Dear Reader:
I am just a lay person at a large, healthy (rare) SBC church in North Carolina under the leadership of a great pastor. I am not a theologian, or seminarian, but I do study the Bible a lot, and study current events as they relate to the Bible and Christianity. I like to write about the things that I study, and I like to help make people aware of things that I see going on in the Church today. Although my writings aren’t perfect, I seek to honor and glorify God always.
I affirm the Trinity, and I affirm Jesus Christ exclusively as the only means of salvation from our sin. Although I lean “Reformed” in my understanding of the Gospel, I am not a staunch Calvinist by any means. I generally subscribe to the doctrine of Concurrence. Neither am I a staunch Dispensationalist, though I lean slightly toward the belief in a pre-wrath, if not a pre-trib rapture. I could certainly be wrong. But what I am is a Bible believer, and stand on the Word of God alone as my final authority, and do not believe that God speaks specifically to us in any way outside of the canon of Scripture, and his created universe as a means of General Revelation only. God does not come to us in dreams or visions today.
I chose Psalm 12 Outreach as the title of my blog, because I believe it is similar to what is happening in the Church today. I believe many faithful pastors, preachers and teachers have disappeared from the Church, and have been replaced by wolves in sheep’s clothing. But I also believe that when Jesus Christ returns, he will prevail over the attacks of Satan on our churches, and he will be glorified. Psalm 12 says:
1 Save, O Lord, for the godly one is gone;
for the faithful have vanished from among the children of man.
2 Everyone utters lies to his neighbor;
with flattering lips and a double heart they speak.
3 May the Lord cut off all flattering lips,
the tongue that makes great boasts,
4 those who say, “With our tongue we will prevail,
our lips are with us; who is master over us?”
5 “Because the poor are plundered, because the needy groan,
I will now arise,” says the Lord;
“I will place him in the safety for which he longs.”
6 The words of the Lord are pure words,
like silver refined in a furnace on the ground,
purified seven times.
7 You, O Lord, will keep them;
you will guard us from this generation forever.
8 On every side the wicked prowl,
as vileness is exalted among the children of man.
But I seek to take the good news of Jesus Christ to those who will still hear his word, and teach Christians to be discerning in these days of Apostasy. I pray you will gain something from reading my blog, and I humbly ask that you share it with other if you find it edifying.
God Bless,
Jeff Maples