Searching for the Truth in the King James Bible;
Finding it, and passing it on to you.

EDITOR:
Steve Van Nattan

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NOMINALISM BE DAMNED

By Steve Van Nattan

There is an epidemic of nominalism in the USA and the world. We look at nominalism in the Lord's Church where the big top mega church circus caters to people who are totally self-centered and do not want too much Jesus Christ. Read here, and you may find yourself. Ignore this, and you may go to Hell, that Hell Rick Warren and Joel Osteen do not talk about.

Suppose I told you I have a plan for your life to make you happy, guaranteed, for ten minutes every day. The rest of the day is up to you. Now, you may think that a fellow from the Hill Country of Texas where I live might just have enough experience in life to provide at least ten minutes of joy and happiness every day, so you ask, "What will this cost me?" "Everything," I tell you, "You must give me your home and car and empty your bank account into mine, and I will give you ten minutes of happiness every day." What a deal-- for me, not you, right? So, the mega church, the media, the political system all make you offers. Give us a little of yours, and we will give you the rush.

That is a much better offer they make than the one I make. If I ask for all you have and total bondage of you to me, then I should offer you a comprehensive plan for a happy life. Well, that is exactly what Jesus Christ did long ago, and he included eternal life, forgiveness of sins, as well as a divinely thought out plan for every minute of your life from here to heaven.

I am going to talk about the Emergent Church, Emergent Baptists, Emergent Fundamental Baptists, Emergent Fundamental King James Bible Only Baptists, all of you out there-- no holds barred. I also am talking to me, for it seems impossible to survive in the model of the New Testament in this modern world. So, let us clean the trash out of our closets and get right with the Word of God.

The rush and hubris of your mega church is only for a moment, an hour, or a day, and then you go back to your own self-defined pleasures and selfish lusts. Here is another man saying this his way:

"I would like to buy $3 worth of God, please " not enough to explode my soul or disturb my sleep, but just enough to equal a cup of warm milk or a snooze in the sunshine. I don't want enough of him to make me love a foreigner or pick beets with a migrant worker. I want ecstasy, not transformation; I want the warmth of a womb, not a new birth. I want a pound of the Eternal in a paper sack. I'd like to buy $3 worth of God, please."
Wilbur Rees

THREE DOLLARS WORTH OF GOD?
SORRY, I UNDERESTIMATED YOU MY FRIEND

I realize now you make the ultimate sacrifice, unlike many of the people around you. You go to the mega church once a week and give God a cool $100 in the offering plate, and God gives you the fantastic rock band playing 7/11 music on monster speakers that make your gizzard shake. 7/11 music? Seven words repeated eleven times over and over until the crowd, and you, are in a frenzy.

Or, you go to the Cowboy Church and listen to the band play Jesus of Nashville. And, those sexy worship leaders cooing into the multicolored mics, and those hunks with open shirts with the swivel hips and the tattoos in Hebrew, the light show managed in a control room just for light effects, what a RUSH. All that is needed to make Jesus just like your favorite honky tonk star is the naked girl in the go-go cage descending from the ceiling, right?

So, who needs the Holy Spirit when you have all the high tech bells and whistles AND Deko software?

Can you believe Jesus had any impact on anyone by only using his voice and a rock to sit on? No rock to dance to. You have all the techno-freak geeks in town in the control rooms of your mega church pampering you with the ultimate audio visual grand slam. What a thrill for you, and only you.

God got his cool $100 from you, and you got your two hour rush. Then back to the foyer of the temple at Saddlebutt, stop for a Starbucks cappuccino in the church foyer, and then back to home to YOUR life for six days.

Ain't God lucky he has you?

How am I doing? Are we having what Henry Kissinger called "constructive discussions" yet?

You are a nominalist.

You heard Joel Osteen say that "this is religion," and that settles it. Two hours a week, it IS religion because the guru gave you the definition, and you have just Xed out the little box in the religion section of your life. If there is a God, THIS is what he wants you to have, no more and no less. You are very faithful to go to the mega church, lift your little shot glass up, and say, "Fill it all the way up, pastor."

The nice thing is, all around you are Catholics, Charismatics, Baptists, Buddhists, sodomites, whores, and all sorts of people who are getting the same rush you are. What they are is not what they thought they were before the magic hour. What their soul condition was before the glory hour is not what matters. What matters is that you are all whatever Joel Osteen says you are. God understands because God was listening too, and he comes to this glory hour once a week to get his divine rush. God even defines himself by the sterling definitions of Joel Ostean, right? Let's all give Jesus a big hand.

But, the coffee was weak, right?

So, maybe next week we will drive out to that other mega church and see what Dr. Gloryosa says we are. If it feels just as good as the Osteen definition, and if the coffee is better, maybe Blue Mountain Jamaican Arabica, we might go there for a while.

Now, your neighbor goes to another church, a no name gathering in a rented store. These people are there most of the day Sunday, eat the noon meal together, give in the offering, and drink red punch instead of Starbucks. They not only do Sunday, they also do Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Not at the store front of course, rather, they look one another up for coffee downtown, stop by one another's homes for a visit and to share something they found in their daily Bible reading, and generally give themselves totally to one another.

These strange people have little or no time to define themselves, like you have at your mausoleum. They have One who defines them, to him they have pledged their whole life and net worth, not just two hours on Sunday, but 24/7. Nor do they have the option to hop around to find alternatives, for the gathering does not define them, nor does their pastor. Someone else defines them thus:

Matthew 16:24 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
25 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.
26 For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?

Matthew 7:13 Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:
14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

There is no piano at your neighbor's church gathering, and no 5000 watt amp. There are no comfortable chairs, no techno monster band, no glitter, and no rush. Your neighbor seems to consider all his waking hours as time for his religion. He talks about Jesus in the check out line at Wal-Mart, he stops to comfort someone who is depressed and talks to them until he is almost as sad as they are-- he seems burdened and offended by much of the good life that you enjoy-- you pity the man don't you? He cannot relate to you when you talk about the late show, and he has no idea how to invest in the stock market or play golf. The man must be very depressed.

You would never allow this to happen to you, right, not as long as you can afford to visit your shrink every two weeks. Why, that shrink has really helped you to adapt to, and enjoy, what the world around you offers. Besides, God is only defined into your life by Joel Osteen once a week, so other definitions are handy between Sundays.

ENTER-- THE ETERNAL ABSTRACT

Spiritual thoughts and definitions of man and the world entities, as found in the Bible, are abstract, BUT to the Bible believer they are also absolutes. Abstract ideas are not physical, they are not subject to the laws of science or entropy, but most abstracts in today's world are fantasies. If you are a nominalist, you unwittingly really believe in what you can touch, taste, and what gives you the rush. That is not Christianity. Christian truth is based in abstracts that God presented, and they are only real in YOUR life when they are totally believed, AND when they change every physical and spiritual aspect in your life. Pledging allegiance to a set of abstracts without internalizing them, and believing them, is religion, and this sort of religion leads directly to Hell.

Many alleged Christians recite a confession, a creed, or a mini-prayer that they believe will buy them fire insurance. Not so. Recitation of abstracts is a farce, and that goes for you too. Abstracts, when saluted the way you and your mega church friends jerk your arms around and bellow Jeeeeeeeeeeesus, is exactly the same as the German fools who joined together and screamed, "Sig Heil." It is 100% external, and it is a response to a tyrant. That is what your pastor is, a tyrant who leads the crowd in unanimous barking and howling. From Monday to Saturday you are still a self-indulgent idol worshipper collecting your gods and toys from the market place. The truths from the Word of God either change you, or you are damned to Hell. Now, THERE is an abstract you will one day believe in. Actually, I hope you do not find out the hard way.

You have been cultured in a multiple choice religion that is real only when you FEEL it and get the RUSH. This is existentialism, as if God did not exist until Joel Osteen defined him. You have no abstracts in your soul, only appetites which must be sated with real things you can experience. God and the Truth are there whether you are there or not. The guru, Joel Osteen, never tells you what you OUGHT or SHOULD or OUGHT NOT or SHOULD NOT believe, or defend, as real-- no, he helps you make your own definitions from your own priorities. And, when some lust of the flesh in you is offended by the ongoing flow of alleged platform teaching, you are encouraged to fix it for your own personal consumption. You will never be rebuked for offending the guru, much less God himself. Brother Joel said so.

There is no such thing as a "group" as an entity, says the nominalist guru, and that suits you just fine. "Group" is an abstract word and highly suspect, as is "Church." You may end up in a group of people who seem to have the same notions of the things of God as you do, but you owe them nothing because the group is much too abstract to be that real. After all, the group only exists for two hours a week. Your poor neighbor at the store front church feels he belongs to the group 24/7 and makes all sorts of sacrifices for the benefit of the group. He also believes he belongs to God 24/7 and talks frequently about what God would like.

The most grievous abstract to avoid is the concept of SIN. Sin destroys your peace, not because you ever see yourself as a sinner in need of cleansing and forgiveness by Christ, but because sin results in guilt and calls for repentance.

You have learned to be you without guilt or moral obligation because you deny obligation. Again, morality is an abstract, much too vague to base any action upon. Rather, you respond to the moment and whatever gives you a "good feeling," right? Feelings are the proof of all things and must be always good or getting better, otherwise, a change is needed to move on to better things.

How do you deal with these abstracts?

1 Peter 2:21 For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps:
22 Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth:
23 Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously:
24 Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.
25 For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.

Just like your neighbor, right?

He is always taking pain, suffering, abuse, betrayal, and loss by saying that he is just thankful that Jesus is with him through it all. Why, you would never let that happen, right? You would arrange your life and days and friendships so that Jesus was just lucky you were so blessed and jolly about life that he had nothing to do to keep you happy. You would never inconvenience your Jesus, your happy, jolly, rocking rolling Jesus.

YOU, SIR, ARE A NOMINALIST

What is that?

Answer: A nominalist is one who rejects universal truths, abstracts, and presuppositions. A nominalist is only sure of that which he can see or taste or touch in the real world. Everything else is nominal, named, but not absolute, and certainly not safe to use in life changing decisions. So, you name, or nominate, yourself to happiness and fulfillment by gleaning all the sensual rush and self-gratification you can from where ever you find it. Things, sounds, I-phones, and Starbucks make you feel good, and that is what you trust. Christianity is only good for part of your life, and then, not too much.

THE LUXURIES OF CIVILIZATION SATISFY ONLY THOSE WANTS WHICH THEY THEMSELVES CREATE. By Raymond Priestly of the South Pole Expedition 1902

All definitions are possibilities, and you have yours, and you live with it. You are straight, and your church deacon who leads your sub-sub-sub-group is a sodomite, but a very nice one. His definitions of right living are his, and must not be questioned, after all it works for him. But, he and you understand that you are just as right as he is. Everyone must come to his own personal nomen, name, peculiarity for what is good and right, and every conclusion is real and just as valid as the next.

So, for you who like your religion brief, exciting, loud, and repetitious-- for you who like your definitions coming from a smooth talking smiling guru who quotes one verse from a Dick and Jane Bible and then gives your tender ears a tickling-- for you who need the rush and good coffee to feel "blessed this Sunday," I wonder which ground, in the following parable Jesus told, is YOU?

Mark 4:1 And he began again to teach by the sea side: and there was gathered unto him a great multitude, so that he entered into a ship, and sat in the sea; and the whole multitude was by the sea on the land.
2 And he taught them many things by parables, and said unto them in his doctrine,
3 Hearken; Behold, there went out a sower to sow:
4 And it came to pass, as he sowed, some fell by the way side, and the fowls of the air came and devoured it up.
5 And some fell on stony ground, where it had not much earth; and immediately it sprang up, because it had no depth of earth:
6 But when the sun was up, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away.
7 And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up, and choked it, and it yielded no fruit.
8 And other fell on good ground, and did yield fruit that sprang up and increased; and brought forth, some thirty, and some sixty, and some an hundred.
9 And he said unto them, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.
10 And when he was alone, they that were about him with the twelve asked of him the parable.
11 And he said unto them, Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God: but unto them that are without, all these things are done in parables:
12 That seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand; lest at any time they should be converted, and their sins should be forgiven them.
13 And he said unto them, Know ye not this parable? and how then will ye know all parables?
14 The sower soweth the word.
15 And these are they by the way side, where the word is sown; but when they have heard, Satan cometh immediately, and taketh away the word that was sown in their hearts.
16 And these are they likewise which are sown on stony ground; who, when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with gladness;
17 And have no root in themselves, and so endure but for a time: afterward, when affliction or persecution ariseth for the word's sake, immediately they are offended.
18 And these are they which are sown among thorns; such as hear the word,
19 And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful.
20 And these are they which are sown on good ground; such as hear the word, and receive it, and bring forth fruit, some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some an hundred.

I AM A RADIATOR CAP

I sit on a radiator, and that is as abstract as my life gets. The radiator I sit on may well be connected to something else, and may be needed, but all I can be sure of is that I am a radiator cap. That is my nomen, name, denominator. Once a week, for two hours, I and a lot of other parts come together in a big parking lot, and we all call ourselves an automobile.

This is a great abstract thing to consider, but all I can be sure of is that I am a radiator cap. I have a blurred vision of an automobile, like it exists, but the whole automobile is not my personal connection with reality, nor am I obligated to relate to the other parts in the automobile. Being a radiator cap is all the car feel that I need.

So, I have to believe that when I am not gathered with all the other auto parts, there may actually be no automobile. In fact, I am not sure I even need to be gathered with all those auto parts anyway. I simply go because when the gathering is in full swing, I hear the roar of the engine, and that is as abstract as my reality gets. That is my CCM-- carbon coughing motor.

If you are a radiator cap, and you all but deny the existence of an automobile as a real thing, AND if all the other parts believe the same thing about the automobile, then the automobile is indeed a dysfunctional pile of rubbish all the time except for those precious two hours a week. Are you now getting the idea of what a nominalist is?

Now, if this is your notion of an automobile, pray tell, what is your concept of the automobile maker whom you have never seen and who will never come and twist the radiator cap with a physical hand? You have heard that the auto maker planned your existence, and you were destined to your exact place in the automobile by the auto maker, but you have no way to grab hold of that thought except as an abstract, and you do not give total faith to abstracts. You do not totally reject abstracts, but you cannot taste them, so they are deleted from your list of presuppositions.

If this fits you then you are 100% a self-defining individual with no commitment to any reality you cannot eat, drink, smell, inhale, hear, snort, dance to, or scream to. And, God is not a smell, taste, feeling like goose bumps, or a roar of technological noise. God is a spirit, and they that worship him must worship in spirit and in truth, both of which are abstracts. Only unconditional faith can make God real to anyone. Your faith is on fire when you get the rush, and you turn it off as soon as the mic is shut off or the coffee cup hits the trash can.

LET ME NOW BURST YOUR MAN-MADE BUBBLE OF REALITY

I refer to the great Greek Apostle of nonsense, Plato. Plato taught that the radiator cap is real all right, but the words "radiator cap" are still an abstract of words which mean nothing without the actual cap itself. Sorry this is a bit confusing, but so are YOU. Plato did not trust words to be reality-- he wanted to believe only in things he could touch, taste, or beat to death. This is pure nominalism at its best, er-- worst. So, you are a radiator cap, and God is God. So, what? All you can believe in as a nominalist is what you are and experience. Someone else may be a radiator cap yet call himself a Muslim. That is OK because he knows himself better than you do, and it is the thing, not the name, that counts.

Do you see why you have such a limited commitment to God as an abstract who demands from you total faith in his existence? You cannot totally commit yourself to anything that is only represented by words, AND the only trustworthy words you have about God, Jesus, salvation, sin, creation, etc are found exclusively in the Word of God. Words are all that now call you to reality on God's terms. You are stuck with words in a book-- how ponderous for you. How abstract. This is why you get such a rush from your guru. He is real, he smiles, he shakes your hand, he makes you FEEL good, and you can buy real CDs of his voice talking to you, right?

Perhaps you still believe the name, nomen, of an object is not important, only the effect of selfness is important. Well, God and you have a large debate going:

1 John 3:23 And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment.

You cannot believe in Jesus only as he exists. That is not enough. You MUST believe that his name, while it is an abstract, is still the ONLY name of the Son of God. There is only ONE Jesus who will give you eternal life IN HIS NAME. Only those who totally trust in the name of Jesus as ultimate and eternal reality are accepted by God.

So, those who refuse to believe in the abstract and biblical names of the Godhead are damned to Hell. They will one day have the ultimate reality check when an abstract named God, which they found obscure and blurred, will send them to a very real Hell. These folks, and you better decide if you are one, will one day go to sleep for the last time, and they will wake up in a very real Hell with their very real soul on fire in very real fire, and they will scream for very real water, and there will be none. What a horrible time to find out that some abstracts are very real and believable!

You see, my dear blundering friend, biblical abstracts better be real or we are all damned to Hell. All of the revelation of the Word of God is in the form of abstracts, and ONLY those who put their whole faith, whole life, whole allegiance, and whole future hope in those abstracts, as the highest available reality, are saved, born again, redeemed, in the Church, in Christ, and in Heaven as soon as they die. Virtually none of these truths is a radiator cap. They are the automobile and the auto maker. If you do not believe that you belong to the automobile and its maker, as certainly as you are a radiator cap, then you are in the devil's junk yard, alone, and on your way to Hell. >

EXAMPLE
THIS IS THE MESSAGE YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO BELIEVE
AS A BIBLE BELIEVING CHRISTIAN

1 John 1:5 This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
6 If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:
7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.

Message?
Unlike bananas, you cannot eat a message. A message is something that enters by the eye or ear and comes to rest in the brain. If you have to receive sensual stimulation with a message in order to process the message, then you are not able to be converted and born again by faith.

God?
God cannot be ordered from Amazon and delivered in three days by UPS. God is not the warm fuzzies you get when the electric guitar whines and the drummer goes mad with frenzy during the CCM orgasmic Sunday morning worship.

Light?
Light is not what you believe about yourself. Light is not in you. You are dark. Light is from another source, either created as a physical sphere 93 million miles away, or in the form of the Light of the World, Jesus. If your light came to you from any other source, you are dead in your soul.

Fellowship?
Fellowship is not stale cookies and red punch, nor is it a Starbucks rush, nor is it a headbanging session at the church house. Fellowship is an unspoken bond with another believer or with one's maker. Very abstract, and very real at the same time, but only if you believe in the Source of fellowship.

Darkness?
Darkness is not the absence of light only to be seen when the strobe lights go on at the mega church platform. Light is a person, the Word, Christ himself, and if you have it you did not get it from your favorite guru. If you have only the alleged light as defined by the mega church guru, you are still in total darkness.

Truth?
Truth is not just ideas you tolerate for two hours a week on Sunday morning. Truth is what you do with light, with the person of Jesus Christ. Truth is action based upon faith in real things called abstracts but delivered by God to you to save your soul from Hell. Push aside this truth in favor of nominal definitions of your reality, and you will die in your sins.

One with another?
One with another is the ONLY form in which fellowship is manifest as reality. One with another is NOT to be one with the universe, with one's self, or with the creed and catechism. One with anyone but Christ and his saints is NOT Christianity.

Blood?
The Roman Catholic Church is the only alleged Christian group which claims to serve you up a real drink of blood, allegedly Jesus' blood. In fact, the blood of Jesus is again an abstract which is real, but you have to believe it is real to benefit in any way from Jesus' act of shedding it for your sins. Jesus as a person was not enough to save you from eternal damnation for your sins-- What Jesus DID caused God to remove your sins IF you believe without reservations that Jesus did it for you.

Cleanseth?
To be cleansed is to make the journey from satisfaction with profane and earthly preoccupations over to the holy life. The holy life is NOT of much interest to the vast majority of Americans and western people. So, being clean in one's soul is shuffled into the magic "gray area" which YOU made, not God. God has no gray area. We humans love to invent this special hard drive in our brain where we can rationalize those things we know are suspect in our lives. Cleansing is done not by us-- it is done, as the verse suggests, by God himself by the applying of the blood of Jesus Christ. Now, if the blood is too abstract to take literally, how very convenient, for that means there is no real urgency to be clean. Just get the rush and be happy, don't worry- hakuna matata.

Jesus Christ his Son?
You believe in Jesus Christ, right? But do you LOVE Jesus Christ. If you love Jesus Christ you will keep his commandments. He said that is how it works-- this is not my idea, and though it is abstract, it is the most reliable test of your confession of salvation.

John 14:15 If ye love me, keep my commandments.

So, when do you love Jesus Christ-- for those two hours on Sunday morning? If you love Jesus Christ, you will talk about him, pray to him, and confess sin to him all week long. People around you will know that you love Jesus Christ. Do they? You say that is none of my business? Wrong. If you are a self-deluded church house Christian with no commitment to Christ all the rest of the week, then I must call you to see that you are damned to Hell. An occasional visit to Jesus in the big mega church is exactly what these people were doing:

Matthew 7:21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

Jesus will not be at all impressed with your nominal hit and miss zeal for him in the day you stand before him in the Great White Throne judgment. He will disown you, or I should say, he will inform you he never did own you. And, it is by YOUR choice, not his. You are the one who has limited the reality of Jesus in your life. Jesus will not make you a child of God bit by bit, and if you hold back anything about yourself from Jesus, he will not save you at all. It is all or nothing. That little "sinner's prayer" you burped up at the altar long ago is valid only in the lives of those who are 100% Christ's. Are you?

All of the above biblical terms are abstracts. They are real to me, and I suspect you wish they were real to you, but I fear that your lust for a physical feely feely experience of all things causes you to withhold total commitment to the abstract realities.

At the right you see an abstract painting. There is not one real thing you can connect with the painting. Double domed art experts will tell you that this painting means whatever you imagine it means. There is no truth stated by this painting. Name it what you like.

Society encourages us all not to form strong opinions about things that are abstract, even labeling us as prejudiced or politically incorrect for having a strong opinion about anything but our favorite ice cream flavor. This has resulted in the most degraded, criminal, and mongrel societies the world has ever seen. So, if you take the same view of the abstracts given to you from God's Word, you will most certainly believe that they can mean something to you that they do not mean to me. This is your perverted way of escaping from believing certain abstracts are real and can be believed in.

God has only ONE concept in his mind for every abstract truth presented in his Word. The idea that God could lay down before us an abstract truth, and then God is content to let us all come up with a hundred different definitions of that abstract truth, makes God into a stupid aging pot head. God has one and only one definition for every abstract truth he hands you, and you better find out what that definition is. Your soul's destiny depends on it.

None of the abstract terms in the above verses can be tasted, felt, drunk, handled, or hung on a hook in the garage. But, if all of the abstracts in the above verses are not precious to you, real to you, and of higher consequence than anything else in your life, you are a nominal Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, mac daddy, feminazi, whatever, but you are not a BORN AGAIN Christian.

The above biblical abstracts are not (at least not yet) physical particular bits and pieces we can taste, touch, and smell. They are real in someone's mind, they are life and death to someone, but what are they to YOU? If you claim to be a Bible believing Christian, then the most real and defining things in your life now, and in the afterlife, are in the list above.

So, how much and how often do you think about them?

How often do you talk about them to other Christians and to those not yet in Christ Jesus?

How sure are you that they are real?

Do you avoid bringing up these abstracts at times lest you disadvantage yourself?

So, are YOU a nominalist, or is there a real world out there to which you belong and believe in that is even more real than your Starbucks coffee and the eye candy at the mega church circus?

Huh? I cannot hear you-- speak up please.

THE ABSTRACT WHICH CLINCHES THE WHOLE THING..... FAITH

Romans 10:12 For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him.
13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
14 How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?
15 And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!
16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report?
17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
18 But I say, Have they not heard? Yes verily, their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world.
19 But I say, Did not Israel know? First Moses saith, I will provoke you to jealousy by them that are no people, and by a foolish nation I will anger you.
20 But Esaias is very bold, and saith, I was found of them that sought me not; I was made manifest unto them that asked not after me.
21 But to Israel he saith, All day long I have stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people.

God is not a bit bored with you. He has provided for your salvation, for fellowship with other Christians, and for you to be with him for eternity in Heaven. YOU are the one waffling between nominalism and reality. God is actually seeking you, and if you read this far it may well be that the Holy Spirit of God is right now trying to tell you that your Christianity is a counterfeit that was invented by you and your mega church guru. If you feel you are hearing from God for the first time, then that is his Spirit who has brought your dead soul to life enough for you to believe by faith all that God tells you about himself.

REPENT AND BELIEVE--
TAKE UP YOUR CROSS AND FOLLOW JESUS--
TO HELL WITH THE GURU

Exodus 3:1 Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father in law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb.
2 And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.
3 And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt.
4 And when the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I.
5 And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.
6 Moreover he said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God.

Matthew 16:13 When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?
14 And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets.
15 He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am?
16 And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.
17 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.
18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it.

Moses met God in the form of fire in a bush. Moses actually heard God speak.

Peter met Jesus in person and ate with him and watched him do miracles in Galilee.

You will not meet God in a burning bush, you will not hear his audible voice, and you will not meet Jesus in person in this life. Will you hold God and Jesus at arm's length because they are too abstract for you to believe in? If you are a nominalist about yourself, as if you are the only real thing you believe in, as well as anything your can experience with your senses, then you cannot believe in God or Jesus, though you hang out every Sunday with people who claim to.

What will you do about this?

Here is what God thinks of you if you are a church house nominalist:

Hebrews 12:7 If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?
8 But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.

If you cannot contemplate rebuke from a Bible believer, and if you allow God access to your life only at times you define as acceptable, you are a bastard, not a son. That means you will go to Hell, for there will be no spiritual bastard sons of Satan in heaven.

SEND MAIL
I will not respond to rants. If you wish to differ with me personally, state your thoughts in a rational manner, use the King James Bible to support your thoughts, and be prepared to hear me disagree with you. Get gross and in my face, and I will either blast you with the Word of God, or I will simply hang up. I am here to help the sincere seeker and to trash the sinister scumball.

If you wish to see something added to this discussion, or a similar topic addressed, I am very open to your suggestions. May God give you light and zeal to walk orderly and godly in this wicked world.

VIDEOS CONCOMITANT
WITH THE ABOVE THOUGHTS:

THE CLASSIC WORSHIP FORM AND RITUAL

 

I WARNED YOU I WOULD NOT HOLD BACK.....
HERE IS WHAT THE UNGODLY DO WITH YOUR BRAND OF CHRISTIANITY:

 

LEARN FROM THE BIBLE HOW TO JUDGE ALLEGED "WORSHIP MUSIC"

 

HERE IS A GREAT SATIRE ON THE EMERGENT CHURCH
SHOWING LOTS OF NOMINALISTIC NOTIONS:

 

CAN YOU TELL SOMETHING IS WRONG AT "YOUR CHURCH"?
If you "go to church," and your church gathering is centered on a piece of real estate,
you are totally deceived. This video will show you that "the church" is not all about
you and you getting a rush from a big show up front. You may be in for a real shock
from this teaching, which happens to be directly from the Bible.

 

HOW TO TELL YOU'VE ENTERED AN EMERGENT CHURCH
(THE POST-MODERN ZONE)

 

IF YOU DO NOT REPENT, YOU MAY FIND THIS IS YOUR GOD

 

WIMP

 

COMFORT FOR ALL YE DESCENTERS
Since you will not listen to reason, I have condescended to give you a bit of comfort on your way to Hell. I will give you two men who accept religion as useful, but they believe that morality, oughts and ought nots, have come up to us advanced primates courtesy of the animal kingdom, by and large. The Sermon on the Mount by Jesus was simply a more complex and advanced moral code which is found in its primal form among baboons. This will be a great comfort to you mugwumps who sit on the fence about the truths in the Word of God:

Now, if you did not go mad trying to follow these men who cannot be sure of anything, here is my observation. This is you soon. Maybe it is you now. Are you so wrapped up in possibilities and uncertainties that nothing in your life is certain anymore?

Having listened to this blather and bluster video, I am reminded of the time we were in the Amboseli Game Park in Kenya long ago, and as we passed an acacia tree full of baboons, we noticed that they were all pooping in their hands and throwing at one another. If we wish to build upon the foundation of the animal kingdom for our social order and standards, we need to look more carefully at their carefree ways of leisure and comic relief. Perhaps we could adapt this to the mega church and have a crap throwing session from time to time. It certainly has become part of our society as regards the democratic process. I have been present during several church business meetings when baboon order supplanted Robert's Rule of Order.

Perhaps the baboons were Baptists.

 

OUR ARTICLE ON THE METANARRATIVE,
WHICH YOU PROBABLY DO NOT HAVE AND NEED BADLY

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