 |
The Bible Apostolic Logo features the
golden sun rising
from a
deep blue
morning sky. The Bible as the one foundation upon which we build and
are
establishes is marked open by the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, the
Great
Creator who so loved us that He became flesh and dwelt among us, then
bled
and died to pay the debt for our sins. Then the golden sun arc doubles
to represent the open tomb from which He arose triumphant. The
descending
dove represents the coming of the Holy Spirit to us and the flame
represents
the fire and power of the Holy Spirit in the life of every true
believer.
When asked if we are Fundamentalist, we are more Fundamental than they.
Are we Evangelistic? Very!
Are we Baptist? We place a higher value on
Biblical
water baptism than the Baptists.
Are we Pentecostal? We definitely
believe
in the entire of the Acts 2 experience including that the promise of
2:38
and 39 is to all that the Lord our God shall call.
Are we Apostolic?
Our
desire and goal is to preach, teach and practice that exact same Gospel
that Jesus Christ and His Original Apostles taught and would still be
teaching
if here in person, as we prayerfully try to be their faithful
representatives.
—
Samuel M. Smith,
Presiding Elder
|
|
The Look Alikes
|
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Volume 14
No. 01
January 6, 2010 |
This message
was first written by Samuel M. Smith in Up Way for Christians magazine Winter 1972-73 issue. I feel led
that this is a good message with which to start the new year of 2010.
|
|
|
“They’re
identical twins!" says the neighbor
from down
the street.", They're alike in every way."
Not so," says
their
mother. "Susy is sweet and gentle and considerate and tries hard to be
the nicest person possible. But Sally is mean and irritable and hard to
get along with. She has a bad temper and is extremely selfish. I have
no trouble telling them apart. "
To an outsider, one not well acquainted with
the,
twins, they seem alike. They look enough alike that the casual observer
has difficulty telling them apart. They live in the same house, belong
to the same natural family, yet anyone who really knows them knows they
are really worlds apart.
In the
automobile
dealer's showroom are two cars of exactly the same make and model. They
are the same color, and carry the same equipment, yet one will go a
hundred thousand miles without a wrench ever being turned on it. It
will be photographed with its proud owner and be used in the
manufacturer's advertising program. The other, in a matter of weeks or
months, will be paraded in front of the dealer's showroom with lemons
painted all over it, Its owner will have a tale of woes and mechanical
defects that would take hours to tell about. They looked alike, but one
car has it and the other doesn't.
Now consider
the
diamond. Here is something that most of us are familiar with. The
genuine diamond is one of the most valuable substances known to-man. On
the other hand, the artificial may be only a chip of relatively
worthless glass or a paste composition, yet to the inexperienced eye,
it appears to be just as good as the genuine. In fact, for some
purposes, it is as good. Most wealthy people who have valuable,
diamonds keep the real article locked safely away and wear cheap
imitations lest someone hold them up and take their valuable diamond.
Until the robber has taken it to a fence and tried to convert it into
ready cash, he doesn't know he has a worthless piece of glass, a
bit of junk for which the dealer won't give him a dime. Only the
closest examination by an expert can tell the difference.
In the early
days of
our country, not many people had access to any means of mechanical
printing at all. Counterfeiting of currency was either a matter of
unprofitably lengthy hand work, or simply not attempted at all. But as
printing equipment and other like means of making better counterfeits
became available, the government found it necessary to devise means of
detecting the fake. Special bonded paper
|
with
fine bits of red and blue lint imbedded into it, special inks, and
special serial number identification made it harder to make passable
counterfeits. As counterfeiting methods improved, so did means of
detecting. In turn, the
counterfeiters had to improve their own technology, even as the
government further refines detection still more.
The
counterfeit
twenty-dollar bill looks as identical to the real one as it is possible
to make it. Every mark and every line is painstakingly checked to
assure that even under close examination it cannot be easily detected.
If the counterfeiter is successful, his product may even pass some bank
tellers and store clerks and thus go for some time without detection.
The longer he can go undetected, the more of his fake money he can
pass, and the greater his profit. No one ever counterfeits something
worthless.
A century ago, with
counterfeiting rare, the methods of detection were relatively simple -
the feel of the paper and the color of the ink were enough for the
practiced eye to detect immediately. Laboratory testing was
unnecessary. But as technology improved the counterfeiters quickly made
use of it to improve their product. Today it may take hours of
laboratory testing to be certain a suspected bill is phony.
So, too, the false
Christian. He must make his product as like the real as he can to avoid
detection. It must have every appearance of being genuine. His doctrine
must be thoroughly based on the Bible, but since it was not issued from
God, it will lack a few tell-tale details. It will fool most, but not
the "very
elect." One of the ways in
which the false can be detected is the lack of the fruits of the Holy
Spirit. No love, no joy, no peace, no patience, selfish. If you know
some professing Christian or minister like this who is obviously not
bearing the fruits of the Spirit, begin checking for a counterfeit. But
don't be so busy checking that you can't in love and compassion extend
a helping hand to that one should he sincerely want the truth - instead
of a counterfeiter, maybe he is just not yet in tune with the Lord, and
you can point the way to Jesus.
In the New Testament,
Jesus tells the parable of the tares. (Matthew 13:24). The good landowner and his servants
plowed and prepared the soil, then sowed good seed for a crop of wheat.
But the good man had an enemy — likely someone jealous of his success —
Continued on page 12
UP WAY for CHRISTIANS
|
the LOOK ALIKES
Continued from page 9
and this enemy slipped into his field during the night and sowed tares
- a look-alike wild wheat of no real value because its grain is too
small. The look-alike wild wheat sprouted right along with the real
wheat, and by the time it was discovered, both had grown until the
roots were intertwined, and to uproot one would uproot the other even
if they could be safely told apart. One plant valuable for food, the
other worthless, yet until the time of harvest, they now must grow
together. This is the only sure way not to uproot the good wheat. The
good wheat will be gathered into barns, but the tares will be burned.
Doubtless, the enemy hoped the good man would pull out the tares and so
pull out his crop, or else the tares draw out enough soil moisture and
nutrients as to seriously reduce the crop.
Jesus likened this to the church world.
The good man was God, and Satan, His archenemy. Obviously, if Satan
made his appearance as the wicked one he is, he would fool no one, and
indeed everyone would shun him. Instead he tries to come as an angel of
light. Since man has the built-in desire to have the approval of the
Almighty God who created him - even those who insist that they are
athiests have what to them is an unexplainable urge for the approval of
some unseen fate or power that somehow rewards the good and punishes
the evil. So the most natural approach for God’s enemy to use is to
have his own servants pose as ministers of God’s gospel, but teach what
the Apostle Paul calls, “doctrines of devils.” (I Timothy 4:1).
From the very beginning, Satan has used this pattern of deceit,
Appearing as an angel of light, Satan, masked behind the flesh of the
serpent, (at that time a beautiful creature) his first question
conveyed the impression that he already knew the answer to the question
he asked. “Hath God said,?” After Eve's reply, he went on to declare
that God knew that if Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden fruit, they
would become wise as gods and they would not really die. He appeared to
have the inside scoop on what God meant and intended. Today, many
ministers use the exact same method.
How very like today when supposed men of God use human logic to reason
that God couldn't or wouldn't condemn a man to eternal punishment just
because he disobeyed God’s direct commandments. Salvation is a
free gift, and that means there is no cost at all to it, they insist.
This is a wonderful truth when rightly understood in the sense in which
it was written. The poorest beggar can afford salvation because it is
free of monetary cost, but to say that it costs, absolutely nothing is
to make Jesus, Paul and James all liars. Jesus states in Luke 14:26-33
that we must hate or despise those we would normally love in comparison
to our love for Him. He goes on to say that we must count the cost. (See also Matt.10:37-39.) In the
38th verse of Matthew 10, Jesus speaks of taking up our crosses and
following Him. Surely that is a
UP WAY for CHRISTIANS
|
price
to pay. In John
15:18-21, Jesus declared that His true followers would be hated of the
world, and that is certainly a dear price to pay.
Like a master saboteur, the counterfeit christian must infiltrate the
ranks of christendom and appear to be a good and loyal citizen so as to
win the conf idence of his fellow workers and the supervisors in order
to gain access to the inner workings of the factory where he can gain
useful information for his superiors in his homeland, and at the
appropriate time, place the bomb to smash the place to bits. Here the
church is the factory in which mankind is changed from a carnal
creature of clay into a beautiful new spiritual being. This Satan wants
sabotaged.
Typical of the mis-information the counterfeit christian will try to
pass out to those around him is the idea that as long as we live in
these fleshly bodies, we can never live truly holy lives. Then why is
holiness one of the most mentioned subjects in the Bible next to
praising the Lord and love ? You' 11 never have joy and peace on this
life nor make heaven your eternal home without holiness. Not your own
holiness, but that of the born again new creature in Jesus Christ. (See Hebrews 12:14).
How will you know the true and avoid the look-alike christian? First,
by their fruits. If they are bearing the fruits of the Holy Spirit,
winning souls, and full of praise, heed them well. But if they are
continually thinking of their own advancement and wellbeing, talking
about how far from God you can live and still be saved, instead of how
to draw near to God so He can draw near to you, beware that man!
Remember. The real Christian will not be trying to “get by” with doing
as little for the Lord Jesus as he can. He will be seeking ways to
please and serve his Lord and Master!
— S.
M. S.
May The Lord of Peace
Grant You
His Own
Perfect
Peace
Both Now
and All the
New Year
Through!
Follow peace with all men, and
holiness, without which no man
shall see the Lord.
(Hebrews. 12:14).
|
|
UP
WAY PUBLICATIONS INTERNATIONAL 
| UP
WAY
Created
using 
