Heresy: Temple Building to
remove heresy
We will learn that every truth of His word,
the devil will try to pervert and make crooked, and this is usually done
by going to extremes in doctrine. Just as a pendulum swings from one
extreme to the other, so does Satan try to pervert God's Word. Some
believe that "Christian Perfection" is that they will become
exalted and take over the earth, which is a truth that they took too far,
and at the other end of the pendulum swing, some believe that they could
never be as mature as the apostles in the early church in regard to
character, and used of God in signs and wonders to minister the Gospel.
They may think that someone will, but not them; which is a truth they
never went far enough with, for God includes all who will seek and come to
Him.
II Jn 1:9-11
9
Anyone who runs ahead and does not continue in the teaching
of Christ does not have God; whoever continues in the teaching has
both the Father and the Son.
10 If
anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not take him
into your house or welcome him.
11 Anyone
who welcomes him shares in his wicked work.(NIV)
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Not going with God's plan
far enough will keep you in the wilderness, wandering around and never
entering into the promise land reserved for you.
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Going too
far with God's truth will
bring your journey into Babylon
where the treasure of the temple from Jerusalem will be held captive in
the temple that resides in Babylon.
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God is the God of balance
and knowing Him is the only way you can be balanced. Of ourselves we could
never figure out the balance.
Some of my Christian friends and brothers,
have continued year after year, going to church and some of them have read
the word and prayed daily, but they failed to go on to maturity in this
life. They did not YEARN. They stopped at their Pentecost experience. They
hear but never really see His Plan for them to grow to maturity, with
Jesus and the apostles as our examples and patterns to follow. It is sad
that many are content with just being "born again" and being
"Spirit-filled”.
On the other extreme concerning the doctrine
of perfection there are those that “ran ahead”. They went too far with
this doctrine and perverted the truth that resides in the plan of our Lord
Jesus Christ. To prevent yourself from running ahead, simply do not run
past the roadmap that we have – in scripture. This roadmap in scripture
not only gives us doctrine but also we witness in scripture the doctrine
that became the manner of living for the early church. For instance, if
your perfection doctrine makes you exempt from “suffering physically”
from persecution, sickness or even death – you went further than
scriptural examples.
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Why does God want the
church to be perfect?
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To be a testimony and
light to the world. Not for self-glorification.
The testimony to the world will bring a
harvest, but it shall also be a testimony against the world, bringing
judgment. Even judgment because of the blood of the saints. You will NEVER
win your city for Jesus in these last days without walking in the
maturity/perfection that displays His nature of Love, His Wisdom in Truth,
and Him Who is Power.
Heresies
Are Among You!
1 Cor 11:18-19
For first of all, when ye come together in the church, I
hear that there be divisions among you; and I partly believe it. For there
must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be
made manifest among you.
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Why does God allow
heresies to exist in the church?
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So that those who are
approved of God may be made manifest!
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They MUST exist!
What is heresy? Heresy is doctrine with the
purpose of dividing the body. It separates the hearer into two groups of
people. Those who pursue the Truth from the Tree of Life and those who
pursue knowledge from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Rom 16:17-18
Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause
divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and
avoid them. For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ,
but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the
hearts of the simple.
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What is your
responsibility?
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To mark them and avoid
them.
Just make sure you are on the right side and
eating from the right tree, Who is none other than the Lamb of God, Who is
to be eaten in His entirety.
False Teachers will be prevalent in the last
days as never before. Most Christians think that because all of the
ministers they listen to, agree on certain doctrine, then it must be so.
Well that is what they thought in the DARK AGES, when the church lorded
over the people. You may think that this is the way it was always taught,
so it must be true. For hundreds of years, false doctrine prevailed
through most of the church. That is what they always knew to be true so
they walked in the light that they had, and the darkness that existed. To
this day, much of the church lives in Egypt, in their daily walk, living
in darkness without the gifts and fruit of the Spirit and even calling
that which is light - darkness.
2 Cor 10:12
but they measuring themselves by themselves, and
comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise.
Some Baptists evaluate their doctrine against
the Catholics, some Pentecostals against the Baptists, some Charismatics
against the Pentecostals, some "Word of Faith" against those who
lack faith, the Vineyards against other Charismatics, and so on. Wherever
you are today, whatever denomination, whatever movement, whatever teacher
you have exposed yourself to - there will always be a temptation to
compare yourself to another's doctrine. If you have not done this, then
you are wise beyond your years because it is hard not to do this. But is
time to grow up! We tend to measure our maturity and our doctrine against
others instead of measuring it against HIM WHO IS THE WORD OF GOD. It is
time for all of us to let every doctrine that is not Jesus - be uprooted
from our thinking. What we have seen in church history, is that we receive
Truth and we are changed; after we are changed, many will post their camp
and never move on with God. No matter where our camp is NOW, it is time to
take up camp and move on with God. Evaluate your own camp to Him and His
ultimate plan of maturity and Glory for the church, hidden in the
scriptures.
2 Pet 2:1-3
but false prophets also arose among the people, just as
there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce
destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing
swift destruction upon themselves. And many will follow their sensuality,
and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned; and in {their}
greed they will exploit you with false words; their judgment from
long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.
Even as the apostle Paul was tested, we shall
also be tested. Paul did not fall into the false doctrine that befell even
Peter, which was that "the gentile should be made circumcised and
come under the law". Peter was a man of God, an apostle who knew
Jesus as well or better than any other apostle. Peter realized the
destructiveness of heresy and the false teachers that taught the heresies,
yet Peter was blind in an area of doctrine and it took another apostle
with courage to correct Peter.
Gal 2:11
But wh
en Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to
the face, because he was to be blamed.
We also must as Paul did, withstand the tidal
wave of false doctrine and misled ministers of God. Even though Peter was
used mightily of God and saw Jesus like none other, he still accepted
false doctrine and the Lord had to deal with him just like the Lord has to
deal with us. Paul, Noah and other great men of God believed the truth and
not a lie. They did not join with the masses. They held God as true even
though they were alone in their belief. Can you imagine being the only one
on planet Earth to believe the truth. Paul resisted all leaders of the
church about observance of the law.
You may be the only one in the room to
believe, the only one in a church, the only one in a city or state, and
maybe even the only one in the world concerning a certain truth, but
submit yourselves in love with one another and allow that truth to be set
to fire. If you know it is the Holy Spirit then do not let anyone tell you
different. You can hear God just as well as anyone.
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Have confidence in your
ability to hear from heaven.
One does not believe correctly because of
their position or how much they have been used of God in the past. They
believe correctly because they hear from God and they keep covenant with
Him Who they hear. It is not an unusual thing in this day to see an
immature preacher - minister to the masses in total foolishness. If the
blueprint that they are “building with” does not match the Truth of
the scripture than you must WITHSTAND!
False
Temples
One of the biggest obstacles we have in our
building up of the temple in grace is false doctrine. A temple builder
must deal with discerning! There are many false temples. In this world we
have a multitude of major differences in religion. Christianity and Islam
have the largest followings. Within the group that calls themselves
Christians you have every imaginable interpretation of the Bible, and
there are some organizations that add other writings to their belief
system. Within the group of evangelical Christians (defined here as those
that are saved according to the Gospel of Christ) there are a multitude of
denominations, non-denominations, movements, and camps. Within these there
are individual church bodies and finally within the church body, you have
all the members. Concerning our faith, we are a very segmented society and
segmented even in the church. Interpretation of scripture divides in
belief all the way down to the member level, for as many members that are
in a church will you have a different picture of Christ and His plans and
purposes in His people.
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Very confusing is an
understatement!
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How do I correctly
interpret the scriptures then?
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Follow carefully the laws
and principles governing interpreting scripture!
You must learn to read and interpret the
blueprint like a skilled architect. Previous teachings that were taught to
you in error are the largest stumbling block to overcome in correctly
interpreting scripture, in seeing the blueprint accurately. This problem
is observed frequently in the ministry of Jesus in dealing with the
religious authority of His time. As Jesus correctly gave them
interpretation to scripture, they would reject the word He spoke and they
would ultimately reject Jesus.
The first step is to have confidence in your
relationship with Jesus, receiving Him as your teacher and do not accept
man as your sole authority to scripture as in the days that the church
kept the people in darkness to revelation knowledge and some still do to
this day. The end result of this was the destruction of the people. God
says, the people are responsible and not the authority, because all of us
are priests to God. Knowledge is not a thing it is a Person. When you
reject God's knowledge you reject Him in relationship. This is applied in
totality, if you reject Him in healing, prosperity, suffering,
deliverance, prophecy, and His plan for your life, then you reject that
part of Him.
Hosea 4:6
My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because
thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be
no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will
also forget thy children.
Sacred cows are a phrase given to any
religious teaching that is contrary to Who God is and what His plans and
purposes are in the church. Be willing to sacrifice any "sacred cow
teaching" that you may have received in the past. Recognize that any
previous teacher or minister that you may have learned from may have
taught in error in part or even in whole. Many a church member has left
the church because of a minister's false doctrine or ungodly character.
Always remember that the masses normally follow the path of least
resistance – this is not God’s way, it is the way of destruction. Can
the masses ever be right? Surely God will move masses into the Outer Court
but will move fewer into the Inner Court than what was in the Outer Court,
and move even fewer into the smaller Holy of Holies than what was in the
Inner Court. Those that are comfortable with the masses will generally
stay with the masses, some will go further, and some will finish. I do not
know if I will finish, I do not know if you will finish, God knows, it
is your decision and you have been granted full access, ability,
privileges to finish, to be God’s Remnant. You are always included
with God, you are never excluded, and you go as far as you DESIRE and
CHOOSE. The purpose of scripture is to lay down the choices and the
purpose of the Holy Spirit is to quicken to you the scriptures - so you
may see the blueprint.
Here are some studies in understanding the
scriptures from author Kevin J. Conner:
q
A type or typical is defined as an earthly element or
picture that represents something in the heavenly or spiritual. Other
terms for these would be shadows, patterns, examples, parables,
blueprints, ensamples, pictures, and SYMBOLS.
q
A symbol is clearly seen in how God uses numbers to
communicate His plans to us. For example the number 7, even the world
equates with a perfect number.
q
A pattern or blueprint is seen as the plans of an
architect. Every object represents something significant to the builder.
The architect sees the overall vision and end product of what he is
building, though the worker will only see what has been revealed to him.
q
A parable, metaphor or analogy is a story that we can
relate to in the natural, that represents a spiritual truth. There are
ministers today, such as Ben Haden in Chattanooga, that use current events
to relate spiritual truths. These are called parables, just as if Jesus
had told them.
q
An example or ensample, figure, model, image is a
demonstration of a spiritual truth. This could be one's life, or even an
event in nature. Jesus would have you observe the example of the fig tree
and you learn a spiritual truth from it. Many principles that govern our
lives in Christ are seen in examples.
q
A print, mark, form, or insignia is an imprinted
image. It literally is a die or stamp that you would use in writing or
printing. The printing plate would be the exact original and what is
printed upon would be the image or replica of the original. The wounds in
Jesus' hands are prints that represent salvation.
All of these are signposts that point to Jesus
and His plans and purposes. God uses these to communicate spiritual truths
that we are not able to understand any other way. The very things around
us, God has created to communicate His love to us. Being a father of three
precious children I can see the love of the Father as never before. He has
created our very lives in such a fashion to show us Himself.
The scriptures can be made to say anything that
the minister may want them to say, so keep in mind:
The interpretation of any verse of scripture
is determined upon a consideration of its context, either verse, passage,
book or testament context. Every verse must be considered in the light of
the entire Bible. We must compare scripture with scripture to see a verse
in light of another. God will give no man instant complete revelation of
Who He is or what His plans and purposes are in this world. We saw Him
first as our savior and we progress from there. "Precept upon
precept; line upon line, here a little, there a little." (Isaiah
28:13)
We must consider every direct reference to the
subject we are in study of, and then we assemble all of the pieces of the
puzzle so that we can see more fully the Truth that God has scattered
throughout His Word. Scriptures show that Christ is the central Person of
the Bible. The Written Word revolves around Him Who is the Living Word. He
is the Hub of the wheel of Truth and all truths are as spokes relating to
Him. These truths teach us practical lessons or principles that may be
applied to a person's life, and general conduct. Shear knowledge carries
with it PRIDE. What matters is what we learn of the Word and it transforms
our life. Laws or principles of Interpretation of the scriptures are just
a basic common sense approach to the Bible. In the dark ages, only the
priest would interpret the Bible.
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Today, many church members
still let the Pastor be their interpreter of the scriptures.
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If you desire revelation
about the things of the Lord, then seek and you will find.
"Study and be eager and do your UTMOST to present
yourself to God approved, a workman who has no cause to be ashamed,
correctly analyzing and accurately dividing - rightly handling and
skillfully teaching - the Word of Truth." (2 Timothy 2:15 Amplified)
Many times a scripture that seems to
contradict the nature of Jesus and the plan of God can be resolved by
simply - studying. You might have to observe the Greek text or study -
history! Focus on the Family presents a video series from Ray Vander Laan
called “That The World May know”. This series taught me in a
“life-giving” manner some of the customs, geography, religious and
historical truths to Israel. The Holy Spirit uses such teaching for our
edification unto maturity. Contradictions are solved through wise
teachings as these. Things that are contradictory might have to be put on
the back burner and God will lead you to the meaning - in "His
time" and not "your time".
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Never let someone PRESSURE
YOU to accept their doctrine.
I know what He shows me; I am not required to have it all figured out!
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