2009-04-10
Good Morning Dear Ones,
You are dear to me and dear to God. That’s why He wants you and I to make sound judgments. Any time that two opposing forces, in this case a God-centered system of ethics against a Satan-driven one, there will be trouble. I believe this conflict will eventually play out as described in the book of Revelation. For the present, we must deal with the continuing issue of how to make godly judgments amidst the opposition we will most certainly face from the worldly folks around us. 2 PET 2: 1-2, “False prophets appeared in the past among people, and in the same way many false teachers will appear among you. They will bring in destructive untrue doctrines, and will deny the Master Who redeemed them, and so they will bring upon themselves sudden destruction. Even so, many will follow their immoral ways; and because of what they do, others will speak evil of the way of truth.” Most people now know that Gnosticism is a lie. It was the belief that the truth was only for those in a secret society, that Christ lost His lordship when He died physically, and that it would be assigned to another god. That was in the past. Today, such lies as replacement theology is being taught in some seminaries. Replacement theology is the belief that God is through with the Jews because of their past disobedience and is only blessing those who live out a Christian life with eternal life. RO 11: 25, which I hope you will review, shows the wrongfulness of this theology. Anyone who has read the Torah-the first five books of Moses-will remember the story of Korah’s rebellion [NU 16: 1-35]. Korah and his friends, Dathan and Abiram rejected Moses’ leadership of the Jews wandering in the desert. They were Levites who burned unholy fire. This displeased the Lord very much. He ordered all but Korah’s followers to stand back, and then, he opened up the earth, swallowing these rebellious Levites. Then the earth closed up, leaving them to the world of the dead. A plague began amongst those people still rebelling, and it was necessary for the priest, Aaron, to perform a ritual of purification to save the remaining people who hadn’t yet been struck with this plague.
If you wonder what this has to do with Christ’s Sermon on the Mount, we need only look at MT 7: 1-2, “Do not judge others, so that God will not judge you, for God will judge you as you judge others, and He will apply to you the same rules you apply to others.” Korah’s rebellion is a true case study of exactly that. Now, let’s look at MT 7: 6, “Do not give what is holy to dogs-they will only turn and attack you. Do not throw your pearls in front of pigs-they will only trample you underfoot.” The wild dogs, called “curs,” of Christ’s day kept themselves fed by foraging in garbage. They were mean and competitive, as food for them was sometimes scarce. Sadly, the streets and hills of Palestine were full of them filling their bellies this way. PR 26: 11-12, “A fool doing a stupid thing a second time is like a dog going back to its vomit. The most stupid fool is better than someone who thinks he is wise when he is not.” This is not saying, “don’t witness to a non-believer.” What this is saying is take the time to assess first whether or not a person is really interested in hearing the truth of Jesus Christ. What makes this a tough judgment to make is that God sometimes uses evil for good. GN 50: 20, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.”
There is no exact science of how to make a good judgment. However, one can equip himself to do so by having a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures. That sets the ethical and moral foundation from which he can work. 2 PET 2: 9-11 gives us some of God’s perspective. “And so the Lord knows how to rescue godly people from their trails and how to keep the wicked under punishment for the Day of Judgment, especially those who follow their filthy bodily lusts and despise God’s authority. These false teachers are bold and arrogant, and show no respect for the glorious being above; instead, they insult them. Even the angels who are so much stronger and mightier than these false teachers, do not accuse them with insults in the presence of the Lord.” This is patent refusal to copy the methods of approach of these false teachers. Sadly, some of the most evil of them are working today, e.g. people who teach and practice witchcraft and who worship Satan, as Antone Lavey’s church in San Francisco has done. As 2 PET 2: 18 says, “They make proud and stupid statements, and use immoral bodily lusts to trap those who are just beginning to escape from among people who live in error.” We can take some comfort in knowing what 1 JN 4: 4 teaches us. “But you belong to God, my children, and have defeated the false prophets, because the Spirit Who is in you is more powerful than the spirits in those who belong to the world.” Still and all, we must be discerning and watchful when we hear so-called new doctrine.
MT 7: 15-20 is the parable of a tree and its fruit. False prophets are like wolves in sheep’s clothing. They appear affable, kindly, and interested in us, but instead, they have a controlling and evil agenda. Often the newcomer to them is only given a small part of their theology, then, gradually, they learn more and more, as their false teachers feel ready to give it to them. The reason for this is that the heart of their teaching would scare off any newcomer, if he knew about it in the beginning. This is what happened to me when I belonged to cult in the past. So, you will know false prophets by what they do.
PRAYER: O Lord, when we think about it, we can see from the Scriptures that You give us a lot of help in the area of discernment. We must keep on studying Your word, for this and so many other reasons. You are most generous and patient God, putting up with our struggle to learn to be faithfully obedient, giving us the wisdom of Your word, and showing us daily Your love and compassion for us. We thank and praise You and pledge to work hard to see even the most subtle of blessings You give us. We strive to be obedient, just as Christ was when He went to the cross for us. When we consider PS 24: 1, we are in awe of Your many blessings and Your heart to give them to us. “The world and all that is in it belong to the Lord; the earth and all who live on it are His.” Yet You loan to us this place to live and people to either enrich or challenge our lives. We must understand that those who challenge us are there to test our faith and cause us to learn more of what constitutes God’s will for us. You have built in some safeguards for us, so that we won’t be sucked in to false teaching. 2 COR 10: 3-5, “It is true that we live in the world, but we do not fight from worldly motives. The weapons we use in our fight are not the world’s weapons, but God’s powerful weapons, which we use to destroy strongholds. We destroy false arguments; we pull down every proud obstacle that is raised against the knowledge of God; we take every thought captive and make it obey Christ.” Those weapons are beautifully described in EPH 6: 10-18, as the whole armor of God. They are truth, readiness to announce the Good News of peace, righteousness, faith, salvation, Your word, and prayer. We are told in EPH 6: 12 important information to equip us in spiritual warfare. “For we are not fighting against human being but against the wicked spiritual forces in he heavenly world, the rulers, authorities, and cosmic powers of this dark age.” Dearest Abba, we thank and praise You every day, because of Your wise use of Your unparalleled power. We are grateful for Your continuously guiding and loving presence in our lives. We pray all of this in the holy and mighty name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Next week, I am led to write more about Christ’s parable of the tree and its fruit, as it applies to discernment in making judgments. In the meanwhile, we must say that our love for God extends to His willingness to prepare us for the spiritual warfare we must face. That we can make judgments at all is due to the fact that He equipped us and guides us to do so. So, I encourage You to stand on the solid Rock of His teaching, teaching which allows us to make godly judgments with discernment. We must remember the gems we find in 2 TIM 3: 16-17, “All Scripture is God-breathed and useful for teaching the truth, rebuking error, correcting faults, and giving instruction for right living, so that the person who serves God may be fully qualified and equipped to do every kind of good deed.” Moreover, we must connect with God often through prayer. Without study and prayer, how could we be pious and obediently faithful to Him? It’s the reason I will not apologize for citing these precious Scriptures as often as I do. PHIL 4: 5-7, “Show a gentle attitude toward everyone. The Lord is coming soon. Do not worry about anything, but in all your prayers ask God for what you need, always asking Him with a thankful heart. And God’s peace, which is far beyond human understanding, will keep your hearts and minds safe in union with Christ Jesus.” Praise be to Him!
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn