Category: spiritual warfare

Satan and Dispensationalism #6

Saturday, October 10, 2015

“And a certain Jew named Apollos, born at Alexandria, an eloquent man, and mighty in the scriptures, came to Ephesus. This man was instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in the spirit, he spake and taught diligently the things of the Lord, knowing only the baptism of John. And he began to speak boldly in the synagogue: whom when Aquila and Priscilla had heard, they took him unto them, and expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly” (Acts 18:24-26 KJV).

Dispensational Bible study is the key to believing a clear Gospel message and understanding the Bible canon, so Satan seeks to hide or corrupt it, that he may keep the masses in his snare!

We commonly hear, “Pastor/Doctor/Father/Brother/Sister disagrees with dispensational Bible study, so I dislike it too. After all, how could someone so educated be wrong?” Well, quite easily, actually. Consider “mighty-in-the-Scriptures” Apollos of today’s Scripture. He was very passionate in preaching… John’s water baptism, an Old Testament message, a message God Himself had replaced 20 years earlier!

Educated Apollos—probably (mis)trained at the heretical seminary (Bible cemetery) in Alexandria, Egypt—was unaware of the advancement of God’s revelation. He had no idea about Jesus Christ’s earthly ministry, the 12 apostles, Calvary’s crosswork, Christ’s ascension into heaven, the coming of the Holy Ghost in Acts chapter 2, the delay in Israel’s prophetic program, or Paul’s conversion and ministry and the start of the mystery program. Apollos did not know of the Holy Ghost, indicating Apollos was still lost. He was not even saved in relationship to Israel’s program.

Jewish husband and wife Aquila and Priscilla had spent extended time with Paul in Acts 18:1-3. Paul converted lost Aquila and Priscilla, bringing them up-to-date with his ministry and message. Later in the chapter, Aquila and Priscilla taught that info to lost Apollos. That was “the way of God more perfectly,” the better way to preach God’s Word (rightly divided). Now Apollos knew what current gospel and doctrine to preach.

So many today say, “Oh, we preach Jesus!” Yes, according to His earthly ministry they preach Him. There has been a further revelation. Jesus Christ has a heavenly ministry—Paul’s ministry, Romans through Philemon. Wake up, ye Apolloses!

Satan and Dispensationalism #4

Thursday, October 8, 2015

“For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat” (Hebrews 5:12 KJV).

Dispensational Bible study is the key to believing a clear Gospel message and understanding the Bible canon, so Satan seeks to hide or corrupt it, that he may keep the masses in his snare!

Recently, a dear Christian lady told me about her denominational church, “We read the Bible there, we just do not study it as in-depth as you do.” In other words, like most churches today, it is shallow. Just enough verses to keep people interested in supporting the church, but not enough verses to impact their lives sufficiently for God’s glory. Just enough verses to bolster the denomination, but not enough verses to strengthen souls.

It is common in dispensational Bible study circles to hear people who are so disappointed to have learned those simple Bible truths so very late in their lives. They trusted Christ as their personal Saviour 30, 40, or 50 or more years ago, but they spent all those years in shallow understanding and utter Bible confusion. A poor lady once told a Christian brother, “I am over 90 years old. I have learned more from my Bible in six months with dispensational Bible study, than I have learned in 90 years in ‘church!’”

From Moses to Christ, about 1500 years, the Jews should have learned enough Bible to teach the nations. Alas, the writer of the book of Hebrews chided his nation for being spiritually immature and ignorant (today’s Scripture). Verses 13 and 14 continue, “For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.”

If we want to avoid Israel’s mistake, and Christendom’s mistake, may we become skilled in the Word of God rightly divided, that we may teach others—lost and saved alike.

Satan and Dispensationalism #3

Wednesday, October 7, 2015

“But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them” (2 Corinthians 4:3,4 KJV).

Dispensational Bible study is the key to believing a clear Gospel message and understanding the Bible canon, so Satan seeks to hide or corrupt it, that he may keep the masses in his snare!

Recently, my 10-year-old niece told me of a somewhat troubling conversation she had with her teacher, an employee of a private “Christian” school. My niece knows the Gospel of the Grace of God by heart. Unlike many preachers, she can quote it with ease, “Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins, He was buried, and He rose again the third day. 1 Corinthians 15:3-4.” When she asked her teacher, “What is the Gospel of the Grace of God?,” the teacher admitted she had no idea!!

It is sad to say, but I am afraid that the Gospel is hidden from lost people and a lot of “Christians” today as well! There are 40,000 different “Christian” denominations all preaching different Gospel messages. The dominant crowds are preaching: “Get water baptized and keep the commandments!,” “Ask Jesus into your heart!,” “Make Jesus Lord of your life!,” “Confess your sins and ask God to save you!,” “You must be born again!,” or “Repent and say the sinner’s prayer!”

The way Satan keeps lost people lost is to use Israel’s law-performance system (works-religion). Yes, he uses the Bible to deceive. Not only are these lost people blinded by sin, they are misguided when it comes to properly interpreting the Bible. They grab John 3:3, Acts 2:38, Romans 10:9-10, Mark 1:15, Matthew 19:17, James 2:24, Revelation 3:20, or Mark 16:16, as though these are verses written to and about our salvation. They are not!

If lost people want a clear dissertation of the Gospel of the Grace of God, they should read the first five chapters of the book of Romans. No clearer Gospel tract has ever been written to Gentiles in our Dispensation of Grace!

Satan and Dispensationalism #2

Tuesday, October 6, 2015

“…God our Saviour; Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:3,4 KJV).

Dispensational Bible study is the key to believing a clear Gospel message and understanding the Bible canon, so Satan seeks to hide or corrupt it, that he may keep the masses in his snare!

Friend, have you ever wondered about God’s will for your life? Now that you have read today’s Scripture, you need not search any longer. It discloses God’s will for non-Christians and Christians. The God of the Bible has done everything needed to save mankind from his sins. Why? He is “not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). The God of the Bible became the God-Man, Jesus Christ, to shed His rich, royal blood to atone for every person’s sins. “Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time” (1 Timothy 2:6). He wants all people to be saved, that they not go to hell! Lost people need to trust Jesus Christ’s finished crosswork alone, that they go to heaven!

Verse 7 continues, “Whereunto I am ordained a preacher, and an apostle, (I speak the truth in Christ, and lie not;) a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and verity.” When was the “due time” for Jesus Christ’s crosswork to be “testified” as available to all people? It was Paul’s apostleship, Acts chapter 9 onward! This is the dispensational aspect of God’s will, the “coming unto the knowledge of the truth” that God wants for Christians. He wants them to recognize the special ministry and message the risen, ascended, and glorified Lord Jesus Christ gave Saul of Tarsus, the Apostle Paul. In Paul’s epistles, we find a clear Gospel message and the doctrine needed for a functional Christian life.

Satan obviously does not want God’s will fulfilled. So, his religious system confuses the various Gospel messages and divine instructions given throughout the Bible. This makes it nearly impossible for any lost person to become a Christian, and nearly impossible for a Christian to become a mature believer. Such people under his control are usually very resistant to hearing God’s truth!

Our latest Bible Q&A: “How long should I keep witnessing to the same person?”

Satan and Dispensationalism #1

Monday, October 5, 2015

“And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will” (2 Timothy 2:24-26 KJV).

Dispensational Bible study is the key to believing a clear Gospel message and understanding the Bible canon, so Satan seeks to hide or corrupt it, that he may keep the masses in his snare!

Beloved, as grace believers, as Pauline dispensationalists, we have an awesome responsibility to teach God’s Word to all people, confused Christians and confused lost people. Satan has taken them captive, skillfully and tirelessly fighting to keep them imprisoned. In accordance with his will, he keeps them blinded. Lost people (religious and non-religious alike) have no idea about soul salvation and forgiveness of sins through Jesus Christ. They are going to a devil’s hell forever. They need to hear a clear Gospel message that can save them! Denominational Christians are so focused on manmade theologies that their service is unacceptable and offensive to God. They are going to heaven, but have not a clue as to what the God of the universe is doing today. They are too busy working in religion to please God. They need to hear sound Bible study to stabilize their souls!

God did not create man to die and go to hell. God did not create Christians to grope about in spiritual ignorance. Alas, man dies and goes to hell, and Christians grope around in spiritual ignorance! How awful! They must “recover themselves” (today’s Scripture). Their minds and hearts must be corrected by divine truth. God has already revealed in His written Word, the answers they need to escape their dire situations. Whether they look in the Bible on their own, or we gently teach it to them, it is ultimately their responsibility to apply by faith the verses applicable to their circumstances. Lost people do not have to stay lost and go to hell. Denominational Christians do not have to stay confused and defeated. Oh, what good news right division literally brings!

Affections and Lusts Crucified

Tuesday, September 29, 2015

“And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit” (Galatians 5:24,25 KJV).

Behold, the key to overcoming temptations!

There is a constant battle in the Christian’s mind. On one hand, we have the garbage thinking from the Adamic sin nature. “Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened” (Romans 1:21). On the other, we have the Holy Spirit using sound Bible verses to “transform [us] by the renewing of [our] mind, that [we] may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God” (Romans 12:2).

Hence, in verses preceding today’s Scripture, we read: “[16] This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. [17] For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. [18] But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.”

And 2 Corinthians chapter 10: “[3] For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: [4] (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) [5] Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;”

Whatever does not agree with “the knowledge of God” (His Word rightly divided), throw it out. We are to “bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.” This is not you making your thoughts obedient to Jesus Christ. Rather, it is you taking your thoughts and seeing whether or not they agree with Jesus Christ’s finished crosswork (His obedience to Father God; Romans 5:19; Philippians 2:8; Hebrews 5:8). The desires of the flesh, they were crucified with Christ. They have no power over you, dear brother or sister in Christ!

Our latest Bible Q&A: “What advice can be given to homosexual Christians?”

Mark the Heretics—Mark the Faithful

Friday, September 18, 2015

“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables” (2 Timothy 4:3,4 KJV).

My, oh my, most news items involving “Christianity” today can be summed up thus!

A news article currently circulating on social media involves a 103-year-old woman now banned from the Baptist church that she has attended all of her life. She disagreed with the “new” pastor’s actions and teaching in the local assembly. He would holler and those with him would roll around on the floor. She confronted him, telling him these types of charismatic activities did not belong in their Baptist church. Sometime later, she received a letter in the mail that forbade her from returning to the church building. When she did return, the police were called… but they could not do anything because it was a civil dispute. She plans to keep on going to that church.

Yes, Christendom is still sliding doctrinally. Apostasy—that is, turning away from God’s truth, and embracing error—is evident even in mainline denominations that did not historically support such warped views. Evidently, the local assembly—like tens of thousands of others—did not have enough Scriptural grounding to identify and run off the heretical pastor. He is still there!

“Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them. For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple” (Romans 16:17,18). Not only are we to “mark” those who are bad, but we are to also “mark” those who are good. “Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an ensample” (Philippians 3:17).

We are to follow the Apostle Paul and those who follow him, for they are following Jesus Christ Himself (1 Corinthians 11:1). This is the sure way to avoid the spiritual disaster described in today’s Scripture… and in today’s religious news stories!

Lewd Fellows of the Baser Sort

Tuesday, September 15, 2015

“But the Jews which believed not, moved with envy, took unto them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort, and gathered a company, and set all the city on an uproar, and assaulted the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people” (Acts 17:5 KJV).

Our King James Bible abounds with interesting phraseology. Today’s Scripture is no exception. As a pastor friend often comments about the verse, “You may not understand that expression ‘lewd fellows of the baser sort’ but you at least know it does not sound good!” We will analyze the phrase and learn just how “bad” it really is. Context first, though.

While Paul and Silas were conducting Paul’s second apostolic journey, they came to Macedonia (northern Greece), to a city named Thessalonica, where there was a Jewish synagogue. For two or three weeks, Paul reasoned with them out of the Scriptures. He used the Old Testament to prove that Jesus was Christ. Some in the audience believed the Gospel of the Grace of God—Christ Jesus died for their sins, He was buried, and He rose again the third day (1 Corinthians 15:3,4). Luke writes in chapter 17 of Acts, verse 4, a great multitude of religious Greeks and many chief women believed unto eternal life. Today’s Scripture picks up the account. Satan was very upset!

Unbelieving Jews who followed Paul everywhere, became envious that God was now working amongst and saving the pagan Gentiles. In response to Paul’s ministry triumphs in Thessalonica, these lost Jews gathered a mob of the worst people they could locate. These men were “lewd” (wicked), but to make it worse, they were “of the baser sort” (the worst of the worst!). That mob then caused a riot in Thessalonica. It physically attacked a Christian, Jason, and his household. After that intense day, Paul and Silas by night barely escaped to nearby Berea with their lives (verses 6-10)!

Saints, may we learn this simple lesson. Let us brush off the silly and snide comments, awful frowns, and rude gestures from the lost world. After all, the Bible says Christians have been assaulted (literally) “by worse!” 🙂

For Students This is Safe

Wednesday, September 9, 2015

“Therefore I esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right; and I hate every false way” (Psalm 119:128 KJV).

As a new school year dawns, let us awake unto spiritual truth!

The autumnal equinox is a few weeks away here in the Northern Hemisphere, and summer is finally beginning to wind down for most of us. Students—with long faces and deep sighs—have returned or are beginning to return to school. (Thankfully, I am finished with school. Exactly a month ago I finished nine years of college, obtaining a master’s degree in geology!) As students return to the classroom, they need to be particularly mindful of the following.

Firstly, learning in and of itself is not a sin. Moses was “learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians” (Acts 7:22). Luke was a medical doctor (Colossians 4:14). Daniel and his companions were skilled in science (Daniel 1:4). Adam was the first taxonomist (Genesis 2:19,20). The God of the Bible is never against learning new things—remember, He gave us His Holy Bible so we can have plenty to learn for all of eternity!

Secondly, what the God of the Bible opposes is when we believe/trust ideas that do not seek our best interests, that contradict the way He designed our lives to function. Certainly, we Christians should never go around believing anything and everything heard and seen. Just because the professor, preacher, pope, or president says it is true, that does not make it so. Scientific consensus has been wrong before, religion has been wrong before, politicians have been wrong before. Much of the ideas that permeate our world today are wrong.

Lastly, there are many wonderful, exciting ideas and concepts out there—medical advancements, technological breakthroughs, and so on—but there are equally detrimental ideas that will mess up your life—religious traditions, secular humanism, and other philosophies. Daily intake of the King James Bible rightly divided will cleanse our souls of the filth and foolishness that we hear and see day in and day out in this evil world system. We highly exalt God’s Word, we know it is right “concerning all things,” and we hate and ignore the error.

Have a wonderful school year in our Lord Jesus Christ! 🙂

Ever-Learning Athenians

Thursday, September 3, 2015

“And they took him, and brought him unto Areopagus, saying, May we know what this new doctrine, whereof thou speakest, is? For thou bringest certain strange things to our ears: we would know therefore what these things mean. (For all the Athenians and strangers which were there spent their time in nothing else, but either to tell, or to hear some new thing.)” (Acts 17:19-21 KJV).

Athens was the chief intellectual city of the ancient world. What will its citizens do with God’s Word, true wisdom?

Recently, while reading a world history book, I came across the following statement: “The Athenians believed that life was empty unless people tried to gain new knowledge and live freely.” Today’s Scripture came to mind. See, dear friends, when the Bible speaks of history, it speaks with accuracy!

While Paul was waiting for Silas and Timothy (verse 15), he was deeply affected to see Athens “wholly given to idolatry” (verse 16). After disputing with the Jews in the synagogue, and the religious people, and in the market daily with people who met him (verse 17), “Then certain philosophers of the Epicureans, and of the Stoicks, encountered him. And some said, What will this babbler say? other some, He seemeth to be a setter forth of strange gods: because he preached unto them Jesus, and the resurrection” (verse 18).

As the Bible and history affirm, the Athenians were always eager to hear of something new. Yet, there was something odd about Paul’s “new” message. They saw him as a “babbler,” someone who had picked up secondhand tales and was now passing them along. After Paul’s extensive Gospel sermon (Acts 17:22-31), “when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked: and others said, We will hear thee again of this matter” (verse 32). Verse 33 says Paul left them, with certain men joining him and believing those words of eternal life. Still, the majority of Athenians were “ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth” (2 Timothy 3:7). When it came time to receive “some new thing” that was also something eternally significant, the vast majority could not care less. Saints, let us not be discouraged when people act the same way toward us today! 🙂