Fighting the Four Evils

The essence of a real woman is one who knows God's purpose for her life. She is one who is kind, wise and strong. Many in hyper-conservative Christian circles think that the ideal woman, or the real woman, who exemplifies the paragon of virtue is one who is supposedly 'truly liberated' from the feminist lifestyle of working and 'coming home to an empty house', by being domesticated, that is a woman who is married, has children, stays home and not university educated. But what they really mean is that the ideal woman is one who is weak, oppressed, and to be relegated to obscurity.  To be clear, it is not wrong to be married, have children, stay home and not be university educated. Nor are these characteristics signs of oppression of women. What I am saying, however, is that that is the lifestyle that hyper-conservatives seek to impose on women for the purpose of making her weak, subtly oppressed by coercing her to marry as young as possible, and threatening to dest...

The "protest"-ant reformation not only bought about many heresies, but legitimised heresy, because of the idea that every person has authority to interpret the Scripture as he sees fit, and not as inspired by the Holy Spirit. For anyone can say that his interpretation is inspired by the Spirit. Even cults say that they are inspired by the Spirit!  While some heresies are more obvious, such as the doctrines that God is not Triune, that Jesus did not become man, Jesus is not God, or that the God of the Old and New Testament are two different Gods, other heresies are far more subtle. Some of these far more subtle heresies are so generally accepted and have infiltrated into much of the Church that hardly anyone thinks of them as heresy.  One such heresy is that false doctrine that faith by which Salvation comes mean that one only needs to "just believe". All one needs to do is to believe in and affirm the doctrines of Salvation to be saved. A person need not take an...

At the essence of heresy is rebellion, leading to confusion, and not the other way round in being confusion in essence, leading to rebellion owing to ignorance. Rebellion is always at the heart of all heresy. Heretics believe in their heresy because of their rebellion against God. Such rebellion is not mere rebellion, but arrogant rebellion which not only loves sin, but loves to challenge the authority of God, in not only who He is, but also His Word, and ultimately, His Lordship. For that is what rebellion ultimately seeks to oppose, and to usurp the Lordship of God over one's life so that one can exercise one's own lordship over one's life. Heresies are of two kinds:  1. Theological heresy  - that which denies or distorts any aspect of the Nature of God. 2. Moral heresy - that which denies, opposes, compromises on, or qualifies any Commandment of Jesus Christ in any way, shape or form. A person may affirm all the true doctrines of the Trinity and Salvation, includi...

Many in the modern Church are woefully deceived as to what is means to be blessed. They think that to be blessed means to have all manner of material things, be it a house, spouse, successful career, abundant money and luxurious holidays.  However, not one verse in the entire New Testament refers to material things as blessings. The same could be said of the Old Testament. All the things which God gave to Abraham was for him to be responsible for, not giving to him as a blessing. Abraham never claimed what he was given by God as a blessing.  Instead, Jesus taught in the Beatitudes that: Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God....

" For the joy of the Lord is your strength " (Nehemiah 8:10). False teaching is dangerous because it teaches error, which destroys a person's right understanding of God and His ways. Without a right understanding of God, and His ways, one's relationship with God will be damaged, and even destroyed. One will not be able to have unity with God, which is the source of joy, from which one's strength of derived. True strength does not and cannot come from the arms of the flesh. Anything of the arms of the flesh is fallible and cannot be absolutely relied upon. Only God's strength can be absolutely and perfectly relied upon because He is the Creator of the Universe. That is why the Bible says: With him is an arm of flesh; but with us is the LORD our God to help us, and to fight our battles. And the people rested themselves upon the words of Hezekiah king of Judah (2 Chronicles 32:8). Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh f...

For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ (Jude 1:4). False teachers are full of lawlessness and seek to push their lawlessness onto others. The Bible warns about them because they infiltrate the Church and attempt to pervert Church teaching. They are extremely deceptive, and deceive many, who do not even realise that they are deceived. Their deception is often very subtle. They deceive not by outright lies, but by subtle lies that underlie their doctrines, which shape one's mindset, often without realising it.  Such lies have caused many to fall into spiritual bondage and which tempt people to sin, not because they seek to sin, but out of frustration, discontentment, anger, or pain.  For example, many false teachers in the contemporary context do not explicitly say, but effectively imply by t...

Many people in the modern Church have the mindset that a blessed life is one which receives whatever one wants or desires. That is an extremely dangerous false teaching which has ensnared many in seeking to get what they want, leading them to do move ahead of God, or resort to illicit ways of getting what they want. It has caused many to loose faith in God in waiting on God, resulting in much frustration, leading to bitterness, which leads to unbelief. To be blessed by God is to be favoured by God. What makes a person favoured by God is whether he or she walks righteously in the sight of God. He or she does not trust in himself or herself, but acknowledges God in all his or her ways. Proverbs 3:5-6 gives great wisdom: Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.   In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. The Bible specifically exhorts us to trust in the Lord with all one's heart and not lean on one's own u...