing? Are you saved? Are you a Christian? God’s word tells us again that all fall short of the glory of God and that none can be justified by their works. I’ll let you be the judge. Take a look at your life. We only looked at 4 out of ten of the commands that God has given us. How are you doing with just those 4 in your thoughts, words, and deeds? Are you making it to heaven by surrendering completely to God in every area of your life by obeying every command God has given us to obey? If you break even one command that God has given after “surrendering” your life to Him then you have not truly surrendered and you’ve broken an additional command by lying about surrendering, dedicating or committing you life to the Lord in the first place when obviously your actions proved otherwise.

You can take man's words for fact, or you can believe the Bible. What we’re dealing with here is man VS the Bible, and let me tell you that man has tried very hard to destroy and get rid of the Bible like no other book has been attacked. Man has succeeded in burning every last copy of many a book he has wanted to destroy, but the Bible still remains, as true and accurate as ever. I don’t know about you, but I’m going with the Bible. Men may give the Bible a lot of lip service in their articles, their books and their sermons, but when it actually comes to teaching soundly from the Scriptures they can be off in some rather important areas. Talking about not wavering from the Bible does not equal not actually doing it yourself. It is one thing to talk about it, but the writer of this article doesn’t walk the talk he’s talking. In fact, based on his extra requirement of having to completely surrender your life to God, this person can’t even call themselves a Christian, because they doesn’t meet the requirements.

Why should this matter? In 1 Timothy 4:16 we read, “Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers.” We are saved by what Christ has done for us (found in the teaching or doctrine of the Bible) and then we are given faith by God to believe in that promise. Romans 10:17 says, “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” So it is from hearing the correct message, the message that Christ wants us to hear, that we receive faith and are saved unto everlasting life. You will find no small print in the Bible following “You are saved by grace through faith” which reads, “and by surrendering completely to God.”

If you’ve ever been “burned” by a church you’ve no doubt recognized the hypocrisy demonstrated by people in that church. They preach impossible requirements for salvation and then arrogantly claim that they are in fact saved themselves. What does that tell you about them? They think they’re perfect (or almost perfect) and that anyone who’s not saved is in dire need of their good example on how they too can become a “good” person and be saved too! Of course, anyone who has one eye or half an ear can tell in about 2 minutes that these people are not anything that they claim to be. They are not perfectly submitting and surrendering to God, yet they claim that as a requirement to be saved and they claim to be saved. This is the living definition of hypocrisy. This is what burns so many people and chases them out of the place that is supposed to offer them grace, peace and rest for their weary souls. This ends up being a place of working harder and running faster to try to get to heaven, but never really making it (if your honest with yourself). This is a place of bondage where the preaching does one of two things. It either frustrates the people who don’t fool themselves into thinking they’re actually making it on their own works, or it creates “Pharisees,” who with one fork of their tongue say they are saved by grace through faith alone, and with the other fork of their tongue say that they’re also saved because they completely surrender their lives to God: This is works; clear and plain works-righteousness (i.e., working to gain your own righteous standing before God). Again, no one will be justified (i.e., made righteous) by works.

I sat under the preaching of a "Pharisee" for too many years. Not once did I go home feeling rested or like my burden was lifted for even a second. Somehow I always got out of the sermon that I was not quite meeting God’s requirements and that was clearly presented as the problem. Okay, good so far, but what was offered to me as the solution for my sin problem? What was the solution presented for my transgression of God’s law? Was it Christ and His atoning sacrifice? No. Not once to the best of my knowledge. Jesus only made cameo appearances to “empower” those of us who were already saved so we could try harder next time, do better at resisting temptation, and live a life more pleasing to Him, or else. Oh, and Jesus would show up to save the “sinner” who could clearly be seen sitting in back. The rest of us didn’t really need a Savior though. We were on our own (except for the “empowerment”) to try to meet God’s requirements. God basically took the first steps, but the rest was up to us from then on out. We were only as saved as we made ourselves saved. Unfortunately I believe that I would have gone to Hell, had I died going to that church. I went through the motions and gave lip service to Jesus and the cross, but ultimately I was trusting in my own works as a direct result of the teaching and preaching there. For a time I was even fooling myself into thinking I was pulling it off. I'm sure I had thoughts that ran along the lines of, "I really am showing God that I'm serious about surrendering my whole life to Him. I really must be a Christian. Look at all the great ways I'm proving that I'm one of the committed and dedicated ones!" Yes, I was one of those hypocritical “Pharisees” that may have burned you so bad that you’re now inoculated and bitter toward any form of church. I hope that reading this may cause you to realize that what that was, what I was, is not Christianity; not even close.

It has taken me a year to understand what I’ve explained in this post, and I know I have so much more to understand. I haven’t even come close. What I do know is that I am not better than you. I am a sinner. In fact, I may even be a worse sinner than you. I would add my voice to that of the apostle Paul’s when he said he was the chief of sinners. Check that box, me too. I’ve given up on trying to surrender my life completely to God to be saved. I’ve tried that route. It doesn’t work out very well in the end. God’s word makes it very simple. I’m a sinner. There’s nothing I can do in and of myself (or even with God’s help) to change that. I have not, nor can I obey Him perfectly. Who am I kidding? I don’t even come close! Because of the things that I’ve done I deserve to spend eternity in Hell. I am doomed and without any hope of avoiding this certain fate that I have earned for myself. But, just at exactly the right time, Jesus Christ came to earth and live the perfect life that I could not. He surrendered Himself up to be beaten, flogged, tortured and ultimately to die the most gruesome, painful death conceivable at that time. Crucifixion. The saying goes that the Romans didn’t invent crucifixion, they just perfected it. Crucifixion was so brutal that only the worst criminals could be executed that way and they could not be Roman citizens. This is why the apostle Paul was not allowed to be crucified when they executed him, for he was a legal Roman citizen. But the Christ was not allowed the luxury of a quick and painless death for our sins. This is the price that was paid for me and my sin by the Son of God. How pathetic is that that I’m so bad, so evil by nature and so helpless to do anything about it on my own that it took that kind of a sacrifice to cover my sin? Like I said, I am the chief of sinners.

Now you would think that if that was the price paid that redeems us as sinners to allow God to forgive us of our sins that their must be something required of us that we need to do in return. In truth there is a required response. It is to repent, believe and be baptized for the forgiveness of our sins. However even these things are not things we do ourselves. God is the one granting us repentance in the first place (Acts 11:18; 2 Tim 2:25). The promise that Christ died for our sins is what gives us faith and so faith is also from God. In baptism also, it is not us who are doing anything to wash ourselves of our sins, but it is God, through His word mixed with water (the washing of water and of the Spirit) that we are cleansed (Rom 6:4; 1 Pet 3:21; Tit 3:5). Scripture makes it very plain. It's so simple. This is God's plan for redemption. How could people get confused by this? How could well meaning, good intentioned people add an additional requirement, thus perverting and distorting the Gospel so bad that they're now leading people to Hell by their "good intentions?"

Unfortunately, sometimes men like the newspaper article writer and others think they know better than God and want to add another requirement. Only, do you notice what the difference between God’s requirements for salvation and what the writer's are? God’s requirements are gifts that He provides us with. Repentance is not something we can do on our own, but only as the Holy Spirit leads us. Faith is not something that comes out of thin air or that we build up within ourselves (blind faith) but faith comes through hearing the words of Christ (the Bible). Finally, Baptism is described in Scripture as something that God does to us. What if we’re not able to be baptized before we die? Are we going to go to hell then just because we didn’t get wet? Scripture doesn’t tell us that we are damned in this case. We have a clear example of the thief on the cross dying without baptism, yet Jesus promised that he would be with Him in paradise. If baptism were required as a work you had to do, then the thief couldn’t have been with Jesus in the afterlife. What saved the thief on the cross? Not his works, but his faith. The Bible also explains to us that it belief and baptism that save us, but only a lack of belief damns us. Mark 16:16 reads, “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.” Pretty straightforward there, isn’t it? My one question to someone who hasn't received the gift of baptism would simply be the same one that I ask those who don't want to receive the free gift of salvation by grace through faith: "Why not? Why wouldn't you want it? What could possibly be holding you back other than your own pride an ego?" If they reject baptism is it possible that they don't really believe in the first place?

Here's the really important question: How do I know and how can you know that we are saved? What assurance do we have that we will be in heaven when we die if Jesus doesn’t return before then? It is in Christ and His sacrifice on the cross for our sins alone. It is through the faith that God gives us to believe in that promise. It is in His word that we learn that when we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9). Faith always has an object. When we focus our faith on our own performance of God’s requirements we will always fall short and we will have a faltering and false faith. When our belief is in Christ and He is the sole object of our faith then our faith will be strong. We can fail, and works-based faith will ultimately fail, but Christ, the perfect One, has not, does not and will never fail us. Now, that is a Christianity worth believing in and contending for. I’ll get up early on Sunday morning, get dressed, do my hair and drive to sit for an hour to hear a message like that, but for anything less, I’d rather be a pagan... and a mighty good pagan I would make in that case too!

I’ll give you the same warning that the article writer does at one point but I'll expand it to include more of what the Bible warns us about as well.

RUN from men who waver from the truth of the Scriptures!
RUN from men who teach another gospel other than that which the apostles taught!
RUN from men and women who are “anathema” (eternally condemned) and teach that there is an additional requirement for you to meet in order to be saved besides the ones that Jesus and the apostles taught.

RUN for your life!
RUN for eternity!
RUN till your heart gives out and then RUN some more!

Get away from these interlopers and charlatans!
RUN!
Your eternal soul is worth far more than what they have to offer you.

And as you RUN, pray on the move that God would also grant these men repentance of their own so that they too might be saved from their own self-righteousness. May God grant them a knowledge of the truth. May God save them from the deception they have bought into and are now deceiving others with. But most of all, I beg of you that you would not fall asleep in their churches, do not be naive of their ways and trickery, do not grow weary of testing and comparing them to the Scriptures and do not, under any circumstances, no matter what else may happen, ever stop RUNNING from them!
I don't care if they do miracles and prophecy things that come true right in front of your eyes! RUN!

Re-BLOG'd

2010-09-02T10:54:00.000-07:00

Here's an excellent blog post that comes to us from Apprising Ministries at http://apprising.org/2010/09/01/what-is-the-worst-thing-about-hell.

When I read this I was once again corrected in some things that are still clinging to me from when I came out of the watered-down evangelical teaching based more on feelings and experience than the only true source of all spiritual truth. So without further ado I give you a quotation from Dr. R.C. Sproul, passed onto us by Ken Silva over there at AM.

It is common to say that hell is the absence of God. Such statements are motivated in large part by the dread of even contemplating what hell is like. We try often to soften that blow and find a euphemism to skirt around it.

We need to realize that those who are in hell desire nothing more than the absence of God. They didn’t want to be in God’s presence during their earthly lives, and they certainly don’t want Him near when they’re in hell. The worst thing about hell is the presence of God there.

When we use the imagery of the Old Testament in an attempt to understand the forsakenness of the lost, we are not speaking of the idea of the departure of God or the absence of God in the sense that He ceases to be omnipresent. Rather, it’s a way of describing the withdrawal of God in terms of His redemptive blessing.

It is the absence of the light of His countenance. It is the presence of the frown of His countenance.

It is the absence of the blessedness of His unveiled glory that is a delight to the souls of those who love Him, but it is the presence of the darkness of judgment.

Hell reflects the presence of God in His mode of judgment, in His exercise of wrath, and that’s what everyone would like to escape.

I think that’s why we get confused. There is withdrawal in terms of the blessing of the radical nearness of God. His benefits can be removed far from us, and that’s what this language is calling attention to.

R. C. Sproul, The Truth of the Cross (Orlando, FL: Reformation Trust, 2007), pp. 157-158.

Can Truth Come From Many Sources?

2010-08-14T12:10:00.000-07:00

Recently on Facebook I posted a blip about a "free" Joyce Meyer Conference in the Twin Cities of Minnesota. I didn't include much information in it, but basically said it was bad news and don't go. The response I got back from it was more than I expected. A friend commented back saying it appeared that I had a very narrow view of things and perhaps if I became more open minded that I would come to understand that we can find truth from many different people and places, even if we don't agree with everything they say.

This is is not the first time I have heard this advice, and it will most likely not be the last. I've heard it in a few different forms such as, "Just take the good and through out the bad," or "Don't be so critical of people that you can't hear the good things they're saying."

So basically what is being said, no matter how it is being said, is that we all just need to agree to disagree, but still maintain "unity." Can there be unity unless two agree? I really don't think so. Can there be cordial manners? Of course, but true unity? I don't think so. We may maintain a civil relationship with someone who we disagree with, but if we don't truly agree, there will never be unity in that specific matter.

Let me give an example. I disagree, sometimes on some pretty important issues with family members in matters of religion, what the Bible says, what baptism and Communion are, etc. There is no unity in these matters. However, we are still united by a family bond. We still love each other and want good things for the other person. I may not feel comfortable worshipping and praying with some of them, but that is just the way things are. I can still enjoy being with them and being family.

Romans 12:18
If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.

I try to take what the apostle Paul said in Romans seriously. If it is possible, and as far as it depends on me, is try to live peaceably with all. Not an easy task sometimes.

Let's return to the main subject though now, shall we? I would like to take the idea that's being expressed when someone flippantly suggests that it's okay to listen, with the intent of gaining true knowledge and understanding of God and His word, to a person who is also, intentionally or unintentionally throwing in some bad stuff too. Let's compare this scenario with another scenario involving teaching and instruction, only let's change the subject being taught from spiritual matters, to Math.

Teacher comes to town and gets a job at the local school. This could be an elementary school, high school, or a place of education at the college level. It doesn't matter because all these schools, no matter how advanced they get always go back to and rely on the very basic foundation of 1+1=2, etc. No matter how advanced, the college level professor will never teach that 1+1=54, or that 20/2=0, or that 1-1=13. I think you get the picture. So Teacher starts class up. The first 3 weeks of class everything goes great, the kids are learning, the parents are impressed and pleased with the progress. Week 4 rolls in. Teacher stands up and says, "Today we're going to learn about how to make 3+3=7. I know this may be a little different to you, but just bear with me and you'll see how this works."

What do you think the response from the parents and the school board is going to be? The long term effects of teaching incorrect math solutions could be devastating! There could even be detrimental psychological effects to someone who is taught that 1+1 always =2, except when we make it equal 3. This would obviously be a bold faced lie on the part of the teacher, regardless of whether they actually believe such a thing. In response, no matter how "good" of a teacher they had been, the lying teacher would be kicked out of that school and probably be blacklisted altogether in that State! No one would want to hire a teacher with a history of telling lies as if they were fact.

But, imagine with me for a second that nothing happened. Imagine that the students were simply told that we shouldn't be so narrow minded as to throw out the teacher just because they made up a fake math lesson. We should try to understand that even though they may have some ideas that differ from ours, we may be really surprised how much we benefit from the things they do teach that are correct! Then sending their kids off to school they say, "keep the good, throw out the bad." Does this sound in the least bit insane to you?

Now let's bring this back to the subject of spiritual truths. As a rule I'm going to just flat our say that I believe all truth comes from the Bible and that Christianity, as instituted by Christ, is the only true and good religion. But is that to say that I can't gain some truth from Buddhism? Is that religion completely void of truth? My answer may surprise you, but it's "no." Buddhism does contain a nugget of truth here or there. Buddhism says, "killing is wrong." This is true. How do we know that it is true though? Because the Bible says so. Let's take a look at Islam. Islam says, "Lying is okay and you will be rewarded for it if it is in service to Allah." Is this true? No. Lying is always a sin, worthy of eternal damnation. How do we know this? Because the Bible says so. Okay, now it's the Mormons turn. They say, "Moses was a prophet of God." Is it true? What does the Bible say? It is in fact true. There is the possibility for truth to exist in a false religion. No doubt about it. That truth does not, however, find its source in that false religion. How do we know what truth is? Truth us what the Bible teaches. Even the Koran of Islam teaches that the Bible is a trustworthy source of truth. Is this true? Yes it is, but not because the Koran says so, but because the Bible says so. There are many other false things that the Koran teaches.

When we compare the humorous story of the math teacher, and the two possible responses I gave, contrasted with a "spiritual teacher." We can begin to see the dilemma. We would never think twice about rejecting the false math teacher, but we stutter and stammer and get all shaky when it comes to being that discerning with our spiritual teachers. Which subject carries the greater consequences? We'll use math our entire lives. So what is that, 70, 80, 100 or more if we're blessed to live that long? Compare that with eternity! What you learn from your pastor, your Sunday school teacher, the TV Evangelist, the Best Selling Author, the youth group minister; it's all going to effect you for eternity! There are two primary effects that this teaching is going to have on you. You will either believe correctly or incorrectly, resulting in either you being resurrected to eternal life, peace, and joy, or being resurrected to eternal damnation, torment and anguish.

So what about Joyce Meyer? What's my problem with her? I'm not going to be able to even come close to covering everything I believe to be heretical and aberrant about Joyce's beliefs, but I'll hit the Big ONE.

She believes that Jesus went to hell and suffered and was literally spiritually killed. Only after God resurrected this Jesus from spiritual and physical death did Jesus become truly divine. Also, because we are called to be "like" Christ, Joyce believes this means we can become gods, with a little "g." She says that we've simply forgotten that we were made after the god-kind, made in the image of God to be lesser "gods."

This of course is not often spoken of, just like the Mormons won't reveal their deepest darkest beliefs till they've had the chance to suck you in, neither will Joyce Meyer or the other Word-Faith heretics. This is of course a teaching that goes back farther than Joyce. It's been around for ages, but Joyce Meyer and others like Creflo Dollar and Kenneth Copeland (one of my personal childhood heroes whom I've had to reject as a false teacher) also spread this heretical teaching and made it almost mainstream. It is very popular with their listeners to any extent, but it is a very deceptive and dangerous doctrine. They try to use Scripture to prove it, but if you take a careful look at the passages you'd never come to the conclusion that those verses mean the things they claim they are saying. What they are doing is taking one or two verses out of context, and making it sound like they are saying something they are not. Let me give you one example.

Here is Kenneth Copeland's "proof text" for his teaching that we can consider ourselves to be equal with God.
Philippians 2:5-6 (KJV)
5Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
6Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:

That's it. And from these two verses he teaches that God wants us to think this way, or to have this mind in us, which was also in Christ: We should not think that we are robbing God by claiming to be equal with Him. Thus we are elevated to the level of God and have become gods.

This is rotting, putrid heresy, friends. This is a Satanic teaching from the pit of hell! This is blasphemy and demonic mockery of God, not "Christian" teaching!!!

Notice that Kenneth always stops reading the passage at the end of verse 6, where it says "to be equal with God:" notice what is at then end of that verse. Is it a period? No. Don't you hate it when someone only takes part of what you say and causes others to misunderstand your intended meaning by twisting your words? How do you think God feels when we only take part of His words and twist them to our own understanding? Let's see what God's intended meaning in this passage is.

Let's take a look at this whole passage in context to get a right understanding of what the intended meaning is.

Philippians 2:1-8 (KJV)
1If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies,

2Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.
3Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.
4Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.
5Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
6Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:
7But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
8And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

Let's take a look at this passage from a modern translation that I have grown to trust as a good and solid literal translation, the ESV. Word for word, from Hebrew and Greek to our English language, the ESV translates almost perfectly. I've only found one mistake in the year or more that I have been using it when comparing it back to the Greek. If you got a little confused by the archaic language used in the KJV you'll probably find the more modern version even more easily understood in this passage. Hey, this is an important passage to understand. We'll even go a few extra verses, because I love how it talks about Jesus at the end!

Phillipians 2:1-11 (ESV)
1So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy,
2 complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.
3Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.
4Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.
5Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,
6who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,
7but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.
8And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name,
10so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Ah, now we have a correct understanding of the teaching God is communicating to us in this passage. Context, and a better translation made all the difference. How do we know it is a better translation? We compare it back to the Greek and see which translation matches more closely. Sorry, "KJV only people," there is not one translation out there that is perfect. It's better to read with 3 different translations, or simply go Greek!

What we are to learn from this passage is not that we are equal with God; it doesn't even make sense to say something like that when you read it in context, in either the KJV or the ESV. What we are to learn is that like Christ we are to humble ourselves in service one to another. Even though Christ was God Himself, he did not think of His own interests first, but thought first of the interests of others, namely our sins needing to be atoned for on the cross.

It is a wonder to me also why these Word-Faith teachers seem to hate and despise being called sinners and refusing to call themselves sinners. Perhaps it could be because it contradicts their mentality that they are in fact equal with God? Yet in the very passage they twist, we are told that Christ died on the cross, and anyone with a 2nd grade reading level can read and comprehend why He did so. He died for our sins!

Well, I know this is pretty sporadic but I hope I got the point across with some clarity. I gotta run now, but if you have any questions or comments, please let me know!

Perhaps I'll write more on false teachers and false teachings later! There's one in particular that I've just been itching to write about, but it's all in God's timing, not mine.

God bless!
Brandon

Where's Your Focus?

2010-07-28T16:17:00.000-07:00

Mankind all too often seems to want to focus on what must be done.

God, in His infinite wisdom, focuses on what has already been done through His Son.

What's your focus on today?

If you often say, "The most important thing in my Christian life is my obedience to God," then perhaps you need to adjust your focus.

What?!! You can't take your focus off of your own performance! You might end up sinning!

I've got bad news for you. You are a sinner. The Bible tells us that those who would say otherwise are liars and the Truth is not in them.

What if instead of focusing on how well you're doing, adjust your focus to be on the work that God has done through Christ in His humiliation and death. When Christ said, "It is finished!" He wasn't passing the batton on to us, He was finishing the race! The race to win God's approval is over!

So what about faith? What about our works? What about obedience?

Stop it! Do you base the assurance of your salvation on what you do, or on what God has done? IF you want to base whether or not you're a regenerated, justified and forgiven Christian on how well you now "perform" as a Christian then you'll have one of two outcomes: 1, You'll be honest and always find yourself coming up short; or 2, You'll become a liar and say you have no sin and the Truth will not be in you. You'll fool yourself and others into thinking your a Christian because of how you act, but deep down inside you'll be a fraud.

"Well, God knows my heart!" Yes! He does know your heart! Want to see what He knows about your heart?

Genesis 8:20-22
20Then Noah built an altar to the LORD and took some of every clean animal and some of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar. 21And when the LORD smelled the pleasing aroma, the LORD said in his heart, "I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I have done. 22 While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease."

Many a Christian or so-called "Christ-follower" claims that Christ is what they focus on, but when you look at what they spend the most time on, is it Christ-focused, or is it self-focused?

Do you focus on the real, historically verfiable figure who is the very namesake of our one true religion, Christianity? Or, do you focus inward, on yourself? Faith has to have an object. Faith has to focus its hope on something or someone. In the case of Christians, our faith finds its focus on Christ and Him alone. If not, then maybe we're not Christians. If we're basing our faith, our hope that we're a Christian on something we're doing, then we're no better off every other person who's trying to make it on their own.

1 Corinthians 2:1-2
1And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. 2For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.

Read the chapter before this and you will see that in the contect of this passage Paul is talking about preaching nothing but Christ and Him crucified for the forgiveness of our sins. What he's speaking against is not preaching, but moreso the vain philosophical and worldly teachings that were prevelant in those times. Yes, Paul did teach about marriage, employment, children and other such things, but never outside of first preaching the Gospel and then showing how the Christian life flows from the very work that Christ finished.

Let me make this bvery simple. We have to do good works. I'm not saying for one second that we don't have to obey God and that we don't have to do good works. However, do we do good works in order to be Christians, or do we do good works because of the fact that we are Christians? These are two radically different things.

The first mindset forces us to place our faith in ourselves and in our own works. We become obsessed with our own obedience and with our own performance and then to validate our vanity and perversion of Gd's law, we attempt to force this mindset on others, placing them in the same bondage we're in.

The second mindset can only exist when Christ is the focal point of our faith. Then we can have faith that we're saved from our sins because of what Christ has done and that when we do a good work it's because it was the will of God, not something that we had to do in order to make sure we were really a Christian.

One mindset brings bondage to the law and sin. The other mindset brings true freedom in Christ. So what's your mindset? Is your "faith" something that wells up from within you and is based on your own works? Or is Faith given to you by God and secured for you by Christ's work? Are you set free in Christ to do good works, or do you have to do good works in orde to be set free? Is your faith based on whether or not you do works and are obedient, or do you simply have works because you already have been given faith? What's your focus? Christ's finished work, or your own human works?

Remember, cows "moo," chickens "cluck," and ducks "quack." They do these things, not in order to be the creatures they already are, but simply because they are what they are. As "sheep" in Jesus' "flock," the Body of Christ, we do good works, not to become "new creatures in Christ," but because it is what a Christian does. Plain and simple. So stop focusing on the works and read more than a few choice verses. You'll find that God's wider focus is not inside us, but outside us, on Christ. He points out the law to show us our sin so that we will admit we're bankrupt sinners and run to Christ for mercy. Repent and believe. The rest will come naturally.

The only assurance that I have that I'm saved from my sins, made alive in Christ, and regenerated to be lead in the daily sanctifying Christian life by the Holy Spirit is in the promise that though I am a sinner by my very deepest inborn nature which overcomes every single one of my own desires, if I repent, believe and in Christ I will be saved from those sins for the sake of Christ's work, namely his perfect life and his penal substitutionary atoning sacrifice on the cross. I also have the assurance of this in that just as He promised, He raised Himself from the dead on the third day! I find no comfort in my own works. I will add my voice to those famous words of Paul, spoken near the end of his life:

Romans 7:15-25
15For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. 16Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. 17So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. 18For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. 20Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.

21So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. 22For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, 23but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. 24Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 25Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.

A Word About Innovation and Creativity

2010-07-23T17:42:00.000-07:00

I've been having this thought bouncing around in my head for awhile now and I just wanted to get it out of there and share it. For a long time now I've been having a big problem with the "new," the "innovative," and the "creative" when it comes to Christianity. Here's why:
Christianity is a revealed religion. All that God wants us to know about it has already been revealed for us in the Scriptures and we just have to read it. We don't have to sit on top of a mountain in the Alps, meditating and waiting for enlightenment to strike us like lightning and "voila!" "There it is! This is Christianity!" NO! God gets to decide that for us and He has already told us what Christianity is, what the Church is supposed to be and do, what we are to preach and teach, what message to proclaim, and what it is that makes us Christians.

I think that the wisest man in the world, King Solomon, said it best when he wrote (under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, I might add), "There is nothing new under the sun."

So, what's my big thought? Well, it's not really mine, I got it from Scripture, but here it is. When it comes to Christian doctrine, the message of the gospel, the church, and so forth and so on, who the heck are we to be innovative with it? Seriously! Who do we think we are when we start taking things that God has already created and dictated and changing, err... "being creative" with them?

You see this big time in the Emergent and postmodern circles. You'll also see this in a lot of Evangelical churches (A.K.A., future postmodern breeding grounds).

When it comes to matters of Spirituality, God, the message that God has called us to proclaim, as Christians, and especially our pastors to proclaim, let me just say this as clearly as possible: Creativity is NOT a good thing! It is actually downright dangerous and possibly, and more than likely in most cases, heretical and damning.

Let's just look at a few key Scripture passages that address this very topic.

Jude 3

Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.

See that? The faith once for all delivered to the saints... A Faith that Jude, the half-brother of Jesus, and an apostle, appealed to us that we should defend? When we look around and see all the crazy things going on in the visible church today, and all the things being passed off as "Christian," we could say that these words possibly even more necessary today than they were nearly 2000 years ago. Who's fighting for the faith today? Hardly no one. So I would just like to ask this: Where the heck are all the strong, godly Men and Women today? Where are you, you real men who are willing to stick your neck out annd stand tall and proud for the gospel of Jesus Christ? Where are the real women? I know very few. Less than 1% of thhe people I know have the indominable fortitude to actually contend for and defend the faith.

I guess the biggest problem is, so many people, even those who consider themselves to have been Christians for most of their life, have read the Bible dozens of times, and never missed a Sunday morning service are not abiding in the words of God, and His words do not abide in them. Why not? Because they know every verse in the Bible, but they put their own meaning to the Scriptures and redefine the literal interpretation to more comfortably fit the beliefs they already hold.

Instead of learning their doctrine first from the Scriptures and then letting that shape their beliefs, they seem to have had their beliefs preformed, and then try to reform the Scriptures to their preconceived notions. This brings me to the next passage of Scripture.

1 Timothy 4:16
Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers.

The teaching must come first, then our beliefs will be correctly formed to the truth that only comes from God's word. That's it for tonight. So, what do you think? Let me know if you've ever thought anything along these lines, or even if you completely disagree with me and the Scriptures.

Brandon

Some Thoughts About Today

2010-06-20T12:11:00.000-07:00

Today, all across America, many churches had messages, lectures, and “word's from the Lord” just for fathers. Today, all across this country, many churches focused in on fathers, possibly homing in on how great fathers are, how wonderful fatherhood is, and what an honor it is to be a father! Today, many places had little ceremonies placing dads on a pedestal, honoring them before the congregants, possibly giving them a little gift or token of appreciation. Last year, I got chocolate!

Today, in my congregation, Our Savior's Lutheran Church, dad's were not only put on the back burner for the worship gathering, but they weren't even in the kitchen, so to say! I almost wondered if I had missed Father's Day. Perhaps it had been last week? I pinched myself to make sure I wasn't dreaming, and then, once I realized I was wide awake and this was reality, I smiled! It was a great big smile too! You see, I actually was praying that I, myself and me, wouldn't be the focus of the service today. See, I don't go to church to hear about how great I am. That's for egocentric, self-centered, narcissistic pagans. We however are called by the same Spirit to deny ourselves and conform to Christ. We are called to acknowledge our sin, repent and be forgiven for Christ's sake alone.

So now, I have a question for you. How many of heard about Jesus today. Let me be a little more specific. How many of you went to a church where the pastor painted a word picture for you in his sermon where Christ alone was at the center of that beautiful portrait? Did Jesus show up at all, and if He did, was He given the place of honor, front and center stage? Did thee pastor feed you with God's Word, Jesus Christ, the Word incarnate; or did the pastor self-esteem counselor puff up your own ego and pride with anecdotes and tales about how great dads are, and motivate you to try harder, and do more, so that you too can make it to heaven?

Pastors are called to preach the Word, in and out of season, and Jesus Christ is at the very center of that God's Word, is literally, God's Word wrapped in flesh! When a pastor refuses to preach to you what he is commanded to by the Bible, he is in direct rebellion to God's Word, and that includes pastors who preached about dads today in a way that left Christ out of the sermon or refused Christ His rightful place of honor and respect, as Lord of Lords, King of Kings, our Savior and Redeemer.

We don't have churches on account of dads. Paul was never a father. He had the gift of celibacy and instead of physical children, he brought up spiritual children and did more for the early church than any other apostle. However, you will never once hear him preaching, teaching or writing about fatherhood apart from Christ. When he does talk to fathers, about how to raise up children, it is in light of the cross and what Christ has done for us to even allow fathers to be good fathers in the first place. He admonishes fathers to be good fathers with an ability that comes from grace alone, not from their ramped up efforts! He doesn't whip them into an emotional frenzy in an attempt to give them enough motivation to be good fathers the rest of the week. Instead, he preaches Christ and Him crucified, then and only then does Paul speak to the men in terms of how that great news of the gospel should effect their fathering of their children.

In Ephesians 6:4 we have a commandment to fathers in regards to their children. This command is “do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.” Directly before this is a command to children and before that is a command to husbands and wives, but prior to all this, in the earlier chapters of Ephesians, we are given the gospel, and it is from this bedrock that we are given the exhortation to emulate Christ. All too often these verses are taken out of context and flung at us as stand-alone passages, as if they are commands that by which we will become good, holy and more righteous. That is not the purpose of the commandments however. No one can become more holy by keeping the commandments because they fail! The purpose of the commandments is to show us our sin so that we'll flee from the wrath of God to God's only Son, Jesus Christ.
Yes, the commandments are also used show us how we ought to live, but only once we're regenerated by the Holy Spirit (that means “saved” in Evangelical speak). It is not a measuring stick that we can use to determine how good we are, though. Try doing that and the law will crush you under its weight.

In today's sermon, my pastor read a large portion of Scripture, as Scripture commands, and then taught us from that Scripture, as Scripture commands. The passage he preached on was from Luke 36-50. This is the story about Jesus eating in the home of Simon the Pharisee, and a sinful woman coming in uninvited, washing Jesus' feet with her tears, drying them with her hair and then pouring out perfume on them. Simon the Pharisee thinks Jesus doesn't know this woman is a sinner, and Jesus, knowing what he was thinking tells him a parable of two men who owed a small debt and a large debt that neither can pay. Their debts are canceled and Jesus asks Simon which one will love the forgiving lender more. Simon replies the one with the larger debt and Jesus tells him he has judged correctly. Then Jesus goes into a a little comparison of how rudely Simon had treated him and how in contrast the woman had gone far above and beyond. Jesus then says her many sins are forgiven and because of this she loves much, but the one (Simon) who doesn't think he has much sin if any loves little (if not at all). Then Jesus turns to the woman and says, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.

From this passage, many would want to be associated with the woman whose faith saved her, rather than Simon the Pharisee who was trusting in his works to save him rather than in Christ. This is why he thought he had no sin, because he thought he had made up for it, either by keeping the law or doing works to make up for the “little” sins he had committed. In reality, however, we're all a little more like the Pharisee than we'd like to admit. We do from time to time look down on someone else as being less of a Christian, or more worldly than us. We see some others as not being as righteous as we are, as not holding themselves to as high of a holy standard as we do ourselves. There are those who we'd rather not associate with because of what we perceive as “sins greater than our own.” Face it, we're right now looking down on Simon. Admit it, we don't want to associate with him. He's stuck up, self-righteous and we're not! We're better than he is, aren't we now?

What we may have not noticed in the parable is that both the one who had great debt (500 denarii) and the one who had little debt (50 denarii) were both unable to repay it and both were forgiven! Simon was the one who owed little (or at least he thought so) and the “sinful woman” was the one who Simon perceived to owe much. The difference was in the amount that each would love in return. Simon loved little, because he perceived his sins to be little, therefore, forgiveness, if any, was barely necessary, he thought. The woman on the other hand acknowledged her sins, did not try to cover them up and wept at the feet of Jesus out of great love and joy for she knew how great was her sin! She knew how much she really needed forgiveness, and knew that that forgiveness came only through Jesus Christ. She knew that all the trying harder and doing more of the Pharisees would never make up for it, and so she didn't even insult Jesus by trying. She simply had faith. Faith is what saves us, and not just any “faith,” but the faith that comes from God, saving us apart from our works, yet driving us to good works. Good works flow from the Gospel. This has not been word for word what my pastor taught, but it is close.

Before the sermon, as always, we had a time of publicly confessing ourselves to be sinners, in deep need of God's mercy and imploring Him to forgive us our sins for the sake of Christ (notice, not for the sake of our best attempts or good works). Then we sing a song of prayer, asking God the Father, Jesus our Redeemer and the Holy Spirit our comforter to have mercy on us. Following that, we are told our sins are forgiven (notice, we are not encouraged to try harder in order to gain God's favor). Then comes the message and following that, today happened to be the Sunday of the month where we partake of the Lord's Supper. In addition to the comforting news that God has forgiven all our sins, we are also blessed with this priceless bread and wine (not grape juice, since it the ability to preserve it without fermentation wasn't invented until 1864 and Jesus would have used wine since fresh squeezed juice would have been out of season). In partaking of this food, we are reminded again that our sins are forgiven. In the words of Jesus Himself, “Take, eat; this is my body.” And concerning the wine, “Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” Jesus set this sacrament up as a physical act that we can participate in that has Spiritual significance. How often are you adminstered the true body and blood of Christ which, when you eat of it, helps to assure you that your sins are forgiven? Or perhaps you think that you don't need that assurance and you'll help yourself. Therefore, the love of many grows cold (Matt 24:12).

Let me tie up the loose ends. I'm happy that I wasn't preached about today. I can't save anyone from there sin or really motivate anyone to live a more Chistian life. I'm not a very good example of Christ. I can never take His place, and the last thing us poor sinners need is a sermon preached on fathers. We need Christ and Him crucified. If your church was not Christ-centered today, I suggest you start looking for a new church with some real good news. The fact of the matter is, Father's Day is a Hallmark Holiday. It's not a church Holiday. It's secular. I have no problem with taking one day out of the year to honor fathers and mothers, but I will not remove Christ from His place of Honor in order to do so.

The Bible commands us to honor our father and mother (Eph 6:1-3), but if you look at the whole context, Christ was preached first, and the command to obey and honor fathers and mothers was more of a side dish to the main course, if not an afterthought. All too often, Christ is becoming the afterthought and this is wrong. That is why we have churches with Christians in them, but they are Christless churches and Christless Christians. Today, many a church should have been called The First Church of Dad, but today, I went to Our Savior's Church. I pray your church is, or soon will be Our Savior's Church as well. Your Dad can't save you. Jesus did and still does, and it's through the preaching of the Gospel (that Jesus died for your sins), the regenerating of the Holy Spirit and hearing with faith which is a gift from God along with grace.

Dad's, we need to be teaching our children these things. That's what it means to bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. We teach them what is right, guide them and train them, teach them to repent and acknowledge their sins before God, then explain to them that their faith in Christ is what saves them. Not all the malarky that is taught as behavior modification and life transformation in churches today. Dad's, we have a biblical mandate to stand up and fight for the faith which was once delivered to the saints. We have a duty as men to defend the Gospel of our Lord. Those are our marching orders. We are to proclaim this good news and defend it from those who are attempting to pervert it. We need to be taking our families to churches where Christ is the central focal point each and every Sunday. We don't need a whiner up there who's always nagging us to try harder, do better, give it your best shot. I'm tired of getting up early on Sunday mornings to go hear some loud mouth lecture me about how I need to be spending more time with my bearded girlfriend Jesus. I don't want a bearded girlfriend! I've got a wife and she's beard-free, thank heaven!

I'll get out of bed, get dressed, shave, put on a suit and tie and drive to sit in church, sing, listen and give my money, but only if the pastor tells me about Jesus. For anything less, I'd rather be sleeping in, going to the park, or grilling and drinking a nice glass of merlot. If you're going to teach me about how I've broken God's law (yes, I need to be reminded) and about how all my sins are forgiven for Christ's sake (how easily we forget) then I'll come listen to you. However, if Christ, crucified, buried and risen again doesn't make the list as the main player in your story and if Scripture alone is not where you get your information from, then don't expect me to show. After a hard week I need rest, not a list of works I have to do, or risk ending up in hell. I need good news. And for that, well, for that I'll go to church.

Happy Father's Day!
Brandon

I'm a Pessimistic Optimist!

2010-06-18T20:07:00.000-07:00

I wanted to get up another post on the parallels between Hitler's mind control methods and the same one the apostate American church uses, especially since it's been nearly 3 weeks since I last posted, but I just had to get this off my chest.

Okay, time to come out with the truth, here's my confession: I'm a pessimist... and I'm an optimist! Huh? Let's just say that as a Lutheran, I have no problem whatsoever with having paradoxical beliefs, or being a paradox for that matter, such as the fact that I'm a sinner-Saint. I'm a saint (only because of what Christ has done for me, and nothing I've done in return) and yet I'm still a sinner. Another way of understanding this is that as Christians we are forgiven sinners. We still sin, yet we are justified by the one who is Just. As a Christian, resting in the work finished for us by Christ, we are as wholly justified (meaning a guilty party who is completely pardoned of their tresspass) as we will ever be standing before God.

Let me explain more about the pessimist/optimist paradox! When it comes to the human race and the question of their naturally inborn, bred in the bone, characteristics and tendencies to think, speak and act, I'm a gratuitous pessimist. I'm an unapologetic pessimist. I think I'm evil and I'm not apologizing for it one bit. What is pessimism? The dictionary at merriam-webster.com defines pessimism as:

1. an inclination to emphasize adverse aspects, conditions, and possibilities or to expect the worst possible outcome.

Yep, that's me, 100% when it come to you, me, and everyone else included in the human race. Did you notice that I didn't leave myself out? Now, why do I think so lowly of you and myself and everyone else? I'll tell you, but you may not like it! You see, I'm not the inventor of this idea that we're all horrible, bad people (bad to the bone I might add). I didn't get this idea from my own experiences, or happen upon it in a lengthy session of inner reflection. Like you, I would really like to think the best of myself and my fellow man. In fact, Scripture has something to say about this little intriguing tendency of ours to try and put the best construction on ourselves, even in the face of facts that would prove we are 100% guilty. Proverbs 20:6 says,

"Most men will proclaim each his own goodness, But who can find a faithful man?" (NKJV)

We do tend to exagerate our own perceived "good" deeds, and we try to downplay and minimize our bad ones, don't we? That's how we would like to see ourselves. I however have a little inside informatioin on how God sees us. Actually, it's not inside information at all. It's a clear and eternal teaching directly from the Scriptures. Let me share this with you from the book of Romans at the address of Romans 3:10-18

10 as it is written:

“None is righteous, no, not one;
11 no one understands;
no one seeks for God.
12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;
no one does good,
not even one.”
13 “Their throat is an open grave;
they use their tongues to deceive.”
“The venom of asps is under their lips.”
14 “Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.”
15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood;
16 in their paths are ruin and misery,
17 and the way of peace they have not known.”
18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

Let me quote to you what God thinks of your best attempts, and your best, most "holy", most "righteous" works and deeds:

Isaiah 64:6

6 We have all become like one who is unclean,
and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.
We all fade like a leaf,
and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.

And here again we read words written by King David:

Psalm 51:4-5

4 Against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you may be justified in your words
and blameless in your judgment.
5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,
and in sin did my mother conceive me.

David speaks truly when he says he was brought forth in iniquity, but he wasn't saying that his mother conceived him through iligitimate sex outside of marriage. He was speaking of the truth that we are all born sinners. The moment we are conceived, we are sinful by nature. What are the wages of sin? Death (Rom 6:23). If unborn children were not sinful by nature then none of them would ever die. That would be completely unjust and utterly evil for God to allow them to die if they hadn't been found guilty of sin. Before sin entered the world, there was no death, right? Right.

Okay, so like I said, I'm an utter pessimist in regards to humanity. We're a bunch of pathetic losers who can't turn out anything better than polluted garments. Actually, the word "polluted" comes from the Hebrew word עִדָּה (id∙dā) which more correctly would translate into menstration. Thus, you could say all our righteous deeds are like used tampons, rejected bloody rags, dispicable decaying waste that even our bodies reject. How does that make you feel about the last time you really sacrificed your time and helped out someone who could really use the help, then walked away feeling really good about it and thinking God must be smiling down on you for being such a good boy or girl. Not so good now, are we?

I've painted a pretty bleak picture here, haven't I? If this was a rude awakening for you, I feel your pain. I've been there too, but it has to be done. Only with this bleak picture as the backdrop can the light of the God's grace and mercy truly shine through! And this brings us to the second part of my explanation. This is where I get optimistic, and this is either where you do as well, or you become even more offended than you already are.

Only once I came to the realization of the truth that the human race as a whole is completely void of any righteousness or goodness of their own was I able to begin to realize how incomprehensible was God's grace and mercy that He has shown to us through sending His Son to live a perfect life, lowering Himself to our level as human, as mortal, yet living completely perfect and devoid of any sin whatsoever, only doing good, only ever thinking of His creation, of us, never thinking of Himself first, but always us, despite being the wretches that we are. Then, at the point in His service to us here on earth where some theologians say Jesus Christ had completely, or at least almost entirely abolished disease, birth defects, sickness, sufferring, diformities, etc., we killed Him, mercilessly torturing Him for the last serveral horribly traumitizing hours of His life.

Ha! And the healing ~~ministries~~ scam artists claim that being physically or emotionally healed draws out the best in people to love and seek God. Look, after all Jesus did for the people in the area of His ministry, they brutally murdered Him. Many of the same people whom He had walked amongst, lived with, ate with, touched and healed, spoke and renewed, on the day that He was given up to be judged, called out vehemently for His death. Not just any death either. The specifically stated the method which they preferred: Crucifixion! This just so happened to be the most horribly, long and agonizing way they knew how to torture someone, and the Romans, whom they turned Him over to in order to have their deepest darkest human desires fulfilled by were none other than the grandmasters of grandmasters at this wickedly cruel artform. We tend to look down on the people who cried out, "Crucify Him! Crucufy Him!" But you and I, my friend, would have done the same if we had been standing their, or just as bad, we would have betrayed Him and left Him without a friend in the world, without one person comeing to His defense to plead His case otherwise. We're just as guilty standing here today as they were then.

I'm sorry, I told you I was getting to the optimistic part. We'll go there right now. It is in this pessimistic fever that boils beneath my flesh that I first saw the only real, true and lasting glimmer of light. Then when I was turned to gaze upon it, it became a flicker, then a flame and now it seems as if to be the very sun itself. The light is blinding. It is pure and warm and cuts through the darkness of this world. You see, in all the putrid stink of rotting flesh and decay that sits above these words, you will find below them the most beautiful sound that could ever touch you ears.

Before His death Jesus predicted His death at least three times. Here's what He said the third time according to Matthew:

Matthew 20:18-19

18 “See, we are going up to Jerusalem. And the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn him to death 19 and deliver him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified, and he will be raised on the third day.”

And after His death and ressurection Jesus told the disciples on the road to Emmaus, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory(Luke 24:25)?"

Then Paul, the greatest of the Apostles who considered himself the least of them and chief of sinners said this of the Christ after he had met Him in His glorified form:

1 Corinthians 15:1-11

15 Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.
3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 8 Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. 9 For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. 11 Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.

That is the Gospel. Christ dying for our sins. I think it would be good to feed you with a few more verses following the passage just above. We'll let Paul continue:

1 Corinthians 15:12-20

12 Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 14 And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. 15 We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 19 If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.
20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.

Now, if it is not clear to you, let me explain why I find such great optimism in this! In light (or rather, darkness) of our current sinful and depraved condition we in and having been weighed and found coming up wanting on every level of our existence, I can find no greater peace and comfort than in Christ and what He has done for me when I couldn't and still can't do anything for myself that is of real lasting, eternal value and merit! If you look to find assurance in any other, including yourself, you'll be miserably let down. But in Jesus, now, there's a name you can count on! There is power in that name, power to save us and heal us from our sins.

When I want to be sure of my salvation, I don't measure how far I've come along the path to holiness. I don't try to judge whether I'm doing enough, or avoiding temptation enough. This is all a bunch of silly games. If we grade ourselves on a slant then we'll deceive ourselves to think we're doing pretty good. We can always throw a little sparkle and glitter on it and fool ourselves. However, if we're honest, we'll never find ourselves very appealing at all to look at. If we're honest, we'll flee from the mirror of God's law which exposes the rot and decay that we try to hide under the caked on makeup we hope will hide our grotesque sin. But where can we run? I don't know about you, my friend, but I run to Christ. Whatever worth I find, whatever I see now that I can esteem, I see in Christ and no other! I certainly have no self-worth, nothing that I should find self-esteem in.

If you're still reading this, then this is sadly where some of us will part. This has been grossly offending to some. For those, I pray you will someday wake up and smell the proverbial rot and decay of your own sinful stench. For others, like it was for me when I finally stopped resisting the truth found in God's Word, you realize that the first wave of true peace, true rest, true satisfaction in enjoying Christ, has just refreshinly washed over you. When we realize that this Christian life isn't about racing around, caking on mountains and globs of nasty makeup to try and cover our sins and make ourselves look holy and righteous enough to be called sinners, but rather, that this Christian life is about simply resting in the peace and assurance that Christ has done the work required for you for eternity, that the Holy Spirit has regenerated you and is sustaining and preserving you in the faith, and that God Himself forgives you of all your sin, past, present and future, then you will, for the first time, be able to truly trust in Christ for your salvation. It is all His work friend, from beginning to end, from the justifying, regenerating, granting repentance, saving us by grace, through faith, both given as gifts and not of our own works, to the sanctifying, the good works and the perfecting and glorifying in our final resurection on the day of judgement when we will find ourselves judged: Righteous for Christ's sake!

I have one last passage I'd like to share with you before I close.

Ephesians 2:1-10

By Grace Through Faith
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

There is one last thing I'd like to say. If this doesn't seem safe enough; If it doesn't seem fair that anyone can be saved, and you want to prove your worth to get into heaven; If it seems like it would be less dangerous to go ahead and try to fulfill the law and requirements of God anyway, then you can't be saved. You won't be saved because you're still trusting in yourself, at least to some degree, and God will not share His glory with another. Not even your sweet cheeks, my friend. No, all fall short of God's glory. All have sinned and we're kind of stuck that way till we die and God raises us on the last day. To borrow some gambling language, you can play the lottery, but the odds are all against you, or you can bet your life on Christ. Not only are the chips stacked in His favor, but He's actually already won. I guess He's just playing now to rub it in the devils face. The only difference between when He plays and I keep playing after I've won it big, is I can still lose everything again. God can't lose a thing. I'd save your money if I were you. You can't buy a ticket to where I'm headed. I pray you're on your way there too! The only way to the Father is through Jesus, not your works or any other means!

Blessed are the broken and poor in spirit,
Brandon

Don't Be Like Hitler! Mind-Control/Brainwashing Methods Compared, pt2

2010-05-31T08:52:00.000-07:00

Our second mind control, brainwashing method to compare today:

Hitler extinguished dissent.
People were only allowed to hear one view of Hitler - the positive view. This was especially true after 1933, when Hitler became the undisputed leader of Germany. After 1933, Hitler was able to silence all public opposition against him and thereby gain even more influence. Anyone who disagreed with any of Hitler's ideas was immediately considered to be "suspect" and might therefore get a knock on the door late at night and be thrown out on the street at best, or more likely, be killed along with there whole family at worst.

Likewise, in authoritarian churches anyone who might have questions, concerns or disagreements with the pastor, even on the grounds that the pastor is doing something that contradicts Scripture is immediately considered to be suspect of rebellion and obviously has sin in their lives. They are snubbed by the pastors closest church members and ridiculed (of course it's done in the form of simply sharing a concern for a “brother” of “sister.”) People will begin to talk behind closed doors about you and things will be said that have no grounds whatsoever in reality and are simply speculation or objects of people's imaginations. I have heard some wildly amazing things said about people who have left their churches because they disagreed with the pastor. Not in a good way either.

Because people are deceived to believe that any disagreement whatsoever is nothing less than sin and rebellion against God Himself, dissent against an apostate authoritarian pastor is nearly impossible to pull off, and if you don't just leave quietly, your dissent will be quickly extinguished in a most humiliating way. As a matter of fact, even if you do leave quietly there will probably be some kind of backlash. As I write this there are thousands and thousands of churches like this across America and the world. This problem is multi-denominational, but it is most often seen in Pentecostal and Charismatic type churches where the pastor is seen as the anointed man of God. Several nondenominational churches also have a church government structure that places the pastor at the top of the organization to make all the final choices and claim to be the voice of God for the congregation, thereby garnering to himself an extraordinary amount of control over everyone in the church.

Yes, dissent is quickly extinguished by making examples of those who would dare to question the pastor or another in the church who is in a place of authority. You are not even allowed to question them on the grounds of what Scripture says. What does Scripture say about examining teachers in light of Scripture? Oh yeah, now I remember! It says to test everything (1 Thess 5:21). Pastors and their teachings are not exempt from this. Everything, means Everything!

One way that apostate pastors try to get around this is by claiming that the very words they are speaking in a sermon are “inspired by the Holy Spirit. This is of course complete rubbish. There is no passage, not a single one that they have that could back this up. We are to test even the self-proclaimed “inspired” words they speak against the Scriptures. And you know what, when we know how to test them, 9 times out of 10 I'll bet they who claim divine inspiration will be speaking lies and falsehoods contrary to Scripture. Even the Apostles, when their speech was inspired by God were not offended by people testing them against the Scriptures to see if these things they were saying were true. In fact, these people were called noble! They were called noble in contrast to others who did not test the apostles against the Scriptures. Let's take a look quick.

Acts 17:10-12
10 The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived they went into the Jewish synagogue. 11 Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so. 12 Many of them therefore believed, with not a few Greek women of high standing as well as men.

Notice! They only believed after they had examined the Scriptures “to see if these things were so.” We should do likewise!

I would like to share one last passage with you. It is both a harsh and comforting passage. It is harsh toward apostate shepherds who destroy and scatter God's flock and do not attend to them. Then it is comforting to those of us who have been scattered and hurt by evil men, masquerading as shepherds, because God Himself tells us He will set shepherds over us who will care for us.

Jeremiah 23:1-4
1 “Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!” declares the Lord. 2 Therefore thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning the shepherds who care for my people: “You have scattered my flock and have driven them away, and you have not attended to them. Behold, I will attend to you for your evil deeds, declares the Lord. 3 Then I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their fold, and they shall be fruitful and multiply. 4 I will set shepherds over them who will care for them, and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall any be missing, declares the Lord.

What a powerful passage! What comfort to be found there! The Lord has been so gracious to my family and I in that He has set over us a shepherd that cares for us, and we shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall any be missing. When Satan had almost destroyed us through an agent of his, masquerading as a man of God, God Himself took us out of that situation and placed us in the care of a true under shepherd of Christ.

To God alone be all the glory!
Brandon

An Example of Common, Bad Theology

2010-05-28T16:38:00.000-07:00

I'm playing catch up. Here's the tentative projected blog posting schedule that I hope to follow. Today, I'll follow up my post from Monday, May 17th on Theology. Next I'll cover Part 2 of my new series, “Don't Be Like Hitler! Mind Control/Brainwashing Methods Compared.” Following that I will review “Across The Pastor's Desk” in the faith section from the Albert Lea Tribune, assuming it's worth the time it will take. From there we'll probably focus more heavily on the Mind Control/Brainwashing series. It's that important and if you follow it, I promise it will start to show you things that you're probably unaware of but have experienced that are indeed methods of control and manipulation. When we don't know what to look for we don't see these subtle yet powerful methods at work behind the scenes.

Back on track now, if you remember the last post on Theology, you will recall that I said everyone is a theologian, even the one who might say there is no God. Like it or not, he is a theologian; his theology is simply bad in that he doesn't believe in a god at all, let alone the God of the Bible.

In all this talk about “being a theologian” I do not wish to have you become worried. I am not talking about becoming a professional theologian. While training of a higher caliber would certainly help one in the matter, assuming it was Scriptural, we need not go to seminary to become “good” theologians. Academia certainly has its place, yet many of us will never even see the inside of a Seminary. We cannot all be pastors and professional theologians. Someone has to farm, another to repair broken equipment, someone to sell the equipment in the first place, another who would design and engineer it, those who will manufacture and build it and of course we would not be able to function without our transportation professionals. They are the bloodline of our communities and world. If no one was there to move us and all the products, grown and manufactured, we'd never make it very far would we?

No, we cannot all devote ourselves to serving the Lord and our fellow man in the corporate ministry world. Each of us in our own way serve our fellow man in our occupations, and by doing so we serve God also as we act as agents of providence. This is just as honorable and noble a task as it is to pastor a flock and anyone who would say different is a liar and is trying to elevate the position of a church man above that of a “common” layman. God doesn't elevate the position of a pastor above the other occupations of the world. In fact, because the pastor's position is likened to that of a lowly shepherd, Paul tells Timothy that if one desires to be an overseer he desires a noble task. He doesn't say it is more noble, just that it is not a degrading task. And thus, all occupations are equally holy before God. Whatever you do, you are in a honorable vocation, with the opportunity to serve your fellow man, glorify God and become more sanctified by the Holy Spirit in your daily walk with God by His grace alone.

So now I would like to ask you a question that I want you to consider carefully. If the question is not whether we are or aren't theologians, as we have established that simply having thoughts about God is what makes one a theologian, then I would propose to you an entirely different question: What sort of theologian are you? What is the quality of your theology?

Again, the quality of theology does not rest alone on study and academia. It rests more so on the guidance and enlightenment of the Holy Spirit, showing us truth and making it certain to us as we read the Bible. A child can easily ascertain the truths that are taught in the Bible, sometimes more easily than us adults, as we far too often have been exposed to much more of the pollution of thoughts and ideas that are contrary to Scripture, most of the time without even realizing it.

Dr. Martin Luther liked to say that what makes a theologian is the ability properly to distinguish between law and gospel, not ability and prowess in scholarly pursuits. Of course it is to be hoped for that these two things come together in Christian life, especially in our pastors and teachers of theology. But even a child, with their innocent, sweet faith, who may not even understand proper grammar or advanced mathematics can grasp the difference between law and gospel. Sadly, many an American Evangelical Christian Sunday school teacher convolutes and distorts this over time, confusing the young ones and damaging their faith and understanding of the Scriptures. This is why it is so very important to be aware of the theology that is being taught to our young ones. It is critical that we are teaching them from the Scriptures ourselves and ask them questions to ensure understanding on their part. If bad theology is present then it will surely surface at this time and we will be able to deal with it then, instead of later when it has grown out of proportion and become something we have no clue as to where it came from.

Let me give you an example of BAD theology. This is something that I've been seeing popping up all over the place, in people's conversation, in teaching, in many churches who are confused about and muddle together law and gospel, even on Facebook. The example can be summarized in one statement: “Obedience is the most important thing. If we want God to do XYZ we need to be completely obedient to Him. As Christians we need to be obedient to Him in everything!

Those who talk like this completely and utterly misunderstand the purpose of God's law and the distinction between it and the gospel. It's not their fault. It usually stems from the false and confusing doctrine that they've been raised in or come into contact with in their church. The underlying premise behind this kind of thinking is that we can influence God's opinion of us, gain greater blessings and become more holy and sanctified by what we do that pleases God and abstain from that is not pleasing to God. They think they can improve their relationship with God based on what they do. If someone thinks this is how things work between God and man they have no concept of how high a standard God has set for us.

There is only one way to God and it is through Christ's finished work. This does not change when we become Christians. We are not elevated to some higher place where we can do things that influence our own righteousness in a positive way. Just as before we were saved we were only capable of being guilty before God because we failed to meet His standard, even still today we are only capable of falling short of that standard that God demands. If we're honest, we fail daily.

In one way, and speaking in respect to the law of God, you can rightly say, “Obedience is the most important thing.” However, none of us can obey obey it. Jesus wasn't a spiritual performance pill that get's us to a certain point where we now have the ability to help ourselves. We are still just as helpless now as before. This is where the confusion is. People become confused about why Jesus died for them. Jesus did not die on the cross to empower us to be able to completely get rid of our sin. This is what is popularly taught across the US in many, many churches. Therefore the sermons often revolve around self-improvement and Christian living themes. They literally revolve around and focus on you rather than Christ. We can do it, we just need to be taught how, is the common thought amongst American Evangelicals. We're told that we can do it, that if we're really Christians that Christ has empowered us to always be able to resist all temptation and sin. The major emphasis is placed on overcoming our sins and avoiding temptations, rather than trusting in Christ. If you're really saved you'll be able to do it, or so they say.

This unfortunately is a vain and foolhardy endeavor. To even try to overcome our own sin hows we haven't the slightest clue what we are in the first place. We are sinful to the core. Sin isn't just something we do, we are infected with it to thee point that it is in our very DNA. It is imbedded in us. That is why it is spoken of as a “sin nature.” Like I said, it's not just a desire that we have to overcome, but it is our very human nature that is, in essence, sin itself.

Even if once we are Christians we could fulfill the requirements of the all the law, we would be forgetting one important thing. God's wrath is on us for our past sins. So if Jesus died to help us overcome our sins, we're still in trouble, because God still has to punish us for our sins that we've already committed. So what did Jesus die for? Well, He died for our sins. Not to help us overcome them, but to cover them. When we stand before the throne of God on judgment day, the only thing that will save us is not whether we obeyed enough or not, but whether we are covered by the blood of Christ or not. You see, God will judge everyone for each and every sin they've ever committed, even the ones you don't even know about. He can still see them. However, there is one thing that will hide our sins from God's view. That one thing is Jesus' blood. God demands that a blood sacrifice be made for sin. Either ours', or a perfect substitute's blood.

For thousands of years that perfect substitute was looked forward to and was ritualistically remembered in the practice of animal sacrifice. The only problem with animal sacrifice was that you had to keep doing it over and over for each and every new sin. It was a never ending cycle. But the real significance in the animal sacrifice practiced by the Hebrew people was that it pointed forward to the promise that God made in which He would send a Savior who would die for the sins of the world, crushing once and for all the power of sin, death and the devil! God instituted the sacrifice of innocent animals to help the people remember His promise of the future Messiah.

Even now there are people who teach such things as, “You can stop sinning; If you're a real Christian you will not commit sins; You have to obey the law and you can obey the law perfectly if you want to be saved!” Ultimately, because they focus on their ability to fulfill the law they are actually taking their focus off from Christ and forsaking His finished work to try and do it themselves. This is paramount of not believing in Christ and trusting on Him alone for your salvation. You may feel like you have to take some active part in it, but this is simply apostasy and a lack of understanding God's grace and mercy.

Does this mean one can just go out and sin? Many people who have an unhealthy and heavy focus on the law and obeying it make the claim that by grace alone through faith alone is antinomianism, or “lawlessness.” Antinomianism is a heresy because it states that we are freed from the the law in that it no longer applies to us whatsoever so that we can do as we please, even be in intentional rebellion toward God and we will still be saved. This is not what we teach and believe though. The law still applies, we just submit to God's truth that we cannot conform to His standard on our own, and so Christ had to conform us to that standard by atoning for all our sins. This is why people hate the gospel and it seems as though it is foolishness to them. It has nothing uplifting to say about us. It is not self-esteeming to admit that we are helpless and unable to do anything to improve our morally impoverished state.

I am not downplaying the importance of God's law. As I have stated before, it is the most salutary doctrine of life. The doctrine that requires what we cannot do: be perfect. I know that hurts a lot of people's feelings, to tell them that they are failures and worthless when it comes to helping ourselves. But it needs to be said. We are so worthless that our only hope was for Jesus to come live a perfect life and then die for all our sins and then raise Himself from the dead on the third day. It took that kind of an act, and then God raising us from the dead, creating in us a new heart, making us new creatures in Christ, to make us worth anything at all. Before that we were worthless, and even now, the only thing that makes us worth anything at all is what God has done for us and created in us anew.

So what does God's word have to say about all this?

I think, first of all that Galatians 3:23-29 will help clear some things up.

23 Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. 24 So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. 25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, 26 for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. 27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.

The law keeps watch over us to direct us to Christ. Another translation of the same passage above uses the word Schoolmaster instead of guardian. The law teaches us about our sinfulness to show us that we are not as good as we might think. It shows us we need Christ. It brings us to the foot of the cross, but it can take us no further. From there Christ has to do the rest. We have to let Him do the rest by trusting on Him and giving up trying to do it ourselves.

Romans 7:7

7 What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.”

The law is NOT sin, but teaches us what sin is, like I said above.

Look at Romans 3:10-12

10 as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; 11 no one understands; no one seeks for God. 12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”

Does God lie? When the verse above say's “none,” “not one,” “no one,” “all” and “they,” it's talking about you and I. Too often we like to attribute that to “others” outside the church walls. No, it's talking about you and I just the same as it refers to those outside.

Let us not forget 1 John 1:7-10

7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. (emphasis added)

We are all sinners. If we say, “I can keep the law, I can keep from sinning,” then we are liars and the truth is not in us. I didn't say it, John did, as he was inspired by the Holy Spirit to do so.

And in Romans 3:19-20 it says,

19 Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. 20 For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.

First, the law stops every mouth and holds the world accountable to God. Second, no human can be justified by the works of the law in God's sight. Third, through the law come the knowledge of sin. That third point also means that we will never be able to measure ourselves against the law and find ourselves becoming more holy. If we are honest, we will only ever see our failures in light of God's law, and our dependency and need for Christ will grow deeper. How great a Savior we have! What an awesome God we have! This is what people don't understand, what they're missing! The more the law shows us our sin, and the uglier it gets, the more amazing the gospel becomes. The deeper that contrast grows, the more we learn about how truly amazing God's love for us is, how amazing the sacrifice of Christ is and how wonderful God's plan for us really is. On the other hand, when we minimize the profound nature of the law by intentionally saying or even accidentally implying that we can do what is required, we undermine the gospel and its profound nature.

Another HUGE problem with the wrong teaching of the law is that we either become frustrated with it, realizing that it is a lie and that we can't keep it (if we're honest) or many times we'll make ourselves think we're actually keeping it, much like the Pharisees did.

When we teach the law lawfully we are leaving people without excuse, without any hope, outside of Christ. The law truly points us to Christ, and not ourselves, or a way that we can improve God's opinion of us. It shows us how morally bankrupt we are. It shows us that God's wrath rightly rests on all of us. All have sinned and fall short of God's glory (i.e., His perfect standard, the law).

Thank God that the gospel states that we are saved by grace through faith, not of our doing or of works, but it is a gift of God and we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God has already prepared for us before we were even saved (Eph2:8-10)! If it were by works that we are saved, I suggest that you get started. We would all have a very long way to go. It would take the rest of eternity to get there, and something tells me none of us have that much time!

Our only hope is Christ. Do you believe that He has finished the task and fulfilled the requirements of the law when you cannot? Do you believe the gospel? Or do you believe a false “gospel” that states you have to do something more than believe in the gospel, that you have to “prove” that you have faith by showing it with you actions and work, that you can and have to overcome sin, that you can avoid and stop sinning? Do you see what all these things do? They cause you to take you gaze and focus off from Jesus and put it on yourself, on what you're doing, on how “good” you are, on what you need to do, rather than on what Christ already has accomplished and finished for you!

Stop looking to yourself and look to Christ. Confess your sinful state daily, receive the forgiveness of your sins and rest in Christ, knowing full well that He has done all that ever need be done. This will set you free to then do good works rather than being in bondage to the idea that if you don't do them you won't be saved.

Till another time,
Brandon

News, Faith Section Review

2010-05-22T12:01:00.000-07:00

I have decided to start reviewing a local newspaper's faith section. Every Friday there is a section called "Across the Pastor's Desk." I sometimes refer to it as the "Choose Your Own Religion" section because of the vast and differing views that are presented there. I have no problem whatsoever that these pastors (some of which I would never consider pastors in the Scriptural sense) expressing their ideas and thoughts as they are free to do, however, when they contradict Scripture, they must be held accountable for their lies. I would never dream in a million years of suppressing their freedom, however, I will not stand by and let people believe it is the truth simply because they lay claim to holding the office of "pastor."

On a very rare occasion though, we do get a man of God who writes a good piece on faith, religion or the Bible, and doesn't completely biff it! Just as I will not hold back from giving blunt, honest reviews of bad articles when these charlatans attempt to deprive you of the truth, attempting to suppress it with a lie, I will also not deprive you of the truth when it has been clearly spoken and communicateed by a shepherd of God's people who is doing his job, which is to preach the Word!

I am thankful, and feel fortunate then to begin my review of the Friday faith section on an article that is well written, is in line with Scripture and worthy of reading for our edification and education. You may read this article for yourself at http://www.albertleatribune.com/news/2010/may/21/celebration-gives-followers-courage-share-good-new/

It is entitled, "Celebration gives followers courage to share good news."
I do not personally know the Rev. Donald F. Rose, who wrote this article. I do not know all of what I agree with, and disagree with him on. I do know that he pastor's an ELCA church. I do know that I have some extremely big disagreements with the ELCA on many, many issues. That is neither here nor there though. This article, is in it's core message, a good article. Let us give credit where it is due.

My review of this article will be short. First, I would like to point out what is good about this article. At the very center of this article we are pointed to Christ, and this is the right thing to do. As Christians, "followers of Christ," should not Christ be the center of our lives, teaching, and worship? That was a rhetorical question. The answer is YES! Far too often, we see Christ only show up in an "honorable mention."

This article is chock full of Christ. The Rev. brings Him out everywhere as you read it. Then when mentioning the Holy Spirit, Rev. Rose correctly identifies the Spirit's role as "always to point to the Savior." Here's a quote from the article that I want to share with you:

"The Spirit’s role is always to point to the Savior. The Spirit never lays claim for itself but rather directs us to the truth that has been revealed in Jesus the Christ. Much of the Christian family has over time neglected the Spirit and its work. As a result it is often the least considered of the three persons of the Trinity. Though this practice may have seemed the least difficult of paths to follow it has lead to much confusion and misunderstanding in regards to the Spirit’s rightful purpose. Once again that purpose is truly singular in nature. The Spirit is to point to Jesus as the fulfillment, the clearest expression of God’s love and will for the sake of the whole creation."

I would like to expound on something the Rev said there. "Much of the Christian family has over time neglected the Spirit and its work." What does it mean to "neglect" the Spirit and His work? One of the clearest examples of this is when people look to the Spirit of God as more of a magical genie that dishes out powers, gifts, and special revalatory knowledge. They neglect the fact that the role of the Holy Spirit is not for our empowerment as an end, but as a means to point us to Christ. They get so wrapped up in the "powers," the "gifts," and the "knowledge" that they forget it was never supposed to be an end; if anything it is a means. But people lose their focus on what the Spirit is pointing them toward. They get distracted by shiny, brite baubles that they wish to call their own, claim as their own power, their own gift, when it was never meant to take up so much of their time and life. You will probably never do a real miracle that is from God and that's okay.

Christ is the object of our faith, and what our confession focusses on. Not these "gifts" that people claim they have and put on circus sidee shows with in their church. A true gift from the Spirit is an exceedingly good thing, but it should never, I repeat, NEVER be our focus and the object of our goals. I give you an example from the Scriptures.

Luke 10:19-20

19 Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you. 20 Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”

Do you see what Jesus was doing here. To these seventy-two disciples whom he had given power to do amazing things, he said, "Do not rejoice in this.... Rejoice that your names are written in heaven." Literally, rejoice that I (Jesus) have saved you and that you. Jesus was getting their focus off what they were doing and back on Him alone. If we rejoice that our names are written in heaven, we are rejoicing in the work of Christ, the salvation of Christ, in the very God the Son, Jesus Himself.

Isn't it amazing that even then, when Christ was with us on earth, even the disciples had a hard time keeping their focus on the right One. They wanted to turn their focus away from the God who was working through them with His power in the first place, and turn their attention toward themselves! Me, Myself and I! And did I mention, Jesus was standing right in front of them? He was right their, and they couldn't keep from focusing on themselves!

Today it is no different. People who claim to have their focus set on Christ, are more focused on what they can or cannot do than on what Christ has already done for them on the cross! They don't see Christ as an end to their need, but a means to getting what they think they need, more power. Instead of being content to walk in whatever God decides to have them walk in, as He supernaturally bestows it on them, they chase after things that are not theirs to chase and have.

People spend all their lives looking for miracles, going to teaching sessions on what you need to do to perform miracles, signs and wonders. They even have workshops that teach you how to "speak in tongues." Book after book, and DVD's on top of CD's on top of magazines and websites promise to reveal to people that secret they've just been missing all along. They lie to them, "you could do miracles too, if you only had enough faith: read this, watch that, or listen to me and I'll tell you what it is."

In reality, to get to the bottom of this, what it all goes back to is a lie, straight from the Pit of Hell and Satan, the father of lies himself, who tells the same lie today, that he told to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden: "You too, can be like God! All you need is this "knowledge! Here, take a bite!"

The Spirit always points us to Christ (John 15:26). Not ourselves, miracles, or secret "knowledge" to be able to do miracles. These are distractions that Satan has placed in our lives, your life, to do anything he can to get us off track, to stop looking to Christ alone, to pull us out of the freedom Jesus paid such a high price for, and all in order to put us into bondage to do his will. Let us not neglect the Spirit and His work. Let us not ignore Him when He points us to Christ, and let us not be decieved by other spirits who will come and try to point us away from Christ, toward ourselves, our abilities and a search for power. The greatest miracle that God has ever done and is still actively doing today is not an outward sign or miracle, but inward, when He regenerates the dead, sinful heart of man, giving him life through faith, granting a rebellious sinner repentance. This is what God did in you when Christ saved you, but notice, this miracle requires you to look outside yourself, to the cross, to the finished work of Christ on that tree. Christ didn't die inside of you. This most amazing miracle is the one that people brush off as no big deal, yet I stand in awe of it every time I see a sinner repent and believe, not in themselves, or on something within themselves, but on the Lord Jesus Christ who requires their allegiance, who is in heaven and will return one day to judge both the living (those whom Christ has worked the miracle of repentance and faith in and whom have not rejected it) and the dead (the unrepentant sinner).

If I may offer one critique it would be that to make the message of the gospel more clear, the Rev. Rose should have dealt a little more on the issue of our sin, and what exactly he meant, in order to help us understand the amazing nature of the gospel!

Well, that's about all I have time for today. God bless!
Brandon

Don't Be Like Hitler! Mind-Control/Brainwashing Methods Compared, pt1

2010-05-21T17:23:00.000-07:00

History repeats itself! I'm going to start a series, introducing one point for consideration every time I post a piece of this series. I'm calling this series, “Don't Be Like Hitler! Mind-Control/Brainwashing Methods Compared.” Each post will follow a format.

First, I will introduce the post, then we'll review a method of Mind-Control or Brainwashing that Hitler used. Why have I chosen Hitler? He was a power hungry psychopath. He used a great number of techniques to fulfill his thirst for power, control and glory. It is easier to focus on one man who used almost every conventional Mind-Control, Brainwashing and manipulation technique known to man, rather than trying to focus on 10 different people using 20 different techniques.

Second, I will try to carefully explain the same or equivalent techniques that are being used in the some Non-Denominational, Evangelical, and most Charismatic and Word-Faith churches in the US and abroad (I am not in anyway claiming that all churches are like this). Sound controversial? Look at the issues at hand, consider the facts. This brings us to the third point.

Lastly, I will show you what the Bible has to say about the issue. The Bible clearly condemns the practices of Hitler, many other people in the present and past, including even the church. Never before in History, however, have so many churches engaged in such an unapologetic use of control and manipulation as they are doing today. This is an abuse of the place of authority they claim to hold. This is wrong and it is clearly against God's Word.

I will give the benefit of the doubt to most of these pastors and churches. I feel that those pastors and churches which are abusive are doing so from a misguided, misdirected motive. I do not think that they are all intentionally using these techniques, at least not doing so fully understanding the significance of their actions. I believe that they feel they have the people's best interests in mind and are simply acting from a premise of deception. I do not say this to minimize the weight of their actions, I simply want to make it clear that I think they could quite possibly be some of the nicest people in the world. They're probably great fathers, mothers, friends, and neighbors. So was Hitler to his own people. He loved having girl scouts over and giving them cup cakes. There's no doubt that that act in and of itself was a “nice” thing. The man also enjoyed personally torturing those whom he considered lesser human beings, or worse, not even human.

I am writing this series in order to expose these techniques to people who may have no idea that they are being used on them, and worse, that they themselves could possibly be using them on others. This is a wake up call to show these evil techniques for what they are, and the people who use them, consciously or unconsciously, for the controlling and manipulative abusers (no matter how “nice” they are) for who they are.

Hitler used his image as a father figure. In the traditional German home, the father was the one in control. The rest of the family was expected to always obey the father -- to obey their father "without question". By projecting such a "father" image before the children of Germany, Hitler was able to transfer power from the institution of the home to his own social and political institutions. Hitler also persuaded "his" children into thinking that, since Hitler was their "father", this also meant that he also cared about them, and about their future. Of course, Hitler actually only cared about one man -- himself. Hitler's Youth were just his "pawns" in his great political and military scheme to take over the world.

In the same way, many authoritarian pastors set themselves up as a patriarchal, authority figure, who, as the father of “his” congregational “children,” claims he has only their best intentions in mind. This allows him to appropriate a great amount of control over the people in his congregation, all in the name of their best interest, but this is never really the case. Whenever a pastor becomes manipulative and controlling, especially when that starts to dig into your personal life, he's doing so for his own validation, to make himself feel like thee “powerful apostle” he sees himself as.

While he may claim to be held accountable to someone (most of the time only to God Himself) he is really accountable to no one and so his mad power grabs that reach deep into people's lives, taking advantage of them and violating them emotionally, spiritually and sometimes even physically, go completely unchecked. Often times, if the pastor does claim he is accountable to someone, it will be from someone outside his own church, who is not really there, who can't realistically hold him accountable. It is ridiculous to claim that this is accountability and is simply to keep real accountability away. This is a sure sign that there is a true abuse of power taking place in the church.

How should this be dealt with? We should look to the Scriptures, God's very words on this issue.

Matthew 20:25-28
25 But Jesus called them to him and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. 26 It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, 27 and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, 28 even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

The person who is the true authority figure in the church will not have to appropriate to himself the power and position of authority. He will walk in it as if it is something that is just naturally there. He will not be marked with grabbing power and insisting that he has to be respected, but rather he will serve his people. Jesus said that there are those of the world (the Gentiles) who “lord it over” each other and “exercise authority over them” or literally, they set themselves up as reigning over people as if they were royalty. Then Jesus gave the command, “It shall not be so among you.” According to Jesus, only the one who is the servant, the slave, can be truly great. This example stands in stark contrast to the circus show we see going on in the church today. Pastors practically command some people to bend over backward for them to demonstrate their authority.

We get the word pastor from the Greek word poimēn, literally translated that means, shepherd. This was the picture that God wanted those who would take up the mantle of “pastor” to have. Thee shepherd has an extremely humbling job. He sleeps under the stars, he walks everywhere the sheep do, among the sheep and stepping in their messes. He has to be very patient as sheep are often not the brightest animal and often will get themselves into trouble. All day and all night, all his life as a shepherd, he has no other thought but that of feeding the sheep, making sure they don't eat the poisonous plants, guiding them to gentle water (fast water will spook them) and keeping them out the reach of dangerous animals, as well as going staff to claw and tooth with the animals that won't care that the shepherd is there. As if all that wasn't enough, the shepherd was privy to the wonderful job of cleaning each and every one of the sheeps' rear ends. Their dung would get caught in their wool and it would sit there and stink and cause insects to be attracted to the flock. The shepherd would literally take with his bare hands the clump of dung that was hanging in the wool and either have to pull or cut it out, without doing harm to the sheep. Does this sound like the job of a servant or a slave? Most shepherds were servants or slaves who worked for someone who owned the flock.

Someone says, “Yeah, but the Bible also talks a lot about submitting to and obeying those who are in authority over us.” Here's the thing though, those who exercise God given authority over us will not try to push this issue of authority on us. They will not have to if they have true God-given authority. Those who do not have God given authority will impose this authority on others. They are not content to let God administer His authority over people through whomever He sees fit, but take upon themselves this mantle of authority, just as Hitler did when he transferred the authority of the German father figure to his own social and political institution. It is not because someone demands or claims the pastoral authority that we show them honor and respect, but because they are a pastor, a shepherd to the congregation, that we do so. These are men who, in so having desired to be overseers, have desired a noble task, but still a lowly task. We give them honor, and respect and try to obey them, not because they demand it of us, but because they serve us. They teach us God's Word, they guide us by it alone (not their feelings) and they administer the sacraments of Baptism and the Lord's Supper.

Evil men who abuse the people of God, controlling them and manipulating them as they demand respect and obedience, masquerade as pastors, but doing none of the pastoral duties, such as teaching the whole counsel of the word of God, preaching the Word (Acts 20:27; 2 Tim 4:2; Titus 2:1).

You may say, “Well, my pastor opens the Bible and reads from it. He does those things.” It's one matter to be able to read the Bible to start talking about it. It's another thing entirely to understand what you're reading so that you can rightly divide the word of truth, and correctly instruct others in understanding it. I'm amazed at how many men claim to be pastors, read from the Bible, and then demonstrate they have not the slightest clue about what they just read when they start opening their mouth to talk about it! They lack an understanding for the Law and Gospel that a 12 year old could comprehend. They are like those who Paul spoke of, “desiring to be teachers of the law, without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make confident assertions (1 Tim 1:7).

These are the men who Christ warned us about when He said, “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves (Matthew 7:15).” And again He said, "For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect (Matthew 24:24)."

The last thing I want to say is that even a pastor needs to be able to be held accountable by the church. If he refuses to be held accountable by his own congregation, then he should be booted out. He cannot be allowed to stay asserting his unquestionable authority, as if he is above all reproach. This is arroagance and a litteral blasphemy against the Lord God, Himself. The real and only true governing authority that should be the final end all in the church is nothing else but God's Word. When pastors start claiming they are the mouthpiece of God thay have usurped God's authority and appropriated it unto themselves. What happens then if someone comes to the church with valid, Scriptural concerns? Well, there can be no such thing as a valid and godly critic of these supposed “men of God” who supposedly hear directly from God. They cannot be questioned, they cannot be doubted, and even if you have a concern, you had better think twice about bringing it to them, for they may have to “discipline” you if they find you in rebellion.

So, where do we go from here? If you're in a church, or have a pastor that acts like this, GET OUT!!! I cannot stress this enough! He is controlling, manipulative and vindictive. He is abusing you by removing from you your rights to help himself feel more powerful. It will only get worse, trust me, I know. If you must stay, talk about it. But expect backlashes from this. You will not change them. Only God can change an apostate, rebellious pastor.

If you are the one who is guilty of the abuse, the control, the manipulation, here's the Good News. You may be a pastor, but you still need a Savior! Jesus Christ died, even for your sins, the sin of apostasy, rebellion, abusing the people of God and appropriating power and authority to yourself that you have absolutely no right to claim! Our Lord is gracious enough to save even you. He loves you, and even though you are trapped in this bondage of controlling and brainwashing other people to see you as a god, instead of realizing God is God, He wants to set you free and to forgive you. He wants to save you even when you think you're unsavable. So repent, now, and recieve the forgiveness of your sins. You know who you are, and you know what you've done. What a great God we have that He can still love such great sinners as us, granting us repentance and forgiveness, saving us not by anything we do but only by grace through faith all for the sake of Christ's work alone!

May God grant to us all a daily repentance,
Brandon
For further reading on this issue please take a look at the following links:
Good News for Those Trying Harder
http://www.spiritualabuse.org/
The Subtle Power of Spiritual Abuse

Even the Atheist is a Theologian

2010-05-17T15:42:00.000-07:00

We are all Theologians, like it or not. When we say or think things about God, then we are participating in Theology. When the Atheist says, “There is no God,” he is a type of a theologian. His theology is that there is not such a One as God, or any god for that matter.

Now, the Atheist is a type of a theologian that the Christian can easily spot. We can point out his theological faults quickly and call it what it is: Bad Theology. If only all bad theologians were as easy to spot. It seems that no matter where you go, what denomination or church you attend, we are all at risk of running into bad theology. Because we are human, we are at risk of creating bad theology, and believing it when others spew it's mind-numbing toxins.

But what signs or marks might one look for to be tipped off to bad theology that is harder to spot? Well, there is not an “easy” 3-step plan to becoming “bad theology-proof.” It will not come overnight. In fact as you begin to travel along the path to what becomes the life-long journey of building a defensive barrier against false doctrine and bad theology you may soon find things in your life that have infiltrated under the guise as “truth” but you now realize for the first time is actually false. As you gain a better, deeper understanding of the Scriptures you will begin to see things that you never saw before.

Building an immune system to ward off bad theologies will take study, so that you are aware of what is good and what is bad. Often times one cannot clearly point out what is bad in what is said, but rather in what is not said. It is often what is implied, and left to be read between the lines that you will find the tell-tail signs of what is bad. That's how Satan works through his agents who masquerade as angels of light, and I dare say, even pastors, evangelists and ministers. In order to spot these bad theologians you must keep your eyes open, refuse to lulled into a complacent, nonchalant attitude, keep your ears open, but have discernment, trained by practice to distinguish between what is good and evil.

Let's just take a quick look at an example of one thing that was once easily able to pass by my guard, but is now something that tips me off to what may be very bad theology. Someone might say, “My God is a God of love.” Did you catch that? It happens so fast, yet someone can say that and mean a hundred different things. Here's what you can ask about this statement: What does “my God” mean? When someone says this you must be careful to understand who their “God” is. Is He the God who has revealed Himself to us through His eternal Word, recorded for us in the Scriptures, or is their “god” a god of their own understanding, fashioned in their mind after their own liking, and in reality a god made in their own image? If it is the first, then their God is the God of the Bible, if the latter, then their god is a false god made in the land of imagination; a god who cannot speak, cannot move, cannot do anything other than what they command it to do.

What really needs to be discerned is what do they mean by “My God is a God of love.” It is true that God is a God of love. In fact, He is Love. It is not something that He does every now and then; it is a central core attribute of His very divine nature. He doesn't just love, He is love. One thing we must understand is that His love is not something for us to describe. He defines love. God decides what love is. The second we start taking on the task of determining the attributes of love on our own, with our own mind, without any consideration for what God has already defined it as, without learning from God what love is, then we have just appropriated to our own self the authority and responsibility of God Himself. We have now decided that we can do it better than God and that our definition makes more sense to us.

Do they mean by “My God is a God of love,” that their God, who could rightly punish them because of their sinfulness for all eternity, sent as a penal, substitutionary sacrifice, his only Son, to live a perfect life when we could not, died a criminal's death in our stead, and rose victorious from the dead, thereby setting us free from sin, death and the devil, ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of the Father from where He will come to judge the earth and all mankind in it on the last day and that all we have to do in order to be saved from God's wrath is to believe and trust in Jesus Christ who made satisfaction before God for all our sins; or, do they mean that their god is a god of love, so it would never send anyone to hell (except the really “bad” people that they don't like).

The truth is, so many times and more often than you would suspect, people are being swayed to believe that “God” wouldn't ever send anyone to hell. While 92% of Americans from the latest poll (at the time of this post) say they believe in God, that doesn't give me much comfort. What “God” do they believe in and what do they believe about Him? Is He the God of the Bible, or another god? The rest of the poll may give us some insight. Only 74% of Americans believe in heaven. That means a good 18% of those who believe in a god, don't believe in the God of the Bible who tells us in His word that there is a heaven. Jesus Himself tell us that He has gone their to prepare a place for us. Only 59% believe there is a hell, and fewer actually believe that their God would ever send anyone there (except people like Hitler or Stalin). I would say I am being fairly generous if I were to say that just from this poll half the population have created a god in their own image, making him up out of the fabric of their own limited and sinful imaginations.

What does the Bible, you know, that book that God Himself inspired, have to say about God? True enough, we read that God is love (1 John 4:8). However, we are not free to interpret that however we wish. We must look at the whole counsel of the Word of God. He didn't have the writers of the Old and New Testaments record all that stuff so that we could cherry pick verses here and their and attach our own meanings to them. Yes, God is love. He is also without sin, He is just and upright (Deut 32:4). God will punish all sinners in a lake of fire (Rev 21:8) But God also, seeing our helpless and sinful state, sent His only Son to redeem us (Rom 8:3-4; 1 Cor 15:3-4). All that God requires is that we repent, are baptized and believe in the gospel (Mark 1:15, 16:16; Acts 2:38). It is only by the gift of God that we receive this grace and the faith that allows us to believe in the first place; it is not of ourselves (Eph 2:8-9)! Not even our repentance is something we have done on our own, of our own will. Whether we repent or not depends on God granting it to us (Acts 11:18; 2 Tim 2:25). Even our sanctification depends on God and not on our own effort and will (Gal 3:3; 1 Cor 1:2, 6:11; 1 Thess 5:23; Heb 10:29).

From beginning to end God Himself is the Author of Salvation; He did the work of saving us while we were still enemies of His (Rom 5:8,10). When we could not choose him, He chose us and gave us life when we were still dead in our trespasses and sin (Eph 2:1,4), adopted us into His family (Rom 8:15; Gal 4:5; Eph 1:5), gave us faith when we had none, birthing in us a belief in Him that couldn't have existed there beforehand. Even our repentance is something He has granted unto us. It is then ridiculous for us to think we have any part in our salvation, especially a “decision.” The decision was all God's. Any decision on our part can only be that of rebellion against God and that is why there are still those who do not submit to God's plan of redemption for them. God says no one does good, no not one:

Romans 3:10-12
10 as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; 11 no one understands; no one seeks for God. 12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”

So God is indeed love, but not a God of love who would never send a person to hell. We have no excuse, for God has gone so far out of His way to reach us that it boggles the mind!

John 3:16-18
16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

Reformation is coming. I'm issueing a call to rediscover the theology of the cross, Christ-centered theology, the theology of the reformation. In our ignorance we somehow have come to a place where we have dared to proclaim ourselves more enlightened than some of the most learned and well studied men in the Scriptures and historic Christianity. We treat them with disrespect, and worse, blatant contempt when most of us know very little about them and what they believed and taught in the first place. Much of it seems foreign to us because it contradicts what the popular, charismatic televangelists, and those who aspire to be like them in the smaller churches teach. If we knew the Scriptures, though, we would not see anything foreign in their teaching. If it had not been for God using them as vessels to bring about the reformation, we would today have nothing but a tyranical Mideival Catholic Church. Perhaps they, having fought harder than most of us could ever understand for the freedom to practice historic, Scriptural Christianity, actually do understand the Christian faith better than us “enlightened” “super-Christians” do today.

Let us humbly lay down our pride, as the “great” scholars of our own imaginations and subjective feelings, that we are, and begin to learn the objective truth, found only in God's Word. Just as in the day of Martin Luther, the church and the people of God need to be delivered from the bondage of those who suppress freedom in Christ, who dictate to us what God has said, more from their own thoughts, ideas, dreams, visions, and feelings rather than from the authoritative Word, which was once for all delivered to us. Long ago God saw fit to speak to our fathers through the prophets, but now in these last days He speaks to us through Christ, His Son (Heb 1:1-2). Christ is the incarnate Word of God (John 1:1,14). Christ speaks to us through the words written in the Bible (Rom 9:1). Let us listen to Him there, all of us who are in Christ (John 10:27).

May God's blessings be on you,
especially as you are found in the salvation of our Lord,

Brandon

Living Orthodoxy

2010-05-15T21:03:00.000-07:00

It's been a little while since I got another post up. I am currently on vacation and I was fishing with my grandpa for a couple days. It rained a lot but I still had a great time and caught quite a number of trout of which I kept 7 beautiful rainbow trout! The rain also gave me the chance to write up a couple rough drafts for future posts to come. All I have to do is polish them up, copy, paste and hit “Post.” Here's the one I felt was good enough to share with you tonight... or whenever you're reading it. Enjoy!

*****

When I was growing up, and especially in later years when I began to get heavily involved with children and youth ministries, I had an extremely strong belief that all “traditional” churches were stagnant and dead in their orthodoxy. I felt they had gotten so caught up in dogma, doctrine and theology, that they had forgotten about freedom in Christ. I even remember reading an article not more than two years ago that was talking about the many non-denominational churches who were returning to orthodoxy. All I could do was shake my head and wonder why; why would they trade their “freedom” for being bound by the strict regulations of worship? Why would they trade hearing directly from God, to going back to reading nothing but the Bible to get their direction and instruction? In short, why would they trade spiritual life for for being spiritually dead? In those “old fashioned” traditional churches you can't jump around and dance or raise your hands in worship. You can't shout, can't “speak in tongues,” and you won't hear contemporary praise and worship (only “dead” hymns). Okay, so you could do all those things, but you'll have a lot of people looking strangely at you. You can be sure, that instead of your super Christian contemporaries looking at you in awe of how spiritual and holy you must be to do those things, the traditional Christians will be wondering why you're acting so disrespectfully and irreverently in the Lord's house. If you're not careful you might even get someone to call the insane asylum on you. Just kidding.

As some of my readers are probably doing, I laugh now at the ignorant, childish and silly way I once thought about this. How foolish; laugh or cry, right? Anyway, I had many preconceived ideas about these so-called “dead” churches. First of all, they may have been Christians, just maybe, but they certainly were not super Christians like me and others from churches like the ones I grew up in (Word-Faith, Charismatic, non-denominational; pretty much what I group all under the title, Evangelical). Sure, we both had the Bible, but us super Christians had something even better: Direct revelation from God! We weren't limited by a book, but had communication with God Himself. We claimed we could hear God speaking to us, sometimes by giving us a “feeling,” giving us an inspired “thought” or even on occasion “speaking” to us. This communication was something we strived for, something we worked for. We went to great lengths to avoid temptation and sin, to consecrate and sanctify ourselves, to always be obedient to God's will for our lives, and to pray just right and long enough so that God would speak back to us in some way, shape or form. Somehow, we overlooked the most clear and definite way that God was speaking to us. We forgot that He had seen fit to record for us His eternal Word in the past. We didn't want that though. We wanted God's temporal Word for our present situation, right now!

I wanted to go into some detail explaining the “elitist” mentality of super Christians contrasting that with how I used to think of the traditionalists. I think one of the biggest hangups that Evangelicals have with tradition is a misunderstanding of what traditional Christianity is. I used to be quite confused about such things as what proper Christian worship was, is direct revelation something God gives us all, and what place do ceremony and tradition hold. I'm not going to write at length about any of these subjects in this post. If you have questions leave a comment. If you want further reading material there are some good articles on the web that explain from a Biblical stand point how we should understand these things. This is a great area to use Biblical discernment in.

Before I go any further I would like to state a very simple premise that I think we should work from as Christians. Let me elaborate:

There is always someone out there saying they have found the only true and pure Christian doctrine. There is always a new spiritual practice coming out that you supposedly must be doing in order to be getting the most out of Christianity. We should all be concerned that what we believe and do as Christians is really what Christianity is supposed to be about. This should go without saying, yet some have become complacent and nonchalant in their attitude toward the faith. If you want to make sure that your faith is founded on what truly is Christianity where do you think you should look to make sure it is?

2 Corinthians 13:5
5 Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!

We are commanded to examine ourselves to see whether we are in the faith and Scripture says to test ourselves! Where do you think we should go to look for the most sure and trustworthy comparison to test ourselves by? Well, if we are going to test and examine ourselves to see if we're in the faith, might I suggest going straight to those who were the founders of the faith from day one? Who might that be?

Jude 3
3 Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.

Ephesians 2:20
20 [The Body of Christ] built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone.

What faith was once and for all delivered to the saints (never having to be delived again)? The Christian faith. Who delivered it (or who was it founded by)? The apostles, prophets and of course Christ Jesus Himself. Now, if the Scripture is true and if it is not lying then does the faith need to continue being delivered? Does it ever need to change or adapt if it was once for all delivered? Does anything need to be taken away from or added to what the apostles, the prophets and Jesus originally taught? No! It's “once for all delivered!” So once again I will ask my question. Whose teaching and instruction do we seek in order to examine ourselves and test ourselves to see that we are in fact in the faith? The answer is the apostles, the prophets and Christ Jesus. In other words, we go to the only sure and pure source of their teaching, that being the Bible.

Now that we have done some very minor groundwork as to upon whom the foundation of Christianity rests, and have clarified by what standard we are to examine and test ourselves, let us continue. Orthodox, or unorthodox. The word orthodox used to carry some very negative conotations with it for me. Perhaps it does for you as well. The word unorthodox on the other hand was my word of choice if I wanted to describe my past churches. I would say, “we're anything but orthodox,” and I meant it as a good thing.

Today, as I write this I have a new metality when it comes to these two terms. I certainly do consider my previous churches to be “unorthodox” or rather, heterodox, but now that is not a good thing to me. Christian orthodoxy, true Christian orthodoxy, will be found amongst those who believe in God, Christ and the Holy Spirit and all doctrines based soley on the Word of God. Any doctrine, practice or belief that does not find it's origin in Scripture must be thrown out immediately. Am I looking for perfection? No, sound doctrine does not erradicate sin. Sound doctrine points us to the One who takes away our sins, and so Jesus Christ will be at the very center focal point of everything that is truly Christian orthodoxy.

You may ask, “Why is this doctrine and theology stuff so important to you Brandon? What's your obsession with it? Why do you keep using those words?”

Theology means God (Theos) study (logos). Therefore, theology is the study of God. Doctrine is just a fancy word for teaching. Now I'll give you my Biblical reason for my obsession with these things. Do you have an intersest in the eternal souls of people? Do you care whether they are saved or not? Does it concern you that people die everyday without first believing and trusting in Christ? Let us then read what what the author of salvation and the Scriptures then wrote for us regarding this matter.

1 Timothy 4:16
16 Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers.

“Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching.” In other words, make sure that you are paying close attention to what you are being taught and what you are teaching. Why? “For by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers.” Is the passage litterally saying you will be saved by a teaching? No, but you are saved by what, or rather whom the teaching is about. Christ saves us, not a teaching, but if we have the wrong teaching, we don't have the right Christ either. Some of you want to argue that it isn't that complicated. I know you're out there. If it isn't that complicated, if it's really much more simple than that, then why do we have warning after warning in the Scriptures that their will be false teachers, will be false teachings, and will be people led astray, even well-meaning, good-intentioned Christians.

This is no trivial matter. This isn't an issue where as long as you're mostly correct it's still all right even if you have diverged into something wrong in one “little” issue. We can afford to believe something wrong as much as we can afford to spend eternity in hell. Think about it. I guarantee you won't have time to think about it if you come under damnation.

So when it come to an orthodox church, there will be a close adherence to the Scriptures. I once thought, and argued that many a non-denominational church was in strict adherence to the Word of God. Unfortunately this is something I just assumed. Reagan said of the Soviets, when they were disarming, “We're going to trust them but we're going to verify.” Trust and verification. It may very well be that your church does adhere strictly to what is taught in Scripture. However, you should verify that. I'm sure they're nice people. I'm sure they do wonderful things for the community. I'm sure they're a lot of fun to be around. However, God didn't say, “keep a close watch on the good deeds and kindness of a person.” He said to test the teaching. In fact, we're told not to judge by the outward appearance, but to judge rightly.

You will know an unorthodox church by their departure from the Scriptures. When the Scriptures say one thing about baptism, they will twist it and finagle a way around it so they can teach something that sounds better to them. This most often happens, even to us, when we approach the Scriptures having our point in mind, rather than approaching the Scriptures to get our point directly from them.

Does orthodoxy mean death? It depends on what we are looking for to determine if there is life in a church or not. Previously to God guiding me into a better understanding of what Scripture teaches, I used to think that the “live” churches were the ones with people dancing, shouting, jumping, waving their hands in the air, singing contemporary praise and worship songs and also having people come up front to share a “word of knowledge” a “prophecy” or “tongues and interpretation” with the congregation. People in “live” churches are “free,” and even encouraged to speak in “tongues.” That's how I used to think. Now, when I hear tongues, I think, what language is that? Did you know that the gift of tongues really does exist? It's not a gift for skillfully being able to speak gibberish. It was a gift, given by the Holy Spirit to speak in an actual earthly language that someone, somewhere down here could really understand.

What I really want you to get out of all this is the concept of Historic Christianity. Have you ever heard that term before, Historic Christianity? We didn't just discover this stuff in the last 100 years or so, although some would like you to believe that. You do know that as Christians we can trace our heritage back nearly 2,000 years, right? Did it ever cross your mind that if there was ever a time when the faith was most pure, most clearly understood, most readily available to examine for study, that it was at the time of Christ, the apostles and the early church? See, Christianity isn't up for grabs or debate. If you don't like Christianity, as it was founded by the Christ and thhe apostles then tough. You can't change it. You don't have that liberty. It is what it is. If you don't like it, get another religion. For those who are concerned though, there is such a thing as real, historic Christianity.

Where do you suppose we might go to learn about what Christianity, the Church and the followers of the Way (early name for Christianity) looked like? Wouldn't it be nice if they left us some kind of instructions, or a guide book? Again, we have no furthur to look than to the Scriptures. They should be our only rule of faith, practice, religious experience, etc. If they are not, we are not in the faith once for all delivered. We are not Christians as the very first historically verifiable Christians were. We are not orthodox, but rather heterodox at best, heretical and false at worst.

We also must get over our incessant aversion toward the words, doctrine, theology, orthodoxy, tradition, and the like. Instead, we should overcome whatever negative connotations we feel come with them by getting a better understanding for the words and how they or similiar words are used in Scripture. Once we understand that it is sound doctrine that a pastor is supposed to preach (Titus 2:1) then we will soon change our mind about that word. When we understand that tradition based on the true historic Christian Church is good tradition, we may soon learn to discern between what good and bad traditions are.

Getting “caught up” in these “serious” terms, words, and such isn't good, some would claim! It detracts from your personal relationship with Christ! It will get your focus off the most important thing. I would argue though, that since I have been delving deep into the Scriptures over the past two years and getting deep into Theology (again, the study of God) and Biblical Christian doctrine (what Scripture commands us all to keep a close watch on) I have never had so clear an understanding of my Lord and Savior as I do now.

Dear friends, if it is Christ you want, if He is really that important to you, then I would argue it will not be shown by a lack of study, but by a hunger and thirst for Him in the Word, Theology, and in doctrine. Do not think though that this is how you are saved. I do not want you to think that it is by your study that you are saved, but it is by your study and through the guidance of the Holy Spirit that you are protected from lies, deceit and false teaching. Traditional, historic Christianity is good. it is pure. I now realize and get to personally experience true freedom in Christ that is able to thrive and be fully alive in the Theology and doctrine that I used to feel was binding and infringing on a Christian's freedom. To be a slave to Christ is to be truly alive, truly free. What a wonderful feeling to have a conscience bound and ruled by God's Word. Many a time I have had to bow my knee to God's Word, giving up a little piece of my will, in exchange for God's will, and while at the time it felt as though to be death to me, it actually turned out to be life in Christ. May the Holy Spirit guide you into true faith and preserve you in it till you are with the Lord for eternity, safe from the evils and deceit that is so rampant in our midst today.

I leave you with this passage from 1 Tmothy as food for thought. Consider, in light of these words inspired by the God of the universe, how utterly important it is to have the right teaching, to understand the Scriptures as God intended them to be understood and to not deviate even an inch to the left or to the right. Does this seem a massive responsibility? As a husband and a father, it seems to me to be astronomical. I am thankful that God didn't leave me hanging on my own. Where I have shortcomings, human failures and sin, He has picked up the slack. His grace is indeed more than sufficient for me. Here's the Word.

1 Timothy 6:3-4a
3 If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness, 4 he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. (emphasis added)

God bless,
Brandon

Jesus Was Talking to You! Did You Miss It?

2010-05-08T14:24:00.000-07:00

Many that I know don't think they could ever be led astray. They think they're so spiritually strong and "dedicated" to the Lord that they'll somehow magically be able to see the deception when it comes. I would say, though, that unless they change their ways, this will not happen. They will miss the tell-tale signs and mistake the wolf for a man of God. I say this because I know what many of you look for and what many of you seek. You are so obsessed with looking for miracles and signs and wonders.... that I think you're going to miss Jesus when He really shows up. Jesus said that an evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign (Matt 12:39; 16:4). Is that you? Are looking for your sign; your wonder; your miracle? If you start looking for Jesus in the place where miracles are taking place you may very well be led astray. Jesus said, "For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect."

If you are a Christian, then Jesus is saying you are in danger of being led astray! Someone may be leading you astray right now! You must overcome your obsession with seeing and doing miracles! These things are not the sure and absolute sign that God is actually working in a situation! Satan may actually be using these miracles, signs and wonders to blind you to the powerful deception he is ensnaring you in. This is no trite matter! Your eternal soul is at stake here, and if you think you are above being deceived and led astray, then you are lacking understanding and I pray for you my friend! Even those that sincerely think they are doing miracles in the name of Christ in all actuality might really be doing the bidding of Satan. Don't think that just because you've prayed for someone and healed them that that means you're on the right track or that that is some kind of sign that God is approving of you! Don't believe me? Look at Matthew 7.

Matthew 7:21-23
21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

Do you see that? These folks are standing before Christ. All along they think they've been serving Christ. They called Him "Lord." They prophesied! They cast out demons! They even did many mighty works! They did it all in the name of Jesus Christ! But Jesus turns to these and He says, "I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness."

They, will be like many today, maybe someone you've heard of, known personally... maybe even yourself! They will have been blissfully ignorant. They figured as long as they were healing the sick, casting out demons, praying in tongues, prophesying, "reading people's mail" (getting words of knowledge), and many other mighty works, then how could they be wrong? Certainly they wouldn't be able to do all those things and still not get to heaven! Certainly God would put a stop to such displays of power if they weren't actually serving Him! Right? Well no, we have it right here in Matt 7:21-23. There are actually be those who are given power and are able to do truly amazing things and they will attract great numbers of people to them, especially Christians, using these miracles to validate their "ministry" or "church" or whatever they may have, and it will all be for one purpose: To lead astray, if possible, the elect (that means YOU if you're a Christian).

Someone says, "Brandon, I go to a church where miracles are taking place! Demons are being cast out! People are getting healed! But large numbers of people are flocking to this church and getting saved! Surely my church isn't being led astray. The pastor preaches from the Bible and we do a lot of good in the community and around the world! Surely my church isn't leading people astray!"

First off, your church is attracting large numbers of people. It doesn't mean they're truly getting saved. We can't judge whether someone is truly saved or not. That's not for us to know until we all get to heaven. Only God knows right now. So don't try to use that as proof that your church is all right. Second, just because someone opens up a Bible and reads word-for-word from the text doesn't mean they aren't lying to you, or giving you a different meaning from what God really intended the Scripture to mean. There is a saying that goes, "Every heretic has his Scripture verse."

The reason why Satan is so deceptive is because he doesn't just come right out and tell you an obvious lie. What harm could he do you then? No, Satan will actually use God's word to cause you to put your guard down, then twist the meaning to stupefy you, then he will begin what he's really good at. He will use this opening he's created to introduce just a little bit of poison. Time after time he'll do this, and time after time he'll slowly increase the amount of poison that will be introduced. And so, by stupefying you, and numbing you every so craftily, ever so carefully with his poison, he will at last have led you so far from the truth that you know not what it looks like anymore and will devour you, little sheep's tail and all!

How do you avoid this? How do you make sure you're not led astray and taken captive by Satan to do his will (even miracles, signs and wonders)?

First off, I know that some of you are still resisting. You have such a lust and desire to have power and be able to prophesy, tell people amazing things that you could have never known yourself, heal people with a touch or wave of your hand, speak in other languages, cast out demons and even raise people from the dead. You are so obsessed, so distracted by these things and it preoccupies your study, your ministry, your prayer, your daily life. You are so resistant to what I'm writing here. You may even be thinking vile thoughts, because you know that what I'm saying is the truth, but you don't want the truth! You want what you want! Even if God isn't going to give it to you, you're going to get it and you're going to say it's from God and that you're serving God with it!

Don't be so blinded by an envy of power, by a lust for the supernatural that you get blind sided by the devil! You think it can't happen? He's gunning for you right now! He's looking for someone just like you that he can exploit, deceive, and then use you to deceive and destroy thousands! One day you just might end up trying to convince Jesus of all the amazing things you did in His name and He will turn to you, and on that dreadful day, speak to you the words that will fill you with sheer terror, dread, and despair: "I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness."

On that dreadful day their will be many who are completely caught off guard, dumbfounded, and devastated as they are forced to turn and depart from Jesus, the one they even called "Lord" and are cast off like rags into the eternal torment of the lake of fire. I don't want that to be you. You must understand that this is not a game. This is not something you have time to mess around with any longer. You're in danger. Jesus said so and He warned you. The Scriptures make it clear. This is a desperate call that I beg you to listen to. It's time to start discerning. It's time to start thinking critically. Please read with me from Hebrews 5.

Hebrews 5:11-14
11 About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. 12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, 13 for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. 14 But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.

If you don't have your powers of discernment trained by constant practice, you will not be able to distinguish good from evil, not truly. Neither will you be able to comprehend and digest the meatier portions of Scripture that you will need to protect your self and use against Satan's plotting and lies. So, like a little child, you will be overcome, stupefied, led astray and destroyed.

Are you beginning to feel overwhelmed? I know that I sure did when I began to learn all this. There is help though, and we can sure use a hand from time to time. That's why I strongly suggest Fighting for the Faith! It's like a daily dose of discernment. Even if you only listen now and then, you'll be amazed at how you learn to open your eyes and ears to things around you that you've never seen or heard before, but were always there!

With that I'd like to introduce you to Pirate Christian Radio and my favorite program on there called, Fighting for the Faith. I have also put up a link on the side for both of these sites. If you're looking for some great meat to sink your teeth into, PCR and F4F have it! I have been very challenged, very blessed and very educated by F4F. I would strongly recommend it! But beware, you've got to be tough when listening. You can't be a politically correct pansy. Chris Rosebrough doesn't mince words, uses tough love, and tells it like it is, all for the sake of Christ and the Gospel!

The modern Pharisee and Sadducee will be offended and turned off by this program. Many will not understand this program and jump to judgmental conclusions after only listening to it for a short while. I would encourage anyone to listen to one or two programs a week for a whole month before you make your final judgment. If you think you know what this program is all about by listening to 10 minutes of it you are sorely mistaken. Really dig deep in God's Word and seek to understand it and determine if what this program is doing is really in line with God's Word or not. I don't care if you're a pastor. If you have issues or questions for Chris Rosebrough, email him, talk to him on Facebook or twitter. He is a radio host that really cares and will do his best to get back to you with an answer as soon as he can. Do realize though that he gets around 500 emails a day. He says he reads all, and tries to get back to the ones he can.

I remember one email that he responded to back to when I really needed an answer to a question and he came back and answered it for me. He even went so far as to answer it on the radio show (August 17th, 2009) for me where he was able to address it in greater detail! This was so helpful. Many have no idea what a hard time I was having then and God used Chris to really help me!

One thing I'm so appreciative to F4F and PCR for is opening up my ears and eyes to see the truth I had been missing and the lies that had been deceiving me all along! Looking back is not pretty. I feel quite silly and foolish about much of what I used to do and say that I thought was "Christian." I know that many in my family and those who have known me from before are wondering right now if I'm crazy, or worse, if I'm abandoning the faith! No, I'm rediscovering the Faith, that was once for all delivered to the saints (Jude 3). I'm escaping the snare of Satan, disguised as truth.

Also, if you're not already familiar with my other sites, you may want to take the time to explore some of my other activity on YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter. Feel free to invite me to become your friend on Facebook or follow me on Twitter. My activity as of late has been dwindling on YouTube but I have plans to resume my work on there again soon. Subscribe so you can stay up to date with new videos I post. For the time being, I have about 28 videos, all of which I highly recommend, and no, their not all by me. Most of them that are up right now are videos from a teaching series called How to Correctly Interpret the Bible. If you're wondering what Biblical interpretation method I use, it's the Historical-Grammatical method, and if you're wondering what that is, watch the videos on YouTube. I believe that the Historical-Grammatical method is the only way to rightly divide the Word of God, with the guidance of the Holy Spirit of course. Look for the link to "Brandon on YouTube" on the side to get to my channel, "lawgraceway."

God's grace is sufficient,
Brandon

Responding to BillyVeePersonal

2010-05-06T13:43:00.000-07:00

Today's blog post is in response to a comment I received on my YouTube channel, “lawgraceway.” And just so you know, I accidently deleted his comment but invited him to make another. I did happen to copy his whole comment down before deleting it though!

Here is what the comment, made by BillyVeePersonal (screen name):
I love this teaching...except...I don't understand how you can interpret from the Scriptures that Jesus could love homosexuals any less than smokers, drinkers, prostitutes, fornicators, thieves, adulterers...etc. I mean we admit that we are sinners and yet we call ourselves Christians and we have to admit that all Christians are sinners so why can't a homosexual be a Christian?

Here is my response to BillyVeePersonal, which was way too long for YouTube (remember that you can scroll over a reference to have the whole verse pop up):
Excellent point, Billy. Jesus does not love a homosexual any less than anyone else. He died for everyone. Here's the thing, sin is what earns us the wrath of God, no matter what form it takes (Rom 1:18). Please hear me out on this. I don't want to have what I'm saying misunderstood. No sinner can enter the kingdom of heaven. That is why we have to be born again. We have to be made new creations in Christ (2 Cor 5:17). This is not to say that we will no longer sin whatsoever. That is completely dependent on the grace of God. The difference will be, that while our sinful flesh is yet dragging us into sin, God will create new desires in our spirit to avoid such behavior and to do good things.

What does Scripture say our response to the Gospel should be, in order that we might be saved? It is to repent, believe (Mark 1:15) and be baptized for the forgiveness of sins (Acts 2:38). The message is simple: we're sinners and we deserve eternal punishment (Rom 6:23); but, because of God's rich mercies, we are saved by grace through faith (Eph 2:8) for the sake of Christ's work alone. The required response is: repent and believe in the message. We are told that repentance is something that God grants to us (Acts 11:18; 2 Tim 2:25) and that even faith which is required for belief is a gift from God (Eph 2:8) according to the Scriptures. That's it. God does the rest. The danger is when we think we're just going to take advantage of that grace and deliberately keep on sinning, thinking that God will keep on forgiving (Heb 10:26).
Let's define repentance. To repent means:
1. Turn away from sin
2. Feel remorse for; feel sorry for; be contrite about

When someone is truly repentant the hallmark of that repentance will be that they turn away from their sins, feel remorse, feel sorry for and be contrite about their sins (Matt 3:8). If I was once a jewel thief, and then heard and believed the Gospel and began to repent then I would stop stealing jewels and would reform my life. Would this be of my own doing? No, it would be by the grace of God. It would be God's doing.

If someone is a Christian, their life will be marked by repentance (i.e., turning away, remorse, sorrow) from sin, whether it be sex outside of marriage, lying, stealing, murder, coveting, blasphemy, idolatry, lust, cheating, etc. The murderer and the thief must repent and turn from their sins just the same as the homosexual or idolater, just the same as the liar and the covetous person. A person who says they are a Christian, but intentionally and deliberately continues to live in their sin and remain unrepentant is not a Christian. They are not a Christian because they refuse to repent, not because they are continuing to sin. There is a balance. Being a Christian does not mean we stop sinning completely. Being a Christian means we have, and are daily in, repentance for our sins that we slip into and are trusting wholly on Christ for the forgiveness of our sins.

To say that someone can be a Christian, and deliberately remain in a homosexual lifestyle is about the same as saying someone can keep committing premeditated murder and remain a Christian. It would be similar to saying a person who commits premeditated lying or stealing is still a Christian. In order for there to be true repentance, according to the definition of repentance, the action must cease being an intentional, deliberate action and there must be deep remorse for the sinful action.

Does this mean the Christian must then never again slip back into committing that sin? No, but it will not be an intentional step into that sin. It will be just the opposite; a fall or a slip, not an intentional leap into that sin. What will follow a slip into sin? You guessed it, repentance.
The Christian life is marked by struggling with and against our sin. You can see this struggle in Paul's letter to the Romans 7 (Rom 7:15-17, 18-19, 20-22, 23-25). As we see from verse 20, even though we may not want to sin, the original sin that dwells within us all will cause us to commit sin. That is why we must be in daily repentance, to bring us comfort, knowing that the Lord Jesus Christ has promised to forgive all who repent.

You may say, “Well, that's an awful lot of repenting, Brandon.”
I know! I have to repent daily. I'm ashamed to admit that I sin daily, either in thought, word or deed. But I am so thankful for God's grace. Without it, I would be doomed to live in shame and condemnation for the rest of eternity, and at that spend eternity in punishment and the tortures of hell for my sins. It is also only because of God that I have been able to come to a place of repentance. If God had not granted me repentance I could never have lowered my pride enough to bow my knee to God's will. I would be conceited and arrogantly rebelling against God. I have done nothing though, for this is all God's doing. Even the faith by which I believe is a gift from God. It is out of pure thankfulness that I do good things. My good deeds are done out of gratitude, not because I think I have to do something for my salvation, or “prove” that I am a Christian. Doing good things because we have to, or doing good things because we think we need to “prove” our faith are the wrong motives for doing such things. First, we must realize that every good deed we do was prepared by God for us to do, and second, that through His Son's death on the cross we are then free to do good deeds. If we do a good work, it is only because God prepared it for us to do and because He has freed us to do it, thus He is the instigator and enabler for every good work.

In summary, to answer your question, “why can't a homosexual be a Christian?” This may surprise many people, but a homosexual can be a Christian. They have to be repentant though, that is, turning from that sin and feeling remorse and sorrow for it, not deliberately continuing in the sin! Can an alcoholic be sober? Yes, but they are still an alcoholic. Can a murderer be reformed? Yes, but they are always considered a murderer. In order to become a sober alcoholic or a reformed murderer one must turn away from their previous wrong behavior. Will they still commit other wrong actions? Yes. Might an alcoholic once again even slip up and return for a time to the bottle? Yes, but the difference is that he/she will not be defined by this continued action. Just the same, a Christian can be a homosexual, a liar, a thief, a murderer, a fornicator, etc. The difference is that they will not be defined by those things. They will rather be defined by the continual, humble, repentance and good works that God instigates and enables them to do by making them new creations in Christ; repentance, which again is turning away from that sin in remorse and sorrow for it; and good works, not to make up for that sin, but out of simple gratitude for the saving work of Christ.

A person who is intentionally and deliberately continuing to live in their sinful lifestyle cannot have been granted repentance because there is no turning away from their sin; there is no bearing fruit in keeping with that repentance. I hope this has been beneficial and helpful. I too struggled with these concepts. They can be hard to grasp and understand but by the working of the Holy Spirit (and not by some great intellectual accomplishment of our own) we can be brought to an understanding of the truth.

May God bless you all in His rich mercy, saving you by grace, through the faith, which are gifts, won not by us but by Christ's great, sacrificial work on the cross! May God grant each and every one of us continued repentance and good works, prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Brandon

What do you believe?

2010-05-05T19:46:00.000-07:00

BONUS!!! You can now scroll over any Scripture reference in my blog and get the full verse thanks to RefTagger! Try it! It's a free service for you to use!

As I promised in the last post, here's the list of subjects that I drew into question comparing them to the Bible. What I look for with each subject is:

1. What do the relevant passages to each subject say? What is the clear teaching in the Scriptures on each subject? If possible, can I seek to gain a better understanding from the original language?

2. Is there any part of the teaching on any subject that does not exist in the clear teaching of Scripture?

3. Is there any part of a teaching on any subject that contradicts a clear teaching in Scripture?

4. What should I believe in light of what I have found in my comparison of each subject to the Word of God?

Note: With each subject, if I cannot find it clearly taught in the Scriptures, then I look outside to secular or pagan history to try and determine if the teaching could have possibly come from there. Quite frankly, my findings were shocking.

Note: What I mean by a “clear teaching” in Scripture is actually Biblical. Look at 2 Timothy 3:16-17. All Scripture is breathed out by God. God was intentionally using specific words to communicate a specific meaning. The Scriptures, understood the way God intended them to be understood are profitable for teaching, etc. If the intended meaning is not understood, and another meaning is derived from the text than what God intentionally wanted to communicate, then you lose the profitability. This is why we must look for the clear teachings in Scripture to find out what God really wants to tell us, not the “hidden” or “secret” meanings. God has clearly revealed that which He wants us to know. If He didn't think we should know it then He did not put it in there, not even in secret riddles (Deuteronomy 29:29). What He does want us to know and do, He clearly reveals, plain and simple.

Without any further ado, here is the list:

The sinner's prayer
“ask Jesus into your heart”
“Overcoming” sin
“I can do anything, because I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me!”
The evangelical/baptist teaching on baptism (comparing many denomination's teachings to Scripture)
Infant baptism
What is the “unforgivable” sin
The Lord's Supper (comparing many denomination's teachings to Scripture)
For what purpose did God give us the law?
What is the Gospel?
Is consuming alcohol a sin?
Is tobacco a sin?
Can a Christian be a soldier, a police officer, a security guard where they may be required by their profession to take the life of a person who is not saved?
“Rededicating” one's life to the Lord
“Backsliding”
“Trying harder” so God will: bless you, not send you to hell, let you into heaven, see you as a worthy Christian, worthy of His love, worthy of being a leader.
“Proving” you are a Christian by your works
What must be done to be saved?
Gifts of the spirit
1. What are they?
2. What are their purpose?
3. Are they still to be used today?
Good works: what they are, what their purpose is and where do they come from?
The end times (the eschaton, or the study of eschatology)
The “rapture”
Other spiritual practices and “phenomena” that are supposedly works of the Holy Spirit
1. Holy laughter
2. Slaying in the spirit (falling over)
3. Soaking in the spirit (laying on the floor as though in a trance or resting)
4. Jerking, shaking, jolting, bouncing, flailing (sometimes violently as though having a seizure or convulsions)
5. Acting in ways that some may consider fits of hysteria.
6. Being “drunk” in the spirit
What does the Bible teach concerning gender roles and how does that apply today, especially in the church?
Healers & miraculous healing
“By His stripes we are/were healed”
Direct revelation from God
Visions
Dreams
Extra-Biblical knowledge
Tithing, offerings, and giving to the church
Positive confession
Name it and claim it
The Prosperity gospel
Emergent Christianity
False prophets/teachers and false prophecy/teaching
False Christs
Heresy
“Don't judge”
Judging
Seeker-sensitive, seeker-driven evangelism method
Purpose Driven Life
Law & Gospel evangelism method
“God needs you to...”
Why did Jesus have to die on the cross?
What did Jesus do in Hell?
The Trinity
God the Father
Jesus Christ the Son
The Holy Spirit
Homosexuality
Spiritual Covering (unquestioningly submitting to a spiritual leader's authority in order to ensure you are protected by God)
Spiritual Warfare
Demonic possession and casting demons out
Can Christians be demon possessed?
Binding & loosing
Pleading the Blood of Jesus
“drawing” a blood line around you, your property, your family, etc.
Spiritual bubbles (speaking a bubble around you that no spiritual force can penetrate in order to harm you... Sorry, I'm not even kidding. I guess some churches actually teach this.)
Being relative to the culture
Roman Catholic Monastic Mysticism (i.e., Lectio Divina, practicing the presence of God, Prayer Examen) which has begun to be taught in some protestant churches
Christian Worship
Sensualization of Christianity
Liberation & Dominion Theology
Prophecy
Anointing oil and anointing with oil
Holy Spirit anointing
The Lord's “anointed”
“Touch not the Lord's anointed”
Spiritual abuse
“Doctrine”
"Intellectualism"
"Emotionalism"
Baptism of the Holy Spirit
Spirit-filled
Confession and Absolution
Bible difficulties, A.K.A., supposed contradictions in the Bible
The divine inspiration & inerrancy of Scripture
Miracles, signs and wonders
Justification
Sanctification, perfect sanctification and complete sanctification

Well, I think that's enough for one post. I'm sorry that they're not necessarily in any kind of logical order, but there's no way I'm going back and trying to reorganize all 80+ of these subjects.

When bringing each of these subjects into question and comparing them to the Bible, I first simply tried to “forget” for the time being anything I had learned already so that I could try to look at the issue fresh and new, as if I was learning it for the first time directly from the Scriptures. I did attempt to collect the references to all “proof” texts that had been used on many of these issues and looking at them from a “blank slate” perspective. This allowed me to ask the question, "Does this verse, read in context, really teach anything that relates to this subject, or is this entirely unrelated?" Often times I found that if you read the entire Scripture passage in context to get the intended meaning, it had nothing to do with what someone might have been saying it taught.

Another thing that this challenge to question these subjects did was to really force me to get deep into God's Word. In doing this I have found passages and teachings that I never really knew existed before, or had forgotten about. I blame this on the shallow “education,” or rather, the lack thereof in the visible church today. Most churches think its great if they have Sunday school and Sunday service and shallow, Bible studies, that center more on what you think the passages of Scripture mean, rather than what they actually mean!

Anyway, I digress. I have been most thankful to the Lord that He has guided me deeper into His Word. The strategy I had, or more likely, the strategy the Lord used with me, was to try to unlearn whatever I had been taught on each subject as I came to study it anew from the Bible so that I was like an “empty cup,” devoid of any possible contaminates or wrong ideas, and ready to be filled with nothing but God's pure and sound teaching from His Word.

I would like to challenge every reader to begin studying their Bibles and learning what it says about many of these issues, and in some cases how it says nothing about some of these subjects in any conceivably clear way.

Perhaps the next post will reveal a little bit of the story of how we (my wife and I) decided to leave Evangelicalism and become Confessional Lutherans. For now, may the Lord bless you richly and God willing we will meet here again!

Brandon

What's the Bible Got To Do with It Anyway?

2010-05-03T16:15:00.000-07:00

"The Bible, the Word of God, is completely true, inerrant and divinely inspired."

You hear such words from many pulpits today. These words are not uncommon, although it is becoming more common to hear this statement of truth questioned by the "progressives." That's another story however. What I'm getting at is this: To what extent do you believe that God's Word is inspired and inerrant? Hmmm? "Well," you respond, "It's completely inerrant, completely inspired."

The good news is that I too believe that God's Word is inerrant and inspired too. I'm not questioning that. It is the most salutary doctrine for all life. It's teachings are chock full of the very things that God commands us to think on.

Philippians 4:8

8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

As I grew up I believed that I was doing my best to follow what the Bible commanded (no, I was not and am not perfect, nor shall I ever be till the Lord makes me so, and that without anything of my doing) and that I rightly believed what the God required me to believe from His revealed Word. However, I often didn't read the text for myself but often relied on the pastor to read it for me and thus only ever heard what he thought it meant. I usually just took it on faith that what he was telling me was true without question. Another teaching, that you will not find in the Bible, that further cemented this erroneous practice into my usual behavior was the teaching that we were not, under any circumstances supposed to question what the "man of God" said. If he gave us an interpretation from Scripture we had to believe it because he had gotten this interpretation from God Himself! To question the pastor was most assuredly to question God!

No where in Scripture do we see this. In fact we are told that the Bereans questioned whether what Paul told them was true or not, as evidenced by the fact that they fact checked everything Paul said against the Scriptures. The Bible also tells us to test everything! Your pastor, any pastor, is not excluded from everything. If your pastor doesn't want you to hold him accountable to the Word of God, then he is obviously hiding something. What arrogance! What gall! Beware of charlatans who are good at talking fast and throwing out a lot of Scripture tid-bits to make their point but never really tell you what those Scriptures are supposed to mean. They don't really want you to learn from the authoritative Scriptures, but rather want to attempt to usurp Scriptures' authority in order to force their agenda on you. This is called making Scripture fit their point, instead of letting the Scriptures speak for themselves and making its own point.

Let's get back on track. So, if the Word of God is inspired and inerrant then to what extent do we acknowledge and believe that? "Well, what exactly do you mean Brandon? What are you trying to get at here?" What I'm getting at is that the Scriptures are full of hard things to understand and accept. I'm not talking about the things in Scripture that tell us about God being all-knowing, all-powerful and everywhere at once. I'm not talking about it being hard to understand like the teaching that God is God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, what is known as the doctrine of the trinity, that God is three distinct personages all belonging to the same essence. He is Three-in-One and They ever where and He ever is, is the easiest way to say it I suppose. However, it is impossible to understand this, even if we believe and confess it. When we really start to dwell on it then we will find all kinds of doubts and confusions surfacing about the concept. We cannot conceive this because we were not created to be able to and that's okay However, these kinds of doctrines and teachings are not the ones I'm talking about being hard to understand and accept.

What I'm talking about are the teachings that are hard to understand and accept, not because we cannot comprehend them or make sense of them with our limited cognitive powers, but because they are teachings that we would rather ignore, not believe and not acknowledge. They are hard to understand because we'd rather not understand them; we're opposed to them. We're having trouble accepting them, not because it's something that you or I cannot explain scientifically, like the virgin birth, but because we rebelliously don't want to accept it as a clear and true teaching that Christians and the Church should accept.

I want to challenge you on something. I challenged myself on this a couple of years ago and it changed my life. This is not for the faint of heart or the proud and haughty. If you're a "know-it-all" this challenge just won't work. Instead of explaining this challenge to you directly, I'll tell you what I challenged myself to do a couple years ago. So, ready or not, here's your challenge!

More than two years ago I was hit with a thought. "Am I sure that I'm sure that I am believing everything that the Bible really clearly teaches, and in regards to Christianity, am I believing anything whatsoever that doesn't have its origin in the Scriptures? This was a thought that I'm sure only came to me by grace of God. It is amazingly simple, yet I would have never thought of it on my own. A thought like this causes us to search the depths of our soul. Am I compatible with God? Do my thoughts, words and beliefs contradict the words of God? Does what I believe about Christianity, the Church, God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and a myriad of other such things that we can have thoughts about, match up with what is taught in the Bible by the prophets, Jesus and the apostles?

This is not a question that can be answered overnight, especially, as I have found out personally, if you've been raised in a "Non-Denominational," or Evangelical/Charismatic church. If you've been raised in one of the other denominations, then switched to one of the average NDEC (Non-Denom or Evangelical/Charismatic) churches the chances that you are really well founded in sound, Scriptural doctrine is even lower just because of the confusion factor. Like I said, I found out how confused I was about many doctrinal issues. I never realized how confused I was and how little I really knew about God's Word until I asked myself that question. And here's the SCARY part. I was teaching children and youth out of the "wealth" of my knowledge. Looking back at many of the things I have taught, I am horrified to see the level of error that I had in my teaching back then.

What this question did was really get me to open up and analyze myself; to attempt to be as honest as possible and really try to determine what the Bible was really saying, not just what I thought I wanted it to say. This has been quite a journey, let me tell you. I know that I am still on this journey. There are still areas of my belief system that I'm trying to reconcile to and turn over to the will of God.

Next time I post I'm going to give as detailed an outline as possible of the different themes, subjects of beliefs that I brought into question and compared against Scripture. You may find some areas in this list that you too want to revisit and re-evaluate. I'll end today on two points. First, I challenge you to take the Bible-life challenge. That is simply this. If you believe that God's Word is inspired and inerrant, then:

A. look at the things you believe and compare each of these things to the Bible and find out what the Bible actually says about them;

B. next, look at what the Bible says and compare it back to what you may not believe;

C. finally, as you're going through steps A & B, pray that God will allow you to bend your knee to His Word. Pray that by His grace you will be able to soften your heart and receive instruction and correction.

The second and last pint I would like to end on are three Scriptures which I think you'll find interesting given the topic of this post.

1 Corinthians 2:14

The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.

2 Peter 3:16b-18

16 ... There are some things in them (Paul's Epistles) that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures. 17 You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability. 18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen. (Note added in parenthesis above is not in original text but added for clarification).

Psalm 119:105

105 Your word is a lamp to my feet
and a light to my path.

I hope that this has challenged you to really take God's Word seriously and to ask yourself, "If I say that I believe that God's Word is inerrant and inspired then do I live and believe like it also? Do I believe 99% of the Bible, but hold 1% in reserve that I just choose not to believe?" Then follow that up by allowing God to change that area of hardness of heart in you. Like I said, more on many of the different areas of belief that I looked at that may be areas that you also want to look at in another upcoming post.

God bless you and guide you into His truth!

The Beginning of Rediscovery

2010-05-02T15:05:00.000-07:00

Hello and welcome to my blog. This is not the beginning of my rediscovery, but it is the beginning of ours, together. As this blog unfolds and progresses over time it is my hope that you come to get to know a little more about me and my story. My story is not uncommon. There are hundreds, thousands, maybe tens of thousands that have discovered, or rather, rediscovered, the things I have and have then gone through many of the same situations I have. What kind of things? We'll get into that in the days ahead.

While my story is not unusual, hearing my story may be unusual. In fact, when I began to go through this very interesting time in my life, I thought that perhaps I was going crazy at one point. At another point I wondered if I was the only one on earth in the last hundred years that had experienced anything like this. It seems that we are blind to the great number of people who experience certain things, whether it be disease, racism, persecution for religion or beliefs, an infringement on their rights or whatever. Before we go through something, we could have passed by a hundred people in one day that are or have gone through that same thing and never once noticed anything different about them. But, once you've gone through a thing that you've never been observant of before and didn't think was all that common, suddenly you start to wonder, am I the only one?

You go to bed feeling very alone in the world that night. You're even a little scared. The presence of fear doesn't mean you're lacking courage, it just means you're thinking sensibly and soberly about the situation you're in. A brave man isn't void of fear. A brave man simply uses his fear to accomplish what he must overcome. A man is a coward not because he has fear, but because he gives in to it and dies internally that day. "Cowards die many times before their deaths. The valiant never taste of death but once."

When you awake the next day you're not sure if it's okay to get out of bed, but you'll never know by laying there all day, so you'd might as well get up and face whatever music is going to be playing for you that day. What's the worse that could happen? You're not going to die, not today if you can help it. So you take a step out your door into the lonely world. Is it supposed to feel this cold out here today, you wonder to yourself.

As you go about your day, the thoughts and feelings of loneliness drive you to wonder again, am I alone in this? Is there anyone else out there like me? No answer. I guess no one's communicating through telepathy with you today. What snobs! Okay, so at least you know you're not crazy because you're not hearing voices in your head. Gotta count your blessings right now.

Okay, no one is going to just show up and say, "Hi! My name is _____. I'm just like you. I'm going through the exact same things you are. You're not alone!" Nope, not going to happen like that. So you've got to open your eyes and start searching. Then it happens! You see one, then two and another person who's had similiar things happen to them. Suddenly, you're seeing them by the dozens. They're all around you, in every city, state, province and country. People from other countries and cultures who you have nothing in common with are suddenly like your cousins or something and you could sit down and talk for hours.

It's amazing how that works isn't it? I heard a story about a guy who went to the car lot to look for a car. He saw one that he'd never before seen in his whole life. It was so unique that he just had to have it! No one else had this car and he'd be the only one, probably the only one in the whole state, to have such a car. He didn't even bother trying to wheel and deal with the salesman, but signed the papers, handed over the money, and drove off in his brand new, "unique" car. On the 30 minute ride home to show his wife the brand new vehicular joy of his life and tell her he was leaving her and the kids to spend the rest of his life with Ms. "Unique," he began to notice his car driving in the opposite lane up ahead and fast aproaching! Needless to say, it wasn't his car, but one that looked just like it. On the way home he counted 10 cars just like the one he had just bought.

You see, it's not that there aren't people out there who aren't just like you and have been in that same situation you've been in; it's just that you've been blind to all those "others" out there until you're in that same place that they are. We can all be like this to some extent. We look through certain lenses that block our view of some things and distort our view of other things, only allowing us to see what we want to or what we're comfortable with. But boy, oh boy, when you do break out of only ever seeing through your one lens, and you gain a different perspective watch out and hold on! When you go through a paradigm shift, it's going to rock your world and throw things at you that you'd never expect. You'll also begin to notice how many other people are stuck behind their own self-constructed, distorting lens.

Until next time, keep questioning till you find an answer, keep searching till you find the truth, and never take the first thing you hear on faith. Always think critically and use discernment, especially when someone claims to be speaking in the name of God.