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The World, The Church, The Pull...

11/24/2019

 
I can still see my first Pastor holding his hands out in front of him and then slowly moving one toward the other, as he explained the pull of the world on the church.

This was 25 years ago and what he was describing has only gotten worse and I am sure at the time he was describing it, it was already seeming a lot worse then. I sometimes wonder what the church of 100 years ago would think of the church today. Would they even believe we were saved?

The idea behind the analogy, is that as the world gets worse from a moral perspective, the church rather than holding her ground, seems to drift right behind-just enough to be different, but still gravitating toward worldly ideas and acceptance of things that were once deemed as sinful.

In trying to draw our own line, it can be more difficult than one might think, since a lot of what we have deemed morally correct, may sometimes be more a part of culture than just based on biblical truth. I can probably think of many things, but one would be dress code as it concerns church. Culturally, one used to get in their "Sunday best". The argument being we should give God our best and present ourselves accordingly, but one cannot find this in scripture and in fact, one could probably argue against such a stance based on scripture. However, a caveat to this, would be the tendency for dress to be too casual in the sense of "showing too much", as it concerns modesty. I'll stop there, but one liberty which may be justified can also lead to too much liberty and thus, one may see the original reason why a "tradition" was instituted. Nevertheless, a tradition is still a tradition.

In other areas though, we clearly have moved toward the world on strict biblical grounds. This happens slowly and over time, but it gets to the point that if one were to bring back strict biblical adherence and place those rules in the culture and even the justice system, even conservative Christians would find themselves much more liberal and against Godly order than even they might suppose.

One such example is on the destruction of marriage.  Many are against gender bending and homosexuality, but bring back the idea of a "fault divorce" and harsh punishments for adultery, reconciliation rather than divorce (with a few exceptions for extreme circumstance), and I can guarantee and outcry of the highest magnitude would be heard. Now, the abundance of divorce counseling ministries and the high divorce rate even among evangelicals, shows a clear pull toward the world and not the other way around. 

Yes, the church still preaches on these issues, but not like they did 100 years ago. In fact, I doubt the church even had to teach much on it as it would have been understood. Up until the 1950's, even the world as it was so influenced by Christianity, looked at marriage, divorce, and cohabitation much differently than it does now.

Many more issues and beliefs we could bring up and while the conservative church does still have strong men of faith and strong overall churches trying to hold the line, it has already been so blurred that to stand up for gospel truth in the way it needs to be proclaimed, is causing friction even amongst ourselves. I point to the whole "social justice/gospel" issue at being the most recent shoe to drop. Where it will land and how much damage will be done is yet to be seen, but clearly eyes have been opened to just how misguided we can become when we latch unto a worldly wisdom rather than sticking to biblical truth.

Maybe someday we can hold our hands out and instead of bringing the hand that represents the church pulling it toward the hand that represents the world, we can show at least no knew movement and at best, maybe even a movement away from the world and a return to biblical practices such as a return to a much stronger stance on marriage.  Like my first Pastor said when giving this illustration, "We may not get back to where we were then, but we can strengthen the things that remain".  It was a nice thought, but sadly, we haven't even done that.









The Definition of Terms and LDS Theology

10/29/2019

 
Recently I received a knock on my door only to find two young LDS missionaries eagerly waiting. My regret, is that I hadn't been more prepared as to their specific beliefs, but engaged them anyway.

I probably spent about 45 min to an hour talking to them and gladly excepted their little tract in exchange for them taking some items from me. Another regret I guess, is I didn't have any good gospel tracts (something I need to add), but I did have a copy of the 1644 London Baptist Confession and a small booklet on the gospel, but it had more to do with why "Asking Jesus  into your heart is not the true gospel." However, I'm sure the gospel is plainly spelled out in there and of course the confession included the Doctrine of the Trinity (as well as the whole of Baptist Doctrine), which I know they reject.

I made sure to preach the straight up gospel to them, only to have them basically agree with me...sort of. I did sense some hesitation on one fellow (he did the most talking), when I pressed him on whether good works can save us or not.

It appears their version of grace and ours differs in that grace isn't the final say, but how you live your life (works). However, I can see how someone can really get deceived and even not care much about what happens to others as they seem to believe an ultimate universalism. I really need to learn more and research as to be prepared next time. They basically told me even if I wasn't LDS since I did believe, I was good to go...I wasn't expecting that.

One of them left his phone number and I left him a message asking him to email me for follow-up, but so far nothing. I'm suspecting they don't want anymore to do with me, but they overwhelmingly both said they would love to come back and talk again (i'm sure they are supposed to say that). Hopefully, I will hear back.

It's sad to me to see two young men (they said they were 19) getting entrenched into a false hope, believing they are correct. Many in the LDS because of the works based grace, will go on to live very moral and successful lives, but when they stand before the Lord, will they hear the words "depart from me you workers of iniquity?"

They say they believe in Christ, believe in His sacrifice. Even that He is their hope (not works), but yet they stumbled on the works part a bit. Afterwards, looking into their faith, their grace is not the same and therefore really isn't grace, if it has works added to it. So the definition of terms it seems, is a great divide when talking to them.

I only briefly looked into some of their beliefs afterwards and before writing this and its clear that they don't believe Jesus is God. They also believe people lived with God and then were born into this world and that we can become gods. They reject the Trinity and of course they believe we have received new revelation through a man named Joseph Smith. They say they accept the Old and New Testaments, but anything that would contradict the "new" revelation is wrong. I can't remember if they said it was a manuscript error or what, but they did comment on it.

Hopefully, my pressing them on Christ and trusting in Him alone for salvation will have planted a seed. They let me pray with them and they assured me that they pray to God to show them the truth. I hope they meant it and continue to do so. I know I encouraged them in this. May God have mercy, open their eyes, and  show them Christ as He is. May He show them the futility of trying to earn any merit through works, but to lay their life down by God's grace and trust in Him alone.





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