DISCIPLE

  by Robert Gessner (1930-2014) The church is not ashamed to bear the reproach of Christ. "For ye, brethren, became followers of the churches of God which are in Judea in Christ Jesus; for ye also have suffered like things of your own countrymen, even as they have of the Jews" (1 Thess. 2:14).      It is not the name of a local church that distinguishes it as being a pattern of the New Testament. The church may have a very unique title such as "The New Testament Church of Jesus Christ" and yet it may not follow the pattern displayed in the New Testament. It is not even the creed formulated by a local church that gives it the distinction of being patterned after the New Testament. The creed, as far as it goes, may be very true to New Testament theology, and yet the church may be far from meeting in a New Testament manner. Obviously, no church would meet New Testament credentials if it did not teach the basic truths of the New Testament; however, it is not just ...

   WILLIAM MACDONALD “My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight…” ( John 18:36 ) The fact that Christ’s Kingdom is not of this world is enough to keep me out of the world’s politics. If I participate in politics, then I am casting a vote of confidence in the system’s ability to solve the world’s problems. But frankly I have no such confidence because I know that “the whole world lies in the power of the evil one” ( 1 John 5:19 ). Politics has proved singularly ineffective in solving the problems of society. Political remedies are nothing but a Band-Aid on a festering sore; they do not get at the source of the infection. We know that sin is the basic trouble in our sick society. Anything that fails to deal with sin cannot be taken seriously as a cure. It becomes a matter of priorities, then. Should I spend time in political involvement or should I devote that same time to the spread of the Gospel? Jesus answer...

This excellent article was posted originally on the Israel My Glory website at the following address: https://israelmyglory.org/article/covenant-theology-whats-in-it-for-israel/      We encourage you to visit their site. Westminster Abbey, London Covenant Theology (as opposed to Dispensational Theology, which is what we believe) is a system that attempts to develop the Bible’s philosophy of history on the basis of two or three covenants. It represents the whole of Scripture and history as being covered by these covenants.      Covenant Theology did not begin as a system until the 16th and 17th centuries. It did not develop in the early church or the Middle Ages. 1 Kaspar Olevianus (1536–1587) was the founder of a well-developed Covenant Theology “in which the concept of the covenant became for the first time the constitutive and determinative principle of the whole system.” 2      The system started in ...

by Dr. Daniel Fuchs     A Christian is not a “a spiritual Jew” and the Church is not Israel. This year [1980, when the article was written] Israel celebrates her 32nd birthday. Actually she is celebrating her 3741st birthday! There has never been an interruption of continuity of the Abrahamic Covenant. God's covenant with Abraham has always been valid and it has never been transferred.     A large section of the Christian church, including many devout Bible-believing scholars, many evangelical denominations, and even some premillennialists, are deluded with the idea that because Israel nationally rejected their Messiah, her privileges were forfeited. They mistakenly think that God's purpose to bless the world through Abraham's natural seed has been transferred to the Church which they say without any biblical basis is the “spiritual Israel.”     According to their reasoning, the “spiritual Israel”– the Church – has supersede...

Replacement Theology teaches that the church takes the place of Israel, that God is finished with Israel and that today believers are a "spiritual Israel" or "the Israel of God" (Gal. 6:16). These errors are common in Reformed/Covenant theology, which has its roots in Roman Catholicism. The Roman Catholic church also believes that she takes the place of Israel. Strangely, all these seek to supersede Israel in the blessings but not in the curses and judgments. Confused thinking about Israel, the Gentiles and the Church has brought great confusion and done untold harm. The latest aberration is "Christian Palestinianism," which would recognize "Palestine" (Latin word for "Philistine") and give them the land that God gave to Israel forever. C. I. Scofield wrote an excellent article on the need to recognize and think clearly about the three major divisions of humanity as noted in 1 Corinthians 10:32. He wrote: Chapter 1 THE JE...

This article appeared in The Alliance Witness May 15, 1963, just two days after the death of Tozer. In a sense it was his valedictory, for it expressed the concern of his heart. Since this condition existed in the 1960s, one can only wonder what he would say of the evangelical churches in the 21st Century.     - - - -   HERE IS THE BURDEN of my heart; and while I claim for myself no special inspiration I yet feel that this is also the burden of the Spirit. If I know my own heart it is love alone that moves me to write this. What I write here is not the sour ferment of a mind agitated by contentions with my fellow Christians. There have been no such contentions. I have not been abused, mistreated or attacked by anyone. Nor have these observations grown out of any unpleasant experiences that I have had in my association with others... Let me state the cause of my burden. It is this: Jesus Christ has today almost no authority at all among the ...

This chapter first appeared in The Alliance Witness in 1937. Twenty-three years later (1960) it was reprinted because, said Dr. Tozer, "apparently it had little or no effect, for the conditions it describes have grown increasingly worse year by year. And to make matters still more serious, crippled churches have now been accepted as normal. . . . When will this abuse end?" The article has been widely circulated since then and still bears repeating. [Note: it is more needful than ever in 2018 when practically all semblance of Christian faithfulness has disappeared and churches have become entertainment and cultural centers. It is doubtful that many give more in offerings to the Lord than what they spend on annual vacations, or show as keen an interest in Christian growth and sacrifice as they do in "fun" and "relaxation." In 1937 When Tozer wrote his article, some churches suspended the evening service in the summer months, and in 1960  when he reprint...

by H. A. Ironside WHAT IS OUR BLESSED HOPE?     As we thoughtfully read the words of our Lord Jesus recorded in the early verses of John 14 and as we consider the teaching given in the pauline epistles in regard to the hope of the church, it becomes increasingly evident that there is not the least hint that believers of this dispensation were to look forward to a long series of events preceding the return of the Lord Jesus to raise the dead in Christ and change the living and take them to Himself in the Father's house. This blessed hope is always presented as imminent, which it could not be if one had to suppose that the destruction and revival of the Roman empire, the rise of the antichrist, and the great tribulation, must precede that glorious event. Yet there are other scriptures that distinctly show, as we have seen, that there will be saints on the earth when these conditions prevail. But I trust it has already been made clear that they will not belong to the...