Our Faith Reveals How The Authority Of God Is Applied In Our Lives

For I have not spoken

on My own authority,

but the Father who

sent Me gave Me 

a command, what I

should say and what

I should speak. 

And I know that His 

command is everlasting life. 

Therefore, whatever I speak,

just as the Father has

told Me, so I speak.

John 13:49-50

 

     Jesus made this one thing exceptionally clear: He lived and operated under the authority of the Father. Jesus did not invent some new form of belief, a new religion; no, He came and did exactly what the Father had sent Him to do: die! It is that simple, Jesus came for one purpose and that purpose was to do the will of the Father and that will was that by means of the Wisdom, God was to become incarnate and die, to die to pay the debt of sin for those God chose to give to the Son. Further, Jesus taught first His disciples, and then His disciples, the Apostles, who were to teach others of His commands and the one command that Jesus gave to the Apostles that was to be taught to all disciples was: "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have love you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another" (John 13:34-35). What was the love that Jesus demonstrated? He gave Himself to the authority of God by doing His will and not His own. It is love between the brothers and sisters that when exercised according to the will of God as revealed in His Holy word, then the world will know we are Christians, true Christians. The world may hate us for that fact, that we love as Jesus Christ love, that we live under the authority of God which they do not, but we are in love and devoted to God, and to His Son that He sent for His children. John the Apostle wrote in regards to the attitude of the world towards Christians: "Do not marvel, my brethren, if the world hates you. We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides in death" (1John 3:13). A Christian cannot serve two masters: "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon" (Matthew 6:24). When the ideologies of the world, and secularization of the Church occurs, all that has been done is for the Church to become friends of the world: "Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of god. or do you think that the Scriptures says in vain, 'The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously" (James 4:4-5)? It is the truth that sets us apart from the world, but it is our lives living in that truth that demonstrates to the world God, and His Son. We are not our own for we have been bought with a price, and that price was for God to come, be incarnate, to die a horrible death on the cross, demonstrating His love for us, should we not then show our love for the Father, His Son, and allow the Holy Spirit to lead us in this life: no matter the cost? "Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, 'Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree')" (Galatians 3:13). Further: "I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God; who loved me and gave Himself for me" (Galatians 2:20). 

     It is by faith that we live, as Abraham by faith left his country and kin to go to a land that God will show to him, this we do as well, we live by faith and allow God to direct our paths. Yet, we are not to be naive, for we must examine our faith, our worship and determine if there is any sin in us, in our worship. Are we actually living for God or for ourselves? Death is assured for all men, it is not a whether or not, it is how and when! Eternity began the day you were conceived. The question is what we do with the life God gave us, for if God had not decreed that you should live, you would not have lived. God did not cause your birth, but He did decree that you live, and when He has, which He does for His children, given faith to you to believe upon the Son of God as Savior, then we have a master for our life and that master is God. Therefore we are to cast out all things which are not of God. This takes study at times to know what has occurred in our lives, our Church. How have we been affected by men and women who are not God's children and teach and promote ideologies, theologies that are not of God, they are not what God has commanded His servants to follow and to do. This will take courage, and determination, and to be intentional in our faith toward God, and His Son. But we are not left alone for we have the Holy Spirit to guide us and teach us; so why be afraid? We are often afraid, because the first change is in our own life, our attitudes, this is hard and often takes a lifetime and will finally be accomplished when we arrive in heaven to be with Jesus Christ forever and forever. Paul wrote these words for us: "For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ" (Galatians 3:26-27). As sons and daughters of God we live for Him, the gift of faith having been given to us and this we know is truth for we no longer desire to live as the world, rather to live as redeemed individuals and to turn away from the former life: "Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. But then, indeed, when you did not know God, you served those which by nature are not gods. but now after you have know God, or rather are known by God, how is it that you turn again to the weak and beggarly elements, to which you desire again to be in bondage" (Galatians 4:7-9). 

     The Bible outlines the will of God and how He has determined the arrangement of His Church. The Bible is not speaking of equality between the sexes, for all men and women are equal under the eyes of God. All men and women have been given talents, and gifts, that are to be used in this life, and in the life of the Church. What the Bible, God, has set forth is authority and that authority has been given to men. This authority is an awful responsibility for man will be required to give an accounting for how he as used that authority. All will be required to give an account of their lives but man, those in leadership have a greater accounting. Jesus makes this plain: "but I say to you that for every idle word men may speak,they will give account for it in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned" (Matthew 12:36-37). Paul writes: "So then each of us shall give account of himself to God" (Romans 14:12). We have been given words of admonishment: "O Timothy! Guard what was committed to your trust, avoiding the profane and babblings and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge by professing it some have strayed concerning the faith. grace by with you Amen" (1Timothy 6:20-21). In Paul's second letter to Timothy he advises this: "Peach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. for the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. but you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry" (2Timothy 4: 2-5).

     This I will do, will you? I will examine what is occurring in the Church, how Christians have been affected by the world, and how we are to remove the dross that is clogging up the faith of believers and leading them into that which leads to away from the authority of God. The next few blogs as needed will discuss more of things that are occurring in the Church, i.e., Tai Chi, yoga, and other practices. Are they of God or not? If found not to be of God, will you remove them or yourself from them. Will you and me, come under the authority of God? 

Yes, and all who desire to

     live godly in Christ Jesus

will suffer persecution.

                      2Timothy 3:12

Determine to Live For God--No Matter what!

 

Richard L. Crumb

The Authority Of God Is The Determiner Of Church Government And For The Christian

Every word of God

is pure:

He is a shield to those

who put their trust 

in Him. 

Do not add to 

His words,

lest He rebuke you,

and you 

be found a liar.

Proverbs 30:5-6; cf. Revelation 22:18

     To protect God's word is the work that all Christians are involved so that generations that follow will have the pure word of God so that their lives are not following a man's interpretation, rather that they are under the authority of God as God has revealed through His word. One of the chief aims of the previous blogs, and of this blog, those that will follow is to determine the truth. God has promised to preserve His word: "For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled" (Matthew 5:18). Mankind is human and have brains, and by means of those brains educated by God's word we are to align our lives, our understanding of God as we translate His word from the original languages into the vernacular of various ethnics. God has not seen fit to write by His hand as He did to the king of Babylon Belshazzar: Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin," (Daniel 5:25b), No, He uses man and man is to use His brains. The question then is: by what information does a man determine the truth when deciphering old manuscripts? Is the translator under the guidance of the Holy Spirit or is he under the influence of men who are not of God? It is true, man is the product of history. We are the history of future generations until God returns and the Son of God calls home all of God's children that have been given to Him by the Father: "Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world and I come to You, Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given to Me, that they by one as We are" (Matthew 17:11). Man being educated and driven in many ways by history then we must examine history and determine how that history has affected our thinking, the way we view certain aspects of life. Jesus Christ has all authority and it is by His word that man is to live and be guided in this life, we are to keep His word, that is fact, and we are not to by our own authority: "as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him" (Matthew 17:2). It by God that man can come to given to His Son Jesus Christ, and it Jesus Christ that has all authority, therefore as a child of God, drawn to the truth by God, enabled by God to believe the truth (see John chpt. 6) and it is to those whom God has given to His Son that the Son prays for: "I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word" (Matthew 17:20). Jesus was looking into the future and for all those drawn by God, enabled by God, that they would live and keep His word. But, man is sinful, not just in action, that is so often true, rather he is sin, a sin inherited from the first man Adam and that sin often is enhanced by ideologies, theologies, and other ideas that are misleading and man being educated by those men are often far removed from the truth of God's word. These men and we, being affected by men and women of history we must calculate whether or not they have affected us in some negative way. How has history affected the Church, its form of government, the Doctrines that churches operate under, those ideologies that affect those attending Church? We are the sum total of history whether we like it or not, and the only way to mitigate how history has affected us is to learn and be educated by those who follow God's word. Have we been affected by sinful men? Yes! To what degree? How? I will use how we are affected by history by demonstrating something we all know and have at least some knowledge of: atoms. We far too often think of atoms as being a modern scientific fact, found and determined to exist by modern science. This is far from the truth. Allow me to show this: One such belief system that is opposed to the Doctrine of creation as taught in the Bible is an early philosophy based upon the teachings of Epicurus (Founded around 307 B.C.) called Epicureanism. Epicurus was an atomic materialist who developed his theory from Democritus (ca. 460 B.C.-370 B.C.), an ancient Greek philosopher who formulated an atomic theory for the cosmos held that everything is composed of “atoms,” that are physically, but not geometrically, indivisible; that between atoms lies empty space; that atoms are indestructible; have always been, and always will be, in motion; that there are an infinite number of atoms, kinds of atoms, all which differ in shape and size. The theorem of these two men differed in some aspects but is similar in their focus of materialism. For Epicurus, his theory led him to have a general attack on superstition and divine intervention. It is not that Epicurus denied the existence of a god(s), rather that those god(s) did not interfere with the material world. Epicurus wrote: 

entitled as Problem of Evil: which argues against the existence of an all-powerful and providential god(s).

“God either wants to eliminate bad things and cannot, or can but does not want to, or neither wishes to nor can, or both wants to and can. If he wants to and cannot, then he is weak - and this does not apply to god. If he can but does not want to, then he is spiteful - which is equally foreign to god's nature. If he neither wants to nor can, he is both weak and spiteful, and so not a god. If he wants to and can, which is the only thing fitting for a god, where then do bad things come from? Or why does he not eliminate them?”

     Does that not sound like many of those who oppose Christianity? Other men such as John Dewey affected the thinking many: David Hume (1711 A.D.-1776 A.D.), a historian, philosopher, economist, and essayist, is known for his philosophical empiricism and skepticism paraphrased this passage in his Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion: “Epicurus’s old questions are yet unanswered. Is he willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then is he impotent? Is he able, but not willing? Then is he malevolent? Is he both able and willing? Whence then is evil?” These questions and some form of those theorems by Epicurus, and Democritus, as well as others are still in vogue, and held by those in opposition to Christianity. How often have you heard this type of thinking? The father of modern education John Dewey (1859–1952) who co-authored the Humanist Manifesto I has affected eduction within Universities, schools, and even has by this form of education propagated by his ideologies, has affected even the Church. Along, with liberal theologians, these men, such as Immanuel Kant, Bertrand Russel, Nietzche, Plato, Socrates, and Aristotle, all have by their prominence as thinking men have affected history and our lives. The more that 30 men who wrote Humanist Manifest I has this to say as those as did Raymond B. Bragg (1933),"who are forging a new philosophy out of the materials of the modern world. The time has come for widespread recognition of the radical changes in religious beliefs throughout the modern world...religions, the world over are under the necessity of coming to terms with new conditions created by vastly increased knowledge and experience...there is great danger of a final, and we believe fatal, identification of the word religion with doctrines and methods which have lost their significance and which are powerless to solve the problem of human living in the 20th century. .... today man's larger understanding of the universe, he is scientific achievements, and deeper appreciation of brotherhood have created a situation which requires a new statement of the means and purposes of religion.... While this age does owe a vast debt to the traditional religions, it is none the less obvious that any religion that can hope to be a synthesizing and dynamic force for today, must be shaped for the needs of this age. to establish such a religion is a major necessity of the present. It is a responsibility, which rests upon this generation. We therefore affirm the following:" Humanist Manifesto I contains 15 tenets, I will not give each and every one, rather only those that are pertinent to our present discussion.
FIRST: Religious humanists regard, the universe as self--existing and not created.
SECOND: Humanism believes that man is a part of nature, and that he has emerged as result of a continuous process.
 FIFTH: Humanism asserts that the nature of the universe depicted by modern science makes unacceptable in any supernatural or cosmic guarantees of human values. Obviously, humanism does not deny the possibility of realities as yet undiscovered, but it does insist that the way to determine the existence and value of any and all realities is by means of intelligent inquiry and by the assessment of their relations to human needs. religion must formulate its hoes and plans in the light of the scientific spirit and method.
SEVENTH: Religion consists of those actions, purposes, and experiences which are humanly significant. Nothing human is alien to the religious. It includes labor, art, science, philosophy, love, friendship, recreation--all that is in its degree expressing up intelligently satisfying human living. the distinction between the sacred and the secular can no longer be maintained.
NINTH: In the place of the old attitudes involved in the worship and prayer. The humanist finds his religious emotions expressed in a heightened sense of personal life and in a cool operation effort to promote social well-being.
TWELFTH: Believing that religion must work increasingly for joy in living, religious humanists aim to foster that creating in man, and to encourage achievements that add to the satisfaction of life.
Final: So stand the theses religious humanism. Though we consider the religious forms and ideas of our fathers no longer adequate, the quest for the good life is still the central task for mankind. Man is a last becoming aware that he alone is responsible for the realization of the world of his dreams, that he has within himself the power for its achievement. He must set intelligence and will to the task.
     You may not consider yourself a religious humanist, but you have been affected by their introduction into the schools and thoughts of individuals who have affected history and you. To what extent is only mitigated by your knowledge of God's Word and allow Him to be the authority of your life. Humanist Manifesto II expanded on these thought and Humanist Manifesto III, IV only accepted and approved the previous manifestos. This historical fact is not historical in today's world, it is fact and is the way education is taught, how our entertainment industry operates, the advertizing picturing the "good" life, and the pornographic scenes in "soap operas." Furthermore, the Church, which is made up of people, both laymen and those educated in seminaries, have been affected in some way and bring to the Church at least a portion of those ideologies, unless they are sold out to God and follow the authority of God. 
     This blog has been long and full of facts. There is much more that could be added, the Communist Manifesto, the beliefs and practices of the N.E.A. and the N.O.W. movements. Our culture has been infected and we are infected in some way, but culture is not to define our belief in a Supernatural God who is Just, Good, and Merciful, who has sent His Son to pay the debt of sin, and I am not allowing what I write to be determined by culture, rather to return to the Bible and become under its authority. We need to address though, those things that have and are affecting the way we see authority. How we may have changed, and are we actually being taught the truth of God's word?

 We then, as workers 
     together with Him
also plead with you
     not to receive the
grace of God in vain.
                    2Corinthians 6:1


Prayer Is The Answer-Pray For Guidance


Richard L. Crumb
     

---

God's Dispensation And Economy Determines The Dispensation Of The Church

Whoever believes that Jesus

is the Christ is born

of God, and everyone

who loves Him who begot

also loves him who 

is begotten of Him.

By this we know that

we love the children of God,

when we love God

and keep His commandments,

and His commandments 

are not burdensome.

1John 5:1-3

     God begot His only Son, the Only Begotten Son of the Father who gave His life as Son of Man, God in human flesh, so that His children would have forgiveness of sin and life eternal. God gave to His children His law, His commandments so that His children would be able to please Him. By means of those commandments His children would be able to overcome the world that is in every way striving against God and His children: For whoever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world--our faith. Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God" (1John 5:4-45). True believers are those who desire to live according to the Dispensation of God and allow God's economy to rule their lives. This is the separation between the world and the Church, those called out ones to be His children. Yet, there has been such an influx of worldly ideologies and practices into many of the Churches that the Church no longer is so different from the world. Remember, the Church is you, not some building, some place where people gather to worship, you are the temple of God: "Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own" (1Corinthians 6:19). Your life is to be a testimony for God but the role is so reversed that people live and enjoy their testimony, that which they have overcome, and it their testimony, what they have done that defines their faith. This is so wrong, you cannot give to God anything that He has not given to you, and the faith you have is because He chose to give you that faith, as the Scripture above states: "Whom you have from God, and you are not your own."  Entrance into the Church was "testimony time" and how often we hear of what God has done for us and that is good, but more often a testimony is more about what we have done and then giving credence to God. It is good that you have a good testimony, that God has changed you and given to you faith, but more importantly is how you live and how the living Church of God operates, is within His dispensation. So when I write about the government of the Church, the arrangement by God as set forth in His word, I am not attempting to be egalitarian, rather it is to aid a person to change from the inside out, for it is the change in the inner man that is from God, and that change affects the Church and the witness to His Son, our Savior. Oh! How the Church, that is the people, those that make up the visible Church, have changed, how worship is more along the lines of secularism. The question then is how did the Church get to be more like the world and far from the dispensation of God? I will give some reasons.

     Looking back in time, some 200 years or so we can see that the Church is far different from the ages past. The Church and its theologians have been influenced by society, and even the "Christian" institutions that produce theologians have been so influenced by society towards a more Modernistic approach towards theology. The Renaissance, the colonization of America, the Enlightenment, the Romantic Period, the American and French Revolutions, the rise of nationalism, the Industrial Revolution and the development of natural sciences, technologies, medical science, and the human sciences have impacted theological outlooks profoundly. This attempt to integrate theology and culture has been the trend for these many years spinning off cults, and splinter groups of people that call themselves "Christian." We can see that men and women who are not Christian have brought great influence upon the Church, men such as Kant, Hegel,  Kirkegaard, John Dewey, Margaret Sanger, and many others and there now is a tension between the true theology and the culture, society. The change in the Church often is seen to have begun at the First World War (1914-1918), but we must go back further in time, to men such as Charles Finney, John Wesley, and others, who integrated into their theology some form of Arminianism, a form of belief that is akin to Pelegianism, or semi-Pelagianism, that man somehow has enough good in him that he can choose for himself to be saved. The various major crises in the world have impacted and affected the Church and the train of though among many theologians. As I had pointed out earlier if you are shooting for Mars, and your calculations are off by the tiniest amount, some 1,000 of an inch, you will miss Mars, by miles and miles. It is true with the Church, if you miss the mark, the dispensation that arrangement of God as set forth in His word, then the door is open for other false teachings. There has been a movement to bring ecumenism to the Church, and men such as John Darby, C.R. Scofield, have introduce a false teaching that has infected the Church, that is you, even into this day. I can and will in time discuss those teachings, but these blogs are to do with the Church and the authority so outlined in the Church and so not followed by many Churches. The one theology that has affected the Church is Feminist theology. This theology changes the liturgy of the Church, the doctrines of the Church, pastoral practices, ethics, and even spirituality. There are major divisions within the Church between laymen and the clergy, between women and men. This introduction of a doctrine that is not to be found in the Bible has impacted even music, a music that satiates the senses, makes one feel so holy. Yes, time and some improvisation is correct and needed but music is to draw is into a closer relation to Him by communicating doctrinal truths, not just some good sounding, pleasing to the ear, rhythmic melody that is more akin to rock concerts. One error begets another.  When one discovers by examination of the Churches you will find that the acceptance of women as leaders and pastors of the Church have begun about some 200 years ago, then many Churches have introduced homosexuals to be pastors and leaders, and even accepted abortion. God knew exactly what He was doing when He set forth the authority that men were to have and the arrangement of the Church. It has been men influenced by society that have brought to the Church cultural and societal methods and ideologies. How can God truly bless a Church, a people that are so far distant from the truth of His Word. He Can't! 
     Both men and women have a role in the Church, and those roles are clearly and plainly outlined for the Church and it is when the Church is organized as God outlined then that Church not only has the blessing of God, but is a true witness to our Savior. I am not suggesting some off handed authoritarian, or chauvinistic, or egalitarian approach to Church, rather so that His children will return to Biblical principles and live devoted to Him, and not to some "Church" form that is not true worship to Him. It is changing from the inside out so that our outward appearance has been conformed to God's word. 
     This is not an easy subject to discuss, but one that is so necessary. One may cavil, object, but if you do not read the Bible, pray for God's guidance, then the words of God mean little to a person who would reject what He so plainly outlines. This type of person puts themselves above our Holy and just God, the creator, the one who advises His children as to how to please Him. Change is hard, but even the Apostle Paul once he met the Savior on the road to Damascus made the necessary changes in his life so that his life, his preaching were in conformity to God's dispensation and economy. May yours and mine be the same.

Your glorying is not good.
     Do you not know that
a little leaven leavens
    the whole lump?
                    1Corinthians 5:6

May God Bless You 

Richard L. Crumb