Edition 270. July 29^th  2015

Dealing with critics:

Dealing with critics:

Introduction:

1 Corinthians 2:14-15 “The natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them because they spiritually discerned. He who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is judged by no man.”

As prophecy marches on to its grand conclusion, the Bible reveals that opposition, criticism, and resistance to God’s word and His people will intensify greatly. This will manifest in increased persecution, martyrdom, general criticism, and also in masses falling away from the faith.

In this edition I want to deal with our average, garden-variety of criticism against the Bible and true born-again believers.

The purpose of this edition is to strengthen your own faith, secure you in your beliefs and give you some ammunition to shoot down your critics. (You see those guns at the top? No, don’t shoot down your critics that way – it’s just an illustration!)

How we deal with criticism reveals much about our maturity in our Lord.

Principles of truth:

The main reason why people hate the truth of God’s word is because it sheds light on their dark lives and they love the darkness.

John 3:19-20 “This is the condemnation, that light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. Everyone practising evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.”

Psalm 97:10-11 “You who love the Lord, hate evil...Light is sown for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart.”

The further away from the truth you move, the darker your life will become and the more you will hate those of the light who speak the truth.

To really believe God’s word you must do it and get it inside of you. Until you do it, you won’t even see it!  Note in the verse above that God’s word condemns you until you accept it. In a similar fashion, the lives of God’s disciples walking in His light, condemns the lives of the unsaved without a word being said.

People actually want you to be like them and when you’re not they don’t like it. The world-system’s greatest enemy is the word of God made alive by the Spirit of the living God.

In these end-times we will see a lot more opposition confronting us than ever before, as the spiritual forces behind truth and error clash like never before.

Criticism and judgement:

Sometimes a good discussion outlining the ways of God is all that’s needed to defend against a critic’s attack. But some people have no manners. They are insolent pigs full of self-will and antagonism. These people rarely come to the truth and should just be left to go their own way.

Sometimes we need to respond by speaking judgement into a situation.

There really is no formula. We must be let that still-small voice of the Spirit in our hearts, show us how to handle the various attacks we face.

Here are a few general verses to help you:

Proverbs 15:1-2 “A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger. The tongue of the wise uses knowledge rightly, but the mouth of fools pours out foolishness.”

Proverbs 28:25 “He who is of a proud heart stirs up strife, but he who trust in the Lord will be prospered.”

Proverbs 13:18 “...He who regards reproof will be honoured.”

Proverbs 27:6 “Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.”

Proverbs 28:23 “He who rebukes a man will find more favour afterward than he who flatters with the tongue.”

Don’t get caught up with spiritually ignorant people on the “don’t judge” story. It’s a huge liberating subject in which the Bible is clear.

Matthew 7:1 “Judge not that you be not judged.”

The verse above is the one cited by most critics. The verse means, don’t judge in a continuous nit-picking manner, trying to exalt yourself and put others down. It does not mean don’t judge in other matters, especially relating to doctrine.

You can find much more on the subject HERE.

Examples from our Lord:

Most people can’t believe that our Lord while here on earth rebuked yelled at and even hit certain people. The same is true of the disciples as they built the early church. These critics have never bothered to study the scriptures and have been poorly taught by ignorant ministers.

We all know the story of our Lord taking a whip to the money-changers in the temple forecourt and kicking their tables over. Here are a few more verses dealing with severity:

Acts 13:9-11 “Then Saul who is also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intensely at him (the sorcerer) and said, ‘O full of all deceit and fraud, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, will you not cease perverting the straight ways of the Lord? And now indeed the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you shall be blind, not seeing the sun for a time.’ And immediately a dark mist fell on him.”

1 Corinthians 5:4-5 “In the name of our Lord Yeshua Messiah, when you are gathered together, along with My Spirit, with the power of our Lord, deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.”

Titus 1:13 “Therefore rebuke them sharply that they may be sound in the faith.”

Titus 1:9 “Hold fast the faithful word as you have been taught, that you may be able, by sound doctrine, both to exhort and convict those who contradict.”

2 John 10 “If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him into your house nor greet him; for he who greets him shares in his evil deeds,”

Don’t forget that our Lord did not speak forgiveness to the woman caught in adultery, about to be stoned. He said to her, “you are forgiven, now go and sin no more.”

Critics from outside and from inside:

As believers saved by the shed blood of Messiah and the work of the cross, we have to deal with critics from outside of true biblical Christianity and sometime from within. The Bible has numerous examples of how to deal with both.

Critics from inside the church:

In most cases, if a critic is truly born of God, he will see the answer to his criticism quite quickly and peace will rule. But sometimes some people are impossible to deal with. They are often frauds, counterfeits or just deceived trouble-makers.

One of the great problems in the church today, which is almost unknown and unseen, is the Jezebel spirit operating in certain women. Many pastor’s wives are pure Jezebels today. The Jezebel spirit always tries to usurp and bring down male authority. She always tries to kill the work of God in the church.

Because she lurks inside the church, she is difficult to spot, but I assure you she is right in the middle of most churches and especially every one that does not have the eyes and spiritual authority through the gifts of the Spirit to kill her.

Just like Jezebel of old, she must be killed. In this day that does not mean physically, although some might wish it did! It is the Jezebel spirit that must be killed, thrown out to her death. In many cases she will resist her death like crazy. If you sense you are winning, continue until she is completely destroyed. If not throw her and her spirit out of the church fast.

Unfortunately the divisions in the church created largely by those outside of the Spirit don’t help at all. Doctrinal divisions are a source of many controversies and arguments, but most can be resolved with pure Spirit-led Bible doctrine.

There is never a better helper, defence than the Spirit-led word of God. Unfortunately many believers in this instant pop-up world know more about what’s on at the movies than their Bible.

Critics from other religions and outside of the church:

There is one huge eternal problem within all religions. (True biblical Christianity is not a religion.) The problem is that all religions believe in salvation by works and the keeping of laws.

True biblical Christianity operates on faith and grace as opposed to law and works. And never the twain shall meet. You can’t join Christianity. You can only be born into it through blood. You cannot become a Christian by keeping any set of laws.

Every religion rejects the supernatural work of the shed blood and cross of our Messiah, which forever separates between everything of God and not.

So as we deal with critics of the religions out there, these are root issues. In most cases you can end a criticism or attack very quickly by going directly to this bottom line instead of arguing about all sorts of other ins and outs.

What the unsaved want is salvation without the Saviour, heaven without holiness and all the glories of eternity without the inconvenient, interfering, politically incorrect Messiah Yeshua. It’s good to keep in mind that all argument is futile, if it ignores and rejects the cross.

They think God is just what and who they think He is! They have created a god in their own image and expect to be welcomed into heaven. What a shock they have coming!

Critics from the godless and atheists:

These types are perhaps the worst to deal with. The common denominator behind all godless atheists is their love for themselves, materialism, and the ways of the world. Without exception they are demon filled, so you need to be equipped with the gifts to see into the spirit realm in dealing with them.

Some atheists contend that the Bible is full of scientific absurdities that could not have happened. I saw a poll in which 54% of Americans do not believe in creationism. Oh, I see, so that is the measure of truth!! Since when does some stupid poll made up of largely foolish people mean anything at all?

Some maintain that the Bible is full of contradictions. This is a common criticism but is so incredibly flawed. There are no contradictions in the Bible.

This is how the perception has come about:

There are over 25,000 surviving original texts of the Bible written in the three original languages of ancient Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek. The Bible was first translated into English from the Latin. The Catholic church infused into it words and verses that supported their own religion. Numerous other translations simply built on the King James and included those errors.

Other translations like the New King James go directly to the original manuscripts as their source. But there are still odd translational errors that have slipped through. Of course most Bibles except the NIV can be used for study and edification because they contain enough truth.

If you have an NIV, do yourself a favour and throw it out. It has thousands of major errors, changes, entire omissions of verses and a pro-abortion / homosexuality slant. It also denies the deity of our Lord. If you send me emails and argue with me. I’ll simply tell you this: Type into Google “NIV errors”; and happy reading.

There are a few discrepancies on the version of events reported by Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. These are actually not a problem at all. When you think of different reporters at a news event, each one sees some things the others don’t see. That does not mean they are wrong.

Also bear in mind that language itself is limited, and has changed with many words meaning different things today.

Now we come to dispensations. Here is a classic example of a so-called contradiction. In Genesis 4:15 it speaks of Cain murdering his brother. It says that he was not to be put to death, only marked. Then in Genesis 9:6 it says that if you shed man’s blood, by man your blood must be shed (Capital punishment).

Now we have an irreconcilable contradiction or do we? Actually there is no contradiction at all. The marking of Cain for murder occurred before the law “You shall murder” came along some 450 year later. Even God can’t make a law that has not come about yet retroactive, when it is only coming way off in the future.

Likewise there are numerous things that changed with each dispensation. There were some things that did not change and therefore carry through into all dispensations. Most of the so-called contradictions are a result of a dispensation change. For example, there are hundreds of differences in laws and principles between the Old and New Covenants.

Some point out that the Bible discriminates against women in some places and homosexuals in other places.

This is perhaps the most stupid argument I have heard in a long time. All that does is presume that homosexuality is right and always has been right because blind foolish people today think its right. It has never been right in either the Old Covenant or the New, with numerous verses condemning it.

The Bible does not discriminate against women. Of course this depends on your view of discrimination. The Bible has roles for men and women. Try reading Proverbs 31.

The big bottom line is that if you think the Bible is full of contradictions, then you think God is wrong. If you think that, you think you are right and above Him. Perhaps you should appoint yourself as His boss.

It’s impossible for God to be wrong on anything ever!

Some big recurring criticism:

●Yeshua is not God: Matthew 1:23, Isaiah 9:6, 2 Peter 1:1, John 1:14 John 8:58 and many more.

●Yehsua is not the only way to be saved: John 14:6, Acts 4:12, John 17:3, John 3:36, 1 Timothy 2:5, Romans 10:9,

●The 6000 year-old earth conundrum: It is 6000 years since the creation of Adam. The earth is far older. The earth is millions of years old and was inhabited by nations under the ruler ship of Lucifer before his fall. The pre-Adamic creation is a very interesting study.

●The Ark would have been far too small for two of all animal types: That is quite true, but the Bible says that it was two of every kind. In other words, two of every species type, and only land-borne animals. Some people have done these calculations and they fit the ark-size exactly.

The miraculous Bible:

Everything about God is supernatural and miraculous. We are only now beginning to find out of some of the hidden great miracles and wonders of the Bible. Modern archaeology, science, medicine, technology, psychology and so much more is confirming the veracity of the scriptures. There have been a great many books written on this in recent years.

One of the astounding miracles lies in Bible numerics. (Not numerology, which is an occult practice) Here is the quick short version:

Bible numbers have meanings originating from the Bible itself.

For example: One = unity, two= division, three= trinity, four= the world, five= grace, six= man under sin, seven= spiritual perfection, eight= resurrection, nine= finality, thirteen = sin, rebellion to God and so on.

The original texts of the Bible were written in three alpha-numeric languages. This means that each letter has a numeric value. So you can simply add up the numeric value of a word.

People have since discovered that every single word or title used for our Messiah adds up to a multiple of eight (resurrection), except for one. This is the title in Hebrew “Jesus of Nazareth King of the Jews”, which adds up to a multiple of thirteen (sin, rebellion.) It was on the cross that He became sin and rebellion for us!

Every single enemy of God in the Bible adds up to a multiple of thirteen!

This is an enormous wonderful subject. It is what got my own father saved. There have been a number of very good books on the subject, the most comprehensive being “Number in scripture” by EW Bullinger.

There are other codes and picture-based alphabets that are also amazing. The Otiot is a picture-based alphabet which is just incredible. Please have a look at the Alan Horvath’s YouTube channel for more on this.

The funny thing is that people have tried to prove God and His word wrong since time began. No one has ever succeeded, and yet people still try. What futility! How dumb can you be!

A great proof of the authenticity of the Bible:

The plot of the course of the children of Israel from their creation, to their rebellion and captivities, to their return to their land in spiritual blindness, to the opening of their spiritual eyes, to the creation of the state of Israel, to the recapture of Jerusalem and to all the opposition against them in these days – was all prophesied in the Bible thousands of years ago.

There are still a few terrible and magnificent prophecies relating to Israel, Jerusalem and the Jewish people that need to be fulfilled. The pattern of fulfilment will continue to be just the same as it has been!

Unbelievably, all those who come against God’s plans for Israel, don’t even know that they themselves are prophesied against in the Bible!

A beautiful thing:

There are many of these sorts of things in the Bible. If you take the names of the descendents of Adam to Noah and apply the word meanings of their names, it paints a spectacular picture. In the table below, the names are on the left and the name meanings on the right. Now just read the meanings as a sentence from top to bottom:

The Godly counsellor:

2 Timothy 3:16 “All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

At various times we all need to be involved in helping people who get into various forms of trouble and need counsel. It is one of my favourite topics. I have written a fair bit on the subject and encourage you to have a look at the following editions.

Please do save these editions as references and source material for counselling.

►Edition 83: “Counselling believers in perilous times.” Click HERE

►Edition 104: “Turning curses into blessing”. Click HERE

Final thoughts:

The most incredible and amazing thing, which is beyond my understanding is that people still try to prove God wrong, exalting their lives of evil and sin above God and His word of purity and holiness. The futility of exalting yourself in whatever way above God is beyond words.

If you have a problem believing God and His word, try believing first even if you don’t understand yet, and pretty soon everything starts to fall into place. If you continue in disbelief, nothing will change for you.

I took this picture at sunset in the Kalahari Desert.

Shalom and grow in grace!