Sound Doctrine or Sentiments?

It was 1st January, 2015 . 1:30am. We had just returned from 31st December watch night service(night vigil).  Before retiring to bed, we deliberated and shared  our expectations for 2015 . Theodora--my wife -- asked a question that startled me."Are you grateful for 2015? "  Before I will answer her, she added a follow up question "what does your new doctrine say against gratitude?".  She is my wife, so of course, I knew why she was asking those questions.

Throughout the service, I was seated soberly :no shouting, no screaming, no jumping--a big contrast of my old self. So to her, that quiet demeanour, in the midst of the "joyful noise" meant something was wrong with her husband who previously will be screaming and jumping all over the place. Let me give you a little background of what has happened to me which I believe can further inform you of the reasons behind my wife's questions. I am of Charismatic persuasion but recently I have been looking intently into Reformed Theology and have questioned many of the beliefs  I hold as a Charismatic. That's a brief history.

Now, naturally, Theodora is the first person I must get to understand the changes taking place in my Christian beliefs. This, has, by default, made her the first person I express my disagreements over practices I deem unbiblical. I once disregarded an instruction  to apply anointing oil on my forehead to "seal" my  Iife. It is unbiblical, I argued to myself.  Ephesians 1:13-14 informed my decision.

In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.

Is the seal of the Holy Spirit over my life as a believer not formidable enough for protection? Do I need something else to compliment what God has already done in His word?  This and many other unbiblical practices have become a part of our everyday worship.

Unfortunately, many believers today don't question what they believe. We swallow everything in: hook, line and sinker. Sentiments, emotions and feelings have taken over sound doctrines and biblical instructions. The order of the day is what a respected man of God said. Rev. ABC  said it so it is true and people, whether it makes sound, biblical, logical and rational sense care less. Unlike the Bereans, we do not search scriptures to find out if what a man of God said conforms to the word of God. Some of the acts we associate with Christianity in our part of the world will easily pass for magic and superstition. Sound doctrine(teaching) or sentiments? What will we build our lives on?

Scriptures admonish us to build our lives on truth-the truth of the word of God. Sadly, many believers don't take personal responsibility for their Christian walk, hence, they are tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine (Ephesians 4:14). Paul in his epistle to Pastor Timothy also admonished sound teachings (1 Timothy 3:16, 4:1-4). Jesus said the truth--not emotions and sentiments--will set us free. John 17:17 also points us to truth. So does John 4:24. To live a victorious christian life, our foundations must be built on sound and solid doctrines. The word must take root in our lives. We must mature to be able to also instruct others in the word of God. We must rightly divide the word and we must be doers of the word and not hearers only.

To God Be The Glory!

Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created. (Revelations 4:11).)

Image courtesy christophermattix.wordpress .com

The Bible begins by introducing us to the origin of all creation: God (Genesis 1). In his gospel, John further corroborated the creation story with more information. Writing about Jesus, he said: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made" (John 1:1-3). Then in Revelations, John again opens our eyes to the reality of creation and human life: All of creation exists to give God pleasure. Though, the origin of all creation is explicit in Scriptures; not all believe in God and His being the Creator of all things. The bible is not charitable with words at all in describing these people: "The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God..." (Psalms 53:1).

Hear Isaac Newton's assertion about creation:

The solar system itself could not have been produced by blind chance or fortuitous causes but only by a cause very well skilled in mechanics and geometry.

Simply put, The universe and all that is within it has a Master designer behind it. All things—including you and I ―are and were created by God for His pleasure; His glory. We are not an accident. We didn't just happen. God's words to Jeremiah are equally true of us: "Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations." (Jeremiah 1:5).

These words, though specific to Jeremiah, it gives us a precedent and an example that every single soul that walks on earth is here on a God given assignment. We are here on His errand. His glory. His joy. His purposes. His agenda. His plans. Everything in the end is to His glory. “Arise, shine; for...his glory shall be seen upon thee.“ (Isaiah 60:1-2). To God Be The Glory! That phrase should be the marching orders of our lives. The glory of God should be our major pursuit in life: Whatever we do; whatever we aim to achieve in this life and whatever we hope to become, the glory must go to our God.

This life is more than us. It is more than our dreams and visions. It’s more than the things we want to achieve for ourselves. There's a bigger agenda, and that agenda is the glory of God. Life is for “His name sake“: “...he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake“ (Psalms 23:3). Like John the Baptist, our confession must be “He must increase. I must decrease“ (John 3:30). And also, together with Paul, we proclaim His glory: 

O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor? Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen. (Romans 11: 33-36).

Church Reforms In Ghana: My Thoughts

5: The Church Must Pray.

E.M Bounds, in his book, Power Through Prayer wrote that “praying gives sense, brings wisdom, and broadens and strengthens the mind.” Prayer is a catalyst for change. In His sovereignty, God can and does act autonomous of our prayers; yet, He has at the same time ordained we represent Him on earth and has granted us His power of representation through prayer: “Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven.” (Matthew 18:18-19). When we pray, things happen!

Examine these few instances in Scripture where human involvement through prayer brought God’s intervention on earth. In Exodus 3:7, Israel’s deliverance from bondage was set in motion when God heard their cry (prayers). Daniel 2:17 records the story of Daniel, who faced with the threat of death, entreated his colleagues for prayer (Daniel 2:17). In Acts 12, the timely intervention of the Church’s prayer stayed the hands of Herod from beheading Peter(vs 5 ). Acts 12 was just a fanfare killing. Herod derived pleasure from killing to please the Jews: “Now about that time Herod the king stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the church. And he killed James the brother of : John with the sword. And because he saw it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to take Peter also. (Then were the days of unleavened bread.) (vs 1-3).

If we don’t pray, the devil enjoys a field day in harassing God’s people. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 2:11 that “…we are not ignorant of [Satan’s] devices”. He comes to steal, kill and destroy.(John 10:10). In contemporary times, the revivals and reforms recorded in Church history were birthed in prayers. Equally, if today’s Church will experience any reforms; men and women must rise to the occasion and pray. Someone might quip: “are we not already praying enough?” Yes we are — In fact every day in this nation, there is a prayer meeting. But the fact however is that; most of our prayer meetings are egocentric and highly individualistic it can’t birth any reforms amongst us. “God give me…God bless me…God open doors for me….etc.” are words that can be heard echoing from our prayer meetings.

When those in the early centuries met to pray, they prayed down revival on their cities. The advent of the Pentecostal and Charismatic movement in our country is equally on record to have been birthed by intense prayers for souls and the nation. We in these times have however become too fixated with our individual selves in our prayers. Our self-centred prayers won’t bring any reforms. There’s a place for personal prayers and personal revivals I must admit, but when we are revived as individuals, we have to seek the revival of the masses. “…The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest.” (Luke :10:2)

One classic example of the efficacy of prayer is recorded in 1 Kings 17:1: And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said unto Ahab, As the LORD God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word. After many generations, James captured this same event to encourage us to know the power available to us through prayer. He wrote: “…The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit (James 5:16-18). “Elias [Elijah] was a man subject to like passions as we are…” clearly illustrates Elijah was human just like us —with weaknesses and shortcomings—yet he used the power of prayer mightily).

“We are not praying effectively enough. The fervency of our prayer is not strong enough. Jesus said men ought to pray and not faint. Paul said we should pray without ceasing. We have had enough seminars [and talk] on prayer. Let us [now begin to] pray.” EastWood Anaba, Extra Oil