| Topic: |
Religions > Bible |
| User: |
"Bible Bob" |
| Date: |
03 Jun 2005 11:01:59 PM |
| Object: |
Two Evils |
My friend reminded me of the following passage today. I haven't
thought about the passage for quite some time, but I sure its
applicability every day on Usenet.
Jeremiah 2:13 KJV
For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the
fountain of living waters, [and] hewed them out cisterns, broken
cisterns, that can hold no water.
The verse is part of Jeremiah's fourth prophecy and was spoken to
apostate Israel.
Jeremiah 2:1-13 KJV
1 Moreover the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
2 Go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the LORD; I
remember thee, the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals,
when thou wentest after me in the wilderness, in a land [that was] not
sown.
3 Israel [was] holiness unto the LORD, [and] the firstfruits of his
increase: all that devour him shall offend; evil shall come upon them,
saith the LORD.
4 Hear ye the word of the LORD, O house of Jacob, and all the
families of the house of Israel:
5 Thus saith the LORD, What iniquity have your fathers found in me,
that they are gone far from me, and have walked after vanity, and are
become vain?
6 Neither said they, Where [is] the LORD that brought us up out of
the land of Egypt, that led us through the wilderness, through a land
of deserts and of pits, through a land of drought, and of the shadow
of death, through a land that no man passed through, and where no man
dwelt?
7 And I brought you into a plentiful country, to eat the fruit
thereof and the goodness thereof; but when ye entered, ye defiled my
land, and made mine heritage an abomination.
8 The priests said not, Where [is] the LORD? and they that handle the
law knew me not: the pastors also transgressed against me, and the
prophets prophesied by Baal, and walked after [things that] do not
profit.
9 Wherefore I will yet plead with you, saith the LORD, and with your
children's children will I plead.
10 For pass over the isles of Chittim, and see; and send unto Kedar,
and consider diligently, and see if there be such a thing.
11 Hath a nation changed [their] gods, which [are] yet no gods? but
my people have changed their glory for [that which] doth not profit.
12 Be astonished, O ye heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid, be
ye very desolate, saith the LORD.
13 For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the
fountain of living waters, [and] hewed them out cisterns, broken
cisterns, that can hold no water.
The word "For" beginning verse thirteen points to the reason that
Israel had become apostate. Israel had committed two evils. They had
forsaken God the fountain of living waters and hewed out their own
theological systems of religion that were broken and could hold no
water.
We have the same problem today, and have had the same problem since
the first century when the body of Christ which is the church of God
began being broken into denominations. There is only one body of
Christ with each child of God being a member of that body which is
orchestrated by the head who is Jesus Christ. But we have thousands
of denominations each ripping, tearing, and pulling the body apart.
True, the body stays in tact because no man or denomination is able to
separate any member from the body. But the effectiveness of the body
is reduced because it does not work in unity and harmony with the
head.
Of late I have seen so many posts where people point their fingers at
others and accuse them of not being "real Christians." Who made them
God? God knows who is children are; we don't. Most of them that
speak of "real" Christians do not even know what a Christian is? Do
you? The word "Christians" is only used once in the Bible and that
verse defines what a Christian is:
Acts 11:26 KJV
And when he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch. And it came to
pass, that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church, and
taught much people. And the disciples were called Christians first in
Antioch.
A Christian is a disciple. What is a disciple? A disciple is one who
follows his master and the teachings of his master. Are all those who
attend church disciples? Of course not. If you bring a new person to
church today and he becomes saved, is he a disciple? No. He has not
had time to learn the teachings of the master and if he hasn't learnt
the teachings he can not do what is taught.
Society has a tendency to corrupt the meaning of words over time.
Christian is one of the words that has become corrupted to mean one
who professes a belief in the teachings of Jesus. Heck an atheist
could fit into that description. Some atheists practice more
philanthropy than many who say they are Christians. A Christian is a
disciple and a disciple is one who confesses Jesus as Lord and
believes in his heart that God raised Jesus from the dead and who then
develops the discipline in his life necessary to follow the master and
the master's teachings. To be a Christian one must do much more than
profess a belief in the teachings of Jesus. It is one thing to say
that you believe, but to do what the master teaches. What's the test
of a disciple and thereby the test of a Christian:
John 13:35 KJV
35 By this shall all [men] know that ye are my disciples, if ye have
love one to another.
Okay, to be a disciple or to be a Christian men must be able to see
love one to another (from Gr. allos - another of the same kind). Men
should be able to tell if you are a disciple by seeing your love
manifested towards other disciples and by extension towards other
members of the body of Christ.
So when a "Christian" point towards "another" and says "You are not a
real Christian" that judgmental person is not speaking in harmony with
what Jesus taught and is therefore not behaving as a disciple.
The nation of Israel had committed two evils and today people are
still committing the same two evils. God who is the fountain of
living water says, love on another. Men and women, today, say "so and
so is not a real Christian" based on their denominations teachings or
their own religious ignorance. A denomination (all of them) is
nothing more than a cult formed when someone disagreed with someone
else. Rather than "love one another", a division took place and a new
cult was formed. All denominations are based on fear and hate because
they came to be because members of the body of Christ could not get
along. You say, your denomination is different. But that is your
opinion and it is wrong because it conflicts with what the Word of God
says.
Protestants call the Catholics names, Baptists call the Jehovah's
Witnesses names, etc. etc. The cult leaders teach that anyone from
another cult is not saved or is not a real Christian. Is that "love
on another?" The truth is that there are members of the body of
Christ attending all the different cult churches and each one of them
should be loved by every other disciple in every other denominational
church. Why am I using cult and denomination interchangeably?
Because one man's denomination is another man's cult. Cult is in the
eye of the beholder. None of them, denomination or cult, are God
ordained. There is only one true church of God and that is the body
of Christ with Christ as it's head.
The two evils are forsaking God's teachings and developing
denominations that can not supply God's teachings.
Non-commercial website where everything is free.
http://www.biblebob.net
BB
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