Purpose Driven or Scripture Driven? - Way of Life Literature
Purpose Driven or Scripture Driven? - Way of Life Literature Purpose Driven or Scripture Driven? - Way of Life Literature
ingeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forthevil fruit” (Mat. 7:15-17).It is impossible to beware of false prophets without judgingdoctrine and practice by God’s Word. How can I know who afalse prophet is if I do not measure preachers by God’sWord?That Christ is not condemning all judging is also evidentby comparing Scripture with Scripture. In other passages weare commanded to judge. The Lord Jesus Himself said weare to judge righteous judgment (Jn. 7:24).We are to judge sin in the church (1 Cor. 5:3, 12). “For Iverily, as absent in body, but present in spirit, have judgedalready, as though I were present, concerning him that hathso done this deed, ... For what have I to do to judge themalso that are without? do not ye judge them that are within?”We are to judge matters between the brethren (1 Cor. 6:5).“I speak to your shame. Is it so, that there is not a wise manamong you? no, not one that shall be able to judge betweenhis brethren?”We are to judge preaching (1 Cor. 14:29). “Let the prophetsspeak two or three, and let the other judge.”We are to judge those who preach false gospels, falsechrists, and false spirits (2 Cor. 11:1-4). “But I fear, lest byany means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty,so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that isin Christ. For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus,whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit,which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye havenot accepted, ye might well bear with him.”126
We are to judge the works of darkness (Eph. 5:11). “Andhave no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, butrather reprove them.”We are to judge spirits (1 John 4:1). “Beloved, believe notevery spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God:because many false prophets are gone out into the world.”We are even to judge all things (1 Cor. 2:15-16). “But hethat is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged ofno man. For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that hemay instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.”The spiritual man does not judge things by his ownthinking but by the mind of Christ in the Word of God. Heknows that he lives in a fallen world filled with lies and errorand spiritual deception and he knows that he has the light ofGod in the Scripture and he thus judges all things by that.ROMANS 14:4 -- “Who art thou that judgest anotherman’s servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth.Yea, he shall be holden up: for God is able to make himstand.”This passage is frequently abused by those who have theecumenical philosophy. It is said that this verse forbids us toexpose sin and error and compromise. The verse is also usedto support the doctrine that Scripture can be divided intofundamental or essential and non-fundamental or secondarydoctrine. One pastor wrote to me and said:“Romans 14 is probably the most violated passage bythose of us who call ourselves ‘fundamentalists’ (notethat I include myself). We have either skipped over thatchapter or given it a sinfully surface interpretation anddanced around its powerful mandates for dealing withdifferences over ‘secondary’ doctrine within the church.By ‘secondary’ I do not mean ‘unimportant.’ I must be'fully persuaded' about all Scriptural issues, though I127
- Page 76 and 77: eferred to as God in the Scriptures
- Page 78 and 79: 100 “lesbian, bi-sexual, and tran
- Page 80 and 81: “Through visualization and dreami
- Page 82 and 83: Bono complains that the churches ha
- Page 84 and 85: salvation is by grace, for instance
- Page 86 and 87: Warren’s and the Ladies HomeJourn
- Page 88 and 89: Is that not what “unconditionally
- Page 90 and 91: Furthermore, if God doesn’t expec
- Page 92 and 93: article; but to a Muslim, that’s
- Page 94 and 95: Warren Doesn’t Mention JesusIn Ju
- Page 96 and 97: Warren Predict’s A “NewReformat
- Page 98 and 99: An Analysis of the “Purpose Drive
- Page 100 and 101: Saddleback model? From our understa
- Page 102 and 103: on Sunday to all the church body, a
- Page 104 and 105: church growth. While the contempora
- Page 106 and 107: program) then the resultant growth
- Page 108 and 109: away from the larger issue at hand-
- Page 110 and 111: unreconcilable dichotomy between fl
- Page 112 and 113: giants,” accepted his methods. Fu
- Page 114 and 115: children of Israel could have said
- Page 116 and 117: that the local New Testament church
- Page 118 and 119: etrays its weakened hold on the obj
- Page 120 and 121: e turned unto fables. But watch tho
- Page 122 and 123: Paul had no target group! All neede
- Page 124 and 125: Judge Not?The following is from our
- Page 128 and 129: must welcome and neither judge nor
- Page 130 and 131: the law, but a judge. There is one
- Page 132 and 133: About Way of Life’s eBooksSince J
- Page 134 and 135: ecumenical; it is charismatic; it i
- Page 136 and 137: Transformational Power of CCM. V. S
- Page 138 and 139: variety of situations, including ho
- Page 140: “The encyclopedia is excellent. T
We are to judge the w<strong>or</strong>ks <strong>of</strong> darkness (Eph. 5:11). “Andhave no fellowship with the unfruitful w<strong>or</strong>ks <strong>of</strong> darkness, butrather reprove them.”We are to judge spirits (1 John 4:1). “Beloved, believe notevery spirit, but try the spirits whether they are <strong>of</strong> God:because many false prophets are gone out into the w<strong>or</strong>ld.”We are even to judge all things (1 C<strong>or</strong>. 2:15-16). “But hethat is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged <strong>of</strong>no man. F<strong>or</strong> who hath known the mind <strong>of</strong> the L<strong>or</strong>d, that hemay instruct him? But we have the mind <strong>of</strong> Christ.”The spiritual man does not judge things by his ownthinking but by the mind <strong>of</strong> Christ in the W<strong>or</strong>d <strong>of</strong> God. Heknows that he lives in a fallen w<strong>or</strong>ld filled with lies and err<strong>or</strong>and spiritual deception and he knows that he has the light <strong>of</strong>God in the <strong>Scripture</strong> and he thus judges all things by that.ROMANS 14:4 -- “Who art thou that judgest anotherman’s servant? to his own master he standeth <strong>or</strong> falleth.Yea, he shall be holden up: f<strong>or</strong> God is able to make himstand.”This passage is frequently abused by those who have theecumenical philosophy. It is said that this verse f<strong>or</strong>bids us toexpose sin and err<strong>or</strong> and compromise. The verse is also usedto supp<strong>or</strong>t the doctrine that <strong>Scripture</strong> can be divided int<strong>of</strong>undamental <strong>or</strong> essential and non-fundamental <strong>or</strong> secondarydoctrine. One past<strong>or</strong> wrote to me and said:“Romans 14 is probably the most violated passage bythose <strong>of</strong> us who call ourselves ‘fundamentalists’ (notethat I include myself). We have either skipped over thatchapter <strong>or</strong> given it a sinfully surface interpretation anddanced around its powerful mandates f<strong>or</strong> dealing withdifferences over ‘secondary’ doctrine within the church.By ‘secondary’ I do not mean ‘unimp<strong>or</strong>tant.’ I must be'fully persuaded' about all Scriptural issues, though I127
Change language