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Write It in the Book of
Acts
MP3
This notebook piece is for all the individuals out there with an idea
baby. An "idea baby" is defined as some doctrinal theory or
doctrine which is not taught by the ICG but remains a belief of one or
more individual members. Often it is an all-consuming obsession of
the person and often serves to detract them from their primary focus of
their Salvation Process.
To this writer, many, if not all of these theories and beliefs defy
normal spiritual comprehension or logic. Some are in direct
opposition to established doctrine and belief. Besides comparing
these sets of beliefs to scripture, I often challenge the holder of
these beliefs to tell me how it would be written up in the book of
Acts.
The book of Acts is also known as, "The Acts of the Apostles" and it is
a record of what the apostles did in founding and establishing the
Church of God on this planet. It is the only book of the Bible
that is not specifically ended. It seems quite clear that the
annals of the church from the first century, where the present scripture
leaves off, on up to the return of Christ is yet to be written in its
pages. This is why I use it as a test of some of these idea
babies. Let me give you an example.
For some time now, I have been in contact with a member in the Body of
Christ who feels that our understanding of the calendar is completely
wrong and that from the founding days of Herbert W. Armstrong, we have
never kept a Holy Day or Feast of Tabernacles at the proper time.
This person firmly believes that for the last seventy-one years we have
been utterly in error. If this is true
[and I do not believe for a second] then it will make for an
interesting write-up in the Book of Acts after the return of Christ.
Can you imagine the text?
"And in those days, my church faithfully
worshipped me and did my will in the spreading of the gospel and doing
good works. Yet in their error they kept none of my appointed days
as prescribed by my word. Indeed, I allowed this error for
fourscore and eight years and never chose to correct them."
Can you imagine such a history sitting in God's Word for eternity?
Clearly the church is not perfect and mistakes and errors are recorded
in the present text of Acts, but nothing on this monumental scale.
The Holy Days and the keeping of them are essential and central to our
faith. We have taught from the beginning that God's true church is
headed by Christ and that He and God, the Father are not slack in their
correction of their church. There have been errors, but they have
been corrected. If this person's beliefs were well founded, why
would God correct some things and neglect correcting us on something so
central to our faith and worship of God? I say all this in
addition to the scriptures and secular history not supporting this idea
in any way.
You are going to be exposed to idea babies and outside doctrines from
time to time. You might even be intrigued by what you see.
However, continue to prove all things and be sure to read my Notebook
piece on Slick Arguments. When you
are presented with some of these things, ask yourself the question, "How
would this look recorded in the Book of Acts?"
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