Does the ministry of which you are a part have cultic characteristics? What exactly is spiritual abuse? Spiritual abuse is present when there is the misuse of power, position and influence for the personal gain of the leader or leaders of an organization or movement. Of course, no cult or false religion would ever admit to abusing anyone; nor would any non-cultic church, group, or movement. But when it is being practiced, denying its presence doesn't make it go away. Unfortunately, it seems, spiritual abuse is on the rise in this country.

Does the thought that your prayers to God may not change a thing concern you at all? Are you disturbed by the possibility that God has arranged things so that it only appears as if prayer matters in the outcome of things, but that it really doesn't?

This passage is often quoted by some who teach what is commonly called baptismal regeneration. Usually the teaching goes like this: to be saved you must repent (turn from your sins) and be baptized in water. When you meet these conditions (and usually a few others as well) you will receive "remission of sins."

On the surface this may seem to be a reasonable interpretation — until you begin doing some biblically guided thinking.

Do we who believe in Christ have any rights at all? Yes, indeed we do, but those "rights" may not be what we normally would want to embrace. The biblical rights of true believers in Christ can be categorized as both spiritual and physical and, depending on how you view them, may be seen as either positive or negative.

We should not think it strange that those who boldly proclaim salvation "by grace through faith plus nothing" — are under attack. One of the most diabolical forms of the attack is to say that we are preaching cheap grace and easy believism, implying that we who proclaim such a free, fully-paid-for salvation teach contrary to the great spiritual giants of church history. Even if such criticisms were true, we should never take our beliefs or practices from other men. There is only one authority and that is the Bible! However, such accusations are decidedly not true, as the following samplings from "great spiritual giants of church history" should demonstrate.

Ever since the First Church Council was held in Jerusalem (Acts 15) there has been an ongoing, constant turmoil brewing among Bible believing people concerning what is required for a person to be saved.

The Lord Jesus Christ is One of a kind; there is not, nor has there ever been, anyone like Him. He is not to be compared to any religious leader, for He is far more than that. He was a teacher par excellence, but He was far more than that. He was a miracle worker unlike any this world has ever seen, but He was far more than a worker of miracles. His uniqueness in all areas points to one undeniable fact: He is God Himself who took on flesh and lived among us!

If we who know Christ personally could somehow become fully convinced that "the things which are seen are temporary", we would be the most positively motivated people on planet earth — as, indeed, we should be. Nothing would stop us from being and doing what we should be and do. We would sacrifice anything and everything to carry out God's will as revealed in His Word.

There's no sense in denying that atrocities against the Lord are happening, because they are. We may somewhat understand why such things would occur in the lives of the unsaved, religious person who is a stranger to the new birth and devoid of God's Spirit, but what of the genuine child of God? How is it possible that a man or woman who truly belongs to the Lord would be led into a life that would be an utter disgrace to their Savior?

If we must have faith to please the Lord, it is imperative that we know what faith is and how to appropriate it to our personal lives, our families, our ministries, our businesses, our needs, our wishes, our dreams, and to all of life.

In discussing key issues facing Bible believing churches today, I mentioned in the last Clarity Trumpet that the five issues I was going to discuss were crucial, and I defined crucial as those "areas in which churches are struggling and over which they are sometimes battling." Crucial in this context does not necessarily mean the most important but rather areas in which the battles seem to be raging at the present, or areas in which pastors and church leaders across the country are having the most questions, or over which they are experiencing the most difficulties. Keep this in mind as I conclude with the final two areas of concern.

I was recently asked to share with the pastoral/ministry staff of a large church what I see as key issues facing Bible believing churches today. There are basically five areas I have regularly observed as being crucial. By crucial I mean areas in which churches are struggling and over which they are sometimes battling. I will address three in this issue and cover the other two in the next Trumpet.

Often we consider the subject of the security of the believer in Jesus Christ from a purely proof-text approach. The one who thinks a believer in Christ may lose his salvation will turn to his verses to substantiate the point that salvation may somehow be forfeited later on. Then, the person who is convinced that there is no way a true believer in Jesus Christ can ever again be lost will bring out his verses to nail down his case. Back and forth they go, often doing no more than reconfirming their own position to themselves. Sometimes the very fact that there are many Bible verses in support of a particular truth is sufficient to convince any open-minded person of its correctness. I believe this is the case in the matter of our salvation being by faith alone in Christ alone. The biblical evidence is so staggering. The same is true, in my opinion, concerning the security of the believer in Christ.