Scripture wars and Bible battles............

Hi guys, I've been gone a while, I'm sorry, will update you soon. But lets just say I've been having some interesting times. I've been reading and learning some interesting things, and having some interesting conversations.

Ironically, some information in a book I was attempting to get through last week on the Purpose Driven paradigm has just an hour ago shone a light on an issue I've been discussing with someone early today. Suddenly I think I understand what may be informing their thinking.

When scripture is pointed out to you clear as day and you fail to see what is written there, could it be because something else that you have been reading, or have been told, and that you have accepted for truth has already informed your idea of the truth?

Could it be that in trying to see, you have picked up and put on tinted glasses, and now fail to see true hues because you have been made colour blind?

Could it be the case?

Could it?

I know I'm probably sounding cryptic to some, but I will have to come back and explain all in a later post. Just mad busy at the moment!

For those who have the time and the inclination, check out the free book to your right called "In The Name of Purpose". Its long but nothing worthwhile is ever easy (and that goes for men and women too) ---------------------------------------------------->

For those who have less time, I invite you to examine and comment upon these statements attributed to Rick Warren:

“Every time you pass a test, God notices and makes plans to reward you in eternity.”

Rick Warren, Purpose Driven Life, page 44

"I've always said that the greatest thing you can do with your life is to tell people about Jesus and invite them to come to know him. I was wrong. There is one thing you can do greater than sharing Jesus Christ with somebody: It is to help start a church, because a church will outlast you and everyone else."

Rick Warren, February 15 2007

"One day you will stand before God, and he will do an audit of your life, a final exam, before you enter eternity. The Bible says, “Remember, each of us will stand personally before the judgment seat of God…. Yes, each of us will have to give a personal account to God.” Fortunately, God wants us to pass this test, so he has given us the questions in advance. From the Bible we can surmise that God will ask us two crucial questions: First, “What did you do with my Son, Jesus Christ?” God won’t ask about your religious background or doctrinal views. The only thing that will matter is, did you accept what Jesus did for you and did you learn to love and trust him? … Second, “What did you do with what I gave you?” What did you do with your life —all the gifts, talents, opportunities, energy, relationships, and resources God gave you? …Preparing you for these two questions is the goal of this book. The first question will determine where you spend eternity. The second question will determine what you do in eternity. By the end of this book you will be ready to answer both questions."

Rick Warren, Purpose Driven Life, page 34

Words from the brothers

Desperately seeking..........truth

For all the sons of Levi...... (Exodus 32 verse 26)

Just an article from an interesting site called Into Truth.

http://www.intotruth.org/ms/ms194d.html

TWO DIFFICULT PROBLEMS

There are two areas in which discerning Christians are being tested right now, and judging by the letters I receive, these two areas are causing almost as many problems as the deception itself.

These two problems are REJECTION by friends, family and other Christians; and EXPULSION from local churches - that is, people being forced to leave, or feeling they have to leave, their church.

But these things should not come as a surprise. The Bible clearly warns that we will be rejected, or even betrayed, by all those who do not stand with us in the strict truth of God’s Word. All who follow the Lord Jesus will be persecuted, just as He was - Jesus said that all nations would HATE us, and that family splits and antagonism of all kinds was to be expected if we decide to follow Him to the end.

But we are human - and rejection hurts. We also feel puzzled that others can’t understand our position. There is a veil of blindness descending over the eyes of those who reject the truth. They not only fail to see what we are saying, but accuse us unjustly of all kinds of things. What should be our reaction?

Look at Jesus. He was spurned by all, even his closest friends, and it was one of his close band of followers who betrayed Him to His death. Yet, He was full of compassion for others, and forgiveness towards his enemies.

Only forgiveness heals the wounds of rejection. Bearing a grudge, getting revenge, sulking, or brooding will only drive the dart of the enemy deeper into our souls, where it will cause untold damage. The only way to deal with feelings of rejection is to take them to the Lord in prayer, tell Him our grief, ask for healing, and freely forgive those who hurt us. Furthermore, we have to understand that following Jesus has its price. We have to make up our minds that we will endure persecution as Jesus did, without losing our love for others, or falling into depression or anger.

There is always the temptation to feel a sense of guilt when other Christians accuse us. Maybe that is healthy, because we do need to check out every criticism to see if it is actually correct. But beware of accepting a false burden of guilt placed on you by those who are trying to avoid conviction of their sin by making YOU the scapegoat. If you have spoken up for the Lord, and for scriptural truth; if you have stood out against error, then if you are criticised, accept it bravely and refuse to feel guilty. You have done nothing wrong!

HAVE YOU LEFT YOUR CHURCH?

Secondly, leaving church causes all sorts of problems for people, especially when there is no alternative fellowship to go to. But the fact is, more and more of us are going to be driven out of churches, or else leave of our own accord because we are unwilling to compromise with error.

But leaving behind the building and the elders you are familiar with does NOT mean you are “leaving the Church”. The “church” is not the building, the denomination or the leadership, but the believers who individually gather together for fellowship. When that fellowship degenerates into something that actually contravenes scripture, it has ceased to be “church”.

Every born-again Christian has been incorporated into the worldwide Body of Christ. That Body is really “the Church” - a group of people who love the Lord and follow Him. Your allegiance is first and foremost to the Lord Jesus Christ, and only secondarily to those set over you in the Body. But many who call themselves shepherds are wolves who love to dominate the flock - they use pressures of guilt and fear to force others to submit to their domination. They tell you not to leave their church, but only because they do not want to lose your slavish obedience to their rule!

You are just as much part of the Body of Christ when you do not regularly attend a local fellowship, as when you do. Indeed, you may actually find yourself closer to God and closer to other local Christians as a result of “leaving Church” because your personal prayerlife improves and you are forced to fellowship more openly with like-minded believers.

If the “church” you left has been preaching errors, and refuses to accept correction, then to stay there will expose you to harm. But scripture commands us to withdraw from those who are openly in error. Also, sitting in a pew or chair for an hour or two on a Sunday morning does not qualify you for more “brownie points” than those who study the Bible and worship just with their families or a few friends. In fact, the quality of fellowship improves ten-fold when the Holy Spirit is in charge, and is being allowed to teach and mould His people once more. (It would be impossible to justify from scripture MOST of the arrangements and practices of established churches, anyway - that may come as a shock to some, but I challenge you to check out the scriptures for yourself!)

The uplifting thing about this problem area is that God seems to be behind it! By calling His remnant people out of false church systems He is forcing them to get to grips with the plain meaning of scripture. People are rediscovering simple worship, homely, close-knit, loving groups that really care for each other, real Bible study that allows everyone to participate, and all the other long-lost (but scriptural) parts of “church” life. God is challenging us all to re-examine our concept of what “church” really is. Did he ever really approve of denominations, church buildings, priestcraft, robes, rites and rituals?

This is a big subject, but I hope these few words will have opened your eyes to a new way of thinking about this difficult area.

Apostles and disciples - is/was there a difference?

Hmmmmm.......I'll be back?

Jesus, spit and the blind men

Thinking about Todd Bentley made me think about something.....I think Todd's ministry is false, as is the spirit behind it in the form of the angel (demon/false spirit) Emma, which leads him to operate under the power of demons and to visit violence upin people who are seeking (in the wrong place) "deliverance", "healing", or a "closer walk" or experience with "God".

I know this to be true.

But then I also thought, his behaviour is bad, but what - how could I explain why Jesus used spit to heal the eyes of a blind man? Something that i would find offensive if someone wanted to rub spit in my eyes for whatever reason. Ok, I know the men were blind and probably didn't mind as it would be worth it to get your sight back and be able to see, but I honestly didn't understand why.

But even so, I know that Jesus is holy and that there must have been a good reason.

Anyway, Google man.......Google is your friend! I did a quick search and this came up:

DISCLAIMER: I'm not saying this is the actually explanation as I will have to check and find out for myself. Just because Google is your friend doesn't mean it always tells the truth. But I found this interesting. If it turns out to be tosh I apologise in advance and will try to remedy it by putting up a correct explanation where I can. But best believe I ain't no false prophet tryna lead you astray so dont stone me yet. Ya heard? Aight........

http://members.optusnet.com.au/~lakolberg/transcripts/C101B.html

HC: The question sometimes is raised about this matter of the two miracles of Jesus that are recorded for us in the Bible, where Christ spit on the eyes of the blind man in Mark 8 before He healed him, or He spit on the ground and made mud or clay of the spittle, and anointed the eyes of the blind man in John 9. Now why did God do this? Why did Christ do this? I'd like to speak on this before we take our next call.

We know, first of all, that nothing that Jesus did or that is recorded for us in the Bible is there accidentally, nor was it done coincidentally or incidentally. Everything has a very distinct purpose. Now Christ obviously could have healed these blind men by simply saying the word. He didn't have to go through all of this strategy of spitting, and so on. He didn't have to do that. It is there, however, to teach us something.

Now secondly, we know that Christ was constantly teaching with parables. Every action has to be examined to see if there is a deeper spiritual meaning. A parable, in the easiest way of speaking about it, is an earthly story with a heavenly meaning. Well, these miracles were true historical events. But they are written to give us a spiritual insight. Now we know that the purpose of Christ's teaching was always to give us insights into the nature of salvation. And therefore we sense that the fact that He spit on the eyes of the blind man has something to do with teaching us about what our salvation is all about.

Now when we go to the Old Testament, we find at least two accounts of the meaning of spitting in somebody's face, and it's really quite bad. It's really quite shocking, in a way. In Deuteronomy 25 we have the account of a widow whose husband has died. And in accordance with the law God had laid down, if a husband died without bearing any children, then if that husband had a brother who was unmarried, he was to marry the widow, in order to provide children to perpetuate the name of his brother. And if the brother would not do this, then he was under the curse of God. We see this very vividly back in Genesis. There was a man by the name of Onan, who was supposed to go in to his brother's wife and bear seed for his brother, and he refused to do it. And so God killed him right on the spot. God killed him to show that he was under the curse of God.

Here in Deuteronomy 25, to show this curse, the Bible says this in verse 8: "If the brother [who is supposed to marry the widow on behalf of his brother, to provide seed] refuses to take her, then his brother's wife shall go up to him, in the presence of the elders, and pull his sandal off his feet and spit in his face. And she shall answer and say, So shall it be done to the man who does not build up his brother's house." Now this spitting in the face here is to indicate that he was under the curse of God, because he was rebellious against God, in that he would not go in to his brother's widow to provide seed.

Now in Numbers 12 we have a similar account, showing that to spit in one's face is to indicate that they were under the curse of God. We have the account there of Miriam, a sister of Moses, who had rebelled against Moses. And so Miriam became leprous, as white as snow. Now to become leprous also indicated that a person was under the curse of God. A leper had to remain outside the camp, and he was to say, "Unclean, unclean, unclean." Leprosy in the Bible is a figure of sin. Well, Miriam became leprous. And then Moses cried to the Lord, "Heal her. O God, I beseech Thee," in verse 13. And then verse 14 of Numbers 12 records that the Lord said to Moses, "If her father had but spit in her face, should she not be shamed seven days? Let her be shut up outside the camp seven days. And after that she may be brought in again." In other words, God is equating leprosy with having someone spit in your face. In other words, both are indicators. Both are literal things, of course. But they are figures of being under the curse of God.

Well, what does this have to do then with these miracles? Here's a blind man, he's physically blind. Why would Christ spit in his face? Well, you see, the miracle that Christ did in a physical way was a figure of a great spiritual truth. The blind man, who was blind physically, is a picture of figure of an unsaved man, who is blind spiritually. And when Christ spit on the ground and made mud out of the spittle and put it on his eyes (or in the case of the man from Bethsaida in Mark 8, where Christ spit in his eyes directly), this indicates that this blind man, who was blind spiritually, is under the curse of God. He is like a leper. He is to be . . . he is unclean. He cannot come into the body of Christ. He is a sinner.

So you have the physical situation. You have the physically blind man, whose eyes have been spit upon. You have the spiritual meaning of this. It is a figure of a person who is blind in his sins, he's spiritually blind. He is under the curse of God. He cannot come into the camp of the believers. He is an abomination to God. This idea is strengthened in Mark 8, where it's talking about this blind man there in verse 22: "They came to Bethsaida, and some people brought to Him a blind man and begged Him to touch him. And He took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village. And when He had spit on his eyes, He laid His hands on him," and so on. And then the healing came. He led him out of the village. That figure also points to the fact that he is unclean. He is led outside of the camp of the believers, if you will. He can't come into the body of Christ because he is cursed by his sin. The spitting is emphasizing that before we are saved we are cursed by sin.

Now notice what happens in John 9, after He had anointed the man's eyes with the clay. He said to him, "Go, wash in the Pool of Siloam, which means scent. So he went and washed and came back seeing." Now here stands the sinner. He is spiritually blind. He is under the curse of God. He's like a leper. He's like someone who has been spit upon in the face. He is an abomination. And now God comes with a command: "Go, if you will, and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved; you will be cleansed of your sin."

God gives us the command to be obedient to Him, just as He gave the command to this blind man to go wash in the pool of Siloam. In Acts 2:38 Peter, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, is discussing salvation. And he says, "Repent and be baptized in the Name of Christ for the remission of your sins." The word baptism means to wash or be purified. What Peter was saying was, "Repent and be washed in the Name (that is, on the authority) of the Lord Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins." And we are washed of our sins when we come to the Lord Jesus Christ and place our trust in Him. He cleanses us from all sins.

And so when we are obedient to the command, no matter how a great a sinner we might be, no matter how much we might be under the curse of sin, when we are obedient to the command to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, then we will have our spiritually blind eyes opened, just as surely as this blind man, who obeyed God in John 9. He went and washed, and he came back seeing.

So you see, when Christ spit on the eyes of these blind men, He did not do this accidentally. He did it in order to teach us that we who are spiritually blind are under the curse of God. We are an abomination to God. We are dead in our sins. But it is these kinds of people that Christ came to seek and to save. He came for sinners. Isn't that wonderful? No matter how great your sins might be, no matter how deeply you have rebelled against God, your salvation can be just as certain and sure as anyone else's. What a wonderful Savior we have!

The Holy Spirit or unholy spirits?

...and how do we tell the difference?

I came upon this Christian bookstore in my lunch break the other day, and had a nice quick little browse, glad to find such a place so close to my office. Believe it or not it's the first Christian bookshop I've been in since I've been here. Anyway.

I found this book called "Charismatic Chaos" by John MacArthur, and thought it would make a good interesting read - and hey - it was £2.99 ch-ching!!

The book apparently covers signs and wonders, speaking in tongues, health and wealth gospel, charismatic televangelism, and whether God still speak today. The blurb on the back asks:

Is experience a valid test of truth? Does God still give revelation? Prophets, fanatics, or heretics? Does God still heal? What should we think of the Signs and Wonders movement? Does the Bible promise health and wealth?

Very interesting and very important topic areas in this age of apostasy. I took the book to the checkout and the girl asked me what I thought about it all. I told her that I do believe the Holy Spirit works today bit that there are also false spirits masquerading as God. She told me that she is was not sure about a few things in today's Christianity, and one of the things she said was that she was not sure about the speaking in tongues thing etc but that so many people do, and that she is trying to understand it all because she is not sure.

I commended her and told her that she should examine and prove all things in God's word, just like the Bible tells us to do, and that she has done well not to follow the crowd in what they might believe. I told her that truth is not about numbers, that just because a lot of people are convinced of a point, does not make it true. I told her that she should ask God and that he would guide her, and that if she is not sure then that is ok, but do not act until you are sure, never mind what anyone else thinks or is telling you, no matter who they are. We kind of talked around a couple of things like the "revival" in Florida with Todd Bentley, and I told her I do not believe this to be a revival or move of God, but a false spirit. I told her that the Holy Spirit, Jesus and God are one and that God's spirit would not behave out of line with God's character.

FYI: Todd's Bentley's "spirit" has instructed him to punch and kick people seeking deliverance from their problems in order to "heal" or drive out demons, and apparently kicked an old woman in the face. The spirit of God I do not believe would tell anyone to do such a thing. What is more, Todd Bentley apparently admits to being visited to by an "angel" he calls Emma, who is apparently the driving force behind his ministry. Bob Jones (another deceived minister) apparently told Bentley that the angel Emma helped birth and start the prophetic movement in Kansas City in the 1980s. Bentley apparently says on his website:

When she came, she began to mentor, nurture and opened up a prophetic well. The people in the church began having trances and visions and the pastor began getting words of knowledge and moving in healing.

The girl in the shop said how she wanted to know about tongues etc and the Holy Spirit because she is not sure it is from God. I am not sure if she was taking about the false tongues that come out of the modern day deception etc. or tongues in some other form or context. But I said I'm not sure about a lot of things either.

Anyway, I told her I would tell her about the book once I had read it because she said she was interested, and I hope to go back there and talk to her, God willing.

Anyway, last night I read the book of Acts to see when the Holy Spirit manifested, how, through whom, and for what reason, and the outcome. I'm still continuing to study because the Holy Spirit/Ghost has lots of mentions in the Bible, and I'll have to read about it in the relevant contexts.

So far it seems like the Apostles (ie. the selected 12) were the ones God demonstrated His power through initially as they went about their ministry of spreading the gospel. It seems that they would preach the gospel with the signs following, so that the Jews (who disbelieved Jesus) and I think also the Gentiles, could see that Jesus must have been the Son of God because the people who they knew had been chilling with him were now walking around doing the same things that He did even they though he was supposed to be dead and gone and his powers with Him.

Did God demonstrate such signs and wonders through the other disciples and new converts too as opposed to just the 12 apostles is something I will double check - there are many names! Did only the apostles speak in tongues? No! What tongues were they speaking? When? Why? Was it "other tongues" eg. other languages that people from other countries could understand, or was it something unrecognisable? I've often heard the latter in church, but not the former? Why is this? So many questions!!

I will post as a read more, but the Holy Spirit is definitely here with those who believe today, as promised by Jesus. The other books of the Bible will explain further, and God willing we will be able to better discern the true spirit of God and to reject the false.

God in the little things

Lately I've really been trying to do things right and to stay on the straight and narrow, and realising how easy it is when you just don't kick against the pricks and just do what's you're supposed to do, and vice versa. It's so easy when you're just obedient.

Seriously, what makes the walk tough sometimes is the fact that we want to act against what we know to be right, and this is what causes some of our struggles and dilemmas.

True, we can have a crisis of conscience when we genuinely don't know which way to turn, but when we actually do know right and wrong, and hesitate in making the right choice for whatever, we can feel in turmoil because it can be a case of our flesh wanting to rebel against the truth of the matter.

Learning to ignore what the flesh has to say and committing to the way of truth and righteousness can be tough, but amazingly once you do actually make up your mind to commit to it, it's actually easier to do the right thing. It becomes like second nature to choose the right thing and to ignore the diversions.

I'm conscious of the fact that maybe I'm having an easy ride right now and I maybe next week there'll be something I'll struggle with - very true. But that's just the way it goes. Whether I struggle for the next month or so, I can wipe my slate clean and try again till I get it right, and as long as I am willing to persevere, it's all good.

Another thing I notice is that not only does it get easier to do the right thing, but also, when your heart is committed to doing the right thing, God steps in and helps you out in the places where you might fall.

For example in the past couple of days, there was a situation where I was supposed to meet an acquaintance at a venue to basically celebrate something or other and socialise (sorry I sound so vague but anyway.....). Anyway, we had both kind of committed to meeting, especially as neither of us knew anybody at the venue. Anyway, this person then has a change of plan whereby we would have to meet later, when the venue actually turned into a club.

Ha!

So there I was thinking oh no!! No I can not be in no club situation, and especially not after I've been writing on here about how Christians should not be in a club. I didnt know what to do - well I did but I felt like I could not cancel on this person and let them down especially as they had really been looking forward to it. And then not only that but to be honest I do find this person attractive in way....and all kinds of thoughts and images started coming to me like how great I would look all dressed up and how he might be impressed etc etc....yes I know stupid airheaded silly thoughts but they did come, but was it even me because actually the overriding thoughts and feelings were that I did not want to go and I did not care what he thought because I was more concerned about doing the right thing and setting a good example of Christian behaviour, conduct and dress for him, and more than anything my heart was grieved! It was a surprising but very welcoming and reassuring feeling because more than anything I did not want to dishonour, disobey and displease God. Even so I found myself saying I would go in jeans and stay for a very short time and then leave so I wouldn't have let him down (what??!!! :-( Yes I know.......)

Now, I'm not saying that usually when I kick against the pricks and sort of do little things I shouldn't to please myself and just kind of wheedle and quickly turn my shoulder to the guilt, that I don't care. I do but sometimes when you're just in your heart wanting to do something you know you shouldn't somehow you just kind of choose to ignore your conscience, or the Holy Spirit's counsel.

But I felt grieved! I felt like there was no way I could, I felt like I was cheating in God's face. Really I felt so awful and even as I was in the shower I was just really really dejected and feeling very sorry and rubbish but still hoping for a way out.

Anyway, I get out of the shower and I'm drying myself in daze and literally about 1 second later the phone rings and it's my friend calling with a change of plan, arranging to meet at somewhere else with friends of his (in my head - "YES!!!", and what's more, no temptation factor with the other friends etc.)

I tell you I was so over the moon it was like night and day, I was so happy! But then I also had a reminder that I had potentially made a wrong decision, and in hindsight (even though it was only looking back to 5 minutes earlier), I knew I could have boldly made another one, an alternative one. But I didn't feel condemned strangely. It was like I had been taught a lesson, and that it was ok. God had bailed me out, and I knew that He is and was there watching over my situation.

Now, someone's gonna go "Yeah whatever that was just a coincidence." Well, whatever coincidences are I certainly gained something from the situation.

Another example, two days later God stepped into another situation. Well, it wasn't a situation or dilemma as such, but basically, it involved a situation whereby a friend of mine was going to give me a free short term gym membership they had in their name, but it would have involved me using their pass which clearly had a name on that wasn't mine because not only am I not male I am not from the Asian sub-continent.

We both knew it was dodgy but my friend was trying to do me a good turn and I like free stuff and cannot be bothered to pay for the gym.

Anyway, I knew it wasn't right and would involve me lying in some kinda way, especially if the gym staff stopped to look in my face and ask me what was up, and decided I wouldn't use the pass.

Anyway, blessing of blessings, wouldn't you know that the very same day circumstances transpire which culminate in me being offered such a pass legitimately. Circumstantial and coincidental? Maybe. But I tell you it just goes to show that you don't have to go the way of the jackal to get what you need, or what you simply wouldn't mind having.

Can I get a amen?