Difficult Truths You Need to Submit To

Dear Reader,

Here are some truths that you need to wrestle with and then submit yourself to (especially if you are of the Armenian persuasion):

1. Every single individual person is not a child of God. Every single individual person is made in the image of God, but only those who have been adopted as sons and daughters through faith in Christ Jesus are children of God. To claim that we are all children of God is rank heresy. You are the child of the one whose will you seek to fulfill. As Jesus said to certain Jews, "You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father" (John 8:44). The lost and unbelieving are not children of God; they are children of the devil.
    
   
2. God does not love every single individual person, or even love every single individual person equally. It was stated very clearly with regard to Jacob and Esau: "Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated" (Mal. 1:2-3; Rom. 9:13). You can even see this among the disciples, such as Peter and John. God loves His own. He does not love the children of the devil. God is love, but love is not God. Stop creating a false god by trying to turn the concept or essence of love into a god and place it in the position of God. You quite obviously misunderstand what that verse means and are trying to force your false understandings upon it.
    
   
3. God does not desire that each and every single individual person who has ever lived come to repentance and faith. Think about that! "My purpose will be established, and I will accomplish all My good pleasure" (Isaiah 46:10). If God desired each and every single individual person to come to repentance and faith, obtaining salvation, and seeing as how His purposes and plans, His will, are always accomplished, you have an argument for the heresy of Universalism. God desires that His elect come to repentance and faith, and they will because He has purposed it, and His will is always accomplished.
    
   
4. You do not possess a "free will." If Judas was foreordained, or predestined, to betray Jesus, he was unable to do anything but betray Jesus. Ergo, where was his supposed "free will"? Where was Nebuchadnezzar's supposed "free will" when God made him eat grass and act crazy for seven years? Where was Jonah's supposed "free will"? "Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness?" (Rom. 6:16). Without Christ, your will is slave to sin. A corpse cannot obey commands. Unless God makes you alive, you will not accept the Gospel; once He has made you alive, you can do nothing but accept the Gospel.
   

In other blog entries, I have greatly expanded upon these truths. These are just brief dealings with them. If you profess to be a Christian, but war against these truths in your heart and mind, then you might want to examine yourself more closely to see just how much of a Christian you truly are. You obviously have a desperate desire to reject the truths that Scripture makes plain, which comes from a heart of rebellion. Whenever Scripture says something and makes it clear, and you do not want to accept it or conform yourself to it, that comes from a rebellious and disobedient heart, which may indicate being merely religious and not a genuine follower of Christ.

Why I Didn't Sing When I Visited Your Church

by Tim Challies

It was a joy to finally visit your church a couple of Sundays ago, and to worship with the believers there. You know I’ve been looking forward to it for a long time. Just as you promised, the pastor is an excellent communicator and a man who loves God’s Word. His sermon was deeply challenging and led to some great conversations with my children.

Now, you asked me why it looked like I wasn’t singing. I know that was probably a little awkward, so thought I’d send along a brief explanation. Primarily, it’s because…

…I was not familiar with the songs. Your church has a tremendously skilled group of musicians leading them and it was a true joy to hear them play and sing. They sound as good live as they do on their album! But, unless I missed something, all of the songs on that Sunday were drawn from their own music. There weren’t any hymns in the service or even any familiar worship songs. So it’s not that I didn’t want to sing; it’s just that I didn’t know the songs. I want to be fair—every church has some of its own songs, and there is nothing wrong with that. I tried to follow along the best I could so I could learn some of yours, but even then…

…the songs weren’t congregational. Most of them seemed to have been written with the band in mind more than the congregation. What I mean is that they were unpredictable and often went beyond my vocal range and ability. This made them tough to learn and difficult to sing. Sometimes I would just begin to think I had it, but then…

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One World Government?

Most probable, there is not going to be a “one world government.” Even if there were, it is not in fulfillment to any prophecy. The Bible teaches no such thing; not in Daniel, not in Thessalonians, and not in Revelation. Daniel makes it clear that “in the days of those kings” Jesus would set up His kingdom, of which there would be no end. That was prophecy. That was inevitable. Jesus did exactly that; His kingdom is not of this world (John 18:36), and was not coming in a way that could be observed (Luke 17:20-21). Believers have been transferred from the kingdom of darkness into Jesus’ kingdom (Col 1:13). Men have been trying to create a one world government ever since Jesus established His kingdom and have been unsuccessful (Charlemagne, Napoleon, etc.). It most likely will never happen! The world can do its darnedest to try and make it happen, but God will thwart their efforts. People who believe this fictional fairy tale are out of touch with the Bible, believing a theology that is about 200 years old. This theology selects randomly isolated verses of Scripture, rips them out of their immediate contexts, and ties them together with other randomly isolated verses of Scripture that sound like they are saying the same thing, forcing them to create a doctrine that is foreign to the Word of God. This is not prophecy. This is not inevitable. This is eisegesis and sensationalism.

Every aspect of this theology crumbles when one pays attention to what the New Testament has to say—in context. Hebrews destroys much of it, but other epistles destroy these false beliefs, too. Hebrews makes it clear there will not be a return to the old; not even God Himself can return to former things. Most probable, there will not be a rebuilt temple. Even if there were, it is not in fulfillment of any prophecy, and would not change anything. The New Testament makes it clear that we are that Temple and that God does not dwell in buildings built by hands, but that He dwells in us. Revelation goes so far as to tell us that in the new heavens and earth Jesus and God are the Temple (21:22). There will not be a return to sacrifices. Jesus was the sacrifice to end all others, which were types and shadows of Jesus’ sacrifice. These things are extremely simple to understand if people would just pay attention to what the New Testament says—in context—instead of looking for what they want it to say and ripping individual verses apart just to make it say what they want. You may have been taught this theology, but this theology is false. It is not biblical!!!

I wrote a book on this very subject, exposing the false beliefs of this aberrant theology and quoting large portions of Scripture so that people could see precisely what the Bible has to say for itself. If you follow this theology, know that it is bankrupt; it holds no value. It is the imagination of godless men—not the Word of God, nor the teachings of the Holy Spirit. Learn the truth and let the truth set you free.

http://getbook.at/TheEndTimesExpanded

https://payhip.com/b/6wDN

Confronting Pagan Christianity

Jesus never soft-peddled truth in order to keep from offending men who were offended by the God of truth. In fact, He confronted God's enemies head-on. (Those enemies can even be found within the walls of your religious institution. Peter at one point was one such enemy that Christ had to rebuke him: "Get behind me, Satan.") The way you deal with God's enemies is to confront them head-on with God's truth. You do not coddle them or try to get them to somehow agree with you. You confront them and demand that they bow to God's revelation.

A person will be saved when they bow to God—and not before. You can become a Catholic, an Anglican, a Lutheran, a Calvinist, a Presbyterian, a Baptist, a Pentecostal, a Methodist, a "Calvinist," an "Armenian," etc., by argument and persuasion. You will only come to know God when you bow to His revelation in His Word. Period!

You want to discuss theology? You want to discuss doctrine? You want to discuss the truth of Scripture? Let's have at it! Let's look at what the Bible has to say, and let's expose the false beliefs and man-made traditions you have been taught and have clung to desperately. If it cannot be found in, or substantiated by, Scripture, then you need to let it go!

"Ecclesia, semper reformanda secundum verbi Dei."
("The church, always reforming according to the Word of God.")

God's true Church, the people, should always be reforming in order to be in accordance with the Word of God. If the holy Scriptures teach one thing, and you refuse to accept it and instead cling to the traditions that have been handed down to you, then Anathema upon your head! You are not a faithful follower of Christ Jesus. Are you afraid to reform? Why? Providing you do not quench the Holy Spirit, Jesus promised that the coming Comforter would guide us into all truth. Yet when He desires to do precisely that, because it goes against the status quo of the traditions you have been handed, you ignore Him and stifle Him. To top it all off, you claim to be lead by the Spirit, and that He taught you such-and-such, despite the fact that what you claim "He" taught you contradicts and opposes what you find in the holy Scriptures. Your thoughts, your desires, are not the Holy Spirit speaking to you! Stop attributing you to the Holy Spirit!

As I have said before, Gospel preaching is always confrontational. Why? Because you are challenging world views and systems of belief. Do you find my writing to be challenging? Do you find my writing to be abrupt? Do you find my writing to be abrasive? Do you find my writing to be confrontational? Good! More than likely it is you who need to be confronted and challenged. Perhaps you are a little too pompous and puffed up, thinking more highly of yourself than you ought. Perhaps you are jealous of the way God has gifted me. I do not know, nor do I care. God knows, and God will be your judge.

"You should be more gentle and loving with your brothers and sisters in Christ." Oh, for sure! Except for those who are merely religious, whose Christianity is nothing more than religion. Then a firm hand, a harsher tone, is required. Jesus was gentle and loving toward the lowly, but He was harsh and loving toward the proud and religious. You want to claim that I am abrasive? Fine! I do not care about your feelings! I care about your soul, and I care about what it is you believe and practice! If your feelings get hurt in the process of making sure you are on the straight and narrow and conforming yourself and your beliefs according to everything in the New Testament, then so be it. Better for you to be offended and aligned with Scripture than for me to cater to your feelings and make you comfortable as you slide down a greased pole into Hell for eternity!

You sit and wonder how my writing will make you look; how people will associate my writing with you. Have you ever stopped to think about how Jesus wonders how you make Him look; how people will associate you with Him? How ashamed Jesus must be of you. Jesus was extremely confrontational, especially with the religious. Yet you have an attitude of passivity. You are afraid and ashamed to be confrontational, touting a false "love" as your methodology. Yet how many people have you brought to Christ? You major on the minors and minor on the majors.

Every member of Christ's church has been given at least one gift to use for the edification of the body of Christ. No one needs a special education or a special degree or a special title in order to use their gifts. The ones possessing these special educations, degrees, and titles are usually the least qualified to be attempting to lead God's people. Why? Do you know what "homiletics" is? Homiletics is a "science, applying rules of rhetoric, which go back to Greece and Rome." Rhetoric (the art of persuasive speaking) came from the Sophists. From Constantine onward, the speaker had to take special classes to learn how to use this rhetoric. If you did not possess this education, you were not allowed to speak and address the assembly. This same pagan mindset infects the modern church today: Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, Calvinist, Presbyterian, Baptist, Pentecostal, etc. If any of the Apostles came to your church today and desired to preach, you would cast them out on the street because of your ignorance and long-held pagan traditions and beliefs.

You know what else is of pagan origin? Paying the speaker for speaking to you! Sophists made their living this way. They were paid to speak using their rhetoric. Aristotle provided the three-point speech to their rhetoric, which is still used by most speakers in religious institutions today. Contrast this with the Jewish rabbis who took up a trade so as not to charge a fee for their teaching/speaking. Tell your priest/pastor that you will not be paying him a salary any more and see what happens. How concerned is he with the flock? Most Christians are addicted to the "Christian" sermon in the same way that the Greeks and Romans were addicted to the pagan sermon. The structure of modern churches encourages passive spectatorship rather than communal participation, and it hinders and stunts spiritual growth. The Spirit-inspired dialogue between speaker and listener was replaced by the monologue. A single speaker with their knowledge, gifting, and experience addressing the congregation rather than group participation. How does this benefit the whole body of Christ? How is each member doing their part when they are encouraged to sit and listen like a spectator being entertained?

Whether your denomination wants to admit it or not, it still retains elements of the Catholic Church in the way it does things, which were taken directly from pagan religions and the Greco-Roman culture. I hate to break it to you, but your "Christianity" is more pagan than it is Christian. And I will bet that you are too arrogant and proud to admit it. How Christian is your Christianity when you go through the motions of pagan rituals and practices every worship day? You have more in common with the Devil than you do with Christ!

How's that for abrasive and confrontational? ;o)

A Dangerous Statement

God never changes! Remember that.

The next time you are confronted with something from the Bible and these words cross your lips—"That was for back then; that isn't for us today," be very afraid, because you are treading on thin ice.

What you are saying is that you do not agree with what the Scriptures have said, what Jesus has said, and are thus trying to find a way to loose yourself from having to obey it. In this case, you are no better than an infidel.

Unless God Himself has changed something, unless it has been fulfilled in and by the person and work of Christ on the cross, unless there is an explicit "Thus says the Lord" command to alter or cancel something, then it still remains intact for you today.

You do not get to pick and choose what parts of Scripture you will obey. God is not interested in your opinions. Because our cultures are so vastly different, you need to understand biblical culture in order to understand a great deal of what was being said and what was meant by it. However, that does not make it relative only to biblical culture. You are under the same obligation to obey what the Scriptures command, whether your culture is identical or not with that of the biblical culture.

When the authors spoke or wrote, they did so under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, what has been written down comes directly from the heart and mouth of God Himself. God does not change. Therefore, what you desire to be only for a past culture is still incumbent upon you to practice and obey. If you do not understand something, seek to understand it. Do not simply sweep it under the rug in hopes you can ignore it and then claim ignorance when standing before the throne of judgment.

What Christ Jesus said in Scripture of His followers, He demands they obey. It was not said to the culture of that time with no application for our culture today. What He commanded and demanded of them back then, He still commands and demands from us today.

When it comes to God's Word and His instructions for us, never mouth the words, "That was for back then; that isn't for us today"!

Pagan Influenced Christianity

From the time of Emperor Constantine onward, church buildings have been designed to separate clergy from laity. Clergy have been elevated higher than laity, as if they are somehow more special or more important. Church buildings have been designed to make the pew-sitters passive listeners and spectators rather than active participants, as the early Christians functioned. Their design has done away with face-to-face fellowship and interaction.

Look at your own sacred building and exegete it. After all, "form follows function." What is the function of your building? What is it conveying? What objects are higher, and what objects are lower in your building? What objects are at the front, and what objects are at the back in your building? Your sacred building follows the design of the Roman basilicas. Your building layout and the elements of your worship are patterned after pagan temples and rituals.

Why is the pastor positioned at the front? Why is he elevated above the rest of the congregants? (Do not buy the modern explanation, "So we can see him better.") Why is his chair usually larger than any other chairs that may be present? Why is there a rail that separates him from the rest of the congregation? Do your homework, Christians! This all stems from pagan rituals and practices, as well as from the Catholic Church.

None of it is Christian in the least. None of it can be found, substantiated, or defended from the New Testament. And do not even attempt to try and do so from the Old Testament because you would be dead wrong! Ever bothered reading or paying attention to what the book of Hebrews has to say? The sacred temple, sacred objects, and sacred priestly caste of the Old Testament was fulfilled and abrogated in and by Christ Jesus.

Institutional churches are not biblical. Period. You can argue until you are blue in the face all you want. You know it, and I know it. Your arrogant, stubborn pride just wants to argue in attempt to defend what you have known and been taught your entire life, rather than open your eyes, exercise that brain, and see the problem. 

Up until Emperor Constantine, no such "church" buildings ever existed. With every "church" building he erected, he named them after saints the way pagans named their temples after gods. He also built them over burial sites of martyrs, as if it was some sort of "holy" ground, and that in death they possessed some kind of power. The tall spires or steeples that came later imitated the Egyptians and Babylonians, such as the tower of Babel, man aspiring to reach heaven. Even stained-glass windows draw from paganism. Every single element pertaining to your "church" building and the way your sacred building conducts "worship" is built upon pagan rituals and practices. Most of it stemming from the Greco-Roman culture.

Your sacred building also informs people that the holy and the everyday are separate and unconnected. And yet you wonder why in every denomination most their members live differently from the day after service to the day before service than they do the day of service. They have two lives, essentially. They are somber on worship day, but casual, relaxed, and free the other six days of the week. Unless of course they are legalistic, and then they are wound tighter than a coiled spring every day of the week.

Christianity is not Christianity to most adherents. They have no idea what Christianity is because they have been told what to do and what to believe their entire life that they have never bothered to remove the lens that was given to them by their leaders and their denomination and pay attention to what Jesus and the Scriptures have to say. Many Christians are nothing more than mindless parrots, and if you ever talk to them you can see how true that statement is. Whatever the pastor has to say, they are content in believing whether there is an ounce of truth to it or not. They never question him. In their eyes, he can do no wrong. This mentality is dangerous!

The pastor is not above the rest of the congregation. It does not matter what kind of education he has had or the number of degrees he might possess, he is not wiser or more intelligent than any other member of the congregation, nor are his opinions more valued. If he is wrong about something, it needs to be brought to his attention. A degree does not a holy man make you! Unfortunately, the ignorant have bought into this societal lie for hundreds of years. "He's a doctor, so he ought to know what he is talking about." Oh, really? And doctors have never been wrong in the past? Or even presently?

Education serves to teach you how to think and believe the way your professors think and believe. As long as you can retain whatever they have to tell you, whether it is true or not, and be able to repeat it back on a test or exam, you get the marks. Having the marks does not mean you actually know anything, or that you remotely have a clue what you are talking about. But many ignorant individuals today think that education and degrees somehow "make the man." Sorry, but you are WRONG! I have known kids who grew up with computers who could program and hack circles around adults who went to university for the same. Education and experience can be good in their own right, but neither is the be-all and end-all of professionalism. It is sheer prideful arrogance that thinks that someone without degrees and titles could not possibly be wiser and more intelligent than someone with several.

If you are brave enough to allow your Christianity to be examined in light of Scripture and history, and if you are willing to admit that most of what you know to be "church" is built upon paganism, the real question becomes, What next? Without taking that knowledge and becoming proud and arrogant, what do we do next? It is clear that the institutional church is failing (in fact, it never succeeded). Millions of people are leaving the institutional church and returning to the roots of biblical Christianity, seeking to become the church as they were meant to be. The answer is not necessarily returning to house "church" models, but it does demand an overhaul of what we presently practice and call "church."

Emperor Constantine modeled his "church" buildings after the pagan temples and Roman state buildings. Christianity was effectively married to the Roman culture under Constantine, and it has stuck ever since. More and more people are realizing that the current way they do "church" is empty; that there is something more they have been missing. The way your sacred building is laid out, the way your service is conducted, the use and placement of objects in your building and service, are all derived from the Catholic Church, which in turn are derived from the pagan religions and their rituals and practices. You sit in the pew calling yourself a Christian, but you have more in common with the Greco-Roman pagans than you ever have with the early Christians or Christ!

I do not know what this means for me and my family, but as I discover the truth of history and how much our modern "churches" have strayed from that truth, I know that I want nothing to do with it. I want the face-to-face communal fellowship that the Apostles and early Christians enjoyed. I do not want to emulate and mimic the religious worship of the pagans. As I pray that God would remove the scales from your eyes and lead you into the truth by searching the Scriptures (like a good Berean), pray that God would help me to know what I should do and how I should lead my family in the light of this knowledge.

Remember, those who came out of the Catholic Church had been heavily influenced by it. It is only natural that in trying to reform it that they would retain some of that influence. You can see it in every denomination: Anglican, Lutheran, Calvinist, Presbyterian, Baptist, Pentecostal, etc. None is without taint. None is without the elements of paganism in the way they practice "church." Yet all will try to defend their concept and idea of "church," even imitating the Pharisees and Sadducees by attacking those God has opened the eyes of for even questioning their sacred cow. Protestant "churches" have placed the pastor between God and the congregation, as if the only way to Him is through the pastor.

It is time for God's children to wake from their slumber and become the church. The church is not some place you go, but something you are. Anyone who tries to tell you differently is speaking on behalf of their father, the Devil. Do not listen to them. Search the Scriptures. Learn your history. Stay the straight and narrow path. God wants to free you even from this enslavement. Do not quench the Spirit because of your pride and arrogance. Remember, God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. The reason God resists everything your hand attempts to do is because of your pride. Pray for humility. May God bless you as you truly seek after Him.

Gospel Preaching is ALWAYS Confrontational!

Gospel preaching is always confrontational! Any Christian who does not think so, does not understand the Gospel.

These Christians will say, "You can catch more flies with honey than you can with vinegar."

True, but you can catch even more flies with dung than you can with honey! However, I am not in the business of catching flies. My business is the glory of God, the Gospel of God, and the souls of men. Whether of the unsaved who believe false things, or of the saved who believe false things, my business is to challenge what they have been taught and expose them to the truth. As Matthew Henry said,

Truth [is] not to [certain individual’s] taste. We all know how soon a man will contrive, against the strongest evidence, to reason himself out of the belief of what he dislikes.

The religious are just as guilty as the deceived on this point. Their stubborn pride and arrogance takes front-row seat to how they were raised, what they were taught, and what they presently believe. Precious few have the gift to examine these things and check them against Scripture. Some who do, when the church rejects their findings, and attempts to threaten them, ignore what has been revealed to them and submit to the errors of the church, falling in line like Yes-men.

Religious institutions, by and large, are a cancer. They have fallen so far from what it actually means, and looks like, to be the church. Of the 115 occurrences of the Greek word ekklesia in the New Testament, every single one refers to a gathering together, to an assembly, to a congregation. Not one single time does the word refer to a physical building.

You, Christian, are the church. Not some building. You cannot go to something you are.

Emperor Constantine was the first person to erect a building in order for saints to meet in. The construction of such a building gave legitimacy to the Christian religion, which was the only religion not to have a sacred temple, sacred objects, or a sacred priestly caste, as did every other religion including Judaism. Today, every single denomination has their sacred temple, their sacred objects, and their sacred priestly caste.

From Constantine through the Catholic Church, every denomination since then has retained elements of the Catholic system while ignoring the New Testament and the early Christians. Today, the ignorance of each of these denominations will attempt to argue in defense of their religious system and man-made practices. They will even attempt to pervert the Word of God by ripping random isolated verses out of context and forcing them to fit their agenda. Anathema upon such "Christians"!

Think about it! How much money went into building the sacred temple you meet in every worship day? Or, how much money did it require for you to purchase your sacred temple? How much money does your sacred temple require in order to manage it? You use it at least twice a week! How much money does it require for land taxes? How much money does it require for electricity? How much money does it require for water? How much money does it require for heating? How much money does it require for upkeep? Does all of that sound like good stewardship of your tithes? Not to mention, how much are you paying the priest or pastor?

Why does the priest or pastor of every denomination act like the MC or CEO while the rest of the congregation sits idly by, listening, taught to value lesser things? Every early Christian understood that he/she was a priest unto God. Go ahead, read your New Testament. The picture it paints is drastically different from the one you have been living and brainwashed to accept as part of your Christianity.

Guess what? If you challenge this sacred priestly caste, of any denomination, watch how quickly they turn on you. The religious did the same thing to Jesus the Messiah! When Jesus was on Earth, He, and Stephen after Him, made some negatively challenging statements concerning the Jewish temple. Both were charged with the same crime. The religious in your denomination will do the same to you as they did to your Master. Make no mistake about it!

Gospel preaching is always confrontational because you are challenging world views. Very few people want to admit that their world view is flawed and in error, thereby having to correct it. The path of least resistance is to simply continue believing how you were raised, what you were taught, and what you presently believe. God forbid you humble yourself and admit you have been wrong and then submit to the truth and conform yourself to it.

You jellyfish "Christians" with your cotton-candy theology and gospel can keep it. Genuine sons and daughters of the kingdom want the biblical Gospel; the one Paul told us was scandalous and foolish. The same Gospel, who anyone with intelligence when reading the New Testament can see, that was constantly confrontational. It confronted men—religious or non-religious—with their sin.

The biblical church, when men and women came together, communed together. One person did not have the floor while everyone else sat there listening, just to go home afterward. This stems from pagan rituals and practices, which the Catholic Church absorbed, and which other denominations still retain certain elements thereof today—including the Reformed churches and the Baptist churches.

God's church is starting to wake up. More and more Christians are leaving the institutional church to become the church as God had originally intended. Are you brave enough to confront your "Christianity" and challenge your idea of "church"? If it does not align with the New Testament and the early Christians, then what you have and follow is a counterfeit. You are just as religious as the Pharisees and Sadducees, and have just enough faith to condemn you. It is high time you lose your religion and that you win Christ. If you would rather have your religion than Christ, I wish you the best of luck. "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."

Humble Listening

Just because something is said with the wrong attitude doesn't mean it's wrong information. A mistake I have made too often is to respond to pride with pride. There have been too many times when my goal was to bite my tongue and remain calm. Listening to find truth in their statements required another level of humility I didn't have.

I'm always amused and impressed when I read this story about David:

Then Abishai the son of Zeruiah said to the king, “Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? Let me go over and take off his head.” But the king said, “What have I to do with you, you sons of Zeruiah? If he is cursing because the Lord has said to him, ‘Curse David,’ who then shall say, ‘Why have you done so?’” And David said to Abishai and to all his servants, “Behold, my own son seeks my life; how much more now may this Benjaminite! Leave him alone, and let him curse, for the Lord has told him to. It may be that the Lord will look on the wrong done to me, and that the Lord will repay me with good for his cursing today.” So David and his men went on the road, while Shimei went along on the hillside opposite him and cursed as he went and threw stones at him and flung dust.

2 Samuel 16:9-13

Picture King David marching with his army. A fool comes along, throwing rocks at him and cursing him. When David's soldier asks if he can chop off the guy's head, David says to leave him alone. His reasoning? David was open to the possibility this man was sent from God! So he patiently endured the cursing, just in case it really was a message from God.

To be honest, I am rarely able to listen to proud people. I typically get defensive, combative, or sarcastic. However, there have been a few times recently, when by the grace of God, I have been able to listen for truth while being disrespected. There have even been a couple times when I have thanked an unreasonable critic for showing me my sin. It's amazing how quickly humility can diffuse a tense situation. This is not to say that we should condone angry criticism. But as leaders, we need to set an example of humility and avoid the trap of becoming hypocritical. That will only add fuel to their fire.

The above comes from Francis Chan's book, Letters to the Church. I share it because it reflects my own sentiments. Sometimes people are critical of us because they are jealous of us (for whatever reasons). Maybe they are jealous of the gifts and abilities God has given us while they appear to have been left empty vessels by God. Trust me when I say that it is difficult to listen to critics, especially when they do not have a clue what in the world they are talking about. I have experienced more than my fair share of these types of people both with regard to my art work as well as my faith. Imagine someone who can only draw stick people criticizing the work of Michaelangelo or Da Vinci (and I am not comparing myself to either of these great painters, or even attempting to put myself in league with them). Criticism is much easier to receive and digest coming from someone who knows what they are talking about. Not to mention, constructive criticism is much more easier to accept than deconstructive criticism.

Let's be honest. We all struggle with an element of pride. It is part of our fallen human nature. There is nothing wrong with being proud of our accomplishments, but it needs to be a humble pride. For example, if I published a single book and then thought so highly of myself to be of Stephen King fame. That is arrogant pride. Humble pride is being proud of your accomplishment without thinking higher of yourself than you ought. I have published 20+ books and still do not feel any more special than when I published my first book. Even if I published 100 books, it would not mean a thing. I am not after quantity, but quality. The quality of my work is what I care about. With every book I published, my goal is to expose lies and errors and reveal the truth, even if it is not to most people's liking. The truth is the truth whether people like it or not.

We all desire more humility, to be able to listen to those know-nothing critics and be able to search for a nugget of truth within their ramblings that we can apply to our lives in order to make us more like Christ. Trust me, I know how difficult it can be at times. God willing, even the irrational criticisms might make us better Christians.

Are You Serious About Your Christianity?

"As Christians, we are taught by our leaders to believe certain ideas and behave in certain ways. We are also encouraged to read our Bibles. But we are conditioned to read the Bible with the lens handed to us by the Christian tradition to which we belong. We are taught to obey our denomination (or movement) and never to challenge what it teaches."

This is called blind faith or stubborn ignorance. The Calvinist church is guilty of this as much as the Catholic church, the Anglican church, the Lutheran church, the Presbyterian church, the Baptist church, the Pentecostal church, etc. Where how you were raised, what you were taught, and what you presently believe trump the evidence and truth of reality. Where you will blindly fight tooth and claw to retain and defend your concept of church and your man-made traditions rather than submitting and conforming to the New Testament Scriptures.

"Warning: If you are unwilling to have your Christianity seriously examined, do not read beyond this page. Give this book to Goodwill immediately! Spare yourself the trouble of having your Christian life turned upside down.
However, if you choose to 'take the red pill' and be shown 'how deep the rabbit hole goes' . . . if you want to learn the true story of where your Christian practices came from . . . if you are willing to have the curtain pulled back on the contemporary church and its traditional presuppositions fiercely challenged . . . then you will find this work to be disturbing, enlightening, and possibly life changing.
Put another way, if you are a Christian in the institutional church who takes the New Testament seriously, what you are about to read may lead to a crisis of conscience. For you will be confronted by unmovable historical fact."

Cowardly Christians do not want their Christianity examined, let alone their belief systems, lest at any time it prove they have believed wrongly. God forbid that in humility they should have to admit it and conform to Scripture. It is much more comfortable to tread the path well worn rather than to pull out a map and compass and see if the road is straight or not. Stubborn blindness, or blind stubbornness, chooses the path of least resistance. God forbid we should be corrected and have to adjust the course of our faith.

Serious Christians serious about their faith, and serious about Christ Jesus and their walk with Him, have no problem with taking the red pill. We want to know the truth, and we want to conform our lives to it. However, a great many in the church would rather take the blue pill and be blissfully ignorant as to truth and reality. Their walk and their faith, like their character, is shallow.

The above two quotes in blue come from the book Pagan Christianity? by Frank Viola and George Barna. This book, as well as its companion books, Reimagining Church, From Eternity to Here, and Finding Organic Church, need to be read by every serious Christian who loves God. Pagan Christianity? deconstructs, while Reimagining Church constructs. Those content to stick their head in the sand and keep it there, like the three monkeys covering their eyes, ears, and mouth, need not concern themselves with matters for the spiritually mature and faithful. Mature Christians, serious about their faith, wanting to conform to the image of Christ and to walk as His Apostles walked, welcome the challenges of these two books  because they seek after righteousness and His kingdom. Their eyes are ever on Christ and to learn His will. The cowardly, while they pay lip service to Christ, have no love for Him and do not want their Christianity or their faith challenged. They want to remain comfortable and blissfully ignorant of the truth.

"You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free."

My Writing Style...

I recently added a new paragraph to my Confession page.  I have acknowledged that I am not always the most gracious with my words. It is something I struggle with. However, a few times now I have been accused of being "abrasive," or that my writings have an "abrasive" undertone, by what I am going to assume are well-meaning Christians. I suppose it is understandable, coming from those who do not know me and have never taken the time to try and get to know me. However, their accusations are far from the truth. My writing style is intended to challenge. Many readers are not accustomed to this style of writing and therefore will misrepresent my tone. My writings are always motivated by love for Christ's church and my brothers and sisters in the faith. It is because of my love for Christ's church that I challenge many of the ridiculous and asinine opinions and traditions held by certain individuals. These individuals do not listen, and quite often will not listen, without a certain element of a firm hand. Anyone who has ever engaged in Apologetics understands this. Jesus was abrupt on many occasions, as were the Prophets and Apostles, and many other faithful believers down through the centuries. If being abrupt, or "abrasive," saves them from their man made traditions and the like, drawing them into a closer relationship with Christ, then to God be the glory. As Charles Spurgeon once said, "I am perhaps vulgar, but it is not intentional, save that I must and will make people listen. My firm conviction is that we have had enough polite preachers."

There are many in Christ's church (whichever denomination you want to look at) who transgress the Word of God and are persuaded by man-made traditions and doctrines of demons. Anyone calling themselves a Christian who would sit idly by and allow this, even in their own church, needs to examine their own heart and question the so-called "love" they advocate. Jude even teaches us to "have mercy on some" while saving others by "snatching them out of the fire." What this means, both to those inside and outside of the church, is that there are two types of people. Each should be dealt with in different ways, suitable to their respective conditions and circumstances. The idea that a Christian must always be "nice" and never "harsh" is a lie straight from the pit of Hell! Woe be to those Christians who lack the wisdom, understanding, and discernment to realize this, and who unrighteously judge and attack those of us who do.