Principles in pictures

I like pictures. Regular pictures to illustrate a point, or word-pictures to show my thinking. A picture is worth a thousand words, they say. Here are some pictures that illustrate what I have been thinking about lately. Maybe they will click with you, maybe not...

Christians saved by the blood of Christ and faith in His work upon the cross are released from bondage. Galatians 4 is a great essay on the liberation from the bondage of the Law and to sin, which the people were in early on, to the release from that bondage by Christ on the cross. Matthew Henry's commentary explains,

"He [Paul] acquaints us with the state of the Old-Testament church: it was like a child under age, and it was used accordingly, being kept in a state of darkness and bondage, in comparison of the greater light and liberty which we enjoy under the gospel. That was indeed a dispensation of grace, and yet it was comparatively a dispensation of darkness; for as the heir, in his minority, is under tutors and governors till the time appointed of his father, by whom he is educated and instructed in those things which at present he knows little of the meaning of, though afterwards they are likely to be of great use to him; so it was with the Old-Testament church-the Mosaic economy, which they were under, was what they could not fully understand the meaning of; for, as the apostle says (2 Co. 3:13), They could not stedfastly look to the end of that which is abolished."

"But to the church, when grown up to maturity, in gospel days, it becomes of great use. And as that was a dispensation of darkness, so of bondage too; for they were in bondage under the elements of the world, being tied to a great number of burdensome rites and observances, by which, as by a kind of first rudiments, they were taught and instructed, and whereby they were kept in a state of subjection, like a child under tutors and governors. The church then lay more under the character of a servant, being obliged to do every thing according to the command of God, without being fully acquainted with the reason of it; but the service under the gospel appears to be more reasonable than that was. The time appointed of the Father having come, when the church was to arrive at its full age, the darkness and bondage under which it before lay are removed, and we are under a dispensation of greater light and liberty."

In other words, we are not in a pit. We are not in bondage. Sin is bondage. If we are born again and have the Spirit in us we have been released from the pit. But Beth Moore always talks about being in the pit. Being in bondage. And of using man-made methods to get out. Listening to her depresses me. There are so many pits and strongholds and bondages in Moore's mind the only solace is thinking that well, at least everyone else is in bondage too. Hey, misery loves company! In Beth Moore's world, we live not as co-heirs to Christ, as salt and light for His glory, we live in Prairie Dog Town. We're ALL in a pit!

I got out of my pit when I trusted the power of a risen Christ to release me from the power of sin.

On to termites. Have you ever seen those really big termite mounds in Africa or Australia? The termites, left untouched, make an underground city as large as London, relative to their size. Now, false teaching can be like a termite mound. The Way to heaven is narrow and the gate to get in is small, Jesus said. (Matthew 7:14) It is Jesus only. But false teaching will try to put you off the path.

If the false teaching of the termites is left alone, it grows to monstrous proportions. You try to enlarge the way around it to move forward, which puts you off the narrow path. The best thing to do is crush the termites when they are small and dig out the mound from the path so all who follow behind you can continue unimpeded.
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