A few weeks ago, I was handed a leaflet in Kingsmead by a missionary from the group known as HOREMOW or Holiness Revival Movement Worldwide. It would be better to take a look at what it says now in this article now rather than not looking at it at all. Let us examine it.
"The coming of our Lord Jesus Christ draws near every minute and hour that passes by. It is very important for everyone who has hope of eternity to take heed now. We advancements and inventions of different types and shapes of computers and micro-chips, the unifying of financial systems, the scaricity of money denominations in place now, is indicating the antichrist preparedness to take over the world and the world bodies, the economic meltdown and down turn problems of life even in our individual lives must be a very big eye opening to all believers. These are signals indicating to humans that this age is coming to an end, that the Bible prophecies that say "The day is approaching" is at hand.
But the unfortunate thing is that many believers even the very elect are not watchful. A call for watchfulness in church of Christ whom our Lord Jesus Christ bought with His previous blood-the groom of the Lord-the heavenly minded believers should be very, very alert in the spirit now more than ever, waiting earnestly for the raputre. Now the question is "How prepared are you"? This advices us not to sleep as do others but let us watch and be sober, for they that sleep, sleep in the night 1 Thesa 5vs6-8."
Is the leaflet here appearing to be promoting a pre tribulation rapture or that the day of Jesus' return is immiment? We'll get to that later. The scripture in question however does not say we are to be waiting earnestly for the rapture. We should be waiting for the return of Jesus. I shall give a brief explaination of the thief in the night text later on.
"As believers, we are instructed not to indulge in spiritual sleep but be watchful, putting on the breastplate of faith and love. In the midst of these happening, we should make sure that our Christian experiences are intact, living a holy and righteous life with sincerity of heart and in searching purity inside and outside our lives, homes, work, compound we live, in our businesses, run the church of God and everywhere we find ourselves also preaching urgently this sweet salvation message to others so that we can snatch their souls from destruction in hell."
There isn't anything here that is theologically bad here in this section. Seems alright. There is an emphasis on holy living that is sorely missing from many Christian congregations, namely applying holiness to every aspect of our lives rather than just to the "religious" part. For the most part, this section is fine.
"Always have the mind of Jesus, self control and unceasing prayer life Mt. 28vs19-20, Phil 2v5, Ps. 119vs33-37, Rm12v2, 1 Corinth. 9vs24-27. Do not live your Christians life base on your past experiences and achievements, rather always have "Self Check" if you are still in the faith."
Many Christians who have read scripture indeed know that it is important to self examine ourselves because it is easy for us to be lead astray. Not too much to say here. What I will say is we need to be cautious on what they may believe about grace. Paul indeed tells us to self check ourselves and not be conformed to the evil of the world either in thought, word and deed. in along with Psalm 119 being a holy poem, beseeching God to help them to be more obedient to his word and the declaration of the love of his law.
"The idea of once saved is forever saved will lead many believers to everlasting regret because that is not what the scripture says but satan's ideas to destroy human souls in hell. Are you living a careless life of backsliding, pride yourself on your past Christian achievements and experiences? Please ask yourself "Are You In The Number Of The Rapturable Saints?""
Despite not believing in once saved always saved myself, I think it's still important to realise there are two distinct views as sometimes the term "once saved always saved" is used for both. One view Perserverance of the Saints states that those who are truly saved will persevere in holiness to the end. The other view however states that you pray a prayer and you are in and no matter what you do or say or think, you are saved. The Perseverance of the Saints view that many hold to will agree that believing in Antinomianism is morally reprehensible. (Corrected on 16th of June 2024 to make point clearer.)
"The scripture cautioned believers to constantly run this heavenly race with diligent and carefulness so that we will not run in vain 1 Corinth 9vs24-27 Only Jesus that strengthens us and He alone with His glorious power qualifies us for inheritance in heaven Phil 4.13, Col. 1vs11-12
Our daily self-check is very important these days to know if we are still qualified as the Lord's day is fast approaching. Try every day to restore, reconcile, amend and restitute your life even your marriage and be in good condition with God, people and be commited to God more in word and in work because the day of your watchman and your punishment comes-now is the hour of our repentance and preparedness. How Prepared Are You?"
This section on the surface looks fine. It points to Jesus being the one who strengthens us and does encourage true repentance among the Christian ranks. The only time where reconciling your marriage would not be possible is if you remarry and the second (and subsequent other) person you married dies and you cannot remarry your previous spouse (Deuteronomy 24:1-4). The previous spouse is off limits in light of adultery being committed. The thing to be wary of is any group can claim grace but what matters is their practice. Even Rome and the Mormons speak of grace yet that's different. Maybe I could be wrong about HOREMOW but it's worth examining their teaching according to the scriptures. That's not to say Lordship Salvation is heretical (It's not) but it's worth being on the look out for someone who maybe teaching an unrighteous doctrine of works salvation.
"We should be prepared by:-
1. Always have our hearts circumcised and purified.
2. We must be consecrated and re-dedicated to God on daily basis. Always cross-checking our living and in our daily communication with God to see if their is any where we have erred wrongly and need for quick repentance and ask God for mercy.
3. Live as if there is no tomorrow for you, that now is the only time you have before rapture.
4. Always have good relationship with people. Don't keep malice or bitterness.
5. Always have eternity in view
6. Always live an upright life and be focused for eternity.
7 Always have a passion for lost souls for this is the purpose of our calling Mt 28 vs 19-20, Lk. 2 v 49, John 9 v 14
The rat-race of wealth and riches in their present age will soon pass away, considering the ungodly practices in this age, the corruption in hight places, in everywhere and the negative effects of advancement in technology, the rate of evil, hardship encounter all over the world, a true believer must try to live a transparent and holy life before all- both in secret and in the open Mt. 5v16
Let use be wise in our daily preparation for rapture so that, that day will not meet us unaware. Beware of the Lord's wrath Isaiah 13v9. THe time is about to clock 12 midnight-The fulfillment of the hour. Run fast for Jesus is already at the door. How prepared are you?"
The 7 points above are not terrible points and the point on living a holy and transparent life are certainly to be commended but again I advise caution as the group could be seen as works salvationists. As for the rapture, it is not going to catch true believers unaware or generally speaking the return of Jesus to earth.
See my article on the rapture here: http://answering-judaism.blogspot.com/2015/12/the-rapture-when-it-will-occur.html
The rapture itself is not an event that is imminent, it's soon. As for the thief in the night text, Jesus only will catch individuals unaware if they are not awake and following Christ. Those committed to Jesus will not be caught out, for they are watching sober and alert. We should expect Jesus return in our lifetime but we should never interpret that as he can come any minute because the apostle Paul never said such and Jesus himself never made that claim either. The tribulation as I mention in the article above MUST occur before the rapture has taken place.
As David Pawson once said "It is the delay that tests if you're ready, not if you think he is coming next Tuesday." What we do in the time before his return is what matters, whether we are serving him continually or not.
The leaflet is a mixed bag and clarification on what it believes in the book as well or instead a link that redirects us to their creeds and confessions. Some confusion in the small leaflet would lead to misunderstanding. What they believe does need clarification. It may not be the intent of the leaflet to mislead and misdirect but with false teachers running around, we must remain vigilant.
Answering Judaism.
No comments:
Post a Comment