Friday, October 16, 2009

Case in Point!!

You will need to read the previous post to best understand the basis for this one. As time marches on, more and more people are falling into the cracks of false doctrine, terribly bad teaching and just plain blather from the deceitful workers of iniquity posing as ministers of the gospel. These enemies of the gospel give a false sense of security to their unsuspecting, simple minded listeners with catch phrases , a feel good message, a do it yourself gospel and just down right blather instead of sound doctrine from God's word.
  • 2 Corinthians 11:13 For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.
  • 2 Corinthians 11:14 And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.
  • 2 Corinthians 11:15 Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.

Okay, here is the reason for this post "Case in Point". I was conversing with someone the other day who made the statement professing to be a Christian, My followup question was "how do you know you are a Christian" and then I just shutup and listened. The answer to my question from this very nice, very sincere person I have come to know over a few weeks time was not in any way shape or form surprising, rather, I expected it. It is as follows:

  • I have God in my heart.
  • I have asked forgiveness for my sins.

Now, if you are a mainstream denominational covenant thinking church goer, you would say amen amen!. If you were to go to your phonebook and call every church in your town and ask how a soul is saved and then listen to what they say, you will get really close to getting the same answer this kind lady gave to me. But as a Bible believing Mid Acts dispensational Pauline right divider of the authorized King James Bible, it was obvious to me I was speaking to an unsaved person. After explaining to this individual that it wasn't that long ago, after attending many different churches that in fact, I would have answered the question "how do you know you are a Christian?" exactly the same way she had and that I was not saved according to God's word. After explaining to her the truth of the matter, Jesus Christ did everything necessary to save our never dying souls and that He left nothing undone for us to accomplish according to the scriptures.....

  • 1 Corinthians 15:1 Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand;
  • 1 Corinthians 15:2 By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.
  • 1 Corinthians 15:3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;
  • 1 Corinthians 15:4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:

I told her if she believed that passage which declares with clarity the "gospel of your salvation" and invoking Ephesians 1:13, God would count her faith as righteousness and save her never dying soul.

  • Ephesians 1:13 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,

Once again, her response was not at all a surprise. She responded with "It sounds much too easy" So after a few minutes of reinforcing the Gospel of the grace of God and writing down passages for her to read through, I asked another question and her response reinforces exactly the message from my previous post "Is Paul our Pattern or What". She said she finds the gospel presentation that I gave her difficult to believe because others, including Pastors have told her otherwise. I told her I understand why it would be a confusing issue and hard to get sorted out and that I would be honored if she would allow me to assist her in her Biblical understanding. Of course we all know the first step would have to be the salvation issue in order to have any Bible understanding at all.

  • 1 Corinthians 2:14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

The point of this entire post is not to demean an unsaved person, nor to elevate my stature, but to demonstrate the destructive message being bandied about by nice looking, kind hearted, smooth talking unsaved Pastors and preachers everywhere. The unsaved, hell bound person who listens to and believes these deceivers are blinded to the glorious light of the gospel of Christ. The ones propagating the false message are doing the work of the god of this world and are the exact ones whose mouth must be stopped.

  • 2 Corinthians 4:3 But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost:
  • 2 Corinthians 4:4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.

If we are going to be the soldiers of the cross we should be, we have to get engaged in confronting these folks who serve not our Lord Jesus but serve their own belly. We are told by our Apostle, our pattern to preach the word in and out of season, reprove and rebuke with longsuffering and doctrine. Paul goes on in the same passage to describe what we are engaged in as a fight and from where I am standing, it looks as if we are losing badly. The ministers of deception are planting churches everywhere you look, even in a nightclub here in my hometown and the grace movement can hardly be called a movement at all since it is basically standing still. We need to quit saying we are following Paul and actually start doing it and quit hiding in the bunkers waiting for the fight to be over.

  • 2 Timothy 4:2 Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.
  • 2 Timothy 4:3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;
  • 2 Timothy 4:4 And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.
  • 2 Timothy 4:5 But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry.
  • 2 Timothy 4:6 For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand.
  • 2 Timothy 4:7 I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:

Let's get up an go fight the good fight!!

Saturday, October 10, 2009

Is Paul our Pattern or What?


1 Timothy 1:16 Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting.

Every Grace believer I have ever encountered is quick to give a resounding yes to the question "Is Paul our pattern"?....but where do you draw the line? Do you draw the line at the point of salvation in that you understand Paul is the apostle to the gentiles for this, the dispensation of the grace of God?. Or do you understand that the baton has been passed from Paul to "usward" as we are the ground and pillar of the truth operating as God's ambassadors for Christ? If we are to follow Paul's pattern, and we should, there seems to be quite a bit of information we are ignoring or at best are simply not engaging in to our detriment. What am I talking about?
  • Titus 1:10 For there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, specially they of the circumcision:
  • Titus 1:11 Whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for filthy lucre's sake.
How many of your friends (if you have any left now that you are a Mid Acts Dispensationalist) are you regularly engaging in doctrinal discussions knowing they are sitting under terribly bad teaching from Baptist pastors? You may say you are doing this quite frequently which is wonderful. But notice in Titus 1:10-11 whose mouth must be stopped. It is the one teaching the false doctrine deceiving whole houses, teaching things which they ought not. Now if that passage says what I think it says,,It says it is the Church of Christ elder who needs to shutup! It is the one slapping his congregation under the law requiring the people to pay the "tithe" every Sunday that needs to zip their lip, or the guy wearing waders in the bathtub behind the pulpit requiring a water baptisim for either salvation or church membership to stuff a sock in it. These fellows need to SHUTUP and sit down and learn the right doctrine and get on the same page as God as we operate under the data given by Christ to Paul for this present dispensation.

How are we to make them shut their trap? Well, personally what I have done is go to them with a reproof on a certain message they have given which I have heard. If you cannot do that you can do it via of the world wide web. Almost every church in the world has a website where you can easily send the leadership of these enemies of the Gospel a message engaging or reproofing and even rebuking them on their ungodly doctrines. If you are reading this now you already know you can leave a comment to engage me or discuss anything I publish.... and so do the vain talkers, the Assembly of God Pastor who deceives the hearts of the simple, who serve not our Lord Jesus Christ but their own bellies.
  • Romans 16:17 Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them.
  • Romans 16:18 For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple.

If we follow Paul as we say we do, we should not hesitate to mark those who teach contrary to Pauline doctrine, nor should we hesitate to call them by name, how else will anybody know who they are if we do not make them famous for teaching what they ought not teach? Paul was not shy about it when it came to marking the false teachers and neither should we, even if it is our own camp. We all cherish the verse is 2ND Timothy chapter 2 as our banner in that we are to study to who ourselves approved unto God, rightly dividing the word of truth, but the workman that needeth not to be ashamed is somewhat lacking as there isn't very much work being accomplished. Marking the hereticks is a portion of the work which seems to be lacking. Paul our pattern named names in the same chapter in verse 17.....

  • 2 Timothy 2:17 And their word will eat as doth a canker: of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus;

Our Apostle Paul didn't shy away from naming names so folks were aware of the profane and vain babblers who do more damage then any good whose false beliefs would only increase to more ungodliness which can be nothing other than doctrines which are contrary to Pauline principals. How would anyone have known a coppersmith named Alexander was a problem unless Paul made him famous in the same book of 2ND Timothy?

  • 2 Timothy 4:14 Alexander the coppersmith did me much evil: the Lord reward him according to his works:
  • 2 Timothy 4:15 Of whom be thou ware also; for he hath greatly withstood our words.

Is there someone you have presented the dispensational truth of Mid Acts Pauline doctrine and they understand what you presenting but choose to withstand? Well, make them famous, warning others of the error of their ungodly doctrines and avoid them. Sounds hard doesn't it? It is, but it can be done. Remember now, we are dead and our life is hid with Christ if God. It's not our life anymore, it's Christ's life in us. We have nothing to lose. You may want to start with a youth pastor, or a Sunday school teacher or someone on the witness team from the Free Will Baptist Church when they come knocking on your door before you move up to doing what Paul did in calling out a whole bunch of folks as he did in the book of Titus.

  • Titus 1:12 One of themselves, even a prophet of their own, said, The Cretians are alway liars, evil beasts, slow bellies.

Paul called out and marked the Cretians. Who can you call out and mark? The Roman Catholics? The Jehovah Witnesses? The Morons? opps, I meant the Mormons? How about the Independent Fundamental Baptists whose plan of salvation is saying a sinner's prayer and the saying of words from Romans 10:9-13 as well as asking Jesus into your heart ? The Methodists who teach salvation is secured by a lifestyle?, the Church of God who teaches a second blessing sanctification and no security of the believer but that thou must endure unto the end and nobody can know if they are saved or not? or the Church of Christ who proclaims getting into their bathtub is the means of salvation and that we are establishing a kingdom on the Earth? What are we waiting for? Their mouths MUST BE STOPPED! The eternal souls of their audiences are in the balance.

  • 1 Timothy 3:15 But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.

We are the pillar and ground of the truth ! We need to get busy! We go to extremes to attend assembles hours from where we live because there are no Grace Assemblies in our town. How about starting an assembly where you live? How about a Bible study in your living room teaching Mid Acts Pauline Dispensational right division of the KJB on a Tuesday night inviting all your friends that attend their contrary churches on Wednesday night, giving them the material for edification which they will never get from their assembly. Eventually they will quit attending the false teaching Baptist church resulting in their pastors mouth being stopped!...It's a process, but if we don't do it, who will? We only have a certain amount of time and we should be using it wisely as Paul says in Ephesians 5...

  • Ephesians 5:16 Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.
  • Ephesians 5:17 Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.

Grace and Peace!!