This all started when Vanessa and I were talking about John McArthur and other cessationalists while doing some errands a few days ago. We were driving along and pondering how and why some people go wrong in their teaching, and we saw a custom license plate that said, "LIL'FOXS"
"Catch the foxes for us, the little foxes that spoil the vineyards, for our vineyards are in blossom."
Song of Solomon 2:15
First, we need to realize that Song of Solomon is a parable. The Lover in that book can be likened to Jesus, and the Beloved can be likened to His bride, the Church!
The true Church, the sons and daughters of Father God, will be able to look across various churches and discern that some things may have went wrong. Little foxes have crept in. Left untouched in the vineyard, they can ruin it's plants and spoiled it's fruit.
I've read parts of Arthur Burt's "There Shall Be No Ebb", and he stated that every denomination was formed right where the Holy Spirit first began a new move of God. John Wesley began a revival and holiness movement that, once plateaued, became known as Methodism. The Salvation Army was once a group of powerful evangelists that did just what their name entailed. And the Baptist Church also started off with more passion and Spirit-given life than they generally have now. You can go on and on.
And it's been this way since the start. Even the Azusa street revival was split by theological differences into various subsets and denominations. A newly introduced 'Finished Work' doctrine divided the movement and caused the largest revival ever to ebb. Six year after it started, Azusa was finished, because the pride and tradition of man opened the door for some little foxes to come in.
And we can gather from the past a pattern. It starts off with God's Spirit and ends with divisions:
1) Revival starts! The Church is taken back to the Book of Acts. Awesome!
...Mass salvations, signs and wonders, and Holy Spirit fire follow.
2) With revival comes the Spirit of wisdom and revelation.
...The Word comes alive as God teaches the revived how to walk in it.
3) Those involved receive a key revelation to the scriptures
...A Kingdom mystery is revealed, and people realize just what they've been missing. So they start walking in this or that newfound truth. Good!
4) Pride creeps in.
...Usually, this begins in the person whom God has been using the most. And a measure of the glory goes, because God gives grace to the humble.
5) People who have received revelation become presumptuous.
...And they assume that the scriptural key they received is THE key. They stress their new revelation above all others. They broaden the scope of their revelation by using out of context scripture to support it. And they begin to look down on others. The attitude of a revival shifts from welcoming to competitive. And what really counts is then overlooked!
...Oneness Pentecostals claim that speaking in tongues in critical to salvation.
...Baptists may believe that baptism in water is essential to salvation.
...Holiness preachers stress the importance of works and perfectionism
...Catholics talk about penance, purgatory and prayer to saints.
...Cessationalists claim that tongues and healings are of the devil (hmm, doesn't that sound familiar? Jesus was accused of such things by the pharisees).
At this point, revival is over, having been stifled by the pride of us people. And the need surfaces to start a new denomination!
And the end result of all these errors is that church congregations lose their good fruit. With that, they lose members. And worst of all, they lose the favor of God. All they have is a memory of what the Lord used to do. All they have is a watered-down testimony. All they can do to retain some measure of hope is look back.
Those who look back become more and more deadened to the present reality of God. They create denominations that become increasingly watered down. Some even discount the present work of God almost entirely, stripping the Gospel of everything but salvation. That's where cessationalism (the belief that spiritual gifts have ceased) comes in. That's where pride, even an actual spirit of pride, can take over. People fall deeper and deeper into err, because they understand neither the scripture nor the power of God. They respond by lashing out at those who are still moving, still operating, and still loving by the Holy Spirit. This is a vicious cycle, as people fall further and further from the actual, scriptural truth.
At this point, a once fruitful vineyard has become bitter and barren. A church does not have the presence of the Holy Spirit, so much as they have a man-made template signifying who He seemed in the past to be. Moves of God are stifled. Gifts from God are discounted. Conversely, a church may become hyper-charismatic and try to replicate God's gift with an effort out of the flesh. The church becomes overrun with little foxes--spirits of pride, envy, hatred, mockery, 'pharisee spirits', and spirits that bear false witness. The fruit of the Spirit is gone because the Spirit itself is gone, save for the measure that God, in His grace, retains so that there is still the reality of salvation.
The above is a sad reality in many churches today. What is the solution?
...To welcome the Holy Spirit
...To humbly accept the implanted word
...To walk in love--from which all else flows: kindness and patience and humility and meekness and peace and hope and faith and joy
...To acknowledge that we see in part--therefore, our insight is not the only insight, nor is it the most critical one. We need to remain teachable
--To fulfill the law, not through this or that theology, but for an overwhelming love for God and others
Let's address this by looking to the Word:
"So be careful how you live; be mindful of your steps. Don’t run around like idiotsas the rest of the world does. Instead, walk as the wise! Make the most of every living and breathing moment because these are evil times. So understand and be confident in God’s will, and don’t live thoughtlessly. Don’t drink wine excessively. The drunken path is a reckless path. It leads nowhere. Instead, let God fill you with the Holy Spirit. When you are filled with the Spirit, you are empowered to speak to each other inthe soulful words of pious songs, hymns, and spiritual songs; to sing and make music with your hearts attuned to God; and to give thanks to God the Father every day through the name of our Lord Jesus the Anointed for all He has done. And the Spirit makes it possible to submit humbly to one another out of respect for the Anointed." Ephesians 5:16-21
*thank you Angel S. for the timely scripture (:*
This is what we need to do. We need to keep in tune and under the guidance of the Holy Spirit in order to keep any bond of peace. We need to stay sensitive, patient, and humble. We need to give all the glory to God, so that all the discernment can be with Him, as well. We need to steward His Spirit and His works in love and power.
"Catch the foxes for us, the little foxes that spoil the vineyards, for our vineyards are in blossom."
Song of Solomon 2:15
First, we need to realize that Song of Solomon is a parable. The Lover in that book can be likened to Jesus, and the Beloved can be likened to His bride, the Church!
The true Church, the sons and daughters of Father God, will be able to look across various churches and discern that some things may have went wrong. Little foxes have crept in. Left untouched in the vineyard, they can ruin it's plants and spoiled it's fruit.
I've read parts of Arthur Burt's "There Shall Be No Ebb", and he stated that every denomination was formed right where the Holy Spirit first began a new move of God. John Wesley began a revival and holiness movement that, once plateaued, became known as Methodism. The Salvation Army was once a group of powerful evangelists that did just what their name entailed. And the Baptist Church also started off with more passion and Spirit-given life than they generally have now. You can go on and on.
And it's been this way since the start. Even the Azusa street revival was split by theological differences into various subsets and denominations. A newly introduced 'Finished Work' doctrine divided the movement and caused the largest revival ever to ebb. Six year after it started, Azusa was finished, because the pride and tradition of man opened the door for some little foxes to come in.
And we can gather from the past a pattern. It starts off with God's Spirit and ends with divisions:
1) Revival starts! The Church is taken back to the Book of Acts. Awesome!
...Mass salvations, signs and wonders, and Holy Spirit fire follow.
2) With revival comes the Spirit of wisdom and revelation.
...The Word comes alive as God teaches the revived how to walk in it.
3) Those involved receive a key revelation to the scriptures
...A Kingdom mystery is revealed, and people realize just what they've been missing. So they start walking in this or that newfound truth. Good!
4) Pride creeps in.
...Usually, this begins in the person whom God has been using the most. And a measure of the glory goes, because God gives grace to the humble.
5) People who have received revelation become presumptuous.
...And they assume that the scriptural key they received is THE key. They stress their new revelation above all others. They broaden the scope of their revelation by using out of context scripture to support it. And they begin to look down on others. The attitude of a revival shifts from welcoming to competitive. And what really counts is then overlooked!
...Oneness Pentecostals claim that speaking in tongues in critical to salvation.
...Baptists may believe that baptism in water is essential to salvation.
...Holiness preachers stress the importance of works and perfectionism
...Catholics talk about penance, purgatory and prayer to saints.
...Cessationalists claim that tongues and healings are of the devil (hmm, doesn't that sound familiar? Jesus was accused of such things by the pharisees).
At this point, revival is over, having been stifled by the pride of us people. And the need surfaces to start a new denomination!
And the end result of all these errors is that church congregations lose their good fruit. With that, they lose members. And worst of all, they lose the favor of God. All they have is a memory of what the Lord used to do. All they have is a watered-down testimony. All they can do to retain some measure of hope is look back.
Those who look back become more and more deadened to the present reality of God. They create denominations that become increasingly watered down. Some even discount the present work of God almost entirely, stripping the Gospel of everything but salvation. That's where cessationalism (the belief that spiritual gifts have ceased) comes in. That's where pride, even an actual spirit of pride, can take over. People fall deeper and deeper into err, because they understand neither the scripture nor the power of God. They respond by lashing out at those who are still moving, still operating, and still loving by the Holy Spirit. This is a vicious cycle, as people fall further and further from the actual, scriptural truth.
At this point, a once fruitful vineyard has become bitter and barren. A church does not have the presence of the Holy Spirit, so much as they have a man-made template signifying who He seemed in the past to be. Moves of God are stifled. Gifts from God are discounted. Conversely, a church may become hyper-charismatic and try to replicate God's gift with an effort out of the flesh. The church becomes overrun with little foxes--spirits of pride, envy, hatred, mockery, 'pharisee spirits', and spirits that bear false witness. The fruit of the Spirit is gone because the Spirit itself is gone, save for the measure that God, in His grace, retains so that there is still the reality of salvation.
The above is a sad reality in many churches today. What is the solution?
...To welcome the Holy Spirit
...To humbly accept the implanted word
...To walk in love--from which all else flows: kindness and patience and humility and meekness and peace and hope and faith and joy
...To acknowledge that we see in part--therefore, our insight is not the only insight, nor is it the most critical one. We need to remain teachable
--To fulfill the law, not through this or that theology, but for an overwhelming love for God and others
Let's address this by looking to the Word:
"So be careful how you live; be mindful of your steps. Don’t run around like idiotsas the rest of the world does. Instead, walk as the wise! Make the most of every living and breathing moment because these are evil times. So understand and be confident in God’s will, and don’t live thoughtlessly. Don’t drink wine excessively. The drunken path is a reckless path. It leads nowhere. Instead, let God fill you with the Holy Spirit. When you are filled with the Spirit, you are empowered to speak to each other inthe soulful words of pious songs, hymns, and spiritual songs; to sing and make music with your hearts attuned to God; and to give thanks to God the Father every day through the name of our Lord Jesus the Anointed for all He has done. And the Spirit makes it possible to submit humbly to one another out of respect for the Anointed." Ephesians 5:16-21
*thank you Angel S. for the timely scripture (:*
This is what we need to do. We need to keep in tune and under the guidance of the Holy Spirit in order to keep any bond of peace. We need to stay sensitive, patient, and humble. We need to give all the glory to God, so that all the discernment can be with Him, as well. We need to steward His Spirit and His works in love and power.
