Sabbath Blasting! Shadow or the Savior?
Keeping a certain day is not a sin. Not keeping a day is also not a sin. Keeping a day, such as Saturday, and somehow believing that is essential to salvation, is a sin. Condemning others for not keeping the day you keep reveals that such a person is in need of repenting and putting their faith in Christ. It’s time to read Romans 14 concerning NON-essentials and get a real New Testament, saved-by-grace life!
The SDA (Seventh day Adventist) church is an antichrist cult that worships a day instead of the Savior who bled so we could worship Him every day!!!
Self-righteous dupes get all proud because they rest on Saturn-day, never stopping to realize that it wasn’t the day they rested that mattered but rather the fact that they rested a day. Let’s wake up folks. Resting a day weekly is not an essential to salvation – much less the day one chooses to rest. JESUS IS OUR SALVATION – not a mere day He made. Get a clue.
Jesus said “If ye love me keep MY commandments” (John 14:15), but Jesus never told anyone to keep the 7th day and so that’s not one of His commandments, requirements for His saved-by-grace NEW Testament saints. Did He somehow forget to tell us something He wanted us to know? No. Keep the 2 commandments upon which the whole law hands, yes. Yet that’s only if you know and love Him AND He never commanded any NEW Testament believer to keep any certain day, nor did His apostles. So repent and stop trying to Judaize others – you are seducing them to go back under the law and fall from saving grace (Galatians 5:4). In fact, Christ’s apostle Paul was severely concerned that the Galatians saints were making days too important.
“But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage? 10 Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years. 11 I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain.” Galatians 4:9-11
Their heart affections and attention were moved off of Jesus Christ onto “days, and months, and times, and years.” This is trickery and it’s all the work of the spirit of antichrist to hinder God’s people from upholding Jesus, the “Head” of His body. See “not holding the Head” in Colossians 2:18-19.
Anyone who goes back under the law after being saved, has fallen from saving grace (Galatians 5:4). The book of Galatians could not be a more severe warning. Paul says he wishes these diabolical Judaizers were “cut off” (Galatians 5:12).
ANY person teaching that NEW Testament believers, saved by grace, are required to keep any certain day, is a Judaizing wolf with no exception. This is “another gospel” which makes them “accursed” (Galatians 1:6-9). There is no hint or instruction in the 27-book NEW Testament canon for New Testament saints to keep any certain day. Therefore any person pushing a day, is a devil. Repent. RUN!
Beware of the Hebrew Roots and SDA (Seventh Day Adventist) saturn-day idolatry propaganda.
Counterfeit Judaizers are all about observing a day while those who know the LORD are all about Him who is the New Testament Sabbath in whom we rest from law keeping.
Jesus kept the sabbath of the Old Testament and every single commandment of the OLD Covenant…. in order to fulfill (expire) it when He died on the cross and “took it out of the away” (Colossians 2:14-19). Christ is now the Sabbath rest of the NEW Testament saints who are saved by His grace. Nothing wrong with observing a day of rest and special worship, it’s actually wise to do so… yet making this something that New Testament believers must do to be right with God is not biblical.
The earliest believers met on the first day of the week. Why give the Roman cult this glory?
“And upon THE FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight.” Acts 20:7
“Upon THE FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come.” 1 Corinthians 16:2
The ultimate Jew of all Jews, the Jewish Messiah has already come and fulfilled every single prophecy that was foretold, ordained to be fulfilled to this point, the most important being that He bled on that cross as “the Lamb of God” to take away the sins of the world (John 1:29). His sacrifice was perfect and “once” (John 19:30; Hebrews 9:12). This included nailing the Old Testament law to the cross. Keep reading.
As a born again, saved-by-grace NEW Testament disciple of Jesus, I am not interested in any foolish focus on obsolete feasts which were only a means of depicting the ONE (the Messiah) who was yet to come. If you are still focusing on the mere shadow given to the Jews under the OLD testament, you are living under the old and obsolete covenant which was far inferior to the NEW Testament which Jesus accomplished and which is a far superior and a much “BETTER covenant” and made the old covenant obsolete (Hebrews 8:6). To put too much emphasis on that which only served to be a guide to understand and know the Messiah when He came, is antichrist. This is an open denial of Christ – it’s antichrist because it denies that He already came in the flesh (1 John 4:1-3). Now that He HAS already come in the flesh and fulfilled the prophetic pictures and Word about Him, I would be denying Him to go back to mere shadows which only served to point the Jewish people to Him BEFORE He actually came “in the fullness of time” (Galatians 4:4).
The Messiah has already come to the earth!
ALL who don’t keep Jesus as SABBATH are not saved – that is, all who are not resting in HIS perfect finished work are doomed. And, those who focus on, over emphasize a mere day prove clearly that they do not know, are not known of Christ – not born again and not in Christ’s kingdom.
Is it time we get a clue?
JESUS has come and put an “END” to the OLD Testament law for righteousness.
“For Christ is THE END of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.” Romans 10:4
Keeping the old law is not the aim of the believer in CHRIST – but rather following Christ by His saving grace and faith is (Ephesians 2:8-9). Nothing could be clearer in the NEW Testament Scriptures. The old law was infinitely inferior and only showed us just how sinful we are (Romans 7). It granted no ability to fulfill it which is evidenced in the biblical fact that “ALL have sinned” and ALL are “guilty before God” (Romans 3:10, 19, 23; 11:32, etc.). So, when the fulness of time was come, God sent forth His Son to replace the old inferior law (Galatians 4:4). John 1:17 says that the old law came by Moses ( a mere sinful man) but grace and truth came by the only begotten Son of God, Jesus Christ. Did God so love the world that He gave the law of His only begotten Son? No (John 3:16). You have to choose to believe that Christ fulfilled the law and nailed it to the cross and took it OUT OF THE WAY, OR call God a liar and to brazenly and openly deny Christ who said “It IS finished” or “paid in full” (John 19:30). If we still need to try to keep the law to be righteous then Jesus Christ is a liar – and that’s exactly what you are guilty of calling the Son of God if you still think you are made righteous through keeping any part of the old law. You have openly denied Christ and are an antichrist. – “Christ is THE END of the law for righteousness to everyone that BELIEVETH” (Romans 10:4). The justified believer has said “10:4 good buddy” to the law and trusts only in Christ’s imputed righteousness (Romans 4). Otherwise you are a lost, hell bound soul who has openly rejected the only ONE who can save you. Those who are still, in any way, trying to keep ANY part of the law, vainly believing that makes them any more righteous and justified than Christ’s finished, perfect work, are antichrists. You have told the Almighty that His only begotten Son Jesus Christ is a fraud and you don’t need Him but rather you reject Him for your own righteousness which is by the law which you have never kept (Philippians 3:9-10).
What does the Bible tell us that Jesus Christ did when He died on that cross for the sins of all men?
“Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; 15 And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it. 16 Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: 17 Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ. 18 Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, 19 And not holding the Head, from which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God.” Colossians 2:14-19
THERE is no requirement to keep any certain day under the NEW Testament. Jesus says those who know Him serve Him “daily” not weekly (Luke 9:23-24; Acts 2:47). See also Colossians 2:14-19; Galatians 4:9-11.
Paul feared for New Testament believers who counted days important: “But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage? 10 Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years. 11 I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain” (Galatians 4:9-11).
Paul was afraid for the eternal souls of those who went back under law, putting emphasis on days, months, years (Galatians 4:9-11).
ANY group that insists on a certain day for a sabbath, as if your salvation depends on it, is a vile Judaizing cult! Run. They are devils! Filthy 7th Day Idolaters Rebuked!
Jesus kept the whole law including the sabbath in order to nail it to the cross and do away with it. The Bible says He “took it out of the way.”
Here in this glorious passage, the Word of God is instructing you who are “complete in him” (Colossians 2:10) to not allow any foul, law-keep religious devil to condemn you for not keeping an inferior, obsolete law that is done away with and nailed to the cross.
Satan works feverishly to draw attention away from his archenemy, the Head of His true body, Jesus Christ. Jesus satisfied the claims of the Father justice, the only One to ever fulfill the law, and nailed it to the cross, taking it “away” forever! Satan uses his “ministers” to try to bring people under law and simultaneously move their affections off of Christ and onto their own good works (2 Corinthians 11:12-15). To those who are Christ’s, the enemy of souls seeks to remove our affection from the One who bled to save us so that we don’t uphold in pure worship “the Head” as first and foremost, supreme in our hearts (Colossians 2:18-19).
Upholding the Savior not a Sabbath!
Keeping the LORD’s commandments doesn’t include law keeping or sabbath keeping. ANY person who teaches this heresy is an antichrist who has openly denied Christ’s perfect sacrifice was sufficient to completely justify His saints. Only heretical Judaizers teach that NEW Testament believers, saved by GRACE, are still under the law (Romans 3:28; 10:4; Galatians 2:16). Judaizing Devils Busted!
Law keeping is made to sound superior but it’s pure false humility and damnable unbelief.
Those who love Him obey what He said. So, WHERE O WHERE O WHERE did Jesus or any of His apostles EVER – even one time – instruct EVEN ONE NEW Testament believer to keep ANY certain day? WHY was no sabbath mentioned in Acts 15 at the first council of the apostles when they determined what God said is “NECESSARY” (Acts 15:28) – Essential to salvation? Did the LORD forget to tell us something we needed to know? Did He mess up? Or, is keeping a certain day not important to Him? Jesus’ true sheep follow HIM – He who paid the full debt for their sins on that cross when He nailed the law to it! BUT HE never told them to keep any certain day, so such has nothing at all to do with someone’s spiritual state before the LORD. “Stand fast in the liberty ….” (Galatians 5:1). Glory to God He made us free from the old law and now we walk in newness of life, in “the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:2-4)! It’s all about Jesus friends – not just one of the days of the week of which He makes all of them!
Sinful Sabbath Sacrilege
Reducing “worship” to a certain day instead of openly worshiping Jesus Christ “daily” as He instructed, is the work of Satan.
Faith in the One who is now our Sabbath is what pleases God and not any certain of the 7 days He created. Hebrews 4.
SABBATH WORSHIPING DEVILS EXPOSED
There is no instruction or even hint in all of the 27 books of the New Testament Scriptures to observe any certain day. In fact, we are warned about making days important instead of the One who made/makes EVERY day (Galatians 4:9-11; Colossians 2:14-19).
Did Saturn-day die for your sins? Did Saturn-day walk on the water, open blinded eyes, raise the dead, etc.? Who did that for you? Who do you truly worship? Observing days means nothing to God ….. worshiping Him who made all days everyday is what matters to Him.
WHY was Paul “afraid” for the Galatians?
“But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage? 10 Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years. 11 I AM AFRAID OF YOU, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain.” Galatians 4:9-11
It is clear by the above passage that putting emphasis on a non-essential endangers the eternal soul because in doing so, one takes his affection from Christ the Creator and places it on His creation.
“Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.” Romans 1:25
“The spirit of antichrist” is behind this false sabbath-idolatry teaching of making an idol out of a mere day. Anti means in place of… Anti-Christ means “in place of Christ” (1 John 4:1-6).
New Testament Christianity is all about putting and laboring to keep Jesus Christ as our “first love” (Revelation 2:4-5). Reducing our responsibility down to observing a certain day is a blasphemous attempt of “evil workers” of Satan to rob the glory from Jesus Christ who bled to purchase us back to God. We are told to beware of these “dogs … evil workers … the concision.”
“Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision. For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.” Philippians 3:2-3
Why do people insist upon making important what the LORD didn’t make important for His New Testament saints? Reminds me of Matthew 23:23-24.
If keeping any certain day is important to the LORD under the New Covenant, why did He not tell us so? Did the all-knowing, Almighty God forget to tell us something we needed to know? Is not keeping the sabbath named in any of the many lists of sins in the New Testament Scriptures? No.
The keeping of a certain day, circumcision, or reenacting Jewish festivals that merely foreshadowed Him who has now come for all people, has no value if it doesn’t glorify the One who came and fulfilled what those shadows merely pointed to. The shadow is not the problem, but the over emphasis of it sure is. A shadow is like sleeping with a picture of your wife instead of her. In other words, let’s say your wife goes on a long trip and while she’s away you sleep with her picture to feel close to her since you miss her. Then, when she returns, you tell her to sleep in another room because the picture of her will do. Selah friends. Rejecting the very Messiah whom those shadows only served to point to BEFORE He came, is induced and perpetrated by “the spirit of antichrist” which denies that Jesus Christ has already come in the flesh (1 John 4:1-3).
“Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. 2 Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: 3 And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.” 1 John 4:1-3
Paul repeatedly showed us that Satan uses evil Judaizing wolves to draw Christians back under law which means they no longer have saving grace and are lost (Galatians 5:4; Philippians 3:3; Colossians 2:6-19).
There is no value in any feast other than that those Jewish feasts served to point to the coming Messiah who has already come. So, what if we try to hug a mere shadow? What substance is there? None, right? Right. But, what if we embrace Jesus Christ, the Messiah who came, died, was buried, and rose again?
For the Jews (not NT Christians), those things were instituted and were mere “shadows” pointing to Christ Himself before He came, but now He has ALREADY COME. He completed His work perfectly and put away the law for righteousness and replaced that Old Covenant with His New Covenant which is based upon better promises (Hebrew 7-10; Colossians 2:14-17; Galatians 4:1-10). This is a basic truth of NT Christianity and if the saint doesn’t get this in their heart, he can be vulnerable to be deceived by Judaizers as we are so often specifically warned.
The New Testament way to keep the sabbath is to rest fully in the Sabbath Himself – Jesus Christ – everyday and not just one day per week (Hebrews 4). Resting in Christ is our Sabbath. Resting in the Messiah who has come means that we cease attempting to be righteous by law keeping, participating in OT festivals and ceremonies, being good enough in ourselves, or anything outside of Jesus. Keeping the law or keeping a certain day has nothing to do with New Testament Christianity. There is not one hint, instruction, or command in the 27 books of the NT Scriptures to keep any day. There is no virtue in such (Romans 14:5).
One disciple notes:
“The rest of the believer is attained by faith. The true rest is in Jesus. He is our Sabbath rest. Hebrews 4:9-11 says: ‘There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. 10 For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. 11 Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.’”
Of the true Sabbath, Matthew Ong writes:
“The true and real Sabbath is hinted at in Hebrews 4.—’We which have believed do enter into rest….. He that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his.’ This is the true and real Sabbath, of which the old Sabbath was a type. It includes all the days from your conversion to death’s day. To work for salvation is to break the Sabbath, the real Sabbath. We rest in all this Sabbath. Moses directed them to stone one who had so much as gathered a few sticks on this day; to show that we must not rest in our own works, but our duty is to rest, REST, REST in Christ all our days and in death.<<< TOTALLY Amen!”
Keeping the commandments of God does not include keeping any certain day because He never made that important under His NEW Covenant. Worshiping God is about a Person – not a time and place (John 4:20-24). Our worship is in the Spirit, namely in loving, obeying, and communing with the Father and Jesus Christ – “truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ” (1 John 1:3).
Those who do play the part of a pharisee who makes important that which God didn’t and in doing so, makes unimportant that which is essential – “the weightier matters of the law” (Matthew 23:23-24).
Where is the instruction in all the New Testament Scriptures telling New Testament saints to worship on any certain day? Without such, you are creating heresy which means you are unnecessarily sowing discord among God’s people by over emphasizing something He did not make an essential under the New Covenant.
There are a whopping 17 sins listed in the most complete list of sins in all the New Testament Scriptures (Galatians 5:19-21). Yet, in this list, there is no mention of any sin identified as not keeping a certain day.
Did the Almighty forget to tell us something? Dare we call Him a lunatic?
Luke 4:15-21
Why did God put into place a NEW Covenant that replaced the Old Covenant He had with Israel? Is God a fool, or was there a purpose? Are there different and unique laws governing that New Covenant? Yes. Where are they located and learned? – In the New Testament Scriptures.
Under the New Covenant, there is no instruction to keep any certain day and so, obeying God does not include resting on any certain day but rather resting every day by faith in Christ, our Sabbath (Hebrews 4).
— If Christ kept the sabbath it was to fulfill all righteousness and then nail the Old Covenant law and ordinances to the cross and take them out of the way so we now rest in Him who is the only One to “fulfill” (means expire) the law (Matthew 5:17; Colossians 2:14-17).
You must read this passage once again with spiritual eyes wide open:
“Blotting out (obliterating) the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; 15 And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it. 16 Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: 17 Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ. 18 Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, 19 And not holding the Head, from which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God.” Colossians 2:14-19
In their feigned worship, virtue from Heaven is absent due to their open denial of Christ in the false humility of worshiping a day instead of the One who gives us EVERY day.
The passage continues …
“Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances, 21 (Touch not; taste not; handle not; 22 Which all are to perish with the using;) after the commandments and doctrines of men? 23 Which things have indeed a shew of wisdom in will worship, and humility, and neglecting of the body; not in any honour to the satisfying of the flesh. 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.” Colossians 2:20-23; 3:1-4
The keeping of a certain day for the Jewish people (not New Testament Christians) was a mere “shadow” pointing to Christ Himself who is NOW ALREADY COME. He completed His work perfectly and put away the law for righteousness and replaced that Old Covenant with His New Covenant which is based upon better promises (Hebrew 7-10; Colossians 2:14-17; Galatians 4:1-10).
This is a basic truth of New Testament Christianity and if the saint doesn’t get this in their heart, they can be vulnerable to be deceived as we are so often specifically warned.
ONLY an evil, antichrist would reject Christ, the nail-scarred, risen Messiah, for law keeping. Hell awaits! If you don’t keep all 613 Old Testament laws, you are doomed. “For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all” (James 2:10).
“Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.” Romans 3:28
No longer saved – “Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace” (Galatians 5:4).
“THE END” – It’s over! – “For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth” (Romans 10:4).
Trusting law for salvation is an open, brazen rejection and denial of Christ and His finished work – “I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain” (Galatians 2:21).
The law-keeping heretic is the vilest kind of self-righteous, hell-bound brazen rebel against the LORD Who came and did what no man ever did do – keep the whole law. Yet, He didn’t keep the law so we could try to keep it, NO, He kept it so He could nail it to the cross and do away with it and take it OUT of the way for ever (Colossians 2:14-19).
Keeping any certain day is never – not once – mentioned in the New Testament and those who tout such are doing so to foster self-righteousness as they vainly imagine that they are more spiritual – “holier than thou” than those who don’t keep the day they keep. Paul warns against this (Colossians 2:14-17).
“Which say, Stand by thyself, come not near to me; for I am holier than thou. These are a smoke in my nose, a fire that burneth all the day.” Isaiah 65:5
Jesus was the only man to ever perfectly keep the law. He did this then died on the cross to do away completely with the law as the means for righteousness, “Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and TOOK IT OUT OF THE WAY (gone forever), NAILING IT TO THE CROSS;” Colossians 2:14 Matthew 5:17 – Greek word for “fulfilled” means EXPIRED – which means to DO AWAY WITH!
Jesus had to fulfill/expire the law then die to redeem us from it. He told us NO where to go to church on a certain day (Sabbath keeping/law-keeping). In fact, the Bible warns about making that important (Colossians 2:14-18; Galatians 4:9-10).
Sabbath keeping (Saturday) is NOT necessary for salvation so if you are teaching that it is essential for salvation you are in error, need to repent and get saved!
The keeping of a certain day for the Jewish people (not NT Christians) was a mere “shadow” pointing to Christ who is NOW ALREADY COME. He completed His work perfectly and put away the law for righteousness and replaced that Old Covenant with His New Covenant which is based upon better promises (Hebrews 7-10; Colossians 2:14-17; Galatians 4:1-10).
Did a day die for your sins? Was Saturday buried after bleeding on the cross for the sins of the world? Was a supposed sabbath sacrificed for our sins and raised from the dead to justify us? OR, was the Son of God?
JESUS BROKE THE SABBATH
John 9:16 Therefore said some of the Pharisees, This man is not of God, BECAUSE he keepeth not the sabbath day. Others said, How can a man that is a sinner do such miracles? And there was a division among them.
John 5:18 Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God.
Jesus IS the Sabbath rest of all who know Him BY FAITH, not by law-observance! God justifies on the basis of faith and not keeping the law. Jesus perfectly satisfied every jot and tittle of the law having perfectly fulfilled it all and thereby nailed it to the cross – doing away with it forever “to everyone that believeth” (Romans 10:4).
True believers worship the One who made EVERY day and not a day. That is the idolatry of worshiping the creation instead of the Creator.
GOD ACCEPTS PEOPLE ON THE BASIS ON FAITH IN CHRIST WHO PERFECTLY ACCOMPLISHED AND DID AWAY WITH THE LAW AND NOT ON LAW-KEEPING OR SABBATH-KEEPING
BEWARE: Seventh Day Adventism and other Sabbath-keeping, antichrist cults and their dupes. Their organizations are antichrist cults. These sabbath idolaters are duped pawns of Satan’s system of false teachings that reject Christ’s finished work! They are pawns of the enemy of souls and exist to steal the glory from Christ by putting the emphasis on a small part of His whole creation – one of the seven days He created. See Colossians 2:8-10, 14-19.
Jesus is our Sabbath or Rest …. He alone did all the work to merit our salvation and we rest by faith in His finished work …… Amen LORD!
Though there are 27 books in the New Testament canon of Holy Scripture, not one Holy Spirit inspired writer even hinted, much less instructed us to keep a certain day of the week. Jesus certainly didn’t and the apostle Paul in fact told us it had nothing to do with salvation – “Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days.” (Col. 2:16)
Of course we are to keep Jesus’ commandments, but Jesus never, not once, commanded us to keep any certain day. So, keeping Saturday is a self-imposed law and that’s exactly what Paul is warning about in Colossians 2 when he speaks of those who teach things that actually draw people away from Jesus by pre-occupying them with frivolous non-essentials that do not come from God – “Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, And not holding the Head, from which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God.” (Colossians 2:18-19)
JESUS is the New Testament Sabbath – true Christians rest in Him from trying to be righteous via the law of Moses. Otherwise, no one will be saved from sin or hell.
Only 9 of the 10 carry over into the New Testament. JESUS is our Sabbath – we rest in Him from the law for justification (Hebrews 4). ALL of the other 9 of the 10 commandments are repeated in the New Testament.
ANY person who pushes any certain sabbath day does not know the Sabbath Himself – Jesus Christ.
That labor to enter into His rest does not include keeping any certain day – otherwise He would have told us so.
No day has more significance than the other and anyone who teaches that is leading you away from pure worship of the ONE who made all days. Days were made to worship the Creator in and not to be worshiped.
Those who promote the saturday sabbath have been deceived by a false religion and system of theology. They are personally responsible and will be judged. NOT ONCE did the LORD tell New Testament believers to keep any certain day. You are teaching something contrary to Scripture. You have no divine authority to teach this heresy. You are stealing glory from the Lamb of God who is also the Creator of ALL days and the only ONE worthy to be worshiped.
No amount of study is going to produce one suggestion much less command from the New Testament Scriptures to keep any certain day. So all study that says this is even important or a requirement is law keeping and damnable legalism.
If you are blood-bought then you realize that “CHRIST is the END of the law for righteousness.” (Rom. 10:4). SDA is a cult that over-emphasizes minors and under-emphasizes major truths – Jesus says this is the mark of a hell-bound wolf (Matt. 23:23).
Jesus taught that the whole law hinges on loving God and thy neighbor – Matthew 22:37-40 – not keeping a certain day. In fact, He never instructed anyone to keep any day but to keep Him first (Matthew 6:33).
We are to obey Jesus (Jn 14:15), but Jesus NEVER, not once, hinted to us that we are to keep a Saturday sabbath.
Where did Jesus or His apostles instruct any one to observe any sabbath? Chapter and vs. please?
Does the sabbath day have nail-scarred hands and feet? did the sabbath die and rise again to justify us? was the sabbath day sinless and the only one qualified to fully pay for man’s sins? Is the sabbath day coming back soon? get the point?
Glorifying a mere day instead of the ONE who made all days is gross, antichrist, soul-damning idolatry. Christ nor His holy apostles ever hinted much less instructed believers to observe a certain day of the week…Hebrews 4 teaches us that the OT sabbath day was a mere inferior shadow of what Christ is now the fulfillment – we rest in Him (He’s our Sabbath) from trying to work for justification.
Jesus Christ the divine Person is not elevated by the Sabbath idolaters….read Colossians 2 closely.
God could care less what day one of His children may choose to observe for rest and worship as is crystal clear in the NT Scriptures (Colossians 2:14-17). Jesus is our Sabbath, the Substance of what the OT ceremonial observance merely foreshadowed (Hebrews 10)..
Worshiping the LORD in spirit and in truth “daily” is the Gospel Jesus gave us (Luke 9:23-24). The earliest Jewish believers didn’t wait around till the end of the week. No, they fellowshipped “daily” (Acts 2:42-47). There is no mention even one time of any deacon, disciple, or apostle in the NT Scriptures telling anyone to observe a certain day. That was not and is not the original Gospel – the apostolic Gospel.
Any dabbling into Sabbatarian cults is dangerous…there is a demon spirit that rules over them…and if you go among them or commune with their teachers you will be influenced and those demons are much stronger than us….Christ Jesus truly is the END of the law and law keeping for righteousness (Romans 10:4)…He totally supersedes the inferior, obsolete law… He is superior to all……there is no virtue in keeping a sabbath or any part of the law in seeking to please God…it is only as we lay our whole beings into His hands that His Holy Spirit raises us up and after that fact we fulfill His Word (Romans 3:31, 8:3-4).
Dear sabbath/law-keeping pharisee, I want to exhort you to cease giving ear to any cult’s information and repent and turn to God afresh, falling upon the mercy of God through the shed blood of Christ and establishing that only Jesus and what He single handedly did can save you…repent of placing emphasis on anything other than Him – read Colossians 2 deeply and Galatians… Philippians 3:1-21
There is no devil so insidious and filthy as the Christ-rejecting, law-keeping devil that has come to steal, to kill, and to destroy the eternal souls of men by taking them away from simply faith in the perfect work and saving mercy of God through our LORD Jesus Christ who shed His precious blood on that tree and while He was doing so, declared “It is finished” which simply means “Paid in full”! See John 19:30.
The Old Testament law was a mere schoolmaster to bring us to CHRIST who is the only Salvation (Galatians 3:24). But Christ has come now! Jesus fulfilled or expired – did away with the law – for righteousness (Romans 10:4). The law is for the lawless – those not trusting Christ’s perfect, finished work (John 19:30). While claiming to be “Messianic” many today openly reject Christ by their attempt at law-keeping. They deny that the Messiah came and fulfilled the law, something no man has ever done and if he’s going to try, he’d better keep all 613 laws of the Old Testament.
There is not even a hint of instruction in the New Testament Scriptures to NEW Testament believers to observe a certain day but rather to rest in Christ, our Sabbath Rest who fully accomplished redemption by shedding His precious blood on the altar of the cross and satisfied the claims of the Father’s justice perfectly.
What is the Christ-rejecting, law-keeping religionist saying by insisting that there be a certain day to keep? It’s simple: he’s saying that he is blind and that he is in open denial that the Messiah has already come and fulfilled the law and did away with it with its inferior “weak and beggarly elements” (Galatians 4:9) which when instituted were a mere “shadow” of what was going to come and be the fulfillment of. The Sabbath was the only ceremonial part of the ten commandments. The other nine are moral and carried over into the New Testament. Or, all ten carried over but the fourth is faith – resting in Christ and not trying to keep the law for justification.
What the SDA Cult Won’t Tell You | Hebrew Hogwash | Saved by Grace or Works Righteousness? | Deliverance from Works-Righteousness | Colossal Colossians! | Beware of Dogs | Receive Ye One Another
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***NO, I’m not trying to get more Jewish. Nope! The ONE I have been saved by is the Ultimate Jew. You can have your far inferior mere shadow, I want my Savior! Also, the true, born again disciple of Jesus is complete in Jesus Christ alone, you know, the One who perfectly fulfilled what those obsolete, abolished OLD testament shadows merely pointed to? – but He’s now come in the flesh! | Beware of Dogs! (audio expose’)
More on antichrist Judaizing devils who operate in our midst ….
***ANY person who vainly believes that salvation in Christ has anything at all to do with keeping ANY certain day or eating and not eating certain foods, is an antichrist who denies that Jesus’ precious, sinless blood completely paid for all the sins of mankind. – “It is finished” means “paid in FULL” (John 19:30). BEWARE of the “EVIL workers,” the Judaizing devils who go about on the internet, preying on weak souls who have not truly put their faith in Christ alone for salvation (Philippians 3:1-3).
These SDA and Jewish emphasis cults will expose obvious paganism and falsehoods (like Catholicism) and yet, turn around and hand you another poison that kills you – trusting law-righteousness for salvation. They expose false teachings and then wham, they then turn and insist that Christians can’t eat pork and must keep a sabbath …. those are totally false teachings ….. ANY person teaching these things needs to get saved …. It’s just like Satan to take away one poison and then hand you another poison that will kill you just the same.
Another way to discern Judaizing wolves: Joy and pharisees are mutually exclusive. Why? Because Judaizers are antichrists who do not have the Holy Spirit in their lives, otherwise they would have His joy (Galatians 5:22-23). They are not saved.
THERE is no requirement to keep any certain day under the NEW Testament. Jesus says those who serve Him serve Him “daily” not weekly (Luke 9:23-24; Acts 2:47). See also Col. 2:14-19; Gal. 4:9-11.
Support | STORE | Podcasts | The Bridegroom is Calling His Bride | Purifying Ourselves as He is Pure [podcast] | 10 Clues Your Love for God is Waxing Cold [podcast] | More on the Sabbath of the New Testament – Jesus!
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
-
- Chris Armstrong, “The Future lies in the Past” in Christianity Today, February 2008.
- Ibid. 24.
- Ibid. 29.
- 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).
- 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
- Ibid. 111-125.
- I write about Sanford’s inner healing theories in CIC Issue 96: HTTP://CICMINISTRY.ORG/COMMENTARY/ISSUE96.HTM
- Dave Hunt and T. A. McMahon, The Seduction of Christianity (Eugene: Harvest House, 1985) 138.
- Morton Kelsey, Encounter With God, (Bethany Fellowship: Minneapolis, 1972) 179.
- http://www.biola.edu/spiritualformation/programs/ SEE PDF
- HTTP://WWW.SDIWORLD.ORG
- HTTP://WWW.RENOVARE.ORG/JOURNEY_TRAINING_DIRECTION.HTM
- CIC Issue 105; March/April 2008: HTTP://CICMINISTRY.ORG/COMMENTARY/ISSUE105.HTM
- Watch this seminar HERE
- Armstrong, Future
- DONALD S. WHITNEY, SPIRITUAL DISCIPLINES FOR THE CHRISTIAN LIFE (COLORADO SPRINGS: NAVPRESS, 1991) 23.
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Articles
Sinlessly Perfect? I Doubt it [podcast]
Yes the LORD commands His people to “Be ye holy; for I am holy.” (1 Peter 1:15-16) Yet we should ask whether or not His desire is for His people to tout to others that they are “sinlessly perfect” or does His Word rather reveal that His people are to be dependent upon Him through the humility of Christ and crucified life He ordained us to walk in? Did the apostles walk around telling people they were sinlessly perfect? No. Didn’t Paul confess his own utter poverty of spirit outside of the saving, present grace of Christ? Yes. (Romans 7:18, 24, etc.) Are there biblical warnings about claiming that one is sinlessly perfect? Yes. (Job 9:20; Proverbs 20:9)
“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
Saints, would it be accurate to observe that we cannot possibly begin to appreciate this “so great salvation” that is Christ until we understand how lost, helpless, and alienated we were in our sin? (Ephesians 2:1-10; Hebrews 2:3) We must pray and study to understand the biblical doctrine of inherent sin, fallen mankind, and the holiness of God …. in order to begin to be able to appreciate the redemption that is in Jesus Christ.
“If I justify myself, mine own mouth shall condemn me: if I say, I am perfect, it shall also prove me perverse.” Job 9:20
Solomon said:
“Who can say, I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin?” Proverbs 20:9
Speaking of king David’s imperfections, even nearing the end of his life on earth, one commentator writes:
“Surely there can be little ground for the doctrine of perfectionism, otherwise David, whose religion was so earnest and so deep, would have been nearer it now than this chapter shows that he was.” Expositor’s Bible
“For there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not.” Ecclesiastes 7:20
I am not a good person, neither are you – “There is none righteous, no, not one“ (Romans 3:10). Admit it. The sooner we become HONEST with that which is more than obvious, announcing freely and transparently – that there is “NOOOO good thing” in us except CHRIST, the sooner God will begin a new, deeper work in us! (Romans 7:18, 24) The Cross!
God is able to establish our hearts in His grace and to multiply His grace to us (Hebrews 13:9; 2 Peter 3:18)
ALL of our deeds are not perfect (1 John 1:8-10). “For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life” (Proverbs 6:23). The truly righteous remain humble, teachable, and repentant. Note verse 21 saints:
“And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. 21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.” John 3:19-21
Saved by Divine Grace and Yet Now Made Perfect by Your Flesh?
“Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?” Galatians 3:3
The Galatian believers had begun their walk with Christ by responding to the conviction of the Spirit, repenting, putting their faith in Christ, and being regenerated. Yet, now they were allowing false teachers to seduce them back under the law, law-keeping for righteousness – to attempt to please God by their own self-will and performance.
Jesus’ disciples must live a set apart life. Living sinless? Well, it can be done: Here’s the key – “In him (Jesus) is no sin. He that abideth in him sinneth not” (1 John 3:5-6). We whom Jesus has saved must “cleanse ourselves from ALL filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God” (2 Corinthians 7:1). Yet, the only way to be sinless is in presently abiding in Him and that begins with the essential of announcing our own poverty in self which is being poor/desperately dependent on Him in spirit (Matthew 5:3, 6). Yet some insist that they are perfect by their own will, ability, and doing. This is the exact error of the Galatians which caused them to fall from saving grace (Galatians 5:4). They left Christ for something else – law keeping. Leaving Christ, departing from faith, and casting off trusting fully in HIS saving grace, is deadly. Realizing there is “NO good thing” in us except Christ, is essential to abiding saved in Him (Romans 7:18, 24; John 15:1-6). Galatians 3:3 says it all – “Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?” (Galatians 3:3). The great apostle of Jesus was desperate for the LORD, ever seeking His holy face and dreadfully not wanting “to be found having mine own righteousness which is of the law” (Philippians 3:9-10).
“The great secret of abiding in Christ is the deep conviction that we are nothing, and He is everything.” Andrew Murray, Abide in Christ
Heart purity and a sinless life emanate only from intimate union and abiding with a holy God. This occurs as we consent to the cross and not by human effort alone. Jesus raises up those who are truly bowed down – crucified with Christ (Psalms 145:14; 2 Corinthians 4:10-12; Galatians 2:20; Colossians 3:3, etc.). One cannot possibly “stop sinning” until they come to Jesus and He saves them, making them new creatures in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17-18). Only then can the regenerated disciple “put off the old man” and “put on the new man” (Colossians 3:9-10). There MUST be something to “put off” …. that inherent sinful nature, otherwise no such language would be in Scripture (Colossians 3).
Beware of the sinless perfectionists who speak of overcoming sin outside of the daily cross and the saving, enabling grace of God. It’s only possible by God’s enabling grace in and through a true abiding relationship.
If we claim we are sufficient in and of ourselves and because of our own “natural ability” to do right, and can be perfect (which God requires) without Christ and our total trust IN HIM, we are apostate. Memorize Romans 4:4-5.
We cannot be “made perfect BY the flesh” or by means of our own self-will and effort alone. If that were possible WHY then did Jesus come? We are only perfect in the sense of Christ’s perfection AS we abide in Him (John 15:1-6). As we do, we will “walk in the light, as he is in the light … and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.” Here’s the whole verse:
“But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.” 1 John 1:7
Yes, we are “new creatures” in Christ and must humble ourselves before Him, put off the old man, put on the new man, and walk in the Spirit with Him. Yet, the victory Christ has wrought and ordained for us to walk in daily all begins with acknowledging instead of denying that there is something to deny and die to and “put off” (Colossians3:5; 2 Corinthians5:17-18). Denying that we have inclination toward sin is not the answer. Crucifying the deeds of the body by the power of the Holy Spirit is the answer (Romans 8:12-14). Many are getting hoodwinked by this self-righteous “I can do it with my own ‘natural ability’” spirit. This is a Christ-denying devil-exalting heresy, doctrine of devils (1 Timothy 4:1-3). Many who are not grounded in the grace and Word of Christ are adopting this error of Pelagianism which fosters self righteousness. They are aggressively teaching this sinless perfectionism (in the flesh) error to others. These people seem to have one common denominator – they have studied the teachings of Charles Finney or Mike Desario. Beware!
Many of those who preach sin without saving, rescuing, enabling, overcoming divine grace are perhaps still trapped in their own sins. They have no answer for others and therefore we should wonder if they have the LORD’s answer for and in their own lives. If they did, would they not be full of His great joy and sharing with others how to be delivered? Why are they content with condemning others in sin? Is God willing that ANY should perish? See 2 Peter 3:9.
Never forget to make a decision to be deepened in the essential truth that it’s “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us.”
“Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; 6 Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; 7 That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” Titus 3:5-7
WHEN we realize that God is “Holy, holy, holy,” we will no longer wrongly condemn others if they sin, just because the flavor of their sin differs from that sin which we’ve committed, knowing that the sin we committed was no less evil in the eyes of He alone who is “Holy, holy, holy” (Isaiah 6:3; Revelation 4:8).
G.R.A.C.E. = God’s Riches at Christ’s Expense
It’s only by God’s grace that we are found and saved by Him and kept and enabled to please Him which includes participating in holiness, separated unto the LORD, as He is holy (Hebrews 12:14-15; 1 Peter 1:15-16; Revelation 4:8, etc.).
Titus 2 tells us that we are only saved by divine grace and only kept to the end by His enabling grace.
“For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, 12 Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; 13 Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; 14 Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. 15 These things speak, and exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no man despise thee.” Titus 2:11-15
Deliverance from sin/sinning is only possible through faith, loving, worshiping, and obeying our LORD, that is, moment-by-moment abiding in Christ, the crucified life, being raised up by His Spirit (Romans 6; 8:13-14, etc.).
“And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure. 4 Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law. 5 And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin. 6 Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him.” 1 John 3:3-6
Perfection is the perfect forgiveness and justification of the LORD which God brings about by His Spirit and our faith which always brings our adherence to the daily cross (Philippians 2:12-13). It’s divine perfection worked out in the abiding disciple as he walks in the Spirit abiding in Christ (Galatians 5:16, 25, etc.).
True OR Feigned Holiness? | Saving, Enabling Grace | Have We Ourselves Become Pharisees? | The Spirit of Holiness |
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