Allow No Myths, Preach Jesus Christ Alone!

2 Timothy 4:2-4 "…2 Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and encourage with every form of patient instruction. 3 For the time will come when men will not tolerate sound doctrine, but with itching ears they will gather around themselves teachers to suit their own desires. 4 So they will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.…"

Believers we need to stop speaking about the myths and legends and begin speaking about Jesus Christ.

When we teach the myths and Jesus Christ together we minimize and reduce our Lord to the level of the myth. One cannot add myth to Christ and get anything good. The myth will always get more glory than Christ.

Isaiah 30:10

"They say to the seers, "Stop seeing visions!" and to the prophets, "Do not prophesy to us the truth! Speak to us pleasant words; prophesy illusions."

2 Timothy 1:13

"Hold on to the pattern of sound teaching you have heard from me, with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus."

Legends are not necessary when we have Christ!

I don't understand why people need legends of anything to feel good about their lives. We have the Bible, the truth, there is no need for passed down unproven legends.

One of the most insidious and dangerous legends has been that of the supposed Bishop St. Nicholas. There is no evidence that such a man ever existed. There are many legends but no proof.

When we need a legend to make our life full and happy we are embracing an idol. God discourages idol imaginings that take us away into daydreaming and wishing something were true for no other reason than to comfort ourselves and impress others.

Jesus Christ is the only person down through history we need. And, He is more than a person, He is God. He is not a legend, He is real and interacts in the lives of His children, the born-again believers every day.

When we cannot have joy without myths and legends about people we are placing more emphasis on this life and its fantasies than we are on Jesus Christ.

There is no man who ever lived on this planet that we should venerate as special above any other man. If a man was a follower of Christ then we follow Christ, not the man.

No one can know the life of another human being down through history. Stories and legends morph over time, they are not true reflections of the person themselves.

Should we elevate someone who does good deeds? If a man does good deeds we ought to praise God for His work in the man, not the man himself.

We love people as believers but we must love them in truth. If we cannot love someone unless they have been proven to do good deeds then we have conditional love, not the love of Christ.

No one can say their good deeds without Christ are worth anything.

Matthew 15:7-9 "…7 You hypocrites! Isaiah prophesied correctly about you: 8‘ These people honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me. 9 They worship Me in vain; they teach as doctrine the precepts of men.’ ”…"

When we elevate men as we teach our children about doing good we are assigning the good to the men instead of Christ. Rather we ought to elevate Christ showing the children that good deeds are only good if Christ does them in His children, then Christ gets the glory and not man.

Romans 3:23

"23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,"

The practice of idolatry in our culture can be very subtle. Whenever we elevate men to "special" status we have "venerated" them, making them equal to Christ.

Psalm 14:2–3

2 The Lord looks down from heaven on the children of man,

to see if there are any who understand,

who seek after God.

3 They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt;

there is none who does good,

not even one."

The good deeds of man are corrupted by self worship. No one who is not born-again can do good deeds with a pure heart. The good deeds of unsaved people is always tainted with a desire to be seen as worthy of praise.

1 Chronicles 16:34

"34 Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;

for his steadfast love endures forever!"

Only those deeds done in the power of the Holy Spirit in us can be said to be acceptable, only Christ in us is acceptable.

Matthew 6:1-4

“Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. “Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you."

Galatians 6:9

And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.

Why would anyone grow weary in doing good? The only reason I can see for a person to grow weary of doing good is when they work hard at it and receive no recognition for it. They grow weary because they are expecting to be recognized by others.

When our good deeds are done in the Spirit of Christ in us we do not expect praise nor do we care if it comes, we merely obey God and He gets the glory.

Colossians 3:17

"And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him."

James 4:17

"So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin."

Philippians 2:13

"For it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure."

Let Christ work in us, nothing of ourselves and then we will be satisfied with Him and not ourselves.

Those Who Blaspheme the Holy Spirit Should Fear

There are those who are proclaiming that the doctrine of eternal security is blasphemy are themselves speaking lies against the Holy Spirit. They are basically saying that the Holy Spirit jumps in and out of people based on their sin level.

When Christ changes us into a new creation it is a supernatural occurrence not of human effort.

1 Corinthians 3:15 " If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire."

Philippians 3:20-21 "20 For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; 21 who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself."

Ephesians 2:8-10 "…8 For it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not from yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance as our way of life.…"

Anyone who believes they are keeping themselves saved through their own goodness is preaching a false gospel.

Ephesians 1:13-14

"13 In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of the promise, 14 who is a first installment of our inheritance, in regard to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory."

We were sealed with the Holy Spirit of Promise when Christ changes us after we believed on Him. He changed us, He cleanses us for our lifetime and He takes us to our eternal home when we die.

1 John 2:19

"19 They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, so that [a]it would be evident that they all are not of us."

No one who has been changed by Christ ever turns from Him. If someone does they were never changed by Him. Those who turn back were like Judas, they knew of Christ and tasted of His goodness but never believed in Him and never confessed their sinfulness. These people never were given the Holy Spirit, they are false believers, pretenders among the flock.

Matthew 12:32

Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the one to come.

To say that Christ does not change us and keep us is to speak against the Holy Spirit.

Arguing and Fight Comes From Pride

Arguing and fighting come from pride in one or both parties. Discussing things rationally comes from two people who want to get to know one another and discover the truth.

When we love others we want to understand them, hear the truth from them and evaluate their actions according to the bible.

Petty people care only about pretending to be superior. There is no love in using people to elevate self.

1 Corinthians 13:4-8

"4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.

5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.

6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.

7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away."

Raging comes from angry people when they don't like the truth. Those who are walking in truth do not fear a challenge, they lean into it desiring a discussion to resolve matters.

Rational, kind and loving people never rage at others to intimidate them into submission. We have no need to be over anyone because Christ is everything we need all the time.

Our desire is to be helpful to others, helpful to their understanding, and helpful spiritually and Biblically.

When we get ourselves out of the way and focus on Christ then we can be like He was, never unjustly bludgeoning others to be in fear of us.

Those who love to make others fearful are not godly and most likely not born again. If we see a person who says they are a Christian who are using intimidation we ought point it out boldly and rebuke them to stop.

Proverbs 27:5

"Better is open rebuke than hidden love."

Matthew 18:15-17

“If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector."

1 Timothy 5:20

"As for those who persist in sin, rebuke them in the presence of all, so that the rest may stand in fear."

If someone sins in the presence of others then God tells us to rebuke them in the presence of those same people. Hiding someone's open sin is the same as participating in it through acceptance of it.

Let this sink in, it takes the strength of the Holy Spirit to tell the truth when the entire room may be against you, do it anyway, walk well and walk away if necessary.

Distracting Christians to Ruin their Witness for Christ

When we realize that the original word in 2 Timothy 3, for difficult means "ragingly insane" it makes much more sense to us as we watch people in general as being unable to think or discuss rationally anything.

Everything now is based on feelings without proof or good sense. It's why so many including Christians are getting caught up in false news sources, paranoia about food, paranoia about the medical industry, and on it goes.

If the devil can distract Christians from the love of Christ through paranoia about the world around them he can ruin their Christian witness and remove their love, peace and joy.

The medical industry is not perfect, the food is not perfect, the news sources on both liberal and conservative sides are not honest and use spin more than truth to push their agenda. We can no longer believe anything we hear, we must depend entirely on the Holy Spirit for the truth.

We do not bury our heads in the sand by ignoring the media, we bury our hearts in Jesus Christ Who knows the truth about everything.

The more we learn from the false media the more diluted and deceived we will become. ALL media on both sides is dishonest nearly all the time now. We might find bits and pieces of truth in them but for the most part, they leave out much information to push their agenda.

We can depend on the Holy Spirit to guide us, we do not need the news media to guide our thinking. In fact the more news we listen to the less informed we are because half-truths are whole lies.

Manipulating people to get them to believe you is sin. Telling the whole truth with evidence is God's way.

Manipulation is a form of lying.

2 Corinthians 11:14

"14 And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light."

The devil can make murder seem like the right thing to do. He can make stealing seem justified, he can twist a person's thinking to believe right is wrong and wrong is right.

If we cannot evaluate the conservative media the same way we evaluate the liberal media we will be duped into believing things that are not true and didn't happen.

If we as believers would spend more time seeking the Holy Spirit for wisdom than we do paying attention to the media we would see how corrupt ALL media is today. There are those who think because they are on the right side of things it is alright to lie and manipulate.

My challenge to my brothers and sisters in Christ is to spend one month not listening to any form of media except sermons that do not speak about politics, but speak only about Christ and His Word, and see how much your perspective changes. Your peace will return, your joy will overflow and you will know more about Christ and His Word than you do about anything else.

Of course, this would take breaking the addiction to sensationalism and media hype. Yes, I said that, it is an addiction that is destroying the witness of Christians, even misleading those who need the gospel.

Our world does not need a better country, it needs Christ. Our community does not need a march against anything, it needs Christ. Swallow all pride, go back into your homes in your prayer closet, and stay on your knees, this can do far more than any prideful display of pressure or power you think you have.

We don't change governments as believers, we bring the truth of the gospel to the unsaved and God will change hearts, one heart at a time.

II Timothy 4:7-8

"I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing."

The fight is not for or against a government, it is the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Born Again Believers a Small Remnant

It is helpful to remember that the family of born-again believers all the way down through time has been a small remnant compared to the population of the world.

Those of us who have trusted Christ and want to live for Him are very small in number in our communities. We are also those who have few friends but deep friendships.

We have the joy and peace of the Lord while loving all the people we meet we do not retain friendships with all because we have obeyed God and "came out from among them", that is the world.

1 John 2:15-17

"Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever."

Born-again believers have no desire for the things of the world or the ways of the world. Since this is true those who are not wanting to follow Christ have no connection to us in a relationship.

Colossians 3:2

"Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth."

Ephesians 5:10-12 "…10 Test and prove what pleases the Lord. 11 Have no fellowship with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. 12 For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret.…"

2 Corinthians 6:14 "

"Do not be mismatched with unbelievers; for what do righteousness and lawlessness share together, or what does light have in common with darkness?"

Our close friends cannot be those who do not love our God.

Our close friends must be those who desire to walk with Christ as we desire to do. If someone cannot tolerate our relationship with Christ they will not tolerate us either.

Matthew 10:22-23 " 22 You will be hated by everyone because of My name, but the one who perseveres to the end will be saved. 23 When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next. Truly I tell you, you will not reach all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.…"

It is clear that we are to walk away when someone rejects our God.

Confussion Ends with Scripture

Many people are confused about the difference between the fruit of the Spirit and the gifts of the Spirit, these scriptures will clear things up.

Fruit of the Spirit:

Galatians 5:22-23

"22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law."

Gifts of the Spirit:

1 Corinthians 12:1-11 Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be unaware.

2 You know that when you were pagans, you were led astray to the mute idols, however you were led.

3 Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus is accursed”; and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.

4 Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit.

5 And there are varieties of ministries, and the same Lord.

6 There are varieties of effects, but the same God who works all things in all persons.

7 But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.

8 For to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, and to another the word of knowledge according to the same Spirit;

9 to another faith by the same Spirit, and to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit,

10 and to another the effecting of miracles, and to another prophecy, and to another the distinguishing of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, and to another the interpretation of tongues.

11 But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually just as He wills."