Is it well with my soul?

Is it well with my soul? As professing Christians we’d like to think so, and certainly the false religionists would like to think so as well. The hearts of sinful men are hopelessly and incurably religious so much so that even when men think themselves to be irreligious they are still found to hold to superstitions and vain imaginings of a religious nature deep within their heart of hearts. Sinful man is also a master of self deception. This self deception causes men to hold to various forms of the one false religion of human merit and achievement which stands over and against the one true and pure religion of God’s merit and achievement in Christ which is commonly known as Biblical Christianity.

Self deception is a frightening and spiritually fatal delusion and we can see from scripture that humans are found to be under its deadly sway both individually and corporately. In Matthew 7:21-23 we find the terrifying passage wherein the Lord is rebuking a group of humans who proclaim Him as Lord, but whom He denies having ever known. Clearly the Risen Savior’s omniscience isn’t in question here so it must be understood that He is not claiming to not know who these people are, rather He’s proclaiming that He never knew them in a personal, saving covenantal relationship as their Kinsman Redeemer. What are these lost souls guilty of? What has brought eternal condemnation upon them? In its context the passage tells us that they are guilty lawbreakers; in fact they are condemned as being lawless. “But”, the professing Christian might argue, “Christians are no longer under the law, we are set free of the guilt of the law in Christ Jesus.” This is true, but this truth only applies if the person claiming Christ is an actual true, regenerate, invisible church professing Christian as opposed to a false, unregenerate, worldly, carnal, convenient, cultural, visible church professing “Christian”. The former group is obedient to the commands of Christ and the latter group is disobedient. The difference herein is literally the difference between daylight and dark and inspired scripture teaches this stark and profound truth over and over again (Luke 6:46).

Corporate self deception is just as pernicious and deadly, perhaps even more so, than individual self deception. Unregenerate sinful mankind is in a constant state of fear and denial and he has discovered that “group think” often eases the guilty, nagging conscience that his Creator placed within him which ever wags an accusing finger in his face declaring: GUILTY! GUILTY!! GUILTY!!! False religion can indeed offer temporary solace, soothing the guilty conscience of sinful man. All the various streams of the one false religion offer the same empty promises to their deceived adherents – do this or that; follow this teaching or the other; keep the rules; be “moral” and “kind”; abstain from “evil” and do “good” that you might earn favor and enter into paradise as your reward. This is, as previously mentioned, the foundational premise of every form of the one false religion of human merit and achievement. It says, in effect, you can be good enough to merit rewards in the afterlife. And isn’t it interesting that even the false religions admit the afterlife; the Creator of man has stamped eternity in man’s heart and try as he may he simply can’t escape it! Of course Christians have few qualms about the deception running rampant outside the professing church, but inside the church? Surely not! Yet the One True and Living God tells us in His Holy Word that even so-called Christian churches that claim His name can be fraught with error and filled with self deception. In Revelation 3:1 we find that Sardis is DEAD and a little further along in Revelation 3:17 we discover that Laodicea, while thinking herself to be high and lifted up was in God’s eyes wretched, miserable, blind, poor and naked! These are frightening examples of corporate self deception run amok!

So what is the Christian to do? If he can’t trust himself knowing the heart is desperately wicked above all things, and he can’t trust in church leadership since he might find himself in Sardis or Laodicea where can he turn? The simple and straightforward answer is the eminently objective and forthright Word of God, the Holy Bible in fervent prayer and all humility.

Many people read books but The Holy Bible is the only book in the world that reads you.

Many people mark their books but The Holy Bible is the only book that marks you.

True Bible believing Christians are to welcome God’s Word and be quick both to HEAR and to DO His word by faith. In fact true Bible believing Christians not only HEAR God’s Word, they RECEIVE it with all joy! True Bible believing Christians RECEIVE God’s Word by faith and they DO God’s Word by faith and the doing is the evidence of the receiving (James 1:22; John 14:23-24; John 15:14; 1 John 2:3-4). According to the Holy Bible we know that we’ve come to know Jesus Christ IF we keep His commandments! By this we can infer that if we profess to know Him and don’t keep His commandments then we make Him out to be a LIAR! This is the gross sin and damnable error of the aforementioned group we found in Matt. 7:21-23; they made Jesus Christ out to be a liar by practicing lawlessness which is against His commandment! This is no light matter. This is a matter of the utmost importance. This is a subject for deep, personal examination in the light of inspired scripture (2 Cor. 13:5).

The true, regenerate, born-again Christian will demonstrate – as a pattern of life – a radical Christ centered attitude that will reject this fallen world’s system with just as much zeal as it pursues personal holiness and purity. The true, regenerate, born-again Christian will exhibit an attitude of humble obedience to the Lord and the evidence of this humility will invariably be manifest in the DOING of His Word. In fact it can be argued from scripture that failure to DO the Word is evidence of not having RECEIVED the Word.

Let me interject something right here and now; I AM NOT ADVOCATING NOR HAVE I EVER ADVOCATED SALVATION BY WORKS! Salvation comes by grace through faith in Jesus Christ and is the unmerited gift of God alone lest any man should boast. Salvation is of the Lord and Him alone. He alone seeks and saves undeserving and wretched sinners or else no one would be saved at all! The works I’m describing herein are the evidence and fruit of salvation; bearing fruit is the evidence of saving faith and it should never be thought of the other way around.

But what of the law? If Christians aren’t under the law, then why so much banter about the law, and lawlessness, and all that other stuff? What’s really going on with all these "obedience to commandments" passages and references to the law? The truth is that according to the Lord Jesus Christ not one jot nor tittle – literally the smallest pen stroke – of the law will by any means ever pass away. In fact the Lord claims that it would be easier for the world to pass away than for any portion of the Word of God to pass away. God’s Word is eternal, immutable and perfect. Everything He has declared will stand the test of eternity. God Himself created time and is outside time and stands uniquely, sovereignly, and preeminently over all things. His Word will by no means ever fail and His every utterance is an absolutely righteous and holy decree that will echo authoritatively throughout all eternity!

God’s Word speaks with an absolute authority to which all men are accountable. In the Bible the law of God is described as being “perfect”. True regenerate born again Christians are advised to diligently inspect the perfect law that we might, by God’s power alone, be conformed unto His perfect law which is for true believers the law of the liberty of Christ. In fact liberty in Christ is the perfect law (John 8:31-32) and in it is freedom from sin (John 8:34-36). He who is not found to be abiding in the Son is found to be enslaved to sin.

Friend, what is your estate today? The Holy Bible teaches us that it is possible to be self deceived about our true spiritual condition. Furthermore the Bible teaches us that it is possible for entire churches to be self deceived about the corporate spiritual health of the congregation, deacons, elders and even the pastor. Do you and your church manifest the change of heart that is evidence of a pure and undefiled religion, or is it a worthless religion of pagan idolatry? There are only two options since as we’ve demonstrated there are only really two religions. Which is your estate today? It’s so easy to underestimate the utter filthiness and wretchedness in our own lives and the gravity and seriousness of ALL of our sins and trespasses!

Are you separate from the world or are you friends with the world? Friendship with the world is enmity with God.

Do you by Christ’s power alone keep yourself unspotted from the fallen and perverse system of this sin sick and dying world or do you easily fit in?

Are you diligently on guard against the wiles and corruptions of the enemy, or do you fall in with the crowd and “go with the flow”?

Friend ask yourself if your religion is pure and undefiled because if it is not then you are likely self deceived and your religion is corrupted, worthless, empty and utterly futile and in the Lord’s eyes you are guilty of idolatry. Is it well with your soul?

A prayer: Lord teach us to be humble before you. Break us, shape us, mold us, make us oh Lord into your very image. Help us oh God to cling to the blood soaked cross of Jesus Christ and to be diligent to earnestly study, prayerfully receive and joyfully do your Word. Make us sensitive to our sin oh God! Reveal our hidden and secret sins that we might flee from them in holy terror and be found secure and at peace in Your everlasting arms of love. Amen.

Paul Washer: Declaring Truth

Paul Washer addresses the psychological manipulation involved in the “altar call.”


Beloved


HAT TIP: Christian Research Network & DefCon

Creflo Dollar's "Angel Power Confe$$ion"

"How you have fallen from heaven, O star of the morning, son of the dawn! You have been cut down to the earth, You who have weakened the nations! 13 "But you said in your heart, I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God, And I will sit on the mount of assembly In the recesses of the north. 14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High." - Isaiah 14:12-14

"And another sign appeared in heaven: and behold, a great red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads were seven diadems.4 And his tail swept away a third of the stars of heaven, and threw them to the earth..." - Rev. 12:3-4

"Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels," - Matt. 25:41

"For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment," - 2 Pet. 2:4.
"And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day," - Jude 6

"And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him," - Rev. 12:9

Not one to be outdone by the competition for filthy lucre from Todd Bentley and his ilk in the "Next Big God Thing" Lying Signs and Wonders Movement Creflo Dollar has ratcheted up his occult rhetoric by claiming that he too has the power to command angels! One can't help but realize that the occultist claims this exact same ability, but even the occultist is frequently honest enough to admit that his "angels" so-called are actually fallen and demonic beings instead of blasphemously pretending to have the ability manipulate and command God's holy and elect angels (1 Tim. 5:21)! This my friends is a testimony to the longsuffering and patience of the One True and Living God of the Holy Bible that He doesn't instantly consume and utterly destroy sinful men who publicly make such painfully wicked claims!

I'm constantly amazed by the games of spiritual one upsmanship that these spiritual hucksters play against one another and upon their meal tickets; their deceived itching ears adherents; fools who evidently simply can't be parted with their money fast enough just so long as they're told that they're "sowing a seed" so that they can "reap a harvest" of mammon - the master whom they truly serve.

There's a reason that inspired scripture teaches about men being driven about by every wind of doctrine because that's precisely what happens when sinful man chases after the lust of the flesh and the eyes, reveling in the pride of life; all while portraying a false humility which is utterly loathsome and repulsive to the One True and Living God who prefers obedience to sacrifice. The doctrines of demons buffet and drive these rudderless vessels that aren't stayed and anchored securely upon the Rock of Christ Jesus. These blind followers of the blind are driven, manipulated, bilked, duped, and destroyed in pursuit of earthly pleasures under the guise of "health, wealth, and prosperity" - so called. Of course the common retort is "Hey it works!" (to which I reply so does witchcraft), or "Touch not God's anointed" (to which I reply these false prophets should be thankful they're not living under the OT or else they'd be publicly thrown down and stoned), or "Abraham, David and Solomon were rich so if you don't want to claim your blessing that's fine, but I'm going to get mine!", (to which I'd reply, uh, yeah, so what does the Old Covenant have to do with the New Covenant in Christ? Nothing!) or perhaps my personal favorite self-righteous justification for chasing after the things of this fallen and corrupted world system, "You need money to be a blessing to others so the more money you have the more of a blessing you can be!". It's here that I usually simply point to Jesus Christ who had no place to lay His head and His apostles who (with the exception of the son of perdition and the beloved apostle John) were all martyred at the hands of the fallen world system the WoF'ers are busily chasing after; but then the WoF apologists will simply lie and say something asinine like "Jesus was so rich that He needed a treasurer!" Clearly some hearts are very, very hardened to the truth of the Eternal Gospel of Jesus Christ.

With this in mind P.J. Miller has an interesting piece on Creflo Dollar and "his" angels over at Sola Dei Gloria:

"It looks like angel invoking isn’t isolated to Todd Bentley alone. Creflo Dollar seems to think angels are slaves who are under service to us. Since when do we command angels to do such things as bring us wealth? Angels are God’s messengers, and operate under that authority. Yet, Dollar would have us believe that we can command them at will to bring us such vulgar things as earthly riches…filthy lucre…mammon.

Didn’t Jesus tell us not to strive for the bread that corrupts, but to strive for the bread that will not corrupt? Didn’t He tell us not to lay up for ourselves treasure upon the earth where moth and rust corrupts?"

Continue reading here.

Notable Quotes

“The king also himself passed over the brook of Kidron.” - 2 Samuel 15:23

David passed that gloomy brook when flying with his mourning company from his traitor son. The man after God's own heart was not exempt from trouble, nay, his life was full of it. He was both the Lord's Anointed, and the Lord's Afflicted. Why then should we expect to escape? At sorrow's gates the noblest of our race have waited with ashes on their heads, wherefore then should we complain as though some strange thing had happened to us?

The KING of kings himself was not favored with a more cheerful or royal road. He passed over the filthy ditch of Kidron, through which the filth of Jerusalem flowed. God had one Son without sin, but not a single child without the rod. It is a great joy to believe that Jesus has been tempted in all points as we are. What is our Kidron this morning? Is it a faithless friend, a sad bereavement, a slanderous reproach, a dark foreboding? The King has passed over all these. Is it bodily pain, poverty, persecution, or contempt? Over each of these Kidrons the King has gone before us. "In all our afflictions He was afflicted." The idea of strangeness in our trials must be banished at once and forever, for He who is the Head of all saints, knows by experience the grief which we think so peculiar. All the citizens of Zion must be free of the Honorable Company of Mourners, of which the Prince Immanuel is Head and Captain.

Notwithstanding the abasement of David, he yet returned in triumph to his city, and David's Lord arose victorious from the grave; let us then be of good courage, for we also shall win the day. We shall yet with joy draw water out of the wells of salvation, though now for a season we have to pass by the noxious streams of sin and sorrow. Courage, soldiers of the Cross, the King himself triumphed after going over Kidron, and so shall you.

This devotional was taken from “Morning and Evening" by C.H. Spurgeon.

Apostasy Now!

Friends I’m convinced that the great last days apostasy has fallen upon the broader professing church. With the combination of the emergent/emerging idolatry of doubt, the Word of Faith blasphemy against our Lord, the rise of ecumenism among the heretical Roman Catholic Church and apostatizing Evangelicals, the Purpose Driven Madness of the Warrenites, the Seeker Sensitive man-centered church of self esteem, the lying signs and wonders movement, and the inroads that New Age thought have made into the church it’s my firm conviction that we are witnessing, on a broad scale, the great falling away prophesied in scripture.

Now I’m no prophet and I’m not pretending to have any “new light” about the events of our day, I’m merely relaying what I believe to be the Old Truth that was laid down for the benefit of those who are called by the Name of the Lord.

Consider the following from Herescope:

Throughout this inter-advent age–the time between Jesus’ Incarnation and Second Coming, or Parousia–Jesus and John warned that false prophets would arise preaching the doctrine of replacement christs (Matthew 24:5, 23-24; 1 John 2:18). As Jesus’ coming draws nearer, and as pictured by the image of Messiah’s birth pangs, we can expect that oracular announcements of anti-christs by the false prophets will multiply and proliferate. Some of these false messiahs will even work deceptive “signs and wonders” (Mark 13:8, 21-22). During this age Jesus warned: “Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. Behold, I have told you before. Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not” (Matthew 24:23-26, KJV).

Continue reading here.

Unmasking the Pope and the Catholic System

Pastor John MacArthur leaves a smoldering crater where the lies and deceptions of the Roman Catholic Church used to stand in this devastating expose of the utterly corrupt, false, and damnable religious system known as Roman Catholicism.

Turn up your speakers and listen here!

On Unbelief

In John 9:13-34 we see an amazing demonstation of the Lord Jesus Christ’s manifest deity as He literally and spiritually fashioned “new eyes” for a congenitally blind man. This was a miracle par excellence that was unheard of in all Israel and which proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that Jesus Christ was Lord and Messiah, the very light of the world. It’s also worth noting that Israel was arguably the most religious people group living in the world at that time just as the argument could be made that ultra-Orthodox Jews are the most religious people group living in the world today - outwardly religious that is.

The Jews of Christ’s day benefitted from having primary access to the very oracles of God (Romans 3:1-2), and thus they ought to have recognized Jesus as Messiah, yet the scripture record is clear and indisputable in its teaching of what the Jews thought of Christ.

They hated Him.

They feared Him.

They rejected Him.

They murdered Him.

As Christians we can understand that all these things constituted the unfolding of God’s own foreordained prophetic plan of the ages, and we rejoice in the fact that Jesus Christ was crucified, dead, buried, and resurrected on the third day as a propitiation for the sins of all those who would believe on Him by grace through faith alone, being thereby miraculously translated from spiritual death unto spiritual life to the praise of God’s magnificent glory forevermore! His resurrection is a sure and trustworthy promise of a future resurrection for those who are found in Him. His eternal life is the assurance of our future eternal life as we abide in Him. His glorification is our glorification as members of His mystical Body - the bride of Christ, the church invisible which is comprised of living stones that Jesus Christ has redeemed through His atoning work, bringing salvation to every kingdom, tribe, tongue and nation under heaven.

Yet why was He rejected by His own? Why did the vast majority of Jewry conspire and consent to murder their King? The short and ugly answer is UNBELIEF. From his study bible John MacArthur well said:

The story of the healing of the blind man in John 9:13-34 reveals some key characteristics of willful unbelief: 1.) unbelief sets false standards; 2.) unbelief always wants more evidence but never has enough; 3.) unbelief does biased research on a purely subjective basis; 4.) unbelief rejects the facts; and 5.) unbelief is self-centered.

Willful and fixed unbelief is the hallmark of the unregenerate heart. The unredeemed cannot and will not assent to the hard truths and hard commands of Jesus Christ. Through their a priori rejection of the truth claims of the Holy Bible and their stubborn hard heartedness unrepentant sinners will gladly commit epistemic suicide in order to avoid a confrontation with the One True and Living God of the Holy Bible, the infinite Creator and Judge of the universe. The unregenerate will allow for any number of explanations from the mundane to the wildly absurd, just so long as the explanation isn’t the God of Christian theism. The unregenerate will entertain ideas that man was placed on earth by a terraforming alien race, but they won’t accept the truth that they are morally accountable to a Holy and Righteous God. The unregenerate will allow for any number of deaf and dumb idols to be worshipped and adored, but they can’t tolerate the fact that they are in bondage to their own depravity and wickedness and that they abide under the wrath of God Almighty and are utterly hopeless apart from the finished work of the Son of God, Jesus Christ, upon a rugged and sinister Roman cross nearly 2,000 years ago.

The heathen rage and howl at these unspeakably glorious truths, but I fall down on my face in awe and praise before the King of Glory. What love is this? What God is this? What hope is this? It is the hope born in a heart that was once in unbelief. It is evidence that Jesus Christ rules and reigns from heaven, doing as He pleases that He would condescend to save a wretched lump of sin like me. My limited human capacity for words to describe what He has done in my heart fail me. I can’t sum it up and I can’t spell it out. I’m at a loss except to say that He is everything to me. He is my all in all. There is no desire He can’t fill, there is no grief He can’t comfort, there is no hope He can’t exceed, there is no want He can’t meet, there is nothing He can’t do and without Him I can do nothing.

Friend, do you know the true Jesus Christ as He has revealed Himself uniquely within the Holy Bible? Does your guilty conscience constantly wag an accusing finger at you crying out “GUILTY! GUILTY!! GUILTY!!!” wherever you may go or attempt to flee? If so, then hear the words of the Savior, the only One who can cure your fatal disease known as sin:

Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. - Matthew 11:28