Articles

Beware of the Slander Spreaders

Paula White Exposed [video]

THAT’s My King! Pastor Lockridge [video]

Powerful Prayers from Children-This Will Shake You [video]

The Fear of the LORD is to Hate Evil: Pride, and Arrogancy #shorts [video]

To Repeat or Not to Repeat

“He that keepeth his mouth keepeth his life: but he that openeth wide his lips shall have destruction.” Proverbs 13:3

NEVER be party to slander or a false report. If such were not going to be an activity to avoid, the Bible would not have so very much to say about it.

“Thou shalt not raise a false report: put not thine hand with the wicked to be an UNRIGHTEOUS WITNESS. 2 Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil; neither shalt thou speak in a cause to decline after many to wrest judgment.” Exodus 23:1-2

IF you are spreading information about another person that YOU WERE NOT A LITERAL WITNESS OF – WITH YOUR OWN EYES – you are being “an unrighteous witness” by repeating a matter you are not a literal witness of.

“He that hideth hatred with lying lips, and he that uttereth a slander, is a fool.” Proverbs 10:18

“Do violence to no man, neither accuse any falsely; and be content with your wages.” Luke 3:14

NEVER EVER DRAW CONCLUSION ON ANYTHING BEFORE YOU’VE HEARD THE WHOLE STORY

A stern divine warning to refrain from drawing conclusion, from speaking before we have the full spectrum of information. It really is true that there are at least two sides to every story.

“He that answereth a matter before he heareth it, it is folly and shame unto him.” Proverbs 18:13

Are not our laws in this country crafted after this truth? “Innocent UNTIL PROVEN guilty.”…

“He that is first in his own cause seemeth just; but his neighbour cometh and searcheth him.” Proverbs 18:17

“He that is first in his answer in a disputed matter may appear to be right, but his opponent comes to cross-examine him and brings the real truth to light.” Dake

Like myself, have you ever heard one side of a story and determined with great anger which party was guilty? Then, the other party spoke and you were left dumbfounded at just how deceived you originally were, having heard just one side of the story? O, how long shall it be till we ingest and adhere to our LORD’s infinite wisdom/Word?

Laws against False Witnesses … The Severe Punishment of All False Witnesses

“One witness shall not rise up against a man for any iniquity, or for any sin, in any sin that he sinneth: at the mouth of two WITNESSES, or at the mouth of three WITNESSES, shall the matter be established. 16 If A FALSE WITNESS (someone who didn’t SEE for themselves) rise up against any man to testify against him that which is wrong; 17 Then both the men, between whom the controversy is, shall stand before the Lord, before the priests and the judges, which shall be in those days; 18 And the judges shall make diligent inquisition: and, behold, if the witness be a false witness, and hath testified falsely against his brother; 19 Then shall ye do unto him, as he had thought to have done unto his brother: so shalt thou put the evil away from among you. 20 And those which remain shall hear, and fear, and shall henceforth commit no more any such evil among you.” Deuteronomy 19:15-20

False witnesses like Haman will be hung on their own gallows – the one they constructed to kill another. – “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.”(Galatians 6:7) The LORD misses nothing. He sees all and will repay those who repeat something they are not a literal witness of.

“For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy; and mercy rejoiceth against judgment.” James 2:13

The sin problem of judging others, wrongly that is, while we have a log in our own eye, is that God knows all our own sin we’ve not overcome yet, and is going to now expose and flip our life upside down. We’d better think long and hard about sending for unwarranted judgments on others when it’s not the Holy Spirit leading us to correct them “in the spirit of meekness” to help them restored to Christ (Matthew 7:1-5; Galatians 6:1-2; James 2:13).

Slander vs Mercy

“And the voice spake unto him again the second time, What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common.” Acts 10:15

Dare we count unclean that which God has cleansed? Dare we call David unclean for his sin when the LORD forgave, cleansed, justified Him? Dare well the fornicator of 1 Corinthians 5 unclean after he was forgiven and restored?! (2 Corinthians 2)

Beloved of God, if after being saved, you have ever once lied, stolen, coveted, lusted in your heart, refused to forgive, etc., you were choosing to be “unclean” – defiled in the eyes of a holy God. Yet, when you turn your heart back to the LORD, confessing your sin, He freely forgave you. Right? Right! (1 John 1:9) In light of this, how shall we presently and forward, assess those in Christ’s family who have sinned? Shall we celebrate their return, their restoration as did the father of the prodigal son and as Paul did with the forgiven and restored previous fornicator? (1 Corinthians 5; 2 Corinthians 2)

AS was the case with the fornicator in the Corinthians church (1 Corinthians 5), when he repented, here’s what Paul then instructed the other believers in Corinth to do:

“So that contrariwise ye ought rather to forgive him, and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one should be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow. 8 Wherefore I beseech you that ye would confirm your love toward him.” 2 Corinthians 2:7-8

WHEN someone repents, it’s over. The offense is gone, done, washed away, remitted by the very “precious blood of Christ” – as if it were never committed (1 Peter 1:18-19). The transgressors is forgiven and restored (yet he will still reap what he sowed Galatians 6:7-8).

Of this truth the Believer’s Bible Commentary notes:

2:11 Just as there is danger for an assembly if it does not take disciplinary action when called for, so there is a danger of not exercising forgiveness when true repentance has taken place. Satan is always ready to step into a situation such as this with his cunning devices. In the first case, he will wreck the testimony of an assembly through tolerated sin, and in the second, he will overwhelm the repentant person with overmuch sorrow, if the assembly does not restore him. If Satan can’t destroy by immorality, he will try by the unmeasured sorrow following repentance.

Commenting on the expression “we are not ignorant of his devices”, J. Sidlow Baxter says:

Satan uses all manner of stratagems to turn souls from the truth: a sieve to “sift” them (Luk_22:31), “devices” to trick (as in our text), “weeds” to “choke” (Mat_13:22), “wiles” to intrigue (Eph_6:11), the roaring of a lion to terrify (1Pe_5:8), the disguise of an angel to deceive (2Co_11:14) and “snares” to entangle them (2Ti_2:26).”

“Freely ye have received, freely give.” Matthew 10:8

Let us live biblically!

“Do not err, my beloved brethren.” James 1:16

Undiluted divine condemnation will be reaped upon the head of that one who dares to mock his Maker by judging others without mercy (James 2:13).

“Believe nothing against another but on good authority; and never report what may hurt another, unless it be a greater hurt to some other to conceal it.” ~William Penn

A mere accusation makes nothing true. False accusations began in the Garden of Eden and have continued since then. Here’s an example of a godly man, Christ’s apostle Paul, being falsely accused, slandered by many religionists….

“And when he was come, the Jews which came down from Jerusalem stood round about, and laid many and grievous complaints against Paul, which they could not prove.” Acts 25:7

There were many railers who slandered our precious Savior.

“But found none: yea, though many false witnesses came, yet found they none. At the last came two false witnesses.” Matthew 26:60

“For many bare false witness against him, but their witness agreed not together.” Mark 14:56

“Ye Have Done it Unto Me”

There are many railers today who while claiming to be Christ’s children, slander the disciples of Jesus. Many today still slander our LORD by slandering or railing against members of His body.

The reality of false witnesses in this wicked era is established and yet, no disciple of Jesus should ever participate in the slander or railing against one of His children and if they do, they are attacking Jesus Himself who stated “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.” Then, the Judge of all souls declares “Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.” (Matthew 25:40-41)

To slander a child of God is a soul-damning sin to be dealt with no different than the fornicator in 1 Corinthians 5 where the Bible also lists other classes of damning sins, including railing. Those who rail on another simply attack or slander them. All unrepentant railers are murderers in heart and will be slain down into eternal damnation if they don’t repent before it’s too late and forsake this wickedness (1 John 3:14-15).

What kind of person does the Bible say digs up evil – reaches beneath Christ’s blood to judge a forgiven believer? – “An ungodly man diggeth up evil: and in his lips there is as a burning fire.” (Proverbs 16:27)

BEWARE of the witches, warlocks in our midst who would seek to use an already forgiven past sin against you (Proverbs 16:27-28).

God will forgive “ALL sins” except 1:

“Verily I say unto you, ALL sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and (even) blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme: 29 But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation:” Mark 3:28-29

God will not forgive the sins of any person who refuses to forgive all others – from their heart (Matthew 18:21-35; Mark 11:25-26, etc.). Unforgiveness is non-negotiably, irrefutably, soul damning sin.

PITFALL WARNING

Can spreading something true about someone, something they actually did, a sin they committed, be slander in God’s eyes? YES. Just because it’s true that he or she went into sin does not warrant you spreading it. No, God wants to “COVER” it, bury it – just like He wants to forgive and cover, bury YOUR sins. NEVER unduly uncover the past sin of a member of Christ’s body! Do you remember what happened to Ham when he dared to uncover his father? (Genesis 9) If you unduly uncover – your sins will be uncovered (Matthew 7:1-5; James 2:13). Now, read this again and let it sink in that only “an ungodly man diggeth up evil” or brings someone else’s past sins back up:

“An ungodly man diggeth up evil: and in his lips there is as a burning fire.” Proverbs 16:27

Listen to this:

“And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall COVER the multitude of sins.” 1 Peter 4:8

Cain Followed His Parents and Did Things His Own Way

DID Cain murder his brother Abel because of Abel’s sins or his own?

“Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother’s righteous.” 1 John 3:12

Those who slander (kill, murder them with words) others do so because of the wickedness that exists in their own hearts.

The true remnant disciple must refuse to participate with false brethren in soul-damning railing (1 Corinthians 5).

What kind of person does the Bible tell us gives ear or listens to a tale bearing tongue?

“A wicked doer giveth heed to false lips; and a liar giveth ear to a naughty tongue.” Proverbs 17:4

The LORD watches who’s tale bearing and who’s listening and holds them both accountable.

It is the height of cruelty to believe the lies of an enemy concerning someone else. Yet, that makes it essential for us to dismiss things about a person if we don’t have a personal and truth-speaking witness. One dead give away of an unscrupulous, ungodly person is that they have no concern for the person they are slandering. They have no compassion or desire to see that person restore, that is, if in fact what is being said about them is even true.

Where does this originate from? Jesus says:

“O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. 35 A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things. 36 But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. 37 For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.” Matthew 12:34-37

It is an extreme delight to our LORD and to His people when His children – imperfect in self and saved by His sheer mercy – dwell together in unity as we await the Son of God from Heaven (1 Thessalonians 1:10).

“Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!” Psalms 133:1

What does the Bible tell us a “true witness” does?

“A true witness delivereth souls: but a deceitful witness speaketh lies.” Proverbs 14:25

Did you note how this Bible verse specifically defined “a true witness” and “a deceitful witness”? Read it once more please, paying close attention.

Just like the Great Shepherd of the sheep, the “true witness”or child of God seeks to bring restoration to the fallen/backslidden. Luke 15 is all about the restorative love of Jesus and how He delights to restore those whom He has saved and have backslidden. He is “not willing that ANY should perish, but that ALL should come to repentance” and every one of His genuine saints have this same desire (2 Peter 3:9). Those who don’t have this desire, are not His!

The word “talebearer” appears 6 times in the Bible:

“Thou shalt not go up and down as a talebearer among thy people: neither shalt thou stand against the blood of thy neighbour: I am the LORD. “Leviticus 19:16

“A talebearer revealeth secrets: but he that is of a faithful spirit concealeth the matter. “Proverbs 11:13

“The words of a talebearer are as wounds, and they go down into the innermost parts of the belly.” Proverbs 18:8

“He that goeth about as a talebearer revealeth secrets: therefore meddle not with him that flattereth with his lips.” Proverbs 20:19

“Where no wood is, there the fire goeth out: so where there is no talebearer, the strife ceaseth. 21 As coals are to burning coals, and wood to fire; so is a contentious man to kindle strife. 22 The words of a talebearer are as wounds, and they go down into the innermost parts of the belly.” Proverbs 26:20-22

To be a “talebearer” is simply to bear a tale – to carry it forth. It’s a tale when you are not a literal witness of it. So, such should not be repeated and the person who told you should be rebuked for this sin.

“Debate thy cause with thy neighbour himself; and discover not a secret to another: 10 Lest he that heareth it put thee to shame, and thine infamy turn not away.” Proverbs 25:9-10

Jesus taught us that if we have a problem with someone, we are to go directly to them and to no other, first and foremost (Matthew 18:15-17). Keeping things as private as possible seems like the divine will. Any person not obeying Jesus in this command is acting out of an evil heart and bearing evil tales. Christ’s disciples must not participate.

The next time someone says something negative about a certain person, interrupt them kindly, grab their hands and bow your head and say “Let’s lift that person up to the Father in Jesus’ name right now okay.”

IF you don’t know if it is true, ignore it. Set it aside and do not believe it. Don’t be surprised when lies fly about a sister or brother. Jesus promised that all who truly follow Him would be lied about and that they are “blessed” by God – “Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you FALSELY, for my sake.” Matthew 5:11

HINT: Just because something is spoken, written, or repeated, doesn’t make it a fact.

Proverbs 17: 9 says “He that covereth a transgression seeketh love; but he that REPEATETH a matter separateth very friends.”

In this verse, did you catch the two things people can do concerning matters? In light of the fact that God is judging me according to how I judge others, I must ask myself whether or not I am covering OR repeating the matters that come into my ears concerning others. Such is a telling fruit. We know this because the Bible says in this same exact chapter “A wicked doer giveth heed to false lips; and a liar giveth ear to a naughty tongue.” (Proverbs 17:4) Now, read that verse again and answer the following two questions:

1. What kind of a person does the Bible say “giveth heed to false lips”?

________________________________________________

2. What type person “giveth ear to a naughty tongue”?

________________________________________________

Beloved, never unduly expose others. When YOU sinned, did you want everyone to know about it or did you simply desire to repent and be restored to the LORD? Obviously the latter, right?

Apply Jesus’ golden rule and do to others as you wish for them to do for you in your time of need. This is walking in God’s love. Learn it and live His love! Study everything the Bible says about His love and beg Him to imbue your whole being with His love!

Recently I received an email from a ministry that was taking a certain preacher to task for a sin he committed many years ago. They based their cause on the hearsay of a former employee with that ministry. They seemed to drink in anything the former employee stated with not question or regard for whether he was telling the truth. They assumed he was. They seemed to assume that because that preacher was supposedly caught by sinful man in a sin years ago, that he was still committing that sin. They lost me quickly. I couldn’t finish reading that slander. I believe the Holy Spirit was grieved.

How do they know this man didn’t repent/hadn’t repented? Why do they assume such?

This doesn’t dismiss the qualifications for elders set forth in God’s Word. Yet, if sinless perfection (concerning performance) is the measure of being used of God, you and I are disqualified! For not one person could be used of God – not one – if God disqualifies us if we have sinned after He saved us. Remember the vile sin of Peter in His blatant denial of the very LORD of glory? But what did Jesus tell him? (Luke 22:31-32)

Is there no more forgiveness with the LORD?

Did the unchanging LORD of all creation and redemption somehow change?

When did God’s mercy cease? (Psalms 86:5, 15; 103:10-11)

Do you realize that God has NO respect of persons and so IF His mercy ceased toward the one you are slandering, it has also ceased to be applied to your slate? If this were the case, you are in big trouble.

Is the divine promise of 1 John 1:9 still in God’s Word?

What did Jesus tell Peter to do after he sinned? – Jesus told him to go do ministry! – “And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: 32 But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.” (Luke 22:31-32)

Recently, someone asked how I had the patience to deal with the many misguided people whom we interact with. My reply was this …

The patience is in me toward others due to being brought by the LORD into the ever deepening revelation of my own infinite need for God’s daily mercy and grace ….. Ephesians 4:32 is a memory verse for all disciples. It says “And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.” (if you name the name of Jesus, please memorize and live this verse from today forward)

Somehow we seem to forget that while Jesus was literally dying for OUR sins on that cross, He prayerfully cried to the Father “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.” (Luke 23:34)

SOMEBODY throw your hands and heart to the Father and praise Jesus for the abundant and infinite mercy He has bestowed upon your wretched soul!

Even the great apostle of Jesus said:

“For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. … O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” Romans 7:18, 24

To those who have been slandered, see Psalms 31:20 and Job 5:21.

R.A. Torrey wrote:

“The humility of Jesus Christ was manifested in His silence under false accusation. Jesus did not defend His own good name. He left that to God. He ‘committed himself to him that judgeth righteously” and God has given Him ‘the name that is above every name.’ (Phil. 2:9)” What the Bible Teaches, p. 128

Jesus didn’t throw away the thief on the cross. No, Christ knew the man lived a sinful life and yet fully, freely forgave him in his last moments on earth. That once sinful, thieving man is now and will forever be in the bliss and glory of God’s eternal abode!

“He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to LOVE MERCY, and to walk humbly with thy God?” Micah 6:8

Prayer: Father in Heaven, I sincerely repent of anytime I have personally participated in the sinful slander of another person. I beg You to forgive me for my own vile sins in Your holy sight, through the Person and blood of Your only begotten Son Jesus Christ. No one on earth needs You more than I do LORD! Not one person alive needs Your blessed mercy more than this vile, undone sinner! Father, please establish me as Your servant of reconciliation, a dispenser of Your bless-ed mercy and compassion, helping others find their way back to You! Break me LORD Jesus, I beg of Thee! Put a watch before this mouth and keep the door of these lips. In Jesus’ blessed name, Amen.

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Abiding

The LORD Desires to Completely CLEAR You!

The LORD Desires to Completely CLEAR You!

The reason God gave His only begotten Son was to clear you of all your sin in His regeneration, to bring you into His eternal family for fellowship with Him.

“That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.” John 17:21

“That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.” 1 John 1:3

When God clears a man at the moment of salvation or thereafter, so should we! When any man truly repents there will be definite fruit to prove it. When one obeys sound biblical doctrine the result will always be that he will bring forth fruit to demonstrate he truly repented, and is cleared by the LORD and must be cleared by us. After the fornicator in the church of Corinth repented, he was cleared and the LORD, through Paul, instructed the believers in that assembly to forgive, clear, and love him.

Remember this from the prodigal son parable our LORD taught us?

“I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance … 10 Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.” Luke 15:7, 10

When someone returns to the LORD from sin, regardless of their past, with or without Christ, there is great celebration in Heaven and should be also among the saints of Christ on the earth.

A fresh reading of Luke 15 is highly recommended where Jesus gives us 3 parables to teach the restorative love of God!

WATCH THIS: When we repent we openly renounce and are clear…. God is good.

Godly Sorrow brings the blessings of God and a clearing of past sin.

“Now I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance: for ye were made sorry after a godly manner, that ye might receive damage by us in nothing. 10 For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death. 11 For behold this selfsame thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you, yea, what CLEARING OF YOURSELVES, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge! In all things ye have approved yourselves to be CLEAR in this matter.” 2 Corinthians 7:11

Example: Remember how the fornicator in 1 Corinthians 5 was turned over to Satan and then repented and God cleared Him? Read 2 Corinthians 2 for the “CLEARING.” In this verse above, Paul is addressing this very issue and the sorrow, diligent obedience, and consequent “CLEARING” the Corinthian saints experienced. First they allowed the fornicator to function in their midst whereas Paul had to come in and instruct them to turn the transgressor over to Satan (1 Corinthians 5). Then, as a result, the backslider repented.

“He says, what clearing of yourselves. This does not mean that they tried to justify or excuse themselves, but rather that by taking resolute action, they tried to clear themselves of any further guilt or blame in the matter. Their change in attitude led to this change in action. What indignation may refer to their attitude toward the sinner because of the reproach he brought on the name of Christ. But more probably it refers to their attitude toward themselves for ever having allowed such a thing to go on for so long without taking action on it. Paul then adds: In all things you ‘ye have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter.’ Of course, we are not to understand by this that they were never to blame, but simply that they had done everything they could to take the proper action and to act as they should have acted in the first place.” William MacDonald, Believer’s Bible Commentary

“Clearing of yourselves – From either sharing in, or approving of, his sin. Indignation – That ye had not immediately corrected the offender. Fear – Of God’s displeasure, or lest I should come with a rod. Vehement desire – To see me again. Zeal – For the glory of God, and the soul of that sinner. Yea, revenge – Ye took a kind of holy revenge upon yourselves, being scarce able to forgive yourselves. In all things ye – As a church. Have approved yourselves to be pure – That is, free from blame, since ye received my letter.” John Wesley

“In all things, etc. – In the whole of your conduct in this affair since ye have received my letter, ye have approved yourselves to be clear, ἁγνους; not only to be clear of contumacy and obstinate persistence in your former conduct, but to have done all in the compass of your power to rectify the abuses which had crept in among you. The Corinthians were not clear, i.e. innocent or void of blame in the fact, but they were clear of all blame in their endeavors to remove the evil.” Adam Clarke

The Corinthian saints repented, obeyed God by turning the unrepentant sinner in their midst over to Satan, and were then forgiven and cleared of their sin of allowing the un-repentant fornicator to remain in their company (1 Corinthians 5; 2 Corinthians 2 and 7).

Today, is the LORD showing you something in your life that you must turn back over to Satan where it came from – to rid your heart, your life of a sin?

Interestingly, this 2 Corinthians 7 chapter begins with this:

“Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.” 2 Corinthians 7:1

When we simply agree with the LORD, His Word, and turn to Him afresh and away from what He calls sin, confessing it to Him for what it is, He will immediately forgive us and promises to grant us a clearing, a clear conscience.

“Now the end (chief purpose) of the commandment (written Word) is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned:” 1 Timothy 1:5

The LORD made it clear that He intends for His children to be possessed with a clear conscience which is a gift He alone provided through the perfect sacrifice of His only begotten Son.

“How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” Hebrews 9:14

“A disciplined conscience is a man’s best friend. It may not be his most amiable, but it is his most faithful monitor.” Austin Phelps

Have you ever had a past sin nag you for many years after you committed and even confessed and were forgiven for it?

WHEN we DO what is right, then and only then do we have the bless-ed confirmation of a clear conscience. AND, doing what’s right begins with re-turning, turning afresh to our LORD and confessing all sin.

“God is greater than our heart”

“My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth. 19 And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him. 20 For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things. 21 Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God.” 1 John 3:18-21

In fellowshipping with other men who serve our LORD, I’ve often heard them say how that sins they committed in the past still bother them in a hindering way. Yet, we know that God knows all these things and “is greater than our heart” and provided a complete salvation through the blood of His only begotten Son!

“WHEN HE HAD BY HIMSELF purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high.” Hebrews 1:3

Even though 90% of today’s pastors prove themselves to be false by never mentioning this, we must never ever lose sight of the truth that God is “Holy, holy, holy” and He commands us to “Be ye holy; for I am holy” (Isaiah 6:3; 1 Peter 1:15-16; Revelation 4:8).

“But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; 16 Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.” 1 Peter 1:15-16

Are we presently allowing sin in our own lives, including keeping company with someone who claims to be Christ’s and yet is living in sin? Are you in need of doing an inventory check on your current friends – namely those who name Jesus as their Savior? Read this unchanging divine truth and note the many specific sins listed here:

“I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators: 10 Yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters; for then must ye needs go out of the world. 11 But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat. 12 For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? do not ye judge them that are within? 13 But them that are without God judgeth. Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person.” 1 Corinthians 5:9-13

When we truly repent and obey the counsel, the Word of God, only then will we be cleared in conscience and before God and His people. True repentance always, without exception, brings forth a changed life – a life set apart to the LORD (Matthew 3:7-10; Luke 19:1-10).

The fact that our LORD is correcting us today clearly proves how much He loves us. When the LORD points out our sin, it’s because He loves us, He wants us to repent, to return to Him, agree with Him, and depart from that sin. This is all so He can clear us!

“As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.” Revelation 3:19

Refreshing Always Follows Fresh Repentance

“Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord;” Acts 3:19

“For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.” Hebrews 8:12

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9

Read 1 Corinthians 5, 2 Corinthians 2 and 7.

Yes, we’ve all been hurt by others and we have also hurt others, right? Let’s take accountability for our own evil and watch what God does. Blaming others without taking the blame due to us is a deep, endless ditch.

This morning I prayed “LORD, if I have angered or hurt someone, anyone, please let it be revealed so that amends can be made, in Jesus’ name, amen Father.”

In this passage below, our LORD is addressing being easily angered as well as making amends when we intentionally or unintentionally have harmed another.

“But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire. 23 Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; 24 Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift. 25 Agree with thine adversary quickly…” Matthew 5:22-25

PRAYER: My Father in Heaven, I come to You now on the sole basis of the holy name and blood of Your only begotten Son, Jesus Christ. Here and now I ask You LORD to convict, grant repentance, and complete clearing of any and all sin in my life. Please sanctify my life dear LORD. LORD Jesus thank You for dying on that cross, shedding Your precious blood for all my sins. Please bless me with a oneness with You and the Father and a clear conscience. Be glorified in my life dear LORD. I love You LORD Jesus. Amen.

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Resurrection Grace (below)

“If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.
2 Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.
3 For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.
4 When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.
5 Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:
6 For which things’ sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience:
7 In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them.” Colossians 3:1-7

Those who teach that unholy people will be in glory are false teachers:

“And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life.” Revelation 21:27

Charles Pray writes: “Father, please help us Lord to turn from our wicked ways and let You come into our hearts so we may have eternal life with You in Your kingdom. Time is running out for the hour is late when soon no one will be able to be saved or able to call upon the name of the Lord. Burden our hearts Lord for all those who still do not know you as Lord and Savior in their lives. Let us become the light we are called to be in this darkened world so others will come to know and receive your Son Jesus as Savior in their life. Amen!”

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Apostasy

Richard Foster Exposed

Wait, WHAT, WHO are Christ’s disciples to celebrate?

“But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.” Galatians 6:14

A Biblically based commentary on current issues that impact you

Richard Foster—Celebration of Deception

by Bob DeWaay

Christianity Today ran a glowing cover story about Evangelicalism’s recent embrace of medieval Roman Catholic mysticism entitled The Future lies in the Past.¹ The article traced the beginning of the movement as follows: “The movement seems to have exploded in a 24-month period in 1977-1978, which saw the publication of Richard Foster’s bestselling Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth and Robert Webber’s Common Roots: A Call to Evangelical Maturity.”²

The article views Foster as one who continues to guide the movement: “From Dallas Willard, Richard Foster, and living practicing monks and nuns, they [those going back to Roman Catholic mysticism] must learn both the strengths and the limits of the historical ascetic disciplines.”³ So Foster was instrumental in starting a movement that is still growing 30-plus years later.

The irony about this particular CIC regarding Foster’s 1978 book is that in 1978 I myself was living in a Christian community committed to practicing much of what he promotes in Celebration of Discipline (even though we had not learned it from him directly). So I am not criticizing a practice about which I know nothing (or one in which I have no experience). I am criticizing a practice I foolishly allowed to deceive me for a significant portion of my early Christian life. When it comes to being deceived by mysticism, I have had abundant involvement. The only way I escaped it was through discovering and adopting the Reformation principle of sola scriptura.

In this article I will show that Foster’s “journey inward” is unbiblical and dangerous. I will show that most of the spiritual disciplines that he calls “means of grace” are no means of grace at all—but a means of putting oneself under spiritual deception.

The Journey Inward

The Bible nowhere describes an inward journey to explore the realm of the spirit. God chose to reveal the truth about spiritual reality through His ordained, Spirit-inspired, biblical writers. What is spiritual and not revealed by God is of the occult and, therefore, forbidden. We have discussed this in many articles and have produced DVD seminars on the topic. But the concept of sola scriptura is totally lost on mystics such as Richard Foster. They, like the enthusiasts that Calvin and Luther warned against, believe they can gain valid and useful knowledge of spiritual things through direct, personal inspiration.

Foster describes the idea of the disciplines that are the topic of his book: “The classical Disciplines of the spiritual life call us to move beyond surface living into the depths. They invite us to explore the inner caverns of the spiritual realm.”⁴ So Foster has conceptually repudiated sola scriptura on page one to replace it with a journey inward to explore the realm of spirits. Something must have been seriously amiss in evangelicalism already in 1978 to render this book a bestseller! It ought to have been repudiated on the spot. In a footnote to that statement Foster writes, “In one form or another all of the devotional masters have affirmed the necessity of the Disciplines” (Foster: 1). The devotional “masters,” by the way, are mostly Roman Catholics who never were committed to the principle of sola scriptura. It is not surprising that they looked for spirituality through experimentation. But as an “inner light” Quaker, Foster never was committed to sola scriptura either.

Forgetting that the Bible forbids divination, Foster explains what he is after:

[W]e must be willing to go down into the recreating silences, into the inner world of contemplation. In their writings, all of the masters of meditation strive to awaken us to the fact that the universe is much larger than we know, that there are vast unexplored inner regions that are just as real as the physical world we know so well. . . . They call us to the adventure, to be pioneers in this frontier of the Spirit. (Foster: 13)

Realizing that his readers would likely take this as an endorsement of Eastern religions, he makes a disclaimer that it is not Transcendental Meditation (TM) or something of that ilk: “Eastern meditation is an attempt to empty the mind; Christian meditation is an attempt to empty the mind in order to fill it” (Foster: 15). But what Foster wishes us to fill our minds with are personal revelations from the spirit realm that we naively are to think are the voice of God. This sort of meditation is not meditating on what God has said, but uses a technique to explore the spirit world. In other words, it is divination.

What we learn about the spirit realm either is revealed by God (once for all in Scripture) or gleaned by man-made techniques. That distinction is the difference between Christianity and paganism. Only Bible believers know what God has said about Himself and what He wishes to reveal about the unseen spirit world. Foster’s material continues to be popular because we live in an age where being spiritual pioneers on a journey into the unseen realm of the spirits is the essence of popular piety. It is the spirituality of secular talk shows.

To fully understand the degree of Foster’s deception, he even calls these techniques to the inner journey “means of grace”: “They [the Disciplines] are God’s means of grace” (Foster: 6). As with all who teach spiritual disciplines, there are no boundaries to these false “means.” For example, consider this recommended practice: “After you have gained some proficiency in centering down, add a five- to ten-minute meditation on some aspect of the creation. Choose something in the created order: tree, plant, bird, leaf, cloud, and each day ponder it carefully and prayerfully” (Foster 25). This after he had just taught breathing exercises (a means of “centering down”). Then he makes a startling claim: “We should not bypass this means of God’s grace” (Foster: 25). And there we have it: meditating of a leaf can be a means of grace!

Foster’s journey inward is to discover a spirit world that is available for any who search for it: “How then do we come to believe in a world of the spirit? Is it by blind faith? Not at all. The inner reality of the spiritual world is available to all who are willing to search for it” (Foster: 18). He claims that this spiritual search is analogous to scientific experimentation. Never mind that every pagan culture that has existed has believed in the “spiritual world.”

Spirituality of the Imagination

The Bible does not have anything good so say about the imagination. For example: “Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘Do not listen to the words of the prophets who are prophesying to you. They are leading you into futility; They speak a vision of their own imagination, Not from the mouth of the Lord'” (Jeremiah 23:16). A search of the KJV for “imagination” yields 14 verses, and in each case it is a bad thing. According to the Bible, the imagination is where people go when they do not want to listen to God.

However, for Foster the imagination is central: “The inner world of meditation is most easily entered through the door of the imagination. We fail today to appreciate its tremendous power. The imagination is stronger than conceptual thought and stronger than the will” (Foster: 22). Some of the authorities he cites on this point are C. G. Jung, Ignatius of Loyola, and Morton Kelsey. Jung is famous for his concept of the collective unconscious, and Kelsey was an Episcopal priest committed to Jungian principles. Kelsey wrote many books promoting mysticism. The advice Foster gleans from these teachers is that we must learn to think in images and take our dreams to be a possible doorway into the spirit world. Foster claims that dreams are something we already have and can help us develop the use of the imagination. He says, “Keeping a journal of our dreams is a way of taking them seriously” (Foster: 23).

There is, Foster warns, a danger to this process: “At the same time [that we ask for dreams to be God speaking to us], it is wise to pray a prayer of protection, since to open ourselves to spiritual influence can be dangerous as well as profitable” (Foster: 23). I would say that is asking God to protect us as we use various techniques to go where He does not want us to go (into the world of the spirits to gain information). The danger he warns of is far greater than Foster imagines. Those who take the journey inward will be deceived—every time! We are not equipped to gain spiritual information from that realm. That is why God speaks to us through His ordained mediators (the inspired Biblical writers); otherwise we would be fishing in the dark in a medium we are not suited for.

Foster teaches his readers to use their imaginations to experience Biblical stories with the five physical senses. Here is what he claims will happen:

As you enter the story, not as a passive observer but as an active participant, remember that since Jesus lives in the Eternal Now and is not bound by time, this event in the past is a living present-tense experience for Him. Hence, you can actually encounter the living Christ in the event, be addressed by His voice and be touched by His healing power. It can be more than an exercise of the imagination; it can be a genuine confrontation. Jesus Christ will actually come to you. (Foster: 26)

Showing that Foster’s ideas are still influential in our day, Greg Boyd cites some of Foster’s words here to support what he calls “cataphatic prayer” which uses the imagination and images as a means to contact God and gain spiritual information.⁵ Those who endorse this practice assume they are not being deceived by spirits, but I cannot see on what grounds.

Foster prescribes a practice using one’s imagination that mimics astral projection to the degree that he actually includes a footnote disclaimer stating that it is not astral projection (Foster 28). It begins by telling his readers to imagine themselves going out into nature into a beautiful place (Boyd describes how he practices this, as well as its results⁶). After enjoying the sights and smells (in your imagination) these are the next steps:

In your imagination allow your spiritual body, shining with light, to rise out of your physical body. Look back so that you can see yourself lying in the grass and reassure your body that you will return momentarily. Imagine your spiritual self, alive and vibrant, rising up through the clouds and into the stratosphere. . . Go deeper and deeper into outer space until there is nothing except the warm presence of the eternal Creator. Rest in His presence. Listen quietly, anticipating the unanticipated. Note carefully any instruction given. With time and experience you will be able to distinguish readily between mere human thought that may bubble up to the conscious mind and the True Spirit which inwardly moves upon the heart. (Foster: 27, 28)

I must ask how one knows whether “True Spirit” is not a deceiving one? Mysticism’s fatal flaw is that it naively assumes that Christians having subjective religious experiences must therefore be having Christian experiences that are truly from God—even if the experiences were provoked through unbiblical practices similar to those used by pagans.

Mental Alchemy

Foster’s approach to prayer is laced with mysticism as well. He claims that prayer needs to be learned from people who have the right experiences and are “masters” who know what they are doing. Foster does not teach ordinary prayer, whereby we bring our needs and requests to the Lord and know that He hears us (because He promised that He does). Here is why he thinks such prayer fails:

Often people will pray and pray with all the faith in the world, but nothing happens. Naturally, they were not contacting the channel. We begin praying for others by first centering down and listening to the quiet thunder of the Lord of hosts. Attuning ourselves to divine breathings is spiritual work, but without it our praying is vain repetition (Mt. 6:7). Listening to the Lord is the first thing, the second thing, and the third thing necessary for successful intercession. (Foster: 34)

Of course this means we have to become mystics if we want to pray.

He teaches that we first must hear personal revelations from God, using meditation techniques such as he teaches, before we pray. He says: “The beginning point, then, in learning to pray for others is to listen for guidance . . . This inner “yes” is the divine authorization for you to pray for the person or situation” (Foster: 35). No! Foster is wrong! The only authorization we need to pray is the Biblical command to pray—not personal revelations.

For Foster, meditation (mystical style) is necessary but not sufficient. He also brings the imagination into the process: “As with meditation, the imagination is a powerful tool in the work of prayer” (Foster: 36). He credits Agnes Sanford⁷ for helping him see the value of using the imagination in praying. Foster writes, “Imagination opens the door to faith. If we can ‘see’ in our mind’s eye a shattered marriage whole or a sick person well, it is only a short step to believing it will be so” (Foster: 36). Sanford got her ideas from Theosophy, New Thought, Jung, and Emmet Fox. These ideas, echoed by Foster, come from the unbiblical “mind over matter” thinking of that era. That kind of thinking uses creative visualization to change reality or channel spiritual power. Foster suggests, “Imagine the light of Christ flowing through your hands and healing every emotional trauma and hurt feeling your child experienced that day” (Foster: 39).

In his 1985 book, The Seduction of Christianity, Dave Hunt labeled creative visualization such as what Foster promotes, “mental alchemy.”⁸ Hunt warned the church that Foster promoted such mental alchemy in Celebration of Discipline, and as we have shown, he, in fact, does. So how is it that 24 years after Hunt’s warning Foster is more popular than ever with Evangelicals? The answer is end times deception. Now, a huge movement that claims to be a reformation promoting Foster, Willard and their versions of mysticism does exist (i.e., The Emergent Church). Things have gotten so very much worse.

Spiritual Directors

Once mysticism and the supposed need to gain personal revelations from God are embraced, there arises a need for new “masters” who are better at navigating the spirit world. Pagan societies have always had such persons. They are called “shamans.” Eastern religion calls them “gurus.” Deceived Christians call them “spiritual directors.” Foster explains, “In the Middle Ages not even the greatest saints attempted the depths of the inward journey without the help of a spiritual director” (Foster: 159). The problem, according to Foster, is that the churches (in 1978) lacked “living masters”:

No doubt part of the surge of interest in Eastern meditation is because the churches have abrogated the field. How depressing for a university student, seeking to know the Christian teaching on meditation, to discover that there are so few living masters of contemplative prayer and that nearly all of the serious writings on the subject are seven or more centuries old. No wonder he or she turns to Zen, Yoga, or TM. (Foster: 14)

Foster’s dream has come true. Today people can even practice Yoga in a Christian church. We have Christian TM; it is called contemplative prayer. Yes, Eastern religion has come right into the church, and Foster has helped usher it in.

But what about “living masters” or spiritual directors? In 1972 Morton Kelsey lamented their lack: “Indeed I would suggest that everyone who is serious about relating to the spiritual realm find himself a spiritual director, if there were more men trained and experienced in this way.”⁹ That “problem” has been solved in a huge way. Evangelical theology schools are now offering masters degrees in “spiritual formation” in order to equip people to be “spiritual directors.” Here is what Biola University says about its program: “This degree is designed to equip men and women for the ministry of spiritual direction, discipleship, formation and soul care in the local church and for further academic training in spiritual formation.”¹⁰ Spiritual Directors International will help you find a spiritual director regardless of your religion.¹¹ Richard Foster’s own Renovare, which purports to “encourage renewal in the Christian church,” has a list of spiritual direction programs.¹²

Foster explains the purpose of the spiritual director: “He is the means of God to open the path to the inward teaching of the Holy Spirit” (Foster: 160). Apparently, in a full-blown rejection of sola scriptura where the Holy Spirit’s teaching is mediated to the church through the Biblical writers only, we need mediators for personal revelations beyond scripture.

Foster explains how spiritual directors lead: “He leads only by the force of his own personal holiness” (Foster: 160). In Roman Catholicism the Pope is called “his holiness” and in Tibetan Buddhism the Dalai Lama is called “his holiness” but now evangelicals are developing a class of people who evidently deserve the title. How exactly are we to judge when someone has gained “personal holiness” sufficient to be a spiritual director and mediate spirituality to others? Foster says, “Though the director has obviously advanced further into the inner depths, the two [master and disciple] are together learning and growing in the realm of the Spirit” (Foster: 160). Foster cites Roman Catholic mystic Thomas Merton about how this works: “The spiritual director was something of a ‘spiritual father who begot the perfect life in the soul of his disciple by his instructions first of all, but also by his prayer, his sanctity and his example. He was . . . a kind of ‘sacrament’ of the Lord’s presence in the ecclesiastical community” (Foster: 161).

End Times Delusion

When it comes to end times deception, Foster is on the cutting edge of embracing it. Consider what he wrote: “In our day heaven and earth are on tiptoe waiting for the emerging of a Spirit-led, Spirit-intoxicated, Spirit-empowered people. . . . Individuals can be found here and there whose hearts burn with divine fire” (Foster: 150). Such inclinations have led to massive deception. They smack of the Latter Rain deception, now embodied in such false teachers as Rick Joyner and Mike Bickle. They are elitist. They are in line with the beliefs of the Emergent Church as well. He also says: “Our century has yet to see the breaking forth of the apostolic church of the Spirit” (Foster: 150). Now we have the New Apostolic Reformation claiming to be just that. Foster’s ideas now embody the massive apostasy and end times deception that characterize our age.

Foster’s teachings have taken the church as far away from the Reformation principle of sola scriptura as the Roman Catholic Church ever was. The only thing left is for them to bring us all the way back to Rome. Christianity Today praises Foster for pointing us in that direction.

In early 2008 I wrote a CIC article about how abandoning the principle of sola scriptura would lead evangelicals back to Rome.¹³ It was partly a response to the CT article praising mysticism. The response I received was rather unexpected. I was contacted by former evangelicals who had rejected sola scriptura and had gone back to Rome! They wanted to debate me about sola scriptura. Sadly, my point was proven. As a response to their misguided challenge our church hosted a seminar on sola scriptura, called Faith at Risk 4.¹⁴ In the seminar Gary Gilley and I defended the scriptures as the sole authority for the church.

The aforementioned CT article discusses a new monasticism, former evangelical leaders converting to Roman Catholicism, and mystical practices like lectio divina—and they call all of it a good and hopeful thing. Chris Armstrong, the author of the article, concluded, “That they [evangelicals] are receiving good guidance on this road from wise teachers [Foster and Willard] is reason to believe that Christ is guiding the process. And that they are meeting and learning from fellow Christians in the other two great confessions, Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodox, is reason to rejoice in the power of love.”¹⁵

Who is left to defend the principles of the Reformation? One would think Reformed theologians are, but they aren’t doing their job. In the last CIC article we mentioned Reformed theologian Donald Whitney who wrote: “Richard Foster’s Celebration of Discipline has been the most popular book on the subject of the Spiritual Disciplines in the last half of the twentieth century. The great contribution of this work is the reminder that the Spiritual Disciplines, which many see as restrictive and binding, are actually means to spiritual freedom.”¹⁶ That from a teacher in a Reformed seminary?

If a book that teaches Christian TM, Christian astral projection and mental alchemy by means of the imagination is a “great contribution,” then something is seriously wrong here. The delusion is so widespread that I see no other explanation for it than the end time deception predicted by Paul: “But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons,” (1Timothy 4:1). Another passage warns: “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths” (2Timothy 4:3, 4).

That time now is here. We are accountable to God for what we believe and practice. Those who wish to persevere in the faith in this age of delusion must base their beliefs and practices only on the truths found in Scripture. Foster’s journey into the world of the spirits will deceive all who enter it.

Issue 112 – May / June 2009

End Notes

1. Chris Armstrong, “The Future lies in the Past” in Christianity Today, February 2008.
2. Ibid. 24.
3. Ibid. 29.
4. Richard Foster, Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth (New York: Harper & Row, 1978) 1. All subsequent citations from this book will be bracketed within the text in this fashion: (Foster: 1).
5. Greg Boyd, Seeing is Believing, (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2004). Boyd cites Foster to prove that the Lord will actually come to us through our use of “imaginative meditation.” I deal with this issue more fully in CIC issue 83 July/August, 2003: HTTP://CICMINISTRY.ORG/COMMENTARY/ISSUE83.HTM
6. Ibid. 111-125.
7. I write about Sanford’s inner healing theories in CIC Issue 96: HTTP://CICMINISTRY.ORG/COMMENTARY/ISSUE96.HTM
8. Dave Hunt and T. A. McMahon, The Seduction of Christianity (Eugene: Harvest House, 1985) 138.
9. Morton Kelsey, Encounter With God, (Bethany Fellowship: Minneapolis, 1972) 179.
10. http://www.biola.edu/spiritualformation/programs/ SEE PDF
11. HTTP://WWW.SDIWORLD.ORG
12. HTTP://WWW.RENOVARE.ORG/JOURNEY_TRAINING_DIRECTION.HTM
13. CIC Issue 105; March/April 2008: HTTP://CICMINISTRY.ORG/COMMENTARY/ISSUE105.HTM
14. Watch this seminar HERE
15. Armstrong, Future
16. DONALD S. WHITNEY, SPIRITUAL DISCIPLINES FOR THE CHRISTIAN LIFE (COLORADO SPRINGS: NAVPRESS, 1991) 23.

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