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Thoughts for Today: Page 3

Thought for Today

2003. 02-21

Fundamentals of the New Testament, No. 5

The Disciples' Spiritual Condition Before Pentecost

There are some facts that are so basic to one's understanding of the New Testament books that without being aware of them, one cannot possibly understand what the apostles wrote. Beginning today, I will present to you the essentials with which every student of the New Testament ought to begin his study. Before opening for the first time any of the books written by the apostles, one ought to already know these things. Fathers, teach these truths to your children. Pastors ought to teach these fundamentals to the saints. These are foundations upon which all right knowledge of the truth of Christ is laid.

Fundamental #5

The spiritual condition of the disciples before Pentecost.

One foundational truth that I have already laid is that Jesus lived, ministered, and died under the Law. Then, we should expect that the disciples who followed him were also under the Law. They exhibited the qualities of righteousness that were characteristic of all righteous men throughout Israel's history. They studiously observed the Law's commandments, as Jesus did, such as never eating certain types of meat (Acts 10:10-14).

The qualities of righteousness that the holy Ghost brings they did not yet have, however. The holy Ghost was not yet given because the awful price for it had not yet been paid. So, while Jesus walked with them, the disciples were righteous by the Law's standards, but they were not righteous by the standards of the New Covenant that Jesus' sacrifice would initiate.

Here are Scriptures that show very clearly and simply what the spiritual condition of the disciples was, after they followed Jesus but before they were born again on the day of Pentecost:

A. They were clean (Jn. 13:10-11;15:3), but they were not sanctified (Jn. 17:17,19).

B. They believed in God (Jn. 2:11; 17:8), but they were not "believers" in a New Covenant sense (Jn. 14:12,29; 16:29-33; 11:11-15, and Mk. 16:17-18).

C. They loved Jesus (Jn. 16:27), but the love of God was not in them (Jn. 17:26; Rom. 5:5).

D. They belonged to God (Jn. 17:6), but they did not have the Spirit within them (Jn. 14:15-17. Notice, please, the New Testament standard in Rom.8:9!).

E. They believed God had sent Jesus (Jn. 17:8,25), but they did not really know Jesus (Jn. 14:7-9).

F. They were not of the world (Jn. 15:18-20; 17:14), but they were not in Christ (Jn. 17:21-23, 26).

G. They were chosen and ordained (Jn. 15:16), but they could neither bear to hear all the truth (Jn. 16:12) nor ask the Father anything in Jesus' name (Jn. 16:23-26).

In short, the disciples were like unborn babies in the womb of the body of Christ (Jn. 16:20-22). They belonged to God (under the Old Testament Law), but they didn't belong to God (in a New Testament sense). They were clean (under the Law), but they were not clean (NT). They believed (OT), but they did not believe (NT). They loved God, but they didn't.

One should know this about Jesus' disciples before reading the gospels or the book of Acts. So much of what is in those books, and so much of what Jesus said to his disciples about themselves, cannot be comprehended if one thinks they were already born again.

This is the fifth and last stone that I have used to lay out for you for a sure foundation, upon which you may safely build your faith as you grow in the light of God. Upon this foundation you can build an understanding of your heavenly Father and His Son that you will never have to abandon, either in this world or in the world to come.

Thought for Today

2003. 02-20

Fundamentals of the New Testament, No. 4

John's Baptism

Fundamental #4

John's Baptism

Early in each one of the four gospels we are told of John the Baptizer, a man so great in the sight of God that even his coming was foretold by other, more ancient prophets (Isa. 40:1-8; Mal. 3:1). Jesus called John "much more than a prophet" (Lk. 7:26), and told the multitude, "Among those that are born of women, there is not a greater than John the Baptizer" (Lk. 7:28).

John was the first man ordained by God to wash others with water since Moses, who lived about thirteen hundred years earlier. This is one reason that so many in John's day "mused in their hearts of John, he were the Christ or not." He certainly was a prophet somewhat "like unto Moses", whom the ancient prophets foretold would come to Israel.

"And they asked him, ‘Why baptizest thou then, if thou be not that Christ . . . .?'"

"And he confessed, and denied not, but confessed ‘I am not the Christ.'"

Not surprisingly, John and his holy work were misunderstood in his own time, even though John did his part to make himself and his work clear to Israel. The real tragedy is that John and his work are still a mystery, not only to Israel but also to the body of Christ. The absence of this foundation in the hearts of God's people today has resulted in a world of conflict and confusion for the children of God. Being ignorant of the truth, they are so often like "sitting ducks" for those ministers of Satan who hunt the souls of men.

We cannot understand Jesus before we understand John. That is why God sent John before Jesus: "to prepare the way of the Lord." Understanding Jesus, of course, is far more important than understanding John; but that is not the issue. The building is always of more importance than the foundation. The point is that we must have the foundation of John and his baptism properly laid in our hearts before we can fully appreciate the greater one, Jesus, and his greater baptism.

From John's own words, then, and from Biblical record of the things John did, here are a few elemental truths about John and what God sent him to do:

A. Like Jesus, John was sent only to the house of Israel (Jn. 1:29-31). No Samaritans or Gentiles ever came to John to be baptized, and if they had come, they would have been rejected. John was not sent to them.

B. John's baptism was for some Jews, not for all of them. His baptism was given only to those Jews who truly repented when they heard him preach (Mt.3:5-9). There were many Jews who came to John to be baptized and were sternly rejected because they had not repented. John was so close to God that he knew who was prepared for his "baptism of repentance" and who was not. No one fooled John because no one could fool God.

C. John's baptism was from heaven (Lk.7: 24-30; 20:1-8). John did not invent his baptism. He was sent by God to do exactly what he did and to say exactly what he said when he did it.

D. John's baptism always was accompanied by a specifically worded message (Acts 19:1-5). If John's exact message did not attend his water baptism, it was not John's baptism, as Paul taught those twelve Ephesian disciples whom he met. They thought they had received John's baptism, but they had not heard about the holy Ghost baptism. Learning this, Paul explained to them that they had not really received John's baptism because "John came saying". And since, being Jews, they were required by God to receive to John's baptism (even though John himself was dead by then), Paul re-baptized them with John's real baptism for the Jews, this time using John's words. Then, those twelve humble men received the holy Ghost baptism from Jesus and spoke with other tongues, just as John had said they should.

E. Mere water baptism is not John's baptism. The various forms of water baptism that Christians practice and teach are strange baptisms invented by Christians without any ordination of God whatsoever. There are only two baptisms that God has ever ordained, John's and Jesus', and only one of them was intended to be permanent. The time for John's baptism is long passed, and every other form of water baptism has been worthless to start with. For this reason, Paul proclaimed that there is but one baptism that matters at all to God (Eph. 4:5).

F. John's baptism was a prophetic symbol of Jesus' baptism, the baptism of the holy Spirit and fire (Mt. 3:11; etc.). When Jesus rose from the dead and ascended to the Father, he brought about the baptism of men's spirits, and the need for John's baptism began to fade away. As John himself confessed, "He must increase, and I must decrease."

G. The holy Ghost baptism is greater (Mt. 3:13-15) and was destined to completely replace John's baptism (Jn. 3:28-30; Eph. 4:5; 1Cor. 1:10-17). John's baptism was but one of the many ceremonial symbols that God gave to Israel to point them to their Messiah. When the Messiah came and accomplished his work in Israel, there was no more need for John's baptism than there was for animal sacrifices or holy days. These things were the "shadow" of Christ, and the shadows all faded away as the light came to us.

H. John's baptism prepared Jews to receive the holy Ghost baptism.

This is the last element of confusion that needs to cleared up for this generation concerning the purpose of John's baptism. On several occasions, John's baptism is called a baptism "unto repentance for the remission of sins". On this basis, many have wrongly concluded that John's baptism remitted, or washed away, sins. But no amount of earthly water can wash away sins. Sin is a matter of the heart (Mt. 15:19-20); water baptism, being a natural, fleshly thing, cannot cleanse that part of a man. Jesus' baptism of man's spirit is the only baptism that can cleanse man's heart from sin.

John's baptism was a divine seal, a testimony from John that a person had repented and was prepared for the baptism of the holy Ghost that Jesus would make available after he ascended to the Father to offer himself as a sacrifice for our sins. John's was a "baptism of repentance" because it was given only to those Jews who repented. It was for "the remission of sins" because it prepared those whom John baptized to receive the remission of sins that Jesus' baptism gives. John's baptism was "for remission of sins" not because it remitted sins but because it qualified the Jews who received it to receive remission of sins. In your Bible, you will never find one Jew who received the holy Ghost from God unless he had been prepared for the remission of sins by John's baptism.

No reasonable person can believe that earthly water can remit sins. But wrong ideas about God make us unreasonable. Plato once said that "whatever deceives, bewitches." In other words, when we receive a lie into our souls, we are brought under a spell. Lies have power; they have influence in the heart of those who believe them. Every lie comes from some unclean spirit, and we are brought, to some extent, under the power of that unclean spirit when we believe its lie. But Jesus promised that the truth would set us free. God's children need to know the foundational truth about John the Baptizer so that they can be free and escape the dark power of Christianity and its lies about God.

This is the fourth stone that I have used to lay out for you for a sure foundation, upon which you may safely build your faith as you grow in the light of God.

Thought for Today

2003. 02-19

Fundamentals of the New Testament, No. 3

"Only to the Jews"

There are some facts that are so basic to one’s understanding of the New Testament books that without being aware of them, one cannot possibly understand what the apostles wrote. This is the third of the essential truths with which every student of the New Testament ought to begin his study. Before opening for the first time any of the books written by the apostles, one ought to already know these things. Mothers, teach these truths to your children; pastors, teach these things to your congregations. These are the foundations upon which all right knowledge of the truth is laid.

Fundamental #3

Jesus was sent by God to minister only to the people of Israel.

Usually, a foundation is not much seen; nevertheless, its function is critical to a safe building. The focus of attention is always on the building that is built upon a foundation, but if the foundation is not well laid down, or if the materials in it are substandard, the building is unlikely to stand for long. This third stone of the foundation that I am laying for you is mentioned in the New Testament but a few times, but the truths that rest upon it is critical to obtaining a pure faith.

Jesus was sent only to the Jews. Peter and the other disciples of Jesus were sent only to the Jews. The importance of knowing this cannot be exaggerated, not because of itself but because of the revelations from God that build upon that knowledge. If you do not know this simple truth, much of the New Testament writings, and especially the epochal revelation that God gave to Paul will make little or no sense to you.

Did you know that it was Paul’s custom to preach first to the Jews of the cities to which he traveled, and only then to the Gentiles? He said that God required him to do that (Acts 13:44-46). Because the importance of this fact is so little appreciated in our time, those in the body of Christ who quote Romans 1:16 often leave out the crucial last part of that verse, for they don’t know what to do with it. You have heard this famous verse, in which Paul wrote, "I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth". But how often have you heard the rest of what Paul wrote in that verse: "to the Jew first, and also to the Greek."

You must understand that Jesus and his fist disciples were sent by God only to the circumcised nation, the Jews, because

A. Upon this foundation is built the knowledge that Jesus’ commandments were directed toward the people who already were in covenant with God. At that time, this meant only the circumcised nation, Israel (Rom.15:8). Failing to understand this, some of Jesus’ commandments have been applied by Christian ministers to those who are not in covenant with God, leading to tragic results. Notable among these misinterpreted Scriptures are those concerning marriage and divorce (For more on that topic, see my booklet, "Marriage and Divorce"). Many an innocent person has been harmed by misunderstanding concerning that issue.

B. Upon this foundation is built the knowledge of why the Samaritans and Gentiles (uncircumcised) were excluded from the blessings Jesus bestowed during his earthly ministry (Mt.10:1-6; Mt.15:21-28; Jn.12:20-23).

C. Upon this foundation is built the sure doctrine that forgiveness of sin, which came through the baptism of the holy Spirit, was at given first to the Jews (Acts 2:1-5). Others were allowed into God’s family only after many months had passed.

D. Upon this foundation is built the knowledge of why the earliest congregation, being exclusively Jewish, continued to live as Jesus lived, under the Law. The entire congregation in the land of Palestine pursued with great zeal obedience to Moses’ Law for decades after the outpouring of the Spirit in Acts 2 (Acts 21:17-27). They saw no reason not to do so.

E. Upon this foundation is built the knowledge of why Jesus submitted to all the ordinances and statutes of the Law of Moses.

F. Upon this foundation is built the understanding of why the Jews who had the holy Ghost were utterly astonished when God gave His Spirit to someone who was not circumcised (Acts 10).

G. Upon this foundation is built the knowledge of why God chose another man, Paul, to carry a new gospel designed in heaven for Gentiles (Gal.2:1-10).

There is no end of the understanding of the New Testament that is available to those who understand that Jesus was sent by his Father only "to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." This truth is not spoken of much because it is "below grade", serving as foundational material for many other doctrines that are important to the family of God. The attention rightly goes to them, but the foundation is what holds all of them up and makes them understandable.

This is the third stone that I have used to lay out for you for a foundation, a sure foundation, upon which you may safely build as you grow in the knowledge of God.

Thought for Today

2003. 02-18

Fundamentals of the New Testament, No. 2

The Death of the Testator

Fundamental #2

Absolutely no one understood what Jesus was doing while he was here.

The work of God in Christ Jesus was a mystery hidden in the heart of God from creation. No man knew beforehand what God would send Jesus to do. No prophet or wise man ever so much as suspected that God would send His own Son to suffer and die on a cross for the sins of the world. It was a grace and love and wisdom that was hidden from all men until after the work was accomplished. The fact that men understood nothing of God's plan until after the event was passed means that all the glory for that blessed event belongs solely to God. To God belongs all the glory!

After Jesus died, his disciples were discouraged, but with the coming of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost, God began to reveal to them that Jesus had succeeded, not failed, to fulfill his divine mission. On the day of Pentecost, when the holy Ghost filled the disciples of Christ with God's power and knowledge, Peter and the others began to realize and to proclaim the awesome, soul-saving work that God and His Son had accomplished.

It is of great importance that the student of the New Testament understand, in the beginning of his study, that no one who lived on earth during Jesus' earthly life understood what Jesus was here for. No one understood his mission. Such a thing had never been heard of, and no man could have believed it even if God told him. Jesus told his disciples very plainly on a number of occasions what would happen to him at Jerusalem, but their minds simply could not take it in. Nobody understood Jesus while he was here on earth. Some loved him, and some hated him, but none knew why he was really here.

Here are some scriptures that demonstrate this Second Foundational Truth:

A. The elders of Israel did not understand Jesus: Mt.12:22-24; Jn.3:1-10; 9:24.

B. The general public did not understand Jesus: Mt.13:10-17; Jn.6:9-15.

C. Jesus' natural relatives did not understand him: Mk.3:20-21; Jn.7:1-5.

D. Jesus' own disciples did not understand him: Lk.18:31-34; Mk.9:9-10; Lk.24:1-21a.

Thought for Today

2003. 02-17

Fundamentals of the New Testament, No. 1

The Death of the Testator

Fundamental #1

Jesus lived and died under the Old Covenant (The Law). Gal. 4:4.

A. This means that the New Testament did not go into effect in Matthew with the birth of Jesus. Jesus was born and lived under the Law of Moses.

If the New Testament began with Jesus' birth, then his parents would not have afterward circumcised him and offered an animal sacrifice for Mary's purification (Lk. 2:21-24; Lev. 12:2). Neither would Jesus as a grown man have commanded lepers that he healed to offer the sacrifices that Moses told healed lepers to offer (Mt. 8:1-4; Mk. 1:40-45; Lk. 5:12-15; 17:11-14). And if the Law of Moses, the Old Testament, passed away at Jesus' birth, Jesus certainly would not have commanded everyone around him, both the multitude and his disciples, to do whatever the Pharisees told them to do (Mt. 23:1-3). According to Jesus, all Israel was required to obey the Pharisees because they "sat in Moses' seat." That is to say, the Law still had authority over them at that time.

It was not until the book of Acts, after Jesus died, rose from the dead, and ascended into heaven that the New Covenant began. The coming of the Spirit to write God's laws in the hearts of men is the New Testament (Heb. 8:8-12). This is why Paul told the saints at Corinth that if Christ had not risen from the dead, there would be no New Testament (1Cor.15:14-17). And the author of Hebrews added this explanation of why the New Testament began after Jesus died: Last Will and Testaments are put in force only after men are dead (Heb. 9:15-17)

B. This means that Jesus obeyed Moses' Law perfectly (because it was of God). The definition of sinlessness in the Lord's case was, at the least, that he never transgressed the Law of Moses (1Jn. 3:4). Then why was Jesus so hated by Israel's leaders? They, too, acknowledged that the Law was of God. They hated Jesus because Jesus refused to place the "traditions of the elders" on a par with Moses' Law. His love of God and His Law above all else angered the elders of Israel. Every single time the traditions of Jewish elders conflicted with Moses' Law, Jesus chose to obey Moses' Law. This was not always the case with Israel's elders at that time. Here are just a few examples of Jesus' choosing God's commandments over the "traditions of the elders": Mk. 7:1-13; Mt. 5:17-20; 8:1-4; 12:1-14.

C. Jesus was not a rebel. It is important for young people to understand that Jesus did not purposefully provoke Israel's leaders to anger with a contemptuous attitude toward their traditions. He honored their traditions whenever those traditions did not conflict with the will of God. (e.g. Jn. 5:1; 10:22).

Without knowing that Jesus was born, lived, and died under the Law of Moses, you cannot understand fully why Jesus' sufferings and crucifixion were necessary. After all, if the New Testament was instituted before Jesus died, then why did he have to die? If the New Testament was instituted before Jesus died, then his purpose for coming was already accomplished, even before his sacrificial death. No, my friend Jesus was the "testator" of this New Testament, and without his death, the New Testament could never have been put into effect.

This is the first stone that I am laying out for you for a foundation, a foundation upon which you may safely build as you grow in the knowledge of God.

Thought for Today

2003. 02-14

Man's Business

From a message to the congregation, June 14, 2002.

For a long time, until I learned the truth about Christianity (Xty), I marveled that years ago, when the Supreme Court made a ruling in which it ordered people to stop praying in public places and events, almost everyone stopped. Isn’t that a strange thing, when you think about it?

However, Jesus solved the mystery for me when he helped me understand that Xty is a religion like Islam or Buddhism, in that it is a part of human culture; it originated with man; it is led by man’s wisdom; and it is controlled by man. That being so, when the justices on the US Supreme Court commanded men in this country to stop praying in public places, Christians dutifully stopped. By ceasing from prayer according to the Court’s decree, Christians were merely acknowledging the fact that the Supreme Court of the US possesses authority over their religion.

The holy Ghost, on the other hand, is not subject to the rule of man. The children of God who are free in Christ Jesus pray only when the holy Ghost says to pray, and they stop praying only when the Spirit is finished. Human will, including human law, has no authority whatsoever over the holy Ghost, and never will. The will of man means nothing to the mind of the Spirit. Throughout my nearly twenty years of teaching in the Public School system, I always prayed in class and with the class when I was led to do so by the Spirit. This was done not in rebellion against anything; it was done only according to the will of God. There were, in fact, very many classes in which I did not pray because I felt no leading to do so. In 1978, when I began teaching, I felt that if I was fired for praying when the Spirit said to pray, then the school was unworthy of my presence, and unworthy of the presence of anyone led by the Spirit of God. I would have been content, not bitter or sarcastic, if asked to leave, as long as I knew I was pleasing God. After all, it would have been the school’s loss, not mine. I simply would have taken it as a signal from God that I no longer belonged there.

There was never a problem for me with praying in that college situation, but there were problems for some others. In news reports, I would occasionally hear of someone being reprimanded or fired for praying in class or for talking about Jesus. Those news reports would anger some people, but not I. Why should we be angered when we see the world govern what belongs to it? If man’s courts want to dictate to members of man’s religions what men can and cannot do, what business is that of God’s family? None at all. Stay out of man’s business. Remember King Josiah.

If, as sometimes happens, man’s courts attempt to intrude into the holy places of God and dictate to the Spirit what it can and cannot lead God’s children to do, then we are not required by Jesus to submit to that commandment of men. We are to obey "every ordinance of man", as Peter told us. But that same apostle, when commanded by the Jewish high court to cease from preaching the gospel, humbly responded, "We ought to obey God rather than men."

So, the standard by which we are to live is to obey every law of the society in which we live (regardless of how foolish those laws may appear), up to the point at which those laws contradict the clear will of God. We are always to submit to "the higher power", as Paul said. That is all the thinking that we have to do concerning this issue. It is not a mind thing; it is a spirit thing.

There are laws in effect now in this country that seem very unwise, but that is none of the congregation’s business. As long as those laws do not contradict the will of God for His family, they are to be obeyed. And at all times, even when governors of a nation or state trespass into the holy places of Christ, they are to be prayed for and respected, though not obeyed. They need the saints’ prayers, compassion, and faith. After all, remember that you yourself could have been cursed by God to be in a position of authority in which you carry a gun, or hold the office of mayor, or senator, or congressman, or even (God forbid!) President, instead of being called into the precious kingdom of Christ. Be thankful and stay out of man’s business, and ignore them when they meddle with ours.

Be like Jesus, who submitted to man’s legal authority to kill him but refused man’s claim of authority over what he should preach or when he should heal the sick.

Thought for Today

2003. 02-13

Satan's Favorite Scriptures: No. 6

Hebrews 10:25

"Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is . . ."

The Spirit of God is pleading with all of God’s children to "Come out of her, My people!" All of God’s children hear that voice, but as of yet, few have understood it. Still, an increasing number of God’s children are coming to understand that the "her" out of which God is calling His children is the religion of Christianity (Xty). In response to this increase in understanding among God’s children, I predict that Satan’s ministers will turn with increasing frequency to the verse in Hebrews 10:25, in which the man of God warned the saints to "forsake not the assembling of ourselves together". As more of God’s children forsake various Christian (Xn) sects to follow the call of Jesus, the more likely we are to hear that verse repeated by Xn ministers. Hebrews 10:25 is finding a place among Satan’s favorite Scriptures.

When the writer of Hebrews said "forsake not the assembling of ourselves together" the "ourselves" in that sentence did not refer to Xn churches. Xn churches didn’t even exist at that time. The "ourselves" in Hebrews 10:25 refers only to the blood-washed saints of God. To those saints who hear the call of Jesus to forsake Xty, Xn ministers frantically repeat the words, "forsake not the assembling of ourselves together", but as usual, they have it backwards. The very reason God is calling His children out of Xty is so that they can assemble together!

The whole issue is, "Who is the ‘ourselves’ with whom we are told by God to assemble?" Obviously, the "ourselves" in Hebrews 10:25 are those who belong to God. But what people belong to God? Paul tells us. He wrote that "if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his" (Rom. 8). By that holy measure, there are multitudes of Xns everywhere who do not belong to God because there are multitudes of Xns everywhere who have not received (and are not even seeking) the holy Ghost. Why should the children of God feel obligated to assemble with them? Those people are not a part of "ourselves"!

No Xn church is God’s family. God’s family is the people who have been baptized with the holy Ghost, with the Spirit’s witness of "stammering lips" or "other tongues". The author of Hebrews was exhorting God’s people to stick together and not to be divided by participating in the religions of men. In essence, he was commanding the saints to refrain from becoming a part of any Xn church. He was exhorting the saints to assemble together with themselves instead of assembling together with religious people who were not of God. The reason Jesus is calling Spirit-baptized people to come out of Xty is so that they can assemble with "ourselves"!

Xn ministers who use Hebrews 10:25 to pressure you to assemble to worship with those who are not God’s children are pressuring you to disobey that Scripture, not obey it. In 1Corinthians 6:15-20, Paul exhorts us to honor God by NOT assembling for religious reasons with those who are unsanctified. The love of God compels us to reject any congregation that is not God’s; that is, any congregation that can be joined (which means every Xn church because all of them can be joined). God’s children who have joined Xn churches are the ones who have "forsaken the assembling of ourselves together", and the only way to repent for doing so is to undo the crime and come out of Xty!

God’s children who belong to Xn churches are disobeying His commandment to "assemble ourselves together" because they are assembling with those who do not belong to God. For many generations now, God’s children have been deceived by Xn ministers to partake of a religion that accepts as born-again children of God those who have not repented and received God’s holy Ghost. They claim to believe in Jesus, but they have no witness from the Spirit at all. Do not trust them, and do not assemble with them.

Your minister is one of these deceivers if he is telling people without the baptism of the holy Ghost that they are born again. Such men are not of God; they want God’s Spirit-baptized saints to join their churches in order to further legitimize their religion. Do not trust them. God’s Spirit is the only trustworthy witness of who is born again and who is not, because the Spirit is truth (l Jn. 5:6). Trust the words of Paul who said, "if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his."

Child of God, do you love your Lord enough to "assemble yourselves" ONLY with those who also belong to Jesus? That is the only group of people God has ever commanded His children to assemble with–and that is the assembly that we are not to "forsake". Can’t you hear the tender voice of Jesus saying to you, "Come out of her, My people" and "assemble yourselves together"?

Xn ministers who use Hebrews 10:25 to keep God’s children inside their religion have not been sent by Jesus. They don't know what they are talking about. They love Hebrews 10:25 only because they do not understand its meaning, and they would hate the author of Hebrews now if he were to be sent from God to explain it to them.

Thought for Today

2003. 02-12

Satan's Favorite Scriptures: No. 5

Matthew 7:1

"Judge not, lest ye be judged."

Did you know that the Devil has favorite Scriptures? One of his favorites is Matthew 7:1. There, Jesus said, "Judge not, that ye be not judged." Multitudes of Christian (Xn) ministers refer to that Scripture often, telling their congregations that they should never judge another human being. This is utter nonsense. The flesh would rather that it never be judged so that its deeds may never be exposed and condemned. Those who are "in the flesh" feel the same way. The guilty know that if men are encouraged to make a judgment, then their sin might be exposed, and questions asked that would be very inconvenient. Who knows what the results might be for the body of Christ, if hungry souls were able and willing to judge? It is sin that fears judgment, not righteousness.

From the men who claim to be teachers ordained by Jesus, you will be hard-pressed ever to hear a reference to Jesus’ other commandment concerning judging. It is a commandment that clarifies the one Matthew recorded. This commandment reads, "Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment" (Jn. 7:24). This is Jesus’ commandment as well as the other, but have you ever heard a sermon from this verse on judging? Most of God’s people never have.

Seldom, too, is there any mention ever made to Paul’s indignant question of the saints at Corinth: "Is it so, that there is not a wise man among you? No, not one that shall be able to judge between his brethren?" (1Cor. 6:5). Paul was scolding the saints at Corinth because there was no man in the congregation able to judge! Ever hear a sermon about that?

How Jesus Judged

Jesus based none of his judgments concerning any matter upon what he could hear with his natural ears or what he could see with his natural eyes. The prophet Isaiah foretold this about the Lord Jesus when he proclaimed, "He shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears, but with righteousness shall he judge . . . ." In every case, Jesus waited for his heavenly Father to communicate to him the truth about anything and anybody. And the way that his Father communicated the truth to His Son was by the holy Spirit that He had given to His Son at John’s baptism.

When Jesus commanded his followers to "Judge not", he was saying "Make no judgments based upon what you can see and what you can hear." He was commanding us to follow his perfect example of not trusting our fleshly senses to lead us. On the other hand, when he commanded his followers to "judge righteous judgment", he was telling us to trust the Father as he did, and to rely exclusively on the holy Spirit of God for knowledge of the truth about anything. There is no "righteous judgment" apart from the "righteousness, peace, and joy of the holy Ghost." Jesus knew that. Do we know that?

When you hear a man warning others never to judge others, you may rest assured that he has not been sent from Jesus with that evil counsel. You may also be certain that he has some secret sin and fears the exposure that someone’s righteous judgment might bring. Be courageous with the discernment that Jesus gives you, and to all who trust him. "The thoughts of the righteous are right", and if you are walking uprightly and sincerely before the Lord, your heart will be given right thoughts and feelings. Be courageous with them. They are right! The very gates of Hell will not be able to withstand the judgments you make.

Thought for Today

2003. 02-11

Satan's Favorite Scriptures: No. 4

Romans 10:9

"If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and

shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved."

There are verses from the Bible that are especially useful to Satan because their meaning can be more easily twisted than can other verses to promote the religion he invented, the false religion which calls itself after the name of the true Lord (Christianity). The process is simple: Such verses, with their wrong interpretation, are popularized by Satan’s ministers; then, their erroneous interpretations becomes the norm, the standard by which all other teaching and teachers are judged. It is tried-and-true method of subduing and controlling the minds of men, for once Satan’s interpretation of a Scripture becomes the standard by which others are judged, men fear to contradict it. In fact, most men never even question it, assuming that as long as everyone agrees on a meaning, then all is well.

Probably the most abused Scripture in the last decades of the 20th century was Romans 10:9. This verse has a distinguished place among "Satan’s favorite Scriptures", for millions of souls in the past several decades were brought under his spell by the meaning that he assigned to those precious words from the apostle Paul. Paul’s words are: "If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved."

Satan's interpretation of that verse is that if a sinner sincerely confesses that he believes that Jesus is Lord and that he is alive from the dead, then that sinner is converted. But Paul is not speaking about conversion. He is speaking about salvation. What a sinner has to do to be converted is to repent and "do works meet for repentance". No one knows another's heart; we cannot tell when another has fully repented. But we know that when a sinner stops sinning and when his repentance is complete, Jesus will baptize that person with the holy Ghost. So, we make no judgment; we never tell anyone that he or she has repented and is born again. It is sin to do that, for that is God's place alone. The body of Christ is to wait on God to judge a sinner's sincerity by giving His "witness" to that fact. His witness is the holy Ghost baptism.

Romans 10:9 was written to the body of Christ, reminding them of what believers must do to be saved in the end. The tenth chapter of Romans begins with the word "Brethren"; it has nothing whatever to do with the conversion of sinners. To understand Paul's meaning in Rom. 10:9, we must start with the ancient sermon of Moses from which Paul was drawing his words. Here, then, is the proper explanation:

They had celebrated the Passover forty times during those forty years in the wilderness. They knew the ceremony by heart. Having observed the somber Day of Atonement ceremony forty times, and during that season the people heard the entire Law read aloud by the elders of Israel. The Law of God was very familiar to them. The Law was embedded in the tongue of the elders as they taught it to the young. Through that long journey through the wilderness, the Israelites had experienced both the goodness and the severity of God, and Moses saw to it that they knew and understood the truth of all they had experienced. Moses, with his Levitical helpers, explained the already simple words of God and enforced the precepts of the Law at all times. The Israelites needed not to long for someone to reveal God's way to them. God's way was the Law under which they lived. It was an integral part of their behavior. It was so close to them that it was in their mouths and in their hearts and minds.

Camped across the Jordan from the promised land, the Israelites were given a last message from the 120-year-old Moses who had led them out of Egypt, knowing that these words would be among his last, Moses obviously chose his words with extreme care and passion. Moses' last words were a pleading exhortation to his people to be faithful to what they already knew, for them to realize the value of the Law that had been entrusted to them. Moses hoped they would always remember that God was among them. They had all they needed to please God and to know Him.

Here are the words of Moses, the same words which Paul was quoting in Romans 10: "This commandment that I command thee this day, it is not hidden from thee, neither is it far off" (Deut. 30:11). Why did Moses say that? Because they had possessed the commandments of God and lived forty years by its standards. "It [God's Law] is not in heaven that thou shouldest say ‘Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it and do it?'" Why should Israel not say that? Because forty years earlier, God had brought the Law down from heaven and from Mt. Sinai's smoking heights delivered the Law to them. "Neither is it beyond the sea, that thou shouldest say ‘Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it?'" God had already "gone over the sea" for them and had brought them through the Red Sea on dry land to the mountain where He gave His Law. "But it [God's word - the Law]", Moses concluded, "is nigh thee." How near to them was it, Moses? "In thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it" (Dt. 30:14).

Yes, they knew the right way. The heathen might have to long for revelation from heaven; they might have to cross mountains and seas to hear the Law of God, but not Israel. Israel's righteousness would be their faithfulness to what God had already given them.

Actually, the Israelites could have preached the same message to Moses. "Moses, you needn't wonder what God's will is for you. He has already shown you. Be careful to trust and obey!" Moses' last sermon, then, was not an evangelistic message for those who did not know God, but an exhortation to God's people to be faithful to Him. In a nutshell, Moses was saying to his people what Jesus would later say to his disciples: "He that shall endure to the end, the same shall be saved" (Mt. 24:13).

In Rom. 10:9-10, the Apostle Paul was exhorting the saints at Rome to endure to the end, using in his exhortation the pattern of Moses' words. As with Moses, Paul was not speaking to unbelievers, but to saints whose faith was world-renown (Rom. 1:7-8). Let us look at Paul's words, which were a re-stating of Moses' words from Deuteronomy: "Say not in thine heart ‘Who shall ascend into heaven' (that is, to bring Christ down from above)." Why do believers not need to long for the Christ to come down from heaven? Because he had already been sent from heaven. His name was Jesus. It would be unbelief for the congregation now to long the Christ to be sent from heaven. We know who he is! Continuing then in Moses' pattern of exhortation, Paul told the saints that they also need not to say, "‘Who shall descend into the deep?' (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead)." Why? Because Christ is already risen! And the believers in Rome knew it, rejoiced in it, indeed, preached it to the world! Paul was simply exhorting them to trust in what they knew that God had already done and not to be lured away by deceivers to hope in anything else.

Quoting Moses again, Paul continued, "But what saith it? ‘The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth and in thy heart.'" What "word" is in the mouths and hearts of the saints, Paul? "The word of faith, which we preach." Yes, the same word Paul preached, these Roman saints preached as well. They could have exhorted Paul to do as he was exhorting them. "Confess the Lord Jesus, Paul! Believe in your heart, Paul! And if you continue in this holy faith, Paul, you shall be saved."

This confession in Christ can only be made by believers (Rom. 10:13-14). Sinners can no more confess Christ than the ancient heathen nations could obey the Law. They didn't have the Law to obey. And sinners do not have Christ to confess. Sinners confess sin. Saints confess Christ.

Paul, in Romans 10:9-10, was no more telling sinners how to be converted than Moses in his last sermon was telling the Egyptians how to become Israelites. Heathen nations weren't even there to hear Moses' words, and unbelievers were not there to read Paul's letter. Both Moses and Paul knew that in order for the people of God to be saved in the end, they must first "be" God's people, and second, continue trusting in what God had done for them. In other words, one must be baptized into the body of Christ by the holy Ghost (1Cor. 12:13) in order for Paul's words to apply to them.

Christian ministers who use Romans 10:9-10 as scriptures for "conversion" have not been sent by Jesus. They don't know what they are talking about, and the saints must reject such men and their doctrines and seek the truth. Both Paul and Moses were only reminding the precious people of God of the simple requirements for them to receive the crown of life that awaits those born-again people who confess Christ and believe in their hearts until the end.

Thought for Today

2003. 02-10

Satan's Favorite Scriptures: No. 3

Ephesians 2:8-9

"By grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves;

it is the gift of God. Not of works, lest any man should boast."

There are verses from the Bible that are especially used by Satan’s ministers to promote the religion he invented, the false religion which calls itself after the name of the true Lord: Christianity. Those verses are prized because they can easily be "twisted" to promote that religion. Ephesians 2:8-9 is a portion of Scripture that clearly belongs in the category of "Satan’s favorite Scriptures".

Paul wrote to the Ephesians, "By grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God. Not of works, lest any man should boast." These wonderful words are regularly misinterpreted by Christian ministers to mean that (1) those who believe in Christ are already saved, (2) the way that believers live their lives will not determine whether they will be saved in the end from the wrath of God, and (3) our salvation will be accomplished by God’s grace alone.

None of these things is true.

First, salvation is a process which begins the moment God convicts a sinner of his sin and will end only at the Day of Judgment when Jesus says, "Come, ye blessed of my Father! Enter into the joys of thy Lord." Salvation will be realized only when we receive the glorified bodies that Jesus has promised to those who love him. It is the future hope of the saints. Ponder on this: None of God’s men in the New Testament spoke of "the day I got saved", as millions of Christians now do. They looked forward to salvation, not backwards to it. Those men of God understood that, yes, they were on the road of salvation, but that it was possible that they could wander off the right path, fall again into worldliness, and be damned in the Final Judgment. To deny that possibility is foolhardy.

"Wherefore, gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ" (1Pet. 1:13).

Second, it is unwise for children of God to claim to already have salvation because we will all be judged in the end on the basis of our deeds in this life, and we have not yet finished living. The "works" to which Paul refers in Ephesians 2:8-9 as being worthless for obtaining salvation are the "works of the law" of Moses. Those ceremonial works of Moses were necessary until Jesus came, but now, those ceremonial works have nothing whatsoever to do with our salvation. Satan’s ministers have taken Paul’s phrase, "not of works" and twisted it to mean that no works of any kind will be taken into account on the Day of Judgment. That is foolishness.

Jesus said (Jn. 5:28-29), "The hour is coming in the which all that are in the graves shall hear the voice of the Son of man and shall come forth; they that have DONE GOOD, unto the Resurrection of Life, and they that have DONE EVIL, unto the Resurrection of Damnation." Trust those words, my friend, and ignore the many voices that are saying otherwise. If you are still alive on earth, you are not saved yet. And you never will be saved if on the Day of Judgment your deeds in this life are judged to have been evil.

The only people who are being saved by the grace of God are those who are living by faith, according to the will of God. Paul wrote (Tit. 2:11-12), "the grace of God that bringeth salvation" teaches us to "deny ungodliness and worldly lusts" and to "live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world."

Lastly, there is no such thing as "salvation by grace alone". Nor is there any such thing as "salvation by faith alone", as millions are taught today. We need both grace and faith, and many other holy things if we are ever to receive the promised salvation of God. Paul’s exact words in Ephesians are, "by grace are ye saved through faith". Faith is our response to the grace of God, and without a response on our part, God’s grace does not save us. Without God’s grace, man is utterly hopeless because there is nothing for man to respond to. Grace is opportunity; it is God’s calling. Faith is our answering Him, our coming out of darkness in response to His call. It will require both the wonderful grace of God and a faithful response to Him for salvation to be obtained. Stay away from the men who would tell you that God’s part alone is enough. That is not what God said. God requires man to respond.

Satan’s ministers love Ephesians 2:8-9 only because they do not understand its meaning, and they would hate Paul now if he were to rise up from the grave and explain it to them. "But ye, brethren, are not in darkness . . . . ye are all the children of light"; then, let us walk in the light while we have it, and let us not be ashamed to confess the truth that by the grace of God we have been given.

Thought for Today

2003. 02-09

Satan's Favorite Scriptures: No. 2

John 3:16

"God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life."

Did you know that the Devil has favorite Scriptures? Yes, there are verses that are most useful to him and his ministers because of those verses can most easily be "twisted" to promote their religion. The verses most loved by Satan are those that can be manipulated to make it appear that there is no need for you to receive the baptism of the holy Ghost. We know that the foundation of all of Christianity (Xty), Satan’s premier religion on earth, is that one can belong to the family of God without receiving the baptism of the holy Ghost (the baptism that makes a person speak in tongues). This wrong idea about God and His family is the foundation of Christianity, and John 3:16 is one of those verses that can most easily be used to promote that wrong idea.

In John 3:16, we are told, "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life."

This is a precious and holy verse from God, but what is it saying? It is telling us plainly that the reason for the Lord Jesus’ sacrificial death was to make it possible for us to receive everlasting life. And what must we do to receive it? This verse says simply to "believe in him" (that is, in Jesus). This simplicity is part of the beauty of the gospel, and it is also the reason that Satan prefers this verse above many.

Satan’s ministers love this verse because they can use it to deny the need for anything but believing. "Just believe and you will have eternal life" is the kind of vain talk that the apostle John, the author of that verse, would have sternly condemned. John wrote that "whosoever believes" in Jesus "should have eternal life" because he knew that "whosoever believes in Jesus" will repent, and "whosoever believes in Jesus" will receive the baptism that Jesus gives, and "whosoever believes in Jesus" will keep God’s commandments and live a godly life on this earth. Never did it cross John’s mind to teach that people would receive everlasting life just because they believe the gospel is true and that nothing else is involved. John knew that James (2:19) was right when he told us that the demons themselves believe and that they "tremble" at the very thought of it (as well they should)!

John 3:16 by no means excludes the need for the holy Ghost. John understood that many things are encompassed by the phrase, "believe in Jesus". Hold on to that simple truth, and do not allow any man to steal your crown with vain words. Satan’s ministers will promise you everlasting life without holiness–if you "just believe". They will promise you everlasting life without the baptism of the holy Ghost–if you "just believe". They will promise you everlasting life without keeping God’s commandments–if you will "just believe". But on the Day of Judgment, they will not be able to give what they have promised to those who have "just believed" their empty doctrine.

Stay away from such men. Jesus has not sent them to say such things. They love John 3:16 only because they do not understand its meaning, and they would hate John now if he were to rise up from the grave and explain it to them.

Thought for Today

2003. 02-08

Satan’s Favorite Scriptures: No. 1

The Bible Without The Word

There are verses that Satan and his ministers wish were not in the Bible (and even sometimes say should not be in there), and there are some verses that they love, but prudent believers receive the whole counsel of God. Satan tried to manipulate Jesus with some of his favorite Scriptures when the Lord was alone with him in the wilderness, you will remember. Fortunately, Jesus knew what was "also written", and he used other Scriptures to give a more perfect understanding of the ones Satan quoted. In the temptation of the Lord, the devil used the Bible to try to manipulate Jesus to do his will; Jesus, however, overcame that temptation by using the Word of God.

Neither Jesus nor the devil was ignorant of the Scriptures. The verses they quoted, they both quoted correctly. And the devil even understood those verses; for example, he knew that the verses he quoted from Psalm 91 referred to the Father’s care for His Son Jesus. (Many who would be teachers of the body of Christ do not understand that!) He was crafty in his design to overthrow Jesus’ faith in his Father, but Jesus’ victory over Satan’s evil use of the Bible was gained because Jesus knew both the Bible and the Word of God. The devil had only a knowledge of the Scriptures.

It is no wonder that Paul warned the saints, "The letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life." The Bible saves no one; it has no power. It tells us where to go to get in touch with that power: to Jesus! Jesus condemned some experts on the Bible with these words, "Ye search the Scriptures, for in them ye think ye have eternal life. But they [the Scriptures] are they which testify of me, and ye will not come to me that ye might have life."

Study the Bible. It is a good thing to do. The saints who meet at my house study and love the Bible. But students of the Bible should always remember that while they are learning it, they must stay filled with the holy Ghost. They will never understand the Bible without it. God has created us so that our brains can learn what the Bible says, but how are we to put it all together rightly? What are we to do with what we learn? The Spirit alone knows how to use what we know in a way that accomplishes good rather than evil. The Bible is the record of God’s past deeds and words. It is what the Spirit tells us now that is the Word of God.

Jesus has no favorite Scriptures because he loves the Scriptures most that helps us the most, and they are all helpful at different times in our lives. His favorite verse today is the one you most need today. He has no favorite Scripture because YOU are what he cares for.

Satan has favorite Scriptures because there are some that he can more easily twist than others. He is a fool. He knows the Bible perfectly, and does not know the Word of God at all. He has never ceased to imagine that he can overthrow the faith of God’s children by throwing Scriptures at them, and his ministers do it all the time. But neither he nor his ministers can touch the soul that is on fire with the holy Ghost. In the joy of the holy Ghost, they have the answers to every one of their soul-polluting doctrines, every one of their mind-bending questions, and every one of their unbelieving insinuations about true holiness.

It is no wonder that Paul said, "Your life is hid with Christ in God." The devil and the world cannot find you who have been called of God. They cannot know where you really are. He tries, but always fails to impress you who stay "filled with the Spirit". It irritates the devil when he cannot move your heart by his vain knowledge of the Bible, but what must frustrate him beyond all measure is that he cannot even understand your happy answer to everything in his empty, erudite world.

Thought for Today

2003. 02-07

"Empty Knowledge"

Did you know that the Devil has favorite Scriptures? One of his favorites is Matthew 7:1. There, Jesus said, "Judge not, that ye be not judged." Satan’s Christian ministers refer to that Scripture often because if those men allowed their congregations the liberty to judge them, who knows what the results might be? You don’t hear these men refer very often to Jesus’ other commandment concerning judging, the verse about judging that clarifies the earlier one. This commandment reads, "Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment" (Jn. 7:24). Nor do you often hear of Paul’s indignant question to the saints at Corinth: "Is it so, that there is not a wise man among you? Not one that shall be able to judge between his brethren?" (1Cor. 6:5).

There are verses that Satan and his ministers wish were not in the Bible (and even sometimes say should not be in there), and there are some verses that they love, but prudent believers search for the whole counsel of God. Satan tried to manipulate Jesus with some of his favorite Scriptures when the Lord was alone in the wilderness, you will remember. Fortunately, Jesus knew what was "also written", and he used other Scriptures to give a more perfect understanding of the ones Satan quoted. In this Temptation of the Lord, the devil was using the Bible to try to manipulate Jesus to do his will; Jesus, however, overcame that temptation by using the Word of God.

Neither Jesus nor the devil was ignorant of the Scriptures. The verses they quoted, they both quoted correctly. And the devil even understood those verses; he knew that the verses he quoted from Psalm 91, for example, referred to the Father’s care for His dear Son, Jesus. He was crafty in his design to overthrow Jesus’ faith in his Father. But the victory over this evil use of the Bible was won by Jesus because he knew both the Bible and the Word of God. The devil had only a knowledge of the Scriptures.

It is no wonder that Paul warned the saints, "The letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life." The Bible saves no one; it has no power. It tells us where to go to get in touch with that power: Jesus! Jesus condemned some experts on the Bible with these words, "Ye search the Scriptures, for in them ye think ye have eternal life. But they [the Scriptures] are they which tell of me, and ye will not come to me that ye might have life."

Study the Bible. It is a good thing to do. But while you are learning it, stay filled with the holy Ghost. You will never understand the Bible without it. God has created us so that our brains can learn what the Bible says, but how are we to put it all together rightly? What are we to do with what we learn? The Spirit alone knows how to use what we know in a way that accomplishes good rather than evil. And what the Spirit tells us is the Word of God.

Satan has favorite Scriptures because there are some that he can more easily twist than others. He is a fool. He knows the Bible perfectly, and does not know God at all. He has never ceased to imagine that he can overthrow the faith of God’s children by throwing Scriptures at them, and his ministers do it all the time. But neither he nor his ministers can touch the soul that is on fire with the holy Ghost. In the joy of the holy Ghost, they have the answers to every one of their soul-polluting doctrines, every one of their mind-bending questions, and every one of their unbelieving insinuations about true holiness.

It is no wonder that Paul said, "Your life is hid with Christ in God." The devil and the world cannot find you, who have been called of God. They cannot know where you really are. He tries, but always fails to impress you who stay "filled with the Spirit". It irritates the devil when he cannot move your heart by his vain knowledge of the Bible, but what must frustrate him beyond all measure is that he cannot even understand your happy answer to everything in his empty, erudite world.

Thought for Today

2003. 02-06

"Judgment in the Body of Christ"

"Them that sin rebuke before all, that others may also fear. I charge thee before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, and the elect angels, that thou observe these things without preferring one before another, doing nothing by partiality."

We are blessed! We have a happy family in the Lord. As I have said many times before, I believe that the children of God who hear, understand, and love the truth are the "cream of the crop" in the kingdom of God, hand-picked for His praise and service. How difficult it must be for some of you who are just beginning your lives in the Spirit to imagine such awful things as apostasy and heresy dividing the family of God! But it has happened many times before, and it will happen again. Those who have gone through such sorrowful times are expected to help those coming along behind them, both to anticipate the rise of ungodly spirits in the body of Christ and to be prepared to overcome them. Part of that preparation is to help rid from the young believers’ minds the vestiges of some Christian cliches and attitudes.

One such attitude is the notion that we are not to mention anyone’s name in particular when pointing out to the congregation what sin is, or what heresy is. To do that isn’t considered "nice"; it isn’t considered to be "the Christian thing to do". But the servant of Jesus is absolutely free to use whatever means necessary to educate the children of God in the knowledge of what is right and wrong, and the Scriptures that I list below show that faithful servants of God are much more concerned with the welfare of the congregation than they are in merely appearing to be "nice".

If Paul were here, would he refrain from pointing out the vanity of Christian ceremonies, or the heresy of Christian doctrines, or in naming specific men and women who are teaching false doctrines are perverting the right ways of God? Would he be so concerned about winning favor with the saints that he would be silent concerning what was right and wrong? I don’t think so. Paul said that he used "great plainness of speech" when dealing with the saints. The Scriptures listed below are evidence of Paul’s sometimes blunt communication. Paul did not want the children of God to have any doubts as to who was good and who was evil, or who was sent from God to edify the saints and who merely claimed to be.

May God raise up such men again, for the sake of the fellowship of His saints! The body of Christ needs godly men to guide them.

Here are the verses in the New Testament that demonstrate Paul’s "great plainness of speech" when it came to the care of the saints. First, consider Paul’s blunt warnings to the congregation as a whole when there was a spiritual danger present:

1Cor. 11:29-30

Gal. 3:1-4

Heb. 5:12-14

1Tim. 1:3-7

Second, consider Paul’s strong desire that the congregation know and point out who was a good example of the congregation and who was not:

Ps. 37:37 & Rom. 16:17-18

Phip. 3:17-19

2Thess. 3:6-12

Paul condemned these children of God openly, by name, for the good of the congregation!

2Tim. 1:15-18 wise and foolish people

1Tim. 1:18-20 Hymenaeus and Alexander

2Tim. 2:16-18 foolish Hymenaeus’s doctrine (and Philetus’)

2Tim. 4:14-15 Alexander (possibly the Alexander of Acts 19:33)

2Tim. 4:10 Demas (a fellow worker of Paul’s - Col. 4:14)

Titus 1:10-14 The Cretans

This is the awful state of the Jews of Paul’s time:

1Thess. 2:14-16 (2Cor. 3:14-15)

But notice Paul’s feelings for the Jews!

Rom. 10:1 Rom. 9:1-3

Thought for Today

2003. 02-05

"I Am"

When Moses saw a bush on Mt. Horeb covered with flames, and that the bush was not being burned up, he went to take a closer look.

"And when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, ‘Moses, Moses.’ . . . Moreover He said, ‘I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God. . . . And the Lord said . . . . ‘Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh that thou mayest bring forth My people the children of Israel out of Egypt.’"

"And Moses said unto God, ‘Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, "The God of your fathers has sent me unto you", and they shall say unto me, "What is His name?", what shall I say unto them?’"

"And God said to Moses, ‘I Am that I Am.’"

Fill in the blank. Who met with Moses at the burning bush? ________________.

If you filled in the blank with "God", you are correct, but only in a narrow sense, for God was there in that burning bush only in spirit, not in person. Had God Almighty been there on person, the whole mountain would have been set on fire, not just a bush. He remained seated on His throne in heaven throughout this entire scene. During the young man Stephen’s sermon in the book of Acts, just before he was stoned to death for the faith, he mentioned this event on Mount Sinai and said that Moses met with an angel, not with God Himself. Stephen said that an angel spoke with Moses on Mt. Sinai (Acts 7:38). Years ago, when I first noticed this, Stephen’s statement struck me as significant, and I turned to Exodus, Chapter Three to look at the story again. And there it was, as plainly stated as can be, at the very beginning of the story. When Moses first approached the mountain, before he even saw the bush, we are told, "And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. . . ."

The word "angel" means "messenger" in both the Hebrew and Greek languages. When men are referred to as messengers of God, the same word for "messenger" is used as is used for "angels". Such men are often called by other names as well, such as "prophet" or "preacher". But heavenly messengers are almost always called in translations of the Bible "angels". This messenger from heaven, this angel on Mt. Sinai, had been sent to speak to Moses the word of God.

Notice now that in speaking to Moses, the angel said exactly what God had given him to speak, no less and no more. He said, "I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." He did not preface his remarks to Moses by saying, "I am not really God Himself. I am just telling you what He said." No, he uttered the precise words he was sent to utter, and no more. Moreover, he responded to Moses" questions there on the mount only with what words God gave him at that moment to speak.

So, the truth that Stephen spoke to the elders of Israel who were about to kill him was this: God Himself was not in the burning bush talking to Moses, but His personal messenger was there, the "angel of the Lord".

Every one of God’s prophets spoke the same way the angel on Mt. Sinai did. One moment, they would speak of God in the third person, as if He were far away in heaven, and the next moment God would be using their bodies to speak directly through them to Israel, saying "I say to you . . ." It is not a strange thing. It is the way God has chosen to work through men and angels.

By His Son

In Peter’s letter to the congregations, he wrote that if any man speaks in the congregation, he should follow the example of God’s messenger at Mt. Sinai and "speak as of the oracles of God" (1Pet. 4:11). In other words, my brother, say what God will have you to say (if He will have you to say anything), then glorify God with your silence. Everything beyond the will of God is sin.

In Hebrews, Chapter One (verses 1-2), we are told that God "at sundry times and in diverse manners spake in times past unto the fathers by the prophets", but now, the writer goes on to say, God "hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son."

If the angel of the Lord had authority to repeat God's words, "I am that I am", should not the Son of God much more have that privilege, Jesus being not merely a messenger from heaven but also "the brightness of [God's] glory, and the express image of His person"?

Straining again to make something out of nothing, men who teach a trinitarian philosophy of God stretch Jesus’ statement beyond the snapping point. Jesus was only echoing to men the words of his heavenly Father. Jesus was, and is, a living echo of God’s voice, a living reflection of His Father’s person. Jesus said, "He who has seen me has seen the Father" (Jn. 14:9), and "If ye had known me, ye should have known the Father also" (Jn. 14:7). But by such statements, was Jesus claiming to be his own Father? Of course not.

On other occasions, he would say things such as, "The Father is greater than I" (Jn. 14:28), and "I can of my own self do nothing. As I hear [from the Father], I judge" (Jn. 5:30). And he refused the flattering suggestion that he was good as his Father was good (Mk. 10:18).

Everything Jesus did and everything Jesus said was only by inspiration of God. Jesus said repeatedly that he only did and said what his Father sent him to do and say. In the beginning, the Son was the Father’s agent in creating this entire cosmos--but only because his Father wanted the cosmos to be created! If the Father had not wanted the universe to be here, the Son would not have created it. We exist because the Father wanted us, not because the Son had a good idea.

The Son existed in glory with his Father before the foundation of the world (cp. Jn. 17:24). So, it is altogether within the bounds of reason and righteousness for him to say, "Before Abraham was, I am. His meaning was not at all, as Christian teachers say, that Jesus is one third of a nebulous "tri-personal deity". Nor do such statements from Jesus mean that the holy Spirit is a Person, combined with two other Persons to make up one Big Person. Nor do such statements mean that God is more than one Person mixed together, nor any combination of the above. Jesus was there with the Father before the foundation of the world, and by saying, "Before Abraham was, I am", he was merely revealing that truth to men. We need not read into that simple statement any more than what Jesus said.

The Jews desired that day to kill Jesus because they misunderstood his words to mean that he was claiming to be God Himself. What the Jews wrongly thought Jesus was claiming, Christians now have institutionalized with their trinitarian faith, and throughout the past two thousand years have persecuted and killed many wise children of God for rejecting that heresy.

But the truth is simple. The Father created the Son, and the Son created everything and everybody else. They could both say truthfully, "Before Abraham was, I am."

Thought for Today

2003. 02-04

Cleanliness

God gave laws to Israel concerning a wide range of human experience. In Deuteronomy 24, He even gave commandments about personal hygiene on the battlefield. He said, "Thou shalt have a place outside the camp where you shall go forth, and thou shalt have a paddle upon thy weapon. And it shall be when thou ease thyself (that is, have a bowel movement), then thou shalt dig therewith and shalt turn back and cover that which cometh from thee, for the Lord thy God walketh in the midst of thy camp to deliver thee and to give up thine enemies before thee, that He see no unclean thing in thee and turn away from thee."

I think it was Benjamin Franklin who wrote, "cleanliness is next to godliness", and he was making a good observation. In fact, cleanliness is a part of godliness. God loves cleanliness, as His commandment to Israel concerning battlefield hygiene indicates. I have never seen an obedient, Spirit-filled person live a life that was habitually unclean or physically nasty.

What is particularly striking about this section from Deuteronomy is that God warned His people that He would not deliver them from their enemies if they did not keep themselves and their camp clean. Think of how important this issue must be to our heavenly Father! Few human endeavors are as grueling and demanding as war; still, if in the midst of a military campaign the army of Israel became slack in their personal hygiene, the Lord promised to give the victory to their enemies instead of to them!

Paul exhorted the saints at Corinth with these words: "Let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God" (2Cor. 7:1). Keeping one’s physical body clean is a part of true holiness, just as is keeping one’s conscience clear. When we are made aware of the sternness with which God dealt with the subject of cleanliness among His Old Testament people, we understand why Paul added the phrase "in the fear of God" to his exhortation to the congregation. A child of God who is physically unclean is a reproach to Christ, and the wrath of God is upon him.

Please do not assume from this message that I never allow myself or my kids to get dirty. I think that it is healthy for kids to play and get dirty sometimes. I like to see them enjoy themselves outside. And I enjoy a day when I can get out in the yard or go into the surrounding woods with my chain saw and clean up an area. But a habitually dirty person who will not clean himself is one who is in trouble spiritually. A habitually dirty person in the body of Christ is one who has secret sin. It is just a matter of time before it will be exposed by God before all.

Stay clean in your spirit, and you will stay clean physically. When the "new man" within us is clean, he cannot tolerate a dirty "old man" in the flesh.

Thought for Today

2003. 02-03

Imitators

Every culture in history developed its own legends and myths. God visited Israel and spared them the need to do that. The revelation of truth from God to Moses and Israel made it unnecessary for the Israelites to invent creation myths, or myths about the powers and deeds of other gods. God’s revelation to Israel predated most ancient myths by centuries, and often we can find in the things God revealed to His people the roots of those myths of ancient cultures. We can see how God’s truth was distorted by men who heard it but did not believe it. The Flood of Noah's day was a real historical event. But when the story of the Flood was repeated in the ancient Mesopotamia, it was twisted into the legend of Gilgamish, a story that contained vague shadows of the true story of the Flood but none of the true Spirit of God. Scholars, pointing to ancient legends that are similar to the Bible’s stories, often teach that the Biblical story of the Flood is just one of many myths invented by ancient peoples in their unlearned attempts to explain things. Such scholars are the kind of men who taught in the Seminary I attended. I occasionally sat with them privately in their offices as they attempted to persuade me of their godless theories. Of course, they wanted nothing to do with my unsophisticated faith in history as the Bible presents it. What such professors fail to see is that ancient myths similar to the Bible are mere imitations of the revelations of God and distortions of the truth God graciously gave to fallen man. The Gilgamesh Epic is nothing more than an ancient Mesopotamian distortion of the truth of Noah's Flood. And there are very many other examples.

In Deuteronomy, God through Moses prophesied that after Moses’s death Israel would become "unmindful of the Rock that begat thee" (32:18). This idea of a rock producing children must have fascinated someone. It wasn't long before a myth sprang up among the Greeks that Deucalion and his wife Pyrrha (the Greek version of Noah and his wife) created men from rocks that they cast over their shoulders behind them.

When men are imitated by others, they typically feel flattered. God has had more imitators than anyone in human history, and still does, but He accepts none of the flattery of men. He gives men His simple truth as a blessing, and when His Word is twisted or painted up to appear more attractive, people suffer. The myths of the ancient world ruined the lives of countless thousands of people and led to the development of religious ideas and rites that plagued the earth for millennia. Those myths did not glorify God; they brought men into the bondage of darkness. There was only one truth; there were many imitators.

The gospel of Jesus came as a wonderful, bright light to show us the way to God and make us eternally happy. The gospels of Christianity, with its imitation congregations, has twisted the right ways of God into religions that imitate what God gave us in Christ but that have none of God’s saving power and love. Regardless of the many baptismal rites that Christians have invented over the centuries, for one example, the only baptism that will ever do anyone any good is still Jesus’s.

Instead of flattering the Lord by endorsing one of Christianity’s imitations of the Gospel of Christ, let us simply submit to it. That way, we please God and save ourselves. We don’t need myths. We need Jesus.

Thought for Today

2003. 01-31

Cruelty

From a message to the congregation, mid-2001.

We want to be the kind of people who never hurt people on purpose. Lamentations says that God does not willingly afflict men, and from that, we know we should not be that way. Along the way, I see people, including children who reach their teen-age years without learning the value of kindness, belittling others with little thought of the consequences upon the other person’s heart. I see adults, as well, attempting to hurt others when they are angry, disappointed, or just out of self-will. Certain Christians, as well as people of some other religions, are sometimes sarcastic and abusive to people because they believe those people are theologically wrong. I want everyone in the congregation that meets in my house to know that to hurt others intentionally for doctrinal reasons is never the right thing to do. And there is never any justification for maliciousness of any sort. If the Devil himself came to my house, I would not treat him as rudely and cruelly as some people treat others when they become angry with them or just don’t like them for some reason. The Devil himself would not treat people as badly as some people treat others. He is shrewder than that. He is always very polite.

God could be cold and hard-and be right in being that way if that is how He chose to be-but He refuses to be cold and cruel toward people. His love teaches us that being that way is always evil. Then, let’s practice harmlessness and a non-retaliatory attitude whenever we are hurt or disappointed. The nature Jesus gives us can be described in this way: "Harmless as doves, bold as lions, and cunning as serpents." That is how Jesus told his followers to be. I remember when I first began to notice people who were like this, and I can remember being deeply impressed with their harmless attitude, their lack of any thought of retaliation for harm done. This is being like Jesus. This is good.

Paul added this: "Be not overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good." In other words, don’t surrender to the pressure to use the weapons that the world offers you, the weapons of hatred and strife, a sharp tongue, ill will and harshness. Instead, be like Jesus and let God do your fighting for you. When a person with faith sees someone doing evil, or when he suffers abuse at the hands of another, he knows that what God will do to that person is punishment enough, and that knowledge prevents him from doing evil to another in his own defense.

Peter said, "If you do wrong and suffer for it, what reward have you? But if you do right and suffer for it, and take it patiently, this is worthy of praise from God." It is probably true that most of the cruelty and hatefulness that men show each other is what they would call "justifiable cruelty". Ahithophel's life was permanently marred by David’s sin. He felt justified in overthrowing and attempting to kill the guilty king. Judas had been embarrassed by Jesus in front of the other disciples a few days before he betrayed him. Almost all people who become bitter and sarcastic have a complaint-sometimes legitimate-and feel that they have a right to be hateful. But in God’s world, there is no right to be unrighteous.

What attitude will we choose when we have a complaint? Remember this. There is no condition in this life that justifies coldness and cruelty on our part. No one on earth has the power to treat us so badly that we are justified in returning cruelty in any form to him. No one is so wicked that we are justified to be like him. Vengeance is God’s; leave it to Him.

By far, the most vicious and merciless cruelty on earth has always been the cruelty that springs from false religion. What boundary, what limit, can there be to cruelty when one believes that it is the will of God to be cruel? The relentless hatred and murder that is continually taking place in the Middle East is the result of false teachings about God. What peace can be desired with others, when a man believes that God despises them? In that case, even in the face of countless tears and untold heartache, there will be no mercy shown. When a man believes that God despises another, he can show no mercy, lest he sin against God. On the contrary, we have all seen in news reports the open joy and celebration among many in that part of the world at the suffering and death of others. Such pictures have been broadcast around the world. There is no desire for peace in many hearts in that region because so many of the people are convinced that God hates their enemies as they do. When men are persuaded by false doctrines to think that God approves of their cruelty, then they are inspired to be ever more cruel. They take pleasure in inflicting pain upon others, seeing it as proof of their own righteousness. Such conflict can never cease until wrong ideas about God are corrected. Avoid religious hatred at all costs. There is no end to it, no boundary, and no mercy.

Lastly, especially remember this warning from Solomon: If we are ever hateful toward someone who has done us no evil, if we ever return cruelty for someone else’s kindness, we provoke God’s wrath and may bring upon ourselves great trouble from God. We need to remember this because sometimes when God corrects us, He uses people. And it is easy to judge them at first as being evil instead of as messengers from God. How many of us, over the years, have responded in foolish haste to the chastening hand of our heavenly Father?

The way to be safe is to make it a practice to avoid harshness, even toward those who appear to be attempting to harm us. They may actually be ministering to us the grace of God for our good.

Thought for Today

2003. 01-30

Hebrews 11:1

"Now, faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."

Faith is the currency of the kingdom of God. With it, life in Christ is pleasant; without it, spiritual life is troublesome. Poverty on earth is measured in terms of wealth; poverty in the kingdom of God is measured in terms of faith. On earth, money is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of unseen things; in the kingdom of God, faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of unseen things. Those who put their first degree of faith to good usage increase their store of faith. Others who squander their faith on false doctrines or ungodly behavior become spiritually poor.

All who have entered the kingdom of God have faith, or have had faith in the past. We know this is true because everyone who has been born again into God’s kingdom has received the Spirit, and the Spirit can only be received by faith (Gal. 3:14).

Spend your faith wisely. You do this by spending your time wisely, by doing things that make the heart of God glad that you are His child. The result of pleasing our heavenly Father with our godly attitude and conduct is an increase in heavenly riches.

Jesus told a parable of three servants who were entrusted with some money from their master before he departed on a long journey. Two of the servants put their master’s money to good use, and their wealth increased. The third hid his master’s money in a hole in the earth, and when his master returned from his journey, he had nothing to offer him but the money that he had originally been given. His master rebuked him and cast him out as a "wicked and lazy servant". That cursed servant was cast into "outer darkness", said Jesus. Then he added, "There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." May God help us be faithful and profitable servants of Jesus and the body of Christ.

If you are no good to the body of Christ, you are no good to God. Invest your faith, your short time on this earth, in those things that edify the children of God. Do good to those who need good done to them. "He who giveth unto the poor lendeth unto the Lord" wrote Solomon. And I will add that the Lord pays high interest on His debts. Every heart that does righteous deeds increases in faith. Faith is not a baseless wishing or hoping. Faith isa knowing; it is a sure confidence toward God that springs from a clear conscience.

Condemnation is a drain on faith. Stay away from those things that bring the cancer of guilt into your heart and eat away the faith you have. Your faith is precious. By it, saints have overcome the greatest obstacles that this world has laid before them. By faith, Daniel spoke kindly in the morning to the trembling king who had commanded him to be cast into the den of lions. By faith, David refused to avenge himself against the mad King Saul and trusted in God to keep him from evil. By faith, a little servant girl’s testimony sent Naaman to Israel to be healed of leprosy by the prophet. By faith, the bloodied Paul requested permission to confess Christ before his brethren after they had brutally beaten him near the temple in Jerusalem.

All the wise and faithful spent their time on earth investing their faith in righteousness, trusting God that for them there would be a great and imperishable reward laid up in heaven. And at the close of their lives, none of them were disappointed.

Faith is "the substance of things hoped for". If your heart condemns you because of sin, your hope has no substance. But "beloved, if our hearts condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God, and whatsoever we ask, we receive of Him because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in his sight" (1Jn. 3:21-22).

My father told me a story of his younger days, when his father, before he left the house that morning, had told him to chop some wood for the fireplace. During the day, he obeyed his father’s commandment. He chopped the wood, more wood than what his father would have expected. But then, he did even more than that. He carried some of the wood into the house where it was needed, and then stacked the rest neatly in the wood shed. That evening, he could be found sitting on the front porch, eagerly looking for his father’s return. He wanted to see the look on his father’s face when he discovered what he had accomplished that day. When at last, he saw the buggy coming up the road, he jumped off the porch and ran to meet him. That is faith.

If we go the "first mile" and obey our Father’s commandments, that is good. But oh, how faith increases when we go beyond the commandments and "do those things that are pleasing in His sight." When we invest our time in those things, instead of playing the games that others may play, we will long for the return of Jesus. And when he finally appears, we will rejoice to meet him because we know that he will be pleased with what we have done.

Thought for Today

2003. 01-29

What Must I Do To Be Saved?

The issue of salvation is simple. Anywhere we look in the Bible, we find the truth about it. We should just ask ourselves, "What does the Bible say a person must do to be saved?" Not just one verse here or there, but the whole thing. If we do that, and if we use a concordance such as Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible", we find in there many, many things that a person must do in order to be saved.

Below is a paper I prepared for my OT class at the Community College years ago, showing how many things the Bible says a person must do/have in order to be saved.

What Must I Do To Be Saved?

OT 1133

Instrcutor: John David Clark, Sr.

# What I Must Do References

1 Repent Acts 17:30; Lk.13:1-5

2 ...and believe Mk. 1:14-15; Acts 16:29-31

3 ...and be baptized Mk. 16:15-16; 1Pet. 3:21-22

4 ..and be sanctified 2Thess. 2:13; Rom. 15:16

5 Obey Christ Heb. 5:8-9

6 Work Jas. 2:14, 19-26; Rom. 2:5-11

7 Have faith 1Pet. 1:7-9

8 Walk in the Spirit Rom. 8:13; Gal. 5:16-21

9 Call upon the name of the Lord Acts 2:21 (Zeph. 3:9; Rom. 10:12-14a!)

10 Confess Christ Mt. 10:32-33; Rom. 10:9-10

11 Have power from God 1Pet. 1:3-5; Mk. 10:25-27

12 Overcome the world Rev. 2:7; 2Pet. 2:20-21

13 Have the hope Col. 1:27; Eph. 2:11-13; Rom. 8:24-25

14 Have an appointment 1Thess. 5:8-9

15 Endure to the end Mt. 24:9-13; 1Tim. 4:16; 2:14-15; Heb. 3:5-6,14; 10:38-39

16 Remember all the above (and below) 1Cor. 15:1-2

Other necessary things:

One must be meek (Ps. 76:9; 149:4)

One must do righteousness (1Pet. 4:18)

One must get lost (not "get saved". Lk. 9:24)

One must hear anointed preaching (1Cor. 1:21)

One must be in Christ (Jn. 10:9; Rom. 8:9b)

One must be contrite (Ps. 34:18)

One must live uprightly (Ps. 7:10; Pro. 28:18)

One must have patience (Lk. 21:19; Heb. 6:11-12; 10:36)

One must have mercy from God (Tit. 3:5)

One must have grace from God (Eph. 2:8; Acts 15:1; Tit. 2:11-12)

Jesus must have patience with one (2Pet. 3:15)

One must be associated with Jesus (Rom. 5:9-10)

And there are many, many more!

=============================================

Salvation is the reward for a holy life. It is silly to think that one can repeat a few Scriptures and "get saved", or that eternal salvation is obtained in a moment of time. The Scriptures above describe a kind of life, not a ceremony.

Read carefully and thoughtfully the Scriptures listed above. If you find one thing that I have listed above that is not ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY for salvation, please tell me so that I can remove it from the list. I want the list to be accurate.

Thought for Today

2003. 01-28

The Commandments of Men

Jesus said that it is evil to "teach for doctrines the commandments of men". In fact, he said that doing so would make one’s worship of God in vain. What a fearful thought, to worship God and at the same time to fail to realize that all our singing, our praise, our prayers, are in vain!

We believe that Jesus, as always, told the truth. It IS evil to teach as doctrines the commandments of men. But Jesus did not say that commandments of men themselves are evil. On the contrary, commandments of men have an important place in our lives, for they are part of God’s work on earth to secure our blessing and safety. Jesus was simply warning his followers not to do as the Jewish leaders had done. They esteemed the commandments of their elders as if they were equal in value to God’s doctrines, and that tragic error ruined their faith.

The commandments of men include the laws of a country, and Peter warned the saints to "submit to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake." The commandments of men include the rules of a household that members of a family, in particular children, are expected to observe. Commandments of men may even include cultural etiquette; the love of God will allow none of us to behave as though we are superior to all the customs of behavior in our own societies. Finally, the commandments of men include the pastoral guidance for the congregation on specific matters in each generation.

In each generation, styles change. The family of God, if it is spiritually healthy, will change with the styles. A healthy congregation strives to be as much like the world as it is possible to be, without sin. The man of God in each generation must guide the saints through those changes, hearing from God and communicating the right course for the family of God on earth. A truly spiritual man teaches the saints to be neither the first to take up a new fashion nor the last to lay it down. A spiritual congregation never attracts attention to itself because of its manner of dress, either by grabbing after the latest fashion or by clinging to the fashions of saints of a previous generation. The Son of God in heaven longed to be made like us, to be as much like us as God would allow, and he became one of us, "yet without sin." This is what everyone desires who is like Jesus: to be like those who are lost, except for their sin.

So, the commandments of men are an essential part of spiritual good health, but they can, and should change as the world changes in its futile pursuit of happiness. The doctrines of God, on the others hand, never change. This is a critical difference between the commandments of men and the doctrines of God. It is evil to elevate commandments of men to the level of the unchanging doctrines of God. Even if those commandments of men are inspired by God for the congregation at a given moment in time, they are in force only as long as that situation remains the same. And in this world, situations always change.

Concerning laws of a country, Paul taught that rebellion against the commandments of men was tantamount to rebellion against God and that those who resisted the ordinances of men would "receive damnation to themselves". Laws of all nations change, but as long as a nation’s law is in effect, it is rebellion against God for a citizen of that nation not to obey it. Much more is this true in the Kingdom of God. If God creates within a man’s heart the wisdom to give commandments to the congregation to deal with changing situations of this life, it is sin for the congregation not to hear and obey that man. Those commandments carry with them the full authority of the Lord, even though those commandments may be at a later date altered to meet a new situation. From my experience, it appears that changes in the commandments of men for the congregation only gradually develop and are to be made with the fear of God. Young people need to understand this.

The commandments among the saints of previous generations are not to be scoffed at. It is foolish to consider ourselves superior to those who went before, merely because we are not led by the Spirit to forbid certain things that those old pastors forbade to their flock. They were not foolish men; they were godly and good men. The commandments they gave to the congregation saved the congregation from many a heartache and prevented worldliness from infiltrating and poisoning the hearts of many saints. Souls were saved who listened to them.

Many Pentecostal ministers in the early part of the 20th century taught their congregations against wearing neckties, buying insurance, drinking soft drinks, and several other things that we would consider harmless today. But they were not fools. Those commandments had purpose at that time, and every member of the congregation who refused to submit to those commandments at that time grew spiritually weak. The only ones who grew in grace were those who submitted to the government God placed over them. The commandments of those men for the congregation were of God, even though almost all of those commandments have been altered. After their time, God sent wisdom to leaders who recognized when it was time to move away from certain positions so that the testimony of the congregation would not be hindered. But until those leaders came and, by the will of God, altered the commandments of their predecessors, it was sin for any believer to stubbornly "demand his rights", so to speak, and pursue a different course.

None of us is greater than all of us. We are a part of each other, and if the body of Christ as a whole believes that certain things are ungodly, it is ungodly for any of us to think we know better. I have never seen a whole congregation who knew the truth err in judgment, though individuals within that congregation may entertain some occasional wrong ideas.

I have seen precious saints be turned over to the spirits of this age because they thought they were wiser than the whole congregation and strong enough to stand alone in the matter of styles and customs. On one occasion, Paul needed to explain to the saints in Corinth the truth concerning styles of hair length for men and women. But understanding that some would remain self-willed regardless of his patient and wise explanation, he finally resorted to what was obviously to him a very strong argument for submission to what was commonly held in the congregations to be right. He concluded by saying, "We have no such custom, and neither do the congregations of God." In other words, Paul was demanding of the rebellious, long-haired men and the rebellious short-haired women, "Do you want to be a part of what the congregation is, or do you not? Make up your minds!"

Now, I am not saying that modern customs of shorter hair for women is wrong or that longer hair for men is wrong. It makes no difference to me how long or short any congregation member's hair is, as long as the length of his or her hair does not make that person stand out in a crowd or otherwise hinder the work of God. If you want to know what the will of God is for your hair, or your shoes, or your hat, or your clothes, go for a walk down the street on an ordinary day and look at what the world is wearing. The will of God is for you to adopt the style that blends naturally with whatever the world is wearing at any one time in history.

There was no halo around Jesus's head. He escaped notice on many occasions as he blended with the crowds. If he were walking among us on earth today, there would be no particular stylishness about him. He would wear ordinary clothes, and his hair would be of ordinary length. Moreover, God gave His Son a body that was not even handsome. There was nothing about Jesus physically that attracted anyone. Those who were drawn to him were drawn to him because of the power of God, the love of God, and the wisdom of God that was in him. If there is anything about you other than those same kinds of things that still attracts others to you, there is something still of self-will and rebellion remaining in you, and you are not yet as happy in Jesus as he wants you to be.

Thought for Today

2003. 01-27

Secrets

From a message to the congregation, April 19, 2001

"Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart.

Thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbor, and not suffer [allow] sin upon him."

Lev. 19:17

"Whoso is partner with a thief hateth his own soul;

he heareth cursing and betrayeth it not."

Prov. 29:27

I have been pondering this morning over my personal history with the family of God, in particular over the lives of some of God’s children who have wandered away from the right way and are now in the wilderness of sin. In retrospect, it can easily be seen that sin not exposed was the beginning of their downfall, and the wisdom we find in the Scriptures shines more brightly because of their night.

In one case, Tricia, the wife of a brother Rick, was stubborn and self-willed. Sometimes, when the rage of her desires seized her, she would even throw dishes or other objects at him, at the same time using vile, ungodly words. But all this was kept in the dark by Rick. Rick never allowed anyone in the congregation to know about these episodes, and sin took advantage of his secrecy. It grew until it dominated his home.

Jesus taught me years ago that sin never departs voluntarily (unless it hopes thereby to accomplish a greater sin). It must be driven out. Solomon said that "foolishness is bound in the heart of child", and he gave counsel to parents to use the rod on the backs of their children in order to drive foolishness from their hearts. Otherwise, foolishness will never leave them; they will become foolish adults. It is the same with the family of God. When sin creeps into the assembly, it must be exposed and driven out. It will never reach a point at which it says to itself, "I have hurt enough people now; I am satisfied. I will leave." No. It will remain and increase until every vestige of peace and joy are destroyed. Sin will remain until it reigns completely and supreme.

After sin grew to such a degree in Rick’s house that it could not be hidden, he and Terry had an outright brawl one day. She ended up in the hospital emergency room, and he had a scratched up face and broken glasses. Who knows what ungodly scenes their small children witnessed? Who knows what obscene words they heard? The county sheriff was called to the home, and great reproach was brought upon the name of Jesus. What kind of testimony were Rick and Terry to their neighbors? A short time after this, they both abandoned their walk with Jesus and turned to the darkness of sin altogether.

The responsibility for the ruin of Rick’s home and life in Christ lay squarely at his own feet. For several years he had shielded his unruly wife from the care of the saints. If he had obeyed God’s commandment and exposed and reproved the evil when it first began to show itself, both he and his wife would have received the loving and wise aide of the congregation’s faith, and the strength of the whole body of Christ is usually sufficient to save any individual member. But Rick was unwilling to seek help from the saints, even though he knew what was happening in his home was evil and that he did not have the strength to oppose it.

But why was no help ever sought? I believe that there were two principal reasons. First, I believe that Rick had sins that he himself was hiding, and because of that, he did not possess the moral strength to demand uprightness from his wife. Second, I believe he knew what counsel the congregation would give him, and he did not want to hear it. It was not love for his wife that kept him silent, nor was it the love of God. It was love of self and of pleasure. In concealing the unruly spirit of his wife from the saints, he was preserving his privilege to her bed. She ruled the house by the threat of withholding her pretty body from him, and over time, he was subjugated to her by his own lust.

In a marital relationship without Christ being the head, if a husband has no control over his own lust, his wife will use her body to control him. And when a wife controls the husband, children usually control the mother. So, when a married man with children has insufficient control over his own lusts, his children, typically, dominate the home. The healing from this carnal way of living together comes only from Jesus. Nobody manipulates anybody when the Spirit of God is in control of a home.

Not long before Rick and Terry finally broke their covenant with Jesus and went away, I and a few faithful saints sat and talked with Rick. I explained these things to him. I reminded him of how much like her manipulative mother Terry had become. I reminded Rick of some experiences through which God had previously taken him, things intended as warnings concerning his home. In particular, I reminded him of the story he had told me once concerning his father in law, Darryl. Rick had told me a couple of years earlier that Darryl had broken down and sobbed like a child because he wanted to be a part of our congregation but that Peggy, his wife, "wouldn't let him." I explained to Rick that his mother-in-law Peggy had used her body to whip Darryl into line, that he was like a whipped puppy with her, trembling at her displeasure. And I pointed out to Rick that Terry had now done the same thing to him because of his own lack of self-control. Rick weakly sighed and said quietly, "I think you've hit the nail right on the head.""

He left us that afternoon determined to return home, to do the will of God, and to put his house and life in order. That night, he and Terry had another violent fight. The secret of her sin had been kept from the congregation too long. Now, sin was head of Rick’s house, not Rick. Terry abandoned the faith, and soon after, Rick followed, unable to keep himself from her.

On another occasion, I was called upon by a woman to conduct the funeral of her mother, an elderly saint whom I knew well. Some of the most precious moments of my life have been those spent at the bedside of old saints who were dying, and at the funerals that followed. God’s presence can be so wonderful at such times! The Scriptures say, "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of one of His saints", and I understand that Scripture well, for the death of one of God’s saints is precious to my heart, too! In this case, however, my spirit was grieved with the thought of conducting that old saint’s funeral. The thought of participating in it was absolutely repugnant to me, and yet I could not understand why I felt that way. Twice I suggested to the family that they might prefer another minister to conduct the funeral, but the family would not hear of it. And since I had no reason to give them for not doing it, I found it all but impossible to refuse their request. Had I known then what I discovered later, I could have easily turned them down, but at the time, I wasn't privy to their nasty little family secrets.

God was privy to the secrets, though, and He refused to give me any message at all to preach at the funeral. This was very troubling to me. What was I to do? If I were a Christian minister, I could have just bought one of those little books that tells a man what to say at funerals and weddings. That way, it wouldn’t matter what God said or didn’t say; I could still do the job. But the true servant of God depends upon God for his words, and I was now in a very awkward position because of His silence. The night before I was to conduct the funeral, I was anxiously thinking about my predicament as I drove west on Dabney Drive in Henderson, NC (I still remember the exact spot). I had concluded that since the Lord would give me nothing to say at the funeral, I would simply read some Scriptures and pray.

But the Lord abruptly interrupted my vain thoughts. He spoke to me in a very stern voice and said, "You're not going to pray, either."

Not even pray! What was I to do now? My mind began to race around, trying to come up with some way out, some solution to this dilemma. I abhorred with all my heart the thought of conducting this funeral, as I know now that God did. He did not want his servant used in the continuing cover-up of filthiness and sin. But I was in the dark; I suspected nothing. I only knew what I felt. I was really in a hard place now, and I did not know what I could do. The funeral was to be held the next morning, and I felt empty and dry as last week's cracker box.

The next morning, as a last measure, I decided that since I had no message for the funeral, and since my Master would not even allow me to pray, I would just pick out a few Scriptures to read and close with one that ended with the word, "Amen." In retrospect, that plan seems a little humorous, but at the time I was desperate. The funeral was just a few hours away.

As I was searching the Bible for an appropriate order of verses, God had mercy on me and gave me a short message for the unhappy occasion, but its tone was more of rebuke and warning for the natural relatives of the departed saint than of hope. She was the only member of her earthly family that had a heart for God’s truth. Beside her grave that morning, I spoke to people who had for decades heard and rejected the truth of God, people who in reality knew neither that old saint nor her God, yet people who now expected me to submissively play the role of a Christian comforter to them who could not grieve for her death in any measure as I and the congregation grieved. The body of Christ, her true family, were made to stand to the side while the ceremony proceeded. It was an awkward situation for everyone present. It is probably my most unpleasant memory. But I am not my own; I have an Owner, and he decides what I can and cannot do.

The details of what I said and did at the funeral are not important here. The point that I want to make is that the cause of all the pain and trouble that this situation caused me and everyone at the funeral was that sin was kept secret from the congregation by that old saint. She should have told us about the wretched filthiness of some of her relatives. But she did not. And she did not tell me because she knew that I (and anyone else with good sense in Jesus) would have told her to separate herself from certain relatives of hers who had given themselves to filthiness. The body of Christ is to be merciful, yes, but also pure! Her keeping some sins secret from the congregation forced me and the congregation-and her own relatives-into a terribly confusing and difficult situation that none of us should have been put through. But God knew about it, and He was displeased that I should have anything to do with their ceremony of her burial. If I had understood that then, I would have refused so much as to show up at her funeral, much less would I have conducted it.

We make ourselves partners with sin when we seek to hide it from the family of God. And when we hide sin while we are part of a congregation, we can force the unsuspecting congregation into a unwilling partnership with it, too. In the Bible, we find a number of cases in which God’s people suffered and even died because certain ones among them secretly brought sin into the camp (e.g. Joshua 6 & 7). That is why we are warned not to allow sin to remain hidden among us but to rebuke our neighbor (that is, fellow believers) and to "betray" any cursing that we hear. Isn’t it interesting that God says (in the verse quoted at the beginning of this letter) that to fail to rebuke a brother who commits a sin hates him?

We do no one a favor by hiding his sin from the family of God. We only make room for that sin to grow in his heart and, so, endanger the congregation. Secrecy is fertilizer for sin. That is why Paul, that wise old warrior of the faith, commanded young Timothy to rebuke openly those who sinned, so that those who were looking on could learn to fear God (1Tim. 5:20) and, so, escape the sin that "doth so easily beset us".

Thought for Today

2003. 01-24

The Law and the Future

From a conversation with Brother Wendell, May 5, 2001

As most of you already know, the Old Testament Law was from God. The guidelines for civil government included in it revealed to the judges and rulers in Israel what true justice is. Governments of earth would do well to pay close attention to God’s Old Testament Law when developing and operating their legal systems, and the governments of earth that have been influenced by the Law of Moses have been far better governments than those which have not been so influenced.

The value of the Law, however, is more than that its civil laws revealed the mind of God for rulers of Israel, or that its ceremonial laws prophesied about the coming Messiah. The value of the Law is also that the civil laws are prophetic of Jesus’s future reign on earth. Jesus will reign "with a rod of iron" on this earth for a thousand years. Anyone interested in knowing ahead of time what kind of judgments he will implement (through his saints appointed to their positions throughout the earth) need only read the Law of Moses. The Law tells us beforehand what kind of king that Jesus will be, and it is both frightening and comforting. Think about it. The Law of Moses is not merely an historical document; it is a prophecy of the manner of Jesus’s future reign on earth! So, Jesus has not finished fulfilling the Law in this sense: he still must reign on earth and impose upon this wicked world the justice that God revealed to Israel. Israel failed to institute the judgments of the Law according to the pattern of justice that God gave to them, but Jesus will not fail. The earth has never known such pure justice, but it will . . . and it will not like it!

Here are some of the harsh judgments contained in the Law: The death penalty for kidnappers. The death penalty for owners of an animal known to be dangerous, if that animal kills someone. A thief must repay at least fourfold the value of what he steals. Harlots, adulterers, and adulteresses must be executed. Witches and wizards are to be burned alive. The nearest kinsman of a murdered man is allowed personally to put the murderer to death.

Every nation on earth will be required to honor Jesus the King. If any nation refuses, its rain will be stopped. If it still refuses, plagues will be sent upon that nation.

The reign of Jesus will not be welcomed by this world because there will be no "back-room deals". The guilty will be found out and punished every time, whether they be rich or poor, learned or ignorant, great or small. And no innocent person will ever suffer for a crime he did not commit. There will be no need for skilled trial lawyers, because the judges will be led by the Spirit, not bound by legislation designed and voted on by a body of sinners. There will be no legal text books by which the earth’s judges must judge the people of earth because the judges will be the saints of the Most High, and they will reign in righteousness. There will be no evidence presented in courts because the judges of earth will not judge by "the hearing of their ears or the sight of their eyes." The holy Ghost will reveal to the hearts of the Lord’s judges either the innocence or the guilt of every accused person. Praise God! The world has never known true justice, where no plea bargains can be negotiated on behalf of the rich and powerful, where no loopholes exist, and where money has absolutely no influence on the system. And because the world has never seen true justice, the world cannot believe it will ever exist on earth. But it will thrive here, after Jesus returns to earth in his great power and glory and appoints his saints to their places around the earth. Daniel prophesied that Jesus’s reign would be a completely new form of government, not employing any element of the forms of earthly governments that precede his return. And if a person wants to get a preview of the kinds of judgments will mark the reign of the Savior, he can just pick up the Bible and read that often overlooked and sometimes belittled section of God's Book called the Law of Moses. That Law retains to this day its value for the saints who want to know God because it is still pointing us to our coming King.

Thought for Today

2003. 01-23

The New Past

From a conversation with Sister Sandy, May 20, 2001

Paul said that "If any man be in Christ Jesus, he is a new creature. Old things are passed away; behold, all things are made new."

Think about that. If all things are made new when you are baptized into Jesus Christ, then ALL THINGS are made new. This includes YOUR PAST. When you come to Christ, you are given a New Past! When you come to Christ, your past becomes the history written in the Bible. THAT is your earthly past, in Christ. God’s family is now your family. The old man is crucified with Christ ALONG WITH HIS PAST!

If you have the holy Ghost, your name was in the Lamb’s Book of Life before the foundation of the world. God had first claim on you. When you, as a lost sheep, heard the voice of your shepherd and come to Christ, you were finally getting in touch with your real "roots". Your roots are in Christ, not in the world. That’s why we call our conversion "coming home" instead of "leaving home".

Do not deceive yourself any longer. There is no excuse for any one in Christ to worry or complain about lingering bad influences of our sinful natural families; in Christ, THAT FAMILY DOES NOT EVEN EXIST, nor does its influence. In Christ, there is no natural family. In Christ, wrote Paul, "there is neither Jew nor Gentile, slave or freeman, rich or poor, male or female." In Christ, ALL THINGS are made new in Christ Jesus. For those of us who still look back for comfort or excuses at the old man’s family tree, the message is simple: "GET OVER IT!". In Christ, that tree is not even there!

In Christ, you have both a new future and a New Past. Get used to it. You are free. Act like it. You have been "translated out of the power of darkness into the kingdom of God's dear Son." There is no sin in your blood line because there is no sin in your Father’s blood. There is no bad influence in Christ; you have to go outside of Christ to get a bad influence. You have to ask for it. You have to leave your peace and the promises of God behind and go shopping among the Philistines to get a bad influence because in the Spirit of Christ, it doesn’t exist. It isn't even on the shelf! Have you been influenced to sin since you have been in Christ? If so, what were you doing out there among the Canaanites to start with? Stay home in the Spirit, and stay clean!

The "New Past" that Jesus offers everyone who trusts in him is what Paul referred to in 2Cor. 5: "Therefore if any man be in Christ he is a new creature. Old things are passed away; behold ALL THINGS are become new." If we have the faith to believe it, one of the most important of the "all things" that become new in Christ is our "old past", that is, our genealogical history before Jesus took us in.

The "New Past" is also what Paul referred to in Romans 11, where he told the Gentile believers that they had been "grafted" into the olive tree of Israel by the power of God. Now, when we are grafted into the olive tree of faith, the history of that olive tree becomes our history. That olive tree’s sap is our sap; its root is our root, and its future is our future. This "New Past" which becomes ours includes the testimony of Abel, Job, and of Noah, Abraham, and David, and of Daniel, Jeremiah, and the prophets, and of all the righteous, wise men and women of all time. Our past includes the testimonies of Paul, and of John, and of Peter. It includes (praise God!) the testimony of the Lord Jesus "who witnessed as good profession before Pilate". The men and women of faith are our ancestors now, and Christ Jesus is our elder brother.

The phrase "New Past" confuses the unbelieving because the "New Past" is in faith, and faith is not in their hearts. It confuses the rebellious because the "New Past" is in obedience, and they do not obey God. The message of a "New Past" troubles the trouble-makers in the family of God because the New Past is in peace, and peace irritates those who irritate God. What does it mean that "old things are passed away", if our old habits, our old complaints, and our old sins still cling to us, confusing and discouraging us? Are they passed away or are they not passed away?

Some years ago, as a sister in the Lord was in the midst of a sad visit with her elderly, unbelieving mother, the Lord spoke to her and said, "You are not a product of that union any more". We who are in Christ are "born of God" and are no longer "debtors to the flesh". That is, we do not owe our existence to the human beings who produced our physical bodies. God had our names written in His Book of Life before the world was created; He had claims on us before our natural parents even met each other. In Christ, we are no longer a product of that physical union of two human bodies; we are the product of the will and Word of God. It was His choice first, not theirs, that we are here. If our natural parents had tried to prevent our birth, the stones themselves would have brought us forth! We are the offspring of a race of men created by the power and love of God, beginning with "the new man Adam" who was nailed to a tree in ancient Judea.

There is no unbelief in our "New Past" because the New Past includes only men and women of faith. There is no confusion in our New Past because the New Past includes only men and women with the knowledge of God. There is no grumbling and ill will in our "New Past" because our New Past includes only the men and women who trusted God and loved people. The testimonies of the upright become our history when our history itself becomes new. When our father becomes Abraham, then our history includes leaving Babylonia behind! When our high priest becomes Christ, then our new history includes the Levitical priesthood that foreshadowed his work. In Christ, our forefathers built the ark out of gopher wood and waited for the rain, our forefathers crossed the Red Sea in faith, looking toward the Land of Promise, our forefathers trembled before God at the base of Mount Sinai, our forefathers willingly brought gold and silver to David for the building of God’s temple, our forefathers waited for the Promise of God in an upper room in Jerusalem, and our forefathers proclaimed the truth of Jesus to the ancient Roman world. In Christ, they were also our forefathers who were despised by men, who wandered about with no shelter, who were stoned, who were imprisoned and persecuted. And for those in Christ, it was our brother who was crucified for the sins of the world.

This is what the "New Past" means. In Christ, there is nothing that we fear because our forefathers were fearless, and holy courage is all that runs in our veins. There is nothing that can discourage us because in the blood of our new family runs nothing but faith that we "can do all things through Christ who strengthens us." There is no sin of the old past that can drag us back into darkness because in our veins runs a holiness that terrifies Satan himself. We cannot be overcome with confusion because the knowledge of God infuses our spirits. No weapon formed against us can prosper. All things are ours, and we are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s. There is nothing that can separate us from the Love of God because the love of God created and fills both our history and us.

God created our New Past for us, had that New Past written down, and encourages us to read it every now and then. Do you doubt God? You're living in the old past. Do you hold a grudge against a brother or a sister? You're trying to resurrect a dead man. Do you fear the future? You are believing a lie, as if the old past still has any power over you. Are you not free to praise the God of the whole earth? You are digging into God’s trash can to eat rotten food of your old carnal nature. Our forefathers "danced with all their might" before the Lord. Our forefathers drove away the armies of the enemies of the Lord who exalted themselves against th