The decision made by the UPC elders against owning a TV was made decades and decades ago. The decision was accompanied by tongues and interpretation. Has God blessed the organization since then? Yes he has, for decades and decades. The benefits of the Organization now came from the price that has been paid in the past for decades.
Did Jesus know that issues were going to come up in the church after he was gone in which MEN would have to discuss make decisions? Yes he did - read Matt 18. Did Jesus in the same passage say that whatever they - MEN - decided upon, that he would stand behind them and bind/loose them in heaven? Yes he did. Do we have a very practical example of that in Acts? Yes we do concerning circumcision of the Gentiles. Did the elders of the church come together and talk about it and make a decision in which afterwards they wrote that "it seemed good unto the Holy Ghost and unto us..."; indicating that somehow God showed by His Spirit in man that he backed up the decision? Yes they did.
Do you think the decision was made by a bunch of old country bumkins who didn't know what they were doing? Do you think that we are better than them because we are in the 21st century now?
Now concerning holiness and people one is witnessing to who are not yet saved, Jesus said this...
Joh 16:12 I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.
Joh 16:13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.
This means that people cannot bear certain things UNTIL AFTER they are converted. That is why you don't see any/much teaching of Jesus to HIS disciples concerning things He requires of His people about holiness. That is why you read about holiness stuff in the epistles - letters written to churches/people who were already saved. That is why you don't read about Jesus teaching about hair in the gospels.
With people who are lost, the most important thing is for them to first get saved, by hearing the preaching/teaching of the gospel - the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ and how it shows that we can now be born again. You don't clean a fish before you catch it - you have to catch it first.
Then after they are saved, they grow in grace and knowledge and live a life of loving obedience to the one who first loved them. Usually a person who loves the Lord with everything doesn't have a problem doing the things that He wants them to. Because we are no longer our own, we have been bought with a price. Let the Pastor preach/teach the word and the principles based upon the word and let the Holy Ghost convict.
Holiness standards are based upon biblical principles such as:
- loving not the world neither the things that are in the world
- coming out from among them and being separate
- touch not the unclean thing
- friendship with the world is emnity with God
- present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy, and acceptable unto God which is your reasonable service
- being not conformed to this world, but being transformed
- not being brought under the power of any
- abstain from ALL appearance of evil
- not setting any wicked thing before our eyes
- be careful what you hear
- modesty in clothing
- not wearing gold or silver
- not partaking of the modern idols of the world; etc
Apostolic does NOT mean inward focus only with NO outward focus on evangelizing. Apostolic churches are all about evangelizing and winning the lost. My church has grown considerably since my Pastor took it over almost 30 years ago. I'm not aware of any 1 Apostolic church whose sole focus is only inwardly.
Incidentally, there is one well-known church in our city that has had great growth, but you know at what cost? They don't preach the apostle's doctrine. What good is growth if they compromise truth? What good is growth if they convince a whole city that they are saved when in fact they are not. They make them 2 fold more the child of hell because you have to first convince them that they are deceived and are still lost FIRST before you can get them to do anything to be REALLY saved.
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