WE WILL CONTEND FOR THE FAITH
Beloved, while I was very diligent to write unto you concerning our common Salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to earnestly contend for the Faith which was once for all delivered to the Saints. Jude 3
"The Faith" means the entire Body of Doctrines derived from New Testament Judgments, Commands, Admonitions, Rebukes, Exhortations, Warnings, Prohibitions, Permissions and all other Teachings found therein.
Why should we have to be told to: "contend for the Faith"? Aren't we just supposed to "love everybody" and everything will be "just peachy"? Isn't the Gospel "all about love" and we are to "love the sinner but not the sin"? No "judging" between one doctrine and another but "let everyone slide"?
Some so-called "christian teachers" just say, "It doesn't really matter what doctrines people believe, let's all just love, love, love".
Is this even Biblical?
OUR APOSTLE SAYS OTHERWISE
The Apostle Yehudah (Jude) was very serious in what he said to us in the Book of Jude. He warns the Elect about those that would sully The Faith.
...exhorting you to earnestly contend for The Faith which was once for all delivered to the Saints. Jude 3
NOWHERE IN THE BIBLE DOES IT SAY THROW OUT DOCTRINE AND JUST "LOVE EVERYBODY"
Did Jesus "just love everybody"? Even the unrepentant? Did He "throw out all Doctrine" as some of these false teachers tell you He did? If so, why have the Bible at all?
Some have actually preached that the Bible should be "just one big page" with the word "Love" on it and all the other pages blank?. Yes, we have heard these things.
Here is what Jesus really Did Do. Speaking of Jesus Christ:
...for they were astonished at His Doctrine. Luke 4:32
So much for our L-RD Jesus Christ not having any Doctrine!
What the "no doctrine just love everybody" "Love Gospel" crowd will NOT tell you is they DO have doctrines and they do have interpretations, but they are THEIR OWN interpretations and doctrines! These "doctrines" usually have absolutely no basis either in Church History or Original Christianity however!
Remember that Scripture says that:
...no Scripture is of any private interpretation. II Peter 1:20
Seeing that they routinely ignore what the Church has historically held, doesn't anyone think it odd that they would do so? We do!
WHAT THEY REALLY DO
In saying "no doctrine" they then cleverly insert their interpretation of the Scriptures! Aware believers should hopefully be able to see through this deception fast!
"ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE"???
There was an old song sung by the Beatles: "All You Need is Love". Some thought it might even be a "christian song". They were on drugs. Nothing much was sung by them except "love". They "loved everybody" too, unconditionally! So were they teaching Bible principles also? Hardly. Some thought their songs were "christian" but they weren't.
What were they saying by such a song? They were saying, "love is all you need"! No "judging" and everyone is "just the same", all they need is "love" and everything would be just great.
They broke up later on, so we suppose they couldn't quite "practice what they preached" or let's face it, in the long run it just didn't work. This is not to question their sincerity ; we think to a great extent, they really did believe what they were singing. But it didn't work.
"THE LOVE GOSPEL"
Not all people believe the Bible where it says we are: "Chosen from before the Foundation of the world" by G-d and not our own selves. Divine Faith is a Gift of G-d, that He Gives. Ephesians 1:4-6, 2:8,9; also see John 1:12,13.
They reject the DOCTRINE OF ELECTION.
People want to invent other ways we get Saved. One of those ways is if we would just "love the sinner enough" he\she will get Saved sooner or later. Back to the Beatles. Following the Beatles, these ones believe strongly that everyone will certainly be Saved because everyone knows, "All You Need is Love" and Salvation "just happens" if you are given "enough love".
How much Love was Given Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden through Perfect Environment? Yet they still fell.
Yet these ones still teach that by applying enough effort ("love"), more could be Saved; but since the "Love Generation" didn't exist hundreds of years ago, does that make G-d unjust because He didn't supply the "Love" because those who listened to Beatles music werent even born yet?
Not only that, but the "Love Generation" didn't work either. At some point, because they had no real foundation other than "love everyone", it fell apart.
The same thing may happen today with Christians who may be held entranced by the "Love Gospel" and "All You Need is Love". At some point they break down because going by "love" emotions can only carry you so far.
Emotions are a great servant, but a terrible master.
This has resulted in several forms of CHRISTIAN HUMANISM being accepted as "true" instead of the True Biblical teaching.
FALSE TEACHERS CALL THOSE WHO CONTEND FOR THE FAITH "HERESY HUNTERS"
The New Testament says that we are to seek True Doctrines. Heresy does exist and we are to avoid it. We are hearing today (by those that want to "throw out doctrine because doctrine divides people"), the accusation that anyone that seeks otherwise is some "Heresy Hunter". They say this in forceful terms to frighten new Believers into thinking they just might be be sinning if they do! The New Testament says:
For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you. I Corinthians 11:19
Would not those involved in questionable teachings be the first to deny the People of G-d their New Covenant right to determine right from wrong doctrines and seek to deter us from identifying heresies? Of course they would.
We shall keep on diligemtly Contending for the Faith, however.
"LOVE THY NEIGHBOR AS THYSELF"
Persons sometimes misinterpret "loving your neighbor as yourself". They point to the passage which says it "fulfills the whole Law". Romans 8:4
From this, they may make the statement: "No Law But Love"!
Yeshua however, Said:
"Think not that I am come to destroy the Law (Torah), I am not come to destroy, but to Fulfill." Matthew 5:17[1]
TWO NOT ONE
And this passage can be even further misunderstood. What did Yeshua say? He Said, "...on these TWO Commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets"! Two? What is the other one? The other one is the FIRST COMMANDMENT: "Thou shalt love the L-rd your G-d with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, and Him only shall you serve".
New believers must realize that "Scripture is built upon Scripture". It is understood in this passage that the individual is already in Obedience to the First Table of the Law, that is, already is "rooted and grounded" in the True Doctrines of the Faith.
Rightly obeying "Him only shall you serve" is not some "emotionalism" where a person "feels like" they are serving Him, willy-nilly, but preparing by taking in True Doctrines in order to serve Him correctly.
Those not proficient in true Biblical principles sometimes might just "latch onto a verse" and "go with it" (like "fast food") without doing their due diligence of studying. Many do not have the Gift of Pastor-Teacher either, but might even call themselves various types of "preachers" anyway. This is not meant to knock preachers. Just that all who teach should be properly "rooted and grounded".
THE TWO TABLES OF THE LAW
"The Two Tables of the Law" are the 10 Commandments Given to Moishe by G-d on Mount Sinai divided into Two Tables. The First Table (containing the First 4 Commandments) speaks to "loving the L-rd your G-d", the Second Table (containing the last 6 Commandments), speaks to "loving your neighbor as yourself". These are the Two Tables of the Law. Therefore to summarize them, the First Table is noted by the First Conmmandment, and the Second Table (the last 6 Commandments) have been known from old-time and summarized as "loving your neighbor as yourself".
Yeshua Himself uses the correct Jewish teaching about the Two Tables in this passage from the Br'it Chadashah (New Testament).
The First Table: "Love the L-rd your G-d" is OVER the Second Table, "Love your neighbor as yourself". "Loving the L-rd your G-d" takes Priority over the Second Table.
The First Table is never ignored. The passage takes for granted that the person reading should know that to begin with. Remember,"Scripture is built upon Scripture".
THE SECOND TABLE IS NOT TO BE PLACED OVER THE FIRST TABLE
G-d Knew exactly what He was Doing when He Ordered the 10 Commandments in the Order that He Did.
In other words. we are NOT to place the Second Table "love your neighbor" OVER the First Table: "Love the L-rd your G-d". Being Obedient to G-d comes first. How? By a proper understanding of G-ds' Word which the "Love Gospel" does not have.
"The Love Gospel" places the Second Table OVER the First Table and brings confusion in its wake. It makes the First Table conform to the Second Table. Exactly the reverse order! That is where they go wrong, and how false teachers can easily mislead His flock, and that is how they are disobedient, and that is where some find themselves today.
THAT IS WHY THE "LOVE GOSPEL" IS WRONG
All of the "loving" in the world will not secure one more person than G-d previously Chose "in Christ before the foundation of the world".
All of the "tricks and techniques" to bring "one more person down front" by any human effort are vain shows. No amount of "human love" can "make" someone a Christian who is not Elect.
Does this mean we do not need to preach? No! We are Commanded to Preach the Gospel, and we cannot outwardly determine whom G-d has Chosen, so we must continue to Preach the Gospel.
MORE FOLLOWING SOON!
PEOPLE OF G-D MINISTRIES
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FOOTNOTES
[1
(We're not making this up gentle people! They had to chop-up the New Testament like this to make their strange interpretations "work out"!).
They and their followers have not done their homework very well either, because Romans 8:4 (from the own admission the "Church Age") repeats Yeshuas' Teaching exactly by saying it "fulfills the Law", NOT that it destroys it!
This is, of course, totally hilarious. Nowhere in the entire history of the Christian Church did any bona-fide teacher of the Bible ever chop-up Matthew before about 1820 A.D. Yet some swallow it hook, line and sinker! Oy Vey!
This one thing is certainly true. In order to throw out the Doctrines of Election and Predestination that the Reformers taught, based on the early Church writings of Jerome, Augustine and rediscovered by Martin Luther and accepted by the Pilgrims who came to America and many others, they were forced to find a new set of substitute doctrines and dub them "protestant" to take their place. The relatively recent discoveries of the Dead Sea Scrolls also affirm that the Essenes believed these very same things, so these doctrines weren't some "weird idea invented in the 16th Century" as many are taught!
Click HERE to see why any idea to "throw out the Law" is way wrong. Only the Ceremonial and Sacrificial Law has been done away. The Moral Law remains forever. And the Laws given to the Gentiles in Acts 21:25 also remain.