The Falling Away of the Church

In this study by David Dykstra which he entitled "The AntiChrist and Apostacy" Pastor Dykstra brings us a study on the third element of evidence for our assurance of our salvation which he says is doctrinal accuracy. Today we are seeing many churches watering down orthodoxy and even introducing mysticism and rituals that come directly out of the occult and New Age mysticism.

1Jn 2:15  Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
1Jn 2:16  For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
1Jn 2:17  And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.
1Jn 2:18  Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.
1Jn 2:19  They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.




They went out physically and doctrinally, by removing themselves from the truth of what God's word says and introducing their own ideas over and above what God's word actually says.

Pastor Dykstra makes clear what the Bible reveals to us about the truth of eternal security showing  that those who are truly His will remain in the truth of what the Bible says even when the going gets tough, the true ones will still speak up about Him even when it gets uncomfortable and downright dangerous to do so. The elect of God won't bend to every false doctrine that is easier and demands less painful participation. They won't stoop to heretical beliefs over the uncomfortable truth. Many today get their theology from "stupid novels" (David Dykstra's observation) rather than from the Bible itself or from Godly preachers (of course using our God-given discernment and making sure what the pastors teach is correct according to what the Bible says- Acts 17:11).

Part two of this message



Rom 10:9  That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. 


I have seen that verse very often taken out of context. If you read the entire thought on this all the way through it goes on to say:

Rom 10:10  For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
Rom 10:11  For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. 

Confession that Jesus is Lord should be whenever the opportunity arises, especially when it would bring our own dishonor to do so, showing that we are not ashamed to be made a fool of for doing what is right...we have access to a boldness that comes from Jesus Himself to confess who He is and what He has done for us....IF we are saved, the evidence is revealed who we really are, by what we say. The truth will show whether we are truly in Him or not in Him by whether we bear fruit that brings a harvest. It is said that the biggest harvests were fertilized with martyrs blood. Reading this passage in it's entirety reveals that many think their empty words said as a ceremony or religious rite is enough to save them, instead of what the passage is actually saying. We do not "get saved" by saying "Jesus is Lord". We are saved when we confess and are not ashamed to tell others that Jesus is Lord. And we find out from the rest of scripture that we will say it even if it costs us our lives because we have eternal life with Jesus, so what if we lose this temporary one? We will die anyway. It is appointed unto us once to die...but after this, the judgment..

"Gender Confusion"

I was listening to a series on sermon audio (linked to part 3 at the bottom of this post). The series is on the topic of homosexuality. It is a very heavy topic, one that is often treated superficially.. the pastor talks about gender confusion and the problems that the women that pushed for equal rights brought in (and he admits that this is just a symptom of our fallen condition, one of many symptoms, and that there have  always  been sin symptoms since Adam and Eve). 

I want to share with you what I said to my daughter. I don't want to diminish the terribleness of sin, yet we of course need to acknowledge that we all do sin, continually. This is what I wrote my daughter as a preface to this  sermon:

"... it reveals a bigger problem, and we cannot "fix it" by making all of these things appear to be right. That isn't the point. The point is this world is fallen and there are lots of problems that won't get fixed, but we need to admit that they truly are problems and that they stem from our sinful nature. That is the point. The point is we shouldn't make excuses (me included, I keep wanting to make excuses for my sins) no excuses, but we need to acknowledge that we all fall short, and to call sin what it is, sin. No excuses. So we do sin, every day we do, it is part of this world that we live in. It is full of sin. AND we have forgiveness for sin. 

We do need to know what sin is, it is transgression against a holy God.

We need to be aware of it. We cannot stop it, only God can, and will. We will still sin as long as we live in this sinful world…. but when we turn to Christ, He will reclaim us to Himself, and draw us to Himself. And one day when our fleshy life is over, 
He will give us a life that truly is without sin,
 with Him, 
not in this world,
 but one that He makes for His chosen, 
who don't love sin, 
but who love Jesus, 
and are thankful for His forgiveness, 
and proclaim the truth about His hatred of sin, and His forgiveness of sin.
Anyway, hope this makes sense. I hope you will pray about this, and that the boys will be a light for the dark times that are still ahead of us. It is going to get worse."


Link to the sermon:

http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=623131528566

If you have time I recommend also listening to parts one and two of this series.

For Their Sakes...

John 17:19  And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.

David Dykstra gives an amazing sermon on the profundity of this verse. I mentioned to my dear husband last Sunday how often I run over verses that are so packed with so much incredible meaning, such wealth, and I barely skim off of the surface (if that even) barely even touching what is there. This is one of those verses. I've heard this so often that I have grown callous to the richness of the text, the amazing things that Jesus has done, and does, for each one of His "called out ones". I pray that we stop being so haphazard and overly casual with His divine word, and learn to humble ourselves, and submit to the profound truth that is there, in all of it's powerful glory. David Dykstra helps me to "stop and smell the roses" of God's Word.

http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=1121071424537

Do You Love Me?

Jesus asked that of Peter 3 times. "Peter do you love me?....Feed my sheep"

So often I hear people say that they "love" Jesus, and it might be true. However Jesus knows whether we really love Him, or whether the "love" we have is all just talk and no action.

Isa 29:13  Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men

Last night one of the girls I work with said when WTC was hit in 2001, she broke up with her boyfriend the following week. The reason? She said she found herself thinking of all the people she loved, but her boyfriend was the furthest thing from her mind. She realized then that she didn't really love him, so she broke up with him. At first I thought this strange but I realize now that she was right to do this. She was being honest and so she did what she knew she had to do, she had to do what is right.

There are things that you do for the ones you truly love. There is a communion that you have, you would suffer and even lay down your life for those that you love. You would know if that isn't there. How much more would that be true of our relationship to Jesus? He likens our relationship to a marriage. What kind of relationship would it be if the husband did all the loving, and the wife only gave lip service? Would the marriage last?

Joh 15:13  Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
Joh 15:14  Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.

I was brought up Seventh day Adventist, so these verses were always used to say "You see? We have to keep the Saturday sabbath to prove that our love is real." Is that really what He's talking about here?
No, that isn't what Jesus is saying here. That would be too easy, and if that were the case, the pharisees would have been His biggest supporters and truest lovers.

 Jesus laid down His life for the sheep. He died a vicious death why? Just for loving people, truly loving them, and being hated for it. How did He love them? He healed them of all manner of their diseases and told the hypocrites (the ones hiding behind their masks) the truth so that He could heal them of their hypocrisy. And how did they thank Him? You would think that they would love Him, and yet, when He was brought to the courts, even his closest disciples left Him. When He poured out His heart in Gethsemane, the ones who you would have thought would endure everything with Him, fell asleep! Then when Jesus went before the Jewish sanhedrin, the disciple who said he would never let Jesus down denied he even knew Him! That is the kind of love we have, the kind that Peter had, and the kind that I see all too frequently. It is a said love rather than a true love,  and I am ashamed of myself for being that weak. I definitely do not want to be comfortable in that weakness, and pretend to having "love" when I know it is all just talk.

I pray that the Lord would kindle His fire in me, and make my heart of stone into a heart that truly desires to do His will, to the laying down of my flesh.

 1Jn 3:16  Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. 


No pretense of love or holiness will pass the test here. God desires our whole entire being. If we truly love Him, we would feed His sheep, the way He fed His sheep, even to the laying down of our lives as truly living sacrifices to the truth of His word, not caring whether people agree with us, or "love" (or say they love) us, but doing what Jesus did even if it gets us killed, but perhaps causes even one person to see the truth and become truly saved by God through any suffering we might suffer. That is true love. That is feeding God's sheep. Not fluffy words that get you "kudos" and empty words of comfort and praise that don't hold the forever test. Not things that stroke our egos into thinking we are something when we are nothing. How true is your and my love really? Can it go through the fires and endure the hatred of men and still all-the-while hold out hands to try to reach those who are lost? Or will we succumb to our flesh and come up with every excuse as to why God doesn't expect us to do that, and that He wants us to coddle our and each other's flesh. Loving our flesh....and each other's flesh....is that the love Jesus taught us? Is that what the Bible says? If your Bible says that, it isn't the same Bible I have been reading.

Evangelizing (telling others about Jesus)

Mat 28:18  And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.
Mat 28:19  Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
Mat 28:20  Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen. 

Who was Jesus talking to here? Only the apostles? Does He speak to each of us individually even today to teach and preach? Or was that only for at that frozen moment in time?

This is an enormous topic and I'm only going to scratch a tiny bit of the surface here, because this involves the history of the church, parsing this (above Bible text) and other passages of scripture, as well as much personal testimony and that is something, although very valuable and I hope that everyone researches church history and scrutinizes Bible passages carefully to see how it should shape our lives today, it is too immense to put all into a single blog post.

A brief overview of church history (brief to the extreme, please don't think this enough information to now believe you "know" church history, lol). In the very beginnings of the church, there were many who had seen the flesh and blood Jesus here on earth. The Apostle Paul didn't see Jesus before the ascension but he did have a direct visitation from Him after His ascension on the road to Damascus. It was dangerous to be a Christian....but why? As the years went on there were persons and events that brought Christianity to the masses (Constantine, Charlemagne) and "Christianized" Europe, enforcing "Christianity" (this is a complex issue in itself, there may have been some who truly became Christians as a result of these events). Protestants separated from the Catholic Church, and then itself separated into several splinter groups --evangelicals (such as Wesleyans, Baptists) separated from their reformation brothers (such as Lutherans, Presbyterians --  nicknamed the "frozen chosen" because many did not have a heart to reach out to evangelize those outside of their groups and had very formal and often ritualized -- i.e."cold" and "dead" meetings). Revivals brought new life to congregations, however there were also many heresies that often slipped in with each successive wave of change ---as the devil would have it, yet God still is over all.

The Apostle Paul said:
Php 1:15  Some indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife; and some also of good will:
Php 1:16  The one preach Christ of contention, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my bonds:
Php 1:17  But the other of love, knowing that I am set for the defence of the gospel.
Php 1:18  What then? notwithstanding, every way, whether in pretence, or in truth, Christ is preached; and I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice.



That isn't to say that care shouldn't be given to how the message of the gospel is shared, in fact many go with much zeal sharing a "gospel" that isn't the gospel at all, and that isn't what Paul is saying here. We need to be mindful of our Lord and what He did for us, and share the truth about Him in our thanksgiving to Him, and pray that He will open opportunities for us to speak about Him, and trust that He will give us words that are pure and true to share with others who are lost and dying in their sins.

Col 4:2  Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving;
Col 4:3  Withal praying also for us, that God would open unto us a door of utterance, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in bonds:
Col 4:4  That I may make it manifest, as I ought to speak.
Col 4:5  Walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time.
Col 4:6  Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.


And this isn't to "lord it over" people so that they will idolize YOU (God forbid), nor is it to be out of fear because our God demands these things out of us, although perhaps that can be a beginning point. He is our friend when He has made peace with us, and that friendship does have some requirements, but this can come out of us "naturally" (supernaturally?), but we can quench His Spirit:

 Luk 11:33  No man, when he hath lighted a candle, putteth it in a secret place, neither under a bushel, but on a candlestick, that they which come in may see the light. 

And

  Mat 25:14  For the kingdom of heaven is as a man travelling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods.
Mat 25:15  And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey.
Mat 25:16  Then he that had received the five talents went and traded with the same, and made them other five talents.
Mat 25:17  And likewise he that had received two, he also gained other two.
Mat 25:18  But he that had received one went and digged in the earth, and hid his lord's money.
Mat 25:19  After a long time the lord of those servants cometh, and reckoneth with them.
Mat 25:20  And so he that had received five talents came and brought other five talents, saying, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me five talents: behold, I have gained beside them five talents more.
Mat 25:21  His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.
Mat 25:22  He also that had received two talents came and said, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me two talents: behold, I have gained two other talents beside them.
Mat 25:23  His lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord. 

Mat 25:24  Then he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed:
Mat 25:25  And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine. 
 
Mat 25:26  His lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed:
Mat 25:27  Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury.
Mat 25:28  Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents.
Mat 25:29  For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath. 

Mat 25:30  And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 

Acting out of fear to reach others with God's word isn't good, we are people of faith after all. Yet however,  we can go to the other extreme and not go out at all because we might "get it all wrong" or might get other people angry, or might drive others further away from the Lord or what have you, there are many reasons that we can become that unprofitable servant mentioned above. God tells us He will provide the words we need to say as He moves us with His Holy Spirit, and He will open the doors, as we pray for the opportunity to share the truth of the marvelous things God does and can do in lives, transforming others with the words He provides us....but not if we quench His Spirit and tell the Lord to do it some other way besides using the gifts we want to keep buried regarding telling the lost about Jesus.



Luk 8:4  And when much people were gathered together, and were come to him out of every city, he spake by a parable:
Luk 8:5  A sower went out to sow his seed: and as he sowed, some fell by the way side; and it was trodden down, and the fowls of the air devoured it.
Luk 8:6  And some fell upon a rock; and as soon as it was sprung up, it withered away, because it lacked moisture.
Luk 8:7  And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprang up with it, and choked it.
Luk 8:8  And other fell on good ground, and sprang up, and bare fruit an hundredfold. And when he had said these things, he cried, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.
Luk 8:9  And his disciples asked him, saying, What might this parable be?
Luk 8:10  And he said, Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God: but to others in parables; that seeing they might not see, and hearing they might not understand.
Luk 8:11  Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God.
Luk 8:12  Those by the way side are they that hear; then cometh the devil, and taketh away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved.
Luk 8:13  They on the rock are they, which, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, which for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall away.
Luk 8:14  And that which fell among thorns are they, which, when they have heard, go forth, and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection.
Luk 8:15  But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience.
Luk 8:16  No man, when he hath lighted a candle, covereth it with a vessel, or putteth it under a bed; but setteth it on a candlestick, that they which enter in may see the light.
Luk 8:17  For nothing is secret, that shall not be made manifest; neither any thing hid, that shall not be known and come abroad.
Luk 8:18  Take heed therefore how ye hear: for whosoever hath, to him shall be given; and whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he seemeth to have.

Let the love that those who are His be the genuine love that loves to share the truth about Jesus, especially when it gets us hated or killed, that we "love not our lives unto death" and let that love abound the more as persecution grows, so that many may grow in grace and the true knowledge that comes through knowing Jesus as we lay down our lives and our flesh for Him.

Fear and Injustice

David Dykstra 's message on Pilate and his dealings with Jesus. It is very revealing about Pilate's "problem" with Jesus, and how many today likewise deal with "the problem" of Jesus, even many who would call themselves "Christian", and who perhaps ARE (who am I to say they aren't, God only knows for sure). The difference is that when Christians are confronted with the truth, we humble ourselves before God, and ask Him to cleanse us from all sins, including the sins we try to hide from ourselves and others.

Pastor Dykstra's message:

Part 1

Part 2

The True Jesus, or a Plastic Jesus?

Art Katz. Art Katz is an example to me why a "completed Jew" is someone that the devil would shudder at. Brother Katz' understanding and perception of what is going on in this world, his complete candor, and his horror of the truth of the cross, and the horror of what it represents, the horror of sin, the hideousness of why many Jews want to avoid it (because it is excruciatingly humbling to understand that they messed up regarding the Messiah, and know the truth of it), and why they (and we in our flesh) want to avoid this kind of understanding. It is understanding that strips us of ourselves, of our vanity, our foolishness. It makes us completely bare before God, humbled, stripped of our vanity about the things that should have us so embarrassed before Him.

I found a link to Brother Katz in a comment from someone, and what a BLESSING! Dear Brother Katz went home to be with Jesus in 2007. His words cut through all the artificial talk that really says a whole bunch of nothing these days. They (we) talk about Jesus (and I know I've been guilty of being not this basic and blunt as Brother Katz) but there is so much talk about Jesus these days, but the cross they speak of is a plastic cross, or a cross on a woman's breast, something sensual, but not the real, the grotesque, depiction of what He had to go through for the hideousness of our sin. He speaks clearly and penetratingly about our sins, secret sins, and also our bold and brazen "in your face" sins, our current sins that we wink at, all which added to Jesus' excruciating suffering. But today, the "church" brushes it all under the rug, and gives us a sensual Jesus, a handsome guy that everyone can accept, rippling with muscles and beautifully coiffed hair, made in Hollywood. That is the spirit of the world, of the flesh, of the cup of fornication, artificial, and not the spirit of God's suffering for our sins. The Spirit of light and the spirit of darkness are separate and distinct. They are separating, and revealing who are with Him, and who love the darkness more than the light.


The above link is in written form, and the audio link for this sermon is translated side by side, phrase by phrase, into Dutch (great for me to practice my Dutch!)

Audio link

Sharing the Truth

A sermon:  on Luke 13:1-5

Luk 13:1  There were present at that season some that told him of the Galilaeans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices.
Luk 13:2  And Jesus answering said unto them, Suppose ye that these Galilaeans were sinners above all the Galilaeans, because they suffered such things?
Luk 13:3  I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.
Luk 13:4  Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem?
Luk 13:5  I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.



About a week ago (May 26), a prayer of mine before falling asleep was "Lord please open my eyes more clearly (thinking on Elisha's words in 2Kings 6:17), please show me what I must do".  The Lord was faithful to answer that prayer to me...but what is shown to me isn't what I wanted to see.

This morning I listened to the sermon I linked to above, and Pastor Dykstra talks about what Jesus said about the proper response we should have to disaster. How timely. One of the things he talks about is that we should all examine ourselves if we truly have a true saving faith, a repentant faith, because anything else is a false illusion of faith.

Recently I've been hearing  talk against teaching repentance, and even that teaching repentance is legalism, a teaching of pharisees...and I have to admit that I was confused about this because I thought that repentance,  and an active and a continuous inclination of the mind of being repentant, is a vital and active part of what being a Christian is...so when I had "loving Christians" who I trusted to tell me the truth tell me this is wrong and unloving and prevents people from coming to Christ, I admit that it had thrown me for a loop and put me into quite a state of confusion.

I really like what Pastor Dykstra says about all of that, and what he says in this sermon is precisely what the Lord has been opening my eyes to over the last several days. Coincidence? No, I don't think so.

Tit 2:14  Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.
Tit 2:15  These things speak, and exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no man despise thee.

God Feeds the Ravens...

I love the way Pastor Dykstra preaches. He speaks honestly, and exposes that what God does is so different from how we would do it. He points out that the Bible says that God feeds the ravens, but doesn't do it in a way that we feed our pets. He makes the food available, and the ravens have to expend some energy to get it. God's love also requires something from each of us.

Listen to the whole sermon here:

http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=923121784410

Yes He is merciful and kind, and yes He is HOLY (a very important part of God that many would rather forget about).

This sermon talks about worrying, the sin of worrying. We all do it, so don't flatter yourself thinking that you don't, lol. We all do it, me too, guilty. Thank the Lord, He provides these councils to help us not to hurt us. When we worry, we hurt ourselves. Everything He tells us about sin reveals that we abuse ourselves with our sin in one way or another. He shows us our sins not to be angry at us or because He hates us. He hates sin. He hates sin because sin destroys us. When He spanks us, it isn't because He is a hateful and angry God. Why is that our first reaction? Because we have a convoluted perception of who God is, and that He does what He does not because He loves punishing us, but because He loves us and wants to prevent us from heading for even greater harm.

 He requires something from us. Perfection? No.

 Trust.

 Trust gets rid of worry. Trust even in the most difficult of times. Trust even when everyone hates us or want to kill us. God still provides us through anything we will go through in this life, and in ways that we often don't give Him credit for because He provides for us indirectly. Trust that even though standing for what is right will get us hated, even by the most "loving" people....and God will see us through.