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The Book :: by Grant Phillips

Published on: by RR2

It has always been my argument that we should go to the source to find the answers we need in life. If I want to know about creation, I go to God, not scientists or theologians. If I want to know what is beyond the grave, I go to God, not some ego induced Hollywood personality. If I want to know about anything, God will tell me what I need to know in His Word, the Bible. It is the only source that can be depended upon 100%.

About 4 ½ years ago I wrote a song simply called “The Book” referring to the only book, the Bible. It is as follows:

How does God speak to us in the days we’re living in

Is it through a mighty storm or the gusting of the wind

Does He use the mouth of others or a feeling we once knew

Or does He simply use His Word He gave us by the Jew

Why do we listen for God in all those other places

When we can always find Him in the Bible’s pages

Why is His Word sometimes the last place we go

When in the pages of His Word is all we need to know

It’s really not a mystery that He’s trying to hide

He made it very clear that in His Word we abide

Other things are gimmicks and not the way to go

Only in the Word of God can we ever grow

CHORUS:

The Book has long been finished and now it should be read

To really hear from God and know just what He said

It’s the one true way to listen to our Lord

It’s the Living Word and the mighty Sword

It astounds me that even Christians will go to other sources to get the “facts.” They read a book some man or woman wrote. They watch a documentary on television. They form their own opinion from how “they” think things should be.

I appreciate those who are reading this article, but don’t use me as a barometer. I would never write anything that I don’t very strongly believe, but I am not the final authority. Use me only as a spring board to the final authority, the Word of God, the Bible. Anyone who writes for the glory of Jesus will say the same. If any proclaim not the same Gospel that Jesus gave the Apostle Paul and the other Apostles, then as Paul would say, “Let him be accursed.”

“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. As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed. For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ. But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ.” (Galatians 1:8-10)

For many centuries the common man did not have the written Word of God since there were no printing presses and later because the “church” of that time would not allow anyone but the priesthood to have a copy. Today, the Bible can be in the hands of anyone, except those who live in dictatorial nations where it is banned, but even yet, brave Christians try to get the Bible to those too.

Here is the dilemma. In this country, not to mention others, ignorance of God’s Word knows no bounds. A Bible can be had by ANYONE. It can be read without fear of the Bible police knocking on your door and hauling you off to prison … so far.

We call this period of time the “enlightened age,” but are we really? Knowledge knows no bounds in every area, except where it involves the knowledge of the Bible. Christians today should be the most enlightened group of people of any age prior to us concerning the Word of God, but the opposite is true.

I wonder if I have offended any Christians yet. I hope I have, to the point of your getting in the Word, and actually reading and studying it on a daily basis. I can just hear some Christians now, “How dare you!” Those with that attitude will be the very ones who would have to blow the dust off their Bible, if they can find it, in order to pick it up and read it. Those who actually do read and study it daily know exactly where I’m coming from.

Why are there so many different “opinions” about spiritual matters? I’ll tell you why. They are just that. They are “opinions” formed from the mind of man instead of the Truth obtained from God’s Word.

To know the Word of God requires effort. A casual reading is good, but not what God has in mind for the Church. He said through the Apostle Paul,

“Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” (2 Timothy 2:15)

To study the Bible takes effort, a lot of it, and that is what the Lord expects from us. However, if one is lazy, he/she is too sorry to actually study the Word.

Wrong conclusions can be developed even from casual reading. This is why some Christians are “so heavenly minded they are of no earthly good.” They are those who open their mouth but have nothing to say. Oh, they think they do, but nothing comes forth but worldly claptrap.

I see three types of Christians in this age of apostasy, the Laodicean age, (1) those who don’t read the Word, (2) those who read just enough to not know what they’re talking about, and (3) those who actually obey 2 Timothy 2:15. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but it is exasperating trying to get Christians, of all people, to get serious about really knowing God’s Word. I’ve even heard preachers proclaim, in their ignorance, that “Bible study is not necessary. We need to concentrate on getting people saved.” That has got to be one of the most asinine remarks I have ever heard coming from the pulpit.

To effectively witness, we must know the Word. To grow in Christ, we must know the Word. To know His will for our lives, we must know the Word. To face life and all its “curve balls,” we must know the Word. To combat the atrocities of Satan’s lies, we must know the Word. To have a close, personal relationship with our Savior, we must know the Word.

Jewish children were taught the Scriptures at an early age. God seems to think that is important, for He says,

“Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” (Proverbs 22:6)

In another translation it says,

“Direct your children onto the right path, and when they are older, they will not leave it.” (Proverbs 22:6 NLT)

How can we train up a child in the way he should go, or direct our children onto the right path, if we don’t even know what God is telling us to relay to them? We must know His Word. Could this be why little hoodlums are being raised even in Christian homes?

Folks, for your own benefit and the benefit of your children, get in the Book. You will find such pleasure, you will wonder why you waited so long.

 

Grant Phillips

Chief Doctrine of Devils :: by Terry James

Published on: by RR2

I get emails almost daily from those who say something like: “I used to believe in the pre-trib rapture. But, now, after much study and prayer, I no longer believe that way. I know now that I was just following the teachings of others, and not searching out these things myself.”

This is a pattern of email that comes from a template of sorts. These who have “seen the light” are, in fact, listening to and reading those who make hatred against pre-trib rapture doctrine their specialty. These who parrot their  teachers’ diatribes against the belief that Jesus will take His own out of the “time of testing” (Rev. 3:10) always follow up with something like: “You are leading people to accept Antichrist, because they won’t recognize him when he appears.” Then they point me to links where I must go in order to get my thinking corrected.

My request to those who want to correct my theology on such matters: Please don’t send me any more of these. My truth on the things involved come from the words of the apostles Paul and Peter–from the Lord Jesus, himself. I don’t care to hear how the gurus of preterism, or some other erroneous teachers in the area of Bible prophecy, have the answers. The Holy Spirit is my guide; I’ll stick with Him.

Doctrines Not of God
This generation is living through many issues and events that are observably stage-setting for fulfillment of Bible prophecy. Therefore, it doesn’t surprise that one of the end-times signals we see on the scene today is manifestation of “doctrines of devils”: “Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils” (1 Tim. 4:1).

Heart of Evil Doctrine
To get to the very beginning of doctrines of devils, we go back to the first time Lucifer perpetrated such a doctrine upon the first woman of God’s creation called man. Like all doctrines from the serpent, it mocked God and set the woman, her husband, Adam, and ultimately the rest of us on a course directly in opposition to the Creator’s truth:

“Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil” (Gen. 3:1-5).

Satan’s hissing words of deception and lies come at us like they came at Eve. He twists and obfuscates God’s promises, warnings, and commandments. “Did God really say that?” is the appeal to the so-called reason, the rationale, of mankind.

“Can God be trusted?”

The chief “doctrine” of the “doctrines of devils” is the question with which Satan continues to plague human beings. Now, the devil’s slyly questioning end-times assaults gush over the born again. The troubling truth is that the majority of the Church is falling for the serpent’s doctrine of evil.

Doctrines of devils primarily concentrate on two things. First, they try to convince that God’s Word isn’t really truth. It is subject to interpretation, thus a person can make it fit his or her generation and personal situation in ways that do not condemn his or her actions. This theology/philosophy advocates for situational ethics (no absolute truth instead if it’s more convenient–if the situation warrants–it’s okay to do it).

Satan’s deluding methodology in foisting this deception is to give his teachers the Antichrist instrumentalities of spiritualizing, allegorizing, and symbolizing truth that is meant to be presented as literal.

Secondly, doctrines of devils tell the sinner that there is no consequence for sin. The serpent used both of these seductive lies on Eve, and has been using the same deluding doctrine ever since.

Some Examples
Several key samples of doctrines of devils are intertwined within issues on the scene today. While getting the truth to the unsaved world is important, telling those who have unregenerate minds (minds that are unable to understand spiritual truth) is a different mission than that of telling those saved about the doctrines of devils that confront God’s children each and every moment. The only truth we should put before the unsaved from God’s Word is: “Ye must be born again,” the message Jesus proclaimed (John 3:3).

These examples are based in doctrines of devils, and those who have Christ indwelling them (God the Holy Spirit), if they are obedient and not determined to exert their own will, can know the good vs. evil wrapped up in the issues involved–i.e., those who are truly Christians can know the right and wrong of these examples that follow. As a matter of fact, Christians are commanded by the Lord to understand. For those who do not have regenerate minds that Christ brings to believers, the only hope for helping them with understanding the right and wrong of such matters is to appeal to their reason and to their sense of conscience. Trying to appeal to the fallen mind is almost always a losing proposition.

On the other hand, the Christian’s only excuse might be to some slight extent that he or she is not getting truth from the pulpits and church classrooms. The excuse is almost non-existent, however, because Christians in America are exposed constantly to the truth, due to the ubiquitous means of communications in this nation. More to the point, Christians have the written Word of God–the Bible—to study.

The fact, of course, is that Christians are so wrapped up in the cares of this world that the majority spends no time in private study of the Holy Scriptures. This is why the doctrines of devils are so effective in leading the Church, as a whole, down the primrose path to apostasy. Most cannot, or choose not to, discern right from wrong in the key moral issues of our time.

Abortion
Despite the fact that men and women of God such as Jerry Falwell, James Dobson, Tim and Beverly LaHaye, and many Christian organizations, have for decades  appealed to the family of God–Christians—to stand up in opposition to the abortionists, who have now seen to it that nearly 50 million babies have been slaughtered since Roe vs. Wade in 1973, the Church remains asleep, for all practical purposes.

The people of God act more like the people of their father, the devil, falling for the deluding doctrine that it is the woman’s right to choose whether her child lives or dies. Satan still whispers in the ears of the willfully ignorant: “Yea, hath God said?”

Even the believers in Christ for salvation are held captive under the luciferian lie that human beings have the God-like right to choose on such matters as life and death. Christians continue to wallow in that ignorance, despite the fact that murdering babies by the millions have brought horrendous consequences. Mothers are torn asunder physically, mentally, and spiritually. America suffers the complete reversal of its God-blessed early years, as families are ripped to shreds and morality is turned upside-down.

Homosexuality
A most abominable doctrine of devils, according to God’s Holy Word, homosexuality is in process of bringing America to the final stages of her being a dominant nation-state force on the world scene. The turning upside-down of even Christians’ thinking on this sin that the Lord finds most egregious is thrown in God’s face laughingly, mockingly, by the great deceiver. We have come to call this death-style a “gay” lifestyle. The Body of Christ scarcely gives a glance at this blasphemous sin, except for a collective raised eyebrow upon hearing of  the Catholic priests or the occasional Christian ministers who get caught in scandal involving homosexuality.

Doctrines of Devils–Prophetic Application
Satan’s modus operandi is the same, then. He continues to whisper, sometimes shout, through the militancy of pro abortionists and pro homosexual protesters that there are no consequences for these things, which aren’t even sins. God’s Word is suspect, is the luciferian whisper. The Bible is neither inerrant nor the final Word on how humankind should conduct life. The Bible is merely a good book that can be viewed any way the reader sees fit, as is most convenient.

This brings us to the matter of God’s promises. Satan’s lies are meant to convince that God’s promises are no good. God doesn’t–isn’t–even capable of keeping His promises. Therefore, if He does exist, God is no more meaningful or important than the individual human being. So, just do what is right in your own eyes.

The deception goes further. Jesus didn’t resurrect. He isn’t coming back, literally. If anything, He left us with the Christ-spirit, which teaches us how to live happy, peaceful lives–free of guilt. God will not judge sin, if indeed there is such a thing. The only part of the Bible that can be trusted is that part that says God is love. If He loves people, He could never condemn them–could never judge them with wrath. Revelation–the book of God’s wrath and judgment on sin—therefore has no place in the canon of Scripture. This lie that there is not judgment and wrath coming to a world of rebels is the chief doctrine of devils for these days that look like the end of the Age of Grace.

Devil’s Hatred of Rapture Teaching
The chief “doctrine of devils” is that God’s Word isn’t the final Word. The Bible can be picked and chosen over in order to come to one’s own conclusion of what it says. Just like in the Garden of Eden, Satan proposes that we look at God’s Word with an extremely skeptical eye.

This “doctrine” has been foisted upon and accepted by much of Christianity today. The most observable manifestations of this acceptance is, as has been pointed out earlier, the mega-church movement, with its chief movers and shakers often joining in  ecumenical efforts to save the world through social programs.

These accept the lie that God’s Word isn’t to be taken literally in all cases. This is especially true in the case of the Bible putting forth Christ as the one and only Way to salvation. It isn’t hard to see, then, that these false teachers would be scoffers at the notion that Jesus would come in the rapture for His Church.

It is interesting to note, too, that these same preachers and teachers who are caught up in the religiosity of the times do not see the nation Israel as being God’s chosen people. They, for the most part, believe modern Israel–the Jewish people—is no longer inheritor of God’s promises. God, they believe, has abandoned Israel, and modern Israel isn’t in any way a part of God’s future plan. All prophecy, in fact, is subject to man’s own response to doing social good. Man can change prophecy by doing good. Prophecy is in the Bible, so most of their thinking goes, only as a warning of how things might turn out if people refuse to do good works such as save the hungry, stop doing things to cause global warming, eliminate nuclear weapons, etc.

The chief doctrine of devils tells us to ignore prophecy, so far as taking it literally. Rick Warren, for example, says in his Purpose-Driven Life that Jesus always diverted the attention of His disciples from thinking about prophecy. Jesus, He implied, just didn’t want to talk about thing to come.

An appropriate question to ask him and others of his viewpoint is: What about the Olivet Discourse? It is recorded in three of the Gospels. It is in-depth, and gives specific things that will be in view while the end of human history nears, just before His second advent. The Lord tells His disciples throughout the centuries to watch for these things (Mark 13:37).

Paul the apostle and Jesus himself give specific prophecies that promise the Christians will be personally taken to Heaven by Jesus. Some will be alive when they are suddenly taken from this world after being instantly changed into immortal bodies. Those who are dead in Christ (have died believers in Christ) will be resurrected and given immortal bodies, and will join with all believers of the Church Age with Jesus in the atmosphere above Planet Earth.

The chief doctrine of devils, which calls God a liar, denies that Israel is God’s chosen people, and that the Church is destined to instantly go to be with the Lord. Many Christians in these apostate times believe this doctrine from the father of lies so strongly that, as stated in the beginning of this article, they incessantly, and more often than not with scoffing, angry invective, assault our belief that God’s Word is to be taken literally in the matter of God’s prophetic promises.

They refuse to see that the Lord of Heaven has determined two prophetic programs that dovetail into one. Israel and the Church will ultimately fulfill God’s plan for bringing out of His creation called man a people that will love Him unconditionally. His family will one eternal day be complete. His Word will be proven absolutely, literally true in every aspect of His promises to those who love Him.