Now as Jannes and Jambros withstood
Moses, so do these also resist the
truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate
concerning the faith. but they shall proceed
no further; for their folly shall be manifest
unto all men, as their also was.
2Timothy 3:8-9
God's people throughout history have faced opposition from minds of those who corrupt the the truth. As Authentic Christians with Authentic Christian Faith we must stand firm for the truth at any and every costs. The attack upon Christianity from outside the Church is easy to see and defend, but from within the Church it is harder to see these men and women who are corrupt in Authentic Christian Faith. Mysticism and spiritualism seems to have taken hold of people as they seek to worship God. It is this that has corrupted Authentic Christian Faith. Authentic Christians will follow Paul's words to the Corinthian Christians: "Casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God" (2Corinthians 10:5). It too often taught that if we speak in some gibberish tongue, or feel holy by doing things, that God will bless and that deliverance for sin is all that is needed and in some sense that is truth but is not the whole truth. For is we just seek deliverance from sin and not understand that deliverance from sin is not deliverance from human nature then a problem exists.
This blog is all about considering faith and changing from the inside/out and this requires an honest look at things that are being done in the Church, and in your own understanding. First, Jesus Christ came to earth to deliver men from sin, by His death and resurrection and ascension into heaven and His death paid for sin but man remains in his human nature. There are things in our human nature, such as prejudices, which the saint must destroy and destruction of prejudices comes about by neglecting this and replacing this by manifesting the word of God in your life where prejudice has no place. Also, there are thing that must be destroyed by violence, and this cannot come any other way than by the Spirit of God which He has imparted to His children. There is a third thing that must be understood, for at times we are to stand still, no fight, just stillness and when this is done the salvation of God will be seen, but every theory or conception which erects itself as a rampart against the knowledge of God is to be determinedly demolished by drawing on God's power, not by fleshly endeavour or compromise: "(for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, by mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds)" (2Corinthians 10:4). Compromise, this that has encompassed the Church as it has adopted the culture of this world and accepts what the world accepts. Authentic Christians do not compromise!
How then can we fight? Only when God has altered our disposition and we have entered into the experience of sanctification that the fight begins. Sanctification was given to you by God when He justified you, but that was done so that you can enter into the presence of God but He has not taken away your human nature and sanctification in this life is a process, but a process that must be done by determination. Some think that the Christian warfare is against sin, it is not, Jesus Christ paid for and deals with sin and this by means of Redemption. Our conflict is in the necessity of turning our natural life into a spiritual life, not some sort of euphoric spirituality, not by some method that is not elaborated in God's word, no, this turning our life from the natural to the spiritual is not an easy thing to do, no does God intend for it to be easy because it is done by means of your moral choices. This is an important thing to understand: God does not make us holy in the sense of character; He makes us holy in the sense of innocence, and we have to turn that innocence into holy character by a series of moral choices.
The antagonism in our life is that Christians, Authentic Christians as well, face choices every day, every minute of every day and much of these choices are antagonistic to our Christian faith, and often appeal to our natural life. These entrenchments against Authentic Christian Faith stand against the knowledge of God. Now, here is a choice: either stand for God and make ourselves useful to God,or be of no account in the Kingdom of God. This then requires our determination to demolish those things that are antagonistic to God, to our knowledge of God and then allow Jesus Christ to bring you into His glory.
Discipline: a necessary element if we are to successfully battle our natural nature and those who are corrupting Authentic Christian Faith.
Be strong and of a good courage,
fear not, nor be afraid of them:
for the LORD thy God, He it is that
doth go with thee; He will not
fail thee, nor forsake thee.
Deuteronomy 31:6
Be determined to fight the good fight
Richard L. Crumb
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