En Garde!

Here’s The Word:

Matthew 12:30 He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad.

Luke 9:49-50 And John answered and said, Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name; and we forbad him, because he followeth not with us. And Jesus said unto him, Forbid him not: for he that is not against us is for us.

I often speak highly of those I consider to be ‘Forerunners in the Faith’. The most recent being E.M. Bounds, a man I became quite enamored with after being introduced to his writings on prayer through “The Power of Prayer”. It wasn’t until later on that I dug a little deeper into Bounds’ life. Bounds was a Methodist. Actually, he was part of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South which had split from the Methodist Episcopal Church (MEC) over the slavery issue. Now, if you’re thinking that Bounds, being part of the “South” church, automatically means that he must’ve been okay with slavery as opposed to the MEC proper… You’ve got another thought coming. But often times that’s just how we operate; we hear a word or phrase and immediately jump to a conclusion without even knowing what the real offense is. Even the idea of the teachings of “Methodism” may be enough to dissuade many of us “Reformed” thinkers from going any further.

Au Contraire (forgive me, I’m in a French state of mind) – I am totally not saying that there should be no differences that delineate our theological standing. There must be. This is an admirable thing I see in the disciples' comment in Luke. They were concerned, on guard for those who would come and try to draw men away after themselves under the guise of “Christ”. Our standing needs to be on the truth of Scripture. This is why we must prioritize “study time”, to clarify our understanding of the mind of Christ and be ready to “cease and desist” once we find ourselves (or others) heading down the wrong road. On the flip side of the account in Luke 9, the Truth that Jesus imparts to the disciples was probably encouraging because after that moment, the movement was bigger than they’d realized.

So that’s may prayer for us; that we’d know Truth as a deciding factor as we're attentive and watchful for heresies and counter-productive teachings that don’t honor Christ. But that we’d also not be immediately put off by titles or labels and quick to dismiss without really knowing where the error is. Dear Lord, help us to remain vigilant and on guard.

In Him,
Cros