"THE APOSTASY?" I Timothy 2

  
I Timothy 2: 1-3,  "Now  the Spirit  speaketh  expressly in the
latter times, some shall  depart from  the faith,  giving  heed to
seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils, speaking lies in hypo-
crisy, having their consciences seared with a hot iron.  Forbid-
ding  to marry,  and to  abstain  from  meats,  which God  hath
created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe
and know the truth."   

human interaction, but the work of Satan, his "angels," or 

This Scripture makes it plain; a believer is not fooled by any

ecclesiastical leaders."   It is brought on by ones failure to rely

on God's Word.  Those who would mislead are Satan's Emis-

saries, and must be resisted and called out. 

      This seems a bleak picture of what has happened in the visible
or physical "church" over the  years.  As our Lord said in Mark
7: 6-8; "Well hath Esaias (Isaiah) prophesied of you hypocrites,
As it  is written,  'This people honoureth  me with  their lips, but
their heart is far from me.  Howbeit, in vain do they worship me
teaching  for doctrines  the  commandments of men.  For  laying
aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men..."  
 
   Just one comment:  The rise of  "denominations" just might be
a good example of  this statement  from the lips of our Savior.  Is
there any doubt  this phenomenon is the result of someone depar-
ting from the faith?  (apostasy) Either the group who pulled away
from an existing congregation or  the persons who remain within,
are in error.  Admittedly, the differences do not always rise to the
level of apostasy, but what about those so critical they are used as
reason for  persons to withdraw  fellowship from brothers?  If we
are  truly "brothers" in  faith of our Lord Jesus Christ,  could we
not reconcile differences  rather than split?  Can there be a break
or fracture within the "Body of Christ?"  Some have indicated to
me that divisions within the Church of Jesus Christ might be one
means of growing the Church.  While there is a point to this con-
tention it will not, in my view, "hold water."  In the book of acts,
there was a phenomenon used of God to scatter the Church, thus
the Gospel of Jesus Christ, over the known world through perse-
cution of "Christians" in Jerusalem.  There is also this;  when it
became known in other parts of the world that Christ had indeed
come,  visitors to Jerusalem sought out  the Apostles and carried
the gospel back to their home countries.  

      The condition, apparent in the early days of church  history, 
and now,  does not  have easy answers and  this humble servant 
can  only  offer  opinion.  I  decline  to  do so,  but  merely offer 
points to ponder, and use as a springboard to  be persons quick 
to  reconcile;  forgiving  differences or  offenses.  Although  we
must forgive one who offends us personally,  there can never be
a time when  the followers of Jesus Christ  forsake a Scriptural 
principle in  order to go along  with doctrine  that  is  plainly in
variance with the teaching of Jesus Christ as found in the God's
Word.   

      God bless, as you and I do our part to become peacemakers 
within our local congregations and  to  the world at large. May
God bless your efforts in  the  Kingdom of our  Lord as  "...led 
by the Spirit..."   See  Luke 4: 1,  Romans 8: 14, and  "...led of 
the Spirit..."  in Galatians 5: 18    

 donporter,sr 6.17.17  edited: 8.12.17
   

   

                              

THE VALUE OF PURE RELIGION, James 1

     In the epistle of James, chapter 1, verses 26 and 27 we find:
"If any man among you seem to be religious,  and bridleth not
his tongue, but decieveth his own heart,  this man's religion is
vain.  Pure religion and undefiled  before God and the Father
is this, To visit  the fatherless  and  widows in their  affliction,
and to keep himself unspotted from the world." 

In chapter 2, verse 1-4, the Apostle says,  under the inspiration
of  the Spirit of  God,  "My brethren,  have not  the faith of our
Lord Jesus Christ,  the God  of  glory,  with respect of  persons,
for if there come into your assembly a man with a gold ring, in
goodly apparel,  and there come in also a poor man in vile rai-
ment;  And ye  have  respect to him  that weareth  the gay  clo-
thing and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place; and say
unto the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool:
Are  ye not then partial in your selves,  and are  become judges 
of evil thoughts?   
Vs. 10,For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend 
in one point, he is guilty of all." 

    I believe Scripture teaches we must  give due  respect to those 
who have authority over us,  such as elected  governmental and
law  enforcement  officials,  but at the  same  time  give  no less  
respect  to those whom we consider  equals or  with less  autho-
rity or status.  We must consider all men and women,  as equals 
according to our constitution  as well as  the Scriptural injunc-
tion.  And,  if we are careful about  obeying that  injunction we
would actually "prefer others to ourselves..." as in Romans 12:
10,  "Be kindly affectioned  to one another with brotherly love;
in honour preferring one another."  or in 1 Timothy 5: 21...  
"...observe these  things without preferring one before another,
doing  nothing by  partiality."    Are there questions for discus-
sion? 

II Timothy 3: 16-17,  "All Scripdture is given by inspiration of
God, and is profitable for doctrine,  for reproof, for correction,
for instruction  in righteousness:  That the man of God may be
perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.                         

Note:  The word "perfect" here could have been rendered as
"complete" or "mature."  

donporter,sr.  edited on 9.211.17 

 
    
      

GIFTS OF THE SPIRIT II; 2 Peter

   When we turn to 2 Peter: 1-10,  our search reveals another mention 
of  gifts in  verse 2,  “...as  His divine power has  given to us all  things
that  pertain to life and godliness,  through the knowledge of Him who 
called us by glory  and virtue,  by which  have  been  given to us excee-
dingly great and  precious promises,  that through  these you might be 
partakers of the Divine nature,  having  escaped  the corruption that is 
in the world through lust.”  According to the Apostle Peter,  all things  
having to do with life and  godliness and  the promises are gifts.  Faith 
is established as a gift  from God, and; ("Faith cometh by hearing and
hearing  by  the Word  of  God."   “without  faith  it  is  impossible  to
please God.”)  See Romans 10: 17 and Hebrews 11: 6...

I had missed something critical in this above passage and thought it
necessary to mention it here.  From the passage in 2 Peter we find:
"Through these you might be partakers of the Divine nature, having
escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust...."
Have you ever considered "partakers of the Divine nature," to be one
of the gifts of the Spirit?  This is not ours because we deserve such. It 
is certainly impossible to earn such a wonderful gift. In addition, this
is included;  We escape the "corruption"  of the world, "lust."  This 
is possibly the most important earthly gift outside of the gift of eter-
nal life and our source of that life is the Holy Spirit who lives in us.   

   In verse 5 we are given the opportunity to do something.  I believe 
the passage unique in Scripture,  since it instructs believer (faithful) 
to build on something  established of the Lord.  Faith is awarded by 
the Lord, without regard to merit.  It is a foundation on which we are 
to build virtue,  ("...all  good and  perfect  gifts  come  from above...") 
and  to virtue knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness,  bro-
therly kindness and love.  Each of the traits we are  instructed to add 
to our faith are traits we cannot develop on our own.  Each one must 
come from God.  The  passage comes with  a warning.   If  we  do  not
add  to our  lives the traits listed,  in the  power of  Christ,  we cannot   
be assured of  salvation.  Here,  we are  faced with  a  negative  proof.  
We are not the Children of God  because we  have,  or are developing 
the listed traits. The traits come upon,  or follow after believers, since
there is that relationship.  

      (The apple does not fall far from the tree; the "Tree of Life.")

      A way to summarize the above we learned in 1970 from Dr. Bill 
Bright, the founder of Campus Crusade for Christ, Intl.. His messa-
ges  in  a  Lay Institute  for Evangelism at  Ridgecrest, N. C. opened 
my eyes to the concept;  As children of God, everything we do  is of  
faith.  He  presented  “how to” messages on walking by faith, loving 
by faith, worshiping by faith, witnessing by faith and giving by faith.   
In subsequent  sessions we learned some of  the  “Steps to Christian 
Maturity,” showing everything a  Child of God does is to be in faith. 
One simple  example of the  way he taught;  explained the Scripture, 
several passages, that the Kingdom of  God is not of the flesh or this 
world.   Every  experience with God  must by by faith.  Since God is  
Spirit  and is not known through any of the five senses, we may only 
experience Him by substance of hope and evidence unseen. There is 
no  proof in this.  The Child of God does not look for proof,  but the 
Lord, has not left us without proofs.  As we see above, when we love 
the unlovely, perform good deeds without expecting reward, develop 
patience, kindness,  self control,  and begin  to become  partakers of
Divine nature, it's proof enough for us, and those around us who see 
we have begun,  in the Spirit of God,  to  live a  life above  reproach. 
The proofs are established when we try Him through giving our sub-
stance and  are blessed a s a result.  We have  answers to prayer that 
could only come from the Lord.  To use another frame of reference; 
we know the Spirit of God is working, around and through us, and 
have come to the place of  believing the unseen more than  the seen 
and realize the unseen is permanent.  When our hope is in the Lord, 
the things of  this life are  loosely held.  Hope and  faith in  God are 
paramount.

     On the surface, our next passage seems to be unrelated,  but as we 
look closely, the first chapter of James, verses 16-20,  issue a warning. 
It has to do with  pride that might come as we  believe credit  is due us 
for spiritual gifts. If we have a sense of accomplishment or believe our 
gifts are the result of  some merit of our own,  we  tend  to be  verbose, 
unresponsive  to advice of others and short on  patience with those we 
believe to  be less gifted or spiritual  than are we.  Since each is  a  gift 
from  God,  we are  totally  undeserving.  This  brings a humble Spirit, 
that comes with each Spiritual gift.  The more one is  spiritually gifted,
the greater the  humility.  To put it another way, when  one receives  a 
gift of the Spirit,  meaning an ability given  by God, not naturally ours 
by birth,  there is an accompanying sense of unworthiness on the part 
of  the beneficiary.  The sense of humility might even  be evidence that 
an ability is, in truth, a gift from the Lord and not  natural ability.  As 
we continue  in James to 4: 6-10 we find  support  for  this.  The giving 
of  “more  grace,”  is certainly  related to humility of spirit and  God’s 
resistance  to the  proud and grace to  the  humble is  supported  more 
strongly in verse 10:  “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and 
He  will lift  you up.”  If  we  conclude; the  more one is  blessed of  the 
Lord,  realizing the gifts are from  Him,  the "natural"  result will  be a 
“broken and contrite” heart.   (In Psalm 51: 17,  "The sacrifices of God
are a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart.These, O God, You will
not  despise."  As we move now to Hebrews 8: 10-13,  a quote  from the 
Old Testament,  we are reminded of  the greatest gift of all.  In verse 12 
I will  “be merciful to their  unrighteousness, and  their  sins and their 
lawless deeds I will  remember no more.”   What greater  gift  could we 
ask?   In an earlier passage  there is  the gift of  the law written  on our 
hearts.  The interesting development;  we no longer need teachers, but 
may be taught what we need by the Holy Spirit.  Under the “Old Cove-
nant,” the Spirit came upon certain chosen vessels of God.  The Spirit
apparently came  and went  like the wind.  Under  the New Covenant, 
every believer is baptized of the Holy Spirit and as the Lord promises, 
in Matthew 28, “and lo I am with you alway.”  Another place He says, 
“...I will never leave you...”, the understanding is the Holy Spirit, resi-
ding upon and within  the believer will not leave.  This gives believers 
of  the New Covenant a great advantage over  the Old Covenant belie-
ver.  Since the Lord is constantly available in us, the gifts remain,  the 
knowledge remains and there is no evidence falling from that grace is 
an option. This is consistent with the orthodox position.  The Spirit of 
Jesus Christ, living His life in the believer, is in control of the life, per-
fects that believer  through the process of  sanctification.  In verse  26 
of the 10th chapter of Hebrews we find a disturbing concept: 
     “If we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge 
       of the truth there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin...”  
                                                                               (Hebrews 10:26)  
This may refer to one who has come face to face with our  Lord Jesus, 
rejects Him, continuing to rebel against the truth. In this case there is 
obviously no hope for  that person as long as this continues.  This pas-
sage does  not (in my view) teaches loss of salvation for  believers who
may slip into sin.  There is  indication he was not born again, but kno-
wing truth, continues to reject it  for love of  this world system or a sin-
ful lifestyle.  {The rich young ruler, Mark 10: 17-22)} 
              
Hebrews 8: 10-13, 10: 16-23
    There are those among us who believe you and I, as Children of God
only need the  “assistance” of  the Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ when we 
perform  “Spiritual”  tasks.   I  disagree with  this concept  simply from 
references in  writings of the Apostle Paul requiring death to self/flesh 
and new  life  in  Christ.  Since we are dead  to our selves or  the flesh,  
how can we do anything outside our relationship with Christ. To try to 
live for  the Lord God in  this manner could lead to  Spiritual  and emo-
tional problems resulting in schizophrenia.  We must live whole lives,  
preserve our integrity in Christ and refuse the temptation to  separate  
life  into sacred and secular. This could result in the personal justifica-
tion of sin in our lives.  According  to Scripture,  we as  God’s children 
are born along in every situation we face, by our relationship to Jesus 
Christ, without exception.  When we sin, we make Christ a part of sin? 
That may be why he commands us not to sin. (Quench the Spirit?) Sin
in the life of a believe is as critical as is sin  in the life of  one who does 
not know Him.  God help us live a "life  above reproach"  He has made
available to each as we walk with Jesus Christ in the Spirit of God. The
better we know Him, the less likely we are to have a sin  problem.  Can 
there be an excuse for the prevailing ignorance of God's will and ways
apparent in the lives of people of the church today.  We have his word 
on it.

     Do not allow it to stand when someone, in your hearing  deni-
grates religion.  It is clear when someone thinks of  religion as a 
substandard idea and fails to grasp the true meaning, they have 
not read the following passage from God's Word, the Bible:

"Pure religion and  undefiled before God and the Father is, to visit
 the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself 
 unspotted from the world."   James 1:27   There are times when
the definition of "True Religion" is not lived out by followers, but
that does not negate the Word of God on the practice. 
.                  
Hebrews 10: 16-17, "This is the covenant that I will make with them 
after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, 
and in their minds will  I write them; And  their sins and iniquities 
will I remember no more."
                         donporter,sr    11.02.12, edited 12.20.14, 3.10.15