The Christian Life is Not Easy

The Christian life, in the first place, is a warfare, it is a struggle.  “We wrestle.”  The whole section is designed to impress this fact upon us.  There is no grosser or greater misrepresentation of the Christian message than that which depicts it as offering us a life of ease with no battle and no struggle at all.  There are types of holiness teaching that teach just that.  Their slogan is, “It is quite easy.”  They say the trouble is that so many Christian people remain ignorant of this fact, and therefore go on fighting and struggling.  That is the essential characteristic of the teaching of the Cults.  That is why they are always popular.  “Quite easy! a life of ease!”  You cannot fit that into this Epistle with its “We wrestle!”  “Be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.  Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand.”  The first thing we have to realize is that the Christian life is a warfare, that we are strangers in an alien land, that we are in the enemy’s territory.  We do not live in a vacuum, in a glasshouse.  The teaching which gives the impression and that pathway to glory is all easy and simple and smooth is not Christianity, it is not Paul’s Christianity, it is not New Testament Christianity.  It is the hallmark of the quack remedy always, that it cures everything so easily!  One dose, and there is no more trouble!

D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, “The Christian Warfare: An Exposition of Ephesians 6:10-13,” pg. 20

Some Things to Ponder

A few years ago I heard Thabiti Anyabwile make an observation that has stuck with me: whenever societies classify people by race, they always to do it to take away rights, not to give them. 

Jesse Johnson.

The Stay-At-Home-Mom is NOT “Privileged” to do so.

That you may know you are saved.

Was early Christianity hostile to women?

The abuse of Matthew 18 against those who challenge false teachers.  And a commentary on that article.

Christians who don’t tip.  I’ve had the misfortune to dine with Christians who were very, very stingy with tipping, and who also treated the staff as personal servants and were very rude to them.  While we were all leaving, I made an excuse to head back to the table and “covered” their tiny tip, while also catching the waitress and apologized for the behavior of the other couple.  Christians really need to treat these people properly.  The Babylon Bee has a good satire about this topic.

Christians, it is time to “wake up and smell the coffee” — our country is being destroyed, and Christianity will soon be outlawed.

Zealous for God

A zealous man in religion is preeminently a man of one thing. . . .  He sees only one thing, he cares for one thing, he lives for one thing, he is swallowed up for one thing:  and that one thing is to please God.  Whether he lives, or whether he dies, whether he has health, or whether he has sickness, whether he is rich, or whether he is poor, whether he pleases man, or whether he gives offense, whether is is thought wise, or whether he is thought foolish, whether he gets honor, or whether he gets shame, for all this the . . . man cares nothing at all.  He burns for one thing: and that one thing is to please God and to advance God’s glory.

J.C. Ryle, “Practical Religion,” pg.130

Ephesians and the Body of Christ

After reading some of my posts by D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones on Ephesians, one of my readers, “Jim in Australia,” emailed me this interesting observation (he gave me permission to use it): 

One of the themes in Ephesians is the “Body of Christ” with 8 references:

Ephesians 1:23; Ephesians 2:16; Ephesians 3:6; Ephesians 4:4; Ephesians 4:12; Ephesians 4:16; Ephesians 5:23; Ephesians 5:30

In the NKJV and others they take the liberty of feminising certain verses like Ch 5: 25 "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, 26 that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, 27 that He 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”

Compare KJV: 

"Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; 26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,  27 That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.”

The KJV does not feminise the verse and I don’t think “she and her” are in the original…here’s my point…(brackets are my thoughts)

If you take the theme of “the body” and apply to this passage in relation to the church and the example of a husband and wife, you could put it this way.

Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. 23 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. 24 Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing.25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; (His body) 26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it (His body) the washing of water by the word, 27 That he might present it (His body) himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it (His body) be holy and without blemish. 28 So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself.(His body) 29 For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; (His body) but nourisheth and cherisheth it,(His body) even as the Lord the church: 30 For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. 31 For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. (One body) 32 This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church. 33 Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; (His body) the wife see that she reverence her husband.

I thought Jim’s observation was great and more reflective of the theme of Ephesians, but I also find no fault with the “feminizing” of the modern translations, my reason given to Jim as follows:

"It" vs "her" ("she") is what the Greek says in any manuscript that I can find.  However, I don't have a problem with "feminizing" it for the point the passage is making.  The Church is the bride of Christ, so using the pronoun "her" for the bride is fine.  Throughout the O.T. Israel is seen as the wife of God.  The analogies in both [Old and New Testaments] are apt, in that the comparisons are to human relationships and how marriages should operate with the husband's particular care of the wife.

Random Aberrations, Apostasies, and Heresies

Bill Randles has an examination of false prophet/Word of Faith teacher Bill Johnson.  Bill has another interesting article about how Satan hates women, which is one of the reasons for the moral downfall of our culture.

Doug Evans continues his series exposing the false teachings of IHOP.

The teachings of William Branham are examined by The Watchman Fellowship.  AND, they have a new profile on Jainism.

The Church in Crisis.

Thieves and Robbers: Knowing the False Teachers

Fred has another episode regarding the fraud of charismania.

Jen Hatmaker seems to think she is the Messiah, or perhaps a pope!  She claims that SHE will radically change the church — for the worse, of course. 

SBC president Ronnie Floyd is getting direct revelations from God.  Yep, the same sort of direct revelations from God that SBC darling Beth Moore gets — lying imaginations.  Birds of a feather.

If that isn’t enough, another SBC favorite, Rick Warren, is also getting revelations from God!

Gary Gilley tells us about the “gospel” Rick Warren teaches.

Six years ago I wrote an article exposing the abuse, by way too many Christians, of 2 Chronicles 7:14.  Well, here we come to the annual “National Day of Prayer,” which gets major abuse of this passage, and I am thrilled to see someone else expose the nonsensical abuse of this passage.

Seems the “Holy Spirit” is doing a lot of whispering to ladies out there.  Um, I don’t think so!

Be very careful about the cats you pick up.

Kari Jobe — just another flake heretic distracting Christians from the truth.

Great satire from The Babylon Bee — and so very much on target!

Give Your Employer His Due

It is the business of the servant, the man who is employed — irrespective of who may employ him — to give himself utterly to his track and to his master while he is doing it.  His time is not his own time, it is his master’s time.  The money he handles is not his, it is his master’s.  Everything connected with his work is his master’s.  In other words, I would say that a Christian is disobeying the Apostle’s injunction if, during his master’s time, and when he ought to be doing his master’s work, he is directing his attention to any other interest.

D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Life in the Spirit in Marriage, Home & Work: An Exposition of Ephesians 5:18-6:9, pg. 348

It is the Parents’ Duty to Raise the Child

First and foremost, the bringing up of children “in the nurture and admonition of the Lord” is something which is to be done in the home and by the parents.  This is the emphasis throughout the Bible.  It is not something that is to be handed over to the school, however good the school may be.  It is the duty of parents, their primary and most essential duty.  It is their responsibility, and they are not to hand over this responsibility to another.  I emphasize this because we are all well aware of what has been happening increasingly during this present century.  More and more, parents have been transferring their responsibilities and their duties to the schools.  I regard this as a most serious matter.  There is no more important influence in the life of a child than the influence of the home.  The home is the fundamental unit of society, and children are born into a home, into a family.  There you have the circle that is to be the chief influence in their lives.  There is no question about that.  . . .

The teaching of the Scripture is that the child’s welfare, the child’s soul, should always be the primary consideration; and all matters of prestige — not to use any other term — and all matters of ambition should be put severely aside.  Anything that militates against the child’s soul, and its knowledge of God and the Lord Jesus Christ, should be rejected.  The first consideration invariably should be the soul and its relationship to God.

D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Life in the Spirit in Marriage, Home & Work: An Exposition of Ephesians 5:18-6:9, pg. 293-294

The Marriage Relationship

How is a man to treat his wife? Let me give some negatives first.  He is not to abuse her.  It is possible for a man to abuse his body, and many men do abuse their bodies — by eating too much, by drinking too much, and in various other ways.  That is to abuse the body, to maltreat it, to be unkind to it.  Now, says the Apostle, a man who does that is a fool, because if a man maltreats his body, and abuses it, he himself is going to suffer.  You cannot detach yourself from your body; and if you think you can, and abuse your body, you will be the one to suffer.  Your mind will suffer, your heart will suffer, the whole of your life will suffer.  You may say, “I do not care about my body, I am living a life of the intellect”; but if you keep on doing that you will soon find that you no longer have the intellect that you once had, and you will not be able to think as you once did.  If you abuse your body, you are the one who is going to suffer.  Not only the body, but you yourself will suffer as well.  It is exactly the same in the marriage relationship.  If a man abuses his wife he will suffer as well as the wife.  So, apart from the inherent wrongfulness, the man is a fool.  If a man abuses his wife there is going to be a breakdown not only in the wife but also in the man, and in the relationship between the two.  Surely this is what is happening so commonly in the world today.  It should be unthinkable that a Christian man should abuse his wife.

But not only should the husband not abuse his wife, in the second place, he should not neglect her.  Come back again to the analogy of the body.  A man can neglect his body.  It often happens, and again it always leads to trouble.  To neglect the body is bad, it is foolish, it is wrong.  Man has been so constituted that his is body, mind and spirit, and the three are in intimate relationship on with another.  We are surely aware of this.  . . .  If you neglect the body you yourself will suffer for it.  Many a man has done that, many a scholar has done that, and through neglect of the body his work has suffered.  That is because of the essential unity between these parts of our personalities.

It is exactly the same in the married relationship, says the Apostle.  How much trouble is caused in the realm of marriage simply because of neglect! . . .  It is lamentable that a man should get married and then proceed to neglect his wife.  In other words, here is a man who has married, but who in essential matters goes on living as if he were still a bachelor.  He is still living his own detached life, he still spends his time with his men friends.  . . .  A married man must no longer act as if he were a single man; his wife should be involved in everything. . . .  I venture to lay it down as a rule that a Christian man should not accept an invitation to a social occasion without his wife.  There is irreparable damage done to many marriages because men meet alone in their clubs without their wives.  That is wrong, because it is a denial of first principles.  Man and wife should do things together.  Of course, the man in his business has to be alone, and there are other occasions when he has to be alone; but if it is a social occasion, something into which a wife can enter, she should enter, and it is the business of the husband to see to it that she does enter.  I suggest that all Christian husbands should automatically refuse every such invitation which comes to them alone and does not include their wives.

D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Life in the Spirit in Marriage, Home & Work: An Exposition of Ephesians 5:18-6:9, pg. 215-217

The Father Loves His Son’s Bride

The moment a woman becomes the bride of a man she shares his privileges.  Whatever they are, she becomes partaker of them and sharer of them.  The Apostle is saying here that this is true of the church.  What do we share?  We share the Father’s love.  There is a verse which in many ways is to me the most astounding verse in the whole Bible.  It is the 23rd verse of the 17th chapter of John’s Gospel.  The Lord says, “That the world may know that Thou hast sent Me, and hast loved them as Thou hast loved Me.”  It is a statement to the effect that God the Father has loved us Christian people as He loves His own Son.  What it means is that because of our relationship to Him we are in that relationship to God.  Think of a man, without daughters, whose son has got married.  He now says to the bride of his son: “You are my daughter. I never had a daughter before, but you are my daughter.”  And he regards her as such.  She is one with his son, therefore he bestows his fatherly love upon her — “that the world may know that Thou hast loved them, as Thou hast loved Me.”  That is the privilege.  It works out in this way — it gives us access to the Father.  A father is ever ready to receive the bride of his son.  She did not have that access to him before; there was no relationship; but the moment she becomes married to the son she has a right of access into the presence of the father.  As the father is ready to receive the son, and to give the son privileges which he would not grant to his most trusted and favourite servants, so now he grants them to the bride because she is the wife of his son.  Christian people, do we avail ourselves of this high privilege?  Doe we realize that we have a right of entry and of access into the presence of the Father?  Though He is the Governor of the whole universe, if you have a need, remember that you have a right of entry into His presence.  For His Son’s sake He will not refuse you.  Bride of Christ, He will always listen to you, He will always have time for you.  There is no higher privilege than this.  He loves us as He loves His Son, and He gives us this right of access and of entry into His holy presence.

D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Life in the Spirit in Marriage, Home & Work: An Exposition of Ephesians 5:18-6:9, pg.201-202

Random Aberrations, Apostasies, and Heresies

It has been a very hectic week for me, with half my time being elsewhere but home.  When I have been home, before the rain hit the last couple days, I’ve been spending lots of time in the yard doing “spring cleaning” and helping my wife get the gardens in shape and new trees planted, etc.  Then I’ve also been involved with internet discussions with a Jehovah’s Witness and an atheist.  I really have some drafts of articles started that sometime I want to get finished and posted, and I also want to get more time on another chapter review of “New Age Bible Versions.”  Until such time, I will continue to post citations I find worthwhile for provoking thought!  For now, here is another episode of “RAAH.”

Andy Stanley has again demonstrated that he is NOT qualified to be a pastor.

Jen Hatmaker is 100% pro-perversion.  Avoid her like the plague.  (Another report)

Another Methodist “pastor” “weds” a same-sex couple.  Oh, the “pastor” is a woman.  If history is any example for us, the UMC will not discipline this woman. 

The Cold Hard Facts on Cults

IHOP’s Catholic connection.

Continuationism is not a non-essential doctrinal issue — Part 2.

“Church by the Glades” has no idea what worship of God is.  Do they ever have anything there besides entertainment?

Just over 5 years ago I wrote an article about the false nature of the so-called “generational curses.”  Well, Mennoknight is now doing series about the topic, and here is part one.

The whole idea of “vision casting” is unbiblical nonsense, which is why so many mega-church “pastors” like it.  The leaders of LifeWay Research, as well as SBC president Ronnie Floyd, are staunch proponents of this ideology.

New Apostolic Reformation:  The apostles who don’t do anything.

Ten Word of Faith Doctrines Weighed Against Scripture.

WOW!!  Just WOW!  Talk about false teaching!!!!

So is the Gospel Coalition heading towards affirming perverse sexual desires?

Bono is a favorite “Christian” singer.  But is he really Christian?  He doesn’t appear to be.  Yet he’s held up as a model.  The article also gives some good information about Eugene Peterson — another one to avoid.

The Clear Word “Bible” was developed for the Seventh-day Adventist cult, so it is rife with adjustments and additions to fit their theology.  Here’s what it does to the Atonement.

False teacher Bill Hybels and Popeye.

Justin Peters has an excellent examination of “The Message” non-Bible.

Let’s lighten up now with some good satire.  The Babylon Bee takes on T.D. Jakes.  Then they nail the modern “cool worship leaders”.  I had a good chuckle to see the swipe taken at the “wildly unbiblical” book, “Wild at Heart.”  If you are as tired of the “Footprint in the Sand” story as I am, then you’ll enjoy this one.  Jen Hatmaker didn’t get left out either.  Finally, the foolishness of Richard Dawkins is tackled.