Walking In The Light Of Truth

Now great multitudes went with Him.

And He turned and said to them,

“If anyone comes to Me and does not

hate his father and mother, wife and children,

brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also,

he cannot be My disciple.

And whoever does not bear his cross

and come after me cannot be My disciple.

Luke 14:26–27

            How misunderstood and misused is this Scripture. On the face it seems horrible for Jesus to say that we must hate in this manner. Jesus never makes statements just off the cuff. Always Jesus has a point in mind to teach people and that teaching is how we are to be as disciples of Him. When we allow our closest relationships, anything in this life to come into conflict with the claims of Jesus Christ, Who is God, Who is the Creator, and Who wrote the Law which He gave to Moses, that Law that applies in all ages, we all out of obedience to Him and that is not to be a disciple. What is discipleship to Jesus Christ? OBEDIENCE! You must have a personal passionate devotion to Jesus Christ, to His principles and not to a cause. Jesus did not give us a cause, He gave us this: our personal devotion to Him. A disciple is one who is a devoted slave, a bondservant to Jesus Christ. Many people who call themselves Christian are not devoted to Jesus Christ, they have not converted to Jesus Christ, but they have causes that seem to make them pious and a disciple. How can you have this devoted passion for Jesus Christ when you are still in the throes of sin, original sin? Only by the power of the Holy Spirit! It is when the Holy Spirit spreads abroad and has imparted to a person does a person have this live and reverence and respect for God, for His Son Jesus Christ and for the Holy Spirit. How often is it that we are more devoted to a cause, i.e., teaching Vacation Bible School, to teach Sunday School, to work at missions, to be a missionary, to be a pastor, or elder as though this is what shows reverence to God. Yes, in some ways it does when you are actually led by the Holy Spirit to do so, and not due to your own preference to somehow be “so” Christian. You should be aglow by the power of the Holy Spirit that encompasses you very being, your nerves, your heart, and your devotion. It is Jesus first, and it is Jesus last. Out of this devotion, this personal devotion that we are able to carry the cross and put Him first and to have the priority in our lives. Our lives are to be stamped with Christian morality, a willingness to remove everything, every object that receives devotion other than Jesus Christ. How often do people pour themselves into matters of indifference in a church, to recite creeds, which in of itself is not wrong, and yet they come to either recite them by rote, or believe that somehow by reciting them they are more worthy of God’s love. You are not! We have prejudices that must be removed before we can become fully devoted to Jesus Christ. The question is: “Are you willing to heed the Holy Spirit? Are you willing to be a disciple of Jesus Christ? If you do not then you cannot be His disciple.

            I have undertaken this defense of God’s church for many people say one thing but practice another. I have done it and maybe you have too. But when the truth is presented I am obliged to heed the truth if I am a disciple of Jesus Christ and not of myself. Last blog I began this discourse about idols, even those things which we hold dear, i.e., pictures that are supposed to depict Jesus Christ, or that little doll on the dashboard of a car that is of some saint that is suppose to protect you from accident, of course for many this protection they want comes to them, they hope, when they are driving faster than what the posted speed allows. Hmmm…..!!! Again, you might cavil, and object vehemently and say: “We do not suppose that there is anything diving in the image which we adore. We adore it only to honor him whose likeness it is.” Let us examine this: Put a representation of Jupiter, Saturn, or Mercury, or of Peter, or Paul. Are not those representations of Jupiter, Saturn, or Mercury only representations of gods, and those of Peter or Paul not apostles? Neither one are men, they are representation of what one thinks either appears to be, yet the same thing is done, veneration to both pictorials. This error persists, in the past and now. Should we not venerate and adore the living and not the dead? Should we not consider carefully that which we allow to be of our adoration and our worship? If the image is not God, not a supposed picture of God, rather God, the Living One, Jesus Christ, the Living One, and the Holy Spirit, the living One, and instead it is from the hands of man which gets this honor, then we are honoring and adoring in vain and we have arrogated to ourselves divine dignities. Is this not worshipping the creature, those supposed representations rather that our Creator, our God, our Savior?

            Why do you humiliate yourselves and bow down to them, in some fashion, or use them to somehow enhance your devotion? Is this not foolishness to look for help from an image? Are you a captive to such things? Lift your eyes to heaven, look above to God and avoid those things which are below, put Jesus Christ ahead of all things. Pick up your cross, and this may mean to rid yourselves of such images, and practices that are dishonoring to God, to Jesus Christ, and inhibits the Holy Spirit. Exalt your hearts to heavenly heights. This is what it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ.

So He said to them: “Assuredly,

            I say to you, there is no one

Who has left house or parents or brothers

            Or wife or children, for the sake

Of the kingdom of God, who shall not

            Receive many times more in this

Present time, and in the age to come

            Eternal life.

                                    Luke 18:29–30

Walk In The Light Of Truth

Richard L. Crumb

Traditions Are Hard To Break Even If Against Scripture

Then the scribes and Pharisees who were

from Jerusalem came to Jesus, saying,

“Why do Your disciples transgress

the tradition of the elders? For they do not

wash their hands when they eat bread.” ‘

He answered and said to them,

“Why do you also transgress the

commandment of God because of

your tradition?”…..

“Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy

about you, saying:

‘These people draw near to Me with their mouth,

and honor Me with their lips, but their heart

is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me,

teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’”

Matthew 15:1–3; 7–9

            I approach this subject with great caution and concernment for I am touching upon that which many people hold dear and do not want to examine this subject only to keep what they have come to believe is acceptable to God. Traditions are hard to break even if they are in opposition to Scripture.

The Pharisees and Scribes had added so much to the commandments of God, tradition, tradition, tradition; important according to their theology. In this narrative food was the problem, and the washing of hands. It was not the food, nor the not washing of the hands that was the problem exactly; it was the breaking of tradition. Jesus makes this fact clear: “When He had called the multitude to Himself, He said to them, “Hear and understand: Not what goes into the mouth defiles a man; but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man” (Matthew 15:10–11). Churches have had splits in their congregation over such as: “We have never done it this way before!” Tradition often trumps common sense, and often that tradition has not Scriptural basis. Oh, it may have some theologian who is held in high esteem who promoted such as has been taught as the only way, and have made it tradition: but it is not Scriptural. Example: Only an ordained pastor can administer the Lord’s Supper. Really! Where is that in the Bible? Why only can an ordained pastor administer this sacrament? Do it different and there is an outcry……..”We have never done it that way before, and beside so and so has taught us that this old way is the only way;” somehow as this is Scriptural and not just some inference added to the doctrine of Jesus Christ. Yet, as much as may be complained over that tradition we have our own tradition(s) that are hard pressed when spoken against; as though they are of the will of God: “Therefore, if you died with Christ from the basic principles of this world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations––‘Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle….’” (Colossians 2:21). You might cavil at this point and say: “I don’t have such traditions and I keep the commandments.” Really? The Sabbath is kept holy, or is it a time to make cause for others to serve you, i.e., waitress, cooks, retailers, boating, skiing, etc., and what about idols? Is there not a commandment of God that we are to keep that day holy? What about idols? No! You say! “I don’t have idols!”  Is that really true? You do not hold in some high esteem a celebrity, with great excitement and have all the trivia you can get about that celebrity? What about those churches that have lined on the walls, statures of saints, and even pictures of Jesus Christ? What about the picture hanging on your wall of “Jesus Christ?” What about striving to become wealthy, or famous, and have that desire to be the highest of priority in your life? This all at the cost of your family? Oh, you say: “I take care of my family, I am there when they need me!” Really! When the kids get home from school, you are there, cookies, and milk, and a time to talk, a time to be near your kids. You do have evening meals with the family, or are you running off to some meeting, political, or even religious?

            Oh! I have done it now! Many may want to curse me, they would if they could swallow me alive. Is it not clearly enjoined to us those Ten Commandments given to Moses and apply even to us that there should not be anything, any representation, of anything in heaven, or on earth, or under the earth, to not have any likenesses of other gods? You say that you do not serve other gods? Really? You do hold in high esteem some celebrity that has openly admitted that he is a Scientologist, or believes in abortion, or same sex marriage, homosexuality, and you go to their concerts, or movies, etc.? You are given to men, women, and to pictures that are supposed to represent Jesus Christ, wait a minute! Is not Jesus Christ in heaven? Are we not to make any representation of things in heaven? Are we not to subside from such things as to give honor to another that only belongs to God? To adore is to praise, revere, ask, entreat, implore, invoke, offer prayer. But to worship is to direct respect, be submissive, celebrate, venerate, love, esteem highly.

            You may want to defend your tradition and experience that includes pictures, statures, and other forms of adoration by saying that you do not suppose that there is anything divine in the image which you adore. You may say that you adore it only to honor Him. Really? If you were a person who left some cult that had images, idols now venerate images of saints, Jesus Christ, statues, pictures of angels, and Satan, those who have deserted such thing now have exchange the former for the present, they only have changed their names.

            Ponder this, meditate upon this, look up Scripture about this, pray about this. What does it mean to be a Christian? You keep God’s commandments, and at all cost. Did not God come to this earth, die for sin, and given to the elect the benefits of sins destruction? Yes.

If then you were raised with Christ,

            Seek those things which are above,

Where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God.

            Set your mind on thins above,

Not on things on the earth. For you died,

            And you life is hidden with

Christ in God.

                                    Colossians 3:1–3

Live life fully, Love God

Richard L. Crumb

Do You Love God?

You shall have no other gods before Me.

You shall not make for yourself a carved image––

any likeness of anything that is in heaven above,

or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water

under the earth; you shall not bow down to them

nor serve them. For I, the LORD your God, am a

jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers

upon the children to the third and fourth generations

of those who hate me, by showing mercy to thousands,

to those who love Me and keep My commandments.

Exodus 20:3–6

            Do you love God? If so, then keep His commandments! Do you admit to being a Christian? Then keep His commandments! Do you desire to be a witness for God? Then keep His commandments! Do you wish to be formed into the image of our Lord Jesus Christ? If So, then keep His commandments! Theology is so simple: Do what the Bible say sot do, and don’t do those things the Bible says not to do! Simple, yes: but hard to do for we are still burdened with sin, that original sin that plagues us, that attempts to control us, and we cannot do this alone and God does not ask for us to this alone. We have the Holy Spirit to listen to, and this is by His word, and we are enlightened by that word and led by the Holy Spirit to keep His word. The Holy Spirit will not pull you out of the mud, those circumstances apart from God because you took you eyes off the God, His word, and did not allow the leading of the Holy Spirit to lead you. John tells us: “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (1John 1:8). Do you say that you are “born again,” that is born of God? The keep His commandments: “We know that whoever is born of God does not sin, but he who has been of God keeps himself, and the wicked one does not touch him” (1John 5:18). What if I sin? John the apostles give us great hope and joy: “My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous”(1John2:1). How many rely on that verse so that they commit sins and believe that all is or will be forgiven. Will it? The writer of Hebrews explains: “For is we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment and fiery indignations which will devour the adversaries” (Hebrews 10:26–27). Keeping God’s commandments is so important for a Christian and Jesus Christ ensures us of that importance: “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).

            I will admit: most of my blogs are polemic and may at times have that which causes me to be called pedantic. One who sets standards high. I do this not just for you, but for me, and writing in such a way reminds me of the very things that I write. Some may even speak notoriously about me. Some may even think that I am teaching a sect. This would not be true for I hold to the unity of the Church, and preach the truth as given to us from the Bible. It requires much study, in the original languages, even to read men who wrote on subjects that are needed for us to remain free of sinning, to return us to the truth. Therefore I fight, to suppress, to crush, to fight against, even assault sects, schisms, superstitions, and heresies, as much as I am able and I will not cease to do battle against them, and this to be done, not on my own power, my own presuppositions, relying wholehearted on the help of God. The goal and the mission of this blog is to make cause for change, from the outside, in, or to change the inside so that the outside manifests the inside. The truth.

            Retrospect often is so clear, so revealing, and so hard because we lose sight of what the past was, what incurred, and the past fades. Yes it can be so clear, so revealing, and those occurrences come alive, that is, if we take the time to examine the past. Here is a question: How did we come to this point in time, those things we see and do, those things we accept? Reading men who wrote in the past reveal to us that which was so prevalent in the church, those things that we have come to accept as normal but was not considered normal by many when they examined the church in light of Scripture. History! Ugh! At least for some. Yet to know history is to know the present.

            What does history, at least in the last 300 years, history of the church reveal? Liberalism is an ideology that leads many people today to live and practice pluralism, and be autonomous, even to the point of living in antinomy. It is wrong, yet liberalism has found its way into the Christianity forming liberal Christianity. There are two books that I suggest you read: 1. Christianity & Liberalism, by J. Gresham Machen (1987); ISBN: 0-8028-1121-3: 2. Real Christianity, by William Wilberforce (1797); ISBN: 0-8307-4311-1.

            I opened this blog with Exodus 2):4–6, and in the next blogs I will expand my writing to include a liberal change that has affected many people for all these many years, and especially can I see that liberal Christianity has allowed idols to be produced, in church, in home, and in the lives of many Christians. We need what a true Christian needs: the truth, and then keep that truth.

Come to Me, all you who labor

            And are heavy laden,

And I will give you rest.

                        Matthew 11:28

Begin each day in prayer

Richard L. Crumb