What Does a Waterless Cloud Look Like?

~ Jeff Crippen

Jud 1:12-13 These are hidden reefs at your love feasts, as they feast with you without fear, shepherds feeding themselves; waterless clouds, swept along by winds; fruitless trees in late autumn, twice dead, uprooted; (13) wild waves of the sea, casting up the foam of their own shame; wandering stars, for whom the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved forever.

Joh 4:14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

If we are to do battle with evil in the strength of the Lord, protected by His armor and advancing with His weaponry, then we must be wise in regard to the schemes and lying deceptions of our enemy. How successful is any general if he is ignorant of the enemy general he wars against? Patton, it is thought, read Rommel’s book, and we must carefully read the Book given us by the Lord which exposes the evil one we stand against.

Notice here in the opening of the little letter of Jude, that we are warned about “creeps” (as I like to call them) who secretly and deceptively creep into the church:

Jud 1:4 For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.

“Unnoticed.” That means that they wear some kind of disguise – wolves in wool – that kind of thing. Some of them, as Jude mentions, are all the time talking about “grace.” Grace, grace, grace. But it is a perversion of the grace of Christ because their message is one of presuming upon the Lord’s grace in order to indulge in sensuality and evil. If you want to build a fake “church,” this is a pretty good message to preach.

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Insights into Evil from Jeremiah 9:1-9 – Look out!

~ Jeff Crippen

Many thanks to a reader who contacted me and pointed out this scripture passage. As she suggested, it gives us some excellent insights into the nature of evil – especially in the visible church – and how the Lord deals with evildoers. Not surprisingly, His ways of handling the wicked who claim to be His people are rather different than what we are so often taught by professing Christians.

Here it is:

Jer 9:1-9 Oh that my head were waters, and my eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people! (2) Oh that I had in the desert a travelers’ lodging place, that I might leave my people and go away from them! For they are all adulterers, a company of treacherous men.

(3) They bend their tongue like a bow; falsehood and not truth has grown strong in the land; for they proceed from evil to evil, and they do not know me, declares the LORD. (4) Let everyone beware of his neighbor, and put no trust in any brother, for every brother is a deceiver, and every neighbor goes about as a slanderer. (5) Everyone deceives his neighbor, and no one speaks the truth; they have taught their tongue to speak lies; they weary themselves committing iniquity. (6) Heaping oppression upon oppression, and deceit upon deceit, they refuse to know me, declares the LORD.

(7) Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts: “Behold, I will refine them and test them, for what else can I do, because of my people? (8) Their tongue is a deadly arrow; it speaks deceitfully; with his mouth each speaks peace to his neighbor, but in his heart he plans an ambush for him. (9) Shall I not punish them for these things? declares the LORD, and shall I not avenge myself on a nation such as this?

What we have here are not just generic wicked people. No. These evil ones are people who call themselves the covenant people of God, in the Old Testament era. They are “church members” of that day you might say. The covenant they were under however was not one written on their hearts as is the New Covenant, but one written on tablets of stone. These are unconverted people, but they are Israelites – outwardly circumcised – recipients of great privilege, as Paul says:

Rom 9:4-5 They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. (5) To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen.

It would take several studies to draw out everything that is in this scripture, but here at least are the major points which, if we are wise, we will take careful heed of:

  • Jeremiah is weeping. Not for the wicked, but for the “slain of the daughter of my people.” His focus in on the victims of the evil that has come upon his fellow countrymen.
  • He wants to get away from these evildoers, even though they are his countrymen. He would rather live in a shack in the wilderness than have to continue in their presence.
  • And, I suppose, most significantly, Jeremiah confesses the sinfulness of sin and the wickedness of these people. They are all adulterers, treacherous men, liars.
  • And he says, they are not Christians! They do not know me, declares the Lord. In fact, he says “they refuse to know me.”
  • Jeremiah’s advice? Let everyone beware of his neighbor and put no trust in any “brother,” for every brother is a deceiver.
  • Of the wicked man’s “saintly” disguise, Jeremiah warns us – Their tongue…speaks deceitfully; with his mouth each speaks peace to his neighbor, but in his heart he plans an ambush for him.
  • And finally, the Lord says of these wicked ones, “Shall I not punish them for these things? Shall I not avenge myself on a nation such as this?”

Think about this carefully. Hold Jeremiah’s words here, which are the Lord’s words, up against what we are typically being told today by “christian” pastors, church members, counselors, and so on. Quite the contrast, is there not? Where, for example, in Jeremiah’s words do you see him setting out to “fix and rehabilitate” these evil ones? Where to you hear him telling us that down deep in the heart of even these covenant traitors there is some spark of good to be found? Where does the prophet tell us that we must love these treacherous people because the Lord loves and forgives them? Nowhere. Nada. You aren’t going to find such things here.

You see many of the evil man’s tactics here. If you have known a “christian” domestic abuser, you have seen these things in him. I have seen it repeatedly in spiritual abusers who have crept into the church. Listen to it again-

Jer 9:8 Their tongue is a deadly arrow; it speaks deceitfully; with his mouth each speaks peace to his neighbor, but in his heart he plans an ambush for him.

If we are going to be wise about evil, then we MUST face up to the fact that there are indeed wicked people parading as Christians who will look us right in the eye and warmly speak “peace” to us, while at the very same time behind those apparent friendly eyes, they are planning an ambush for us. I am absolutely confounded by the number of people who claim to believe God’s Word but who consistently refuse to believe this. “We must believe the best about him.” Really? Where, in this passage from Jeremiah for instance, do you find such a universal thing taught to us? Does the Lord rebuke Jeremiah for describing these evildoers’ utter depravity? No way! Jeremiah in fact is speaking God’s own Words!!

Consider the bondage that you will remain in if you falter in confessing these things to be true? How many people continue to be enslaved to evildoers simply because they refuse to believe that anyone could actually be guilty of such duplicity? The Lord says here that not only do such people exist, they are very, very common. Especially in church pews!

This is why Jesus warns us not to make our discernment on the words of a person only. He tells us to look at the fruits of their lives. I will close with an example for you:

I knew a lady once who grew up in a pastor’s home. She seemed to live and breath the Christian faith. She worked and worked tirelessly in “ministry” and could look at you with great warmness and apparent affection. Everyone praised her as just the greatest example of a Christian.

But she was mean. Very, very, mean.

If she perceived that you were not bending to her will, look out. What was really going on inside of her? Exactly what Jeremiah speaks of here. She was, in order to use people for the promotion of her own self-glory, speaking “peace” to them. Flattering them. But it was all a sham. As soon as she was finished with them and they were of no more use to her “program,” the were discarded. And the quickest way to see through all of this disguise was to spot the signs of a loveless, mean, sharp-tongued heart that quite consistently evidenced itself.

Even to this day if I were to tell the masses of people who praised her that she was really not serving the Lord and from all evidences did not even know the Lord, they would angrily protest!  “How dare you say such a thing!”

But it is true. And the sooner we come to recognize that evil craftily disguises itself in such ways, the sooner we will get free of it.

 

No One Can Call Jesus “Lord” Except by the Holy Spirit

~ Jeff Crippen

1Co 12:3 Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says “Jesus is accursed!” and no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except in the Holy Spirit.

There was deception going on in Corinth. False teachers exhibiting counterfeit spiritual gifts and teaching a false gospel. (How much of the New Testament was written just to expose and refute false prophets!!). Paul, in warning the believers there, makes this statement: “No one can say ‘Jesus is Lord’ except in (or by) the Holy Spirit.”

What does that mean? Surely anyone can mouth the words, “Jesus is Lord,” right? Apparently there is more to this confessing Jesus as Lord than just saying words. You see it in Romans as well:

Rom 10:9-11 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. (10) For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. (11) For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.”

Making the genuine confession that Jesus is Lord is an indispensable element in real saving faith. Paul couples it with the parallel “and believe in your heart” as the link that joins us to Christ and His righteousness.

So when Paul says that this confession of Jesus as Lord can only be made in or by the Holy Spirit, he means that it is a confession that proceeds from a truly regenerate heart accompanied by (if not actually an expression of) the faith that justifies us before God. Such a confession then entails many things:

  • A confession that Jesus is Yahweh (Lord)
  • A confession that Jesus is my King
  • A confession that Jesus’ Word is truth
  • A confession of love for the Lord Jesus
  • A confession of obedience to the King

And you see, therefore, why such a confession is impossible except by the Holy Spirit in the person.

Paul’s point is that no matter how showy or genuine someone’s gifts appear to be, they are not spiritual gifts given by the Lord unless they are operative in a person who confesses Jesus as Lord. And it is a given then that anyone who curses Jesus is certainly not being directed by the Holy Spirit. We must not be deceived.

It is remarkable just how far a person can go in their claim to belong to Christ and yet be a counterfeit. Listen to Paul once more:

1Co 13:1-3 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. (2) And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. (3) If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.

See it? A person can appear to be remarkably gifted in the things of Christ. They can preach like an angel. They can show insight into God’s Word that is amazing. They can pray powerfully. They can even make huge sacrifices – to the point of martyrdom!

And yet…

What you will never find in the counterfeit is love. The genuine, real, love of Christ. Self love, yes. But not love for Christ nor love for His people. Their goal is self-promotion, power, control, and the lust to be worshiped-

Gal 4:17 They make much of you, but for no good purpose. They want to shut you out, that you may make much of them.

You will know them by their fruits (Matthew 7:16ff). Not so much by their words (though certainly we are to evaluate words as well), but by the produce that hangs on their branches. What you will never, ever find on such a tree is – love.

1Co 13:4-6 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant (5) or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; (6) it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.