Wednesday, September 20, 2006

A PURE LANGUAGE

A PURE LANGUAGE
Zephaniah 3:9 For then will I turn to the people a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of the LORD, to serve him with one consent.
Several years ago, I was giving some Bible talks to a group of believers, and telling them some of the wonderful things which God is planning to do in the not too distant future. It concerned the wonderful work which God is going to do in the earth through His Sanctified ones. I was telling them of His plan to tear down the earthly kingdoms of business, finance, religion, etc., through His people. They were loving it.
But even before I was finished teaching, I sensed that the people were trying to "mix oil and water", as it were. They were trying to fit what I was telling them into the standard curriculum of the Church. It is not possible to do that. We either believe one theory, or we believe the other. We must forsake one of them.
When I was a teen-ager, I watched a survey crew lay out a new highway going past our house. On a concrete culvert, they had painted a very small dot, and right beside it the initials "R P". I asked them what that stood for. It was for "reference point", I learned--a spot which would not move, by which they could check all future calculations in that area. They would often use a tree, or a huge rock as a reference point, but it had to be something they could trust.
I shuddered as I thought of the possibility of one of those reference points being moved in the survey process. The road could have gone off "toward Joneses" if that had happened.
Our Spiritual leaders today are using reference points in Theology which are not trustworthy. Our Charismatic leaders are trying frantically to mix "oil and water" in their teachings. It is creating chaos.
Fifty sixyears ago, before Pearl and I were married, I was serving as Assistant to Haskell Yadon, who was Pastoring a Church here. There was a large group of Ministers, known as the Emmanuel Coast Conference. I remember some of the names: Ern Baxter, Bill Patterson, Opsand, Nordby, Bill Christenson, Yadon, Curry, Megrew, Larson, and others I can't recall the names of.
In the first conference we attended, (our Honeymoon, July,1939) there was a strong move to seek for the truths which had been lost or distorted through the history of the Church.
They all agreed that the doctrine of the Trinity had been added by the Catholic Church in order to make Christianity more acceptable to the heathen who had three gods. It aided their "sword evangelization." It was a deliberate distortion of Truth.
In that first Conference I attended, the big questions they were considering were: "Is the present teaching of ANTICHRIST and REVIVED ROMAN EMPIRE to be relied on or not?"
Pearl and I were fresh out of Bible School, but these were "uncharted territory" to us. I was a bit bewildered, but determined that I would search them out for myself. This has been my policy ever since.
What I have found makes me very fearful of what is taking place in the Churches today.
OUR LEADERS ARE USING FAULTY REFERENCE POINTS.
We are being taught the products of human reasoning, (and a little manipulation) as Truth. It will not stand the test of the Scriptures.
Dear Friends, please heed my warning! Go to the Word. Learn what it is telling us! Investigate the origins of some of our teachings today. Who started teaching a future, personal antichrist, and why did they do it? When, and by whom, was the "rapture" theory started?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Of the preachers, you mention an Opsand. If it was John Opsand in Seattle you refer to, he was my great-grandfather! I am pleased you remember him.