“Biblical discernment is not merely about identifying what is right or wrong. It ultimately seeks to determine what is governing, so that believers may distinguish between man’s will and God’s will, and walk accordingly as citizens of the Kingdom of God.“
This is the kind of statement you will find throughout Bruce Cooper’s recent work entitled From Discernment to the Kingdom of God. Every Christian should have the goal of having a better walk as a citizen of the Kingdom of God. In this work, Bruce breaks discernment topics down into easy to bite size chunks so whether you are reading it in a couple of days or over a month or so, you’re discernment skills should improve. Many would think 143 pages too long to bother with on such a subject. I’m strongly of the opposite opinion. I think that what Bruce has accomplished in this short work is masterful for many reasons. It is historically accurate, easy to follow, logical and it condenses a great amount of material in a precise and organized way. Best of all, Bruce uses scriptures throughout as his foundation stones. I couldn’t put it down and finished it in two readings.
With all of the issues that we have in our day around the issue of discernment, I think every Christian could benefit greatly from this well organized piece.
As most of you know, I comment on other’s blogs more than I write on my own. I enjoy the interaction and fellowship with my brothers and sisters in Christ. And I will always enjoy learning. For anyone wondering why I have been silent the past couple of weeks, I ended up in the hospital due to a blockage that caused a backup of fluids into my kidneys. My kidney function was negatively affected but I am healing now after the great work of my urology team, my primary doctor and, of course, the incredible way God created our bodies to heal. I am home but the recuperation will take awhile because of the damage done by pressures put on organs that weren’t able to function normally for awhile. I will resume commenting on other blogs when I am feeling better.
This was the perfect time for me to read this PDF by Bruce that I have been looking forward to reviewing. I have not read even half of the free PDFs that Bruce has produced but the ones I have read have been very helpful. Bruce allows you to download anything that he has written (obviously many many hours of work) at no cost. As a former teacher, I find much of Bruce’s work just like instructive handbooks. They are organized, practical, concise, and the ones I have read are easy reading and well worth the time. Most importantly, as I have stated, Bruce is consistent in using scripture as the foundation for his work.
At a time when Christians need to be just as discerning as they were back in the first century, I highly recommend that any Christian reading this post find the time to download and read Bruce Cooper’s From Discernment to the Kingdom of God.
God’s blessings…
Chris Reimers
Direct link to the download page of “From Discernment to the Kingdom of God.”
Many thanks for sharing this, Chris. Biblical discernment is what is greatly needed in these days.
You’re welcome, Elizabeth. It is, indeed, greatly needed in these days. It was a very good time for Bruce to publish this. I’m hoping it will help others as it has me.
God’s blessings…
Thank you so much for your kind and encouraging recommendation of this particular PDF, and others that I have written. Sorry to hear of your bout with kidney plumbing, but so glad to hear that you are on the mend! And I am especially thankful for your continued prayers for my wife Peg and myself. Who knew that at 81 years of age, just putting my pants on could be this difficult! Exercising discernment is indeed a critical part of maintaining a balanced understanding of God’s Holy Word, and there is a dire need for it today. God’s peace, grace and blessings to you and yours, and I will be praying for a quick recovery for you, my brother in Christ. – Bruce
You’re welcome, Bruce, and thank you for your kind words as well. I hope this PDF gets a wide readership as this topic is so important in our times. I am happy to keep you and Peggy in my daily prayers. I think I’ve mentioned before that I’ve been through
something similar with both of my parents.
I appreciate your comment about my plumbing issues.
About difficulty getting your pants on, I’m a bit younger than you but it takes me at least 20 – 30 minutes for me to get my pants on because of the current plumbing “arrangement” made for me by my good doctors. On Friday, that may change as I go to see the urologist that day. Depending on what they find it may become quicker to get the pants on or I could go for another couple of weeks with the “arrangement” I have now. Either way, I am thankful that the pain is mostly gone. I only really had one very rough night.
As you stated, discernment is a critical part of a Christian’s life. I like that you used the word “balance” quite a bit in your piece. That is something that I strive for in my Christian walk in several areas along with discernment. God has been merciful and patient with me.
Thank you for your kind closing and for your prayers. May God give you strength in the coming days along with His peace and grace.
God’s blessings to you, Peggy, your children, and grandchildren.
Your brother in Christ,
Chris
Hi Chris! I’m sorry for your kidney trouble. It’s good to hear you’re on the mend and I pray for your full recovery. Thanks for your recommendation of brother Bruce’s PDF on discernment.
Hi Tom! Man, do I feel better than I did a couple of days ago. It’s just another example of how quickly things can escalate. I had a regular checkup at the urology clinic on Monday and everything checked out fine. By Wednesday evening, I was in the E.R. Thankfully, because of all of my daughter’s kidney issues, when my wife and daughter saw my creatinine numbers they, along with my doctor’s assistant and the nurse practitioner where I have my urology appointments all told me to go to the emergency room. They got no argument from me.
Thank you for your prayers.
You’re welcome for this recommendation. I think it is excellent for any Christian including those like you who have had more than a few years on the path of life. I learned quite a lot. I knew much of the history Bruce shared but there were things I had never heard.
I know you aren’t intimidated in the least by 143 pages. For anyone reading this comment, the way Bruce formats the information in this PDF really makes it much closer to 100 pages. There are a few pages that are almost blank because of a natural stop and Bruce uses a great deal of bullet points in much of his effort. I will say there is a lot in that 100 pages but Bruce continually reminds you of points he has made earlier in the document so you don’t really need to try and remember anything.
Thank you for your comment, Tom.
God’s blessings…
Thank you for letting us know about this, Chris. Certainly a needed topic in our day when discernment seems to be lacking. We could all benefit from keener discernment. We will be praying for your full recovery. Sorry you had to go through this. Blessings to you and yours.
You’re welcome, Cathy. I could not agree with you more about the need for a Biblically solid study on discernment. Bruce’s effort here could be used in a variety of ways. Individuals will certainly benefit from it like I did. I could also see it used in a Bible Study setting at church or anywhere for that matter. We certainly all could benefit from keener discernment.
I very much appreciate you and your husband’s prayers. Like my Dad used to say, “this is a bump in the road.” I am blessed to have a wife and family who are always concerned for my welfare. This has made me appreciate even more the years of kidney issues my daughter has gone through. Her transplanted kidney is doing very well after 16 years but she has other issues on top of that. Her faith sustains her.
Thank you for your kind words, Cathy. May God Bless you and yours as well.
I am going to give you a Pentecostal prayer for healing of your body by first reminding you that by His stripes we were healed:
1 Peter 2:24 NKJV – 24 who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness–by whose stripes you were healed.
I command your body to recover in the name of Jesus.
The main problem with Pentecostalism is the femininization of the church. The main problem for non-feminized, non-Pentecostals is to figure out what it means to be “born again” or to be “sons of God”. It is not just going to church on Sunday. It is actually bearing fruit.
For me, the Bible is an historical record of salvation events that actually occurred. If we get the right biblical manuscripts we can find out how far back was creation. I take that as about 5554 BC given Henry B. Smith, Jr’s paper presented to the 2018 International Conference of Creationism.
You might wonder why all that matters. Today, the most faith-building shock is that the Earth/Universe is only thousands of years old. It is like the shock of the Jews in Jerusalem after Pentecost who suddenly realized they crucified their Messiah. Now what do they do? They repent and be baptized. They become born again. They bear fruit. They sin no more. They become the temple of the Holy Spirit not just doctrinally, but really. They all proclaim this good news to others.
So, I agree with Bruce that it is not falling down under someone’s anointing or giggling or speaking in tongues or even seeing someone get healed. All of that leads to too much carnal manipulation of people trying to understand just what they should do once they accept Jesus as their Lord Whom God raised from the dead.
Hi Frank.
I appreciate that you commented. Even though I agree with some of your comments, I must take issue with some as well.
There is no prayer in your first three paragraphs. There is a Bible verse and a command. Because of what follows those paragraphs, it seems obvious that your command is sarcastic.
When dealing with a subject as serious as this, one where abuses have led so many to go astray, I don’t think sarcasm is a good thing to use for discussion. In fact, speaking to someone in a sarcastic tone might cause them to go in the exact opposite direction of the one for which we are hoping.
I think a better way of dealing with people using 1 Peter 2:24 is to look at the accurate meaning of the verse.
Even my computer AI gets it right when it says of this verse:
“…the phrase ‘by His stripes we are healed’ (from Isaiah 53:5 and 1 Peter 2:24) primarily refers to spiritual healing and forgiveness of sin, rather than physical healing from disease. The ‘stripes’ or ‘wounds’ point to the physical beatings and crucifixion Jesus suffered, and the healing signifies reconciliation with God.”
I know you probably believe this, Frank, but we need clarity when discussing this subject as Bruce consistently reminds us in his PDF.
I understand why you might think of Pentecostals when discussing this topic, but we have to remember that any denomination can fall victim to false healings, false prophecy, and the like.
You wrote: “The main problem with Pentecostalism is the femininization of the church.” I don’t understand enough about Pentecostalism to know what this means. If you’d like to explain it to me more fully, please make a comment below.
In the next two paragraphs you take on a subject that is never discussed in Bruce’s work. Bruce discusses historic incidences where “signs and wonders” were claimed by people. He also uses historic Bible personalities as examples to make certain points. Nowhere does he deal with the age of the Earth, so I won’t go any further on that except to say that even though I am not familiar with Henry B. Smith, Jr. I do take a Young Earth Creationist view on the subject.
You agree with Bruce that:
…”it is not falling down under someone’s anointing or giggling or speaking in tongues or even seeing someone get healed.” This is not a quote from Bruce’s PDF unless I am mistaken.
Because Bruce’s PDF is very Biblical, he mentions things like these in a balanced way. But, what is consistent throughout his study is one question that continually surfaces:
“What governs?”
What Bruce makes very clear is that a serious statement like:
“I command your body to recover in the name of Jesus”
should be accompanied by an equal amount of seriousness in testing, examining, discerning, comparing, and evaluation.
To get the full picture, you really need to read Bruce’s entire PDF.
There is no question there are instances where “carnal manipulation” becomes an issue. It happens when the amount of discernment doesn’t match the level of seriousness of something claimed.
I agree, Frank, that all Christians should begin to try and understand the main things they should be doing to grow in faith. Bruce continually returns to the scriptures in this PDF to test the spirits among other things. Our understanding of God’s Word is very important for our growth as Christians. Without it, we will wither away and fall for all manner of deception.
Thanks again for your comment.
God’s blessings…
Amen Chris. Biblical discernment is so important, especially in the days we are living in. I’m glad to hear you’re home and recovering.
I’m so glad you also think this is an important topic, Willie. As you stated, Biblical discernment is very important during our times.
Thank you for your kind wishes regarding my health.
May God bless you and keep you and yours always…
Amen. 🙏
I’m glad you’re at home recovering.
Rest up, Chris.
I appreciate your kind words, T. Thank you. I’ll rest up and before long I’ll be commenting on your blog again, good Lord willing! 😊
My pleasure. Sounds great. 🙂
I had wondered about my blogging friend’s absence. Very glad they found what was wrong and the you are on the mend. Thanks for the recommendation for the pdf by Bruce. Discernment is seriously lacking anymore. Blessings. Jim and I will add you to our prayers.
Hi Sue. I’ve been so active with commenting the past few months I knew there would be one or two wondering if I had fallen off of the planet. I think I may actually slow down a bit on my commenting as it has been very nice to be away from blogging for a bit. Still, I will be active again soon.
Thank you for your kind words about my condition and you are welcome for the recommendation of Bruce’s excellent PDF. Discernment, as you have stated, is seriously lacking. We need help from our brothers and sisters to see things as they truly are.
I appreciate your prayers and please thank Jim for me as well.
God’s blessings my friend…
oh no! I was wondering where you had gone – so glad that you are on the mend – sending blessings to you and your kidneys! Thanks for the link to Bruce’s text. Take care of yourself! Linda
You’re welcome for the link to Bruce’s text, Linda, and thank you so much for your kind words. I am doing okay and will be seeing my urologist on Monday. They’ll be deciding what to do then. My kidneys are still healing so I’m glad I’m going in on Monday. I was only in the hospital for about one full day, so it wasn’t that bad.
Thank you again, Linda, for your kind words and your comment. Please take care of yourself as well! Chris
One day in hospital is still a day in hospital… I’m glad it was ok. Good luck for the next round of consultations xx
Very true, Linda. It was a full day in the hospital but it was okay.
Thank you for your kind words.
God’s blessings…