Ya think so, kiddo? You seem ready, willing, and able to identify apostates. Allow me to introduce you to a couple that I have known, and let's see if doing so modifies your "apostate" detector somewhat.
- I am a Sampson by adoption. Mayfield was my bio-mother's husband's surname. My name, during my first 3 months, was John Sterling Mayfield. From 3 months of age until just before my 12th birthday, my name was Terry Lee Montgomery; Since the age of 12, I have been Terry Montgomery Sampson.
- Of the nine most important people in my life, i.e. the people who loved me most, eight are dead; my wife remains with me. Of the eight, all believed in the Trinity and trusted in Jesus' promises, and none of the nine were/are biologically related to me.
- My biological parents were married, ... but not to each other. Unable to satisfy my infant needs, my bio-mom took me to my bio-father's house when I was 3 months old, and said: "I can't take care of him; you take him"; and walked out. That was the first time my stepmother and I met, ... the day that she discovered that my bio-father had been unfaithful. She was a 61-year old, Deaf woman and had been Deaf since birth or infancy, and had probably the equivalent of a 3rd or 4th grade Deaf School education. She rescued me and changed the course that my life would have taken in a profound way. In fact, if it weren't for her, and a handful of others like her, I literally wouldn't be Terry Sampson, married, blessed, and living in Los Angeles today. I'd be John Sterling Mayfield, most likely miserable, alcoholic, dead and buried in Oklahoma. How did that happen? The Jesus she read about in the Scripture was sufficient for her. She took me in and raised me until just before my 12th birthday. [My parents and step-parents were Deaf. My first language was American Sign Language.]
- Around my 11th birthday, Oklahoma State Department of Social Services took an interest in me and concerns were raised over the fitness of an elderly deaf woman to be a young, hearing boy's guardian. As time went on, the State authorities decided that for my good, I should be removed from the home and placed with a foster family consisting of hearing people who could support my development in spoken English. My stepmother, fearing that I would be placed in a non-Christian home, went to her pastor and told him that she wanted him to take me.
- The Lutheran pastor and his wife took me in, with my consent. The Sampsons had five biological kids (three sons and two daughters), ranging from 5 to 12. I'm the only one they adopted.
- All of the people important to me are important because they did things and made sacrifices for me personally that I did not ask for but which saved me from a worse fate. In summary, I have been the beneficiary from the age of 3 months of people who were not perfect but who did extraordinary things because they believed what they believed: and all believed in the Trinity. Of those people, only the preacher and one other person had a college-level education.
Mr. Sampson, it sounds like, as sad as your start was, you were certainly taken in and cared for by some very well meaning humans. My father, not only chose to be absent from my upbringing, but he and my mother signed an annulment of their marriage, for the Pope to agree to my father’s marriage to my Catholic step-mother, therefore causing me to be considered an illegitimate human. I did however obtain some truly well meaning people during my childhood that tried to instill in me, religious teachings from Baptist, Pentecostal, Methodist, Episcopalian, Lutheran, Church of Christ, and Assembly of God, that just did not make any sense to me……. At Mark 10:14-16 however, Jesus said,
“Let the young children come to me; do not try to stop them, for the Kingdom of God belongs to such ones. Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the Kingdom of God like a young child will by no means enter into it.” As a mother/grandmother, I’m fully aware of how innocent and open minded young children are. If a teaching cannot be explained simply enough for a young child to truly comprehend, then the teaching must be incomprehensible…… Where there is confusion, there is disorder, and 1 Cor. 14:33 states “
For God is a God not of disorder but of peace”
I do firmly believe 2 Tim 3:16,17, that
“All Scripture is inspired of God and beneficial for teaching, for reproving, for setting things straight, for disciplining in righteousness, so that the man of God may be fully competent, completely equipped for every good work.” ---- Therefore, I must also accept 2 Cor. 6:14-18 which states
“Do not become unevenly yoked with unbelievers. For what fellowship do righteousness and lawlessness have? Or what sharing does light have with darkness? Further, what harmony is there between Christ and Beʹli·al? Or what does a believer share in common with an unbeliever? And what agreement does God’s temple have with idols? For we are a temple of a living God; just as God said: “I will reside among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.” “‘Therefore, get out from among them, and separate yourselves,’ says Jehovah, ‘and quit touching the unclean thing’”; “‘and I will take you in.’” 18 “‘And I will become a father to you, and you will become sons and daughters to me,’ says Jehovah, the Almighty.” ….. For me to understand who these
‘unbelievers’ are that I should separate myself from, and exactly what is the
‘unclean thing’ that I should not touch, has taken me a tremendous amount of research and meditation. I have not received any man’s college education, and I’m truly grateful for that, since man is mostly corrupt. Jesus was a carpenter, Matthew was a tax collector (Mt 9:9-13), Simon Peter and Andrew were fishermen (Mt 4:18-21),, In fact, the educated rulers, elders, scribes, as well as the chief priest that had Jesus executed, took note that most all of Jesus disciples were uneducated (unlettered) and ordinary men (Acts 4)
1 John 1:5-10 states, “…….
God is light, and there is no darkness at all in him…. If we make the statement, “We are having fellowship with him,” and yet we go on walking in the darkness, we are lying and are not practicing the truth. However, if we are walking in the light as he himself is in the light, we do have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we make the statement, “We have no sin,” we are misleading ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous so as to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we make the statement, “We have not sinned,” we are making him a liar, and his word is not in us. 1 John 1
In no way do I believe that well meaning people are intentionally bad, but I do know that Rev.12:9 states that Satan is misleading the entire inhabited earth, and Matthew 7:21-23 states “
Not everyone saying to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter into the Kingdom of the heavens, but only the one doing the will of my Father who is in the heavens will. Many will say to me in that day: ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and expel demons in your name, and perform many powerful works in your name?’ And then I will declare to them: ‘I never knew you! Get away from me, you workers of lawlessness!’ This warning from Jesus certainly sounds serious enough to me, that I should be very careful to learn the truth from all of the lies, and the more I learn our Creator, and our Lord Jesus, the brighter my path becomes.
“Just as the light of the sun continues to get brighter from dawn until the day is firmly established, so the path of the righteous ones, illuminated by godly wisdom, gets lighter and lighter.” Prov. 4:18
Sir, which is wiser? ------To make the clear statements of scripture conform to our conceptions of what may be implied ?,,, -------Or to believe the clear teaching of scripture, and accept that these perceived implications might be due to our misunderstanding of scripture or completely in error?
