Jesus Loves You
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True Grace for True Disciples
True Grace for True Disciples
True Grace for True DisciplesBy Tucker Whitaker and Andy Coticchio
David Wilkerson was truly a modern-day prophet,
calling people
to repentance,
and especially
calling out the
“church” for its
apostasy. He was
unapologetic in
his criticism of
the false
teachers and
preachers of the
“Prosperity
Gospel” and
“Word of Faith”
movement and of
those who expect
favor from God
without
submitting to
His will. Our
excerpt today is
from his message
“True Grace”
from 1993.
For the grace of God that brings
salvation has
appeared to all
men, teaching us
that, denying
ungodliness and
worldly lusts,
we should live
soberly,
righteously, and
godly in the
present age,
looking for the
blessed hope and
glorious
appearing of our
great God and
Savior Jesus
Christ, who gave
Himself for us,
that He might
redeem us from
every lawless
deed and purify
for Himself His
own special
people, zealous
for good works”
(Titus 2:11-14).
According to Paul, we are not
walking in grace
until we have
broken from
worldly
corruptions.
Unless we are
endeavoring
through the
power of the
Holy Spirit to
lead godly and
righteous lives,
looking for the
Lord’s coming in
our every waking
moment, we do
not know God’s
grace.
Many Christians want forgiveness,
but that is all.
They do not want
to be delivered
from this
present world,
because they
love it. They
are attached to
their sins, not
wanting to give
up the pleasures
of this earth.
So they cling to
a doctrine that
says, “I can
live as I please
— as long as I
say that I
believe.
They do not want to hear about
obedience,
repentance,
self-denial,
picking up their
cross, taking on
the yoke or
burden of
Christ. They
simply want to
be excused on
Judgment Day —
to have all
their iniquities
overlooked. They
expect Jesus to
open up the
pearly gates,
put His arms
around them, and
lead them down a
golden street to
their reserved
mansion, even
though they have
never broken
from the spirit
of this world!
Paul writes, “And be not conformed to
this world: but
be ye
transformed by
the renewing of
your mind, that
ye may prove
what is that
good, and
acceptable, and
perfect, will of
God” (Romans
12:2). We are to
break from this
world completely
and be conformed
to Christ alone!
Words of Grace
for Strength
Unfortunately, the “church” today is filled with
“Christians” who
reflect the very
attitudes that
David Wilkerson
spoke of 20 plus
years ago. More
than ever before
the church has
adopted the
ideas and
appearance of
the world.
Rather than
being separated
to Christ, the
church has
embraced
materialism and
humanism in a
culture of
tolerance and
compromise. In
today’s culture,
Man’s will rules
supreme.
Those who call themselves “Christian” in many cases
are no different
from those who
claim to be
atheist or
agnostic. Not
only have they
not broken from
worldly
corruption and
desires, they
have no
intention to.
They speak of a
god of love who
will not condemn
anyone to a
literal hell
because of his
love for Man.
Unfortunately, they
are half right.
God is a loving
God, but it is
they who condemn
themselves to
hell because of
their
unrepentant
disobedience to
His will.
So, the problem with many who identify themselves
as “Christian”
today is that
they believe
Jesus is the Son
of God (but even
the demons
believe this),
and that He
loves them
(which He does),
and that He died
on a cross and
rose from the
grave (which He
did).
But they have
never truly
repented and
turned from
their
sinfulness, they
are still living
worldly lives.
Because this is the state of their belief, they
believe Jesus is
God, just not
their God. Their
gods are all of
the worldly
pleasures and
things they will
not turn away
from. Ultimately
then, they are
their own god,
which means they
have completely
bought into
Satan’s lie.
They have not
recognized that
Jesus Christ is
the only means
of forgiveness
and salvation,
and they have
certainly not
placed their
faith and trust
in Him alone as
their Savior.
True Christianity requires one to have experienced
God’s
forgiveness.
Forgiveness is
conditional on
Man accepting
the gift of
grace which
Jesus Christ
provided and
paid for by His
finished work at
Calvary. By
accepting the
free gift of
grace, Man
acknowledges his
sinful state,
the debt he
owes, the need
for repentance,
the price which
was paid, and
the need to
surrender his
life and his
will to the
sovereign will
of God.
When one accepts the gift of grace, he is
acknowledging
Jesus Christ as
Savior and Lord
of his life, he
is forgiven and
becomes a
follower or
disciple of
Christ. It is at
this point
that obedience,
repentance,
self-denial,
picking up his
cross, and
taking on the
yoke or burden
of Christ
becomes
important in his
life. This is
what it means to
experience true
grace; he has
become a
disciple of
Jesus Christ.
Disciples of Jesus Christ expose and reject
ungodliness,
they have broken
away from
worldliness and
worthless
pursuits, they
do not tolerate
or compromise
with
unrighteousness,
they study the
Word of God so
that they may
live in
obedience to God
while pursuing
God’s will for
their lives.
Disciples of
Jesus Christ are
indwelt by His
Holy Spirit who
opens the Word
to them as their
teacher and
comforter.
The disciple of Jesus Christ desires a closer
relationship
with Him as
he longs for and
looks for His
return. True
disciples of
Jesus Christ
have experienced
forgiveness and
deliverance
because of true
grace. And, that
is the reason
for the
transformation
which takes
place in their
lives. True
disciples do not
just believe in
Jesus, they know
Him as their
Lord and Savior.
True disciples
have counted the
cost of walking
away from the
attitudes
and values of
the world, and
count them as
nothing when
compared to the
incomparable
riches of a life
with Christ,
life in Christ.
Do you know Him? Are you His disciple?
Or are you
kidding
yourself?
Dr. Tucker
Whitaker and
Andy Coticchio
Rafter Cross
Ministries
www.EvenSoCome.org
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The Irrelevant Majority
The Irrelevant Majority
By Matt Ward
A constant refrain when discussing issues of radical Islam is that the overwhelming majority of Muslims are not radicalized. I agree completely. The vast majority of Muslim men and women are people who just want to live their lives, bring up their families and make the most out of the short time they have available to them.
Almost all Western intelligence agencies are unanimous in their estimates that anywhere between 15-25 percent of Muslims worldwide are radicalized. That means there are between 180-300 million radicalized Muslim men and women in the world today. It is quite right to point out that this therefore means there are 75 percent of the Muslim Uma who are not radicalized. (An overwhelming majority.)
The problem is though that this majority is completely irrelevant.
During the 1930s in Germany only a small minority of people were fully signed up members of the Nazi Party. Only a small number of disenfranchised ex-soldiers were with Hitler from the very beginning of his ascension to power, whilst he was agitating in the Beer Halls of Munich. Only a tiny minority of men such as Hess, Himmler and Goering followed him and watched his every move from the very beginning.
The overwhelming majority of Germans were unaware of Hitler in the early 1920s and were even repulsed by him. After all, Germany was, despite its crushing defeat and humiliation at the end of the First World War, an intellectually sophisticated country, with a rich history of academic endeavor.
In 1933, after Hitler swept to power, even then, the majority of Germans did not fully support Hitler and his policies. The overwhelming majority thought he was an extremist and a bigot.
But they remained silent. The overwhelming majority became completely irrelevant and a tiny minority of individuals were allowed to set the agenda in Germany over the following twelve years. This ended with the Jewish Holocaust and the additional deaths of anywhere between 75 to 100 million war dead by 1945.
Equally, in the Soviet Union a small minority of people in 1917 were aligned to Lenin and Marxist Communism. The overwhelming majority of people just wanted to carry on with their lives and watched these people from the periphery, as they fundamentally changed Russia and the Soviet Union. This led to Stalin and his infamous “purges” whereby he was responsible for the deaths of an estimated nine million of his own people.
The overwhelming majority of Soviets allowed themselves to be swept along by this tiny minority. The overwhelming majority had become completely irrelevant.
So with Islam, the overwhelming majority have become irrelevant and Islam’s very future is being cut out by a small minority of people. The majority are standing by and because their active opposition is limited, they have become irrelevant.
However, the disturbing reality is that we are in exactly the same position and are acting in exactly the same way.
Barack Obama is fundamentally altering America. He is systematically and methodically carrying out the changes he promised from his earliest public days. He is aided by a small minority of like-minded but highly motivated and capable people, and he is being true to his word. Barak Obama is bringing change to America.
The majority have stood by while Obama actively rewrites the rules on immigration, allowing America to become swamped by people that it cannot afford. Obama has allowed the Southern border to become so porous that literally anybody, with any intent, can just walk across it without so much as a verbal challenge. One or two individuals have taken issue with this, but the majority have remained silent.
Obama is changing the very nature of the presidency itself. The system of checks and balances built into the Constitution specifically to prevent abuses is being eroded and done away with; expressly so he can perpetrate abuses of power, effectively ruling by presidential edict. He is trying, successfully, to rule by decree from the White House beyond the will and limitations of an impotent Congress, who bluster but mainly just stand idly by.
Obama promised to unify this nation. He said he would heal the differences and the divisions. Yet division is exactly what he has wrought. Conflict and division between one group and another epitomize America in 2015. A divided America is one of its current defining characteristics and so divided has it become that many commentators are openly voicing the concern that this next two years may be the most dangerous for America since the Civil War era.
Yet the overwhelming majority of Americans are either unaware or are simply standing by and watching, apathetic, uninterested.
As with radical Islam, as with America. The overwhelming majority may oppose these things coming on the world, but they are proving to be completely irrelevant.
And Europe is a direct mirror of the changes taking place in America.
The Bible tells us that at some point in the near future there will be a one world economic system with a single, one world government presiding over it. Sitting at the helm of this system will be the final world dictator, the man of sin, the lawless one, the Antichrist. He will rule with a very small group of individuals who will ruthlessly dominate and subjugate the majority in the world. Opposition by this point will be irrelevant.
“He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.” (Revelation 13:16-17).
When we look around ourselves in 2015, this is not such a stretch of the imagination anymore. The consequences of this will be terrible beyond imagination.
“When the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God, and because of the testimony which they had maintained; and they cried out with a loud voice, saying, ‘How long, O Lord, holy and true, will You refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?’ And there was given to each of them a white robe; and they were told that they should rest for a little while longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brethren who were to be killed even as they had been, would be completed also.” (Revelation 6:9-11)
Pastor Martin Niemöller, the German Lutheran anti-Nazi theologian, aptly summed up the dangers of passivity in his famous post World War II poem:
“First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Socialist.Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Jew.Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.”
wardmatt1977@gmail.com
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