HOME | POLITICS | SPORTS | LIFE | SCI/TECH | OPEDS | HELPFUL TIPS
|
July 16, 2006 “18Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time. 19They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us. 20But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things.” (1 John 2: 18-20) The arguments start: “I was a Born Again Christian once…” The argument that begins with that sentence has no merit or worth. There is no such thing as being “born anew” in the past tense. To begin such a sentence in such a manner is to display an ignorance of God’s grace, God’s love and God’s devotion to his own ability to keep a promise to never leave or forsake someone who was truly repentant of personal sin. John knew this to be a “spirit of antichrist”. Those who boldly claim they managed to “find out better things…” or “discovered they’d made a mistake…” never held title to “eternal” salvation, or they would yet be proclaiming God’s unending love. “They went out from us…” is John knowing that there were those within the congregation that did not truly belong. Whatever their motive for joining the crowd was, they became discouraged easily and walked away from their eternal opportunity. “…if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us…” is John’s assurance that the ones who walked away from the faith did it easily because they did not have the Spirit of God. Spirit recognizes and works with Spirit. There is a tangible fellowship between those so indwelt. Those who walk away and later speak against the faith are those known to have never been “of us at all”. The scriptures tell the faithful that only the Spirit filled person can call Jesus “Lord”. People without the Spirit do not understand that relationship. That same paragraph tells us that a person who has the Spirit cannot curse the Lord. The argument that curses the Christian or claim Jesus to be some mythological figure using the “I was a Christian once…” line of reasoning has no basis in truth. The beginning premise is the lie that all other parts of any anti-Christian debate rests upon. The entire debate falls into the realm of the nonsensical. John wrote of the spirit of antichrist in his day saying: “…even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.” Amazingly, many of those antichrists “went out from” the true Church, the true Body of Believers. These “antichrists” could not really be considered “traitors” because they were never truly of the Body. They were simply unbelievers who were following their feelings for a while until their love for sin once again drew them away from the truth. The hearts were never changed and the lives were never sealed unto faith in the Lord. The story of the “Prodigal Son” is a story of one who never stopped being the son of his Father. It is true that the son went to wallow with the pigs for a while and wasted much of his reward in acts of riot. But I will always remember that the Father never forsook his child and when the son returned, the heart of forgiveness displayed a perfect forgiveness that ignored all the past sinful actions of the child. There are few better scriptural examples of a Christian’s relationship with God. Once adopted into the family of faith we are a son, never to be forsaken. No matter how many pigs we decide to wallow with our Father has already determined our cleansing because he has promised that from his heart of love; not because we have somehow earned his love. Those who suggest “I was a Christian once…” never had their adoption papers sealed in the Spirit. They may have acted the part for a time. They may have prayed and sang in the church and read the bible and done their works of charity. But rather than “continue” they found some avenue that keeps their physical life satisfied outside the circle of faith. They have given up the spiritual; and the eternal for the physical and the immediate. They are perfectly able to do that because they are “not of us”. “…but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.” The true Christian can see the folly of the claim of some “past tense” relationship with God. God does not destroy the adoption papers. He does not “leave or forsake” but he establishes his children in the faith and makes them “joint-heirs with Christ”. Jesus promised that when he would go away he would send another “Comforter” who would indwell and teach all things “whatsoever I have said to you”. For more than two thousand years the Comforter… “Who is the Holy Ghost…” has indwelt and abided with the faithful to their death or martyrdom. The Spirit of truth is the author of scripture and his words are easily recognized and believed by those chosen of God unto faith. The unfaithful who try to establish a faith of past tense show their ignorance and their inability to examine truth. Their arguments have no merit. Their arguments are set in the spirit of antichrist. ------------ Email Skip: skiptoomaloo@hotmail.com Comment on this article here! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com. Please link to this article rather than copying and pasting it onto your site (which would be unauthorized and illegal). |
||||||
|
|
|||||||
|
