There is no book like the Bible.
Variation and diversities are not marks of error. But herein lies a potentially serious problem. The temptation of groups of serious conviction is to move ever further from the central pale of reason that C.S. Lewis calls "mere Christianity." Because of their emphasis, they begin declaring that "love is everything," or "history is all-important." They take some important but not critical emphasis of Scripture and move it to the exalted position of an imperative doctrine. They move their test of fellowship away from the person of Jesus Christ to some lesser point. Such a group may have started well, but, for want of proper attention to the whole counsel of God, they drift away from vital Christianity into a misplaced emphasis.
It is easy to see how a religious group can move from the true to the false by small steps of defection from the teaching of Holy Scripture. Too often, however, this special emphasis becomes the critical all-important point. When a theological eccentricity moves to the very center of the attention of a group of Christians, that group, often without sensing it, becomes eccentric and potentially heretical.
This "outward bound" direction must always be avoided by the biblical Christian. When a group develops a theological or doctrinal interpretation that touches only minimally on the proper biblical emphasis and lives for the most part outside of that circle, it becomes a cult.
By this we mean that, from a starting point of Scripture, it has moved away from the teaching of the Word of God so that its central emphasis has become a set of human philosophies, ideas, or revelations that can no longer be justified by the teaching of the Word of God. Its attention to an interesting portion of Scripture has been carried to the point where it has isolated this passage of the Word of God from the corrective modifications found in other portions of the Word. Its segmented biblical attention has cut it off from the body of divine truth.
Virtually every cult in existence today has followed the unwise course of segmented biblical attention out beyond the pale of reason into the production of a destructive heresy.
(Read Acts 19:1-6) The disciples of John the Baptist continued faithfully in their conviction of the truth of the message of this humble forerunner of Jesus Christ.
But herein was their problem. They were so taken with the preaching of John that they neglected his major emphasis: namely, that One was coming after him, who would guide them into all truth. They therefore missed the opportunity to hear the Word of Christ. They missed the chance to believe in Him and become true Christians, sharing in the gift of the Holy Spirit given to the Church on the day of Pentecost. Their own testimony was that they had not even heard of the Holy Spirit.
These people did not come to the place where they shared the life of God that comes to every person who is made a new creature in Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul's question to these disciples, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?" was a most appropriate way of asking whether they had become true Christians.
Realizing that they were not indeed believers, the Apostle Paul said unto them "that they should believe on Him who would come after him" [after John the Baptist, that is]; they should receive Jesus Christ. The happy conclusion of this story is they did indeed believe on Jesus Christ, were baptized in His name and received the gift of the Holy Spirit.
We may rejoice that Paul was given of God the opportunity to bring to these sincere seekers after truth the final revelation of God in Jesus Christ. It is highly probable that they would otherwise have formed a religious group around the preaching of John the Baptist which, however sincere, would have prevented people from hearing the message of salvation by the grace of God made possible though Christ alone. Their sincere attention to a segmented, non-final revelation would have therefore been a most damnable thing. Their religious belief and practice would have been merely a cult rather than real and vital Christianity.
The lesson for all of us is very clear. While we may be fascinated with the words of one of the personalities of Scripture and with the emphasis of a given book of the Bible, we must not fail to pay attention to the message of the entire Word of God.
The Bible declares about itself that "all Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness that the Man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works" (2 Timothy 3:16-17). It is therefore of great importance that the doctrine by which a Christian orients his faith and his life come from all Scripture. He must remember that the Bible, both Old and New Testaments, was given by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and is vital in its entirety to his understanding of the faith.
He remembers also that Revelation is "progressive!" God presented truth in a cumulative fashion, moving from the basic theistic concepts of the Old Testament to the final revelation of Himself in Jesus Christ. Christ brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel (2 Timothy 1:10); and His doctrine was explained to us by His apostles who wrote the letters of the New Testament.
We must also never forget that the proper interpretation of the Bible must be based on text, context, and greater context. The biblical interpreter must ask "What does this verse mean? In what setting is it given to us? How does it relate to the whole Bible?"
The major deficiency of the cults of our time is that they have neglected to base their faith on the Bible as a whole. One group denies the immortality of the soul because of a statement about death in Ecclesiastes 9:5. They ignore the fact that the final light on the subject of immortality was given to us by Jesus Christ. Paul explains that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord (see 2 Corinthians 5:8).
Some find a verse in the Bible about God having given to some prophet a vision. They use this as the scriptural base for a notion that all sound religion is therefore conducted on the basis of God revealing Himself in visions and dreams. Such a notion can cause a person to drift away from the Word of God into a spiritual opium den of his own making. Another leader may greatly encourage Christians by his emphasis on a relaxed and positive mental attitude. While this message may be of value, if taken as ultimate truth, it can cause a naive person finally to deny physical reality. No mental attitude can take away the fact of death or deliver us from the necessity of living in the midst of physical dimensions.
The mature Christian will make none of these mistakes. He will avoid the dread pitfalls of spiritual lunacy that come from going off the deep end on the basis of any one verse from the Bible.
It is a grave temptation for any group to find a verse in the Bible about holiness, the kingdom, law, grace, works, faith, or something else and use it for a substitute for the whole counsel of God. Even zealous Christians have frequently fallen into the trap of segmented biblical interpretation, thereby creating a cultic influence in their system of doctrine.
Christian maturity will save us from all of this.
(from Know The Marks of Cults - The 12 basic errors of false religion by Dave Breese)
Showing posts with label Amazing Grace. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Amazing Grace. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
The Amazing Story Behind "AMAZING GRACE"
...and how it relates to you and me.
From the world-wide TV coverage of the Olympic Games to the platform of the acceptance speech of the President of the United States, to the smallest church in the rural backwoods, - everywhere - we hear the strains of "Amazing Grace." Where in the world did we get this song? How does its story relate to you and me?
The story of John Newton is truly the story behind "Amazing Grace." One would be hard pressed to imagine. let alone to live, a blasphemous life equal to Newton's early years. Had I not read the accounts written by his own hand, I would not have believed them.
Death took his saintly mother in July 1732, when John was thirteen days from his seventh birthday. He writes, "Almost her whole employment was the care of my education. At not more than three years of age she herself taught me English. When I was four years old I could read with propriety in any common book. She stored my memory with many valuable pieces, chapters and portions of Scripture, hymns and poems."
After her death, and with only three years of formal schooling, Newton went to sea with his father, the captain of a merchant ship. From that day Newton began a decline into rebellion and degradation that lasted until his twenty-fourth year. His willful and wanton disregard for all that is right and holy led him into a life plagued with despair, dangers at sea, abuse, public floggings, destitution, depression, near drownings and miraculous escapes. Newton's misfortunes were largely the result of his own choosing -- except, that is, for the miraculous escapes.
On one occasion Newton became employed by a slave trader in North Africa. Newton soon fell sick, was unable to care for himself, and nearly starved to death. He was so ill that the slaves in chains pitied him, sharing their meager portions with him. Yet, he still remained stubbornly wicked, and in his degeneracy, tried to influence others to live as he did.
During those years, Newton often entered into a state of spiritual awakening. Consequently those times were short-lived, and he invariably lapsed into a more wicked and loathsome direction.
Even in his youth he became almost inexplicably, the captain of a slave ship, landing at least one load of his human cargo in Charleston, South Carolina. It is reported that at times he was so wretched that even his crew regarded him as little more than an animal. Once he fell overboard and his ship's crew refused to drop a boat to him. Instead they threw a harpoon at him, with which they dragged him back into the ship. He seemed oblivious to the plight of the poor black souls chained in the hold of his ship.
A harrowing experience at sea was used of the Lord to cause young Newton to seriously consider his standing before a holy God. After being at sea for several months with a load of lumber, livestock and beeswax, the ship ran into a violent storm. So severe was the gale that the otherwise seaworthy vessel was in danger of sinking. When the livestock were washed overboard, the crew tied themselves to the ship to keep from being swept into the sea. For four weeks, because of damage to the ship, the sailors despaired of life. Most of their waking hours were spent at the pumps to lighten the ship of water she had taken on. Rations were so low the men feared starvation. When they finally reached a port in Ireland, Newton began a sincere effort to become right with God.
Sometime later, at age twenty-three, Newton found himself on a small island off the coast of North Africa. He had contracted an illness that left him burning with fever, miserable and listless. He wrote, "Weak and almost delirious, I arose from my bed and crept to a secluded part of the island; there I found a renewed liberty to pray. I made no more resolves, but cast myself before the Lord to do with me as He should please. I was enabled to hope and believe in a crucified Saviour. The burden was removed from my conscience." From that hour, according to his autobiography, Newton began to improve both physically and spiritually.
During that experience Newton became acutely aware of four things taught in the Bible.
(1) I must realize that in my present condition I am a sinner before God.
"All have sinned and come short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23).
"As it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one" (Romans 3:10).
(2) I cannot save myself from eternal punishment in hell.
"For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Romans 6:23).
"As it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment" (Hebrews 9:27).
(3) Christ has paid for my sins and my punishment with His death on the cross.
"But God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8).
"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him (Jesus) should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16).
(4) I must accept His crucifixion as payment for my sins, personally.
"For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved" (Romans 10:13).
"But as many as received Him (Christ), to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name" (John 1:12).
Two years later John Newton married his teenage sweetheart. During the following fourteen years, he continued studying for the ministry, and at age thirty-nine, became a pastor in Olney, England. In 1779 Newton published a hymnal "The Olney Hymns" in which he placed 281 of his own works, including "Amazing Grace." The melody that is so familiar to us is a traditional American melody published as early as 1831.
The next time you hear the hauntingly beautiful "Amazing Grace," remember that you, too, can experience the same saving grace as John Newton. In fact, you can do that right now! Just read over the Scriptures listed above, bow your head wherever you are, and ask Christ to come into your heart and be your Saviour.
John Newton died in 1807 at eighty-two years of age. Before his death he left with his executors his epitaph -- written sometime before -- to be etched on a plain marble slab and mounted near his burial place. The first portion is as follows:
From the world-wide TV coverage of the Olympic Games to the platform of the acceptance speech of the President of the United States, to the smallest church in the rural backwoods, - everywhere - we hear the strains of "Amazing Grace." Where in the world did we get this song? How does its story relate to you and me?
The story of John Newton is truly the story behind "Amazing Grace." One would be hard pressed to imagine. let alone to live, a blasphemous life equal to Newton's early years. Had I not read the accounts written by his own hand, I would not have believed them.
Death took his saintly mother in July 1732, when John was thirteen days from his seventh birthday. He writes, "Almost her whole employment was the care of my education. At not more than three years of age she herself taught me English. When I was four years old I could read with propriety in any common book. She stored my memory with many valuable pieces, chapters and portions of Scripture, hymns and poems."
After her death, and with only three years of formal schooling, Newton went to sea with his father, the captain of a merchant ship. From that day Newton began a decline into rebellion and degradation that lasted until his twenty-fourth year. His willful and wanton disregard for all that is right and holy led him into a life plagued with despair, dangers at sea, abuse, public floggings, destitution, depression, near drownings and miraculous escapes. Newton's misfortunes were largely the result of his own choosing -- except, that is, for the miraculous escapes.
On one occasion Newton became employed by a slave trader in North Africa. Newton soon fell sick, was unable to care for himself, and nearly starved to death. He was so ill that the slaves in chains pitied him, sharing their meager portions with him. Yet, he still remained stubbornly wicked, and in his degeneracy, tried to influence others to live as he did.
During those years, Newton often entered into a state of spiritual awakening. Consequently those times were short-lived, and he invariably lapsed into a more wicked and loathsome direction.
Even in his youth he became almost inexplicably, the captain of a slave ship, landing at least one load of his human cargo in Charleston, South Carolina. It is reported that at times he was so wretched that even his crew regarded him as little more than an animal. Once he fell overboard and his ship's crew refused to drop a boat to him. Instead they threw a harpoon at him, with which they dragged him back into the ship. He seemed oblivious to the plight of the poor black souls chained in the hold of his ship.
A harrowing experience at sea was used of the Lord to cause young Newton to seriously consider his standing before a holy God. After being at sea for several months with a load of lumber, livestock and beeswax, the ship ran into a violent storm. So severe was the gale that the otherwise seaworthy vessel was in danger of sinking. When the livestock were washed overboard, the crew tied themselves to the ship to keep from being swept into the sea. For four weeks, because of damage to the ship, the sailors despaired of life. Most of their waking hours were spent at the pumps to lighten the ship of water she had taken on. Rations were so low the men feared starvation. When they finally reached a port in Ireland, Newton began a sincere effort to become right with God.
Sometime later, at age twenty-three, Newton found himself on a small island off the coast of North Africa. He had contracted an illness that left him burning with fever, miserable and listless. He wrote, "Weak and almost delirious, I arose from my bed and crept to a secluded part of the island; there I found a renewed liberty to pray. I made no more resolves, but cast myself before the Lord to do with me as He should please. I was enabled to hope and believe in a crucified Saviour. The burden was removed from my conscience." From that hour, according to his autobiography, Newton began to improve both physically and spiritually.
During that experience Newton became acutely aware of four things taught in the Bible.
(1) I must realize that in my present condition I am a sinner before God.
"All have sinned and come short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23).
"As it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one" (Romans 3:10).
(2) I cannot save myself from eternal punishment in hell.
"For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Romans 6:23).
"As it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment" (Hebrews 9:27).
(3) Christ has paid for my sins and my punishment with His death on the cross.
"But God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8).
"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him (Jesus) should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16).
(4) I must accept His crucifixion as payment for my sins, personally.
"For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved" (Romans 10:13).
"But as many as received Him (Christ), to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name" (John 1:12).
Two years later John Newton married his teenage sweetheart. During the following fourteen years, he continued studying for the ministry, and at age thirty-nine, became a pastor in Olney, England. In 1779 Newton published a hymnal "The Olney Hymns" in which he placed 281 of his own works, including "Amazing Grace." The melody that is so familiar to us is a traditional American melody published as early as 1831.
The next time you hear the hauntingly beautiful "Amazing Grace," remember that you, too, can experience the same saving grace as John Newton. In fact, you can do that right now! Just read over the Scriptures listed above, bow your head wherever you are, and ask Christ to come into your heart and be your Saviour.
Amazing Grace! How sweet the sound,
that saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost, but now am found;
was blind but now I see.
'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear;
and grace my fears relieved.
How precious did that grace appear,
the hour I first believed.
Through many dangers, toils and snares,
I have already come.
'Tis grace has brought me safe thus far,
and grace will lead me home.
John Newton died in 1807 at eighty-two years of age. Before his death he left with his executors his epitaph -- written sometime before -- to be etched on a plain marble slab and mounted near his burial place. The first portion is as follows:
John Newton, clerk,
once an infidel and libertine,
a servant of slaves in Africa,
was by the rich mercy of our Lord and Saviour,
Jesus Christ
preserved, restored, pardoned,
and appointed to preach the faith
he had long laboured to destroy.
(by Lindsay Terry)
If you have trusted Christ as your personal Saviour as a result of reading this, and you want further help in the decision you have made or if you have more questions about the Christian faith, please contact us by e-mail or visit http://www.emmanuelbarrie.org.
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