The church, the bride of Christ, is a body full of sin.
We get mad at each other, jealous, frustrated----
We have dirty laundry.
We are usually hypocrites, something we're often accused of, and it most certainly is true a lot of the time.
Let's face it: we have issues.
And we're forgiven!
We've been given a real gift the last 10 years in having a world-wide connection through different social media venues to observe the church on a grand scale across the entire globe.
I have found friends on every continent! (Okay, not Antarctica) I'm thrilled to connect with like-minded believers everywhere, and believe me, I've found many, many wonderful people. I look forward to meeting them in person ----in the near future.
I have also found that there are those I have known personally for awhile whom I cannot relate to on a spiritual level---we simply have traveled different paths, and that concerns me. I want EVERY person I know to be in kinship spiritually! Is that unreasonable?
I know Jesus wants it too. He desires that none perish, but He grieves that many perish for lack of knowledge.
Hmm. We need to do our part in getting the word out.
There is a great deal of deception and false teaching out there these days. The Bible predicted it, and we see it.
There is so much of it that people that WERE seemingly rock-solid in their faith are showing signs of spiritual demise!
The deception has gotten to them.
There is this old adage that says we'll be surprised who IS in Heaven and who ISN'T.
I hate to think of that, but the Bible tells us to "work out our salvation with fear and trembling."
Clearly we can do no works to become saved in Christ Jesus, but there is a definite admonition to understand what it means to be saved.
We are saved by grace. Not works. That's Paul speaking. Jesus's death on the cross was sufficient.
There is this insidious snake of belief that the Bible is not God's inspired Word. There's a snake of hyper criticism that has pervaded most "Christian" colleges and seminaries. This undermining of spiritual authority has lent to complete estrangement from truth in most cases. People start relying on their own interpretations of morality and manufacture their own "truth."
We all have different experiences, and that is the beauty of God's multi-faceted creation, yet there IS Truth, and that is God's truth.
Arthur Holmes wrote a book called "All Truth is God's Truth."
Yes, truth belongs to God, and deception to the devil.
We are in an age of deception, privy to the attacks of the father of lies.
We are not above being deceived----not one of us. When we start to believe our own minds and manufacture things about God that are not in Scripture we've started down the path to deception and false teaching.
It's happened so many times in history it's almost pitiful.
You stray from the Bible, you end up in hell.
On my heart today I think of those that have succumbed to "cheap grace." I think of those that lean heavily toward any particular denomination's teaching, (not Scripture) or emphasize a teaching that even counters what is written in the Word.
I think of those that are in bondage to spirits that have masqueraded as light. People are taken in by the power and refuse to test or try the entity.
I think of those who refuse to see Israel as God's chosen people, a teaching that pervades Scripture, Genesis to Revelation.
I think of those who insist on seeing God's description of creation as metaphorical, unscientific, and only explained through modern philosophies.
I think of those who think everyone is going to be saved, or perhaps annihilated for eternity.
I think of those who don't believe that the mark of the Beast has any significance, that it is just a number and we needn't be concerned about it.
I think of those who think sexual perversion or fornication has little or no impact on one's being.
I think of those that are living in sin, completely in bondage, depressed, suicidal, broken, and believing that God cannot have the power to save them.
I think of those that cannot bear the truth of who God really is, and insist on creating Him in their own image, a god that is everything they like or want.
I think of those who are enslaved to a personality or preacher, a teacher they are enamored with, that they must follow. Perhaps that teacher/preacher is godly! Still adhering to a human being and his or her teaching is a devilish deception from knowing Christ.
I think of those who insist on maligning anyone who doesn't have the same experiences with God, even though there is nothing in Scripture to suggest that certain experiences sanctioned in Scripture are not necessary to salvation. God has made the gateway to salvation fairly simple, it's the Christ-like life that follows that is the mark of a true believer.
I think of those who criticize endlessly those who believe in the Rapture (Harpazo) of the church. It gets wearisome and old to listen to such hopelessness. Denying this Scriptural teaching (or explaining it away from its plain textual meaning) is fruitless to true believers. Scripture is plain. There is a catching away of believers.
I think of those who deny Christ's work in places where becoming a believer is lethal. The Lord is working supernaturally in places like that. People who don't have the written Word of God are still becoming believers through supernatural occurrence.
God is not limited, but He DOES define Himself in His word.
Accept Him as HE is.
It goes against the sinful human nature, but it really marks the true believer from the pretender, or the one taken in by deception or false teaching.
We live in an age of deception. False teachers abound. How are you going navigate these dangerous spiritual waters?
Read your Bible. It is God's word. It's really all you have.
The Holy Spirit will confirm His word in your hearts and you will have fellowship with true believers all over the world.
Jesus is coming soon, and all these discrepancies will vanish. We will see Him as He is, and there will be no more doubt, no more pain, no more deception!
We will know Him, as He knows us.
Walk in faith. Walk in Christ.
Be filled with the Spirit of Truth!
Obey Christ's commands, and test the spirits. Obey Christ, seek His teachings! Seek to know what He commands, and OBEY HIM!
We get mad at each other, jealous, frustrated----
We have dirty laundry.
We are usually hypocrites, something we're often accused of, and it most certainly is true a lot of the time.
Let's face it: we have issues.
And we're forgiven!
We've been given a real gift the last 10 years in having a world-wide connection through different social media venues to observe the church on a grand scale across the entire globe.
I have found friends on every continent! (Okay, not Antarctica) I'm thrilled to connect with like-minded believers everywhere, and believe me, I've found many, many wonderful people. I look forward to meeting them in person ----in the near future.
I have also found that there are those I have known personally for awhile whom I cannot relate to on a spiritual level---we simply have traveled different paths, and that concerns me. I want EVERY person I know to be in kinship spiritually! Is that unreasonable?
I know Jesus wants it too. He desires that none perish, but He grieves that many perish for lack of knowledge.
Hmm. We need to do our part in getting the word out.
There is a great deal of deception and false teaching out there these days. The Bible predicted it, and we see it.
There is so much of it that people that WERE seemingly rock-solid in their faith are showing signs of spiritual demise!
The deception has gotten to them.
There is this old adage that says we'll be surprised who IS in Heaven and who ISN'T.
I hate to think of that, but the Bible tells us to "work out our salvation with fear and trembling."
Clearly we can do no works to become saved in Christ Jesus, but there is a definite admonition to understand what it means to be saved.
We are saved by grace. Not works. That's Paul speaking. Jesus's death on the cross was sufficient.
There is this insidious snake of belief that the Bible is not God's inspired Word. There's a snake of hyper criticism that has pervaded most "Christian" colleges and seminaries. This undermining of spiritual authority has lent to complete estrangement from truth in most cases. People start relying on their own interpretations of morality and manufacture their own "truth."
We all have different experiences, and that is the beauty of God's multi-faceted creation, yet there IS Truth, and that is God's truth.
Arthur Holmes wrote a book called "All Truth is God's Truth."
Yes, truth belongs to God, and deception to the devil.
We are in an age of deception, privy to the attacks of the father of lies.
We are not above being deceived----not one of us. When we start to believe our own minds and manufacture things about God that are not in Scripture we've started down the path to deception and false teaching.
It's happened so many times in history it's almost pitiful.
You stray from the Bible, you end up in hell.
On my heart today I think of those that have succumbed to "cheap grace." I think of those that lean heavily toward any particular denomination's teaching, (not Scripture) or emphasize a teaching that even counters what is written in the Word.
I think of those that are in bondage to spirits that have masqueraded as light. People are taken in by the power and refuse to test or try the entity.
I think of those who refuse to see Israel as God's chosen people, a teaching that pervades Scripture, Genesis to Revelation.
I think of those who insist on seeing God's description of creation as metaphorical, unscientific, and only explained through modern philosophies.
I think of those who think everyone is going to be saved, or perhaps annihilated for eternity.
I think of those who don't believe that the mark of the Beast has any significance, that it is just a number and we needn't be concerned about it.
I think of those who think sexual perversion or fornication has little or no impact on one's being.
I think of those that are living in sin, completely in bondage, depressed, suicidal, broken, and believing that God cannot have the power to save them.
I think of those that cannot bear the truth of who God really is, and insist on creating Him in their own image, a god that is everything they like or want.
I think of those who are enslaved to a personality or preacher, a teacher they are enamored with, that they must follow. Perhaps that teacher/preacher is godly! Still adhering to a human being and his or her teaching is a devilish deception from knowing Christ.
I think of those who insist on maligning anyone who doesn't have the same experiences with God, even though there is nothing in Scripture to suggest that certain experiences sanctioned in Scripture are not necessary to salvation. God has made the gateway to salvation fairly simple, it's the Christ-like life that follows that is the mark of a true believer.
I think of those who criticize endlessly those who believe in the Rapture (Harpazo) of the church. It gets wearisome and old to listen to such hopelessness. Denying this Scriptural teaching (or explaining it away from its plain textual meaning) is fruitless to true believers. Scripture is plain. There is a catching away of believers.
I think of those who deny Christ's work in places where becoming a believer is lethal. The Lord is working supernaturally in places like that. People who don't have the written Word of God are still becoming believers through supernatural occurrence.
God is not limited, but He DOES define Himself in His word.
Accept Him as HE is.
It goes against the sinful human nature, but it really marks the true believer from the pretender, or the one taken in by deception or false teaching.
We live in an age of deception. False teachers abound. How are you going navigate these dangerous spiritual waters?
Read your Bible. It is God's word. It's really all you have.
The Holy Spirit will confirm His word in your hearts and you will have fellowship with true believers all over the world.
Jesus is coming soon, and all these discrepancies will vanish. We will see Him as He is, and there will be no more doubt, no more pain, no more deception!
We will know Him, as He knows us.
Walk in faith. Walk in Christ.
Be filled with the Spirit of Truth!
Obey Christ's commands, and test the spirits. Obey Christ, seek His teachings! Seek to know what He commands, and OBEY HIM!
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