New Evangelicalism Is Dangerous
In every age, there are those who profess the name of Christ, but who do not want to bear the reproach of the Cross. They cannot stand to be looked down upon by the wise of the world. They are more concerned with making the Gospel “respectable” than in declaring the whole counsel of God. They have made a complicated system of “gears” so as to “gear” the Gospel to youth, to the athlete, to the politician, to the movie star, etc. The whole program is deceptively dangerous for it appeals to the flesh in the name of the Spirit, and invariably glories in size rather than striving for fidelity to the Truth.
Some of the symptoms of the New Evangelical disease are:
There can be no true love without sound doctrine (1 John 5:2-3; Romans 16:17; John 14:21).
Faith in the Word of God and the Son of God are matters of God’s revelation, not man’s investigation (2 Timothy 2:15; 1 Corinthians 2:14).
It is always God’s will for the faithful believer to withdraw from any fellowship that has departed from sound doctrine and practice (2 Thessalonians 3:6,14; Romans 16:17; 2 Corinthians 6:14-18).
If man knows more than his Creator, then God is dead! (Genesis 1:1; John 1:1-3; 1 Corinthians 1:20).
Nothing is better for modern man than the absolute truth of God’s Word (Colossians 3:16; 1 Timothy 6:20; 2 Timothy 3:16-17; John 17:17; 1 Thessalonians 2:13).
God calls every believer to win souls, but He also commands every believer to contend earnestly for the Faith (Jude 3-4; Actus 20:24-31).
This suits the devil just fine for it confuses the battle lines (Ephesians 5:11; 1 Corinthians 15:33).
Cooperation with apostates usually starts with united welfare, mission, or evangelistic programs. God has given specific instructions regarding the believer’s responsibility to identify and to separate from all such false teachers (2 Corinthians 6:14-18; 2 Peter 2:1-3; 2 John 10-11).
New Evangelicalism is wrong because it is unscriptural and must, therefore, be guarded against on every hand. This obligation is in no way modified because some highly respected Christian leaders embrace and promote its dangerous strategies today. Don’t you be deceived by it!
–Fundamental Evangelistic Association
SHARING
The Mini-Skirt Speaks
By Don W. Hillis
I want to make it clear that I am a Christian miniskirt. That is, I go to church every Sunday. What’s more, I attend an evangelical Church. Of course, I am not the only Christian miniskirt in town. There are many others who go to my church.
Though we represent a variety of colors and patterns, there is one thing we have in common: We all have a way of revealing attractive thighs, especially when the legs are crossed. They tell me that’s the most comfortable way to sit.
Unless I am misreading the situation, we seem to make our wearers a bit self-conscious. At least the girl who wears me is always tugging at my hem. Though I am not an expert on human nature, this appears to indicate some kind of complex.
I have also noted that we miniskirts have the ability to attract a good deal of masculine attention, even at church. At first, I took pride in the fact that men are fascinated by my pattern and color design. However, just this morning, I heard the preacher say that this was not really what the young men (and some not so young) were looking at. Though I was all ears when he started to preach, “The Appeal Of A Miniskirt,” I was embarrassed before he was through.
He claimed that the miniskirt does not appeal to the aesthetic. According to him, there are dozens of other dresses more beautiful than I am. His blanket statement that miniskirts do not make an aesthetic, academic, economic, moral, or spiritual contribution to their wearers left me with a feeling that I was not such a great Christian after all.
He said the only appealing thing about me was my appeal to the flesh. Then he spoke for ten minutes on the carnality of human nature. He publicly accused me of contributing to the lust of the flesh. I felt a hard tug on my hem when he said that!
You could have heard a pin drop in the sanctuary when he quoted the following statement from Kerry Elliott: “To flaunt sexuality in public is a betrayal of your femininity, not an endorsement. It is like playing the tuba on the subway to prove that you are a musician.”
“It isn’t honest to expose a man to the aroma of steak and apple pie….and then accuse him of being a glutton because he licks his lips.” I think everyone got the point.
I really blushed when he began asking questions about what we miniskirts did when we were out in the work world. He wondered what we thought our testimony amounted to in the presence of men who couldn’t care less about feminine purity. He said it doesn’t take much to trigger a man’s thought in the direction of sex. That’s why Jesus said, “He that looketh on a woman to lust after her hath already committed adultery in his heart.”
The preacher claimed that there is nothing about a miniskirt that would suggest to the man on the street that the wearer’s body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. He said that the Spirit-indwelled body should be adorned in modest apparel (1 Timothy 2:9-10). Furthermore, he had secured some statistics from somewhere that prove that there is a vital relationship between miniskirts and immodesty and the increase of rape in America. I began to feel as though I was abetting the crime wave.
I suppose it is the truth that hurts. That’s why I hurried out of church this morning. I saw several other miniskirts slinking out, too.
I guess what we really need is to be converted into something more modest.
SHARINGThe Role Of Excuses
“And they all with one consent began to make excuse…” Luke 14:18-20
They all had the same state of mind, and that is, they all chose to use an excuse to get out of accepting the invitation. Though they didn’t all use the same excuse, they all had the same reason for resorting to the use of their excuse.
Their excuses manifested their priorities. Rather than excuse themselves from their other involvements to come, they excused themselves from coming in order to do the other things. And rather than the excuse justify their decision, it just let the inviter know they preferred other things rather than accept the invitation.
But the issue was not about what the excuse was, but what an excuse does: “For I say unto you, That none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper,” v24. Whether the excuse was great or flimsy, it just eliminated the individuals from becoming a partaker. A person may have a good excuse for missing their flight, but that won’t get them on the airplane.
“Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able.” Luke 13:24 While an excuse may console the conscience, it will do nothing to meet the need of the soul. A runner who resorts to excuses instead of running, will lose out on every race.
Resorting to excuses distorts good judgment. Some have to have greater health to go to church than they need to go any place else. Often, it takes more sleep to allow one to go to church than it does to go to work. Some can’t get the right amount of clothes to get them to church. Some manage to get all of their other involvements taken care of, but are always too swamped to attend church.
Invoking an excuse instead of exercising faith, will just leave one without excuse as they stand in judgment before God. “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.” Luke 9:23
SHARINGPronounced Clean
There are many weights that can beset us, some obvious and others deep within the subconscious, which are often the most weighty. There are enough burdens to bear in life without carrying weights around every day. God would have us to be a liberated people, whose burdens are lifted by His grace, due to being justified by faith. Mary is an example of how we are delivered by Divine pronouncements.
Mary was espoused to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost. Humanly speaking, she could think about Joseph having a wrong conclusion as to how she became with child. She felt responsible, as she would imagine his hurt and anger. All this would tend to arouse a guilt complex within her, even though she knew she had done nothing wrong.
How could she deal with this? By clinging to the Divine pronouncement that she was pure and had no guilt, that everything was justified in light of the Divine decree and power. By faith in God’s Word, she knew she was eternally vindicated of any and all guilt concerning this matter in God’s eyes. She could face whatever accusations came against her, with a free spirit of hope, knowing that just as God had performed the miracle of incarnating His Son into her womb by His power, He would also protect and vindicate her by His power. God’s pronouncement left her free of all guilt. She had nothing to be ashamed about. She was free to face Joseph with the confidence and warmth of tender love that only purity can provide.
One of the deep-seated weights that greatly affect God’s children is guilt. Some carry deep within them the guilt of things that happened many years ago, even before they were saved. It is not that God can’t forgive us or hasn’t forgiven us, but it is due to a failure to put our full faith in God’s pronouncement that He has forgiven and cleansed us.
Retaining guilt will plague us in our hearts and minds. We do not feel right toward others that love us. Our own guilt may drive us to find fault with others, hoping to make ourselves feel better if we can make others guilty also. Deep-seated guilt is usually what is behind a censorious, critical, suspicious spirit, being an attempt to deal with one’s own feelings of inadequacy.
To deal with guilt, we must let Divine pronouncements free us from it: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9 Faith in God’s pronouncements leaves us free to have confidence and warmth of tender love that only innocence can provide. Claim it by faith and rejoice in it! “Be not faithless, but believing” and “Rejoice in the Lord, and again I say rejoice!”
SHARINGMaking Things Right
“By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God.” Hebrews 11:5
There are no hidden mysteries to faith that only a few can discover. But those who prevail by faith, do so due to faith. They seek to make things right with God by wholeheartedly responding to the will and way of God, revealed by God’s Word.
The earmark of Enoch’s spiritual success transcended a curiosity for the supernatural and just a hope for a heavenly abode after death. His heart was set on pleasing God.
Faith is a marvelous and miraculous thing in that it makes promises present and real, and unseen things visible. Thus Noah, by faith, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house, while his contemporaries remained unconcerned and insensitive to his cause. This contrast is also visible amongst the ranks of professed Christianity, as many professed Christians exemplify the condition, “whose God is their belly, and whose glory is their shame, who mind earthly things.”
Without the action of faith in perceiving the person and goodness of God, the individual will be beset with chasms too wide to cross to please God (in their own mind). Thus, many are trapped in a state lacking motivation to attain to the will of God. They are conscious of their lack but they don’t have the supremacy of God’s will dominating their heart. This is the result of personally choosing not to make the issues of life right with God in all respects.
There are many things warring against making things right with God in our lives: fleshly desires that conflict with God’s way; the fear of what others will think or say; and circumstances demanding that we take our life into our own hands, rather than rely on the plan and purpose of God.
But the failure to make things right with God on each issue as it arises, simply prevents the perfection of our faith. In James 2:21-24, we are told Abraham’s faith was made perfect when he chose to offer up Isaac. This means he would never have come to a right and full understanding about God’s will for his life, had he not exercised unquestionable obedience to make things right with God.
Had Abraham backed off instead, due to the great conflict of circumstances, he would have always questioned why God asked him to offer up Isaac. He would never have understood the Divine purpose of it all, and it would have become a matter of offense in his heart and mind.
The reason some do not “see” some teachings of God’s Word, and it does not suit, is because their response to God’s Word on that detail lacked the purpose to make all things right with God. As time passes, this offense against the truth becomes an offense in the individual’s own faith, even unto turning aside from the way of truth. Beware of not making all things right with God!
SHARING
