Category: false doctrine

Posted in bible, false doctrine, false teachers

Why we name false teachers

Posted on by elizabethprata

Christians are called to love one another. However foremost and primarily we are called to live in truth and protect the truth. So many times John rejoices over the new Christians walking in the truth, in 1 John, 2 John, 3 John… Do not mix up loving the brethren with remaining silent when false teaching comes for the sake of peace. If you love them you will speak up.

The Word is a precious gift, bought with the blood of our own Savior so that it could be inspired by the Spirit to men whom God loves so dearly. It is God’s own revelation of Himself to us for Godly living and proper worship. 2 Timothy 4:2 tells us to —

“preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction.”

I submit to you that the Word is out of season at this present time. It is very hard today to cut through the accumulated baggage that is American Christianity. There are fads, books, ridiculous doctrines, liberalism, and attacks on the very foundations of the most basic truths of the faith. Under most attack today are the notions of hell as a place for eternal punishment of the unrighteous, that Jesus died for sins and rose again on the third day, and that Jesus is the only way to heaven. One out of season approach to the Word that particularly grieves me is when people say “take God out of the box” we have put Him in and they stay away from conviction of their convictions. No, God is not in a box, He is infinite. But He purposely revealed  Himself in the 66 books of the bible and that is the God He wants us to know at this time. He didn’t make Himself uninterpretable and He didn’t make Himself unclear in that revelation. There is more to God, but for now, we work with what we have, and that is the God in the bible. Which ironically often comes in a box.

Paul warned that a major end times sign is that they will not endure sound doctrine. “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires:” (2 Timothy 4:3).  It doesn’t say that they will not endure doctrine, but sound doctrine. The Greek word “sound” in the part of the verse ‘sound doctrine’ means healthy, pure, well as in not-sick. It means as opposed to a debilitating sickness. And that is what unsound doctrine is, sickness.

It reminds me of the verse in 2 Timothy 2:17. Paul urged the workers in the faith to remain strong, refuting the words of false teachers such as Hymenaeus and Philetus, and Paul said something interesting here. He said that their teachings will spread like gangrene. The Greek word used here gangraina means gangrene, just as we know it today. A cankerous, spreading, oozing sore sickness. The US National Library of Medicine defines gangrene as “the death of tissue in part of the body.” The church is the body of Christ. Does that resonate with you, or what?

Paul is saying that false teachings kill off parts of  the body in oozing, putrid, destructive manner. Worse, the method of death of this tissue is defined as happening “when a body part loses its blood supply.” Jesus paid for the body with His blood so when we are cut off from the blood of Jesus by false teachings we are in very severe danger! That is what false teaching does, causes destruction to a part of the Body. The Holy Spirit was so apt in using gangrene as a metaphor! How wonderful He is!

So how do doctors treat gangrene? If it is caught before the infection goes too far, it is removed through a medical term called debridement, a medical word meaning the precise removal in an exact surgical procedure excising just the infected tissue. (I don’t want to get carried away with stretching metaphors too widely, but the body of the church is called the Bride…) However, if gangrene is left untreated for too long, a larger part of the body may need to be amputated. Finally, if left untreated for too, too long, the whole organism dies.

As far as the Word goes, I submit to you that failure to correct false teaching in firm manner over the last few decades has led us to the very brink of this apostate time, when Jesus said asked if, when He returns in His second coming, will He find faith upon the earth? (Luke 18:8.) One can almost imagine the gangrenous, disgusting thing that religion will have become by then, left untreated. And the pure parts that are left will have been amputated do deeply there may only be one finger or one toe remaining in light and in truth. Sorry for the gross images, but Paul started it!

So what are we to do when coming across a false teaching? Now I admit it is easier to point to a false teaching when finding a false teaching like Jentezen Franklin or Joel Osteen, or Beth Moore or Billy Graham because they are far away and we can simply turn the channel, walk by their table at the book store without purchasing, or say no to taking up their simulcast. But what happens when the false teaching comes to your church and you have to endure it week after week? Now there is a problem and I tell you up front is the hardest thing in the world to handle. Many, many people won’t, can’t, or don’t. And that is why we are in this apostate situation. Brothers and Sisters, you have to point it out!

But before you do, make sure that you have prayed, loved, walked, studied, waited, watched, and prayed some more. Then and only then when the Spirit assures you the time is right, go public. Be ready for blowback of satanic proportions!

People will question your authority to point out a false teaching, especially if your pastor is promoting it. This is very good, we should be questioned when we say a church leader or pastor is promoting a false teaching. (That is why you have to be very sure that the Spirit led you to the right conclusion). Read these following verses but be sure to read them in the context of the chapters later so you have a thorough understanding of the mandate and burden to publicly exhort against a false teaching.

1 Timothy 5:20: Those who sin are to be rebuked publicly, so that the others may take warning.

Titus 1:13: This testimony is true. Therefore, rebuke them sharply, so that they will be sound in the faith

Titus 2:15: These, then, are the things you should teach. Encourage and rebuke with all authority. Do not let anyone despise you.

But am I sure we are to do this to a brother? Yes. When Peter went off the rails in Antioch, Paul opposed Peter to his face. “But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned.” (Galatians 2:11-14). What? Wasn’t Peter saved? Not condemned? Well John 3:18 says we condemn ourselves by what we believe and Peter had condemned himself by accepting a false teaching. It also could mean that the Gentile believers at Antioch were condemning Peter already. There was a ruckus and it was known that a division was happening in the church there because of the divisive nature of the Judaizers’ false teaching.

It was particularly hard because the co-pastor at Antioch, Barnabas, Paul’s beloved Barnabas! was now also being carried away too. Gangrene spreads, and Paul must have been grieved to see he was losing Barnabas to the hypocrisy dividing the church there. Peter was the most highly thought of in all of Christendom. But that didn’t stop Paul, because Jesus is even higher than that and it is His name we defend. He got to the point in Gal 2:14 where when he “saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the Gospel.” Paul waded in, knowing that the truth was more important than keeping peace. He opposed Peter to his face. The Spirit saw fit to include that in the record so we must use that as a pattern for today. When public sin against the Gospel encroaches on the church, there must be immediate and unequivocal church discipline to rectify it. Otherwise when we preach holiness and purity but don’t get rid of unholiness and impurity, we destroy our own credibility.

Now to the other point. Many people say not to name names. However, throughout the New Testament, we are told who was sinning and why. Jesus rebuked the Pharisees, Saducees, Scribes and Herodians. (Matthew 16:6-12 and Matthew 23:15). Paul rebuked Peter in Gal 2. Paul dealt with Hymenaeus, Philetus (1 Tim 1:20), and Demas (2 Tim 4:9-10). Peter dealt with Simon the Sorcerer and Ananaias/Sapphira (though these last two were not false teachers bringing false doctrine, but liars bringing hypocrisy to the tithe or grieving the Spirit). Names were named.

We know the names of the false doctrines too, not just the people perpretrating them. There were the  Judaizers/Legalists, (Acts 15:1), Gnosticism (1 Timothy 6:20-21, and likely was what Paul was dealing with in 1 Cor 8),  Asceticism (Colossians 2:18-23), Antinomianism (2 Timothy 3:2-9). There are other false doctrines, but suffice to say, why do we know the names of these false doctrines now? Names were named.

Most of these false doctrines are still around today, and indeed it is a blessing that they were named, so we can identify them and combat them in same manner as the forefathers of the faith did.

I have tried to show you that false doctrines and teachings are a gangrenous cancer that must be opposed and excised. It is uncomfortable to do this and it seems excessive to name names. But let me put it to you this way. Knowing now that false teaching kills the body, let us think of false teaching as a runaway train hurtling toward your town and potentially crashing into the houses and businesses lining the track.

The first thing to decide is, IS there a runaway train, and is it on our track? Have we heard the report correctly? Paul saw that they were not straighforward, and to me this means he had examined the issue up close and had proof. It doesn’t say “Paul heard…” or, “Paul wondered…”If it is a true report of a runaway train, would you stand by and say nothing? Would you say, “Well, the people in the houses are asleep, they will get mad at me if I call them at this hour. I better stay quiet for the sake of peace.” Of course not! But that is what people expect us to do when we spot a false teaching.

Secondly, do you make the call to the house owners in the path of destruction and say this:

“Get out! there is a runaway train coming!”
“Where is it?”
“I can’t tell you that.”
Well, from what direction is it coming?”
“I can’t tell you that either.”
“What is the name of the train? Which train?”
“Sorry, I can’t tell you.”
“What time will it get here?”
“I can’t tell you that as well.”
“Why can’t you tell me the specifics???”
“Because I don’t want to offend the train.”

What good is sounding the alarm if you won’t go into specifics? Failure to be specific on behalf of not wanting to cause trouble for the perpetrators of false teaching is actually saying you prefer to besmirch the name of Jesus because you don’t want to offend satan!

It is not easy to do this though. It is not easy to discern false teaching, it takes prayer and study. It is not easy to stand up to the spiritual leaders and say they are wrong. It is not easy to maintain your convictions in the face of blowback. They will make you quail and they will make you doubt.

But look at our gracious God:

Do not say, ‘I am a youth,’For you shall go to all to whom I send you, And whatever I command you, you shall speak. Do not be afraid of their faces, For I am with you to deliver you,” says the LORD. (Jeremiah 1:7). He was true to Jeremiah and He will be with you as well,

“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:19-20). We are to go forth teaching and protecting the sound doctrines of the Gospel in the disciples and He will be with us to the end.
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Posted in Annihilationist, false doctrine, wider mercy

Two options: heaven, or hell

Posted on by elizabethprata

It is pretty simple. There are only two options, accept the Lord’s offer of pardon for sins by repenting and gain heaven, or refuse it and gain hell and eternal judgment. Stay strong. I have observed that the longer people go in Christianity the wobblier they get on the basics. Some of them. For example, here are three quotes from people in their unscriptural beliefs which you may not be aware. Who said it? None of these are from Rob Bell or Joel Osteen or ‘May 21, 2011 rapture guy’ Harold Camping. The answers may surprise you.

This first quote speaks of Annihilationist doctrine, the doctrine that Hell is not eternal and punishment does not happen-
1. “Scripture points in the direction of annihilation, and that ‘eternal conscious torment’ is a tradition which has to yield to the supreme authority of Scripture.”

2. “All who live a just life will be saved even if they do not believe in Jesus Christ … “The gospel teaches us that those who live in accordance with the Beatitudes… ‘the poor in spirit, the pure of heart, those who bear lovingly the sufferings of life’ will enter God’s kingdom.”

3. “…there’s the Body of Christ. This comes from all the Christian groups around the world, outside the Christian groups. I think everybody that loves Christ, or knows Christ, whether they’re conscious of it or not, they’re members of the Body of Christ … And that’s what God is doing today, He’s calling people out of the world for His name, whether they come from the Muslim world, or the Buddhist world, or the Christian world, or the non-believing world, they are members of the Body of Christ, because they’ve been called by God. They may not even know the name of Jesus, but they know in their hearts that they need something that they don’t have, and they turn to the only light that they have, and I think they are saved, and that they’re going to be with us in heaven.”

These are the people who said it:
1. Prominent and influential Evangelist John R.W. Stott, in the book, Essentials pp. 306-326, discussed here.
2. Pope John Paul II, the pope everyone liked.
3.Billy Graham, American evangelist

Are you surprised that Billy Graham, the world’s most famous evangelist, thinks that Muslims who don’t know Christ are in the body of Christ? That people who live a good life with a longing heart knowing they vaguely ‘need something they don’t have’, will meet Jesus as his friend? I listened to the interview where Graham said that. He went on to say that his ‘views had softened with age’, that he ‘used to be more fiery and brimstone-like’, but he’d ‘mellowed’. I think that his statement and his mellowing are a good example of “familiarity breeds contempt” – contempt for God’s holiness, that is! If there is no hell, there is no justice. If there is acceptance of one and all into the Kingdom it means Christ died for nothing!

People who enter the kingdom not knowing Jesus as Graham stated, makes a lie of this verse: ““Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’  And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’” (Mt 7:21-23). You HAVE to know Jesus.

It also means, if you believe as Graham does, when Jesus says “I am THE way, THE truth and THE life,” He lied. He did not say that ‘I am the way among many other ways that you can try,’ No, there is no possibility of this position being true. Jesus does not lie. Thank God that there IS a way! It is a good way, bought at a tremendous price, but He extends it to us at only the cost of our repentance.

People who believe that hell isn’t eternal and that there is a way to heaven aside from Jesus suffer from one problem: a high view of sin and a low view of His holiness. It is simple. It all boils down to sin, holiness, repentance and eternal justice for the unrepentant. It began with sin in Genesis 3, it ends with sin in Revelation 20:11-15 at the Great White Throne judgment of sinners for all time. Sin-judgment-repentance-salvation, that is the foundation of His work in the world. Period.

Be careful of incremental chipping away of your faith and belief in the foundational doctrines Jesus taught us in the bible. There is one way to heaven. It is narrow. “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.” Stay praying and stay in the Word and stay being built up by brethren at regular worship services! It is a dangerous time for us all, spiritually.

“The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!” Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life…. He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon.” (Rev 22:17, 20)

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Posted in bible jesus, end time, false doctrine, friday

Happy Friday! Are you happier than you were on Thursday?

Posted on by elizabethprata

Joel Osteen, leader of Lakewood Church in Houston has written another book. The title is, “Every Day a Friday: How to Be Happier 7 Days a Week.” It stems from research that says people are happier on Friday. Osteen wants to ensure that people can know they could be happy say, on Wednesday too.

I saw the title and I thought it was a spoof book someone else wrote who was making fun of his doctrine light and fresh toothpaste smile. Unfortunately the title nor the book is not a spoof nor a joke.

He was interviewed by ABC News and what follows are excerpts and quotes from what Osteen said during the interview. It is such a shame that he has become the face of Christianity, because what he espouses isn’t Christianity. I hate when that happens. But we were foretold that it would.

“For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.” (2 Timothy 4:3) If Osteen and many others like him is any indication, that time is now.

“They say to the seers, “See no more visions!” and to the prophets, “Give us no more visions of what is right! Tell us pleasant things, prophesy illusions.” (Isaiah 30:10)

“For many years, people have heard that God’s mad at them — they can’t live up to the standards. But our message is about the goodness of God,…”

I’ve heard Osteen say that before, about the Law. It is a straw man argument. The Law is fulfilled. Of course we cannot live up to the standards. Jesus came to fulfill the Law and release us from ritual and ceremony, from the futility of attempting to maintain external standards that elevate our sin nature to anything more than what it is, craven and debased. But Osteen says that kill-joy old Law, you forget about that and listen to me, and be happy.

Here is another quote:
Osteen said: “I think it goes back to tradition, how we were raised. Jesus talked about everyday life, not just doctrine but how do we live? How do we forgive? How do we keep a good attitude when the economy is down?”

Yeah, that’s why Jesus suffered and died on the cross, to keep us happy when the economy is down.

Osteen continued: “I challenge you to let every day be a Friday. Give yourself permission to be happy every day. Not just on the weekends. Not just when you have a special event. Not just when you’re on vacation. If you have the right mind set, you can be just as happy on Monday as you are on Friday. The Scripture doesn’t say, “Friday is the day the Lord has made.” It says, “This is the day the Lord has made” (Psalm 118:24; emphasis added). This means Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and every other day of the week. You can be happy even when it’s raining, when you have to work late, or when you have to do the dishes.”

Again, how great that our Holy God lived and died on earth so we can be happy doing the dishes.

“It’s part of making the Church relevant to the modern world, he said. “I think in some other countries that’s why the church has dried up. They are having church like they had 50 years ago, and you know, the message doesn’t change, but the times change. The music, the production, the lights: I believe if Jesus were here today he would have good production. He would have the best of things.”

Yeah, that Word of God is sooo outdated, and worship in a creaky old church is so last century.

Well, enough with the sarcasm, deserved as it is. It’s terrible to see the reduction of a sterling word from Our Holy God to watered down pabulum such as Osteen utters. Forget what I say. What does the bible say?

“O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called.” (1 Timothy 6:20)

“That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;” (Ephesians 4:14)

“Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.” (Acts 20:30)

But wait a minute, you say! Osteen isn’t speaking evil things! He isn’t pernicious nor spreading overtly false doctrine!

No, but his kind of falsity is the most devastating. Can you think of a more devastating moment than this one? “Not everyone who says to Me, “Lord, Lord,” shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, “Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?” And then I will declare to them, “I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.” (Matthew 7:21-23)

First, we see that the people who are pleading ‘Lord, Lord’ are not doing the will of the Father. Second, He says that there will be many like that, people who thought they were doing the will of the Father, who pretended to be doing the will of the Father, but not really doing His will. Many. Third, they were doing things that were religion-ish, like prophesying, doing wonders but all along they were not believing. The father’s will is this: “For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.” ‘ (John 6:40). They did not believe, and they will not be raised up.

So the ones who will be turned away are the ones who seemed real religious, but they were not really believers. We could not tell, because they said the right things and acted the right way. But the Lord knew. Worse, the Lord says, “‘So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth.”

The Lord prefers the hot, zealous, fervent believers, and the the ones who are at least completely true to satan and are cold to the Lord. But the ones in the middle, they are the worst of all. He will vomit them out.

You can see the Lord feels most strongly about the pretenders. That is because they are so poisonous to the body. Their benign misdirection, their subtle watering down of the truth, their apathy, all are deadly contaminants to the church.

Happiness is not on Friday because it is the start of the weekend. Happiness is not doing dishes. Happy is not maintaining equilibrium in a slow economy. Happiness is “if ye suffer for righteousness’ sake, happy are ye: and be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled;” (1 Peter 3:14). Happiness is finding wisdom. (Proverbs 3:13). Happiness is trusting the LORD. (Proverbs 16:20). Happiness is fearing the LORD. (Psalms 128:1-2). I could go on here, but the bible says not to cling to the things of this world, because they cannot make us happy. We can choose happiness every day of the week, but unless we have the Lord as Redeemer in our hearts and believe on His name, we are going to be very UNhappy in hell.
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Posted in emergent church, false doctrine, prophecy

Tips on spotting Emergent church falsity in yourself or others

Posted on by elizabethprata

The false doctrines of emergent Christianity are permeating everywhere. I usually think of them as existing and infecting churches in Seattle or California, not in Georgia, not in the people I know. But those poisonous doctrines are everywhere, including right around me.

One of the typical doctrines of this false religious movement is incessant questioning under the guise of intellectual openness. They relentlessly cast doubt on the authority and reliability of Scripture. It is a lie from the first lie, from satan who said “Hath God indeed said…??” It is not intellectual openness to continually ask questions of biblical truth, it is a the chipping away of the absolute authority of God.

If you find yourself going in this direction you’re infected with it:

“I used to believe in the pretrib rapture, now I’m not so sure.” Substitute any word for pretrib and you have the same Emergent questioning tactic. “I used to believe in hell but now I’m not so sure.” “I used to know what ‘the wrath’ is but what is wrath, really?”

They say, “I’m being intellectually honest.” But they’re not, actually. They’re being spiritually dishonest.

Asking constant questions, and worse, always being available for the next or a different answer chips away at the absolute nature of Truth. That truth is found in the bible and once you let the Holy Spirit form the answer in you, to lead you to the verses where it is clear, then let it stay. It’s work to remain absolutely staunch but you have to do it. Here is the nut of the matter: as long as there is the possibility of a different answer, you don’t have to defend the one you’re temporarily clinging to.

Here is a tip: Any time you go from a stance of understanding to one of doubt you are going in the wrong direction. Now, I’m not saying questioning is bad. I do that all the time. I ask a million questions each day. I ask, why did Eve take the fruit? How did Satan convert a third of the angels to his way of thinking? Where is heaven? What are the physics behind the creation? How did Paul stay so positive in the faith throughout his trials? But here is the difference. God is the author and perfecter of our faith. (Hebrews 12:2). He is not the author of confusion (1 Corinthians 14:33). When you ask questions on doctrinal things and you turn to the bible for answers, if you are coming away with more questions than answers, you’re infected. If you come away with clarity and peace, you’re not. The bible satisfies answers. Satan is the one with the questions.
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Posted in double minded, end of days. prophecy, false doctrine, pre-tribulation rapture

A new false doctrine: the Hermeneutics of Humility

Posted on by elizabethprata

The Hermeneutics of Humility part 2,here
The Hermeneutics of Humility part 3 here

There is a false doctrine going around that is having an impact. It is called the Hermeneutics of Humility. It goes like this: “I’m fallible, and I’ve been wrong before in my interpretations of the bible, and gee, look at how many other people are wrong in their interpretations, and I’m just too humble to say that I think I know the bible. So I won’t say I do.”

People who have fallen deeper into the false doctrine of Hermeneutical Humility say “There are things I won’t contend for. I certainly won’t fight over biblical non-essentials.”

And people who have fallen the furthermost say “I just want unity. We should be united over the Gospel, not divided.”

John MacArthur defined Hermeneutics of Humility this way:
“We live in a time when certainty and conviction about what is true is not tolerated. The politically correct attitude is one of uncertainty with nothing absolute. There’s a new hermeneutics, a new science of interpretation called the Hermeneutics of Humility, and this is serious to the people who espoused this and their Hermeneutics of Humility say, “I’m too humble to think that I could ever know what the Bible really means and so I can only offer my opinion and I certainly can’t say that this is in fact the truth.” They pat themselves on the back congratulating themselves for such intellectual openness.”

Senior Pastor Daniel Henderson put it this way:
“One of the great dangers of this movement is what they call a ‘hermeneutic of humility.’ ‘Hermeneutic’ is the science of interpreting scripture, and, of course, the idea of humility. And the basic idea is, ‘Let’s not be too clear, too dogmatic, too strong about what we believe. I mean, how do we know we’re really right, you know?’ And in a sense, it’s giving into the conflict of society, giving in to the pressure of the culture to say, ‘Well, you know, absolute truth, we’re not sure, so let’s just be really humble about the way we communicate it.’

David B. Hewitt said it this way: “The “hermeneutics of humility” appear to be the fact that people try to put forward the idea that we cannot really know with certitude what the Bible is saying, and to insist we can is proud and arrogant.”

The Hermeneutics of Humility makes me crazy. I get upset when I read bloggers who espouse it, because it dismisses the work of the Holy Spirit. It makes clear to unbelievers that the faith that was delivered to the Saints once for all (Jude 1:3) is unknowable. It shows evidence of satan’s success in getting us to doubt ourselves. And that was the very first scheme he perpetrated, and it appears to be one of the last. Let’s look at the things I’ve just said closely. This is going to be broken up into several parts. This is a serious, serious matter! Please listen with receiving, graceful heart, bathed in prayer, and with open ears.

Hermeneutics of Humility dismisses the work of the Holy Spirit. James said, “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But he must ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind.” (James 1:2-6).

In verse 3 here James says faith will be tested but it yields a perfect result, the word for perfect is a root from which we get telescope. The illustration here is with a old pirate’s telescope, unfolding (extending out) one stage at a time to function at vision that is at full-strength. In verse 4 he says that ‘if you lack anything’ (for that endurance so that you may be perfected) and the word lack here means lacking as in left behind in a race. If you are being left behind in wisdom and need perfecting for those results, then ASK. Those who do not ask dismiss the work of the Holy Spirit. Those who do ask but doubt, also disrespect His work.

You notice those who say that are too humble to claim they know for sure what this or that doctrine of the bible means, have been like surf of the sea. They used to believe in post-tribulation rapture, now they believe in pre-tribulation rapture but then again they are not so sure. They used to follow this pastor but then came across a website that said something different and now they are not so sure. They are tossed like the surf and they end up being double minded. Many people who espouse this false humility have already been tossed so much like the surf that they just want to find a beach and give up. Being double minded IS tiring. They were tossed to begin with because they were not rooted in the Spirit, not allowing HIM to lead the way. The Spirit doesn’t toss you. He lends peace to your mind. If you are tossed like the surf then please take a look at whether you are relying on the Spirit to unfold your understanding, or not. There is peace in the certitude that the Holy Spirit gives us in understanding the faith and that is how we know it was Him that gave it to us in the first place.

Obtaining wisdom and certitude does not mean that you’re done in studying that particular doctrine. Think of the telescope again. It extends. I explored the rapture doctrine and after a while of prayer, study, and discernment He showed me unalterably that it will occur before the Tribulation. But that doesn’t mean I concluded my studies in that doctrine. There was much more to learn about the rapture, but my faith in His deliverance of wisdom to me never wavered after that. The unfolding telescope is always advancing the eye toward clearer vision. We will only know for sure when we are glorified and perfected in all ways, and even then we will still be plumbing the depths of an infinite God. But DO advance. Unfold your certainty so that you may endure and your faith will endure at the time of testing.

I have much, MUCH more to say about this and will continue with another blog entry after church. I’ll take a look at where satan’s hand in this false doctrine is, talk about biblical discernment, and the difference between humility in certitude, and conceit in knowing.

The Hermeneutics of Humility part 2,here
The Hermeneutics of Humility part 3 here

Blessings to you, cherished ones.
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