CHURCH CHAOS OR CONTROL

Throughout history, the church has wrestled with two dangers: CONTROL AND CHAOS.

On one side, you get control. Rigid systems. Hierarchy. A divide between leadership and the body. One person speaks. Everyone else listens. The body becomes an audience.

On the other side, you get chaos. Individuals claim revelation like Joseph Smith who started to Mormons, Charles Taze Russell who started the Jehovah’s Witnesses, or Jim Jones who led a whole group to mass suicide. Individuals teach independently. Build followings. Over time, things drift into confusion, division, and sometimes deception.

So we end up trapped: If we allow freedom, things may go off the rails. If we enforce control, we suppress the body and end spiritual growth

God didn’t leave us to figure this out. He carefully defined an order in Scripture. When God gives a way of safety, it’s very risky to set up a different system.

So, what is God’s way? God’s way is not a system of control. But it’s not a free-for-all either. It’s something much better: A living, Spirit-led body with built-in safety.
See Ephesians 4.
See 1 Corinthians but especially chapters 12-14.

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“Encyclopedia of Logical Fallacies”
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“How to Walk in God’s Glory”
“Your Metamorphosis”
“Exposing the Real Creation-Evolution Debate”
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Coming Soon: The Quest for Truth Journey, exploring the intersection of reason, revelation, & transformation.

Take Away the Fear

For hundreds of years, the church has wrestled with this question. How can we have Freedom to truly hear Christ’s voice without fear that someone will take the church into chaos with false revelations and false teachings? What if the problem isn’t with what the Bible says about being led by the Spirit and listening to God’s voice?

What if the problem is the way the church is structured? Church members often say it’s not safe to ask questions. They feel like they just sit and listen but aren’t really part of what’s happening. They’re an audience instead of functioning as the body of Christ. And when it comes to seeking God they feel restricted like they can’t freely follow Him on His own terms.

FREE Books:
“The Nuts and Bolts of Being Rational”
“How God Will Transform You”
“Encyclopedia of Logical Fallacies”
“Real Faith & Reason”
“How to Walk in God’s Glory”
“Your Metamorphosis”
“Exposing the Real Creation-Evolution Debate”
https://realreality.org/downloads/

FREE: One semester spiritual transformation for children and young people
https://freegospelmusic.org/by-grace-through-faith-homeschool-course/
Adult Version Also Available

Coming Soon: The Quest for Truth Journey, which explores the intersection of reason, revelation, and transformation.

God’s Goal

God has a goal in unfolding revelation: His leading, teaching, and correcting. It begins with your maturity in Christ. God intends that He will form Christ in you completely. And that old painful, rebellious, miserable fleshly nature will be totally gone. But more than that. He intends to establish the Kingdom of the heavens and the earth. It begins in you.

Acts 3:21 says Heaven must take Him (that is, Jesus) in until the time comes for the restoration of all things, which God announced long ago through His holy prophets.

Ephesians 1:9–10 says making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

Colossians 1:19–20 says all the fullness was well pleased to dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross through Him, whether the things on the earth or the things in the heavens.

Romans 8:19–21 says The creation waits in eager expectation for the revelation of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not by its own will, but because of the One who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.

Isaiah 65:17 says For behold, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind.

Revelation 21:1 says Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.

FREE Books:
“The Nuts and Bolts of Being Rational”
“How God Will Transform You”
“Encyclopedia of Logical Fallacies”
“Real Faith & Reason”
“How to Walk in God’s Glory”
“Your Metamorphosis”
“Exposing the Real Creation-Evolution Debate”
https://realreality.org/downloads/

FREE: One semester spiritual transformation for children, young people, and adults
https://freegospelmusic.org/by-grace-through-faith-homeschool-course/

Coming Soon: The Quest for Truth Journey, which explores the intersection of reason, revelation, and transformation.

The Problem of True Premises

Rational thought must be based on truth, but the human mind can’t reason to truth. To have truth, you must know a Person who knows all things and cannot lie—and that Person must be willing to reveal truth to you and overcome the built‑in resistance of your deceitful, desperately wicked, truth‑rejecting carnal mind.

FREE Books:
“The Nuts and Bolts of Being Rational”
“How God Will Transform You”
“Encyclopedia of Logical Fallacies”
“Real Faith & Reason”
“How to Walk in God’s Glory”
“Your Metamorphosis”
“Exposing the Real Creation-Evolution Debate”
https://realreality.org/downloads/

FREE: One semester spiritual transformation for children and young people
https://freegospelmusic.org/by-grace-through-faith-homeschool-course/
Adult Version Also Available

Safety Without Spiritual Deadness

As far as safety goes, God promises that if you seek Him, you will find Him. But God has provided even more safety. Throughout the Bible, there is a theme of two or three witnesses to establish a matter. With revelation, God gives confirmation of the revelation. When prophetic words or revelations occur, the New Testament says they must be tested by the body of Christ.

1 Corinthians 14:29 says, “Let the others weigh what is said.”

1 Thessalonians 5:20–21 says, “Do not despise prophecy, but test everything.”

There’s another part to this.

1 Corinthians 13:9 says, “We know in part, and we prophesy in part.”

This teaches humility about our current understanding. No one has complete understanding.

There’s much more to this, since God has provided ways in the structure of the church for safety in the form of gifts, ministries, operations, offices, and orders, although not all Christians follow Scripture in these things.

FREE Books:
“The Nuts and Bolts of Being Rational”
“How God Will Transform You”
“Encyclopedia of Logical Fallacies”
“Real Faith & Reason”
“How to Walk in God’s Glory”
“Your Metamorphosis”
“Exposing the Real Creation-Evolution Debate”
https://realreality.org/downloads/

FREE: One semester spiritual transformation for children and young people
https://freegospelmusic.org/by-grace-through-faith-homeschool-course/
Adult Version Also Available

If you seek Christ, God’s promise is that you will find Him.

If you seek Christ, God’s promise is that you will find Him.

In Luke 11:11-13, Jesus said, “What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? So if you who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!”

Ask specifically for God’s wisdom and for the Holy Spirit.

If you don’t ASK SPECIFICALLY and just want a revelation or a spiritual experience, your results may vary.

Ask specifically, and then listen with confidence.

FREE Books:
“The Nuts and Bolts of Being Rational”
“How God Will Transform You”
“Encyclopedia of Logical Fallacies”
“Real Faith & Reason”
“How to Walk in God’s Glory”
“Your Metamorphosis”
“Exposing the Real Creation-Evolution Debate”
https://realreality.org/downloads/

FREE: One semester spiritual transformation for children and young people
https://freegospelmusic.org/by-grace-through-faith-homeschool-course/
Adult Version Also Available

DON’T MIX IMPURE WITH PURE

James 3:14-17 says “But if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth. This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic. For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy.”

If you try to mix human wisdom and knowledge with God’s wisdom and knowledge, you will eventually begin to have that earthly, sensual, demonic wisdom.

So, the first thing is to sincerely seek the leading of Christ and Him alone.

FREE Books:
“The Nuts and Bolts of Being Rational”
“How God Will Transform You”
“Encyclopedia of Logical Fallacies”
“Real Faith & Reason”
“How to Walk in God’s Glory”
“Your Metamorphosis”
“Exposing the Real Creation-Evolution Debate”
https://realreality.org/downloads/

FREE: One semester spiritual transformation for children and young people
https://freegospelmusic.org/by-grace-through-faith-homeschool-course/
Adult Version Also Available

MOST PEOPLE HAVE NO IDEA HOW USELESS THE HUMAN MIND IS.

“If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.” (see James 1:5-8)

If you nurture doubts, you are at risk. When you allow doubt that God can communicate with you to creep in, you are giving your fallen, deceitful, and desperately wicked carnal mind permission to help out.
If you doubt, you will try to mix rationalized human understanding with divine revelation, but then you will receive nothing from the Lord. When you doubt that God can communicate with you accurately in a way you can understand, you give your fallen, deceitful, and desperately wicked carnal mind permission to jump in and muddy the water. That’s why you receive nothing from the Lord.

Divine revelation plus a single hidden assumption is the assumption and not the revelation.

FREE Books:
“The Nuts and Bolts of Being Rational”
“How God Will Transform You”
“Encyclopedia of Logical Fallacies”
“Real Faith & Reason”
“How to Walk in God’s Glory”
“Your Metamorphosis”
“Exposing the Real Creation-Evolution Debate”
https://realreality.org/downloads/

FREE: One semester spiritual transformation for children and young people
https://freegospelmusic.org/by-grace-through-faith-homeschool-course/
Adult Version Also Available

God is the ONLY Source for Wisdom

In James 1:5-8 it says “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.”

The human mind can’t reason to truth. It can’t reason to wisdom. God is the only Source for wisdom.

Wisdom is translated from the Greek word, sophia. Sophía literally means “wisdom,” understood as skillful mastery, intelligent clarity, and broad competence—ranging from practical craftsmanship to deep intellectual insight.” None of these come from a human source. It means Wisdom (sound understanding and judgment), Insight (seeing the significance or nature of something), Understanding (grasping how things really are), Skill (practical expertise or craftsmanship), and divine understanding rather than merely human cleverness. Wisdom is divine revelation, which covers every aspect of life.

Now, consider how many Christians try to figure out the Bible or rely on writers who have tried to rationalize an understanding of the Bible rather than turning to Christ to the exclusion of every other influence.

FREE Books:
“The Nuts and Bolts of Being Rational”
“How God Will Transform You”
“Encyclopedia of Logical Fallacies”
“Real Faith & Reason”
“How to Walk in God’s Glory”
“Your Metamorphosis”
“Exposing the Real Creation-Evolution Debate”
https://realreality.org/downloads/

FREE: One semester spiritual transformation for children and young people
https://freegospelmusic.org/by-grace-through-faith-homeschool-course/
Adult Version Also Available

ALL Wisdom and Knowledge Are Hidden In Christ

ALL wisdom and knowledge are hidden in Christ. That means there is no wisdom or knowledge outside of Christ. If you want either wisdom or knowledge, Christ must reveal it to you. He won’t give you wisdom or knowledge so you can disconnect from Him. That wisdom or knowledge is a flowing stream. If you disconnect from Christ, you cut off the flow. If you stop turning your attention to Him and try to turn your mind to some other source, you cut off the flow.

FREE Books:
“The Nuts and Bolts of Being Rational”
“How God Will Transform You”
“Encyclopedia of Logical Fallacies”
“Real Faith & Reason”
“How to Walk in God’s Glory”
“Your Metamorphosis”
“Exposing the Real Creation-Evolution Debate”
https://realreality.org/downloads/

FREE: One semester spiritual transformation for children and young people
https://freegospelmusic.org/by-grace-through-faith-homeschool-course/
Adult Version Also Available