Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Pastimes : Ask God -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Sidney Reilly who wrote (11162)	2/22/1998 8:48:00 AM
From: Sidney Reilly	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 39621

How To Avoid Serious Error There are areas of Christian thought, and because of thought then also of life, where likenesses and differences are so difficult to distinguish that we are often hard put to it to escape complete deception. Throughout the whole world error and truth travel the same highways, work in the same fields and factories, attend the same churches, fly in the same planes and shop in the same stores. So skilled is error in imitating truth that the two are constantly being mistaken for each other. It takes a sharp eye these days to know which brother is Cain and which Abel. We must never take for granted anything that touches our soul's welfare. Isaac felt Jacob's arm and thought they were the arms of Esau. Even the disciples failed to spot the traitor among them; the only one of them who knew who he was was Judas himself. That soft spoken companion with whom we walk so comfortably and with who's company we take such delight may be an angel of satan, whereas that rough, plain spoken man whom we shun may be God's very prophet sent to warn us against danger and eternal loss. It is therefore critically important that the Christian take full advantage of every provision God has made to save him from delusion. These are prayer, faith, constant meditation on the Scriptures, obedience, humility, hard, serious thought and the illumination of the Holy Spirit. 1. Prayer is not a sure fire protection against error for the reason that there are many kinds of prayer and some of them are worse than useless. The prophets of Baal leaped upon the alter in a frenzy of prayer, but their cries went unregarded because they prayed to a god that did not exist. The God the Pharisees prayed to did exist, but He refused to listen to them because of their self-righteousness and pride. From them we may well learn a profitable lesson in reverse. In spite of the difficulties we encounter when we pray, prayer is a powerful and effective way to get right, stay right and stay free from error. "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him" (James 1:5). All things else being equal, the praying man is less likely to think wrong than the man who neglects to pray. "Men ought always to pray, and not to faint" (Luke 18:1). 2. The apostle Paul called faith a shield. The man of faith can walk at ease, protected by his simple confidence in God. God loved to be trusted, and He put all heaven at the disposal of the trusting soul. But when we walk in faith let us know what we mean. Faith is not optimism; it is not cheerfulness; it is not a vague sense of well being or a tender appreciation for the beauty of human togetherness. Faith is confidence in God's self-revelation and found in the Holy Scriptures. 3. "Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God." The Scripture purify, instruct, strengthen, enlighten and inform. The blessed man will meditate in them day and night. 4. To be entirely safe from the devil's snares the man of God must be completely obedient to the Word of the Lord. The driver on the highway is safe, not when he reads the signs but when he obeys them. So it is with the Scriptures. To be effective they must be obeyed. 5. Again, there is a close relation between humility and the perception of truth. "The meek will He guide in judgement: and the meek will He teach His way" (Psalm 25:9). In the Scriptures I find no shred of encouragement for the proud. Only the tame sheep can be led; only the humble child need expect the guidance of the Father's hand. When all the evidence is in it may well be found that none but the proud ever strayed from the truth and that self trust was behind every heresy that ever afflicted the Church. 6. Then we must think. Human thought has it's limitations, but where there is no thinking there is not likely to be any large deposit of truth in the mind. Evangelicals at the moment seem to be divided into two camps - those who trust the human intellect to the point of sheer rationalism, and those who are shy of everything intellectual and are convinced that thinking is a waste of the Christians's time. Surely both are wrong. Self-conscious intellectualism is offensive to man, I am convinced, to God also but it is significant that every major revelation in the Scriptures was made to a man of superior intellect. It would be easy to marshal an imposing list of Biblical quotations exhorting us to think, but a more convincing argument is the whole drift of the Bible itself. The Scriptures simply take for granted that the saints of the Most High will be serious minded, thoughtful persons. They never leave the impression that it is sinful to think. 7. But thinking apart from the inward illumination of the Holy Spirit is not only futile, it is likely to be dangerous as well. The human intellect is fallen and can no more find it's way through the broad expanse of truth, half-truth and down right error than a ship can find it's way over the ocean alone. God has given us the Holy Spirit to illuminate our minds. He is eyes and understanding to us. We dare not try to get on without Him. A.W. Tozer from That Incredible Christian

To: Sidney Reilly who wrote (11162)	3/8/1998 11:49:00 AM
From: Sidney Reilly	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 39621

To All Visitors, Welcome; I want to say something about one of the devil's favorite and highly successful ploys to keep people away from Jesus. First understand that when a person is born again and accepts Jesus as Savior it is a spiritual transformation that takes place. We are then sealed by the Holy Spirit as a promise. Consider what we were saved from. A state of sin. This state of sin is a state of being, not the acts of being sinful (things we do that we call sin, stealing, lying). When we have a cold and cough we don't call the cough a cold because it is only a symptom of the state of having a cold. If we have a cold we cough, when we are in a state of sin we steal, lie. So then we are saved from the state of sin and sealed, but the flesh profits nothing from this!! As the word says we are still in "this body of sin". So then every christian is thrust into conflict with his/her body of sin as sin tries to rule through the body and righteousness through the Holy Spirit. So as a result of this conflict christians are seen coughing, sometimes manifesting symptoms of sin that still struggles to rule through our flesh. Now the devil has been very clever and used this to alienate hords of non-believers who see the outward sign, "coughing", when the "body of sin" gains a temporary advantage. The devil says look at him, he is sinning and he's a christian, dripping with sarcasm. People are put off by this outward sign of what they think is hypocrisy not understanding the meaning of what they see and the underlying struggle. This successfully keeps a lot of people from going to church and being saved. If we could look at our brothers and understand the struggle (and maybe they are losing the struggle at that particular time) we would have more compassion. We have to be overwhelmingly grateful to the Lord for our forgiveness in the face of our unworthiness. Now what about the ones who give in to the sin and quit for a time to struggle sincerely against the "body of sin". Well first there is grace but after a time discipline by the Lord. God says he will not be mocked (by those who use His grace as a license to sin). Whatever we sow we will also reap (in this life). So God's judgement is just. We all suffer loss for our deeds now if our deeds are sin and we do not repent, but in the next life salvation with our Lord. The devil's schemes are many and some are tailored for the masses and some for individuals. That schemer hates to see any slip from his grasp and he has the full court press on to anyone who is getting close to turn them back from Jesus and His salvation. How can anyone be saved? Romans 10: 8-13 8 "But what does it say? "THE WORD IS NEAR YOU, IN YOUR MOUTH AND IN YOUR HEART"- that is, the word of faith which we are preaching, 9 that is if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved, 10 for with the heart man believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. 11 For the scripture says, "WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED". 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call upon Him; 13 for,"WHOEVER WILL CALL UPON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED".