Church Multi-Level Marketing??

While Paul is one of my favorite New Testament writers, it troubles me the focus some are putting on his writings to the point that they say other NT writers weren't preaching the "Pure Gospel of Grace as Paul did" and therefore they invalidate other NT writings as acceptable and credible scripture.... Oh my, what a dangerous realm of error to be in, to become so full of pride that you think you have the authority to say what counts and doesn't count as scripture and that you have the right to throw out 1,2,&3 John, 1&2 Peter, James, Jude... because they weren't written by Paul?!?!?!? What errant thinking! ... I am bothered by how quickly, swiftly, and easily people are being caught up in this "new move", thinking it is the latest, greatest from God when really it is absolute error an unscriptural!!!! Anything that promises effortless living and abundant prosperity with no investment in other areas of Christian living(in accordance with the Bible) is nothing more than a multi-level marketing scheme within the church world!

The Word MUST be Our FINAL Authority!

There is such danger in using someone's paraphrase of the scriptures as a legitimate translation, upon which to build sound doctrine. We must keep in mind that some paraphrases can offer some insight into some passages, however they MUST NOT be used for building doctrine! I have recently read some paraphrases and thought to myself, "I don't remember that being in that passage..." after some simple greek studies of the original text, there's a reason I don't remember that passage saying that... it is because the author of the paraphrase twisted the scriptures to fit his pet doctrine and beliefs, so that others adhering to like beliefs could have "just cause" to believe that way and have their Bible "translation" that supports such errant teaching.

My, my, my... what dangerous ground to be walking on! I am by no means a Bible scholar, but I have been a student of the Word my whole life (nearly 26 years) and know a little bit about searching things out and studying them against the scriptures. I am seeing so many people, peers and others I have looked up to, falling into errant teaching and clinging to their pet doctrine... they become argumentative and vicious in their defense of their new-found doctrine.... it is very saddening and I just pray for the wool to be removed from their eyes! We must be guarded more than ever before with what we open our selves up to and ever ready to study what is taught to us in the Word. The Word must always be our FINAL authority, not minister so-and-so, not this person's newest/latest/greatest "translation"/paraphrase of the scripture, or what our best-friend says.... but the WORD!!!!


Study the Word,
JRT

What Type of Vessel are You?

God doesn't seek for golden vessels, and does not ask for silver ones, but He must have clean ones. ~ Dwight L. Moody 

What type of vessel are you?? Are you a clean vessel or a vessel that was once cleaned but has set off to the side gathering dust and specks of dirt? Seek to put the Word into action, let the Word be ever present in your thoughts and deeds! When you stay in the Word, it will show! Quit looking for loopholes to live an "effortless" life of excusing yourself from doing righteous works and start living a life of that exudes righteousness!!!!

My thoughts on: Being overtaken and captivated by radical grace or radical righteousness.

I hear so many people saying that they're praying for this person or that person or for me to be overtaken and captivated by radical grace or radical righteousness, to be captivated by grace in its most extreme form..... I have a problem with such statements.
I just don't see, after 25 years of growing in the knowledge of the word, where such statements have biblical foundation.... Yes, we are to grow in grace, but we are also to increase in faith, love extravagantly, study the word diligently to prove ourselves unashamed workmen, to labour together with Christ, to preach the Gospel, lay hands on the sick, preach deliverance to the captives, disciple believers to help them grow up spiritually, and much more! There's much more to successful christian living than simply the traditional view of grace (God's unmerited favor) that is being forced as the ONLY view or definition of Grace.

I've listened to the most popular of the grace teachers, and everytime I come away with an unsettled feeling, that something just wasn't "right" and wasn't biblically sound. We've got to get past these "faddy" messages and quit building our ministries on only that one topic from the Bible! Where that's the only teaching we listen to, teach/preach on, and where we think everything else is useless in light of our pet doctrine.

I may upset some people with this, but I am very concerned with this unbalanced teaching and the error that is being propagated by my peers, by leaders, and many in the church who are just caught up in a whirlwind of "Grace" .... I am thankful for grace, there is much study to be done on that portion of scripture, as it is a deep and broad topic which I have devoted a lot of study to particularity in the past 5 years, but so many are focusing on a small portion of the topic of grace and teaching it as the whole gospel.... Oh how small-minded we are when we limit the gospel to merely that! There's much more to New Testament living!

Don't put God in a box because that's the only part of the gospel you want to teach, be open to the WHOLE entirety of the scriptures and what God has for us in the new Covenant, don't let Satan cripple you with getting you off track! ..... Study the WORD!

JRT

The Whole World is Righteous ... Or is it?

It has really been bothering me lately, how easy it is for so many to throw out scripture that contradicts their doctrine, based on personal opinions.
I have heard so many report of people who are teaching universalism, but under the "Grace" umbrella. Teaching that the whole world is already saved and everyone is already righteous, but some haven't fully realized it yet and so their fruits are the result of condemnation. Some are teaching that being "born again" is not a biblical term and is simply something fabricated to put people under the Law. Such teaching is so far out of the bounds of sound bible doctrine that it isn't even funny, it is sad to be honest. It is sad that many promoting this have been in church, been to bible school, and heard teachings from some excellent bible scholars from the Word and STILL believe in their doctrine so much that they want to seek out arguments and debates with those who don't see things the way they do.

I've really been thinking along these lines and I really been taking personal time to study things out, to see exactly what the Word says with my eyes. In regards to "everyone already being saved" that is simply inaccurate scripturally. The truth is that God has PROVIDED salvation to all mankind through His son Jesus, but they have to BELIEVE to receive that gift. It is like if someone gave you this beautifully wrapped box and inside was, oh a check for a million dollars. The gift is yours if you'll receive it, but the million dollars isn't in your possession for you to access and apply to your financial life until you actually unwrap the gift and access it. The same is true with salvation, it is provided freely, it is waiting for you to unwrap it and access it and apply it to your life... But you have to review an unwrap it first! Believing in our heart and confessing with our mouth that jesus Christ is Lord is our way of unwrapping the beautiful gift of salvation!

"If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by confessing with your mouth that you are saved." (Romans 10:9, 10 NLT)

In that scripture the greek word for "right" in verse 10 is dikaiosynē which is the same as righteous, so by believing in your heart that He was raised from the dead is when you access righteousness! Righteousness was provided to all when Christ rose from the dead, but not all mankind was made righteous in that moment, it provided and made righteousness available, but we have to reach out and accept it! In reality, if you take this universalist teaching to the extreme, you are teaching that there is no hell, there are no consequences for any sins committed pre- or post-salvation, and really there's no point or purpose for evangelizing or doing missions work around the world.... If you are going to teach that you've got to be willing to follow that argument to the end, and if that is so, then the Muslims and Buddhists are just as righteous and in as much right/standing with God as You and I are right now. Funny, but if that is so how do you explain some verses a little further down in that same chapter of Romans?

"For everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord [invoking Him as Lord] will be saved. But how are people to call upon Him Whom they have not believed [in Whom they have no faith, on Whom they have no reliance]? And how are they to believe in Him [adhere to, trust in, and rely upon Him] of Whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without a preacher? And how can men [be expected to] preach unless they are sent? As it is written, How beautiful are the feet of those who bring glad tidings! [How welcome is the coming of those who preach the good news of His good things!] But they have not all heeded the Gospel; for Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed (had faith in) what he has heard from us? So faith comes by hearing [what is told], and what is heard comes by the preaching [of the message that came from the lips] of Christ (the Messiah Himself)." (Romans 10:13-17 AMP)

Obviously, those in darkness have to BELIEVE and they have to have faith in what Jesus provided through His death, burial, and resurrection in order to access the gift of salvation and walk in right-standing with God.

"Dear friends, if we deliberately continue sinning after we have received knowledge of the truth, there is no longer any sacrifice that will cover these sins. There is only the terrible expectation of God’s judgment and the raging fire that will consume his enemies. For anyone who refused to obey the law of Moses was put to death without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. Just think how much worse the punishment will be for those who have trampled on the Son of God, and have treated the blood of the covenant, which made us holy, as if it were common and unholy, and have insulted and disdained the Holy Spirit who brings God’s mercy to us." (Hebrews 10:26-29 NLT)
"For if we go on deliberately and willingly sinning after once acquiring the knowledge of the Truth, there is no longer any sacrifice left to atone for [our] sins [no further offering to which to look forward]. [There is nothing left for us then] but a kind of awful and fearful prospect and expectation of divine judgment and the fury of burning wrath and indignation which will consume those who put themselves in opposition [to God]. Any person who has violated and [thus] rejected and set at naught the Law of Moses is put to death without pity or mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. How much worse (sterner and heavier) punishment do you suppose he will be judged to deserve who has spurned and [thus] trampled underfoot the Son of God, and who has considered the covenant blood by which he was consecrated common and unhallowed, thus profaning it and insulting and outraging the [Holy] Spirit [Who imparts] grace (the unmerited favor and blessing of God)?" (Hebrews 10:26-29 AMP)

Then those teaching that "born again" isn't a biblical principle are outside the bounds of true bible-based doctrine. In John Chapter 3, Jesus spoke prophetically to Nicodemus about the way to salvation. He wasn't speaking to Nicodemus "under the law", as Many love to proclaim when the words of Christ contradict their doctrine of "extreme grace", He was speaking to him prophetically that the Son of Man (Jesus, the Messiah) WOULD BE (future tense) lifted up like the bronze serpent was by Moses for salvation (an old testament type and shadow of the cross). In John 3, Jesus tells Nicodemus that you must be BORN AGAIN, that is not and was not an Old Covenant belief, you couldn't be born again under the Old Covenant, but it was something tht was to come, an now in our time has come. The passage states it very plainly....

"Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.”
“What do you mean?” exclaimed Nicodemus. “How can an old man go back into his mother’s womb and be born again?”
Jesus replied, “I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life. So don’t be surprised when I say, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows wherever it wants. Just as you can hear the wind but can’t tell where it comes from or where it is going, so you can’t explain how people are born of the Spirit.”
“How are these things possible?” Nicodemus asked.
Jesus replied, “You are a respected Jewish teacher, and yet you don’t understand these things? I assure you, we tell you what we know and have seen, and yet you won’t believe our testimony. But if you don’t believe me when I tell you about earthly things, how can you possibly believe if I tell you about heavenly things? No one has ever gone to heaven and returned. But the Son of Man has come down from heaven. And as Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him will have eternal life.
“For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.
“There is no judgment against anyone who believes in him. But anyone who does not believe in him has already been judged for not believing in God’s one and only Son. And the judgment is based on this fact: God’s light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil. All who do evil hate the light and refuse to go near it for fear their sins will be exposed. But those who do what is right come to the light so others can see that they are doing what God wants.” (John 3:3-21 NLT)

So, from the scriptures I have listed and studied, it is pretty clear that hole salvation has been PROVIDED to all mankind, it is not automatically on all mankind. It is something that is freely provided, but must be accessed by faith! And We an see that being "born again" is a biblical principle, taught in the new testament! I am so saddened by the absolute rejection of truth under the guise of "newer, better revelation" ... When the Holy Spirit reveals things to us from the Word and brings revelation and understanding, it will ALWAYS line up fully with the full counsel of the scriptures, if it doesn't it is not a heavenly revelation, but a mere doctrine of devils, full of falsities to knock into error. If you have people in your life who are blinded by such untruth, pray for them. Because in many cases that's all you can do if you are going to maintain your love walk. Pray for them (the Ephesians prayer is a great one to start with) and when given the opportunity to speak into their life, speak the truth in LOVE, don't be rude or argumentative about it, speak it in love.

"Yet we know that a person is made right with God by faith in Jesus Christ, not by obeying the law. And we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we might be made right with God because of our faith in Christ, not because we have obeyed the law. For no one will ever be made right with God by obeying the law.” (Galatians 2:16 NLT)

"Well then, if we emphasize faith, does this mean that we can forget about the law? Of course not! In fact, only when we have faith do we truly fulfill the law." (Romans 3:31 NLT)

Til Next Time,

JRT

Romans Chapter 2 in the Amplified Bible

THEREFORE YOU have no excuse or defense or justification, O man, whoever you are who judges and condemns another. For in posing as judge and passing sentence on another, you condemn yourself, because you who judge are habitually practicing the very same things [that you censure and denounce]. [But] we know that the judgment (adverse verdict, sentence) of God falls justly and in accordance with truth upon those who practice such things. And do you think or imagine, O man, when you judge and condemn those who practice such things and yet do them yourself, that you will escape God’s judgment and elude His sentence and adverse verdict? Or are you [so blind as to] trifle with and presume upon and despise and underestimate the wealth of His kindness and forbearance and long-suffering patience? Are you unmindful or actually ignorant [of the fact] that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repent (to change your mind and inner man to accept God’s will)? But by your callous stubbornness and impenitence of heart you are storing up wrath and indignation for yourself on the day of wrath and indignation, when God’s righteous judgment (just doom) will be revealed. For He will render to every man according to his works [justly, as his deeds deserve]: To those who by patient persistence in well-doing [springing from piety] seek [unseen but sure] glory and honor and [the eternal blessedness of] immortality, He will give eternal life. But for those who are self-seeking and self-willed and disobedient to the Truth but responsive to wickedness, there will be indignation and wrath. [And] there will be tribulation and anguish and calamity and constraint for every soul of man who [habitually] does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek (Gentile). But glory and honor and [heart] peace shall be awarded to
everyone who [habitually] does good, the Jew first and also the Greek (Gentile). For God shows no partiality [undue favor or unfairness; with Him one man is not different from another]. All who have sinned without the Law will also perish without [regard to] the Law, and all who have sinned under the Law will be judged and condemned by the Law. For it is not merely hearing the Law [read] that makes one righteous before God, but it is the doers of the Law who will be held guiltless and acquitted and justified. When Gentiles who have not the [divine] Law do instinctively what the Law requires, they are a law to themselves, since they do not have the Law. They show that the essential requirements of the Law are written in their hearts and are operating there, with which their consciences (sense of right and wrong) also bear witness; and their [moral] decisions (their arguments of reason, their condemning or approving thoughts) will accuse or perhaps defend and excuse [them] On that day when, as my Gospel proclaims, God by Jesus Christ will judge men in regard to the things which they conceal (their hidden thoughts). But if you bear the name of Jew and rely upon the Law and pride yourselves in God and your relationship to Him, And know and understand His will and discerningly approve the better things and have a sense of what is vital, because you are instructed by the Law; And if you are confident that you [yourself] are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, and [that You are] a corrector of the foolish, a teacher of the childish, having in the Law the embodiment of knowledge and truth-- Well then, you who teach others, do you not teach yourself?
While you teach against stealing, do you steal (take what does not really belong to you)? You who say not to commit adultery, do you commit adultery [are you unchaste in action or in thought]? You who abhor and loathe idols, do you rob temples [do you appropriate to your own use what is consecrated to God, thus robbing the sanctuary and doing sacrilege]? You who boast in the Law, do you dishonor God by breaking the Law [by stealthily infringing upon or carelessly neglecting or openly breaking it]? For, as it is written, The name of God is maligned and blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you! [The words to this effect are from your own Scriptures.] Circumcision does indeed profit if you keep the Law; but if you habitually transgress the Law, your circumcision is made uncircumcision. So if a man who is uncircumcised keeps the requirements of the Law, will not his uncircumcision be credited to him as [equivalent to] circumcision? Then those who are physically uncircumcised but keep the Law will condemn you who, although you have the code in writing and have circumcision, break the Law. For he is not a [real] Jew who is only one outwardly and publicly, nor is [true] circumcision something external and physical. But he is a Jew who is one inwardly, and [true] circumcision is of the heart, a spiritual and not a literal [matter]. His praise is not from men but from God.

(Romans 2:1-29 AMP)

God's Number One Interest