Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: AMEND (11/02/23)
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TITLE: Progress Requires Change | Previous Challenge Entry
By Doug Laird
11/07/23 -
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To amend means to add to, or to alter, what is presently in place, in order to improve what we have from that point forward.
Serious consideration much better given to insure that whatever changes are made, will indeed prove to make things better, and not worse.
Remember the deceived woman (Eve), thought that she was going to make things better by eating the forbidden fruit (1).
As the old saying goes, the road to Hell is paved with good intentions.
Unlike the woman (Eve), Adam’s disobedience was deliberate.
He was not deceived (2), but chose to go along, listening to the voice of his deceived wife (3). He knew what he was doing was not right. He was well aware of the consequences, but chose to do it anyways.
We know how all that worked out!
What had been a perfect natural environment, a perfect spiritual relationship between God and Man, a harmonious relationship between man and wife, would all become a battleground throughout the course of human history (4).
The desire in Fallen Man to be independent generates resentment towards being told what one can, cannot, or must do. Rejection of divine and delegated authority is at the heart of all rebellion (5).
Every time Man attempts to redefine and or re-engineer what God has established, disaster follows.
. . .
What the Pharisees did to Judaism, Church Age religious authority has done to Christianity.
“This people honors Me with their lips, But their heart is far away from Me. ‘And in vain do they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men (Matt.15: 8-9 NASB2020.’ ”
Initially, the Pharisees had the best of intentions, trying to preserve what God had established by strict compliance with the Old Testament Law, which is also the first five books in the Christian Bible.
But like many other things that Man has put his hands to, over time, the Pharisee’s efforts to preserve and or to improve things, would blind them to the very purpose that The Law was given.
Jesus did not come to abolish The Law, but to fulfill it (6).
All of the Old Testament rituals, when accurately interpreted and applied, pointed to the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ and the New Testament Covenant (7) that He would establish in His blood.
Throughout Biblical history, Man has been warned not to add to (by word or deed), or delete from, the spoken or written Word of God (8).
Under the guise of religious leadership, fallen Man has consistently and continually done just that.
The erroneous teachings and practices that have evolved within the Christian Community (9) will reach its pinnacle during the final years of the Church Age, just before the Rapture (10) takes place.
In the meantime, establishing and maintaining an accurate edified soul structure (11) will be a challenging, but necessary, endeavor, for anyone who desires to be a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Going out into the devil’s world (12) without an edified soul structure, is like a soldier going out into the battlefield without a weapon and defensive gear (13).
. . .
Salvation is instantaneous and complete. There will never be the need for a born-again believer to make adjustments or amendments to retain it. But the same can not be said for the building, maintaining, and application of an edified soul structure by an advancing disciple.
Progress requires change.
In this regard, we are all a work in progress.
If one grows (an ongoing process) in the knowledge of the Lord (14), and conducts frequent 2Cor. 13: 5 and 1Cor. 11:28 self-examinations, there will develop an obvious need to amend the contents of his or her edified soul structure.
We are (or will become) what we think (15).
If we are to advance in the post salvation spiritual life of discipleship, erroneous information must be deleted and accompanying false practices must be discontinued.
The resulting “open space” must then be filled with accurate information and accompanying practices (16).
Matt. 12: 43-45, Galatians 3: 1, and 1Tim. 4: 1, attributes false teachings and accompanying practices with demonic influence! This includes the false teachings and accompanying practices that have evolved WITHIN the Christian Community-at-large.
Amending our edified soul structure is an ongoing and never-ending process of self-examination (17); learning what the Bible call sin (18); and then confessing (19) it, and forsaking it (20) from that point forward.
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(1) Gen.3: 6, 13 (2)1Tim. 2: 14 (3) Gen. 3: 17 (4) Genesis 3: 16-19 (5) Rom.13: 1 (6) Matt. 5: 17 (7) Luke 22: 29 (8) Deut. 4: 2/Prov. 30: 6/Rev. 22: 18, 19 (9) 1Tim. 4: 1 (10) 1Thess. 4: 16-17 (11) Matt.7: 24-25) (12) Luke 4: 6 (13) Eph. 6: 13-17 (14) 2Pet. 3: 18 (15) Proverbs 23: 7 (16) Matt. 12:43-45 (17) 2Cor. 13: 5 (18) 2Pet. 3: 18 (19) 1John 1: 9 (20) John 8: 11
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Instructive thought process.
Kudos.