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False Teachings
A letter arrives in an official U. S. Government
envelope...you read the contents carefully because your future may be at stake!
Another official mailing arrives from your bank, stock broker, mutual fund or employer....or
the telephone rings from them...you read or listen carefully because your future may
be at stake! God speaks in the pages of His Word (the Bible) about your need for, and The Way
to, salvation; and you hang on every word because your eternal destiny is at stake!.....or do
you?
In my concerns that we balance all of His
attributes with the love of God and His grace-filled interest in "all" being eternally saved,
I have posed some questions next to some passages of scripture. The answer to the question
may not be conclusive. I don't know how God has seen, or will see to it, that everyone will
get a chance to believe in Him through the blood of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. "No one comes
to the father except by me (Jesus)". The Word of God does not seem to give any real hope of
more than one chance at accepting The Gospel. And, since the death of Jesus, there has been a
constant succession of attempts to soften the gospel demands and even to redesign Jesus (The
Jesus Seminar). The apostle, Paul, warning the believers (and his warning is real
today):
WARNING!!!
"For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus
other than the Jesus that we preached,..." "For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen,
masquerading as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of
light. It is not surprising, then, if his [Satan's] servants masquerade as servants of
righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve." [Paul...to the church at
Corinth
( 2 Corinthians 11:1-15)].
WARNING!!!
Non-disputable and
disputable questions: some points about belief in Christ Jesus are not considered grounds for
honest dispute; some facets of the Christian life are not disputable. There can be no dispute about
the commands of the 10 commandments, though there is confusion as to interpretation. If we
interpret with the mind of man as our logic, we limit God who cautioned His children, " 'My
thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways' declares the Lord. 'As the heavens
are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your
thoughts.' "(Isaiah 55:8-9). Denominations, however, honestly
dispute...have disputable issues....whether there is or is not only one true translation of God's
word, for example.
WARNING!!!
[from Friday 2 June 2000 "Open Windows" devotional book]
Beware the Deceivers
Our country is being bombarded with alternative
religions, cults, and an amazing array of religious philosophies, including claims to psychic
insight and various attempts at intermingling New Age thought with certain Christian truths. The
sources of these non-biblical ideas and systems are various, including television and film
presentations, university lectures, and books on spirituality. Persons not well grounded in
biblical TRUTH are often deceived.
In the Bible book, 2 John, John wrote about false
teachers who were deceiving Christian congregations. Then, as now, "deceivers" (2 John, verse
7) have their own personal (often hidden) agendas. Often their teachings may resemble
Christianity in an expressed concern for individuals and an emphasis on loving and helping
others. Yet, their concept of Christ is non-biblical. "An antichrist" (2 John, verse 7)
refers to one who denies the biblical truth about Christ [Jesus of Nazareth] and seeks to
deceive others. The Holy Spirit, abiding within every follower of Jesus Christ who truly
"believes", helps that believer discern what is true and what is false (and to discern who
are the false teachers).
MY STRONGEST
ADVICE:
Accept the believer's guarantee and don't
leave anything to chance...that guarantee is absolutely clear!!!
***give me your comments about this
page***
check out the Highest
TRUTH
[posted 24
November 1998; 1st update, 3 June 2000.]
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