The WAR on The WORD

 ~ By Gregory Reid (with supplemental commentary by James Fire)

Originally published on Monday, September 24, 2018

(This article was written in response to an article published by the “Hello Christian” web site this morning. It is pretty rough, just fair warning. G.R.)

(This article is kept intact as Greg wrote it, but supplemented by comments made by myself, James Fire. Where you see the names Greg, John and James appear, followed by a colon (:), those remarks may be attributed to the specified speaker. Where you see no name, these are statements made by Greg Reid himself. J.F.). Now for the article:
  
It was of course inevitable that the Emergent Church would begin to have babies that were far more unbiblical than itself. Andy Stanley is one of those spiritual offspring of a departure from Biblical faith and adoption by experiential religious deception. He recently told a group of pastors at the Southern Baptist Convention that they needed to get the spotlight off the Bible. (August 2016 “Onward” conference.) Now his little spiritual children are following suit.

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WALKING WITHOUT STUMBLING Part 4 of 4: – The WISDOM and WALK of The SAVIOR, JESUS CHRIST

~ By James Fire

In the ancient schools of Greek culture, teachers would often instruct their classes on any particular subject by first explaining what it is not, before explaining what it is.

In this four-part series, we have examined the lives of Samson and the kings of Israel, Saul and Solomon. Much of what we have examined in the lives of these men relates to what we should not do in our walks with the LORD to ensure we don’t stumble and fall from our steadfastness in Christ (2 PET 3:17).

We may learn much by negative examples, learning from the mistakes of others and establish parameters and guard against committing such things ourselves. In addition to our spiritual education, we also learn by the positive examples as outlined in Scripture: we can look at the lives of Joseph and Daniel, Samuel and Elijah, as well as Peter and John, Paul and Timothy. However, we will focus on the quintessential and supreme example that’s set for us, the LORD Jesus Christ, the Savior!

HEBREWS 12:2
2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

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The CHURCH HAS BEEN PSYCHED! - The Invasion of Humanism and Psychology

~ By James Fire

For two thousand years the church of the LORD Jesus Christ has had the blessed opportunity for a rich, fulfilling life that is not of ourselves but of Christ Himself. We partake of this life through the Holy Spirit that indwells us by means of the atonement of the Lamb of God, Jesus of Nazareth when He offered up Himself as the sacrifice for our sins, and then rose from the dead, conquering over sin, death and hell on our behalf.

Additionally, we also partake of this blessed life through the Word of God, the Holy Scriptures that equips and directs us into a life of godliness:

2 TIMOTHY 3:16-17
16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: 17 That the man of God may be perfect [complete], thoroughly furnished [equipped] unto all good works.

2 PETER 1:2-4
2 Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, 3 According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: 4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

By the Spirit of God, and the Word of God we saints have everything we could possibly need for a Christian life in this fallen world. The Omniscient (all-knowing) and Omni-present (existing in all places and all times) God has reviewed the world in all its history, from Day 1 to Day nth and considered every situation, challenge, issue, problem and circumstance that we as human beings could encounter and provided answers for us in the Scriptures according to the wisdom of God.

Yet in the past couple of centuries, and specifically in our day, an infiltration into the church by vain philosophies of mankind, according to earthly wisdom (1 COR 2:4-7,13-14), has occurred. Two of these that I want to address in this article are: Secular Humanism and Psychology.

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A short exhortation by pastor Sonny Islas - Like a Baby in the Womb

1 JOHN 2:6 says, 
He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.

Those who are truly in Christ are like a baby in the mother’s womb. How so? you ask. 

The baby (fetus), while in the mother’s belly is connected to her via the umbilical cord. While inside (like us “In Him.”), through the umbilical cord, the mother provides life’s essentials such as blood, oxygen and nutrients in order to sustain the growing and thriving child. 

In a spiritual sense, when we connect to Christ through faith (the spiritual umbilical cord) we too get His blood: to redeem us and wash away all our sin. We get His oxygen: the Holy Spirit (the breath of eternal life) to seal us, sustain us and empower us to do all that we’ve been born again to do. 

We also get His nutrients: His life changing Word which gives us practical wisdom, purpose, direction, strength and the knowledge of God Himself. 

These are some of the graces we get when we are “in Him” [The phrase "in Christ" appears 12 times in the epistle by the apostle Paul to the Ephesians]. As long as we stay closely connected to Jesus through unshakable faith, passionate prayer, and total surrender or steady obedience to His Word with the much-needed help of His Spirit; it is then that we can and will live out His life in a more fruitful and effective way. 

Keep this in mind: most spiritual growth happens when you are alone with God. In times when no one is looking like that of a baby in the secret place (the womb). 

Lastly, in JOHN 15:5, Jesus said, I am the Vine, you are the branches, He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.

Here to serve,

Pastor Sonny Read more!

Separated and Called

Bobservations Column:
by Pastor Bob Lawrenz

In our reading today, we learn of more gifts of the Holy Spirit, beyond what are listed in 1 Corinthians 12. Ephesians 4:11-12 says “And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:”

As with other gifts of the Spirit, the gifts each have their own role within the Body of Christ. And just as 1 Corinthians states, the Holy Spirit gives gifts to people severally as He sees fit, according to His purposes.

We see this in our study today within the Church of Antioch. the Church leadership is identified by names, and then we read that the Holy Spirit speaks to them and Paul and Barnabas are separated out to a specific work of God’s choosing. If Galatians 2 identifies James, Peter, and John as the “Pillars of the Church” at Jerusalem, then clearly those named are the leaders of Antioch. They were men of varied backgrounds, and social strata, but all were of one mind in Christ. They ministered to the Lord and fasted, and the Holy Spirit used them to launch Paul and Barnabas into a life of spreading the Gospel.

Each of Antioch’s Leaders were themselves aware of what happens when you go out and spread the Gospel; all were part of Antioch’s Spiritual awakening, and church growth. Willingly, they went out and started a church, and once established, God sent one of their own out with Saul (Paul) to take the Good News even further than they had, to the ends of the Earth.

Paul and Barnabas were filled with the Spirit, and surely the Spirit gave each of them multiple Spiritual Gifts, to accomplish their mission. And if we want to be used by God? 1 Corinthians 12:31 says, “But covet earnestly the best gifts: and yet shew I unto you a more excellent way. “ This “more excellent way” Paul mentions is apparently another of the Gifts of the Holy Spirit: the Gift of Agape’. It is not a love that comes naturally, neither can it be feigned. It is God’s love for us that we are called to share with the world: from Jerusalem, to Judea, to Samaria, and to the ends of the Earth. 

“ And now abideth faith, hope, and (agape’), these three; but the greatest of these is (agape’). "

~ 1Corinthians 13:13

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GUARDING AGAINST APOSTASY

by Anne Kisly

2 Timothy 4:3 

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;"

We are witnesses to the times we are living in, the end times. How do we know? The bible warned about these times, Matthew 24 details the signs of these times.  Before we go on, I think we should review these signs.

The following clear and concise excerpts are taken from 50 Reasons, by Dr. David Reagan:

1) The Signs of Nature 

“…and there will be great earthquakes, and in various places plagues and famines; and there will be terrors and great signs from heaven.” (Luke 21:11)

This category of signs has always been the least respected, even among believers. The mere mention of it usually evokes a sneer accompanied by the words, “Come on, what else is new? There have always been earthquakes and tornadoes and hurricanes.” But those who have this attitude forget that Jesus said the signs would be like “birth pangs” (Matthew 24:8). That means they will increase in frequency and intensity the closer we get to the Lord’s return. In other words, there will be more frequent natural disasters and more intense ones.

2) The Signs of Society
“Realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God…” (2 Timothy 3:1-4)

This passage sounds like a typical evening newscast today! Notice the three things it says people will love in the end times: self, money, and pleasure.

The love of self is Humanism — the belief that Man can accomplish anything on his own. The love of money is Materialism. When Humanism is your religion, your god will always be money. The love of pleasure is the third love that is mentioned. This is Hedonism, the lifestyle that is always produced by Humanism and Materialism.

But God cannot be mocked (Galatians 6:7). He therefore sees to it that when people chose Humanism, Materialism, and Hedonism, the payoff is always Nihilism — which is a fancy philosophical word for despair.

Need I emphasize that our world is wallowing in despair today? We live in a society plagued by abortion, homosexuality, domestic violence, child molestation, blasphemy, pornography, alcoholism, drug abuse and gambling.

Like the days of the Judges in the Old Testament, people are doing what is right in their own eyes, and the result is that people are calling evil good and good evil (Isaiah 5:20).

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