The Distinction of Yahweh, The God of Israel

One thing that strikes me as I read through Isaiah, especially in chapters 44-48 (so far, more to come of course), is that God sets Himself as DISTINCT as well as separate from all other gods. There is NO COMMON GROUND between the Holy One of Israel and all other gods (not even with "Allah"). Yahweh goes to great length and repetition to make sure people know that HE alone is Creator, distinct, sole, true, living Triune God. There is NONE to compare Him to; there is none that are like Him.

Isa 44:6  Thus says the LORD, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the LORD of hosts: "I am the first and I am the last; besides me there is no god.
Isa 44:7  Who is like me? Let him proclaim it. Let him declare and set it before me, since I appointed an ancient people. Let them declare what is to come, and what will happen.
Isa 44:8  Fear not, nor be afraid; have I not told you from of old and declared it? And you are my witnesses! Is there a God besides me? There is no Rock; I know not any."
Isa 44:9  All who fashion idols are nothing, and the things they delight in do not profit. Their witnesses neither see nor know, that they may be put to shame.

Isa 46:5  "To whom will you liken me and make me equal, and compare me, that we may be alike?
Isa 46:6  Those who lavish gold from the purse, and weigh out silver in the scales, hire a goldsmith, and he makes it into a god; then they fall down and worship!

Isa 46:8  "Remember this and stand firm, recall it to mind, you transgressors,
Isa 46:9  remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me,
Isa 46:10  declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, 'My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,'

Isa 48:16  Draw near to me, hear this: from the beginning I have not spoken in secret, from the time it came to be I have been there." And now the Lord GOD has sent me, and his Spirit.

Trials

Our trials come in due season--and leave at the appointed moment. 

Our fretfulness will neither hasten nor delay the purposes of our sovereign.

~ C.H. Spurgeon

God's Grace Does Not Encourage Anarchy In God's Kingdom

"Grace is never exercised at the expense of righteousness. Grace upholds rather than ignores our responsibilities toward God and toward our neighbor. The grace of God that bringeth salvation, teaches us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, and to live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world (Titus 2:12)."

~ Arthur Pink, “Gleanings in Genesis” 

25 Ridiculous Arguments Disrespecting Dispensationalism and Dispensationalists

The article makes good points, although I don't like Dan Phillips' tone (which is why I don't like Pyromaniacs website). But he does deal with the common arguments put out against dispensationalism. I have noticed how snarky the former-dispies are in their new found amillenialism views, just like the former Arminians in their new found Calvinism. Folks, the fruit of your view should promote Christ above all and not a self-preservation, elitist, snobby attitude.

Here are a few that I think are worth reading:

#13: "Dispies are over-literal."

Have you actually heard a dispensationalist lay out his hermeneutic? People who offer "over literal" as a seriously critique of dispensationalism have seemingly never read a book dealing with hermeneutics, written by a responsible dispensationalist. Try this for an interpretive principle:

When the plain sense of Scripture makes good sense, seek no other sense. Therefore, take every word in its primary, ordinary, usual, literal meaning, unlessthe facts of the immediate context, studied in the light of related passages and fundamental and axiomatic truths, clearly indicate otherwise.

It's a totally dispensational hermeneutic, and it's an equally dandy Reformed hermeneutic -- or should be. There's quite the chasm between saying "Of course God isn't literally a 'rock',and saying "Mount Zion -- oh yeah. Has to be the universal Christian church!" Dispensationalists are what all Reformed folks would be, if they were consistent in their hermeneutics.

# 9 "It isn't a spiritual hermeneutic."

Gosh, this one's such a hanging curveball. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Where to start? First, take off that "Plato is my homey" T-shirt, so we can talk. Oops, didn't see that "The Docetists are my crew" T-shirt underneath. Off with that too. So, tell me: the resurrected body of Jesus -- carnal? Or spiritual? I'll play the Jeopardy music while you look up 1 Corinthians 15:44f. (Hint: God made matter. He's really okay with matter. Matter matters. Sin ruined matter, the regeneration will redeem it.)

Finally, if none of that helped you out of your decoder-ring quagmire, this thought: try not to be more "spiritual" than God, 'kay? When God said Messiah would come from Bethlehem (Micah 5:2), He knew it meant "house of bread" -- but He meant the city anyway. I imagine what a CT would have done with that, before fulfillment: "What God is really saying would have been perfectly clear to the Jews. It was symbolic. Messiah would come from 'the house for bread,' from the storehouse of God's spiritual nourishment, and He would give life, as bread does. Those wooden literalists who look for fulfillment in an actual city are perverting the Word to their carnal imaginations."

Trying to out-spiritual God is really stupid.

#8: "You can't prove all those dispensational distinctives and prophetic features from the New Testament alone!"

Um, Bunky? Three words? "Plenary verbal inspiration." Dispensationalists do what all Reformed folks say they do: they believe in the whole Bible. Sort of got that idea from Jesus. So, just as no Reformed guy worth anything would accept such a demand as "Prove sovereign-grace election solely from 1 Chronicles 1:1," so no dispensationalist who believes in the principles of the Reformation should rise to the demand, "Prove every detail of your system from 1/3 of the Canon!" There is no passage that teaches everything that every other passage teaches. If so, God would have inspired a Bible with one verse.Or perhaps a better statement would be that God did inspire a Bible with one verse. It's just a really, really long verse. And so, no believer in Reformed principles should indulge in trying to impose such a faulty premise. It's simply not Reformed to do so.

End quote.

The Lordship of Christ Does Not Allow For Complacency

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Biblical doctrine is practical. That's why God gave it to us, so that we can know the truth and then live it so as not to sin against Him. If you biblical doctrine as mere theory, easily accepted or rejected without much or any consequence, you need to examine yourself to see if you are in the faith and have received a love for the truth.

True Love Speaks Out Against False Doctrine

True love for God, His Word, and His people:

1Ti 1:3  As I urged you when I was going to Macedonia, remain at Ephesus so that you may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine,
1Ti 1:4  nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies, which promote speculations rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith. 
1Ti 1:5  The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. 

2Th 2:10  and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. 

Rom 5:1  Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ....5  and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. 

1Co 13:6  it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 

Housekeeping and Caring For Family Is Quite the Controversy

"Much of the world would agree that being a housekeeper is acceptable as long as you are not caring for your own home; treating men with attentive devotion would also be right as long as the man is the boss in the office and not your husband; caring for children would even be deemed heroic service for which presidential awards could be given as long as the children are someone else's and not your own."

~ Dorothy Patterson

Yet God has ordained wives love and submit to their own husbands, to be workers at home, raising and loving their own children. Quite the controversy. But no big deal if it's all outside the home, say in an office or daycare or school.....

Think about it. 

Pentatonix, Sodomy, and Softening the Biblical Axe

Stand Up For The Truth has written an article on Pentatonix. Apparently, as talented as the groups is, they have two openly sodomites and one "Christian". The problem addressed in the article is about how professing Christians are embracing this group despite it's rebellion against God in their open perversion of sodomy. I agree, there is an  increasing tolerance for wickedness by "Christians" in the name of "love" (a disguise for acceptance and begging of the God-hating world to like them and not be mad at them). I'm glad to be made aware of this group. I've seen their name before but knew nothing about them.

There is something that bothers me about the article. Contrary to the writer's declartion,I do believe it is right to point out the sin in others as long as we are doing it from a biblical standpoint and not a hypocritical one (which was the point of Matt. 7). In other words we are to see sin for what it is and warn others of it when led by God. And if we're being led by the Spirit of Truth, He is already revealing to us our sin, so we should remain humble before HIM.  

We are to judge the world in the sense that we are to judge what they are doing, promoting, and believing is sin, rebellion, and wrong. What we can't judge is whether a particular person will get save, since we don't have the Book of Life (unless I suppose, they are unrepentant heretics or those who have turned away from repenting of their sin as in Heb. 6:4-6)). We are only called to tell people to repent of their sin (which requires judging their behavior and beliefs as such) and to point them to the Lord Jesus Christ in whom there is forgiveness of sins and eternal life. Let's not forget either, that the sin of sodomy is especially heinous. So heinous in fact, that God destroyed entire cities because of it and that sin is listed specifically as a sin that will keep a person out of Heaven if they do not repent of it(see 1 Cor.6: 9-11, Jude, Rom. 1, 1 Tim.1:10).

I guess I'm getting frustrated with all the qualifications before the biblical axe is brought down to bear upon sodomites and worldlings ("this brings me to a rather delicate point"..."The reason for writing/posting about this is not to point fingers at the world,"). I suppose I'm done with the guilt and "humility" (neither of which is real--with the 'humility" being nothing more than dancing around the issue, softening the blow that is about to come--the very thing the article was trying to address--so that they don't come off sounding like...well, like God.

As I walk through Isaiah again, I'm continually noting how often God is blatant with Israel for it's sin. Nor does God take a soft stand against the nations for their rebellion either. What He does is lay their sin at their feet, lays the charges against them clearly and boldly, then tells them to repent, and if they refuse, judgment will begin. 

Do You Suppose God's Wrath Against Your Sin Is Too Heavy?

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If there be a man before me who says that the wrath of God is too heavy a punishment for his little sin, I ask him, if the sin be little, why does he not give it up? 

~CHSpurgeon

So? Why don't you? You who call Jesus "Lord" yet remained married to your sin, yet you created a god in your mind that is far less holy than the thrice Holy God of Scripture who hates the wicked as well as their sin; Who says if you are guilty of breaking one point in the law, you are a completely law breaker (start with the greatest commandment: love God with ALL your heart, MIND, soul, and strength).

Hell

 “Shun all views of future punishment that would make it appear less terrible.”

~Charles Spurgeon

The Justice and Grace of God

The justice of God is made a motive for despair and His mercy an argument for sin! Wicked men will drown themselves in the rivers of the Truth of God as readily as in the poolsof error! He that has a mind to destroy himself can choke his soul with the Bread of life, or dash himself in pieces againstthe Rock of Ages. There is no doctrine of the Grace of God so gracious that graceless men may not turn it into licentiousness.

~Spurgeon

Error

Error is truth perverted, truth distorted, truth out of proportion.

~A.W. Pink

It takes a person who's mind and heart has been sharpened by Scripture to be able to discern the difference between right and ALMOST right.

To Denounce False Doctrine Isn't Divisive, It's Loving God and Others

'The dual role of the godly preacher and teacher is to proclaim and to defend God’s Word. In the eyes of the world and, tragically, in the eyes of many genuine but untaught believers, to denounce false doctrine—especially if that doctrine is given under the guise of evangelicalism—is to be unloving, judgmental, and divisive. BUT Compromising Scripture in order to make it more palatable and acceptable, whether to believers or to unbelievers, is not “speaking the truth in love” (Ephesians 4:15). It is speaking falsehood and is the furthest thing from godly love. It is a subtle, deceptive, and dangerous way to contradict God’s own Word. The faithful pastor must have NO part in it. He himself tolerates, and he teaches his people to tolerate, only sound doctrine.'

~ J. MacArthur

California Photographers Decide to Close Business Rather Than Shoot Same-Sex ‘Weddings’

Homofacism continues. Where's the tolerance and freedom for those who reject the sodomite lifestyle of sin and perversion? Hypocrites.

SAN FRANCISCO – A California couple has decided to shutter their photography business rather than be forced to shoot same-sex “wedding” ceremonies.

Nang and Chris Mai operate Urloved Photography–that is, until recently, when the couple announced that it was discontinuing its business due to harassment from homosexual advocates over making a referral rather than agreeing to shoot a same-sex ceremony.

~CN Network

Snowmen

"Love" of "Christians" Used As A Weapon Against Biblical Christians

Often believers are told they are intolerant, unloving and narrow-minded for not going with the flow of an ever-changing culture. Many Bible believing Christians are dismayed by the way they are being rejected by not just the world, but their friends, family members and even those in their church for standing firm on God’s Word as truth. But we’re told not to be surprised when these things happen, and certainly not to be troubled. When we love God above what others think of us, it honors and pleases Him.

Joining us today is Scott Alan Buss, author and also contributing writer here at Stand Up For The Truth. ), Scott’s books include, The Beginning of Knowledge: Christ as Truth in Apologetics,and his latest articles include Weaponized “Love”: The perversion of Christian love into a weapon of Christian persecution.

~Stand Up For The Truth

Now, I do not know Buss or the book, so I can't endorse them, but Stand Up has been solid from all I have read, and this quote is spot on. An increasing number of "Christians" are tolerant of wolves and of doctrines of demons and so intolerant of the Truth and biblical Christians. It is a case of "those who call evil good, and good evil". They wish to silence the Truth for the sake of fake peace and fake unity and fake love. This isn't biblical agape love, it's self-indulgent fleshly, worldly love. The kind God hates.

The Grand, Infallible Word of God

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We have a more sure Word of testimony, a rock of truth upon which we rest, for our infallible standard lies in, "It is written..." The Bible, the whole Bible, and nothing but the Bible, is our religion...A babe in grace taught by the Spirit of God may know the mind of the Lord concerning salvation, and find its way to heaven by the guidance of the Word alone. But be it profound or simple; that is not the question; it is the Word of God and is pure, unerring truth.Here is infallibility, and nowhere else... This grand, infallible book... is our sole court of appeal... It is the sword of the Spirit in the spiritual conflicts which await... The Holy Spirit is in the Word, and therefore, living truth. O Christians be sure of this, and because of it make you the Word your chosen weapon of war. 

~CHSpurgeon

Preachers (and laymen) Who Are Afraid To Talk About Sin

Charles Spurgeon, on preachers who are afraid to talk about sin:

“Ho, Ho, Sir Surgeon. You are too delicate to tell the man that he is ill. You hope to heal the sick without their knowing it. You therefore flatter them. And what happens? They laugh at you. They dance upon their own graves and at last they die. Your delicacy is cruelty, your flatteries are poisons you are a murderer. Shall we keep men in a fool's paradise? Shall we lull them into soft slumber from which they will awake in hell? Are we to become helpers of their damnation bu our smooth speeches? In the name of God we will not.

End quote.

This is true of both elder and layman. People are afraid of offending a false Christian and they hope that by smiles, hugs, and silence they will somehow magically come to the truth, without price to be paid by anyone. This is not love of the soul nor of the Holy One who has been offended by such a sinner. This is hatred of them both. Fake unity is an unholy alliance and HE will not be mocked. Nor is such fake love (really, nothing more than a fleshly desire of peace and unity) will be ignored by the God Who Sees. 

The Folly of Choosing Fashionable Trivialities--Childish Things--Instead of Eternal Things

"To rule a kingdom, is a nobler matter than to play with marbles."

What, then, is the folly of the worldling's choice, when he prefers to be contending among men for earthly toys--instead of seeking those things which are above!

How great is the degradation of professing Christians, when their minds are taken up with fashionable trivialities--instead of living alone to glorify their God, and acting as those whom Jesus has made to be kings and priests!

Who cares for pebbles--when jewels glitter before him?

Who would choose toys and rattles--when the wealth of the Indies is offered him?

Let us be no longer children or fools--but act as men who have put away childish things.

"Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth!" Colossians 3:1-2

(Charles Spurgeon, "Flowers from a Puritan's Garden" 1883)

The Seduction of Sin: it's not always ugly but it is always wicked

"But you have this in your favor: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate!" Revelation 2:6

So I must live, with equal aloofness from every wicked and dubious way--with equal abhorrence of all which my divinely enlightened conscience may not approve. Christ expects me to hate the works of the Nicolaitans!

If I am to escape the seductions of sin--I require such intolerance and hatred.
There is great enticement in sin's gaieties, fascinations, and charms!
It beguiles!
It entraps!
It enthralls!
It is not always ugly--often it has a mesmerizing enchantment. My one safety is have an unflinching opposition to that which is both so fair and so foul at the same time. If I dull the keen edge of my hostility to sin--the plausible and insinuating foe will quickly have me at his mercy!

There is a type of weakness which is all for concession and clemency in the presence of evil. It parleys with sin, and it dallies in its society. It can say a great deal in sin's defense--perhaps it discerns admirable qualities in it.

But the holiness to which I am called, is more manly and soldierly. It will have no friendship with the foul adversary!

If I am to imitate Christ--I require such severities and aversions to sin. He also hates the works of the Nicolaitans. I misread Him if I think of Him as altogether meek and gentle. He sends a sword, He kindles a fire, upon the earth. Before His pure gaze, sin blushes, and droops its proud head, and withers away! He is the Lion of the tribe of Judah, and He will not rest until He has trodden every iniquity under His feet!

"I hate every false way!" Psalm 119:128

(Alexander Smellie, "The Secret Place" 1907)

This is a true heart of love for God and Truth (2 Thes. 2:10). This is what most "Christians" don't comprehend because they are likely not regenerate, and the few that actually are, are so immature that they are fleshly and shameful in their justifying sin or reducing God's holy standard to something less that what it actually is and therefore are more like the Pharisees than a true child of God.

Those who claim His name and yet revile against such a view of sin, error, and heretics, demand the rest of us compromise it all for their sake while maligning His holy name. True Christians are called to forsake all sin and all false teachers, fellowships, etc that set themselves in rebellion against the King of kings.

The Road Home

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There is one thing which is needful--and only one thing. Henceforth let me attend to it with diligence and care, and not to make trifles such matters of concern.

If I am traveling to my Father's house, I should attend closely to my journey, and not consume myself with anxiety about the climate, whether it it fair or foul; whether the road is good or bad; and whether I join agreeable company, or walk alone. For my Father's house will make me completely happy, so happy that I shall forget all the toils of my journey!

"Heaven will make amends for all!"

(James Meikle, "A Secret Survey into the State of the Soul" April 13, 1779)

True Conversion Bears Good Fruit

If you have been genuinely converted, then your first concern must be to form all the details of your life-in the home, in the church, in the world-so as to please God. And in the actual bringing of this to pass, the order will be "cease to do evil; learn to do well" (Isa. 1:16-17); "Depart from evil, and do good" (Ps. 34:14 and cf. 37:27). There has to be a breaking down before there can be a building up (Eccl. 3:3). There has to be an emptying of self before there is the filling of the Spirit. There has to be an unlearning before there is a true learning. And there has to be a hating of ‘evil" before there is a loving of the "good" (Amos 5:15 and cf. Rom. 12:9).

~AWPink Practical Godliness

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. 
Jas 1:19  Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; 
Jas 1:20  for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. 
Jas 1:21  Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. 
Jas 1:22  But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 

2Th 2:10  and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. 

1Co 15:10  But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. 

2Ti 2:19  But God's firm foundation stands, bearing this seal: "The Lord knows those who are his," and, "Let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from iniquity." 

True agape love:  1Co 13:6  it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 

"Jesus Calling" Suddenly Edited It's New Age Terms, But Still Comes From A Spirit of Divination

Stand Up For the Truth reports:

There has been an interesting – and concerning – development these past few months about the wildly popular Jesus Calling book by Sarah Young: The new 10th Anniversary Edition just published has been stripped and edited to remove or alter those pesky New Age elements, the alarming statements made by the author’s “Jesus.” and the problematic people influencing Sarah Young.

Want proof?  Warren Smith, a former New Ager who wrote the book, Another Jesus” Calling: How False Christs are Entering the Church through Contemplative Prayer,” has just published a new 16-page tract, Changing “Jesus Calling”—Damage Control for a False Christ. 

Five  Problems
(1) Jesus Calling was inspired by a channeled New Age book
Jesus Calling was inspired by the book God Calling.1 In an interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network, author Sarah Young said that her journey with Jesus Calling began with the book God Calling....

Yet Sarah Young wrote that it was God Calling that inspired her to receive her own messages from “Jesus.” In her original introduction to Jesus Calling, Young praised God Calling as “a treasure to me”:

During that same year I began reading God Calling, a devotional book written by two anonymous “listeners.” These women practiced waiting quietly in God’s Presence, pencils and paper in hand, recording the messages they received from Him. The messages are written in first person, with “I” designating God. While I was living in Japan, someone had mailed this book to me from the U.S. I had not read it at that time, but I had held onto the book through two international moves. Six or seven years later, this little paperback became a treasure to me. It dove-tailed remarkably well with my longing to live in Jesus’ Presence.7 (bold added)

The Damage Control

In recent editions of Jesus Calling—including the 10th anniversary edition—the preceding paragraph regarding God Calling has been removed from the author’s longstanding introduction. No explanation. No apology. Nothing. Suddenly and completely gone is any mention of God Calling—how it had inspired her to receive her own “messages” from “Jesus” and how it was a “treasure” to her. Her previous praise of God Calling had become problematic as it had drawn obvious New Age comparisons to her own book. It had also become apparent that her original endorsement of God Calling was helping to popularize this New Age book among believers! While Christian leaders have been strangely silent about Jesus Calling, it was the secular media that took Sarah Young and Thomas Nelson to task for changing and deleting problematic material in their best-selling book. Ruth Graham, writing in The Daily Beast, a popular online American news reporting and opinion website formerly associated with Newsweek magazine, wrote an article questioning the changes being made to Sarah Young’s original introduction....

Sarah Young originally wrote that she “received messages” from “Jesus” Himself  
Because of Sarah Young’s stated affection for the channeled “messages” in God Calling, the “messages” she was receiving from “Jesus” were immediately suspect.

The Damage Control

In recent editions of Jesus Calling, all ten references to the words “message” and “messages” have been deleted from her otherwise longstanding introduction. What were originally described as “messages” she “received” from “Jesus” are now being described as “writings” and “devotions” that she “gleaned” in her “quiet moments.”..

End quote.

~Stand Up For Truth, quotes from Warren B. Smith   See the article for all the points and side-by-side quotes of then and now.

Is God Ok With Pragmatism?

Is God ok with pragmatism? Is there no connection of spiritual things with political things?

Isa 30:1 "Ah, stubborn children," declares the LORD, "who carry out a plan, but not mine, and who make an alliance, but not of my Spirit, that they may add sin to sin; 
Isa 30:2 who set out to go down to Egypt, without asking for my direction, to take refuge in the protection of Pharaoh and to seek shelter in the shadow of Egypt! 
Isa 30:3 Therefore shall the protection of Pharaoh turn to your shame, and the shelter in the shadow of Egypt to your humiliation.

Isa 30:7 Egypt's help is worthless and empty; therefore I have called her "Rahab who sits still." 
Isa 30:8 And now, go, write it before them on a tablet and inscribe it in a book, that it may be for the time to come as a witness forever. 
Isa 30:9 For they are a rebellious people, lying children, children unwilling to hear the instruction of the LORD; 
Isa 30:10 who say to the seers, "Do not see," and to the prophets, "Do not prophesy to us what is right; speak to us smooth things, prophesy illusions, 
Isa 30:11 leave the way, turn aside from the path, let us hear no more about the Holy One of Israel." 
Isa 30:12 Therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel, "Because you despise this word and trust in oppression and perverseness and rely on them, 
Isa 30:13 therefore this iniquity shall be to you like a breach in a high wall, bulging out, and about to collapse, whose breaking comes suddenly, in an instant;

Pragmatic alliances IS SIN to God. It is adding sin to sin.
Pragmatism even politically is NOT of the Spirit of God.
It is not trusting in God, but in the flesh.
It is looking to the world through fleshly eyes and seeing "only" political issues (including military ones), when God says even in these things it IS SPIRITUAL and we are to look to HIM.

It is SIN to go to the world (Egypt). It is SIN to not go to God FIRST and OBEY HIS COMMANDS. 

Israel gave lip service to the Word of God, but ignored it, seeking immediate solutions because the FEARED MAN RATHER THAN GOD.

Partnership with the world is SIN, for any reason, whether it is political, moral, or spiritual. 2 Cor.6 and 3 John 7 make that extremely clear.

3Jn 1:7  For they have gone out for the sake of the name, accepting nothing from the Gentiles. 

2Co 6:14  Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? 

2Co 6:15  What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? 

2Co 6:16  What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, "I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 

2Co 6:17  Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you, 

2Co 6:18  and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty." 

The the help unbelievers have is empty and worthless and will not benefit God's people. Did you catch that?

The world's ways HAS NO GOOD IN IT. It is WORTHLESS. There's no "good" in the world and it's pragmatism and philosophies. Therefore, God curses both the MEANS AND THE END when His people go to the unbelievers for help. God does NOT say that there is "some good" "useful" for His people. HE says its absolutely WORTHLESS and will NOT benefit them. In fact, His curse is that those who think that the world can help them, is that it will be to their SHAME and HUMILIATION.

Israel did not want to hear what is RIGHT from the seers and prophets God brought to them (ie, His Word). They wanted smooth words and illusions. They did NOT want to hear of the holiness of the HOLY HOLY HOLY One of Israel. They rather hear pleasant, positive words of illusions. This is Christianity today. This is the church. This IS what even Reformers are demanding.

The Word of God and HIS INFLEXIBLE holiness and justice is considered "negative" and impracticable, and too precise. This is despising His word for the sake of more "positive" words that don't demand absolute obedience and separation from the world. God will judge them, of that have NO DOUBT.

A Survey of the Truth

Let me give you just a brief survey of what the Bible says about divine truth. God is the God of truth, according to Deuteronomy 32:4, meaning He is the source of it. Christ is the truth and full of truth, John 14:6, John 1:14. The Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of truth in John 14:17. The Bible is called, in Daniel 10:21, the Scripture of truth. We are saved by the truth. We are sanctified by the truth. We love the truth. We are judged by the truth. We are set free by the truth. We worship in the truth. We serve God in the truth. We rejoice in the truth. We speak the truth. We think on the truth. We desire the truth. We manifest the truth. We hear the truth. We obey the truth. Most comprehensively, we walk in the truth. That is to say we conduct our lives in the realm of the truth. It determines how we think and how we speak and how we act. We walk in the truth...

And contrast to that, we exist in a realm of lies presided over by the arch-liar, Satan, who is the father of lies. He dominates his subjects so that they fail to understand and to believe the truth. He so dominates the world that men do not speak the truth. In fact, Jeremiah 9:5 says, "They are skilled at teaching their tongues to lie." Hosea 4:1, the prophet says, "There is no truth in them." Isaiah 59:4 says, "They do not plead for truth. Jeremiah 9:3 says, "They are not valiant for the truth.” First Timothy 6:5 says, "They're destitute of truth." Second Timothy 3:8 says, "They resist the truth." Second Timothy 4:4 says, "They turn their ears from the truth."

The unconverted then are called, in Psalm 58:3, "Those who speak lies." They live in a realm of lies. They live in a realm of deception and falsehood. The divine indictment of all of the lost, rendered in Romans chapter 1 and verse 25 says, "They exchanged the truth of God for the lie." That's how people live in the world. That's how all of us lived in the world before God opened our hearts to understand the truth. You heard it again, didn't you, in the testimonies tonight? One deception after another people pursue--one unfulfilling deception after another. Everybody in the world lives in one of these two realms. You either live in the realm of the truth, or you live in the realm of lies. The world then is divided into two groups: those who live in the truth and those who live in lies.

~JMacArthur

1Jn 2:20  But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge. 

1Jn 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. 

I think we can also say that no Truth is of a lie. This is why we are to abstain from all forms of evil, including the subtle evil that marries itself to truth so that people accept it. Truth is exclusive by it's nature and it's Author. Therefore a biblical Christian cannot both hold to truth and error. This is why we are to renew our minds daily in Scripture and are to grow in the grace and KNOWLEDGE of the LORD Jesus Christ. 

Flirtation and affinity with the world's anti-biblical, anti-Christ philosophies is treason against the King of kings, the God of Truth. 

Sound Doctrine Is The Test of Fellowship

Sound doctrine is always the test of fellowship, always. The truth, listen carefully, is never served--the truth is never honored; the truth is never respected; the truth is never aided by those who deny it or those who attack it. Nothing is gained by being exposed to error. Don't let it in your church, obviously. The church is the pillar and support of the truth. Don't let it in your house. You cannot hold up the truth and welcome in those who seek to destroy it. So if we get a little defensive around here about protecting the truth, you will understand our mandate. The truth matters more than anything else, people. If the church loses the truth, it isn't the church. Romans 16, "Greet one another with a holy kiss"; verse 16, "all the churches of Christ greet you"--great statement of love and affection. Immediately after, "Now I urge you, brethren, keep your eye on those who cause dissensions and hindrances contrary to the teaching which you learned, and turn away from them. For such men are slaves, not of our Lord Christ but of their own appetites; and by their smooth and flattering speech they deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting."

If you're sitting in a church full of deceivers, get out. If you're hanging on to some denominational affiliation that has abandoned the truth of the gospel, get out. The truth and lies are not compatible. 

~John MacArthur

Put "Christ" Back Into......Christianity

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No Reason To Celebrate This Election Win

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"We're back with youth, we're back with diversity and we're back with women," Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., head of the National Republican Congressional Committee, said after Tuesday's elections, when House Republicans increased their majority to levels not seen in decades."

~AP

Isa 3:12 My people--infants are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, your guides mislead you and they have swallowed up the course of your paths.

On top of that, the lack of principles and values (ie, the protest vote against Obama) shows that enough Republicans were liberal enough for even a vast number of Democrats to vote for. 

In both cases, the reasons behind the protest election and who actually won, is proving that God's hand of judgment is lowering on to our country.

Pagan Pope Calls Some Christians, "Pagan"

Not all those who claim to be Christians really are, said Pope Francis Friday morning. Some are Christians “in name only,” he said. “They bear the name of Christians but live a life of pagans.”

In his homily at Mass, the Pope that there have always been two types of Christian, those who truly followed Christ and those who only pretended to. At the time of Saint Paul, there were “worldly Christians, Christians in name only, with two or three Christian features, but nothing more.” The Pope called this sort of people “Pagan Christians,” whom St. Paul called “enemies of the cross of Christ.”

In Paul’s time, the Pope said, the two groups of Christians “were in church together, went to Mass on Sunday, praised the Lord, and were called Christians.” So what was the difference? He asked. The second were “enemies of the cross of Christ.”

~Says the pope as he commences pagan rituals,Breitbart

He's one of the biggest pagans ever as is the RCC. What is the mass, but pagan voodoo and slapping the holy name of Jesus Christ onto that cracker, commanding the HOLY ONE OF ISRAEL to enter into it?? Btw, there WAS NO MASS during the NT times. That pagan ritual was invented after the RCC was invented.

1Ti 4:1  Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, 

1Ti 4:2  through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared, 

1Ti 4:3  who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. 

Encouragement For The Soldiers of King Jesus

Rev 3:7  "And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: 'The words of the holy one, the true one, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens.

Rev 3:8  "'I know your works. Behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut. I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.

Rev 3:9  Behold, I will make those of the synagogue of Satan who say that they are Jews and are not, but lie--behold, I will make them come and bow down before your feet and they will learn that I have loved you.

Rev 3:10  Because you have kept my word about patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world, to try those who dwell on the earth.

God Loves His own:

Joh 16:27  for the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God.

Joh 17:23  I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.

Joh 17:26  I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them."

Those Jesus loves, He guards:

Joh 17:12  While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.

Rev 3:10  Because you have kept my word about patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world, to try those who dwell on the earth.

And He doesn’t guard nor love those doomed to Hell, those not His:

Joh 17:12  While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.

Rev 3:9  Behold, I will make those of the synagogue of Satan who say that they are Jews and are not, but lie--behold, I will make them come and bow down before your feet and they will learn that I have loved you.