CHAPTER 27; OF THE COMMUNION OF THE SAINTS Paragraph 1. All saints that are united to Jesus Christ, their head, by his Spirit, and faith, although they are not made thereby one person with him, have fellowship in his graces, sufferings, death, resurrection, and glory;1 and, being united to one another in love, they have communion in each others gifts and graces,2 and are obliged to the performance of such duties, public and private, in an orderly way, as do conduce to their mutual good, both in the inward and outward man.3 1 1 John 1:3; John 1:16; Phil. 3:10; Rom. 6:5,6 2 Eph. 4:15,16; 1 Cor. 12:7; 3:21-23 3 1 Thess. 5:11,14; Rom. 1:12; 1 John 3:17,18; Gal. 6:10 Paragraph 2. Saints by profession are bound to maintain a holy fellowship and communion in the worship of God, and in performing such other spiritual services as tend to their mutual edification;4 as also in relieving each other in outward things according to their several abilities, and necessities;5 which communion, according to the rule of the gospel, though especially to be exercised by them, in the relation wherein they stand, whether in families,6 or churches,7 yet, as God offers opportunity, is to be extended to all the household of faith, even all those who in every place call upon the name of the Lord Jesus; nevertheless their communion one with another as saints, does not take away or infringe the title or propriety which each man has in his goods and possessions.8 4 Heb. 10:24,25, 3:12,13 5 Acts 11:29,30 6 Eph. 6:4 7 1 Cor. 12:14-27 8 Acts 5:4; Eph. 4:28
CHAPTER 28; OF BAPTISM AND THE LORDâS SUPPER Paragraph 1. Baptism and the Lord's Supper are ordinances of positive and sovereign institution, appointed by the Lord Jesus, the only lawgiver, to be continued in his church to the end of the world.1 1 Matt. 28:19,20; 1 Cor. 11:26 Paragraph 2. These holy appointments are to be administered by those only who are qualified and thereunto called, according to the commission of Christ.2 2 Matt. 28:19; 1 Cor. 4:1
CHAPTER 29; OF BAPTISM Paragraph 1. Baptism is an ordinance of the New Testament, ordained by Jesus Christ, to be unto the party baptized, a sign of his fellowship with him, in his death and resurrection; of his being engrafted into him;3 of remission of sins;4 and of giving up into God, through Jesus Christ, to live and walk in newness of life.5 3 Rom. 6:3-5; Col. 2:12; Gal. 3:27 4 Mark 1:4; Acts 22:16 5 Rom. 6:4 Paragraph 2. Those who do actually profess repentance towards God, faith in, and obedience to, our Lord Jesus Christ, are the only proper subjects of this ordinance.6 6 Mark 16:16; Acts 8:36,37, 2:41, 8:12, 18:8 Paragraph 3. The outward element to be used in this ordinance is water, wherein the party is to be baptized, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.7 7 Matt. 28:19, 20; Acts 8:38 Paragraph 4. Immersion, or dipping of the person in water, is necessary to the due administration of this ordinance.8 8 Matt. 3:16; John 3:23
CHAPTER 30; OF THE LORDâS SUPPER Paragraph 1. The supper of the Lord Jesus was instituted by him the same night wherein he was betrayed, to be observed in his churches, unto the end of the world, for the perpetual remembrance, and showing to all the world the sacrifice of himself in his death,1 confirmation of the faith of believers in all the benefits thereof, their spiritual nourishment, and growth in him, their further engagement in, and to all duties which they owe to him; and to be a bond and pledge of their communion with him, and with each other.2 1 1 Cor. 11:23-26 2 1 Cor. 10:16,17,21 Paragraph 2. In this ordinance Christ is not offered up to his Father, nor any real sacrifice made at all for remission of sin of the quick or dead, but only a memorial of that one offering up of himself by himself upon the cross, once for all;3 and a spiritual oblation of all possible praise unto God for the same.4 So that the popish sacrifice of the mass, as they call it, is most abominable, injurious to Christ's own sacrifice the alone propitiation for all the sins of the elect. 3 Heb. 9:25,26,28 4 1 Cor. 11:24; Matt. 26:26,27 Paragraph 3. The Lord Jesus hath, in this ordinance, appointed his ministers to pray, and bless the elements of bread and wine, and thereby to set them apart from a common to a holy use, and to take and break the bread; to take the cup, and, they communicating also themselves, to give both to the communicants.5 5 1 Cor. 11:23-26, etc. Paragraph 4. The denial of the cup to the people, worshipping the elements, the lifting them up, or carrying them about for adoration, and reserving them for any pretended religious use, are all contrary to the nature of this ordinance, and to the institution of Christ.6 6 Matt. 26:26-28, 15:9, Exod. 20:4,5 Paragraph 5. The outward elements in this ordinance, duly set apart to the use ordained by Christ, have such relation to him crucified, as that truly, although in terms used figuratively, they are sometimes called by the names of the things they represent, in other words, the body and blood of Christ,7 albeit, in substance and nature, they still remain truly and only bread and wine, as they were before.8 7 1 Cor. 11:27 8 1 Cor. 11:26-28 Paragraph 6. That doctrine which maintains a change of the substance of bread and wine, into the substance of Christ's body and blood, commonly called transubstantiation, by consecration of a priest, or by any other way, is repugnant not to Scripture alone,9 but even to common sense and reason, overthrows the nature of the ordinance, and has been, and is, the cause of manifold superstitions, yea, of gross idolatries.10 9 Acts 3:21; Luke 14:6,39 10 1 Cor. 11:24,25 Paragraph 7. Worthy receivers, outwardly partaking of the visible elements in this ordinance, do then also inwardly by faith, really and indeed, yet not carnally and corporally, but spiritually receive, and feed upon Christ crucified, and all the benefits of his death; the body and blood of Christ being then not corporally or carnally, but spiritually present to the faith of believers in that ordinance, as the elements themselves are to their outward senses.11 11 1 Cor. 10:16, 11:23-26 Paragraph 8. All ignorant and ungodly persons, as they are unfit to enjoy communion with Christ, so are they unworthy of the Lord's table, and cannot, without great sin against him, while they remain such, partake of these holy mysteries, or be admitted thereunto;12 yea, whosoever shall receive unworthily, are guilty of the body and blood of the Lord, eating and drinking judgment to themselves.13 12 2 Cor. 6:14,15 13 1 Cor. 11:29; Matt. 7:6
CHAPTER 31; OF THE STATE OF MAN AFTER DEATH, AND OF THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD Paragraph 1. The bodies of men after death return to dust, and see corruption;1 but their souls, which neither die nor sleep, having an immortal subsistence, immediately return to God who gave them.2 The souls of the righteous being then made perfect in holiness, are received into paradise, where they are with Christ, and behold the face of God in light and glory, waiting for the full redemption of their bodies;3 and the souls of the wicked are cast into hell; where they remain in torment and utter darkness, reserved to the judgment of the great day;4 besides these two places, for souls separated from their bodies, the Scripture acknowledgeth none. 1 Gen. 3:19; Acts 13:36 2 Eccles. 12:7 3 Luke 23:43; 2 Cor. 5:1,6,8; Phil. 1:23; Heb. 12:23 4 Jude 6, 7; 1 Peter 3:19; Luke 16:23,24 Paragraph 2. At the last day, such of the saints as are found alive, shall not sleep, but be changed;5 and all the dead shall be raised up with the selfsame bodies, and none other;6 although with different qualities, which shall be united again to their souls forever.7 5 1 Cor. 15:51,52; 1 Thess. 4:17 6 Job 19:26,27 7 1 Cor. 15:42,43 Paragraph 3. The bodies of the unjust shall, by the power of Christ, be raised to dishonour; the bodies of the just, by his Spirit, unto honour, and be made conformable to his own glorious body.8 8 Acts 24:15; John 5:28,29; Phil. 3:21
CHAPTER 32; OF THE LAST JUDGMENT Paragraph 1. God has appointed a day wherein he will judge the world in righteousness, by Jesus Christ;1 to whom all power and judgment is given of the Father; in which day, not only the apostate angels shall be judged,2 but likewise all persons that have lived upon the earth shall appear before the tribunal of Christ, to give an account of their thoughts, words, and deeds, and to receive according to what they have done in the body, whether good or evil.3 1 Acts 17:31; John 5:22,27 2 1 Cor. 6:3; Jude 6 3 2 Cor. 5:10; Eccles. 12:14; Matt. 12:36; Rom. 14:10,12; Matt. 25:32-46 Paragraph 2. The end of God's appointing this day, is for the manifestation of the glory of his mercy, in the eternal salvation of the elect; and of his justice, in the eternal damnation of the reprobate, who are wicked and disobedient;4 for then shall the righteous go into everlasting life, and receive that fulness of joy and glory with everlasting rewards, in the presence of the Lord; but the wicked, who do not know God, and do not obey the gospel of Jesus Christ, shall be cast aside into everlasting torments,5 and punished with everlasting destruction, from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power.6 4 Rom. 9:22,23 5 Matt. 25:21,34; 2 Tim. 4:8 6 Matt. 25:46; Mark 9:48; 2 Thess. 1:7-10 Paragraph 3. As Christ would have us to be certainly persuaded that there shall be a day of judgment, both to deter all men from sin,7 and for the greater consolation of the godly in their adversity,8 so will he have the day unknown to men, that they may shake off all carnal security, and be always watchful, because they know not at what hour the Lord will come,9 and may ever be prepared to say, Come Lord Jesus; come quickly.10 Amen. 7 2 Cor. 5:10,11 8 2 Thess. 1:5-7 9 Mark 13:35-37; Luke 12:35-40 10 Rev. 22:20
That is an attack?? Get over the siege mentality. James is scripture, it says "confess weaknesses one to another and pray and you will be healed" What part of that do you 1)not do 2)not believe?? Paul did not know Jesus personally like James did, the book of James was not available to Paul/Timothy etc. probably. Maybe they did not know what James knew? Admit it, in your churches you do not have prayer meetings where you let the Holy Spirit uncover the lies you have believed and confess them out loud and pray for deliverance from them. Can we establish that? Nobody in your church does that. Quit dodging the question.
In days ahead, many of us will be experience our own 'last supper'. Sometime, when we are alone, and least expect it, we will be visited and brought to have supper with Jesus. I had lunch with Peter yesterday, but the 'last supper' will be different. It will be real, but in another dimension, while we yet inhabit our bodies. And it will be an exquisite banquet, and we will sit at the Masters right hand. Then, in comes 28 of those we have loved the most in our aeons of earthly sojourns, in the long length of our existence. And we won't talk about it for at least 90 days afterwards. It will be utterly beyond words, and must be relished for some time. Whether this foreshadows some earthly tribulation, I don't know. But after such a meal, let whatever is supposed to happen, happen. It will all be fine.
1. I already answered that Question. Yes we have a very high view of Scripture and we believe that the text teaches us to pray for one another and to confess our sins one to another. Yes we do this weekly in our services. It is not a point in which to argue one dominance or superiority. We are all from the seed on Adam and in need of a savior. You say that we don't have prayer meetings? Have you ever been to one of our services? 2. You have not answered my question to you: ARE YOU BORN AGAIN? Have you ecepted Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior? You seem to take pleasure in exulting yourself and your church as if you have some new doctrine or understanding? Beware: Meaning of the Words Enthusiasm and Mysticism. IN the popular sense of the word, enthusiasm means a high state of mental excitement. In that state all the powers are exalted, the thoughts become more comprehensive and vivid, the feelings more fervid, and the will more determined. It is in these periods of excitement that the greatest works of genius, whether by poets, painters, or warriors, have been accomplished. The ancients referred this exaltation of the inner man to a divine influence. They regarded persons thus excited as possessed, or having a God within them. Hence they were called enthusiasts (e;nqeoj). In theology, therefore, those who ignore or reject the guidance of the Scriptures, and assume to be led by an inward divine influence into the knowledge and obedience of the truth, are properly called Enthusiasts. This term, however, has been in a great measure superseded by the word Mystics. Few words indeed have been used in such a vague, indefinite sense as Mysticism. Its etymology does not determine its meaning. A mu,sthj was one initiated into the knowledge of the Greek mysteries, one to whom secret things had been revealed. Hence in the wide sense of the word, a Mystic is one who claims to see or know what is hidden from other men, whether this knowledge be attained by immediate intuition, or by inward revelation. In most cases these methods were assumed to be identical, as intuition was held to be the immediate vision of God and of divine things. Hence, in the wide sense of the word, Mystics are those who claim to be under the immediate guidance of God or of his Spirit. WHAT ARE SOME OF THE COMMON MARKS OF THE CULTS? One of the most devastating experiences someone could face is to have a loved one involved in a cult. What are some ways we can know that a certain group is in fact a cult? The devil always hides behind a mask; and he seldom carries an ID card. If this statement is true, it is of utmost importance for us to discern a cult when we see one. The first mark of a cult is its manipulation of Scripture. The Bible is twisted to fit the leader or groupâs interpretation. Private interpretations are forbidden because the leader of the cult is the only one, of course, who is able to understand Godâs voice properly. Their teachings distort the historic, orthodox claims of Christianity. Second, many times cults manipulate peopleâs minds. There is little concern for individual thought and development. Education is usually discouraged while the convert is bombarded with the cultâs doctrine and literature. Members are called to leave or neglect their old family and life-style for a brand new one. A third mark is the manipulation of time. Since salvation comes exclusively from the teachings of the group, in many cults members spend much of their time working for their organization. Family, school, leisure, sleep, and even food are most often neglected. Finally, cults typically manipulate reality. They tend to have an exclusive âusâ - âthemâ mentality in which society and old associates are all out to get them. Anyone outside of the group is suspect. If a religious group exhibits one or more of the marks mentioned above, that group may well be considered a cult. Jesus Christ said that in the last days many false prophets would arise and deceive many (Matt. 24:11,24). To avoid the deception of the cults, we should be rooted in the teachings of the historic Christian faith, and receive Jesus Christ, God the Son, second Person of the Trinity, as Lord of our lives.