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Post by Brother Randy on Dec 24, 2005 8:34:36 GMT -5
Last nite as we where listening to the Christian radio station I heard something that really grieved my soul. Come from a man that alot of Christians look up to and hold in high regards. James Dobson was saying how our children need to have fun and it was OK for them to believe in Santa Claus!!!!!!!!!! { Going back to the ideal that we as Christians can't enjoy or have fun in life unless we are doing what the ungodly do.You know being a Christian is so boring. NOT} He even went as far as to read letters from Santa Claus on the program.
It is no wonder that Christians and our churches are going down hill fast when you have people like this leading the way. May God gives us the wisdom to not follow after folly like this and stay or get back on the narrow path. Lets show the world that there is joy in following the Lord and we don't have to live like the world to enjoy life.
Bro Randy
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Post by Brother Ben on Dec 24, 2005 11:05:50 GMT -5
First let me say, "Amen." I am thankful for some positive things James Dobson has contributed, but he harms "Biblical" Christianity by infusing "secular" psychology with it. This is not of God. I heard him on a broadcast say openly that his favorite music was rock and roll, not just CCM. This is the type of reasoning that causes us to accept unscriptural practices and customs. I remember when we were getting up there in children an relatives saying, "The Lord wants you to be wise," as if this would change our mind about trusting the Lord about how many children we should have.
For him to say we need to practice Christmas/Santa, etc., in order to have real fun, pokes at the things that the Bible says brings real joy and happiness.
1Sa 18:6 And it came to pass as they came, when David was returned from the slaughter of the Philistine, that the women came out of all cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet king Saul, with tabrets, with joy, and with instruments of musick.
We can have joy when we get victory over the enemies of God (spiritually, the world, the flesh, and the devil.)
1Ch 15:16 And David spake to the chief of the Levites to appoint their brethren to be the singers with instruments of musick, psalteries and harps and cymbals, sounding, by lifting up the voice with joy
We can have joy in singing the songs on Zion.
1Ch 29:9 Then the people rejoiced, for that they offered willingly, because with perfect heart they offered willingly to the LORD: and David the king also rejoiced with great joy.
We can have joy when we get our hearts right and give unto the Lord.
The list could go on and on. Pop psychology and pop Christianity will not stand too well if the Lord sends us through deep water.
Psa 5:11 But let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice: let them ever shout for joy, because thou defendest them: let them also that love thy name be joyful in thee.
Bro. Ben
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Post by George on Dec 24, 2005 11:08:48 GMT -5
Brother Randy, James Dobson is a "work of art" whom I cannot understand why any Christian would listen to or heed in any way. Not only does he profess what you have stated here but he also professes it is acceptable for children to go to movies that I would not even watch myself.
I also listened to him on a local "Christian" radio station some time back before I realized this station was "Christian" in name only. He was speaking of a movie that was quite bad containing both nudity and profanity and he was giving the okay for parents to allow their children to go to see that film. I am sorry but that causes my stomach to be upset!
James Dobson belongs right up there with Charles "Chuck" Colson, Janet Parshall, Dr. Charles Stanley and others.
Yours in Christ, George
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Post by bereanman on Dec 24, 2005 11:49:29 GMT -5
Yes, brother Randy, amen to your post. Unfortunately, this liberal form of "Christendom" has permeated almost every facet of true Christianity today. I also heard preachers where I live, pastors of good KJV churches, say that they would never "destroy" a child's joy of xmas by taking away their Satan Claus. That it was ok as long as the child was taught the difference between Satan Claus and Jesus.
I'm sorry but that just makes no sense. The Bible says it best:
James 1:8 A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.
James 4:8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.
Mat 6:24 No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
Mat 23:27 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness. Mat 23:28 Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.
The verses in Mat. 6 are speaking about mammon, but they can be applied in that we as humans need to experience joy, as a type of mammon or nutrient. But our joy nutrient needs to come from God not from the world.
And, although I would probably not speak to a man of God with the harshness of Mat. 23, the Lord was righteous when He said those words. Unfortunately it is needed today because the behavior of the pharisees, in a different form, is all too common today.
I here preachers preach hard against hellywood movies and theaters, yet they freely admit to spending hours in front of a hellivision every week. There's no consistency there. I for one don't expect a perfect preacher or church, they don't exist, but I sure would like a consistent one.
The sad truth is that even many "separated" fundamental preachers draw materials and ideas from guys like Dobson and the bunch that Brother George mentioned. This is why our blessed Lord tells us in His word to try the spirits to see whether they are of God or not. This is why the Bereans were honorably mentioned and were counted "more noble" than their brethren because they searched the Scriptures and live by the authority and conviction of God's word only.
May the Lord bless you.
Br. Tony
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Post by pastorsmate on Dec 24, 2005 12:18:07 GMT -5
Amen to you brethren, take a stand and then stand..
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Post by George on Dec 24, 2005 15:57:04 GMT -5
I say what an interesting concept! Mammon as a nutrient and being compared to joy? Are you at all familiar with the term mammon brother? Believe me, it has nothing to do with nutrients or is not in any way related to joy.
That is the definition of the word "mammon" from the Strong's. By the way it is exactly the same word as it appears all four times it is used in the King James Bible. Just so there is not room for confusion perhaps we ought look at the word "avarice" which appears in the definition of mammon. Since the word "avarice" itself does not appear in the Bible it is necessary to go to the Noah Webster's 1828 Dictionary of the English Language for the definition.
Did you see that the word "avarice" comes from the word aveo which means to covet? Notice also the definition refers to avarice as "an inordinate desire." And...it refers to gaining and possessing wealth.
Mammon as a nutrient and related to joy??? My goodness, you have me confused. From the definitions I have given above which come out of reputable sources it sounds to me as if mammon relates to sin. There certainly is no joy in sin.
Yours in Christ, George
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Post by Brother Ben on Dec 24, 2005 21:37:03 GMT -5
I believe Bro. Tony, if I am reading the heart of his message correctly, is saying, no man can draw his sustainance from two sources, that is to say, God and mammon, or truth and error, or Jesus and Santa. Joy is derived from filling ourselves with truth, not, persay, the unrighteous (mammon) of worldliness, sin, or error.
I understand, as George was so carefully explaining, that there is a difference between the "actual" definition of mammon and the use Bro. Tony was drawing from it.
Like avarice (mammon,) an inordinate affection with gain, we cannot have fulfillment with the truthful ways of God and erroneous ways of this world. Because Dr. Dobson tires to use humanistic psychology mixed with Christianity, he produces a "mixed" message that cannot ultimately do any spiritual good. Or as James brings out, the unstability of a double mind or message.
I'm probably not making a clarification, but I just wanted to draw from Bro. Tony's remarks the "gist" of what he meant. Bro. Tony, if I have misread, please feel free to correct me. God bless you.
Bro. Ben
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Post by George on Dec 24, 2005 21:55:56 GMT -5
Nice bit of defense there Brother Ben. Perhaps therein lies the problem: I cannot go by what a person "meant." I can only go by what a person says and the written word is an extension of the voice.
The post I referred to clearly said that mammon was a form of sustenance and a form of or related to joy. No matter how I try to slice and dice that one it is wrong.
Yours in Christ, George
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Post by bereanman on Dec 26, 2005 17:06:39 GMT -5
The verses in Mat. 6 are speaking about mammon, but they can be applied in that we as humans need to experience joy, as a type of mammon or nutrient. I said you could apply it to joy because joy is something that we as humans need. Br. Ben, you understood what I was saying, thank you. Br. Tony
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Post by manasseh on Dec 26, 2005 19:11:31 GMT -5
Here comes another heavy post. Please forgive any appearances of it being without grace or without mercy. The truth is what we are seeking after, right?
This topic is exactly what my post on "The Joy of the Lord is Emnity With The World" addressed.
If there is any "joy" in Santa, then thy eye is not single, but has yet some darkness in it. Santa is fictious, the Lord Jesus Christ is alive, what do Light and darkness have in common in the mind? Can one drink from the cup of worldly joy and the spiritual joy of the Lord at the same time? Singleness of heart, soul, and mind doesn't allow room for such worldliness. How much of loving the Lord our God with all of our heart, all of our soul, and all of mind, allow for anything else?
Let our conversations be above, in heaven, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of the throne of God, and let it be limited as it pertaineth to the oracles of God and the Gospel of Christ Jesus, then we will never be found reproachable in the sight of unbelievers, or in the sight of the religious who have a form of godliness, but deny the power thereof.
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Post by Brother Ben on Dec 26, 2005 22:07:36 GMT -5
Phi 4:8 Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.
This is pretty simple.
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