But there were also false prophets among the people,
just as there will be false teachers among you.
They will secretly introduce destructive heresies,
even denying the sovereign Lord who bought
them--bringing swift destruction on themselves.
Many will follow their shameful ways and will
bring the way of truth into disrepute. In their
greed these teachers will exploit you with stories
they have made up. Their condemnation long
been hanging over them, and their destruction
has not been sleeping.
2Peter 2:1-3 NIV
I used the NIV due their translation of the Greek word as "stories" due to the fact that many do not know English well and the use by the King James version "feigned" may not be understood. The Greek means to fabricate, mold, to shape, were we get the English word "plastic." The Greek word: "
πλαστοῖς (Plastic) along with the Greek word λόγοις, means molded or fabricated words, and the English word "feigned" means fictitous, or to imitate, to be deceptive, a fictitous story. In the early days of the Church this was a problem as many men were introducing into the Church "stories."
Today we have many men and women, so-called preachers of truth introducing their doctrines, their personal beliefs about God, about Jesus Christ, about worship, stories that are more than some analogy, their are fictitous and malicious as those men and women have motives other than to teach the truth from the Bible. Many follow these men and women believing that they teach the truth when in fact all they are doing is satisfying their own desires rather than living as Authentic Christians who have desires only to follow Jesus Christ, not man.
πλαστοῖς (Plastic) along with the Greek word λόγοις, means molded or fabricated words, and the English word "feigned" means fictitous, or to imitate, to be deceptive, a fictitous story. In the early days of the Church this was a problem as many men were introducing into the Church "stories."
Today we have many men and women, so-called preachers of truth introducing their doctrines, their personal beliefs about God, about Jesus Christ, about worship, stories that are more than some analogy, their are fictitous and malicious as those men and women have motives other than to teach the truth from the Bible. Many follow these men and women believing that they teach the truth when in fact all they are doing is satisfying their own desires rather than living as Authentic Christians who have desires only to follow Jesus Christ, not man.
To give warrant for these story-tellers, they introduce to the people that which them a satisfaction, a belief that they are doing and are godly. They do this without examining what is being taught to them and then by this deception they find ways to self-realization, self-aggrandizement and self-satisfaction. One way is by entertainment that is of the world, that is, those entertainers dress, have tattoos, long shaggy hair, unkempt, and are loud noise makers as those by their loudness they are making good music or by shouting they are causing emotional stir among the people. Philanthropy, doing good is another way to cause people that they are of God, doing godly things. What is actually being done is to use the same approach as the world, using this world's culture to entice people to follow them, and more than that to cause them to give money, and this by teaching that their giving money will bring them prosperity. This is using greed for gain.
Am I against entertainment? NO! Am I against philanthropy? NO! Am I against giving money? NO! Am I against secular music? NO! Am I against secular movies? NO! What I am saying, this for you and for me is: test all things by the standards of the Bible, appraise what is being done, how the entertainment is appropriate. We give money to support the ministry, to support missionaries and this is Biblical: "God loves a cheerful giver" (2Corinthians 9:7). What I am against is when all this is done from a source of pride, vanity, self-love, self-interests, love of ease or of pleasure, ambition and love of social position: this I am against, no, not just me, the Bible.
The bottom line: Are you willing to deny yourself and follow Jesus Christ, His commands, His teaching as to how we are to live? Here is a command of Jesus: "Then said Jesus unto His disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me" (Matthew 16:24). Do our actions manifest our expression of love for God, for Jesus Christ who died to save us? Or, is our faith simple half-hearted, and this most often due to social expectations, those expectations that are more important than following Jesus Christ. Do not congratulate yourself because you are following Jesus, not getting involved in some sin, some immorality, no, you are only doing what our Savior ask of us, nothing more. If we evaluate ourselves by the standards of the Bible then we will be growing into Authentic Christians and our faith will become Authentic Christian Faith. Yes, we might fall short, or course this is possible as we are not perfect in this life as some teach perfection of the saints, no, we are still fallen in our nature, our souls and will be until God gives to us our immortal bodies, and this will only happen after the Second coming of Jesus Christ. We are told by Jesus to be perfect as our Father is perfect and although in this life total perfection is not possible, we can strive as our goal to become perfect and this will only happen if we apply in our lives the commands, the standards of the Bible. Here is an important fact: if we use the Bible as our measuring rod well find ourselves reduced to a healthy humility. This is a problem within cultural Christianity but not within Authentic Christianity.
The goal of this blog: CHANGING FROM THE INSIDE/OUT AND THIS WE DO BY CONSIDERING OUR FAITH ACCORDING TO SCRIPTURE!
Strength and honor are her clothing
and she shall rejoice in time to come.
Proverbs 31:25
Time for a reality check: Authentic or cultural
Richard L. Crumb
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