By: CHRIS MCCANN
However, an elect child of God has no option. Backward is the direction away from God. And an elect child of God cannot but stay with and follow their Lord. The elect child of God truly has no where to go but forward continuing to follow the guiding light of the Word of God the Bible.
Any refusing to turn back along with them angers them because their refusal is a constant reminder that they have indeed gone back from a particular truth or truths.
When someone does a doctrinal about face, they want everyone else to go with them. If others go with them it tends to soothe their conscience.
Perhaps, what many people despise most about the ministry of E Bible Fellowship, is that we have NOT turned back to former doctrines as they themselves have.
By the grace of God E Bible Fellowship has not looked back from following the Bible's teaching on Christ's atoning work performed at the foundation of the world.
By the grace of God E Bible Fellowship continues to uphold the Biblical calendar of history.
By the grace of God E Bible Fellowship has not gone back but has maintained the teachings that God graciously opened up to the understanding of His people during this end time period.
Nor, by the grace of God have we gone back from the Bible's teaching that the church age is over!
By God's grace, E Bible Fellowship has NOT gone back from the Bible's declaration that Judgment Day began on May 21, 2011!
It says in Genesis 19:26:
But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.
Going backwards, spiritually, is when we turn from a true doctrine to that which is not true. It says in 1Samuel 15:11:
It repenteth me that I have set up Saul to be king: for he is turned back from following me, and hath not performed my commandments. And it grieved Samuel; and he cried unto the LORD all night.
Did you once hold onto the Biblical calendar of history as truth---but no longer do? Then you've gone backwards, It says in Psalm 78:40-41:
How oft did they provoke him in the wilderness, and grieve him in the desert! Yea, they turned back and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel.
Do you know longer believe the Bible's teaching regarding the end of the church age? If so, you can be sure you've turned back from following God's commandments, God also says in Jeremiah 7:23-24:
But this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people: and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well unto you. But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, but walked in the counsels and in the imagination of their evil heart, and went backward, and not forward.
God has NOTHING good to say about those that turn back from following His truth, God also says in Jeremiah 11:10:
They are turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers, which refused to hear my words; and they went after other gods to serve them:
The Bible is a forward looking book. It directs our gaze to that which lies before. Following the commandments of Christ leads us step by step towards that glorious future. Those that turn back have no place in God's kingdom, God also says in Luke 9:62:
And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.
Oh, how sad it is in our present day that many have gone back who once followed the Scriptures, God also says in Luke 17:30-32:
Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed. In that day, he which shall be upon the housetop, and his stuff in the house, let him not come down to take it away: and he that is in the field, let him likewise not return back. Remember Lot's wife.
Turning back from God is not something that is done physically. Its a spiritual condition, God also says in Acts 7:39:
To whom our fathers would not obey, but thrust him from them, and in their hearts turned back again into Egypt,
Many turn back when the best course of action was simply to wait on the Lord, God also says in Hebrews 10:36-38:
For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry. Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.
Forward or Abiding in Christ’s Doctrine---The Right Direction! The Direction of the Saved.
Nothing good lies behind in this world. Forward is the course for the child of God, God also says in Exodus 14:15:
And the LORD said unto Moses, Wherefore criest thou unto me? speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward:
Eternal life is before us, not behind us. God's elect follow Jesus onward. God also says in John 6:66-68:
From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him. Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away? Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.
What lays behind you but a desolate and rebellious church. A desperately wicked and deceitful world. A long list of doctrines that have done nothing for the adherents except to bring the wrath of God down upon their heads.
Before us, though, awaits that great day. That's where our eyes need to be fixed. God also says in Philippians 3:13-14:
Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
If you are not one of Jesus' true disciples (i.e. an elect child of God) it is certain that you will return back again. Like Orpah to Moab. However, if you are a true disciple of Jesus (an elect child of God) you will cling to God and refuse to go backward, God also says in Ruth 1:8 and in verses 14-16:
And Naomi said unto her two daughters in law, Go, return each to her mother's house: the LORD deal kindly with you, as ye have dealt with the dead, and with me.
And they lifted up their voice, and wept again: and Orpah kissed her mother in law; but Ruth clave unto her. And she said, Behold, thy sister in law is gone back unto her people, and unto her gods: return thou after thy sister in law. And Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave thee,or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God:
God will not permit His elect children to go backward from His commandments. He holds them fast in truth. God also says in Hebrews 10:39:
But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.
CHRIS MCCANN·SUNDAY, MARCH 3, 2019 FACEBOOK POST
They're rejoining something that has about 2 billion adherents and is 'normal' and widely accepted. Yes they have some slight contention with the world, but mostly its about social and political matters that they (the church) shouldn't be involved in any way.
God's elect on the other hand, we have no place of refuge. Not only are we outcasts from the world, but we're also outcasts from the churches, leaving us only God and His Word for comfort and refuge (which is more than enough for us). We go this way because our guide (the Holy Spirit) leads us this way as He directs our path in the Bible. So we do not complain. We are thankful to God for the hardships as we know that it is through much tribulation that we enter into the kingdom of heaven.
But for those that have gone back, the hot sun burning down upon them has ceased. The daily trials and tribulations of going the narrow way have come to an end. They are comforted by the church's social circles and God has stopped testing them for the simple reason that they have failed the test by returning to the church. Therefore life is much easier for them. Although, of course, since they have left the pathway that leads to eternal life (the way of the Bible), this comfort they are presently enjoying will be their only comfort. As untold numbers of professed Christians before them, they have opted for the pleasures of sin for a season over the blessings and joys that await God's elect forevermore.
CHRIS MCCANN·SUNDAY, MARCH 3, 2019 FACEBOOK POST
The answer is because the way back is not the right way. Its not the way of truth. Its simply the easy way to go. The way forward, continuing to hold onto the sound doctrines the Lord graciously opened up to His people, is the vastly more difficult way to go. When it comes to spiritual things, the easy way (broad) is the wrong way. Its always the hard way (narrow) that is the way of Christ and the way that leads to the kingdom of God and to receiving the promises of God.
Numbers 14:2 And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron: and the whole congregation said unto them, Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt! or would God we had died in this wilderness!
3 And wherefore hath the LORD brought us unto this land, to fall by the sword, that our wives and our children should be a prey? were it not better for us to return into Egypt?
4 And they said one to another, Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt.