The Guess Who: "Undone"

This song is based on a tragic event in November of 1969. A teenage girl dropped acid and thought she could fly off of a Vancouver high rise apartment balcony. Randy Bachman wrote this song about her. Check it out.

Deception certainly is a powerful force. Since Israel kept turning away from God and they killed the Messiah, God let them be victims of their deceit. As Romans 11:25 (Bible in Basic English) reminds us gentiles, "For it is my desire, brothers, that this secret may be clear to you, so that you may not have pride in your knowledge, that Israel has been made hard in part, till all the Gentiles have come in;"

Back in Romans 1:32 (BBE), Paul shows how sinners are hardened when God removes his grace from them. "Who, though they have knowledge of the law of God, that the fate of those who do these things is death, not only go on doing these things themselves, but give approval to those who do them."

One line in that song offended me at first. I thought "Too many churches and not enough truth," was an insult directed at believers. Sadly, it is true that we don't have enough truth preached in churches today.

The first-century congregations certainly had  deceived members who deceived others. As 2 Peter 2:1 and 2 (BBE) warned, "But there were false prophets among the people, as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly put forward wrong teachings for your destruction, even turning away from the Lord who gave himself for them; whose destruction will come quickly, and they themselves will be the cause of it. And a great number will go with them in their evil ways, through whom the true way will have a bad name"

By the time Jude 1:4 (BBE) was penned, the infiltration of the church had happened. "For certain men have come among you secretly, marked out before in the holy Writings for this evil fate, men without the fear of God, turning his grace into an unclean thing, and false to our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ."

Spirit: "1984"

This band from Los Angeles paid homage to George Orwell's dystopian novel in this song. They also made a parody of the story about a place called Potato Land. Check this song out here:

Satan is always trying to sabotage God's plan. And like the first verse of "1984" says, he'll tell you darkness gives you much more than you get from the light.

We must always resist the Devil's lies and twisting of scripture, as 2 John 1:7 (Bible in Basic English) warns, "Because a number of false teachers have gone out into the world, who do not give witness that Jesus Christ came in the flesh. Such a one is a false teacher and Antichrist."

Paul also warns his spiritual son, and us as well, to stay true to the teaching from Scripture. As 2 Timothy 3:13 (BBE) says, "Evil and false men will become worse and worse, using deceit and themselves overcome by deceit."

Worse yet, these agents of Satan pose as believers. :Like Jude 1:4 (BBE) warns, "For certain men have come among you secretly, marked out before in the holy Writings for this evil fate, men without the fear of God, turning his grace into an unclean thing, and false to our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ."

Paul also warned the elders from Ephesus in Acts 20:29 and 30 (BBE) about Satan's minions. "I am conscious that after I am gone, evil wolves will come in among you, doing damage to the flock; And from among yourselves will come men who will give wrong teaching, turning away the disciples after them."

Why does the Lord allow such people to infiltrate his church? Christ's parable of the tares and the wheat in Matthew 13:29 and 30 (BBE) explains why. "But he (the farmer) says, 'No, for fear that by chance while you take up the evil plants, you may be rooting up the grain with them. Let them come up together till the getting in of the grain; and then I will say to the workers, "Take up first the evil plants, and put them together for burning: but put the grain into my store-house."'"

If the good grain hasn't been separated and the tares burned by Monday, I'll post about little monsters but not the type showing up at front doors on the thirty-first.

Ramses Shaffy and Focus: "Watch The Ugly People"

Being a fan of the Dutch jazz-rock band, Focus, I bought a box set of their CDs. It contains their albums from 1970 to 1976, as well as plenty of bonus tracks, live performances, and videos. What a treasure trove for a die-hard fan!

Focus performed with a vocalist named Ramses Shaffy in 1970. This is one of two tracks they recorded together. Listen to one of those songs here.

I believe Mr. Shaffy is singing about mentally and spiritually ugly people. He warns in this song to beware of those who will suck you dry like a spider does to a fly. 

The Bible mentions such predatory people in many places. One of those is recorded in Romans 16:17 (Bible in Basic English). "Now, it is my desire, brothers, that you will take note of those who are causing division and trouble among you, quite against the teaching which was given to you: and keep away from them."

The early churches had  their share of "ugly people" who caused trouble. As Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 11:18 (BBE), "For first of all, it has come to my ears that when you come together in the church, there are divisions among you, and I take the statement to be true in part."

This was common among all churches, as it is today. Jude 1:4 (BBE) warns, "For certain men have come among you secretly, marked out before in the holy Writings for this evil fate, men without the fear of God, turning his grace into an unclean thing, and false to our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ."

Jesus himself warned the seven churches in what's now Turkey about these sort of infiltrators. One example is his observation of the church in Pergamos. Revelation 2:14 and 15 (BBE) reads, "But I have some things against you, because you have with you those who keep the teaching of Balaam, by whose suggestion Balak made the children of Israel go out of the right way, taking food which was offered to false gods, and going after the desires of the flesh. And you have those who keep the teaching of the Nicolaitans."

Ever since the Garden of Eden, Satan has used infiltration as his weapon against God. Beware of anybody, even me, who has a "revelation" about some Bible verse. Check it out against the rest of Holy Scripture to see if it matches what God said in other places. Check the context of those verses too.

If Christ hasn't come by Monday, I hope to tell you about a polite robber.

Why Doesn't My Church Teach Repentance?

There are many reasons for why churches don't teach repentance. I'll list a few of them here.

Popularity is one reason that churches don't teach the plain and simple fact that all humanity is doomed to hell. When Jesus called for total commitment to his teachings, he lost his fickle fans. John 6:66 (KJV) records, "From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him."

Many churches also preach doctrines designed to feed the lusts of their congregants. In turn, they rake in large donations from their flocks. Titus 1:10 and 11 (BBE) reads, "For there are men who are not ruled by law; foolish talkers, false teachers, specially those of the circumcision, By whom some families have been completely overturned; who take money for teaching things which are not right; these will have to be stopped."

Some churches, like those of the Pentecostal denomination, are fixated on signs and wonders. They appear to believe that the purpose of spiritual gifts is to wow unbelievers. But Jesus said in Matthew 7:22 (BBE), "A great number will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, were we not prophets in your name, and did we not by your name send out evil spirits, and by your name do works of power?'"

Then there are those which don't hold that the Bible is infallible and inerrant. Jude 1:4 (KJV) warns, "For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ."

Some churches value human traditions on par or even more than the Bible. Look at what Colossians 2:8 (KJV) says. "Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ."

But no matter what these apostate denominations teach, God's word is true. That's why I'm working on a book called You Think You're Going to Heaven? Biblical authority is paramount and overrules any notions of human wisdom.