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

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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…

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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

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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

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Are you ready for the end of the world tomorrow?

No doubt you’ve read or heard something about the supposed end of the world tomorrow. I’ve posted on facebook a couple of articles that I thought were good responses to this prediction. I decided it might be helpful to equip you with a “one stop shopping resource post” where you could find some good tools-at-a-glance on this topic.

Grace and Truth,
Dale

Gary DeMar

The End is Near? The False Teaching of Harold Camping by Al Mohler

Here’s a snippet…

Harold Camping is now warning the world that the Day of Judgment will begin at about 6:00 p.m. on Saturday, May 21, 2011. The 89-year-old founder of Family Radio has made such pronouncements before, most recently in 1994. He now says that he simply miscalculated then, but he is absolutely certain that he has the right calculation now. You have been warned.

Click here to read the rest of Mohler’s article.

May 21: The Beginning of the Day of Judgement? by Randy Alcorn

Harold Camping, the 89-year-old founder of Family Radio, has warned the world that Saturday, May 21, 2011 is when the rapture will occur and God’s Day of Judgment will begin. Camping made a similar prediction in 1994, but now claims that the Bible guarantees this new date.

Click here to read the whole article by Alcorn.

Charles Morris

Update May 27, 2011 – Hank Hanegraaff responds to Harold Camping’s Failed Prediction

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Reflections on Proposition 8 Decision

Here are a few helpful posts to aid Christians in sorting through the recent attempt to redefine marriage in California.

A Gavel Falls on Marriage: The Proposition 8 Decision
by Albert Mohler

Here’s an excerpt…

The importance of the decision handed down yesterday by U. S. District Judge Vaughn  R. Walker in California’s Proposition 8 trial will be difficult to exaggerate. Proponents of same-sex marriage immediately declared a major victory — and for good reason. The editorial board of The New York Times declared the verdict “an instant landmark in American legal history,” and so it is, even if later reversed upon appeal.

Judge Walker’s decision is sweeping and comprehensive, basically affirming every argument and claim put forth by those demanding that California’s Proposition 8 be declared unconstitutional. That proposition, affirmed by a clear majority of California voters, amended the state’s constitution to define marriage as the union of a man and a woman. In one brazen act of judicial energy, California’s voters were told that they had no right to define marriage, and thousands of years of human wisdom were discarded as irrational.

Click here to read the whole post.

Also…

• Liberty Counsel blames ADF at Christianity Today
• Let’s get ready to rumble at GetReligion.org
• Prop. 8 Did Not Ban Gay ‘Marriage’ at The Point
• Prop 8 Overturned at WORLD
• Judging Marriage by Charles Colson at Christian Post
• Also, this article from the Christian Post -

There will certainly be many more articles and posts to follow on this important event. And, since this is certainly a shepherding issue, I’ll do my best to post the more helpful ones that I come acrosss.

Stand Firm,
Dale

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Do We Look Too Much Like the World?

1 John 4:1-6

    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. [2] This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, [3] but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.

    [4] You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. [5] They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. [6] We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood.

We in the Church are often a gullible people who far too easily believe someone because they give a heartfelt and moving testimony. Or sometimes, we clamor after a person because he or she is a celebrity. Our day is not marked by a thorough listening for the content of what a person is saying. This accounts for much of our cotton candy Christian culture. It doesn’t take much for it to dissolve into nothing.

We are, therefore, impoverished. This is lamentable, especially when we consider the rich legacy of bygone ages of great Christian depth and commitment. We are overly contented to build our Christian lives and churches on the sand of easy-believism. But cotton candy and sand make for poor foundations and they will not, because they cannot, provide strength and safety for the storms of life.

Thus, John directs us to test the spirits to see whether or not they are from God – because not all are. Some of us entertain false prophets unawares.  In verse five of 1 John 4, John says that these false spirits or false prophets are from the world and therefore, speak from the viewpoint of the world.

My question is: Why then does the church try so hard to look just like the world? Sadly, the church can even be more worldly than the world. I’m reminded of a comment that Macauley Caulkin made during an interview about his movie, “Saved.” He said that he went to a few Christian concerts to check out what the Christian culture was like and discovered precious little difference between the Christian concerts he attended and those of the world. Sure, there are some differences in the lyrics, but is that the sum and substance of Christian culture?

On another note, I am not against numerical growth by any means, but it can be a poor standard for biblical fidelity. Sure, some churches are growing rapidly. But how are they growing? And what are they growing? What are they producing? The apostle John states that the world listens to those who speak from the viewpoint of the world. What else would we expect? When the standards of the church seem to be “feel-good” messages, relevance, soft-teaching, worldly trappings, etc., then of course the world is going to respond favorably, even approvingly. But in a climate where truth is, de facto, offensive, worship services and sermons that are centered around God’s Word will be thought of as boring and irrelevant at best and intolerant, puritanical, mean-spirited, etc., at worst.

I’m not really sure where I’m going with this, except to say…

Let us be as discerning as we can about who likes us and who does not, about who accepts us and who does not, about who thinks we’re cool and who does not, about who seeks our company and who does not. For if we, as individual Christians or local churches, are very well thought of by the world around us, we may want to ask why. Could it be because we think, speak, and live too much like the world?

Grace and Truth,
Dale

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