Many are led astray …
By unexamined presumptions.
Category: Simple Truth
Jesus said that all Scripture points to Him.
Which simply means that all Scripture bears witness to Christ’s authenticity …
Just as Christ bore witness to the authenticity of Scripture.
He did NOT mean, as some now imply, that we can project a false “Jesus” of our own imagination back onto Scripture …
To somehow then supersede whatever we don’t like in Scripture.
Don’t be deceived by those who twist Scripture to elevate themselves and their agendas over Scripture …
Through a Jesus of their own creation.
The many years of repeated failures by the existential fringe of the simple, “organic” church movement – with authors like Felicity Dale, Frank Viola, Milt Rodriguez, Jon Zens, Keith Giles and their buddies – stand as an object lesson moving forward:
Without the plenary authority of Scripture, simple participatory churches don’t succeed.
Although they are now fading away, in their day these fringe authors dismissed the plenary authority and discipline of Scripture – and in some cases even denied that the Bible is God’s written word – to peddle a Jesus of their own perception.
They then used the legitimate yearnings of others for simple, participatory house churches to promote their disastrous, extraneous agendas …
Eventually derailing the hopes and aspirations of many.
Their false Christ – who was little more than a projection of their own “deeper life” angst, post-modern sensibilities and trans-Biblical ideologies – inevitably led to dysfunctional, insular and anemic “communities.”
Continue readingGod created us to have common sense.
Although “faith,” at times, transcends common sense, if it leads to a persistent lack of common sense …
It’s not from God.
And that, my friend, is simply common sense.
Authentic faith speaks truth to power.
Which is why disciples with the right to vote and impact legislation …
Take it seriously.
Just good enough …
Seldom is.
Real prophets pay the price for truth …
Rather than expect you to pay them for it.
“Progressive,” “Red Letter,” “Emergent,” “Insurgence” and “Deeper Life” – oh my!
Such post-modern, existential “Christians” know not Christ.
Instead of submitting their perceptions and sensibilities about Christ to all of Scripture …
They submit all of Scripture to their own perceptions and sensibilities about Christ.
In contrast, real disciples have a vibrant relationship with the Living Word …
In submission to the authority and discipline of His written Word.
Don’t settle for anything less.
Some proclaim that “Christ is All” in an attempt to deny all of Christ.
Typically, they reject the plenary authority of Scripture as His written word …
By claiming that their personal revelation of “Christ” supersedes all of the commands, precepts, propositional truths, narratives and moral imperatives He chose to reveal there.
As a result, they are left with a false “Christ” of their own creation.
The only thing their false Jesus really is all about is them …
And their own subjective follies and sensibilities.
Be discerning …
Deceptive cults love to use pithy but misleading slogans to promote unspoken premises and hidden agendas.
Unless compassion is combined with steely-eyed realism, I trust neither.
God never intended for either of those gifts to work in isolation.
The question “Christian” existentalists avoid at all costs and never want to answer:
If “all Scripture is God breathed” (2 Tim. 3:16), then what part of it isn’t His authoritative Word?
Those who habitually are unable to start, sustain or successfully be part of a simple, participatory church in their own lives, home towns or anywhere else …
Often promote the published “organic church” writings of Frank Viola, Milt Rodriquez, Jon Zens and their buddies.
This is hardly surprising, because those authors and seminar speakers habitually haven’t been able to either.
Be discerning, because without authenticity …
Simple church simply doesn’t work.
Church traditions and cultural presumptions read back into Scripture …
Often become more sacred than Scripture itself.
The typical American Christian blindly accepts what is labeled “church,” rather than studying what the New Testament actually says …
Leading to stagnation and deception on a grand scale.
When governments usurp God’s sovereignty and delegated responsibilities …
There is no liberty.
It may seem trite, but it’s true:
Moving forward only happens …
One step at a time.
Jesus 2.0:
He came as a lamb …
Will return as a lion.
My dad often said a prepared person is better than a prepared message.
People these days are sick of those who talk the talk but don’t walk the walk …
Often from raised podiums above us.
So make a difference – try getting down off your pedestal and being a prepared man or woman instead …
Because there is no better “sermon”.
You just might be a Pharisee …
If you feel compelled to call everyone who disagrees with you a Pharisee.
Jesus: He’s more than a feeling.
The same Jesus who tells His disciples to individually love those who persecute us, return good for evil, turn the other cheek and forgive …
Also says, through Romans 13:3-7, that government officials bear the sword as “God’s ministers” to stop evildoers, protect the innocent and insure our common good.
It’s really not that complicated:
Let’s obey all that Christ says by sacrificially loving evildoers who harm us …
While also loving others enough to insist that government stop those same evildoers from harming anyone else.
Sometimes words are not enough.
“Christian” authors, bloggers, influencers and “leaders” who dismiss Christ’s plenary authority of Scripture …
Set themselves up – through a Jesus of their own perception – as the ultimate standard.
It’s a post-modern form of narcissism …
Leading to spiritual abuse and deception.
Don’t give up!
Demolition often precedes renovation.
Don’t confuse love with nice …
Because sometimes nice is not enough.
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