My people are
destroyed for
Lack of knowledge.
Because you have
rejected
Knowledge, I will
also
Reject you from being
A priest for Me;
Because you have
forgotten
The law of your God,
I also will forget
your children.
Hosea 4:6
Those words
written by Hosea are applicable to us in this present age. Knowledge is the
beginning of wisdom, but as Job asks: “But where can wisdom be found? And
where is the place of understanding?…..And to man He said, ‘Behold, the fear of
the LORD, that is wisdom, and to depart from evil is understanding’” (Job
28:13,28). To forget the law of God and not apply His law in your lives,
your hearts has an affect, adversely, upon our children. Some of us know how
true that is! The knowledge that must be apprehended and intimately become the
very substance of our lives is the Gospel, and as Paul would write to the
Colossians: “…that their hearts my be encouraged, being knit together in
love, and attaining to all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to
the knowledge of the mystery of God, both of the Father and of Christ, in whom
are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Colossians 2:2–3). The
apostle Paul would further remind the children of God to be bewaring: “Now
this I say lest anyone should deceive you with persuasive words” (Colossians
2:4). While knowledge is a good thing to acquire we must be careful in our
acquisition of it for if it is wrongly taught and if we ingest that wrongful
knowledge then we will lose sight of the truth, that wrongful truth will puff
us up: “Now concerning things offered to idols: We know that we all have
knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies. And if anyone thinks that he
knows anything, he knows nothing yet as he ought to know” (1Corinthians 8:1–2).
Throughout the ages men have attempted to acquire knowledge, knowledge
about the universe, how did it come about, and why are we here, and what or who
is God. In their search for truth they have begun with faulty knowledge, a
faulty knowledge built upon former faulty knowledge, i.e., Socrates, acquired
and expanded by Plato, then Aristotle who expanded Plato’s philosophy, then by
men such as Immanuel Kant, David Hume, John Dewey, Margaret Sanger, and into
those men today who are the recipients of former philosophies that are based
upon false presuppositions, leading to suppositions that are contradictory to
God the Creator of all that is. They lean on their own understanding, they
became debased: “And even as they did not like to retain God in their
knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are
not fitting”(Romans 1:28); Many who claim to preach and teach the Gospel
have substituted their knowledge for that which is far removed from true
knowledge, that is from the way of salvation, as they give a way for salvation
that may sound good and right, acceptable, but has become reliant on the power
of the Gospel, not the reality of the Gospel. Man who claims Christianity as
their religion must be grounded in the Reality of the Gospel if their religion
is to be true to God and His word; to be led by relying on the Holy Spirit for
redemptive power which is the certainty of God. There is where our faith is to
reside, in Him, in His Son, and in the Holy Spirit. Yet, we find that history
and in this present age, experience uproots the Gospel. The Gospel has been
upended and experience, even with the name of Christ attached to it, has become
the cornerstone of their faith. Their knowledge is in experience, not in the
Wisdom of God. Too often sanctification becomes an experience rather than that
sanctification must be sanctified by God, through His Son: And for their
sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth” (John
17:19). It is by this truth that we can become the ambassadors for Christ,
that we can teach the Gospel in truth and be used as the hands and feet of God.
None of what has just been said has any meaning if you are not willing to
examine yourself in light of the truth of God’s word and not upon your own
understanding and make the necessary changes. God will not change you without
you taking the steps necessary for change. God is not our “vending” machine we
go to when we have some unction to do so. We must be willing to allow the grace
of God, that grace He gives to all His children to work out in us God’s will: Sanctify
them by Your truth, Your word is truth” (John 17:17).
In my
examination as to the why, when, where, what, and how questions in regards to
the many philosophies that have bombarded this world and have so often misled
people to think in opposition to God, or to develop a god that is not the True
God, I must remind that this essay or study is not to denigrate a person,
rather it is to change a person from the inside out, to be Authentic Biblical
Christians, to have Authentic Biblical Faith. Therefore, it is necessary to see
how certain philosophies have made cause for certain religious beliefs to teach
a knowledge that is contradictory to God word, that word which is truth. All
men have been affected by such teachings, especially those who seek truth and
are not being just satisfied with daily living for themselves, or to live a
moral life, a morality that they accept but have not understanding as to the
why they live “moral” lives. Maybe they are, maybe they are not, in any case
their children, and others are affected by what they believe and this
acceptance by their progeny will not necessarily rise to the top, rather they
will add their false knowledge and build upon that false knowledge in some
degree. This then leads to religious beliefs that may sound good, and my be
acceptable because this religion is moral. Morality is not sign of a Christian!
Even pagans attest to morals, make laws that are founded upon morality. The
will of God is not morality, it is that we become; a person who has allow our
lives to get into a moral relationship with Him. We do not wait for God to
become to do for us that which He has commanded us to do; rather it is this
belief that is unbelief, that is, it is an incarnate belief that has no faith
in Him. Oh! You may object! You may say; heresy! God will do for us! Yes! He
will for has He not already done for us? Did He not come to us first? Did He
did not sit idly aside, He came as the Son of Man, the Son of God; this He did
before we did anything for Him. To sit idly aside, or to approach His throne of
Grace improperly is not to trust Him; we do not have a covenant relationship
with Him. Our faith is not the basis of our covenant relationship with Him. It
is not by some experience that we find God! It is not by false philosophies
that we find and accrue truth. God will bring us into a right relationship with
Him for He has covenanted with His children to do so, but not so that we have
not a responsibility to gain knowledge of Him, true knowledge. True knowledge
cannot be found with out knowing what is untruthful knowledge. We search the
Scriptures, we examine what is being said by men, and then determine whether or
not what is being taught is Scriptural. The questions that must be asked is: “Do
you believe that the Bible is inerrant, infallible, and is the inspired word of
God, preserved, protected by Him and that we have in our possession that Word
of God which is His truth? Or, do you believe that only in the autographs can
there be found the true word of God and that what we have now as Bible is from
man and is corrupted, at least in some form? You see, your view of God’s word
will determine how you see the philosophies of man, whether or not they are in
contradictions of the truth, or not.
This blog
is to remind us that we are not exempting anyone from scrutiny. We are seeking
to become the bearers of truth, not my truth, not any man’s truth, rather the
truth of God’s word. This takes time and effort for we are fallen in nature, we
are not fully sanctified, we are not all that we will become when we reach our
final home, but we are commanded to be intentional as one of His children. Yes,
we live life, but we consecrate our lives to Him, and then this upward movement
from the false to the truth will become cause for our children to take this
truth and move it further upward, clearer, and in harmony with God’s will. In
the next blog I will continue my examination of those former men who have
impacted the world and still in this present age have an impact, and a great
influence.
But the Lord is faithful,
Who will establish
You and guard you from
The evil
one.
2Thessalonians 3:3
May God Comfort Your hearts
Richard L. Crumb
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