Obstacles on the Way to God- #12

12. There is only one spirit that influences people's decisions, and that is God's Spirit.

Examples from Scripture that refute this notion:

• "A man also or woman that hath a familiar spirit, or that is a wizard, shall surely be put to death: they shall stone them with stones: their blood shall be upon them." (Lev 20:27).
• "So Saul died for his transgression which he committed against the LORD, even against the word of the LORD, which he kept not, and also for asking counsel of one that had a familiar spirit, to enquire of it; And enquired not of the LORD: therefore he slew him, and turned the kingdom unto David the son of Jesse." (1Ch 10:13-14).
• "And there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit; and he cried out, Saying, Let us alone; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God. And Jesus rebuked him, saying, Hold thy peace, and come out of him. And when the unclean spirit had torn him, and cried with a loud voice, he came out of him." (Mar 1:23-26).
• "Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." (Eph 6:11-12).
• "Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world." (1Jn 4:1).

Obviously, there is more than one spirit at work, and even God Himself sometimes sends evil spirits upon the people (Jdg 9:23; 1Sa 16:14; 1Ki 22:21-23). Therefore, John's advice should be taken very seriously - "try", that is to say, "test" the spirits, whether they are in accordance with God's Law-Word, or not. There is only on way to test the spirits, and that is, to test them against scripture, and scripture alone.

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Obstacles on the Way to God- #7

7. The bible is to be understood mainly culturally.

"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 perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works." (2Ti 3:16-17).

If the bible is to be understood mainly culturally, Paul's statement is a lie.

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Obstacles on the Way to God- #6

6. There is such a thing as progressive revelation - God allowed people to sin for a while in the Old Testament times.

Examples from Scripture that refute this notion:

• "Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever." (Heb 13:8)

• God punished His people for transgressions, over and over again, since He is true to His covenant and upholds His Law. The whole Old Testament is full of such accounts. Our suggestion would be to read the five books of Moses, and the prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah as examples, to get an idea of God's righteousness.

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Obstacles on the Way to God - #5

5. God is a humanist and appoints the same rights and duties to men and women.

Examples from Scripture that refute this notion:

• God's Law does not value an individual person's life as the highest value, but puts God first. If someone violates God's Law and defiles himself, the people and the land, capital punishment is necessary to wash the sin away (see the following chapters for numerous examples: Exo 21, Lev 20, Lev 24, Num 35, Deu 13, Deu 17). In Deuteronomy, the phrase "thou shalt put the evil away from among you" clarifies the concept behind capital punishment: It is a means of loving your neighbor by not allowing anyone evil to dwell among the brethren to hurt them, lead them astray or defile them (Deu 17:7, 19:19, 21:21, 22:21, 22:24, 24:7). If God was a humanist, the worst thing that could happen would be the death of a person. But God's Law ranks higher than an individual life, so a grave violation of the Law that endangers all the brethren is to be paid for by the death of the transgressor (and sometimes also his household).
• Genesis shows the different roles of men and women in the dominion covenant (Gen 1:28). Eve is called Adam's help meet (Gen 2:18), not his equal. The curses that follow the fall in Gen 3 make their respective roles more difficult: Eve is going to bear her children in pain, and Adam is going to work the soil with more difficulties. Besides, the curses clarify that it is not Eve who should "run the show", but that it is Adam's responsibility to lead his house (Gen 3:16-17).
• Paul and Peter both stress the different roles of husband and wife, men and women, several times (1Cor 11:3-16 and 14:33-35; Eph 5:22-33; Col 3:18-24; 1Ti 2:9-15; Titus 2:1-8; Heb 11:8-12; 1Pe 3:1-7). To write off these roles (as well as God's judgments about what is abominable to Him and defiles us) as cultural, means to deny that the triune God is the same yesterday, today and forever (Heb 13:8), and that all Scripture is profitable for instruction (2Ti 3:16).

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Obstacles on the Way to God - #4

4. There is going to be a pre-trib rapture.

Examples from Scripture that refute this notion:

• Jesus prepares His disciples for the tribulations they will have to go through before He comes back: Mat 24 and 25 (the parable of the sheep and goats refers to unbelievers who help the brethren in tribulations as being saved for the love they show to God's people), Mar 13, Luk 21.
• Mat 24:40-41 does not speak about pre-trib rapture because those "taken" in the times of Noah were the ones that died in the flood, whereas the ones that were "left" were Noah and his family.
• 1Th 4:17 does not support a pre-trib rapture teaching because those that are "caught up together" are those that are still alive when the Son of Man comes, but He does not come back until AFTER the tribulations (Mat 24:29-30), and he that endures until the end will be saved (Mat 24:13).

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