Contending Earnestly For The Faith - Issue 66

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MARCH 2014
ISSUE 66
Knowing Him, whom to Know is Life-Eternal

Editorial by Philip L. Powell
I have been working on the publicity for our 2014 CWM International Conference - KNOWING CHRIST & MAKING HIM KNOWN and encouraging our three known overseas speakers to select three or four specific topics to fit in with our theme. Here are the responses: Tony Brown (UK) Knowing Christ from Romans The message of the Book of Romans; Walking in the Spirit or doing it your way; Adopted into the family; What Christ has done for us to enable us to really live. Many of us cut our theological teeth in a study of Romans, yet there remains confusion, which hopefully Tony will help remove. One strange view I came across was the idea that the Gospel of Paul in Romans is different from the Gospel of Jesus Christ in the four gospels viz. Christ preached the Gospel of the Kingdom of God, while Paul preached the Gospel of the Grace of God. This is an unwarranted distortion of the Truth no matter how sincerely it may be believed. GRACE and TRUTH came by Jesus Christ and by NONE other cf. John 1:17 with verse 14. Any doctrinal idea that
This is eternal life, that they might know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent - John 17:3. minimises Christ and magnifies another is ipso facto FALSE. Philip Morgan (USA) Knowing Christ in Practical Living Knowing the One Seen by Angels (1 Timothy 3:16); Knowing the One Feared by devils Matthew 8:29 cf. 1 Peter 3:18-22; Knowing the One Ascended in Glory (Acts 1:2); and Knowing the One We Must Make Known (Mark 3:14). Jeffrey Whittaker (USA) Knowing the Changeless Christ Knowing Him who was, is, and is to come: Christ in Prophecy Knowing Him in His Spirit: The Person of the Godhead in our age Knowing Him in Mission: The example of Christ and His Apostles J.I. Packer in his masterly Knowing God wrote: The mystery of the incarnation is unfathomable. We cannot explain it; we can only formulate it. Perhaps
INDEX
Editorial by Philip L. Powell........................................................1 The Prophet's Judgement by B.Michael Bigg...........................6 Though We With Giants Fight - Lives and Testimonies from the Battlefield (Part 4) by Michael Claydon.........................10 The Error of Replacement Theology (Part 2): Roots and Shoots..................................................................15
CWM Resources...................................................................... 19 The Longing of the Lord by Paul Wilkinson............................23 Cruising on the Emergent Freeway (Part 1) by James Smith.....................................................................30 Pope Francis Shows His True Colours by Richard Bennett...............................................................32 CWM Tours NZ and OZ......................................................... 39
2 66 MARCH 2014 | CETF 66 MARCH 2014 | CETF
it has never been formulated better than in the words of the Athanasian Creed. Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is God and man perfect God and perfect man who although He be God and man: yet He is not two, but one Christ; one, not by conversion of the Godhead into flesh: but by the taking of manhood into God. Our minds cannot get beyond this. What we see in the manger is, in Charles Wesleys words,
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INCOMPREHENSIBLY we shall be wise to remember this, to shun speculation, and contentedly to adore. @ J.I. Packer, KNOWING GOD, 1973 p. 50. Another brief comment from Packer: The key text in the New Testament for interpreting the incarnation is not, therefore, the bare statement in John 1:14, the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, but rather the more comprehensive statement of 2 Corinthians 8:9, you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich. Here is stated, not the fact of the incarnation only, but also its meaning; the taking of manhood by the Son is set before us in a way which shows us how we should set it before ourselves and ever view it not simply as a marvel of nature but rather as a wonder of grace (ibid p. 51.) If we dont know the true and only Lord Jesus Christ we cant make Him known and this I think is one of the major problems within so called Christianity. We dont know the real Jesus and this is what creates tension and turmoil among those who name the name of Christ, even in their evangelism, as well as within our interpersonal relationships. Uncalled for nastiness between socalled Christians is the consequence of NOT KNOWING CHRIST. The one supreme thing about the early church was that those Christians knew Christ, experientially and not just in theory. John the beloved disciple wrote: That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; (For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and show to you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested to us; That which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. And these things we write to you, that your joy may be full 1 John 1:1-4. There are many similar statements of certainty and assurance throughout the New Testament without any hint of doubt or denial, so much so that as I recall either Thomas or Matthew Arnold claimed that CERTAINTY is the dominant note of the New Testament. We need as modern followers of Christ to give attention once more to these verities and to turn away from vain speculations which lack absolute foundation in Gods Word the Bible
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In the second of a short series of articles entitled The Angels Point of View J.B. Philips in his New Testament Christianity wrote: It may give us a fresh perspective on life, if for a few moments we shed the limitations of earthbound think ing and detach ourselves deliberately from modem pres sures and problems. Let us pretend for a little while; the pretence may be fanciful, but it may help us to let the real truth break over us afresh. Once upon a time a very young angel was being shown round the splendours and glories of the universe by a senior and experienced angel. To tell the truth, the little angel was beginning to be tired and a little bored. He had been shown whirling galaxies and blazing suns, infinite distances in the deathly cold of interstellar space, and to his mind there seemed to be an awful lot of it all. Finally he was shown the galaxy of which our planetary system is but a small part. As the two of them drew near to the star which we call our sun and to its circling planets, the senior angel pointed to a small and rather insignificant sphere turning very slowly on its axis. It looked as dull as a dirty tennisball to the little angel, whose mind was filled with the size and glory of what he had seen. I want you to watch that one particularly, said the senior angel, pointing with his finger. Well, it looks very small and rather dirty to me, said the little angel. Whats special about that one? That, replied his senior solemnly, is the Visited Planet. Visited? said the little one. You dont mean visited by --? Indeed I do. That ball, which I have no doubt looks to you small and insignificant and not perhaps overclean, has been visited by our young Prince of Glory. And at these words he bowed his head reverently. But how? queried the younger one. Do you mean that our great and glorious Prince, with all these wonders and splendours of His Creation, and millions more that Im sure I havent seen yet, went down in Person to this fifthrate little ball? Why should He do a thing like that? It isnt for us, said his senior a little stiffly, to ques tion His whys except that I must point out to you that He is not impressed by size and numbers, as you seem to be. But that He really went I know,
and all of us in Heaven who know anything know that. As to why He became one of them how else do you suppose could He visit them? The little angels face wrinkled in disgust. Do you mean to tell me, he said, that He stooped so low as to become one of those creeping, crawling creatures of that floating ball? I do, and I dont think He would like you to call them creeping, crawling creatures` in that tone of voice. For, strange as it may seem to us, He loves them. He went down to visit them to lift them up to become like Him The little angel looked blank. Such a thought was al most beyond his comprehension. Close your eyes for a moment, said the senior angel, and we will go back in what they call Time. While the little angels eyes were closed and the two of them moved nearer to the spinning ball, it stopped its spinning, spun backwards quite fast for a while, and then slowly resumed its usual rotation. Now look! And as the little angel did as he was told, there appeared here and there on the dull surface of the globe little flashes of light, some merely momentary and some persisting for quite a time. Well, what am I seeing now? queried the little angel. You are watching this little world as it was some thousands of years ago. returned his companion. Every flash and glow of light that you see is something of the Fathers knowledge and wisdom breaking into the minds and hearts of people who live upon the earth. Not many people, you see, can hear His Voice or understand what He says, even though He is speaking gently and quietly to them all the time. Why are they so blind and deaf and stupid? asked the junior angel rather crossly. It is not for us to judge them. We who live in the Splendour have no idea what it is like to live in the dark. We hear the music and the Voice like the sound of many waters every day of our lives, but to them well, there is much darkness and much noise and much distraction upon the earth. Only a few who are quiet and humble and wise hear His Voice. But watch, for in a moment you will see something truly wonderful.
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The Earth went on turning and circling round the sun, and then quite suddenly, in the upper half of the globe, there appeared a light, tiny but so bright in its intensity that both the angels hid their eyes. I think I can guess, said the little angel in a low voice. That was the Visit, wasnt it Yes, that was the Visit. The Light Himself went down there and lived among them; but in a moment, and you will be able to tell that even with your eyes closed, the light will go out. But why? Could He not bear their darkness and stupidity? Did He have to return here? No, it wasnt that, returned the senior angel. His voice was stern and sad. They failed to recognise Him for Who He was or at least only a handful knew Him. For the most part they preferred their darkness to His Light, and in the end they killed Him. The fools, the crazy fools! They dont deserve -- Neither you nor I, nor any other angel, knows why they were so foolish and so wicked. Nor can we say what they deserve or dont deserve. But the fact remains, they killed our Prince of Glory while He was Man amongst them. And that I suppose was the end? I see the whole Earth has gone black and dark. All right, I wont judge them, but surely that is all they could expect? Wait, we are still far from the end of the story of the Visited Planet. Watch now, but be ready to cover your eyes again. In utter blackness the earth turned round three times, and then there blazed with unbearable radiance a point of light. What now? asked the little angel, shielding his eyes. They killed Him all right, but He conquered death. The thing most of them dread and fear all their lives He broke and conquered. He rose again, and a few of them saw Him and from then on became His utterly devoted slaves. Thank God for that, said the little angel. Amen. Open your eyes now, the dazzling light has gone. The Prince has returned to His Home of Light. But watch the Earth now. As they looked, in place of the dazzling light there
was a bright glow which throbbed and pulsated. And then as the Earth turned many times little points of light spread out. A few flickered and died; but for the most part the lights burned steadily, and as they continued to watch, in many parts of the globe there was a glow over many areas. You see what is happening? asked the senior angel. The bright glow is the company of loyal men and women He left behind, and with His help they spread the glow and now lights begin to shine all over the Earth. Yes, yes, said the little angel impatiently, but how does it end? Will the little lights join up with each other? Will it all be light, as it is in Heaven? His senior shook his head. We simply do not know, he replied. It is in the Fathers hands. Sometimes it is agony to watch and sometimes it is joy unspeakable. The end is not yet. But now I am sure you can see why this little ball is so important. He has visited it; He is working out His Plan upon it. Yes, I see, though I dont understand. I shall never forget that this is the Visited Planet. Imaginary? Fanciful? Certainly, but a good deal truer than some of our current modem thinking. For in the eyes of the Eternal World this little planet is of the highest importance simply because it is the Visited Planet. We may not realise it at all, but we are right plumb in the middle of a vast drama, a tremendous battle between light and darkness. The whole core and essence of the Christian Faith, which many of us hold so lightly, is that Light Himself visited our darkness, scaled down to fit the human scene. It is true that since the Visit we know for certain that this rolling ball is by no means our permanent home; our destiny is higher even than that of the angels. But today, and every day that we live in the hereandnow, we are part of the vast Experiment, the agelong Battle, whose stage and testingground is the planet which we call the Earth
http://www.ccel.org/bible/phillips/NTC02Angels.htm
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The Prophet's Judgement

By B. Michael Bigg
Psalm 145:17 - The LORD is Righteous in All His Ways, and Holy in All His Works. In 1 Kings Chapters 13 we read the peculiar story of a prophet who was sent by the LORD, to curse an altar that Jeroboam, king of the northern kingdom[1] of Israel, had set up. God had raised-up Jeroboam as a judgement against King Solomon and his idolatry in later life (after having been influenced by his foreign wives). Jeroboam believed that unless the Northern Kingdom had its own places of worship, it could never truly be an independent kingdom from the Southern Kingdom (Judah) since all the Israelites travelled to Jerusalem for the feasts. As a result, Jeroboam made two golden calves, telling his people, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem; behold your gods, O Israel, that brought you up from the land of Egypt (1Kings12:28 NAU[2]).[3] Jeroboam set one of the gold calves at Bethel and the other at Dan (cf. New Testament Caesarea Philippi, see Matt. 16:13-20). As a divided nation, the northern kingdom of Israel started practising idolatry from the beginning with their first king. With his golden calves and altars established Jeroboam instituted feasts (holydays) for his kingdom. It is at this point, dedicating the altars and burning incense that we are introduced, in 1 Kings Chapter 13, to Gods prophet, an unnamed man of God. Jeroboam was standing by one of the altars he had made when the man of God arrived and cursed the altar. Jeroboam objected and reached his hand out against the man of God and his hand shrivelled, but the man of God interceded on behalf of Jeroboam and his hand was restored. The man of God had been given explicit instructions from God, You shall eat no bread, nor drink water, nor return by the way which you came (1 Kings 13:9). Though initially obedient to Gods instructions, the man of God was tricked by another prophet into disobeying the Lord. Subsequently, the man of God came under Gods judgement for his disobedience and was killed. Nothing is said in Scripture about the prophet who deceived the man of God? Not a single word is made in regard to his deception, not a single rebuke for his lies: the man of God died, and the deceiver (the other prophet) lived. Is this not a travesty? Is this not unjust and unfair? Let us look deeper. Read 1 Kings 131-34. Now behold, there came a man of God from Judah
to Bethel by the word of the LORD, while Jeroboam was standing by the altar to burn incense. He cried against the altar by the word of the LORD, and said, O altar, altar, thus says the LORD, Behold, a son shall be born to the house of David, Josiah by name; and on you he shall sacrifice the priests of the high places who burn incense on you, and human bones shall be burned on you. Then he gave a sign the same day, saying, This is the sign which the LORD has spoken, Behold, the altar shall be split apart and the ashes which are on it shall be poured out. Now when the king heard the saying of the man of God, which he cried against the altar in Bethel, Jeroboam stretched out his hand from the altar, saying, Seize him. But his hand which he stretched out against him dried up, so that he could not draw it back to himself. The altar also was split apart and the ashes were poured out from the altar, according to the sign which the man of God had given by the word of the LORD. The king said to the man of God, Please entreat the LORD your God, and pray for me, that my hand may be restored to me. So the man of God entreated the LORD, and the kings hand was restored to him, and it became as it was before. Then the king said to the man of God, Come home with me and refresh yourself, and I will give you a reward. But the man of God said to the king, If you were to give me half your house I would not go with you, nor would I eat bread or drink water in this place. For so it was commanded me by the word of the LORD, saying, You shall eat no bread, nor drink water, nor return by the way which you came. So he went another way and did not return by the way which he came to Bethel. Now an old prophet was living in Bethel; and his sons came and told him all the deeds which the man of God had done that day in Bethel; the words which he had spoken to the king, these also they related to their father. Their father said to them, Which way did he go? Now his sons had seen the way which the man of God who came from Judah had gone. Then he said to his sons, Saddle the donkey for me. So they saddled the donkey for
him and he rode away on it. So he went after the man of God and found him sitting under an oak; and he said to him, Are you the man of God who came from Judah? And he said, I am. Then he said to him, Come home with me and eat bread. He said, I cannot return with you, nor go with you, nor will I eat bread or drink water with you in this place. For a command came to me by the word of the LORD, You shall eat no bread, nor drink water there; do not return by going the way which you came. He said to him, I also am a prophet like you, and an angel spoke to me by the word of the LORD, saying, Bring him back with you to your house, that he may eat bread and drink water. But he lied to him. So he went back with him, and ate bread in his house and drank water. Now it came about, as they were sitting down at the table, that the word of the LORD came to the prophet who had brought him back; and he cried to the man of God who came from Judah, saying, Thus says the LORD, Because you have disobeyed the command of the LORD, and have not observed the commandment which the LORD your God commanded you, but have returned and eaten bread and drunk water in the place of which He said to you, Eat no bread and drink no water; your body shall not come to the grave of your fathers. It came about after he had eaten bread and after he had drunk, that he saddled the donkey for him, for the prophet whom he had brought back. Now when he had gone, a lion met him on the way and killed him, and his body was thrown on the road, with the donkey standing beside it; the lion also was standing beside the body. And behold, men passed by and saw the body thrown on the road, and the lion standing beside the body; so they came and told it in the city where the old prophet lived. Now when the prophet who brought him back from the way heard it, he said, It is the man of God, who disobeyed the command of the LORD; therefore the LORD has given him to the lion, which has torn him and killed him, according to the word of the LORD which He spoke to him. Then he spoke to his sons, saying, Saddle the donkey for me. And they saddled it. He went and
found his body thrown on the road with the donkey and the lion standing beside the body; the lion had not eaten the body nor torn the donkey. So the prophet took up the body of the man of God and laid it on the donkey and brought it back, and he came to the city of the old prophet to mourn and to bury him. He laid his body in his own grave, and they mourned over him, saying, Alas, my brother! After he had buried him, he spoke to his sons, saying, When I die, bury me in the grave in which the man of God is buried; lay my bones beside his bones. For the thing shall surely come to pass which he cried by the word of the LORD against the altar in Bethel and against all the houses of the high places which are in the cities of Samaria. After this event Jeroboam did not return from his evil way, but again he made priests of the high places from among all the people; any who would, he ordained, to be priests of the high places. This event became sin to the house of Jeroboam, even to blot it out and destroy it from off the face of the earth - 1 Kings 13:1-34 To many people, Christians and non-Christians alike, Gods judgment against His prophet (the man of God) in 1 Kings 13 seems unjust and unfair. Shouldnt the other old prophet have been judged? After all, he was the one who lied and deceived the man of God. Is Gods judgment here wrong? Is God being petty and unjust in the handing out of justice? No, not at all. God is never petty or unjust! We must remember that priests are mans representatives to God; and it is for this reason we should be thankful to have Christ Jesus as our Eternal High Priest making intercession for us. Prophets, on the other hand, are Gods representatives to man. True prophets, Gods prophets, are to have the greatest respect for God and His Word. They MUST be obedient. They are Gods representatives they are NOT to misrepresent God by being disobedient, nor misinterpret Gods Word(s); and it is for this reason that the penalty for false prophets (in Old Testament law) was so severe (see Deut. 18:20-22). Whod want to be a prophet? Not even Gods true prophets relished the idea. Consider Amos who was sent by God to Bethel to prophecy against King Jeroboam II (around 760BC), and after being rebuked by Amaziah, the priest of Bethel (Amos 7:10) he said to Amaziah, I am not a prophet, nor am I the son of a prophet; for I am a herdsman and a grower of sycamore figs. (Amos 7:14) Amos sought no ministry, had no
training, was not a member of any guild of professional prophets; God called this herdsman who remained a herdsman to be a prophet and he was obedient. The idea that half of the televangelists on TV today (be that free-to-air or cable) are true prophets, Gods prophets, is laughable. Gods kingdom is NOT of this world (John 18:36) these charlatans and their moneygrubbing ways are entirely fleshly and worldly. Gods prophets are Not For Profit (c.f. 2 Kings 5, in regard to Elisha and Naaman)! The man of God in 1 Kings 13 was truly one of Gods prophets: he went where God told him to go, did what God told him to do, and said what God told him to say. So where did he go wrong? Why, or how, did the old prophet deceive him; and why Gods judgment? Who was this other prophet, the old prophet living in Bethel? Was he a prophet? 1 Kings 13 says he was but whose prophet was he? The Scriptures do NOT say he was a prophet of the LORD or a prophet of God; in fact the Scriptures seem hazy on the subject. Was he a prophet of some other god, a false god? Was he one of Jeroboams prophets? Maybe he was a false prophet who could be bought, or a prophet whose services could be purchased. Maybe he was a prophet of God in his younger years but having settled in Bethel, maybe this prophet had settled for whatever was now happening in the world around him a politically correct prophet. We do not know but there are indicators that something was amiss. The old prophets sons had been present when Jeroboam was dedicating the altar and burning incense. That they were able to convey to their father, the old prophet, what had transpired and what had been said is proof of this? If they were at the altar then were they merely observers, or were they participants, or were they priests of the altar?[4] Irrespective of their role at Jeroboams altar, it is the action of the old prophet on hearing what transpired that we should note. Why did the old prophet inquire of the path that the man of God took? Why did he go after him? The old prophets deception did NOT start when he met the man of God; it started when his sons told him what had happened. It would seem that the old prophet was NO prophet or at least certainly not Gods prophet. The old prophets intent was to bring the integrity of the man of God into question (which would bring the word to Jeroboam [which he no doubt did not believe] into question). We must note carefully that verse 11 at the end says, the words which he had spoken to the king, these also they related to their father. It wasnt just
what happened at the altar, it wasnt just the cursing of it, the withering of Jeroboams arm, the fulfilling of the curse on the altar, the prayer of the man of God for Jeroboam, and Jeroboams healing that the sons told their father, it was the words that he spoke to Jeroboam that they told him. The old prophet knew before meeting the man of God that the Lord had commanded him to, eat no bread, nor drink water, nor return by the way which you came (v9). What better way, therefore, to bring the integrity of: the man of God, his prophetic ministry, and/or the Word of God which he had proclaimed, into question than by getting the prophet to wilfully disobey God. All false prophets hate to be proven false what better way for him to be vindicated as a prophet than by a true man of God falling. But how could he convince the man of God? The old prophet described himself as a prophet like you (v18) and said that an angel spoke to him by the word of the LORD. Not only was this man a prophet like the man of God but an angel had specifically given him this message to disregard what God had previously said. How more legitimate might a statement be! What a con. The old prophets use of angel must be discussed. We must not apply a modern understanding to this word, for angel in the original Hebrew is the word malak and just means messenger. Understanding this, we can see that the old prophet did consult angels (i.e. messengers) but they certainly were not of the Lord. His messengers were his sons. The old prophet used the man of Gods source the LORD as a false source for his lie. Such a lie is reminiscent of the Serpents deception of Eve in the Garden of Eden, Did God really say (Gen 3:1, NIV). No Inquiry of the Lord We may wonder why the man of God fell for this deception. Why didnt he check with the Lord if what he was being told was true? This kind of deception, after all, was nothing new. Consider the covenant that Joshua made with some inhabitants of the land when God had told Israel that no such covenants were to be made. Read Joshua 9:3-6. When the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and to Ai, they also acted craftily and set out as envoys, and took worn-out sacks on their donkeys, and wineskins worn - out and torn and mended, and worn-out and patched sandals on their feet, and worn-out clothes on themselves; and all the bread of their provision was dry and had become crumbled. They went to Joshua
to the camp at Gilgal and said to him and to the men of Israel, We have come from a far country; now therefore, make a covenant with us. - Joshua 9:3-6 Joshua did make a covenant with the people of Gibeon (who were Amorites, c.f. 2 Sam 21:2), and Scripture expressly says that the men of Israel, did not ask for the counsel of the LORD (Joshua 9:14b). Unfortunately, no one is immune from being on the receiving end of deception. But, what we do, or dont do, in the face of deception (no matter how truthful it seems) may go on affecting us (as it did with Israel in regards to the Gibeonites). True Prophecy in the Mouth of a Non-Prophet[5] At the end of 1 Kings 13 we read that, After this event Jeroboam did not return from his evil way, but again he made priests of the high places from among all the people; any who would, he ordained, to be priests of the high places (v33). The deception worked. The integrity of the prophet seemed to have been sufficiently called into question that Jeroboam continued on with his sinful practices, in spite of his hand shrivelling up and only being restored through the intercession of the man of God. But back to the story. Whilst the man of God was at the old prophets house eating (in opposition to the instructions he had received from God) the old prophet TRULY prophesied. Given the old prophets apparent lack of objection of his sons participating in Jeroboams idolatry, I would suggest that he wasnt a real prophet in the first place. I would suggest that this prophecy was the first REAL prophecy he had ever given. And as such, this prophecy was not only a word for the man of God but no doubt it was a revelation of and by God for the old prophet that not only was the man of God a real prophet, but the man of God had indeed said to Jeroboam what he had been commanded to say. This would also have been a revelation to the old prophet that he had tricked the man of God into rebelling against the Lord. After the man of God was killed (as the old prophet prophesied he would be), the old prophet had him laid in his grave, and he cried, Alas, my brother! (v30). This is a cry of a man who NOW recognises the man of God as a man of God and what he had done to contribute to his death. The old prophet also gave instructions to his sons for his body to be laid next to the man of God when he also died (whenever that might be). This is an act of recognition, of association, of remorse, and repentance. God showed, through the old prophets word of prophecy, that the man of God was truly a man of God, and truly a prophet a representative of God.
The old prophet assured his own sons of this fact, and assured them that the prophetic words of the man of God concerning the altar and high places in Samaria would come to pass (1 Kings 13:32). No more would the old prophet be aligned to Jeroboam he had turned; he had changed direction himself and not gone the way he came. He repented. Everyone dies there are no exceptions.[6] So, though the old prophet did NOT die as result of his deception death would eventually catch up with him. True prophets, Gods prophets, real men of God, however, have to live to a higher standard, a higher calling, a more stringent obedience. We may not like it, we may say it seems unfair, but we are talking about Gods standard for His Man, His Representative; the one to whom He spoke and gave explicit instructions. Gods Word will judge us all. Even Christians are not immune from the judgment of God in regard to attitudes and obedience[7]. Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. But a man must examine himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly. For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep. But if we judged ourselves rightly, we would not be judged. But when we are judged, we are disciplined by the Lord so that we will not be condemned along with the world. - 1 Corinthians 11:27-32 Like the man of God we all need to follow Gods commands, but unlike the man of God we (well, me at least) fortunately are not prophets. I imagine that the televangelists of today are happy about this too (though they think they are prophets). And just like Jeroboam, the false prophets of today continue on with their own plans and schemes for what they deem to be reasonable, Christian, godly, worship, practice and living. There is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death. - Proverbs 14:12 We can and should all learn from the prophets judgement. ENDNOTES
[1] Note that in the days of King Solomon, God raised up Jeroboam as king over ten tribes of Israel. This was a result of Solomons and Israels sin: because they have forsaken Me, and have worshipped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh the god of Moab, and Milcom the god
of the sons of Ammon; and they have not walked in My ways, doing what is right in My sight and observing My statutes and My ordinances, as his father David did (1 Kings 11:33). [2] NAU New American Standard, Updated 1995. [3] It is worth noting that Jeroboam not only repeats Aaron, and the peoples, sin of creating the altar of the golden calf in the wilderness after their exodus from Egypt (Exodus 32), but Jeroboam creates two calves he magnifies the sin. Furthermore, it seems that Jeroboam goes so far as to quote Aarons proclamation to the people, This is your god, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt (Ex 32:4), whilst seemingly being ignorant of the judgment that befell Israel as a result of their idolatry. [4] 1 Kings 12:31-33 And he made altars on high places, and made priests from among all the people who were not of the sons of Levi. Jeroboam instituted a feast in the eighth month on the fifteenth day of the month, like the feast which is in Judah, and he went up to the altar; thus he did in Bethel, sacrificing to the calves which he had made. And he stationed in Bethel the priests of the high places which he had made. Then he went up to the altar which he had made in Bethel on the fifteenth day in the eighth month, even in the month which he had devised in his own heart; and he instituted a feast for the sons of Israel and went up to the altar to burn incense. [5] Note that I say non-Prophet and not false prophet. Consider also King Saul and his prophesying in 1 Sam 19:2324. Saul was not a prophet, and at the time was hunting David. [6] The exception which disproves the rule being Enoch and Elijah. [7] See also Acts 5:1-11 concerning Ananias and Sapphira.
CWM RESOURCES
DVDs CDs MP3s Books Tracts Sermons Bibles Ideal Gifts See pages 19-22 Contact us for a Catalogue t: 03 5146 0280
e: maureen@christian-witness.org
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
B. MICHAEL BIGG, and his wife, Kathryn, came out of the Word-Faith movement. Michael has a concern for the preaching of the truth (or lack of it) in many of todays churches. He has a desire to assist in the education of the elect and reaching the lost. Brett works in the Information Technology (IT) industry. B. Michael Bigg is Assitant Editor of CETF and web master of www.cwmfellowship.org.
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THOUGH WE WITH GIANTS FIGHT

By Michael Claydon
LIVES AND TESTIMONIES FROM THE BATTLEFIELD

Editorial Note: This is the last of the present series see epilogue hereunder where you will find the book with these and other essays advertised at
http://www.thefightoffaith.org
Part 4
Association resulted from a series of Gospel meetings held by Moody in London in 1887 at which a number of soldiers were converted. Born on 5th February 1837 in Northfield, Massachusetts into a farming family, Moody had to work from an early age because his father died young. As Moody grew up, he became restless at the rural life and moved to Boston, where he eventually found a job in his uncles shoe shop with his terms of service requiring attendance at a Sunday school Bible class. Through the teaching and witnessing of the class teacher, Moody accepted Christ and experienced a complete transformation. Whereas previously he had been living a passive religious life restricted by moral law where church attendance was a duty, Moody now found his greatest joy to be the service of his God. As he expressed it, Before my conversion, I worked towards the Cross, but since then I have worked from the Cross; then I worked to be saved, now I work because I am saved. This was the beginning of a remarkable ministry that spanned the globe, with some estimating that Moody preached to as many as 100 million people. Moody gave up his life as a successful businessman in order to devote himself to the preaching of the Gospel in 1860, just one year before the American Civil War began. Therefore, much of his early ministry was amongst soldiers and lessons learnt on this particular battlefield were applied throughout the rest of his ministry. He and many other Christians in
Our thanks for parts 1 to 3 go to Major Philip Bray and for part 4 to Major Michael Claydon. DL Moody: a Willing Offering From the Official Biography by WR Moody
Chicago were moved by the urgent need of the soldiers to hear the Gospel. At times, up to 12,000 soldiers were garrisoned on the outskirts of the city, many of whom were already fatally injured and others would be killed on the battlefields soon afterwards. A group of Christians under the leadership of Moody, did everything in their power to ensure that not one soldier died without hearing of Christ. This article is based on an extract from Moodys official biography, which he commissioned his son to write. Moody willingly offered himself to serve his Lord and Saviour. *** Civil War and the Beginning of a Military Ministry The American Civil War started in 1861 with the Confederate forces firing on Fort Sumter. Camp Douglas was formed near the southern limits of Chicago and there recruits underwent military training. Among these new soldiers were a large number of Moodys boys from the North Market Hall, the Sunday school that Moody had pioneered. A company was also raised among his friends and former business associates; on all sides he was urged to enter the service of his country. Moody was strongly for the cause of the Union, with both his upbringing and training strongly supporting the abolition of slavery. In spite of all this, he could not in good conscience enlist. There has never been a time in my life when I felt that I could take a gun and shoot down a fellow being. In this respect I am a Quaker. At
And the people blessed all the men whovolunteered Nehemiah 11:2[1]
Prologue Dwight Lyman Moody was an American evangelist based in Chicago who lived from 1837 until 1899. Despite never having enlisted in the army, he willingly gave himself to the service of soldiers by bringing them the good news of the Gospel. Whether personally witnessing to an individual soldier or organising and encouraging others, Moody used every means possible to tell men facing battle of the one true answer to every mans greatest need. His influence on the American and British military was profound. The Soldiers Christian
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the same time, he was alive to the opportunity for doing good that the military camps offered and at once assisted in forming an Army and Navy Committee of the Young Mens Christian Association. The first Christian work undertaken by the commission consisted of services held among the soldiers that passed through Chicago. On the forming of Camp Douglas, a work party was organised which resulted in the building of a small, temporary chapel in which over 1,500 meetings were held. Moodys approach was inventive and sought to make the most of every opportunity for getting the good news of the Gospel to the soldiers. One of his fellow workers, Edgar W Hawley, describes the beginning of this work: At one time there were about 12,000 men there. Regiments were coming in and others going to the front all the time. The Young Mens Christian Association had a chapel for the use of the men, where frequent meetings were held. We issued an Army Hymn Book with an American flag on the front page, and it was distributed freely among the soldiers. We visited the tents and barracks and found the men playing cards and proposed to exchange our hymnbooks for the cards. The soldiers agreed quickly enough; indeed, so numerous were these exchanges that several of the Young Mens Christian Association rooms were full of playing-cards which the men had surrendered. Ministry amongst Prisoners of War With all the newly trained soldiers deployed, Camp Douglas had completed its role as a training base. Following the capture of around 9,000 Confederate soldiers at Fort Donelson, the base was used as a prisoner-of-war camp with a Union regiment as guards. Moody was not slow to make the most of
this opportunity. Hawley describes one particular event following the close of a prayer meeting: Hawley, let us go down and hold a meeting there in the chapel with the prisoners. As we neared the entrance to the camp Moody said, Here is a ministerial pass; take it. But how will you get in past the guard? I asked. In some way, was the confident reply! The guard passed me right in, but Moody was halted by fixed bayonets. Stand back, came the stern order. I am Moody, the president of the Young Mens Christian Association, he explained to the soldier. I dont care who you are; you cant get in here! At that moment a Captain who was passing stepped up and recognised the evangelist. To him Moody appealed. Let me in, he urged, for the works sake. The officer turned to the guard. Let one of your men take Moody to headquarters; I will be responsible. We marched to the headquarters, Moody under military guard. On hearing the explanation, the officer in charge said, Well, seeing you are here, and considering your object, you may stay, but dont repeat it. If you are not out of here by eight p.m. you go into the guard-house for the night.
We went to the chapel, arranged things, and invited the men. It was soon packed full. Turning to me with a twinkle in his eye, Moody said Now, Hawley, you preach. I remonstrated and said I wasnt a minister. But you came in on a ministerial pass and I didnt. He persisted and so I quietly acquiesced and we had an interesting service. Moody took charge and it seemed as though the Spirit of the Lord came down upon these men with great power. They came forward to the altar 20, 30, and 40 at a time. We closed the meeting and began answering individuals questions. Moody had the platform and God used him wonderfully. The whole audience melted and we saw strong men in tears. God is here! Moody whispered to me. When we finally looked at our watches it was a few seconds before eight and we had to run to get out of camp, having no desire to pass the night in the guardhouse. These meetings we kept up two or three weeks and many were converted. We formed a Young Mens Christian Association branch at the camp and there were many kind expressions of gratitude even from the higher officers, who were greatly pleased with the work. Moodys Tactics By means of Gospel services, prayer meetings, song services, distribution of Bibles, books, and tracts, and by individual conversations, Moody tried to win the soldiers to Christ. His aim was not merely to make converts: instead, he was obedient to the
DL Moody portrait in 1862.
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great commission to make disciples. He sought to build up and encourage the Christians by organising them into Bands of Brothers, who were to carry the Banner of Christ with them and be loyal to one another and to their Divine Captain. In a letter to his mother early in the war, Moodys bond with the soldiers and his love for his Saviour is shown: I am now at work among the soldiers a good deal. The boys wanted to have me become their chaplain, but my friends would not let me go, so I shall remain in the city. I would like to see you all and talk with you about my Saviour, who seems so near to me. Oh, what would life be without Christ! I sometimes get to looking down on this world of sin, but when I look to Jesus it makes me look up. Nor was Moodys ministry limited to the training camps. While Moody was serving under the command of General Howard, who was in thorough sympathy with his efforts, Moodys ministry was especially fruitful. Here General Howard describes Moodys work in the army: Moody and I met for the first time in Cleveland, East Tennessee. It was about the middle of April, 1864. I was bringing together my Fourth Army Corps. Two divisions had already arrived and were encamped in and near the village. Moody was then fresh and hearty, full of enthusiasm for the Masters work. Our soldiers were just about to set out on what we all felt promised to be a hard and bloody campaign and I think we were especially desirous of strong preaching. Crowds and crowds turned out to hear him. He showed them how a soldier could give his heart to God. His preaching was direct and effective and multitudes responded with a promise to follow Christ. An Urgent Appeal The immediate threat to life made it necessary to urge his hearers to accept immediate salvation. Whether with severely injured men hovering between life and death or men briefly resting on a long march, it was a choice of now or never. As Moody would not allow himself to be satisfied with never, he put all his effort into now. Although Moody would not bear arms, he went wherever the Gospel was needed and was on the ground ministering to the wounded after the battles of Pittsburg Landing, Shiloh, and Murfreesboro. It was after one of these battles that the following incident occurred, as Moody here describes:
We were taking a large number of wounded men down the Tennessee River after the battle of Pittsburg Landing. A number of young men of the Christian Commission were with me, and I told them that we must not let a man die on the boat that night without telling him of Christ and Heaven. You know the cry of a wounded man is, Water! Water! As we passed along from one to another giving them water, we tried to tell them of the Water of Life, of which if they would drink they would never die. I came to one man who had about as fine a face as I ever saw. I spoke to him, but he did not answer. I went to the doctor and said, Doctor, do you think that man will recover? No, he lost so much blood before we got to him on the field that he fainted while we were amputating his leg. He will never recover, was the reply. I said, I cant find out his name and it seems a pity to let him die without knowing who he is. Dont you think we can bring him to? You may give him a little brandy and water, said the doctor, that will revive him if anything will. I sat down beside him and gave him brandy and water every now and then. While I was waiting I said to a man nearby, Do you know this man? Oh, yes, that is my chum. Has he a father and mother living? He has a widowed mother. Has he any brothers or sisters? Two sisters; but he is the only son. What is his name? William Clark. I said to myself that I could not let him die without getting a message for that mother. Presently he opened his eyes and I said William, do you know where you are? He looked around a little dazed and then said, Oh, yes! I am on my way home to mother. Yes, you are on your way home, I said, but the doctor says you wont reach your earthly home. I thought Id like to ask you if you had any message for your mother. His face lighted up with an unearthly glow as he said, Oh, yes, tell my mother that I died trusting in Jesus! It was one of the sweetest messages I ever heard in my life! On returning to Chicago, Moody at once looked up the widowed mother and two sisters and delivered the message from the dying soldier. As he was leaving the house, one of the sisters, only a child at the time, came to him and gave him the small savings of her sister and herself with the request that he purchase a Bible to give to some soldier. When he went back to the front Moody related this incident, asking who wanted that Bible, and there were many requests for it.
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Another incident that Moody frequently repeated occurred after the battle of Murfreesboro. I was stationed in the hospital. For two nights I had been unable to get rest, and being really worn out, on the third night I had lain down to sleep. About midnight I was called to see a wounded soldier who was very low. At first I tried to put the messenger off, but he told me that if I waited till morning it might be too late. So I went to the ward where I had been directed and found the man who had sent for me. I shall never forget his face as I saw it that night in the dim, uncertain candlelight. I asked what I could do for him and he said that he wanted me to help him to die. I told him I would bear him in my arms into the Kingdom of God if I could, but I couldnt. Then I tried to preach the Gospel. He only shook his head and said He cant save me; I have sinned all my life. My thoughts went back to his loved ones in the North and I thought that even then his mother might be praying for her boy. I repeated promise after promise and prayed with the dying man, but nothing I said seemed to help him. Then I said that I wanted to read to him an account of an interview that Christ had one night while here on earth: an interview with a man who was anxious about his eternal welfare. I read from the third chapter of John, how Nicodemus came to the Master. As I read on, his eyes became riveted upon me and he seemed to drink in every syllable. When I came to the words, As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up: that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life, he stopped me and asked, Is that there? Yes, I said. Well, he said, I never knew that was in the Bible. Read it again. Leaning on his elbow on the side of the cot, he brought his hands together tightly and when I finished he exclaimed, Thats good! Wont you read it again? Slowly I repeated the passage the third time. When I finished I saw that his eyes were closed and the troubled expression on his face had given way to a peaceful smile. His lips moved and I bent over him to catch what he was saying, and heard in a faint whisper As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up: that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. He opened his eyes and said, Thats enough; dont read any more. Early next morning I again came to his cot, but it was empty. The attendant in charge
told me that the young man had died peacefully and said that after my visit he had rested quietly, repeating to himself, now and then, that glorious proclamation: whoeverbelieves in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. By the time the Civil War ended in 1865, these wartime experiences had introduced Moody to a larger field by bringing him prominently before the whole country. The Young Mens Christian Associations noon prayer meetings in Chicago had become a centre where he and his fellow-workers met and reported on their frequent excursions to the front. People from all over the northwest sent in requests for prayer at these meetings, on behalf of husbands, brothers, and sons. Moody went on to travel the world preaching the Gospel; however, his ministry in the military was not yet over. The Spanish War When the Spanish-American War broke out in 1898 and thousands of young men were again gathered into army camps, Moodys heart went out towards them with the same longing that had urged him on during the Civil War. He became chairman of the Evangelistic Department of the Army and Navy Christian Commission, whose method of work was fourfold: 1. The preaching of the Gospel by well-known ministers and evangelists, to whom the men would listen. 2. The placing of Young Mens Christian Association tents within reach of every regiment, where the men might go as a place of resort and where they would find good reading and writing materials. 3. The free distribution of Bibles, Testaments, hymnbooks, and other religious books. 4. The visiting of the sick and wounded in hospitals. His experiences in the American Civil War helped him to recruit the churches in this new emergency. The following letter, which he wrote at this time, resulted in great blessing to thousands of soldiers in the great military camps during the summer of 1898: 30 years ago war clouds gathered over our land and the church of God was aroused as I have never seen it since in behalf of the young men of America. This interest expressed itself in the formation of the Christian Commission and everywhere efforts were made for the religious interests of the soldiers. Meetings were held everywhere and many a camp became the scene of a deep and effective revival,
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and for more than 30 years I have been continually meeting men who were converted in those army meetings. Now the dark shadow of war again rests upon our land. Is it not possible that God intends to use even the darkness of this evil for the blessing of the youth of this land; and while He has called us to become the instrument of His justice may He not have in store a season of revival for those who, brought face to face with danger and in realisation of the seriousness of life, may be reached, when at other times careless and indifferent? It seems to me that it is just in the nick of time in which to reach thousands of young men with the Gospel, either through a Testament, a good book, or the spoken message. A minister in Philadelphia writes me that there is an excellent opportunity of doing good at Tampa and I have no doubt that other camps offer equally favourable conditions. Ministers such as R. A. Torrey were sent and an appeal was made for money to send books as well as men. Bibles, religious books, library books and a large number of the new Army Hymn Book, compiled by Ira D. Sankey, were sent. The fruit of this work is illustrated in an account by Major Whittle of one of many incidents: I called on a dying Lieutenant this morning, who said that he was turned to God at the first meeting held in the camp. I did not know about it at the time, but my heart was full of gratitude to God as the dying mans face lit up in recognition of me! His hot hand pressed mine as he drank in the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out, and other Scripture passages. He told me that he did in his heart trust Christ. We sang to him My faith looks up to Thee, and commended him to God in prayer. He has a wife and five children. He was a travelling man and unsaved up to the night of May 27th. The doctor said there was no help and that he would die today. If God has been pleased to use my coming here to save that one soul, I will praise Him through eternity. *** Born of the Spirit It is fitting to conclude with a quote from Moody. It reveals the certainty of his hope in his Lord and Saviour, the same certainty that led him to offer himself willingly as an evangelist to soldiers. Some day you will read in the papers that DL Moody, of East Northfield, is dead. Dont you believe a word of it! At that moment I shall be more alive than I am now, I shall have gone up
higher that is all; out of this old clay tenement into a house that is immortal a body that death cannot touch; that sin cannot taint; a body fashioned like His glorious body. I was born of the flesh in 1837. I was born of the Spirit in 1856. That which is born of the flesh may die, that which is born of the Spirit will live forever.
DL Moody preaching to a large crowd This series of biographies are extracted from a book, The Fight of Faith, Lives and Testimonies from the Battlefield, on behalf of the Soldiers and Airmens Scripture Readers Association. Further details including how to order a copy are contained on the webpage, www.thefightoffaith.org. All proceeds will be given to mission work in the Armed Forces. ENDNOTES
[1] All pictures are courtesy of the Moody Bible Institute Archives. All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the NASB New American Standard Bible.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Michael Claydon was brought up in a Christian family and saved as a teenager at a Christian summer camp. Whilst training as a doctor he was commissioned into the British Army and has since served in Germany and deployed to Afghanistan. He serves on the council of the Soldiers and Airmens Scripture Readers Association. Majors Michael Claydon and Philip Bray are co-editors of the book, The Fight of Faith, Lives and Testimonies from the Battlefield.
CWM Conference
see page 39 for more information
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The Error of Replacement Theology

Part Two: Roots and Shoots
By Andrew D. Robinson
In a lecture entitled The Restoration of the Jews-A Comprehensive Bible Study of Israels Past, Present, and Future, delivered at Blackheath on April 26th 1864, Adolph Saphir, a Jewish Presbyterian minister, asked his audience if the crucifixion of Christ had changed Gods heart towards the Jews. He posed the question, Guilty of the greatest crime, and burdened with the enormous sin of shedding the blood of the Holy Child of God, may not God justly cast off Israel and remember them no more? Saphir appealed to the testimony of the risen Saviour for his answer: Forty days after His resurrection He appeared to His disciples and spoke to them of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God. He opened to them the Scriptures and from Moses and the Prophets showed them the divine plan of His suffering and glory. The last day has arrived, and He is about to part from them, and leave His disciples to begin a great and arduous work. But before He ascends, the question most deeply engraven on their heart, is uttered: Lord, wilt Thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? Now, it has been said, they asked in ignorance, in Jewish prejudice, in the carnal blindness of their heart. But what right has anyone to say so? Think you, that after witnessing the death of the Lord, and after receiving His blessed instructions for forty days, and listening to His infallible exegesis, and that with regard to this very point of the kingdom that in this most solemn moment, when the Lord was to be taken from them, and the fullness of their loving souls urged them to ask Him the last question - they would speak of a restoration of Israel if it was a childish, carnal, and deceptive fancy? I say it is preposterous to assert it. How natural the question: We understand now that the cross had to precede the crown, that Israel had first to reject the cornerstone; but now, that Thy sufferings are past, Thy agony endured, the cup emptied, the grave conquered, wilt Thou at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? And what does the Lord answer? Does He correct their question? Does He deny their supposition and expectation of a Jewish kingdom? Does He say to them, O fools and slow of heart, how long am I to be with you and bear with you? No; but He confirms the kingdom by speaking of the times and seasons not being revealed to man, and telling them the divine orderfirst, the Church and testimony among all nations, then the kingdom of God and of His Christ. A Jewish idea, indeed! And how could it be otherwise? For by a Jewish Messiah and out of the Jewish Scriptures they had been taught to believe the truth of God.[1] In Defence of Israel In his noble defence of the doctrine of Israels restoration, Adolph Saphir, a Hebrew of the Hebrews, ably addresses the time-worn clichd charge of "ignorance," "Jewish
prejudice," "carnal blindness" and "childish, deceptive fancy" which has characterised the attitude of a-millennial Christianity towards pre-millennialism for generations. Such derogatory language sours the sermons and writings of today's anti-Zionist, anti-Christian Zionist Church, but where does it originate, and why have so many "celebrated" ministers of the Gospel resorted to its use in their defence of Replacement Theology? In order to answer these questions, we must journey back to the early Church and meet those responsible for designing a theological system that outlaws belief in the literalness of Gods Word, robs the Jews of their rightful inheritance, and grants to the Church a spiritual legacy to which she is not entitled. It is a necessary journey, from which I pray we will learn much. As J.C. Ryle (1816-1900), Liverpools first Anglican bishop, and a champion of pre-millennialism, wisely wrote: there are matters in which knowledge of the past may teach us wisdom for the present and the future.[2] May we indeed gain knowledge from our study of the past and may God be pleased to grant us wisdom in knowing how best to tackle this most difficult subject. In this second article on Replacement Theology, we will examine the roots and shoots of a doctrine that elevates the Church by denouncing Israel, meet the principal primemovers involved, and consider the key factors that gave it shape and form. As we turn back the pages of Church history, we will discover that Replacement Theology is rooted, not in the rich soil of biblical truth, but in the allegorical seed beds of Greek philosophy. Our journey will include a visit to the highly influential Christian School in Alexandria, which propagated and nurtured a belief system that has had the most profound, prejudicial effect on the way the Church thinks and acts towards the Jewish people. We will explore the a-millennial bedrock upon which the School is founded, sample the writings of its more illustrious tutors, and discover a sophisticated antiJewish, anti-Judaism, anti-Old Testament curriculum that has indoctrinated generations of Christians into believing that the Church has replaced Israel in the affections of God. The Alexandrian School occupied a position of phenomenal theological power in the post-apostolic era, defining and shaping the contours of Christian belief through a system of allegorical interpretation, by which the Bible was forced to yield hidden or secret messages, which only the enlightened Christian mind could uncover. Allegory, as defined by the Greek philosopher Heracleitus, is saying one thing, and meaning something other than what is said,[3] and that is precisely how the Alexandrian tutors viewed the biblical text. The School, from which proceeded a peculiar theology,[4] was therefore fated to become the doctrinal fountainhead from which the emerging secondcentury Church would draw its allegorical inspiration, but before we delve deeper into its murky depths, we need to set our subject in its wider Jewish-Christian context.
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Jewish-Christian Relations One of the factors that contributed to the rise of Replacement Theology was the gulf that existed in apostolic days, between Jews and Christians, Judaism and Christianity, Synagogue and Church. Matters worsened considerably during the Jewish War of AD 66-70, a period which Edward Flannery asserts was the turning point for Judaeo-Christian relations.[5] Church historian Eusebius reports that when the Roman legions advanced on Judea, the whole body of the church at Jerusalem removed from the city and lived at a certain town beyond the Jordan called Pella,[6] leaving their fellow Jews to face the wrath of the Roman legions. With over one million dead, and thousands enslaved, the actions of the Jerusalem Church were seen as a blatant betrayal of their patriotic duty. Tensions rose and in AD 80, the Sanhedrin introduced a prayer into the daily Eighteen Benedictions (birkat haminim), calling on Jews to curse the followers of Jesus, that they may perish in an instantbe blotted out of the book of life and not be counted among the righteous. I have spoken to orthodox Jews who sheepishly admitted that this prayer is still recited in some of their synagogues. The next significant turning point in Jewish-Christian relations came with the second Jewish revolt of AD132135, which was led by Simon Bar-Kokhba, who succeeded in recapturing Jerusalem and establishing a Jewish state. Bar-Kokhba was hailed as King Messiah by Rabbi Aqiba, and thousands of men, women and children followed their messianic pretender. The Jerusalem Church suffered terrible persecution under Bar-Kokhba, who massacred those who refused to deny Christ.[7] Such brutal reprisals entrenched positions further, effectively slamming the door closed to any future Jewish-Christian dialogue. BarKokhbas short-lived reign was brutally quashed by the Roman legions, and in order to sever Jewish connections with the holy city, Jerusalem was renamed Aelia Capitolina in honour of Emperor Hadrian, and the Jews forbidden to return on penalty of death. As Eusebius records, the whole nation from that time was totally prohibited by decree from even entering the country about Jerusalem, so they could not behold the soil of their fathers, even at a distance The city of the Jews was thus reduced to a state of abandonment for them totally stripped of its ancient inhabitants, and inhabited by strangers.[8] Gentile Christianity Hadrians edict spelled the end of Jewish religious life in Judea for the foreseeable future, and with it came the demise of the Jewish leadership of the Jerusalem Church. With the appointment of Marcus, the first Gentile bishop of Jerusalem,[9] Greek believers began to outnumber their Jewish brethren in what was fast becoming a predominantly Gentile-member Church. This had a dramatic effect on the way the Bible was read, as traditional Jewish methods of interpretation gave way to Greek allegory. By the end of the first century, the process of theological assimilation was complete, as we can see in the early post-apostolic writings. For example, The Epistle of Barnabas (AD 100), a contender for inclusion in the Bible, shows how profoundly Greek methods of interpretation had affected
Christian attitudes to Scripture. The writer, thought to be an Alexandrian Jew, insisted that the Old Testament was never meant to be read literally, but interpreted allegorically of Christ and the Church, as we can see from his exposition of Exodus 33:1. What, then, meaneth this: Enter into the good land, a land flowing with milk and honeyand have dominion over it. He answers thus: Blessed be our Lord, who has placed in us wisdom and understanding of secret things. For the prophet says, Who shall understand the parable of the Lord, except him who is wise and prudent. Having established in the readers mind that the text is not to be understood historically but interpreted spiritually, Barnabas completely destroys the meaning of biblical words by declaring that, We, then [Christians] are they whom he has led into a good land. What then, mean the milk and honey? This, that as the infant is kept alive first by honey and then by milk, so also we, being quickened and kept alive by the faith of the promise and by the word, shall live ruling the earth. [10] The application of Scripture is legitimate, but never at the expense of its plain primary meaning. However, like so many of his Greek-minded colleagues, Barnabas argued that only the Christian could make sense of the Bible. The carnal Jews, with their earthly mind-set, had failed to recognise the hidden message of their own Scriptures, and as a result, had eternally forfeited their entitlement to the covenant promises made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The new people of faith (the Church) were the sole legatees of those promises, and there was no redress in the ecclesiastical courts for the Jewish people. Having captured the theological high ground, the Church proceeded to lay siege to the Jews, incarcerating them behind walls of ignorance for their rejection of Christ, and initiating a relentless apologetic offensive[11] against them. In the vanguard stood the Christian Apologists, second-century defenders of the Faith, who subjected the Jews to an aggressive barrage of anti-Jewish sermons, dramatic dialogues, letters and treatises, in what is collectively known as the Adversus Judaeos (Against the Jews) tradition. The True Spiritual Israel? Justin Martyr (AD100-165), the undisputed leader in the field of early Church apologetics, taught that the Mosaic Law had been abrogated, and that Christ was the culmination of Israels history, fulfilling literal prophecies, including those relating to the Land and Temple. He believed that almost any Old Testament character or historical event could be enlisted to force this connection. He also saw the plight of the Jews (their slaughter, exile, persecution, and dis-possession) as a divine punishment, inflicted on them for the death of Christ. Accordingly, he tells Trypho the Jew, you alone may suffer that which you now justly suffer; and that your land may be desolate, and your cities burned with fire; and that strangers may eat your fruit in your presence, and not one of you may go up to
17
Jerusalem.... Accordingly, these things have happened to you in fairness and justice, for you have slain the Just One, and His prophets before Him, and now you reject those who hope in Him, and in Him who sent Him cursing in your synagogues those that believe on Christ.[12] In Justins mind, the Jews were destined to wander through the nations as outcasts, with absolutely no hope of deliverance. They therefore came under the harshest condemnation for failing to understand their own Scriptures, and were sentenced to live forever in the shadow of the Church, which Justin proudly announced was the true spiritual Israel.[13] Irenaeus (AD 130-200), a student of Polycarp (a disciple of the John the apostle), adds weight to the verdict by declaring that the house of Jacob and the people of Israel, are disinherited from the grace of God,[14] leaving Cyprian (AD 195-258), famed bishop and martyr, to drive the final nails into Israels coffin with his arrogant assertion, that the Jews, according to what had before been foretold, had departed from God, and had lost Gods favour, which had been given in past time, and had been promised them for the future; while the Christians had succeeded to their place[so that] the Gentiles, rather than the Jews [would] attain to the kingdom of heaven.[15] What is perhaps a little bewildering to our twenty-first century minds, is that Justin and his fellow Apologists believed in a literal thousand-year reign of Christ upon the earth. They are often summoned to the defence of pre-millennial truth, which, interpreted in the light of its current usage, may lead us to mistakenly conclude that they were pro-Israel. However, Justin upheld a form of Gentile-Christian pre-millennialism, teaching that Israels millennial promises had been transferred to the Church, which would reign on earth from the New Jerusalem of Revelation 21.[16] Tertullian (AD160 225), the African Church father who was the first to systematically challenge the authenticity of Judaism, also taught pre-millennialism with the same Christian-Gentile mind-set, arguing with regard to the restoration of Judea that it would be tedious to state at length how the figurative interpretation is spiritually applicable to Christ and His church, and to the character and fruits thereof.[17] Others could be cited in support of these views. From Jerusalem to Alexandria We can begin to see how quickly Christianity forsook its Jewish heritage and how readily it adopted Greek modes of interpretation in its study of the Scriptures. With the collapse of the Jerusalem Church, the Alexandrian Christian School rose to a position of enormous influence, adopting the role of mother and nursemaid to the churches. Prominent among the Alexandrian prime-movers was Christian philosopher Clement of Alexandria (AD150-215), an exceptionally gifted teacher with leanings towards Greek wisdom. He had been strongly influenced by the teachings of the Jewish philosopher Philo (20BCAD 50), whose allegorical methods of interpretation he enthusiastically adopted; these in turn would be channeled to Origen, Ambrose and Augustine, men of colossal influence in the development of Christian thought. It is therefore to Philo,
a contemporary of Paul the apostle, and a leading light in the Alexandrian Jewish community, that we must first look if we are to uncover the unstable foundations upon which the doctrine of Replacement Theology totters. Described as a cosmopolitan thinker, well versed in the major Greek philosophies of his time,[18] Philo believed that he had discovered the doctrines of Plato and the Stoics in the writings of Moses. Using Greek allegorical tools, he excavated the Old Testament text to unearth what he believed was its true hidden or higher spiritual meaning. In so doing, Philo interpreted the Mosaic code allegorically, maintaining that the Jewish laws were figurative of a higher ethical code. For example, he believed the Sabbath ordinance was commemorative of the birth of the universe. He even enlisted the help of the plants that grew in the Garden of Eden to further his speculative cause, claiming that they were not real plants at all but symbolized Gods gifts to man of soul and reason, which bore the fruit of virtue, insight, and the wisdom to distinguish between the beautiful and the ugly.[19] From these examples, we can perhaps understand why Philo adopted a policy of zero-tolerance towards the literal interpreters of Scripture, and why he branded them slow witted, obstinate, and rigid.[20] Sadly, these sentiments litter the sermons and writings of many of Philos modern-day cousins. By subjecting the Old Testament to the authority of Greek allegory, and dismissing its plain historical and literal meaning, the Jewish philosopher laid a foundation upon which the Alexandrian fathers would build their own authoritative models of interpretation. Clement, who succeeded to the headship of the Alexandrian School, funneled Philos ideas directly into his own writings, thus guaranteeing his mentor a place in the theological affections of his own students, notably Origen (AD185254), who took over as head of the School at the remarkably young age of eighteen. Nicknamed The Allegorizer General by Thomas Fuller,[21] Origen was a prolific writer, with over 6,000 works to his credit.[22] Renowned for his vast encyclopedic knowledge, immense academic prowess, and towering theological seniority, his impact in shaping and moulding the doctrinal thinking of the thirdcentury Church is profound. Following in the footsteps of his illustrious tutors, he taught that, because the Bible was inspired by the Holy Spirit, the surface meaning of Scripture was to be distinguished from its deeper spiritual meaning,[23] a process that transports the reader above the literal meaning of the text into the realms of fantasy. Like Clement and Philo before him, Origen was able to make the Bible dance to whatever tune he chose to play. A Trail of Crimes The following extract from his lengthy treatise Against Celsus, opens a window into Origens Greek-Christian mind, revealing just how deeply convinced he was that there was no future for the Jewish nation in the purposes of God. He therefore set the theological stage upon which the drama of Israels irrevocable judgment would be performed, with the Church playing the lead role: Now it has never been recorded, since the Jewish nation began to exist, that they have been expelled for so long a periodand enslaved by more powerful nations; for if at any time they appeared to be abandoned for their sins, they were not withstanding visited (by God), and
18
returned to their own country, and recovered their possessions.. One fact, then, which proves that Jesus was something divine and sacred, is this, that Jews should have suffered on His account now for a lengthened time calamities of such severity. And we say with confidence that they will never be restored to their former condition. For they committed a crime of the most unhallowed kind, in conspiring against the Saviour of the human race. It accordingly behoved that city where Jesus underwent these sufferings to perish utterly, and the Jewish nation to be overthrown, and the invitation of happiness offered them by God to pass to others - the Christians (my emphasis).[24] As far as the Church of Origens day was concerned, the Jews had committed the unpardonable sin, Deicide (the murder of God), and all they could expect was unrelenting punishment and the harshest condemnation from the Christian. To justify its actions, the Church revised understanding of Jewish Old Testament history, portraying it as a trail of crimes which culminated in the rejection and murder of Christ.[25] The anathematizing of the Jewish people had begun. Conclusion Origen profoundly shaped the way in which the Christian minds of his and future generations interacted with the Scriptures, but, as we shall see in the next article, it would fall to Augustine of Hippo (AD 354430), the unrivalled Patron Saint of Replacement Theology, to systematize Origens allegorical methods. Canonized by Protestants and Roman Catholics alike, Saint Augustines harsh a-millennialism dominated the Church of the Middle Ages and provided the most powerful stimulus to the Reformation,[26] exercising enormous influence on the theology of John Calvin. Others merit attention, including Emperor Constantine (AD 274 or 288-337) who, by legalizing Christianity, declared open season on the Jews; and golden-mouthed John Chrysostom (AD 347-407), whose virulent anti-Semitic Homilies against the Jews find their equal with Martin Luthers treatise On the Jews and Their Lies (1543). Men may rant and rail against the Jews all they like, but, let us make no mistake, the God of Israel will have the final
word, of that there is no doubt! Let us therefore close on a brighter note, with these uplifting words, penned by Mrs. J. B. Webb in December 1840 in the preface to her novel Naomi or The Last Days of Jerusalem: The signs of the present times point strongly towards the Holy Land and the once glorious city of Jerusalem; and the eyes of many (both Jews and Gentiles) are turned hither in anxious expectation of the approaching fulfilment of those promises of favour and restoration which are so strikingly set forth in Scripture, with reference to that land and her scattered and degraded people. The threatened judgments have been awfully and literally accomplished, and shall not the promises of God be found to be equally sure? It will be no hard matter for the same Almighty power which has turned her fruitful valleys into a desolate wilderness, to cause that wilderness once more to blossom as the rose; and the same Hand that has scattered her inhabitants over the whole earth, and made them a mark for the scorn and reproach of the Gentile nations, can as easily gather them together and bring them again into their own Land. Amen!
[17] Tertullian, Against Marcion, book 3, chapter 25; Anti-Nicene Fathers, Vol 3, p.342. [18] Calvin J. Roetzel, The World that Shaped the New Testament, 1985, p.81. [19] On Creation, p.154, from Roetzel, p.81. [20] Roetzel, p.81. [21] Thomas Fuller, A Pisgah View of Palestine, 1650, p.197. [22] These include letters, short treatises and individual sermons. [23] MGrath, p.11. [24] Origen, Against Celsus, book 4, chapter 22; Anti Nicene Fathers, Vol 4. Celsus was a pagan philosopher. [25] Rosemary R. Reuter, Faith and Fratricide: The Theological Roots of Anti-Semitism, 1975, p.124. [26] D.F. Wright, New Dictionary of Theology,1988, p.58.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Andrew Robinson was born in Penarth, South Wales in 1951 and was raised in Christian Science. He and Pat were born again in 1987, while he was working as a senior youth and community worker in Bury, Lancashire. Married for 37 years, they have 3 grown up daughters and a son, who are all following the Lord. They also have 3 young grandsons. Andrew and Pat have served the Lord in a pastoral ministry for 22 years, ministering in Scotland and the Manchester area. Andrew holds a theology degree from Manchester University and was trained as an AOG pastor. He has taught at Manchester Bible School and for the last 15 years has pastored Hazel Grove Full Gospel Church in Stockport, an independent Pentecostal fellowship which came into being in the wake of a Jeffreys brothers campaign in South Manchester in the late 1920s. Andrew resigned from Assemblies of God in 2001.
NEXT - Church and State

ENDNOTES:
[1] Adoph Saphir, Christ and Israel, 2001, pp.161,2. [2] J.C. Ryle, Light from Old Times 1890, p.303. [3] Alister MGrath, Christian Theology, An Introduction, 1994, p.75. [4] Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church, Vol 2, p. 779. [5] Edward Flannery, The Anguish of the Jews, 1965, p.28. [6] Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, book 3, chapter 5. [7] Flannery, p.33. [8] Eusebius, book 4, chapter 6. [9] Eusebius, book 4, chapter 6. [10] Anti Nicene Fathers, ed. Roberts & Donaldson, 1885, Vol I. This is not the Barnabas of the New Testament. [11] Flannery, p.31. [12] Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho, chapter 6; Anti Nicene Fathers, Vol I. [13] Dialogue with Trypho, chapter 11. [14] Irenaeus, Against Heresies, book 3, chapter 21; Anti-Nicene Fathers, Vol I. [15] Cyprian, Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews, Treatise 12, AntiNicene Fathers, Vol 5, pp.507,514) [16] Dialogue with Trypho, chapters 80, 81.
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Whats New For This Quarter?

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ZVI THE MIRACULOUS Elwood McQuaid Zvi was separated from his parents and forced to face the trials of survival in Adolph Hitlers crazed world. How he triumphed against all odds and found his way to Israel and faith in the Messiah, is one of the great stories of our time. Now Zvi The Miraculous, and the sequel, Zvi and The Next Generation are combined in this book. You will find this book hard to put down. B497 AU$20.00 THE GREEN LETTERS Miles J Stanford "Not I, but Christ" is the theme of this book. God does not intend to help us live the Christian life. Immaturity considers the Lord Jesus a Helper. Maturity knows Him to be life itself. B498 AU$11.00 MADE IN HEAVEN Hardcover Ray Comfort & Jeff Seto Engineers and inventors have looked to sh, squids, and shrimp for such high-tech inven:ons as body armour, jet propulsion, and optical media. We have moths to thank for new discoveries in solar panels. This book has 32 examples from nature that man has copied and used, and then taken all the credit. Yet God is truly the source of all knowledge and creativity of this world. B499 AU$20.00 WHOM GOD HAS JOINED by Isobel Kuhn John and Isobel Kuhn were two ordinary people, who made an extraordinary commitment to put God first. With transparent honesty and humour, Isobel shares from her life as a missionary wife. Her exuberance and colourful style make those far away places seem as close as next door, while her deep faith in God speaks to the deep needs we all experience. B500 AU$14.00 BODY BUILDERS Daily Devotional by Ps Barry Stagner Ps Barry Stagners heart as a Pastor comes through each page as he encourages his readers to look to the Lord Jesus and His Word. Many are discouraged with no good church to attend, and a devotional book is not a replacement, but Body Builders could be a valuable resource to fortify your walk before God. This is a wonderful devotional for the whole family. B505 AU$26.00
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23
The Longing of the Lord

By Paul Wilkinson
Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world. John 17:24 NKJV throughout. These words were prayed by the Lord Jesus at the close of His last Passover supper. They must have given the disciples some measure of comfort and reassurance, at such a difficult and confusing time for them. Earlier that evening their hearts had been troubled by the news that the Lord was leaving. Not only that, but Jesus had told them that they would not be able to follow Him to the place where He was going, at least not yet (Jn. 13:33). With loving authority, the Lord had commanded His disciples not to let their hearts become unduly burdened by the news. How were they to do that? By trusting Him completely, and by knowing in their hearts that His absence would only be for a short time: And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself; that where I am, there you may be also (Jn. 14:3). Not only is the Lord Jesus coming back for us, but He is longing for us to be with Him in His Fathers house! The Appointed Time In His Passover prayer, the Lord first consecrated Himself to the Father in readiness for all that lay ahead, and then prayed for His disciples to be protected from the evil one. Jesus then turned His thoughts towards you and me, that is, to all those He knew would one day come to faith through the message His disciples would proclaim. Ever since their exodus from Egypt and their entry into the Promised Land, the Jewish people had sacrificed an unblemished male lamb, or goat, at an appointed time each year. This was how they were to remember that the Shepherd of Israel had delivered them from bondage with a strong hand (Ex. 13:9), before bringing them through the wilderness into a good and safe pasture. Now the appointed time had come for Jesus to fulfil all that the Passover had prophetically signified. As He reclined with His disciples in the upper room that night, Jesus not only directed their thoughts back to Egypt, as was the custom, but forwards, beyond Calvary, to a heavenly land where they would one day celebrate the feast anew (Lk. 22:16; Matt. 8:11; Heb. 11:10). Although His departure was necessary for their sake, the Good
Shepherd was not about to abandon His little flock, or leave them as orphans in this world. In a short while Jesus would ask the Father, and the Father would send them another Comforter/Helper, the promised Holy Spirit (Jn. 14:16-18, 26-28). The Extent of His Love We know from Lukes account that Jesus had eagerly desired to eat His last Passover meal with His disciples. According to one translation, Jesus said to them, Earnestly have I longed to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. According to another, With an intense desire I desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer (Luke 22:15). Why did Jesus long so much to eat this meal with His disciples, and why did He tell them so? Although the answer is not clear from the text, we know that He wanted to celebrate Passover with those He called His children (Jn. 13:33), His friends (Jn. 15:15), and His brethren (Jn. 20:17) those whom He had chosen, and who themselves had chosen, to do the will of His Father (Mk. 3:31-35; Matt. 6:10). At a time of great personal sorrow, Jesus desired the consolation of His closest friends (see Matt. 26:37-40). He also wanted them to know that His longing to eat this meal with them was not confined to that final Passover occasion. A new and glorious day would one day dawn when all sorrow and suffering would cease, and when all of Gods family would be gathered together to eat and drink with Him in His Fathers kingdom (Rev. 19:6-9). Jesus and His disciples may well have celebrated the Passover together during the first two years of His public ministry. Now the appointed time had come for the Lord to offer Himself as the unblemished Passover Lamb (1 Cor. 5:7), and so accomplish in His body a redemption that would far exceed Israels deliverance from Egypt. By breaking bread, distributing the wine, and stooping with servant-hearted humility to wash the feet of His disciples, the Lord revealed the full extent of His love (Jn. 17:6). Some years later, in his letter to the church at Ephesus, the Apostle Paul wrote about the way Christ had loved the Church, having given Himself up for her that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word. This was so that He might one day might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish (Eph. 5:25-27;
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Jude 24). This is indeed a mystery, but one which encourages us to think more deeply about the way the Lord sees us, and the lengths to which He has gone to make sure that we are presented, and presentable, to Him on that day. The Bridegroom is longing to be with His Bride because He loves her, and loves her with the same love with which the Father has loved the Son (Jn. 15:9; 1 Jn. 3:1). The Blessedness of the Blessed Hope The desire of the Lord for His Bride is a crucial aspect of the doctrine of the Second Coming, but one that is sadly missing from many sermons, articles, and books that deal with the subject. Although the thought of the Lords return can be overwhelming at times, simply because it is outside our experience and beyond what our finite minds can comprehend, it is so sad to see believers being robbed of their blessed hope by those who are not looking or longing for His return. Even though the Apostle Paul knew that it was better for the churches under his care that he remained with them, his desire was always to depart and be with Christ (Phil. 1:23). The Apostle has set every generation of believers an example to follow, having poured out his life daily in sacrifice and service to the Lord, while at the same time living in the certain knowledge and constant expectation that Jesus could come for him at any moment. Having been freed from our sins through the precious blood of the Lamb (Rev. 1:5; 1 Pet. 1:19), it is inconceivable, and completely contrary to Gods Word and His character, that we should endure the wrath of the Lamb (Rev. 6:16). We no longer belong to this earth (Jn. 15:19), nor do we belong to the night or to the darkness (1 Thess. 5:5). We belong to the Lord,
who delivers us from the wrath to come (1 Thess. 1:10). We are His chosen people, His children, His brethren, His disciples, His friends, His flock, His Church, His Body, and His Bride. The time of wrath to come is not a time of trouble for the true Church, but for Jacob (Jer. 30:7), a period of unprecedented distress that will engulf the world, including those of Daniels people who rejected their Messiah (Dan. 12:1; Matt. 24:15-21). This day of the Lord (2 Thess. 2:2; NASB) is not the day of Christ Jesus (Phil. 1:6), which is the day we, as believers, are waiting and longing and destined to see.
this (1:19). This hour of trial is a specific period of time referred to elsewhere as the Great Tribulation, when the whole world will be tested by God in order to prove what is in the hearts of the people on earth at that time (Rev. 7:9-17). However, as the Lord promised the church at Philadelphia, we will be rescued, or kept, from this hour. For those of us whose heart is set on pilgrimage (Psa. 84:1-7) and who are doing our best to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus (Heb. 12:2), the prospect of seeing the Lord and being taken to His Fathers house should fill our hearts with hope, assurance, peace, and joy. It should also dispel any fears we might have of what lies ahead, and of what we do not and cannot understand until it happens. As Paul declared in his letter to the Corinthians, Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him. But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. (1 Cor. 2:9-10). The Apostle Peter put it this way: In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honour, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith the salvation of your souls. - 1 Peter 1:6-9. For all of us who know, love, and long for the Lord Jesus today, a bright and glorious tomorrow is guaranteed.
Let us take great encouragement from the Lords own words in the letter to the faithful church at Philadelphia: Because you have kept my command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth. - Revelation 3:10. This raises one very simple, but important, question: When did such an hour of trial ever take place? Certainly not in the days of the Philadelphians, and yet the Lord promised to keep them from it literally out of it. How do we reconcile this? By remembering that the book of Revelation is prophecy, and that John is writing about things which must shortly take place (Rev. 1:1), and the things which will take place after
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Come, Lord Jesus! With these things in mind, let us consider again how remarkable, encouraging, reassuring, and definite the words Jesus prayed to the Father were that night in the upper room. The King James Version seems to capture best what the Lord actually prayed: Father, I will that they also ... be with me where I am. Jesus wasnt merely hoping or wishing that one day His followers might be with Him in glory. The Greek word translated will is thelo, which conveys a sense of volition, purpose and determination. It was Jesus express purpose, therefore, that in accord with the will of the Father, all who had met Him at the cross would one day meet Him in the air. The Apostle Paul not only knew, by the word of the Lord (1 Thess. 4:15), that Jesus could catch him away at any moment; he also longed for it to happen. As he wrote in his final letter to Timothy, Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing. - 2 Tim. 4:8. In the final chapter of the book of Revelation, the Lord makes the following announcement: Behold, I am coming quickly! (Rev. 22:7, 12, 20) The word quickly speaks more of the suddenness and speed of Jesus return than the nearness of the event. That does not mean we should not be alert and watchful; indeed, Jesus use of behold calls the hearer to pay very careful attention to what is being announced. Jesus clearly wanted His Church to pay close attention to this truth, a point Peter highlights in his second letter when he warns that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their
own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of His coming? What was Peters reply? The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. - 2 Peter 3:3-9. When Jesus instructed John to write to the seven churches of Asia Minor, He finished each letter with the same exhortation: He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches (Rev. 2:7, 11, 17, 29; 3:6, 13, 22). As the Bible closes, the last word to be spoken by the Holy Spirit is Come! Can the Church hear? The Spirit is He who searches all things, yes, the deep things of God (1 Cor. 2:10), and communicates to Gods people what is in Gods heart. He is also referred to as the Spirit of Jesus, the Spirit of Christ, and the Spirit of His (Gods) Son (Ac. 16:7; Rom. 8:9; Gal. 4:6; Phil. 1:19; 1 Pet. 1:11). It should not surprise us, then, to learn that the Holy Spirit, who indwells the Bride, should also be longing for Jesus to come. As John declared, the Spirit and the Bride say, Come. And let him who hears say, Come - Rev. 22:17. What a great exhortation! When the Church walks in step with the Holy Spirit, she will not only do what He commands, but she will also desire what He desires. May those who are not longing for the Lord to come, or who dont believe that He could return for us at any moment, open wide their hearts, that they too might hear the voice of the Holy Spirit and join with Him in proclaiming, Maranatha! Come, Lord Jesus!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Paul Wilkinson, PhD, is the Associate Minister at Hazel Grove Full Gospel Church, an independent Pentecostal fellowship in Stockport, England. He is a Council Member of Prophetic Witness Movement International (PWMI) in the UK, and a member of the Pre-Trib Study Group, which is based in the United States. He holds a BSc in Mathematics and Statistics from the University of York (where he was born again in 1990), and a BA, MA, and PhD in Theology from the University of Manchester. His PhD thesis was published in 2007 entitled, For Zions Sake: Christian Zionism and the Role of John Nelson Darby; the book has recently been republished by The Berean Call in Oregon entitled, Understanding Christian Zionism: Israels Place in the Purposes of God (2013). Paul is an international conference speaker and a regular contributor to Christian television, radio, and film, and was a research consultant for the award-winning documentary, The Destiny of Britain (2008). He has studied and lectured at the International School of Holocaust Studies at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem, and is a recognised authority on Christian Palestinianism.
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Cruising on the Emergent Freeway

Part 1
By James Smith
In spite of this admission McLaren continues to be accepted by much of the evangelical world.
The Emergent/Emerging Church Movement (ECM) is eclectic and broad based, so is very difficult to label. Imagine it as a huge American-style multi-lane freeway; all lanes of traffic are heading in the same direction, towards the same destination, but some lanes of traffic are travelling faster than others. On the freeway of the ECM people like Rick Warren are probably best described as being generally in the slow lane most of the time, so he can keep saying he is an evangelical without most Christians batting an eyelid. However he does flirt (dice) with the middle lanes from time to time, and has even been spotted cruising in the outside fast lane, but he tends to do that mostly under the cover of darkness, so it is more difficult to catch his licence plate! Warren must have been driving in the outside fast lane with his headlights turned off when he had Leonard Sweet in the passenger seat for their 1994 joint audio teaching titled Tides of Change, because very few evangelicals seemed to notice, or even care.
Rob Bell on the other hand weaves in and out of the middle lanes and the outside fast lane, so it has at times been difficult to keep up with him, or pin a precise label on him. Nevertheless, all lanes of the ECM freeway are headed in the same direction; some people will just arrive quicker than others at their destination. Epistemology In grasping the nature and language of the ECM it is helpful to have an understanding of epistemology, which is basically the study of truth and how we learn truth. The Oxford Dictionary describes Epistemology as: The theory of knowledge, especially with regard to its methods, validity, and scope, and the distinction between justified belief and opinion. Throughout the history of man there have essentially been three major trends in Epistemology, which can be defined as: Premodernism Modernism
ECM leader (and very obvious New Age heretic) Brian McLaren just spends all his time exceeding the speed limit in the outside lane with his hand on the horn, so no one can ignore him! Wherever the ECM is headed McLaren is leading the way and wants to get there first and make a name for himself in the process. Where is the ECM freeway headed? McLaren gives us the very clear answer to that question. The ECM freeway is headed off the God-given map. In his book Church on the Other Side McLaren explains the objective of the ECM: We are exploring off the map looking into mysterious territory beyond our familiar world on this side of the river, this side of the ocean, this side of the boundary between modern and postmodern worlds. We are looking into an exciting, unmapped world on the other side of all we know so far (pages 7-8).
Postmodernism All three are linked to a very general timeframe throughout human history. Premodernism A premodern epistemology assumes that God exists and knows everything. Therefore, truth begins with God because a premodern epistemology says our knowledge and ability to learn truth depends on divine revelation from God Himself. Roughly speaking, premodern epistemology ended after the 16th Century, during the Enlightenment, a European intellectual movement which emphasised reason and individualism over tradition. Rene Descartes (15961650), the French philosopher, mathematician and writer, is generally regarded as being responsible for the shift to Modernism.
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Modernism Modernism assumes that truth can be found through the senses of man. What we feel, see and measure becomes the focus of how truth is learned. As science seeks truth through what man can see by observation, it plays a much more important role in modernism than it did in the premodern era. While the existence of God is compatible with modernism, the focus of God being the source of truth moves to man being the source of truth. Modernism has really lasted up until just the last few decades, when postmodernism began to emerge. Postmodernism Postmodernism is the buzzword of the ECM. It not only denies that absolute truth can be known, but also questions whether or not absolute truth is even desirable. For example, Brian McLaren says, Its not about truth; maybe there are no answers. The end result of finding absolute truth becomes secondary to the journey of discovery; the journey becomes as important, if not more important, than the destination, with the destination often never being achieved or even desired. Truth becomes relative experiential. For example, in his book, The Emerging Church: Vintage Christianity for New Generations, Dan Kimball writes:
The basis of learning has shifted from logic and rational, systematic thought to the realm of experience. People increasingly long for the mystical and the spiritual rather than the evidential and facts-based faith of the modern soil (page 60). This is a book in which Kimball promotes pagan meditative practices and calls for a return to what he describes as Vintage Christianity, which rather than meaning a return to the teachings and practices of the first century apostles, actually means a return to the occult practices of the Roman Catholic mystics and the practices of the pagan Eastern mystery religions from which the Roman Catholic mystics obtained their practices. Both Brian McLaren and Rick warren wrote gushing forwards for Kimballs book. Warren wrote: This book is a wonderful, detailed example of what a purposedriven church can look like in a postmodern world. My friend Dan Kimball writes passionately, with a deep desire to reach the emerging generation and culture. While my book, The Purpose Driven Church, explained what the church is called to do, Dans book explains how to do it with the cultural creatives who think and feel in postmodern terms. You need to pay attention to him because times are changing (page 7). The ECM is most definitely postmodern in its approach to Christian doctrine, language and spiritual experience. In his book A Is For Abductive: the Language of the Emerging Church, McLaren confirms the ECM view that we are living in a postmodern world, and describes it as: a broad, diverse, and often paradoxical emerging culture defined as having passed through modernity and being ready to move to something better beyond it (page 239). Something better? The question is:
better by whose standard? Postmodernism denies that any story or written word has an absolute message, with the authors original point or intent not being important; only what the reader takes out of it is important, meaning that the written word only has meaning in how the reader interprets it. For example, Brian McLaren argues that the key to interpreting the parables of Jesus is to use our imagination. This is unabashed Gnosticism and opens up the reader to any interpretation, no matter how unbiblical. The attitude of, This is what it means to me becomes the issue instead of what the author intended. This is incredibly destructive and dangerous when the book in question is the Bible and the author God. This leads to the Bible being downgraded from being the Word of God to just a book containing the Word of God; something Spurgeon described as the down-grade. This is done implicitly by those in the slower inner lanes of the ECM freeway and explicitly by those speeding along in the outer fast lanes. This seemingly subtle shift in emphasis is seismic in implication and allows postmodernists (like Brian McLaren and Rob Bell et al) to claim that truth found in extrabiblical sources has equal authority with the Bible; they claim the church wrote the Bible, so the church can rewrite it; both these claims are of course Satanic lies. In postmodernism, not only has the focus of truth moved from God to mankind, but has moved a step further from mankind to the individual; your truth may be truth to you, but may not be truth to me. This is a real problem when Jesus claimed to be the Truth (John 14:6). The Emergent attitude to absolute truth in the context of Christianity is typified by a chapter in Dan Kimballs book, They Like Jesus But Not The Church, titled The Church Arrogantly Claims All Other Religions are wrong. There is a difference between arrogance and confidence and the true Christian church can
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say with all confidence that all other religions are wrong because Jesus says He is the only way; that is why the true church says the same. In accordance with its postmodern view the ECM is about dialogue (conversation), rather than conclusion and certainty. Questions do not necessarily need answers. For example, in Adventures in Missing the Point by Brian McLaren and Tony Campolo, McLaren states: Drop any affair you may have with certainty, proof, argument and replace it with dialogue, conversation, intrigue, and search (page 84). The Fuel in the Tank The fuel in the tanks of all the various kinds of vehicles travelling the ECM freeway is something called deconstructionism. this as:
www.freedictionary.com
philosophers for its wisdom and methods of interpreting Scripture; men like Jaques Derrida, who is acknowledged by name by Tony Jones in his book The New Christians (on pages 41 and 43) as being an influence on Emergent thought, along with Richard Rorty (19312007) and Michel Foucault (19261984). This postmodern method of interpretation is totally incompatible with the Word of God, because deconstructionism is about questioning everything to the point where no one can even know what the author intended and the meaning is left to the interpretation of the reader; it dismisses Authorial Intent and replaces it with Reader Response. This contradicts what the Bible says about itself being all inspired (authored) by God (2Timothy 3:16) and not subject to private interpretation, but being the direct result of the Holy Spirit (2Peter 1:20-21). When Paul wrote in 2 Timothy 3:16 that, All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, the word inspiration used is translated from the Greek word theopneustos, meaning God-breathed. We should therefore take note of the authors intent, rather than replace it with the readers own response. In 1 Thessalonians 2:13 Paul commended the Thessalonians for receiving: The word of God which you heard from us, you welcomeditnotasthe word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which also effectively works in you who believe. In Luke 1:1-4 we read how Luke wrote to his friend Theophilus that he had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, and that he wanted Theophilus to know the certainty of those things in which you were instructed. Perfect understanding? Certainty? How very un-Emergent of Luke. Deconstruction is so important to ECM thinking that Brian McLaren
and Leonard Sweet devote an entire chapter to it in their book A is For Abductive the Language of the Emerging Church. They state that deconstruction is: One of the most important p h i l o s o p h i ca l / i nte r p ret i ve concepts of postmodernity. They go on to say on page 88: Traditional modern interpretation, then, is fond of finding the one true meaning in a text, while deconstructionists do not give any one reading privileged status, but rather are interested in hearing the interplay of many interpretations that arise from within many different interpretive communities. As a further example, Doug Pagitt (another key ECM figure) writes in his book Church Re-Imagined: At Solomons Porch [his fellowship], sermons are not primarily about my extracting truth from the Bible to apply to peoples lives. In many ways the sermon is less a lecture or motivational speech than it is an act of poetry of putting words around peoples experiences to allow them to find deeper connection in their lives So our sermons are not lessons that precisely define belief so much as they are stories that welcome our hopes and ideas and participation (page 166). A is for What? Christians need to have a proper hermeneutic (i.e. method of interpreting the Bible). Abductive reasoning was created by American philosopher Charles Sanders Peirce (1839-1914) and was ironically first introduced using the term guessing. It is yet another example of how the ECM draws its wisdom and methods of interpreting Scripture from postmodern philosophers. Abductive reasoning is a method of reasoning in which one chooses the hypothesis that would, if true, best explain the relevant evidence. It is a method of interpretation
describes
A philosophical movement and theory of literary criticism that questions traditional assumptions about certainty, identity, and truth; asserts that words can only refer to other words; and attempts to demonstrate how statements about any text subvert their own meanings. Deconstruction theory was developed by the French philosopher, Jacques Derrida (19302004), a major figure in postmodern philosophy. In its simplest form deconstructionism is a postmodern method of questioning all objective meaning and authority, thus encouraging multiple readings and interpretations of a text. Rather than drawing from the theological and intellectual roots of the first century apostles, the ECM draws from postmodern
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evangelist George Whitefield (17141770): God has condescended to become an author, and yet people will not read His writings. There are very few that ever gave this Book of God, the grand charter of salvation, one fair reading through. The ECM is guilty of not giving Gods Word a fair reading through; its leaders deny what the Bible says about itself. For example, in addition to the previously mentioned passages: The words of the Lordarepure words, like silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. You shall keep them, O Lord, You shall preserve them from this generation forever -Psalm 12:6-7. For the word of theLordisright, and all His workis donein truth -Psalm 33:4. Forever, OLord, your word is settled in heaven -Psalm119:89. The entirety of Your wordistruth, and every one of Your righteous judgmentsenduresforever -Psalm 119:160. Every word of Godispure; Heisa shield to those who put their trust in Him. Do not add to His words, lest He rebuke you, and you be found a liar -Proverbs30:5-6. Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth -John 17:17. For the word of Godisliving and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword -Hebrews4:12. Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth -2 Timothy 2:15. Settled in heaven, pure, truth, right, quick, powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword. Where is the uncertainty in that? Enough said. The reality is that people who are not Christians can read and understand
the Bible; there are many Bible theologians who are not born-again. The difference between a Christian and a non-Christian reading the Bible is that the Christian is indwelt by the Holy Spirit, who helps Christians to apply Scripture to their lives and be obedient to it. Abductive reasoning / deconstruction denies even the Christian reader this opportunity because it ultimately undermines Gods Authorial Intent and replaces it with Reader Response. How can God communicate with the believers who only hear their own voice?
that claims to do its best with the information at hand, but allows for a creative leap of imagination not warranted by the information available. Abductive reasoning is often used as a way of interpreting philosophy, which is fine, because philosophy is the subjective reasoning and imagination of fallible human beings, so the use of subjective fallible human reasoning and imagination to interpret subjective fallible human reasoning and imagination is perfectly acceptable; one can deconstruct human philosophy as much as one wants. But it does not provide a legitimate way of interpreting the objective truth of Scripture. The proper way of interpreting Scripture is not abductive, but inductive. This enables the reader to draw out of Scripture the objective truth the author intended to convey. Unlike abductive reasoning / deconstruction, the inductive method of interpretation maintains Authorial Intent (i.e. remains true to the authors intended meaning) and enables proper Exegesis of Scripture, whereas abductive reasoning / deconstruction is Eisegesis, which reads into Scripture whatever the reader wants it to say (i.e. Reader Response). ECM leaders would do well to take note of the following quote by
Rick Warren reveals his postmodern Emergent credentials by employing a very subtle (yet no less dangerous) form of deconstruction in his teaching that most Christians are oblivious to. He does this not by directly questioning the meaning of Bible passages, or the authors original intention, but by teaching from a multitude of different Bible paraphrases. Paraphrases are not translations, but are merely interpretations by the authors of what they think the original author meant, and in many cases what they think the Bible should say in order to fit in with their own theological position (Eugene Petersons The Message is a perfect example of this). Warren cleverly takes advantage of the deconstruction already performed on Scripture by the authors of the various paraphrases he uses in order to find an interpretation and meaning of a Bible passage that fits in with what he wants to say. The Purpose Driven Life is a perfect example of this, as Warren quotes from no less than 15 different Bible versions within his best-selling book. Deconstruction leaves people: of Gods Word
Always learning and never able

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to come to the knowledge of the truth (2 Timothy 3:7). This is perfectly illustrated by a comment made by Rob Bell in a Christianity Today article entitled Five Streams of the Emerging Church (19/1/2007): I grew up thinking that weve figured out the Bible, Kristen [his wife] says, that we knew what it means. Now I have no idea what most of it means. Why then is he trying to teach others and why are people looking to him for answers he does not have? It is the blind leading the blind (Matthew 15:13-14; Luke 6:39). You see evidence of Robert Bell deconstructing the Word of God throughout his books, but that is not surprising when he teaches God Himself has given us authority to find our own interpretations. On page 50 of Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith, Bell makes an astonishing claim regarding what Jesus said in Matthew 16:19: And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosedin heaven. Bell writes: What he is doing here is significant. He is giving his followers the authority to make new interpretations of the Bible. He is giving them permission to say, Hey, we think we missed it before on that verse, and weve recently come to the conclusion that this is what it actually means. Let us be absolutely clear in what Robert Bell is claiming Jesus is doing here. He is claiming that Jesus is giving His disciples (and also us present day Christians) permission to deconstruct the Word of God in order to find new interpretations. How very Emergent of our Lord Jesus Christ! Or perhaps Bell is just wrong The rabbis of Jesus day bound
The Greek reads: [1] estai dedemenon [2] estai lelumenon Contrary to Bells claim, in Matthew 16:19 Jesus is not giving His followers the authority to make new interpretations to the Bible. Jesus is saying that whatever the apostles bound and loosed on earth had already been established in Heaven. In other words Christians can only allow and forbid what has already been allowed and forbidden in Heaven by God. Our moral authority on earth is simply a reflection or echo of what God has already determined in Heaven; nothing more and nothing less. God has already determined an order in Heaven that we have been given authority to bring about on earth. We do not get to decide what is bound and loosed, God has already determined that. This is why Jesus taught us to pray: Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven -Matthew 6:10. Not Alone In Bad Company Rob Bell is of course not alone in his abuse of Matthew 16:19 in order to justify an unbiblical teaching. Word of Faith proponents also misuse it by claiming that whatever we as believers declare on earth, God has to affirm and honour in Heaven; they use this passage like it is a Godgiven contract of authority so that whatever is declared on earth has to be honoured by God in Heaven. However, as we have seen, a correct interpretation of Matthew 16:19 says the exact opposite to what Word of Faith proponents and Robert Bell claim. The Roman Catholic Church also misuses Matthew 16:19 in order to justify its fallacious claim that Jesus granted all authority to the bishops of Rome through the doctrine of Apostolic Succession from Peter up to the present-day Pope. It allows the Roman Catholic Church to claim that when a Pope speaks ex cathedra (i.e. those teachings defined by the Pope and declared to be infallible),
and loosed (i.e. allowed and disallowed) certain activities, so Bell is correct when he writes in Velvet Elvis that Jesus was deliberately using every day language the disciples would be familiar with in order to help them grasp and understand the important spiritual truth He was telling them; Jesus did this a lot (for example, Jesus explained His Second Coming to His disciples in terms of a Jewish wedding ceremony see John 14). However, that is the only thing Bell does get right. Apart from that everything he claimed Jesus is saying to His disciples is utterly false. The words bound and loosed in the Greek verb form are in the perfect passive participle, providing a sense of something having happened. This is part of speech present in some languages (such as Latin and Greek), but not present in English. It is therefore difficult to render an accurate translation of Matthew 16:19 in most English translations of the Bible. A much more accurate translation of the Greek can be found in the New American Standard Bible (NASB), which reads: I will give youthe keys of the kingdom of heaven; andwhatever you bind on earth [1]shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth[2]shall have been loosed in heaven (emphasis added).
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he speaks with the authority given by God to bind and loose. In addition to God supposedly giving the authority to bind and loose to the Popes through Apostolic Succession, the Roman Catholic Church also teaches that because the Church gave us the Scriptures (which it did not), so the Church has pre-eminence over the Scriptures, meaning that whatever the Roman Catholic Church says has at least equal authority with the Word of God. Wrong, wrong, wrong. In reality, Rob Bells wrong interpretation of binding and loosing takes the Roman Catholic wrong interpretation a step even further, because whilst the Roman Catholic Church claims only the Pope has the authority to reinterpret Scripture, Bell claims every believer has that authority. Wrong, wrong, wrong.
David Douglas
1926 - 2014
PASTOR DAVID DOUGLAS A Deep and Sincere Tribute from Philip L. Powell. His character, personality and humour were contagious to the end. Known for his strong protestant stand for the gospel throughout his long life he nevertheless was able to quip that in his 87th year he suffered purgatory and we all knew what he meant. I never signed up for this, old age He joked. Its purgatory. His wife Betty stood by him to the end never complaining about the trials and sufferings. I first heard of the Reverend David Douglas, when I was ministering in New Zealand, where I had taken a strong stand against the false signs and wonders movement known as the Toronto Blessing later branching out into the so called Pensacola Revival. We joined forces in our preaching and writing with David and members of his family joining us in our Christian Witness Ministries work initially through the Evangelistic
Home Call of
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

James (Jamie) Smith is a financial adviser who gives specialist advice to doctors and dentists based in Sheffield, England, where he was born in 1970. He was raised in a Christian family and became a believer in his childhood. Jamie is married to Emma. They have two young daughters, Holly and Heidi, and are members of a small independent evangelical church in Sheffield. Jamie writes on various matters of the Christian faith with the aim of encouraging and equipping fellow believers to earnestly contend for the faith (Jude 3) by being able to give an answer to everyone who asks a reason for the hope within us (1Peter 3:15)
Paper which I publish called Contending EARNESTLY for THE Faith. DD remained a faithful and loyal friend, counsellor, advisor and elder from the time when he joined our fellowship until the end, when the Lord was pleased to call him home. I and my wife Kathleen loved him and his family dearly. We laughed and wept together, joking over our differences which neither of us considered major, maintaining the harmony of the Spirit in the Bond of peace. As I shared at Davids funeral on Friday February 21st we celebrate the day of his arrival, with the assurance of a triumphant arrival, along with him so long as we remain faithful. He has NOT gone; He has arrived. Of course we sorrow with his faithful wife Betty and loyal Christian family that we will no longer enjoy his fellowship and friendship. But we KNOW we will SOON meet. Even so come Lord Jesus. Maranatha. Praise the Lord.
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Pope Francis Shows His True Colours

By Richard Bennett
Dear Brothers and Sisters, Pope Franciss performances and writings give a picture of a man who is two-faced. To build a public image for himself, Bergoglio, once elected, chose the name Pope Francis in honour of St Francis of Assisi. St Francis was known to be a soft-hearted lover of nature; thus, Pope Francis adroitly implied that he would be similarly unassuming, kind, and harmless. Then following his election, he paid his own hotel bill for his stay during the enclave. He then took up residence, not in the usual papal apartments, but rather in a smaller more humble suite. On the other hand, from his first speech and subsequent presentations, he has shown himself as a totalitarian dictator. Thus, as the media and many ecumenical Evangelicals fawn over Pope Francis, it is necessary to biblically analyse his speeches and performances. The mind-boggling conclusions are documented in the attached article. We request that you forward the article, and if possible, that you post it on your Website. Thank you. Yours in the love and grace of God our Father, Richard *** In the sixteenth century, the Reformation, through its emphasis on the ultimate authority of the Bible and the Gospel of grace, began to dislodge the Papacy from its position as co-ruler of the Holy Roman Empire. The truth of Scripture and the Gospel gave men and women the knowledge and courage to stand up against The Inquisition, a system of tortures by which The Papacy had enforced submission to papal dogma. This enforced submission had given the Papacy the power to wield tremendous influence with the emperor and among the kings of the empire. Thus Ignatius of Loyola, a contemporary of Martin Luther, founded the Jesuits in 1530 for the very purpose of defending the Papacy from further loss of its power base. The Jesuits objective has always been to increase the temporal power of The Papacy to align with the Roman Catholic dogma that the Pope has the right to judge, the highest civil office in a state.[1] However, since the demise of the Holy Roman Empire in the late eighteenth century, the Papacy has had no civil authority by which to enforce obedience to its moral rulings.
It is a well-established fact that The Jesuits throughout their history have caused many serious disturbances by their nefarious schemes within the civil governments of many countries. Over the centuries, they have justifiably earned their reputation as troublemakers to the extent that they were denied residence in some nations for varying periods of time. Nevertheless, their objective of increasing Papal religious and civil power beyond its previous height remains unchanged. Therefore, in order to move forward the Papacys drive for power in the current religious and civil arenas, this Jesuit Pope must efface the historic image of the Jesuit Order. Cosmetic Alteration of the Historic Jesuit Image Once Jorge Mario Bergoglio was elected, he chose the name Pope Francis in honour of St Francis of Assisi. St Francis, known to be a soft hearted lover of nature, was also known for his humility and gentleness. Thus, in building an image or persona for himself in the public eye, Pope Francis has shrewdly implied that he would be similarly unassuming, kind, and harmless. Since there has never been a pope named Francis, the name carries with it no papal baggage. Immediately following Pope Franciss election, the media made much of his unassuming nature by showing him paying his own hotel bill for his stay during the enclave. This was followed with news that he was not going to take up residence in the Vaticans usual papal apartments, but instead would take a smaller, more humble suite, ostensibly to live a normal life in touch with the laity by being visibly among them.[2] Further, he graciously welcomed back into the Vatican the previous pope, Benedict XVI, who under rumours of unpleasant circumstances, had abruptly resigned. Was this not the modern St Francis, kindly restoring to the aged and ailing Benedict some remnant of the honour that had so suddenly departed him? The steady stream of these and other similar public appearances continues to craft the public perception into an image for the new pope that is the anti-type of the traditional Jesuit. Catholic Dogma Underlying Pope Franciss Inaugural Address However, in the very first sentence of his inaugural address on March 19, 2013, Pope Francis presented a feature very different from the persona being carefully groomed by the public perception. Indeed,
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even as out of the heart the mouth speaks, so the new Jesuit Pope began to display audibly his genuine image. While thousands of people were crammed into Saint Peters Square, and millions across the world listened by television and radio, the new pope stated, Dear Brothers and Sisters, I thank the Lord that I can celebrate this Holy Mass for the inauguration of my Petrine ministry...[3] Francis knew the claimed power that is embedded in the term, Petrine ministry. As the official Catechism of the Roman Catholic Church states, the Roman Pontiff, by reason of his office as Vicar of Christ, namely, and as pastor of the entire Church, has full, supreme and universal power over the whole Church, a power which he can always exercise unhindered.[4] It is highly significant that Pope Francis began his speech by thanking the Lord that he could celebrate Mass for the inauguration of what he said was my Petrine ministry. His opening sentence shows where his heart is; namely, in himself, in his position, and the power entailed in such a position. It is this particular idea, i.e., that the Pope is the Apostle Peters successor, which has been the under girding authority for the Papacys identity in the world since the time of Pope Gregory VII in the eleventh century. The nature, indeed, the very identity of the Office of the Papacy of the Roman Catholic Church is at stake. Thus, the Papacy will concede nothing regarding this claim but rather use it to establish itself as the stable institution in the midst of current tumultuous times. Accordingly, using this supposition, Pope Franciss inaugural homily was a masterpiece in showing his Jesuitical disposition. He opened by saying, I thank the Lord that I can celebrate this Holy Mass for the inauguration of my Petrine ministry on the solemnity of Saint Joseph He then stated that God called Joseph to be the custos, the protector. The protector of whom? Of Mary and Jesus; but this protection is then extended to the Church How does Joseph exercise his role as protector? Discreetly, humbly and silently, but with an unfailing presence and utter fidelity[5] These are carefully chosen words meant to evoke a certain frame of mind in the listener. He then makes his application: Let us protect Christ in our lives, so that we can protect others, so that we can protect creation! The vocation of being a protector, however, is not just something involving us Christians alone; it
also has a prior dimension which is simply human, involving everyone. At this point, Francis has introduced major Roman Catholic social doctrine under the guise of protection; that it is everybodys job, not just the Christians job, to protect everybody; and also (though not stated here), all goods because all possessions in the creation belong to everyone.[6] In Roman Catholic social doctrine, everyone, even those who are not Roman Catholic, must fulfil his duty to others as the Roman Catholic Church defines that duty; and this is one of the things to which Pope Francis is referring when he states that there is a prior dimension to his idea of protection.[7] Thus he says, Please, I would like to ask all those who have positions of responsibility in economic, political and social life, and all men and women of goodwill: let us be protectors of creation, protectors of Gods plan inscribed in nature, protectors of one another and of the environment He also states that protection is required because in every age there are Herods who plot death, wreak havoc, and mar the countenance of men and women. He does not define the lurking Herods more closely; but he does define what he thinks needs protecting. It is this: To protect Jesus with Mary, to protect the whole of creation, to protect each person, especially the poorest, to protect ourselves: this is a service that the Bishop of Rome is called to carry out. Clearly Pope Francis does not understand that the glorified Jesus Christ, the only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords,[8] needs no protection. Moreover, he ignores the biblical commandment against praying to the dead.[9] When he closes his homily, he prayed instead, I implore the intercession of the Virgin Mary, Saint Joseph, Saints Peter and Paul, and Saint Francis, that the Holy Spirit may accompany my ministry He has not prayed to Almighty God through Jesus Christ that the Holy Spirit would accompany his ministry; rather, he has called on dead saints, none of whom can hear or answer his prayer, to induce the Holy Spirit to accompany his pontificate. Clearly, Pope Francis has neither true biblical understanding of who the Lord Jesus Christ is nor how He fulfils His role as Head of the Church.[10] Notice the position to which the Lord Jesus Christ has been relegated in all this. Rather, by weaving together the choice of papal name with the theme of protection
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as his opening homily, Pope Francis has made it clear that he intends to protect the Papacy and its social objectives during his term of office.[11] The fact that he has said it in gentle terms, by calling on the images of Francis of Assisi and Joseph, Marys husband, does not make it any less lethal. Thus, it was on day of his inaugural address that Pope Francis began his Pontificate with the mark of a true Jesuit, i.e., primarily defending the Papacy against the Gospel and biblical truth at all costs. With the very opening of his pontificate, the true image of Francis was brought forth into the light of day by his own words, showing him not as humble and harmless, but as proudly dogmatic and utterly opposed to biblical truth. On March 20 Pope Francis addressed religious leaders across the world
presence: in it I see a tangible sign of the will to grow in mutual esteem and co-operation for the common good of humanity.[12] From these remarks, Pope Francis has demonstrated effectively that he will not protect the truth of the Scripture and the Gospel of grace. He does not believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as revealed in the Bible alone. It is a well-known fact that Allah, who the Muslims worship, is not the God of the Bible. Since Pope Francis must know this, his remarks point to his ecumenical objective, a goal to be accomplished by high-powered flattery and false ecumenical dialogue. The Popes Objective Regarding Nations and Governments Moreover, two days later on March 22, 2013, Pope Francis spoke to a group of diplomats representing governments that have a relationship to the Vatican. His speech began with these words: Dear Ambassadors, Ladies and Gentlemen, thank you again for all the work that you do, alongside the Secretariat of State, to build peace and construct bridges of friendship and fraternity. Through you, I would like to renew to your Governments my thanks for their participation in the celebrations on the occasion of my election, and my heartfelt desire for a fruitful common endeavour. May Almighty God pour out his gifts on each one of you, on your families and on the peoples that you represent. Thank you![13]
The Popes Objective Regarding Religions Further, on March 20, 2013, Pope Francis addressed religious leaders across the world. Among other matters, Francis stated, It is a cause for particular joy to meet today with you, delegates of the Orthodox churches, the Oriental Orthodox churches and ecclesial communities of the West...Together with you I cannot forget how much that Council has meant for the road of ecumenism...For my part, I wish to assure youof my determination to continue on the path of ecumenical dialogue. I ask you, dear brothers and sisters, to bring my cordial greeting and the assurance of my remembrance in the Lord Jesus to the churches and Christian communities here represented... I then greet and cordially thank you all, dear friends belonging to other religious traditions; first of all the Muslims, who worship the one God, living and merciful, and call upon Him in prayer, and all of you. I really appreciate your
In his address, Pope Francis emphasized the fact that the Pope is known as the pontiff, or a builder of bridges, and stated, In this work [with governments], the role of religion is fundamental. While few people realize it, the Pope claims the right to judge those who hold highest civil office in a state. This blending of things civil and religious has been the papal method of operation throughout the centuries. At the present time, the Roman Church seeks to implement her socialist ideas by using her power as a religious system working through her own status as a civil state. As a religious system, she is able to command a fifth column within many nations.[14] By her influence as a civil power, Papal Rome is also able to substantially influence civil rulers and civil policy in many nations and international bodies. The Church of Rome has 179 legal agreements with nations across the world. These concordats, as they are called, guarantee that the Roman Catholic Church has the right to define religion and worship for Roman Catholics within that sovereign
35
nation. They also secure for the Vatican the right to define doctrine, establish Roman Catholic education, and negotiate laws regarding property, appointing bishops, and Roman Catholic laws of marriage and annulments. The Republic of Argentina has had a legal agreement with the Church of Rome since 1957. Thus, as Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio in Argentina, he would have known well the benefit that the legal agreement meant to the Roman Church. In addressing the diplomats from governments that have a relationship to the Vatican, Pope Francis knew just how important it is to woo civil governments into legal liaison with Papal Rome. Thus, the new Pope continues the Vaticans civil/legal relationships with nations across the world in its endeavour to move civil governments to implement its global socialist agenda. Mother Church Presumed to Bestow Faith and Morality On April 23, 2013, less affable facets of the namesake of St Francis surfaced again. In Pope Franciss sermon for Mass that day, he stated explicitly, The reading today makes me think that the missionary expansion of the Church began precisely at a time of persecution, and these Christians went as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch, and proclaimed the Word. They had this apostolic fervour within them, and that is how the faith spread!...But some in Jerusalem, when they heard this, became nervous and sent Barnabas...he saw that things were going well. And so the Church was a Mother, the Mother of more children, of many children. It became more and more of a Mother. A Mother who gives us the faith, a Mother who gives us an identity. But the Christian identity is not an identity card: Christian identity is belonging to the Church, because all of these belonged to the Church, the Mother Church. Because it is not possible to find Jesus outside the Church....And the Mother Church that gives us Jesus gives us our identity that is not only a seal, it is a belonging. Identity means belonging Think of this Mother Church that grows, grows with new children to whom She gives the identity of the faith, because you cannot believe in Jesus without the Church...And let us ask the Lord for this parresia, this apostolic fervour that impels us to move forward, as brothers, all of us forward![15]
On April 23 the Pope makes the outrageous claim that Mother Church gives a person Jesus.
Pope Franciss premise is that ones identity as a Christian can come only through faith in Mother Church, which secondarily also gives them Jesus. In fact, he is teaching official Roman Catholic dogma which states, Believing is an ecclesial act. The Churchs faith precedes, engenders, supports and nourishes our faith. The Church is the mother of all believers. No one can have God as Father who does not have the Church as Mother.[16] These statements are a serious affront to those who recognize them for the falsehoods that they are. Undoubtedly Pope Francis believes what he has stated. However, his teaching reflects an old but clever argument aimed at those who do not know their Bibles. Pope Francis and his Church refuse to believe in the authority of the Bible alone; therefore, they fail to believe that faith alone in the Lord Jesus Christ alone is a gift given by the Lord God Himself through the Holy Spirit, and not by any church. The object of faith is the Person of Christ Jesus, as Scripture states, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved ...[17] This faith is God-given, as declared in Scripture by the Apostle Peter, Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.[18] Furthermore, this God-given faith comes by hearing the Word of God as is stated, So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.[19] Nevertheless, Pope Francis
36
stated, The Mother Church that gives us Jesus gives us our identity. This is traditional Roman Catholic Church teaching.[20] Thus it is that the Papal Church itself is presented as the only instrumental way of approaching God and of finding salvation. Clearly to look to a church as the means of conveying Jesus to people rather than looking to Jesus Himself, the author and finisher of our faith [21] is another gospel. The Lord explicitly declared, no man can come to me, except the Father who has sent me draw him[22] and this is the work of God, that you believe on him whom he has sent.[23] Consequently, Pope Franciss statement that Mother Church that gives us Jesus gives us our identity is scripturally speaking, accursed as stated by the Apostle Paul, If any man preach any other gospel to you than that you have received, let him be accursed.
[24]
Christ Jesus, and your duty, which is to obey God. The greater the gift, the greater is the obligation to express our gratitude in a suitable and becoming manner. Thus the Word of God instructs us, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear.[28] The same truth has a grave warning for Pope Francis and all those who believe in the traditions and sacraments of the Roman Catholic Church rather than directly believing on the Lord Himself by the authority of His written Word. God is the same just and righteous God under the Gospel as He was under the Law in the Old Testament. He deals with us in love and grace; yet, He in Himself remains a consuming fire.[29] He is the God of strict justice who will avenge Himself on all who have not received the love of the truth, but rather look to a church or some person other than the Lord Jesus Christ alone for life. The Lord Jesus Christ has lived the perfect life and, willingly of His own volition, has made the faultless, propitiatory sacrifice for sin. To refuse to believe in Him alone is a critical offence. When the Lord Jesus dealt with the sincere and devout Pharisees, He gave them a very strong word, Therefore I said to you, that you shall die in your sins: for if you do not believe that I am he, you shall die in your sins.[30] You may say that you are a good Catholic and that you want to please God in this present life and hope to live with Him forever; that is a noble goal. You may be as sincere and devout as the Pharisees, but like them, if you personally neglect to believe on Him alone for your salvation, you likewise will die in your sins. Distinct faith and trust on the Lord Jesus Christ alone is essential and frequently highlighted in Scripture. He that believes on the son has everlasting life.[31] He that believes on the Son of God has the witness in himself: he that does not believe God has made him a liar; because he does not believe the record that God gave of his Son.[32] Thus, it is that you must believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, who gives life now, and forever! This is the living way, the only way to eternal life. It is spiritual death to attempt to come to God through a so-called Mother Church. The way to the Eternal Father is through the Lord Jesus Christ alone; His death is for us the way to true, eternal life. Those who receive this eternal life given by Christ are not only redeemed from the empire of death, but they also live and reign with Him as they are sanctified daily through His Word by the Holy Spirit, and by constant fellowship with Him. Thus, in our beloved Saviour, we joyfully praise Him, our everlasting Father, How excellent is your loving kindness, O God! Therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of your wings. They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of
Conclusion Pope Francis is both clever and deceitful as he protects his Church against the Scriptures and the Gospel of grace. He is moving forward with the centuries old papal objective of ruling the world as Vicar of Christ. Therefore, he continues to set before the world an optical persona of humility and harmlessness while the words from his mouth delineate him as dogmatic and destructive. In opposition to the Gospel of salvation, Pope Francis talks about salvation gained by trusting in Mother Church. Thus, he presents to the world a socalled spiritual apparatus for the salvation of men that, according to Scripture, neither saves nor sanctifies anyone. The system over which he presides professes to have all that a church ought to have; yet, it imposes upon people the horrendous deceits documented in this article, which fraudulence the Apostle called, alldeceivableness of unrighteousness.[25] The Lord Jesus Christ prayed emphatically the night before He died. His prayer is answered in the life of every believer who is justified by Gods saving grace alone. Gods grace is received through faith alone, and the object of that faith is Christ alone. Christ Jesus prayed, that they all may be one; as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that you have sent me.[26] The Lord knew very well those for whom He prayed. The objects of His prayer were clear to Him. These believers embrace eternal life as the Holy Spirit regenerates them. Thus, the foundation for true saving faith is utterly of God. Those for whom the Lord prayed are born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.[27] It is only by the absolute grace of God that you receive the gift of eternal life. There is, nevertheless, the correlation between your inheritance, the gift of eternal life in
37
your house; and you shall make them drink of the river of your pleasures. For with you is the fountain of life: in your light we see light.[33] Permission is given to copy and distribute this article, so long as it is done in its entirety with and any changes. Photos courtesy Apostasy Alert Richard Bennetts free Videos are easy to view and forward to others on: http://www.bereanbeacon.org/dvd.php Richard Bennetts three Books are easily obtained at: http://www.bereanbeacon.org/books.pdf Richard Bennetts MP3 messages are a popular resource at: http://www.bereanbeacon.org/audio.php Richard Bennetts Website http://www.bereanbeacon.org ENDNOTES:
[1] In present-day Canon law, the Catholic Church states, It is the right of the Roman Pontiff himself alone to judge in cases mentioned in Can. 1401:1 those who hold the highest civil office in a state.... Canon 1405, Sect. 1 [2] http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/thepope/10086876/Pope-Francis-shunned-official-papalapartments-to-live-normal-life.html 5/29/2013 [3] www.vatican.va/holy_father/francesco/homilies/2013/ documents/papa-francesco_20130319_omelia-iniziopontificato_en.html [4] Catechism of the Catholic Church, Para 882 [5] www.vatican.va/holy_father/francesco/homilies/2013/ documents/papa-francesco_20130319_omelia-iniziopontificato_en.html [6] The Vaticans official statement regarding possessions; www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/letters/2007/ documents/hf_ben-xvi_let_20071012_settimane-sociali_ en.html [7] As citizens of the State, it is their duty to take part in public life in the first person and, with respect for the legitimate autonomies, to co-operate in forming social life correctly, together with all other citizens, in accordance with the competencies of each one and under his or her own autonomous responsibility. www.vatican.va/holy_father/francesco/homilies/2013/ documents/papa-francesco_20130319_omelia-iniziopontificato_en.html [8] 1 Timothy 6:15 [9] Deuteronomy 18:10-11 [10] For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. Ephesians 5:23 [11] These objectives are listed in the Compendium of Church Social Doctrine and in the Vatican Council II documents on ecumenism. [12] www.zenit.org/en/articles/pope-s-address-torepresentatives-of-the-churches-ecclesial-communities-andother-religions [13] www.vatican.va/holy_father/francesco/speeches/2013/
march/documents/papa-francesco_20130322_corpodiplomatico_en.html [14] Radical Islam is doing essentially the same thing today as it demands the right to teach its people their religion, including Sharia Law, within the Western nations regardless of the fact that Sharia Law contravenes the laws of the sovereign nations in which these Muslims live, even as the Papal socialist agenda contravenes the U. S. Constitution. [15] www.vatican.va/holy_father/francesco/homilies/2013/ documents/papa-francesco_20130319_omelia-iniziopontificato_en.html (emphasis not in original) [16] Catechism of the Catholic Church (Libreria Editrice Vaticana 1997) Para 181 [17] Acts 16:31 Conditional: if his family believed in Christ as he is commanded to do, they too would be saved. [18] 2 Peter 1:1 (emphasis added) [19] Romans 10:17 [20] Catechism, Second Ed., Para 824 It is in the Church that the fullness of the means of salvation has been deposited. It is in her that by the grace of God we acquire holiness. [21] Hebrews 12:2 [22] John 6:44 [23] John 6:44 and John 6:29 [24] Galatians 1:9 [25] 2 Thessalonians 2:10 [26] John 17:21 [27] John 1:13 [28] Hebrews 12:28 [29] Hebrews 12:29 [30] John 8:24 [31] John 3:36 [32] 1 John 5:10 [33] Psalm 36:7-9
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Richard Bennett originally comes from Ireland. He was trained by Jesuits in his early years, and received eight years of theological instruction and preparation for the priesthood with the Dominican Order. He completed his education at the Angelicum University in Rome in 1964. He spent twenty-one years as a Roman Catholic parish priest in Trinidad, West Indies. He had, therefore, the best of academic training in things Roman Catholic, plus twenty-one years of being a parish priest applying Roman Catholic teachings to everyday life. After an accident in 1972 in which he nearly lost his life, he began to seriously study the Bible. After nearly fourteen years of contrasting Roman Catholicism to Biblical truth, he was convicted by the Gospel message. In 1985, he saw that justification is not being inwardly just as Rome taught, but being accepted in Christ. He was then saved by God's grace alone and formally left the Roman Catholic Church and its priesthood. He has founded an evangelistic ministry to Roman Catholics called Berean Beacon. Webpage: www.bereanbeacon.org and is now based in Texas, USA.
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the speakers
Tony Brown (UK)

Tony has been part of the leadership team of Southam Community Church in Warwickshire, UK since 2010. This follows ten years of successful co-ministry at a church in Reading, UK which grew from a congregaBon of 30 to over 150 during the period Tony was involved. He is now reBred and is devoBng more Bme to preaching and teaching. He has been married to Margaret since 1969. They have two daughters and two grandchildren.
Philip Morgan (USA)

Phil Morgan has pastored churches in both Australia and the United States for the past 22 years. Phils great passion is preaching and teaching Gods Word, and in any spare moment he enjoys reading. They have 4 children: Ben, Sam, Bethwyn and Ewan. Currently Phil serves at First Assembly of God in Brookeld, ConnecBcut, USA, where he has been the Senior Pastor since June of 2003.
Jeffrey L. Whittaker (USA)

JEFFREY L. WHITTAKER grew up in Niles, Michigan USA. From 1983 to 1985 he travelled in music ministry with The Spurrlows , ministering throughout the United States and appearing on ChrisBan Television. Jereys calling has led him to 16 countries, ranging from HaiB to China, as a revivalist and crusade speaker, where he and the people witnessed the power of God demonstrated through the preaching of the incorrupBble Word. Je has been married to Doreen for 28 years. They have ve children and one grandson.
Philip Powell (AUS)

Philip Powell has been a preacher of the Gospel since age 14. In 1959, he pastored a church in Brisbane, Australia when he was twenty years of age. He has lectured in Bible Colleges and travelled extensively in iBnerant ministry and short-term missionary work in a number of countries in both hemispheres. In 1994, Philip and Kathleen launched ChrisBan Witness Ministries (CWM) when they began to publish the bimonthly journal Contending EANESTLY for the FAITH (CETF). Philip is married to Kathleen and they have 4 children and 6 grandchildren.
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MARCH 2014 | CETF 66 66 MARCH 2014 | CETF
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Knowing Christ
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Contending Earnestly For The Faith - Issue 66

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Our God contracted to a span Incomprehensibly made man

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Did you know.....

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The Prophet's Judgement

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THOUGH WE WITH GIANTS FIGHT

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DL Moody portrait in 1862.

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MARCH 2014 | CETF 66

MARCH 2014 | CETF 66

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MARCH 2014 | CETF 66

The Error of Replacement Theology

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MARCH 2014 | CETF 66

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NEXT - Church and State

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MARCH 2014 | CETF 66

Whats New For This Quarter?

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MARCH 2014 | CETF 66

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The Longing of the Lord

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Cruising on the Emergent Freeway

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MARCH 2014 | CETF 66

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Always learning and never able

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MARCH 2014 | CETF 66

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