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Tag: God

Divinity, Doctrine and Denomination
As I pointed out in our last Saturday Post WE, the church, seem to have some differences dividing our approach to divinity.

Denominations / Why can’t we all just get along?

~800 MILLION Protestant Christians [37% of the world population] can be divided into < 40,000 denominations

What does it mean to be called a “Christian?”

Who are all of those ‘denominations‘ that call themselves, ‘Church?’

And what do doctrine and divinity have to do with it?

Divinity

God IS God! (and WE are NOT)!

Anyone who denies THIS has a humility problem!

Look it up:

ĕlōhîm – אֱלֹהִים

θειότης – theiotēs From θεῖος from Godhead

For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, both His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.
Romans 1:20 LSB

Doctrine

This entire Saturday Post series (including Church) addresses doctrine. READ MORE: What is Doctrine?

But as for you, speak the things which are proper for sound doctrine.
Titus 2:1 Legacy Standard Bible

Do not be deceived, God is not mocked, for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap.
Galatians 6:7 LSB

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness.. Romans 1:18

Denomination

Martin Luther originally gets much of the blame for his PROTEST against false teaching of the Roman Catholic Church.

Luther’s theology stood on the truths of Scripture and faith.

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “BUT THE RIGHTEOUS WILL LIVE BY FAITH.” – Romans 1:16-17 LSB

Denominations / Why can’t we all just get along?

Scripture tells us how false teachers leaven the Church and the faithful must discern the dangers of false preaching.

Church DE-NOMINATIONS seem to be doubling-down lately into divisions over SOCIAL issues.

AND this phenomenon of churches redefining themselves is not limited to any particular denomination.

What does it mean to be a church?

RE-fitting YOUR church vision to accommodate changing cultural mores doesn’t really seem to have anything to do with divinity or sound doctrine rooted in Scripture and proclaiming the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

As you have seen in my previous Saturday Posts, although gaining downhill momentum toward the pit of destruction, this trend is nothing new.

But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves. .. And in their greed they will exploit you with false words..
These are springs without water and mists driven by a storm, for whom the black darkness has been kept. For speaking out arrogant words of vanity, they entice by sensual lusts of the flesh, those who barely escape from the ones who conducted themselves in error..
Second Letter of the Apostle Peter to the Church 2:1,3,17-18 LSB

In the beginnings of the first century Church the Apostle Peter mentions an earlier fall of Israel as an example of the ever-present danger of false teaching.

Can we be a ‘church‘ without doctrine?

Jesus went up into the temple, and began to teach..
“My teaching is not Mine, but from Him who sent Me. “If anyone is willing to do His will, he will know about the teaching, whether it is of God..
Gospel of John 7:14b,16-17a LSB

TEACHING IS DOCTRINE!

Is the Doctrine YOU hear in YOUR church from God?

If YOU think the preacher of the church YOU ‘attend‘ doesn’t have some ‘NON-NEGOTIABLES’ of Doctrine, it’s time for you to listen closer (and think for yourself).
- What DOESN’T he/she say — EVER?
- What Truth will the man or woman with the mike REFUSE to PREACH from the pulpit or have you hear in the good-feeling lyrics of the amplified sounds of worship?
- Which Bible verses have to be bent just a little to connect to OUR audience?
  - DARE WE EVER preach REPENTANCE before grace?
  - Let’s bring Christ down from heaven just a bit, so he feels closer to OUR audience just for an hour (and only on Sunday).
  - As in my previous post on Everythingology for an all-inclusive church, perhaps I’ve overstated this (just a bit) by hyperbole once more.- RH
What makes a CHURCH Christian?
Have BIBLE verses evaporated from the wall of worship behind the stage of OUR worship service?
Does OUR pastor hesitate to mention Christ Jesus?
Is a pressing social issue important to the growth of our church?
Can OUR church be BOTH christian AND other?
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Although I am a lay theologian; that is, I study God and I study Scripture and I study Jesus Christ, I must once again point you toward the teaching of a most respected Christian theologian. 
Although I will add my comments here, seek your own answers about the church you belong to locally. 
(And once your read this and think through the doctrine YOU hear, why not ADD your COMMENTS to this post?)- RH
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Divinity, Doctrine and the Christian Life

“The great divorce of doctrine and life will destroy the Christian life.

Lloyd-Jones on the Christian Life: Doctrine and Life as Fuel and Fire
Foreword by Sinclair B. Ferguson By Jason C. Meyer, Series edited by Stephen J. Nichols, Justin Taylor, Foreword by Sinclair B. Ferguson

Doctrine and life are fuel and fire, not oil and water.
D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

THINK DOCTRINE, EMBRACE TRUTH, ACT ACCORDINGLY
1. doctrine comes to mind
2. truth captures the heart
3. which then moves the will to act
The Bible starts with God the Father always, everywhere and we must do the same — because that is the order of the blessed Trinity: God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit.
D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

“I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
“I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one.
“They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
“Sanctify them by the truth; Your word is truth.
Gospel of John 17 – from the High Priestly prayer of Jesus Christ to the Father

..theology must first concede that the finite cannot fully know the infinite. Therefore, theology is sometimes an exercise in negation.
Lloyd-Jones pictures theology as the act of building a fence around the incomprehensible mystery of God.
Jason Meyer
- Does the world HATE you because of any witness of Jesus Christ you claim by faith?
- WE are in the world, so do we recognize the evil one?
Have you even heard your pastor caution his/her church about the evil one?
- Jesus did.
- Do others worshiping the Lord alongside you recognize that Christ has set YOU, me and members of His Body the Church apart for salvation?
Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us take hold of our confession. – Hebrews 4:14 LSB

EMBRACE this TRUTH:

Sinful man CANNOT intercede with the HOLY GOD (who WE are NOT) without accepting our High Priest, the Lord Jesus Christ as the Perfect Sacrifice for our sins – the sacrificial Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.

Our partial knowledge of God is real knowledge, but it falls far short of comprehensive knowledge.. God alone is
“HOLY, HOLY, HOLY is THE LORD GOD, THE ALMIGHTY, WHO WAS AND WHO IS AND WHO IS TO COME.”
Jason Meyer, quoting the Revelation of Jesus Christ to John 4:8b
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NEXT, God-willing, we will continue with Jason Meyer's overview of the doctor of doctrine Martyn Lloyd-Jones and his prescription for this brief moment of our our Christian lives.
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September 17, 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
Did God really say, Church?
Yes! God said, “CHURCH.”

Let’s be clear up front. I can assure you through Scripture (the written word of God we call THE BIBLE) that our Creator said, “Church.”

So that we are on the same page (so to speak) I will get to a written definition of Church shortly. But first — and perhaps more importantly — I have a question to ask YOU.

WHO is Asking?
- Why is THIS important?
- Does the person asking you about “Church“ really want to know what God said?
- OR
- Is this question of theirs a veiled dismissal of God
  - AND built on a premise opposed to the Authority of God’s Word?
Who believes that God created the CHURCH?

FIRST: Most likely NO ONE has asked you about your “church.”

If you made a list including one hundred [100] from your neighborhood, work and extended family,
- HOW MANY would even ASK YOU ANYTHING about CHURCH or GOD or Jesus Christ?
Perhaps, one?
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(Not even Christians of our church typically engage each other in conversation about 'church'  beyond the walls of the church building or in our mortal time beyond a single worship service duplicated twice on Sunday.)
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SECONDLY: IF you ever hear a person ask you about your ‘church‘ and Scripture ,

ASK YOURSELF, “WHO IS ASKING?”

You probably know several variations of the original QUESTION directly from your Bible.

וְהַנָּחָשׁ הָיָה עָרוּם מִכֹּל חַיַּת הַשָּׂדֶה אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה יְהוָה אֱלֹהִים וַיֹּאמֶר אֶל־הָאִשָּׁה אַף כִּֽי־אָמַר אֱלֹהִים לֹא תֹֽאכְלוּ מִכֹּל עֵץ הַגָּֽן׃
Bereishit (Genesis) 3:1 :: Westminster Leningrad Codex (WLC)
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Of course most of us cannot read the original so we must rely on a translation of Scripture (me included)-- but (keep in mind) -- 

NO man or woman can claim truth while they reconstruct Scripture into words they want the Bible to say. 

WORDS have both meaning and intent. Therefore a preacher or teacher of the BIBLE MUST stick to preaching or teaching from a reliable English translation AND NOT SUBSTITUTE your own 'better,' less-offensive words.

The BIG QUESTION of THE DECEIVER goes something like the reconstruction by Satan sketched out (and linked) below.
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Does the preacher of the Word who shepherds your church have the integrity to ALWAYS use the written word of God from the Bible as written?
Roger@TalkofJESUS.com [Your response or question by email is welcome.]

Questioning and Reconstructing God’s Word
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An example from Genesis 3:
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Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made.

And he said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said,
Genesis 3:1b NASB95

‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?”
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Again, WATCH OUT! Whenever you hear anyone ask, 'has God said...'
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“Church“

Call it what you like, but different people mean different things when they say, ‘church.’

This is so even for members or attenders of the very same church. So let’s settle on some standard definitions of our references to ‘the church.’

ἐκκλησία – ek-klay-see’-ah [feminine noun]

Strong’s G1577 – ekklēsia [click for complete definition of ‘church’]
- a gathering of citizens called out from their homes into some public place
No mention of the ‘church building’ here, although this ‘public place’ could be a building, tent, other home or anywhere two or three ‘citizens’ are gathered together.

And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; G1577 and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
Gospel of Matthew 16:18 KJV – first use of the word ‘church‘ G1537 ekklēsia in the New Testament

Christians and unbelievers alike think of CHURCH as an exclusive reference to a building or place where JESUS worshipers gather together as a ‘religious’ routine typically on Sunday only.

However, a deeper look into how ‘church’ is used in the Bible — Old Testament AND New — will reveal a more significant connection of this ‘gathering of citizens’ to the LORD God.

Gather me the people together – קָהַל

The summons or call to worship is from the LORD Himself!

The first reference to the ‘church’ or gathering in the Greek Septuagint comes from the LORD through Moses. Each assembly of the hebrew people, the citizens called out of Egypt and frequently out of their tents in the wilderness, was called by the LORD GOD.

The LORD calls out the CHURCH, a chosen company of worshipers of the LORD our God.
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View a link to these references from the Septuagint in the common Greek of the first century Roman Empire when Israel no longer existed and JESUS taught in Galilee, Samaria and Judea.
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“Remember the day you stood before the LORD your God at Horeb, when the LORD said to me, ‘Assemble the people to Me, that I may have them hear My words so that they may learn to fear Me all the days that they live on the earth, and that they may teach their children.’
Deuteronomy 4:10

“The LORD gave me the two tablets of stone written by the finger of God; and on them were all the words which the LORD had spoken with you at the mountain from the midst of the fire on the day of the assembly..
“This is in accordance with everything that you asked of the LORD your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, saying, ‘Do not let me hear the voice of the LORD my God again, and do not let me see this great fire anymore, or I will die!’
Deuteronomy 9:10; 18:16

It’s pretty serious business:

However, the LORD said to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against Me, I will wipe him out of My book. But go now, lead the people where I told you. Behold, My angel shall go before you; nevertheless on the day when I punish, I will punish them for their sin.”
Exodus 32:33-34 NASB20

— a chosen citizenry created in the image of the LORD against whom they turn (again and again)

שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵינוּ יְהוָה אֶחָֽד׃
“And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.
Devarim (Deuteronomy) 6:4 :: WLC; 6:5 NASB20

Then God said, “Behold, I am going to make a covenant. Before all your people I will perform miracles which have not been produced in all the earth nor among any of the nations; and all the people among whom you live will see the working of the LORD, for it is a fearful thing that I am going to perform with you.
Exodus 34:10 NASB20

— the LAW of the LORD our God (broken again and again)

“Be careful that you do not make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land into which you are going, or it will become a snare in your midst.
Exodus 34:12 NASB20

— covenant, solemn promise after solemn promise (broken again and again)

“For when I bring them into the land flowing with milk and honey, which I swore to their fathers, and they eat and are satisfied and become prosperous, then they will turn to other gods and serve them, and spurn Me and break My covenant.
Deuteronomy 31:20 NASB20

AND even in the New Testament

— an often apostate church continually asking, “DID GOD REALLY SAY?“

I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel, which is not just another account; but there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.
Paul’s letter to the Church at Galatia 1:6-7 NASB20

Did Scripture really say..?

Second Letter of Paul to Timothy

3:12 Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.

YES, God — JESUS — really did say, CHURCH.

Scripture — spoken by the LORD, written in the Law and the Prophets, preached by the Lord Jesus Christ, taught by the Apostles — Scripture affirms Christ’s Church already built by HIM and in no need of tearing down out of a lack of faith.

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man [messenger] of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
2 Timothy 3:16-17 ESV

Why do you ask?
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"Did God really say, Church?" is our first post for a NEW TalkofJESUS.com SERIES, addressing philosophies and questions underlying intentional deconstruction of the 21st Century Church.
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Talk of JESUS . com

Comment on Scripture – Share the Gospel
July 9, 2022