Good question, Marlin. If “legalism”
refers to loving God’s laws, then I am guilty!!!
Hey, is anyone else here HAPPY about the
way the elections turned out? I am PRAISING JESUS!!! May this be the beginning
of better things in America!
Izzy
-----Original Message-----
From:
[EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] On Behalf Of Marlin Halverson
Sent: Friday, November 08, 2002
7:43 AM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: [TruthTalk] The New
Jesus and a Love Called Tolerance
"It wasn't to stop
legalism..."
What would you consider to be
"legalism?" Does the term apply to man's made up rules and
laws, or is it a term used by religions to mark those who love God's law?
Much of what plagues
"Christianity" today has been brought upon itself by itself. On
the one hand there is the "mystery of iniquity" at work, which means
lawlessness, a rejection of God's laws. On the other hand, to fill the
void, religious groups make up their own laws which are at variance with the
laws of God found in the scriptures. This causes division in the body of
Christ.
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Friday,
November 08, 2002 8:20 AM
Subject: [TruthTalk]
The New Jesus and a Love Called Tolerance
The New Jesus and a Love Called
Tolerance
by Paul Proctor
Have you heard? There's a new Jesus in town and he brings
with him a NEW gospel message. It is a message that teaches a permissive kind
of love...a love called "tolerance"...a love that hears no evil, sees
no evil and frankly never brings evil up for discussion lest the offenders
become the offended. Discussing the evil in our world, that is the sinful
nature of man, is a risky venture nowadays, especially for any Christian or
church seeking to be loved and accepted BY that world. But then that's not
really the great commission, is it...that you and I go out into the world and
seek its love and acceptance in the name of Jesus? No, the bible assures us
that because of Christ the world will hate us.
John 15:19 says: "If ye were of the world, the world
would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you
out of the world, therefore the world hateth you."
We cannot pursue both the love and acceptance of the world
and be the "living sacrifice" God calls us to be. That's two entirely
different agendas. If we try to carry out both simultaneously the two will
eventually conflict forcing us to choose between them. Today's seeker-sensitive
church growth movement is, in my estimation, the unfortunate result of such choices.
A healthy church simply preaches repentance and faith in Christ and trusts God
for the outcome.
"And He said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and
preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be
saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned." (Mark 16:15)
You see the great commission involves a good news/bad news
kind of message. To preach repentance we have to make perfectly clear what it
is God expects man to repent of. We can no longer assume that the lost know
they are sinners, especially among today's adolescents who are growing up in an
increasingly scripture-free environment. Yet, more often than not, that is
exactly what we do. We forget that today's young are coming of age in a much
different world than most of us did...a country where biblical instruction like
the Ten Commandments and the Sermon on the Mount have been strategically
replaced with a multicultural value system. Multiculturalism basically means
almost anything and everything is permissible.
So, how can one repent of sin if he or she is never taught
what sin is? This is the bad news part of the message we are called to proclaim
and more often than not what makes being a faithful witness for Christ in this
day and time such a challenge. After all, there's really nothing that dangerous
or difficult about telling someone "Jesus loves you", especially if
you're talking about the NEW Jesus. But, those who endeavor faithfully to
present the bad news concerning "the wages of sin", as well as the
good news about "The Way the Truth and the Life", will likely be
marked and marginalized as narrow-minded extremists who "promote
negativity" and intolerance.
Unfortunately, these accusations come not just from secular
society but from those who embrace the new Jesus and preach the gospel of
tolerance. This, I believe is why the church is in such a decline today,
because we don't want our relationships, our reputations and our rosters to
suffer over an ugly little three letter word called "sin", even for
the cause of Christ.
Unfortunately, without the bad news the good news has little
or no effect. That is the primary reason for the Law and the prophets and men
like John the Baptist who preceded our Lord's coming with stern and intolerant
warnings like, "Repent ye, for the kingdom of God is at hand!"
Those warnings and commandments from God were given to
prepare a lost world to receive the Lamb of God and must continue to prepare
His way in our sermons, our Sunday schools, our bible studies and our personal
witnessing so that the Good News of God's forgiveness in Christ Jesus will be
recognized for the Amazing Grace that it is. Like my pastor says, "you
can't know you're saved until you know that you're lost" and it is those intolerant
commandments that have become increasingly ignored over the last half of the
20th century that show the lost just how lost they really are.
This is why we have such insanity in our schools today and
why Jesus is mocked by the MTV generation. Young men who commit heinous crimes
like those of Littleton, Colorado have no fear of God because the world around
them has no fear of God even though the bible clearly teaches that "The
fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge" and "the beginning of
wisdom." So, they act on the values or lack of values that the WORLD has
taught them. In most cases, commandments like "Thou shall not kill"
are nowhere to be found anymore for young people like these to refer to.
The bottom line is; they're simply not exposed to anyone or
anything that provides moral boundaries and statutes for them to follow and
learn right from wrong, which probably explains why we see so little grief or
remorse on their faces when they turn schoolyards into killing fields. Life is
just meaningless entertainment to them...an interactive game of mock survival
where right and wrong simply doesn't exist.
As most of you know a concerted effort was made decades ago
to remove the Ten Commandments from every schoolhouse and courthouse in America?
There was an agenda at work. It wasn't to stop legalism or uphold the
separation of Church and state. That was merely a front. It was to undermine
the gospel and make the grace of God IRRELEVANT so that one day when generation
X Y & Z came along and someone from your church walked up to them and said
God loves you and wants to forgive you, they'd respond by saying "FORGIVE
ME...FOR WHAT? I didn't do anything wrong. I'm no worse than anyone else!
You're just being intolerant!
But, Proverbs 14:12 reminds us: "There is a way which
seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of
death."
(condensed from an online version at:
">http://news.christiansunite.com/news.cgi?cid=69)
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