Peter Witkowski Discipleship

Identifying Fake Christians: Teachers of Dreams

spy blogSatanic spies have infiltrated the church, intent on wrecking the peace, unity, and doctrines of God’s people. While Bunyan’s Christian saw Formalist and Hypocrisy jump over the wall of salvation onto the narrow way, the average Christian seldom encounters such open hostility to the kingdom of God. Those who enter the church without passing through the hill of calvary at first appear to be as devoted to God as those who entered by the narrow gate.
Aware of this troubling reality, Jude tells Christians how to discern between true and disingenuous faith. Those who serve Satan reveal their true character by appealing to dreams to encourage sexual immorality, to deny the authority of Jesus, and to blaspheme angels.
Though most modern Christian would look crossed at anyone who said they slept with their Bible under their pillow and awoke the next morning with a special message from God, dreams remained a valid means of divine communication in the biblical era. God communicated to Joseph and the wisemen through dreams. Daniel and Joseph also received communications from God while sleeping. The satanic spies of Jude’s day did not dance off into imaginary land when they spoke of dreams. They erred not in claiming to have access to God’s word. They erred because they misrepresented God’s word. They took God’s clear commands about purity and obedience and twisted them into stating the opposite. Sexual sin was now licensed, encouraged, and permitted. The deity of Jesus was doubted. Feelings, human experience, and internal emotion became the defining marks of the false teachers. They prefaced their statements with, “Thus said the Lord” and then proceed to devote to deny the clear revelation of the Scriptures. Jeremiah laments

How long shall there be lies in the heart of the prophets who prophesy lies, and who prophesy the deceit of their own heart, who think to make my people forget my name by their dreams that they tell one another, even as their fathers forgot my name for Baal? 28 Let the prophet who has a dream tell the dream, but let him who has my word speak my word faithfully. What has straw in common with wheat? declares the Lord. (Jer. 23:26-27).

Not all who claim to know God’s word truly know it. Not ever pastor, parachurch leader, and professor who proclaims to speak for Jesus speaks for Jesus. Many claim to be speaking for him while allowing young men and women to engage in sexual sin. They say God would not give us urges if he did not want us to exercise them. They give license to divorce, abortion, and homosexuality as well. The false teachers must license and encourage sexual sin for “sexual immorality, impurity, and sensuality” are the works of the flesh (Gal 5:19). They lack the power of God found in the resurrection of Jesus Christ to overcome their own sin. Thus, they indulge in sexual sin and encourage others to do so for they know nothing else.
When they deny God’s sexual ethic, they also undermine the whole gospel. Jesus restricted sexual expression to the marriage bed stating,

“Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate. (Matt 19:4-6).

If Jesus misunderstood God’s sexual ethic, humanity has little reason to trust Jesus salvific teachings. He ceases to be the God, man who holds the universe together. He becomes a inspiring but somewhat antiquated religious sage. The false teachers destroy the authority of the Gospel, proclaiming God to be evolving.
Such denials feed upon logical insecurity. The Christian faith does not evolve from age to age. Jude encourages men and women to contend for the faith because it was “once for all delivered to the saints.” Any message from God will align with all of the earlier messages from God. John 15:26-27 reminds its readers that,

“But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me. And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning.”

God works in unison with himself. The Father, the Son, and Spirit all promote the same message. To pit one against the other in the name of relevance, culture revolution, or love is to defame the very word of God. Those who say “Thus says the Lord” and then proceed to deny the content of the Bible have never walked up the hill of Calvary and repented of their sins.

Have you entered by the narrow gate? What comes after, “Thus says the Lord?”

Peter Witkowski Discipleship

Do Christian Sacrifices Payoff?

We are often tempted to wonder was it worth it? Was it worth it to give up family vacations, newer cars, and our kids’ sports’ careers for the faith? We see our neighbor drive up in her new Lexus, we hear a dad at school talk about his family’s latest vacation and we wonder: Does God notice? The self-centered families seem to be doing just fine while we scrape and pinch to get our kids new shoes. They seemingly have everything that we have given up. What gives?

In Mark 10:28, Peter brings up this very point with Jesus. He points out that he and the disciples have left everything. They have made the sacrifice that the rich young ruler would not make. They have left all for Jesus. They are following him. And now Peter like us wants to know: Does God care?

Thankfully, the answer is an amazing and full yes.  Jesus says,

Truly I say to you there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life. But the many who are first will be last, and the last first.

Jesus understand that following him carries real cost. People will hate us. We will lose friends because we refuse to get drunk, engage in sexual immorality, and look the other way while our brother defrauds an insurance company. Standing on truth and calling sin evil and calling people to embrace Christ will cost us everything we cling to in this life. The gospel cost John Bunyan, the author of Pilgrims Progress, years in jail. It cost Willaim Wilberforce, who outlawed slavery in England his reputation, health, and wealth. It cost the Atlanta  Fire Chief his job. The gospel has real cost. But it also has real benefits. When we embrace Christ we embrace the people of God.

In Soviet Russia, A pastor was thrown into prison for preaching the gospel. He left behind a wife and two children who were promptly sent to the harsh winter land of Siberia. Having little food and no friends, they cried out to God for help.

A little over 18 miles away, deacon was being divinely awoken from his sleep. He felt God telling him to take food in his church’s recently restocked pantry to first house he saw in the next town over. The deacon argued with God, running over all the dangers, The ranged from the bitter cold to wolves. But still, he felt the Holy Spirit telling him to go. He heard, “You don’t have to come back. You just have to go.” So on faith, he ventured forth. When he got to the cabin, he knocked loudly on the door. He greeted the surprised pastor’s wife and told her, “Our church collected this food for you. Be fed. When this runs out, I’ll bring more.” (The Insanity of God).

This is the beauty of the gospel. God is huge. Following him cost us everything. But God has not forgotten us. He sent his son to die for us. Jesus is the perfect and unbreakable promise from God. He will care for all of our needs not because we are great. He cares for our needs because he is great. He does not do things in accordace with our timing or approved methods. He does things better. He gives us new families and new homes bond together by his love. The family in Russia lost their father and gained all kinds of brothers and sisters in Christ. Following Christ is hard. We lose much in this world but we gain the church. We gain the people of God. That is a great exchange.

But even more than that, we gain eternal life. Sorrow ends. We will be with Christ in heaven. Life may seem hard. It may seem that we are losing. But do not lose heart, God saves. He does the impossible. He will care for us and bring us to heaven.

Consequently, many of the first people that we would place in the kingdom of God will not be there. And many of the drug addicts, wife beaters, porn addicts, greedy swindlers will be there because they have repented and trusted Jesus. They will be there because God saves. They will be there because they have found that true life comes from following Christ.

When we are tempted to despair, when we are tempted to think that we have a sacrificed too much, we must remember that God is good. God has and is and will continue to care for us. Everything we give up will be replaced with something better – the family of God and eternity with God. Our sacrifices our worth it. When we embrace Christ we get more than benefits, blessings, and joy than we could ever imagine. We get the people of God and God himself! 

So is the sacrifice worth it? 

Peter Witkowski Apologetics, Pain & Suffering

3 Truths From Bunyan That Will Help Our Kids Survive Today’s Intolerant Culture:

religious-intoleration-blogGod never intended for our religion to be a personal, private thing. Yet, we are increasingly told by our society to make it so. Our kids are told to avoid prayer and religious conversation. What is good in the home is now deemed evil when it becomes public discourse. Talking of Christ is deemed to be divisive and hurtful by our culture.

How do we respond? Do we encourage our kids to obey their authorities? Or do we encourage them to rebel and protest?

The pastor and theologian, John Bunyan, faced a similar complaint several hundred years before us. He was encouraged by the legal system of his day to keep his religious beliefs within the confines of his “family.” When he refused to keep his religion to himself, Bunyan was thrown into jail. From his life and testimony, we can learn three things about how to respond to lack of religious toleration in the 21st Century.

1. What is good for the home is good for all:

The soul that clings to Christ will increasingly become more loving, kind, patient, and caring. And since talking about God and the Bible helps knit our souls and character ever closer to God’s Word, we must make it a point to talk of Jesus in our home. And since it is good for us to talk of Jesus in our home, we must be willing to talk about him in our school. Does this mean that everyone will like us? No. Does this mean some will be offended at our words? Yes. But if we truly believe God’s Word has life within it and that it possesses the power to change people for their and our society’s good, then we must share it with others even when teachers and lawmakers tell us not to speak. As Bunyan said,

If it was lawful to do good to some, it was lawful to do good to more. If it was good duty to exhort families, it was a good to exhort others.

2. Don’t hold anyone captive:

Bunyan spoke boldly for Christ. Some estimate that thousands of people would come to hear the tinker’s sermons, which were often delivered in a barn or field. But Bunyan was very clear. He did not force anyone to listen to him. He was gracious to all. As he told his judges,

I shall not force or compel any man to hear me; but yet if I come into any place where there is a people met together, I should according to the best of my skill and wisdom, exhort and counsel them to seek of the Lord Jesus Christ, for the salvation of their souls.

In short, Bunyan did not attack anyone with the Bible. If they would not hear him, he left them alone. But if they would hear him, he would boldly proclaim Christ. We too must respect the wishes of others. If they ask us to let them be, if they ask us to stop sharing Christ, and if they tell us no thank you, we must respect their wishes. But if they will hear us, we must preach Christ. We should always be ready to preach and counsel like Bunyan was. But we must never force anyone to hear us against their will.

3. We must remember our allegiance is to Christ:

If we stand on the gospel, we will not be popular with all people. They will ask us to stop even our respectful communication of truth. Our kids very well may be threatened with bad grades, expulsion from school, or banishment from the starting roster. But when the time comes, we must stand with Christ. This world and all its honors are passing away. If we conform our faith to the will of those around us, we will deny Christ and find only despair. But if we cling to Christ as Bunyan did and experience our own prison sentence, we can trust that God will take care of us. As Bunyan wrote,

Let the rage and malice of men be never so great, they can do no more, nor go any further, than God permits them; but when they have done their worst, We know all things shall work together for good to them that love God.

Our allegiance first and foremost must be to Christ. Are you and your kids ready to follow Him?