A.W. Tozer: "Among the gifts of the Spirit scarcely one is of greater practical usefulness than the gift of discernment. This gift should be highly valued and frankly sought as being almost indispensable in these critical times. This gift will enable us to distinguish the chaff from the wheat and to divide the manifestations of the flesh from the operations of the Spirit."
In the 1500's baths were not part of a daily hygiene routine. They actually only took a few a year. Yuk! The labor intensive process of the drawing and carrying of the water into a large basin, then heating a portion of that water took great effort. As was the custom culturally for that time, The men would bath first then boys, women, young children finally the infants. Following the family bath the water was said to be so filled with dirt that it was cause for concern that the last bathed infant would be unseen and discarded with the draining of the water. That is where the expression 'don't throw out the baby with the bathwater' originated. We use the expression today to convey the keeping of a good thing and the discarding of the bad.
Proverbs 15:14
The discerning heart seeks knowledge, but the mouth of a fool feeds on folly.
Today's American method of discernment in the church is allot like this expression. We are taught and encouraged to digest what is good and pay no mind to 'the rest.' It is acceptable to dine on mixture in our day. Just Eat the chicken but spit out the bones. How many times have I heard from leaders Please take what you need and leave the rest. This thinking more echo's the world's values than what we as believers are instructed to contend for in scripture. This worldly 12 Step liberal nicey nicey approach to discernment has influenced the church today.
"They are a nation without sense, there is no discernment in them."
Deuteronomy 32:28
We too echo 'Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater, but may I pose the question, was there a baby in that basin of filth to begin with? Was there anything of Life from above to be salvaged here? Do we stop to ponder, question, judge in a right way, pray, consider what is being fed us?
Galations 1:6 I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, 7 which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. 9 As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed.
10 For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ.
1 Cor 14:29 Two or three who are given God's message should speak, while the others judge what they say.
I am not speaking about non-essentials, but the essentials of our Faith that are immovable. More and More we see the essentials being reduced to the least murky painfully compromised common denominator in the name of a man made unity.
Leviticus 10:10, the LORD said to Aaron, "...that you may distinguish between holy and unholy, and between unclean and clean..."
Even a Broken Clock tells the right time twice a day, but should I set my watch to it ? Today's Discernment sets its time to a broken clock. We applaud the morsel of declared truth surrounded by the grander lie. Can the two co-exist and still be truth? Is there anything of value to draw from when Flesh is the birth mother of it all?
A.W. Tozer: "The healthy soul, like the healthy blood system, has it's proper proportion of white and red blood cells. The red corpuscles are like faith: they carry the life giving oxygen to every part of the body. The white cells are like discernment: they pounce upon dead and toxic matter and carry it out to the drain. In the healthy heart there must be provision for keeping dead and poisonous matter out of the life stream."
Acts 17:11 Now the Bereans were more noble than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.
“And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove (show them for what they really are) them.” (Eph.5:11).
The famous preacher J. Gresham Machen said it this way: “Again, men tell us that our preaching should be positive and not negative, that we can preach the truth without attacking error. But if we follow that advice we shall have to close our Bible and desert its teachings. The New Testament is a polemic book almost from beginning to end ... It is when men have felt compelled to take a stand against error that they have risen to the really great heights in the celebration of the truth” (What Is Christianity, as cited in Biblical Separation, by Ernest Pickering, p. 97).
“Go, set a watchman, let him declare what he sees.” ISA 21:6
__________________________________________________________________________________
check out great resource on biblical discernment @:
LET US REASON MINISTRIES/MIKE OPPENHEIMER
http://www.letusreason.org/Pent48.htm
In the 1500's baths were not part of a daily hygiene routine. They actually only took a few a year. Yuk! The labor intensive process of the drawing and carrying of the water into a large basin, then heating a portion of that water took great effort. As was the custom culturally for that time, The men would bath first then boys, women, young children finally the infants. Following the family bath the water was said to be so filled with dirt that it was cause for concern that the last bathed infant would be unseen and discarded with the draining of the water. That is where the expression 'don't throw out the baby with the bathwater' originated. We use the expression today to convey the keeping of a good thing and the discarding of the bad.
Proverbs 15:14
The discerning heart seeks knowledge, but the mouth of a fool feeds on folly.
Today's American method of discernment in the church is allot like this expression. We are taught and encouraged to digest what is good and pay no mind to 'the rest.' It is acceptable to dine on mixture in our day. Just Eat the chicken but spit out the bones. How many times have I heard from leaders Please take what you need and leave the rest. This thinking more echo's the world's values than what we as believers are instructed to contend for in scripture. This worldly 12 Step liberal nicey nicey approach to discernment has influenced the church today.
"They are a nation without sense, there is no discernment in them."
Deuteronomy 32:28
We too echo 'Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater, but may I pose the question, was there a baby in that basin of filth to begin with? Was there anything of Life from above to be salvaged here? Do we stop to ponder, question, judge in a right way, pray, consider what is being fed us?
Galations 1:6 I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, 7 which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. 9 As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed.
10 For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ.
1 Cor 14:29 Two or three who are given God's message should speak, while the others judge what they say.
I am not speaking about non-essentials, but the essentials of our Faith that are immovable. More and More we see the essentials being reduced to the least murky painfully compromised common denominator in the name of a man made unity.
Leviticus 10:10, the LORD said to Aaron, "...that you may distinguish between holy and unholy, and between unclean and clean..."
Even a Broken Clock tells the right time twice a day, but should I set my watch to it ? Today's Discernment sets its time to a broken clock. We applaud the morsel of declared truth surrounded by the grander lie. Can the two co-exist and still be truth? Is there anything of value to draw from when Flesh is the birth mother of it all?
A.W. Tozer: "The healthy soul, like the healthy blood system, has it's proper proportion of white and red blood cells. The red corpuscles are like faith: they carry the life giving oxygen to every part of the body. The white cells are like discernment: they pounce upon dead and toxic matter and carry it out to the drain. In the healthy heart there must be provision for keeping dead and poisonous matter out of the life stream."
Acts 17:11 Now the Bereans were more noble than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.
“And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove (show them for what they really are) them.” (Eph.5:11).
The famous preacher J. Gresham Machen said it this way: “Again, men tell us that our preaching should be positive and not negative, that we can preach the truth without attacking error. But if we follow that advice we shall have to close our Bible and desert its teachings. The New Testament is a polemic book almost from beginning to end ... It is when men have felt compelled to take a stand against error that they have risen to the really great heights in the celebration of the truth” (What Is Christianity, as cited in Biblical Separation, by Ernest Pickering, p. 97).
“Go, set a watchman, let him declare what he sees.” ISA 21:6
__________________________________________________________________________________
check out great resource on biblical discernment @:
LET US REASON MINISTRIES/MIKE OPPENHEIMER
http://www.letusreason.org/Pent48.htm
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