Smokescreens - by Jack T. Chick (c)1983.pdf - Friends of the ...

the middle of the verse? Is there something wrong with it? Why don't they quote the whole thing? It
says, 'Now I beseech you, mark those which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine
which ye have learned and avoid them." This verse is found at the end of Romans, the great book on
salvation by faith, not works. It's telling us to avoid those who teach anything other than salvation by
faith in Christ alone. It is a warning against cults. A cult is anything that takes away from the sufficiency
of Christ's sacrifice on Calvary.
I'm causing a division all right, but not between brethren. We need to be specific about the different
kinds of division. We must not create division between our brethren in Christ; those who hold to the true
gospel that we are saved by faith, and faith alone. But the Bible says we must separate from those
teaching false doctrine - another gospel. It's a division between the saved and the lost.
Jesus said in Matt. 10:34, "Think not that I am come to send peace on earth, I came not to send
peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father and the daughter against
her mother and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man's foes shall be they of his own
household. He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. He that loveth son or
daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he that taketh not his cross and followeth after me is
not worthy of me. He that findeth his life shall lose it, and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find
it." Jesus is talking here about separation. We must take a stand for the gospel no matter the cost.
I'd like to quote a dear brother in Christ. I think this will help to put things in their proper
perspective. He said, "Because we live at a time when terms like love and unity are so appealing, it is
quite difficult to argue that these words have been taken out of context and do not mean what we think
they mean. Love without truth is whoredom. To compromise is to reject the gospel, and without the
gospel there is no hope. In a choice between unity and truth, unity must yield to truth, for it is far better
to be divided by truth than to be united in error."
In His Word, God says that Truth is all-important, that we should depart from those who hold not the
truth. God said that we should examine everything carefully, and hold fast to that which is good, and
reject that which is evil. Dare we set aside what God says?
Some say we are standing on the brink of the end of the Protestant era, and we will see the birth of
the superchurch. Beloved, that superchurch has always been here. As God's people, we are to oppose her
and tell the Roman Catholics to come out of her in obedience to Christ.
The Bible tells us in Ephesians 5:11: "And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness,
but rather reprove them." Reprove means to express disapproval of, to rebuke, to expose it for what it is.
Christ tells us in the Book of Revelation, chapter 18, verses 6 and 7 concerning the mother of harlots to
"Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works: in the cup
which she hath filled fill to her double. How much she both glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so
much torment and sorrow give her:..."