Watchman Magazine

With tears in her eyelashes, the former Tammy Faye Bakker soothed an audience of homosexuals recently by promising, "God loves you just the way you are."

No doubt, the minute fraction of the one percent of Americans who live homosexual lives and care what God thinks were enthused and relieved. Tammy Faye Messner’s assurance will also enforce their conclusion that God made them this way and there is no reason even to try to change or control themselves (2 Peter 1:6).

Messner, the ex-wife and coconspirator of defrocked televangelist Jim Bakker, has been on a quest for new acceptance in recent years. She has shed her ex-con husband and some of the clownish makeup that brought her fame and ridicule in the 1980s. Now, it seems, Messner has adopted the "I’m okay, you’re okay" philosophy that infects so much of Christianity by destroying the very plea for conversion on which grace is proffered (Matthew 18:3).

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From our earliest experiences in Lithuania we have been confronted with the extreme poverty of many people there. While things have slowly improved over the years it is clear that the changes of the early 1990’s came too late for many Lithuanians. This is likely also the case in other East European countries. The majority of the people above the ages of 40-45 have found it difficult to adapt to life in a market economy. Pensions and social help pay the barest minimum. Work opportunities are scarce. Further, opportunities are certainly not abundant for those of a more marketable age. Meanwhile, all face the normal expenses life brings upon one. One sees many beggars on the streets. Also, street work, such as we do there, brings one into contact with all classes of people, including beggars. If there has ever been a visit there where I have not helped some poor person(s) financially it escapes me at this time. I always bring some of my own money (as apart from the money I raise from churches to pay my expenses) along when I go there with this in mind and helped several poor people during my most recent time there. Hopefully, the above lines have turned the reader’s mind to a subject that cannot help but trouble those who contemplate it - and that from several aspects. It is our purpose in this article to discuss different Bible texts and some facts relevant to the poor and the Christian’s responsibility to them in the mission field.

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While Jesus was in the days of His flesh upon earth, He talked with two men on separate occasions about the peril of riches. The cases show the pull of materialism from two very distinct directions. Though the events took place almost two thousand years ago, the truths presented are as relevant today as they were then. Greed was manifested then much as it is manifested today. Yes, the specific things which greedy people hoard today may differ in appearance from the things amassed in Bible times, but the nature of the process has not changed at all. Materialistic people are consumed with storing up the things of this world as the focus and priority of their lives. Let us all examine our lives to rid this evil from invading and overthrowing our souls.

The First Case — The "Wannabe" Rich

The first man experienced the pull of materialism as one who was trying to acquire wealth. He was not yet rich, but was seeking to gain through an inheritance. He came to Jesus saying, "Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me." To this Jesus replied, "Man, who made Me a judge or an arbitrator over you?" (Luke 12:14).

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"For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man, which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things freely given to us by God, which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words." (1 Corinthians 2:10-13, NASB)

From this passage we learn that God has revealed Himself through the work of the Holy Spirit to the chosen apostles of Christ. The apostles are said to teach in words, “…not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit.” It is only reasonable to assume that the revelation of the mind of God in words are words that man can understand, and understand these words in the same way that God understands them. The issue of understandable language gets to the very heart of the issue of faith. Do we believe the Bible? Is it God’s word? Is the Bible God’s complete and final revelation of God to man? Does Hebrews 1:1-2 mean what it says about God’s speaking to man in these last times? "God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world" (NASB). When you break down this statement without all the modifiers it says that God has spoken, that God has spoken to man, and that God has spoken to man through His Son. What do we believe?

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It is needful to note that several modern concepts of the origin of authority are incorrect.

The Source of Divine Authority Is Not…

The Doctrine or Practices of the Old Testament

There are a number of common religious practices today which were characteristic of Old Testament worship. Some denominations advocate the use of an instrument of music in worship because of the Old Testament practice. Others speak of tithing as required of God, or the practice of sabbath observation. Some Mormons actually appeal to the Old Testament as giving authority for the practice of polygamy.

What is not understood is that the Old Testament is not our source of authority for religious practices. To justify our actions by the old law is to jeapordize our standing in grace. (cf. Galatians 5:4).

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"The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some count slackness; but is longsuffering to you-ward, not wishing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance" (2 Peter 3:9).

With the current condition of the world (a reflection of what has always been so from the sin of Adam), it is amazing that God continues to allow this old world to stand. When we think about all that goes on around us (and we see but a fraction of the world’s evil), we are led to marvel that God does not say, "Enough! I will tolerate no more."

For a few thousand years now the history of man has been a history rejecting God. Beginning with Adam and continuing through every age of our history, each period of time is a story of dismal failure. True, there have been a few Abrahams and Noahs along the way, but the vast majority of mankind has "refused to have God in their knowledge" (Romans 1:28). As Paul looked at this same thought, he concluded (with the prophet) in Romans 3:10ff: "There is none righteous, no not one; There is none that understandeth, There is none that seeketh after God; They have all turned aside, they are together become unprofitable." If this be so (and it is), why does God allow the world to continue? This is a question worth our consideration. And yet the very condition of wickedness that abounds on every hand but magnifies and declares the answer: it is the longsuffering and mercy of God that continues to grant lost men and women time to repent and turn to Him before Judgment.

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A cursory reading of the New Testament reveals a distinct attitude taken by our Lord and his apostles regarding human wisdom. James went so far as to describe such wisdom as "sensual, demonic" and declared that it causes "envy and self-seeking… confusion and every evil thing…" (cf. James 3:15-16).

Jesus in his personal ministry dealt with men who were intellectually arrogant. This was a characteristic of both the Pharisees and the Sadducees. When Jesus had taught that eating with unwashed hands does not defile a person, defilement rather coming from within, his disciples informed him that the teaching offended the Pharisees. No doubt it did, as it set aside the traditions they held dear. Concerning them, Jesus said, "Let them alone. They are blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind leads the blind, both will fall into a ditch" (Matthew 15:14).

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Authors:  Bobby Holmes and Mark Roberts

I. Tips and Tactics

A. Define all terms. Watch for "term jumping"
1. Neo-Calvinists are notorious for saying one thing when they mean something else entirely
2. Make certain that terms such as "law," "grace," "imputed righteousness," are clearly defined and that they stick with the definition

B. Make them say "Must."

1. Neo-Calvinists don’t want to admit we must believe to be saved, or that we must accept God’s grace, or that man must do anything to be saved.
2. Make them say it!

C. Get ready to be charged:

1. Legalism - "You’re a modern-day Pharisee, legalist, etc."
2. Ignorance - "Do you know everything?"
3. Unrighteousness - "All our works are as filthy rags."

D. Know the book of Romans

1. A great deal of Neo-Calvinism comes from perverting Romans.
2. You must know what is taught before you can know error when you hear it!

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Authors:  Bobby Holmes and Mark Roberts

I. Error

A. Neo-Calvinists say:
1. "We are under grace, not law. We must not depend on what we do, but on God."

B. Passages Misused:

1. Romans 6:14-15
2. Galatians 3:11

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