To the pure all
things are pure,
but to those who are
defiled
and unbelieving
nothing is pure;
but even their mind
and conscience
are defiled. They
profess to know God,
but in works they
deny Him, being abominable,
disobedient, and
disqualified for
every good work.
Titus 1:15–16
As mentioned in the last blog, this
is deep water. We don’t, as we must admit, think much of the historical past.
We might consider some of the historical events, but we see them as events only
and do not delve into the reasons those events have occurred. What led people
to do what they did, to believe what they believed. To the average everyday
person, this is far too much information, it is too hard to understand, they
just want to live without controversy; therefore, they do not attempt to know
that which may have influenced them. This I can understand for it is a huge
subject and I will attempt to make it interesting enough so that you will read
the blog, think about what is being stated and to do something, if needed, to
change from the inside out, to hold fast to Authentic Biblical Faith. Allow me
to lay this foundation: “The wicked are estranged from the womb; they go
astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies” (Psalm 58:3). This fact, that
men are wicked from birth, does not stop them to make an attempt to know God,
but it is like climbing Mt. Everest, difficult, it is against our nature.
Unless God intervenes we are liable to throw up our hands in despair, or to
devise a God that is more acceptable and easy to understand, a god that
satisfies our appetites. Man is willing to accept the common grace of God, but
will dismiss salvation Grace in their hunt for God. Why would man attempt to
know God, to know that there is a God, to make for themselves a god(s)? Man was
made in the image of God and even though man is fallen in their nature, that
fact remains, they are made in the image of God and have an understanding that
is innate that there is a God. Some refuse to admit to this fact, and become
Atheistic, or form a god(s) acceptable to themselves believing that they have
come to know God. They have not! This is an allusion for it is not true
understanding, it is diabolical, is of the Devil as it is perpetuated by Satan.
This diabolical understanding may have some truth, but it is only to veiling of
lies. This nature must be changed, and this man cannot do for himself. Only God
can change our hearts, not some philanthropic change, rather a change of heart
that the Spirit of God gives to some and not to others, a free gift, a
righteousness paid for by His Son Jesus Christ on the cross. That fact is
historical and man rejects that fact even though the cross is real and is
known, they don’t, or will not accept this event; they can’t, they are wicked
from the womb. Only God can change a heart to accept Him and this He does by His
Providence and as the Creator of the universe: “Does not the potter have
power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and
another for dishonor? What if God, wanting to show His wrath and to make His
power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath prepared beforehand
for glory, even us whom He called, not the Jews only, but also of the gentiles”
(Romans 9:21–24)? Thank God for His wisdom, His Love, His Son, and His Holy
Spirit, that He would choose any people, that He would choose you and me. Why?
I don’t need the why! I need to allow His Spirit which He gave to me by giving
me, and you, the free gift of faith (Ephesians 2:8).
Moving
forward in this study of the history of men that have influenced the world and
the Church I continue to give more understanding of the one man, Plato, who
influenced many and from whom several branches of thought developed. Plato was
dualistic in his philosophy, there was the real that could be seen and the
unseen which the real was only a copy of the unseen. Hesiod, lived in the 8th
century BCE, probably about the same time or shortly after Homer, whose date of
life was either in the 12th century, or more probably in the 8th
century, who wrote such epics as the Illiad, which pictured the god(s) in
a bad light, portraying them as devious, warring, plotting, on this side of the
war or the other side, as it fit their dispositions, fighting among themselves,
being anthropomorphized. Plato does not agree, for he saw and represented God
as good, pious, because God was in His nature good. This is true, God is Good,
and has the attribute of good. Yet, Plato is not speaking of God in this manner
for God is not all that there is in this universe. Yes, for Plato God did
create the universe but out of the chaos that already existed, and out of that
chaos, he created the universe according to His likeness. This Christians and Scripture
disagree, and this contradictory to what God has revealed. As Christians and
according to Scripture, God created ex nihilo, out of nothing. Furthermore,
Plato while speaking of first and second causes, as we do in our theology, he
states: “God made the world because he was good, and the demons ministered to
him.” This is dualism or an oppositions between the ideal and the actual. The soul
is prior to the body, a theology of the Mormons, and others of Oriental
theology, that there is the intelligible and unseen to the visible and
corporeal. Plato held to the doctrine of transmigration, another theology that
is Mormon, and Oriental theology, that the soul existed before the body. From
these existing souls, bodies were given to them as men, fishes, birds, animals,
etc. (This was taken from: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1572/1572-h/1572-h.htm).
As can be seen by any simple
perusing of various religions that these thought of Plato do exist in some form
and have been enhanced by other branches of philosophy, i.e., neo–Platonists.
This will be discussed in the next blog. It will be shown how these Greek
philosophies affected the Church, and influenced men who did believe in the God
of the Bible. We will then be able to see how we may or may not have been
influenced, but we will be able to see how other denominations, and religious
thoughts have attached themselves to these pagan philosophies. Join me and see,
determine for yourself whether or not you hold to true Scriptural teachings,
the God revealed to us in Scripture, to God how has for Himself set apart a
people for His name. If so influenced by these philosophies, how to change from
the Inside–Out, to hold to and assimilate Authentic Biblical Faith.
We are ashamed because we
Have heard
reproach.
Shame has covered our faces,
For strangers
have come
Into the sanctuaries of the
LORD’s
house.
Jeremiah 51:51
Jesus Is Drawing His People
Richard L. Crumb
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