Thought for Today

2003. 09-01

Worshiping Devils

"And Jeroboam ordained priests for the high places, and for the devils, and for the [golden] calves which he had made."

-- 2Chron. 11:15

The word "devils" appears often in the four gospels, and in other places in the King James Version of the Bible, but that can be a misleading translation of the original words. The word "devils" does not exist in the original Greek manuscripts of the New Testament for one simple reason: there are no "devils". There is only one Devil. Other unclean spirits are demons, and that is the word that the apostles used when referring to evil spirits other than the Devil himself. In the Old Testament, the words "devils" appears four times, but the two words originally used refer to specific kinds of demons, as you will see. It is doubly wrong to translate these two words as "devils" in the Old Testament not only because there is but one Devil but also because the word "Devil" itself is not revealed as a name for Satan until the temptation of Jesus in the New Testament. In every case, then, whenever the word "devils" is used in the King James translation, or in any other, it is an imperfect translation of what was originally written. Demons can be considered "devils"only in the sense that they are like the Devil in their hearts and rebelled as he did against God.

Paul taught that these demons are the "gods" that Gentiles around the world worshiped (1Cor. 10:20-21): "The things that the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice unto demons, and not unto God, and I do not desire for you to have fellowship with demons. You cannot drink of the cup of the Lord and of the cup of demons. You cannot be partakers of the Lord’s table, and of the table of demons."

When we read these two verses in their context, it is clear that the way to have fellowship with demons is to worship with those who worship in ways other than the way God has commanded. In this covenant, the commanded way to worship God is "in spirit and in truth" (Jn. 4). Whoever worships in any other way is worshiping demons, for their worship is according to the will of demons rather than God and is therefore unclean and unacceptable to God. Paul’s mission, he told the congregation in Rome, was to make the worship of the Gentiles acceptable to God "being sanctified by the holy Ghost" (Rom. 15:16). It is not what we think we are doing that makes our worship either a worship of God or of demons; rather, the determining factor is whether our worship is sanctified by the holy Ghost. Without that, all worship is worship of either demons or of self (some people worship their own will power - Col. 2:20-23).

Evil spirits can teach men. Ancient poets such as Homer and Virgil prayed earnestly that certain of these "gods" would possess them and reveal to them mysteries of the past and open their eyes to the unseen realm of the gods, so that they could tell their epic tales convincingly. I am persuaded to believe that demons did possess those and other such famed "poets" and did reveal to them magnificent lies, lies that destroyed countless souls in the ancient world. Paul said that the holy Ghost had plainly spoken to him that the family of God itself would turn from the truth of Christ and would begin to follow after "doctrines of demons" (1Tim. 4:1) and that many saints would hire men to teach them such doctrines (2Tim. 3:1-4). This happened, and the body of Christ is now completely divided and confused by the confused and conflicting doctrines of Christianity. The Apostle John, moved also by the Spirit of God, described the religion of Christianity as becoming "the habitation of demons, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird" (Rev. 18:2). That is why God wants His people out of it! By participating in the religion of Christianity, the children of God are having fellowship with demons, and while they remain at the table of demons, they are in danger of suffering the wrath of God that is coming upon that religion. Concerning Christianity, God foretold not only of His terrible wrath that would destroy it (Rev. 18) but also of demons dancing with delight amid the destruction (Isa. 13:21).

The Jews who forsook the Law of the Lord and learned heathen ways of worship did not think they were worshiping evils spirits, the enemies of all that is pure and good. They would have insisted that they were not doing so. But their insistence that they were worshiping gods and not evil spirits did not change the facts or confuse God. God does not listen and learn from men; He demands that men listen and learn of Him. In Leviticus 17:1-7, the Lord said He was providing a place for Israel to worship Him so that "they shall no more offer their sacrifices unto demons, after whom they have gone a-whoring." The Hebrew word for these demons was pronounced something like "Sayier", and these evils spirits were, apparently, hairy creatures with goat-like bodies or feet. The ancient "god" named Pan had such a body, and many ancient nations worshiped him. These evil beings are also mentioned in 2Chronicles 11:15, as being among the gods that Israel worshiped after they had cast out God’s Levites as their teachers and priest and rejected both the law of Moses and the revelations of David.

Another kind of demon that was worshiped by Israel was the "bull-colossus" type. We see these bull figures at the entrance ways of ancient palaces of heathen kings. They were supposed to be protective spirits, and foolishly, Israel trusted in them instead of trusting God for their protection. Israel provoked God to jealousy by their attraction to these demons before they even reached the Land of Promise (Dt. 32:15-20). And once they entered into the land, they proved their devotion to them by burning their own children to them on their altars (Ps. 106:34-39, KJV): "They did not destroy the nations, concerning whom the Lord commanded them, but were mingled among the heathen and learned their works. And they served their idols, which were a snare unto them. Yea, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto devils and shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the gods of Canaan. And the land was polluted with blood."

Later, in a long and passionate indictment of Israel for her unfaithfulness to Him, God including these heart-rending words: "Moreover thou has taken thy sons and thy daughters, whom thou has borne unto me, and these hast thou sacrificed unto them to be devoured. Is this of thy whoredoms a small matter, that thou has taken my children and [turned them over to idolatrous priests] to pass through the fire for [demons]?" (Ezek. 16:20-21).

It is better not to worship at all than to worship in a way that God has not commanded because it is better not to worship at all than to worship demons. Every way of worship but God’s way is evil. Every other religion but His "pure and undefiled religion" is delusive and destructive. When Homer or Virgil prayed to be possessed by the demons called Muses, they thought they were pursuing a righteous course. They were pleading for their own damnation! Instead of being enlightened, as they thought, they were being led into deep darkness, and the grand stories that the Muses revealed to them inspired whole nations to sin continually against the living God. Those who are possessed by spirits of Christianity are following in the footsteps of such deluded men, pursuing a course that will not take them and their followers to the place they think they are going. "Thinking to be wise" wrote Paul, "they became fools."

Let us pray to be "possessed" by the sweet Spirit of Truth, the holy Spirit that Jesus Christ suffered and died for us to received. Outside of that, there is no trustworthy guide for our souls.

Thought for Today

2003. 08-29

Do We Have To Sin?

From conversations with some old saints in the 1970's.

"If" versus "When"

When confronted by Christian ministers who insist that how a believer lives his life has no bearing on whether or not he will be saved in the end, the wise elders of the congregation of the Lord came up with interesting ways to refute their foolishness. One of these ways was to refer to 1John 2:1, where John wrote, "My little children, these things I write unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous."

"The difference between your religion and mine", said Preacher Clark to one Baptist man, "is if and when."

"What do you mean?" came the reply.

"According to what you teach, God’s children are bound to sin every day; they have no choice. So, you have to say ‘My little children, when we sin, we have an advocate with the Father’. According to what I teach, God’s children are free from sin. So we say what John said, "My little children, if we sin, we have an advocate with the Father."

---

The old saints whom I knew were fearless and joyful in their preaching that Christ sets us free from the power of sin so that we no longer are bound to sin but are free to obey God. In doing so, they were merely confessing their own experience. They knew that they had been made free from sin. Likewise, I can only assume, Christian ministers who teach that all must sin every day are only proclaiming their personal experience. They sin every day, and so, they insist that everyone else has to sin, too. Now, tell me truthfully, which man would you rather have as your guide in Christ? The man who has been set free from the dominion of sin and tells others that they can be free as he is, or the man who sins every day and tells you that you are doomed to do the same?

The Rebellious Yearling

On another occasion, a Christian man was arguing with Elder Frank Griffin that the power of sin over men is unchangeable.

"Now, you know, Frank," he said, "that you can’t help but sin every day of your life. Be honest about it. Let me explain it like this: our nature is like a stubborn yearling that resists our best efforts to pull it along a narrow road. Now, that road represents God’s will, and we might want to stay on the road, but no matter how much we want to, that wild yearling keeps pulling us off it. What are you going to do, Frank, if that yearling keeps jerking against your rope and keeps pulling you off the road?"

"Bless God!" Brother Frank joyfully replied, "I’d kill the yearling!"

The old nature of man is overwhelmed by the divine nature of God when we are filled with the holy Ghost. Paul said, "I die daily" (1Cor. 15:31). "I am crucified with Christ," proclaimed Paul, "nevertheless I live; yet, not I, but Christ liveth in me." Is Christ living in you? As Preacher Clark said many a time, "God’s Son can live as sinless a life in you as he did in the body of Jesus, the son of Mary." When Christ lives in us, we do not sin because he does not sin. Let him live!

Peter pointed out that in Christ Jesus we are "made partakers of the divine nature" (2Pet.1:4). Thank God! The new nature we have in Christ is clean; it is not of the flesh. Beyond all contradiction, the divine nature of God does not have to sin every day. The life that God lives, and gives, is pure and holy. God gave that holy life to His Son, along with authority to give that life (and its nature) to us who believe the gospel. Jesus is by nature holy, all the time and without strain, and this is the same sinless nature that the holy Spirit brings into us. Holiness is the nature of every person who is baptized with the Spirit, just as it is Christ’s nature. As Paul wrote, "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature". The new creature has no difficulty in understanding and obeying the commandments of God–every day, all day long.

It is true that we must learn to walk in the newness of life once we receive it, but even as we are learning, we need not sin. Sin is for sinners, all of whom will have their part in the Lake of Fire that burns with brimstone "day and night forever" (Rev. 21:7-8; 20:10). Godliness, on the other hand, is for the children of God, who will dwell peacefully in His holy presence forever. It is our privilege in Christ to walk in the Spirit and to please our heavenly Father completely, day by day. Not only can you do that, my dear brothers and sisters, but it is contrary to your nature to do anything else.

Thought for Today

2003. 08-28

The Firstborn

"For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that he [the Son] might be the firstborn among many brethren."

- Paul, in Romans 8:29

Jesus was the first person to be "born again". He was born of the Spirit when he was baptized in the Jordan River by John, the holy Spirit descending upon him from God out of heaven in the form of a dove. Unlike the temporary coming of the Spirit upon the prophets and judges in the Old Testament, the holy Ghost, in John’s words, "abode upon" Jesus (Jn. 1:32). In fact, the Spirit entered into Jesus and made him a new creature: a mortal man with God’s eternal Spirit dwelling within. There had never existed such a creature since the beginning of the world.

Jesus humbly confessed that the Father had given him life (Jn. 5:26). By "life", Jesus was referring to the holy Ghost, for "the Spirit is life" (Rom. 8:10). Jesus himself taught that "it is the Spirit that gives life" (Jn. 6:63); therefore, when he confessed that the Father had given him life, he was confessing that the Father had given him the Spirit. This confession should be understood not only as a reference to the Father’s creation of the Son before anything else existed (Prov. 8:22) but also as a reference to the Father’s giving of the Spirit to Jesus when he was baptized in the Jordan River. And Jesus’ great desire for us is that the Father will also give us that eternal life. That was, in fact, his very reason for Jesus’ coming to live among us. Jesus said, "I am come that they might have life, and have it more abundantly" (Jn. 10:10).

The "New Man Adam"

Paul described Jesus as the first of a new race of men, a second Adam (1Cor. 15:45). Unlike the first Adam, who generated only one son at a time, Jesus produced about one hundred twenty offspring at once when he became a father. Isaiah prophesied of the day of Pentecost, when those one hundred twenty followers of Christ Jesus were born again as being a day when an entire nation was born at once (Isa. 66:8). Amen! The nation of the upright was created by the power of God on the day of Pentecost. Those humble souls were conceived and brought to a new kind of birth by the holy Ghost, and when they were "born again", they were counted by God as the offspring of Jesus. "Behold, I and the children that the Lord hath given to me are for signs and wonders in Israel" (Isa. 8:18).

The calling of Jesus excluded having an earthly wife and natural children. Isaiah prophesied that the coming Messiah would be put to death without ever generating physical children (Isa. 53:8). But through the holy Ghost baptism, poured out from heaven on the day of Pentecost, many spiritual children were produced (Ps. 22:30), "and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ" (Rom. 8:17).

Jesus was the first to be born of the Spirit, but by his righteousness, he has produced for God’s glory many other sons and daughters to Him. "Behold," the beloved disciple wrote, "what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God" (1Jn. 3:1). Amen. If we are so loved by God, let us love one another and bring glory to God, as Jesus did after the Father gave life to him.

Thought for Today

2003. 08-27

The Purpose of the Proverbs

"The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel. To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding. . . ."

- Proverbs 1:1-2

In the beginning of his book of proverbs, King Solomon lists several reasons for making the book. The first in this list of reasons is found in the verse above. Solomon wanted his children, to whom he first spoke these wise sayings, to be able to judge the words they would hear men say during their lifetimes and to be able to recognize wisdom when they heard it. This is the way God feels toward us. He loves us and wants us to be happy. He wants us to know His voice. That way, we will be safe.

God’s Wisdom (Christ Jesus) is speaking to us every day. Every day, He is lovingly, earnestly reaching out to all of us, offering to share with us His wisdom and to make us wise and joyful, as He is.

"Doth not Wisdom cry [out], and Understanding put forth her voice? . . . She crieth at the gates, at the entry of the city, at the coming in at the doors, ‘Unto you, O men, do I call, and my voice is to the sons of men. O, ye simple[-minded], understand wisdom! And, ye fools, be ye of an understanding heart! Hear! For I will speak of excellent things, and the opening of my lips shall be right things’" (Prov. 8:1-6).

How many times has God spoke to us, but we failed to recognize His voice! And how many times have people with wisdom from God spoken to us, but we failed to recognize their wisdom, too! Solomon wanted his children to be able to recognize wisdom when it was spoken, so that they would be blessed instead of being confused and harmed. Those who reject godly instruction and guidance when it is offered to them are foolish; they are missing the blessings and promises that God so very much wants them to have. They do things that make themselves and others unhappy, and they cannot understand what is wrong.

"Hearken unto me, O ye children, for blessed are they that keep my ways. Hear instruction and be wise, and refuse it not. Blessed is the man that heareth me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors. For whoso findeth me findeth life and shall obtain favor of the Lord. But he that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul. All they that hate me love death" (Prov. 8:32-36).

I have seen people reject the wisdom of God, thinking it was foolishness. These are carnally-minded people who are on their way to an eternal death. Paul described them in 1Corinthians 2:14: "The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him. Neither is he able to know them, for they are spiritually discerned." This is how we all were, once. The thing that rescued us, the only thing that could, was the precious voice of the Spirit of God. God opened our ears, and we heard what the Spirit was saying to us. We heard wisdom and recognized it!

I have also seen people embrace foolishness, thinking it was wisdom. These are the ones who, "thinking themselves to be wise, became fools" (Rom. 1:22). In our time, we see this constantly. How proud men are now of their sophistication and knowledge! And how destitute they are of the wisdom and knowledge of God, "calling good, evil and evil, good." The most foolish of all men are they who are foolish but think they are wise.

To be able to recognize wisdom when we hear it and to take it into our hearts is a blessing from God that is more valuable than any earthly riches. And to be able to recognize what is foolishness when we hear it is the way of eternal life and peace. Paul rejoiced that "God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give [us] the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" (2Cor. 4:6).

To enable young people to do these things was Solomon’s chief purpose for writing his book of Proverbs, anyone, young or old, who humbly studies Solomon’s wise sayings will be more likely to recognize God’s voice when He speaks than those who do not.

Thought for Today

2003. 08-26

The Wise Man

"A wise man will hear, and will increase wisdom, but fools despise knowledge and instruction."

- Solomon, in Proverbs

The world thinks that a wise man is a man who knows much and that a fool is a man who knows little. As is always the case, the world is wrong. A wise man is a man who recognizes the voice of God when he hears it, and a fool is one who does not.

If a man never spent one day in school and cannot so much as write his name, but he can be taught by Christ, he is wise. He is wise because his heart’s door is open to Wisdom himself, and he can be influenced by Wisdom’s voice. He is wise because he acknowledges the words of Wisdom to be wise words, and he is willing to humble himself to the superior wisdom of God. On the other hand, if a man owns prestigious degrees from the most exalted universities of earth, but he will not listen to Jesus, he is a fool. He is a fool because his heart is hardened against Christ, the fountain of all wisdom and knowledge, and because he refuses to be influenced by the truth of Christ. "He is proud, knowing nothing."

A truly wise man is not "wise" because of what he knows but because of who he knows: Jesus. And a fool is "foolish" because all men without Christ are foolish. There are no other options. Every way but the way of Jesus is foolish. Let the Spirit of God remove from your mind the definitions of wisdom and foolishness that the world has given to you and replace them with God’s definitions. Only what God says is true. And they alone are wise who recognize His sweet, holy voice and who will change their ways to conform to whatever He says is right.

Thought for Today

2003. 08-25

The Appearance of Good

"Abstain from all appearance of evil."

- Paul, in 1Thess. 5:22

Paul was right, of course, when he warned the children of God to avoid the appearance of evil. If we appear to be evil, men will not receive our testimonies of the grace of God. This is the reason Paul cautioned the saints to avoid being seen as companions of other children of God who have fallen away from righteousness. If the upright keep company with those who live ungodly lives, then people looking on will assume that we are living the same kind of ungodly lives as our backslidden companions. So, one way we can avoid "the appearance of evil" is to avoid keeping company with brothers who are doing evil.

I occasionally caution believers to avoid the mere "appearance of good." There are certain religious acts that people can perform and certain holy-sounding phrases that they can say that make them seem devoted to Christ but actually mean nothing. The ceremonies and cliches of Christianity are prime examples. It is a temptation for the children of God to partake in Christianity’s religious activities as a substitute for being sincerely devoted to the Lord. Christianity offers men an appearance of good instead of the very goodness of God, and this is the principal "appearance of good" that I warn the saints to avoid. Men will congratulate you for being a "good Christian", but they will despise you for being good in God’s sight. They will praise you for playing a role in their religion, but they will curse you if you are full of the power and light of the Lord. They will engrave your name in stone if you give them enough money for their false doctrines and empty rituals, but they will blot your name from their membership rolls if you do the will of God instead of merely talking about it.

Jesus said, "Seek, and ye shall find; ask, and it shall be given; knock, and it shall be opened unto you." If you only seek God, men will honor you, but if you find Him, they will avoid your company. If you merely ask, they will respect you, but if you receive what God gives in response to prayer, they will treat you with contempt. If you spend all your time knocking, men will offer you exalted titles and positions, but if you enter through the door that Jesus opens, they will say you are a member of a cult and do everything in their power to make you look like a fool. Carnal men revere the appearance of good, not the substance of it, and the only people who do not understand what I am saying are people who love the appearance of good.

We are all weak and in need of the power of God. The flesh loves the appearance of good more than it loves God, and unless the desires of our flesh are brought under subjection to Christ, every one of us will be content to maintain a mere appearance of good. Pray, my friends, not to fall into the trap of judging ourselves by what we seem to be to others, but to love God sincerely from a pure heart, no matter what others think we are.

In the matter of the appearance of evil, our choice is this: it is either "the pleasures of sin for a season" or the way of holiness. In the matter of the appearance of good, our choice is this: it is either Christianity or Christ.

Thought for Today

2003. 08-22

The Mark of the Messiah

"I indeed baptize you with water, but one mightier than I is coming, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to loose. He shall baptize you with the holy Ghost and with fire."

John the Baptizer, in Luke 3:16

When John the Baptist was anointed by God to prepare Israel for the Messiah, he came preaching that the Messiah would baptize people "with the holy Ghost and fire". John had no idea what being "baptized with the holy Ghost and fire" meant; nobody had ever received such an experience from God. John was simply repeating words that God spoke to him. God told him that the Messiah would baptize people with the holy Ghost. Still, even though he did not understand what God meant by the phrase "baptize with the holy Ghost and fire", John believed God. He believed so much in God’s promise of a "holy Ghost baptism" that when Jesus came to the Jordan River, John asked Jesus to baptize him with it, whatever it was (Mt. 3:14). But Jesus could not.

Jesus could not baptize anyone with the holy Ghost while he was here on earth because his death and ascension to the Father had to be accomplished before the baptism of the holy Ghost would be given to men.

When I was young in the Lord, I pondered over the failure to point out that Jesus did not baptize anyone with the holy Ghost; therefore, he could not be the Messiah of whom John spoke. The reason is clear: they didn’t understand what "baptism with the holy Ghost and fire" meant any more than John did. They didn’t know whether Jesus had baptized his followers with the holy Ghost and fire or not. They remembered that John said the Messiah would do it, but how were they to argue that Jesus had not done it when they didn’t know what it was?

Neither they nor anyone else knew that when people receive the holy Ghost, as they began to do in Acts 2, those people would speak in tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance (Acts 2:1-4). If they had known that, they would have been able to argue their case that Jesus had not done what John said he would do, for while he walked on earth, Jesus never provided the one incomparable, irrefutable mark of the Messiah: the holy Ghost baptism. But no one understood that at the time, whether he was Jesus’ friend or foe.

Throughout New Testament history, religious teachers have argued about the meaning of "the mark of the Beast", foretold in Revelation 13:16: "And he causeth all, both small and great, both rich and poor, bond and free, to receive a mark in their right hand or in their forehead." Books are still being written on the subject. But that is a small thing compared to the mark of the Messiah. The mark of God’s true Messiah is the baptism of the holy Ghost and fire. Jesus is the one who gives it, and everyone without it is still without "hope, and without God in the world" (Eph. 2:12).

Thought for Today

2003. 08-21

Lessons

Solomon was given more wisdom than any man who ever lived, yet when he disobeyed God’s solemn commandment not to marry foreign women, he was cursed by God and his kingdom was lost. The lesson from this is clear: No one is so wise that he can safely disobey God’s commandments.

Moses’ presence was the closest thing to having God on earth before Jesus came. He actually was allowed to see God himself (from behind) on Mt. Sinai. He was called at different times the Law-giver, a king, a judge, a prophet, a priest. He was, like Abraham, the friend of God. But when he disobeyed God’s seemingly small command at Kadesh-barnea, he was chastened severely by God and forbidden to enter into the Promise Land with God’s children. It broke Moses’ heart, but God would not change His mind. This lesson is also clear: No one ever becomes so holy that he can sin and escape the results.

Satan was an especially anointed cherub. In the very presence of God, he overshadowed holy things with his wings. He was created "perfect in beauty" and "full of wisdom". But when he became proud of his beauty and became envious of the glory of God, he was cursed to remain forever in that state, never allowed to repent, and then was cast out of the kingdom of God forever. Peter pointed out the lesson that this should teach all of us (2Pet. 2): No one will ever be so blessed by God that he can safely become proud and forget to honor his Creator.

Judas was anointed with power to heal the sick and to raise the dead. Jesus called him, "a man mine own equal", with whom "I took sweet counsel". Yet, when he betrayed Jesus, he was stripped of his anointing and turned over to insane spirits that drove him to take his own life. The lesson cannot be missed: No one is ever so anointed by God that he can chose his own ways and escape the damnation of God.

If God will give us grace, we will prayerfully consider such lessons as these that the Bible provides for us and learn from them. Paul learned. He knew that if he did not himself live according to the gospel he preached, God would cast him out of the kingdom as He had cast Satan and others out (1Cor. 9:27). If we do not take those lessons seriously, we may also become examples of failure that others need to study.

Thought for Today

2003. 08-20

Respect

Whose respect you desire will determine your eternal home.

Thought for Today

2003. 08-17

The Seven Abominations, Part Seven

"These six things doth the Lord hate; yea, seven are an abomination to Him."

David, to his young son Solomon, in Proverbs 6:16

This is the last of the seven sins concerning which David warned his young son Solomon that God especially hates.

"He That Soweth Discord Among Brethren"

God loves peace; people who love peace will live forever with Him (1Pet. 3:11). "Blessed are the peacemakers," said Jesus, "for they shall be called the children of God." But some people are willing to disrupt peace in order to accomplish an evil desire. Yielding to a spirit of envy, or of lust, or pride, or any number of other unclean motives, many a soul has brought trouble to an otherwise peaceful situation.

Children in school cannot learn where there is no authority to maintain peace. A peaceful atmosphere is absolutely necessary in order for education to take place. God's children are no different. Where there is envy and strife, there is confusion and every evil work (Jas. 3:16), and in such circumstances, the children of God cannot grow and learn as they should. The body of Christ must have a functioning government so that disruptive influences will not constantly command the attention of the saints and dictate what happens to God's people. Those who interrupt the holy process of guiding the family of God into the knowledge of God set themselves against God, whose love for His "little ones" is strong.

Seeds

When discord is sown, discord itself is not what is sown. What is really sown is the "seed" of discord. It is like sowing an apple seed. What is sown actually bears no resemblance to the end product. And apple seed does not even remotely resemble the apple tree that it produces. And the seed of discord may not resemble at all the discord that it eventually will produce. No one sows an apple tree; it would rot in the ground and produce nothing. And if a backslidden soul attempted to force into the hearts of the children of God the nasty attitude he has, they wouldn't have it. But they can be persuaded to take into their hearts the seeds of discord, the suggestive comments, the information that should not be spread, the opinion spoken in sweet tones but emanating from an envious spirit. Describing such a man, David wrote, "The words of his mouth were smoother than butter, but war was in his heart" (Ps. 55:21). The sharpest swords can be sheathed in the softest fabric.

Sometimes, the greatest strife is produced by truth spoken at the wrong time by the wrong person. During the temptation of Jesus, Satan craftily used Scripture in his attempt to lure Christ away from his heavenly Father. There was nothing evil about the Scriptures that the Devil used; they were holy and true altogether. But an evil spirit pollutes everything that it touches, and an evil being like the Devil can only use Scripture as seed to produce more spirits like his, not to edify men in righteousness. It is not so much a person's words that produce discord among the brethren as it is the spirit that inspires the words. A minister with an unclean spirit can incite a congregation to commit sin while delivering a sermon about the love of God. Sowing discord is a matter of the heart, not merely of the tongue. A godly man can say anything, and the effect of his words on the lives of God's children will be good. An ungodly man, saying those same things, can ruin happy lives.

When bitterness is hidden in the heart, its roots grow out of the mouth, seeking fertile soil. Do you have itching ears, eager for news about others? If so, you are the kind of person that can be used by the Devil to cause trouble for the family of God. Repent of receiving seeds of discord into your ears, and your feelings toward others will change. Ask Jesus to pour his holy salt onto the seeds of discord that are growing in your heart's garden before they produce their fruit of envy and strife. He will make you a peacemaker, a real child of God, fit to live with the saints of the ages who suffered to make peace in their time. Neither listen to nor speak anything unless you know that it is pleasing in the sight of God.

Thought for Today

2003. 08-16

The Seven Abominations, Part Six

"These six things doth the Lord hate; yea, seven are an abomination to Him."

David, to his young son Solomon, in Proverbs 6:16

This is the sixth of the seven sins concerning which David warned his young son Solomon that God especially hates.

"A False Witness That Speaketh Lies"

Because we are humans and not God, we do not know everything. Often, however, we find ourselves in positions in which we must make judgments concerning important matters, whether we know everything or not. Every day, in fact, all of us make decisions, and those decisions are always based upon knowledge of certain facts. But how can we make right decisions if we are ignorant of the facts involved? It is extremely important that when we make decisions, we have the best information available, whether we be judges in a courtroom wrestling with a difficult case, parents at home deciding on what to allow and not to allow, teachers in a classroom, supervisors at work, coaches on a ball field, or even children walking home from school deciding whether or not to accept a ride home from a stranger. Whenever we humans have to decide anything, we always depend on the information that is given to us.

Judges, both worldly judges and rulers among God's people, make decisions daily that effect people's lives, sometimes drastically. Knowing that judges must have true information supplied to them if they are to avoid damaging innocent lives, God made it one of His first Ten Commandments to ancient Israel: "Thou shalt not bear false witness against they neighbor." How can a judge render a godly, just decision if witnesses obscure the truth with lies? Truth absolutely must be told to judges.

Even worldly men acknowledge the importance of this matter. Those in America who are called to be witnesses in court cases are required to place their hands on the Bible and swear that they will tell the whole truth, and only that. This custom was developed long ago, when the fear of God was prevalent among men, to impress upon witnesses the very great importance of telling the truth when testifying before a judge. Judges are dependent upon the evidence presented to them. To lie to such men in authority is to undermine the system that secures for everyone security and peace. To "bear false witness against your neighbor" is to undermine the safety and peace of all.

Sometimes, the evidence presented in a court case can be a matter of life and death for someone. There are documented cases in every period of man's history of innocent souls imprisoned, fined, or even sentenced unjustly to die because false information was given to judges. The Bible itself records several instances of this. Wicked Jezebel hired men to bear false witness against Naboth so that she could seize his property. Her false witnesses successfully deceived the judges, and Naboth and his sons were executed. In order to get rid of Jesus, some of the judges in Israel themselves hired false witnesses to testify against Him. Later, they did the same to young Stephen and stoned him to death. But what if a judge is upright and cannot be deceived? When in one extremely difficult case, Solomon was able to expose the testimony of one clever witness as being false, men feared God and glorified Him for His wisdom and righteousness. Whenever judges render just decisions, it helps people to understand the righteous judgment of God. But when decisions of judges are unjust, it frustrates people and causes them to feel contempt for even God's authority and power. Solomon warned us that if a ruler believes lies, it encourages everyone around him to become wicked (Prov. 29:12). If the root is infected, the whole plant is sick.

The Ministers of God

We must be truthful when being asked for information by those whom God has placed in authority over us. Those in authority are human, and they depend upon other humans when fulfilling their solemn obligations as the ministers of God (Rom. 13:1-5). Rulers on earth such as judges, mayors, policemen, governors, senators, and even presidents, are ministers of God, and testifying falsely to them can cause them to make decisions that can bring great distress upon innocent people. God loves people, and He will not excuse anyone who loves others so little that he bears false witness against another. Those who testify falsely against others and, so, cause the innocent to suffer unjustly will themselves suffer the fierce wrath of God, endlessly.

Let us be helpers to God's ministers, lightening their load whenever possible and, whenever called upon to do so, providing them with the most accurate and faithful information we can provide. When we do that, we not only help them, we make more secure everyone's well-being, including our own.

Something Better

After my father had been delivered from sin as a young man, he traveled around the country preaching the gospel. In Kansas City, he expressed his joy to one of the godly mothers in Christ that he had been delivered from telling lies. "Oh, Brother Clark," she replied, "There is something much better than to stop telling lies." When he asked what that was, she answered, "When you stop believing them."

No one can believe a lie when he is being led by the Spirit of truth. Who could tell a lie to Jesus and successfully deceive him? The body of Christ is anointed to know the difference between right and wrong, no matter what men say. That is our privilege and our calling. Stay filled with the holy Ghost, and nothing evil will find a place in our hearts. We will not be dependent on what any witnesses say when we learn to depend on the holy Ghost to let us know what is true and what is not. I have had the holy Ghost stop me in the middle of nodding my head in assent to a lie. It would not allow me to believe a false witness. That is what Jesus wants to do for us all, all the time. He is our Savior, and he wants to save us from every lie that men can tell. And he will save us from lies if we humble ourselves to trust what his Spirit is telling us, in our hearts.

We can be fooled by appearances, but God never is.

Thought for Today

2003. 08-15

The Seven Abominations, Part Five

"These six things doth the Lord hate; yea, seven are an abomination to Him."

David, to his young son Solomon, in Proverbs 6:16

This is the fifth of the seven sins concerning which David warned his young son Solomon that God especially hates.

"Feet Swift in Running to Mischief"

King Saul practiced "mischief" against David (1Sam. 23:9) when he tried to capture and kill the righteous young man. Saul was being unjust and unreasonable. A Syrian king named Hadad is said to have done mischief against Solomon (1Kgs. 11:25) because he abhorred Israel. David said that wicked men may speak peace to their neighbors, but mischief is in their hearts (Ps. 28:3). Other wicked men, less clever than these, speak with bold arrogance against authority (Prov. 6:14), and the mischief that they constantly scheme to do is not hidden behind a friendly smile. Solomon said that God’s favor is with the man who is earnestly desiring to know and to do what is good, "but he that seeketh mischief, it shall come to him" (Prov. 11:27). And when the mischief that a wicked man pursues does "come to him", it comes to him from God as punishment for his wicked deeds, and it will fill his life with misery (Prov. 12:21). Mischief causes trouble for all concerned, and those who love trouble are already in trouble–with God.

The root cause of falling into mischief is a lack of the fear of God (Prov. 28:14). The fear of God will keep us from entertaining the spirit of mischief, for the fear of God is to hate evil. Those who do not fear God cannot hate evil, and because they cannot hate evil, their minds are constantly searching for new ways to cause trouble for others; they even lie awake at night devising new mischievous schemes (Ps. 36:1-4). Sad as it is to see, some of God’s own people can drift so far away from His love that in their hearts they, as Satan once did in heaven, can begin to conspire to work mischief against their heavenly Father. They cause trouble in the family of God with their strange thoughts and ungodly deeds. God said that His children work mischief against Him when they pursue the ways of other gods instead of maintaining His righteous paths (Hos. 7:13-16). Whenever any child of God in this covenant fails to walk in the Spirit, he is following the spirit of mischief, which always leads to trouble.

It is clear from the Scriptures that mischief is a very great evil. It is as much evil as peacefulness is good. Mischief brings about an end of peace; it is pursued by those who do not want peace. Mischief is made for the family of God by the enemies of God, by those who set themselves in opposition to the beauty and love that God brings into the lives of fallen man. Jesus said, "Blessed are the peace makers, for they shall be called the children of God" (Mt. 5:9). I dare to add, "Cursed are the mischief makers, for they shall be called the children of the devil."

Peace is precious. Without it, the children of God cannot learn, cannot grow in the knowledge of their heavenly Father, cannot attain to fellowship in the light. Mischief stirs up trouble and prevents peace from being established in the body of Christ. It is part of Satan’s wicked plan to disrupt the work of God and to hinder the children of God from escaping his influence. Those who run toward mischief are running right into the hands of a furious God, a God who loves His children and will utterly destroy the peace breakers with an eternity of worse misery than they have brought upon others. Whether it be a backslidden believer or an unconverted sinner, all who run swiftly toward mischief are an abomination to God, just as all who strive to make peace are His delight.

Thought for Today

2003. 08-14

The Seven Abominations, Part Four

"These six things doth the Lord hate; yea, seven are an abomination to Him."

David, to his young son Solomon, in Proverbs 6:16

This is the fourth of the seven sins concerning which David warned his young son Solomon that God especially hates.

"A Heart That Devises Wicked Imaginations"

Have you ever seen some new wickedness and wondered, "What kind of mind came up with that?" David warned his son Solomon that there were people in the world who could not rest at night unless they had conceived of some evil and done it. "They sleep not", the wise king said to his son, "except they have done mischief, and their sleep is taken away unless they cause some to fall"There is such a thing as being so much in love with God and His people that one can become addicted to doing good (1Cor. 16:15). Such a person can only rest when his heart knows that he has accomplished some good for the children of God that day. Doing the will of God becomes that person’s food; it is what keeps him alive and happy. Jesus was like that. He told his perplexed disciples, "I have food to eat about which you know nothing" (Jn. 4:32). And then he explained, "My food is to do the will of Him that sent me and to finish His work" (Jn. 4:34). Jesus was living a kind of life in the Spirit that the disciples could not yet understand, but in time they too entered into it. Love for God and zeal for His righteousness "consumed" Jesus (Jn. 2:17). The word of God was to Jesus as Israel’s ancient prophet Jeremiah said it was to him: "As a fire shut up in my bones." To be filled with the holy Ghost is to be driven by it to do good and to love people with the love of God. This is the kind of life Jesus lived, leaving for us a golden example of righteousness.

But there are also men and women, both young and old, who are so accustomed to doing evil that they cannot sleep at night unless they have done something that displeases God. God said that sinners such as these can no more do good than a leopard can change his spots (Jer. 13:23). Such people are stimulated by the thought of some new way to sin, some new perverseness, or some new evil scheme. They have become addicted to sin. When they were young, they would not listen to their teachers, and they did not turn away from the evil path while they could. Now, the way of peace and righteousness is forgotten, for God has turned them over to love the darkness. They are cursed, and they do not even know it.

God’s gift of imagination is precious. An imaginative mind can be of great benefit to people, if the spirit is clean. God has blessed the nations of the earth with inventions given to men with imagination and a desire to do good. But that same gift of an imagination can be twisted to become one of the seven things most despised by God when it belongs to a person with a darkened heart. For a wicked man to give birth to even more wickedness in this wicked world through his imagination is for him to despise the very goodness of God.

Thought for Today

2003. 08-13

The Seven Abominations, Part Three

"These six things doth the Lord hate; yea, seven are an abomination to Him."

David, to his young son Solomon, in Proverbs 6:16

This is the third of the seven things King David told his son Solomon that God especially despises.

"Hands That Shed Innocent Blood"

Life is precious. It is a sacred gift from God, to be cherished and protected. To rob someone of his life from God is a very great evil. To murder is to hate not only the life that is taken but also to hate the Giver of that life. Murder is an arrogant challenge to the Almighty; it is an affront to His authority and power. The murderer assumes an authority over another’s being that rightly belongs to none but God, and in doing so, causes some people to leave off the fear of God and to fear men instead.

The fear of God is wisdom (Job 28:28); the fear of men is foolishness. The fear of God enables one to hate evil (Prov. 8:13); the fear of men compels one to hate to displease men. The fear of God prolongs life (Prov. 10:27); the fear of men shortens life. The fear of God is clean (Ps. 19:9); the fear of men leads to all manner of evil. God abhors hands that murder innocent people because the kind of fear that murder injects into the hearts of people is not good.

Ordained Killing

God does not despise the earthly government that executes murderers. It is good for an earthly government to execute those who cruelly slay innocent people. For the crime of murder, God Himself instituted capital punishment among men (Gen. 9). When a government executes a murderer, it is giving earthly expression to heaven’s great displeasure at that sin. For any earthly government to fail to execute murderers quickly is for that government to fail in one of its most solemn responsibilities.

One of God’s first ten commandments to Israel was, "Thou shalt not kill [murder]." But what were Israel’s judges to do if someone in Israel disobeyed that commandment and committed murder? God’s prescribed punishment for the murderer was unequivocal: death without mercy (Dt. 19:11-13). The judges in Israel were commanded to execute the murderer, once his guilt was firmly established, and they were absolutely forbidden to allow a murderer to escape his due punishment by any means (Ex. 21:12-14; Num. 35:30-34). Every nation on earth would do well to follow God’s wise standard for the punishment of murderers, and the closer that the government of any earthly nation comes to abiding by God’s ancient standard for Israel, the more security and peace that nation will enjoy.

Among the Saints

At this time, the saints have no authority from God to execute anyone. Earthly governments do have that authority from God because He has ordained the governments of earth for the purpose of protecting good people from wicked people (Rom. 13:1-5). The saints are not now to participate in the process of punishing earthly evil-doers; we are instead required to humble ourselves to the government of the nation in which we live and to pray for the men and women in positions of earthly authority.

The life that God gives to each of us is precious. Use it well, and do not destroy the life of another. God will avenge in great wrath the taking of innocent life, even if earthly governments fail in their responsibility to do so. None shall escape the judgment of God, for murder is one of the seven most hated of all evils that men do. Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you, to teach you how to use the life He has given you for good. Then, instead of ending someone’s life, you may well be used by God to lead someone into a life with Jesus that will never end.

Thought for Today

2003. 08-12

The Seven Abominations, Part Two "These six things doth the Lord hate; yea, seven are an abomination to Him."

David, to his young son Solomon, in Proverbs 6:16

This is the second of the seven things King David told his son Solomon that God especially despises.

"A Lying Tongue"

Truth is precious. Without it, nothing can succeed. The foundation of all progress is truth, whether that progress is the exploration of space, painting a house, or following Jesus. Every endeavor on earth fails without truth and can only succeed as the truth is known and adhered to.

The builder must have truth from the engineer. The farmer must know the truth about seasons, seeds, and the soil. The mother must know the truth about the needs of a baby. The President of the United States needs truth from his advisors; otherwise, his decisions can be disastrous for millions of people around the world. The peace and prosperity of every nation on earth, whether a "super-power" or a third world country, depends entirely upon the truth being told by those who know it and being learned by those who do not. God despises liars because they are a threat to the health and welfare of every person and every society on earth. Lies undermine every good thing.

Most important to people, of course, is the truth about God. No one will meet God in peace without responding obediently to His truth. The truth about God is that Jesus is His Son (1Jn. 4:15; 5:5) and that no one comes to the Father except through faith in Jesus (Jn. 14:6). The truth about God is that Jesus sent back the holy Ghost to baptize into the congregation of the Lord all who obey him (Acts 5:32; 1Cor. 12:13). The truth about God is that if we obey His will, we shall live forever and that, if we disobey Him, we will be cast into hell (Mt. 7:21). The truth of God is that Christianity is not of God and that God is calling His people out of that religion (Rev. 18:1-5). The many lips that deny these and other basic truths of the gospel are in error. They haven’t yet come to the knowledge of the truth.

God has chosen us to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth (2Thess. 2:13). But if the truth is never preached, how can God’s children hear and believe it? We are telling the truth we have from God, and telling it as clearly and as often as we can. We may not have all the answers, but what we have from God, we give. God has more that He will teach us all, and we pray to be worthy to hear and believe what He will say to us next. But what we have learned, we are passing on, and what we are telling you now will play a part in the healing of the divided family of God–not because these things are of us but because they are the truth, and the truth heals.

The truth is precious. God hates the tongues that dim with lies the hope that Jesus offers to men, and He will severely judge those who do so. Be wise. Speak truth at every opportunity, not only truth about Jesus and his Father but truth about every thing.

Thought for Today

2003. 08-11

The Seven Abominations, Part One

"These six things doth the Lord hate; yea, seven are an abomination to Him."

David, to his young son Solomon, in Proverbs 6:16

This is the first of the seven things King David told his son Solomon that God especially despises.

"A proud look"

It is unwise to take up the latest fashion as soon as it appears. Those who do so are motivated by pride and a spirit of emulation, not by goodness and love for others. God hates "a proud look" because the person with that look is thinking only of himself, is comparing himself with others like himself instead of looking to Christ, and is forgetting the fear of God.

Instead of pursuing a proud look with the latest styles in clothes, wise people clothe themselves "with humility, for God resists the proud, and gives grace to the lowly" (1Pet. 5:5). Jesus revealed the ultimate reward for humility when he said, "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth" (Mt. 5:5). In other words, nobody on the new earth will have a "proud look".

Who is really wise? Are they wise who concentrate on looking good now but who eventually will be cast into the Lake of Fire to be tormented day and night forever? Obviously, wise people are they who live humbly now and who will later inherit the New Earth and live forever peacefully. It is wise to be humble before God because in the long run, the humble heart will win everything. It is for this reason that Solomon said, "With the lowly is wisdom" (Prov. 11:2).

I was taught by my wise and godly father to be neither the first to take up a new style nor the last to lay down an old one. The way of wisdom in God’s kingdom is for the saints just to "fit in" with whatever is the current style among sinners who have a sense of decency. It is not good for children of God to try to make a statement with fashion.

On a recent trip to St. Louis, I saw some of a Christian sect who dress themselves and their children (how sad!) in styles that belong to the 1800's. It made both the adults and their children look odd. There is no godly reason for their dressing this way. There is nothing godly about any old custom in clothing. There is nothing holy about styles that were in vogue two hundred years ago. These misguided people have fallen into one of the traps of pride. Their manner of dress, associated as it is with old-fashioned manners, has an appearance of humility, but an appearance is all it is. In reality, it, too, is "a proud look". They purposefully attract attention to themselves by their strange dress, and the flesh revels in drawing attention. But that is not the way of wisdom. Jesus would not dress that way if he were among us today; he would not draw attention to himself by some distinctive style in clothing.

Fear God, and avoid a "proud look". Those with a proud look may presently own the admiration of unwise men, but in a little while, their proud looks will give way to death, and who will admire them then?

Long ago, when the destruction of Jerusalem was drawing near, the prophet Zephaniah cried out, "Seek the Lord, all you meek of the earth who have wrought his judgment. Seek righteousness! Seek meekness! It may be that you shall be hidden in the day of the Lord’s anger" (Zeph. 2:3). The meekness we seek is the meekness to "become of no reputation" so that the wisdom and goodness and power of God is what is notable about us, not the way we dress.

Thought for Today

2003. 08-08

Offend

Jesus’ baptism with the holy Spirit is God’s cleansing for our spirits. The invisible Spirit of God is pure; it is sweet, and it makes people holy when they are filled with it. It is the only kind of "water" that can reach into the soul and make it perfectly clean before God. Many times, we are encouraged by God to drink this water so that our hearts may be renewed with life and joy.

"Ho! Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters!" cried God through Isaiah. The holy Ghost is this water, and Jesus said that God would flood our souls with it if we would only ask. Jesus said, "If any man thirst, let him come to me, and drink. He who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water!" And to a sinful but humble woman of Samaria, the Lord said, "Whoever drinks of the water I shall give him shall never thirst, but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life." This is God’s promise to you–if you are thirsty.

Paul said that we drink of this water when we are baptized with the Spirit (1Cor. 12:13). This is the cleansing, the infilling, to which Jesus is calling sinners to come. He has opened the door to this living fountain for every soul that wants to be free from sin and live in peace with God forever. It is pure water that springs from the bosom of God, and it refreshes the souls of men and women thirsty for life as nothing else can do.

Thought for Today

2003. 08-07

Circumcision

The importance of circumcision in the history of salvation can hardly be overstated. In God’s sight, there were two groups of people on earth: Jews and Gentiles. The title "Gentiles" refers to everybody on earth who are not Jews. The distinguishing characteristic of the Jewish nation, the dividing line, so to speak, between them everyone else on earth was the covenant of circumcision that God made with Abraham (Gen. 17). This covenant demanded that all males who descended from Abraham were to be circumcised on the eighth day after birth. This was the definitive sign of the covenant God made with Abraham.

It didn’t matter how magnificent or how many were the temples and altars that uncircumcised people constructed; they still were not God’s people. God was not impressed either with man’s talents or his religious zeal. It didn’t matter how many millions of people were uncircumcised; they still were not God’s people. God was not impressed with numbers, either. It didn’t matter how many hundreds or thousands of years uncircumcised people had been practicing their religious rituals; those rituals were still not holy. (Time does not sanctify.) No religion on earth was of God except the religion that was ordained by God. Everything else was wrong. There were no people on earth who were God’s chosen people except the people that He had chosen: the circumcised nation.

The Law of Moses was given to the circumcised people; the prophets were given to the circumcised people; the promises of God were made to the circumcised people. All the uncircumcised peoples and nations of the earth were "without Christ, being aliens to the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world" (Eph. 2:12). It makes no difference what those people called themselves, whether Egyptians, Romans, Greeks, Syrians, or anything else. If they did not belong to the nation that had the sign of the covenant ordained by God, circumcision of the flesh, they were none of His.

Now

In this New Testament, God’s people are still the circumcised people, but the circumcision that man can give with sharp instruments is no longer the kind of circumcision that God recognizes. Now, the only circumcision that counts with God is circumcision of the heart, wrought by His Spirit. It is what Paul called "the circumcision of Christ" (2:11).

In Romans 2:28-29, Paul explains the difference between this New Testament circumcision and the old one: "For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly; neither is that [any longer considered by God to be] circumcision that is outward in the flesh. But he is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter, whose praise is not of men but of God."

It doesn’t matter how magnificent or how many are the church buildings that spiritually uncircumcised people construct; they still are not God’s people. God still is not impressed with our talents or our religious zeal. It doesn’t matter how many millions of religious people are spiritually uncircumcised; they still are not God’s people because God still is not impressed with numbers. It doesn’t matter how many hundreds or thousands of years spiritually uncircumcised people have been practicing their religious rituals; those rituals are still not holy. (Time still does not sanctify.) No religion on earth is of God except the religion ordained by God. Everything else was wrong. There are no people on earth who are God’s chosen people except the people that He has chosen: the spiritually circumcised nation.

The love of God is "spread abroad" in the hearts of the spiritually circumcised people; the gifts of the Spirit are given to the spiritually circumcised people; the promises of God are made to the spiritually circumcised people. All spiritually uncircumcised peoples and nations of the earth are "without Christ, being aliens to the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world" (Eph. 2:12). It makes no difference what those people call themselves, whether Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists, Christians, or anything else. If they do not have the sign of the covenant, the circumcision of the heart by the holy Ghost that comes from God, they are "none of His" (Rom. 8:9).

Who Impresses You?

God is looking for a people who are impressed with Him and what He has done, rather than with themselves and what man has done. It should be unnecessary to say, but we need to hear it: Only what is of God is of God. When we believe the truth, none of the world’s religions, including that great, uncircumcised religion called Christianity, will impress us. When we believe the truth, none of the religions that men have developed will seem holy. When we understand and believe the truth, we are impressed only with God, not with ourselves.

2003. 08-06

"Having Ought Against You", Part Three

"Go And Tell Him"

"If your brother trespasses against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have [re]gained your brother."

- Jesus, in Mt. 18:15

"Take heed to yourselves. If your brother trespass against you, rebuke him. And if he repent, forgive him."

- Jesus, in Lk. 17:3

The past two days, we considered the Lord’s commandment to go to a brother if we learn that we have wronged him and to make it right. Today, we hear him commanding us to go to a brother if he has wronged us, and to insist that he make it right.

Even under Moses’ Law, God’s children were commanded to speak up when they saw a brother or sister start to go astray. "Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart; thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbor, and not let sin come upon him" (Lev. 19:17. KJV). This verse reveals a definition of hatred that we might not otherwise be aware of; to wit, hatred of our brothers and sisters is shown when we know they have sinned, but we do not rebuke them. According to this verse, to fail to warn wayward brothers or sisters is to hate them. To silently watch sin take a fellow believer away from Jesus is itself sin.

The verse that follows that one contains the second greatest commandment God ever gave to His Old Testament people: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." With this kind of love, we will not allow sin to ruin either our lives or our brother’s. As the Lord Jesus taught, "In everything, do to others what you would have them do to you" (Mt. 7:12 NIV).

The commandments of the Lord, when obeyed, prevent bitterness from growing among the family of God to the point that it ruins fellowship. When Jesus commanded his followers who had sinned against a brother to go to that brother and repent, he was saying, "Love one another." And when he commanded those who have been sinned against to go to the brother who had done wrong, he was also saying "Love one another." Our fellowship in Christ is a most precious gift from God, and if we are wise, we will do everything in our power to protect and preserve that fellowship. That includes dealing quickly with sin if it occurs, whether it is a wrong we have done to another or whether we have had a wrong done to us. Otherwise, we give Satan a place to work his divisive will among us.

Let love work. Hold on to the harmony we have in Christ with all your strength. Don’t be afraid to reprove a brother who has done evil. By doing that, you may possibly learn that he had a reason for his deed that you had not considered; or, he may learn from you that he committed a transgression of which he was unaware. Either way, by your sincerity, you will close a door through which strife can enter, and you will have done your part to obey Jesus’ command to "love your neighbor as yourself."

Thought for Today

2003. 08-05

"Having Ought Against You", Part Two

"If thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee, leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way. First be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift."

- Jesus, in Matthew 5:23-24

Jesus’ phrase, "having ought against someone" means that a wrong has really been done. It refers to that sense of injustice that is created by God in the breast of a person who has been wronged. And that God-given feeling of injustice will never leave the heart until justice has been served. We can repent and make things right with the wounded brother, and God will remove that feeling from his breast. Or we can refuse to repent and suffer our Father’s displeasure. The feeling of injustice can be removed that way, too, when our wronged brother sees the chastening hand of God upon us.

David knew this. A famine had plagued the nation of Israel, and David learned that God was chastising Israel because King Saul had wronged some heathen, the Gibeonites, who lived there in the land. David then had those abused people brought to him, and he asked them please to tell him what it would take for that burning sense of injustice to be removed from their hearts so that they would no longer cry out to God against Israel. They told David what they wanted; he did it; their sense of injustice was removed by God; they began to pray for Israel; and God sent rains again to the land. Those Gibeonites "had ought" against Israel. Saul really had done wrong to them, and God did not want Israel to worship Him until it was made right.

It is not good for those we wrong to see us shouting and singing praises to God. Such a spectacle makes them less likely to repent than more likely. It can, in fact, turn their hearts against God, if they think He approves of your misdeeds. It is only when men see our good deeds that they think well of our God.

Do not ever humble yourself before someone just because that person claims you have done wrong. Trying to repent of a wrong you have not done produces confusion on every side. The Bible warns the upright not to "fall down before the wicked" (Prov. 25:26). I have watched immature saints struggle, sometimes for years, trying to make something right that they never made wrong. They wanted peace, but as long as the evil-hearted people around them knew they can manipulate those saints by accusing them of evildoing, they always found a way to make them feel guilty and make them crawl back to their footstools again. If you find that you have done wrong to someone, just say so, and make it right and then come back to the altar and worship your God with joy. But if you have not done wrong, don’t ever allow any unclean spirit to make you its servant with false accusations.

It will happen that along the way, you go to a wronged brother and sincerely repent for what you did, but he refuses to forgive you. That is evil on his part, not yours. He has now wronged you! In such cases, you are still free to return to the altar, take up your gift, and worship God with joy. We are God’s servants, not man’s.

Finally, please notice that Jesus said to leave your gift at the altar only if it comes to mind at God’s altar that you have done wrong, not if somebody just says so. If God brings it to your attention that you need to go visit a brother and make something right, then do it quickly. If a person tells you that you have done a wrong, move slowly. Take that to God. If he agrees with that accuser, then quickly make it right. If He does not agree, feel free to shout His praises to the highest heavens, even if the accuser stands in a corner, staring at you with a frown. In all things, we live by God’s word, not by man’s.

Thought for Today

2003. 08-04

"Having Ought Against You", Part One

"If thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee, leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way. First be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift."

- Jesus, in Matthew 5:23-24

God cares how we treat others, especially other children of God. He does not accept worship from anyone who has done wrong to another and has not yet made it right. The greatest commandment is that we should love God with all our hearts and minds, but the second greatest commandment is that we should love our neighbors as ourselves (Mt. 22:40). The truth is that if we love God as we should, we will love our neighbor as we love ourselves. Even the Law of Moses was given to Israel so that they know how to live peaceably with both God and each other.

It is because God cares how people feel that Jesus warned us to make things right with a brother who has something against us before we offer any gifts to God. This injunction of Jesus is frequently misunderstood, however, by the humble children of God who love peace and want to please the Father. Jesus was warning us that if we have, in fact, harmed someone, then we should make right that unrighteous act before we worship God. He was not saying that we have to try to make people like us. There are ungodly people who may, at times, falsely accuse us of wrongdoing. In such cases, we cannot "make it right" because we never made anything wrong.

Pay careful attention to Jesus’ words. He told you not to offer your gift to God if your brother "has ought against you". But a person cannot "have ought against you" unless you have actually done wrong to him. He can say he has ought against you; he can think he has ought against you; but he cannot really have ought against you give it to him; that is, unless you really have done him wrong.

By this commandment of our Lord, Jesus did not make us slaves to people with bad attitudes. He did not tell us to refrain from worshiping God just because someone doesn’t happen to like us or just because someone makes an accusation against us. He only told us to postpone worshiping God if, when we come to worship Him, He brings to our attention a wrong that we have really done to someone. We are servants of God, not men.

In the event that we have wronged someone, it is very important that we repair the damaged fellowship with him before we approach God to offer Him a gift. Otherwise, Jesus warned, the wronged brother may talk to God about it, the righteous Judge, who may then turn you over to one of his many instruments of wrath until you have paid in full for the wrong you did your brother (Mt. 5:25-26).

Thought for Today

2003. 08-01

The Remission of Sins

Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sins.

Heb. 9:22

Remission of sins does not happen when a person repeats a few verses of Scripture and "claims" it. Nor does it happen when a minister pronounces that someone "got saved". It does not happen when someone joins any one of Christianity’s many churches. Remission of sins happens when the blood of Christ, the holy Spirit of God, enters and washes a soul from sin. The Bible calls this experience the "baptism of the holy Ghost", or "being born again", or "conversion". It is an experience that is of such importance that God gave His only begotten Son that we might have it. Without this experience, none will escape the coming wrath of God. With it, all may come to know the incomparable love of God, for, "the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the holy Ghost which He has given to us." (Rom. 5:5).

Remission of sins is a gift offered to lowly man by a very tender-hearted Creator. We can only demonstrate our gratitude for His love by asking Him for it.

Thought for Today

2003. 07-31

Hidden With Christ in God

From a sermon on May 19, 2003.

The most holy place in God's Old Testament temple was a room of deep darkness. There were no windows in that room, and no candles were ever allowed in there. It was a closed room in the very rear of the temple into which no man on earth could enter except Israel's High Priest, and he, only on very rare occasions, for just a few moments, and without so much as the flicker of one of the temple's golden candlesticks to guided his feet. Solomon, in dedicating the temple, could only explain it with these brief words: "The Lord said that He would dwell in the thick darkness" (1Kgs. 8:12). What God used that room for, what God did in there, men could only wonder and guess. They were all excluded. It was God's place. If men were evil-hearted, they hated being left out and no doubt criticized the construction of a room made of pure gold that no one could view. If, on the other hand, they were good-hearted, they humbled themselves to confess that it was God's, and that they were only men. Good people were happy that there was a place on earth for their God.

God dwells in light that is so great that men cannot even approach it (1Tim. 6:16). Moses caught a glimpse of God's back parts, and for the rest of his life had to wear a veil over his face because the brightness of his face hurt men's eyes (Ex. 34:29-35). After Moses glimpsed God, nobody ever saw Moses' face again. The light in which God dwells is too much for us; it would kill a man to see God. He mercifully chose not to fill His Most Holy Place in the temple with the light that would blind us and even slay us. Rather, to teach us that He dwells in a place that we neither know nor understand, He chose to make His earthly room very dark and mysterious. God does not dwell in darkness, but darkness is the best thing He could use to teach us of His glory and mystery.

Paul taught the saints, "Your lives are hidden with Christ in God" (Col. 3:3). When you enter into Christ, you become a mystery to this world and to the people in it. It is as if the new birth takes you into a pitch black room where men are forbidden to come, but the truth is that the world is in the dark, and we have entered into the light of God. "The world knoweth us not because it knew him not" wrote John (1Jn. 3:1).

Sometimes, men who do not know God try to guess what has happened to you and who you now are. If they do not like the changes Jesus makes in your life, they may call you a "fanatic" or they may accuse you of thinking you are better than anyone else, or even that you are in a "cult". But those are just guesses. Men really don't know who you are in Christ because your life really is "hidden with Christ in God." The accusations some men make against you are like rocks thrown by naughty little kids into a dark night in hope of hitting an unseen target. They are just guessing. Do not take such accusations to heart. Have compassion on them because they just don't know what to think of you any longer. You have become a mystery to everyone in the whole world who is not in Christ. You are in a sacred place into which no natural man has ever gone. To them, it is very dark. To you, God has "shined in your heart" and given you the light of life.

Peter said that old friends would "think it strange that you run not with them any longer" in sin. Of course, they would not think that your conduct is strange if they were also in Christ, where you are now hidden by the hand of God, but they are not there, and they can only make guesses as to why you no longer behave the way you used to behave. Over the course of my life, I have heard of three separate cases in which family members committed a relative to a mental institution because those relatives began to speak in tongues. I don't know all the circumstances of those events, and so I cannot say for certain, but they may have been just guessing that their relative had developed a mental problem. It may have been the work of God, taking their relative into the "mystery of godliness", into a holy place far beyond the understanding of men in the world.

Men called Jesus Beelzebub, the prince of demons, because they didn't know him. That cruel accusation was just one of the many verbal stones that they cast into the darkness trying to hit him. But all their accusations missed. Reminding his followers of the things men accused him of being, Jesus warned them not to expect to receive better treatment from the world than what he had received (Mt. 10:25). Jesus knew what it means to be hidden in God from the understanding of men. Now, you who believe are hidden with him, and men will always guess as to who you are, just as they guessed at who Jesus was. Until they, too, are touched with the mercy of God, all they can do is guess. Be merciful when it happens; you once were foolish, too.

Even the devil doesn't know you any more, or how to get to you. The only way he could possibly know you now is to be with you, hidden with Christ in God, and he can never be there. He has been cast out of the kingdom of God, never to be readmitted. The only time the devil even possibly could truly know a child of God now, is for one of us to act like him. That old fool might recognize something like himself if he saw it. Let us be wise, and follow Jesus' example instead of the devil's.

Stay filled with the Spirit and stay hidden. The life of true holiness is a simple life of peace, purity, and joy. "The way of the transgressors is hard" (Prov. 13:15), but the yoke of God's will in Christ Jesus "is easy" (Mt. 11:30), and "God's commandments are not grievous" to those who have a heart to keep them (1Jn. 5:3).

Thought for Today

2003. 07-30

Liberty

One of the most dangerous conditions on earth is liberty. Liberty itself is a wonderful gift, but an ungodly person does not know how to use liberty for good; instead, he uses liberty to the harm of himself and those around him. The greater the liberty granted to a sinful person, the more damage he usually manages to cause himself and others. Liberty leads to greater blessing only if those have it will use it wisely.

Jesus said, "If the Son of man sets you free, you are free indeed." How very true that is! Most of the inhabitants of earth have never known the depth and power of the liberty that Christ gives. What sinners would do to each other if they possessed the liberty of the Lord can only be imagined, but it would certainly not take men long to destroy themselves. Thank God for the restraints on man’s imaginations and desires that governments of this world impose upon them! God’s liberty is so complete that it even presents a challenge to those who are good, much less to evil people! The apostles of Christ knew this and warned the saints of the temptation to abuse their liberty in Christ (1Cor. 8:9; Gal. 5:13; 1Pet. 2:16).

When Jesus sets someone free, he sets them free from wrong ideas about God, from every vain tradition and institution, from the power of sin and of Satan, from carnal thoughts and habits, and from confusion, doubt, fear, and unbelief. Jesus sets people free to live without sin, and to be able to know God as He is, no matter what they have previously been taught about Him. Jesus sets people free to follow the Spirit, no matter which direction it takes them. Jesus liberates people to obey God, no matter what they think God would or would not ever tell them to do. Some believers wisely use their liberty to love others and serve God acceptably in reverence and peace, but that it is a way that some among the saints seem unable to follow. Liberty actually seems to frighten them, and they choose to sit in shadows rather than walk in the light of life. Fear is perhaps the most common reason that God’s children remain in Christianity instead of obeying the Spirit’s call to "come out of her, My people!"

My Testimony

For years, the Lord tried to communicate to me the truth about Christianity. Looking back on those years, I now can see how he tried repeatedly to persuade me that it was not of him and to come out of it, but my heart just could not take it in. At that time, I know now that to renounce Christianity was so frightening a thought that I would not allow myself to think it. Who in himself could ever have thought that Christianity, the religion that talks the most about Jesus and that calls itself after Christ, is the Great Whore of the book of Revelation? What man is wise enough to figure that out? It is an unthinkable thought, an unimaginable answer to the most basic of life’s questions. Liberty from the religion of Christianity is a liberty that no child of God would even dare to dream of; it takes God Himself to give us the faith to believe it is His will to come out of it.

Still, God’s children will never know perfect liberty and fellowship as long as they remain in Christianity. The liberty that belongs to the sons of God is so great that the religion of Christianity cannot contain it. In fact, the religion of Christianity stifles the liberty of God’s children, and that is why our heavenly Father is calling us out. We cannot love each other as we should like to, while we remain under Christianity’s influence and control.

I felt fear when Jesus revealed to me that Christianity is not of Him. I earnestly prayed for courage to believe what my Lord was telling me. But I loved the sweet smell of liberty that fills the air outside the walls of that city. The aroma of life, real life and liberty in Jesus, drew me on, and I followed it into the meadows of God’s love.

The Challenge

The liberty of the sons of God is so great that God must help us not only to believe that it exists but to survive its glory. Our God is great beyond words! His liberty would destroy the nations of earth if they had it because they would feel no restraint against their carnal natures. It is a dangerous thing for a child of God to have a carnal mind and yet to possess some liberty from God. That is why part of the liberty from Jesus is the liberty from our own carnal minds! God loves us, and He does not want us to hurt ourselves with His blessings.

This is why we so desperately need the guidance and strength of the holy Ghost. Only by being led by the holy Ghost can we survive the awesome liberty that Jesus gives. Only the holy Ghost can lead us into all truth and away from all wrong ideas about God. Only the holy Ghost can give us the power to live free from sin. Only the person who from the heart loves righteousness and who has learned to follow the voice of the Spirit can live in the liberty of Christ without ruining his life.

Patrick Henry, a famous early American, said in a speech in the Virginia parliament long ago, "Give me liberty, or give me death!" He didn’t know that for people whose hearts are unclean, to be given liberty is to be given death, for evil hearted people destroy themselves with liberty. They do not know how to live in the love of God. Paul said, "The Lord is that Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty" (2Cor. 3:17). That is the challenge. "Walk in the Spirit", he said again, "and you will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh" (Gal. 5:16). That is the answer to the challenge.

The holy Ghost is our safety and our guide. It is God’s presence, in spirit, and those who stay filled with the holy Ghost cannot sin. Those who follow the Spirit’s lead have peace and joy, and do not fear any evil. Liberty is not a threat to a righteous man; it is what he desires most, for it sets him free to do what he wants to do: live according to the perfect will of the Creator.

Thought for Today

2003. 07-29

A person who pleases everybody is not being honest with anybody.

Thought for Today

2003. 07-28

The Only Difference

John said, "the whole world lieth in wickedness" (1Jn. 5:19 ). Later, when John was caught up into heaven to be given his great Revelation, it was revealed to him that the devil had deceived the whole world (Rev. 12:9). It is because of the work of Satan and the influence of his ungodly spirit that the entire world is "in the dark" concerning the right ways of God. It is an awesome truth to contemplate, that every person in every family in every town in every nation on earth has been deceived concerning what is of God and what is not. Think of it! An entire world of over six billion individuals, and all of them completely deceived as to what is right and what is wrong, completely ignorant as to what is good and what is evil.

At the same time, the Bible is clear that, because of the mercy of God, a few people have escaped from the darkness that covers the earth and have come to know the truth. No one can escape that darkness by his own efforts and wisdom. Humans are powerless to free themselves from the prison of sin that holds them. The difference between the billions on earth who "walk in darkness" and the few who "walk in the light"–and the only difference–is that God has communicated with the few and has brought His light into their hearts. Paul said that "God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" (2Cor. 4:6).

The difference between those who now walk in "the light of life" and those who are still "blinded by the god of this world" is not the Bible. Most people who own Bibles know little about it and almost nothing about God. Neither is the difference "joining a church"; Christian churches are Satan’s chief instruments for keeping men in the dark; they are not God’s answer to man’s sad plight. The difference, the only difference between the wise and the foolish is the Word of God. God’s Word has entered into the hearts of a few people on earth and has given them what Jesus called "the light of life". Without that precious communication from God, no one has any hope of ever being anything but what he is: lost and sinful, and ignorant even of that.

There are in reality only two groups on earth: those who have heard and obeyed God’s voice and those who have not; children of the Spirit and children of the flesh. One group lives in darkness; the other lives in light. In the darkness, men call themselves by many names: Muslim, Christian, Hindu, Buddhist, and others, but it is all darkness. It makes no difference which brand of darkness one prefers. Until God’s Word has penetrated your heart and brought light into your soul, you are still in the dark. Regardless of which brand of darkness one is in, there is only one way out: communication with God.

Jesus rejoiced when he learned that his Father had communicated with one of his disciples, Peter (Mt. 16:17). He rejoiced that Peter had been blessed with revelation knowledge from God because he knew that God was offering Peter a way out of darkness into light. The Father had opened the door for Peter! Jesus then went on to tell Peter and the other disciples that "the gates of hell" would not be able to prevail against what his Father gives to the saints.

The gates of hell are entrance ways into hell, and the most attractive and popular gates of hell have always been the religions that men have invented. The gates of hell are the doctrines and religious traditions that have sprung from the imaginations of men instead of from the revelation of God. They make the world’s darkness even darker. They confuse many otherwise prudent men and tighten Satan’s grip around the neck of humanity. But none of those gates can prevail against even the smallest truth revealed from our heavenly Father. The Word of God cannot be contradicted or opposed. There is no wisdom, nor counsel, nor understanding against the Lord (Prov. 21:30). Jesus promised that if we place our trust in him, God will give us light, and the light of God is a wisdom that "no man can contradict" (Lk. 21:15). What can darkness do against light?

David said that "the entrance of thy words giveth light" (Ps. 119:130). The "entrance of God’s Word" is not a reference to reading the Bible; it is the entrance of the voice of God into the heart of man. It is God speaking to a man’s heart, as God spoke to Peter’s heart. That alone is what prevails over all the lovely gates of hell that men have invented. God’s Word is the difference, the only difference, between those who now can see and those who still dwell in darkness.

Thought for Today

2003. 07-25

Was Having Slaves Sin?

At a seminar in Richmond, Virginia in 2001, I heard a distinguished historian of the Civil War make a statement in passing, as if it were commonly agreed upon, that "slavery is sin." This opinion, in our time, is promulgated without fear of challenge, but what does Jesus, the leading expert on what sin really is, think about it? Does the Bible indicate that God ever considered the ancient social institution of slavery to be sin? Upon which verse in the Bible, or upon which revelation of God, did that renown Civil War scholar base his judgment concerning slavery? I have never found a verse in the Bible that intimates that those who owned slaves were, ipso facto, sinners. Still, "slavery is sin", pronounced the erudite scholar, and everyone in the auditorium seemed to agree.

When Jesus came to live among us, a major obstacle to Israel’s recognizing him as the Messiah was that Israel’s leaders had redefined some important words related to God, notably among them, the word "sin". Having redefined "sin", Israel’s elders then erred in condemning as sinners people who were not sinful in God’s eyes. One of those upright people was Jesus Christ himself, whom they condemned because he "sinned" on the Sabbath day by healing the sick on that holy day. God thought that it was good to heal the sick on any day of the week and sent Jesus to do it, but Israel’s leaders thought it was sinful to heal on the Sabbath and hated him for it. From their tragic error, we should learn to restrict our definition of sin is to what God says that it is, instead of allowing prevailing prejudices and social movements to define sin for us. Otherwise, we might well condemn as being wicked someone whom God does not condemn.

Abraham, "the friend of God", owned slaves, as did his son Isaac, as well as Isaac’s son Jacob. Job, "a perfect and upright man" before God, had slaves, and very many of them. Paul’s letter to Philemon was written when he Paul sent a runaway slave, Onesimus, back to Philemon his master. Both of these men, Onesimus the slave and Philemon the master, were believers. Neither of them were condemned as sinners by Paul for occupying their relative social positions.

Most importantly, however, Jesus himself (our chief example) was, and still is, the happy owner of many slaves (Rom. 1:1; Acts 16:17), of whom I am one. In fact, Jesus himself was a slave to God (Mt. 20:27-28; Phip. 2:4-8).

What does the Bible really say about slavery? I researched the Bible’s treatment of the institution of slavery, and I found that the Bible never states, nor even implies, that holding slaves was sinful. On the contrary, it deals with slavery, both in the New and Old Testaments, as being exactly what it was at that time: a commonly accepted social phenomenon. Simply acknowledging that incontrovertible Biblical fact places us in the difficult position of swimming against the tide of popular opinion and suffering the contempt of a proud generation that "knows" that slavery was sin, even though God never said so. Our only other option is to reject what the Bible clearly states, so that people in this generation will like us.

Take the time to find out what your God thinks about things. We all know that men do not know the truth; the Bible makes that abundantly clear. Then, why should we mindlessly follow the crowds when they tell us what sin is and what it is not? It is wise to consider for yourself the information on slavery contained in the Bible before answering the question, "Does God say that holding slaves was sin?" I found nothing in the Bible that would lead me to believe that He ever thought that, but if I missed something, perhaps one of my readers will be kind enough to point it out to me.

Thought for Today

2003. 07-24

Knowing God Versus Knowing the Bible

On one occasion, Jesus said that he did not "bear witness" of himself, adding that if he were to bear witness of himself, his witness would not be true (Jn. 5:31). He trusted in God to bear witness of him (Jn. 5:32). Pharisees were present when he made that statement, and they remembered it. Later, the Pharisees challenged Jesus for contradicting himself because they noticed that he did bear witness of himself, for he proclaimed, "I am the light of the world! He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life." They interrupted him and shouted, "Thou bearest witness of thyself; thy record is not true!" (Jn. 8:13).

In the beginning, God said, "It is not good that man should be alone", and He proceeded to created woman from the man’s rib so that the man could have a mate. But Paul, who had no mate and lived alone, said, "It is good that a man abide [alone] even as I."

Solomon gave this counsel to his son: "Answer not a fool according to his folly" (Prov. 26:4). And then, in the very next verse, he counseled his son, "Answer a fool according to his folly" (Prov. 26:5).

The list of Bible contradictions goes on and on. The Bible is filled with what seem to be contradictory statements, from one end to the other. Many years ago, I started to make a list of every set of verses from the Bible that contradicted each other, but the project grew to such a size that I gave it up. Without faith in God and understanding from the Spirit, the carnal mind can only see the Bible as a confusing mass of contradictions. But God has planned it to be this way, to frustrate vain man and to keep His secret with those who humble themselves before Him. To God, the Bible is not complicated at all. Nor is it impossible to understand, for those who are guided by God’s holy Spirit to read it.

Jesus did not say, "I will have a book written that shall guide you into all truth." He said, "When he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth" (Jn. 16:13). And then again, "The comforter, which is the holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things" (Jn. 14:26). Without the Spirit, no man can comprehend either the Bible or the hidden mysteries of Christ. It is vain to look to the Bible for the answers to the deepest questions of our soul. No modern translation of the Bible can reveal the truths of God; no old version can reveal them. The Bible was never intended to guide the saints; it is merely a tool, and it can be used either rightly or wrongly, depending on whether or not the person reading it is led by the Spirit in his reading.

When Paul said, "The letter killeth; but the Spirit giveth life", he meant that the Bible, taken alone, can only lead to death, but that the holy Ghost will enlighten us to understand God’s ways. The Spirit gives us life with God, so that we understand what those who wrote the Bible were saying, for it requires the same anointing from God to understand the Bible as was required to write it. Much controversy exists among believers over whether or not the original manuscripts of the Biblical books were verbally inspired by God. That is an irrelevant issue, invented by our crafty adversary to lure God’s children into a worthless debate and controversy. The real issue, my dear brothers and sisters, is not whether or not those ancient men were inspired by God to write the Bible; rather, the issue is, are YOU inspired by God to read it? If you are not inspired by the Spirit of Christ to read the Bible, it doesn’t matter what those ancient men wrote. It will be impossible for you to judge it rightly.

Jesus warned certain proud ministers of his day that they were in danger of losing their souls because they loved the Bible as they should only have loved him. He said, "Search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life, and they are they which testify of me, and you will not come to me, that you might have life" (Jn. 5:39). The Bible is not essential for salvation; only Christ is. It is possible that you can, in the Final Judgment, be judged worthy to spend eternity with God the Father even if you do not own a copy of the Bible. But please do not meet God on that day without having the Spirit of Christ.

The Bible is not our life; Christ is our life. The Bible is not our wisdom; he is our wisdom. The Bible is not our redeemer; Christ is our redeemer. The Bible is not at the right hand of the Father, interceding for us; Christ Jesus is. The Bible can never forgive and wash you from your sins; Christ Jesus alone can do that.

I love the Bible. Everyone who knows me can tell you that. But the Bible is not my God. It is a tool given to us from God. We do well to know it, but we do much better to know God than to know the Bible. I was asking Bible questions some years back, and one old saint told me, "I may not be able to tell you where that is in the Bible but I can tell you whether it is right or wrong." Well, isn’t that the whole point? Isn’t the whole point to know what is right and wrong in God’s sight?

This is not a well-known truth, and to speak it may cause some to flinch, but you can trust this saying: If you know God, then you don’t need to know the Bible. If you don’t yet know God, then the study of the Bible can help you "tune in" to the voice of His Spirit, and the wonderful stories in the Bible can encourage and thrill us all. But to know God is the goal. Jesus said it this way, "This is life eternal, that they might know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent" (Jn. 17:3). The point of God giving the Bible to His people, the point of God giving pastors to His people, the point of God giving the holy Ghost to His people, is so that we may come to know Him. If we fail to do that, then everything He has given us has been in vain. But if we humble ourselves to give heed to what we have from God, then we will come to know Him and enjoy eternal life with Him. It no doubt pleases God for us to study the scriptures and to learn them well. But nothing will ever give our God more joy than for us, His children, to come know Him. And in the end, nothing will give us more joy, either.

Thought for Today

2003. 07-23

How Jesus Looked

Isaiah was moved by the holy Ghost to prophesy many things about the coming Messiah. Amazingly, one of those things was a description of Jesus’ physical appearance. According to Isaiah’s prophecy, the Lord Jesus was physically unattractive. This is what Isaiah prophesied: "He hath no form or comeliness, and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him" (Isa. 53:2). Movie makers cast no one but handsome men to play the part of Jesus in their movies, but that is just to attract people so that they will pay to watch them. But in his lifetime on earth, Jesus’ physical appearance attracted no one. Those who loved Jesus could only have loved him because of the goodness and wisdom and power of God that he possessed in his soul.

Jesus was born in a stable, and his first bed was a feeding trough. That was the only place that this world had to offer him the night he was born, and this world has never been any more receptive than that of the real Jesus. Whenever large numbers of people get excited about "Jesus", it is wise to step back and consider which "Jesus" it is that the multitudes are following.

It is Satan whose physical appearance is lovely. Through Ezekiel, God revealed to us that this fallen cherub was "perfect in beauty" (28:12). The devil does not want men to know that what he is, pleases them. Satan’s ways please mankind so much that Jesus called him "the prince of this world" (Jn. 14:30), and Paul called him "the god of this world" (2Cor. 4:4). Men will refuse to worship the true God, no matter how holy He is, unless He measures up to their standard of beauty. But they will follow the devil himself, and do, as long as his ways please their physical senses.

Satan does not want people to discover that the dashing, debonair Jesus of the movies is more nearly a picture of him than of the real Jesus. If people ever learn that, they might start seeking to know the real God instead of serving a god who looks good but isn’t good, one who sounds holy but is very wicked. If people ever find out that the devil is the handsome one and that Jesus was actually kind of ugly, they might start wondering if their sense of good and evil is twisted, and they might sincerely begin to ask God to reveal Himself. That is what Satan fears because he knows that God loves people and that if people ask, they shall receive. Jesus knows that, too. And that is why he encouraged everyone to "Ask, and ye shall receive; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For every one that seeketh, findeth; and every one that asketh, receiveth; and to him that knocketh, it shall be opened."

That is what the real God does because the real God is really good, and He really loves people.

Thought for Today

7-19

Tithes and Offerings, Part Nine

Final Thoughts

Here are some scattered, final thoughts of the issue of tithes and offerings that will conclude this series of Thoughts for Today on the subject:

Jesus said, "If Abraham were your father, you would do the works of Abraham." One of the works of Abraham was to render tithes to Melchizedek, an ancient figure of Christ (Ps. 110:4). Abraham’s children live as Abraham lived.

Tithing was not merely a commandment given under the Law. Abraham and Jacob lived hundreds of years before the Law was given, and they both offered their tithes to God. The righteous have always known what was right to do and have done it. Paul said it this way: "The Law was not made for a righteous man" (1Tim. 1:9). Such righteous men did not need the Law of Moses to tell them to bring God His tithes and offerings. They were "a law unto themselves."

Tithing is one of the principal means by which we obey Solomon’s admonition to his son, "In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths. Be not wise in thine own eyes; fear the Lord, and depart from evil. It shall be health to thy navel and marrow to thy bones" (Prov. 3:6-8). In hope that God would bless his young son’s life, the wise king earnestly admonished his son with these words: "Honor the Lord with thy substance, and with the first fruits of all thine increase. So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shalt burst out with new wine" (Prov. 3:8-9).

God’s system of tithes and offerings works against the flesh’s natural desire to strive to be rich and to hoard up wealth. It teaches us to be like God, who gives liberally, in that we learn not to think of the wealth God gives us as something intended only for ourselves.

Those who beg for money from God’s people are never satisfied. They never seem to have money sufficient to fulfill their grand schemes. The spirit of Christianity does not normally inspire ministers to do as Moses once did, when he said to the children of God, "Bring no more offerings now. You have given enough."

Some people claim that they earn too much money to bring God’s tithes and offerings to the Lord, while others say they don’t earn enough. Neither group is telling the truth. Nobody earns either too little or too much money to do the will of God.

Moses taught Israel that "All the tithe of the land, whether of the seed or of the land, or of the fruit of the tree, is the Lord’s. It is holy unto the Lord. And concerning the tithe of the herd, or of the flock, even whatsoever passes under the rod, the tenth shall be holy unto the Lord." It is dangerous for an unauthorized person to touch what is holy unto the Lord. Uzzah touched the ark of God and was struck dead for his indiscretion. Korah and two hundred fifty of the princes in Israel were burned alive in God’s wrath for being where they ought not to have been in the holy precinct. And the otherwise good King Uzziah was stricken with leprosy when he entered into the temple to offer incense on God’s golden altar. None of these men was ordained to touch God’s holy things.

Such stories teach us that a child of God will be in some serious trouble if he holds on to God’s tithes and offerings. They are, as Moses said, "holy unto the Lord". It is also true that if someone gives God’s tithes and offerings into the hands of a minister not anointed by God to receive them, then he has placed that minister in a dangerous position. What is God’s must only be given only to those whom God has anointed to receive it in His name.

God only wants what is His. He does not want the money He has given you for meeting the physical needs of your family and yourself. He does not want you to give to any man the money that He has given to you. He does not want you to borrow money to give to Him. If you stay close to Jesus, He will protect you from ministers who would take what is yours from God. Jesus hates the work of men who steal from His children in His name. Of the money that God brings into your hand, all He demands is His tithes and offerings. That is not too much for anyone to give, though it will always seem to be too much to those who don’t want to do it.

Someone has said that the tithe is the basket in which God gives us the money we need, and if we fail to bring Him the tithes and offerings that are His, we have stolen the basket.

Thought for Today

2003. 07-18

Tithes and Offerings, Part Eight

Giving

When we have brought to God His tithes and His offerings, we have not given God anything. The tithes and offerings are already His, and in bringing them to God, we are merely doing our duty, for it is only to be expected that we should be a faithful handler of God’s possessions.

In the Old Testament, God gave permission to His people to bring gifts to Him that were beyond the requirement of tithes and offerings. If someone among His people did want to bring a gift to God beyond what was required, God allowed it, in the main. Even so, however, God set the standard; He never accepted just anything that anyone decided to bring Him. Concerning such offerings, and almsgiving, Jesus said simply, "Give." And then he promised that God would especially reward such abundant giving: He said: "Give, and it shall be given unto you. Good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give unto your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal shall it be measured to you again" (Lk. 5:38).

We will never out-give God. I have known saints who were anointed with the gift of giving, mentioned in Romans 12. Though poor, they found ways of giving that richer people could not find. It was their gift from God, and how sweet it was to share this life with such souls! They gave unceasingly and in varied ways, without thought or care, but even they, the most giving of all people, never out-gave God (not that they tried.)

Concerning the opportunity to give beyond what was required, Paul told the saints in Corinth, "He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly, and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give, not grudgingly or of necessity [i.e., not because someone has talked you into it], for God loveth a cheerful giver" (2Cor. 9:6).

A Matter of the Heart

It is worthless to give with half a heart or with a double mind. In time, such a person will most likely regret that he gave, and there is no reward from God for that. It is also worthless to give because one is afraid not to, or out of a sense of guilt if one does not give. There are many ways by which religious men pressure people to give when they really do not want to give. One example of this is the Christian tradition it of publicly "taking up a collection"–all the while reminding the people of how much Jesus has done for them. Men who do that know they are pressuring people to give what they may not really want to give. And they know that they are embarrassing some people for their past failure to give. When people are pressured by such tactics, they may afterward regret yielding to the pressure, and their hearts will then be further hardened against generosity.

Blessings follow obedience to God’s will concerning tithes and offerings, and of giving beyond that. But if it is not in a person’s heart to do those things, then it is evil to pressure him to do so. Gifts are not acceptable to God if the person bringing the money doesn’t really want to give it. It is a matter of the heart! Only the heart! Always the heart! Where is your heart concerning God and money? That is the only real issue.

Being Worthy To Give

The Christian tradition of "taking up a collection" is nothing but a tool of oppression, and it is of the devil. That godless tradition is not designed simply to provide God’s saints with an opportunity to bring their tithes and offerings; a simple basket by the door would suffice for that. " Taking up a collection" sprang from the covetous heart of some unknown man. That public display pressures people to give when they otherwise might not give.

Besides that, the ritual of "taking up a collection" would be completely unnecessary if a minister would simply feed God’s people the truth. The children of God cheerfully bring God’s tithes and offerings to Him, without being asked, when they are cared for. I have never in all my years of serving God had any need to "take up a collection", not because I am so wonderful but because God’s children are wonderful. Happy children of God are the most generous creatures in all of God’s creation. By their example, God’s children teach the very angels about giving, once the truth sets them free from Christianity to become who they really are in Christ.

On occasion, I have had to refuse a person’s tithes and offerings. Sometimes, it has been because the person bringing the money was living an ungodly life and was not worthy to mingle his or her money with that of upright saints of God. Jesus would not allow me to take what those people offered until they repented and made things right with him. At other times, I could not take the money because it was being offered by precious saints who were too zealous for their own good. They were offering more than what was good for them to give. They were overly excited in the Lord and hadn’t yet learned how to express such feelings of thanksgiving and joy with temperance and discretion.

Believe God

The Lord knows us, that we are made of dust and that we stagger sometimes in our walk of faith. But He continually encourages us to trust Him. Often, it appears, He has more confidence in us than we have in Him. One of the challenges that He believes we can meet is the one He issued to His children through Malachi: "Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove Me herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open to you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it." God invites us to put Him to the test!

"Do not fear, little flock", to obey Jesus’ commandment to "give". The same Father who provided what you have to give will also cause you to reap what you have sown in sincerity, from the heart. Believe God. He has promised that He will care for us forever if we will trust Him now.

Thought for Today

2003. 07-17

Tithes and Offerings, Part Seven

Giving

When we have brought to God His tithes and His offerings, we should understand that we have not given God anything. His tithes and His offerings are His to begin with. We are just doing our duty of bringing to God what is already His. It is good to do our duty, but we must understand that by doing our duty, we are only being a faithful handler of God’s possessions, and avoiding becoming a thief.

In the Old Testament, God gave permission to His people to bring gifts to Him that were beyond the requirement of tithes and offerings. Even when people wanted to do that, however, God set the standards; He has never accepted just anything that people decide to bring Him. But if one among His people wanted to bring a gift to God beyond what was required, or if he wanted to help a needy brother or sister, God allowed it. Concerning such offerings and alms, Jesus said simply, "Give." And then he promised that God would especially reward such abundant giving: He said: "Give, and it shall be given unto you. Good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give unto your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal shall it be measured to you again" (Lk. 5:38).

Concerning this opportunity to give beyond what was required, Paul told the saints in Corinth, "He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly, and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give, not grudgingly or of necessity (i.e., not because someone has talked you into it), for God loveth a cheerful giver" (2Cor. 9:6).

It is a waste of money to give with half a heart. You will regret that you gave, and there is no reward from God for that. It is a waste of money to give because you have been made afraid not to, or because someone has made you feel guilty if you do not give. There are many ways that religious men have invented to pressure people into giving when they don’t really have it in their hearts to give. For one example, it is evil for Christian ministers to "take up a collection" while reminding the people of how much Jesus has done for them. Such a man knows that he is pressuring people to give what they do not really want to give. And he knows that he is embarrassing some people for their past failures to give. When people are pressured by such tactics, they afterward invariably regret yielding to the pressure, and their hearts are further hardened against generosity by a feeling of being taken advantage of.

We all need to be made aware of the blessings that follow obedience to God’s laws concerning tithes and offerings, and giving beyond that. But if it is not in a person’s heart to do those things, it is evil to pressure him to give because money is not acceptable to God if the person bringing the money doesn’t really want to do it. It is a matter of the heart, only the heart, always the heart! Where is your heart concerning God and money? That is the only real issue.

The Christian tradition of "taking up a collection" is nothing but a tool of oppression. It is of the devil. That godless tradition is not intended simply to provide God’s saints with the opportunity to bring God His tithes and offerings; a simple basket by the door would suffice for that. "Taking up a collection" sprang from the covetous heart of men. It not only pressures people to give when they otherwise would not give but it also consumes valuable meeting time.

Besides that, the evil ritual of "taking up a collection" would be completely unnecessary if a minister would simply feed God’s people the truth. The children of God cheerfully bring God’s tithes and offerings to Him without being asked when they are fed and cared for. I have never once in all my years of serving God and His children had any need to "take up a collection", not because I am so wonderful but because God’s children, when fed the good word of God and made fat in their souls, are the most generous creatures in all of God’s creation. By their example, God’s children teach the angels about giving when the truth sets them free from Christianity to become who they really are in Christ.

Over the years, I have turned away, I am sure, more money than some ministers are ever offered. Sometimes, it has been because the person bringing the money was living an ungodly life and was not worthy to mingle his or her money with that of the saints of God. Jesus would not allow me to take what those people offered until they repented of their wickedness and made things right with him. At other times, I could not take the money because the precious saint who was offering it was being too zealous for their own good. They were offering more than what was good for them to give because they were excited in the Lord and hadn’t learned yet how to express such feelings of thanksgiving and joy with temperance and discretion.

Believe God

The Lord knows us, that we are made of dust and stagger sometimes in our walk of faith. But He continually challenges us to trust Him. Often, it appears, He has more confidence in us than we have in Him. One of the challenges that He believes we can meet is the one He issued to His children through Malachi: "Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove Me herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open to you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it."

Every commandment of God is intended for our happiness. If we walk in His ways, the end will be joy forever. There are fears to overcome; difficulties to endure; and snares laid for our hearts. But we belong to God, and He is mindful of every step we take. He will never leave us nor forsake us, and we are destined to reign in peace and safety with Him throughout eternity. Rest in His promises. Believe His word. Don’t falter because of unbelief and fear. Walk in the way of peace now, while the winds of error blow, and you will live forever in peace in a land where they can never again assail us. The comforting words of Jesus ever draw us gently to the goal: "Fear not, little flock; it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom."

Believe me when I say that we will never out-give God. I have known old saints who were anointed with the gift of giving that Paul mentioned in Romans 12. They were all poor, but they found ways to give that richer people could not find. It was their gift from God, and how sweet it was to share this life with such souls! They gave unceasingly and in varied ways, without thought or care, but even they, the most giving of all people, never out-gave God (not that they ever even tried!) Do not fear, little flock, to obey Jesus’ commandment to "give". The same Father who provided what you have to give will also cause you to reap what you have sown in sincerity, from the heart.

Be courageous, and believe God. He has promised us that He will care for us forever if we simply trust Him in this evil and greedy world. "Be of good cheer," Jesus said, "I have overcome the world." And so can we.

Thought for Today

2003. 07-16

Tithes and Offerings, Part Seven

Two Evils

There are two principle evils that, above all others, prevent people from bringing to God His tithes and offerings. Of course, excuses for disobedience in this matter have varied widely, but when all is said and done, two fundamental evils have consistently stood out.

The first of the two evils that most often prevent people from obeying God in tithes and offerings is covetousness. These people just don’t want to part with the money. They have difficulty admitting to themselves that God’s tithes and offerings really do belong to God. They consider God’s tithes to be their money. Instead of humbly considering the many blessings from God that fill their lives, they can only envision the things they could buy for themselves if they kept God’s portion. How foolish they are!

When Israel was leaving Egypt, they had no idea what to expect from God at Mount Sinai when they would finally meet with Him. While in Pharaoh’s palace, Moses told Pharaoh that he did not know what God would require of them in sacrifice (Ex. 10:24-26). The gods of the nations, including Egypt’s gods, could be brutal in their oppressive demands of people, even demanding that they sacrifice their children in the flames. Israel did not know whether or not Jehovah would prove to be the same. They had to be ready to offer Him all that was theirs.

Facing this unknown, Moses could not agree to Pharaoh’s demand that the Israelites leave their herds behind while they went to meet with Jehovah. What if, Moses wondered, when Israel arrived at Mount Sinai, God required them to sacrifice every cow, goat, and sheep in their possession? He could justly demand that they surrender everything they own because He created all things, and everything Israel possessed was from His merciful hand. Everything belongs to the Creator. So, when the Israelites left Egypt, they left with everything they owned, just in case God demanded it of them. When they came to the foot of fiery Mount Sinai, "the mountain of God", they came trembling. Fear shook Moses himself to the bone (Heb. 12:21).

When the terrified Israelites heard God’s commandments at Mount Sinai, they must have been astonished at how little He demanded of them. A tithe–a tenth–of all their increase, and then some offerings at certain times, was all that God required of them. Misinformation about the Old Testament in our time has prevented this generation from realizing that God’s Old Testament people failed in their walk with God, not because God was so heavy-handed and demanding but because He required so little of them that they could not believe it was enough. Ironically, a main reason that Israel failed in her walk of faith was that she was more religious than God was. One simple place of worship was not good enough for the Israelites. One simple altar and a few simple sacrifices were not enough. One God, as it turned out, was not enough for Israel.

What if God required of His people one half of all our increase instead of a tenth? That would still be merciful of Him. That would still be more gracious than we deserve. But the Creator of the universe, who holds our next breath in His hands, demands that we honor Him with just a tenth part of all our increase. In spite of that, the heart of the covetous among God’s children feel that the tenth is too much to demand. Their own greed makes them suspicious that the servant of God is scheming to take away their money. They cannot be happy bringing God His tenth, and yet they can’t be happy stealing it. In time, they w