Walk by Faith

Today Ken Silva posted an article about Mark Driscoll. I wanted to post something that addressed the same topic without repeating the same things Ken stated very well in his post. Then I ran across the following article at Bible.org, which, I believe, helps us see what is exactly going on with false teachers like Driscoll, Rob Bell, et al. In any case, the title of the article below is "How can we discern false teachers?" - Mike Ratliff

(click here to read this post)

ἐν ὑποκρίσει ψευδολόγων, κεκαυστηριασμένων τὴν ἰδίαν συνείδησιν (1 Timothy 4:2 NA27)

In hypocrisy of ones speaking lies, having been seared in their own conscience… (a personal translation of 1 Timothy 4:2 from the NA27 Greek text)

I have made clear what all Christian’s stance should be on homosexuality here. That stance is biblical and any attempt to soften, change, or redirect it has as its source the father of all lies and enemy of our souls. My friend Ken Silva posted an article yesterday titled Christianity 21 To Attack Christian Sexuality. To be honest, the spew that comes from “Christianity 21” no longer surprises me. What would surprise me is if they repented, reversed course, dropped all the post-modern pretense, and submitted themselves to the Jesus Christ as Lord. The reason that would be such a surprise is, of course, once apostasy takes over a person, they depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demon, (1 Timothy 4:1) and it is like watching water circling a drain. Eventually, it will enter the drain and be sucked into the sewer.

(click here to read this post)

ἀγωνίζου τὸν καλὸν ἀγῶνα τῆς πίστεως, ἐπιλαβοῦ τῆς αἰωνίου ζωῆς, εἰς ἣν ἐκλήθης καὶ ὡμολόγησας τὴν καλὴν ὁμολογίαν ἐνώπιον πολλῶν μαρτύρων. (1 Timothy 6:12 NA27)

Fight the good fight of faith. Lay hold of the eternal life to which you were called and confessed the good confession before many witnesses. (a personal translation of 1 Timothy 6:12 from the NA27 Greek text)

There are times when this work becomes an agonizing battle just to combat the attacks of our accuser; just to pray and prepare to open God’s Word; let alone dig into the Greek then translate et cetera. I am a mere man upon whom God had mercy January 1986 when I was 34. I was 35 later that year. Here I am now just a couple of months from being 60 years old and when the accuser comes to battle me, to distract me, to belittle me, what do you think he uses for ammunition? Yes, I know that at the cross all my sins were atoned for and that by God’s grace through faith the father justified me. Yes, Amen! I have days when I can take any fiery dart the enemy shoots in my direction with hardly any problem because I am so totally full of the Spirit and, using the shield of faith, extinguish those fiery darts as if they are nothing. However, there are times when I am convinced that God allows the enemy access so that his accusations seem to overwhelm me. I feel worthless. I look at my past sins and then at the task of doing this work and cannot see how God could or even want to use one such as I. 

(click here to read this post)

καὶ τὸν λόγον αὐτοῦ οὐκ ἔχετε ἐν ὑμῖν μένοντα, ὅτι ὃν ἀπέστειλεν ἐκεῖνος, τούτῳ ὑμεῖς οὐ πιστεύετε. (John 5:38 NA27)

“And His Word you do not have abiding in you because He whom He sent, this one you do not believe.” (a personal translation of John 5:38 from the NA27 Greek text)

In John 5:30-47 the apostle gives us several witnesses to establish the truthfulness and genuiness of Jesus Christ and His ministry. Our Lord Jesus presented these witnesses who testified to His identity as the Son to those who opposed Him. The first witness given is John the Baptist in vv32-35. The second witness is our Lord’s own words in vv 35, 36. The third witness if the Father in vv 37, 38. The fourth witness is the Old Testament Scriptures in vv 39-47. However, as is the case from this point to the end of John, those who most vehemently opposed our Lord and His ministry, refused to believe. 

(click here to read this post)

εἶπεν οὖν ὁ Ἰησοῦς πρὸς αὐτόν· ἐὰν μὴ σημεῖα καὶ τέρατα ἴδητε, οὐ μὴ πιστεύσητε. (John 4:48 NA27)

Therefore, Jesus said to him, “Except you see signs and wonders you never believe!” (a personal translation of John 4:48 from the NA27 Greek text)

In this stage of my life, God has me residing in the Kansas City area. In our city is a “church” that calls itself “World Revival Church.” It is closely associated with another “church” that was recently sued by the corporation International House of Pancakes because it used the same logo, i.e. IHOP. In any case, the people behind these “churches advertise heavily on our local television during the evening news hour. The focus of their ads is not to come there to see God glorified or to come and learn about Jesus our Lord and Saviour. Nope, it is all about “feelings” and “being blessed” and “experiences.” I have written about them before. There are some very disturbing videos portraying “signs and wonders” on Youtube about them as well. In any case, what they promote is attending their church for the experience, to get something for self, all subjectively. Contrast that with our Lord’s own words from John 4:48 (above). 

(click here to read this post)

ἀπεκρίθη Ἰησοῦς καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῇ· εἰ ᾔδεις τὴν δωρεὰν τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ τίς ἐστιν ὁ λέγων σοι· δός μοι πεῖν, σὺ ἂν ᾔτησας αὐτὸν καὶ ἔδωκεν ἄν σοι ὕδωρ ζῶν. (John 4:10 NA27)

Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God and who is saying to you, ‘Give me to drink,’ you would have asked Him and He would have given you living water.” (a personal translation of John 4:10 from the NA27 Greek text)

Sacred Scripture clearly teaches us that those who are saved by God believe in the Lord Jesus, that is, they believe the Gospel or Good News. It is good news because it comes to those who realize they are helpless to justify themselves before God who is Holy, Righteous, and Just and also know for certain that their own righteousness is as filthy rags, that is, worthless. The good news is that someone else has paid their sin debt to God for them. They are no longer hopelessly in debt to God. Of course, this applies only to those who believe. The Apostle John used several images or analogies to vividly portray what it is to truly believe in Jesus. In John 6:56, 8:31, and 15:7 he used the physical image of believers abiding or remaining in Jesus and His Word. In John 8:12 and 12:35-36, he used the analogy of believers walking in and having the light. In John 6:53-56 he gives us our Lord’s hard preaching and His own standard of eating His flesh and drinking His blood. In John 6:35, 47-48, 50-51, and 53-58 he gives us our Lord’s image of real believers eating the bread of life. In John 4:10-14 and 7:37-38, we read of real believers drinking living water. In this post, we will look at John 4:1-42. 

(click here to read this post)

ἐκεῖνον δεῖ αὐξάνειν, ἐμὲ δὲ ἐλαττοῦσθαι. (John 3:30 NA27)

It is necessary for Him to increase, but for me to decrease. (a personal translation of John 3:30 from the NA27 Greek text)

We often think that false doctrine concerning the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ will begin with denials of His deity or the fall of man et cetera. Consider this my brethren. All it takes to get the gospel wrong is to make the focus of it man rather than the glory of the Father through the glorification of the Son as He lived that sinless life and through that perfect obedience became the propitiation for those He came to save. Then he deliberately laid down His life to be that perfect sacrifice on their behalf. He went to that cross so that those chosen before the foundation of the world, given to the Son by the Father, are given eternal life when they believe the Gospel in repentance turning to Christ as Lord as Saviour. At that moment, the Father imputes Christ’s perfect obedience and perfect righteousness to their account. However, during our Lord’s earthly ministry, those who followed Him as well as those who opposed Him did not see this at all. Jesus came to reveal the Father to the lost sheep of Israel, but most of them rejected the message. It was not until our Lord rose from the dead three days after dying on that Cross that He opened the minds of His disciples so that they could understand Sacred Scripture and then know the truth of His true mission and what the gospel is all about. Yes, when the gospel is handled correctly, people are saved and brought into the Kingdom, but the purpose is the glory of God. John the Baptist understood that perfectly. 

(click here to read this post)

οὕτως γὰρ ἠγάπησεν ὁ θεὸς τὸν κόσμον, ὥστε τὸν υἱὸν τὸν μονογενῆ ἔδωκεν, ἵνα πᾶς ὁ πιστεύων εἰς αὐτὸν μὴ ἀπόληται ἀλλ᾽ ἔχῃ ζωὴν αἰώνιον. (John 3:16 NA27)

For God so loved the world that He gave His only son that everyone believing in Him should not perish but have life eternal. (a personal translation of John 3:16 from the NA27 Greek text)

The first verse I memorized in Sunday School as a child was John 3:16 from the King James Bible. This must have been sometime around 1956-1957 since I did not learn to read until the 1st grade. My mother even had a plaque made with that verse on it and put it on the wall over my bed. I still have the little white New Testament I got for memorizing the most verses in my class that year. So what? When I look back on my life from that point to the time God had mercy on me in 1986, I am truly amazed that He did at all. Since the time I came to know Christ, I have known much of both of the tender mercies of our Lord as well as His flail of tribulation. My brethren, the school of the cross is the school of light, it discovers the world’s vanity, baseness, and wickedness, and lets us see more of God’s mind. Out of dark affliction comes a spiritual light. With that, let us look at John 3:16-21. 

(click here to read this post)

This is actually a continuation of yesterday's post Therefore Do Not Be Afraid. As I was about to set up a linking post to it over at Christian Research Network I found that the site was down as was Apprising.Org. I contacted Ken Silva. He emailed me back saying he had contacted his ISP. This morning he let me know that whoever had attacked his sites used a Denial of Service Attack so large that it took down the entire server that not only his two sites were on, but many unrelated sites. Such are the self-righteous actions of evil men. If all you can do in the face of documented truth is resort to underhanded violence of some kind then you are indeed pitiful. Praise the Lord that both sites are back online now.

On the other hand, the content of this post will be the actual word for word account by our brother John Bunyan of his arrest and trial and appeal process and how he and his family were treated by those in authority. I pray you take the time to read the entire article for it is heart rending as Bunyan left a wife at home with several children, one of them blind and no one in authority would offer any mercy even though there was no evidence whatsoever that his sentence was just. - Mike Ratliff

(click here to read this post)

καὶ μὴ φοβεῖσθε ἀπὸ τῶν ἀποκτεννόντων τὸ σῶμα, τὴν δὲ ψυχὴν μὴ δυναμένων ἀποκτεῖναι· φοβεῖσθε δὲ μᾶλλον τὸν δυνάμενον καὶ ψυχὴν καὶ σῶμα ἀπολέσαι ἐν γεέννῃ. (Matthew 10:28 NA27)

And do not be afraid of those killing the body, but are unable to kill the soul, but fear instead the one who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. (a personal translation of Matthew 10:28 from the NA27 Greek text)

I had intended to write another piece contrasting the prevalent false teaching (heresies) in the visible church in our time with the proper handling of God’s Word, His doctrines, and the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ through good preaching. This rightly dividing of God’s Word  is used by the Holy Spirit to accomplish God’s Will in the hearts of men. Some believe and are saved. Others, through their unbelief do not believe and never will. In both cases, to accomplish His will, He uses the preaching of His Word. Some are His others are not. Some are given the gifts that God uses to do this. 

(click here to read this post)