Newspapers / The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, … / Sept. 30, 1993, edition 1 / Page 9
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CljarIott ^C8t RELIGION 9 A THURSDAY September 30, 1993 A Christian Response To The Jehovah's Witnesses' Challenge A Chris tian's re sponse to Jehovah’s Witness a i ways shouid be what do you think of Christ. JOHN ADAMft INSIGHTS Jehovah's Witnesses can make a "doctrinal pretzel" out of the average non-trained Christian in about 30 seconds. YOu can send a man or woman to four years of college, three years of seminary and a 90 day wonder from the Watch- tower of a well trained Jeho vah's Witnesses that wlU twist them up so fast, so authorita tively that it takes literally days to get such an individual untwisted. This is the reason many average Christians when spotting a Jehovah's Witness coming up the street, will run and pull the window shade down and pretend they are not at home. For this rea son, the Jehovah's Witnesses have been successful in con vlnclng many average Chris tians that they believe the same thing as the average Christian be lieves. The Chris tian who fails to know his or her Bible is at the mercy of| the Jehovah's Witnesses. Thinking that the Jehovah's Witness is as "Christian" as| the average Christian is or | claims to be, presents real dialogue with the Jehovah's Witnesses on the essential truths of the Christian faith. I John 4:5 makes a distinction between the Spirit of truth versus the Spirit of error. The Jehovah's Witnesses are of the world and the Church Is of God. Both cannot be right. Ei ther the Church is right on who Jesus is or the Witnesses are right in their cultlc de scription of Jesus of Nazareth. The Jehovah's Witnesses fall to be the church. It rightly fits the definition of a cult, seeing that cult is a group of people gathered about someone's mis interpretation of the Bible, A Christian's response to a Je hovah's Witness always should be what do you think of Christ? Chrlstology, the per son, nature and work of Christ is all that counts. Jesus of Na zareth is either God In human form or He is no God at all. He cannot be a god, as the Jeho vah's Witnesses ^y, he is Mi chael the archangel. Far too many scriptures re ject this misrepresentation of our Lord. Jude tells us Michael and Satan had a dispute over the body of Moses, but Michael dare not bring a railing accu sation against Satan but in stead said the Lord rebuke you. Obviously, Michael the arch angel does not measure up to the Jesus of the Bible. When Jesus had confrontation with Satan he commanded him to get thee behind me. Jesus re buked Satan, demons, wind and storms. The mere fact that Jesus could forgive sin shows that He was God, and to say the least, Jesus used the divine name "I am" which means the eternal to demonstrate that He spoke to Moses in the burning bush, as well as pre-existed be fore Abraham came to exis tence. Growth Is Part Of GooFs Vision m ■y~ •Si ,f! fr, ' ■I ■%'4 H 1 '^ m Robyn Gool says adhering to God's timJlng is important in his vision and ministry. He is standing in front of ^actory Christian Center on Old Pineville Road. By Cassandra Wynn THE CHARLOTTE POST Robyn Gool has become a formidable force in the Charlotte religious commu nity. In addition to pastoring one of the largest predomi nantly black congregations in Charlotte (with approxi mately 2,300 people attend ing each Sunday), Gool has a television ministry that Is broadcast locally on the NBC affiliate, the FOX affiliate and on two cable television channels. His church. Victory Chris tian Center, owns Radio sta tion WOGR 1540 AM. The call letters stand for Word Of God Radio or Where Our God Reigns. The station carries broadcasts from Gool, other local nalnisters such as Phil lip Da\ds, pastor at Nations Ford Baptist Church, and evangedlsts such as Billy Graham and Dr. Kenneth Ha- gin. In 1989, the Victory Chris tian Center School opened and has grown from an en rollment of 167 to approxi mately 400 students this year, making it the largest predoirnlnantly black private school in the city. Just this year, a day care center adja cent to the church was pur chased in order to expand. "The acquisition allowed us more space for the pre school and elementary school," Gool said. Gool also has established a school for adults - the More Than Conquerers School of The Bible and School of The Ministry. Few predominantly black organizations in Charlotte hire more employees. In all. Victory Christian Center em ploys 79 people. Gool gives no comment when he is asked about ru mors that talks are going on between him and John McDonald, owner of McDo nald's Cafeteria about pur chasing the cafeteria on Beatties Ford Road. VCC members look at Gool as their leader In delivering the Word of God and they are loyal in participation in church activities and in pay ing tithes. When the church moved to Its present location on 7224 Old Pineville Rd. in 1988, the $3.2 millicfn fa cility was paid for, according to Gool. It is in the Word of God that Gool and his congregation get their power. He said his aim is to help "people under stand what the Word of God SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON 'Xjrod's Commitment ToAhram" Introduction The dynamics of raw power and unbridled greed, which fueled the conflict recorded there, are unfortunately typ ical of the forces that drive the human struggle to the "top of the ladder." Abraham, by contrast, had chosen a different way. He would live his life and seek his fulfill ment not by force but by faith, not by self-interest by submission to the will of the sovereign God. The Lord, who had spoken to Abraham on at least three prior occasions, came in a vision to offer words of en couragement. The manner in which God addressed Abra ham clearly demonstrate that the blessings He offered His servant were a direct re sponse to the spiritually- minded way in which Abra ham behaved during the battle of the kings. It is as if God was inten tionally confirming Mel- chizedek's blessing, which had attributed Abraham's victory to the power of God. In a similar fashion, God's assurance of great reward is clearly to be connected with Abraham's refusal to profit by the spoils of war. All of this was designed to show Abraham that any sac rifice had made out of loyal ty to God would be more than recompensed by the even greater blessing of God. This promise likewise sustains God's children today as they sacrifice personal ambition and the desire for material gain to follow the way of the cross. The prospect of a sud den demise is. In itself, enough to trouble any per son, but Abraham's anxiety was deepened by an even greater threat. It was the pos sibility of dying without a son to inherit his property and carry on his spiritual pilgrimage. The custom of the day dictated that, should a man die without a son, the oldest housebom male ser vant would become heir to the family's estate, Abraham assumed this would be his, and that Ellezer of Damas cus, who was such a servant in i^ibraham's house, would inherit all that was his. God had promised Abra ham that He would bring fort h a great nation from him. Given the life circum stance of Abraham and Sa rah,, however, this must have seemed impossible. Their ages (at least seventy-five and sixty-five years old re spectively) and Sarah's In- fer1'.llity seemed to doom them to a childless future. But human extremity can of ten be divine opportunity. In fact, a careful reading of Gen esis. suggests that God was providentially orchestrating the events of the patriarchs' lives for the purpose of teaichlng them to be less de pendent upon themselves and more dependent upon Him. In each generation of Abiraham's family, the cov enant promise was moved foPivard by a son bom to a woman who was temporarily barren (Isaac of Sarah, Jacob of Rebekah, and Joseph of Rachel). It is as if God was In- temtlonally Interrupting the normal procreation of the patirlarchal family In an ef fort to demonstrate that their destiny lay not in what they could produce but In whiat God promised. God's call of Abraham had set three prospects before: (1) a land that God would show him; (2) a great nation that would emerge from him; and (3) a blessing that would be extended to all peoples through him and his descen dants. Abraham began his pilgrimage unsure of its ulti mate destination. Having now migrated to Canaan he received assurance that this was the land that God had in mind. Abraham's ancestors lived in Mesopotamia, a ter ritory somewhere between the Tigris and Euphrates riv ers. There is some debate among scholars as to the ac tual location of Ur of the Chaldees. But the most gen erally accepted identifica tion of Ur of the Chaldees is with the great city of Ur lo cated on the lower Euphrates ' River in southern Iraq. Though the exact location of Abraham's homeland re mains somewhat of a mys tery, the theology of his an cestors does not. It was similar to that of virtually all the peoples of the ancient Near Eastern world: "they served other gods." Out of a land of idol worshipers, God called Abraham to migrate to Canaan. In this revelation God al lowed Abraham to peer sev eral hundred years Into the future. The land of Canaan would be occupied by this de scendants only after they had experienced a long peri od of servitude In a land that is not theirs. The land of which he spoke was undoubt edly Egypt. The Price Of Rebellion, Part I Man by nature hates God and rebels against God in every fiber of his being. In Romans 1:30 the Apostle Paul used the expression "haters of God." Have you ever seen that you hate God, my man? If not, then the god you know is only a figment of y'vur blind and depraved m.Lid. Now that is SO; wheth cr you know it or not Let me say in 1 he begin ning that God's Word was written for one person, and one person only, the child of God, The .'‘eason you won't have it is because it was not written tor you. Our subject at tiJs time is "THK PRICE OF REBEL LION." Men and women take it as a light thing to rebel against God. Every time a group rebels against the Lord and the leader ship of God's servant, the servant of the Lord falls on his Tace before the Lord crying for the Lord to spare the rebels if it is God's will. I've fallen on my face be fore the Lord crying that the t4>rd will have mercy on rebels here who have re belled against God my re jecting the truth as it is in Christ. In Numbers 16 we have the story of Korah, and Da- than, and Abiram. These men led s rebellion against the leadership of God's ser vant, Moses. "AND THEY ROSE UP before Moses, with certain of the chil dren of Israel, two hundred and fifty princes of the as sembly; ;£^ous in the con gregation; men of renown; AND THEY GATHERED THEMSELVES TOGETHER AGAINST MOSES AND AA RON, and said unto them, YE TAKE TOO MUCH UPON YOU; seeing all the congre gation are holy, every one of them, and the LORD is among them: where fore then lift ye up yourselves above the congregation: of the LORD?" (Numbers 16:2- 3). This was the rebellious state nent Korah, Dathan and Abiram made to Moses. They challenged Moses's leadership, and Aaron, and told God's two servants that all the congregation was holy. What was Moses's re sponse in the face of this re bellion against the Lord and the Lord could destroy them for their rebellion. God had called Moses from the courts of Pharaoh to lead His people out of Egyp tian slavery. Moses was God's ordained authority over Israel. And Moses knew that any rebellion against God, Himself. Yes. God had set Moses over the children of Israel as God's representative. But this group of rebels did not see Moses as God's representa tive. But this group of rebels did not see Moses as God's authority. Blind hearts never do. If you did, you would not rebel against that man God has ordained over you. I'm facing the same rebellion here that Moses faced. This message grew out of the rebellion here that Moses faced This message grew out of the re-^ belUon that broke out here. Moses didn't; argue with that group of rebels. A Paid Advertisement Bu J.M. Little can do for them. ...The Truth shall make you free," he said. "I look at that in a literal wav. It can make you free from all negative hindranc es." The power of God's Word can take people "from pover ty to abundance, from fear to courage, from sickness to health." Filtermg through denomi national discipline and in terpretation is inhibiting, he said. There is a practical side to Goal's ministry. On the list of activities for Victory Christian Center are work shops on handling finances and budgeting, parenting and education.
The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, N.C.)
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Sept. 30, 1993, edition 1
9
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