Dear IFCA Family,
Greetings in the wonderful name of Jesus, the sweetest name I know.
Compromise - an agreement or settlement of dispute that is reached by each side making concessions. It's not only something Jesus warned us of in Luke 6:26 when he said, "Woe be unto you, when all men shall speak well of you”, it's also one of the greatest threats and tactics used by the enemy to draw the church away from "building according to the pattern." In fact, I personally believe there's no greater area that this truth prevails in, than in the doctrine of repentance. And why? It's because “If the foundation is destroyed, there's nothing that the righteous can do."
Please understand something, repentance is not only the means by which someone comes to Christ and enters the kingdom; it's the foundation upon which all of Christianity stands. It's the message that John came preaching to prepare for Christ's appearing, it's the message that Jesus himself spoke as He began his ministry and it's the message that continues all throughout the book of Acts as they took the gospel into all the world.
I mean think about that for a minute. If John would have just toned it down a bit, if he wouldn't have been so insistent to tell Herod that sleeping with his brother Philip's wife was unlawful or contrary to God's word; who knows, maybe he would have kept his head. Better yet, maybe Herod would have been more receptive to his message? The problem with this idea (and which I see gaining acceptance by many today) is that this is a compromise. It's going against the very foundation of the gospel message to make a concession.
Well again, it's not acceptance that God has called his church to build with, it's repentance. It's that of recognizing one's sin and life that goes contrary to God's Word and then making a cognitive choice to walk away from it in line with the Word. But apart from the truth of God's Word, this will never happen.
In closing, I'd like to ask you a question. Does the gospel you preach begin with, “Repent ye therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out” or does it begin with the concession of “Don't you know that they were offended?"
As always, may God bless you richly!
In His Service,
Bro. Rick George
- IFCA General Overseer
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