"I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into
the grace of Christ unto another gospel:(Galatians 1: 6)."
"...for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid
ourselves...Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to
the plummet; and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the
waters shall overflow the hiding place. (Isaiah 28: 15, 17)."
The line and the plummet refer to Amos 7: 7-8, "Thus he shewed me:
and, behold, the Lord stood upon a wall made by a plumbline, with a
plumbline in his hand.
8. And the LORD said unto me, Amos, what seest thou? And I said, A
plumbline. Then said the Lord, Behold, I will set a plumbline in the
midst of my people Israel: I will not again pass by them any more:"
The plummet or the plumb line is the device used by carpenters to
determine if a wall is straight or true. A string with a metal bob
that comes to a point is suspended say five inches out from the top of
a wall. Then the carpenter measures how for that metal pointed bob is
from the wall at the bottom. If its exactly the same at the bottom as
it is at the top then the wall is true, or straight.
In Amos 7 the plumb line is metaphoric for God's judgment of the
righteousness of a person or of a people. If they fall on one side of
the plumb line they are righteous. If they are on the wrong side they
are unrighteous and subject to the judgment of God.
And if they are on the wrong side of the plumbline as far as their doctrine is concerned, then they are in danger of being rejected as having positioned themselves in a place of doctrine where Christ cannot know them as his own. "I know ye not whence ye are." Luke 13: 25-26.
Before the theology of Christian Zionism or dispensationalism arrived in the 19th century,
and began to become popular in America in the early 20th century, a
great many Christians saw "Israel" as referring either to national
Israel in the Old Testament or to all of Israel, which included the
Christians. Christians were, to them, Israel reborn in Christ. So
when
Amos says God puts a plumbline in the midst of his people Israel, and
he will not pass by them any more, this is not only Old Testament
Israel, but also Christian Israel
Dispensationalism is the theology taught in a great many churches - a
tradition of men (see Matthew 15: 6, 9) - which contradicts Scripture
in several ways. Two of its most popular treachings are the
pre-tribulation rapture of the Church and Jewish supremacy.
On http://the-moneychanger.com/outside/another_gospel.phtml
they say
"ANOTHER GOSPEL
Michael Vlach recently published a report called Crisis in America?s
Churches: Bible Knowledge at All-Time Low. "Polling data from
researcher George Barna shows a widespread lack of biblical and
theological knowledge in the US among people who claim to be
Christians. So complete is that ignorance that one can justly call it
widespread apostasy from Christian orthodoxy. It?s not
misunderstanding, it?s heresy. I say that not merely from a narrow
denominational perspective, but from the standpoint of classical
Christian orthodoxy. People calling themselves ?Christians? literally
have no idea what that means. Instead, they follow another, invented,
gospel, not the Gospel of Jesus Christ."
Mostly there is a majority and a minority form of church theology. The majority church theology is Christian Zionism, or dispensationalism. The minority theology is Calvinism. Those in both of these theologies will defend the church against all those who are outside of the church and are critical of it, that is, are following Jude 3 and are contending for the faith once delivered unto the saints. Their authority is man made theology and they do not like to have to read or listen to scripture being read. They like two or three liner comments as byte speak.
In addition to the majority and minority theologies of the church, the church has been taken over by the world and church people operate in the flesh, including pride as part of the flesh. "For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes,and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world."
JESUS COMMANDS, �LOVE ONE ANOTHER JUST AS I HAVE LOVED YOU!�
Jesus commanded his disciples many times to obey the OT command �To **LOVE** your neighbor as yourself� and on the day before his atonement Jesus added a NEW command �To **LOVE** one another as I have **LOVED** you� and this was just one day before he laid down His life for His friends.
John 13:34: Jesus says, �A **NEW** command I give you: **LOVE** one another as I have **LOVED** you so you MUST **LOVE** one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples!!�
John 15:9-14: �As the Father has loved Me, so I have loved you. Now remain in My **LOVE**. **IF** you obey My commands, you will remain in My **LOVE**,,, My command is this:**LOVE** each other **AS I HAVE LOVED YOU**!!. Greater **LOVE** has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are My friends **IF** you do what I command!�
Ephesians 3:16-19: �I pray that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in **LOVE**, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the **LOVE** of Christ, and to know this **LOVE** that surpasses knowledge�that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God!!�
I Peter 1:22,23: "Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the Truth so that you have sincere **LOVE** for your brothers, **LOVE** one another deeply, from the heart. For you have been born again through the living and enduring Word of God.�
God's Word further explains what this new **LOVE** is like in I Corinthians 13:2,4-8: If I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not **LOVE** I am nothing...**LOVE** is patient, **LOVE** is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. **LOVE** does not delight in evil but rejoices with the Truth. It always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. **LOVE** never fails!!"
John 14:23: Jesus says, �If anyone **LOVES** Me, he will obey My teaching, My Father will **LOVE** him, and We will make Our home with him.� He who does not **LOVE** Me will not obey My teaching.�
I John 2:3-5: �We know that we have come to know Him {Jesus} **IF** we obey His commands. The man who says, �I know Him,� but does not do what He commands is a liar, and the Truth is not in him. But if anyone obeys His Word, God's **LOVE** is truly made complete in him!!�
Matthew 28:19.20� Jesus commands, �Go and make disciples of all nations... teaching them to *OBEY EVERYTHING* I have commanded you!� {See I John 2:3-5}
EVERYTHING would also include all the other commands in God's inspired Word from Acts to Revelation as per 2 Timothy 3:16: 4:2: "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work...Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage--with great patience and careful instruction.�
Ephesians 4:15,16: �Speaking the Truth **IN LOVE**, we will in all things grow up into Him who is the Head, that is, Christ! From Him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up ***IN LOVE***, as each part does its work!�
If we really **LOVE** our brothers and sisters in Christ we will lovingly teach them to obey all the approximately 400 commands of the NT with **LOVE** in the hope of countless eternal rewards when Jesus comes with great power with all His angels.
Revelation 22:12: Jesus says,"Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with Me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done!?�
Matthew 16:27: Jesus says, For the Son of Man is going to come in His **FATHER'S GLORY WITH HIS ANGELS**{See Matt 24:30,31; 25:31-40 & 2 Thess 1:6-10}, and **THEN** He will reward each person according to what he has done."
Daniel 12:3: "Those who impart wisdom will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever!"
Jesus says in Rev 2:17; 3:4, 5, 21: �To him who overcomes...I will give a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to him who receives it.....He will walk with Me for he is worthy... I will acknowledge his name before My Father and His angels.... I will write on him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem.....I will write on him my New Name... and I will give him the right to sit with Me on My throne, just as I overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.� :applause::angel:
I would like to start off by saying that I read all of your posts here. I appreciate the time and effort that you spend to share with all of us. As you are probably aware, I found your article entitled "Calvinism Helped To Set the Stage For Modern Capitalist Usury Which Exalts Making Money" troubling. The recession is not chargeable to Calvin as your article suggests. It is chargeable to humanistic man and their denial of the laws of God with respect to economics. If one were to point a finger of blame to a specific John, that John would undoubtedly be John Maynard Keynes and not John Calvin.
I am troubled again by your assertions in this article.
You stated: "Mostly there is a majority and a minority form of church theology. The majority church theology is Christian Zionism, or dispensationalism. The minority theology is Calvinism. Those in both of these theologies will defend the church against all those who are outside of the church and are critical of it, that is, are following Jude 3 and are contending for the faith once delivered unto the saints. Their authority is man made theology and they do not like to have to read or listen to scripture being read. They like two or three liner comments as byte speak."
My comments:
You have stated here very plainly that Dispensationalism is a false theology, a man made theology. You have also stated that Calvinism is a false theology, a man made theology. Correct me if I am wrong. I don't want to misread your comments.
Then, there is a "third theology" if you will accept my terminology which you state as "the faith once delivered unto the saints". I am assuming that you are in this very lonely theology camp at the moment. Is there a systematic theology available for this "third theology" that can be weighed against the Bible itself? If you answer that "the Bible itself" is that systematic, then you have shown nothing. If you answer no, then I guess we are all left to take your word for it and since you are a man that wouldn't be in our best interests.
Other than a very vague and mostly ambiguous one line reference, one would have no way of knowing exactly what it is you are asserting here with respect to this "third theology". From my perusal of your article, I have drawn the following conclusions:
1. You believe the MAJORITY of "the church" to be wrong.
2. You also believe the MINORITY of "the church" to be wrong.
3. You believe you are holding "the faith" that everybody else is lacking.
Candidly, I find this to be a most lofty position. There is one Truth brother.... the Word of God. Any school of theology is reducible to its individual doctrines. An individual doctrine either lines up with Scripture or it doesn't. Continuing to make categorical assertions that anyone who shares a belief in common with a particular theologian or scholar is automatically somehow "outside the faith" as a result is silly as I have shown here over and over. Maybe this is what you are doing maybe it isn't but others here have certainly done this.
I have a friend here in town who is a retired fellow. He spends his days sitting in a basement library filled with thousands of theological books. At the same time, he asserts that nobody else is right anywhere in "the church". Apparently, he alone is holding on to so much truth that there is not a single soul left that he can identify with. I am sure that all of his books must be just for show since had he actually read any of them he might have found that he actually agreed with some of the authors. In which case, he might have been forced to abandon his own position as "man made". There is also the possibility that maybe he has read some or even many of them. In which case, whenever he agreed with an author, he probably found himself guilty of holding on to what he condemns as "man made" theologies while at the same time believing that his theology is unique and special. That would be quite a case of mental gymnastics but nonetheless, I suppose it is possible. Of course, one cannot rule out the option that there might also be a third possibility. He has read some, most or even all of his theological books and just simply doesn't agree with any of them. In that case, since he has never written a theological book of his own, nobody has the opportunity to understand what he believes by contrast. I like the guy a lot but I have never fully understood him.
I'm asking your forgiveness in advance, if I have misstated your position in any way, shape or form. You'll also forgive any typos that my response may contain.
