Wednesday, April 15, 2009

When Christians Aren't Christians

1Jo 2:21 I write to you, not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and because no lie is of the truth.

Joh 8:24 I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am He you will die in your sins."

Joh 14:6 Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

2Jo 1:10 If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting, 11 for whoever greets him takes part in his wicked works.

The "Christian" Post reports on the latest survey that Barna has yet again, come out with:

The majority of American Christians do not believe that Satan is a real being or that the Holy Spirit is a living entity, the latest Barna survey found.

Nearly six out of ten Christians either strongly agreed or somewhat agreed with the statement that Satan "is not a living being but is a symbol of evil," the survey found.

Other survey findings include a significant number of self-described Christians believing that Jesus sinned when he lived on earth, contrary to the core teaching of Christianity that teaches the divinity and perfection of Jesus.

According to Scripture, these are not Christians. These people are merely religious. And its time actual Christians STOP CALLING THEM CHRISTIANS.

Words mean things, and "Christian" means to be a disciple of the biblical Lord Jesus Christ, loving and obeying Him and His Word. Anything less than the biblical Jesus is a mere idol, and neither he nor his gospel can save.

If you have the wrong Jesus, you will ALWAYS have a false gospel, and are still condemned and under God's wrath.

True Christians cannot accept false brothers AS brothers, when in fact they are God-haters. We cannot accept them and then say , "Well, they are learning; no one has perfect doctrine!" That's a cop out and a lie. Such a person should examine himself to see if he is in the faith.

A.W. Tozer once correctly stated:

"Many tender-minded Christians fear to sin against love by daring to inquire into anything that comes wearing the cloak of Christianity and breathing the name of Jesus. They dare not examine the credentials of the latest prophet to hit their town lest they be guilty of rejecting something which may be of God… This is supposed to indicate a high degree of spirituality. But in sober fact it indicates no such thing. It may indeed be evidence of the absence of the Holy Spirit.

Gullibility is not synonymous with spirituality.

“Try the spirits” is a command of the Holy Spirit to the Church (1 John 4:1). We may sin as certainly by approving the spurious as by rejecting the genuine… To appraise things with a heart of love and then to act on the results is an obligation resting upon every Christian in the world (Tozer On The Holy Spirit, August 3).

I will quote A.W. Pink from a previous post, because its worth repeating: "Few words have been used more inaccurately and loosely in recent years, than has "love." With a great many people--it is but a synonym for moral laxity, weakness of character, a taking the line of least resistance, a quiet tolerating of what is felt to be wrong."

Regarding the two major issues, here are Scriptures that easily refute such nonsense:

Scripture says Jesus was and is sinless, because He Is God (John 1:1-7; 8:58; Col. 1-2; Heb. 1:1-8 for examples).

The declaration that Jesus made, saying He is the unleavened bread, was a declaration of His sinlessness , see Luke 22:19. Yeast was symbolic of sin. He is the Bread from Heaven (John 6:31-35), without sin.

Joh 5:19 So Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of His own accord, but ONLY WHAT He sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise.

Joh 8:55 But you have not known Him. I know Him. If I were to say that I do not know Him, I would be a liar like you, but I do know Him and I keep His word.

Joh 7:18 The one who speaks on His own authority seeks His own glory, but the one who seeks the glory of Him who sent Him is true, and in Him there is no falsehood.

1Pe 2:22 He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth.

2Co 5:21 For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.

Jam 1:13 Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am being tempted by God," for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one.

As to the Holy Spirit as a living entity*:

Holy Spirit: Has the incommunicable attributes of God Eternal: Heb. 9:14;Omnipresent: Psa. 139:7 ;Omniscient: 1 Cor. 2:10-11

Holy Spirit is Involved in all the works of God :Creation: Gen. 1:2; Psa. 104:30;Incarnation: Matt. 1:18, 20; Luke 1:35 ;Resurrection: Rom. 1:4; 8:11 ;Salvation: Rom. 8:1-27

The Holy Spirit is quoted as speaking: John 16:13; Acts 1:16; 8:29; 10:19; 11:12; 13:2; 16:6; 20:23; 21:11: 28:25-27; 1 Tim. 4:1; Heb. 3:7-11; 10:15-17; 1 Pet. 1:11; Rev. 2:7, 11, 17, 29; 3:6, 13,22

The Holy Spirit can be lied to: Acts 5:3 ; Can make decisions, judgments: Acts 15:28; Intercedes for Christians with the Father: Rom. 8:26


We are saved IN and BY TRUTH, not in lies or ignorance of the Person and work of Jesus Christ:

Jas 1:18 Of His own will He brought us forth by THE WORD OF TRUTH, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of HIS creatures.

2Thes. 2: 10 and in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.

Col 1:4 since we HEARD of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, 5 because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the THE WORD OF TRUTH, THE GOSPEL , 6 which has come to you, as indeed in the whole IT IS BEARING FRUIT AND GROWING --as it also does among you, since the day YOU HEARD AND UNDERSTOOD THE GRACE OF GOD IN TRUTH,

2 Thes. 2: 13 But we ought always to thank God for you, brothers loved by the Lord, because from the beginning God chose you to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit AND THROUGH BELIEF in the TRUTH. 14 He called you to THIS THROUGH OUR GOSPEL , that you might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Eph 1:13 In Him you also, when you HEARD the word of TRUTH, THE GOSPEL OF YOUR SALVATION and believed in Him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit,

Do we accept everyone who says "Lord, Lord"?

Mat 7:21 "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
Mat 7:22 On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?'
Mat 7:23 And then will I declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.'

Truth is knowable for God has revealed it, therefore He calls us to be discerning about those who claim to know Him yet profess lies and walk in darkness. Those who are not His, but its hard to tell, often will be revealed in church discipline.

Isa 45:19 …I the LORD speak the truth; I declare what is right.

Joh 8:32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.

Is. 8 20 To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, they have no light of dawn.

Heb 5:14 But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice TO DISTINGUISH good from evil.

1Jo 1:6 If we say we have fellowship with Him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.

1Jn 2:3 And by this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. 4 Whoever says "I know him" but does not keep His commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in Him,

1Jn 4:5 They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them. 6 We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error.

Gal 1:8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. 9 As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.

2Jo 1:7 For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. Such a one is the deceiver and the antichrist. 8 Watch yourselves, so that you may not lose what we have worked for, but may win a full reward.

You who are true Christians, stop calling those who profess an unbiblical Jesus and an unbiblical gospel and doctrine as CHRISTians. Quit being so cowardly that you'd rather not hurt their feelings even if they go do Hell. Stop being so foolish.

*(See Apologetic Index article for the list below (always read with caution, however))

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