Showing posts with label Christmas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Christmas. Show all posts

Friday, December 23, 2016

Weak and beggarly elements: Observing days, and months, and times, and years


God's Word says,
"But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage? Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years. I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain." (Galatians 4:9-11)


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Sunday, November 22, 2015

Turn from weak and beggarly elements



Al Sabado
Shared publicly  -  12:01 PM

I was a college freshman in 1989, and a devout Catholic at the time, when our theology professor in Miriam College assigned our class to read the Ten Commandments and to bring to class our Bibles. Our family has a super huge and heavy Bible at home, so I thought I'd drop by National Bookstore and buy something handy (a King James version, which I still use to this day, now with its brown and crumbling pages).

Little did I know that homework would turn my life around, as I first read through Exodus 20, verses 4 and 5:

"Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:

"Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;" (Exodus 20:4-5, http://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Exodus-Chapter-20/#4)

My eyes were opened, because nearly all my younger years, I prayed and bowed down to the images in our home and everywhere else I found them. I've stopped doing all that.

I've also stopped praying novenas and the rosary, because God's Word says, we should not use vain repetitions in prayer:

"But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.

"Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him." (Matthew 6:7-8, http://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Matthew-Chapter-6/#7)

I've also stopped praying for, and to, the dead, such as Mary, the mother of Jesus, and the countless saints that the Roman Catholic church has taught its followers to venerate. For the Lord Jesus has said,

"Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." (John 14:6, http://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/John-Chapter-14/#6)

The Lord Jesus is the only way. And if all that is what God's Word says, then

"... We ought to obey God rather than men." (Acts 5:29, http://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Acts-Chapter-5/#29)

I've also stopped celebrating Christmas. My reason for that is similar to why I'm no longer celebrating birthdays and other similar occasions ("Un-celebrating birthdays, a liberating experience," http://alsabado.blogspot.com/2014/04/un-celebrating-birthdays-liberating.html). God's Word says,

"But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage? Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years. I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain." (Galatians 4:9-11, http://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Galatians-Chapter-4/#9)

Note in that passage a stress on "weak and beggarly elements."

Some people say it's wrong to read the Bible as it is written, literally. But if God means something else other than what He says in His Word, then what a mean God could He be! But no, God is not mean, for us to misunderstand His Word. God has freely given us the Bible so that we may understand Him, His will, His promises, for all who hear and abide by Him.

The God of the Holy Bible is the Living God, who created life and all that is in it (http://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Bible-Verses-About-God-Creating-The-World/). He hears us. He loves us so much that He doesn't even make us guess where we go once we die. Our eternal destiny has an ultimate security, if we choose to trust in His Only Begotten Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Have you made that choice? If you haven't, I pray that you will ...

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." (John 3:16, http://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/John-Chapter-3/#16)
Christmas Carols: Sound Doctrine, Or Catholic Tradition?
blessedquietness.com
Evaluation of Christmas Selections in the LIVING HYMNS Hymnal ...The LIVING HYMNS Hymnal was used as a base for this evaluation because it is the one used by the church 


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Monday, September 28, 2015

UPDATED: Lists of false (Christian) authors, churches, groups, leaders, practices, movement, teachers, etc.


by Al Sabado


Few days ago someone from a Baptist church wrote to me expressing his "concern" about my blog posts on non-church attendance. He said he wouldn’t contact me again because it seemed I’ve made up my mind not to attend church (and probably because I didn’t signify my interest attending his church here in the Philippines). He said he once left the Baptist Church, but returned to it when he was convicted. He admitted, however, that the Baptist Church has its flaws in that it claims to be the Bride of Christ, meaning the rest (other denominations) are doomed. But is that something new, when every denomination out there has similar (false) claims?

Nothing can separate a believer from the love of God. I no longer find the man’s message surprising because that isn’t the first time someone became "that" concerned, to the point of telling me I’m not worshipping God’s way. I responded briefly to his message saying I regret he has judged my way of worship as not God’s way. But I clarified that I’m a firm believer and that nothing can separate me from the love of God (Romans 8:38-39). I'm saved by God's grace alone through faith in Jesus Christ (Ephesians 2:8-9).

Then he wrote me back. Now that surprised me, because he said he wouldn’t contact me again. He clarified he wasn’t judging me and that he wrote to me because of the verse I’ve quoted, which says,
But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him. (1 John 2:27)
He ended his message by saying, “you tell your readers there is no need to belong to a church, that is not what the Word of God teaches.”

But God is not any graven image and He doesn’t dwell in churches made with hands. I didn’t respond anymore to the man’s message because I can tell we’re not on the same page. The verse I quoted came from God’s Word in the Holy Bible, not from me. If anyone thinks the verse is irrelevant to one’s church attendance, then please read the entire Bible and see if God tells us to seek membership in any man-made church so that we can "possibly" abide in Him. God’s Word says,
God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands;
Neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things;
And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation;
That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us:
For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.
Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device. (Acts 17:24-29)
Please don't cite Hebrews 10:25 to say otherwise. Read that verse again if it means we ought not to abandon false and corruptible churches:
Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching. (Hebrews 10:25)
Believers can meet together. But we don’t attend church for the sake of belonging to a community. Because if that community is in error, we too become part of that error. Abiding in Christ is God’s enabling, not the enabling of any man-made churches. God's Word says,
Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, (2 Corinthians 6:17)
Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. (Matthew 7:15)
Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up cry nor prayer for them, neither make intercession to me: for I will not hear thee. (Jeremiah 7:16) 
The believer’s anointing comes from God, NOT from church appointment, membership, or fellowship. Another reason I’ve stressed in my blogs is that we—believers in Christ Jesus—are the church of God. Our being believers is not dependent on any church building or structure but on God’s grace at work in our lives. God’s Word says,
For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy. 
For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.
Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth. (Romans 9:15-18)
Also, among other verses,
For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Not of works, lest any man should boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9)
But yes, I will now say there’s no need to belong to your church if it does deceive you—without you knowing it! Why would we go to such churches (or listen to such pastors, read such books, hear such music, submit a journal article to so-called Biblical yet fearlessly compromising institution such as Liberty University, etc.) when we know they're exploiting and serving contaminated spiritual food to the flock? Why lack the plain understanding that we ought to have nothing to do with them? For what harmony is there between the Lord Jesus Christ and Belial (2 Corinthians 6:15)?

Doesn't God command us in His Word to come out from among them (2 Corinthians 6:17) and avoid them (Romans 16:17-18)? God's Word tells us we "should earnestly contend for the faith" (Jude 1:3-4). For this reason, I’m reposting the following list I initially posted on my freelance editorial website. The list has links to related readings via Google search.


UPDATED: Lists of false (Christian) authors, churches, groups, leaders, practices, movement, teachers, etc.

Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them. For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple. (Romans 16:17-18)
Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. (Matthew 7:22-23)


International

Philippines

(Refer also to above list, e.g., Cultural redemption, Emergent church, Great Commission Movement, Church Growth Movement, Purpose-driven church, Seeker-sensitive church,
etc., as most Philippine churches are patterned after such churches.)

Updated: June 2021


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Friday, December 20, 2013

REPOST: "Should a Christian Celebrate Christmas?"

Hello, dear reader. I've not posted anything here for a long time. But I pray that you and your loved ones are safe and in good health. Today, I'm reposting here  from another website the article, "Should a Christian Celebrate Christmas?". I hope you could take the time to read it too. Feel free to share the link with others.

I wish you a blessed week ahead.


Sincerely,
Al

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