DOCTRINES OF DEMONS AND THE SIMPLE CHURCH

Comment by Keith on January 13, 2009 at 1:26pm

Wow!

that was truly amazing brother, it really took my breath away. Yet why should it. We need to stand up for the truth. I post very little on this site, and yet I notice that I am mentioned here, too often. The real reason is, I will not stand for heresy. If we do not stand for the truth, how can we expect others to love the truth. I have been told off more than once for believing in absolute truth and yet how can I deny absolute truth when I know him. His name is Jesus!

Bless you brother for your words,
Keith

Comment by Nik P. on January 13, 2009 at 6:39pm

I continue to pray for all Christian websites, that they may remain holy and glorify the Lord alone. May our voices join concert with the angels rather than clang and clash in disharmony. Amen.

Comment by Noelle Ligtenberg on January 14, 2009 at 6:55pm

Amen,
I've been concerned and guarded about all that I have been reading on this site. Thank you for taking a stand for truth. God Bless.

Comment by Kriston Couchey on January 14, 2009 at 9:42pm

It is ever important to know one thing Truth IS a person as Christopher stated. and all things done are done as an expression of His person and His judgments. you cannot judge properly anything aaprt from having come to union with the Lord and his heart on any matter. I for one am not interested in letting a man come in to my home and tell me that Morman beliefs are what God is intending for me and those i fellowship with. Is teaching things that completely deny the truth of scripture to be allowed and given a place in our fellowship? i can tell you it is the Lord's HEART to defend His sheep. It's not about nitpicky cuting off of anyone who disagrees with your interpretation of nonessential issues. This is about Error that destroys Gods children.

there is a wisdom in the "church" that believes to confront or judge doctrines of demons is not godly HOGWASH!!!!!!!!! And how to you know error. the testimony of scripture, the Spirit, and th Lord himself speaking. I hear Him speak and know when He is upset with certian things. I am not wrong to oppose that which HE opposes.

Kris

Comment by Cindy Skillman on January 15, 2009 at 1:52am

There seems to be a favorite straw man that is always set up against people like Kris, who point out that we, as believers, are to judge what is truth and what is error. The straw man is this: that such people insist that everyone agree with every disputable interpretation they personally may hold. If anyone disagrees, insists the maker of the straw man, the "judgmental" Christian will be only too ready to burn him at the stake. This is nuts.

There are disputable doctrines and indisputable doctrines. You may believe that everyone who is filled with the Holy Spirit will speak with other tongues. I may believe that speaking in tongues is a gift given only to some. In times not so long ago, this was held by many in Charismatic circles to be a vital difference--it is not. If we disagree on this, we can still fellowship together because this is not a central doctrine.

Doctrine is not a dirty word. The New Testament is chock full of doctrines, including the gospels. Some doctrines are central. I hold these to be that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, and that no one comes to the Father except through Him. If you believe that it is possible to reach the Father by many roads and that we are all, ultimately, on the same journey and that our roads will converge on the heavenly way, whether through this expression of the Father (perhaps the Buddha) or that (perhaps Allah), then you are not my brother or sister. I would like to have you as a brother or sister, but I'm not going to pretend that you're already in the family just so I can be seen as suitably accepting and PC.

The exclusivity of Jesus is a central doctrine in the epistles and, for those of you who doubt the epistles, it is central from Jesus' own mouth. And if you doubt the gospels, then what, exactly have you got? If none of the scriptures are any good in the long run, except in your own private interpretation, why do you bother? Go to the Baha'i. They will accept anything you may wish to say.

There is a time for saying, "This is a lie and the doctrine of demons." And saying it does not make the speaker unloving--quite the opposite. Doctrines of devils are a lot more dangerous than any illness or other terror that may befall us. It is not loving to pretend either that they don't exist, or that no one can know them when they raise their heads.

However they came to us, God has protected the scriptures. Remember in CS Lewis' book, The Silver Chair how Eustice and Jill find the message from Aslan as to where they are to go next: "Under Me" laid out in the valley below them in the ruined city of giants? They later learn that "Under Me" was a part of a longer inscription carved hundreds of years earlier that had nothing to do with their current situation. Nevertheless, this was the message and the instruction Aslan had told them to expect. In the same way the fictitious Aslan used and orchestrated time and events, I believe God has contrived to bring us just the scriptures He wants us to have. He can do that--He's God.

Thanks, Kris, for posting this thread. It is courageous of you to say what you have said here, and I admire you for it and thank God for inspiring you.

God bless, Cindy

Comment by Kriston Couchey on January 15, 2009 at 9:58am

Thanx, i hope no one minds me moderating my own blog... Is that legalistic?? LOL! I have come to the firm belief through other circumstances and this that we are the gatekeepers of what we have been given, to whom much is given much is required. there are many given a place of training and caring for the immature and weak in the faith. this is not bad or wrong to exercise judgment when discipling.

Dicipling ends one day for everyone. I have come to the place with others that have matured where i will not let them depend on me, but treat them as the equals they already are. I have also learned to treat everyone as equals in value and respect even when they are immature, but YOU/ME still are held accountable for what you let come in and decieve and destroy others that you saw but did not help oppose.

i have been silent in the past and seen those I have been given to care for destroyed spiritually. I have also seen some respond to correction or encouragement and prosper. I have also seen some ignore and laugh at my concerns and they are living life in shambles to this day. I have come to know this without a shred of doubt, LOVE speaks the truth. And truth spoken in Love sometimes is very uncomfortable, especially for those of us who have learned to not control or lord over our brothers and sisters. The only path to not be controlling and not leave people open to destruction IS LOVE! I have come to terms with this responsibility personally and will fight to my dying day to see this type of "leadership" established in the church.

In Him
Kris

Comment by Doug and Donna Spencer on January 15, 2009 at 12:41pm

Amen Kris. Here is how I see it. My views are pretty simple which is how I prefer to keep it.

Fudamentalism is good because it keeps us grounded and points to God's word as Truth, Fundamentalism gone astray however, leads to legalism and a squelching of the Spirit, which is not good.

Pentacostalism is good because it brings the active use of the spiritual gifts into the body. Pentacostalism gone astray however, leads to an unstructered free for all with too much emphasis on gifts and does not allow believers to grow in the Truth of God's word.

Simple church (home church, organic church, or whatever term you want to use) is good because it brings us back as believers into a more relational form and expression of Christianity as the Bride of Christ. Simple church gone astray however, leads to some small groups clustering around false doctrines and beliefs due to the fact they although they are now free from the confines and control of the IC, they no longer have the protection of the discernment of mature believers operating in their gift of discernment.

This brings me to what I believe Kris and others are doing, operating with the gift of discernment. Discernment is the rudder on the ship of Christianity; it keeps us on course. Admittedly, a rudder is no good in and of itself and we need other parts of the ship to get where we are going (sails, rigging, etc), but without a rudder the ship will be left adrift in the sea of the world at the mercy of the winds and the currents. One day the wind might be blowing to the North and that is where your ship will go without a rudder. The next day the wind will blow to the East and you will find your ship on a totally different course and direction were it not for the rudder. Discerment is a necessary part of the body operating together, but too many want to disregard that part of the body and prefer to be subject to the winds and the currents.

The arguments made by some on this site to support their views (all dogs go to heaven) are very weak and easily deconstructed. I only bring this up, not to argue, but merely to point out how easilty they are deceived. One argument I hear touted about is that during the early years of Christianity two out of the three major schools of Christian thought believed in universal reconciliation, therefore it must be true. That is akin to saying that the majorityof people at the time of Jesus didn't believe He was the Messiah, therefore He couldn't have been who He said He was. Christianity is not a majority rules type of faith. It is based on Truth and it is up to you if you want to believe it not. Were the apostle Paul present today, these same people would probably attempt to argue with him giving him the same arguments they present here. Being admonished for false beliefs is part of being a Christian and we should be glad that there are those that God sends as messengers of the truth; otherwise we would certainly be doomed to latch on to the latest doctrine of demons.

I stand beside my brother Kris and will also fight to my death to see loving leadership exercised in the Body of Christ. The Lord spoke to me very specifically one evening almost a year ago about the deception that is present and ongoing in churches across American (this includes ALL churches, house churches included). My entire focus from that moment on shifted and now I am able to see deception where I never did before. Let us take our lessons from Adam. Eve was deceived, but Adam was not. He knew right from wrong yet he chose to disobey God. Either you are like Eve and are being deceived or you are like Adam and are choosing to disobey God.

I will continue to reach out to my brothers and sisters in love when I see them being deceived, however, sadly my experience has been that most of them voluntarily choose to remain on the destructive and deceptive path they are on. We should pray for God's divine providence upon them.

Thank you Kris for being a shining light of truth upon the darkness of deception that has cast its shadow on this site.

Comment by Carolyn on March 10, 2009 at 9:20pm

Kris, I went to check on you, because I hadn't heard anything from you recently, and came across this blog. First, thanks for writing. Second, thanks for moderating... The grace given to me is to have a real yearning for the truth.. and to have the resonance of his word in me that enables me to hear when things sound like the truth, and when they don't. Probably most believers who know Christ raised form the dead, and who experience the overflowing infilling of the Holy Ghost also have that resonance in them. The more difficult thing is to know how to address other people with the truth. Not in exalting my own view, but listening for Him.

Right now I am leaving an IC... and the further I get away from it, the more untruths seem to become functional there. Your note about being silent and watching others you are given destroyed is right on. My problem is that when I was in the IC I did not believe that they would hear me. I am female, and not staff, and they believe that truth and direction and revelation come from higher up and flow down to us - the mere members. I cannot find a good way to speak to them about even small issues. So... I have withdrawn. The thing is that the more I withdraw the wider my sphere of influence among others grows, the more effectiveness the gospel has on my family, the more we are involved with others, the more blessed, the more joy... its sad because I love the people I am leaving, but its a relief to be becoming free.

Comment by Kriston Couchey on March 11, 2009 at 8:54am

Carolyn,

thanx for the reply to the blog. Jesus didn't try to stay in the synagogues and teach after they tried to throw him off a cliff. He went to the country and people came to him "Outside" the religious system. Sometimes we just know when people are not willing to hear the truth and we just move on. then there are those willing to hear, but this seems to be on an individual basis at times.

there is also a time we go to the temple and cleanse it and expect to be crucified for it. But those times are not as often as the times we just share as people come to us.

Kris

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