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Broadway... or... Broad Way to Destruction?

Posted by Tkulp , 28 March 2017 · 915 views

Sometimes I just get tired of sharing what comes to my heart from the Word of God. This morning was one of those times.

 

Some of the grand-kids came to stay and that, with other responsibilities made it easy not to sit down with the Word, but just walk in the ways that the Lord set in front of me, and impressed me to go. When I do not get something to eat, spiritually, I do get hungry, so as all has become settled down I just asked for something special.

 

Nothing really hit the spot until I felt to read, and obeyed, reading Tozer's devo for today. I really did not feel like doing anything on the C&MA site today, but OK, I will just read His devotional.

 

The leadings of God should not amaze me any more, but they still do! So here I am obeying what the Lord will not let rest!

 

Today, thankfully it is not me saying it, or quoting from the Scriptures, it is Tozer expressing, once again, the issues that burdened his heart, which also burden my heart; the error and the deception that is in church doctrine and thus in the lives of innocent, hungry people. Is it possible that God wants only those that have a passion for Truth, to be able to find or have Truth revealed to them?

 

Twisting God's words should not be a surprising occurance. Satan used Scripture to attempt to tempt Jesus. Satan misused what God said to Adam, to deceive Eve, before any of God's words were written down to be misunderstood.

 

I know how bad it hurts me to see my children and grand children, those closest to me get deceived. But what a joy when they find the Truth and live it. Sadly, I used to delight in teasing, twisting or leaving out elements of truth in what I said, for the fun of it, amusement. (Adrian Rogers - Muse means to think, and the alpha prefix in front of it means “not to.” We are a generation that is amusing ourselves into oblivion. And it’s time to wake up!)

 

[Ok, so I finally took the time to check the word 'amuse' out for myself. Here is what I found...
"a" An alpha privative in English words borrowed from Greek to express negation or absence. "muse" Be absorbed in thought. WordWeb - Reflect deeply on a subject. Thus its root would be to "Not reflect deeply on a subject." or "Not to be absorbed in thought."]

 

I want to prepare you, incase you, like me, did not understand Janus-like. A note from Wikipedia...
Janus-like quality - In ancient Roman religion and myth, Janus is the god of beginnings, gates, transitions, time, duality, doorways, passages, and endings. He is usually depicted as having two faces, since he looks to the future and to the past....
.....Janus presided over the beginning and ending of conflict, and hence war and peace. The doors of his temple were open in time of war, and closed to mark the peace. As a god of transitions, he had functions pertaining to birth and to journeys and exchange, and in his association with Portunus, a similar harbor and gateway god, he was concerned with travelling, trading and shipping....

 

Some consider the bible to have a sense of this which they label as ambiguous. Man's erroneous doctrines and beliefs may be ambiguous but not God's Truth.

 

Well.... here is what Tozer was thinking, so many years ago....

 

That Narrow Gate

Positive beliefs are not popular these days. A mistaken desire to maintain a spirit of tolerance among all races and religions has produced a breed of Janus-like (two faced) Christians with built-in swivels, remarkable only for their ability to turn in any direction gracefully. The philosophy behind this whole thing is that religious beliefs are matters of personal choice, and that the Lord adapts His saving(delivering) truth to the individual, varying it according to the cultural background, educational level and social situation of each one. Whatever this is, it is not Christianity.

 

A number of popular religious books have appeared of late quite literally filled with swivel-words of uncertain meaning; and because these were written by persons ostensibly evangelical they have been accepted and promoted by the evangelicals. And they are having a real influence on Christian thinking; or more to the point, they are making sound Christian thinking impossible for those who read and admire them. We had better take a good hard look at these books. If the authors will not stand still to let their meanings be examined, there is probably a good reason. Great ideas have a habit of inhabiting the same great words generation after generation. To ignore or reject the word is to reject the idea.

 

The hope of the church yet lies in the purity of her theology, that is, her beliefs about God and man and their relation to each other. These beliefs have been revealed to her by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit in the sacred Scriptures. Everything there is clear-cut and accurate. We dare not be less than accurate in our treatment of anything so precious.

 

Verse
''Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.'' Matthew 7:13-14

 

Thought
Efforts are underway to widen the narrow gate and even tear it down altogether. It is the idea that all religious ways lead to God and life eternal. But Christ is The Way, the only way because He alone bore the sins of us all.

 

Prayer
Lord, give me compassion for those who are trying to approach You through the wide gate. Help me by word and life to point them to Christ the way.

 

------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Tozer, for what ever reason, did not see the importance of the second meaning of "Grace" especially the divine influence on the heart and its reflection in the life; including gratitude. In his day the influences were only others lives and the books that they wrote.

 

Maybe the reason that the importance of 'divine influence' is more important to me, (please note that influences were important to Tozer als,o as he mentions the influence of erroneous writers.) is because the influences are multiplied many times over, with all the electronic media.

 

For me grace has been twisted and misunderstood over the centuries. Grace is the free gift of God, the divine influence, that changes a life! If you do not seperate from the world and stay under divine influence, you are not living in "Grace", as it is defined.

 

If you are under the influence of the world, and, under some influence of the divine, you are two spirited. James calls it double-minded. Could that fit in with Janus-like? Two faced hypocrites?

 

Living the spiritual at church, around other church people, but living like the world at work or as you walk and associate with the world?

 

Living real 'Grace" has radically changed my life! I became faithful in obedience, and God was faithful in the impact of the divine influence on my life!! To 'try' is not the focus of my life any more! I am the product of the influences that I live under and allow to stay (take up residance) in my mind.

 

A reread reflection... " Sometimes I just get tired of sharing what comes to my heart from the Word of God. This morning was one of those times."

 

but.....
Once the mind gets started with the Spirit, it is hard to stop the flow and the tangents! Like trying to stop a river at flood time!!






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