Doctrine

Education

Wayne — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 08:37:18 -0400

http://voxday.blogspot.com/2009/06/turnabout-...

[T]he government has absolutely no business being involve [sic] in education for a variety of Constitutional, practical, and freedom-related reasons.

...and Biblical.

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Psychosis

Wayne — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 10:51:53 -0400

American Heritage dictionary defines psychosis thus:

A severe mental disorder, with or without organic damage, characterized by derangement of personality and loss of contact with reality and causing deterioration of normal social functioning.

If we assume there is only one, perfectly correct worldview (aka "religion"), and if we assume this correct one is the Biblical one, then those persons who don't wholeheartedly embrace the correct worldview are, to varying degrees, perceiving, interpreting, and reacting to distortions of reality rather than reality itself. As these distorted worldviews also pervert the Godly design for society (and the individual components therein), there is also deterioration of normal social functioning (e.g., socialism, P.C., social autism, crime, etc.). Derangement of personality is almost redundant with the former symptoms, since it is merely a dis-ordered perversion of the natural personality. Insofar as personality is expressed through a worldview, a loss of contact with reality can be understandably seen as a deranged personality. Therefore it's quite reasonable to suggest: A person may be considered psychotic to the degree he rejects the correct worldview.

The implications of this assertion are interesting. First, reject the correct worldview. Once this divorce with reality occurs, all kinds of contradictory, destructive, and evil possibilities emerge. I remember a trick in algebra whereby I could make any number equal any other number (e.g., 1 = 2). The key to this trick was an algebraic maneuver that was completely valid except in one case. This one case resulted in a "divide by zero" operation that is highly illegal. The trick capitalized on the subtlety of this division by zero—it was difficult to tell that a division by zero was occurring—and yielded nonsensical results. Psychosis is like this algebraic trick. Pervert reality even a little bit, and the end results can be fantastically idiotic: e.g., liberalism, leftism, collectivism, totalitarianism, socialism, fascism, Islam, Mormonism, Rabbinic Judaism, liberal Christianity [sic].

It's telling to see such stupidity (as the above listed ism's) explained as psychotic. Adherents to these wrong worldviews are mentally ill. They're in need of psychological help...from the relative few (in our culture, anyway) who strive for and hold to the correct worldview. I believe most of these have not chosen their psychoses consciously. Don't get me wrong. They have chosen. They do bear responsibility, and they will answer to the Judge for their choices. I just don't think these decisions were made so much consciously as subconsciously. In most cases (all?), they're seeking to justify their sins rather than repent of them. Their resultant, perverted worldviews are then rationalized a posteriori, rather than chosen purposely. I don't mean to absolve culpability, mind you. I merely mean to suggest that discipling—leading these patients out of their psychoses and into the light of truth—is more like psychological therapy.

The western church today fails miserably at discipling, and this failure to recognize it as counseling may be the reason. Therapy in groups has limited application; it's superficial at best. Life-changing growth occurs when we discover for ourselves the great truths, when we willingly—almost desperately—abandon our old, unsuccessful ways in favor of tactics earning desired results. Effective counseling is merely a way of reflecting a more accurate perspective of reality. In other words, counseling is translating reality into terms the psychotic can understand. When reality is understood properly, presented in psychologically acceptable ways, there is a natural (Godly) tendency to correct one's worldview to embrace a greater understanding of reality. Most counseling fails because the counselor himself does not have the correct worldview. Most discipling fails because believers are not equipped to counsel. It's an interesting if depressing conundrum.

Another obvious implication of the synonymy of unbiblical worldviews and psychoses is in the realm of politics. Campaigns, ads, shouting, and slogans will do little to nothing to further cause on the national stage, if a change of heart is the goal. Real change will occur one person at a time as they are counseled toward the truth. There is no economy of scale other than that of word-of-mouth. Real political change requires an investment in individuals' lives, counseling them toward the correct worldview, allowing them to repent of their linchpin-sins rather than defending them. By and large, this just doesn't happen today.

For years, I have preached the value of mentoring, counseling, discipling, and other such one-on-one or one-on-few ministries. I'm not suggesting all are called to one-on-one ministries but their importance is much greater than believers understand, and they are horribly underrepresented in the church. (Note that all are called to disciple!) Our unholy busyness is certainly one roadblock to curing psychoses, ours and others'. Our stupendous ignorance is another roadblock. Our lust for superficiality, our terror of facing our own sins, prevents us from being equipped to lead others in growth toward truth. Salvation and sanity share the same prescription: repent.

On the one hand, it's funny to think that 98+% of humanity is significantly psychotic. [As much as a third of the world claims to be Christian. Many of these include sects known by Christians not to be Christian at all (e.g., Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, etc.). About half of the rest identify themselves as born again. Barna has shown that of born-again Christians, only 9% of American Christians can correctly answer eight fundamental questions of Christian doctrine. If this is taken to be typical, then it leaves only about 1.3% of the world's population as coming anywhere close to Biblical.] On the other hand, it means there's a whole lot of work ahead of us. Recognizing unbiblical worldviews as psychoses also means that discipling is far more than "getting people saved"; it's more closely related to psychotherapy than modern evangelism. It suggests our seminaries are nearly irrelevant, and our churches are a joke. Even those few who embrace a Biblical worldview are woefully unprepared to disciple others toward reality.

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Christian Left

Wayne — Thu, 21 May 2009 09:26:29 -0400

I've been seeing the term "Christian Left" used. Of course, there's no such thing. The principles of leftism are diametrically opposed to Biblical Christianity. For example, wealth redistribution is theft. Building codes, zoning ordinances, and imminent domain are, too. Abortion is murder. Tolerance of evil is evil. Universalism is satanic. These leftists philosophies are in direct and obvious violation of Scripture. Anyone who follows them cannot righteously claim to be Christian.

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Worldviews and Policies

Wayne — Tue, 19 May 2009 13:23:45 -0400

I'd like to add my two cents to the issue of "green" gasoline, specifically how worldviews affect government policies. Incorrect, antibiblical worldviews make us to be intruders and destroyers of this world; therefore we must be subjugated to government control, even to the point of telling us when we can use which kinds of fuel. The correct, Biblical worldview tells us this world was made to sustain us. If the world was made for us, it follows that it was made sufficient for us. That is, we are unlikely to have the capability to destroy it.

God owns the Earth (even though we're its stewards for now) and made it to serve our purposes. Setting Original Sin aside for a moment, it would be beyond God's revealed character for Him to make such a resource that was fragile and easily destroyed by the very ones it was designed to nurture. As has been demonstrated by nature time and again, the Earth is very resilient, adapting to all kinds of conditions. Creatures adapt. Environments adapt. Even with cataclysmic changes, ecosystems adapt and survive. This is God's design.

Naturalists would have us believe the Earth is fragile, barely in balance, and able to be knocked out of balance (destroyed) without much effort on our part. Man, Naturalists assert, is a blight upon the environment he occupies and must be legislatively controlled to prevent planetary destruction. Despite the overwhelming lack of supporting evidence—and even mounting evidence to the contrary—Naturalists assert that our fantastic inventions of mobility are destroying this fragile little world. These harbingers of global death must be controlled, curtailed, even abolished, if we are to save the planet, thus the "green" gasoline regulations.

Naturalists arrogantly assume a priori there is nothing supernatural, no God. They arrogantly assert that li'l ol' man has the capacity to destroy an entire planet. They obsequiously kowtow to lower life forms, feigning humility, all the while implicitly boasting of man's power to destroy that which has so well demonstrated its ability to survive awesome disasters. Using words of false humility, Naturalists implicitly worship man as having godlike power over nature.

Bible-believing Christians, on the other hand, humble themselves as the created, not the Creator (or Destroyer, as Naturalists' case may be). They recognize God's creative power in designing a resilient world meant to last forever. Christians correctly perceive themselves not as godlike destroyers of planets but as creatures imbued with a special purpose to subdue the world to God's glorification. The only "arrogance" in the Biblically faithful is the sure knowledge of the Lord and His salvation. Even this confidence comes by way of humble faith in the Truth.

Those who hate God prefer to oppress others. Those who love God prefer freedom and peace. This is but one example of how worldview determines policy.

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The Lord is a man of war

Wayne — Mon, 18 May 2009 14:42:37 -0400

Exodus 15:3 popped out at me today.

יהוה (the LORD) is a man of war; יהוה (the LORD) is His name.

The Lord is not a pacifist, and neither are His followers commanded to be so. Christians are not to be doormats, not for illegal invaders, Muslim killers, or lawless rulers. Those wussy, socialist (thieving) weenies who wrongly espouse the moniker "Christian" do not represent Biblically Christian values. God may be love, and He surely prefers this, but He's just as much "a man of war."

Denial of God's revealed character, or a portion thereof, is a sinful attempt to fashion an idol made after man's heart. Today's church, having abandoned or perverted the Word of God, needs to repent of this sin and let God be who He is.

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Signs of the end?

Wayne — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 11:38:33 -0400

Another potential pandemic has been identified. This time, it's "swine flu". Some anecdotal reports suggest the fatalities are much worse than what is being reported. The conspiracy nuts, of course, are stupidly thinking it's a U.N. attack meant to thin populations. Others are saying it's fulfillment of Luke 22:11.

True believers need to get a clue. Even if such epidemics do fulfill Luke 21:11, Christians need to read Luke 21:28 (and Matthew 24:44-46, for that matter). We have nothing to fear but the Lord. We need not fear earthquakes, pestilences, famine, or war. Sure, we may be diseased, hunted, maimed, or killed in myriad ways, but these are nothing compared to the promises we have from the Creator/Redeemer. Whatever may be coming is but a blink of an eye next to an eternity in the Lord's courts. In fact, death is a welcomed release from a world governed by the prince of demons, as we obedient will be with the Lord!

Don't fail your Father by trembling like a coward before the antics of this world. Stand tall. Hold your head high. Obey. Watch for His return. I don't know if this latest flu will indeed grow to pandemic proportions, nor do I know if this is prophetic fulfillment. It might be. No matter, though. I'll be ready.

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Be Encouraged; The End Is Near

Wayne — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 09:29:58 -0400

Jim Fletcher offers encouragement to all believers, because the end is in sight.

If we believe that the Creator chose to communicate with man through written language, we can see for ourselves that the Bible is fairly straightforward. History had a beginning and it will have an ending. The world groans under a curse brought about by Adam and Eve's sin.

Yet this history is a problem for both secularists and, incredibly, Christian leaders. When modern Christian leaders have more in common with Richard Dawkins than they do Charles Spurgeon, you know we're in trouble (my thought here is that Dawkins believes the Bible is myth and many pastors and scholars believe that, as well, at least in part). And so the doctrine of the Second Coming has fallen out of favor. At a time when people need hope more than ever, we hear Christian leaders offer no more hope than Carl Sagan.

All this is supremely ironic, given the fact that fulfilled prophecy is so ubiquitous. It is everywhere. It is a massive sandstorm, headed right for us. It is the thunder of a thousand storms.

Primarily, we have this, as articulated by Louis Kaplan:

"The greatest sign, warning, proof and evidence to the world and to the church of the end of this age is the restoration and resurrection of the House of Israel after being entombed in the graves of exile for many centuries."

He goes on to tear "Christian" leaders a new one (rightfully so!).

An example of the utter inanity of these leaders is the following statement by Wilke, in his Disciple Bible Study: "Remember that in Job's day people had no concept of eternity or immortality."

Do tell. Do you know what Job said?

"For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another." — Job 19:25-27

And closes with this encouragement:

Because I believe the Bible to be the Word of the Creator of the universe, I know that He has a plan for the end of all things. I am not afraid. He's told me and everyone else who will listen that He will fashion a new world for His children, one in which the curse will be broken forever.
...
The end is in sight, and there's nothing to be afraid of.

Amen!

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Mark of the Beast

Wayne — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 11:02:38 -0400

Interesting take on the mark of the beast, one world currency, the seemingly fatal head wound, and more: http://fcet.org/pub/1047

Discuss?

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Witnessing to false believers

Wayne — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 09:41:22 -0400

Does doctrine matter? Most of today's churches will tell you it doesn't. They promote an emotional experience, but without a decent doctrine (not necessarily a perfect one), this experience may be with a god that is not יהוה (the LORD). How, then, might a true believer witness to or otherwise reach someone who professes to believe but actually believes in a false god? If a man claims to be a Christian but the "christ" he knows is a false one, how can he be reached to show that he still needs the very salvation he wrongly thinks he has?

The terminology has been coopted by the new church as they wrongly believe they've inherited their fathers' faith. "Christian" no longer means "little christ", "follower of Christ", or anything Biblical. Now "Christian" is merely a vacuous label including the churched, deists, and culturally Western universalists. In a way, it's ingenious. The Arabs in Israel did the same thing, stealing the term "Palestinian" from the Jews after 1967. Now they've fabricated a false identity with supposed rights to Israel's land. Likewise, the posers in today's churches have stolen "Christian" and all that's related, effectively disenfranchising the true believers, those who still submit to the living and written Word.

Truly, the toughest demographic to reach, far more so than unsaved or even Orthodox Jews, is the churched. So how do we reach them? I've seen it countless times: any attempt to suggest a more proper reading of the Word, and they return to their pastor's authority, the very one who led them astray. There are no abuses, per se, in today's wayward church as there were in the Roman Catholic church such that a Reformation, a clear departure from the errant church, is feasible. Today's church still preaches things very similar to what is correct, even while robbing it of its Power. "Isn't it better that the church preaches everybody is saved, that all paths lead to righteousness, than to condemn those who reject a mythical man?" the new churched ask. Those of us who warn others of hell are ourselves condemned for condemning [sic] people to hell. Right is wrong and wrong is right.

I honestly want to know: can we (the Holy Spirit through us) reach such false believers? If so, how? Or have these false believers eternally rejected Jesus by their embrace of false doctrines?

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One World Currency

Wayne — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 08:27:37 -0400

Never in my life did I think I'd live to see a single currency used the world over. I just didn't think it could happen so fast or that all the disparate peoples would acquiesce so easily. Many believers taking the Bible seriously as God's Word have predicted that a globally common currency may be a prelude to the mark of the beast.

The Bible says the beast will control all commerce via this mark, and that those who don't take it will be cut off economically (and hunted and killed, but that's another matter). It has been long believed by many that a prelude to this mark would be a single form of currency. Admittedly, without central banking on a global scale (IMF?), directly controlling global currencies would be nigh impossible. This present crisis, though, provides a great excuse for the one-worlders to sacrifice all kinds of national sovereignty, to say nothing of individual liberties, in favor of a single, global currency. Once this is in place—central banking is assumed, as I don't see the world's kings giving up that power—the mark of the beast should follow easily.

You believers out there, will you be willing to embrace the difficulty of forgoing the beast's mark, assuming there's no a pretrib. rapture? Will you be willing to go underground? Your life as you've known it would end. You'll have to be in hiding. Perhaps an underground economy of bartering can be built, but it would need to be hidden from the countless who will take the mark (and surely be rewarded for turning you in). Are you willing to die for the Lord's sake? Are you willing to kill, too, to protect your loved ones from evil? Are you ready?

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