Paul Proctor has hit the nail on its head. After analyzing the sinking ship known *affectionately* by Rev. Ken Silva as the Ecumenical Church of Deceit (ECoD), Paul has distilled the reasons for such blatent compromise in the visible Church today to two R's: Results and Relationships, in this excellent article. That is to say, the persuing and valuing of these two good things above the things and the truth of God. That certainly makes everything much, much clearer. Thanks, Paul, for your service to the Church of our Lord Jesus Christ.
3 comments:
" “So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs.” – John 21:15
You see, here Jesus was telling Peter: If you love Me, you’ll give them the Truth, the whole Truth – My Word – “the Bread of Life,” even when it is difficult, disturbing, divisive and damaging to your Results and your Relationships; implying that if you love them only or love them more than me you’ll withhold the Truth, some of it or all of it, for the sake of Relationship. "
I do not see how he came to his comments in this paragraph from Jesus telling Peter to feed his lambs.
This article overall is ok, but our God is a relational God. Within himself (all 3 of him), and with us his creation. I mean just by becoming his child we are all by virtue brothers n sisters with one another in him! dats great what... We love God above all, and then we love our neighbour as ourselves. "Feed my lambs". 1 John 4 teaches about loving one another and how this is related to loving God.
So... this article is fine but i jus feel like there is some kind of scorn for relationships in this article. I wonder what is the basis for it, and what grievance Paul Proctor is addressing..
My other gripe is that Matthew 6:33 addresses how we should not worry because God knows and will supply our basic needs. And not really about what results and relationships. So to me this was taken out of context. But it is a minor gripe
Munchy,
I hate to say this, but you are the one who is reading verses out of context here. In the ancient Middle East culture, shepherds look after their sheep in EVERY aspect, including protecting them from the wolves. Even without knowing the historical context, the biblical context of the usage of the analogy of the shepherd and the sheep show that the shepherd loves and cares for his sheep, protecting them from the wolves and even laying his life down for them (Jn. 10: 11-15; see also the Old Testament usage of the analogy in Ez. 34:1-16, especially verse 7).
As for Mt. 6:33, Paul is using it to say that we are to put God above everything. I will grant that it is not explicitly seen to be the case, but that's what he is using the verse for; that we are to seek God above everything, even Results and Relationships.
Paul is NOT against results or relationships per se, which he has stated in his article. What he is against is the elevation of these things above obedience to the commands of God. If God demands we do something, we do it, even if by doing so would cost us our relationships and/or results! Jesus ask us to take up our Cross and follow Him (Mt. 16:24), whatever the cost (Mt. 10:37-39)!
The whole article is reminding us of total and unconditional surrender to Christ. Our lives are not our own, if we are saved to begin with, and anytime we chase after whatever good things like results or relationships at the expense of obeying God is SIN!
The reason why Paul writes this is because the main problem of the Evangelical Church as a whole is the wholesale denial in part or the whole, of the Lordship of Christ as expressed in the authoritative Words of Scripture over every aspect of her life, and by extension of our lives! The entire Seeker-Sensitive movement, the Purpose Driven movement, the Emerging Church movement, the Charismatic Word-Faith movement all have this in common. Tell me, when was the last time you hear someone tell the leaders or remind the leaders of any church concerning any issue "What does the Bible teaches?" and then to follow whatever it says? Just give you an example — Music. What does the Bible say about the usage of music in worship? What does the Bible say about the usage of drama, dances etc in worship? Does anyone ask these type of questions anymore?
So now, I would like to ask you, "Are you willing to give up everything for God?", which includes your reputation as a nice person; a nice Christian in church? Would you be willing to submit to Scripture in everything, including how you are to worship God, the nature of ministry you are allowed to be in, the type of friends you are to keep? Would you be willing to pay the price, if it needs to be paid, for standing up for Christ and the truth, if by so doing you are estranged from VCF, Bethesda Frankel Estate Church and all your friends? If your answer is no to any of the above, you have not surrendered to God. That's all this article is saying to you in your circumstances.
I saw... " “So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs.” – John 21:15
You see, here Jesus was telling Peter: If you love Me, you’ll give them the Truth, the whole Truth – My Word – “the Bread of Life,” even when it is difficult, disturbing, divisive and damaging to your Results and your Relationships; implying that if you love them only or love them more than me you’ll withhold the Truth, some of it or all of it, for the sake of Relationship. "
So I...?????...
and then you.. "I hate to say this, but you are the one who is reading verses out of context here. In the ancient Middle East culture, shepherds look after their sheep in EVERY aspect, including protecting them from the wolves. Even without knowing the historical context, the biblical context of the usage of the analogy of the shepherd and the sheep show that the shepherd loves and cares for his sheep, protecting them from the wolves and even laying his life down for them (Jn. 10: 11-15; see also the Old Testament usage of the analogy in Ez. 34:1-16, especially verse 7)."
Now I... ?????!?!???!???
Anyway... I am alredy surrendered.. and He's helping me out as I go along...
Haha I have never cared much to be specifically known as a nice person... if pple regard me as one rite now so be it.. but my main purpose in life is not to make pple happy.
To me the challenge is in making the small daily decisions for Christ. If one can do so, then stuff like being martyred and being flayed alive is no challenge in comparison.
finally with regards to friends. I still try to maintain my friendships with my catholic, muslim, free thinker friends.. its part of what im here on earth for
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