http://www.matthiasmedia.com.au/2wtl/
Check this site out and let us know what you think. It's a very simple and easy to use method of sharing the gospel in my opinion. I am thinking about trying to learn it so I can use it in conversations with people. I know they have print versions too--one for adults and one for kids....I'm curious what you all think of it...I gotta run to work, but I wanted to get this up here so I could get your thoughts.
-Marc
4 comments:
Sorry it is taking so long for me to reply to this! I have read it and sent it to my pastor to read... we both feel that, at the very least, the doctrine of this site is very off. On the first page it says that God is the supreme ruler of this world or something to that effect... but the Bible is pretty clear that, at this time, Satan is the ruler of the Earth. I think that something similar with very sound doctrine would be neat though. Talk to you guys soon.
~Debra Crabtree
Debra,
We appreciate your post and for taking the time to reply. We sort of see where you are coming from, but we think the point of this statement is to stress that God is sovereign over all that goes on in this world. Yes, Satan has been given power and influence in some sense over this world right now, and all people everywhere are born into sin and sin throughout life--making us enemies of God along with Satan. But Satan is subservient to God at all times. God created him! Just look at the book of Job to see that Satan can do nothing that God does not allow. So yes, God is "the ruler" of this world in the most supreme sense.
As a side note, check out these verses in Colossians 2:13-15. "And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him."
I'm sure there are other verses that you could use to suggest that Satan does indeed have some sort of power or hold of us/the world (at least temporarily), but if you want to suggest that God is not ultimately in control of the world and all that happens in it, then you would be going completely against the historic and biblical belief that God is totally sovereign....Maybe it's just a matter of semantics :) Thanks again for reading this and helping us take a closer look at it. Hope all's well with you and your family. Talk to you soon. :)
P.S. Were there other issues that you had noticed with it?
I certainly mean that Satan is temporarily in control of the world but I DO think that the Bible makes it absolutely clear that Satan is the ruler of the world at this time. 1 John 5:19 says "We know that we are of God, and that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one". I think that pretty well sums it up. Also when Satan tempted Jesus,in Matthew 4, Satan offers Jesus all of the kingdoms of the world if Jesus will only bow down and worship him. Jesus does not say they are not Satans to freely give. Rather he says that it is written that you shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve. If Satan could not give Jesus what he had offered him, it would not have been a temptation. I certainly think that Christ has defeated Satan (it would be hard to be a follower of Christ without such a fundamental and core belief). Now its just a matter of time before Satan surrenders to Christ. I don't have a problem with the objective of the site. I think its a neat objective and could very well be such a needed way to witness to unbelievers in so many places. My problem really lies in that one thing... I dont believe that God is the ruler of earth. I believe he can be the ruler of your life if you submit to him but God has surrendered, for some unknown reason, the power of this earth to Satan for the time being. But, if it brings people to Christ, even if I dont agree with all the words of the tool... God is using it for good!It is just not something I would feel comfortable showing to someone I guess. The bottom line is that the belief does not affect salvation :) Sorry I was so long winded. We are all fine! Hope we can see you guys soon.
~Debra
Thanks for this discussion. It's important stuff, and, of course, there are no hard feelings! Here are our thoughts after reading, and we probably don't have anything else to say about the issue.=) First, you have to consider the objective of the site...it's a gospel presentation. For people to understand the gospel, we have to start with the fact that God is sovereign. We haven't seen many gospel tracks/presentations that talk about Satan's role. God is sovereign, which means he has the ultimate power and is simply ALLOWING Satan to have temporary control. To say that God is not the ruler of the earth is essentially saying He is not sovereign. All of Satan's power is derived from God. God isn't "giving up" power. He can intervene at any moment, but He is choosing not to. Saying that Christ defeated Satan shows that there is a power greater than Satan in the world. To say then that Satan is the ruler of the world makes it sound like Christ didn't defeat Satan. If Satan is the ruler of the world, why do we pray to God to intervene? God couldn't intervene if we thought Satan is the ruler. Basically, Satan does have temporary control to a degree, but only because God allows it. In a nutshell, then, God is the ruler because He can intervene at any time.
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