Posted on 07/23/2016 11:37:04 PM PDT by metmom
“. . . in your moral excellence, knowledge” (2 Peter 1:5).
Moral excellence cannot develop in an intellectual vacuum.
It’s a frightening thing to realize the extent to which our culture downplays knowledge in favor of emotions. These days people are more likely to ask, “How will it make me feel?” instead of, “Is it true?” Sadly, the church has bought into the spirit of the age. Many people go to church, not to learn the truths of God’s Word, but to get an emotional high. The focus of theological discussion also reflects the contemporary hostility to knowledge. To a shocking extent, truth is no longer the issue; the questions being asked today are, “Will it divide?” or “Will it offend?” To ask if a theological position is biblically correct is considered unloving, and those who take a stand for historic Christian truth are labeled as divisive.
But knowledge is inseparable from moral excellence and Christian growth. It should be obvious that people can’t put into practice truths they don’t know; we must first understand the principles of God’s Word before we can live them out.
Peter knew well the importance of knowledge in developing a stable Christian walk and the assurance of salvation that accompanies it. Therefore, he urged his readers to add knowledge to their moral excellence. Gnosis (“knowledge”) refers to insight, discernment, and proper understanding of truth. Lacking such knowledge, believers become “children, tossed here and there by waves, and carried about by every wind of doctrine” (Eph. 4:14). The resulting turmoil is not conducive to spiritual growth or the development of a settled assurance of salvation.
The Bible commends child-like (i.e., trusting, humble) faith, but not childish faith. Paul exhorted the Corinthians, “Brethren, do not be children in your thinking . . . in your thinking be mature” (1 Cor. 14:20). “So let us know, let us press on to know the Lord,” urged Hosea. When we do so, “He will come to us like the rain, like the spring rain watering the earth” (Hos. 6:3).
I pray with the apostle Paul, “that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment” (Phil. 1:9).
Suggestions for Prayer
Pray that God would enable you to “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18).
For Further Study
Read Proverbs 23:7 and Philippians 4:8. What do those verses teach about the importance of godly thinking?
Studying God’s Word ping
And as churches have begun to abandon scriptural truth, they have instead veered off into seeking emotional highs and "signs and wonders." This has resulted in a variety of deceptions creeping in and causing sometimes bizarre practices to take over (see the "Toronto blessing" or "IHOP" in Kansas City, for some of the most extreme examples). When I saw that our church was holding classes in how to become a "prophet", I knew we were in trouble as well.
I pray that pastors and their churches will stop seeking experiences, "wonders", and "new revelation" all the time, and instead return to basic biblical truth.
When did FreeRepublic turn into the church channel? I must have missed the memo.
When did FreeRepublic turn into the church channel? I must have missed the memo.
Well; the Religion forum has been around FR for a long, LONG time.
Maybe Jim can say when it was implemented.
Begun??
The Book records that this happened LONG ago!
Revelation chapters 2-3
I see you've been around FR a long, LONG time.
Strange that you should ask the question; considering THIS on your homepage:
God Save America!
Psalm 46(KJv)
God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;
Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah.
There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the most High.
God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved: God shall help her, and that right early.
The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved: he uttered his voice, the earth melted.
The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.
Come, behold the works of the Lord, what desolations he hath made in the earth.
He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth; he breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder; he burneth the chariot in the fire.
Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.
The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.
We must be careful when teaching. Plant seeds by speaking in parables. If the seeds sprout and the person returns with questions, share your knowledge by answering their questions, but don’t share God’s best knowledge with those who are not ready for it. The knowledge of God is very powerful and in the mind of a person with an impure motive, can cause harm. Lead a person to the well, but they must choose to drink.
Matthew 7:6 “Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.
The knowledge of God’s Law is written upon our hearts. If we have a calloused heart it cannot be written upon. Do not judge others as in doing so we callous our own hearts.
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The profound joyous experience of being “One with Jesus” is much as Jesus described the “Joy” of the experience that quickly falls away. ***
Matthew 13:10——
10 The disciples came to him and asked, “Why do you speak to the people in parables?”
11 He replied, “Because the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. 12 Whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. 13 This is why I speak to them in parables:
“Though seeing, they do not see;
though hearing, they do not hear or understand.
14 In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah:
“‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding;
you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.
15 For this people’s heart has become calloused;
they hardly hear with their ears,
and they have closed their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
hear with their ears,
understand with their hearts
and turn, and I would heal them.’
16 But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. 17 For truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.
18 “Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: 19 When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart. This is the seed sown along the path.
***20 The seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. 21 But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away.
22 The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful.
23 But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.”
How do we ascertain if they are NOT ready for it?
“How do we ascertain if they are NOT ready for it?”
Plant seeds. Speak in parables...
But for the most important knowledge, guide them to go within in prayer and meditation to get it direct through the Holy Spirit.
A person must know enough to ask the right questions before you can answer with the highest knowledge.
For example, a person who is given the ability to heal is also given the ability to harm. Just as Jesus healed, but also cursed the fig tree and it lost its leaves.
I can't help but notice that birds will "sow" seeds in the strangest places. And the chipmunks... they plant knowing not that they plant. They only mean to put away a stash for themselves. And the wind, it sows too.
Much of Creation is set up for seed dispersal. The natural world is a living book with an infinite number of chapters.
Somebody *wrote* that book. I would think that the author would be delighted when a reader perceives and desires to understand what's going on therein. What's the plot? What are the details? How does that work? What's the plan?
Ex 3
1. And Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian; and he led the flock far away into the desert, and came to the mountain of God, to Horeb:
2. And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush; and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed:
3. And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt:
4. And when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses; And he said, Here am I:
12 Whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance.
Deu 34.10. And there has not arisen since in Israel a prophet like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face:
Acts 7:22 And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds.
Hmmm, wonder why that was. :)
Thanks for the ping to study GOD’s Word
That is exactly what I’ve been seeing as well and it is very disturbing.
There is also this phenomenon happening in churches as well, especially Pentecostal ones and it has been identified by many as a Kundalini spirit, a demonic Hindu spirit.
Here are some links about it.
The Kundalini Spirit has Invaded the Church Masquerading as the Holy Spirit!!!BE VIGILANT!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfXmDkQiE2o
David Wilkerson - Another Gospel, Another Jesus, Another Spirit | Must Watch
\https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DJdwtplosY
Kundalini Spirits in the church?
This is the religion forum.
Do not judge others as in doing so we callous our own hearts.
And just how do you expect to determine who is ready for it or not without judging them.
You set up an impossible scenario.
And your advice is nonsense. Share as the Holy Spirit leads and in what He leads.
Jesus spoke in parables. Those days are past.
We are to preach the gospel as He commanded so that souls can come to Him. He is not hiding Himself from mankind in this church age.
Much of Christianity today is far from Jesus’ teachings.
Satan made Christianity a government and bureaucracy to control people.
Christianity when followed correctly does the exact opposite of controlling the people. It sets them free.
“We are to preach the gospel as He commanded so that souls can come to Him. He is not hiding Himself from mankind in this church age.”
He is still hidden to most. But for those who have eyes and ears, they are fully experiencing Him now.
Jesus, to anyone who is truly one with Him, is like the lightning in the East that is seen in the West. We are in Him and One with Our Father through Him, just as described in John 17.
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