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Tag: Church

Two-faced Tolerance :)(: of the Church Against Christ
“But there are some of you who do not believe.”
“Did I Myself not choose you, the twelve, and yet one of you is a devil?”
Gospel of John 6:64a, 70b LSB [in context]

Jesus chose Judas as a Disciple of his master’s teaching [doctrine], yet Judas betrayed his lord Jesus with a greeting of love.

How can you call yourself a church?

(YOU who do not believe)?

Are YOU a two-faced Judas?

Like Judas, many christians in the 21st c. ‘church‘ also claim to follow Jesus as THEIR lord and teacher. These zealous lovers of the world want to GROW THEIR church. After all, WE the church could do good for all the world IF ONLY we would embrace all of these humans into OUR community of faith.

There’s ONE problem though for which WE must find a solution:

NOT everyone believes in ONE God.

AND most will not want to follow JESUS even if they accept SOME of Christ’s teaching.

Judas did NOT believe that God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ sent Christ into the world to save sinners, but rather that God might make HIS lord a king to rule HIS land and the world.

But what would OUR church look like IF JESUS would have built it on the shifting sand of the faith of Judas?

Many Teachers facing NOT One

In fact, the church of the world would prefer to follow multiple teachers, rather than trust and rely on the doctrine of ANY ONE Master, Lord, King or God.

OR perhaps a great teacher can lead ME to create MY own morality like THEIRS from the best religions of all humanity. (I don’t have to follow THEM, just pick and choose from the best THEY have to offer. After all, THEY seem to be building something NEW that attracts more attention than the worn out worship of christian churches INTOLERANT of NEW teaching. (No one wants to hear preaching from the Bible anymore).

Many of you ‘who do not believe.’

It’s NOT just one in twelve who claim Jesus, yet do NOT believe. And in the 21st c. church it’s more than a few among those who claim His name a ‘christian.’

In fact these are two-faced followers glorify one face for the world under the guise of religion, while masking a shadowed countenance betraying Christ’s sacrifice of glory for the redemption of our souls.

YES, many mask as christians in the flock of your church, while a select few even claim the gospel of some Jesus from the pulpit – a tolerant savior who will help YOU to bring peace to a world which will never accept the Gospel of His exclusive holiness.

Christ Jesus says to such leaders of OUR churches:

“You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father.
He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
Gospel of John 8:44

“But because I speak the truth, you do not believe Me.
John 8:45 LSB – the rebuke of Jesus Christ

Why not preach the Gospel?

IF you are a Christian — IF you are truly a disciple (follower) of Jesus Christ — IF you are a 21st century christian (as you claim), THEN why do you preach some other gospel in place of the words our Lord Jesus Christ said?

Is our gospel Biblical OR cultural?
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Today I will develop the premise of Harrison's first point from my last Saturday Post as we take a look at an all-inclusive church of everythingology through the eyes of another respected theologian.
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Previously, I shared a caution from Harrison's FIVE-POINT PROGRESSION of Evangelical Deconstructionism. WE will start there.

EMBRACE and posit [plant or assume] the idea [philosophy] that the CHURCH is a SOCIALLY constructed system, 
NOT a divinely ordained idea [institution] that originated in the mind of God.
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For IF Scripture, the WRITTEN Word of God in the BIBLE, is NOT divinely ordained; THEN the church, even ‘christian‘ ‘evangelicals‘ who claim some ‘jesus‘ or some of some Jesus can RE-WORD god’s word to include whatever WE would like it to say to the world.

Two-faced Tolerance

Contemporary tolerance is intrinsically intolerant.
D.A. Carson, The Intolerance of Tolerance

Church leaders must examine the theology of christians teaching the Bible with liberal exclusion of refining of Scripture in their local church.

We mustn’t dismiss or include a cultural phenomenon of evangelicalism of the past several decades without examining both traditional and evolved definitions of trends leavening the church.
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READ more of Carson's introductory quote:
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The notion of tolerance is changing, and with the new definitions the shape of tolerance itself has changed…
It is blind to it’s own shortcomings because it erroneously thinks it holds the moral high ground; it cannot be questioned because it has become part of the West’s plausibility structure.
D.A. Carson, The Intolerance of Tolerance, p.2

Carson illumines and points to a subtle (and two-faced) evolution of English definitions of what it means to be tolerant.

Tolerance as a verb
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Continuing to quote Carson:
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Oxford English Dictionary [abridged def.]:
1. To endure, sustain (pain or hardship) [‘That usage is becoming obsolete’ – DAC]
2. To allow to exist.. without authoritative interference.., to allow, permit
3. .. To allow intellectually, .. or principle, to put up with.
Tolerance as a noun
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Quoting the evolved digital definition of the Gates' cultural philosophy and approach in Microsoft Encarta, Carson notes:
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“When we turn from Encarta’s treatment of the corresponding noun “tolerance,” however, a subtle change appears:
- “1. ACCEPTANCE OF DIFFERENT VIEWS the accepting of different views of other people, e.g., in religious or political matters, and fairness toward the people who hold these different views.”
  - Encarta verb for tolerance: ACCEPT EXISTANCE OF DIFFERENT VIEWS.. of other people’s right to have different beliefs and practices.
The shift from ‘accepting the existence of different views’ to ‘acceptance of different views’ .. is subtle in form, but massive in substance. To accept that a different or opposing position exists is one thing; to accept the position itself means that one is no longer opposing it.
D.A. Carson, The Intolerance of Tolerance p.3

OUR social gathering – a jesus WE love 🙂

What about the INTOLERANT exclusive claims of the Lord Jesus Christ?

“Do you think that I came to grant peace on earth? I tell you, no, but rather division – Luke 12:51

And He answered and said, “Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning MADE THEM MALE AND FEMALE, – Matthew 19:4

“For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me, for he wrote about Me. – John 5:46

“Many false prophets will arise and will deceive many. – Matthew 24:11

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but through Me. – John 14:6

“For the gate is narrow and the way is constricted that leads to life, and there are few who find it.
“Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves…
“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.
Gospel of Matthew 7:14-15, 21 LSB
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WE will have to avoid these socially discriminating teachings of OUR jesus (or else WE will never attract anyone NEW to OUR church. 
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Indiscriminately Tolerant

As you can see once again, Christology and Theology may be at odds with prevailing social philosophy which USES a loose interpretation of the Bible to fill the house with non-committal christians.

Want to see IF your tolerant friends YOU invited to OUR church have ears to hear what OUR jesus has to say about peace and love and OUR world?

TRY putting one of the above sayings of JESUS from ANY good English translation ON THE BIG SCREEN ABOVE THE STAGE OF YOUR WORSHIP gathering on Sunday. See if YOUR increasing audience of worldly friends smiling 🙂 YOUR way can still smile (: when the BIBLE shows THEM an INTOLERANT jesus?

See how they react to the exclusive truth of Scripture!
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We will continue with this challenge of betrayal of Christ by a Judas or two of OUR 21st century dividing denominations of CHRIST's Church in my next Saturday Post on the Church, God-willing.
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September 3, 2022
What happened to Peter?
Jerusalem must have been all abuzz with the questions of yet another unfolding mystery involving the Apostles. What happened to this Apostle of Jesus?

What happened to Simon Peter?

How did this leading Disciple of Jesus escape? Peter could not possibly have come to our gate since Herod has him under the guard of sixteen men?

As we witnessed previously in a scene from Acts of the Apostles 12:13-14 in His Angel at the Gate:

A servant-girl named Rhoda.. ran in and reported that Peter was standing in front of the gate.

Impossible, would be their first thought.

“You are out of your mind!”

But Peter continued knocking, and when they opened the door, they saw him and were astounded.
Acts of the Apostles 12:16 LSB

What happened to Jesus’ mission?

It is the year of our Lord [A.D.] 44.

It has been fourteen years since the Holy Spirit first anointed the saints in Jerusalem to Go into all the world and proclaim the Gospel.

Peter is not going to remain in Jerusalem.

Peter commands a continued mission

.. they saw him and were astounded.

ἐξίστημι – amazed – out of their wits (in the wonder of seeing Peter)

Luke once again on this day uses this same description as Pentecost when the Church sees Peter alive and in person, even though they had fully expected Herod to execute the Apostle as he had James.

So they were astounded and marveling, saying, “Behold, are not all these who are speaking Galileans? .. And they all continued in astonishment and great perplexity, saying to one another, “What does this mean?”

Acts of the Apostles 2:7,12 – Pentecost [~A.D.30] when Peter proclaimed Christ crucified and risen from death.

Astonishing that a girl is raised from the dead by Peter in Joppa! Amazing that the Holy Spirit had also filled Samaritans and Roman soldiers in Caesarea as Peter and other disciples of Jesus had reported to the Church in Jerusalem.

And all the circumcised believers who came with Peter were astounded that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles also.
Acts of the Apostles 10:45 LSB

Today amazingly, Peter has a command for the Church as the Apostle will address them once more in Jerusalem:

But motioning to them with his hand to be silent, he recounted to them how the Lord had led him out of the prison.

Meanwhile, back at Herod’s palace..

Herod Agrippa I had seized Peter during the time of the Passover when great crowds always gathered in Jerusalem as they had years before when the Jews crucified Jesus on a Roman cross.

The king’s recent execution of James had so pleased the Jews that now Herod would kill Peter. (It would be great political theatre for this friend of Rome now gaining some cooperation from the religious parties of Jerusalem.) Herod had a high-security guard of sixteen men watch over Peter during every watch of the night. BUT..

Acts 12:18

Now when day came, there was no small disturbance among the soldiers as to what had become of Peter.

A report of amazement from these sixteen elite guards, two who were chained to Peter while two others were on guard at the Herod’s prison door.

And when Herod had searched for him and had not found him, he examined the guards..

Remember back fourteen years ago, before Herod manipulated his way back into power?

Luke 23:

8 Now when Herod saw Jesus, he rejoiced greatly; for he had wanted to see Him for a long time, because he had been hearing about Him and was hoping to see some sign performed by Him. And he questioned Jesus in many words, but He answered him nothing..

11 And Herod with his soldiers, after treating Him with contempt and mocking Him, dressed Him in a bright robe and sent Him back to Pilate. Now Herod and Pilate became friends with one another that very day; for before they had been enemies with each other.

Leaving Jerusalem

King Herod Agrippa I

Acts 12:19

.. he examined the guards and ordered that they be led away to execution. Then he went down from Judea to Caesarea and was spending time there.

Caesarea Palaestinae has been the capitol of Roman Judaea since AD 6 & is the residence of Herod Agrippa (and soon Agrippa II),

not Hierosolyma (as the Roman’s call Jerusalem).

And on an appointed day Herod, having put on his royal apparel and sitting on the judgment seat, began delivering an address to them [an audience of representatives from Tyre and Sidon]. And the assembly kept crying out, “The voice of a god and not of a man!”

And immediately an angel of the Lord struck him because he did not give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and breathed his last.
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 Marcus Julius Agrippa I - b. 10 B.C. d. A.D. 44
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P.S. Soon, Manaen, who had grown up with Marcus Agrippa in the court of Tiberius Caesar Augustus, will join the Apostle Paul and many disciples of the Way in Antioch, from where they will lead the Church on missions into the all the world, proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

The Apostle Simon Peter

.. he recounted to them how the Lord had led him out of the prison. And he said,

“Report these things to James and the brothers.”

Then he left and went to another place.

Of course the James to whom Peter refers is NOT the first martyred Apostle James, but the biological half-brother of Jesus who is now a disciple of the Way after Jesus’ resurrection and ascension.

Even though Saul no longer persecutes the Church, King Herod and the Jews of Jerusalem still pursue the Apostles.

We will not see Peter for some time until after A.D. 44

Peter certainly could have returned to Capernaum to be with his wife and family. But the Apostle will return to Jerusalem at times as we will see later in Acts of the Apostles.

And when Herod had searched for him and had not found him, he examined the guards and ordered that they be led away to execution.

But the word of the Lord continued to grow and to be multiplied.
Acts of the Apostles 12:24, after Peter escaped from Jerusalem
in ~AD 44 after proclaiming the Gospel of the risen Christ Jesus for fourteen years.

25 And Barnabas and Saul [Paul] returned to Jerusalem, fulfilling their ministry, taking along with them John, who was also called Mark.

Then what happened to Peter?

For Your Information (Peter’s witness and leadership continues after this astounding event in Jerusalem):
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All dates approximate. Source for most is Rose Guide to the Book of Acts.
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- AD 44-48 – The predicted famine [Acts 11] during the reign of Claudius takes place; Barnabas and Saul of Tarsus will bring a collection from the churches to Jerusalem for distribution.
- AD 49 – A council of Church leaders, including Peter, meet in Jerusalem [Acts 15].
  - This, of course, is five years after Peter has left Jerusalem after being freed by an angel.
- AD 49 – Luke, who has recorded Peter’s Gospel and the acts of the Apostles (so far) departs Jerusalem with Paul on his second missionary journey.
- AD 50 – John Mark, who had accompanied Paul for part of his first missionary journey, writes his Gospel.
- AD 64-65 [twenty years after Peter escapes Herod]- Peter writes two letters to the Church
- Sometime after a Jewish revolt in AD 66, Nero will execute Peter and many others in Rome.
Jesus said to them, ” “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. – Gospel of Mark 16:15
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ACTS of the Apostles will continue on mission, God-willing, for your comments and witness of the 21st c. Church. - RH
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August 30, 2022
Church: Religion? Philosophic Discourse? or Cultural Calling?
The instant you say, ‘church,’ you dip your toe into waters of reactions which you know not how hot or cold, how shallow or deep, how stagnant or storm-tossed the hearer of your faith.

Do you dare even ask?
- Are YOU a CHRISTIAN?
- Where did you worship last Sunday?
- Do you belong to OUR church?
- What are you currently studying from the Bible?
- Would you talk of JESUS with me?
- May I SHARE the Good News of my Biblical Christian faith?
Just imagine the wide range of reactions of any other soul to ANY of these questions of the faithful evangelical Christian daring to share the Gospel of their Biblical Christian church.

An even more troubling question:

Does a Christian dare engage OTHER ‘christians‘ in a conversation about Christ (the Namesake of our Christian faith) addressing ALL of these questions and more about our Biblical Christian faith?

Have YOU, in fact, tested these troublesome waters?

IF SO, perhaps you too have received a baptism of hot opposition or a cold withdrawal of the flesh from the waters of faith.

That would be evangelism = a RED FLAG of RELIGION to which a world (inclusively with some calling themselves a ‘church,’) will often react with ears that do not hear, as well as the rhetoric of rebellion against the Lord God and anarchy against salvation of the sinful soul.
- Perhaps evangelism nets too few caught in the rising waters of a cultural flood of this world reacting to the ‘church,’ by denying Christ Jesus.
- Maybe a pure Biblical Christian faith offends some tiptoeing into the mire of murky waters of philosophic denial.
The [*] wicked fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”
They act corruptly, they commit abominable deeds;
There is no one who does good.
Psalm 14 :: Legacy Standard Bible (LSB) * wicked – one who rejects wisdom in rebellion against God
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(Although some these wicked fools have crept into pulpits of places which call themselves, 'church.')
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ANY constant questioning of authoritative adherence to the Word of God, the Holy Bible of our Christian faith, should sound an alarm to the faithful:

Beware of the tempter in sheep’s clothing.

Who else would deconstruct the Biblical Christian foundation of the Church, only to reconstruct our faith by compromises of the only Truth, replacing authoritative Scripture with several shifting pebbles of heretical half-truths ‘reasoned’ by the wicked at war with Christ?

So I ask you .. I ask us:

Who are these 21st century Christians?
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What are YOUR answers to my earlier questions I dare to ask my fellow evangelical Christian believers and worshipers of Jesus Christ? (ADD your Comment on Scripture to this Saturday Post of TalkofJESUS.com) 
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Our church in Christ Jesus has no place for the unrepentant wicked fool; for our Gospel is for those who believe.
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I began this Saturday Post series as a deeper discussion of DOCTRINE (or teaching) of the Church. The alarm of the watchman on the wall rang in my ears while hearing about a subtle teaching, an undercurrent of doctrine seeping into the evangelical christian church.

Evangelical RECONSTRUCTION was something I naively had never heard of; YET now I will raise the trumpet of warning to sound the alarm:
Something’s wrong with our church!

(Who wouldn't agree?) YES it is.

So why not RECALL it?

(Send it ‘back to the manufacturer? Can’t do that. So how can WE evolve the church into a 21st c. style faith?)
Tear it down to the ground demolishing doctrine by doctrine.

Then WE can RECONSTRUCT that which WE have deconstructed to fix the church how WE want.

But WE had better do it subtly (so as not to offend anybody) and stealthily (without account of a foundational Biblical Christian teaching).
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A 21st c. RECALL of the CHURCH is just what WE need for OUR Evangelical Reconstruction of the Church into a socially acceptable gathering which will attract any follower from religions of every culture of our world.
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NOT!

To borrow from the Apostle Paul refuting premises of clear untruths:

By no means!

Perfect Teaching (for God’s imperfect ‘church’)

https://talkofjesus.com/talk-jesus-com/what-is-doctrine/
διδασκαλία – didaskalia – doctrine (19x), teaching (1x), learning (1x). – source: BlueLetterBible.org

Doctrine, whether by preaching or teaching or proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ, is foundational to faith and therefore never to be torn down by any mortal sinner. Scripture affirms God’s truth and the trustworthy teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ for those who believe.

.. so that we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming, ..
Letter of the Apostle Paul to the Church in Ephesus 4:14 Legacy Standard Bible

This same Apostle (to the Gentiles) confesses in his first letter to the pastor, Timothy 1:15

.. that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.

And the Apostle Peter fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying,

“Go away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man!”
the Good News of Luke 5:8 Legacy Standard Bible

Some call Peter and Paul, Saints (and they are); yet all of God’s faithful are saints to the Lord.

Psalm 34:9 (WLC 34:10) יְראוּ אֶת־יְהוָה קְדֹשָׁיו כִּי־ אֵין מַחְסוֹר לִירֵאָֽיו׃
Yodh
Oh, fear Yahweh, you His saints;
For there is no want to those who fear Him.
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Do YOU FEAR THE LORD GOD, oh you sinner?

The MARQEE denominational name of your 'church' matters NOT, my fellow sinner. 
Seek the salvation of the Lord, my dear fellow saint, His redemption of your soul to eternal life witnessed in the Gospel of the Christ JESUS.
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Perfect Preaching (Teaching)

Is based on & does not manipulate Scripture.

THE LORD GOD IS! (God IS God and mankind is not.)

God spoke to and through men whom the Lord God chose and commanded to write HIS words.

“God is not a man, that He should lie,
Nor a son of man, that He should repent;
Has He said, and will He not do it?
Or has He spoken, and will He not establish it?
Numbers 23:19 LSB

ONLY Scripture – Sola Scriptura

All Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness,
2 Timothy 3:16 LSB

NOT ‘some,’ NOT ‘select scripture’ ..

AND separate from the truth that some church pastors will never reprove or correct those wayward weak sheep of their own flock,

ALL of the WRITTEN WORD OF SCRIPTURE IS GOD INSPIRED!

Mortal SINNERS DO NOT get to reconstruct what GOD has said.

(But false teachers of every era subtly seek to lead Christ’s lost sheep into the abyss of disbelief.)

Pilate said to Him, “What is truth?”

The Apostle John’s Good News for you is:

.. that he is telling the truth, so that you also may believe.

Evangelical RE-construction of the Church
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Source material for the following is transcribed (written as accurately as possible) from the A.D. 2022 podcast 'Just Thinking,' previously recommended and linked on TalkofJESUS.com and used with permission of its author. - RH
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In deconstruction everything is a SOCIAL construction, including the church.
Darrell Harrison
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By the way, this Saturday Post series, Church – Who are these 21st c. Christians? - is directed toward faithful evangelical Christians who fear God and believe Scripture as a warning and caution for infidelity to Christ we increasingly hear from the pulpits of our RE-engineered 21st c. 'churches.' - RH

I will add brief comment to Harrison's outline below for your consideration and intentional thinking about the teaching of your church. Why not add your own thoughts in the Comments at the bottom of this post. 

God-willing, we will continue the course of identifying the faithful of our 21st century 'Church' next Saturday.
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Evangelical Deconstructionism

Most of the points quoted may be found in the Just Thinking Podcast near 1:32.

FIVE-POINT PROGRESSION of Evangelical Deconstructionism
1. EMBRACE and posit [plant or assume] the idea [philosophy] that the CHURCH is a SOCIALLY constructed system, NOT a divinely ordained idea [institution] that originated in the mind of God.
2. ASSUME that this socially constructed system is designed to be exclusive of certain intersectional identities, traditions and behaviors.
3. IDENTIFY subjective [reasoned in the mind] points or cracks in that socially constructed system that have failed [as reasoned by the philosopher] AND need to be fixed [or reconstructed].
4. APPLY a hermeneutic [interpretive explanation] of SUSPICION to that SOCIALIALLY-CONSTRUCTED system so that ANYONE [who even remotely] connected to that system is deemed UNTRUSTWORTHY.. deemed an enemy.
5. RECONSTRUCT this SOCIAL SYSTEM [church, etc.] into the IMAGE and likeness of the CULTURE with socially acceptable.. [everythingology].
Have you heard the alarm?

“Therefore watch out, so that the thing spoken of in the Prophets may not come upon you:
Acts of the Apostles 13:40 LSB [in context 13:23-41]

“Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.
Gospel of Matthew 7:15 LSB – a warning of Jesus

“Now why do you call Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?

Gospel of Luke 6:46 LSB – CHALLANGE of the Lord Jesus Christ to followers

What must we do?

Does YOUR local church have a new cultural calling to evangelism?

Please comment below on what you observe of Evangelical Deconstructionism?

Comment on Scripture – Share the Gospel
August 27, 2022