MAJESTIC
SIMPLICITY
II
Cor.11: 2 For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I
have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to
Christ.
3 But I fear, lest by
any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should
be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.4 For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him.
This
new, intellectual, materialistic and esoteric Christianity is not Christianity
at all. It is a modern revelation of the Tower of Babel built with the bricks
of human logic, human desires, and human interests that are all held together
by the mortar of demonic influences.
We live in perilous times in the natural and in the
supernatural. And much of what is happening in the unseen world has been making
itself known in the seen world. And these manifestations are not just occurring in
the secular world or even in the religious world which does not consider itself
“Christian”. There are many serious demonic incursions within the visible
church that does call itself Christian. In these days of accelerated wealth and
power and hedonistic lifestyles the true church has now been overrun by the
tide of the profound confusion of an ever expanding litany of messages. It
would take no more research than sitting in front of the television and
watching “Christian” television for one day to discover all the different and
insane messages.
I believe the greatest way to marginalize and compromise the
true message is not just to attack the truth directly and with a frontal
assault. The most effective way to diffuse and adulterate a true message is to
produce a plethora of other messages that may or may not have some moderate
elements of the original within their presentation. And that is exactly what
has happened today. Through a systematic strategy of minimizing the teachings
of Scripture as well as being amputated from the history of Biblical truth the
intentions of the world of darkness have been measurably successful in
deceiving the masses. And what is proffered as truth is a wide and diffuse
variety of entertaining stories, self help advice, fix-it manuals, and a long
list of nonsense.
And instead of running for Biblical cover the church focused its
eyes on numbers and offerings and buildings. And like a literal whirlwind grievous
error not only infiltrated the church, but it rapidly became the message. Yes
there are certain messages that are so evil as to be Scripturally catastrophic,
but even most mainstream and orthodox messages have been compromised and have
along the way picked up cultural hitchhikers. And as time goes on the
compromises grow and deepen their roots. And then they seem to be the norm and
are actually what the next generation originally receives as true.
The culture borrows and builds and organizes and presses for its
rights, and the church has followed suit and added a few moral issues into the
mix. Finally when the dust settles you have a variety of theologies and
activities and practices which are only related to each other by the moniker “Christian”
but which are unrelated to the expressions of the early church and even to any
literal interpretation of Scripture. And with deadly accuracy the main targets
of all heresies and compromises, Jesus and the gospel, have been assaulted without
being noticed by those who say they believe in such things. So professing
believers can sit under a man like Joel Osteen and be encouraged and take in a
humanistic message without it raising their concerns.
And posts like this are considered by the majority of evangelicals
as alarmist and judgmental and even vicious. But I can say with honesty that
many of us who speak such things hold no personal animosity toward anyone, but
we have been led by God’s Spirit to speak what needs to be spoken. Yes God
could have chosen people much more learned and erudite with profound original
language credentials but He chose men like me. Compared with how many people
are walking into deception the number that are escaping are much less, but
warnings like this may challenge believers to look deeper before they get drawn
into error. All of us are imperfect and no one can claim a perfect theology,
but what is being trafficked among believers these days are horrific falsehoods
which line men and women’s pockets and more importantly damn people’s souls.
Does that sound alarmist? It is.
There a glorious but profound simplicity in Jesus Christ. The
simplicity is given by grace through Him whose depth cannot be fathomed. Did
you hear that? His Person and His attributes and His beauty and His ways
surpass knowledge, and yet we receive them all in a glorious simplicity. Explain
that, you demand? Oh dear brothers and sisters you are asking something about
which I am helpless. Just when I think I have opened the last door that reveals
the entirety of the knowledge of Him is when I suddenly see a thousand other
doors all of which lead to a thousand other doors all of which coalesce in a symphonic
purity that can only really be described as Jesus. And at the feet of this
Jesus worships the 80 year old theologian and the 8 year old little girl with
equal access and whose worship carries equal weight before the Eternal Sovereign.
Oh what a glorious mystery!
So when all these manmade trains call “All aboard!” just make
sure you are not on them. They may have a great dining car and very comfortable
sleeping quarters, but those trains lead to nowhere. They are becoming more and
more popular and although they seem almost full there is still much room for
the gullible and self absorbed. The conductors are attractive and good communicators.
The visuals are alluring and the imagery is mesmerizing. The religious
accoutrements are astounding and these trains are accepted on the tracks of
this culture. And once you board these trains it is most difficult to get off. In
fact, it is most difficult to even desire to get off.
Lay aside everything you think impresses God. Reject the mirage
of your own intellectual prowess. If you have been trained in systematic
theology that is fine however bow before His majesty with a broken spirit and a
contrite heart. Man cannot even really explain or understand the Trinity and we
use the egg or water or some other pitiful object lesson to describe the indescribable.
How can an ant visit Jupiter? How can a dog converse with Hawkings? How can a
fly explain nuclear fusion? How can an amoeba read Shakespeare? You see, when
we realize how great is the mystery of our God and how infinitely high He is
above our abilities to surround Him with just words, then we can realize how
great a condescension was His journey to the cross. And what does God expect of
us? Just worship Him in the beauty and fullness of His own revelation to us.
One day we will see Him as He is, but until then we
worship Him in the majestic simplicity that has been given to us by Him.
And
even that, my friends, is beyond us.
Thank you, Lord for this word.
ReplyDeleteThis is what my little mind believes - that I will never find a church in this world that doesn't have at least one false teaching or false interpretation of scripture. Every church that has a denomination name over it's doors is going to err in some minor or major doctrine because men are in charge. And when 'men' are in charge, there will be contentions. To avoid arguments and contentions is impossible with men, because they'll find fault and never come to the full realization of what the true gospel offers, l00%. And it the early apostolic church needed correction, then today's last days church is in dire need of correction.
I'm starting to believe it's because there is a name over the door; assemblies, lighthouse, word of this or word of that, pentecostal, baptist, church of god, etc. Each and every church denomination name owns it's name, like a trademark. They pride themselves in belonging to the church of Paul or the church of Appolos.
The Name of Jesus only should be used over the doorposts of each and every church, like the blood of the Passover lamb over the Hebrews doors in Egypt. But that won't happen, because MEN love to be exalted and uniquely different and have the need to be right in the sight of men. And like those living near the tower of Babel, the churches, each with their different 'languages' are contentious and accuse the other denomination of being false. As long as there is an organization calling itself a church, it won't ever carry the full truth forward, because organizations carry too much flesh, and the Lord can't be exalted where men's flesh reigns. So, it may be then that the Lord allows delusions and false doctrines to creep in. But His Church is alive and breathing and present in this world, but they are not in the ranks of the proud and mighty and some have no voice, and some are persecuted and some slighted and some mocked and overlooked and some invisible to the unspiritual eye.
I think this is why today that believers feel they must leave their churches and be tended by the true Shepherd. As hard as it is to neglect the assembling together of the saints and fellowship, refusing to be churched by prideful shepherds may be the only life-saver for our souls. We're at a time that we can't put our trust in denominations and elected pastoral boards - we have no other choice but to take total responsibility for own actions, walk, prayer life, where no man-made barriers get in the way. We have to deal directly with the Highest authority all the time without the distractions of contentious men clattering our minds with psycho-religious-babble and sermons on who is going to hell and who is not.
It isn't easy being unchurched - we have to set our own boundaries; it's between us and the Lord; we have no one to blame if we fail. We can't blame a preacher for false teaching now. We are the master of our own choices and we can't depend on others to carry us. It's saddening, sometimes depressing, lonely, yet it might be the only way that we can spiritually survive.
Unchurched and backsliders and unbelievers would return to 'church' if a pastor admitted that they fail, and admit that they may have erred, and confess that they don't know everything and sell the church and cast down all their allegiance to a denomination, and their titles, and convention trips, and administrative distractions at the altar, and live modestly, work among those they used to take tithes from, and rent a room in the most oppressed part of town for church worship.