I've been working hard at trying to take all the books I've written and update them, reading and rewritting them so they are worthy to be published. I've gone through and submitted them and now some of them are already for sale! You can go to my bookstore to look through them if you want, the link is:
http://www.rrb3.com/bookstore/bookstore_index.htm
Anyway, I've got several commentaries I've written, these include those on the book of 1 Thessalonians (although it's still not finished), James, 1 Peter, and 2 Peter. I've gone back and reread these and updated them some, and while I was working on 2 Peter, I noticed something that made me think. That's what I want to talk about in this blog. I think it's very pertinent for our day and age, especially as Christians and Churches sink deeper and deeper into apostasy. So, what I've learned I'll share with you here. I hope this will be a blessing to you, and as Peter said it his epistle, it will help you to "grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." (2 Peter 3:18)
So here's the verse that set me thinking, with the capitalization being my emphasis on the words:
Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for IF YOU DO THESE THINGS, YE SHALL NEVER FALL: (2 Peter 1:10)
Here we are told by the apostle Peter that there are some things that if you do, you shall never fall, or backslide. This verse really jumped out at me. I don't want to fall as a Christian. I don't want to backslide. I want to be a good Christian, standing firm in truth and living for my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
But as I looked at the verse, I thought to myself, "What are those things of which he speaks that can keep me from falling?"
I looked at the context and I found the things of which he spoke were found in the verses above, and there were seven things mentioned in total. They are:
5 And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;
6 And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;
7 And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.
Peter here tells us to give ALL DILIGENCE to the following things which he says will keep a Christian from falling: 1. VIRTUE, 2. KNOWLEDGE, 3. TEMPERANCE, 4. PATIENCE, 5. GODLINESS, 6. BROTHERLY KINDNESS, and 7. CHARITY.
As I looked up each of these in the dictionary I almost wanted to cry. For, so few who claim to be Christians today actually have these characteristics, much less practice them. Why is this?
I looked back up at verse four in the context and read these words:
4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
There is, then, a contrast between those in the world (worldly people) and those who are Christians (partakers of the divine nature). It says that Christians have ESCAPED the corruption of the world and no longer LUST after the things of the world. So obviously the world has fallen because the world doesn't have these things.
If this be true, why then are so many who claim to be Christians today so different from the list of the seven things that Peter gave which will keep a Christian from falling? Instead of virtue, many Christians are full of vice. Instead of knowledge, many are so very ignorant of even the most basic of Bible doctrines. Instead of temperant, many Christians are given to excess. Instead of patience, most are strongly impatient. Instead of godly most are inmoral. Instead of brotherly love and kindess, we find such cruelty and bickering among Christians. And instead of charity there is so much apathy and malice.
In short, it's hard to find anyone nowadays who claims to be a Christian who has all these attributes that Peter lists.
But what's worse was when I came to the verses right after those seven things listed by Peter:
8 For IF THESE THINGS BE IN YOU, and ABOUND, they make you that ye shall neither be BARREN nor UNFRUITFUL in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
9 But he that lacketh these things is BLIND, and CANNOT SEE afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.
One would be very hard pressed to find a Christian today with all seven of these things, but imagine a Christian who not only has these things, but they ABOUND IN him. Wow!
But notice even further that the Scripturs teach us that those who don't have these things are called BLIND. They cannot SEE. They have lost their VISION.
To me this is so very sad, for I see Christians today who claim to be great men of God who are out attacking one another, devouring one another, calling names, and putting others down. While they claim to be "men of God" being used of God, yet they are barren and unfruitful in God's eyes.
But how can this be? How on earth could they even think to call themselves CHRISTIANS when they act the way they do?
What's worse is others who follow these men actually think that by doing what they are doing in namecalling and character assassinating others, that they are STANDING STRONG IN THE FAITH. In other words, they think that a man's meaness means he's a strong Christian. But that's not what the verses above say! If anything, the meaner the Christian, the sooner he's going to FALL according to these verses above, for he is BLIND and can't SEE.
Could it be, then, that's those who claim to be Christians but instead of being virtuous, kind, temperate, and charitable, and are rather cold, hard, and angry are then not truly Christians at all? Could it be?
If they are Christians, they are not good examples of it. And they had better watch out, because the less CHARITY they have, the more blind they'll become and the sooner they'll fall.
With this in mind, I've decided I'm not interested in attacking others personally, whether they claim to be Christians or not. I just don't find in the Bible that that's the CHRISTIAN WAY of doing things.
Instead, I find that we should attack a person's FALSE DOCTRINES if what they are preaching is against the word of God. We might not agree with other Christians, but that doesn't give us a right to put them down and attack them personally. Instead of making it a matter of me against them, or them against me, it should be about WHAT DOES HE TEACH ABOUT SO AND SO AND WHY? If he teaches something contrary to scripture, we should repudiate his false teaching and expose it from the Scriptures. We should not downgrade, ridicule, and lamblast the man, for he just might be right on other things. We should instead say, SO AND SO TEACHES THUS AND SO, BUT THE BIBLE TEACHES THUSLY. That's not an attack! Rather that's the BIBLE verse THEM, not me against them.
In closing, I find that Modern Christianity is not being destroyed by Satan. Nor is it the government or the outside world that is shutting down the Church and bringing it to an end. Rather it is BLIND CHRISTIANS or those who claim they are such, that are falling themselves, and it is they who are making the church come to naught.
They are not following the Apostle Peter in that list of those seven things he claimed that we should give ALL DILIGENCE to.
Rather they are carnal men who with carnal practices claim to serve the Lord. But shouldn't we be busy trying to walk in the Spirit and serving God in the Spirit, and not in the flesh?
I'll let you decide. All I know is I want to give more DILIGENCE in being more virtuous, knowledgeable, temperant, patient, godly, kind, and charitable. I pray that you too would desire and practice the same.
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