The Deceived Church‏

Hello Friends!

We know from the Scriptures that Satan’s plan is to deceive the whole world. His objective is to blind the minds of the unbelieving and to recruit those who have believed to become part of his agenda to set up an end-times delusion. This is what I refer to as the co-opting of the Christian Church…

 

The Deceived Church

Do you recall what Paul said would happen to the early Christian church?

Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them - Acts 20:28-30

 A brief overview of church history reveals Paul’s prophetic warning was fulfilled. He said it would happen and it happened. Numerous church leaders emerged during the first to the third centuries. The foundational principles of the Scriptures were ignored and many followed the experiential teachings of men who claimed they had discovered new and innovative methods to get in touch with God.

 

So, in other words, an emerging church growth movement began to emerge or should we say diverge. The reason for this is simple.

 

We know that God’s Word is light. When we begin to replace the Word of God with enlightenment by the words of man, we have a perfect formula for returning to darkness. The mystics (we often call them the church fathers) added ideas to Biblical Christianity that cannot be found anywhere in the 66 books of the Bible text - a recipe for spiritual disaster!

 

Jude also warned about the coming apostasy in the early church. He said certain men had crept in unawares because error was not being corrected:

For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ – Jude 4

How tragic, then and now.

 

Now, let’s bring this scenario up to date in our modern age. The latest wave of church growth methodology today is known as the Emerging Church. By the way, many of the ideas being promoted today originated when many present day church leaders studied the methods that “emerged” in the first to third centuries after Christ. These leaders say we need to reincorporate their ideas if we are going to have successful churches in this Century.

 

 But wait just a minute! If the “emerging church” of the past was based on extra-biblical revelation and subjective experiences that led to many false ideas and doctrines which state that Mary was much more than what we read about her in the Bible, and that the presence of Jesus can be conjured up from a wafer by a priest, shouldn’t we be somewhat concerned? Do you recall that many of the reformers were tortured and killed because they refused to accept these kinds of “emerging church” doctrines?

 

Rather than reviving the teachings of the monks and early “church fathers,” I believe we as Bible-believing Christians should pray that such pagan practices be exposed rather than embraced. While proponents of the Emerging Church believe they are getting closer to God, they are not paying attention to – or reading – the Word of God!

 

The last days will be characterized by doctrines of demons who lead sincere Bible-believing Christians astray:

Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons – 1 Timothy 4:1

The present day Emerging Church/”Sinner-Sensitive” Movement has that very same potential.

 

Contemplative Prayer

The Emerging Church Movement presently underway is riddled with teachings that contradict God’s Word. The supporters of this movement may be sincere in their efforts to reinvent Christianity for the sake of reaching this generation by making the “narrow way” a “wide way” as spoken of by Jesus Himself:

Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it – Matthew 7:13-14

But I believe it is time to cry out apostasy like Jeremiah did, whether it is popular or not.

 

While some of the teachings in the Emergent Church Movement may seem rather harmless, a number of general trends reveal a form of Christianity that is in defiance of the central message of the Old and New Testaments Scriptures. For example, Brian McLaren, a well known leader of this movement, has gone on record saying that hell is not a place of judgment. Instead, he believes that hell is nothing more than what Jesus “said” the Jews would face after His departure from planet earth – His ascension to Heaven. 

 

Needless to say, McLaren makes no effort to hide the fact that he supports the “Palestine Movement” and stands against Israel. This is becoming much more commonplace among “evangelical” churches these days.

 

This commentary does not allow the space required to do this subject justice. However, if there was one item I could warn you about and one item only, it would be the onslaught of a concept called contemplative prayer. This idea is promoted as a means to get close to God. Here is what Richard Foster – one of the proponents – has to say about the practice of contemplative prayer:

“I also want to give a word of precaution. In the silent contemplation of God we are entering deeply into the spiritual realm, and there is such a thing as supernatural guidance that is not divine guidance. While the Bible does not give us a lot of information on the nature of the spiritual world, we do know… there are various orders of spiritual beings, and some of them are definitely not in cooperation with God and his way! …But for now I want to encourage you to learn and practice prayers of protection… All dark and evil spirits must now leave.” – Richard Foster, Prayer: Finding the Heart’s True Home (San Francisco, CA.: Harper, 1992, First Edition) p. 157

Are you shocked? If you are not, you should be! It is a fact that Buddhists and Hindus practice this same contemplative prayer methodology as a means of getting into an altered state of consciousness. My question is simply this: Should Christians embrace the same methods used by pagans to get with God? The Bible is clear – No! What god will they get in touch with?

 

We must heed these words from the Prophet Jeremiah to the people he was called to warn:

And the Lord said to me, “A conspiracy has been found among the men of Judah and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem. They have turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers who refused to hear My words, and they have gone after other gods to serve them; the house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken My covenant which I made with their fathers. Therefore thus says the Lord: “Behold, I will surely bring calamity on them which they will not be able to escape; and though they cry out to Me, I will not listen to them” – Jeremiah 11:9-11

Do you see the desperate need for Jeremiah’s message today? Being led away from God and His Word by seducing spirits and doctrines of demons is a serious offense. It’s time to wake up Bible-believing Christians – or suffer the dire consequences!

Keep looking up and sharing the Gospel while there is still time… Hallelujah and Maranatha – come quickly Lord Jesus!

We are not guaranteed tomorrow – tomorrow may be too late! If you haven't yet made that most important decision of your life, won't you make Jesus Christ your personal Lord and Savior today - before it's too late? Today is the day of Salvation!

If you have been blessed by this message or have a specific question, prayer request or testimony, please send me a note to: encouragingconcepts@live.com

I love hearing from you. Keep reading Encouraging Concepts!

Blessings!
Shane K. Morin <><

Encouraging Concepts

Truth for Today

"Living Life From a Biblical Worldview"

Lighthouse Publications <><
"Dedicated to the Never Ending Search for the Creator's calling within You" (TM)

Yom Kippur: The Day of Atonement

Hello Friends!

The day on the Jewish calendar, which is the holiest day of their seven Jewish holy days, the holy days that God gave to the Jews to observe on an annual basis, is "Yom Kippur," the "Day of Atonement.” Let’s take a look at what the Scriptures have to say about this holy Jewish day…

 

Yom Kippur: The Day of Atonement

For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself – Hebrews 9:26

During Biblical times, when the Temple stood in Jerusalem, the High Priest, after much preparation, would enter the Holy of Holies of the Temple for the purpose of pouring the "sacrificial blood" onto the "Mercy Seat" on the "Ark of the Covenant.” This act would cover the sins of the Jewish people for one year until the next Yom Kippur. This annual holy day was to be marked by a twenty-five hour fast and was to be a very solemn day.

Today, without a Temple and the sacrificial system in place, the Jewish people must approach this holy day in a different manner. The ten days between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur are referred to as the ten "Awesome Days.” That's a period of time when the present-day Jews seek forgiveness from family, friends, loved ones and neighbors that they may have trespassed against during the last year. They will also take a piece of bread to a body of water, that preferably flows into the ocean, and will cast the bread on the water. Then they quote the book of Micah:

He will again have compassion on us, and will subdue our iniquities. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea – Micah 7:19

Many Orthodox Jews will also cut off the head of a chicken and wave its body around over their own heads. They believe all these activities will help them be included in the "Book of Life." Since there is no Temple and no "sacrificial system" in modern times, the Jews today offer up prayers three times daily, do good deeds and give money to needy causes. These activities replace the "sacrificial system.”

The holy day of Yom Kippur also has a "prophetic significance." The book of Hebrews reveals that prophetic aspect of Yom Kippur:

Therefore it was necessary that the copies of the things in the heavens should be purified with these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.  For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us; not that He should offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood of another -  He then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation – Hebrews 9:23-28

These Scriptures tell us that in days past the High Priest, "enters into the Holy Place every year with the blood of others.”
Now look at what Jesus does:

He then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself – Hebrews 9:26

Let me remind you that Jesus Christ fulfilled the "spring feast" in the proper day sequences. Jesus Christ was:

Crucified on "Passover"
Buried on "Unleavened Bread"
Rose from the dead on "First Fruits"

NOTE: The "Feast of Weeks" represents the decent of the Holy Spirit (Pentecost) & the birth of the Christian Church

Jesus Christ will also fulfill the three "fall feast" in the proper day sequences: 

Gathering (Rapture) of the Christian Church on "Trumpets" 
Return to earth (Second Coming) on "Atonement" 
Reign for 1000 years (Millennial Kingdom) "Tabernacles"

Jesus Christ will return to the earth on a future "Rosh Hashana" followed by the ten "Awesome Days" when He builds up Jerusalem, builds His temple and goes to the Jezreel Valley for the Battle of Armageddon.

Then Jesus will gather the Jews that He will have protected for the last three and a half years of the Tribulation Period, in Petra, and bring them to Jerusalem by way of the Mt of Olives, the Eastern Gate and into the Temple prophesied by Ezekiel as the Holy of Holies:

And He said to me, “Son of man, this is the place of My throne and the place of the soles of My feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel forever. No more shall the house of Israel defile My holy name, they nor their kings, by their harlotry or with the carcasses of their kings on their high places – Ezekiel 43:7

That will happen on the Holy Day – “Yom Kippur.” That's when all Jews get saved in a day as prophesied by Zechariah:

For behold, the stone that I have laid before Joshua: Upon the stone are seven eyes. Behold, I will engrave its inscription,’ says the Lord of hosts, ‘And I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day’ – Zechariah 3:9

Passover was for "personal salvation" and Yom Kippur was for "national salvation." The Jewish feasts have always pointed to Jesus Christ, the Jewish Messiah. The Savior of the world – both Jew and Gentile. Praise the Lord!

Time is running out. Receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior now before your heart is so hardened, you are unable – or unwilling – to hear His voice. Please take heed to this warning! Jesus Christ is the ONLY way to the Father! These are His Words:

I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me – John 14:6

Without Jesus Christ's substitutionary death on the Cross of Calvary for your iniquities, you will die in your sins and face the Wrath of God at The Great White Throne Judgment. You will then receive your just sentence – a literal, physical and eternal place of torment, a place known in the Bible as Hell. Heaven will NOT be your final destination apart from Jesus Christ! Please heed this warning – time is running out!

If you have any questions about how to become a true follower of Jesus Christ, please contact me, another Christian or a Pastor – but please do not delay... Today is the day of Salvation!

Keep looking up and sharing the Gospel while there is still time… Hallelujah and Maranatha!


We are not guaranteed tomorrow – tomorrow may be too late! If you haven't yet made that most important decision of your life, won't you make Jesus Christ your personal Lord and Savior today - before it's too late? Today is the day of Salvation!

If you have been blessed by this message or have a specific question, prayer request or testimony, please send me a note to: encouragingconcepts@live.com

I love hearing from you. Keep reading Encouraging Concepts!

Blessings!
Shane K. Morin <><

Encouraging Concepts

Truth for Today

"Living Life From a Biblical Worldview"

Lighthouse Publications <><
"Dedicated to the Never Ending Search for the Creator's calling within You" (TM)

The Offensive Gospel‏

Hello Friends!

Have some of your friends and acquaintances become your enemy because you told them the truth?  This is a common experience for those who faithfully share the Gospel of God with victims of deception. Consider the following thoughts and be encouraged in your quest for truth and righteousness - regardless of the opposition you will inevitably face… 

The Offensive Gospel

We need to recognize that the Biblical Gospel is offensive to those who are offensive to God. This is because before anyone can see the Gospel as "good news" they must first see themselves as guilty sinners under the condemnation of a Holy God. Others may be offended because they have embraced a works righteousness salvation where they can boast in their religious works. The Gospel of grace strips people of their own righteousness and calls them to trust in an alien righteousness:

For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ – Romans 5:17

Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved. For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes – Romans 10:1-4

The Gospel is also offensive because it declares there is only one way to be saved and that is through the substitutionary atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ. No one can be saved until they come to the cross with empty hands of faith, bringing nothing but their sins. Since we know the Gospel will be offensive to unbelievers, we must avoid adding to the offense by the way we present the message. Friendly relationships can be maintained when we share the Gospel with love, compassion, humility and patience.

The apostle Paul asked the members of the church in Galatia who had succumbed to the heresy of the Judaizers:

Have I become your enemy by telling you the truth? – Galatians 4:16

The Galatians were offended because the truth exposed the error they had embraced. Paul was concerned that they had been influenced by the false gospel of the Judaizers and had begun to doubt the truth of salvation by grace alone:

Indeed I, Paul, say to you that if you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing. And I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised that he is a debtor to keep the whole law. You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace – Galatians 5:2-4

People, who are on the broad way that seems right to man will be offended when we tell them it leads to eternal separation from God:

There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death – Proverbs 14:12

Knowing that the Gospel will be offensive to religiously proud people, we must speak the truth in love. In the past I have told friends that I love them so much that I need to share the greatest news they will ever hear. It is indeed the greatest gift one could ever receive. After I am finished sharing the truth of the Gospel message, I let them know that what they do with the Gospel message is between them and God. It is "good news" only if they receive the free gift of God. If they reject the gift, the "good news" will haunt them throughout all eternity in Hell because they refused God's gracious offer of forgiveness and reconciliation to Him.

Some of those who have rejected the gift of the Gospel still remain my friends because they know I approached them in the spirit of love. It is tragic when our loved ones reject the Gospel. However, the Apostle Paul encourages:

Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary – Galatians 6:9

Praise the Lord Jesus Christ! To Him be all the glory and honor due His name - Amen!

To our unbelieving friends, I urge you to repent now, before it is too late...

For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith” – Romans 1:16-17

Time is running out. Receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior now before your heart is so hardened, you are unable – or unwilling – to hear His voice. Please take heed to this warning! Jesus Christ is the ONLY way to the Father! 


Keep looking up and sharing the Gospel while there is still time… Hallelujah and Maranatha!

We are not guaranteed tomorrow – tomorrow may be too late! If you haven't yet made that most important decision of your life, won't you make Jesus Christ your personal Lord and Savior today - before it's too late? Today is the day of Salvation!

If you have been blessed by this message or have a specific question, prayer request or testimony, please send me a note to: encouragingconcepts@live.com

I love hearing from you. Keep reading Encouraging Concepts!

Blessings!
Shane K. Morin <><

Encouraging Concepts

Truth for Today

"Living Life From a Biblical Worldview"

Lighthouse Publications <><
"Dedicated to the Never Ending Search for the Creator's calling within You" (TM)

An Answer to the Question: Why?‏

Hello Friends!

This article is a follow-up correspondence to a prior EC article titled “Sandy Hook Elementary: God Does Care” posted back on 12/21/2012. Sadly, since this tragic incident, there have been other recent violent school shootings throughout various American cities. As a result, there have been many sincere questions and concerns regarding these atrocities and their outcomes... Most certainly - Why?

 

It is within these two EC articles that we seek to speak Biblically to the sin nature inherent within all of fallen mankind – the real reason and only true answer behind these and all other senseless acts of evil…

An Answer to the Question: Why?

According to a Business Insider source, there were eighteen mass murders in the USA in 2012. The venues for these atrocities included spas, high schools, universities, a funeral home, a café, a movie theater, a Sikh temple, a meat packing plant, a shopping mall, and an elementary school:

http://www.businessinsider.com/mass-murders-in-2012-2012-12

In all these horrific events, the lingering question is why? Why did people, sometimes children and other helpless people, have to die? Those who do not embrace a biblical worldview have no answers for these very difficult questions. For those who do embrace a biblical worldview, the Scriptures provide ample guidance as to how to understand these horrendous events.

To understand the biblical view, one must begin with the nature of man and ask the question: Is man fundamentally good or evil? Genesis 3 records the fall of man, that is, man’s initial rebellion against God. Adam and Eve disobeyed a direct command from God and, as a result, they died spiritually – and eventually they died physically. Because of the nature of the universe, reproduction happens in all species according to their own kind – see Genesis 1. Therefore once the first humans disobeyed God, their nature changed. This changed nature was then passed on to their heirs – all of us. Theologians call man’s condition after the sin of Adam and Eve depraved or fallen.

In the first three chapters of the book of Romans, the apostle Paul argues that all human beings are born into a state of sin or depravity – rebellion against God. Therefore, by nature, people do not obey God. Consequently every human being has a bias to sin. This means that by nature humans are evil. This then begs the question – If the base nature of humans is evil, why weren’t there more mass murders and other crimes in 2012? In other words, why aren’t humans as bad as they could be?

Notwithstanding the horrific acts of murders noted above, generally people can live relatively safely. One of God’s loving, kind provisions for His creatures is that He grants to all the ability to obey some of His principles. For example, even fools can use their tongues correctly:

Even a fool is counted wise when he holds his peace; When he shuts his lips, he is considered perceptive – Proverbs 17:28

And the most decadent person can be nice:

For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?  – Matthew 5:46

Theologians call this common grace. 

 

Common grace is the gift of God granted to every human being so that – on at least a rudimentary level – humans can obey God's rules for His creation. This grace is called “common” because it is widely granted to people and therefore not unusual. Even those who do not accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior can live in a measure of His common grace.

The reason common grace is so important is that the only way to accomplish anything in God's universe is to obey His laws. Common grace provides a means by which all people can obey enough of God’s laws to survive, at least for a while. Therefore common grace is the explanation for how rebellious people can function and even seem to prosper in God’s universe. Common grace, however, can never provide the basis for fallen man to be reconciled to the Righteous Holy Creator of the universe; only the grace of Jesus Christ can do this. 

 

In addition, common grace only goes so far with people who do not accept Jesus Christ. Eventually these people will experience a breakdown with common grace. Here is one of the texts of Scripture that reveals this truth:

The ways of the LORD are right; the righteous walk in them, but the rebellious stumble in them – Hosea 14:9

Rebellious people have the grace to obey some of God’s rules only so far – at some point the grace runs out. And man, in his base nature without common grace, can only produce dysfunction, destruction, and death. The atrocities of the past year are examples of expended common grace. 

 

In each of these atrocities there has been or will be a search for the causes. Why did these tragic events take place? There will be calls for gun control, which only addresses symptoms. Guns are not the problem; the problem is the people who wrongly use the guns. At best, gun control will provide some sin management, which may provide some benefits but doesn’t really solve the root cause of the problem.

Others may recognize that gun control will not really solve the problem. They may rightly recognize that the problem is people. In their analyses, they may postulate that the common factor in all the atrocities is that they were conducted by social misfits. To prevent future tragedies, therefore, government must control the social misfits. But trying to identify and control people can be very problematic and doesn’t really address the root issues. This conclusion could open Pandora’s Box and give the authorities sweeping powers to violate individual privacy rights. 

 

Neither controlling guns nor controlling people will provide the real solution. So what is the solution? 

 

The real solution to the problem must begin with a sound understanding of human depravity. By nature humans are born with a bias to sin and therefore are in a state of rebellion against their Creator. The only way to remedy this situation is by changing man’s nature. Though man can make minor behavior modifications, man cannot change his essential nature except through God’s only Begotten Son – Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ came to do for man what man could not do for himself. Jesus Christ came to pay the penalty for all sin that is required by a Just and Holy God. The work of Jesus Christ is then imputed to those who accept Him as their personal Lord and Savior. This is what effects true change in the hearts of sinful, depraved and lost people. 

 

A person who personally knows Jesus Christ becomes a new creature; that man or woman has a new heart and a new nature:

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new – 2 Corinthians 5:17

In contrast to the base traits of man – dysfunction, destruction, and death – the new nature of man is characterized by functionality, progress, and life – Praise the Lord!

 

How can what we do as people, communities, and nations effect this change? We need to humble ourselves, seek the Lord, and turn from our wicked ways and then the Lord will heal us – see 2 Chronicles 7:14 as a Biblical model for repentance. People who are transformed by the power of Jesus Christ don’t commit horrendous atrocities such as the ones noted above. Although they will struggle with their “fleshly” sin nature until they receive their glorified bodies – see Romans 7:14-25 – they facilitate life, progress and efficiency. They live according to a biblical worldview, seek God’s will & ways and bring glory to His Holy name. This is the life-long process of becoming more like Jesus Christ each and every day – known as the doctrine of sanctification. 

When common grace is expended in sinful human beings there is no restraint on sin; the full impact of depravity becomes clear in atrocities such as mass murders. This is the biblical answer to the question of why… 

 

So, what is the solution? As I noted above, it is not gun control nor is it people control.

  

The only efficacious solution is spiritual transformation that changes the hearts and minds of people to bring them into alignment with the will and ways of God through the supernatural saving power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ!  

This is the only way to produce meaningful change in the hearts of people to enable them to live holy, godly and just lives in Jesus Christ.

In Conclusion:

The greatest good that can come from the horrific events noted above is for people to believe the Gospel, repent and turn to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of their lives – the only real solution. May God grant us the grace to repent and the power for transformation through Jesus Christ so that our lives are characterized by functionality, progress, and life – for His Glory!

Keep looking up and sharing the Gospel while there is still time… Hallelujah and Maranatha!

We are not guaranteed tomorrow – tomorrow may be too late! If you haven't yet made that most important decision of your life, won't you make Jesus Christ your personal Lord and Savior today - before it's too late? Today is the day of Salvation!

If you have been blessed by this message or have a specific question, prayer request or testimony, please send me a note to: encouragingconcepts@live.com

I love hearing from you. Keep reading Encouraging Concepts!

Blessings!
Shane K. Morin <><

Encouraging Concepts

Truth for Today

"Living Life From a Biblical Worldview"

Lighthouse Publications <><
"Dedicated to the Never Ending Search for the Creator's calling within You" (TM)