Stewards of God’s Grace

by Mike Ratliff

“Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. But that is not the way you learned Christ!— assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.” (Ephesians 4:17-24 ESV)

At 3pm today I had my hair cut. The fellow who cuts my hair was a Marine in the Vietnam War. His was tank gunner. As he cut my hair we talked about Christmas and faith and many other things. He was in a depressed mood. I asked him why. He told me that Christmas has lost all of its significance. Here we are supposedly celebrating the birth of our Saviour and now it is not politically correct to use the word “Christmas” when referring to the Holiday. It is all about commercialism and political correctness.

Genuine Faith vs Human Faith

by Mike Ratliff

“When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger. And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.” (Luke 2:15-20 ESV)

Human faith is not the same thing as Genuine (saving) faith. The former is based in Human reason and intellect. The latter is supernatural. What passes for faith in many professing believer’s “Christianity” is a belief based in who preaches to or teaches them. This is not Genuine faith because it is not a belief in the Word or in God through the Word. These are “believers” who will eventually fall away. Some may last a lifetime, but as soon as the fires of tribulation come upon them they slide into apostasy because their faith is not of the substance that endures.

Repost of Do Not Love the World

The following was first posted on January 18th, 2007.

by Mike Ratliff

1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. (Romans 12:1-2 ESV)

One of the markers of genuineness in a Christian is Separation from the World. This isn’t a physical removal from planet Earth or a disintegration of the body of a Christian. A genuine Christian’s character should be in a continual upgrade unto Christlikeness. That means that as he or she cooperates with God in their sanctification, working out their salvation with fear and trembling, their character will take on more and more of Christ’s character. They will love what He loves and hate what he hates. God is love, but He hates a certain type of love.

Christ is All

by Mike Ratliff

“Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming. In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.” (Colossians 3:5-11 ESV)

In our last post we looked at the Word, our Lord Jesus Christ, becoming flesh and dwelling amongst us. (John 1) Through our Lord Jesus Christ’s sacrifice as the Lamb of God, becoming the propitiation for our sins, He began the process of growing the Kingdom of God from a mere seed. Scripture tells us that it will grow and grow and eventually replace all that came before. For this to be true we must understand that there are two worlds, the old and the new.

Repost of Called to be Holy

I will be taking a few days off as I travel to Oklahoma to visit family. While I am gone please enjoy some reposts from 2006. – Mike Ratliff

by Mike Ratliff

45 For I am the Lord who brought you up out of the land of Egypt to be your God. You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.” (Leviticus 11:45 ESV)

The resistance in today’s version of the Church of Jesus Christ to commands such as the one above is rooted in rebellion. Yes, I know that is a blunt statement. Yes, I know that there are huge segments of the church in America that believe that the Old Testament is not for them. However, the truth does not stop being the truth simply because people refuse to believe it. I run into this quite a bit. I teach something or write something that is a clear command of God that we must obey and someone will say or write something like, “well everyone knows that that can’t mean that because God isn’t like that.” Excuse me but since when does what people believe about God change what God is like or diminishes the veracity of His commands?

Repost of Break Open the Jar

 I will be taking a few days off as I travel to Oklahoma to visit family. While I am gone please enjoy some reposts from 2006. – Mike Ratliff

by Mike Ratliff

Six days before the Passover, Jesus therefore came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. So they gave a dinner for him there. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those reclining with him at the table. Mary therefore took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (he who was about to betray him), said, “Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” He said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief, and having charge of the moneybag he used to help himself to what was put into it. Jesus said, “Leave her alone, so that she may keep it for the day of my burial. The poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me.” (John 12:1-8 ESV)

I am convinced that most professing Christians are absolutely clueless when it comes to genuine worship of the Lord in spirit and in truth. The idea that going to a building once or twice a week to sing a few songs and listen to Bible lesson and a sermon constitutes genuine worship would be foreign to Jesus Christ, the Apostles, and the early Church. Genuine worship is more than singing God glorifying songs or simply praying a prayer that someone else wrote. If it isn’t these things, then what is it?

Repost of Our Sin Problem Part 3

I will be taking a few days off as I travel to Oklahoma to visit family. While I am gone please enjoy some reposts from 2006. – Mike Ratliff

by Mike Ratliff

If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming. (Colossians 3:1-6 ESV)

I find it appalling that our version of the church in the early 21st Century has so neglected Discipleship that Christians across the board are clueless about the deadly issue of resident sin within them. They not only do not know it is there, but they are given no training on how to deal with it. After salvation they are told that they are new creations in Christ, the old has passed away, behold the new has come. (2 Corinthians 5:17) Well, that is true, at salvation believer’s hearts are quickened. What was dead is now alive. What this means is that where there was zero spiritual life before there is now abundant spiritual life. However, this means that believers are now in Christ spiritually and He is in them spiritually. They can pray, worship and read their bibles with understanding. However, it does not mean that their “old man” sin nature is dead and gone. He is still there. He now has an alive Spirit to deal with whereas before, the Soul controlled everything. Now there is huge battle taking place between the Spirit and Soul for dominance in the heart of the believer.

Repost of Our Sin Problem Part 2

 I will be taking a few days off as I travel to Oklahoma to visit family. While I am gone please enjoy some reposts from 2006. – Mike Ratliff

by Mike Ratliff

As for you, O LORD, you will not restrain your mercy from me; your steadfast love and your faithfulness will ever preserve me! For evils have encompassed me beyond number; my iniquities have overtaken me, and I cannot see; they are more than the hairs of my head; my heart fails me. Be pleased, O LORD, to deliver me! O LORD, make haste to help me! (Psalms 40:11-13 ESV)

As we saw in Part 1, the first step in mortifying our sin is to attack it habitually. That means that as we take each step through each part of each day we habitually take each thought capture to the Holiness of God. We compare what our hearts are attempting to pursue for gratification with God’s standards, the Law and the commands of our Saviour. This is the first step in our declared war on the root of sin in our hearts. There are two ways to attack our sin nature. The first way is useless. It involves trying to stop doing the sin. It is equivalent to picking the fruit off of a bad tree in an attempt to kill it. That, of course, is silly, but that is what trying to use will power to stop sinning is analogous to. The other way to to attack our sin nature is to lay the axe at the root of the tree and start going for the kill. If we kill the root the tree will die. I would rather think of what we are attempting to kill as weeds rather than a fruit tree, but you get the idea.

Repost of Our Sin Problem Part 1

I will be taking the next five days off as I travel to Oklahoma to visit family. While I am gone please enjoy some reposts from 2006. – Mike Ratliff

by Mike Ratliff

Most believers I know become quite perturbed with me when I dwell on the topic of sin after salvation. I fear that many of our number consider this a taboo topic. In their estimation, they are saved and they don’t have to worry about sin anymore. Of course these same believers are never very interested in the topic of personal holiness either. When these believers do sin they come across with an attitude like, “I know I sinned, but God is going to forgive me so what is the big deal?” It is as if they are living as examples of certain admonitions from scripture.

The Post-Modern Zeitgeist

by Mike Ratliff

I previewed a movie today that had the simple title, “Zeitgeist.” Before I give you my impression of it, let’s define what the term “Zeitgeist” means. My Webster’s Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary, published in 1983, defines “Zeitgeist” as, “the general intellectual, moral, and cultural climate of an era.” That sounds innocuous enough doesn’t it? However, after I started viewing the film, I became aghast, as it was a direct attack against God, our Lord Jesus Christ and the Christian religion. The narrator came across as one deriding all religion, but the focus of Part I of the film was to present Christianity as a form of Astrology and Man as a product of evolution.

It is Impossible to Cast Out One’s Flesh

The following article was written by my friend Josh Parker ( joshkennesaw@aol.com ). This article is important in our battle to reclaim the Church from the impostors who have overrun it because it exposes the truth about the nature of Christian suffering as opposed to the lies form the deceivers preaching their man-focused non-gospels. I pray that you will be fed and edified as you read it. – Mike Ratliff

It is Impossible to “Cast Out” One’s Flesh

 

by Josh Parker

As the apostate church continues on and on oblivious to its errors, another thing which goes unnoticed or uncorrected is the error of trying to “cast out” one’s flesh (carnal nature). Unfortunately, this is common within the Word-Faith movement, and/or various other charismatic churches. Dear reader, please understand that I am not against being happy, charismatic, or prosperity. I am only against unsound Biblical teaching which can cause my brothers and sisters in Christ to stumble or fall into error. In the following letter, I will do my best to explain how the flesh (carnal nature) is not something which the believer can “cast out.” The flesh is neither a demon, nor something which God can “miracle” out of our lives. Instead, the Bible explains that our flesh is something which must be crucified through adversity, so that we can truly enter into God’s rest.

The Straw Man Fallacy

by Mike Ratliff

The Straw Man fallacy is committed when a person simply ignores a person’s actual position and substitutes a distorted, exaggerated or misrepresented version of that position. This sort of “reasoning” has the following pattern:

1. Person A has position X.
2. Person B presents position Y (which is a distorted version of X).
3. Person B attacks position Y.
4. Therefore X is false/incorrect/flawed.

Straw Man “reasoning” is fallacious because attacking a distorted version of a position simply does not constitute an attack on the position itself. The Straw Man Fallacy is a favorite weapon our enemy. It is always fallacious, but it can cause much confusion and, therefore, can be foundational in the development and support of heresies because it is a form of deception. Those professing Christians who use this from of argument may believe they are serving God with their attacks, but if a person’s argument contains this sort of fallacy then it is not of God. God does not need this sort of thing nor would He ever lead any of His people to use it.