This devotional is absolutely true. I had to rethink leaving SOMD because of it. My ministry is to unbelievers.
This is fairly long (SOMD restrictions forced breaking it into two parts) but worth the time to read.
This posted with permission of Bill Keller, liveprayer.com .
Part 1:
This is fairly long (SOMD restrictions forced breaking it into two parts) but worth the time to read.
This posted with permission of Bill Keller, liveprayer.com .
Part 1:
If this devotional is a blessing to you, maybe you have a friend or family member that would like to start receiving this daily word. You can forward this to them, and they can use the following link to subscribe. www.liveprayer.com/signup.htm
DAILY DEVOTIONAL TUESDAY DECEMBER 7, 2004
(John 10:26, Matthew 24:11, Mark 13:22, 2 Corinthians 6:14, 2 Thessalonians 3:2)
***DON'T MISS THE DAILY DEVOTIONAL TOMORROW! I will be doing a very special Devotional that will include a blessing for you to prosper in your finances so that you can be a blessing to people worldwide. It is a powerful word that will make a dramatic impact on your finances!
***LIVEPRAYER CHRISTMAS COOKIE CONTEST! Every Christmas, many people are so kind to send me recipes and different baked goods around Christmas, mostly cookies. So this year, I decided to start a new tradition here at Liveprayer and have a Christmas Cookie Contest. The rules are simple. The cookies must be home made, you must send a minimum of 3, and they need to arrive by 12/24. I have appointed myself as the judge and my decision will be final. I will put the name of the winner and the recipe in the Daily Devotional the first 7 days of 2005. You can send your delicious cookies and recipe to: Liveprayer, 6660 46th Ave North, St. Petersburg, FL 33709 Attn: Cookie Contest.
"Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?" (2 Corinthians 6:14 NIV)
The truth of God's Word is not negotiable. When you buy a house or car, you negotiate the price. In most business transactions, there are negotiations involving the details of the deal. In a marriage, you negotiate with your spouse about who takes out the garbage, who walks the dog, who has to get up in the middle of the night to change the diapers, as well as other day to day issues couples face. Negotiation is what two parties who are at odds with each other do to help them come together in agreement. It is actually a gift to be a great negotiator and is something we all have to do throughout the course of our lives. However, the one thing that is NOT NEGOTIABLE is the truth of God's Word!
One of the great lies from satan is that you can negotiate the truth of God's Word. The reason this is a lie is because the Bible is black and white, there is no gray. It represents Absolute Truth. Truth is not something for each person to decide for themselves, it has already been given to us in God's Word. That is why those who choose to live in rebellion to God and His Word, reject the truth of the Bible since it is the very truth that condemns their choice. One of the biggest traps I see Christians fall into, is compromising the truth of God's Word, trying to negotiate what parts of the Bible they like and what parts they don't. GOD'S WORD IS NOT NEGOTIABLE!
A few weeks ago, there was a great example of what I am sharing with you today. Back on November 14th, an "Evening of Friendship," was held at the Salt Lake City Tabernacle. This was an event co-sponsored by "Standing Together Ministries" and the Richard L. Evans Chair for Religious Understanding at Brigham Young University. "Standing Together" was formed in 2001 by an evangelical minister Greg Johnson to build stronger unity between the evangelical churches in Utah and the Mormon cult. Johnson is a radical ecumenist with a vision for uniting Christians for greater spiritual impact. This is a noble cause but the problem with Johnson's goal for Christian unity is that a Mormon is no more a Christian than a Muslim is!!! Anyone who studies Mormon theology will quickly understand that the god and jesus of the Mormon cult is NOT the God and Jesus of the Bible. This is because the Bible is not their final authority, the writings of that lunatic, pedophile Joseph Smith are!
This is the same problem with all of the ecumenical movements designed to bring people of the false religions of the world together as one. To be one with those who deny the Bible, you have to compromise the truth of God's Word and accept the teachings of these false religions. I am sorry my friend, but there is only ONE TRUTH and on that fact there can be NO COMPROMISE! This is not a new problem. It is something we read about almost since the beginning of man in the early chapters of Genesis at the Tower of Babel, throughout the Old Testament, in the Gospels where Jesus warned about the false religions, and throughout the New Testament in Paul's writings about false teachers and theology.
When man sinned, his connection to God was broken by that sin. There was a hole left in man that only God could fill. Each man has to make the choice to accept or reject God in his life. For those who reject God, that hole remains and in an effort to fill it, rebellious man dreamed up in his imagination the false religions of the world. THE CHRISTIAN FAITH IS TRACED BACK TO THE GARDEN OF EDEN AND CAME DIRECTLY FROM GOD OUR CREATOR. THE FALSE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD COME FROM THE HEARTS OF MEN WHO CHOSE TO LIVE IN REBELLION TO GOD.
Johnson put together this event at the Salt Lake City Tabernacle that included himself, Richard Mouw, President of Fuller Seminary, Contemporary Christian Musician Michael Card, and the featured speaker, Christian Apologist Ravi Zacharias. Mouw preceded Zacharias and amazingly apologized, yes apologized to the Mormon crowd of roughly 7,000 stating, "...we evangelicals have sinned against you. ... we have demonized you...." Since when was exposing the false gospel of the Mormon cult a sin, that is exactly what we are supposed to do! Also, the last I checked, those who lead people's souls into everlasting damnation ARE DEMONIC!
Zacharias then spoke. I have to say up front that I have known and followed Ravi's ministry for many, many years. I met him once years ago when I spoke at a function at Moody Church in Chicago. He has been a solid apologist for the Christian Faith and has done great works for the Kingdom. But why a seasoned man of God like Ravi would allow himself to be used as a pawn by the Mormon cult I can't explain. I can only imagine he saw this as an opportunity to share the real truth with an audience that has bought into the lies of the Mormon cult. Sadly, he squandered this great opportunity and gave a very watered down message on Jesus, a message those who buy into the false theology of Mormonism had no problem with even though the jesus in their mind is NOT the Jesus in the Bible or the Jesus Ravi was speaking about that night.