WWUTT 1480 Q&A The Lord's Table, Signs of a Cult, Two by Twos, Church of God Restoration
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Responding to questions from listeners about proper practice at the Lord's table, what are some signs of a cult, who are the Two by Twos, and what is the Church of God Restoration. Visit wwutt.com for all our videos!
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- Is there a time that we should not partake in the Lord's table? What are some of the signs of a cult?
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- Who are the two -by -twos and are they a cult? And how about the Church of God restoration? The answers to these questions when we understand the text.
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- This is When We Understand The Text, a daily Bible study in the Word of God, that we may learn to speak the truth in love, growing up in every way into Christ Jesus.
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- Tell your friends about our ministry at www .wutt .com. Here once again is
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- Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky. You're welcome. A special happy birthday to our friend Dave in Florida.
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- Happy birthday! Which was actually yesterday, but better late than never.
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- Yes, definitely. Happy birthday, old man. We miss you guys. Yep, you and your lovely wife,
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- Vicki. Yeah. We know are still listening because we see your likes on Facebook. Yep, and they repost things too.
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- Yep, they'll share the episodes. Yeah. I wouldn't be a pastor today if it wasn't for Dave and Vicki.
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- Yeah, they mean a lot to us. They were hugely influential in all of that. So thank you so much to you guys and happy birthday.
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- Hope it was great. Another revolution around the sun completed. Yes, super fun.
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- Now, I've also had a number of emails over the course of the past week alerting me to the fact that I've got a hole in my episode list.
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- Oh, yeah. So a couple had said, hey, Gabe, you go from 1474 to 1476.
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- Where's 1475? You were leaving people hanging. I know. That was part two of the
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- J .D. Greer sermon review. You were really leaving people hanging. To be continued.
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- I didn't get it done until yesterday, but since 1475 was the spot that I reserved for it,
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- I dated it for July 2nd. Oh, okay. You have to go back to listen to it, but it is there.
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- It wasn't until yesterday I got it done, but I finally got it up. And then the transcript is on my blog, so you can go to PastorGabe .com
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- and read it. Awesome. Either listen to it or read it, whichever suits your fancy.
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- And get the rest of the story. There you go. But that's as far as I'm doing. There was much more to the sermon. I mean, it was over 45 minutes, but I'm only going to cover the two parts that I did.
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- Okay. Use your imagination on the rest, how I would have responded to all of that. There was something else we had to do.
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- Oh, yeah. Thank our friends, the Kennys. Yes. We didn't get the podcast last week, because it didn't work out for me to be on for the
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- Q &A. Yeah, well, I mean, we still have to bring all of our kids down here to do this, since we're still recording at the church.
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- Yeah, and we had a special guest show up. Oh, that's right. We did, yes. So Sonia came and visited us.
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- And we got to say hi to Sonia. That was awesome. That was a surprise. Sonia and I worked that out.
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- Yeah, totally surprised me. Just showed up at our door that day. Becky had no idea. I had no clue.
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- It was awesome. It was so great to spend time with her. So the Kennys took the kids for us.
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- And now we have the Kennys to thank, too. Yes. Thank you, guys. So we've got a weekend to ourselves, and in addition to enjoying a few extra dates.
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- Yes. We've already taken one. We went to go get some Brian's cheesecake over at Mineola. Oh, super yummy. That's been our first of these dates that we're going to be taking with each other.
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- Ooh, I get more. Yeah. I'm going to take advantage of this alone time. So they've got the kids for us, and that makes it easier for us to be able to get down here, since, of course, we're still recording at the church.
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- I've got a plan, and hopefully I can put this plan into effect while the kids are gone, to try to put something together at home.
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- Yeah. So being Friday, we take questions from the listeners, and you can send those questions to whenweunderstandthetext at gmail .com.
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- This one is a thanks. This comes from Steven, and he says, Hello, thank you for calling out the bad theology of Tim Mackey and the
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- Bible Project. I'm sure you are continually harassed because of it. Oh, you have no idea.
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- Yeah. I am praying that God gives you strength beyond measure to continue the work set before you.
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- It doesn't discourage me from doing it, but yeah, there is definitely a lot of backlash that has come from calling out one of the
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- Bible darlings of YouTube. Steven goes on, The other day, my wife told me about some strange theological ideas that her brother had gained from watching videos on YouTube.
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- Specifically, he was being heavily influenced by the Bible Project. He had sent me one of the videos, or sent one of the videos to my wife, so I started watching it with her.
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- The video was of Tim Mackey giving a sermon on Matthew 13. That's the parable of the sower.
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- I've not watched that one. I'll have to look that one up myself. So he goes on to say, As we watched it, I immediately was struck by the dishonest tactics he used to convince his audience of the point that he was making, specifically drawing connections between verses because the
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- English words used between Old Testament and New Testament passages. I know that Tim understands the source scriptures in Hebrew and Greek, as he has made many videos referencing original texts, yet he was seemingly leaving out any exegesis so that his ideas could be presented without the inconvenience of the original meeting behind the
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- Scripture. This was a wake -up call to me as I had seen many videos from the Bible Project, but this was the first time
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- I recognized a dishonest sermon. I performed some research and found your video and blog post about the theological fallacies from Tim and the
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- Bible Project. I will definitely keep my guard up regarding these people so that the subtle, errant beliefs don't obscure God's Word.
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- Well, thank you so much, Stephen, and that's great to hear an encouraging message. Yeah, especially regarding the
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- Bible Project. Yeah, regarding that. It's probably like one encouraging message for every 20 or 30.
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- Yeah. Negative messages that I get. This next question, and this one actually a question, this comes from Brit in Oklahoma.
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- I noticed, I actually caught on Twitter that he's camping out in Oklahoma City right now.
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- Oh, awesome. He's been sending me some. I think, Oklahoma City camping? Yeah, like the KOA campgrounds.
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- Oh, okay, got it. Yeah. So this is a good thing. Yeah. Okay, I thought you meant like stranded for a second.
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- Oh, no, he and his wife go out with a… I've seen their cute camper. Exactly, yeah. They have an adorable camper. And he'll send me ideas, like there's this camper for sale.
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- Oh, fun. I'll oogle over them, but I've not come close to pulling the trigger on buying. Nope, I can't get you to buy any of them.
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- This might be a when the kids are grown and gone… It could be, yeah. …sort of a project for us. So anyway, he says,
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- Dear Pastor Gabe and Becky, I hope this finds you in good health, that you, family, and congregation at Lindale FBC had a great 4th of July weekend.
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- Oh, we did. We kept all of our fingers. Yes. So we're good. I actually watched one of the best firework shows
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- I think we've gone to as a family. It was beautiful. It was just, yeah. Yeah. It was very nice.
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- It was like a barge out on the lake, and they're shooting fireworks. It was great. And we went over to the house of one of our church members, got to camp out in the backyard there, which is right on the shore of the lake, and just watched these awesome fireworks.
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- Yeah. Some I've never seen before. They were so close that the kids thought they were going to land on them. Oh, yeah. It's like, no, no, no, it's far away.
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- The two youngest girls got freaked out at first because they thought they were going to fall on them. But then once I assured them, no, it's fine.
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- We're okay. It's just you've never been this close to fireworks right overhead before. That big.
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- The fireworks were huge. And so being that close to that big of fireworks.
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- Right. Ours were close, but they weren't that big. We're shooting them off in the driveway. Right. Right. So they're obviously smaller.
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- Totally different. Yes. So Britt says, my question concerns the Lord's Supper and communion.
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- Are there times when it would be acceptable not to partake in it? This question comes up because for two reasons.
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- Number one, I was invited to a church with a friend. I was not a member of the church, but it had open
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- Lord's Supper. I felt a little strange, and I didn't think that it was right for me to partake.
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- Number two, there have been a couple of times that it seemed things were weighing on my mind, and it didn't feel right about partaking in communion.
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- So I didn't go forward. Is this a sin? Am I missing something about the doctrine of the Lord's Supper or communion?
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- Thank you again for your ministry. I enjoy listening to the podcast every morning on my way to work and those times on my way home when they aren't posted at 430 in the morning.
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- Yeah, there have been a few times in there. I was a little bit late. Your brother in Christ, Britt. Well, I appreciate that,
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- Britt. Okay, so the instructions that we get regarding partaking the Lord's table, you have
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- Jesus instituting the Lord's Supper in Matthew, Mark, and Luke. But when it comes to proper practice at the
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- Lord's table, we really don't get to that until 1 Corinthians 11. And starting in verse 17,
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- I'm reading from the Legacy Standard Bible. The Apostle Paul says, but in giving this instruction, I do not praise you because you come together not for the better, but for the worse.
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- This was the factions and divisions that had been stirred up in the
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- Corinthian congregation. So they were not united at the Lord's table. Right.
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- And therefore, Paul says, I don't praise you in some of the ways that you've been dealing with one another when it comes to the
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- Lord's Supper. For in the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear that divisions exist among you.
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- And in part, I believe it. For there must also be factions among you, so that those who are approved may become evident among you.
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- Therefore, when you meet together in the same place, it is not to eat the Lord's Supper. For in your eating, each one takes his own supper first, and one is hungry and another is drunk.
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- So they were doing their agape feast, which was another word for their love feasts. And those who had much food came, and those who had little food didn't get to eat as much.
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- They were doing their own thing. Right. They weren't actually doing what Jesus had instituted in the
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- Lord's Supper. Right. They were bringing their own food. So, you meet together in the same place.
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- It's not to eat the Lord's Supper, Paul says. He even said, you're not even doing communion. So, in verse 22, for do you not have houses in which to eat and drink?
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- Or do you despise the church of God and shame those who have nothing? What shall I say to you?
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- Shall I praise you? In this I will not praise you. For I received from the
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- Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which he was being betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said,
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- This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me. In the same way, he took the cup also after supper, saying,
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- This cup is the new covenant in my blood. And do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me.
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- For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes.
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- Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the
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- Lord. But a man must test himself, and in so doing, he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup.
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- So there is where my instruction is going to be for bread. A man must test himself. So we'll come back to that here in a moment.
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- For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself, if he does not judge the body rightly.
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- Right. For this reason, many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep.
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- Not a sleep number, bad, you know. Right. A number of you sleep. But if, sorry, that was a bad joke.
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- I had to explain my joke. But if we judged ourselves rightly, we would not be judged.
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- But when we are judged, we are disciplined by the Lord so that we will not be condemned along with the world.
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- So then, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for one another. If anyone is hungry, let him eat at home so that you will not come together for judgment.
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- The remaining matters I will direct when I come. Okay, so let's come back to this verse here.
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- In verse 28, where Paul says, but a man must test himself, and in so doing, he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup.
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- So Britt, the desire here is to partake of the Lord's table. Right. If you find cause for not partaking, because maybe you think you would partake in an unrighteous manner, then don't take.
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- But don't be of the mindset of I need to find a reason not to take it. Right. You're testing yourself so that you may take it.
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- It's kind of like attending church. You want to attend church. Yes. You're not going to attend if you're sick or something like that, but the goal is to get there.
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- So it's the same thing with taking the Lord's supper. Right. The goal is to take the
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- Lord's supper. Yes. And Paul's saying here, as often as you do this, we see that over and over again, as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the death of the
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- Lord until he comes. So it is good and right for us to partake in this as a church.
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- Examine yourself that you may partake in a right manner. And I would encourage you, let your examination be before Sunday.
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- Like, don't wait until, well, now it's Lord's supper time and I have to test myself. Do that examination in advance and continue to be submitting yourself unto the
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- Lord so that you may be able to come to that table with a clear conscience. So as Britt asked his questions in two parts, or he split it up into two reasons.
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- Because the first one was about being invited to a friend's church. Right. So you're not a member there and they had open
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- Lord's supper. Britt says he felt a little strange and did not think it was right for me to partake. Now, if I could, in any sort of pastoral counsel
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- I could give you, ease your conscience by saying there's nothing wrong with partaking of the Lord's table at a church at which you are not a member.
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- Right. There's nothing wrong with that. But, again, I would encourage you to examine yourself that you may have a clear conscience when you take.
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- With regard to the second, he says there have been a couple of times that it seemed things were weighing on my mind and I didn't feel about it in the right way, so I didn't go forward.
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- So, yes, again, if you feel like you shouldn't be taking it, then don't. Otherwise, you may defile your own conscience and partake in the
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- Lord's table in an unworthy manner. But don't be of weak conscience. Be of strong conscience. Right.
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- Be confident in the Lord and be able to come to that table and know I am sharing in something that my
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- Lord Christ gave to me. And he is even present with us at this table, that we are dining with him, not only remembering the price that was needed to pay for our sin, but we're also partaking in this anticipating the return of Christ.
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- Yes. In which we will partake together again in glory at the wedding feast of the
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- Lamb. May that be an encouragement to you. And I hope that answered all of your questions.
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- I think it did. Okay. I was looking to see if you had something else you wanted to add. No. You just said, but, and.
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- I did. And then I interrupted. And so that's it? I don't know. Okay. It's gone.
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- See, I shouldn't have interrupted. I should have let you go. No, I didn't. I can't even. Now we're both in mystery.
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- What was Becky going to say? Sure. However, it probably wasn't that important because I can't remember even saying, but, so there you go.
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- All right. I can go back and play the recording for you. I believe that. Yeah, you did. I believe that I said it. I just don't recall it.
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- This next email, this is from Connie. She says, thank you for your videos. I really appreciate them.
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- I am blessed with Christian friends. However, one of them keeps on talking about the prophets and sending me information about their prophetic so -called messages.
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- I've told her many times that if a prophet was sent from God, that person would have predicted all the current huge events that have happened and that the
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- Bible has everything that I need written in it. Sadly, she still listens to them religiously.
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- Our discussions made me question on whether or not God does still use prophets today.
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- I prayed the Lord would show me and correct me if I was wrong, if he does still use prophets today.
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- That's a right way to go about it. Because as it says in James 1 .5, if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously without reproach.
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- So, as you come to your Bible to study and test and see, does God still use prophets today?
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- Pray about that first. Definitely. Pray that God would reveal it to you. For as we've read in 1 Corinthians 2 .14,
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- the naturally minded man can't discern the things of the Spirit of God because they are spiritually discerned.
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- So, let it be a spiritual exploration of this text and that the Holy Spirit would illuminate to us what he has said according to his word.
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- So, anyway, Connie goes on here. She says, I listened to Justin Peters about these so -called prophets of today, and it confirmed what
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- I thought. And then I came across one of your videos about prophets. Another confirmation that I am on the right track with the
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- Lord. I am now totally convinced that God does not use prophets today because he has his word to tell us all that we need to know.
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- That's right. All the people who call themselves prophets today are not sent from our Lord God.
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- I pray the Church of Christ would stop believing such lies that these people spread.
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- I want to thank you for your videos of God's truth. Bless you in all that you do. Thank you so much,
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- Connie. And if you haven't already emailed Justin, I'm going to pass your email on to Justin as well. Yeah.
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- Because I know he would love to hear that. Definitely. Hebrews 1 .1. Anytime we've talked about this issue, which we did not that long ago.
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- It was just a few weeks ago. That's what I was thinking. It sounds very familiar. But we often come back to this passage, God having spoken long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways.
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- In these last days, he spoke to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.
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- There you have, there was once a time when God spoke to us through the prophets, but in these last days, he's spoken to us by his
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- Son. 1 John 4 .1, Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
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- So there's a couple of passages for you. And then, of course, you also have the instruction in Deuteronomy. If anybody comes to you with a dream or a vision and they tell it to you, if it doesn't come true, that person's a liar.
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- And what were you supposed to do with him in ancient Israel? Stone him to death. That's right.
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- He claimed to speak from God, but he clearly did not have a word from God.
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- He spoke from himself, but said it was from God. And that is, I mean, in today's society, that seems like a really harsh punishment to kill someone just because they lied.
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- But that's how highly God regards his word. But yes, exactly. It's very important.
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- As it says in Isaiah 66, too, this is the one to whom I will look, he who is humble and contrite in spirit and who trembles at my words.
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- Right. That's still the English Standard Version of that verse because the Legacy Standard Version has not yet come out with the book of Isaiah.
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- That's all right. They're getting there. I've been told. I'm not going to say who told me this because I might get him in trouble.
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- But I've been told it's supposed to be before the end of this year. We're going to have the full edition. Oh, that'd be awesome.
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- Of the Legacy Standard Bible. So cool. This next email comes from a guy in a cult.
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- Okay. I don't remember if I've ever read an email from Colin before, but he and I have had kind of a back and forth for the last year or so.
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- All right. It's been a few months since I've heard from him. But the last email that I sent to him, I told him he was in a cult.
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- It's called The Way or The Truth. Okay. Most commonly known as the
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- Two by Twos. I haven't heard of any of those. Yeah. But they don't really have a headquarters. Oh, okay.
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- You don't pass by a church building or anything like that because they meet in houses. And in fact, they have like itinerant ministers who are not supposed to have any possessions at all.
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- Oh. So they don't have like a home address. They just go around and preach at different places. And wherever they go, somebody is supposed to provide them housing.
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- Okay. Interesting. Because they don't have their own home. Yeah. Anyway, it's complicated. It sounds like it. There was a section of Kansas, Southeast Kansas, I think it was, that was heavily influenced by The Way.
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- Hmm. By The Way. By The Way. And you actually lived in kind of one of their central hubs there for a period of time.
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- Interesting. Emporia. Yeah. Yep. I'm not surprised. Did you encounter a lot of weird cult -like stuff going on?
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- There was a lot of weird in Emporia. Emporia is a great little town. It is. But it did contain quite a bit of weird.
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- They had a really nice chocolate place. Oh, so good. Is that what I'm thinking of?
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- Am I thinking of the right place? Sweet Granada. Yeah, that's what it was. Yeah. I remember that place. Now we go to Brian's Cheesecake.
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- That's right. So I can't get Becky's Sweet Granada anymore. So we do cheesecake. I prefer the cheesecake.
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- I'm sure you do, because I ate the whole thing of the chocolate. Anyway, so I told
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- Colin that he was in a cult. I mentioned some of the things they believe that are heresy. Like they deny the deity of Christ.
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- They deny the Trinity. They believe in sanctification before justification, which means basically you're being justified by your works.
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- Oh, great. That's how that would come out. So after that last email I sent him, I finally got this one from Colin. He says,
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- Greetings, Brethren Gabe. Since your misconception was wrong the first time and you know nothing about the truth.
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- Which he's talking about the group. That's right. Capital T. I will reiterate that they are not a cult.
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- A cult is where you cannot leave. Until you get yourself to a convention and hear the word of God, you will still be a child of darkness debating.
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- Now hold on to that thought, because I'm going to come back to that. He goes on to say the eye and the father are one verse sums it up.
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- He's talking about anti Trinitarianism and the King James Bible is the only Bible to use.
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- He says the truth or two by twos. Never deny that Jesus is God. Jesus was
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- God in human form. He will be sitting on the right throne of God. And even Jesus indicated why call is to me good.
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- There is none good, but one that is God. These testimonies will open up your eyes and better your walk as it is and would be strengthening to you to turn away and harden your heart with your own mindset by not reading them.
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- Then you would be rejecting God. Love you, brother. Forgive you, brother. And I'll pray for you, brother.
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- Colin. So is he telling you you're not saved because you're not part of the cult?
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- Correct. Okay. Yes, they they have that exclusivity of only we have the truth.
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- Right. Well, obviously, you have to go to their convention. Right. You got to go to their convention here. Their stuff.
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- Yes. Okay. So here's the response I gave to Colin. I'm going to elaborate on this, too. But I said, greetings,
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- Colin. Oh, you can leave a cult. There are plenty of people who leave cults all the time. Very true.
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- And I'm encouraging him to leave his cult. Here are a few signs of a cult that are exhibited by the two by two movement.
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- Number one, unquestioned trust in the leadership who usually has some unique connection to God.
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- The two by twos claim to have modern apostles. When Paul said in First Corinthians 15, eight, he was the last apostle to be appointed.
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- And they claim that God still speaks to them. Their word is just as authoritative as the
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- Bible. Salvation can only be obtained through two by two leaders and no one else.
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- That's very cultish. Uh -huh. Furthermore, the members have little knowledge and have no say in church governance.
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- So if you're a member of this church, you don't know how things work. Oh. You don't get to say how things work.
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- Okay. You know, that's that whole the leadership controls everything. Right. So they just follow suit.
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- Yeah. You're just supposed to go along with whatever they tell you to do. Okay. Number two, exclusivity and special knowledge.
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- That's a mark of a cult. That's common to the two by twos. A cult claims to be the only true religious system.
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- And early leaders of the two by two movement, namely Edward Cooney and George Walker, they taught that members of any other church are damned.
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- Oh, that's nice. Number three, groupthink and discouraging of any kind of critical thinking.
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- The Bible is regarded as insufficient for salvation unless it's made alive by teachers of the two by two movement.
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- And this teaching must be done in person. You can't listen to audio recordings.
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- You can't get tapes or CDs. Who gets tapes anymore? But, you know, you can't listen to a podcast, a two by two podcast, which is why he was telling me you need to go to a convention.
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- Right. And you need to hear it in person. That's the only way you can become a child of God.
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- So I told him, you say that you believe Jesus is God, but everything I have ever read on the two by two movement says that you deny that Jesus is
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- God. Emphasis is placed on following Jesus as our example, but not believing in him for salvation.
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- After all, if I could believe in Jesus for salvation, I wouldn't need to attend a convention, would
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- I? Right. Pray as you might, but it won't be to the true God of the Bible. I pray that God grants you repentance and leads you to a knowledge of the truth that you may escape from the snare of the devil after being captured by him to do his will.
- 26:47
- Second Timothy 225. Anyway, so that's my latest episode with Colin, and we'll see if he responds.
- 26:54
- I pray that he gets the truth, the real truth. I can't even talk because they use all my lingo.
- 27:03
- They steal it. They just they take it right anyway. They've already claimed the truth.
- 27:09
- So I can't say the truth anymore. I know. And the way I can't call it the way. Anyway, I pray his eyes are open.
- 27:17
- So John 14, 6, Jesus said, I am the way, the truth and the life.
- 27:22
- No one gets to the father but by me. And it's the true Christ of the Bible. Not the
- 27:27
- Christ is defined by certain cults. Twisted scripture is awful.
- 27:33
- So we talked about this on the podcast, too. Earlier this week, a little bit last week, as we've been in First Corinthians one through four, where Paul is talking about how you've got
- 27:43
- Corinthians who are saying, well, I'm of Paul and I'm of Apollos. Right. And I said, that's no different from I mean, you see all the different factions that exist among denominations in certain churches.
- 27:53
- Exactly. We have the Wesleyans. We have the Lutherans. And you even have the
- 27:59
- Church of Christ. Yes. We're the real Church of Christ. Yes. So just like the two by twos call themselves, we're the way.
- 28:08
- Yes. We are the truth. Only I wouldn't call Wesleyans or Lutherans heretics, but I would say that of the two by twos.
- 28:18
- Yeah. And even the Church of Christ, they say you can't be saved unless you're baptized.
- 28:25
- Oh, right. Because that's salvation. And it has to be baptism in a Church of Christ church.
- 28:31
- All right. Anyway, last thing I wanted to share here. So this is more on the subject of cults. Okay. Recently, we've seen a number of pastors in Canada get arrested for having church and thrown in jail.
- 28:44
- Yes. Thankfully, a lot of those men that we've been praying for, most of them have been released and they're back with their families now.
- 28:50
- Praise the Lord. But there's one in particular. This guy also gets lumped in with those other pastors in Canada that are being persecuted.
- 28:57
- His name is Henry Hildebrandt, and he's with a church called the
- 29:03
- Church of God at Aylmer. I think it's how you pronounce that. A -Y -L -M -E -R.
- 29:10
- He was another one of these pastors. While the church congregation was singing, the authorities came in and arrested him and took him out and threw him in jail.
- 29:18
- Now, that is a violation of his freedom to be able to gather as a church and worship.
- 29:25
- Right. Even in Canada. Right. He has every right to be able to do that. But we should not consider
- 29:31
- Hildebrandt and his church as brothers and sisters in the Lord. Okay. They're actually a cult.
- 29:37
- Oh. So I say that to you to recognize some of these pastors who are being arrested, they are our brothers in the
- 29:43
- Lord. Right. But there are others who are not. I mean, they are being treated unjustly, but they're not brothers.
- 29:48
- A listener in Canada got in touch with me and said that the Church of God Restoration is a cult.
- 29:55
- And I looked them up, and they definitely have heretical and charismatic doctrines with cult -like practices.
- 30:01
- So let me give you a few of these. This is the Church of God Restoration, common in Canada.
- 30:07
- Well, it's where it's more prominent. Okay. We'll put it that way. Actually started in Oklahoma, though.
- 30:12
- Oh. So they claim to be the only one true church. There are 20 congregations of between 3 ,000 and 5 ,000 adherents.
- 30:21
- That's not many. No. But they're the one true church. They believe in modern apostles, just like we heard from the 2x2s.
- 30:29
- Late founder Danny Lane was an apostle. D. Ray Tinsman in Ohio is currently the chief apostle.
- 30:35
- They teach entire sanctification and that a single sin will cause you to lose your salvation.
- 30:41
- Whoa. You just lost it. Yeah, no joke. Divine physical healings can be performed by the elders, and they are to have nothing to do with modern medicine.
- 30:52
- They adhere to a strict dress code and enforce many other rules, like no TV, no bowling, no holidays, etc.
- 31:00
- The church has to approve of your job, and marriages are arranged.
- 31:06
- Interesting. The church rejects patriarchy. Now, the liberals and the feminists would probably go, hey, that's great.
- 31:13
- They reject patriarchy. What were you going to say? I got confused. It's okay. Okay. But the reason why they reject patriarchy is because the pastor has more authority over the home than the husband or father.
- 31:27
- Oh. That's why they reject patriarchy. We had one of those churches in Junction City. We did.
- 31:32
- Yes, we did. That was interesting. And you will be excommunicated if you join another church, as in even removed from the heavenly registry.
- 31:41
- Because you're not attending the one true church anymore.
- 31:47
- That's right. So you have no entrance into the kingdom anymore. So they scare them into staying.
- 31:53
- That's right. That's that control. That's that bullying people into staying sort of a thing. That's so sad.
- 31:58
- Very common among cults. I mean, it's in Mormonism as well. Yeah. Joseph Smith's teaching was that the worst of hell is reserved for apostate
- 32:09
- Mormons. So you were a Mormon and then you left. Right. So you get to go to the worst of hell.
- 32:14
- That's how they keep you in their religion. That's crazy. So here the Church of God Restoration believes the seventh trumpet in the
- 32:23
- Book of Revelation sounded in 1980 when their founder Danny Lane was saved. Though I did not find this in their official teaching, ex -members have reported that leaders of the church prayed to apostles.
- 32:34
- And Tinsman is said by some to be the reincarnation of Christ. So as we pray for our brothers and sisters in Canada being persecuted for the faith,
- 32:42
- I think we need to be careful to exclude Henry Hildebrandt and the Church of God Restoration as they are not of us.
- 32:50
- Yeah. Let's pray. Yes, let's. Heavenly Father, we thank you for this time together and we pray for our brothers and sisters in Canada.
- 32:58
- May they be convicted of heart and be able to return to church. May the government turn from their oppression of our
- 33:06
- Christian brothers and sisters and let them worship freely as we have the right to do. I pray here in the
- 33:12
- United States we do not take our rights for granted, but we exercise those rights that we may worship
- 33:18
- God and use this freedom that we have to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with others.
- 33:23
- So that they may turn from their sin and be saved from this fallen world which is coming into judgment.
- 33:30
- Being made citizens of the kingdom of God where we have an inheritance laid up for us for eternity with you in glory.