Bible Believers Are NOT Protestants

Bible Believers Are NOT Protestants

 

I was just thinking about this the other day when I had to fill out another form (of one kind or another), and when it got to religion … it didn’t have mine.  I am not a Protestant; I am a Bible Believer.  The reason I associate with the Baptists most is because the Baptists (up until recently) have been most closely aligned to Bible Believers.  Ever since “Willow Creek Church” and “Saddleback Community Church” popped on the scene with its easy believism approach to Christianity, there has been a shift in what the Gospel “really” means and that doctrine is to be divided up into essential and non-essential categories.  Bible Believers reject this.  The fact that many Baptist churches are buying into these concepts is what causes me to call myself a Bible Believer instead of a Baptist.  Does that mean that I do not associate with Baptists … no it does not.  The same way it does not prevent me for being an influence to persons from any other religious group.

 

So … why do I say Bible Believers are NOT Protestants?  Simply because … we are NOT Protestants.  In the frame below, the beginnings of various religious groups are shown.  This is misleading because, although we can trace the beginnings of the Baptist faith, the Baptists trace their roots to the Apostolic Church.  To be a protestant is to say that you were once part of the “true” church … the Roman Catholic Church.  The Roman Catholic Church claims that Peter was given the “keys” to the kingdom and the mysteries of God (boy I can go for a long time on this area).  That is why they claim (falsely so) their beginnings to be 33A.D. 

The Catholic Church decrees that Baptists are part of the group that PROTESTED (hence – Protestant Reformation) the Catholic Church and began the Protestant Reformation.  There are many things that happened as a result of the Protestant Reformation that has hurt “churches” badly even until today … but … we don’t have time to go there right now.  Baptist … and many other Christian groups not mentioned on “forms,” were not spawns of the Catholic Church.  We have never been part or associated with the false teaching or crimes (Inquisition, etc) perpetrated by the Catholic Church.  Let me say a word about the Crusades, since it is relevant to a false statement by our illustrious President that the Crusades were evil.  The Crusades, in themselves, were not evil; they were totally necessary to prevent the onslaught of the Muslims from capturing Europe.  If not for the Crusades, all of Europe would today be Muslim … that would be a terrible thing for the world.  However, I do acknowledge that there were Crusaders that committed unspeakable acts against other human beings.  My point in this is that Bible Believers are not associated with the people who committed these acts … Bible Believers have NO connection with the Catholic Church, in fact, we were persecuted by the Catholic Church as being heretics in the Inquisition, and many were forced to bow their allegiance to the Church instead of the truth of the Gospel.  I, for one, being a Bible Believer adamantly deny being part of the Catholic Church in any way, shape, or form.  Our cousins were the Anabaptists, the Waldensians, the Moravians, etc.  We were all persecuted for NOT being part of the Catholic Church; and therefore, we are not Protestants

In the frame above, House says that you cannot “reason” with religious people.  Let me make another statement: I hate religion!  My faith is not a religion, for a religion is man-made.  The Catholic Church is a religion … it is man-made.  True Christianity is a relationship with God provided exclusively by the shed blood of Jesus Christ on the cross and his resurrection from the dead.  It is God-made!  I have NO relationship with God without the blood of Jesus applied to my life … plus and minus nothing!  So House … you are right.  People who place their eternal destinies on a man-made faith have no clue.  That is why it is so important for true believers to be relevant Ambassador’s for Christ to their worlds of influence: where they live, work, and play.  It is vital for us to be F.I.T. with a F-aith that I-nfluences T-day! 

I am beginning a Running Club in the University Area of Charlotte so I can do just that.  I want to live life with ordinary people so they can see a difference in me and want to know what I have. The essence of the Gospel (the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ) is to be lived daily.  It is not to be contrived … it is to be genuine, heartfelt, and compassionate.  We must be IN the world while not being OF the world.  That is what will win the trust and respect of those outside the Body of Christ.  It is important for Bible Believers to know what they believe and know from whence they came: we are NOT, nor have ever been Protestants!

 

Live OUT LOUD!

Mark Harrell – Habakkuk 2:2

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The Shekinah Glory, YOU Are

What does it mean when the Bible says, “For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's?”  And what does it really mean, as far as the “church” is concerned, when the God says, “What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?

 

That little word … “what?” … carries with it an emphatic meaning.  Simply put, God is almost screaming, “Why is it that you don’t know this?  This is a basic truth for every believer to live!  Get with it!  Get FIT!

 

This leads my thinking to another verse that many find hard to apply to our lives today:

 

Mat 9:15  And Jesus said unto them, Can the children of the bridechamber mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them? but the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then shall they fast.

Mat 9:16  No man putteth a piece of new cloth unto an old garment, for that which is put in to fill it up taketh from the garment, and the rent is made worse.

Mat 9:17  Neither do men put new wine into old bottles: else the bottles break, and the wine runneth out, and the bottles perish: but they put new wine into new bottles, and both are preserved.

 

The “old bottles” and “new bottles” refer to how the Holy Spirit did, and how He will work in the lives of men.  In the Old Testament (the time period of the Law), God showed His presence to His people in the form of Shekinah Glory … a pillar of smoke and fire that rested over the Mercy Seat in the Holy of Holies.  God did not permanently indwell people then as He does today.  The Holy Spirit/Ghost would come and go as he willed to perform a function, using man to accomplish his purposes.  That is not true today.  Since Acts 10 (initiated in Acts 2), God began permanently indwelling those who would accept His son as their personal savior; thus, residing in them constantly … never to leave.  We are the Temple of God!  We are ambassadors for Christ!  How we treat our bodies tells people what we really think about God.

 

 

That leads me to a question … “How is how you take care of your physical body telling people what you think about God Almighty?  Please don’t skirt the question or justify the fact you may not be taking care of the dwelling place of God on this earth.  Be honest!  It is important to be FIT physically and spiritually so your F-aith can I-nfluence people T-day where you Live, Work, and Play!  People do judge you by how you take care of your Temple … that’s human nature.  The good part is we can do something about that.  We can GET FIT!

 

It’s interesting to observe how God has “met” with men throughout the dispensations (periods of time) of humanity.  Let’s look at a few ways, and then we can check out how he “meets” with man today.

 

Gen 3:8  And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden.

Gen 3:9  And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?

Gen 3:10  And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.

 

God would walk and talk with Adam and Eve while they were in the garden in the cool of the day; only this time, they could not see God, they could only hear his voice.  The reason for this is that they had lost the IMAGE (the spiritual aspect) of God.  It frightened them because they had always seen God, but this time they could only hear him.  Sin had separated man from a unique relationship with God.  God has been dealing with the Mystery of Iniquity since that time … until one day … He will eradicate sin and usher in a new heaven and a new earth.  Until then, we are limited to a spiritual relationship with God.  That is why it is so important for believers to maintain physical health.  We must give the world a proper picture of our love for our Savior.  Like any bride (the church/believers), we want to look our best for our bridegroom (Jesus).  That directly applies to how and why we are to keep our bodies FIT for the Master’s use.

 

 

Another example of how God met with man (prior to the Holy Spirit permanently indwelling his people) is Moses:

 

Exo 24:12  And the LORD said unto Moses, Come up to me into the mount, and be there:

Exo 24:15  And Moses went up into the mount, and a cloud covered the mount.

Exo 24:16  And the glory of the LORD abode upon mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days: and the seventh day he called unto Moses out of the midst of the cloud.

 

This is fascinating.  God said not a word to Moses for six days; he was “just there.”  On the seventh day God began speaking to Moses.  Are there times when you don’t want to talk with God; you just want to “be there” with him in the quiet solitude of the hectic pace of life?  We can “be there” with God just as Moses was “there” with God … as long as you have a rhema (the word alive) relationship with the Holy Spirit.

 

We also see God meeting with man when Abraham met Melchizadek and when Jacob wrestled with an Old Testament appearance of Christ at what we know as … Jacob’s ladder.  That brings us to how God “meets” with man in the Church Age (the time from the ascension of Christ until the catching away of the church).  God meets with man in the church age the same way he met with man in the Tabernacle Period of the Old Testament.  He meets man through the indwelling Holy Spirit; thusly, we are the Church Age Shekinah Glory.  We are the place where God touches mankind.  God lives in us through the person of the Holy Spirit.  That is why GETTING and STAYING F.I.T. (physically and spiritually) is so vital to the success of our  mission on this big, blue ball called earth.

 

The “new bottles” of the working of the Holy Spirit cannot be put in “old bottles.” The Holy Spirit does not work through a place (old bottles) in the church age … He works through a person (new bottles) … the believer who is in a right standing with God mentally, physically, socially, and spiritually.  The Holy Spirit is limited by confining Him to a place … Like what we call “church.”  The church is not a place … it is a person.  You, a believer in Jesus Christ, are the church … and when the church (YOU) gathers, then that is  called the ecclesia (the church gathered). It is the gathering of the CHURCH (believers) that we are not to forsake.  The gathering is what keep us accountable and encouraged to fulfill mission.  That mission is to R-each people with the truth, E-stablish people in the truth, A-pply the truth daily, and P-roduce warriors to share the truth.  That is the mission that Satan is successfully usurping from the body of Christ.  Don’t let him do it in the spiritual realm, and don’t let him do it in the physical realm.

 

RU FIT Ministries is dedicated to encouraging people and gatherings of believers to GET and STAY F.I.T. for a lifetime.  We can Influence your group in a variety of methods which are outline at: www.rufitministries.weebly.com.  You can also use our Facebook page to begin today to become accountable to GETTING F.I.T. by posting your workouts at: www.facebook.com/rufitministries.

 

If you would like 2 free copies of my book: RU FIT – Curing Spiritual and Physical Obesity in the Body of Christ, just send me your email requesting two free chapters to:  mdharrell1@bellsouth.net.

 

Please begin today being the Ambassador for Christ in all aspects of life … mentally, spiritually, socially, and physically!

 

Live OUT LOUD!

Mark Harrell – Habakkuk 2:2