From Heidi Lavoie
Subject: Comment by Mike Pennington on "Transformation"
Dear Berit:
I just wanted to share a few of my thoughts regarding the comment submitted by Mike Pennington. First of all, regarding what he calls "secondary separation", here is a quote from Charles Spurgeon:
"Dr. Charles H. Spurgeon, the prince of preachers, was a pioneer in teaching New Testament separation and in standing against the modernists of his day. On October 7th, 1888 he declared:
"I have preached God's truth, so far as I know it, and I have not been ashamed of its peculiarities. That I might not stultify my testimony, I have cut myself clear of those who err from the faith and even from those who associate with them." (quote taken from a teaching by Pastor Perry F. Rockwood)
There is clear teaching in the Word of God about separation found in the following verses which show us how to identify false teachers and what to do about them.
Pastor Rockwood on Bible Separation as well as the following points from Scripture:
"Knowing therefore, the end result of this great whore church, what are God's children to do while waiting for the return of our Lord from Heaven. God says in verse 4 (Rev. Chapt. 18) 'And I heard another voice from heaven saying, 'Come out of her my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.'"
I want you to notice that this is plain Bible teaching and has nothing to do with personalities as such. You will agree that the message of the prophets of the church of our day is to unite in large crusades with everyone, irrespective of what they believe, in order to promote the ecumenical church. The teaching of the world is that we are to unite with the apostates and show a spirit of unity to a godless world. But God's message is: "Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins." We are to --
TRY THEM: "Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world." (1 John 4:1)
MARK THEM: "Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them." (Rom. 16:17)
REBUKE THEM: "This witness is true. Wherefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith." (Titus 1:13)
HAVE NO FELLOWSHIP: "And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them." (Ephesians 5:11)
WITHDRAW THYSELF: "Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which he received of us." (2 Thess. 3:6)
RECEIVE THEM NOT: "For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds." (2 John 10:11)
HAVE NO COMPANY WITH THEM: "And if any man obey not our word by this epistle, note that man, and have no company with him, that he may be ashamed. Yet count him not as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother." (2 Thess. 3:14-15)
REJECT THEM: "A man that is an heretic after the first and second admonition reject..." (Titus 3:10)
BE YE SEPARATE: "Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty." (2 Cor. 6:17)
Another quote from Spurgeon:
"Numbers of good brethren remain in fellowship with those who are undermining the Gospel and they talk of their conduct as if it were a loving course which the Lord will approve of in the day of His appearing. We cannot understand them. The duty of a true believer towards men who profess to be Christians, and yet deny the Word of the Lord and reject the
fundamentals of the Gospel is to come out from among them. Complicity with error will take from the best of men the power to enter any successful protest against it".
I believe the Word clearly shows that there can be no true fellowship unless it is based on Truth. People that are linked up with or on the same program with Rick Warren and any others who are promoting false teaching are really in agreement with those teachers and teachings. God's Word and His precepts are clear. Unfortunately, those of us who seek to live by God's precepts are now labeled as being critical.
I close with a few more quotes:
From: Dr. Horatius Bonar (A Scotch Separationist) (again, taken from Perry F. Rockwood's literature)
"There is some danger of falling into a soft and effeminate Christianity under the plea of a lofty and ethereal theology. Christianity was born for endurance, not an exotic but a hardy plant, braced by the keen wind; not languid, nor childish, nor cowardly.... It walks with strong step and erect frame.... It calls sin sin, on whomsoever it is found, and would rather risk being actuated by a bad spirit than not discharge an explicit duty.
Let us not misjudge strong words used in honest controversy.... The religion of both the Old and New Testaments is marked by fervent outspoken testimonies against evil. To speak smooth things in such a case may be sentimentalism, but it is not Christianity. It is a betrayal of the cause of truth and righteousness...I know that charity covereth a multitude of sins; but it does not call evil good; it does not excuse inconsistencies, because the inconsistent brother has a high name and a fervent spirit; crookedness and worldliness are still crookedness and worldliness, though exhibited in one who seems to have reached no common height of attainment."
"It was in the midst of his battles for truth that Dr. Bonar wrote this, among many other beautiful hymns:
Go, labor on: spend and be spent,
Thy joy to do the Father's will,
It is the way the Master went;
Should not the servant tread it still?
Go, labour on; 'tis not for naught;
Thy earthly loss is heavenly gain;
Men heed thee, love thee, praise thee not;
The master praises: what are men?"
And finally, G. Campbell Morgan on Love:
"It is a remarkable fact and not to be passed over, that in these writings of John (1,2, and 3 John) who has become known preeminently as the apostle of love, we find the sternest words as to the necessity for loyalty to truth; and the Church of God needs to remember that fellowship with God necessitates separation from all who fail to fulfill the responsibilities of
fellowship in light or in love."
"We are not only to yield to love; we are to guard its holiness. It is possible to be led astray from
the activity of true love by yielding to a false charity. At the very centre of love is light. That is not true love which sacrifices principle. God has never acted in love at the expense of light. If I could be persuaded for one moment that God can be so loving as to pass lightly over sin, then I should feel the government of the universe was insecure. The fact is otherwise. He loves with such intensity that He never can excuse sin".
Lastly, the words of George Mueller of Bristol:
"My beloved brother, the Lord has given you much light from the Word, and will hold you responsible for its use. If you obey Him and walk in the light, you will have more. If not, the light will be withdrawn."
In His Love,
Heidi Lavoie