Where Are The Wise? Speak Only The Wisdom Of God

Where is the wise? Where is the Scribe?

Where is the disputer of this age?

Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?

For since, in wisdom did not know God,

It pleased God trough the foolishness

Of the message preached to save

Those who believe.

…that you faith should not be in the

wisdom of men but in the power of God.

However, we speak wisdom among those

Who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age,

Nor of he rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing.

1Corinthians 1:20–21; 2:5–6

            Legalistic heresies were a problem in the early Church and they are a problem in some Churches in this present age; but as bad as they were and are there is a much bigger problem that affect the early Church and is affecting many Christians in this present age. That which is a threat within the Church is those philosophical heresies that destroy the doctrinal purity of the Christian faith, and much of this philosophy has come by means of Greek philosophy. I wrote in earlier blogs about Platoism, and Neoplatonism and its affect upon some Christians and this was due to the attempt to syncretize Greek philosophy with Christian philosophy, to make Christianity a system of philosophy. Out of Neoplatonism came Gnosticism which peaked in its power about 150 A.D. and Paul as in the opening Scripture seems to be addressing this problem. Paul in his letter to the Colossians seems to be fighting against an incipient form of Gnosticism. The Gnostics did not believe that Jesus was God, God in the flesh. It was that they did not think of Jesus as divine, they did. But not a true human. The Christ or Messiah was in Jesus, but Jesus was not considered by the Gnostics as the Christ. They taught that the wisdom (Greek Sophia) descended into Jesus when Jesus became an adult and them Jesus became the Christ. Gnostics taught that Jesus did not die on the cross and that sin was not the cause that needed salvation. They believed that it was with mystical knowledge based on self–actualization. Does this not sound like some of the New Age teachings, and in some Churches that teach that one needs some special knowledge to know God and be saved? People must come to receive this special knowledge, this illumination or wisdom, then they can realized who they really are, then they can receive the same knowledge of God that Jesus had. Christian tradition gives the origin of Gnosticism to Simon Magus,[1] the very same one that Peter had to rebuke when Simon offered to pay for the miraculous works done by Peter.

            Gnosticism became accepted due to the fallen nature of man that desires to create a theodicy, a way to explain evil, how it things became evil, a way to vindicate God’s justice in His toleration for the existence of evil. The Gnostics associated matter with evil and they tried to remove from God by developing a philosophical system where not only God could be freed from the existence of evil and a way for man to become related spiritually through man’s deity, which they believe man had by means of an offshoot from God a spirit that makes them to a god. This is a form of Platoism, and Neoplatonism whereby there are many gods, and man’s spirit was from eternity, then placed into a human body: this is what is taught by Mormons. This philosophy aided those who sound to seek answers to the question of the origin of man, it seemed logical. Yet, all this was is a synthesizing Christianity with Grecian philosophy. The Greeks sought wisdom to understand both human wisdom, and God’s wisdom, and by doing so they attempted to avoid what they considered to be the stigma of the cross. Many today attempt the same thing, they just will not accept the cross and the work of God to pay the debt of sin so His justice would be satisfied.

            It took men such as Irenaeus a great polemicist and his skill and knowledge of Scripture to attempt to to ward off this heresy. Heresy was much the cause for the need of a rule of faith by which leaders of the Christian movement would know if a person was truly a Christian or not. This need also afforded a need for the Scriptures, the writings of the Apostles, Luke, Mark, the writer of Hebrews, to be canonized, so that this threat to Christianity may be overcome. If the Gnostics succeeded Christianity would only be another philosophy, a mystery religion from ancient times. Heresy, instead of diminishing Christianity and reducing it to some philosophical religion only aided it to develop creeds, which are the rule of faith written down so that there is not mistake as to what is truth and what is not, and to develop a Bible which contained all the writings inspired of God. I will in time address the debate over the many manuscripts available, and of translations which we have so many as to whether or not they conform to the original autographs. Until that time, we must understand that dualism was a major tenet of Gnosticism. This dualism of the Neoplatonists were somewhat different from Plato’s dualism, yet had much similarity for Plato Forms were only a visible representation of the same thing in heaven, remove a chair, if one could, and there would be no chair in heaven, for the Neoplatonists there was a clear separation between the worlds that were material and those spiritual for matter was always evil and spirit good. Therefore, God could not have been the creator of this world, the material world. Some today say the very same thing; are they right? This will be examined in upcoming blogs.

For by Him all things were created that

            Are in heaven and that are on earth,

Visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions

            Or principalities or powers. All things were

Created through Him and for Him. And He is

            Before all things, and in Him all things consist.

                                                Colossians 1:16–17

Pray for God’s wisdom: not the wisdom of the world

Richard L. Crumb

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[1] Irenaeus, Adversus Haeresies, I xxiii. 1–5. cf. Acts 8:9–24

Fables vs. Sound Doctrine: Legalism

Was anyone called while circumcised?

Let him not become uncircumcised.

Was anyone called while uncircumcised?

Let him not be circumcised.

Circumcision is nothing and

uncircumcision is nothing, but

keeping the commandments of God

is what matters.

1Corinthians 7:18–19

            In Acts chapter 15 we find recorded where Paul and Barnabas went to Jerusalem and met with the apostles located there; this is called the Jerusalem council. The occasion was that there were certain men teaching that a person must be circumcised to be saved: “And certain men came down from Judea and taught the brethren, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved” (1Corinthians 15:1). There were some among them that held to the Law of Moses and its legal requirements and if not met, then salvation would be impossible. During this time and up to 135 A.D. when Rome under Hadrian (76 A.D.–138 A.D.) destroyed Jerusalem and it is estimated some 580,000 Jews were killed. This was due much to a man Bar Kochba who was the leader of the Jewish revolt against Rome between 132 and 135 A.D. Bar-Kochba united his army in Judea and led the Jews in battle. This rebellion later became known as the Bar-Kochba revolt. Another group that disappeared for all purposes were the Ebionites, Judean sect that and that they held in preference to adhere to Jewish customs. The Ebionites did emphasize the unity of God, His being the creator of the universe. The believed that the Jewish Law was still binding on man. Furthermore their beliefs held that Jesus was a man who became the Messiah by His virtuous life that led Him to complete and fulfill the Law. The Ebionites upheld the Gospel of Matthew but hated the writings of Paul. They insisted that the Gentiles who had converted to Christianity were bound to the Law of Moses. While the Ebionites ceased to have influence after 135 A.D., it does show that the Church had to fight against such teachings and insist on Scripture that taught that faith in Jesus Christ alone causes a person to be justified before God. A reading of the Scriptures, especially Paul’s writing will demonstrate how the Apostles had to fight this heresy of Judaism that attempted to subvert the teachings of Jesus Christ leading some in this heresy. It is legalism that abounded in that day, the day of the formation of the Christian Church and it is legalism that abounds in many of the present day Churches. I am not speaking of things of indifference; i.e., when to hold communion, once a week, month, year, or on Nissan 14, the day of Jesus Christ’s death that occurred after the Passover; nor am I speaking of what style of Church building, or carpet, or paint, etc., things which many Churches ever split over. NO! Only those things that are explicitly were outlined for Christians. Yet, many Churches today are so legalistic, don’t eat this, don’t do this, only wear your hair in this fashion, or no jewelry, or music, those things that cause much dissension in the Church. Yes, the 10 commandments are still in force today; i.e., we are told not to kill, not to covet, not to make carved images, you are not to take God’s name in vain, you are to honor your father and mother, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, and yet, so often one of the Ten Commandments is left out of our lives: “Remember the Sabbath Day, to keep it holy” (Exodus 29:8). Mathew wrote: “Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven”(Matthew 5:19).  Even today, there are those who will only accept Saturday as the proper Sabbath, but is this the teaching of the Bible and of the Ante–Nicene Fathers: No! In Acts we read: “Now on the first day of he week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul, ready to depart the next day, spoke to them and continued his message until midnight” (Acts 20:7). Paul in writing to the Corinthian Church: “On the first day of the week let each one of you lay something aside, storing up s he may prosper, that there be no collections when I come” (1Corinthians 16:2). The apostle John adds: “I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day, and I heard behind me a loud voice, as of a trumpet” (Revelation 1:10). Ignatius a student of Polycarp who was a student of the Apostle John wrote: “But on the Lords’ Day, gather yourselves together, and break bread, and give thanksgiving after having confessed your transgressions, so that your sacrifice may be pure” (Didach, 80-140 A.D.). Justin Martyr wrote: “And on the day called Sunday, all who live in cities or in the country gather together to one place, and the memoirs of the apostles or the writings of the prophets are read….But Sunday is the day on which we all hold our common assembly, because it is the first day on which God…made the world. And Jesus Christ our savior rose from the dead on that same day” (Justin Martyr, 160 A.D.). As a finally additions: “We devote Sunday to rejoicing for a far different reason that sun worship” (Tertullian, 197 A.D.). Legalism was one of the first dissensions in the Christian Church and needed to be thwarted. We need to thwart legalism today and rid the Church from this heresy. But I must ask: “Do you keep the Sabbath?” If not why not? Have you swung so far afield that you do not prepare to worship this day, not just go to Church, but keep this day holy, no buying, no going out to eat, preparing in advance to spend this day with family, and friends at times, to read the Bible, to rest? This is not legalism! This is what the early Church teaches us, that we are to keep the Sabbath and for Christians our Sabbath is Sunday. Some people do have to work, Police, Nurses, doctors, military, emergency workers, this is prudent and wise, but we don’t push the ox into the ditch! Why is this not legalism? Because God commanded it, and a New Covenant was assigned to His people with the coming of Jesus Christ and His death on the cross. We should live as Christians and this includes keeping Sunday holy, to not to do so is antinomian: we are not freed from the Law of God.

Now to Him who is able to do

            Exceedingly abundantly

Above all that we ask or think,

            According to the power

That works in us, to Him be

            Glory in the church by

Christ Jesus to all generations,

            Forever and ever. Amen.

                                    Ephesians 3:20–21

Walk in the truth: Blessing Follow

Richard L. Crumb

 

The Good Fight For True Faith

But we know that the law is good

if one uses it lawfully,

knowing this: that the law is not made

For a righteous person, but for the

lawless and insubordinate, for the

Ungodly and for sinners, for the unholy

and profane, for murderers of mothers, for manslayers,

for fornicators, for sodomites, for kidnappers,

for liars, for perjurers, and if there is any other

thing that is contrary to sound doctrines,

according to the glorious gospel of the

blessed God which was committed to my trust.

1Timothy 1:8–11

            This battle to maintain sound Scriptural doctrine has been a fight from the founding of the Christian Church, a war with two fronts. The Christian Church fought to preserve its existence in the face of Roman opposition, and local officials, people of pagan faith, or no faith at all who attempted to abolish this “New” religion. The other fight was to keep the purity of doctrine which the Apostle wrote in regards to this attempt: “That we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head––Christ….”(Ephesians 4:14). The writer of Hebrews stated it so succinctly: “Do not be carried about with various and strange doctrines.”(Hebrews 13:9a). This battle for the preservation of Christian doctrine has raged all these years and many have fallen prey to doctrines that sound Scriptural, have a supposed attribute of piety, only to be a strange and Scriptually unsound doctrine. There are those today who hate to believe that the Bible is a doctrinal book, but to hate it is only an excuse for not having to follow Scriptural doctrine, and has paved the way for doctrines built upon a philosophy, or ideology, developed into a theology, all from their own personal desire and suppositions. Many of these erroneous doctrines are more than some false doctrine for they have led many into believing that which is heresy. What is heresy? It is a religious opinion at variance with the orthodox or accepted doctrine. The maintaining of such an opinion or doctrine. The willful and persistent rejection of any article of faith.[1] This problem presented itself early in the Church due to the influx of converts to the Christian faith whose background was either Jewish legalism, or Grecian philosophy. We have this problem today; there are many who are coming into the Church, some are converted, but this conversion does not mean that they have the truth. There was then, and now a need to instruct these converts to wash out those old ideas and refill them with God’s doctrinal truths. There were those in their attempt to teach these coverts, those who were seeking the truth, a Christianity that would be intellectually accepted, a form of respectability. We can find this in the Church today where there is much teaching and the basis of this teaching is the current psychological formulas to help people; they sound good, even have some Scriptures used for support, only it is not true Scriptural doctrine. Many pastors from their pulpit preach a “New Age” form of truth, and the congregants smile, accept them as truth, as Scriptural. They don’t want the pure doctrinal truth of the Bible. The threat of these legalistic and philosophical perversions of Christianity did much harm to Christians and they do today. We must be on guard against this false and heretical teachings and not just acquiesce to them, rather to study to ensure that those teachings are sound and true doctrine of Scripture. There were then, as now, overzealous leaders who developed a doctrine that was not sound by the truth of Scripture, those who found within themselves a need to correct real or some evils in the Church. Many followed them, in their heretical teachings and caused many schisms and then by these schisms came many new sects.

            We must, as I have been attempting to do, examine such as; legalistic heresies, or philosophical heresies, theological errors, and finally ecclesiastical schisms. Doing such an examination may bring some internal perplexities and you may fight them or cast them aside; to do so will do harm to your faith and the faith of others. You may find yourself in an emotional dilemma, a fight to do what is right or to continue in the doctrine you have followed all these years, those doctrines of your ancestors, and the need to make a change, yet, there is this inside fight: I have never done this before. It is never to late to make the change, not to some other doctrine that is not of God, not Scriptural, rather to make the change no matter the consequences, to be obedient to God. To do this, there must be a basis for truth, and that basis lies in the Bible, the whole Bible, not just the New Testament, or to fall back on some form of Judiaism that is being taught today, or some matters of indifference that has made cause for a person to major on the minors, rather to see the Bible as God’s inspired word to not only reveal Him to us, but to Reveal His will to us so that we can grow in sanctification in this life, and by doing so be the example of truth for our families, friends, and society as a whole. Will it cost? Yes! The question is: Who or what is the priority of your life? Are you living temporally or eternally? Do you trust God?

Therefore, if you died with Christ

            From the basic principles

Of the world, why, as though living

            In the world, do you subject

Yourselves to regulations––“Do no touch,

            Do not taste, do not handle,”

Which all concern things which perish

            With the using––according to

The commandments and doctrines of men?

            These things indeed have an appearance

Of wisdom in self–imposed religion, false humility,

            And neglect of the body, but are of no value

Against the indulgence of the flesh.

                                    Colossians 2:20–23

Begin Now! Study Now!

Richard L. Crumb

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[1] Random House Webster’s College Dictionary: New York, New York; 1997.

Fear Not! God Is With His Children!

But do not fear, O My servant Jacob,

And do not be dismayed, O Israel!

For behold, I will save you from afar.

And your offspring from the land of their captivity;

Jacob shall return, have rest and be at ease;

No none shall make him afraid.

Do not fear, O Jacob My servant, says

The LORD, “For I am with you; for I will

Make a complete end of all the nations

To which I have driven you, but I will

Make a complete end of you.

I will correct you, for I will not leave

You wholly unpunished.”

Jeremiah 46:27–28

            The enemies of God will face his displeasure, upon their gods, their kings, or leaders that are opposed to His teachings, His commandments, and have postulated a theology that is not of Him.  (vs. 25–26). The world has been influenced by many ideologies, philosophies, theologies, that are so contradictory to Him, even as to affect His people, the Church. This will not go unpunished; sin will not go unpunished. Even those who are His children living in sin will not go unpunished, God will correct them, they will not be completed left unpunished for God chastises His children: “For whom the LORD loves He chastens, and scourges every son whom He receives” (Hebrews 12:6; cf. Proverbs 3:11–12). There are those who see this chastening as due only to a person’s wrongful action and most due him, but not is it being allowed because a Sovereign God is using such wrongful actins in order to train up His children, to change them from the Inside Out. God’s children have this consolation in the face of such philosophies, theologies, or ideologies that they may have falling prey too, and this consolation is not a deception, a hope, a wish, that there is a God in charge of them and loves them and will correct them in their wrong doings; Christians must  not be deceived to believe in a lie, or in another theological belief system while sounding good, to have at least some truth, rather a of God’s children have a sure hope and this hope is not the hope of this world. We must, as one of His children rebuke God for chastening us, to discipline us in this temporal life, we are being prepared for eternity. We don’t hold on to worldly things as if they are permanent, no, they are just borrowed for awhile, as the song “Until” so aptly speaks. We don’t lament over our experiences, we accept the good things this world can afford us but we are so attached to them as to become detained by them as if they are really ours forever: they are not! When we convert to Jesus Christ, and this by the grace of God who gives to those He has chosen, the faith to believe (Ephesians 2:8), we will face trials, persecutions, be scorned because we hold to the One God, and not to a plethora of gods, and as in India, to allow for each person to have a god. When they cry out: “Where is your God?” don’t shrink in fear, ask them: “Where is your god?” When the point to your trials, your illness, your diseases, your pain and hunger and complain that the children of God are deluded, for their “supposed” God is not there, not helping them; then, ask them; “Why do they suffer the same things?” “Why is not their trials and sufferings leading them to a better life, a moral life?” For some there may be some learning and some change, yet they suffer under the delusion that there is not God, or that each should have their own truth, their own beliefs, and/or gods.

            God is invisible to our eyes, this is a fact, and only by Jesus Christ have we a visibility, that God does exist, and is there, for Jesus Christ is God, the Son of God, the Savior of man, the propitiation for sin, for our wrongdoings: “Not that anyone has seen the Father, except He who is from God; He has seen the Father….I and the Father are one” (John 6:46; 10:30). God is eternal, in fact, God is eternity for there is no beginning or end of Him, He is everywhere present and we perceive Him by faith a sure faith: “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1). It is faith, not of ourselves, rather this faith given to us by God that we can know He exists and has revealed Himself to us: “By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible” (Hebrews 11:3). The world cannot accept this fact; God is invisible and God is One, yet, three in Person. Therefore they develop theologies from their philosophies that attempt to explain life. Those heathen men allow for there to be many gods, that there may be an invisible God, yet, He is not alone for He has a plethora of gods. The is world is only a figment of the reality in heaven. Yes, there are objects that represent by symbol to represent what God has for His children in heaven; but they are only symbols, not some representative of a reality in heaven, i.e., the tent, only a visible representative of a tent in heaven, a dualistic approach to God, as with much of Grecian philosophies that so many today one way or the other have allowed such to be their philosophy, to be a great influence on their theology. God is present, yet unperceived by those who are seeking truth apart from the Revelation of God given to man by God. A refusal to accept Jesus Christ, not only as God, but to be the mediator between God and man. There hate to apply wrongdoing, trials, and persecutions to be allowed by a loving God, they apply it in ways such as Gnosticism did, the visible world is bad, sinful, leading some to an ascetic way of life, or for others to be free to do whatever they like for this bad, sinful world cannot be overcome so live, be merry, for tomorrow we die becomes their philosophy of life.

            Good news! God is patient! God will correct His children! As we are one of His Children we have His help in all struggles of life, in all things of life. We have this sure hope! God reserves for His children a everlasting reward. Don’t fear these gods designed by men who in their seeking for truth are lead by sinful nature and are wrong and against the Holy God. We are not fear these idols, and idolatry for all the gods of this world, all the false teachings, will pass away when Jesus Christ returns for His bride and destroys all sin and sinful people. God’s children are made for heaven, for a life eternal with Him. Praise God!

And I heard a loud voice form heaven saying,

            “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men,

and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His

            people. God Himself will be with them

and will be their God.

                                                Revelation 21:3

Plan this Sabbath to be with God’s people

Richard L. Crumb

Following Our God

Only Take heed to yourself,

and diligently keep yourself,

lest you forget the things

your eyes have seen, and lest 

they depart from your heart

all the days of your life. 

And teach them to your

children and your grandchildren.

Deuteronomy 4:9    

      The assembly of believers is most important and commanded by God; viz. Hebrews 10:25; is one such place for this commandment. Yet far too often we neglect the command, yes, it was given to Israel, and yes it applies to all of God's people, those under the old covenant, and those under the new covenant, for the Bible in total is the word of God all inspired and written for all of God's people, to teach our children, our families. We neglect to have family Bible studies and replace this time with more temporal things; i.e., watching favorite TV shows, or being involved in activities that will not allow for such time as to pray together, to study God's word together; in fact, it is hard for families due to this schedule to even have dinner together. To deny one command is to deny all commands: "Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so,shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 5:19). 

     Before I move forward in this study of historical events and philosophies that have affected the theology of some Churches I believe that my preface for my upcoming book will aid us to return to God and keep His commandments. 

Preface

In this postmodern and pluralistic era, secular relativism has taken root in the minds of our children, and many adults. This era has changed the definition of life, morals, and worldview. Religion, especially Christianity, has come under attack. The media, and entertainment industry, as well as many “Christian leaders” disparage fundamental Authentic Biblical views. Our secular educational institutions, as well as some Christian schools, Universities, Seminaries, have developed an extreme liberal view that removes the need for a faith in a supernatural God replacing Authentic Biblical Faith with seeking for “Spiritual Formation techniques;” multiculturalism, prosperity theology, and with the secular institutions promoting a self–centered ideology. This and the redefining of our culture has caused many people to question anything as absolute. Therefore, with a cultural paradigm shift in our view of life, and our faith, authentic faith has lost its meaning. Each individual now defines faith as it suits his or her view of life. Relativism has become a major philosophy in many Church’s culture.

Without authentic faith, we cannot please God, the author of our faith. Left to ourselves to define faith we, far too often, conjoin it with our views. If we do so conjoin faith we would be guilty of leading others away from Authentic Biblical Faith, God, and possibly damaging our Christian witness, and the lives of others.

We need to teach authentic faith in our homes, our schools, and our Churches. Authentic Biblical Faith is necessary if we are to have authentic Christianity. The mission is to teach, what is true Christianity and the role that Authentic Biblical Faith plays in defining what is true Christianity and what is cultural or non-Biblical Christianity. How we as parents, and leaders of the Church, can disseminate Authentic Biblical Truth to our family, friends, co–workers, and our world around us, is the true sign of God’s righteousness living within us; in our hearts. Without true Christianity, one cannot please God. This is the purpose of set forth by this book, to call for Christians to reconsider their faith and relationship to God. The goal of our search for Authentic Faith is not a simple perusing of facts to gain some knowledge, rather it is an intentional seeking for truth even if the study is difficult at times. Our final goal is to present ourselves as ambassadors of Jesus Christ to be found a workman worthy by God, not that works gives us salvation, rather it is the outpouring of our faith, our love founded on the One who loved us by dying for us, Jesus Christ.

I love the LORD, because He has

     heard my voice and my supplications.

Because He has inclined His ear tome.

     Therefore I will call upon Him

as long as I live.

                               Psalm 116:1-2

Change From The Inside Out; Follow Him

Richard L. Crumb 

Who Are The True Followers Of Christ?

But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up

the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in

yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!

for you devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense

make long prayers. Therefore you will receive

greater condemnation.

Matthew 23:13–14

            I would be hard pressed to admit that those Scribes and Pharisees were overtly by some deceitful manner to not have a desire to please God. Yet, they were so off–base! Jesus before saying the words noted above said this: “Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to Hs disciples, saying: ‘The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. Therefore whatever they tell you to observe, that observe and do, but do not do according to their works; for the say, and do not do” (Matthew 23:1–3). It is not that some preachers say things that are not Scriptural, at least in all cases, and those that are Scriptural, do them! But, it is as the old adage goes: “Do as I say, and not as I do.” Some leaders in Christianity are not doing the will of God and teach all things according to Scripture and teach things that even may be heretical and by doing so, “they shut up the kingdom of heaven against men.” Those false teachers, and they are false because they are hypocrites, and like Saul who did not obey God and do His will tried to make a good excuse for not doing so, by saying that those who were to be destroyed and were not were going to be used as a sacrifice to God. God does not need our sacrifices; He desires obedience. You may say, I pray, and in fact you may give long and laborious prayers but are not obedient, therefore you prayers are a pretense making cause for you to feel pious. God requires a person to obey, obey His commands, and not add anything to those commands, i.e., the works of the Scribes and Pharisees. This addition to the will of God, even by men who believed in God, or at least in a god, in every attempt to teach an understanding of life, God, and the reason for existence, were heretical, in practice, and in theology. We have leaders today who sound good, even titillate our senses, but are not doing so in obedience to God, rather for some personal gain. One may point out that there were men who became monks, who cloistered themselves from the world so that they could concentrate on worship to God. Yes, there were, and in the Medieval ages many of the monks, those men who set aside the pleasures of this life were godly, and they held the word of God with all sanctity, and translated Scripture, and taught how a person was to live. Yet, some of those were doing so for reasons that were not being obedient to Scriptures, rather, they were so by not having to deal with life and all its problems, a runaway effort, and some were harsh and even, in later times contributed to the horrible Inquisition. Did command any of this? NO! Did God command or even approve of the practices being done by those who claim to be “Christian” and bark like dogs, howl like wolves, speak in gibberish as though they were being obedient when the word of God does not command us to be this way? NO! Much of these practices, theologies being pressed upon people leads them away from true worship of God, keep them from the kingdom of heaven. All this faced the early Church and those men who strived to keep the Church free from heresy, free from the impact of philosophies, and theologies that were not according to God’s will. There effort was to keep the word of God intact as was written by those men who were inspired by God to write for us His will, His commands for His children. This came at a cost. It will come to us as a cost if we obey His commands.

            For the first 250 years Christian faced persecution by local authorities, by mobs that were so absorbed by philosophies; i.e., Platoism, Neoplatonism, Gnosticism, etc., and just atheistic. It was during this time that men of God wrote treatises against such things that were so against Scripture. There was a need to keep the congregations from such false teaching, those seemingly good sounding words, yet were not true words of God. Christianity was growing in number, and was a religion accepted by Roman authorities, at least for a time, and with this growth came many who needed instruction as to the true teachings of Jesus Christ. We need this today! Much is said, many are coming to our Churches, even making a decision to follow Jesus Christ, only to be following a Jesus Christ that is not the Jesus Christ of Scripture. Neoplatonism in its attempt to blend Plato philosophy with Christianity led many into excesses that seemed right, even holy, even pleasing to God, but were not for it is like putting dirt in clear water, no matter how much water is added, it is still dirty. There must be a removal of the dirt. This is what men, of God, those holding to the truths of Scripture were attempting to do. All this in face of a society that were heathen, persecutors of the truth. Some men fell prey to this societal problem and began to add things to their theology that sounded good, had good words, but only diluted the truth. There was then, and now, a need to remove this false teaching, this dirt from God’s people. The true water of life is Jesus Christ and Him taught in truth.

            We must ask ourselves: “Are we willing to make the needed changes when we learn the truth, or will we make excuses for our not following the truth, doing of God’s will? We must see how this diluted truth led to abuses in the Church and then find out by our study how the truth was found and then taught; yet some still hold on to that which is false, they are not willing to change. God asks us to change, to stop our sinful life, to follow him, to be converted, not just decide to follow Him, but to be converted to Him and then to live obediently. Will You?

Then He came to His disciples

            And said to them,

“Are you still sleeping and resting?

            Behold, the hour is at hand,

And the Son of Man is being betrayed

            Into the hands of sinners.”

                                    Matthew 26:45

Don’t Sleep; Don’t Rest: Be Intentional To Serve Him

Richard L. Crumb

The Fight For Truth

As I urged you when I went into

Macedonia––remain in Ephesus that you

may charge some that they teach no

other doctrine, nor give heed to fables

and endless genealogies, which cause

disputes rather than godly edification

which is in faith.

Now the purpose of the commandment is love

from a pure heart, from a good conscience,

and from sincere faith, from which some,

having strayed, have turned aside to idle talk,

desiring to be teachers of the law,

understanding neither what they say

nor the things which they affirm.

1Timothy 1:3–7

            The birth of Christianity came when many philosophies had taken root and grew in many of the writings of men such as Philo (20 BC - 50 AD), known also as Philo of Alexandria and as Philo Judeaus, was a Hellenized Jewish philosopher born in Alexandria, Egypt. Philo included in his philosophy both Greek wisdom and Hebrew religion, which he sought to fuse and harmonize by means of the art of allegory that he had learned from the Stoics. His work was not accepted by contemporary Judaism. Philo quoted with frequency the work of Greek poets and was acquainted with Greek philosophers to whom he was devoted. He was influenced by Pythagorism and Stoicism, and much by Plato. Neoplatonism began in earnest in Alexandria, Egypt and the influence of this Greek philosophy influenced some who claimed to be Christian. Christianity spread into the Greek world and some men were educated in Greek philosophy and included parts of that philosophy into their ethics and theology. It must be noted that in Alexandria, Egypt became the center for such emulsification of Greek philosophy with Christianity. Stoicism which made cause for some men to become adherents to a life free from passion, to be calm, unmoved by the necessities of life and there was formed what we term as; Desert Fathers, monasteries abounded and men cloistered themselves from the world. On the other hand Epicureanism flourished as people threw of the shackles that bound them to live a moral life and lived a life from such hindrances to live a life of luxury. Platoism, both in its truest form and in Neoplatonism abounded as men such as Philo attempted to blend Judaism with Greek philosophy. This was the world in which our Savior Jesus Christ entered into and faced and it would be what His disciples fought as they spread the gospel into a world that was so imbibed with Greek culture. While Greek culture was everywhere in the world, especially the Western world there was also a new power, Rome, who had included into their philosophy much of Grecian thought, even to include, although renamed, Greek gods. In the midst of all this syllogism and attempt to syncretize Greek philosophy with Christian philosophy and ethics there was a need to preserve Christian doctrine from such heresies that were born from such attempt to blend two contradictory philosophies.

            Platoism, or Greek philosophy held as most important the state and the need to do whatever to preserve the state. Rome was an adherent to such thinking and the state was of the primary importance. To preserve the state there must be a religion that holds the state together, a primary religion, yet a person may have other gods, as the Greek had taught. Added to the problem the Church faced was the influx of people that had the background of learning of Grecian philosophy and ethics. These people tended to carry with them into the Church their old ideas. At first Christianity was in the thinking of the Roman state just another form of Judaism which had legal status. Then, when Christians would not adhere to bow down to the primary god of Rome and when Judaism denounced Christianity then the Christians faced legal threat. Christianity faced legal threat and philosophical threat that need to be addressed and true Christian doctrine upheld. In addressing these problems some overzealous men developed particular interpretations to ward off the evil that the Church was presented with either real or fancied. Many overzealous approach to this problem led to heresy and this resulted in schisms and new sects.

            This problem of the influence of Platoism, and Neoplatonism led to certain translations by men in Alexandria that allowed this Grecian philosophy to mandate how they interpreted the writings of the Apostles. They did this by excluding verses that did not align with their philosophy which determined their theology. One such translation by the Alexandrian school was the Codex Sinaiticus. This translation and a few others ( I will not address the critical aspect of translations at this time) is one of the foundations for several current Bibles; viz. NIV, ESV, and others. This problem has affected the current Church which must be addressed and will be in future blogs. I will examine some of the current beliefs that are present in some Churches and practices and compare them with Scripture, Scripture that has the support of thousands of manuscripts. As the early writers, from the Apostles to other men such as Tertullian, fought to maintain true Biblical doctrine, we today must look at what is being taught in the Churches to see whether or not they are true or part and parcel of heretical teachings, especially since our world is and has been so influenced by pagan philosophers.

            We seek the truth for ourselves, but even more so for our progeny, our friends who may be involved in Churches that seem Scriptural, yet are not. It is Authentic Biblical Faith we desire.

If you will not hear, and if

            You will not take it to heart,

To give glory to My name, says

            The LORD of hosts,

I will send a curse upon you,

            And I will curse your blessings.

Yes, I have cursed them already,

            Because you d not take it to heart.

                                    Malachi 2:2

God requires obedience, not sacrifice

Richard L. Crumb