correct theology

tozer who is respected here talks about having right theology and thoughts about god

i posted this to show that the most enimint of saints in our era concidered theoligy as verry important ,not just the experance

i thought about this all day ,about people rejecting theology

it is a main factor that so many people are deceved by fasle spirits and doctrines ,or suducing spirits and doctrines of demons ...with a sound theolighy about the nature of god and his spirit ,the door is open to any wind of doctrine ,,and the worship of angels

a sound understanding about christ is esential

the bible talks about recieveing other spirits ,and it mentions another jesus ,,,with out theoligy and sound doctrine,,one is decieved into recieving the two major deception

true revivle rests also in our theoligy an understanding of how god reveles him self ,and in what way ,,,we need a fram to work with ,,,,,,the called are many ,but the chosen are few

lets have good theolighy that is birthed out of a true hunger and thirst for god him self lets keep the balance between experanital knowlage of god ,and sound thelogy

there are many weak seekeers and iv seen the poor souls sucked into hell,throughy rejections of bibilcal theology ;
lets not say the wrong about the importance of the balance ,and led people astray

LOOK AT THE CHURCH , see the decption in carasmatic groups ,,,,theres no lak of experance ,,but there is lak of good theoligy systematic

this is ment to be our church our brothers

tozer

Why We Must Think Rightly About God

"What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us. ... Worship is pure or base as the worshiper entertains high or low thoughts of God.

For this reason the gravest question before the Church is always God Himself, and the most portentous fact about any man is not what he at a given time may say or do, but what he in his deep heart conceives God to be like. We tend by a secret law of the soul to move toward our mental image of God. This is true not only of the individual Christian, but of the company of Christians that composes the Church. Always the most revealing thing about the Church is her idea of God, just as her most significant message is what she says about Him or leaves unsaid, for her silence is often more eloquent than her speech. ...

Were we able to extract from any man a complete answer to the question, ”What comes into your mind when you think about God?” we might predict with certainty the spiritual future of that man. Were we able to know exactly what our most influential religious leaders think of God today, we might be able with some precision to foretell where the Church will stand tomorrow. ...

A right conception of God is basic not only to systematic theology but to practical Christian living as well. It is to worship what the foundation is to the temple; where it is inadequate or out of plumb the whole structure must sooner or later collapse. I believe there is scarcely an error in doctrine or a failure in applying Christian ethics that cannot be traced finally to imperfect and ignoble thoughts about God....

It is my opinion that the Christian conception of God current in these middle years of the twentieth century is so decadent as to be utterly beneath the dignity of the Most High God and actually to constitute for professed believers something amounting to a moral calamity.

All the problems of heaven and earth, though they were to confront us together and at once, would be nothing compared with the overwhelming problem of God: That He is; what He is like; and what we as moral beings must do about Him....

The idolatrous heart assumes that God is other than He is - in itself a monstrous sin - and substitutes for the true God one made after its own likeness. Always this God will conform to the image of the one who created it and will be base or pure, cruel or kind, according to the moral state of the mind from which it emerges....

The essence of idolatry is the entertainment of thoughts about God that are unworthy of Him. It begins in the mind and may be present where no overt act of worship has taken place. 'When they knew God,'wrote Paul, 'they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.'

Then followed the worship of idols fashioned after the likeness of men and birds and beasts and creeping things. But this series of degrading acts began in the mind. Wrong ideas about God are not only the fountain from which the polluted waters of idolatry flow; they are themselves idolatrous. The idolater simply imagines things about God and acts as if they were true.

Perverted notions about God soon rot the religion in which they appear. The long career of Israel demonstrates this clearly enough, and the history of the Church confirms it. So necessary to the Church is a lofty concept of God that when that concept in any measure declines, the Church with her worship and her moral standards declines along with it. The first step down for any church is taken when it surrenders its high opinion of God.

Before the Christian Church goes into eclipse anywhere there must first be a corrupting of her simple basic theology. She simply gets a wrong answer to the question, 'What is God like?' and goes on from there. Though she may continue to cling to a sound nominal creed, her practical working creed has become false. The masses of her adherents come to believe that God is different from what He actually is; and that is heresy of the most insidious and deadly kind.

The heaviest obligation lying upon the Christian Church today is to purify and elevate her concept of God until it is once more worthy of Him - and of her. In all her prayers and labors this should have first place. We do the greatest service to the next generation of Christians by passing on to them undimmed and undiminished that noble concept of God which we received from our Hebrew and Christian fathers of generations past. This will prove of greater value to them than anything that art or science can devise.

The Knowledge of the Holy by A. W. Tozer, Chapter 1

hi, len ravenhill told me that tozer would stop what he was doing every day at 4pm and lay down on a rug like a dog at the feet of his master. he would be quiet before Him and adored God with his mind.len said that this is where tozer received most of his material for his books.jimp

he was also influnenced by arminian and reformed theoligy

he spoke posativily about eminint saints in those camps

ever herd of the prophert egar casey

he used to lie down in a trance and recieved all the false doctrines and prophecys ,these he used in his books

so did the writer of corse of miracles

these also prayed and believed in a jesus

but the later discarded biblecal theology ,

tozer was balanced , a blessed man of god

tozer didnt make up his own theoligy ,,his heart and doctrine was in the same stream of all the old saints he used to a asteam

so was lenared ,,,,,lenard also said that greatest sermon preacherd in usa ,was from the thealogen ,,johnathen edwards ,,sinners in the hands of an angry god

what a blessing to have known ravenhill ,,did you have the chance to meet tozer ,and wilkinson ,,,,we have never in australia been blessed with men like these

blessings

dear bearmaster, to say that tozer napped is unkind to the point of rudeness. the hebrew word for worship implies laying at ones feet as a dog lays at his masters. we now know you do not know worship in your life. these men did more in their lives ina month then we have in decades. do not disrespect the past but learn unless you are so great that you need not to learn anything else.i repent of this response showing the umbrage i took to your comments. if you want to give to the mission endeavor,send your money to surge, bethany church baton rouge . for we have churches in the areas you mentioned that we support.jimp

gee baremaster ,that coment about tozer prayer life doesnt come from the heart or spirit of god ,,calling his regular daily prayer as a nap ,,,i hope i didnt give the impresion that tozer sleaped when he prayerd ,due to me mentioning the false prophert egar casey

my point was what tozer mentioned in this artical about
moving away from orhadox theology ,egar casey and others relied on experance and trances to recieve revalation ,and tore the bible to utter shreads ,and reinterprated the bible ,,,,,,,,,,this is pandemic today

dont for get baremaster ,,that the great man of god with some of the deepest theolical thinking watchman nee ,has had agreat influence on the house churches in china ,and he was influnced by plymoth brethern theolighy which had men like george muller and ,nelson darby as leaders in the earlys days of the movement ,,who were strong in reformed theolighy and others in arminian theolighy ,,,,,

brother are you implying that that the church in china the house churches ,are not orthadox in theoligy ,

there roots are firmly in the soil of a fertile othadox blend theology

bare master ,,are you the brother who used to be called matyer 1or 2 years ago

blessings

It sure seems that there are some people that are on the forums that are here to start an argument no matter what the topic.

Whatever someone brings up they will comb through the post looking for something to start a fight about.

Incredible.

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QUOTE:
"Why We Must Think Rightly About God"
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It seems to me that too many people are so turned off by theology because it has been expounded by men who are too academic in their presentation. God does not come across as a Heavenly Being who is fully interested in mankind other then raining on their parade. You can teach theology until you die but if it is totally academic it comes across as artificial, dead, no life at all.

It is my opinion that the sure remedy from this academic approach to theology is to know the Father. Regard the WORD as God's love letter to Me, yes, to Sandra Miller - this is me. He is telling me stories about how the world was made, how people sinned and the ensuing result. He is sharing information about other people's walk with Him, sermons they preached that he inspired them to preach. And He wants me to love him.

Learn to know God. Look at the WORD and ask yourself - after praying - what does this portion teach me about God? What will this demand of me? THEN, how will I respond? As one does this a perfect picture of God emerges that will be consistent with what is written in the Scriptures. You will find others' whose experience resonate with your own. This is living, experiencing, witnessing theology.

(Theology means study of God. Theo = God; ology = study of.)

"But this is the state and right use of the Scriptures, For all People to believe them, and to read them, and to walk in the Light, and to feel the Power and Spirit which was in them that gave them forth, by which they may know them and have them revealed to them, and so feel Christ which is the top and corner Stone, which doth fulfil them; and so to receive and live in him that doth fulfil them, who is the end of the Prophets, and all Types, Figures and Shadows.

So the Scriptures of Truth, I say, were given forth to be believed, read, fulfilled and practiced, and the things enjoyed they speak of, that is, Christ Jesus the substance.

The Scriptures of Truth, are the Words of God, which were learnt of God the Father of Truth, and they cannot be broken, but must be fulfilled; and he that doth fulfil, is Christ, by whom all things were made and created, who is called The Word of God". George Fox

amen steve add to the list understand and have right thoughts about god

ironicly look at the quaker movement today ,,who lost the foundation of right theoligy and sound doctrine and focaced on just experance ,,some of it has become so liberal and excepting of estern pagan religens and sinfull practices ,, that it is not like it used to be

a good example of need a balance of experance based in a sound understanding of god and his presiuos book

blessings

exactly greg ,thats wye i said today the quakers have disgregared good theoligy

greg im not saying we should seek a perfectly theoligy ,,just sound

obedance is a lost doctrine ,that is combined with noing who gods is and his atrubutes

the muslims want obedence
the jehovawitness want obedence

so do the mormons

they want all that ,,but contrary to sound theology and doctrine ,,,there thoughts about who god is have been far removed from bibilical theolity

balance greg is all im puting forth here

spiritual life ,and right theoligy ,to act as a frame to help guied us

brother please dont misunderstand what im saying

odedance is a nesasary corner stone ,,but to what ,,the true god ,,,

blessings brother

Before the Christian Church goes into eclipse anywhere there must first be a corrupting of her simple basic theology. She simply gets a wrong answer to the question, 'What is God like?' and goes on from there. Though she may continue to cling to a sound nominal creed, her practical working creed has become false. The masses of her adherents come to believe that God is different from what He actually is; and that is heresy of the most insidious and deadly kind.

im just in agreement with tozer here greg

hi,once again, without obedience there can be no faith at all.abram left to look for a city,noah built an ark in the middle of the wilderness etc. faith without works(obedience) is dead.(not faith)jimp

17 So when Jesus came, He found that he [Lazarus] had already been in the tomb four days. 18 Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off; 19 and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary, to console them concerning their brother. 20 Martha therefore, when she heard that Jesus was coming, went to meet Him, but Mary stayed at the house.

21 Martha then said to Jesus, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died. Even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You.”

23 Jesus *said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” 24 Martha *said to Him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.”

25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?”

27 She *said to Him, “Yes, Lord; I have believed that You are the Christ, the Son of God, even He who comes into the world.”

This is my obedience, I do believe 'this'. that which Jesus spoke. I do believe Him. I will never die. And because I believe what Jesus said and see His love for me, I delight in Him, and Love Him. And I love others by sharing 'this' with them that they may here Jesus voice. His children will recognize Jesus voice, and they will come to Him and believe Him, and live.

When I sin, I try to make amends with whom I sinned against, and I confess my known sins to God, knowing that when I do so, God is faithful and righteous to forgive me my sins and that God will cleanse me from all unrighteousness. And I genuinely forgive all who sin against me, which sometimes is not easy to do. This too is my obedience to God.

I hate to risk sounding redundant here but I believe once again a balance is needed. Experience without a reverence for God's Word/truth often results in weird false manifestations that are not from God. Time and again I've seen too much emphasis placed on "experiencing the Spirit" without any real fear of heeding God's Word/truth which tells us to test the spirits to see if they are from God(1John 4:1). Too many Christians seek experiencing the Spirit and show no obedience to the Bible in their practices when it comes to how the Spirit is to be sought after. Yes, there is a danger of quenching the Spirit, but there is also the danger of disobeying and straying from God's Word in our pursuit of experiencing the Spirit.

On the other hand I can also agree that "correct, dry theology" can have a certain deadening effect on many souls, both saved and non-saved alike. We see much of this type of outcome comming from our cemetaries, I mean seminaries;) Christians who attend these instititutions are not really taught what it is to seek the Lord in the secret place as well as corporately. They are not taught about biblical, Christ-centered revival and receieving a continual fresh anointing to preach the Word. They do not learn what it is to receive power from on high for the work of the ministry(Acts 1:8). They are taught mainly and mostly to seek God academically throught the study of the Scriptures.
Yet, if God's Word is being preached or taught in truth there is an inherant power in it that will not return void, regardless of who is preaching or teaching it, regardles of whether or not the person is fully filled with the Spirit. It may not be as powerful of an outcome if the person is not Spirit-filled but God will still honor His Word. Paul said he rejoiced when Christ was preached even by those who had false motives(Philippians 1:18)

My concern is for believers who put too much emphasis on one or the other. To those of us who put the emphasis on experiencing the Spirit I would ask the following question. Do you really have such a regard and appreciation for God's Word that you rejoice when it is preached even by those who are not Spirit-filled? And for those who place the emphasis on theology I would ask, do you really want to see God move mightily in your life and in the lives of others? Do you understand the need to seek the Lord in much prayer and fasting in order to see the kingdom of God come down mightily in your midst?

May we be men and women who regard both God's Word of truth and Spirit alike.

btw brothagary thanks for sharing that excerpt from Tozer's book, it was a blessing to read it. These are the parts that stood out a lot to me:

The idolatrous heart assumes that God is other than He is - in itself a monstrous sin - and substitutes for the true God one made after its own likeness. Always this God will conform to the image of the one who created it and will be base or pure, cruel or kind, according to the moral state of the mind from which it emerges....

The essence of idolatry is the entertainment of thoughts about God that are unworthy of Him. It begins in the mind and may be present where no overt act of worship has taken place. 'When they knew God,'wrote Paul, 'they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.'

Then followed the worship of idols fashioned after the likeness of men and birds and beasts and creeping things. But this series of degrading acts began in the mind. Wrong ideas about God are not only the fountain from which the polluted waters of idolatry flow; they are themselves idolatrous. The idolater simply imagines things about God and acts as if they were true.

Perverted notions about God soon rot the religion in which they appear. The long career of Israel demonstrates this clearly enough, and the history of the Church confirms it. So necessary to the Church is a lofty concept of God that when that concept in any measure declines, the Church with her worship and her moral standards declines along with it. The first step down for any church is taken when it surrenders its high opinion of God.