Answers

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Beware ! of the Wide Road that Leads to Destruction

“Joel Osteen openly and confidently says how broad his message is – he’s not even disguising himself any longer as a servant of righteousness. The tickled ears continue to follow him, but the sheep do not follow the voice of a stranger.”   Quote by Justin Edwards

John 10:27-30  My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.  (28)  I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.  (29)  My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.  (30)  I and the Father are one.” Continue reading →

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Judging Others – Should Christians Judge?

Naming Names of False Teachers & False Prophets

By Martha Mac / SO4J.com ® / SO4J-TV & Video Productions

Judging Others— Should Christians Judge? – We are NOT to Judge a person’s MOTIVES (Matt 7:1), but we ARE to Judge a Fellow Christian’s: FRUIT / ACTIONS (Matt 7:15-20,John 7:24,1 Cor 5:12–13) to make sure they’re NOT Teaching & Living Contrary to God’s Word, and Essential Christian Doctrine is Correct. Apostle Paul judged 8 Times,& Named the Names of 8 False Converts in 2nd Timothy –

We also encourage you to further read a short article called: BEWARE OF FALSE TEACHERS.

Romans 16:17 (KJV)

    “MARK THEM which cause DIVISIONS & OFFENCES CONTRARY TO THE DOCTRINE which you have learned; and AVOID them.”

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The War of Truth

Charles Spurgeon Sermon

Exodus 17:9 (King James Version)

9And Moses said unto Joshua, Choose us out men, and go out, fight with Amalek: to morrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in mine hand. Continue reading →

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Christ’s Resurrection and Our Newness of Life

C. H. SPURGEON

Delivered on Lord’s-day Morning, March 29th, 1891,
At the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington

(No. 2197)

“Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.”—Romans 6:4.

I HAVE AFORETIME preached upon the whole verse,* so that this morning I shall take the liberty to dwell chiefly upon the latter part of it—”Like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.”

The idea that the grace of God should lead us to licentiousness is utterly loathsome to every Christian man. We cannot endure it. The notion that the doctrines of grace give license to sin, comes from the devil, and we scout it with a detestation more deep than words can express. “How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?”

On our first entrance upon a Christian profession, we are met by the ordinance of baptism, which teaches the necessity of purification. Baptism is, in its very form, a washing, and its teaching requires cleansing of the most thorough kind. It is a burial, in which the man is viewed as dead with Christ to sin, and is regarded as rising again as a new man. Baptism sets forth, as in a picture, the union of the believer with the Lord Jesus in his baptism of suffering, and in his death, burial, and resurrection. By submitting to that sacred ordinance, we declare that we believe ourselves to be dead with him, because of his endurance of the death penalty, and dead to the world and to the dominion of sin by his Spirit; at the same time, we also profess our faith in our Lord’s resurrection, and that we ourselves are raised up in union with him, and have come forth through faith into newness of life. It is a very impressive and vivid symbol, but it is without meaning unless we rise to purity of life.

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The Spirit of Love the Opposite of a Censorious Spirit

Jonathan Edwards
 (1703-1758)

“Charity . . . thinks no evil.” — 1 Corinthians 13:5

Having remarked how charity, or Christian love, is opposed not only to pride and selfishness, but to the ordinary fruits of these evil dispositions, viz. an angry spirit and a censorious spirit, and having already spoken as to the former, I come now to the latter. And in respect to this, the apostle declares, that charity “thinketh no evil.” The doctrine set forth in these words is clearly this:

  THAT THE SPIRIT OF CHARITY, OR CHRISTIAN LOVE, IS THE OPPOSITE OF A CENSORIOUS SPIRIT

  or, in other words, it is contrary to a disposition to think or judge uncharitably of others.

Charity, in one of the common uses of the expression, signifies a disposition to think the best of others that the case will allow. This, however, as I have shown before, is not the scriptural meaning of the word charity, but only one way of its exercise, or one of its many and rich fruits. Charity is of vastly larger extent than this. It signifies, as we have already seen, the same as Christian or divine love, and so is the same as the Christian spirit. And, in accordance with this view, we here find the spirit of charitable judging mentioned among many other good fruits of charity, and here expressed, as the other fruits of charity are in the context, negatively, or by denying the contrary fruit, viz. censoriousness, or a disposition uncharitably to judge or censure others. And in speaking to this point, I would, first, show the nature of censoriousness, or wherein it consists; and then mention some things wherein it appears to be contrary to a Christian spirit. I would show, Continue reading →

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If You Love Jesus Christ, You Defend His Doctrine Regardless

Updated 28/03/2012

Also a Transcript done for our  reader who requested so, this was my first attempt to do a transcript and I hope it meets the readers approval.

If You Love Jesus Christ, You Defend His Doctrine Regardless

So if you want to get an idea of how sincere and genuine your love for Jesus Christ really is, then set aside for the moment the Christian cd’s and the walks in nature and the “what would Jesus do” bracelets, the fish symbols on your car and just ask yourself how much do I love the Scriptures , which bears Christ’s image upon them. Surely you can see that your answer testifies that either in favour a strong love for Christ or a heart that runs cold towards Christ. It either speaks of hypocrisy and merely the outward empty shallow of hypocritical religion, or it speaks of the fact that you have a true and genuine spiritually alive relationship with God.

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The Unbroken Line of True Nobles

A SERMON DELIVERED ON LORD’S-DAY MORNING, OCTOBER 17, 1875,
BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

“Instead of your fathers shall be your children,
whom you may make princes in all the earth.”
Psalm 45:16.

WERE you ever perplexed by being drawn with almost equal force in two directions? I have been so. There is a bond which reaches from the cemetery which holds me very fast and, therefore, I desired again, this morning, to have made use of the solemn visitation which so suddenly removed one of our friends from us. But this is the beginning of the week set apart for prayer for the young, and I have felt duty bound to take a part in the celebration and to assist to stir up Sunday school teachers and the members of the Church in general to pray for the blessing of God upon the rising generation.

Now these mourning friends expect a consoling word from me—and these children demand that I plead for them, also! I realized the scene in my study. What was I to do? Between two subjects I might arrive at none and that was not a desirable conclusion. I watched, looked and prayed, and at last I resolved to yield myself to both influences, and I have as nearly as possible done so by selecting this text—“Instead of your fathers shall be your children, whom you may make princes in all the earth.” Continue reading →

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A Faithful Friend

A sermon (No.120) delivered on Sabbath Morning, March 8, 1857, by C. H. Spurgeon at The Music Hall, Royal Surrey Gardens.

“There is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.”—Proverbs 18:24.Cicero has well said, “Friendship is the only thing in the world concerning the usefulness of which all mankind are agreed.” Friendship seems as necessary an element of a comfortable existence in this world as fire or water, or even air itself. A man may drag along a miserable existence in proud solitary dignity, but his life is scarce life, it is nothing but an existence, the tree of life being stripped of the leaves of hope and the fruits of joy. He who would be happy here must have friends; and he who would be happy hereafter must, above all things, find a friend in the world to come in the person of God, the Father of his people. Continue reading →

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The Dangers of the Hebrew Roots Movement /The Sacred Name movement

The Hebrew Roots movement (HRM) is also known as  The Sacred Name movement.

I have noticed that the influence from this movement has become quite common on the social media networks like Facebook and blogs. It concerns me that not many people are aware of this heresy.  Again this is just another stream of false teachings that we need to keep our eyes and ears open for, it leads people into error and a false legalistic type religion. I will be combining two good article sources that I found, between the 2 the explanation becomes clear of what the dangers are.  This movement has also taken root in South Africa, like in the rest of the world.

 1 John 4 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for  many  false prophets  have gone out into the world. 
And  Jesus said : And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray.

From the articles I found :

The Sacred Name movement consists of those persons, groups, and assemblies who use the Hebrew names for God (i.e. Yahweh, Yahvah) and for Jesus (i.e. Yahshua) in the devotion and worship. They have characterized themselves as “the True Worshippers” eschewing the name ‘Christian’ as being of pagan origin. Continue reading →

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Mindfulness goes to Kindergarten and coming to South Africa – Be Awake !

There are clear dangers in this type of teaching for innocent children in South Africa and elsewhere. Parents today are so busy working and often not aware of the dangers mentioned in the article. Christian parents should test and discern , and be aware. 1Jn 4:1  Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.  My reason for posting this is I pray many take note of this dangerous form of teaching young children that seems to become a norm.

New Age and the dangers of “Mindfulness”

by , with guest Marcia Montenegro

Listen here (or see link further down for podcast download)

We’ve been talking about the concerning activities being promoted in many public schools in our nation and around the world. Today we’re turning our focus on one of the more worrisome lessons being taught to children as young as five. Eastern mystical practices like yoga, meditation and now something called “Mindfulness”are seeping into the classroom. Have you heard about mindfulness? It was promoted in a Scholastic Magazine and is heavily steeped in Buddhism. But what is it?

Today we have researcher and founder of a fantastic ministry called Christian Answers for the New Age (CANA), Marcia Montenegro. Marcia’s own story about how she once was a practitioner of professional astrology is a fascinating one, and Continue reading →

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Eastern Meditation Sneaks into the Church

Prof. Johan Malan, University of Limpopo, South Africa

There is a widespread resurgence of Eastern meditation among nominal Christians in the West. In many churches and other Christian circles, prayer is increasingly replaced by meditation, which is also described as contemplation, centring prayers, or quiet prayers. Meditation is often accompanied by Yoga relaxation exercises and relaxed breathing in order to promote a mental shift from the rational left brain to the intuitive right brain.

The basic objective with meditation – whether it be Hindu-based Transcendental Meditation (TM), Buddhist, Islamic or ‘Christian’ meditation – is to acquire a situation of complete rest in your body, soul and spirit, thereby eliminating stress and facilitating contact with deeper, more creative levels of your consciousness. Rational thinking is intentionally suppressed and switched off while you transcend to mystical spheres to make contact with your deeper self. According to Naomi Humphrey (Meditation – the inner way) meditation helps to deliver you from spiritual and mental bondage, and also from fear, by enabling you to transcend to a new perception of reality. The result is a holistic way of life in which spirit and matter become integrated.

The inner journey Continue reading →

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Repentance : Legal vs True

by James C. Heard

Repentance is an old-fashioned word, not much used by the modernists and liberals of our day. True repentance and true belief are inseparable. True repentance and true faith are the products of a quick­ened heart – a work of regeneration by the Holy Spirit. Spiritual life must precede spiritual acts.

Legal repentance is that regret and reluctance that arises in a person after having done something that they should not have done. This repentance arises from a fear of punishment denounced against sin, but it is not accompanied with the hatred of sin and self. This person may be sorry for that which has been com­mitted, but will not be grieved that they have offended a HOLY GOD. Legal repentance fears Hell and dreads punishment, for criminals are always sorry that they face punishment (however, sorrow itself is not true repentance).

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A Disturbing form of Gnosticism Detected

I have detected a very disturbing trend the past couple of days on some Social media networks, Facebook and blogs.  The latest a trend being promoted in the form of an ambiguous question “Should we pray for False teachers” or “Are we to pray for  grievous wolves” . I just feel the need to share what I have learned from Scriptures  for whom are we to pray, as it seems this was also a problem prevalent in the church of Ephesus if we come to the understanding of the Apostle Paul’s writings in the 1 Timothy. It seems there were division caused by some Judiazers as they claimed that salvation was solely for law-keeping Jews or Gentile proselytes who kept the Mosaic ceremonies. ( Titus 3:10  As for a person who stirs up division, after warning him once and then twice, have nothing more to do with him, ) And a second a form of intellectual religious elitism, later called Gnosticism, was being taught at Ephesus .  Now the teachings subject on the Social media  group was on the Doctrines  of Election sadly it lead to the assumption we are not to pray for false teachers. Sadly it seems here in the group was also is a form of intellectual religious elitism  that is promoted by the group owner.

The Bible says nothing is new under the sun :

What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun. Is there a thing of which it is said, “See, this is new”? It has been already in the ages before us.
(Ecclesiastes 1:9-10)

Less than 24 hours later an article appeared on my social media feeds from a blog with the heading Are We To Pray For Grievous Wolves?  Please read this article with prayer and discernment !

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The War Against Reason

Excerpt from Reckless Faith: When the Church Loses Its Will to Discern, © 1994 by John MacArthur.

True discernment has suffered a horrible setback in the past few decades because reason itself has been under attack within the church. As Francis Schaeffer warned nearly thirty years ago in The God Who Is There, the church is following the irrationality of secular philosophy. Consequently, reckless faith has overrun the evangelical community. Many are discarding doctrine in favor of personal experience. Others say they are willing to disregard crucial biblical distinctives in order to achieve external unity among all professing Christians. True Christianity marked by intelligent, biblical faith seems to be declining even among the most conservative evangelicals.

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Religious Deception

Prof. Johan Malan, University of the North, South Africa

Abstract: The kingdom of darkness infiltrated the Christian church with a view to adulterating it by proclaiming a counterfeit Jesus, a counterfeit spirit and a counterfeit gospel.

Scripture quotations are from the King James Version of the Holy Bible except where otherwise indicated. Only very archaic terms have been substituted, between brackets, with correlating terms from the New King James Version (NKJV). All pronouns referring to the Godhead are capitalised. Edited by Bernard and Kathleen Reeves of London.

A solemn warning

Since the start of the Christian era, many churches have shown a fatal inability to distinguish between the truth of God’s inspired Word and misrepresentations of it: “I marvel that ye are so soon removed from Him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed” (Gal. 1:6-8).

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