A Counsel On Extremism

Never make a "part" of the truth "the truth." That's exactly how to fall into the pit of extremism. (Read again)

And extremism I usually say, is like a very comfortable bed - easy to get into but difficult to come out.

Before you finally find your feet and come out of it, you would have caused yourself and those that hear you so much pain.

Take for instance you read in the Bible that Christ now lives in us. And you start saying things like "Jesus is not in heaven. He doesn't live there. He lives in us now"

You have just dabbled into extremism and distorted the truth of the scriptures.

Why?

That's because while the Bible actually teaches that Jesus is in us now, it also teaches that He is in us by His Spirit that we received at Salvation.

There is still the Person of Jesus (a Man with flesh and blood) who lives in heaven as we speak!

That's the truth. Not a part of it.

Another example is the statement "works are not important. Grace is all that matters. God is not interested in your works, He's grace is sufficient for you."

Do you see this statement up there? It depends largely on where and how you are applying it. A true Bible scholar must never let his emotions get hold of him to start throwing such statements around without caution. Else you will be breeding a very licentious set of people. A people whose character beyond the cross is nothing to write home about.

Why did I say that?

The reason is that the only time the scriptures teach that our individual works do not count is at Salvation. 

At new birth, the Spirit of a man is regenerated purely based on God's grace, without any sort of work from him. Regardless of how good or bad he has lived, the grace of God still counts for him. This is the same for religious folks, atheists, thieves, prostitutes and so on. It takes only Grace to get them born again. No sort of work is required.

However, there's still a life to be lived after the New Birth and that's where our works come in. This is where the scriptures urge us to produce fruits of righteousness, fruits of the Spirit and shine as Lights in the world.

Don't let nobody fool you. Our works will be very much rewarded in heaven. God's not going to "dash" us crowns of honour over there on the account of His grace. It is called a "reward" in the first place because it is a payment given to a person for a work he or she has done.

This is the truth according to the full gospel. Not just a part of it!

Again, the scriptures talk about Jesus being the resurrection and life. But aside from that, it also teaches that there is a resurrection morning, a day in which all who died in Christ will be fully resurrected.

If you take just a part of that and teach that all who are in Christ have resurrected already because Christ is their resurrection, you would be teaching a part of the truth. 

As a matter of fact, that is a part that only applies to their Spirit scripturally. Because the fact that Jesus is our resurrection has more to do with our Spirits than our bodies. 

The bodies of dead saints are not yet resurrected even though their Spirits are in Christ. As of this moment, their bodies are still in their graves from where they'll rise on the resurrection morning.

I almost fell into this error of extremism a few years back. Thank God for His grace and the solid Bible teachers that I have.

The pain of falling into that hole where you are always at the extreme side of teaching is that when you finally discover it, it will take you a very long time to reaffirm your stand and rescue those you've led into error.

Study any biblical subject well with an open heart, without picking and dwelling on any side that tickles your fancy.

There's no better way to fall into extremism than that.

I hope this blesses you!

Glory to God!