|
Proclamations of Faith |
|
by David A. DePra |
| Regarding Discernment: |
| There is rarely any doubt about what the Bible says. What the Bible |
| means by what it says is always the problem. |
| I cannot understand what the Bible means by what it says unless I |
| open my heart to the One who wrote it. |
| There is deception which is innocent -- that is -- I have simply been |
| led astray through ignorance and immaturity. But there is also |
| deception which is outright sin. I don't know, and don't believe, |
| because I refuse to pay the price for the Truth. |
| According to the Bible, those who teach others will be judged with the |
| greater judgment. That's because when you claim to speak the Word |
| of God you don't have any business being wrong. And if you are |
| wrong, you don't have any business refusing to admit it. |
| Esoteric experiences are never to be our guide. Never try to make the |
| Bible mean what experience suggests. |
| Shun any teaching which would present itself as "new revelation," |
| outside of scripture. There is no such thing in the plan of God. |
| I will either allow God to adjust me to the Truth, or I will eventually |
| adjust the Truth to fit myself. The latter is never done in a moment. |
| And it is almost always done to side-step the Cross. |
| God never gives us the Truth so that we might be supplied with the |
| facts. He gives us the Truth so that we might be set free to BECOME |
| everything the Truth suggests to us in Jesus Christ. |
| Deception always has at it's root a lie about God. We more easily |
| accept those lies which harmonize with our agenda, or our ignorance. |
| God may allow us to be deceived for a season in order to later use it |
| for our greater freedom. |
| Having a "said faith" in error may do us no more harm than having a |
| "said faith" in Jesus Christ can do us good. There are many Christians in |
| this world who sit under false teachers, but for some reason, never seem |
| to embrace the error they are hearing. |
| When an air-tight logical argument leads me to a wrong conclusion, I |
| can be sure that the error lies, not with the argument, but with my |
| premise. Much error in our Christian thinking starts with some sort of |
| false assumption about God and His plan. |
| Instead of blaming God for allowing us to get into past deception, we |
| ought to instead thank Him for the fact that we now see it for what it is. |