Local Church Discussions - View Single Post - Merged Thread: Various Themes by Evangelical

Cal · 09-17-2016, 05:19 AM

What were the characteristics of the Pharisees.

They were very legal and thought they were doing everything right.
They set themselves up as the judges and final arbiters of what was of God.
They rejected any seeming manifestation of God if it in any way contradicted their understanding of the Bible.
They were intolerant, self-righteous and holier-than-thou.
They totally missed the point of what God really wanted from people.
They did not recognize God when he came as Jesus.

I'm sorry, Evangelical. But to me this describes you. You have your set of rules, you are convinced you are right and you are using them to say how you are good and holy and others aren't and why you are justified in staying clear from them. You cannot recognize the many amazing things that God has been doing in the community churches and in the lives of people through those churches because they do not line up with your "rules." You do not recognize Jesus in the community churches.

Christ has "come again," so to speak, in the community churches. He is doing amazing things. But like the jealous Pharisees of old, LCMers like Evangelical are missing him. Oh sure, they can find some detail to supposedly "invalidate" a church or Christian group, just like the Pharisees did with Jesus. "He can't be of God, he healed on the Sabbath." "They can't be of God, they have rock music." Whether the meeting with the rock music had salvations and baptisms, too, is irrelevant to Pharisees. In the end they are exposed. They don't care about God, they care about their rules.

So stay away from "mixture" if it makes you feel special. What you can't explain is if Jesus is there--and he is--why you can't be also.

A seminal moment came for me years ago. I went to my mom's Catholic service. It wasn't a Catholic church with statues. It was a modern, clean and bright one. Even so I expected it to be dead, like the old cathedral I grew up on. Imagine my shock when I sensed the Lord's presence strongly in that meeting. He was there, there was no mistaking it. Jesus himself was there with those Catholics in their service. Make no mistake, I'm not talking about him being there in his omniscience. He was there in his tangible, living presence. He was meeting with those Catholics because they were meeting in his name.

So who was I to argue with that? Who was I to say that I shouldn't be there if Jesus was? To argue that would mean I could only be one thing. A Pharisee.

09-17-2016, 05:19 AM	#439
Cal Member Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: USA Posts: 4,333	Re: My Local Church Experience - And My Testimony What were the characteristics of the Pharisees. They were very legal and thought they were doing everything right. They set themselves up as the judges and final arbiters of what was of God. They rejected any seeming manifestation of God if it in any way contradicted their understanding of the Bible. They were intolerant, self-righteous and holier-than-thou. They totally missed the point of what God really wanted from people. They did not recognize God when he came as Jesus. I'm sorry, Evangelical. But to me this describes you. You have your set of rules, you are convinced you are right and you are using them to say how you are good and holy and others aren't and why you are justified in staying clear from them. You cannot recognize the many amazing things that God has been doing in the community churches and in the lives of people through those churches because they do not line up with your "rules." You do not recognize Jesus in the community churches. Christ has "come again," so to speak, in the community churches. He is doing amazing things. But like the jealous Pharisees of old, LCMers like Evangelical are missing him. Oh sure, they can find some detail to supposedly "invalidate" a church or Christian group, just like the Pharisees did with Jesus. "He can't be of God, he healed on the Sabbath." "They can't be of God, they have rock music." Whether the meeting with the rock music had salvations and baptisms, too, is irrelevant to Pharisees. In the end they are exposed. They don't care about God, they care about their rules. So stay away from "mixture" if it makes you feel special. What you can't explain is if Jesus is there--and he is--why you can't be also. A seminal moment came for me years ago. I went to my mom's Catholic service. It wasn't a Catholic church with statues. It was a modern, clean and bright one. Even so I expected it to be dead, like the old cathedral I grew up on. Imagine my shock when I sensed the Lord's presence strongly in that meeting. He was there, there was no mistaking it. Jesus himself was there with those Catholics in their service. Make no mistake, I'm not talking about him being there in his omniscience. He was there in his tangible, living presence. He was meeting with those Catholics because they were meeting in his name. So who was I to argue with that? Who was I to say that I shouldn't be there if Jesus was? To argue that would mean I could only be one thing. A Pharisee.