Standing Firm

Assorted Scripture from Mark 13

In the last days, many deceivers will come in the name of Christ, even claiming to be him – and many will indeed be deceived (Mark 13:5)

In preparation for standing firm in the midst of such days – last days, (and any day after the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ is a “last day”), Christ’s disciples are called to “watch out” (Mark 13:5, 35, 37), “be on guard” (Mark 13:9, 23, 33), and “be alert” (Mark 13:33).

Jesus goes into detail about these false “Christs” by adding that these deceivers will even perform signs and miracles in an effort to mislead Christ’s followers. So our Lord tells us things ahead of time (Mark 13:23) so that we can be ready, be prepared, be on our guard.

And in these last days we will be hated because of Christ. He promises that truth in many places (Mark 13:13). In our day that hatred may come in the form of mere tolerance of our existence, or outright rebellion against our Lord’s revealed ethics of the Kingdom. It may come in a variety of forms, but for those who are faithfully following Christ, it will come.

But he who stands firm to the end will be saved (Mark 13:13). And we are able to stand firm by preparing ourselves ahead of time – being alert, on guard, watching out. Christ’s followers prepare in several ways.

First, we can’t be alert and on guard if we aren’t grounded in the truth – God’s truth. A man won’t recognize a false Christ if he doesn’t know the real one. Both a personal acquaintance with as well as a thorough knowledge about our Lord is a fundamental prerequisite for standing firm in the last days.

Second, we must be alert to our surroundings for we not only need to protect ourselves, but to truly love our neighbors we must also watch out for them. That may mean our family members, our co-workers, or literally our next-door neighbors. When false Christs and false prophets come on the scene (Mark 13:22), touting new morality, religious tolerance (by which is meant everything is equally valid) and humanistic reasoning for all areas of life, Christ’s shepherds are required to be ready and thus become militi Christi – soldiers or knights of Christ.

In the face of such spiritual attack, we certainly must cover the situation in prayer. But we mustn’t merely sit on our hands in our prayer closets. We are also called to be militant… in a manner of speaking.

For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. [4] The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. [5] We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. (2 Cor. 10:3-5)

 

We must stand up for Christ’s truth, his honor, and his glory as well as on behalf of our neighbors whom we are called to love as we love ourselves. And because we trust in the name of the Lord our God we will rise up and stand firm (Psalm 20:7-8)

Grace and Truth,
Dale

Read Full Post »

False Prophet Fiasco

Wow! This “prophet” got busted big time. Pretty interesting and another reminder for us to test the spirits to see whether or not they are from God.

from Wretched with Todd Friel…

Read Full Post »

Not All That Glitters is Gold

Not All That Glitters is Gold

Exodus 7:8-13 – The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, [9] “When Pharaoh says to you, ‘Perform a miracle,’ then say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and throw it down before Pharaoh,’ and it will become a snake.” [10] So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did just as the Lord commanded. Aaron threw his staff down in front of Pharaoh and his officials, and it became a snake. [11] Pharaoh then summoned wise men and sorcerers, and the Egyptian magicians also did the same things by their secret arts: [12] Each one threw down his staff and it became a snake. But Aaron’s staff swallowed up their staffs. [13] Yet Pharaoh’s heart became hard and he would not listen to them, just as the Lord had said.

Exodus 7:20-22 – Moses and Aaron did just as the Lord had commanded. He raised his staff in the presence of Pharaoh and his officials and struck the water of the Nile, and all the water was changed into blood. [21] The fish in the Nile died, and the river smelled so bad that the Egyptians could not drink its water. Blood was everywhere in Egypt. [22] But the Egyptian magicians did the same things by their secret arts, and Pharaoh’s heart became hard; he would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the Lord had said.

Acts 16:16-18 – Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling. [17] This girl followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.” [18] She kept this up for many days. Finally Paul became so troubled that he turned around and said to the spirit, “In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!” At that moment the spirit left her.

I have never quite understood how the magicians of Egypt could perform the same miracles as Moses and Aaron… at least a few of them. Well, we know that they weren’t exactly the same, but they fooled enough of the people enough of the time so that they were considered the same.

Let me back up. The Scene: Moses and Aaron before Pharaoh and his court. Just after Aaron threw his staff to the ground, it became a snake. That would have impressed me. But it didn’t impress Pharaoh. What did he do? He summoned his wise men and sorcerers and magicians to do the same thing. And they did. Well…sort of. Aaron’s staff ate all of their staffs. God’s little way of reminding folks who’s sovereign and who’s not.

Then there was the scene at the Nile River. It was there that Moses and Aaron turned the Nile’s water into blood. Gross. That would get my attention. Not Pharaoh. He rounded up his FX artists again and, just like before, they did the same thing as Moses and Aaron.

This isn’t confined to just the Old Testament. In the New Testament we learn of a slave girl “who had a spirit by which she predicted the future.” And like so many of the demons who recognized who Jesus really was, this slave girl’s “spirit” understood that Paul and company were “servants of the Most High God,” and were telling the people “the way to be saved.”

In one sense it was good that she (or rather, her spirit) recognized who Paul and his companions were. But at the end of the day, it was still a demonic spirit and, by definition, was up to no good. That’s why Paul cast the spirit out of the girl in the name of Jesus Christ.

Not all that glitters is gold. Not all miracles are of God. Not all spirituality is Christian spirituality. Not all visions are from God. We make a grave error indeed when we assume, undiscerningly, that signs and wonders are automatically from God. Too much in God’s Word tells us otherwise.

That’s why humility is key here. We have to have a teachable spirit. We have to obey God and his Word. Scripture alone must be our final, ultimate, and sufficient authority, not our experience and feelings. The Apostle John wrote in 1 John 4:1,

Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

This is wise counsel. And it’s the only sure way that we’ll stand firm to the end.

Grace and Truth,
Dale

Read Full Post »

Watch Out for Deceptive Words

Jeremiah 7 (selected verses) and Galatians 5 (selected verses)

As was often the case in the life of Israel, God was not happy with them. They brought it upon themselves. Israel’s history went something like this: God would first save them and then establish or reestablish a covenant with them. In response, Israel would repent, and then, after the good times were rolling, Israel would commit spiritual adultery (i.e., run off after foreign lovers). Predictably, after her disobedience (and the subsequent punishment for said disobedience), Israel would routinely cry out to God, be mercifully heard by him, and the whole process would start all over again.

It is Israel’s response to idolatrous and adulterous false teaching that our texts deal with today. The Lord, through Jeremiah, tells his people that if they are going to be allowed to continue to live in peace, then they are going to have to reform their ways and their actions (v. 3).

Verses 5-7 serve as a warning against wrong behavior and an encouragement for right behavior.

If you really change your ways and your actions and deal with each other justly, [6] if you do not oppress the alien, the fatherless or the widow and do not shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not follow other gods to your own harm, [7] then I will let you live in this place, in the land I gave your forefathers for ever and ever.

 So why would God’s people act disobediently? Verse 8 gives us a clue: They were trusting in deceptive words that were worthless.

Again, God says to them in verse 23,

…Obey me, and I will be your God and you will be my people. Walk in all the ways I command you, that it may go well with you.

 God wanted so much to bless them, but he wasn’t kidding about what would happen if they didn’t obey him. However, they must have thought he was, for we read these sobering words in verse 24,

But they did not listen or pay attention; instead, they followed the stubborn inclinations of their evil hearts. They went backward and not forward.

God’s people were stubbornly committed to their sin… and for that sin we discover God’s indictment about them. Verse 28 tells us that truth had perished…that it had vanished from their lips.

Because they were no longer trusting in God’s Word, but trusting in the deceptive words of false teachers instead, they were soon to experience the wrath of God.

There’s a similar story in the New Testament. The Apostle Paul was bewildered with the Galatian Church. They had heard and responded to the pure Word of God as Paul had preached it. But, like God’s people in an earlier generation, many of the Galatians began trusting in deceptive words. They were being enticed to mix the finished work of Christ with their own works as a means of salvation. Paul was dumbfounded at such a move. We read in verses 7 and 8…

You were running a good race. Who cut in on you and kept you from obeying the truth? [8] That kind of persuasion does not come from the one who calls you.

 God, through Paul, was warning them (and us) that such deceptive words were (are) like a little yeast, which works through a whole batch of dough (v. 9). It infects it like a disease. In the Bible, yeast often symbolizes evil or a false teaching.

When people begin to listen to deceptive words rather than the Word of God, trouble is sure to follow. Satan, the father of deceptive words, is not stupid. He will show us the worm, but not the hook. He will never show us the consequences that must follow his deceptive words. Instead, his words will always appear quite enticing, beautiful, practical, and relevant.

That is why everything must be tested against God’s Word – the Word properly understood. Even the best of intentions can be marred by deception. The church must constantly be on her guard against such yeast that seeks to contaminate her whole body. Whether it is what is preached from the pulpit, what is taught in a Bible study, the administration of a committee, or what programs are being implemented for evangelism, service or mercy, the church must always make sure she is taking her cues from God’s Word.

This may seem like a no-brainer, but today’s texts reveal that the church has not always gotten this right. In fact, the history of the church shows us over and over again what a little yeast can do. Even a cursory glance at the contemporary church scene shows plenty of evidence of the very idolatry and adultery that Jeremiah and Paul warned against.

So stand firm against all deceptive words. Cling to God and his Word as the only sure light by which to navigate through the world, the flesh and the devil. Only with and through God’s Word may we know the one true God and his Son, Jesus Christ, whom he sent. That alone is eternal life (John 17:3).

Grace and Truth,
Dale

Read Full Post »

Ignorance Is Not Bliss

Ignorance Is Not Bliss
Romans 10:1-2

 ¹ Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved. ² For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. (Romans 10:1-2)

“Perverted notions about God soon rot the religion in which they appear. The long career of Israel demonstrates this clearly enough, and the history of the Church confirms it. So necessary to the Church is a lofty concept of God that when that concept in any measure declines, the Church with her worship and her moral standards declines along with it. The first step down for any church is taken when it surrenders its high opinion of God.” (A.W. Tozer, Knowledge of the Holy)

God really does seem to care that we know him (John 17:3)… and know him rightly. Any old expression of religion won’t do and, in fact, can often lead to a dangerous idolatry.

The Apostle Paul, passionately concerned for the salvation of the Israelites, admitted that they had a zeal – perhaps even an enviable zeal – for God. Yet, he was quick to follow that admission with the sober truth that their zeal for God was not according to knowledge. They were wrong in their understanding of how to obtain righteousness.

It seems that in our day we give points to folks for nothing more than the appearance of external and emotional enthusiasm. Maybe they are very exuberant as they worship God. Perhaps there’s lots of “God-talk” liberally sprinkled throughout their conversations. It may just be that they are quite active in service to their church. These are all good things, or at least should be good things.

What these folks have to watch out for, (and all the rest of us, for that matter), is that we not have a zeal that is not according to knowledge. Now, I’m not saying that we have to pass a doctoral examination in theology before we go to heaven. What I am saying is that a shabby doctrinal or theological foundation can lead one astray. It can cause a well-intentioned person to unwittingly compromise his or her faith and drift to and fro with every new “Christian” book, television program, or religious movement.

In Exodus 34:6-7, God paints a beautiful picture of some of his attributes. He wants Moses and the rest of his children to know and worship him rightly. He follows up in verse 14 by saying, “Do not worship any other god, for the Lord whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.” It’s not a coincidence that the first three commandments focus on this very issue.

It’s frightening how easily we can wander off the straight and narrow path. God provides a warning of this very thing in verse 16 when he tells Moses to caution the people about choosing the wrong spouse… one who doesn’t know and worship the one true God. He says that sort of choice will lead God’s people away from God and into idolatry.

Ignorance isn’t bliss. More is needed than zeal and good intentions when it comes to our relationship with God. It is certainly true that knowledge alone can “puff up” the young and immature in the faith. But that’s not the fault of the knowledge. That’s more of a commentary regarding where a person is in their faith-journey. I don’t believe the solution to this potential problem is to ignore our call to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ (2 Peter 3:18). Instead, we ought to seek such knowledge humbly, carefully, and in full dependence on the grace of God. Likewise, the purpose of our pursuit of knowing God should be for God’s glory and the good of others. Psalm 43:34a says,

³ Send forth your light and your truth, let them guide me; let them bring me to your holy mountain, to the place where you dwell. ⁴ Then will I go to the altar of God, to God, my joy and my delight.

A mentor of mine used to say that the better we know God, the more we will be able to love, follow, and trust God. It’s awfully difficult to love, follow, and trust someone you don’t know. It’s also hard to love and follow God if you don’t have a growing and maturing knowledge of God… regarding what God has revealed about himself as well as how to live for him in this world.

Almighty God, give me great and increasing passion and zeal for you. Yet please let it be grounded in who you truly are. Help me to continue all the days of my life to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, that I might love you as I ought. In Christ I pray. Amen.

Grace and Truth,
Dale

Read Full Post »

Prayer for this Lord’s Day (Discernment)

Almighty God, who in a world of change hast placed eternity in our hearts and hast given us power to discern good from evil: Grant us sincerity that we may persistently seek the things that endure, refusing those which perish, and that, amid things vanishing and deceptive, we may see the truth steadily, follow the light faithfully, and grow ever richer in that love which is the life of men; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Taken from The Book of Worship for Church and Home of The Methodist Church, 1965

Read Full Post »

Do You Believe in Ghosts?

I’ve actually had a number of folks throughout my years of ministry ask me about this. For all the folks who like watching the latest programs about “local haunts,” here’s some food for thought…

Read Full Post »