[In] The Church of Laodicea: The Church of Apostasy ( A.D. 1900~present day) Revelation 3:14-22
Pages 74-77 “Footsteps of The Messiah”
[ ASV ]
In most recent times, a whole new phrase has entered the apostasy. The old phrase was characterised by destructive denials. The new phrase claims to affirm the fundamentals of faith but they have made a paradigm shift in that the Bible is no longer the final authority
in determining divine truth but experiences are equally valid. In actual practice, the experience takes priority over the Scriptures. If the Bible contradicts the practice, then the practice is justified “a new move of the Spirit” and, therefore, what the text of Scripture actually can be contradicted by a new experience. This is a far more “spiritual” way of denying the truth of God and, therefore, far more deceptive. The old apostasy was marked with verbal “destructive denials.” The new apostasy is marked by practical “destructive denial.”
This, in turn, has led to many strange and divers doctrines, causing many to be truly betossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine and resulting in total spiritual instability, as Paul warned would happen in Ephesians 4:8-16.
They may affirm the authority in Scripture, but it is only their experiences that determines the meaning of the text in particular the truth in general. The new apostasy has produced the same fruit as the old apostasy. They mock those who will not join the “new wave”
( or is it being caught in the undertow ? ) and they have cause schisms dividing both Church and Families.
“The proper way of determining truth is to go to the Word of God first and not rely on experiences of other people. Furthermore, the Bible must be the final and only authority on all matters of both faith
(what we believe) and practice (actions and experiences, etc.).
Unfortunately, what has happened in recent years is that a new experience or phenomenon breaks out in some part of the church, and then people simply try to find verses to justify the activity rather than be willing to admit that the experience —
no matter how wonderful or supernatural it felt — was simply not God. Most of the proponents defend the practice, not on the basis of scripture, but on the basis of their own experience. The most common evidence is that it makes them feel happy and joyful,
though this does not take into account that any kind of emotional release of this nature will make one feel better. Even unbelievers can have this experience. Furthermore, Satan would not be a very good deceiver if he made one feel badly, would he ?
Satan can give people joyful and happy experiences, and doing so would be in his best interest if that — rather than the Word of God — becomes the final authority for determining spiritual truth.
Isaiah 18:16, :19-20
:16~ Bind thou up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples…..
:19~ And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits and unto the wizards, that chirp and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their God? on behalf of the living should they seek unto the dead?
:20~ To the law and to the testimony! if they speak not according to this word, surely there is no morning for them.
One of the motifs of the book of Isaiah is the contrast between the Remnant ( Jews who believe ) and the non-Remnant ( Jews who do not believe ). In verse 16, one crucial difference between the two groups is the place that the Scripture has in their lives.
The law~ is the the Law of Moses, and the Testimony~ is the words of the Prophets. What distinguishes the Remnant is that they believe that which Moses and the Prophets declared:that is the foundation of their faith, and this is also their authority.
The non-Remnant reject the scriptures as the final authority and seeks to make God more “real in their experiences” by going towards idolatry and looking at gods and goddesses that they could see, feel, and touch, creating a more real visual picture while they worship.
In verse 19, Isaiah issues a warning that they are not to go after counterfeit spirits and teachers that chirp and that mutter, in other words, Isaiah is warning people not to pursue supernatural things that cause them to make the strange sounds of chirping and muttering,
for while these experiences might come from the supernatural, not all that comes out of the supernatural is of God, as verse 19 clearly shows. Indeed, those who go after that chirp and that mutter could well come out with great testimonies of experiencing the supernatural
and feeling joyful and great. But Isaiah would not accept any of that as valid Testimony. The only valid testimony is what he declares in verse 20: To the law and the testimony !
In other words, ” Back to the Law and the Prophets,” back to the Scriptures, as the only final authority.
And the closing phrase should not be missed: if they speak not according to this word, surely there is no morning for them.
Isaiah makes it quite clear: Regardless of the supernatural experiences the others may have,
it does not align with the written Word of God that was already present in Isaiah’s day, and so there is simply no morning light in them.
Later, Isaiah declared in 29:9-14:
:9 ~ Stay yourselves, and wonder; cry ye out, and cry: they are drunken, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with strong drink.
:10~ For the Lord hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes: the prophets and your rulers, the seers hath he covered.
:11~ And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I cannot; for it is sealed:
:12~ And the book is delivered to him that is not learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I am not learned.
:13~ Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men:
:14~ Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous work among this people, even a marvellous work and a wonder: for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid.
Isaiah 29:9-14.. Isaiah introduces his comments, prophesying how people will become spiritually blind and, therefore, will stagger in spiritual blindness
(v9). They will certainly stagger as if they were drunk, but not with alcohol.
People have become spiritually blind and are groping in their spiritual darkness, having no spiritual sight to see. Isaiah points out that this has all happened because of divine judgement and is not merely accidental or coincidental
(v10). What has happened is that because they refused to follow Isaiah’s earlier admonition (8:20), they have now been confirmed in their spiritual darkness and, therefore, have fallen into a spiritual sleep so that now they have no capacity to understand the prophets. As a result, all of the prophecies of Isaiah and the prophets that came before him have become to the populace as ‘a book that is sealed’.
(v11). When they are presented to someone who is learned, although he has had the capacity and training to understand these things, because he chose to pursue that which ‘chirp’ and ‘mutter’ even for the learned one, the prophecies have become like a sealed book that he can no longer understand. Insofar as understanding spiritual truth, he has become like the one who is not trained or learned.
(v12). And the trained and learned one has the same incapacity and inability to understand the Word of God as the one who is untrained and unlearned. However, it is then made clear that outwardly these people appear both religious and spiritual
(v13). They do continue drawing unto God with their mouths and they do honour God with their lips, but their hearts are far away from God. What makes their hearts far away from God is that whatever fear they have of the Lord is based upon man-made doctrines, commandments, and traditions, rather than that which God Himself had said and taught in the Scriptures. Thus today, the validity of a movement is based on the external. It is based on verbal pronouncements, such as “Praise the Lord” or ‘Praise Jesus,” or some similar-sounding phrase that is consistently repeated. What the Bible-based observer must realize is that this is merely a formula, much like those who recite a ‘mantra’ in eastern religions. Simply verbalizing the name of Jesus over and over again does not by itself prove anything. In fact, it fits this verse quite well:.. ‘and with their mouth and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me’
(v13b). Their heart is far from God in reality for the same reason: they have learned to fear God on the basis of man-made and man-induced experiences, rather than on the basis of the word of God
(v13c). They are following these man-made doctrines and repeat phrases they have been trained to repeat, believing that this repetition is what makes them spiritual. As a result, more time is spent on seeking further experiences than on actual study of the Word of God in its own context. The result is a further judgement where both wisdom and understanding begin to perish
(v14). More and more, as people seek deeper and deeper experiences, they spend less and less time actually in the discipline of studying the Word of God, and they reach a point where they begin to totally lack understanding of the Word of God.
While they can regularly do “God-talk” and “Jesus-speak”, when they begin to deal with the concrete details of the Word of God, they are at a total loss. The more experiential they become, the less they understand of the Word of God.”
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