Whoever believes that Jesus
is the Christ is born
of God, and everyone
who loves Him who begot
also loves him who
is begotten of Him.
By this we know that
we love the children of God,
when we love God
and keep His commandments,
and His commandments
are not burdensome.
1John 5:1-3
God begot His only Son, the Only Begotten Son of the Father who gave His life as Son of Man, God in human flesh, so that His children would have forgiveness of sin and life eternal. God gave to His children His law, His commandments so that His children would be able to please Him. By means of those commandments His children would be able to overcome the world that is in every way striving against God and His children: For whoever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world--our faith. Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God" (1John 5:4-45). True believers are those who desire to live according to the Dispensation of God and allow God's economy to rule their lives. This is the separation between the world and the Church, those called out ones to be His children. Yet, there has been such an influx of worldly ideologies and practices into many of the Churches that the Church no longer is so different from the world. Remember, the Church is you, not some building, some place where people gather to worship, you are the temple of God: "Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own" (1Corinthians 6:19). Your life is to be a testimony for God but the role is so reversed that people live and enjoy their testimony, that which they have overcome, and it their testimony, what they have done that defines their faith. This is so wrong, you cannot give to God anything that He has not given to you, and the faith you have is because He chose to give you that faith, as the Scripture above states: "Whom you have from God, and you are not your own." Entrance into the Church was "testimony time" and how often we hear of what God has done for us and that is good, but more often a testimony is more about what we have done and then giving credence to God. It is good that you have a good testimony, that God has changed you and given to you faith, but more importantly is how you live and how the living Church of God operates, is within His dispensation. So when I write about the government of the Church, the arrangement by God as set forth in His word, I am not attempting to be egalitarian, rather it is to aid a person to change from the inside out, for it is the change in the inner man that is from God, and that change affects the Church and the witness to His Son, our Savior. Oh! How the Church, that is the people, those that make up the visible Church, have changed, how worship is more along the lines of secularism. The question then is how did the Church get to be more like the world and far from the dispensation of God? I will give some reasons.
Looking back in time, some 200 years or so we can see that the Church is far different from the ages past. The Church and its theologians have been influenced by society, and even the "Christian" institutions that produce theologians have been so influenced by society towards a more Modernistic approach towards theology. The Renaissance, the colonization of America, the Enlightenment, the Romantic Period, the American and French Revolutions, the rise of nationalism, the Industrial Revolution and the development of natural sciences, technologies, medical science, and the human sciences have impacted theological outlooks profoundly. This attempt to integrate theology and culture has been the trend for these many years spinning off cults, and splinter groups of people that call themselves "Christian." We can see that men and women who are not Christian have brought great influence upon the Church, men such as Kant, Hegel, Kirkegaard, John Dewey, Margaret Sanger, and many others and there now is a tension between the true theology and the culture, society. The change in the Church often is seen to have begun at the First World War (1914-1918), but we must go back further in time, to men such as Charles Finney, John Wesley, and others, who integrated into their theology some form of Arminianism, a form of belief that is akin to Pelegianism, or semi-Pelagianism, that man somehow has enough good in him that he can choose for himself to be saved. The various major crises in the world have impacted and affected the Church and the train of though among many theologians. As I had pointed out earlier if you are shooting for Mars, and your calculations are off by the tiniest amount, some 1,000 of an inch, you will miss Mars, by miles and miles. It is true with the Church, if you miss the mark, the dispensation that arrangement of God as set forth in His word, then the door is open for other false teachings. There has been a movement to bring ecumenism to the Church, and men such as John Darby, C.R. Scofield, have introduce a false teaching that has infected the Church, that is you, even into this day. I can and will in time discuss those teachings, but these blogs are to do with the Church and the authority so outlined in the Church and so not followed by many Churches. The one theology that has affected the Church is Feminist theology. This theology changes the liturgy of the Church, the doctrines of the Church, pastoral practices, ethics, and even spirituality. There are major divisions within the Church between laymen and the clergy, between women and men. This introduction of a doctrine that is not to be found in the Bible has impacted even music, a music that satiates the senses, makes one feel so holy. Yes, time and some improvisation is correct and needed but music is to draw is into a closer relation to Him by communicating doctrinal truths, not just some good sounding, pleasing to the ear, rhythmic melody that is more akin to rock concerts. One error begets another. When one discovers by examination of the Churches you will find that the acceptance of women as leaders and pastors of the Church have begun about some 200 years ago, then many Churches have introduced homosexuals to be pastors and leaders, and even accepted abortion. God knew exactly what He was doing when He set forth the authority that men were to have and the arrangement of the Church. It has been men influenced by society that have brought to the Church cultural and societal methods and ideologies. How can God truly bless a Church, a people that are so far distant from the truth of His Word. He Can't! Both men and women have a role in the Church, and those roles are clearly and plainly outlined for the Church and it is when the Church is organized as God outlined then that Church not only has the blessing of God, but is a true witness to our Savior. I am not suggesting some off handed authoritarian, or chauvinistic, or egalitarian approach to Church, rather so that His children will return to Biblical principles and live devoted to Him, and not to some "Church" form that is not true worship to Him. It is changing from the inside out so that our outward appearance has been conformed to God's word.
This is not an easy subject to discuss, but one that is so necessary. One may cavil, object, but if you do not read the Bible, pray for God's guidance, then the words of God mean little to a person who would reject what He so plainly outlines. This type of person puts themselves above our Holy and just God, the creator, the one who advises His children as to how to please Him. Change is hard, but even the Apostle Paul once he met the Savior on the road to Damascus made the necessary changes in his life so that his life, his preaching were in conformity to God's dispensation and economy. May yours and mine be the same.
Your glorying is not good.
Do you not know that
a little leaven leavens
the whole lump?
1Corinthians 5:6
May God Bless You
Richard L. Crumb
No comments:
Post a Comment