Where did I go wrong?

Written by Pastor McCarty on January 21, 2014. Posted in Pastors Pen

Got a headache yet?  I do!

When I was in high school I loved math.  In fact, I took all the math I could take.  In my senior year I took trigonometry.  I know what you’re thinking, HIM!?  Yes, I took this challenging course because I thought I would go to college to become a math major to teach math someday. My grades were pretty good in trig. Those long equations seemed right up my alley.  One other student and I were battling it out for the title, “Math Student of the Year.”  But, ones thing tripped me up.  Though I could do the equations and follow the intricate formulas, I was careless in the details.  I would add 2+2 and get 5!  Then, because of that one small mistake, my final calculation was incorrect.  I was just too fast and caviler.

Life is much like that.  We can get the big picture right.  We can know that we are to make decisions based upon God’s Word.  We can know it and reflect on it.  The subject matter isn’t our problem.  We can move from Genesis to Revelation in record time.  Our problem, however, is that we are too caviler in the small details.

The difference between truth and error can be a wide gap or a small crack.  False teachers can get close but still be teaching error. And, the minute we let down our guard and think we have all the answers we are in danger of being taken off the right path.

On occasion we need to go back to “check our work.”  My math teacher used to say that to me a lot.  She would hand me back a homework assignment or test and tell me to recheck my work.  When I did, I would often find the smallest mistake that made my conclusions incorrect.  If I had only checked it before I handed in the assignment or test, I might have been the math student of the year.

No two answers can be correct to a math problem.  Although they may look right, unless we follow the correct steps, we will be wrong.  Two students solved the following simple math equation differently and both thought they were correct.  They were asked to solve the following; 3+4×2.  One student answered 11 the other answered 14.  The first student multiplied 4×2 first and then added 3.  The second student added 3+4 and multiplied by 2.  Which is correct?  If you chose student number you 2 you are………wrong!  In math you do multiplication before you do addition.  So, in this equation you multiply 4×2 and then add 3.  Both answers look correct, but, only one is.

As you read and study the Word of God be sure to ask the right questions and find the right answers.  Even a small mistake can result in a grave error, like missing Heaven by a mile.

Doctrinal Deviations and Deviants

Written by Pastor McCarty on January 13, 2014. Posted in Pastors Pen

20 years ago Hank Hanegraaff of the Christian Research Institute wrote a book to expose some of the excesses happening under the umbrella of Christianity.  His book was one of many being written to warn believers of the dangers of departing from the historic faith “once delivered to the saints.”  His work, among others, was clearly in the pathway of the Apostle Jude’s warnings in the first century.

In our evening services we have embarked upon a study of the Book of Jude.  We are attempting to see what Jude had to say to his culture, and how this small book speaks to our culture.  Error and apostasy are still the same animal.  The basics of Satan’s attacks haven’t changed since the Garden of Eden.  Satan will seek to cause doubt in the minds of people as to the truthfulness of God’s Word.  If that tactic doesn’t work, he will try a direct denial of God’s Word.  If that doesn’t work, he will seek to detour folks into something else to believe.  In each case, whether hundreds of years ago or today, Satan’s goal is to bring people to a rejection of God and HIs Word.

If your spiritual antennas are not up when you listen to  or read the works of a teacher, they should be.  You and I must be discerning people as to truth.  Error can be easily made to sound true simply by redefining the words or presenting a half-truth as a whole-truth. Many well know “preachers” of God’s Word today fall into that category.  Sunday evening we spent some time pointing out these false teachers.

Recently Dr. John MacArthur organized a gathering of Bible-centered preachers to expose the gross errors within the “Word-Faith” movement.  He called his meetings, “Strange Fire.”  From that meeting a book has been written to get the information to more and more people.  I would recommend the reading of Hank Hanegraaff’s book and John MacArthur’s book as primers into these false teachers and teachings.

May each of us keep our hearts and heads in tune with the God of Truth.

If you would like to read either of these books, just click on the image.  It will take you to Amazon.