Bible Study Question
What do we know with scriptural certainty about what we call the ‘rapture’ of the church (1 Thess 4:17) ?
Two Questions
If I am looking for a doctrinally sound church to attend, I would ask:
“What is the Gospel that is preached?”
Considering all that is passed off as gospel by spiritual ‘con-men’, that is not the Gospel of Christ as declared in Scripture, this question is critical.
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The second question is for the person I have recently met who professes Christ:
“What is the Gospel that you believed?”
Considering the multiple thousands of people who attend counterfeit ‘churches’ where the pure Gospel of Christ is not preached, and where thousands ‘accept’ Christ for all the wrong reasons, this is also an important question.
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“Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, 1Co 15:2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you–unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.” – 1 Corinthians 15:1-4
You Raise Me Up – Selah
Trojan Horses
Even if you haven’t read much classic literature, you probably know the story of the destruction of the city of Troy. they have made several movies, one in the not too distant past. Christianity has had it’s own Trojan Horses throughout history, and like the original, great destruction has resulted, inside the walls of Christianity.
The early Romans were polytheists. They had a god for hunting, they had a god for buying, they had a god for selling, they had a god to protect them on a journey. They had all these gods. Well once Christianity was declared the religion of the Roman Empire, it was necessary to dispense with all of this in some way but rather than take a strong stand against idolatry and such superstition, the church simply assigned those responsibilities that once belonged to Roman deities to dead saints. For example, instead of a god to protect you on journeys, St. Christopher took over that responsibility. And you had the merging of Roman pagan superstitious idolatry with Christianity. The Trojan horse of Roman religion was allowed to remain inside the walls, as it were, of Christianity, it infiltrated and destroyed the Christian faith.
In the eighteenth century rationalism came to Europe. During the time of rationalism, which is also known as the enlightenment, coming out of the Dark Ages man believed that he could solve all problems with his own mind. He began to worship his mind. He felt that he had the mental capacity to understand everything and solve all problems. God, it was believed, didn’t interfere in the affairs of men when men were so supremely intelligent they could handle their own affairs. At best, God created the world and just let it go. And now it was up to man. And so they decided that since the mind of man was ultimate, anything that the mind of man could not conceive or understand wasn’t true. And so they went to the Bible and anything that didn’t seem rational, reasonable, logical, intellectual was eliminated and thus all the miracles in the Bible were denied. And then they began to deny the great supernatural spiritual truths about God and Christ and the Holy Spirit and theological liberalism was the product. What happened, the church opened the doors and pulled in the Trojan horse of rationalism, intellectualism and the enlightenment and they came out, opened the gates and the place was flooded until the church lost its faith totally and European Protestantism became liberal and dead.
Today the church is still opening the gates and pulling in more Trojan horses filled with deceitful and devastating enemies. And the world is seeping into the church in myriads of ways. We could mention the erosion of moral values, the acceptance of the break up of the family and divorce as normal, the selfish pursuit of money and status even now has a gospel identified with it, the prosperity gospel. We could mention the Trojan horse of pragmatism or psychology. We could mention the Trojan horse of mysticism, intuitive pursuits of truth. The church has pulled in a myriad of Trojan horses and they are letting the armies of enemies in to run rampant in the church.
There is a tolerance today for every kind of aberration in the church and it is therefore full of Trojan horses, letting the invading armies in to confuse and destroy. The only way to defeat a Trojan Horse is to recognize it early and not let it inside the walls. That’s called discernment. Discernment is separating Divine truth from lies and half truths. It’s not open lies that destroy from within, it’s half truths – the lies that roll through the gates of the city inside the Trojan Horse.
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NOTE: Above adapted from the sermon series A Call to Discernment by John MacArthur.
Christian, are YOU ready for this?
Convert from Islam Shot Dead in Somalia
Islamists in Somalia Behead Two Sons of Christian Leader
Police Collusion Suspected in Attack on Church in Egypt
Iraq: 5-Year-Old Christian Boy Kidnapped and Killed
Gunmen Kill Three Christians in Kirkuk, Iraq
“If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.” – John 15:19
“Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God. And they will do these things because they have not known the Father, nor me.” – John 16:2-3
“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” – Matt 5:10-12
Not only are most of us NOT ready for REAL persecution, we can’t imagine it even happening in the good old U.S.A. Could there, will there come such a day? God knows, I don’t. I’ve wondered on occasion why ‘Christian’ bashing seems to be accepted behavior, while expressing God’s opinion of certain forms of human behavior is called a ‘hate crime’. It’s probably going to get worse, but so what? Consider it all training for when it really gets rough.
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“I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. . .” Rom 1:16
Whose Slave are You?
One might think that Bob Dylan read the book of Romans before he penned:
“You’re gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You’re gonna have to serve somebody.
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you’re gonna have to serve somebody.”
“Gonna Have to Serve Somebody” was the first track on Dylan’s Slow Train Coming album, released in August 1979. A couple of years before Dylan however, the Apostle Paul wrote to believers in Rome:
“But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed, and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.” – Romans 6:17-18
So, as you read this, whose slave are you?
THE TRUE CHARACTER OF UNBELIEF
“In all unbelief there are two things — a good opinion of one’s self and a bad opinion of God. Man’s good opinion of himself makes him think it quite possible to win God’s favor by his own religious performances; and his bad opinion of God makes him unwilling and afraid to put his case wholly into His hands. The object of the Holy “Spirit’s work (in convincing of sin) is to reduce his estimate of his own character that he shall think of himself as God does, and so cease to suppose it possible that he can be justified by any excellency of his own. The Spirit then alters his evil opinion of God, so as to make him see that the God with whom he has to do is really the God of all grace!”
Horatio Bonar (1808-1889)
Examine Yourself – Paul Washer
The Great Western Heresy
“The crisis of this moment has several parts, and . . ., they’re all related. The overarching connection in all of these crises has to do with the great Western heresy – that we can be saved as individuals, that any of us alone can be in right relationship with God. “
Sounds like something that would come from a religious group outside of Christianity. For the source of that quote read this article.
Wanderers and Rescuers
“Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth (wanders), and one convert him (brings him back); Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.” James 5:19-20 (KJV, emphasis mine)
This passage is a great encouragement for those who have ever been, or at this moment are, involved in the process of restoring a brother or sister in Christ who is ‘wandering’. Baptist theologian John Gill (1697-1771) offers us an excellent commentary of these two verses, dividing each verse into its inherent phrases:
Jas 5:19 , Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth,…. Either from Christ, who is the truth, by departing from him, forsaking his ways, worship, and ordinances; or from the Scriptures of truth, not speaking according to them, and embracing notions that are contrary unto them; or from the Gospel, the word of truth, from the doctrine of faith, and from uprightness of life and conversation, after having made a profession of Christianity; for this is to be understood of one who has embraced the Christian religion, become a member of a church, and has walked in the path of truth and holiness, but now fallen into error, either in principle, or in practice, or both:
and one convert him; or turn him from his error, to truth again; for this designs not first conversion, or the turning of a sinner from darkness to light, from the power of Satan to God, and from the evil of a man’s heart and ways and from a dependence on his own righteousness, to the Lord Jesus Christ, to look to him for righteousness, life, and salvation, which is wholly and entirely God’s work, and not man’s; but conversion after backslidings; for a restoration from a fallen condition is sometimes so called, and which one brother may be an instrument of to another, by showing him, and setting before him, the evil of his errors, whether in principle or practice; and by instructing him in the doctrines of the Gospel, and in the duties of religion; and by reproving him in meekness, and according to the rules of Christ; which means are sometimes blessed for the gaining of such; and which may be called conversion: and also, this is sometimes done by praying for him; and which seems chiefly to be intended here; for from praying for the healing of the diseases of the body, the apostle proceeds to encourage the saints to pray for one another, for the healing of the diseases of the mind; and suggests, that if prayer avails to the one, it may to the other; and which is the most desirable, and the greatest blessing, as follows.
Jas 5:20 Let him know,…. And observe it for his encouragement:
that he which converteth a sinner from the error of his way; who is the instrument of restoring a backsliding professor, for such an one is meant by a sinner, and not a profane person; or of turning a poor bewildered believer, who is got out of the way of truth and holiness, into the right way again; or of convincing him of the error of his way, whether it be in point of doctrine, or of duty; and so of bringing him to the fold of Christ again, from whence he has strayed:
shall save a soul from death; not efficiently, but instrumentally, as in 1Ti_4:16 for otherwise Christ is the only Saviour; and he will be the means of saving “a soul”, which is of more worth than a world; and that from death, the second death which lies in the separation of the soul from God, and in a sense of his wrath; which apostasy threatens with, and leads unto, if grace prevents not. The Alexandrian copy and others, and the Vulgate Latin version read, “his soul”; but the common reading is more emphatic; the Syriac and Arabic versions render it, “his own soul”; and the Ethiopic version, “himself”, as respecting him that is the instrument of the conversion of the other, and not the person converted:
and shall hide a multitude of sins; either “his own”, as the same versions read; and then the sense is, he shall be blessed with a discovery and application of the forgiveness of all his sins, though they have been many and great; or rather the sins of the person converted. Sin is only covered by the blood and righteousness of Christ; and thereby it is so covered, as not to be seen by the eye of vindictive justice and in such manner as that the persons of those who are covered therewith are all fair, without fault and unreproveable in the sight of God; and though their sins are many, even a multitude, they are blotted out as a thick cloud, and are abundantly pardoned; yea, all their sins are covered, be they ever so many, for God forgives all trespasses, for Christ’s sake; and the blood of Christ cleanses from all sin, and his righteousness justifies from all: and whoever is an instrument of bringing a backslider to a sense of the evil of his ways, and to true repentance for the same; as he, upon such repentance, has his iniquities caused to pass from him, or, in other words, to be covered, as from the sight of God, so from his own; he may be said to be the instrument of this also.
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If you made it through and understood Gill’s commentary, you have done well. I pray that God has richly blessed you in the reading of it. If you aren’t familiar with John Gill’s Exposition of the Bible, you can access it online here. You will find an introduction of each book of the Bible, as well as a verse by verse commentary, although difficult reading at times, rich in knowledge and sound doctrine.
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