Coconut
Member
- Joined
- Feb 17, 2005
- Messages
- 4,663
What are we doing in this world we have forsaken (Matt 19:29)? Snuggling up with our favorite TV shows? Contending for your worldly, man-ordained "rights"? Still trying to get a bite of your 'cake'? Are we still afraid to commit to the Way with Christ and strive to find Life (Matt 7:14)? A child of God is on no free ride to eternity. He or she must make their own way, humbled, surrendered, crucified and as a separated priest serving only one master (Lu:16:13 - 1 Pet 2:9 - 2Cor 6:17).
Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers:
for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness?
and what communion hath light with darkness? 2Co:6:14
What Communion indeed. Do we realize the true weight of this verse and the implications it holds for those who say they follow Jesus Christ and only this Master? Every time we turn on a TV, radio or computer, read a newspaper or cruise the aisles at Wal Mart we are being enticed, stained, (if we allow it), entering a world of sensual insanity and lies designed to take our focus away from our first love and our calling to be separate... Calling us back into the wallows of our old lives.
Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord,
and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, 2Co:6:17
Can't wait for the big game this weekend can you? Rest assured, you may someday see True followers of Christ in the center of these Arenas, not your favorite team! Will you be there among the real Lions at center stage or just be a spectator, enjoying one of the many pointless vain amusements you put before God like a dung hill. Who's side are you really on here?! Christianity is not a spectator sport friends! We spend far too much time 'spectating' and none getting involved in the life of Christ.
Are we falling victim to keeping the peace in our homes or jobs for the sake of the "peace" of an unbeliever in our midst, for the sake of "getting along" with these unbelievers, these enemies of Christ, keeping our jobs at all cost, communing with and sharing in the Darkness around us? Or are we standing on the lonely side of Righteousness no matter the consequences. We are instructed NOT to be aggressive but stand humbly in Christ and in His Truth. And live it. I've said this before. Many times. It is the truth.
Let the "enemy" act or react accordingly, come what may. 1Pe:3:9: Not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing: but contrariwise blessing; knowing that ye are thereunto called, that ye should inherit a blessing. Part of our blessing is peace within us resulting from the Godly convictions in which we stand steadfast, unmovable (1Co:15:58), living Godly irregardless of the worldly duties we are deceived into believing, are necessary for us to perform in order that we get along with the crowd, which, in all cases, soils our garments instead of bringing glory to our God and Savior. What fellowship Light with Darkness? What kind of royal priesthood serves two masters? Are there any exceptions? God forbid!
We are promised persecution, not harmony because of our Faith! (Matt 16:24) Is a cross just something dangling from a chain on your neck or is your flesh nailed to it daily. Is your cross a thing which invokes rhetoric or exclusion as it suits you, or does it have the meaning and WEIGHT that Jesus gave it by His actions. He told you to take it up! Seen it lately? Just remember something here, when you belong to Jesus Christ, you do not belong to you! Think about that please.
And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God;
as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them
and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
2 Cor. 6:16 (Eze:37:27)
1Co:3:19: For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness. That worldly wisdom is nothing but a snare we build for ourselves. It will snap shut on us. Are we entertaining the spirit of antichrist while we "serve" God? Is our home a place where the Bible and the World are made to co-exist in some kind of shaky peace built of compromise? Has your life become gloom because of blending your Light with the Darkness of the World? John 15:19 If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. Make no mistake, God is an affront to the senses of the unbeliever and sinners and more importantly, to the spirits of darkness which inhabit them.
Godly living will tear apart families, jobs and lives at times. Are we taking Jesus' words seriously? The issue remains, whom will you serve. (M't:6:24) Do not be deceived! Haven't we been told we are no longer OF this world (1Jo:2:16)? Or is it that we just don't believe it yet? We don't dabble in occasional sin, backslide and repent like yo-yo's. We're called by the Spirit of God (John 6:44) - converted through repentance (Ac:3:19) - regenerated (Ti:3:5) - new creatures (2Cor5:17) We have ceased from Hell-deserving sins! ...and then what...? Go soft, give up, ...in willful disobedience and rejection of the Doctrine of Christ (Heb 10:6)? Are we unwilling or unable to accept our true place in this world, now that we have allegedly come into fellowship with God through Christ? If so, we do not really belong to Christ. We haven't counted he cost. Christ gave up everything to show us the Way (Ph'p:2:8). Are we now giving up to follow the dictates of our weary, weak, God-hating flesh? Submission? Don't talk about submission until you have submitted.
Ro:6:16: Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?
Ro:8:7: Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.
Are we yielding to the Fox channel, the VCR or DVD, the porno, the booze, the lies and excuses, the false guilt laid upon us by those around us who would "snatch" us back into the fire with them; The sensual spirits which ignite our passions and emotions into distraction and the deadly sin of compromise? Are we yielding to the promotion of the 'status quo' or do we believe Jesus (Matt10:34-36)? Read the passages which follow verse 36, carefully. Christ's Life and example does not promote nor condone "peace or harmony" with the enemy. Love, yes, but not complicity (2Co:6:15). We hear "love thy enemy" all the time. Do we really know what this means? It comes from a Godly root, a Creation root. The same rain falls on saints, sinners and the ungodly. Loving them means not reviling them in return for their attacks. Loving them means not giving them what they deserve at this time (Ro:12:17). My way of not recompensing an enemy is literally to let them keep walking upright. A little confession...? Before Christ in my life, I can guarantee you, I wasn't someone you'd want to cross. You'd get what was coming to you one way or the other, quickly. And I'd be having dinner with the Mayor while it happened. But not since Christ. Not since my high horse collapsed beneath me, praise God. Christ's Love makes us understand real love because it's Christ's love in us and no longer the faulty, emotion driven love so many out there call "Christian love"; It ain't! It's a joke.
Christ's Way of Life brings a sword into our lives and into the lives of those who do not follow Him. That sword in our lives cuts away the flesh and frees the spirit. The Truth, Jesus Christ, sets us free; Free from what? Or better, whom? And the devil seeks us out where we are to cut us away from the Vine we have been grafted into. You see, it's a war inside at times and outside all the time. All this talk about swords and armor and good fights and striving and enduring....... This isn't what my pastor sold me as Christianity. ...Nope.
Back to the blending issue again...
Jas:3:12: Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear olive berries? either a vine, figs? so can no fountain both yield salt water and fresh. There is no room for compromise and no fleshly pursuit is to take precedence over, or shake your stand in, Jesus Christ...
M't:19:29: And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life.
A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. Ga:5:9
This leaven is false doctrine, compromise and lies, worldly distraction and the allure of fleshly pleasure and pursuit of mammon. This leaven is the 'lie of the Pharisees'. This leaven is idolatry! Does this have a place in the life of a true believer who has been set apart from the world by the blood of Jesus Christ?
Ro:11:16: For if the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy: and if the root be holy, so are the branches.
1Co:5:8: Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
The "feast" can be seen as the new table you sit at in Christ! Unleavened is without the stain of compromise, pure, whole and full of Truth. Not giving in to emotion or doubt (among other things). Submission to God and filling yourself with the Truth of God and being faithful to your calling in Him is your calling and reasonable service (Ro:12:1). Love of the world is enmity with God (Jas:4:4). The World comes at you right where you live, your home, your job, even your "church". It is up to Y-O-U to decide where you will stand in it. Will you be separate and come out of it completely. If you do, you will understand the painful reality of the word "forsake" and the even more painful reality of being forsaken. And, the Joy and blessings of Peace and Grace under pressure for choosing and holding to the pursuit of the Kingdom of God.
On a related subject, there is nothing wrong with knowing what is going on out there but we make the sometimes fatal mistake of living there! Our brains are crowding the Spirit of God out! Big mistake folks. Why do we so diligently search out evil? No? We don't? Why are we so enamored with ridiculous conspiracy theories, fact-less rumor, corporate intrigue. Many of you have "studied" by listening to others sensationalize the Scriptures and find yourselves as smug as can be, judging others as unlearned and incapable of holding up in a dialog on what you believe to be the truth; Contending for your point of view, NOT the Faith. Come on, isn't that some of you? Your Bible is nothing more than your own Silly Putty, to be formed into any shape that pleases your egos and lifestyles and some of you use it like a hammer instead of a Sword. The only thing that is bent here is your theology and, not to be judgmental, your true Godliness is in question. We're getting sloppy.
Again, why do we so diligently search out evil? Why are we so educated in the ways of the demonic forces that display themselves in the natural world and yet remain so ignorant of the Walk of Christ? Unbalanced! I'll tell you why. It's pride and vanity. And you let it in.
You would much rather be an expert in the paranormal, conspiratorial, fleshly manifestations of evil instead of being filled with the Holy Spirit and doing the warfare in the spirit on your knees. Did the Bible tell you to become so learned in the Ways of the devil and blind yourselves to the light of the Holy Spirit? Know thy enemy is one thing but study the enemy tirelessly? Is that balance?
But you say, study to show yourself approved. Well, I want to load a torpedo here and run something by you right now. Some of you are having delusions about 2Tim 2:15. Some of you quote this like programmed robots, and like a butcher with a large cleaver, cut this scripture to pieces, completely out of context, fitting in only what you want it to mean for yourselves. Let's quote 2Tim 2:15 the way I hear most quote it today, ok? ....Study to show thyself approved.... Cool. So you imply that if you study Scripture and even extra-biblical truths you can show this off as a testament to your studiousness before everybody. Hmm. Being approved of your piers? Cultured, educated, all eyes upon you? Well, aspiring butchers, let's read 2Tim 2:15 again the way it was meant to be read... Study to show thyself... approved unto God, (NOT to men!) ...a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, (ahh, workman! NOT Theologian!) ...rightly dividing the word of truth. Whoa, we never get this far in this passage do we! Rightly dividing the word of truth. We've become 'heroes' dividing nothing but zeroes! Chew on that one.
Rightly dividing, NOT causing division, dissention, confusion and contention! So our vast knowledge of current events, who is Babylon, who is this antichrist, where is "he", the last episode of desperate housewives, is showing your self approved of God? We know more about rogue planets and comets than PENNANCE and CONTRITENESS!!! We know more about stocks and bonds than HOW-TO lay up treasures in Heaven!!! We know vastly more about the Wolves we idolize than the humble Shepherd from Nazareth!!! I see...
We should be reading about the salvation of desperate sinners, God's grace and mercy, not glued to that God (and I might add), damned, television. There's nothing Godly or edifying on that television. Nothing. And that crap we call news out there is an affront to all sane, thinking human beings. You should be praying for wisdom, not a chance to prove the size of your brain! Oh ye of so little Faith! Is knowing the sequence of prophetic events going to save your souls? Is knowing who the antichrist is, going to save your souls? Study about surrender, obedience, longsuffering, Godly sorrow and holiness. Oh, but I know the real meaning of the colors of the horses and the 144 thousand and the name of the man of perdition... but I don't know the first thing about humility nor do I care about multiplying my talents or adding to my faith. Certainly no revelation here. Ashamed? We ought to be.
Some of us subscribe to one school of thought or another on this Revelation subject but lo and behold there are multitudes of conflicting thoughts on it, multitudes of un-harmonized, unbalanced foolishness in the eyes of God. We're studying to show ourselves approved alright! Approved of ourselves! So which one of you is right? Which one of you should I believe? Yes, that's what I thought, ...I should believe every wind of doctrine I hear. And most of us rely on someone else's studies to boot! I will believe God as it is revealed to me. And if it's not, it's not His pleasure to do so. He is Jealous and the souls of His own are more important than the Prophecy 'Club' baloney out there! We know what's on the horizon. I'll be content being an idiot before God, and men, thanks. I'll be content praising Him and glorifying Him and keeping my soul so I might stand in the day of testing, thanks. Balance here folks. Too much information is ruining some of us and we just don't see the snare.
But what do I know, right? The wind seems to be howling louder than I can yell anyway. You'd rather be an expert in the sequences of prophetic events and razzle dazzle them by reading them off like a menu, when you should be concentrating on making your calling and election sure (2Pe:1:10). Working out your salvation (Ph'p:2:12), Seeking God first (M't:6:33), taking care of each other, not taking each other apart like sniveling, pompous brats on a playground. This is diligence, seek God's face and His glory. That's study approved of God. Your calling and election does not include a knowledge of who prophesies, pontificates or divulges secrets about politics, the NWO or amplifies pointless rumor and innuendo. Your calling is not to allow them to have such a profound, distracting effect on your lives. Salvation is profound, Grace is profound. The Spirit of God is profound. The fact that your eyes, minds and hearts are buried in constant informational amusements is utterly and disastrously profound; A complete travesty. It is an affront to the simplicity of Christ and clear danger to your souls! This is communion with darkness, frivolity, ...spiritual insanity! Vain COMPROMISE! Duh?
Your communion is not with the devil or his ways nor His conspiracies. Your communion is not with every Benny, Pat and Polly that comes along with new twist on an already twisted old rope. That rope will hang you if you're not careful. Your communion is not grape juice and crackers and form. Jesus said, "do this in remembrance of me." Remembrance of HIS sacrifice, His Love and a reminder of our own crosses we must bear! Your communion is with LIGHT and the Living Spirit which created you and only this. Children of the Day! This disgusting world and flesh and system we are held prisoner in is just that, a PRISON! Enjoying prison life folks? We've handed the Jailer the keys and we chain ourselves more tightly to the wall every time we stray from the simple, quiet humility and trust we are called to. Think about it. We're called to Christ as children, humble, willing to trust fully, but we are not to ACT like children! We are to act as mature, grown, BALANCED, "meat-eating" ADULTS, at peace, serving God as His priesthood.
We cannot be filled until we are completely emptied.
This issue is serious and weakness can have deadly consequences. Yield yourself up to the God who suffered and died to save you. Give up everything as He did. He commands it so. God begins with empty, clean, willing vessels. There is NO in between. We may stumble as we grow in grace and learn to walk spiritually upright but we either have the Power or we do not. We either have the will or we do not. Absolutes folks. There is no in between. Examine yourselves.
If we are not yielding all to Father God, no matter the cost, we are an offense to the grace God has given us. We are communing with darkness. We make God out to be a liar. We are the only liar here. And we have to get very real with our Walk before it is too late.
1 John 2:15 Love not the world neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. And this goes for everything AND everyone in your "world" that is not of God!
Arise ye, and depart; for this is not your rest: because it is polluted,
it shall destroy you, even with a sore destruction. Micah 2:10
Their "world" or God's Kingdom. Light or darkness. One master, one road. A narrow way or a broad way. Your choice. Make it a good one for the sakes of your souls. Do not shipwreck your Faith because you fell asleep at the wheel. And I pray there is a slim chance, that the Way might have gotten a little narrower for some of you. Get on that narrow way, ...or walk away.
Repent, and may God have mercy on His disobedient children.
Amen
- The Narrow Way Ministry
Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers:
for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness?
and what communion hath light with darkness? 2Co:6:14
What Communion indeed. Do we realize the true weight of this verse and the implications it holds for those who say they follow Jesus Christ and only this Master? Every time we turn on a TV, radio or computer, read a newspaper or cruise the aisles at Wal Mart we are being enticed, stained, (if we allow it), entering a world of sensual insanity and lies designed to take our focus away from our first love and our calling to be separate... Calling us back into the wallows of our old lives.
Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord,
and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, 2Co:6:17
Can't wait for the big game this weekend can you? Rest assured, you may someday see True followers of Christ in the center of these Arenas, not your favorite team! Will you be there among the real Lions at center stage or just be a spectator, enjoying one of the many pointless vain amusements you put before God like a dung hill. Who's side are you really on here?! Christianity is not a spectator sport friends! We spend far too much time 'spectating' and none getting involved in the life of Christ.
Are we falling victim to keeping the peace in our homes or jobs for the sake of the "peace" of an unbeliever in our midst, for the sake of "getting along" with these unbelievers, these enemies of Christ, keeping our jobs at all cost, communing with and sharing in the Darkness around us? Or are we standing on the lonely side of Righteousness no matter the consequences. We are instructed NOT to be aggressive but stand humbly in Christ and in His Truth. And live it. I've said this before. Many times. It is the truth.
Let the "enemy" act or react accordingly, come what may. 1Pe:3:9: Not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing: but contrariwise blessing; knowing that ye are thereunto called, that ye should inherit a blessing. Part of our blessing is peace within us resulting from the Godly convictions in which we stand steadfast, unmovable (1Co:15:58), living Godly irregardless of the worldly duties we are deceived into believing, are necessary for us to perform in order that we get along with the crowd, which, in all cases, soils our garments instead of bringing glory to our God and Savior. What fellowship Light with Darkness? What kind of royal priesthood serves two masters? Are there any exceptions? God forbid!
We are promised persecution, not harmony because of our Faith! (Matt 16:24) Is a cross just something dangling from a chain on your neck or is your flesh nailed to it daily. Is your cross a thing which invokes rhetoric or exclusion as it suits you, or does it have the meaning and WEIGHT that Jesus gave it by His actions. He told you to take it up! Seen it lately? Just remember something here, when you belong to Jesus Christ, you do not belong to you! Think about that please.
And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God;
as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them
and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
2 Cor. 6:16 (Eze:37:27)
1Co:3:19: For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness. That worldly wisdom is nothing but a snare we build for ourselves. It will snap shut on us. Are we entertaining the spirit of antichrist while we "serve" God? Is our home a place where the Bible and the World are made to co-exist in some kind of shaky peace built of compromise? Has your life become gloom because of blending your Light with the Darkness of the World? John 15:19 If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. Make no mistake, God is an affront to the senses of the unbeliever and sinners and more importantly, to the spirits of darkness which inhabit them.
Godly living will tear apart families, jobs and lives at times. Are we taking Jesus' words seriously? The issue remains, whom will you serve. (M't:6:24) Do not be deceived! Haven't we been told we are no longer OF this world (1Jo:2:16)? Or is it that we just don't believe it yet? We don't dabble in occasional sin, backslide and repent like yo-yo's. We're called by the Spirit of God (John 6:44) - converted through repentance (Ac:3:19) - regenerated (Ti:3:5) - new creatures (2Cor5:17) We have ceased from Hell-deserving sins! ...and then what...? Go soft, give up, ...in willful disobedience and rejection of the Doctrine of Christ (Heb 10:6)? Are we unwilling or unable to accept our true place in this world, now that we have allegedly come into fellowship with God through Christ? If so, we do not really belong to Christ. We haven't counted he cost. Christ gave up everything to show us the Way (Ph'p:2:8). Are we now giving up to follow the dictates of our weary, weak, God-hating flesh? Submission? Don't talk about submission until you have submitted.
Ro:6:16: Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?
Ro:8:7: Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.
Are we yielding to the Fox channel, the VCR or DVD, the porno, the booze, the lies and excuses, the false guilt laid upon us by those around us who would "snatch" us back into the fire with them; The sensual spirits which ignite our passions and emotions into distraction and the deadly sin of compromise? Are we yielding to the promotion of the 'status quo' or do we believe Jesus (Matt10:34-36)? Read the passages which follow verse 36, carefully. Christ's Life and example does not promote nor condone "peace or harmony" with the enemy. Love, yes, but not complicity (2Co:6:15). We hear "love thy enemy" all the time. Do we really know what this means? It comes from a Godly root, a Creation root. The same rain falls on saints, sinners and the ungodly. Loving them means not reviling them in return for their attacks. Loving them means not giving them what they deserve at this time (Ro:12:17). My way of not recompensing an enemy is literally to let them keep walking upright. A little confession...? Before Christ in my life, I can guarantee you, I wasn't someone you'd want to cross. You'd get what was coming to you one way or the other, quickly. And I'd be having dinner with the Mayor while it happened. But not since Christ. Not since my high horse collapsed beneath me, praise God. Christ's Love makes us understand real love because it's Christ's love in us and no longer the faulty, emotion driven love so many out there call "Christian love"; It ain't! It's a joke.
Christ's Way of Life brings a sword into our lives and into the lives of those who do not follow Him. That sword in our lives cuts away the flesh and frees the spirit. The Truth, Jesus Christ, sets us free; Free from what? Or better, whom? And the devil seeks us out where we are to cut us away from the Vine we have been grafted into. You see, it's a war inside at times and outside all the time. All this talk about swords and armor and good fights and striving and enduring....... This isn't what my pastor sold me as Christianity. ...Nope.
Back to the blending issue again...
Jas:3:12: Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear olive berries? either a vine, figs? so can no fountain both yield salt water and fresh. There is no room for compromise and no fleshly pursuit is to take precedence over, or shake your stand in, Jesus Christ...
M't:19:29: And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life.
A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. Ga:5:9
This leaven is false doctrine, compromise and lies, worldly distraction and the allure of fleshly pleasure and pursuit of mammon. This leaven is the 'lie of the Pharisees'. This leaven is idolatry! Does this have a place in the life of a true believer who has been set apart from the world by the blood of Jesus Christ?
Ro:11:16: For if the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy: and if the root be holy, so are the branches.
1Co:5:8: Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
The "feast" can be seen as the new table you sit at in Christ! Unleavened is without the stain of compromise, pure, whole and full of Truth. Not giving in to emotion or doubt (among other things). Submission to God and filling yourself with the Truth of God and being faithful to your calling in Him is your calling and reasonable service (Ro:12:1). Love of the world is enmity with God (Jas:4:4). The World comes at you right where you live, your home, your job, even your "church". It is up to Y-O-U to decide where you will stand in it. Will you be separate and come out of it completely. If you do, you will understand the painful reality of the word "forsake" and the even more painful reality of being forsaken. And, the Joy and blessings of Peace and Grace under pressure for choosing and holding to the pursuit of the Kingdom of God.
On a related subject, there is nothing wrong with knowing what is going on out there but we make the sometimes fatal mistake of living there! Our brains are crowding the Spirit of God out! Big mistake folks. Why do we so diligently search out evil? No? We don't? Why are we so enamored with ridiculous conspiracy theories, fact-less rumor, corporate intrigue. Many of you have "studied" by listening to others sensationalize the Scriptures and find yourselves as smug as can be, judging others as unlearned and incapable of holding up in a dialog on what you believe to be the truth; Contending for your point of view, NOT the Faith. Come on, isn't that some of you? Your Bible is nothing more than your own Silly Putty, to be formed into any shape that pleases your egos and lifestyles and some of you use it like a hammer instead of a Sword. The only thing that is bent here is your theology and, not to be judgmental, your true Godliness is in question. We're getting sloppy.
Again, why do we so diligently search out evil? Why are we so educated in the ways of the demonic forces that display themselves in the natural world and yet remain so ignorant of the Walk of Christ? Unbalanced! I'll tell you why. It's pride and vanity. And you let it in.
You would much rather be an expert in the paranormal, conspiratorial, fleshly manifestations of evil instead of being filled with the Holy Spirit and doing the warfare in the spirit on your knees. Did the Bible tell you to become so learned in the Ways of the devil and blind yourselves to the light of the Holy Spirit? Know thy enemy is one thing but study the enemy tirelessly? Is that balance?
But you say, study to show yourself approved. Well, I want to load a torpedo here and run something by you right now. Some of you are having delusions about 2Tim 2:15. Some of you quote this like programmed robots, and like a butcher with a large cleaver, cut this scripture to pieces, completely out of context, fitting in only what you want it to mean for yourselves. Let's quote 2Tim 2:15 the way I hear most quote it today, ok? ....Study to show thyself approved.... Cool. So you imply that if you study Scripture and even extra-biblical truths you can show this off as a testament to your studiousness before everybody. Hmm. Being approved of your piers? Cultured, educated, all eyes upon you? Well, aspiring butchers, let's read 2Tim 2:15 again the way it was meant to be read... Study to show thyself... approved unto God, (NOT to men!) ...a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, (ahh, workman! NOT Theologian!) ...rightly dividing the word of truth. Whoa, we never get this far in this passage do we! Rightly dividing the word of truth. We've become 'heroes' dividing nothing but zeroes! Chew on that one.
Rightly dividing, NOT causing division, dissention, confusion and contention! So our vast knowledge of current events, who is Babylon, who is this antichrist, where is "he", the last episode of desperate housewives, is showing your self approved of God? We know more about rogue planets and comets than PENNANCE and CONTRITENESS!!! We know more about stocks and bonds than HOW-TO lay up treasures in Heaven!!! We know vastly more about the Wolves we idolize than the humble Shepherd from Nazareth!!! I see...
We should be reading about the salvation of desperate sinners, God's grace and mercy, not glued to that God (and I might add), damned, television. There's nothing Godly or edifying on that television. Nothing. And that crap we call news out there is an affront to all sane, thinking human beings. You should be praying for wisdom, not a chance to prove the size of your brain! Oh ye of so little Faith! Is knowing the sequence of prophetic events going to save your souls? Is knowing who the antichrist is, going to save your souls? Study about surrender, obedience, longsuffering, Godly sorrow and holiness. Oh, but I know the real meaning of the colors of the horses and the 144 thousand and the name of the man of perdition... but I don't know the first thing about humility nor do I care about multiplying my talents or adding to my faith. Certainly no revelation here. Ashamed? We ought to be.
Some of us subscribe to one school of thought or another on this Revelation subject but lo and behold there are multitudes of conflicting thoughts on it, multitudes of un-harmonized, unbalanced foolishness in the eyes of God. We're studying to show ourselves approved alright! Approved of ourselves! So which one of you is right? Which one of you should I believe? Yes, that's what I thought, ...I should believe every wind of doctrine I hear. And most of us rely on someone else's studies to boot! I will believe God as it is revealed to me. And if it's not, it's not His pleasure to do so. He is Jealous and the souls of His own are more important than the Prophecy 'Club' baloney out there! We know what's on the horizon. I'll be content being an idiot before God, and men, thanks. I'll be content praising Him and glorifying Him and keeping my soul so I might stand in the day of testing, thanks. Balance here folks. Too much information is ruining some of us and we just don't see the snare.
But what do I know, right? The wind seems to be howling louder than I can yell anyway. You'd rather be an expert in the sequences of prophetic events and razzle dazzle them by reading them off like a menu, when you should be concentrating on making your calling and election sure (2Pe:1:10). Working out your salvation (Ph'p:2:12), Seeking God first (M't:6:33), taking care of each other, not taking each other apart like sniveling, pompous brats on a playground. This is diligence, seek God's face and His glory. That's study approved of God. Your calling and election does not include a knowledge of who prophesies, pontificates or divulges secrets about politics, the NWO or amplifies pointless rumor and innuendo. Your calling is not to allow them to have such a profound, distracting effect on your lives. Salvation is profound, Grace is profound. The Spirit of God is profound. The fact that your eyes, minds and hearts are buried in constant informational amusements is utterly and disastrously profound; A complete travesty. It is an affront to the simplicity of Christ and clear danger to your souls! This is communion with darkness, frivolity, ...spiritual insanity! Vain COMPROMISE! Duh?
Your communion is not with the devil or his ways nor His conspiracies. Your communion is not with every Benny, Pat and Polly that comes along with new twist on an already twisted old rope. That rope will hang you if you're not careful. Your communion is not grape juice and crackers and form. Jesus said, "do this in remembrance of me." Remembrance of HIS sacrifice, His Love and a reminder of our own crosses we must bear! Your communion is with LIGHT and the Living Spirit which created you and only this. Children of the Day! This disgusting world and flesh and system we are held prisoner in is just that, a PRISON! Enjoying prison life folks? We've handed the Jailer the keys and we chain ourselves more tightly to the wall every time we stray from the simple, quiet humility and trust we are called to. Think about it. We're called to Christ as children, humble, willing to trust fully, but we are not to ACT like children! We are to act as mature, grown, BALANCED, "meat-eating" ADULTS, at peace, serving God as His priesthood.
We cannot be filled until we are completely emptied.
This issue is serious and weakness can have deadly consequences. Yield yourself up to the God who suffered and died to save you. Give up everything as He did. He commands it so. God begins with empty, clean, willing vessels. There is NO in between. We may stumble as we grow in grace and learn to walk spiritually upright but we either have the Power or we do not. We either have the will or we do not. Absolutes folks. There is no in between. Examine yourselves.
If we are not yielding all to Father God, no matter the cost, we are an offense to the grace God has given us. We are communing with darkness. We make God out to be a liar. We are the only liar here. And we have to get very real with our Walk before it is too late.
1 John 2:15 Love not the world neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. And this goes for everything AND everyone in your "world" that is not of God!
Arise ye, and depart; for this is not your rest: because it is polluted,
it shall destroy you, even with a sore destruction. Micah 2:10
Their "world" or God's Kingdom. Light or darkness. One master, one road. A narrow way or a broad way. Your choice. Make it a good one for the sakes of your souls. Do not shipwreck your Faith because you fell asleep at the wheel. And I pray there is a slim chance, that the Way might have gotten a little narrower for some of you. Get on that narrow way, ...or walk away.
Repent, and may God have mercy on His disobedient children.
Amen
- The Narrow Way Ministry
