A Mix of Darkness and Light – False Teachings of Unitarianism - Purity 1231

To see today's photo, go to mt4christ.org or follow me, M.t. Clark, on Facebook or Twitter. Good morning. Today's photo of the Louis Comfort Tiffany and Edward Emerson Simon's The Light Bearer stained glass window comes to us from yours truly as I captured this stained glass work of art during my visit to the Michelle and Donald D'Amore Museum of Fine Arts Museum in Springfield, Massachusetts, back on December 9th. The window was originally part of the Church of the Unity, a Unitarian church in Springfield, and was saved when its church was demolished in 1961. For those who don't know, Unitarianism is a Christian cult because, as Walter Martin's Kingdom of Cults gives us the quick facts on Unitarianism, his book tells us that Unitarianism believes there may or may not be one single God, or quote-unquote "good," that individuals choose the existence and definition of God. They also believe that if Jesus existed, he was not God incarnate or the second person of the Trinity. He was a moral teacher and nothing less, or nothing else. And they also teach that the Trinity does not exist, uh, that the Bible is only one of many sources of revelation. All revelations are fallible. There is no original sin, but there is evil in the world and man is responsible for it. There's no spiritual forces of darkness according to them. Salvation is progressive, based on character development. Intellectual growth and the practice of good works. Humans save themselves. They also believe that truth is relative to every age and tradition. And they believe that life goes on, but a tyrannical God does not determine how. Only individual actions dictate individual eternity. And finally, they believe, according to Walter Martin's book, there is no heaven and no hell, and evil defeats itself, and virtue is a reward for those who obey the laws of God and man. So the demolition of the church wasn't a bad thing, as it provided one less place of false teaching and gave the Lightbearer freedom to represent the true gospel of grace and gives us hope— and give us hope separated from the errors of Unitarianism. Spiritually, I would say the history— that history reveals that whatever errors were spread at the former church have been put to ground, as nothing has been built on the grounds of the former apostate church, and it remains a parking lot to this day. As a Christian, I try to point out the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and this list of Unitarian beliefs, beliefs, uh, demonstrates how far away from the truth a quote-unquote church can go when it doesn't adhere to the truth of the Bible. As followers of Jesus, we have to respect and follow God's word. We can't just decide what works for us or what seems right to us and dismiss the word of God, because ultimately we will be judged by what we believe, who we put our faith in, and how we live. Jesus warned us of the dangers of being a false convert. Someone he quote-unquote never knew. And so we should know what the Word of God says and do our best to be diligent, be a diligent student who applies its wisdom to our lives. So be inspired by the light of the world, Jesus Christ, and follow his example and his word, the Bible, to navigate through the darkness of this world where even quote-unquote nice people and seemingly Christian congregations of believers could be deceiving themselves and on the highway to hell. For more information on false teachings and cults of all kinds, we recommend Walter Martin's The Kingdom of Cults, the definitive work on the subject. Today's Bible verse comes to us from the Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling by John G. Cruis— Bible verses, actually. This morning's meditation verses come from the section on Comfort. And today, um, we highlight Psalm 103:8-18. And the Word of God tells us: The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. He will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger forever. He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love towards those who fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him. For he knows our frame, he remembers that we are dust. As for man, his days are like grass, he flourishes like a flower of the field. 'For the wind passes over it and it is gone, and its place knows it no more. But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him, and his righteousness to, to children's children, to those who keep his covenant and remember to do his commandments.' Today's verses fall under the third point of our Counseling Reference Guide resource section on comfort. And that third point is: as a father cares for his children, so God cares for his own. His love is everlasting. Today's verses comfort us by telling us the truth of God's everlasting love, that it is— and that it is experienced by those who fear him, keep his covenant, and remember to do his commandments. While God loves all of us, salvation is for those in a covenant with him. Through faith in Jesus Christ, and whose authenticity is validated by obedience to his word. The danger of Christian cults, besides the heresies they teach that distort the truth of God's word, usually lies in one— in how one receives salvation. While obedience to God's commandments are a fruit of salvation, they are not the root of salvation. While Scripture teaches that we are saved by faith alone and and through grace alone, Christian cults and apostate churches teach that you have to earn your salvation in some way. On the flip side of that lie, other churches— apostate churches— push the extremes of God's love and say that you don't have to do anything to be saved, that God's love will cause him to accept absolutely everyone regardless of their beliefs or their behaviors. Denying any need to fear God, make a covenant with him, or attempt to obey his commandments. Both of these stances go against what is taught in the Bible, and so we must know what God's word says and what it means. We have to live in the paradox of God's everlasting love and having fear— having to fear him and to pursue his righteousness, even though we won't obey his will perfectly. Our sa— our salvation comes through faith, but we must also demonstrate our faith in God by trying to follow His commands. We acknowledge our need of a Savior and do our best to follow Him and live by God's wisdom. As always, I invite all to go to M.t. Clark.org where I always share insights from prominent Christian theologians and counselors to assist my brothers and sisters in Christ with their walk Today we continue sharing from God is in the Manger: Reflections on Advent and Christmas by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. And today we move into the 12 Days of Christmas in the Epiphany section of our resource, as today we're sharing the message from— for December 26th, and a message that Bonhoeffer calls The Great Kingdom of Peace Has Begun. And Bonhoeffer writes, The authority of this poor child will grow. It will encompass all the earth, and knowingly or unknowingly, all human generations until the end of the ages will have to serve it. It will be an authority over the hearts of people, but thrones and great kingdoms will also grow strong or fall apart with this, with this power. The mysterious, invisible authority of the Divine Child over human hearts is more solidly grounded than the visible and resplendent power of earthly rulers. Ultimately, all authority on earth must serve only the authority of Jesus Christ over humankind. With the birth of Jesus, the great Kingdom of Peace has begun. Is it not a miracle that where Jesus has already become Lord over people, peace reigns? That there is one Christendom on the whole earth in which there is peace in the midst of the world. Only where Jesus is not allowed to reign, where human stubbornness, defiance, hate, and avarice are allowed to live on, on unbroken, can there be no peace. Jesus does not want to set up his kingdom by— of peace by force, but where people willingly submit themselves to him and let him rule over them, he will give them his wonderful peace. And our resource also shares this passage written by Maria von Wedemeyer to Bonhoeffer on December 25th, 1943. I'm in the dark depths of night and my thoughts are roaming far afield. Now that all the merrymaking and rejoicing and candlelight are over and the noise and commotion of the day have been replaced by silence, inside and out, other voices can be heard. The chill night wind and the mysterious darkness can open hearts and release forces that are unfathomable but good and consoling. Can you think of a better time than nighttime? That's why Christ too chose to come to us with his angels at night. That was from Maria von Weidmeyer to Bonhoeffer on December 25th, 1943. And our resource, uh, the last thing it shares is Matthew 1:18-25. And the word of God tells us, now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, had planned to dismiss her quietly. But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. All this took place to fulfill what has been spoken by the Lord through the prophet: 'Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call him Emmanuel,' which means 'God is with us.' When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him. He took her as his wife but had no marital relations with her until she had borne a son. And his name— and he named him Jesus. And that concludes our sharing from "God Is in the Manger" from Dietrich Bonhoeffer for December 26th. And it is the day after Christmas, and I am blessed with a Christmas vacation as, uh, as my work benefits and God's sovereign will came together and allowed me to have this week off. For the celebration of Christmas and for reflection as we go into the new year. Happy to report this morning I recorded the last installment of the Celebrate Freedom Discipleship Course for YouTube, and I'll be releasing that sometime in the future, probably after Wednesday at least. And so we'll look for that as I will put that out. So I'm looking, really looking forward to the next few days to relax and to dig into some Christian resources that I'm not required to read. And, you know, just to rest here. Of course, tomorrow we do still host the Celebrate Freedom growth group at Starpoint Church. So if you're hearing this and you're anywhere in the Capital District and want to join a Christian fellowship where recovery and discipleship are promoted. You can join us at Star Point Church at 6:30 PM in the K-3rd grade classroom where we meet. And tomorrow we'll be doing the lesson on worship, and we will be worshiping the Lord. Still have to select which song we're gonna sing, but, uh, looking forward to that. And more things, as tomorrow is also the day of the closing of my house. My former marital home, which was broken by divorce, is finally being sold after 4 years of waiting, and we're looking forward to that, just to close that chapter and to move along, as it was what was supposed to be done prior, you know, and quote unquote, as the language in my agreement said, as soon as possible. But, uh, well, we're very content and happy that that'll be coming to a close tomorrow, and we look forward to that. So we'll have something to celebrate in terms of our freedom in another way, as the, uh, the name will, you know, the, the house will go out of my name and you know, stop destroying my credit. So, you know, not everything— obviously by that, not everything in the Christian life necessarily leads to good. Sometimes we go through some trials and tribulations, and sometimes it can take a long time to get through them. And that's why we do the message we do, is to encourage, encourage people to keep following the Lord no matter what, because he's going to lead you to to better things, even if you have to suffer for a while. Um, but you know, he gives us— ultimately he gives us our salvation. So the suffering on this earth is, as they say in scripture, you know, a light affliction. Ultimately we will be in God's kingdom forever with him, and where, you know, Revelation tells us there will be no more tears and no more death. So that's where we want to be, and we want to avoid false doctrines and false teachings that tell us anything different from the whole counsel of God and what Jesus taught us, you know, that we must be saved by faith alone in Jesus alone, that our works are, you know, part of our mission after becoming Christians, but they don't save us. They don't make us approved by God. Only our faith and covenant relationship with Jesus Christ does that. So we recommend Walter Walter Martin's book, The Kingdom of Cults, is available as an audiobook as well. It's a huge book, so the audio version might be, might be best, but it is very enlightening as it'll tell you all about Christian cults like Unitarianism, Jehovah's Witnesses, and Mormons, and, you know, all different types of religions and how they, they deviate from the truth of God's word and, um, you know, deviate from the true message that Jesus sent, uh, to, to tell us the good news. Um, you know, it's not good news if we have to earn it. Um, you know, I was at a— I was at a gathering where, when so— where someone was talking about meriting our salvation, and we don't merit our salvation. There's no way. It's only through Jesus's work that we're saved. And so we have to fight against, uh, you know, the lies of the enemy that would tell us that, uh, you know, that would, that would distort, uh, the truth of God's word. We have to be diligent to know what, what we believe and why, why we believe it as Christians, and to share the truth and, and love. Because I would say no matter how authentic your, your The teaching is that your church, amongst the pews, there's going to be people who don't understand and believe in a false gospel all the same, that, that profess their belief in Christ but live according to the works of the flesh, which, you know, the word of God tells us that, well, you know, the people who do these things will not inherit God's kingdom. And it'll show that you were sort of a false convert, that respect, you know, you tried to claim God as, you know, Jesus as Savior, but not as Lord, as you didn't surrender and didn't repent of your sins. So, you know, that's the word of God. It'll convict you to change and to, to be, you know, to try to rule over the sin in your life. And, you know, it's not about perfection, it's about progressively trying to grow and follow the Lord and his will for your life, which includes sanctification. So, uh, so we do that, and, uh, you know, we, we do it to the best of our abilities, but we, we rest on the assurance of our salvation because of Jesus. Anyway, that's enough for today. I'm gonna relax after this, and, uh, I'm not really sure what we're going to do today, but, uh, we're going to give glory to God as we go. So let's pray. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. Lord, we thank you for all the people who might be listening or reading today's message. Um, I pray for you to come alongside them and their prayer request and to bless them if they're going back to work today, and just to bless them in their walk every day. And Lord, we, we pray for you, uh, pray for— and we ask for you to help us too. Uh, we pray for you to help us every day, uh, no matter if we have to work or not. Um, I pray for you to open my eyes to the things you want me to see and lead me in the way I should go in terms of how we live today, uh, Lord, because all we want to do is represent you and your kingdom and, uh, tell other people the good news of Jesus. Um, yes, Lord, we thank you, we praise you, we love you, and we pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.