Deception has always threatened the church. Jesus warned about it. Paul wrote several of his letters to counter it, Peter and John had strong words to say about it. It is nothing new, however the scale of deception assaulting the church at the moment seems to be far more than at any other time in history, save the early days of the church when they did not have the Gospels and Epistles. That, together with other global events, indicates to me that we are in the last days. The main reason I decided to start writing this blog was to counter, in some small way, the deceptions I find creeping into the church in Scotland. I do not expect anyone to just accept what I say here as gospel - I expect them to go away and search the scriptures to see if what I say is true. I also expect them to do some background reading, which is why I provide links to other websites in many of my articles.
This blog is aimed at mature christians. If you are a new christian my advice to you would be to concentrate on reading the Bible. Read a decent translation, not a paraphrase like The Message or the Living Bible. Don't skip any of it, because you need to get the big picture. Go to a church where they preach from the Bible. Go to a good Bible study group if you can. Then, when you've read the Bible, you can use it to measure what I say. If you are a mature christian and you have not read all of the Bible, go away and read it all. You need to get the big picture. How can you use the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God if you haven't read it all?
I cannot hope to cover all the deceptions of the enemy in this blog, however if you really know the Word of God, you will be able to recognise deception when you see it and that is vitally important. In the words of Jesus "Watch out that no-one deceives you." (Matthew 24:4 NIV)
Thursday, 15 March 2012
Thursday, 1 March 2012
Where do you draw the line?
In this age of increasing deception and compromise, I am wondering where one should draw the line when it comes to fellowshipping with people who do not hold exactly the same views as me. I don't think I am alone in wondering this and so I want to explore the issue in this post, and am taking the unusual step of opening it for comments so that others can contribute to the discussion if they wish.
As I have already said, I am an Arminian Baptist. I have described Arminianism elsewhere on this blog and I believe in adult, or believer's, baptism, not the christening of infants. At the moment I attend a Presbyterian church which is Calvinist and practises infant baptism. So you would be right in deducing that I don't see these things as deal-breakers when it comes to christian fellowship. Maybe some people would. However, if my church were to start holding joint services of worship with Our Lady of Lourdes RC church round the corner I would be out of there like a shot. A line would have been crossed because I don't believe that we share the same gospel with the Roman Catholic church.
If a minister were to preach something contrary to the Word of God as expressed in Scripture, I would leave that church. It is dangerous to sit and listen to heresy - eventually you will start to believe it. If a church leader were to start advocating things which are extra-biblical, such as lectio divina, visions of angels, centering prayer, Toronto-blessing type manifestations, I would also leave. These things are not founded in the Bible and can lead one into deception. You'll notice I'm talking about what the minister or leader is doing. That is because they set the direction of the church. I would be concerned if a member of the congregation had unbiblical views but it would not be a leaving issue for me unless it infected the whole congregation.
What else would cause me to leave a church? The use of The Message as the primary version of the Bible. Participation in the Purpose Driven Church program. Promotion of extra-biblical revelation and experiential christianity. A female leader. A leadership which is above criticism. Attempts to unduly control and influence my life in areas where the church has no authority eg telling me what job to take, what house to live in, who to marry. (Those are the signs of a cult, not a church.) Undue pressure to give financially to the church. I'm sure I could think of a few more things given time and I'll maybe expand on some of the above in later posts, again given time!
One particularly pressing issue for many in Scotland at the moment is the fact that, while their church is fine and their minister is sound, the denomination to which they belong is going off the rails. That is a difficult one. Do you (or should you) belong to the local church or do you belong to the denomination? Should you leave a good church just because the denomination is bad? I don't know the answer to that and, I suspect, many others don't either. It needs to be a matter for much prayer and, ultimately, the conscience of the individual. I personally am not loyal to any particular denomination and so look for the best church locally.
Ultimately the issue is not whether I agree with the minister/church/denomination. It's whether they agree with the Word of God as set forth in the Bible. When Paul and his companions arrived in Berea with the gospel, the Bereans "received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true." (Acts 17:11b NIV) We need to be like that and not like the Corinthians who "put up with a different gospel" to the one Paul preached "easily enough". (2 Corinthians 11:4b NIV)
As I have already said, I am an Arminian Baptist. I have described Arminianism elsewhere on this blog and I believe in adult, or believer's, baptism, not the christening of infants. At the moment I attend a Presbyterian church which is Calvinist and practises infant baptism. So you would be right in deducing that I don't see these things as deal-breakers when it comes to christian fellowship. Maybe some people would. However, if my church were to start holding joint services of worship with Our Lady of Lourdes RC church round the corner I would be out of there like a shot. A line would have been crossed because I don't believe that we share the same gospel with the Roman Catholic church.
If a minister were to preach something contrary to the Word of God as expressed in Scripture, I would leave that church. It is dangerous to sit and listen to heresy - eventually you will start to believe it. If a church leader were to start advocating things which are extra-biblical, such as lectio divina, visions of angels, centering prayer, Toronto-blessing type manifestations, I would also leave. These things are not founded in the Bible and can lead one into deception. You'll notice I'm talking about what the minister or leader is doing. That is because they set the direction of the church. I would be concerned if a member of the congregation had unbiblical views but it would not be a leaving issue for me unless it infected the whole congregation.
What else would cause me to leave a church? The use of The Message as the primary version of the Bible. Participation in the Purpose Driven Church program. Promotion of extra-biblical revelation and experiential christianity. A female leader. A leadership which is above criticism. Attempts to unduly control and influence my life in areas where the church has no authority eg telling me what job to take, what house to live in, who to marry. (Those are the signs of a cult, not a church.) Undue pressure to give financially to the church. I'm sure I could think of a few more things given time and I'll maybe expand on some of the above in later posts, again given time!
One particularly pressing issue for many in Scotland at the moment is the fact that, while their church is fine and their minister is sound, the denomination to which they belong is going off the rails. That is a difficult one. Do you (or should you) belong to the local church or do you belong to the denomination? Should you leave a good church just because the denomination is bad? I don't know the answer to that and, I suspect, many others don't either. It needs to be a matter for much prayer and, ultimately, the conscience of the individual. I personally am not loyal to any particular denomination and so look for the best church locally.
Ultimately the issue is not whether I agree with the minister/church/denomination. It's whether they agree with the Word of God as set forth in the Bible. When Paul and his companions arrived in Berea with the gospel, the Bereans "received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true." (Acts 17:11b NIV) We need to be like that and not like the Corinthians who "put up with a different gospel" to the one Paul preached "easily enough". (2 Corinthians 11:4b NIV)
Monday, 27 February 2012
Free Church abandoning the Westminster Confession?
As an Arminian Baptist, I do not subscribe to the Westminster Confession of Faith, which is the subordinate standard of most Presbyterian churches, including the Free Church of Scotland, because of its Calvinist standpoint and emphasis on infant baptism. I do, however, agree with its stance on Christ being the head of the church, not the Pope, and its repudiation of the Roman Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation. It is therefore worrying to see that some Free Church ministers are now abandoning the Westminster Confession (and, it seems, their ordination vows) in favour of ecumenical relations with the Roman Catholic Church. Rev James Maciver, last year's Free Church moderator, joined in an ecumenical watchnight service with the Church of Scotland and the Roman Catholic Church in Stornoway in December and was praised for it by Rev Professor Donald Macleod, recently retired Professor of Systematic Theology at the Free Church College in Edinburgh, in his Footnotes article for the West Highland Free Press of 30-12-11. In addition, Rev David Robertson went on air on Radio Scotland in 2010 and welcomed the Pope to Scotland as a 'fellow-christian' which is definitely not how the Pope is described in Chapter XXV of the Westminster Confession.
It seems to me that the Free Church needs to either discipline these men (who are very influential within the denomination) or else come clean and admit that they no longer regard the Westminster Confession of Faith as their confessional document. Then at least we would all know where we stand. Personally I think it is very sad that these ministers should have been so deceived as to forget what the Reformation was about and accept Roman Catholicism as a christian faith. Without the restraining influence of those who left to form the Free Church (Continuing) in 2000 it seems that the Free Church of Scotland is now beginning to go down the same path as the Church of Scotland, albeit 40 years behind. They'll be appointing women elders next.
It seems to me that the Free Church needs to either discipline these men (who are very influential within the denomination) or else come clean and admit that they no longer regard the Westminster Confession of Faith as their confessional document. Then at least we would all know where we stand. Personally I think it is very sad that these ministers should have been so deceived as to forget what the Reformation was about and accept Roman Catholicism as a christian faith. Without the restraining influence of those who left to form the Free Church (Continuing) in 2000 it seems that the Free Church of Scotland is now beginning to go down the same path as the Church of Scotland, albeit 40 years behind. They'll be appointing women elders next.
Thursday, 16 February 2012
Angels - the new god?
I was browsing the religious section of my local library this afternoon and was amazed at the number of books on angels. Perhaps I shouldn't have been - there is plenty of evidence around that angels are the new god, from angel workshops to cute little statuettes of angels in people's homes. It seems there is an angel for every occasion - a bit like saints - and you can read about how to harness their power for your own benefit. Sadly even Christians are being taken in by all this - I personally have encountered Christians who pray to angels, invoke their help and have a special guardian angel whom they regard as a mascot. They obviously haven't read Hebrews recently, otherwise they would know that angels are ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation, but that salvation comes through faith in Christ, who is far above the angels. (Hebrews 1)
Nowhere in Scripture does it tell us to pray to angels - quite the opposite. In Colossians 2:18 we are warned against those who worship angels and praying to angels instead of to God is, I believe, idolatry. It is God who commands the angels, not us (Psalm 91:11). We are commanded to pray to God, in the name of His Son and to make all our requests known to God, not to angels. If God decides to answer our prayers by sending an angel, that is his prerogative. Personally I'd rather he used other means, as encounters with angels in Scripture usually left the person concerned terrified! Angels are not cute, cuddly beings - they are awesome messengers and mighty warriors. They are also always male, not female, so the female angel which Todd Bentley claimed to have seen floating along was not Biblical.
It seems to me that people become interested in angels because they want to believe that someone is looking after them but they don't want to have to deal with a righteous God. They are not interested in repenting of their sin and worship of angels doesn't require them to. All is sweetness and light and love. It is a false gospel. Christians who have a wrong image of God as stern, harsh and unapproachable sometimes find that angels are much easier to believe in and pray to but the real answer is to gain a right understanding of God as a loving heavenly Father through reading His Word. Worship of angels will only lead one deeper into deception. Remember that Satan can appear as an angel of light (2 Cor 11:14).
As Christians, we should be grateful for the ministry and protection of angels but we should not seek to contact them. Our relationship is with God the Father, through his Son Jesus Christ our Saviour and the Holy Spirit is our comforter, who reveals Jesus to us (John 16:14) and helps us to pray as we ought (Rom 8:26).
Nowhere in Scripture does it tell us to pray to angels - quite the opposite. In Colossians 2:18 we are warned against those who worship angels and praying to angels instead of to God is, I believe, idolatry. It is God who commands the angels, not us (Psalm 91:11). We are commanded to pray to God, in the name of His Son and to make all our requests known to God, not to angels. If God decides to answer our prayers by sending an angel, that is his prerogative. Personally I'd rather he used other means, as encounters with angels in Scripture usually left the person concerned terrified! Angels are not cute, cuddly beings - they are awesome messengers and mighty warriors. They are also always male, not female, so the female angel which Todd Bentley claimed to have seen floating along was not Biblical.
It seems to me that people become interested in angels because they want to believe that someone is looking after them but they don't want to have to deal with a righteous God. They are not interested in repenting of their sin and worship of angels doesn't require them to. All is sweetness and light and love. It is a false gospel. Christians who have a wrong image of God as stern, harsh and unapproachable sometimes find that angels are much easier to believe in and pray to but the real answer is to gain a right understanding of God as a loving heavenly Father through reading His Word. Worship of angels will only lead one deeper into deception. Remember that Satan can appear as an angel of light (2 Cor 11:14).
As Christians, we should be grateful for the ministry and protection of angels but we should not seek to contact them. Our relationship is with God the Father, through his Son Jesus Christ our Saviour and the Holy Spirit is our comforter, who reveals Jesus to us (John 16:14) and helps us to pray as we ought (Rom 8:26).
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