Leaving Beyond – Grounded In Scripture

Written by: April J. Buchanan

You say that you test every “prophetic word spoken over your life,” yet you do not test every word you claim God spoke to you for someone else; instead, you place that burden entirely on their shoulders alone. So let us deal only with the words of those who claim to speak on behalf of God and that you claim to have received from those who claim to hear from God. You test it, right? Have any of those words ever been wrong, even if slightly wrong? If so, what steps were taken afterward? Does your church practice discipline in such cases? Do you go to that person and warn them that they have prophesied falsely? Is there any real accountability for those who speak falsely in God’s name?

How exactly do you test their “words from the Lord”? Is your testing subjective or objective? What is the actual standard being used? What is the biblical standard for those who speak in God’s name what He has not said? Do you simply let it pass when God’s name is blasphemed? Do you care more about offending someone you believe to be a brother or sister in Christ, or about the holiness of God’s name? Do you care for the soul of the one who has spoken falsely? Do you call them to true repentance in which they admit they did not hear from God and commit to no longer speaking in His name apart from His Word rightly handled?

Or do you avoid what you consider extreme measures and instead follow a standard shaped more by your own heart than by Scripture? How is that honoring God, and how is that loving the one who has spoken falsely in His name? If you say you love God, why excuse false prophecies, hold no one accountable, and fail to warn the body while false words multiply in God’s name? Have you no fear of God? Do you truly believe His name is holy while remaining comfortable as it is treated lightly among you and Christ’s bride is continually subjected to many who claim to receive new words from Him? Do you excuse it thinking that the good must outweigh the bad? Is that how scripture treats prophecy?

Do you not see that there are real consequences both now and in eternity? Why ignore it, and why be complicit in it? If you love the brethren, why not hold prophecy to the same standard Scripture does, and would that not serve to purify the church? Is the desire for new words so strong that you are willing to tolerate increasing error spoken in God’s name? Why tolerate intentionally vague prophecies that are designed to be untestable in any objective way and left only to the subjective judgment of the hearer?

They may not use the title prophet, but anyone who claims God has given them a word for others is, by Scripture’s definition, functioning as one. Scripture does not assign a category for someone to claim to hear from God and speak in His name and excuse it when they “miss it,” allowing them to “try again.” God does not speak that way. They have so reduced the holiness of God and His power to that of a god that is trying his best and can’t seem to get good connection and that’s why these lying prophets “miss it” sometimes. It’s not their fault. They just had bad connection with God and they’ll work harder to get better connection next time. Scripture knows only of true and false prophets. We are commanded to test them and to hold them accountable for every word spoken in God’s name, so why do you not? Can you name one false prophet today? Jesus said there would be many, and there are many, yet you cannot name one. Why is that? He has not failed to give you what you need to test them. You have been trained to believe it is wrong to call someone a false prophet and to excuse it when someone gets it wrong. Your mind and heart have been taught and led not by scripture but liars and deceivers have conditioned you to tolerate and even defend many blaspheming God’s name with great regularity. Does it concern you that you have put up with such things?

His name is holy and He loves His bride. Do you believe that? Then why not hold accountable every person who dares to speak words in God’s name that He has not spoken? It would silence many voices in today’s churches, and that is what love and obedience to God would look like. Yet many will not do this because they fear testing and they fear the consequences of actually holding people accountable. They prefer that the “prophetic” continue even if it is “messy” and even when people are hurt. When people are hurt, the blame is shifted to the hearer who is told they should have tested it, and the one who spoke falsely is quietly absolved of responsibility. You excuse and defend it, but God will not.

It is not merely messy or missing it. There are many false prophets and many churches lay the foundation for them. Others tolerate them enough although they don’t platform them or give them a microphone. Few are the faithful who hold firm to the sufficiency of scripture and test all things by the Word of God.

Where do you stand?

Written by: April J. Buchanan

Sound doctrine is not merely “right” doctrine or about being intellectually correct. It is healthy, true, powerful, and life-giving, sanctifying all who live by it. The phrase literally means “healthful, wholesome teaching.” Scripture warns that many, far more than a few, will not be able to endure sound doctrine. They literally cannot endure it. They reject it, turn away from it, and accumulate those who tell them what they want to hear.

Today, many in the pulpit cannot endure faithful study of the Word that would show them approved. Many are unable to teach in a way that demonstrates biblical qualification. They appeal to spiritual encounters or personal revelation as how they received their calling so that you cannot question or test it because to do so would be to question God. They were never submitted to the authority of scripture. They lead others by another way, teaching words that are not sound. Rather than faithfully studying the text and giving careful exposition, they search for messages outside Scripture and then attempt to use Scripture to support their conclusions.

In minimizing sound doctrine while chasing experiences and emotional highs, they reveal hearts that despise what the Spirit inspired. They claim encounters with the Spirit that are meant to validate teachings that are not grounded in faithful exposition. In doing so, they reject the very means God has ordained to build, protect, and strengthen His bride, exposing themselves as unfit for ministry and opposed to the true work of the Spirit, while pursuing that which can never truly satisfy.

They will not decrease in number. Why? Scripture is true. It warns the bride that there will be many false teachers, false prophets, false converts, and those who cannot endure sound doctrine. Their words promise life but produce death. Scripture, by contrast, is the words of life.

We do not need merely doctrine. We need sound doctrine and hearts and minds open to and set on the truth. Can you endure sound doctrine, or do you seek something more?

Written by: April J. Buchanan

A heart renewed day by day in hope rests in the sovereign grace of God at work in the believer and by means of His Word, which has a purifying effect on the mind and heart whereby the saint is changed and is being changed, even when the effects are not necessarily felt but believed. This hope sanctifies the believer.

This hope in the resurrected Christ, whose promise to His bride is not mere words or inventions of men but the words of the sovereign God demonstrated in power through the life, death, and resurrection of Christ, is applied to those who are being saved. It is not merely hearing but an effectual hearing. It is not merely believing or giving intellectual assent but a saving faith that results in a living faith.

Many think that if someone repeats the words “Jesus is Lord,” or says they believe, then they are saved. They prove themselves not to understand that when Scripture speaks of one who says Jesus is Lord or claims belief, it also speaks of the many who called Him Lord yet were not known by Him. It speaks of many who claimed to believe, but whose faith, when tested, proved not to be saving faith.

Many call Jesus Lord. Many believe. Yet many of these do not know the true saving power of being brought from death to life through the effectual call, being filled, baptized, and sealed by the Spirit. Many love Jesus. Many follow Him. Many do many works in His name. And many will fall away, proving they were never of Him. But there will also be many who appear to make it to the end who will stand before Him and hear Him say that He never knew them.

The Gospel is not mere words, but the power of God for salvation.

The truth sanctifies the bride. Hope in Christ for who He is, what He has truly said, and what He has done has a sanctifying effect on the believer.

Many seek Christ for their own fulfillment and do not desire the truth that has the purifying effect on the church and the true power of the Spirit at work in the believer. They want something else, something more. The grace gifts of God for the church in their proper order and true purpose throughout the history of the church mean little to them. They desire gifts that are not for them, and they are willing to pervert those gifts, redefine them, and make them their own.

They covet power, fame, wealth, health, success, and all they may get from God. They are willing to claim power and authority that have not been given to them. They do so while claiming to operate in the power of the Holy Spirit. They ascribe some of the most heinous manifestations to the Holy Spirit. They bring reproach upon the name of Christ. They abuse the grace gifts and turn them into marketable means for their own success.

Yet the truth remains. It exposes them and sanctifies every saint who desires truth.

Many desire power, authority, health, wealth, and success. Not all desire truth. Not all desire that the grace gifts of God be defined biblically, given their right place within the history of the church, and that all things be done decently and in order. No. Many despise order, claiming that unless you are willing to make a fool of yourself, you are not worthy of more power, more authority, more blessings.

They despise the truth. They despise order. They despise the gifts being defined and restrained by Scripture. They despise humility under the authority of God’s Word. They despise the true work of the Spirit.

God has given all things for His purpose and for His glory. Order is beautiful. The truth is beautiful. His bride is set apart to be holy and to exercise all things decently and in order, representing Christ.

Nowhere do we read in Scripture of the reprehensible manifestations that are prevalent in many churches today and are said to be of the Holy Spirit.

The truth sanctifies and purifies. Many are entirely dissatisfied with that. They desire a word that promises them power, authority, and all their sinful hearts desire in the name of God. They are deceived at best. They are accountable.

Be content, dear saint, in the Gospel, in Christ, and in God’s unfolding redemptive plan. Be content in your place within that plan, in true unity with fellow saints, in your effectual calling, and in where He has placed you for His purpose. Be content in His true and better promises, in the hope set before us, in the Word of God, and in the true work of the Spirit.

Submit your heart and mind daily to scriptures power and authority and to its sanctifying and purifying effect in your life, even on the days, especially on the days, when you do not feel it. For those are the days it is most precious, because you trust not in a feeling but in the God who has spoken, and you believe Him even when you do not feel the effects of what He is working in you.

Grace and peace.
Soli Deo Gloria

Written by: April J. Buchanan

She, who was made in His image, was born in sin and became worthless. She stood justly condemned. Yet He, who is righteous and holy, takes what is worthless and makes it beautiful.

He removes her heart of stone and gives her a heart of flesh. He puts His Spirit within her and causes her to walk in His statutes. She is clothed in the righteousness of Christ. He justifies her. He sanctifies her. He will glorify her.

He works in her a new heart with new affections and new desires. What she once loved she now hates. What she once hated she now loves. He alone is worthy of all praise.

He gives her grace sufficient for every need. He not only commands her to walk in grace and truth, He enables her to do so. He gives both the desire and the power. And as she walks, she demonstrates that His grace is not empty words but living power at work within her. This work of grace does not make her sinless in this life, but it makes her His and steadily conforms her to His Son.

She is a bride set apart for His glory. Once she was under His just condemnation. He would have been righteous to pour out His wrath upon her. Yet He chose her. He loved her. He called her. He redeemed her. He made her His own.

He clothed her in His own righteousness. He filled her with His Spirit. He empowers her to live and walk according to His grace at work in her.

Her worth is not in who she is. Her worth is in who He is, and in what He has done. She is precious because she has been redeemed and made new.

He alone is worthy of all praise.

The reality of such holiness and worth is not that in which she boasts. She is aware of her failings and shortcomings, and that she is wholly undeserving. That in which she boasts is Him. That for which her heart longs is to please Him. What she loves, she rejoices to do. And as her heart is set upon Him, she desires all the more to live and walk worthy of the calling with which she has been called.

When her heart becomes distracted or divided, she may stumble and she may fall, but He is gracious beyond what she deserves. If she is His, she may fall, but not finally. His grace is sufficient, and her heart is broken when she sees how she has sinned against Him. She looks upon such grace, such mercy, such love, and says, “How can it be that He would set His love upon such as I?”

He gives her grace to live, to walk, and to finish well. He has set His love upon her, not because of who she is, but because of who He is. How can she not love Him?

Her worth is more precious than anything the world would offer. She is worth much because much was paid for her. Christ loves His bride.

There is no greater love. Let her heart abide in that love. As she sets her heart upon Him, she is strengthened to press on in the sufficiency of His grace and power at work in her. She will not do all perfectly, yet her heart must not fail, for His grace enables her to do all as unto Him. Her great temptation is her own heart and mind. Remember Him. Remember the grace by which you have been saved and the love set upon you. Remember your first love.

Written by: April J. Buchanan

The problem with the belief that fallen man possesses free will is that it assumes something inherently good remains in him by which he may reach out to God apart from God’s sovereign work in salvation. It assumes that man is capable of contributing to his salvation by means of something within himself that is willing and able to choose God. If he is willing, he is able to choose. Scripture does not teach this. Man does.

Scripture goes to great lengths to make plain that man’s will is bound in sin and that he is unable to choose God. Romans 3:10-12 declares, “There is none righteous, not even one; There is none who understands, There is none who seeks for God; All have turned aside, together they have become worthless; There is none who does good, There is not even one.” Romans 8:7-8 states that “the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, and those who are in the flesh are not able to please God.” Our Lord Himself says in John 6:44, “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him.” Scripture speaks not merely of unwillingness but of inability.

This does not mean that men are as evil as they possibly could be. That is not the doctrine being taught. The doctrine of common grace explains why mankind is not as wicked as he is capable of being. God restrains evil. His hand holds back what would otherwise erupt in greater corruption. Genesis 20:6 records God restraining Abimelech from sinning. Romans 2:14-15 speaks of the work of the law written on the heart. This restraining grace is not a ground for boasting in man but a reason to glorify God. His restraining hand is why we are not as corrupt outwardly as we might otherwise be.

The reality is that we are capable of far worse than we admit, and God is more gracious than we comprehend. Ephesians 2:1-3 describes us as “dead in your transgressions and sins,” walking according to the course of this world, by nature children of wrath. Dead men do not reach out for life. Dead men must be made alive.

We do not like the truth of our own depravity. We compare ourselves to criminals, to our peers, to generations past. We measure goodness horizontally. Scripture confronts us instead with the righteousness of God as the standard, and that standard is perfection. Matthew 5:48 commands, “Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” In that light, our sin is exposed. Our inability is exposed. Our need is exposed.

Many read Scripture and cannot bear what it reveals about them: wickedness, inability, unwillingness, and utter dependence upon a salvation planned by another, purchased by another, and applied by another. Ephesians 1:4-5 teaches that He chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world. 1 Peter 1:18-19 teaches that we were redeemed with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ. Titus 3:5 declares that He saved us, not by works which we did in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit. From beginning to end, the work belongs to God.

Some say they believe salvation is all of grace. Yet when faced with the doctrines of grace, something unsettles them. It is not that they reject grace in word. It is that they cannot accept that it must be all of grace. They cannot accept that their will was bound in sin, that they were not merely unwilling but unable, that regeneration precedes faith.

Scripture is clear on this order. Ephesians 2:4-5 says, “But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ.” The making alive precedes the walking in newness. Acts 13:48 states, “As many as had been appointed to eternal life believed.” Belief follows appointment. Philippians 1:29 says, “For to you it has been granted for Christ’s sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake.” Faith is granted. Repentance is likewise granted, as seen in Acts 11:18 where God “granted to the Gentiles also the repentance that leads to life.”

Many need faith to precede regeneration because then they were willing and able, and what distinguishes them from others is their decision. But if regeneration precedes faith, then what distinguishes them is mercy. 1 Corinthians 4:7 asks, “For who regards you as superior? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?” If faith itself is received, boasting is silenced.

None are willing. None are able. It is the work of God that gives men new hearts so that they may be willing and able to believe and repent. Ezekiel 36:26-27 promises, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes.” The cause is God. The effect is obedience and faith.

This message exposes pride because it leaves no room for boasting among men. It strips the sinner of every ground of self-congratulation and humbles him before a holy God. It exalts divine mercy and magnifies sovereign grace. As Romans 3:27 asks, “Where then is boasting? It is excluded.” Salvation belongs to the Lord and therefore all glory belongs to Him alone.

From beginning to end, it is all of grace.

Grace and peace.
Soli Deo Gloria

Written by: April J. Buchanan

The problem with hearing words that strike fear into your heart and urge you to flee now to Christ because tomorrow you may die is this: when tomorrow comes and you wake again, you convince yourself you have overcome that fear. You begin to call it irrational. You comfort yourself with the thought of living for today, reasoning that perhaps tomorrow will not come.

It is true that we are not promised tomorrow. But that is not our greatest concern. Our great concern is that God is holy. He is good. He is righteous. And we are not. He is just, and He will judge every man righteously.

C. H. Spurgeon writes,

“The wrath of God does not end with death. This is a truth which the preacher cannot mention without trembling, nor without wondering that he does not tremble more. The eternity of punishment is a thought which crushes the heart. You have buried the man, but you have not buried his sins. His sins live and are immortal. They have gone before him to judgment, or they will follow after him to bear their witness as to the evil of his heart and the rebellion of his life. The Lord God is slow to anger, but when He is once aroused to it, as He will be against those who finally reject his Son, he will put forth all his omnipotence to crush his enemies.

I am certain that to preach the wrath of God with a hard heart, a cold lip, a tearless eye, and an unfeeling spirit is to harden men, not benefit them.

The conscience of man, when he is really quickened and awakened by the Holy Spirit, speaks the truth. It rings the great alarm bell. And if he turns over in his bed, that great alarm bell rings out again and again, ‘The wrath to come! The wrath to come! The wrath to come!…’

There is no trouble like genuine conviction of sin. Racks, scorpions, death—these are troubles to be laughed at, as compared with the weight of guilt pressing on the conscience, the sight of an angry God, and the fear of the wrath to come.”

Death is not our greatest fear. We may live another day. But we will stand before the righteous and just God.

Some pastors strike fear in the hearts of men by speaking much of hell, Satan, and the certainty of death. Then they offer what amounts to a “get out of hell free” message. They know wicked men do not want to go to hell. So they present a Jesus who loves them deeply and simply wants to help them out.

But they fail to deal honestly with who God is. They fail to make clear that hell is what we deserve because God is just, and His wrath is good and holy against sinners such as ourselves. They do not speak plainly of His justice and His mercy, His wrath and His love, His grace toward those who are entirely undeserving.

The message of the Gospel is not merely escaping consequences and clinging to the kindness of a Jesus who wants to rescue us from discomfort and suffering. That is a distorted view of the holiness of God and of the depth of our sin.

Unless men speak honestly about who God is, we will never see rightly who we are. When God’s character is softened, the Gospel is perverted. Men are converted by a message that feels good but does not save.

We need sobering words that speak with authority and strip us of our delusions about God and about ourselves. We need the true Gospel.

If the message we proclaim does not lead men to cry out against their own hearts, and if it never provokes hostility toward the faithful proclamation of truth, we may need to examine what we are proclaiming.

The unregenerate love a Jesus who keeps them out of hell. They hate the Jesus who is Lord, who commands all men everywhere to repent and to trust in Him alone for the salvation of their souls.

Written by: April J. Buchanan

I could breathe.

When, by God’s grace, you finally stop resisting the testing of your beliefs against Scripture, because if you are honest you are afraid they may very well be proven wrong, and you allow Scripture to confirm or destroy what you believe, it will either result in greater assurance and firmer conviction, or it can bring a minor to extremely painful loss. Either way, you will not remain the same.

When I began to see that what I had believed was false, it came through a very dark and difficult season. I reached out to those who were supposed to be super anointed, those who could hear God speak all the time, those who operated on another level and had the secrets to defeating oppressive spiritual attacks. I believed they would know exactly what to do.

Of the few who answered my calls, not one pointed me rightly to Scripture or to Christ. I was told to go into prayer and was given words to speak directly to Satan so that he would flee from me. I was told to “take authority.” I had no idea what that meant or how to do it. Prior to that season, I had been very much like them. It all sounded spiritual and powerful. I believed I was doing mighty things in the spiritual realm through the power of my prayers, my words, and my worship.

I could not see the error in it, and many still cannot.

I was terrified of losing my salvation. I reasoned that if I were experiencing such darkness, it had to mean one of two things. Either the enemy was so threatened by me that he was attacking me intensely and I would come out stronger and more powerful for God, or I had sinned so grievously that God had abandoned me and I had lost my salvation without even realizing it. That fear consumed me. I no longer cared about a next level or spiritual authority. I only wanted to know that I belonged to Christ, and I did not know how to be certain.

I could not read my Bible without fear. When I opened it, the words that once comforted me seemed to condemn me. I repented constantly. If a past sin came to mind, I ran back to prayer and confessed it again. If another thought surfaced later, I repented again. I was desperate to secure what I feared I had lost.

All of this unfolded while I was battling ulcerative colitis and surviving on a disgusting drink that I believe was Ensure. The medication for the colitis often made me feel worse than the illness itself. My body was weak, and my mind felt tormented.

I experienced intrusive and blasphemous thoughts that horrified me. I was convinced they proved I was not saved. I wondered how a true believer could have such thoughts. I despised them and begged God to take them away. I questioned whether He had cast me off and whether I had crossed some invisible line. I searched for a way to rid myself of them, believing that if I could conquer them I might regain peace.

Those same super anointed believers continued to guide me into prayers of decrees, declaration and spiritual combat. They encouraged me to confront Satan directly, to remind him of his place, and to take authority over him. They never led me carefully through Scripture to examine my standing before God. They never led me back to the Gospel. Instead, they put Scripture on my lips as a weapon for mystical battle and told me to fight.

The oppression intensified. The fear deepened. The cycle continued.

In the midst of that turmoil, I began to consider whether what I was experiencing might be depression or anxiety. In desperation, I visited a nurse practitioner who prescribed medication intended to treat both. Taking that step felt like a betrayal of faith. I swallowed one pill, and it sent me to the emergency room. It felt as though electricity were surging through me. I never took another one of those pills.

I wondered whether I had sinned by seeking medical help. I questioned whether my inability to defeat the enemy proved I lacked faith. I could not understand why the methods I had been given were not working. I feared that my failure to prevail exposed the truth that I had never been saved at all.

Now I am convinced that the entire season was grace. I did not see it then, but I see it now. The Lord used that suffering to expose beliefs that were opposed to Him and to test the foundation of my faith. When He led me out of that darkness, it was not because I mastered spiritual warfare or found the right formula. It was by grace alone.

I remember reading Romans 8:1 and feeling as though air filled my lungs for the first time. The words were life to my desperate soul. I did not grasp the fullness of their meaning, but I understood that in Christ there was no condemnation. If everything else were stripped away and all that remained was Christ, then that was enough. In Him there was life.

In the years that followed, I began carefully testing everything I had believed and practiced. Loss came with that process, sometimes painful and disorienting. Yet grace proved sufficient again and again. The Lord sustained me as old frameworks crumbled and Scripture took their place.

Later I watched American Gospel Christ Crucified and American Gospel Christ Alone and heard the Gospel proclaimed with clarity that felt like being born again – again. It was not that I was being saved again, but that I was hearing with new ears the truth that saves. The Gospel is not a message we graduate from. We need it continually.

As I continued to search the Scriptures without forcing my prior assumptions onto the text, I began to see the Doctrines of Grace everywhere. I no longer approached Scripture to confirm what I had already decided. I allowed it to correct me. In doing so, I beheld the beauty and glory of God in salvation in a way I had never known. Scripture became richer and more beautiful because it revealed a sovereign God who saves. And once again it felt like being born again beholding such beauty and glory.

I would never again wish to rob Him of that glory. If salvation is of the Lord from beginning to end, then praise belongs wholly to Him. To see His sovereignty in saving me did not diminish my joy. It magnified it. The more clearly we behold His glory in salvation, the more our hearts rejoice in who He is and the more freely we can breathe.

Written by: April J. Buchanan

A love that grows must have boundaries. Boundaries do not suffocate love. They protect it. They define it. They nourish it and guard it from all that would corrupt, distort, or destroy it. The world labors to erase the very boundaries that protect love while insisting that love cannot thrive unless every boundary is removed.

Yet the world also sets its own boundaries. Its love flows from corrupt hearts, and in order to preserve that corrupt version of love, it must protect it from anything that exposes it. They do not see their hypocrisy. They claim that love must have no limits and that whatever grows should be allowed to flourish. But in order to sustain this claim, they must redefine love itself. What is truly love must be called hate. What is holy must be torn down. Its boundaries must be dismantled, and it must be denied a place to grow and thrive.

The love of God and the love of the world cannot coexist. Only those blind to the holiness of God imagine such coexistence is possible.

Those who know the love of God remain in the world until He calls them home, yet their love cannot perish, cannot die, and cannot be uprooted by wicked men. The love of God is preserved in heaven, in Christ, for all who are His. His bride will suffer. She will endure hardship. Her own heart will at times be tempted. She will fall short in her love, loyalty, and faithfulness. Yet it is He who preserves her. He keeps her. He remains faithful to her. He will not allow that love to be taken from her because He has set His love upon her.

He is working in her an assurance rooted not in her constancy but in His character. He is sanctifying her. He is shaping her heart. He is conforming her to His image so that she grows increasingly beautiful, not by the world’s standards but by His.

The world draws at her heart. It entices her in ways that expose her weakness. Left to herself she would wander. The natural heart never wanted to be chosen. It loved the world. But sovereign grace overcame her rebellion. He made her willing in the day of His power. He opened her eyes. He turned her affections. He caused her to love what she once despised and to despise what she once loved.

And when she stumbles, when her knees are bruised not from prayer but from falling, when her heart is heavy not for others but for her own failure, when she lifts her head and feels ashamed to look toward Him, He reminds her of His grace. He raises her up again. He restores her. He keeps her. That is love. That is grace. That is mercy.

The world knows nothing of saving grace, covenant mercy, or truth as defined by God. It has counterfeits. It has sentiment. It has moral language. It has not redemption. It has not the cross. It has not the holy love of a God who satisfies His own justice in order to save sinners. It is an exceedingly wicked counterfeit.

Let the world have its love and its lovers. It cannot satisfy. It cannot endure. Those in Christ possess that which can never be taken away. It was never merited by His bride. It was never earned. He purchased her. He redeemed her. He set His love upon her. He will not lose her. No man can snatch her from His hand. Her assurance rests not in herself but in who He is. She has come to know a love that was never native to her sinful heart and could never be found in the world.

It is this love that Christ works in the hearts of His own. It is this love that the world hates because of its purity, its strength, its truth, and its boundaries. The love of Christ compels us to proclaim such love even to those who despise it. Many claim to be inclusive while showing themselves enemies of this love. They do not see their own ignorance.

You cannot unite what is holy with what is opposed to it. You cannot merge truth with falsehood and call it peace. A choice must be made. That is the line those who think themselves more loving than God cannot bear to examine. Their conscience tells them they are morally superior. They imagine themselves kinder, broader, and more compassionate than the God who is love.

The love of God does not unite with the corrupt love of wicked men. Christ has a bride. He chose her. He redeemed her. He called her. He sealed her. She loves Him because He first loved her.

The world objects. It asks what if she did not want to be chosen? What if she preferred the world? Yet the natural heart always preferred the world until grace intervened. They claim no one should have to choose, yet they demand that she choose the world. They proclaim tolerance, yet they hate that she belongs to Christ. They accuse God of exclusivity while demanding their own.

Christ is inclusive in His external call. He commands all men everywhere to repent. Yet He is exclusive in His effectual call. Not all will hear. Not all will believe. Not all will come. Those whom He effectually calls will respond in faith and repentance. Those whom He redeems, He keeps.

The world demands that Christians redefine grace, mercy, justice, truth, and love. Gullible souls will comply. Christ’s bride cannot. She belongs to Him. We may share space in society. We may work together, vote together, shop together, and live alongside one another. But we do not share allegiance. Our differences are not superficial. They are fundamental. To set aside those differences is to set aside Christ, His Word, His kingdom, and His promises.

The Christian loves those of the world with the love of God and with the message of Christ, calling them to repent and trust in Him alone. The world demands silence about that message. It demands affirmation of its rebellion. It demands a form of love stripped of truth.

The line is drawn. The world demands inclusivity where Christ demands loyalty. You will choose.

Saint, you are not more loving than God. No matter what those who compromise and profess the name of Christ may say. If others compromise, do not follow their error. Follow Christ. It will cost you. And when you fall short, whether privately or publicly, repent. His grace is sufficient. His love does not fail.

Written by: April J. Buchanan

Every season carries beauty in the ordinary affairs of life. Some of that beauty is nearly impossible to see in the moment and can only be appreciated as time relentlessly marches on. And what once felt so beautiful often cannot compare to what lies ahead. Still, today is what we have. Too often we are so busy preparing for tomorrow that we miss today altogether.

Little hands and little toes grow while we are watching. Tomorrow they will be grown. If the heart does not learn both how to enjoy and how to let go, it will either cling too tightly and stunt growth or, in self protection, let go too soon. Let the heart enjoy. Teach it how to release.

Memories fade into echoes. Dreams become shadows, often sacrificed for something far better, less selfish, more beautiful than the heart could ever imagine. Some dreams are better sacrificed. Yet foolish men chase a dream at the cost of what was more beautiful and more meaningful. In old age, he will die with more regrets than the man who let his dream die for something that stood beside him in his final moments.

The world tells us to sacrifice spouse, family, and relationships for personal happiness. The world is bankrupt of love, morality, meaning, value, and purpose. It is selfish, and everything it touches loses beauty and weight. What is truly beautiful is what God creates anew. Its meaning, value, and purpose are found in Him. He does all things well.

Meaningless is the pursuit of earthly pleasures and riches. No man is ever satisfied. He dies wanting more. One more pleasure. One more taste. His tongue still longs as wrath overtakes him, and terror consumes what pleasure never could fulfill.

No man who dies in Christ has ever died apart from grace that carries him home. He may die with sorrow for words left unsaid, for loved ones still unconverted, for a grandchild never held, for relationships torn apart by sin. But he will never die without grace. Grace saved him, and grace will see him home. He may die in pain or sorrow, but his heart is secure. Grace is sufficient.

Written by: April J. Buchanan

John 10 speaks of Christ’s sheep hearing His voice. That much is abundantly clear. What is not present in the text is the modern idea that believers should be hearing new, personal, private words from Jesus. That meaning is imported into the passage, and when it is, the text is robbed of its beauty, its glory, its assurance, and its clear distinction between those who belong to Christ and those who follow thieves and robbers.

This passage makes unmistakably clear that those who hear Christ are those who are truly His. It is not teaching that Christians should be listening for fresh revelation. Not at all. It is saying something far more beautiful, far more personal, and far more assuring.

Not all hear the effectual call. Not all belong to Him. A clear distinction is being made. Those who hear Christ’s voice are those whom the Father has given Him. They will hear. They will respond in repentance and faith. They will follow Him. And they will never perish. He will lose none of them. No one will snatch them out of His hand.

This text also draws a sharp contrast between Christ the Good Shepherd and the thieves, robbers, and wolves. His sheep hear His voice and follow Him. The thieves lead by another way. And no thief, no robber, no wolf can snatch a single one of Christ’s sheep from His hand.

This passage has nothing to do with what the modern “hearing the voice of God” movement reads into it. That movement turns the thieves and robbers into the devil attacking people’s dreams, riches, or version of the “abundant life.” What they fail to see is that they are the thieves and robbers in the passage. They lead men by another way. They promise what the devil promises. And they rob people of what the abundant life in Christ actually is.

They teach men to look inward, to listen to their own hearts for supposed new revelation, and to believe they should be hearing God speak to them constantly. That idea is not even implied here. It must be forced into the text by isolating the phrase “My sheep hear My voice” from its context. In doing so, gullible souls are robbed of hearing what the passage actually says and means.

Christ is calling all who are His to Himself. They will hear. They will follow. And no thief, no robber, and no man can snatch them from His hand.

How is that not more beautiful than impressions, inner whispers, or mystical words that leave people wondering whether the voice they heard was their own, the devil’s, or God’s?

This passage promises something far better: that those for whom Christ died will hear His voice, will respond in repentance and faith, will follow Him, and will never be lost.

How is that not better?