I'm not very active here I don't know what various believers here believe. I don't mind differences in the jots and tittles, such as dunking versus sprinkling, the various eschatologies for the most part, who reads which Bible for the most part, and I don't divide with believers about some of the heavier things such as the preservation of the saints. But what does bug me is when rightness-with-God through works creeps in to teachings. So I really hope I don't offend any reader's sensibilities, and I will refuse to joust with anyone over this, but I must ask about Joyce Meyer. It turns out that influential people in my church follow her. To me the wellspring of her preaching flows from her belief that God blessed Abraham because of Abraham's obedience, and spins it out to mean that for every believer who is in want, it is essentially a matter of lack of obedience and we better get our acts straight before God can bless us. Please let me state the way I see this: before Abraham obeyed, God told him to leave his people and his land and go to a strange Land where God will bless him and multiply him into many nations. Then, when Abraham's hand was raised and about to come down, God restrained him, provided a sacrifice, and continued to keep his promises to Abraham. Whenever I think deeply enough about that I just melt because it's a story about me and how God unilaterally moved me out of the world into a new place of various kinds of richness and peace and a certain knowledge that God will never leave me nor forsake me not even through the death of my body, which by the way is dying and in pain, and I see no conditions placed on that promise. I'm still on the precipice when it comes to the question of whether, when God called me, (and he did, one day 35 yrs ago while I was in a 2 1/2 hour commute, through radio ministries), whether I obeyed His call by my own human will or I was drawn by God's irresistible grace. It sure seems like I responded immediately to His grace snd the presence of His Person.
Actually I tend to think it may be an improper question and only God really knows what happens right there. So to finish, maybe some people can please advise me on what to do about this discovery of possible works related righteousness in dome of the main thinkers in my church? I do know that kind words are better than wrath, and that no one is unwillingly taught. At least I've learned that by now. TY.