An Encouraging Comment
This was an encouraging comment from a good friend of ours, Norman.
Norman Kelleher said...
Hey Kenny, I don't think that you could have said this any more clearly. You are truly a blessing and our Lord is very pleased with your work. I am afraid that I fall short far too often and really need to test my personal relationship and see if I am really walking with Christ the way I should be.
You have been a blessing in my life and I love you and your family very much. I would hope that anyone who claims to be a Christian would not have any problem with another Christian brother trying to help them test their faith in the light of scripture. It seems to me that it may be a sign that there is something amiss if someone is not willing to listen to another Christian when they are clearly trying to help steer toward the truth of Christ's teachings.
I still can't believe that you and Keith put all of this time into this site to help so many people when you are both supporting your families. Thank you so much.
This new emergent movement seems very subtle in the way it pulls people from the truth. It may be nice to think that people who are leading heretical movements are just being deceived themselves and simply do not realize the error of their ways. My belief is that the leaders of large movements that pull people away from biblical Christianity are very aware of what they are doing.
There are many instances of supposedly "good" or "holy" men who have started religions that have led many people into bondage and eternal damnation.
Far from being a great holy man the way he is described by many, Muhammed was a horrible human being. He took God's word and made subtle changes in it and decided that Christianity and Judaism had quite a bit of truth but there were certain basic teachings that were wrong. Conveniently, he was able to convince others that God had spoken directly to him and decided that he was meant to bring people back to the true god. Of course, Muhammed's god also decided that Muhammed was supposed to have more power, money, and women than other men. He slaughtered anyone who defied him and because of his desire for personal enrichment well over 1 billion people have been led down a path to eternal separation from the one true God.
Joseph Smith was another who has led millions away from the Truth of God's word. He decided to change the bible to fit his teachings because of his hatred for traditional Christianity and of course wrote his own book (the book of Mormon) that was meant to add to and twist the gospel. He of course alsogot to have more money, power, and women.
Charles Taze Russell personally enriched himself and his family while simultaniously deceiving millions.
Some may believe that these were just misguided individuals who were trying to do the right things but just missed the point or didn't understand the truth. My personal belief is that they knew what damage and destruction they were doing and in each case hated God and wanted to deceive His people.
In each of these examples people can say that these leaders were dealing with a completely different worldview and therefore it was just a differnt way of understanding how our relationship to the divine works. Also, these people never claimed to be Christian. Ieach example they said that they were there to bring a new revelation about man's relationship to god.
These new church "leaders are doing something different than the other three mentioned. They are claiming to be Christians. I cannot judge whether they are or not and not knowing them personally I really have nothing to go on other than their words and actions. You are not trying to destroy people or hurt them personally but rather you are pointing out the specific things these men are saying which is twisting the word of our Lord. The fact that some of these "leaders" seem to be denying the gospel and saying things that are clearly unbiblical and anti-Christian, there is no reason for you to not point these out. The fact that none of the people I have seen answers your specific questions but rather just make arguments appealing to general christian-like concepts such as "you shouldn't judge other people" gives me a fairly clear indication that they do not have an answer for your questions.
Whether these people are really trying to teach the truth and are just confused or whether they are puposely misleading is a tough call when there are subtle differences in what they believe and true time tested conservative biblical teaching. The fact that these people associate with others who have openly anti-Christian and new age beliefs tends to detract from their contention that this is just an honest attempt to interperet what Christ would have us know.
The valuable time that you generously give to this site simply to try to help other Believers sort out these confusing and conflicting beliefs is extremely helpful.
Hopefully some of these leaders will realize that they shouldn't keep attacking you for trying to ensure that other beleivers are not deceived and will pray that God will reveal to them whether they are in fact teaching false doctrine.
No Christian should be upset with another who is asking them to take the Bible at face value or to test their teachings to see if they are in line with the clear understanding of long established textual meanings of the verses.
Sorry about the rambling. It is a little late and I just wanted to let you know that you and Keith are awesome and there are people out here who appreciate all of your work.
Take care,
Norman
Norman Kelleher said...
Hey Kenny, I don't think that you could have said this any more clearly. You are truly a blessing and our Lord is very pleased with your work. I am afraid that I fall short far too often and really need to test my personal relationship and see if I am really walking with Christ the way I should be.
You have been a blessing in my life and I love you and your family very much. I would hope that anyone who claims to be a Christian would not have any problem with another Christian brother trying to help them test their faith in the light of scripture. It seems to me that it may be a sign that there is something amiss if someone is not willing to listen to another Christian when they are clearly trying to help steer toward the truth of Christ's teachings.
I still can't believe that you and Keith put all of this time into this site to help so many people when you are both supporting your families. Thank you so much.
This new emergent movement seems very subtle in the way it pulls people from the truth. It may be nice to think that people who are leading heretical movements are just being deceived themselves and simply do not realize the error of their ways. My belief is that the leaders of large movements that pull people away from biblical Christianity are very aware of what they are doing.
There are many instances of supposedly "good" or "holy" men who have started religions that have led many people into bondage and eternal damnation.
Far from being a great holy man the way he is described by many, Muhammed was a horrible human being. He took God's word and made subtle changes in it and decided that Christianity and Judaism had quite a bit of truth but there were certain basic teachings that were wrong. Conveniently, he was able to convince others that God had spoken directly to him and decided that he was meant to bring people back to the true god. Of course, Muhammed's god also decided that Muhammed was supposed to have more power, money, and women than other men. He slaughtered anyone who defied him and because of his desire for personal enrichment well over 1 billion people have been led down a path to eternal separation from the one true God.
Joseph Smith was another who has led millions away from the Truth of God's word. He decided to change the bible to fit his teachings because of his hatred for traditional Christianity and of course wrote his own book (the book of Mormon) that was meant to add to and twist the gospel. He of course alsogot to have more money, power, and women.
Charles Taze Russell personally enriched himself and his family while simultaniously deceiving millions.
Some may believe that these were just misguided individuals who were trying to do the right things but just missed the point or didn't understand the truth. My personal belief is that they knew what damage and destruction they were doing and in each case hated God and wanted to deceive His people.
In each of these examples people can say that these leaders were dealing with a completely different worldview and therefore it was just a differnt way of understanding how our relationship to the divine works. Also, these people never claimed to be Christian. Ieach example they said that they were there to bring a new revelation about man's relationship to god.
These new church "leaders are doing something different than the other three mentioned. They are claiming to be Christians. I cannot judge whether they are or not and not knowing them personally I really have nothing to go on other than their words and actions. You are not trying to destroy people or hurt them personally but rather you are pointing out the specific things these men are saying which is twisting the word of our Lord. The fact that some of these "leaders" seem to be denying the gospel and saying things that are clearly unbiblical and anti-Christian, there is no reason for you to not point these out. The fact that none of the people I have seen answers your specific questions but rather just make arguments appealing to general christian-like concepts such as "you shouldn't judge other people" gives me a fairly clear indication that they do not have an answer for your questions.
Whether these people are really trying to teach the truth and are just confused or whether they are puposely misleading is a tough call when there are subtle differences in what they believe and true time tested conservative biblical teaching. The fact that these people associate with others who have openly anti-Christian and new age beliefs tends to detract from their contention that this is just an honest attempt to interperet what Christ would have us know.
The valuable time that you generously give to this site simply to try to help other Believers sort out these confusing and conflicting beliefs is extremely helpful.
Hopefully some of these leaders will realize that they shouldn't keep attacking you for trying to ensure that other beleivers are not deceived and will pray that God will reveal to them whether they are in fact teaching false doctrine.
No Christian should be upset with another who is asking them to take the Bible at face value or to test their teachings to see if they are in line with the clear understanding of long established textual meanings of the verses.
Sorry about the rambling. It is a little late and I just wanted to let you know that you and Keith are awesome and there are people out here who appreciate all of your work.
Take care,
Norman
posted by kennyo at 7:00 AM
1 Comments:
I thought that was a great comment too.
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