[My bolding]
An examination of the out of context quotes used by Harvest House in its Web postings will show that in each case these were the issues being addressed. Because it takes considerably more space to present a matter properly than it does to sling mud, we will only cite a few examples:
1. “Christianity is not focused on the divine economy but is a human religion saturated with demonic and satanic things.”
The theme of the book from which this quote is taken is how we as believers should cooperate with God for the carrying out of His purpose, which in the Bible is called God’s economy (Gk., oikonomia, 1 Tim. 1:4). The same chapter says:
The prevailing concept in today’s Christianity is that preaching, teaching the Bible, and praying for others is the pastor’s job. A person goes to a pastor in the same way that he would go to an attorney or a doctor for specific services. This clergy-laity system annuls the functions of the members of Christ. The attendants in the so-called Christian services go there and do nothing. They do not know how to do anything. They only know how to sit there and watch a few others function. In the church life there should not be an annulling of others’ functions but a stirring up of everyone to function.1
Thus, our criticism of the organized system of Christianity relates to the clergy-laity system annulling the function of the members, thereby hindering the building up of the Body of Christ. Since the focus of God’s economy is the building up of the Body of Christ, it follows that in institutionalizing the clergy-laity system, Christianity is not focused on the accomplishment of God’s economy. Interestingly, these comments are very similar to those made by Harvest House author Dave Hunt:
Unfortunately, most of us are part-time Christians and full-time something else. As a result, we bring into the church many of the methods and ideas we have become accustomed to out in the world. We trust our physician or accountant, so we think it should work the same way in matters of religion: There must be some professional whom we should trust as the expert who understands the things of the Spirit which we don’t have the time or capacity to learn.
God will not tolerate such an approach. We cannot abdicate our moral responsibilities to someone else, no matter how godly, who will then do our Bible study and prayer and thinking for us. Christianity involves a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ. 2
https://contendingforthefaith.org/en/misrepresentations-on-the-harvest-house-corporate-web-site/
Not that I have ever asked for, or needed, an apology from you ~ it's interesting enough just to see what you are really like and what effect your superstitious zealotry has on your integrity and interpersonal skills ~ nevertheless, this apology is accepted as valid until such time as your behaviour and demeanour indicate that, as expressions of regret go, it was, in fact, worthless and probably simply expedient (after a pointedly unfortunate couple of days in sonship-online-persona-world), if that should be the case.
Eloquently put FMF. But NO APOLOGIES from me for the Lord's recovery or the local churches or our appreciation and closely following faithful brothers who enlightened us to His will.
No apologies for the Gospel of Christ. Rather I concur with Christ's prayer with praise, with thanksgiving.
At that time Jesus answered and said, I extol You, Father, Lord of heaven and of earth, because You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants.
Yes, Father, for thus it has been well-pleasing in Your sight." (Matt. 11:25,26)
In the books concerning the remnant of Jews coming back to the Good Land from Babylon, letters or warning were written to king Cyrus.
I will not quote now. But the letters had this tone -
"Dear King Cyrus, You don't know these bad people the Jews. You should not let them rebuild that city. If you do you will be asking for trouble. It is better to STOP, STOP, STOP them from going back to that destroyed city to rebuilding its altar, its wall, its temple and the city itself.
Then they will no more be under your control. We know the history of these bad people."
All this is paraphrase. People interested enough to examine the history of the recovery of the city, temple, and walls should take the time to read these books in the Bible -
Haggai, Zechariah, Ezra, Nehemiah .
These are books about the return to the Good Land after the seventy years of Babylonian Captivity of a representative remnant of little Jews whose spirits were stirred up to do so by God.
In the return from the Babylonian Captivity a remnant of Jews who were little nobodies CAME BACK to Jerusalem.
Their critics wrote condemning letters to Cyrus the king who was convinced that God wanted him to let some of the Jews who were willing GO BACK to their land.
The funny thing is that what they wrote contained some amount of truth. The Jews HAD been bad and disobedient and rebellious to conquering empires. So you see, there was some element of accurate truth.
But we learn that the opposition party to God usually makes a larger case of falsehood around some amount of truth. Sure, Israel had been rebellious to Egypt, Assyria, and the Chaldeans.
But God still wanted His purpose for their good land, and their holy city with its holy temple to produce the world Savior - Christ.
Likewise today, coming back to the church life "in spirit on the ground" is met with impressive sounding criticism. This is a spiritual battle. This is not a battle with flesh and blood.
Behind the warning letters, gossips, circulated condemnations aimed at today's Nehemiahs, and Ezras, and Haggais and Zerubabbels recovering God's will is the spiritual opposition to the Body of Christ being built up in practice and reality.
@divegeester
It be nice if you would take more time to write something more substantial, more meaningful. You kind of cheapen the dialogue, off the cuff humor-isms, which display just your supposed cleverness. (Once in a while is ok).
For example, give us your alternative interpretation of the fountain opened to the house of David for sin and impurity in Zechariah 13:1.
If you don't think it has anything to do with a fountain of redeeming blood of Christ for the cleansing of sins, then what is your ALTERNATIVE way of viewing it?
"Another parable He set before them, saying, The kingdom of the heavens has become like a man sowing good seed in his field. (24)
But while the men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares in the midst of the wheat and went away. " (v.25)
Good seed is sown by the planter.
The planter's ENEMY comes in stealthfully to sow bad something of a different, yet similar LOOKING nature in the midst of the field of good seeds.
Make no mistake about it. This is not because the enemy wants variety and diversity. It is because he wants to cause damage, confusion, and destroy what the planter of good seeds has done.
How can you say that there is no organization of Satan specifically designed to caused mixed confusion and chaos right in the middle of what God has done?
"But while the men slept" could mean while the original apostles passed away, died.
"But while the men slept, HIS ENEMY CAME and sowed tares in the midst of the wheat and went away. (25)
And when the blade sprouted and produced fruit, then the tares appeared also." (v.25,26)
This was a stroke of evil genius. Sow tares which are for a time practically identical in appearance at first with the wheat that was sown.
And this evil genius was carried out in an organized way.
And when the blade sprouted and produced fruit, then the tares appeared also. (26)
And the slaves of the master of the house came and said to him, Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where then did thetares come from? (v.27)
and he said to them, An ENEMY has done this. And the slaves said to him, Do you want tus then to go and collect them? (v.28)
It became obvious that amidst the Christians PSEUDO Christians were also planted by the enemy of God. The temptation has been that the true Christians would take it upon themselves to go through the world and try to eliminate this "crop" of confusion - false believers sown among true believers.
The Catholic Spanish Inquisition attempted to do this. But Jesus Christ Himself warned His disciples in the parable that this SHOULD NOT be attempted. In the world it will be often impossible for them to detect the difference between genuine saved believers and phony believers.
But he said to them, An enemy has done this. ... Do you want us then to go and collect them?
But he said, No, lest while collecting the tares, you uproot the wheat along with them. (v.29)
Let both grow together UNTIL THE HARVEST, and at the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, Collect first the tares and bind them into bundles to burn them up, but the wheat gather into my barns." (v.30)
Christ knew full well that throughout the church age there would be a mixture which is often impossible for even His servants to accurately discern at 100%. And because mistakes would be made, trying to eliminate phony Christians from the world would cause them to mistakenly eliminate TRUE Christians at times.
This is exactly what happened in the history of the Inquisitions carried out by Roman Catholicism.
True believers were tortured, persecuted and martyred along with false prophets and false teachers of the Gospel.
Look again at Christ's warning about this ORGANIZED attack from the enemy to frustrate what God had planted.
And the slaves said to him, Do you want us then to go and collect them?
But he said, No, lest while collecting the tares, you uproot the wheat with them.
Fortunately, this parable was interpreted by Christ Himself. We need not employ any guesswork. He told us what it means.
Then, leaving the crowds, He went into the house. And his disciples came to Him, saying, Make the parable of the tares of the field clear to us.
And He answered and said, He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man; And the field is the world; and the good seed, these are the sons of the kingdom; and the tares are the sons of the evil one.
And the enemy who sowed them is the devil; and the harvest is the consummation of the ages; and the reapers are angels.
Therefore just as the tares are collected and burned up with fire, so will it be at the consummation of the age.
The Son of Man will send His angels, and they will collect out of His kingdom all the stumbling blocks and those who practice lawlessness.
And will cast them into the furnace of fire. In that place there will be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine forth like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear." (13:36-43)
Now I ask you folks. Is not the attempt by the Devil to purposely confuse, confound, frustrate, damage, pollute, and corrupt God's field of wheat an ORGANIZED scheme?
Yet some here complain about the exposing of a Satanic organization. This is a spiritual battle. This is not a battle as the Inquisition attempted to eliminate from the whole world counterfeit disciples of Jesus.
In the parable"the field" is the world. (v.38) In the world there is the organized strategic scheme of Satan to frustrate the growth of God's "wheat".
All the presence of the look alike TARES do is cause the WHEAT to be frustrated in growth.
In the parable of the tares Satan makes an organized well executed strategy to frustrate the growth in spiritual life. The enemy of God plants false believers among the genuine believers
This tactic is extremely damaging to God's kingdom because for a long time the two "plants" can look so similar in size and in color. Even an experienced farmer may had trouble telling tares from wheat until the ear appears for the wheat.
But once the grain ripens, the wheat is a golden yellow, and the tares are black. The life in the wheat matures into a golden color. The tares turn to a deathly blackened color.
Get the point and do not be distracted of miss the point. This is not about nationalities or skin colors. This is about how the wheat and the tares eventually diverge in appearance. Yet before they do the experienced farmers may not always be able to detect that - "THIS is a wheat and THIS is a tare."
Though Christ warned His disciples not to attempt to separate counterfeit Christians from true Christians, some tried during the church age. Tragedy, murder, chaos ensued for which the universal church won for itself disrepute in history.
Christ says that at the consummation of the age the angels will separate the false plants and bind them into bundles to be burned.
It could be that plural "bundles" is because there are different kinds of false Christians. Maybe Christ will direct His angels to put them in various groups related to varying levels of culpability.
This is speculation in my part. However the evil genius of Satan's scheme will be totally annihilated by the One who did the planting in the beginning.