DRY, DIRTY HAIR and GOD'S BUILDING CODE


Pro	phets > DRY, DIRTY HAIR and GOD'S BUILDING CODE

DRY, DIRTY HAIR and GOD'S BUILDING CODE

Dry, Dirty Hair

Bryan Hupperts
November 9,1999

How can a kid spend 15 minutes in the shower, insist he is clean, and still come out with dry, dirty hair? It's one of those parenting mysteries that can drive you stark raving mad. And the kids think its funny.

As strange as the dry hair phenomena is, I've seen stranger things lately in church services across the land. People tell me they have been in the direct, felt presence of God experiencing all sorts of visions, mysteries, and physical phenomena - yet so many of them that I know personally are coming out of these spiritual ecstasies largely unchanged. If stepping out of a shower with dry, dirty hair seems unusual, how much more so does stepping out of the raw presence of the One from whom "the heavens and the earth" flee away and not being fundamentally changed? Something is dreadfully amiss.

My son did the dry hair stunt with me this morning. He sang and played and stomped around the shower swishing the water and making bubbles. Apparently he had a really great time. When he called for a towel I was amazed to find one side of his head dry! The purpose of taking a shower is to step in, wash, and emerge clean. Somehow I think he missed the point of bathing.

I have seen some people coming away from hyper-charged emotional Christian services with suspiciously dry hair. Still others have come away fundamentally changed - with lasting fruit to back their claims. The mixture and often contradicting results in individual lives can be confusing to any onlooker. A few years ago, I attended one of these services to see if I could understand what all the hoopla was about. During prayer time I went forward seeking healing from a physical disorder that has plagued me.

I went quietly praying in the Spirit. The man in the prayer line asked me to quit praying and just start receiving. Quit paying? Now that was a first! He then told me to empty my mind so I could receive from God. Little alarm bells began going off. Before receiving Christ, I wandered through most every ism the world has to offer. Eastern mysticism was always trying to get me to empty my mind so I could reach God. I went "ugh - oh!"

The Bible tells us to submit ourselves to God for personal transformation by the renewal of out minds, not by emptying them. When I informed the individual of my biblical stance, he laughed, laid his hands on me, and asked God to deliver me from my "Pharisaical spirit." OK, now I was mad. I informed the gentleman that I didn't have a "Pharisaical spirit" and I finally left. The whole experience was absolutely bizarre.

There seems to be a perverse disdain of sound doctrine in some Christian circles, a spooky development in the light of 2 Timothy 4:3. "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears." I answered the gentleman in the prayer line with solid, sound doctrine hoping to correct his errant and unbiblical practice. His response was to call me a Pharisee.

Jesus never rebuked the Pharisees for their devotion to the eternal, unchanging truth of God's Word. Quite the opposite. He rebuked them for setting aside God's Word in favor of their own tradition, their "personal ministry model" if you will. He rebuked them in Matthew 15:6, "Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition." This individual was in fact of doing the very thing he was accusing me of doing! So who was really the Pharisee?

If something is legitimately from God, it will agree with His written Word (sound doctrine). To shut your mind off and just go with the spiritual flow is tantamount to walking into a pharmacy, closing your eyes, and groping through the shelves until you find a bottle, opening it and swallowing its contents - and then just "trusting" that it is the proper medication that will heal you. You might get lucky, even healed - or end up dead. It would be far better to take a bit of time to first study the labels and see if they agree with the prescription written by your physician (even your great Physician). In other words, open the Bible and see if it this new thing agrees with God's Word.

Here's a largely forgotten verse in the charismatic world: 2 Timothy 2:15 "Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." Gasp - use our minds? "But," they argue, "we have the Holy Spirit to guide us, we don't need our gray matter getting in God's way!"

I am deeply concerned at the cavalier lack of respect for Bible teaching (sound doctrine) especially in charismatic and even self-professing "Word" churches. Without a basic foundation and understanding of the Gospel, I cannot help but wonder how people on the current spiritual roller coaster know they are in fact in touch with the real Jesus. 1 John 5:8 "And there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one." The Word and the Spirit agree!

Contrary to accusation, I do not have more faith in the devil to deceive than I do God to reveal truth - because I know His Word! I once took an informal survey of basic bible doctrine in a church deeply involved with some questionable spiritual practices. The pastor tried to dismiss my concerns about the growing level of biblical illiteracy in his congregation. It turned out that one of his worship musicians - who had been in public ministry for over a year - didn't know about the Virgin Birth of Christ! No one could even give me a definition of justification by faith. Yet this same group was being arrogant towards the "less spiritual" churches in their community. I offered to teach a class in basic foundational doctrine for them and was informed "We don't do that here." I was aghast at their blindness.

Whatever happened to receiving the "love of the truth, that they might be saved"? [2 Thessalonians 2:10].

Leaders are placed under this mandate by the Lord: Titus 1:9, "Holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers." If sound doctrine is absent, the Apostle warns of this inevitable result in 2 Timothy 4:4: "And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables."

Tomorrow I have a surprise for my son. I am going to meet him at the shower holding a brush, soap, and towel, and I intend to give him a thorough remedial review in personal hygiene. Perhaps its time for pastors across the land to go to their churches, open their Bibles, and begin to thoroughly wash their congregations with the water of the Word.

There's some very dirty, dry hair out there in need of a thorough washing.

God's Building Code

Bryan Hupperts
November 10,1999

Yesterday I hit a nerve in the Body of Christ discussing my concerns with the current virtual abandonment of Bible by many within the renewal movement. I was deluged with mail by saints and many Christian leaders who echoed my sentiments and shared my concerns. Let me state this clearly: I am pro-renewal of the church! What I am not is so desperate to see something - anything - happen that I will grab onto the first wave of spiritual activity I see and blindly declare it to be the Lord. I will not settle for second best, superficiality, or showmanship. I want the genuine thing from God!

The current wave of euphoria ripping the evangelical church apart is beset with problems. Probably of most concern is the general attitude of disdain towards the Bible. So many are tossing the Bible out with the proverbial baptism water. We need solid foundations if we are to rightly build God's kingdom. Psalms 11:3 "If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?"

My city has a building code. If you want to construct a structure you have to build by the standards of the code. If your work is not up to code, you are prohibited from building. The code assures that basic standards of safety and structural integrity are met so that the buildings in our city will be secure. You are free to build any style of home you choose so long as there are certain non-negotiable factors and standards of design built into its construction.

The Bible is God's building code. In the Book, he gives broad outlines about what is His will and what isn't. If we try to construct a building without first having a blueprint, we're headed for certain trouble. So that we will not be ignorant of His will and ways, God laid out blueprints for the building and advancement of his kingdom. These blueprints are called Doctrines.

A Doctrine is God's absolute Truth. It functions like the support beams in a building. When the building is finished you can't see the beams inside the walls. They are not there for beauty, but strength. They contribute a framework of solid support that holds the building together. Without them being present, the structure will collapse and injure or kill anyone inside the building. Without a solid infrastructure, the entire structure becomes a safety hazard.

I am not proposing that our spiritual life is to be composed of dry, didactical discourses on doctrine. Rather, I am asking those involved with the current renewal movement to re-lay a solid foundation built on God's eternal truths by preaching what Paul called "all the counsel of God" Acts 20:27. We need the whole of God's revelation of himself if we are to build rightly for eternity. 2 Timothy 2:19 "The foundation of God standeth sure." After examining much of what I've seen, I believe the current renewal is not up to God's building code.

The Apostle Paul, who certainly was involved in renewal in his day, penned by the Spirit of God, 1 Timothy 4:13 "Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine." Renewal services are filled with testimonies and songs and updates on the state of the renewal, but usually lack even foundational teaching. If renewal services are being touched by the same Holy Spirit that filled Paul, then He will insist on this public reading of Scriptures today. He is the Lord, and he changes not.

The author of Hebrews soundly rebuked the Jewish Christians with Hebrews 5:12. "For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat." He wrote that they should be skilled enough to be TEACHING God's Word but instead they needed to be nursed back to health by relearning God's first principles. I would judge many in the current renewal to be in a similar spiritual state.

When Noah built the ark, he did it according to the plan God gave him (Genesis 6:13- 16). When Moses built the Tabernacle, again it was according to the pattern God gave him on the mountain (Exodus 25:40). When Jesus began his public ministry, it was by publicly reading the scriptures (Luke 4:16 - 18). Each of these examples carefully followed God's blueprint.

The Apostle Paul was trusted with teaching God's truths to the church through his epistles, which compose much of the New Testament. 1 Corinthians 3:10 "According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon."

I would ask that the leaders of the renewal movement first lay a foundation that includes the public reading and teaching of Scripture. Give the whole counsel of God including solid teaching from the Bible. After that foundation has been properly laid, then please be careful how you build or you may be indicted by God as workmen who should be ashamed for their slovenly labors.

Build according to God's Code before the roof comes crashing in.

From: Bryan & Cyndi Hupperts
Sheep Trax Ministries ---New Window

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Bryan Hupperts
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