"For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. Therefore watch, and remember...!"
(The stark warning of the Apostle Paul, in Acts 20:29-31)
This is my 2020 New Year message, for those whose ears are still open to receive it:
"For want of discernment, the door lost its lock;
For want of a door-lock, due caution was lost;
For want of due caution, the Church lost its Way;
For want of The Way, then Truth-teaching was lost;
For want of Truth-teaching, then thousands were lost;
And all for the want of discernment, Hell swelled!"
I hope and pray that this raw re-rendering of the well-known proverb about how the want of a horse-shoe nail, a thing that might seem to be no big deal yet actually triggers a chain of events that ultimately prove to be absolutely catastrophic, will cause people to think about the vital importance of discernment. May it, in the grace of God, prompt them to sincerely seek this precious spiritual gift, and to rigorously exercise it, for when all is said and done it's a matter of eternal life or the second death!
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A similar cautionary story is that of 'The Camel's Nose.' An unwise Arab allows a camel to poke its nose into his tent, but where the camel's nose goes, the rest of it soon follows until it is wholly inside and can't be ousted. It makes the tent its own comfortable home. As with the proverbial camel and the tent, so with deception and the Church! Give it an inch...
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MAY 2020 FIND YOU EARNESTLY CONTENDING FOR THE FAITH
WHICH WAS ONCE DELIVERED UNTO THE SAINTS (JUDE v3) -
BUT IN SO DOING, BEING EVER MINDFUL OF DEMONSTRATING THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT! (GALATIANS 5:22-23, EPHESIANS 5:9)
"And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you."
(Matthew 24:4)
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