They Will Despise It

During the week of the Weblogs Awards voting, I found a website that I had decided to join. It is called "Christians Unite." Perhaps you have noticed the two new links on the left sidebar.

In order to join, you must submit your website (or blog) and get approval by the administrators over there. I thought that was a wise thing for them to do.

Why?

Simply because today, there is so much reprobate theology passing itself off as "christian" that careful analysis of the beliefs being professed must be examined and judged according to the plumbline of God's Holy Scriptures.

The term "Christian" has, unfortunately, lost much of it's true, authentic meaning through the infiltration of skewed, reprobate, and dare it be told, unchristian theology.

Also, the term is often defined by secularists who write descriptions for dictionaries.

Case in point. At Dictionary.com, the term "Christian" is defined in several ways. However, the original meaning is no where to be found amongst the definitions.

The definition in the "Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary" gets closer to the true meaning, but, IMHO, still disappoints me just a bit.

Christian

the name given by the Greeks or Romans, probably in reproach, to the followers of Jesus. It was first used at Antioch. The names by which the disciples were known among themselves were "brethren," "the faithful," "elect," "saints," "believers." But as distinguishing them from the multitude without, the name "Christian" came into use, and was universally accepted. This name occurs but three times in the New Testament (Acts 11:26; 26:28; 1 Pet. 4:16).

Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary

What's missing?

The fact that "Christian" means "Christ in one."

The Bible is filled with verses that talk about the need to be born again. We learn how once a person takes this step they invite Christ into their hearts to dwell there. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, the Christian believer is then transformed, guided and led in the direction towards being more and more like Jesus Christ. This is a process known as sanctification - meaning "To Be Sacred and Set Apart." The Holy Spirit also reveals the truth to the reader and helps the believer to understand the Bible. This results in having the ability to discern truth from error.

I'm not sure how many readers here have been following a conversation between Liberator Rev and myself in the post called "Orthodox Christianity vs. Liberal Theology.

[Note: When you click on link above, you will find that the page is skewed (due to large links posted in the comments section) and I don't have the time to correct it right now, so be sure to scroll down to read the essay and comments. Thanks for you understanding.]

It's been a "clash of the Titans" type debate. I knew in my spirit that it would be. I also knew, beforehand, that this commenter's mind would probably not be changed. I do think that his mind may have been stirred a bit. But, obviously not changed...yet! There is always hope!!

Now, in my travels across the blogosphere, I have found many good Christian bloggers who will not engage in such dialogue. One blog that I just happened to visit today, in fact, had this as a warning to any commenters there:

PLEASE make comments! Know that I review all comments before they are posted and will get back to you about changes. I want this BLOG to be free from rants and uncharitable judgments. Questioning motives, integrity, or intelligence are not acceptable here. Gospel humility and grace will be the controlling rule.

Please know that I can truly understand why this person wants to run his blog in this way. There is room for all different types of Christian blogs. If this is what he personally wants to stress in his postings and comment section, then that is entirely his right to do so.

Free speech.
Freedom of association.
Freedom of religion.

All of these are in play.

Some are called by God through His Holy Spirit to do what that blogger does. He (they) may not be equipped to do otherwise. It's O.K.!

However, I also believe that there is room for what I do here.

Some may wish to label it negatively. That's their opinion and they are welcome to it.

However, I truly see that with the New Age influence now attempting to present a New Age type of "Christ"; as well as those who want to claim that Christianity’s traditional teaching on Christ’s crucifixion for the sins of mankind is “repulsive,” “insane” and makes “God sound like a psychopath”; must be exposed for the heresy that they espouse!!

For a long time, I have been asking a question regarding how the liberal churches could possibly reconcile their differences with traditional, Biblical Christian churches. No one seemed (or wanted) to come up with a satisfactory answer for that.

I think that the Holy Spirit has led me to a satisfactory answer.

It may not be complete, mind you, but I think that I have found the "main ingredient" that makes reconciliation between these two quite divergent beliefs unresolvable.

What's the ingredient?

The realization and unchanging condition in God's Word for the need to REPENT!

The implausible position of most liberal churches is the rejection (or, in some cases the ignoring) of the need to repent (confess and turn away from) of sins.

A fellow Weblogs Award blogger named Steve over at Camp On This has a wonderful post called Genuine Repentance: "...till sin be bitter, Christ will not be sweet."

He quotes Spurgeon:

"If the professed convert distinctly and deliberately declares that he knows the Lord's will but does not mean to attend to it, you are not to pamper his presumption, but it is your duty to assure him that he is not saved. Do not suppose that the Gospel is magnified or God glorified by going to the worldlings and telling them that they may be saved at this moment by simply accepting Christ as their Savior, while they are wedded to their idols, and their hearts are still in love with sin. If I do so I tell them a lie, pervert the Gospel , insult Christ, and turn the grace of God into lasciviousness." -C.H. SPURGEON

Steve goes on and writes:

Strong and necessary words.

Repentance is a forgotten word within the church today. It is virtually left out of most gospel invitations you will hear presented at crusades, concerts and church gatherings. The use of the "R" word, as it is referred to by contemporaries in postmodern ecclesiology, should be avoided because it is too offensive to our advanced sensibilities, it is intolerant and nonecumenical, emergent unfriendly, and church growth stifling. They will say that it doesn't have "curb appeal" and lacks compassion.

But yet, it is unmistakably central to the biblical record. To paraphrase what Calvin once said: "a Christian's life should not be marked by just one act of repentance, but by a daily life of repentance." That is my contrite and painful prayer for my own life - to be that kind of man in the Lord though I fall woefully short most days. But praise be to God for His sanctifying grace that conforms us to Jesus and does not leave us to ourselves (Titus 2:11-12).

I recently posted this evening devotional within the comment section of another thread. But I think that it is so important for all to read; so, I brought it into this post as well:

C.H. Spurgeon's Morning and Evening Devotional
Saturday November 10, 2007
Christians Unite Devotionals

Evening "It is enough for the disciple that he be as His Master."-Matthew 10:25

No one will dispute this statement, for it would be unseemly for the servant to be exalted above his Master. When our Lord was on earth, what was the treatment He received? Were His claims acknowledged, His instructions followed, His perfections worshipped, by those whom He came to bless? No; "He was despised and rejected of men." Outside the camp was His place: cross-bearing was His occupation. Did the world yield Him solace and rest? "Foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay His head." This inhospitable country afforded Him no shelter: it cast Him out and crucified Him. Such-if you are a follower of Jesus, and maintain a consistent, Christ-like walk and conversation-you must expect to be the lot of that part of your spiritual life which, in its outward development, comes under the observation of men. They will treat it as they treated the Saviour-they will despise it. Dream not that worldlings will admire you, or that the more holy and the more Christ-like you are, the more peaceably people will act towards you. They prized not the polished gem, how should they value the jewel in the rough? "If they have called the Master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of His household?" If we were more like Christ, we should be more hated by His enemies. It were a sad dishonour to a child of God to be the world's favourite. It is a very ill omen to hear a wicked world clap its hands and shout "Well done" to the Christian man. He may begin to look to his character, and wonder whether he has not been doing wrong, when the unrighteous give him their approbation. Let us be true to our Master, and have no friendship with a blind and base world which scorns and rejects Him. Far be it from us to seek a crown of honour where our Lord found a coronet of thorn.

We must be diligent with our ability to spot heresy. In order to do so, as Spurgeon so eloquently points out, we must know that the "world" is not going to like us for it!!

When comparing what the Bible truly teaches against the errors and heresies that several of the articles above reveal regarding the new age and reprobate theologies out there, we can clearly see that the prophecies in Jude about heresy creeping into the churches as we approach the end times are certainly coming to fruition at an alarming rate today.

HT: Camp On This; Herescope; GcmWatch; Christians unite