Fundamentalism
There are fundamentals of the faith that should
not be rejected outright but this is not what we are discussing. We
are to go beyond the fundamentals and learn of the deeper things of God.
We are not to be carried away with every wind of doctrine and we are to
leave the milk of the word and take meat.
When fundamentalism that could
be rightly called fundamentalism first appeared about a hundred years ago, it
was to stand up for the fundamentals of the faith and the inerrancy of
the scriptures. What is now understood to be false is the extremism of the fundamentalists that uses the Bible as a legalistic tool to supplant
the authority of the Holy Spirit, deny God in history and deny the free
operation of spiritual gifts. If we want to use the term fundamentalist
in these extremes, we may do so because the majority of the so-called fundamentalists have taken it to this extreme and ignorance has supplanted knowledge because of it.
We do not reject the authority of
the scriptures, nor the inspiration however we believe that the Bible is
not subject to a private fundamentalist interpretation but subject to
the authority of the Holy Ghost and the scriptures together and subject to the spirit of prophecy. The real
shame is that fundamentalism could have been the right way to go but false teachers corrupted it and made it into an intolerant tool of
bigoted false doctrine, ignorance and divisive exclusivism.
We are discussing Babylon and I left it to you and the Lord to come up
with the answers. Religious Babylon may not be that easy to identify,
but for sure, they will be the ones that stand in favor of the nature of
the Beast and will be the ones that are in the direct confusion of
incompatible doctrine. They will also be the ones that oppose the
five-fold the most in the restoration and puts us on the defensive
according to their own pride, exalted positions in the flesh,
prejudicial doctrines and lack of love, acceptance and unity. And they
will be the ones that support the right wing insanity that exploits,
dominates and oppresses the meek, oppose the social gospel and think
that liberality is evil.
Some common fundamentalist traps to quench the spirit and foster
ignorance are:
Here is a perfect example of extreme fundamentalism. Unless you can come up
with chapter and verse on any subject, it is as if the terms should not
even be discussed. Orthodoxy is a term that is used in the church a lot,
it may be in the dictionary but that it is not in the Bible does not
make it any less of a valid subject with anyone except an extreme
legalist to the letter that cannot accept any truth apart from the
Bible, thinks that the spirit can not give us any truth that is not
mentioned in the Bible, that valid Christian tradition that God has
taught, creeds and church history have no place in religious discussion.
It is the attitude that since God has spoken to us in scripture that it
is no longer necessary for us to think. It was taught with the
Calvinists, it is taught from the fundamentalist pulpits today and it is
something that I have taught against. It has no place in our forums
except for discussion and has no part in what we are doing in the
restorative process. It is
to be cast out as evil and definitely part of the Babylonian
confusion.
My opinion is that revival cannot be achieved by following the scriptures alone, it begins in the heart with a stronger relationship to Jesus, not the Bible. This does not take anything away from the Bible, it is still living and sharper than a two edged sword but so is the word of God through one of His true prophets. We would not know of the early church without the scriptures, but before the New Testament was written, the church existed apart from them and was spiritually alive, filled with the truth that we are to be restored to and with a vitality that we must have if we are to be revived. These early followers of Jesus did not follow the scriptures alone, they followed the spirit of the risen Jesus and gives us a supreme example of how we should conduct ourselves today and that is not in the letter but the spirit.
It was the same mistake that Luther made with his sola scriptura doctrine and I go on record as
disagreeing with him on it. Luther was not perfect just as we are not perfect, he made mistakes and this was his biggest one. His other gigantic mistake was to take the sacrament out of marriage. The reason given that the sacrament of marriage was taken out was because it wasn't in the Bible, this is the limitation of the sola scriptura doctrine that God could not have even taught us by His spirit to hold marriage as a sacred rite. That's ridiculous, but that is where you are coming from with sola scriptura and in our generation it has led to free sex starting in the sixties from the Lutheran Scandinavian countries of Europe. I have said it over and over that we must humble ourselves and get rid of our pre-conceived notions before we can come to one accord. We must be taught by the spirit and the scriptures, not just the scriptures as the "sole authority." There can be no other way than this for us or we will quench the spirit and lose our anointing. I stand firm on it and I pray that God will strengthen me even further to hold on to this truth. We want no exegesis apart from the Holy Ghost nor do we need it. Frankly, I believe that I speak for the rest of us on this in agreement.
The word of God is living and powerful, and still exists today in the Rhema. This is why there was no conclusion to the book of Acts, it continued with church history and we can still find God teaching us through His Holy Spirit here and now. The authority of the Jesus of now and throughout history is just as valid as it was when He was alive and when the New Testament was completed. The Bible is not a dead letter, it is alive and its inspiration still continues.
The problem that I had was the point made about Calvinists denying the
Nicene creed. I should have said question rather than problem because it
amazed me if that is so. Is that true? I mentioned the Oneness on one
side of the trinity and the JW's on the other extreme but I had no idea
that Calvinists would deny the creed itself. I know that to exalt the
letter above the revelation of God will kill the spirit but this is just
too fantastic to me. Even if it is true, it is hard for me to believe
that subsequent Calvinists have carried on in this tradition. If anyone
would deny the creed, he would deny the truth behind the creed. I
believe that this truth came through the Holy Spirit even if it was
written by man. Has God suddenly taken away His spirit from us that we
can not come up with the truths that would clarify the things that are
not completely clear to us? These people would say that you must believe
in the Bible alone for these truths and if it is not in the Bible, you
must be silent on the matter. But to deny the creed completely because
of it? It just seems to fantastic for me.
It is still true that we know in part and we prophesy in part and that is from the authority of the Holy Spirit and us down here who can draw upon spiritual charisms to bear witness with each other and with God. Remember when we discussed "the perfect has come" and the fundamentalists who believe that spiritual gifts died since the New Testament was completed? Same thing. Again the only problem that I had with it is that it just seems so absurd. At any rate, I believe that the Calvinists have done untold damage to the church because of this type of fundamentalism and legalism but to think that they would be so far gone as to deny the Nicene creed because of the Bible alone position puts them in the same heretical position that I think the oneness and JW's are. This is new for me. The Lord is revealing Babylon to us but there is more work to do. There is still the chance that they can get out of Babylon but I still do not believe that the Lord will let them have a part of the restoration unless that happens first. The Nicene creed is definitely part of the plumb line and from the spirit of God, not the spirit of man and a true authority because of the truth involved in the nature of Christ.
For us, we should discuss in dialectic. There is a place for hermeneutics but just like fundamentalism, it is grossly inadequate for a true interpretation of scripture unless there is a free expression of our faith to allow for spiritual guidance. There are principles of interpretation that can keep us on track but to make rigid systems in our faith and beliefs is above any other definition, legalism. What it does not do is to allow the free operation of the Holy Spirit in our lives and we must give Him complete freedom if we are to get rid of anything that would quench the spirit. Jesus came against rules and established the law of love. We are told to search the scriptures for the testimony of Jesus. Jesus is the final authority, the
scriptures are the record of that authority and just as authoritative.
The word of the Lord in our hearts should surely bear witness to the truth of the scriptures, never contradict it, the final authority still rests with the Godhead as to interpretation and to its source. We would not have the scriptures if it were not for the true spiritual authority. We cannot exalt the Word of God above God Himself. This is why we are given spiritual gifts - to bear witness with each other in regards to spiritual truth and why fundamentalists are not able to exercise them, they only have the scriptures and deny the power of the true spiritual authority, at least in part. It leads to the traditions of men, like the
sola scriptura doctrine, and has led the church into the Babylonian captivity that I believe that the Lord is trying to teach us about and that these legalistic fundamentalist things are trying to reach God without His true authority.
It is the Calvinists and the fundamentalists that resists the Pentecostal movement. These people are presumptuous because they trust in their own intellect and reasoning as an authority for establishing doctrine, and reject us who rely upon the spirit of wisdom and revelation. Here it is, who can come against that except for the same people who
come against us. I believe that this is truth, not because he has given
it to us but because it is God's truth that He has taught us from the
beginning. Especially today as the five-fold has been firmly
established, it is nothing less than restoration. These people that we
are discussing who disagree, are exposing themselves as the church of
Babylon. The ministry of the five-fold is to bring this message in unity
to the world so that others can get out of the great harlot. But we must
do it in love and humility and that takes discipline and seeking God's
grace.
If people had more of a historical foundation they wouldn't be such easy prey for Calvinism and such like. Really important, folks. The fundamentalists will try to tell you that
church history is not important, that all you need is the Bible. What
they mean is all you need is their interpretation of the Bible exclusive
of what God has taught others throughout history. I did not invent the
term Puritan Ignorance, it is a term given them throughout their history
because of this very thing. Without history, we would not even know of
the mistakes that the church has made in the last two thousand years and
we would not know what God has been teaching us all this time to be
able to correct them. Probably the worst I have heard is the ignorant
attitude of "where the Bible is silent, we should also be silent," This
makes no allowance for the Holy Spirit to reveal truth to us since the
first century and denies the power. This is what makes Calvin such a
false teacher, by rejecting the living God of History and accepting only
the past God of the Bible, he purposely set the church back and rejected
any truth that God had taught us for fifteen hundred years. And do not
think that he was relying on the New Testament for inspiration either,
he based his theology on Old Testament legalism and set up more rules to
follow, just like the Pharisees did. This is the danger of conservative
thinking in that it holds people back by not allowing God the freedom to
progress the church and helping us grow in the faith, in the spirit and
in grace.
The Bible has always been in the position of divine truth but through the Dark Ages, the authority of Pope and church tradition was mistakenly placed above it. There was an historical move before and during the reformation to restore the scriptures to the proper foundation of truth as the divinely inspired Word of God that it had from the beginning. John Wycliffe was considered a heretic because He had placed the authority of scripture above the popes and church councils but to place the Word of God above God Himself as the final authority is legalistic letter of scripture pure and simple. There must be the spiritual interpretation of scripture before it can even interpret itself and it must be of paramount importance that it not be placed as an idol. God is spirit and must be worshipped in spirit and truth, not worshipped to the private interpretation of the letter of scripture according to the whims of man.
Anyone who rejects the truth of the Nicene Creed has no idea what God can
teach us through his spirit, has only a false spiritual basis and if
they will not repent and accept the truth, should be cast out as enemies
of God. To the saved ones who say that they have the spirit and reject
the creed are either in total ignorance or outright apostates, reject
the Holy Spirit and to teach others the same brings them under the
strictest condemnation and judgment. Saint John felt the same way about
heretics in his condemnation of Cerinthus, that is from history, not the
Biblical record. It is just as true as if it was written in red letters,
no more, no less.
What good is fundamentalism if everyone disagrees upon the fundamentals?
[Babylon and fundamentalism was a topic of the latter rain discussion list]
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