I found a counterfeit $3 dollar bill

[Vlad]

Of course I could not find a counterfeit $3.00 bill simply because there is no genuine $3.00 bill to counterfeit. I was thinking a lot about the subject matter covered in Tony and Matt’s latest article # . As they were noting, most of the time the heresy and out and out false doctrine starts with an element of truth. Then it is developed and expanded upon and finally accepted as truth largely by reason of the shocking scriptural ignorance of the so called Christian community. Which got me thinking about just one more of the many “Christian movements” that are invading the church today. I’ll preface my comment by saying that I fully and truly believe in what we commonly refer to as the “remnant” regarding the body of Christ/church as it implies to the truly born again redeemed by the blood of Christ person that studies, follows and applies the word of God in their lives as the Holy Spirit impresses and leads them. Folks that hold in high regard the scriptural traditions, disciplines and doctrines that bore witness to the experiential manifestations of the apostles and early church founders lives. In a nut shell I might sum it up as people that strive to apply the full council of God and not cherry pick stand alone or out of context verses on which to build principals, doctrines and commandments of men. Folks that think seriously and deeply during times of meditation and reflection when studying scripture in an effort to understand how scripture will support and interpret the full body of its texts and lead believes to an ever deepening faith and balanced stability in their personal walk with the Lord amid a screwy upside down world. This leads me to my actual point I wanted to mention with regards to what I have been witnessing of recent years. It points back to the counterfeit dollar bill. It appears to me that it has become very fashionable and in vogue within the more “enlightened” Christian charismatic circles to label one’s self and identify with this elite and select group of “Remnant” believes that strongly suggests they are a peculiar people living on a somewhat higher plain than the commoner Christian folk who struggle and strive often with issues arising from the sanctification process in their lives midst this post Christian society we find ourselves in. They tout great swelling commentaries bordering on a self-important monologue borrowing phrases like “coming out of Babylon” and “fleeing Sodom”. Hey, I totally get it….I too feel as though I live in Babylon and want to flee the atmosphere of Sodom that daily vexes me heart and mind. But…..I clearly see a counterfeit movement. To mention just one recent experience I had that highlights several I have had in recent times would be the Christian couple of about mid 40’s. They are sincere believers of the Bible and do earnestly long to live holy and pleasing to God I would not question. But they, or I should say “he”, shared with me his position and belief on the matter of being part of the Remnant group. He and his wife hated living in the city i.e. Babylon. They cried out for God to be removed them from Sodom. They found a opportunity to flee north from the city of Sodom and settle in a very rural community. They believed practically everything seen belonged to and was ruled by Satan and thus should be shunned. I could certainly see clear elements of undisputable truth so far. He announced that he was an evangelist who studied scripture, church history, church founder and leaders, and thus religious theology. It became very plain very early in our few short conversations that there was no room for any differing of opinions from his on matters not pertaining to salvation. He had pretty much cut himself off from everything “worldly” i.e. TV, movies, music…except classical, folk and hymns, internet…except blogging with this elect group of “Remnant” believers that shared the same outlook on Christian living. Newspapers, news reports, magazines for the most part were the Devil’s. Now I don’t dispute the evil in most all this stuff but when a Christian…especially an evangelist, cuts them self off from most everything in the world around them…well…I have to wonder if the salt is losing its flavour or the light is being put under the bushel. The more I heard the more I saw common traits of what begins the forming structure of cults. Many start out on track but no man is an island. No log left alone with burn for long. No one fearing that their faith is too fragile to withstand the conversations on Mars Hill as Paul did will develop deep strong roots. It is testing and tension that develops muscle strength. It is God who will not allow someone or something to pluck us out of his hand as we learn to walk, pick ourselves up when we stumble and repent of wrongs He convicts us of. Viewing one’s self or one’s private elect club or class of Christians can be a deceptive and proud pit fall. When I was first saved/born again God gave me this first scripture on which to build. Prov. 11:1 – A false balance is an abomination to the Lord but a just weight is his delight. I guess He knew my propensity to bend toward the extreme and intense in living life. At any rate, in our walk in these days of such confusion and apostasy it is most important to listen to the voice of God and then see how He supports over and over again with the holy scriptures what He has shown or directed us to do, say and live. Not voting, not interacting with folks except to lecture or conduct self righteous monologues, not seeking justice, loving mercy and striving to walk humbly before our God, not learning to “live in the world and not be of the world” is not what God has intended for his people I believe. If we withdraw from everything and everyone that does not line up with our beliefs how else can the great commission be fulfilled….Go and preach the gospel to all the world and make disciples?
Cheers!

[MattS]

Thanks for your kind comments and encouragement Vlad. I completely agree that there are those Christians who have set themselves up as the “untouchable anointed remnant” and have cut themselves off from the almost everything. I have seen this through groups that take the Hebrew Roots teachings to extreme levels and have become like the religious Pharisees, or those that shun any form of scriptural spiritual expression such as those who see themselves as cessationists, believing that all the miracles, healings, prophetic words and spiritual gifts have ceased to exist. There are those that (like the couple you mention) head for the hills and cut themselves off by burying their heads in the sand. As you say, they have ceased to be salty. Well spoken Vlad, bless you.

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[Moritz]

Just listened to the audiobook of David Wilkerson´s “The Vision and beyond”. Back in the days he prophecied the coming of all kinds of deceptive twistings of Christianity in the future. Besides the usual suspects like false prophets and the performers of false miracles, he went on to specifically and explicitly warn against “teachers who speak more often of the power of Satan than of the power of God”, because “those who continue in an emphasis of satanic possession of Christians will return to the old law and a life of works”. And voilà, today we have a crowd of self-professed law-observers who are trusting in all the wonderful works they are doing in the Lords´s name instead of what HE alone did and finished once and for all.

[Vlad]

Yes, that seems to be the way it goes….either anything goes or its back to the law for one’s righteousness and justification. Man seems to take something simple and distort it into something scripturally unidentifiable. A great follow up to Wilkerson’s “The vision and beyond” is his 20 year old book (which I was just looking through last week again) “America’s Last Call”. You would think it was written last month not 1998.

[Author]

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