What the Church Forgot to Remember: The Misplaced Priorities

Copyright © 2012 by Peter Triolo Jr.

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ISBN: 978-1-4759-3699-5 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4759-3701-5 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4759-3700-8 (ebk)

iUniverse rev. date: 09/07/2012

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, taken from the New King James Version __. Copyright___ 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations noted KJV are from the Holy Bible, King James Version.

Scripture quotations noted NIV are from the Holy Bible, New International Version ___ Copyright ___ 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations noted NLT are from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, Copyright ___ 1996, 2004. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. Wheaton Illinois, 60189. All rights reserved.

Contents

Preface

Introduction

One

A Reasonable Reminder

Two

The Essentials Of Faith

Three

There’s The Truth… Then, There’s The Truth

Four

What Have We Done With The Grace Of God?

Five

Bought With A Price

Six

Are You A Christian Or A Christian Believer?

Seven

Jesus Christ Is Lord… Or Not

Eight

We Gotta Serve Somebody

Nine

Four Rs And The Four Ds

Ten

Individual Soul Liberty

Eleven

Have We Become Too Religious?

Twelve

Healing In The Body Of Christ

Thirteen

The I Feel Like God Is Telling Me… Crew

Fourteen

Is It Charismatic Or Charis-Mania

Fifteen

Watch Out For The Baggage

Sixteen

Why Don’t We See Spectacular Miracles?

Seventeen

Counting The Cost

Eighteen

Step By Step

Nineteen

The Most Important Thing

Twenty

It’s Love Unconditional

Twenty-One

Maturing In The Faith

Twenty-Two

The Altar Call

Twenty Three

The Return Of Christ

Conclusion

End Notes

"Salvation is from our side a choice,

from the divine side it is a seizing upon,

an apprehending, a conquest by the

Most High God. Our accepting and

willing are reactions rather than actions.

The right of determination must always

remain with God."

A.W. Tozer

Dedicated to

My wife Rosalma,

A woman as pretty as her name.

PREFACE

This is my first attempt at writing a book, so in order for us to be acquainted I think it necessary for me to share my testimony and a brief history of my life experience. I pray that the Lord will provide a blessing to the reader as well as my point in producing this work. My desire is that this book is the beginning of a series of works that will be useful to Christianity.

The testimony regarding my faith and Born-Again experience transpired in January 1982. In fact, it was precisely on the 7th day of January that I embraced the truth about myself and the Lord Jesus Christ. I remember my sense of helplessness regarding my eternal destiny.

The principals of the company where I worked were Christian. My position was a Project Manager. During a routine quality control inspection, I met Larry a man who was a quality control inspector from a company located in Pennsylvania. We planned to go to lunch. It was during this time that Larry handed me a tract titled Life’s Most Important Question. ¹ The tract asked that if I was to die and God asked me why I should enter His heaven, what would I say.

Of course, I did not have an answer. Coming from a nominal Roman Catholic background, my thoughts raced towards all the good things I had done. However, the bottom line was that I did not have an answer. During that lunch, I know that the Holy Spirit was involved regarding our conversation. When I returned to work, I showed my friend Carl the tract, he responded, Peter, read that with your heart and not your head. At the end of the day, the conviction regarding my sin was overwhelming. I had a miserable night. The next morning when I arrived at work, I went straight to Carl and told him of my confusion and fear. It was January 7, 1982 where at my desk I prayed for forgiveness and asked Jesus to save me. Hallelujah! To make a long story short, I was able to share these truths with my wife Rosalma. Six days later on January 13, as I had left the same tract on a shelf in our dining room, the Spirit of God touched her and she received the Lord Jesus as her Savior. There we were, two Christian Believers from a family of Roman Catholics with a couple of nuns in the mix.

Rosalma’s sister, Althea was in the Novitiate, which was a process of preparation for a life serving as a nun. Their aunt Sister Mary Rosalma was a nun that served as a Missionary in Brazil and was Rosalma’s namesake. Without going into much detail, those were difficult times for the both of us. However, it was not long before our family respected our commitment to the Lord and five years later in 1987, we left to attend Bible College in Florida.

During the early years of my Christian faith, I just gobbled up the Scriptures. Within the first three years, I was teaching College and Career groups at the church. Soon to follow was a deacon’s position and a Sunday school teacher to a young married class. It wasn’t long before some of the elderly pastors encouraged me to go into full time service for the Lord with a focus on the pastorate.

I can state that without a doubt, God calls. I would go through times where I would sense the Lord telling me to leave the job, pack it up and Go. From that first year in 1982 right up to our commitment to full time Christian service, the Lord did not give up His calling and the prompting of my heart.

Understand this, that when the Lord calls a married man into the ministry He also calls his wife. It just took longer for her because of the blessings we had already obtained. Let me explain. In 1983, we bought a house on a dead end street in a pretty quiet town, in New Jersey. As already said, I was working as a Project Manager and assistant to the Vice- president of a material handling company with a decent wage and going up that corporate ladder. Our children Jessica and Pete were in Christian school. Rosalma worked in the school’s kitchen. We were living the dream as the American Christian family. When we finally left New Jersey to serve the Lord, it was on October 30 1987. With truck packed and station wagon loaded, we left at night in the pouring rain. An interesting note I love to share is that when we placed our home on the market in 1987 it was in the middle of a housing glut. We had a neighbor who had the same house as ours, and he could not sell it for 10 months. Our house was on the market in August 1987, and we had a contract the first week of September (within 10 days) and left on October 30. Talk about an open door!

In January of 1988, I attended Spurgeon Baptist Bible College. I love and admire my Baptist brethren; however, I am not a Baptist.

Upon completion of my studies, God called us to DeLand, Florida to pastor our first non-denominational church. Over the last 20 years or so, I’ve had the pleasure of being the pastor of three churches. I never felt that God wanted me to pastor a mega-church. As a result, each of the churches barely reached a hundred in attendance. It has been said, that you can be too big to serve God, but never too small.

I have always had a desire to write. Over the years since the Apostle Paul penned his works, I believe that the values and truths of Christianity have declined and are still declining. My heart has always sought the truth regarding the Word of God. Unfortunately, since the third or fourth century, the philosophy of man interfered with the wisdom of God and as a result, we have theological and doctrinal wars, which exist to this very day. There may be theological differences that can occur in the near future, but for now, the Body of Christ needs to know more about the Scriptures and see what we can put into practice.

Pastor Peter

INTRODUCTION

Somewhere along the path of Christianity, what we have welcomed as the Truth you know, the absolute truth has been compromised. Of course, the truth will always remain on the pages of the Bible, but the importance of the Truth has departed from our society. Just look at the commercials on TV and you will see that lying to one another, (children included) has taken over. How far have we slipped away from the common dignity of being human?

Oh no! Not another Christian book! Yep, it sure is! Why do I think this book is useful? Some may say that something within the scope of Christianity is wrong! Really? On the other hand, maybe something is right! For many years, the church has gone through many differences to defend the promoting of Christianity. There is a plethora of books written on the how’s and why’s of Christianity. The Christian how to do list is long. Is there room for another book? Perhaps, it depends on whether or not this book can capture you to make changes in your life and the lives of those whom you love.

We have gone from orthodoxy to evangelical crusades, from great demonstrations of miracles, to signs and wonders, and to the promoting of prosperity in the Body of Christ. The advanced technology of the 21st century and the development of the Internet have given us many avenues to answer any question the masses may have towards life in general. We are now in the Post-Modern Age. Simply put, it is the time where the ideals of honesty and fundamental truths are replaced by what we think and feel. The Truth we always embraced is now reduced to whether or not it is relevant in our society. The mindset is if it feels right, do it, even if it is wrong! Moral stability is replaced by anything goes.

Everybody needs the Truth. Many of us know the famous line in the movie, A Few Good Men, there is a scene in the court where Lt. Kaffee to Col. Jessup says, I want the truth! and Jessup growls back, You can’t handle the truth!

Can the church handle the truth? Have we lost the teaching of Christ and the apostles? Has faith in God gone by the wayside? Some may say that the truth is lost for the sake of ministry, entertainment, and success. We hear things like, Wow, wasn’t our pastor funny today? And what about that 20 minute sermon, I just love having more time on Sundays to have fun! Let me say that any church that puts the Bible second place to entertainment will destroy biblical literacy and create a mindset for "Easy Believism."

The truth is not lost, just misplaced. I know that there are many good Bible teaching churches all across this nation. They are churches that stand for the truth without compromise. It is unfortunate that these churches remain overshadowed by what is on Contemporary Christian radio and television. There, I’ve said it… But wait!!! . . . This is not a bashing of Christianity. It is more like a reminder of what should be close to our hearts regarding Jesus and His Church. Simply put, misplaced priorities have allowed us to forget what we need. Thank God, we still have a proven book that shares the heart of God. You know, The Bible!

Right now, we have an abundance of translations available for our understanding, which is something that Christianity needed for over the last hundred years. Within those hundred years, the Authorized King James Version was the Bible of choice. The KJV is an accurate translation taken from the Textus Receptus otherwise known as the Received Text. This may not mean anything for most of us; however, I see it as a great point of reference.

I will address this in Chapter 1.

ONE

A REASONABLE REMINDER

Tradition is a good word. Families need to maintain their traditions around the Holidays and times of past significance. Many seek to maintain heirlooms through generations as a reminder of fond memories, just ask my wife Rosalma about heirlooms. (Believe me; the sentiment far exceeds their cash value).

Tradition has meaning. However, there is a weak side to tradition. Uncle Harry always got hammered every Christmas Eve, not to mention the New Year’s party. That’s a not-so-good tradition. I’m sure families have many traditions that are good traditions and not so good. Jesus challenged the Jewish leaders of the day about their traditions. Many ignored the Commandments of God and sought to place heavy burdens on the people, all for the sake of tradition.

In the church, there are certain traditions that are for some and not for others. One held tradition is the 1611 King James Bible. Now listen, I’m OK with those who prefer the KJV, if they can understand it. However, this version is not suitable for all. The King James Version was written in the language of that day (1611), which is very different from our language of today. Therefore, my thinking is, if you need to see what God is telling you, go buy a Bible that you can understand! Of course, I would never deny the KJV for its eloquent and poetic language; nonetheless, we need to be aware of the work regarding the Holy Spirit in our lives and together with understanding, we mature in the word.

How many times have you heard people say, I want to read the Bible, but I just can’t get it; what with the thee’s and the thou’s and the waxed sorely, it’s just too hard! I thank the Lord for modern translations that allow us to understand the Word. Listen, I’ve said this before and it is well worth repeating;