Faithfully Following The Holy Spirit

According as His divine power hath given

 unto us all things that pertain unto life 

and godliness, through the knowledge of Him 

that hath called us to glory and virtue: whereby 

are given unto us exceeding great and precious 

promises: that by these ye might be partakers 

of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption

 that is in the world: through lust. and beside this,

 giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; 

and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge 

temperance; and to temperance patience; 

and to patience godliness; and to godliness 

brotherly kindness; and to brotherly

 kindness charity.

2Peter 1:3-7 

     The Holy Spirit by many is "batted" around giving rise to false teaching about the Holy Spirit and how the Holy Spirit works in a person' life. False manifestations of spiritual experience and the abuse is produced when the Holy Spirit is not understood and allowed to work in a person's life. Argument are forwarded in favor of some sort of experiential Christianity and are acted out be some who go so far as to act "drunk" in stage before an unaware people who are seeking truth but are given a stage act. Some will argue that to rely so heavily on the Holy Spirit will remove personal responsibility and even gives way to laziness. When cultivation the virtues of moral character become the focus of a religion, this removes, at least in some sense, their commitment to Jesus Christ. 

     We are, those who are Authentic in their Christian Faith will add virtue to their lives, yet they will not become lazy and just wait for the Holy Spirit to do what they should be doing as an Authentic Christian. Jesus gave us a command to "go and make disciples, teaching them to observe all that He had commanded: therefore laziness is not in the picture, in fact, the opposite is true. To be virtuous means to be  conformed to morality and ethical principles, to be morally excellent, upright, chaste, to deny oneself and follow Jesus Christ becoming in His image. We are to add to our virtue knowledge, not knowledge by some man, even though they may say or write that which is Scriptural, follow that, but make sure that it is Scriptural. It is be false knowledge that heresies are forwarded and unScriptural actions take the place of true worship. We can see this plain and clear when looking at the types of so-called worship services that are all about anecdotes, claims of the working of the Holy Spirit that are not substantiated. False teaching brings forth false zeal, and this is due because there is a devoid of any accurate understanding of Authentic Christian Faith. Those caught up in such non-Scriptural antics attempt to justify their actions in the name of Christianity, but in reality it has virtually nothing to do with believing in Jesus Christ. 

     We must admit that Christianity has been guilty of such things: i.e., inquisition, the focus on experience over proper worship, doing such things as reported to have been done at Bethel's School of the Supernatural where students would lay on tombstones to somehow receive the spirit of the dead, or running through tunnels of fire, as though this is true Christianity. These type of people who have a wrong understanding of the Holy Spirit is due to their false understanding of what it means to be an Authentic Christian, they have become cultural Christians in the least and heretics in the most. The Holy Spirit and His activities are used to justify some of the most bizarre actions in the history, and in the present Christiandom. 

     Ideology, theology, even science can be distorted and misused to justify the most bizarre behavior. This is so dangerous for what is intended to motivate goodness and restrain evil becomes the instrument of that which they desire to restrain. Look at history, not just the Church, but history, and you can see examples how virtue, i.e., virtue, liberty, patriotism, have become twisted and in Christianity there is a separation from a healthy and Authentic Christian Faith. This twisting is to get what they want: there is no denial of themselves and to become formed into the image of Jesus Christ. Some say they are becoming formed into the image of Jesus Christ, yet, their idea of Jesus Christ does not conform to Scripture. 

     Authentic Christians must look beyond all this cultural Christianity, to look beyond the surface behavior and the motivation that is the foundation for such bizarre behavior. That is why Peter wrote that we should add virtue but to that virtue knowledge, and that means we must understand what is truly a pure heart and what it means to love Jesus Christ, to have a pure ardent zeal in your service to Jesus Christ, you obedience, meekness, courage, and to have a quiet consistency. If you have this, there is no argument that you need to defend. This requires a change from the inside/out: will you change, will you contend for Authentic Christian Faith? I pray that this is you zeal.

There shall be no strange God in thee:

     neither shall thou worship any strange god.

                       Psalm 82:9

If you find yourself following false teaching; RUN!

Richard L. Crumb

Misunderstanding Of Holiness

When they therefore were come together, 

they asked of Him, saying, Lord, wilt Thou 

at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? 

And He said unto them, It is not for  you to know

 the times or the seasons, which the Father hath

 put in His own power. But ye shall receive power, 

after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: 

and ye shall shall be witnesses  unto Me both 

in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, 

and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

Acts 1:6-8 

     Yesterday's blog was all about the word "love" and how it is misused and misunderstood leading to cultural Christianity. I spoke to several students at the School of the Supernatural of Bethel Church in Redding, at the Sundial Bridge and all they could say when asked what does all this learning mean and they all to a person said: "to love upon others." I asked about what a Christian was required in the future and the answer was always the same: they did not have a clue, other than to do good and bring love to the world. These students are being taught another gospel which is not the Gospel of Scripture. In fact, to purchase the supernatural, and this is what they are doing by going to a school that teaches that they can receive the supernatural, is nothing more than what occurred when Simon Magus asked people if he could pay to receive the supernatural that he saw that Peter had: Peter rejected him and later Simon Magus became known as a heretic. These students and those who are cultural Christians have not only a wrong view of Agape love, they have a wrong view and understanding of the Holy Spirit.

      Cultural Christians have no real understanding of the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of a believer. Two things become a problem: 1. this believer believes that they can have a certain form of power as did Jesus, a supernatural power, and feel "giddy" at the chance to go about praying for others, teaching them some gospel of power, even prosperity. 2. Cultural Christians are those who will not strive for effectiveness in their own spiritual lives with a character as an Authentic Christians in Jesus Christ. Some cultural Christians seek experience, and a euphoric experience, others just do not seek the Holy Spirit to aid them in their own inability to achieve a life in the context of what God has commanded. When a person becomes a true believer, truly has repented of their sins the Holy Spirit comes to indwell in that person (the opening verse). The Holy Spirit gives to an Authentic Christian a power that no other person can have, whether they say they are a believer or not and that power is to become a witness of Jesus Christ. The witness of Jesus Christ is the simple Gospel, Jesus came from heaven, God in man, to pay a debt owed to Himself by Himself for no man could ever pay that debt, and that Jesus lived a sinless life on this earth, died an innocent man, for you, and I, and rose again on the third day, presented Himself upward of some 500 plus people, and rose into heaven bodily to sit at the right hand of God making intercession for all who will put Authentic Christian Faith in Him. That simple Gospel is all that we have to do to follow the command of Jesus. Yes, from that love, that agape love of God, Jesus, you then go into your world doing good for others without leaving aside the Gospel.

     There are those who will complain about a person who is following in the steps of Jesus Christ and is manifesting a true spiritual passion, as they condemn that they are hypocrites, and are deluded. It may seem that way, especially will it be seen that way if the passion is not of Scripture, that it resided in some sort of anecdotal story, or some vision, or some revelation in a person's mind without any verification by Scripture that it is authentic. It is true that emotions are subjective, and some will say unreliable. That may be true, but will not be true if a person' emotions are founded on Scripture. A person with true emotions is a person who has denied himself/herself and picked up their cross, that cross which is that that person is an Authentic Christian, and is following Jesus Christ. This will seem ridiculous to a worldly person, and might even be seen that way be a cultural Christian. 

    A person who is struggling with the fact that they must become an Authentic Christian will give all sorts of excuses as to how wrong an Authentic Christian is by saying that those Authentic Christians put to much emphasis on the Holy Spirit and leads them by removing personal responsibility and leading to laziness. If a person, and this is the focus of such schools as the Bethel School of the Supernatural preaches that a person should be cultivating a focus on a moral character and this becomes the focus of their religion, this instead of focusing and being committed to Jesus Christ. Yes, if you are following the commands of 

God you will be living a moral life but your focus is not on being moral, it is being in harmony with the commands of God, to live in the image of Jesus Christ. Morality will never have to be thought of, you become a moral person without thought for your thoughts are on Jesus Christ. Where are you putting your thoughts: on a denominations doctrine, or on being a good person, or following some liturgy, or anything that is not of Scripture. Salvation comes by your belief in Jesus Christ: PERIOD! Now, if you have truly repented, and honestly and authentically believed in Jesus as your Savior, then you will deny yourself this world with all its sin, you will live, you will grow in sanctification, and you will have an impact on others, and yourself. 

Wherefore gird up the loins of our mind, 

     be sober, and hope to the end for the

grace that is to be brought unto you at 

    the revelation of Jesus Christ; as obedient

children, not fashioning yourselves according

    to the former lusts in your ignorance:

but as He which hath called you is holy,

    so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; 

because it is written, be ye holy; for I am holy.

                       1Peter 1:13-16

There is work to be done: in yourself first

Richard L. Crumb

 

What Is This Thing Called: Love?

A friend loveth at all times,...

Proverbs 17:17a

But I say unto you, Love your enemies....

Matthew 5:44a

This s My commandment, That ye 

love one another, as I have love you.

John 15:12

     Love, a word, a command, and is spoken of greatly in Scripture. The world states that it loves! People of the world are always speaking about love. Christians speak about love, whether they be Authentic Christians or cultural Christians, love is spoken as a litmus test, or a crucial test, or factor as a basis for true Christianity. Love is a hallmark of true Christianity as this is a command of God found in Scripture. Love can and should be used as a litmus test to determine if a person is a Christian, and especially to determine Authentic Christianity. A problem immediately rises to the forefront: What is love and how is love to be understood and can love be good or bad, in other words what is the world's view of love, and is this view different from Scriptural love? This present a problem as to the definition and use of "love." It is often said: "I am just going to love on that person!" Well, maybe, or maybe it "love" being misused. The problem lies in our English for the word love as the dictionary definition is : a profoundly tender, passionate affection for another person. We see this based on sexual attraction. Love in English also speaks to the idea of having a strong liking for someone, or something: i.e., I love my car. When a person say that they love in English there is, without some context, a way to know what this love is, and why they love whatever it is they say they love. First: how can a person love that which cannot love them back? You can have a strong liking for an inanimate object, but true love cannot exist, only a strong liking. In a way, the English for love due to our many uses of the word is very misleading. Cultural Christians often use love in a way that does not have the same meaning as love is described in Scripture. Cultural Christians use love as does the world and worldly culture. 

     Greek: Four words for love and the use of any of those words does not give way to misleading, they are exact and definite so that a hearer knows exactly what is meant when a Greek person uses one of those words. Two of Greek words are not used in Scripture for a form of love: 1. Eros, or sexual passion and eros was named after the Greek god of fertility. The Greeks did not always think of eros as something positive, as we do in today's culture. Yet there is that side of eros that is not positive even in our world's culture as the word erotic, or eroticism is used with perversion. In today's culture this eroticism or erotic love is not just between a man and a woman but is given some validity in homosexuality. 2. Storge: a love, affection between parents and children. Storge is a love between siblings, and this also means to put up with situations between parents and siblings, and siblings between siblings. Two Greek words for love in Scripture are: 1. Philia and this means affectionate regard, friendship, and ethical love, a loyalty to friends, community and requires virture, equality, and familiarity. We need to ask ourselves how much of philia do we have in our lives. 2. Agape: the most used word for love in Scripture and means charity, the love of God for man and of man for God. Agape is an unconditional love of God for His children. Agape is a selfless love and Agape was translated into Late as carias, which is the origin for our word: charity. A problem lies in today's culture as this form of love is on the decline and Authentic Christians especially need to revive agape love. As a note: the ancient Greeks had four words for love: Ludus, or playful love; pragma, or longstanding love; philautia, or love of self. It is time, especially for Authentic Christians to introduce into our lives, our worship of God these various Greek words for love in our everyday speaking, and thinking. Unless this is done, then, a great probability is that a person will misuse "love" and the Gospel will not be preached, taught, or spoken of in the right Scriptural context and use of the word "Love." 

      We say that we "love" God: do we? Do you, or I, have a passionate love for God, or is our love only a type of "cold love" that does not have true gratitude and if not then that love is a contradiction to the love that God has for us and the love we should have for Him. The mention of the name God, Jehovah, Yahweh, should make our hearts pound and our faces light up and we should want to be with Him. Is this not true of our love for our spouse, our children? Yes, or it should be, so why not have this same agape love for God? 

     Authentic Christian Faith responds with agape love, for God, for others as this was also true of our Savior Jesus Christ who due to His love died on the cross to bring salvation to the world. We cannot have a "lukewarm" faith, a faith based on this world's idea of "love" for if we do have a cultural basis for our love then our belief system has not effect on the way a person lives, or on the lives of others. 

     A change from the inside/out is a change in the way we love. This will not be easy as we who are fallen in our nature will have to do what we may not be doing: we must rely on the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, and study God's word, and not listen to this world with all the garbage it presents as truth and fall on the simple truth of the Bible: God loves you enough to come and die for you: will you not do the same for Him, will you not change, as slowly as it may be, to become in the image of Jesus Christ? My prayer is that this will be your will.

Hear, O Israel: the LORD our God is one LORD.

     And thou shalt love the LORD thy God

with all thine heart, and with all they soul,

    and with all thy might. And these words,

which I command thee this day, shall be in

    thine heart.

               Deuteronomy 6:4-6

Love: proper love: this is our command

Richard L. Crumb