Fighting The Wiles Of The Devil

Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord,

 and in the power of His might. Put on the 

whole armor of God, that ye may be able 

to stand against the wiles of the devil. 

For we wrestle not against flesh and blood,

 but against principalities, against powers,

against the rulers of the darkness of this world, 

against spiritual wickedness in high places.

Ephesians 6: 19-11 

     The need for the apostle Paul to write those words was that God inspired him to do so due to the influx of teachings that were not that which Jesus had taught. Gnosticism, Judaism, the Ebionites with their view as to ascetism, and more, all were having an effect on the new Christian faith. 

     This is why I am taking this time to reach back into history of the Church that we can have an understanding of those heresies that affect the Church and how that those heresies are affecting Authentic Christian Faith in our day. Those men and women who are teaching another gospel and not Authentic Christian Gospel need to submit themselves to our Lord Jesus Christ and follow what He admonished us and commanded. Clement of Rome one of the earliest of Christian writings, a fellow with the apostle Paul had this to say to the Church: "Ye therefore, who laid the foundation of this sedition, submit yourselves to the presbyters, and receive correction so as to repent, bending the knees of your hearts. Learn to be subject, laying aside the proud and arrogant self-confidence of your tongue. For it is better for you that ye should occupy (Literally, “to be found small and esteemed.”) a humble but honourable place in the flock of Christ, than that, being highly exalted, ye should be cast out from the hope of His people. (Literally, “His hope.”) [It has been conjectured that ἔλπιδος should be ἔπαύλιδος, and the reading, “out of the fold of his people.” See Chevallier.] For thus speaketh all-virtuous Wisdom: (Prov. i. 23–31.) [Often cited by this name in primitive writers.] “Behold, I will bring forth to you the words of My Spirit, and I will teach you My speech. Since I called, and ye did not hear; I held forth My words, and ye regarded not, but set at naught My counsels, and yielded not at My reproofs; therefore I too will laugh at your destruction; yea, I will rejoice when ruin cometh upon you, and when sudden confusion overtakes you, when overturning presents itself like a tempest, or when tribulation and oppression fall upon you. For it shall come to pass, that when ye call upon Me, I will not hear you; the wicked shall seek Me, and they shall not find Me. For they hated wisdom, and did not choose the fear of the Lord; nor would they listen to My counsels, but despised My reproofs. Wherefore they shall eat the fruits of their own way, and they shall be filled with their own ungodliness.” … (Junius (Pat. Young), who examined the ms. before it was bound into its present form, stated that a whole leaf was here lost. The next letters that occur are ιπον, which have been supposed to indicate εἶπον or ἔλιπον. Doubtless some passages quoted by the ancients from the Epistle of Clement, and not now found in it, occurred in the portion which has thus been lost.)"

     Do not those who teach another gospel say that they believe in Jesus as Savior? Yes! But the question is: Who is this Jesus? Is this Jesus they say they believe and serve the Jesus that was presented to us by those who walked and talked with Him, by Paul who was confronted by Jesus to become a servant of Him on the Damascus road? To be Authentic and have Authentic Christian Faith a person must have faith in the real, the true Jesus, not some man-made doctrine or theology. 

'The LORD thy God in the midst of thee

     is mighty; He will save, He will rejoice

over thee with joy; He will rest in His love,

     He will joy over thee with singing.

                   Zephaniah 3:17

Find the truth: study Scripture

Richard L. Crumb 

Beware Of False Philosophy Of This World

Beware lest any man spoil you through 

philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition 

of men, after the rudiments of the world, 

and not after Christ.

Colossians 2:8

     Authentic Christian Faith is one whereby a person who says that they have faith must manifest that which has been given to us and this by those inspired men who wrote letters to Churches undergoing much strife, both within and without. We have these writings and we have, even though often cloaked, those same heresies affecting the Church and undermining Authentic Christian Faith.

      Who are you following: Jesus or a man or a woman? Are you following Scripture that even Clement of Rome who was a fellow with the apostles said were inspired or some man-made doctrine, a doctrine that you have not taken time to prove (1Thessalonians 5:21) are the truth? Read what Clement of Rome wrote: "Such examples, therefore, brethren, it is right that we should follow; (Literally, “To such examples it is right that we should cleave.”) since it is written, “Cleave to the holy, for those that cleave to them shall [themselves] be made holy.” (Not found in Scripture.) And again, in another place, [the Scripture] saith, “With a harmless man thou shalt prove (Literally, “be.”) thyself harmless, and with an elect man thou shalt be elect, and with a perverse man thou shalt show (Or, “thou wilt overthrow.”) thyself perverse.” (Ps. xviii. 25, 26.) Let us cleave, therefore, to the innocent and righteous, since these are the elect of God. Why are there strifes, and tumults, and divisions, and schisms, and wars  Or, “war.” (Comp. Jas. iv. 1.) among you? Have we not [all] one God and one Christ? Is there not one Spirit of grace poured out upon us? And have we not one calling in Christ?   (Comp. Eph. iv. 4–6.) Why do we divide and tear to pieces the members of Christ, and raise up strife against our own body, and have reached such a height of madness as to forget that “we are members one of another?” (Rom. xii. 5.) Remember the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, how (This clause is wanting in the text.) He said, “Woe to that man [by whom (This clause is wanting in the text.) offences come]! It were better for him that he had never been born, than that he should cast a stumbling-block before one of my elect. Yea, it were better for him that a millstone should be  hung about [his neck], and he should be sunk in the depths of the sea, than that he should cast a stumbling-block before one of my little ones.” (Comp. Matt. xviii. 6, Matt. xxvi. 24; Mark ix. 42; Luke xvii. 2.) Your schism has subverted [the faith of] many, has discouraged many, has given rise to doubt in many, and has caused grief to us all. And still your sedition continueth." 

      The early Church was under such a time when men were promoting a philosophy, a theology, or ideology that was not Scriptural although they promoted it as godly. There was a major attempt to pervert the Church. Today we have much the same attempt by those who follow a man without examining their teachings who are leading people into a supposed truth but is really only heresy.

     "Take up the epistle of the blessed Apostle Paul. What did he write to you at the time when the Gospel first began to be preached? (Literally, “in the beginning of the Gospel.”) [Comp. Phil. iv. 15.] Truly, under the inspiration (Or, “spiritually.”) of the Spirit, he wrote to you concerning himself, and Cephas, and Apollos, (1 Cor. iii. 13,) etc. because even then parties (Or, “inclinations for one above another.”) had been formed among you. But that inclination for one above another entailed less guilt upon you, inasmuch as your partialities were then shown towards apostles, already of high reputation, and towards a man whom they had approved. But now reflect who those are that have perverted you, and lessened the renown of your far-famed brotherly love. It is disgraceful, beloved, yea, highly disgraceful, and unworthy of your Christian profession, (Literally, “of conduct in Christ.”) that such a thing should be heard of as that the most stedfast and ancient Church of the Corinthians should, on account of one or two persons, engage in sedition against its presbyters. And this rumour has reached not only us, but those also who are unconnected (Or, “aliens from us,” i.e., the Gentiles.) with us; so that, through your infatuation, the name of the Lord is blasphemed, while danger is also brought upon yourselves."

     In the next blogs I will outline the various heresies that were being promoted in the early Church that have found their way into many Churches today.

And God saw that the wickedness

    of man was great in the earth,

and that every imagination of the 

    thoughts of his heart was only

evil continually. And it repented

    the LORD that He had made

man on the earth, and it grieved

    Him at His heart.

               Genesis 6:5-6

God's patience is not His permission

Richard L. Crumb

     

To Know God: Keep His Commandments

And hereby we do know that we know Him, 

if we keep His commandments. He that saith,

 I know Him, and keepeth not His commandments, 

is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoso 

keepeth His word, in Him verily is the 

love of God perfected: hereby know we 

that we are in Him.

1John 2:3-4 

   In my studies to prepare for a blog, this blog, I have noticed that these early Church fathers did not write as to their personal theology, rather they spoke accordingly as they were taught by the disciples of Jesus. They admonish us to be faithful, to be obedient, to repent of our sins and to live a life that is reflected of the life of Jesus. In all this they too had to fight heresies and we too today fight those4 same heresies albeit they are often hidden and and veiled. 

     Vincent of Lerins wrote the Commonitory around the year 434 A.D. who was a man well known as one learned in the Holy Scriptures and well informed as to the Church's doctrines, and in this he composed a very powerful treatise as was his purpose to confront herectical sects. In this work he opposed Semi-Pelagianism and gave to us a way to examine what was being taught whether or not it was Orthodox Christianity or heresy. The reason for this is that he held, and we too should do the same, to the Holy Scriptures as the source of all true doctrine, because there were those who in various ways interpreted Scripture. We need a guide for distinguishing between those various interpretations. The now famous formula of St. Vincent of Lerins is: quod ubique, qujod semper, et quod ab omnibus creditum est: That is: what has been believed everywhere, always, and by all men.

     We are admonished in Scripture: Ask your fathers and they will tell you; your elders, and they will speak" (Deuteronomy 32:7); Fit your ear to the words of the wise" (Proverbs 22:17); "My son, forget not these speeches but let your heart keep my words" (Proverbs 3:1). Time as a way of snatching away, and yet we ought to be snatching from it what may advance us toward life eternal. What has been handed down by men of earlier time and entrusted to our keeping, we need to take care to observe their words. 

     A great threat to the early Church was Gnosticism attempting to soil the purity of the Christian faith and this came much from Greek philosophy. It was those philosophers philosophers learned in Greek mythology that wanted a Christianity to be a system of philosophy. Around the year 150 A.D. Gnosticism was at its greatest peak and was a great threat to Christianity and we can see in the writings of Paul that he seems to be fighting an incipient form of Gnosticism when we read his letter to the Colossian Church. Christianity related Gnosticism to Simon Magnus whom Peter had to rebuke severely. Remember, Simon Magnus sought to buy the gifts from Peter and after his rejection became a heretic following after the Gnostic beliefs. Irenaeus in Adversus Haeresis, I:xxiii: 1-5, wrote about this and we can read about this in Acts 8:9-24. 

     What is Gnosticism? It is a belief that sprang from the natural human desire to create a theodicy (this is a vindication of God's justice in tolerating the existence of evil), in other words: to explain the origin of evil. The Gnostics sought a way to create a philosophical system in whi9ch God as a spirit could be freed from association with evil and a way in which man could be related on the spiritual side of his nature to Deity. It sought answers as to the origin of man, and this they did by synthesizing Christianity and Hellenistic philosophy. This was also the way for Neo-Platonism. In their seeking they sought a way to avoid the stigma of the cross. Irenaeus and others who were powerful polemicist with all their skill holding fast to the rule of faith and the writings, which were to become the canon we call the Bible, to be able to overcome this threat to Christianity. If Gnosticism had succeeded, Christianity would have become nothing more than another philosophical mystery religion. 

     I return to Clement of Rome where in chapter 45 it writes about the wicked who are attempting to vex the righteous: "Ye are fond of contention, brethren, and full of zeal about things which do not pertain to salvation. Look carefully into the Scriptures, which are the true utterances of the Holy Spirit. Observe (Or, “Ye perceive.”) that nothing of an unjust or counterfeit character is written in them. There   Or, (“For.”) you will not find that the righteous were cast off by men who themselves were holy. The righteous were indeed persecuted, but only by the wicked. They were cast into prison, but only by the unholy; they were stoned, but only by transgressors; they were slain, but only by the accursed, and such as had conceived an unrighteous envy against them. Exposed to such sufferings, they endured them gloriously. For what shall we say, brethren? Was Daniel (Dan. vi. 16.) cast into the den of lions by such as feared God? Were Ananias, and Azarias, and Mishael shut up in a furnace (Dan. iii. 20.) of fire by those who observed ⁽Literally, “worshipped.”) the great and glorious worship of the Most High? Far from us be such a thought! Who, then, were they that did such things? The hateful, and those full of all wickedness, were roused to such a pitch of fury, that they inflicted torture on those who served God with a holy and blameless purpose [of heart], not knowing that the Most High is the Defender and Protector of all such as with a pure conscience venerate   (Literally, “serve.”) His all-excellent name; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen. But they who with confidence endured [these things] are now heirs of glory and honour, and have been exalted and made illustrious (Or, “lifted up.”) by God in their memorial for ever and ever. Amen."

     We too, must fight those heretical systems of Christianity that are infecting and plaguing men and women who are earnestly seeking Authentic Christian Faith.

To whom then will ye liken Me,

     or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One.

                     Isaiah 40:25

Consider your faith and change from the inside/out

Richard L. Crumb