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