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InTheLight
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Joined: 2003/7/31
Posts: 2850
Phoenix, Arizona USA

 Distinct Culture - BH Clendennen

I've been pondering the battle between truth and tolerance that is going on in our culture and in the church. I found this article helpful in clarifying this matter.

[b]Distinct Culture[/b]

The Holy Ghost in us, is the mind, the will, the emotions, and the consciousness of God. If we truly have been filled with the Holy Ghost we will love what God loves, hate what God hates, and weep over what God weeps over. This is that which will truly distinguish us as the children of the most High God. The church is a distinct culture, she is not of this world. If for any reason she loses that unworldliness she at that point becomes a misrepresentation of God. Politics have no place in the function of this organism; she has one overriding principle and purpose, to display God's Son to a lost world.

Since the church is the purpose of God, and is also the means by which the purpose is realized, it is imperative that we understand this one truth: "To mold any distinct culture or society the thinking of that society must be controlled." Every dictator since Nimrod has understood this principle. Stalin would not allow Russians to receive mail from out of the country, the radio, television, and newspapers were only allowed to say or print what he wanted the people to read or hear. By totally controlling their thinking he could absolutely control the masses. The system was so effective that the Russian people actually thought Americans were slaves to the state.

I see the Church and the Kingdom of God, as a way of life, a nation among nations, but not of them. We are a select, elect culture with our own views, ideals, goals, values, ethics, with its members bound together by the Holy Ghost. These views, ideals, goals, values, and ethics are the views, ideals, goals, values, and ethics of another. In the "New Birth" we received Christ, and now the work of Him, who came to guide us into all truth, is to conform us to the image Him who declared Himself to be "The Truth". Within these inner actions the first initiative of the Church is to set forth as it presents itself as a spiritually transformed organism or body, and exemplifies, transmits, and expresses within itself and to the world the kind of interrelations and attitudes God requires of His people.

Two cannot walk together unless they are agreed. Unity is only possible on these grounds. We ultimately become what we believe; we are molded by ideas. To be a unit we must mold to the same ideas. Preaching must be direct. There can be no place for the ecumenical thinking of our time. Truth is more important to God than unity. In Galatians chapter two Paul rebukes the Apostle Peter to his face, because he "walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel." No man knew the value of peace and unity better than the Apostle Paul. He wrote the chapter on Love (I Corinthians 13), he was the Apostle who exhorted the church to be of one mind. He was the Apostle who spoke of the church as one body, one spirit, one hope and one calling. Yet see how he acts. He withstands Peter to his face. Why would he do this? Because he knew the terrible consequence of allowing false doctrine to go unchecked is far worse than the loss of peace.

There are preachers and teachers who will, for the sake of what they call peace, put up with anything in the church. This mixture of truth and error, flesh and Spirit goes under the banner of love, and if you preach against it you are labeled a heresy hunter, or worse. These unity at any cost preachers would have agreed with Ahab, that Elijah was the troubler of Israel, and would have helped the princes of Judah stop the mouth of Jeremiah. I have no doubt, these of whom I speak, would have accused Paul of bigotry, and lacking love for rebuking Peter. Such men may be sincere, but they are sincerely wrong. We have no right to expect anything but the pure Gospel, unmixed and unadulterated. To maintain this pure Gospel we must be willing to make any sacrifice, to hazard peace, to risk dissension, and to risk the chance of division. When every man is left to do his thing all is lost.

Only those who agree with, and think like God can be a part of the Bride. As believers we are on probation now. We are on probation for dominion. The bride is destined to rule with Christ, but those who rule with Him must first be ruled by Him. God allows the enemy to assail us, to test us along every line with one thing in view, that we may be with Christ in dominion. "How can two walk together except they be agreed." To rule with Christ you must agree with Christ, which means we reject every system that does not agree with Him who is the Word of God. Jesus said, "many are called, but few are chosen." Every born again believer is called to be a part of the Bride, but few are chosen. It is the every day tests of life that eliminates the majority.

So in this New Creation, we have to do our learning spiritually. We must pass from one realm to the other progressively. We have to battle not for our salvation, but for our inheritance. We have to be tested and tried, not to prove ourselves good Christians, but prove our love and faithfulness to Christ.

God can never grant authority to one that is at variance with Him. A variable is one who does not entirely agree. In today's ecumenical climate, when men are attempting to make every thing the church, when all roads seem to lead to Rome, we are told to focus on those things which we agree upon. For the true church to join with Rome is to tell the world that God has two plans of salvation. Rome believes you are saved by works, the Bible teaches you are saved by Grace. Such mixture produces that which misrepresents God and cannot rightly be called The Church. How can every man sit under his own vine, etc., if you believe one thing about God and I believe another?

The Bride is limited to those whom God can trust. The only person in history who has earned that trust is Christ. Christ as a man was the first born of a new race, and every "born again" believer is predestined to be conformed to His image. The reason is simple; God must have the same trust and confidence in our thoughts, our actions, and our obedience, as He does in Christ. To sit upon His throne, to live, to reign with Christ means, you must come to a place of maturity where there is stability and qualities of Godliness. (Marks of spirituality). Our mentality must mature in God, and we must reach that plateau of understanding and authority to where we are wiser than the devil. If we are to rule with Him in eternity, we must learn how to judge righteously and control the fallen nature. We must as the church possess the power and government of God.

For this the Holy Ghost must be in absolute control. Self must die. This is where most fail, because their life style conditions them to have their own way. The Holy Spirit will not share His life with your life. Two persons with two different wills cannot inhabit the same body, one must go.


_________________
Ron Halverson

 2007/4/4 12:01Profile
PreachParsly
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Joined: 2005/1/14
Posts: 2164
Arkansas

 Re: Distinct Culture - BH Clendennen

Quote:
If we truly have been filled with the Holy Ghost we will love what God loves, hate what God hates, and weep over what God weeps over. This is that which will truly distinguish us as the children of the most High God. The church is a distinct culture, she is not of this world. If for any reason she loses that unworldliness she at that point becomes a misrepresentation of God. Politics have no place in the function of this organism; she has one overriding principle and purpose, to display God's Son to a lost world.



Amen. Hbr 1:9 Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, [even] thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.

Thanks for posting the article.


_________________
Josh Parsley

 2007/4/6 12:56Profile





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