Have you ever been near someone who appears to be indecisive? It can be very frustrating for you and for the other person. Whether it is in deciding what movie to see, where to eat dinner, what church to visit, or what socks go with a purple shirt and green pants ensemble. Aside from those minor indecisions, there is a stronger form of indecisiveness. What do we do with the laws that God has set down for us to follow and obey? Do we become complacent and not worry about what God says? Do we just stay in the middle of the road, for the fear of being labeled a "right wing Christian fundamentalist"? Do we therefore become like the Laodicean neither hot nor cold, but lukewarm.? It is time to take a stand for God and His righteous decrees and quit hiding our collective heads in the sand.
What happened to the Ladoicean church? Let’s look to God’s word for the answers. "So, because you are lukewarm - neither hot nor cold - I am about so spit you out of my mouth." (Rev 3:16 NIV). Because they didn’t take a stand, Jesus politely told them that he would spit them out of his mouth. Jesus will have nothing to do with them. It is something he prophesied about. "Not everyone who says to me ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophecy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers." (Mat 7:21-23 NIV)
There is a saying, "God said, I believe it, that settles it." The problem with that statement is we are saying that if I don’t believe it to be God’s word or law, therefore it isn’t settled. I say, "WRONG!" God said it, that settles it. If God made it law 2000 years ago, it is still law today. Notice I said God’s law not man’s law. "Your word, oh LORD, is eternal; it stands firm in the heavens. Your faithfulness continues through all generations; you established the earth, and it endures. Your laws endure to this day, for all things serve you." (Psalm 119:89-91NIV) If God said something is detestable to Him 4000 years ago, then it is still detestable to him now.
Murder is murder, adultery is adultery, stealing is stealing, no matter how flowery we put the language. We only deceive ourselves when we try to justify our own actions by using different language. It’s not murder, she had an abortion. It’s not adultery, it’s an open marriage. It’s not stealing, it’s enhancing my taxes for a better return. It is murder, it is adultery and it is stealing. If God said it is a sin, then it is a sin
The latest justification for sin is "I was born that way, or It’s genetic," or something to the equivalency of the nature of the person. Hogwash and nonsense. We are born with the disposition to sin. It is when we give in to the desire that sin is born. "When tempted, no one should say, ‘God is tempting me.’ For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full grown, gives birth to death." (James 1:13-15 NIV)
So as a Christian, we need to take a stand. Fully grasp what God says is right and wrong. The extreme of sin is applauding and accepting the sin, rather than regretting the sin of others. Society tells us that we must be tolerant of other peoples differences. In one regard I accept that and fully understand that. Yet, when it comes to distorting the Bible and claiming that what once was sin is no longer sinful, I can not be tolerant. We are even warned against such behavior, "Although they know God’s righteous decrees that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those that practice them." (Rom 1:32) We can not continue to accept sin as OK. We must love the sinner, the ones who practice the sin, but not what they do. We can not continue to fool ourselves and say, "That is their nature, we must be tolerant and allow them to do what they want to do, even though it’s wrong." To give you an example as to how inefficient that is: Two young children (ages 4, 6) are playing together. The older child hits the younger child. If you use the logic that states, "That is their nature", then you wouldn’t punish the older child for his malfeasance. You would accept it as their nature. But, you don’t see it like that, the hitting of the younger child is wrong. Why then, do we accept the destructive behavior of others that we know will lead them to an eternity without inheriting the kingdom of God?
It is time, as Christians, to take a stand. Stand up for God’s laws. It won’t be popular and many people will ridicule you. But, it is better to stand for Christ than to stand for the world.
Know God’s laws and rebuke those with love. Know where God stands on issues of the day, and be not afraid to take a stand.
Have a blessed week
Daniel G Vandenburg
Sunday, October 22, 2006
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
Demise: Extraction
Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. "If you are the Son of God," he said, "throw yourself down. For it is written: He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone." (Matt 4:5,6 NIV) Satans agenda for the Christian and the church is our demise. One of his strategies is extraction, to take out of context the meaning of God’s Word and twist it to meet his own need. He will use many different methods to accomplish this task.
In the previous scenario taken straight out of Matthew, Satan is tempting Jesus. The first time, Jesus rebuked him with scripture and Satan lost. The second time, Satan tempts Jesus, he quotes scripture but twists it to meet his need. Jesus’ response to Satans extraction. "Jesus answered him, ‘It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’" (Matt 4:7 NIV). Jesus’ response was back with scripture. Jesus fully understood the scripture and the context, He knew how to apply it.
What is extraction? Extraction, in it’s most basic definition, is taking something out of context, to fit your wants. Not only is it taking out of scriptures something that is not there or misapplying it, it also deals with anything that is written and taken out of context. People that have a certain agenda, (see Satan above) will extract only what they want to make it fit what they want. Some people, after reading something, will jump to a conclusion that doesn’t fit what the writing was about. They will read into something that isn’t even implied, but through guilt or some other means, will see their own sin or faults, and get upset because they’ve been called on the carpet, or as one person said, "Their toes have been stomped on."
Daniel, what does that have to do with extraction? I’m glad you asked. Anytime someone feels guilty about something, and they subsequently get called out, they will lash out in any method necessary. They’ll read something, jump to a conclusion the author had no intention of meaning, and get upset. They’ve extracted something that wasn’t there. But, by their own guilt, they’ve read into something that isn’t there and assumed that was the meaning of the text.
How, then, do you avoid that type of extraction? The first step is to read it closely. Then, reread it again, only slower. I’ll give you an example of someone close to me, reading something into the Bible that wasn’t there. They were reading the passage on the arrival of the wise men. As they read their Bible, they kept saying "three wise men". Upon a closer slower read, they soon realized the word "three" was never mentioned. They kept reading it that way, because that’s what they were taught, but it was never there. That happens more often than we’d like to think.
The second step is to understand the context. Someone once suggested the 20/20 approach to reading scripture, 20 verses prior and 20 verses proceeding. Sometimes that works, sometimes that doesn’t. Another method pointed out to me is the 67 method. Use all 67 books for the context. That’s effective if you fully understand the Bible. The method I like to use, is the writer/speaker method. By that I mean, who wrote it and what did they write about it later, and who said it and what did they say later about it. You have to study the scriptures to fully understand what they mean about a subject.
The third step (which should be the first step) is prayer. Pray for wisdom to fully understand the context. Pray for guidance so that you don’t misapply the scripture. Pray for knowledge to know how to handle the scripture. Pray so that you will know how to counter someone who uses extraction to justify their own actions.
What are the dangers of extraction? If you extract bits and pieces of scripture to fit your own wants, you won’t develop and strong faith. When cornered, you will stumble and fall. It leads to self fulfilling prophecies. Prophecies that you work at fulfilling, not by the hand of God. It leads to misleading lifestyles. I know people that justify their sinful lifestyles, by quoting scripture. Yet, their lifestyle goes against what God intended it to be.
A wise man once told me, "Son, (oops I gave it away) man spends more time putting into the Bible what they want, and not enough time taking out of the Bible what God wants." The biggest danger of extraction is it leads to your demise. Take for example the well known extraction sequence, Luke 10:37 (NIV) "Go and do likewise." What do we need to do likewise? John 13:27 (NIV) "What you are about to do, do quickly," Jesus told him." What do we have to do likewise and quickly? Matt 27:5 (NIV) "So Judas threw the money into the temple and left. Then he went away and hanged himself." So according to scripture then, we should go and hang ourselves. That’s what we do, when we extract the wrong things from the bible.
Satan will use extraction to cause our demise. Understand the full context of scripture. Don’t extract what you want to fit your wants, or you will help Satan accomplish his goal. Our Demise.
Have a blessed week
Daniel G Vandenburg
In the previous scenario taken straight out of Matthew, Satan is tempting Jesus. The first time, Jesus rebuked him with scripture and Satan lost. The second time, Satan tempts Jesus, he quotes scripture but twists it to meet his need. Jesus’ response to Satans extraction. "Jesus answered him, ‘It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’" (Matt 4:7 NIV). Jesus’ response was back with scripture. Jesus fully understood the scripture and the context, He knew how to apply it.
What is extraction? Extraction, in it’s most basic definition, is taking something out of context, to fit your wants. Not only is it taking out of scriptures something that is not there or misapplying it, it also deals with anything that is written and taken out of context. People that have a certain agenda, (see Satan above) will extract only what they want to make it fit what they want. Some people, after reading something, will jump to a conclusion that doesn’t fit what the writing was about. They will read into something that isn’t even implied, but through guilt or some other means, will see their own sin or faults, and get upset because they’ve been called on the carpet, or as one person said, "Their toes have been stomped on."
Daniel, what does that have to do with extraction? I’m glad you asked. Anytime someone feels guilty about something, and they subsequently get called out, they will lash out in any method necessary. They’ll read something, jump to a conclusion the author had no intention of meaning, and get upset. They’ve extracted something that wasn’t there. But, by their own guilt, they’ve read into something that isn’t there and assumed that was the meaning of the text.
How, then, do you avoid that type of extraction? The first step is to read it closely. Then, reread it again, only slower. I’ll give you an example of someone close to me, reading something into the Bible that wasn’t there. They were reading the passage on the arrival of the wise men. As they read their Bible, they kept saying "three wise men". Upon a closer slower read, they soon realized the word "three" was never mentioned. They kept reading it that way, because that’s what they were taught, but it was never there. That happens more often than we’d like to think.
The second step is to understand the context. Someone once suggested the 20/20 approach to reading scripture, 20 verses prior and 20 verses proceeding. Sometimes that works, sometimes that doesn’t. Another method pointed out to me is the 67 method. Use all 67 books for the context. That’s effective if you fully understand the Bible. The method I like to use, is the writer/speaker method. By that I mean, who wrote it and what did they write about it later, and who said it and what did they say later about it. You have to study the scriptures to fully understand what they mean about a subject.
The third step (which should be the first step) is prayer. Pray for wisdom to fully understand the context. Pray for guidance so that you don’t misapply the scripture. Pray for knowledge to know how to handle the scripture. Pray so that you will know how to counter someone who uses extraction to justify their own actions.
What are the dangers of extraction? If you extract bits and pieces of scripture to fit your own wants, you won’t develop and strong faith. When cornered, you will stumble and fall. It leads to self fulfilling prophecies. Prophecies that you work at fulfilling, not by the hand of God. It leads to misleading lifestyles. I know people that justify their sinful lifestyles, by quoting scripture. Yet, their lifestyle goes against what God intended it to be.
A wise man once told me, "Son, (oops I gave it away) man spends more time putting into the Bible what they want, and not enough time taking out of the Bible what God wants." The biggest danger of extraction is it leads to your demise. Take for example the well known extraction sequence, Luke 10:37 (NIV) "Go and do likewise." What do we need to do likewise? John 13:27 (NIV) "What you are about to do, do quickly," Jesus told him." What do we have to do likewise and quickly? Matt 27:5 (NIV) "So Judas threw the money into the temple and left. Then he went away and hanged himself." So according to scripture then, we should go and hang ourselves. That’s what we do, when we extract the wrong things from the bible.
Satan will use extraction to cause our demise. Understand the full context of scripture. Don’t extract what you want to fit your wants, or you will help Satan accomplish his goal. Our Demise.
Have a blessed week
Daniel G Vandenburg
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