Thanksgiving

I will be out of town through November 28th to be with family and to express our thanks to our Lord for all that He has provided for  us. None of it is earned or deserved. I pray that you spend time this Thanksgiving in prayer and worship of awesome God from a truly grateful heart – Mike Ratliff.

Private Interpretation

by Mike Ratliff

Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. (2 Peter 1:20 KJV)

knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. (2 Peter 1:20 ESV)

This first knowing, that every prophecy of scripture by private explanation does not take place. (2 Peter 1:20 The Apostolic Bible Polyglot)

This first knowing that all prophecy of scripture of any personal interpretation does not happen. (2 Peter 1:20 a personal translation from the Greek text into English)

I remember the conversation like it was yesterday. The young man was so excited that he could barely contain it. He could not stop talking about his experience at his new church in Tulsa under a very well known Word Faith pastor. He went on and on and on. I had been a Christian about 10 years by then and had not yet entered into that long period of dryness that God put me through that ended just a few years ago so this must have been in the early 1990’s. In any case, neither the young man nor his wife would engage me personally in conversation nor would they look at me directly. They only talked to those around me. However, with each emphatic point he made that I knew was unbiblical I would try to interject something, but was ignored. Finally, there was a point in the conversation when he made one of those points and everyone became quiet and I simply said, “But that is not Biblical and what you are describing is subjectivism, not anything that can proved by Scripture.” His answer was simply this, “God still speaks to His people and not all of His truth is found in the Bible.” I then asked, “Will He then say things to these prophets that are contrary to what the Bible says or will He say things that these people prophesy that does not take place? If so, what then?” He then pooh-poohed me away and would not let me engage him in any more conversation. The“religion” he was involved in has its foundation in men’s private interpretation of the Bible along with God speaking prophecy directly to them thereby “confirming” there false interpretation of the Word of God. I never could find out from them how one could know how one could really know if that word from God was really from God or if it was just their over active imagination. 

Striving

by Mike Ratliff

Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel, and not frightened in anything by your opponents. This is a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation, and that from God. For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake, engaged in the same conflict that you saw I had and now hear that I still have. (Philippians 1:27-30 ESV)

Please read this article by my friend Ken Silva before continuing. Most of you know I wrote briefly about this the other day here, but as you can see, as we dig deeper into this, it can seem a bit like following Alice down that rabbit hole into Wonderland. In any case, I am going on record right now, as I am sure as no surprise to any of you, that what these people are doing has absolutely nothing to do with Biblical Christianity. They are not living a life worthy of the gospel of Christ. They are not standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel. No, they are going after all sorts of extra-biblical religious manifestations and trying to intermix them with their Laodicean version of Christianity, which is not Christian at all. 

Provoke

by Mike Ratliff

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. (Hebrews 10:23-25 ESV)

Proof that these are Laodicean times, that is, lukewarm, man-centered, not fervently God-centered times in the “visible church” is always found in points of contention. One such point presents itself here in which a “mega-church” pastor has gone public that he is “gay.” How this is “handled” by the “visible” church will be interesting indeed. I see the division between genuine Christianity and man-centered, Laodicean “christianity” becoming even more defined through this. I also agree with my brother Ken Silva in this that there will probably be even more well-known so-called “christian leaders” come out of the closet soon. However, if we focus too much on the apostasy all around us my brethren we can become very discouraged, therefore, as the writer of Hebrews says in the passage above, “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.”