1st Corinthians 1:9-13 “God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you. Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ. Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized in the name of Paul?”
I read the above passage of inspired Scripture this morning, and it
compelled me to write this article. The apostle Paul declares: “GOD
IS FAITHFUL”! Amen! God sure is faithful. It is in our human nature
to doubt God, and to place Him on trial. I find myself sometimes saying
things like: "God, if you really loved me, you'd help me find a wife. If
you really loved me, you'd help me find a church family that cares about
me, so I could have a family in the Lord.
If you loved me, you'd help me get my broken life back together!” But then the indwelling Holy Spirit reminds me that GOD IS FAITHFUL!!! Everything that God does is right! It is not the Lord's fault that I have made some unwise decisions in life. It is not God's fault that my wife sinfully divorced me in 2006. It is not God's fault that the local ecumenical Harvest Baptist Church sinfully holds a grudge against me, rejecting me as their brother in Christ (refusing even to allow me to attend church services). Those things are not God's fault! Humans are to blame.
I heard Pastor Ralph “Yankee” Arnold mention that
same truth the other day, in this
sermon (MP3),
how that we tend to tell God IF HE REALLY LOVES US, He'll do what we
want Him to do. Christianity doesn't work that way. God actually wants
us TO SUFFER, because that is the only way we can grow! That is why the
Bible speaks of “the trial of your faith, being much more precious
than of gold that perisheth” (1st Peter 1:7). Most Christians get
upset at God, accusing Him of not caring when we suffer, but the Bible
says it is necessary for our growth, to conform us into Christ's image
(Romans 8:29). Remember, Jesus suffered too (1st Peter 4:13). I hate my
present life, I really do, but I am thankful for God's salvation, the
remaining health I have, my ministry, the good memories I have amidst
the bad ones in life, and that God has given unto me eternal life
through faith alone in His only begotten Son (Philippians 3:9). I
already possess eternal life. As soon as the earthly tabernacle of this
body can no longer sustain my soul and spirit, I am going home to be
with Jesus!!! My ministry is God's ministry, and it keeps me going. I
love sharing and doing things for others, and looking for ways to be
helpful, and that makes me happy in Jesus Christ, my God and Savior. I
hate being alone, but there is nothing I can do about it that seems
wise.
Good and Bad Biblical Contention
Let's
read our text passage again shall we. 1st Corinthians 1:9-13 “God
is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus
Christ our Lord. Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord
Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no
divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the
same mind and in the same judgment. For it hath been declared unto me of
you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe, that there
are contentions among you. Now this I say, that every one of you saith,
I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ. Is
Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized in the
name of Paul?” The apostle Paul
is talking about unnecessary cliques within the church family.
However, he is not talking about divisions caused by heretics who've crept into the churches. Kindly, me and Harvest Baptist Church (HBC) on Guam don't get along, but that is GOOD contention. They are corrupt doctrinally. They use, sell and promote the Devil's corruptible seed (i.e., the Alexandrian Bible revisions). They must be rebuked (Titus 1:10-13). The Bob Jones University crowd (which includes HBC) sanction and promote the damnable heresies of Pastor John MacArthur (a BJU alumni), a wicked religious man who teaches the Satanic lie of Calvinism (aka, Lordship Salvation). Calvinism is not an acceptable alternative view on the Gospel, it is heathendom!!! Calvinism is NOT the Gospel, because it corrupts the simplicity that is in Christ, requiring a person TO DO MORE than simply rest in the finished redemptive work of Jesus Christ (Hebrews 4:10-11).
I sat and heard with my own two ears, the senior pastor of Harvest Baptist Church on Guam teach Lordship Salvation in 2014. It was a Sunday morning during the invitation. He told several hundred people that it is “not enough to admit you are a sinner,” he said, “you must also turn away from a lifestyle of sin!” I went home and literally cried, trying to decide if I should go back to that church again, but I had nowhere else to go. My heart was broken! So instead, as a friend, I decided to HELP THEM SEE THE TRUTH! I tried to help the pastors of Harvest as a friend, so with my own money I bought several copies of the excellent book: “I NEVER KNEW YOU” by Michael P. Bowen. That got me into trouble at the church!
The senior pastor's son-in-law had invited me across the street for dinner the next night, on Monday, and I gladly accepted. We lived across the street from each other (where I still live, but they moved away in 2014). I don't ever get invited to anything, so it was a special occasion for me; but he never gave me a time, and I didn't know how to contact them, other than to walk over to their home, and I NEVER go to someone's house uninvited, unless they give me a specific time. I wouldn't want to show up during the middle of a fight or something. I respect others. Anyway, right after he had invited me over for dinner the next night, I handed him a hardcopy of “I NEVER KNEW YOU” (.PDF book) by Michael P. Bowen. That was the end of that! I literally stood out in front of my house until 11 pm on Monday, but they never came out to invite me over. I was standing outside like Charlie Brown waiting for The Great Pumpkin, but no one ever came! I was sad. I keep paying the price for telling THE TRUTH! Today's ungodly, arrogant, ecumenical, incompetent and reckless pastors despise me for telling them THE TRUTH! So unfortunately, I never did eat dinner at their house. But before our falling out, months earlier the senior pastor and his wife did come over to my house one time for a barbeque, with his son-in-law's entire family, and it is one of my most cherished memories. I miss them all.
God knows that I don't hate the folks at Harvest, I am just a nobody with a website who is PREACHING THE TRUTH! Somebody's got to care! Somebody's got to make a fuss over THE TRUTH! These modern Bible revisions are of the Devil. Calvinism is a deadly heresy which has infected the churches, adding a changed life as being necessary to validate one's salvation (which is a false gospel of works). I don't even expose Harvest for Zionism, but they are caught up in that mess too. Manmade Israel is a fraud. They also promote a Young Earth Creation (YEC), which I think is blatant heresy. The latter two are minor doctrinal issue, but the inspiration of God's Word and the Gospel are major issues!
These
type of false prophets (like Mr. MacArthur) existed in Bible times too,
as evidenced in
Acts 15:1, “And certain men which came down from
Judaea taught the brethren, and said, Except ye be
circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved.”
We find the apostles response to this heresy in Acts 15:24,
“Forasmuch as we have heard, that certain which went out from us have
troubled you with words, subverting your souls,
saying, Ye must be circumcised, and keep the law: to whom we gave no
such commandment:” Notice that these ungodly false prophets
