Notice the irony?

With regard to doctrine, I don’t throw everyone from the Charismatic camp under the apostate bus. I am however like Doubting Thomas i.e.; skeptical.  😉

I found the following sort of funny and I guess you could say a bit ironic given the heat that the Charismatics have received over the years ala Benny Hinn, Kenneth Hagin, Kenneth Copeland, Todd Bentley, and Patricia King for their stumbling and bumbling with the Word of God.

It’s “funny” that Charisma magazine is concerned about their subscribers being duped out of a few buck$, yet they don’t appear too concerned about their readers being spiritually duped.  It’s also funny that the fraud alert just so happens to appear above a banner ad of Patricia King.  I’m convinced the Holy Spirit is telling me something here. 😉

2nd Timothy 3:1-9
1But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. 2People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— 5having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them.

6They are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over weak-willed women, who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires, 7always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth. 8Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so also these men oppose the truth—men of depraved minds, who, as far as the faith is concerned, are rejected. 9But they will not get very far because, as in the case of those men, their folly will be clear to everyone.

 

Grace and peace be with you.

PSA from Pirate Christian Radio

File under “Something to think about”.

PSA originally from Fighting For The Faith.

Grace and peace be with you.

Ritual or Relationship? – Blackaby devotional

Neither did they say, "Where is the Lord,Who brought us up out of the land of Egypt,Who led us through the wilderness?"
Jeremiah 2:6

Christianity is an intimate, growing relationship with the person of Jesus Christ. It is not a set of doctrines to believe, habits to practice, or sins to avoid. Every activity God commands is intended to enhance His love relationship with His people.

God designed worship for us to see Him in His glory and to respond appropriately; for many it has degenerated into "religion," one more meeting to attend out of habit. God established the sacrificial system so that we, His people, could express our love to Him; but we often diminish our gifts to our Lord into futile attempts to appease Him and to pacify our guilty conscience.

God gave us prayer so we could have conversation with Him, but we often distort this by "saying prayers" and hurrying off without ever listening to what is on our Father’s heart. God instituted His commandments as a protection for those He loves, but the commandments can become a pathway to legalism rather than an avenue for a relationship with our Father in which He protects us from harm.

Religious activity apart from fellowship with God is empty ritual. The people of Jeremiah’s day were satisfied to have the ritual without the manifest presence of God. They became so comfortable with their "religion" that they didn’t even notice God’s absence. Is it possible to pray, to attend a worship service, or to give an offering yet not to experience the presence of God? It certainly is possible! And that has been the sad commentary on many a Christian experience. Don’t settle for a religious life that lacks a vital relationship to Jesus Christ. When God is present, the difference will be obvious.

Henry and Richard Blackaby
Experiencing God Day-by-Day

There’s no 5 second rule on doctrine!

Being somewhat of a technology nerd enthusiast, I peruse several technology sites from time to time.  I’m not always on the prowl for the next cutting edge story, hardware or software title as much as I simply like to stay somewhat abreast of what’s going on.  This little fascination has waned over the years however as the business of our Lord has taken more of a precedence in my life, plus the enjoyment in reading other’s perspectives in the forums is undermined by the negative comments, profanity and lack of civility that seems to abound (not all inclusive). 

Sadly, similar behavior can be experienced when visiting some of the Christian oriented blogs as well.  One of the scenarios that plays out is when an author posts a story that he or she critiques, or otherwise points out doctrinally errant teaching(s).   Comments are left open, people submit their thoughts and opinions, and then the "fun" begins.  Sooner or later the discussion turns into a debate that escalates with lines being drawn in the sand lines.  What’s disheartening, is to watch a thread grow and notice one group side with God and His Word, while others will seemingly make any and every argument as an excuse for the person, or idea criticized in the post.

Denominational differences ie; man’s traditions aside, doctrine as it is defined throughout the Bible should be the litmus test by which any and all claiming to be followers of Christ should measure all teachings.  It would seem however that in the current state of affairs that are "modern" day Christianity, there are those "believers", that when faced with the reality that their assumed favored author, pastor or life coach/self help guru is called out by discerning members of the body of Christ, they would rather make excuses for the apple of their eye.

Galatians 1:6-10
6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— 7 which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned! 9 As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned!

10 Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.

Some of the sad and reaching rebuttals "heard" in response to accusations of one teaching/preaching errantly go something like…

"Well (insert name of favored mini god) has done so much for the Kingdom, they’ve bought many lost souls to God."

"Be careful, don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater."

Are these arguments even Biblical?  What’s the Biblical basis for determining that the "teacher" has in fact been instrumental in "leading" anyone to Christ?  Is it not God’s Holy Spirit whom is responsible for one’s conversion?

I must say that it’s simply amazing of the attitude that some folks will take with regard to their salvation.  Being apparently spiritually and doctrinally immature, these folks ignorantly play Russian Roulette with their souls out of adoration for men.  The sheeple "eat" so called "spiritual" food, tainted by doctrinal feces; thinking that they can nibble around the tainted pieces  and not ingest even a small amount of "poop".  Jesus warned of such things in Matthew 16.

Matthew 16:6-12
6 "Be careful," Jesus said to them. "Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees." … 12 Then they understood that he was not telling them to guard against the yeast used in bread, but against the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

Grace and peace be with you.

Miffed over mysticism mixings

It has been a personal practice to not become overly fascinated, ie having a spiritual man-crush on theologians, pastors, teachers, Christian spiritual leaders or figures.  On a few occasions however, I’ve made reference to a few quotes or viewpoints by popular Christian apologist Ravi Zacharias.  Since I have in fact enjoyed Zacharias’ ability to articulate his thoughts in the past, it’s somewhat saddening to discover and "report" that  Crosstalk discloses that Ravi seems to be in fact slipping in his doctrinal position as he’s endorsed some questionable persons dabbling in "Christian" mysticism.  You can check out the Crosstalk segment posted on YouTube that discerns Zacharias’ teachings concerning "Christian" mysticism.

In addition I would like to take this opportunity to address Got Fruit (?) readers concerning my position on any items linked from this blog, especially in the case of quoting or citing "Christian" leaders, their ideas or sentiments.  Simply put, any external links from posts here at Got Fruit(?) should not be construed as a personal endorsement of anyone’s character or doctrine.  It is policy to not link to blogs,stories or other forms of Internet based media that I consider or believe, to be not glorifying to God (includes ideas, beliefs and teachings not in line with orthodox Christian doctrine).

2nd Timothy 4:3-4
3 For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. 4 They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.

Grace and peace be with you.