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Turmoil
There is much turmoil in the world today. Its source is clearly from the rich and powerful who are now attempting to lead us into the willing acceptance of a dictatorial state. It may well be presented as the only alternative to total chaos. America has to a great degree already submitted to this. Its money, its information media, its schools, its government officials, and much more are today in the hands of a very few, very rich, very powerful and very evil individuals. Why? How did this happen in the America we love?
Actually, it is the inevitable consequence of our own failure. We seem to have forgotten that the only way we can be free to govern ourselves is when God’s Law is in our hearts. When God’s law ceases to govern, Satan’s law takes its place. There are no other sources of law! Our choices are limited: all of mankind is divided in two; we either obey God or are slaves of Satan.
When America’s Christians obeyed God, we were a self-governed, free people. As we increasingly neglected our duty to the God that provided it, we gradually lost that freedom. Yes, God’s people have work to do, work defined in the Great Commission (Matt. 28:18-20) where we find, not just one but two tasks! Yes, there really are two tasks there.
The first is well known but the second has been downplayed and neglected too long. The need to spread the Gospel message has been recognized but the command to teach the nations obedience has been sorely neglected. The word translated “teach” in our English translations has a greater depth of meaning than simply to convey understanding. It is to teach in such a way as to “make learners” of the converts. They are to become teachers themselves and make learner/teachers of others. The Gospel message was to spread rapidly, virtually explode, throughout the world of that day.
These instructions were not followed as they should have been and the world has not yet been converted. God tells us that one day it will be (Rev. 11:15), but only when His people see their responsibility and obey all of His instructions. There are too many idle Christians just sitting and waiting for His return. Do you belong to Him? If so, you have work to do.
On Fire
A heart on fire can accomplish much; much good or much evil. A quite small number of people on fire for a particular cause can accomplish far more than a much larger group lacking that fire.
God’s people of the early 19th century were on fire. They looked forward to conquering the world for Christ and expected complete success very soon, perhaps in a century or so. Sadly, they were very mistaken and what came about instead of growth was a serious reversal among the faithful. The Darby/Scofield teaching redirected the Christian purpose. It reduced the idea of realizing a Christian world to saving as many as possible as soon as possible. It taught that we are now in the last days and that there is only a very short, extremely limited time available before it is too late. In contradiction to the previous view, it looked for a very soon, any day now, rapture of all Christians.
This satanically inspired teaching was very skillfully embedded as notes in the very popular Scofield Bible, first released in 1906. Among its teachings we find:
- God’s law is not for Christians; they should just follow their hearts![1]
- Christians should not become doctors, lawyers, scientists or professionals in any field.[2]
The subsequent full-scale adoption of this distorted “Bible” brought the previously strong Christian progress to a virtual screeching halt.
The fire that burned in the hearts of all true Christians two centuries ago needs to be rekindled. The many falsehoods of dispensationalism must be seen for what they truly are, satan’s lies! Lies formed to deceive God’s people and frustrate God’s purposes.
God’s people have been asleep too long and are now feeling His judgment, His wake-up call to remind them of their responsibilities. A century or more of sleep is too much. It is time for truth to rise up above the lies of Satan. The nations must be taught to obey His commandments (Matt. 28:19,20). Who is to do this if not His people? They have been born-again, born of the Spirit, and are the only ones capable of teaching those still enmeshed in the darkness of sin.
Satan is flexing his muscles; he has launched an all-out effort to conquer and subdue what once was Christian American. Is there enough strength remaining to resist him? Or is the previously strong man so weak and subdued that he will fail to summon enough strength to resist?
Rise up O men of God
Have done with lesser things
Give heart and soul and mind and strength
To serve the King of Kings — To serve the King of Kings
Rise up O men of God
His Kingdom tarries long
Bring in the day of brotherhood
And end the night of wrong — And end the night of wrong[3]
[1] Cited in Ovid E. Need Jr.’s book, Death of the Church Victorious (Lafayette, IN: Sovereign Grace Publishers, Inc., [2002] 2004), p. 218.
[2] Ibid
[3] See: https://.com/Phil-keaggy-rise-up-o-men-of-god-lyrics
Virus
There are two viruses at large in America today. There is the medical Corona Virus that the media has the nation focusing on and there is the far more significant, political/sociological virus that is attacking our long-held freedoms.
What is going on? Has the entire world gone crazy? It would seem so but, believe it or not, there is a method and a purpose behind all this madness. The super-rich, owners of the media and the great bulk of the nation’s wealth, are making a serious, concerted bid to elevate themselves over the rest of us. What we’re seeing before our eyes is their attempt to change America from the relatively free country it still is to a socialistic prison. We, the common citizens are to be the inmates and they the rulers over us.
The Corona Virus has been blown-up in magnitude as a cover for the real purpose, enslavement of the American people. Sadly, it seems that most of us are foolish dupes and are falling headlong into a trap laid by an extremely few, but very wealthy and very powerful individuals.
Their plan to take over a nation that has a long history of freedom is not without risk. Their almost totally owned media controls the thinking of most of the population. There is at this time, though, a small but growing core of resistance. The perpetrators of this truly criminal act may well find that all they accomplish will be to wake up a sleeping giant, America’s Christians.
God’s army has been asleep for many decades. They were deceived by the Darby/Scofield lies that undermined their earlier, strongly held purpose: the establishment of a God-fearing, God-obeying, Christian world.
God’s enemy has flexed his muscles and induced his followers to attempt a takeover. America is the key to his success. The question still before us is: to what extent will he succeed in this attempt to destroy this nation and eventually all faith in God?
How did we get here? How did this happen? Where are the guardians of our freedom? Sadly, there are very few guardians remaining among our elected leaders. They have been replaced by unscrupulous politicians, mayors, governors, congressmen, senators, etc. They have sold-out to the very rich, very powerful, very godless individuals that already rule over us in many ways.
Wake up Christian America! You are under attack by sinister, previously hidden, extremely evil forces that wish to make you their slaves. It is time to put aside your distorted faith in a rapture that will not come anytime soon. God has assigned you the task of teaching the nations, all the nations of the world, to obey His Commandments (Matt. 28:18-20).
It is by no means an impossible task. God does not ask the impossible. It is well within your ability. If you hold back now, how will you explain your negligence when you see Him in person?
Apostles
Jesus spent three years, most of His adult life in this world with twelve men, men He chose, simple men, fishermen and others. One was a traitor who was later replaced by another, an enemy that He converted into His strongest ally, the Apostle Paul. He prepared this entirely unqualified group of the most common people for a task. What task? Why the task of converting the mostly pagan world of that day to the Christian faith.
Our Lord prepared these twelve men, taught them what they needed to know and, after they were indwelled by the Holy Spirit, sent them out into an extremely hostile world with a task. They were told to go out into the unbelieving and extremely hostile world of that day with a message. They, just twelve men, were to convert the pagan Roman Empire, the fourth and last world-wide empire, to the Christian faith! Could He have asked anything more impossible, more ridiculous of these weak individuals, men that deserted Him when He was taken by the Jews and crucified a few weeks before?
What, though, was the result of this seemingly impossible exercise? They obeyed Him; they went out into that hostile environment and did as He commanded. They appeared to have had very limited success but the seeds they planted took root and grew and grew and grew. Two centuries later, the Roman Emperor ???, the absolute ruler of the world, was forced to declare the Christian faith to be the official religion of the Roman Empire! Subsequently, a later emperor, Justinian ??? revised Roman law extensively to bring it into close conformity with God’s Law.
The true faith took root and it spread through all of Europe, which came to be known as Christendom, Christ’s kingdom! And He was indeed King; the Christian faith reigned in every country. The titular rulers of the nations, counties or fiefdoms, whatever they were called were restricted by the faith of the people. The obedience of twelve men resulted in all this; an entire continent conquered for Christ. To God be the glory! He and He alone is able to do so much with so few!
But where are we today? There are millions that consider themselves to be God’s chosen, born-gain Christians, in America today. Here we are, not just twelve but millions of Christs supposedly born-again, recreated apostles. Yes, all Christians are called to be apostles, God’s chosen witnesses to an unbelieving world. Where, though, is their message? What are they doing in response to God’s calling?
Just as Jesus’ twelve faithful disciples were given a task, so also all His faithful, His born-again creatures in the world today, have been given the very same task. As His chosen and so very highly blessed people, we today have been given this responsibility. Yes, our Savior commands us to teach the nations to obey all God’s commandments:
And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen. (Matt. 28:18-20, emphasis added)
The nations of the world are to made God’s nations, ruled by His Word and not man’s word. The disciples did a great job but not the whole job. Their earlier successors did their part; much of the then civilized world was converted to Christ and until recently remained Christian at its core.
All this has changed, primarily in the 20th century, and, although there are still many Christians in America today, the power to govern is no longer in their hands. It is atheistic unbelief that now holds the reigns and governs in this once strongly Christian nation.
How this sad situation came about is a long story that goes back a century or more to the introduction of an entirely new interpretation of God’s Word known as Dispensationalism.[1] It taught, over a century ago! And still teaches today that we were then in the last days and that Jesus would be returning very, very soon. Of course, He didn’t return and won’t, until we Christians, God’s chosen people, have completed our God-given task. This is the very same task He gave His apostles when He was here. Yes, every Christian in the world today has the responsibility to do all he can to spread the Gospel message and teach the nations to obey all God’s commandments.
This false and Satan-inspired doctrine, Dispensationalism, has demonstrated through the failure of its predictions, that it is utterly false. Not just forty years, but more than a century has passed and Jesus has not returned as it predicted. As we see in the above passage, Jesus gave His apostles (including every Christian in the world today) the task of doing all he can to convert the nations and peoples of the world to the Christian faith. It need not be very much, but it must be something. To do nothing is to disobey and join the ranks of the unbelievers, leading to hell’s fire. Many today that believe they will find themselves in heaven when the die, will be horribly disappointed:
Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. (Matt. 7:21-23)
Dear fellow child of God, unbelief is widespread and much remains to be done before our work in this world is completed. As His servants, servants of the King of kings, we have our marching orders and must return to diligent obedience. The nations, and in particular our nation, must be taught once again the meaning of obedience to the true King of this world
It is by no means an impossible task. To the contrary, it is entirely feasible and easily accomplished by even a small but faithful constituency. Those that say it is unrealistic have lost the true faith. They are serving Satan and not Christ.
Our failure thus far to obey Christ’s command has surrendered much power to the evil one. The final power, though, is not with man or with Satan but with God and we as His servants, are empowered by Him. All we need to do is obey!
The apostles could do miracles but we can do today many things that were utterly impossible for them. We have the Internet, God-given technology. a voice that can reach around the world instantly to millions or even billions of ears. We have much more than they in every respect but one. We sinfully, lack the will to serve the God that has given us the greatest gift anyone could ever receive, eternal life with Him in heaven.
What is wrong with us? Why can’t we see the obvious truth? We have allowed ourselves to be deceived, to believe a lie, the lie that takes God’s clear command to teach all the nations to obey Him, and reduces it to “tell people about Jesus.” Actually, we don’t even do this! If God’s people took God seriously and really told people about what we believe in our hearts about Jesus, the world would change.
Jesus spoke to His disciples and they took His message to the world of their day. Our responsibility, fellow believer, is to take it to our world today, a much simpler task. There were only twelve of them and are millions of us. They dedicated their lives and we do nothing or next to nothing. Why? It is because we lack true faith, the faith that God will keep His Word. When God’s so very highly blessed people begin to obey His commandment, He will surely reward that obedience.
[1] See the article “A Lost Century” on this website.
Our Story
gave them a land in which they could live and prosper in obedience to Him. They failed to obey and repeatedly continued to fail for a thousand years.
Finally, God took a step that had eternal consequences. The Son, the Second Person of the Godhead, lowered Himself to become a man. He took on the nature of His own creature, joined Himself to them, was born of a woman, and lived a life as a creature in the world He, Himself created. Wonder of wonders! God becomes a man and then gives His life to take on Himself the due penalty, the sin-debt of His creatures!
Salvation
Yes! we, everyone of us was under the due penalty of eternal death in a place of torment for first Adam’s sin and then our own sins. The God-man Jesus Christ lowers Himself from His eternal, infinite being and joins Himself to His own creatures. It is hard, impossible for us to fully comprehend this. But we can get a glimpse of it meaning. Our Lord and Creator really gave something up. He lowered, limited Himself to an eternal future existence in the form of a creature. The sacrifice He sacrificed was huge. He truly gave of Himself, gave up something infinite and took on Himself a finite nature. Why? Because God is Love personified and it was the only way we could be saved.
God tells us in His Word that He chose, not all but many of His creatures to be the beneficiaries of this great salvation. He, at some point in their lives sends The Spirit, God the third Person to indwell all those He chose in eternity past. Their names were written in His book before He made the worlds.
Is your name written there in His book? If it is, it is not because you chose Him but rather because He first chose you. He sent the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Life to give you life, spiritual life. You were dead in your sins, Satan’s captive, utterly unable and unwilling to help yourself, and He, because your name was written in His book, rescued you. Yes, you chose Him, but only after He first chose you and lifted you out of Satan’s bondage. Get on your knees and thank Him for rescuing you from a fate far, far worse than death, and for giving you the gift of life, eternal and glorious life.
Responsibility
Given God’s choice of us and the great blessings He has promised, how should we respond? How about in obedience to His commandments? Can we, shouldn’t we begin there? We have His will for us very clearly expressed in the Great Commission:
18 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. 19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen. (Matt. 28:18-20)
We see, not just one but two, two! commands here. The first, the Gospel Message, is well known and has been obeyed to some degree. The second, though, the teaching of the nations has been grossly neglected for more than a century now. God is judging us, His servants, for this neglect. That judgment is here today!
When will we learn? Will we ever learn that we cannot disobey God with impunity? He will, for our own good, punish us, as long and as often as is needed, until we finally learn. Sinful selfishness runs deep within our veins and we need to recognize it for what it is. We need to repent and beg His forgiveness for permitting ourselves to have been so very desperately deceived.
Failure
Does this describe you? Are you this person? Have you been blessed beyond description and brought into God’s favor? If you are, really are God’s child, He has work for you to do for Him in this world. Yes, I know you are familiar with, and perhaps actively involved in, His call to spread the Gospel message, His message of free grace, to the extent you can.
But what about the second part of the Great Commission? To what extent have you taken up the responsibility to teach the nations, that is the people around you, to obey all God’s commandments? Is it, really and truly, your highest priority in life? Don’t kid yourself; it probably doesn’t come close to that high a priority. But does it have any priority at all? Do you see your nation as your responsibility?
You, in this modern and highly deceived world of Christianity, may find this a strange question. The idea that the nations, that is all the people of the nations as well as all the nations as nations, are to bow down and worship the Creator seems to have been set aside. You have very likely been taught that God has changed His mind (an utter impossibility of course!) and has given up the requirement of our establishing a Christian world-order before Jesus returns.
You’ve very likely come to accept the utterly false teaching that says Jesus will rapture His chosen people out of a very sinful the world long before they have done what He commanded them to do. How can He, the sinless, perfect God-man, condone any action that contradicts His own commandments? Clearly, He cannot and will never do for us, what He has commanded us to do!
To disobey our God’s clear commandment is to reject Him, an act only possible by an unregenerate person, a person still in Satan’s bondage. Think, before you reject this, what it is you are rejecting! It is God Himself! It is your eternal future that is at stake here!
Judgment
Failure, failure and yet more failure. God is very, very patient with us and wants the best for us but He doesn’t contradict Himself, all evil and wrongdoing must be judged. Today in America and across the world, we as God’s people are feeling that judgment. We are in the midst of an epidemic of major proportions. Satan is using the many resources he has gradually acquired control of, to effect a major life-style reset throughout the world and especially in America. He has employed the fear of death as a tool to begin the subjugation of the once relatively free American people. He, through his agents, some of whom have been preparing for a century or more, have begun to execute a plan to convert this country into a totalitarian regime under their personal control.
It is employing what could have been a fairly minor epidemic, one that is being touted as far more serious than it actually is. A large portion of the nation’s work force is being kept at home, restricted to an extreme extent, and totally cowed into obedience by a very small but very powerful few. They employ the popular media—which they own, lock, stock and barrel—to promote this lie. They employ governmental leaders, and others they have acquired control over, to execute their plans.
Wake up America! Your freedoms are under attack and it is very near too late to stop this plan to enslave you! Wake up Christians! The heavy lifting is your responsibility. You are God’s army in this fight for control of the world. You must not stay asleep in your delusion that all is well while your sworn enemy is spoiling God’s world with ever-increasing boldness and rapidity. The wolf is at the door and you are giving him entry!
Church and Worship
Church today is the place where Christians go on Sunday as an assembly of His people to hear a sermon about God’s Word, sing hymns and worship.
What does God tell us in His Word about worship? What is His purpose in these assemblies together on His day? He may have many but one purpose must be that His people learn more about Him and more about what He expects of them in this, His world. We learn these things through our personal study of that Word and through the instruction we receive from those of His people that He has given the gift of teacher (Eph. 4:11).
God’s purpose here is that we learn enough of His Word to be able to teach others so that they may teach yet others. The idea is to so increase the numbers of God’s people that they grow to such a great extent that the nations, the whole world, is taught to obey all God’s commandments (Matt. 28:18-20). In other words, God’s people are all to be messengers of His truth and are thereby to be His servants in this world-wide conversion activity, one that will surely come to pass:
And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever. (Rev. 11:15).
Clearly, to become teachers, God’s people must first learn and understand the subject matter they are to teach. The process of making teachers then has two parts: first coming to an understanding of the material to be taught and second, having the desire to teach. The first is intellectual, the second is emotional. To be a teacher, one must know what is to be taught and also must have a desire to teach.
If the purpose of the preacher should be to fulfil God’s purpose, to make teachers of the congregation. To do this he must seek to develop their ability as well as their desire to teach. He must not use his pulpit as a means of merely pumping up his audience to an emotional high, one that hopefully will bring them back next Sunday!
Yes, its important that they come back but the preacher must remember that the greater purpose is not to merely build a congregation that keeps coming back. It is to increase, to multiply! the number of teachers that go out and teach others.
It would appear that the great majority of church leaders have missed this point. This is a consequence of the widespread, long-term influence of an utterly false doctrine: dispensational theology. This doctrine teaches, contrary to God’s Word, that what Scripture says must happen will never happen! It says that such teaching is wrong. It says that God loses, that the world as a whole will never be saved.
A Lost Century
Christendom?
What was Christendom? What is today referred to as “The West” was not too long ago called Christendom. The people of God, Christians, so influenced the world around them that their societies and countries were referred to as Christendom.
What happened to the Christian influence that, up to a few decades ago, was so very visible and vital in this country? What is behind all the insane outcry and demands we now see and hear from the country’s youth? What happened to the relatively peaceful nation that America was just a few decades ago? What lies behind the huge change we see in the news media, an agency that has become little more than a propaganda machine? Where are the Christians, the God-appointed guardians of the truth? Where are the descendants of those that fought for and upheld the God-given standards that once governed Christian America? Why are the churches so silent on these matters? What has become of the “Black Robe Regiment” of the War of Independence, and its slogan: “No King but Jesus”?
These are the kinds of questions that need to be asked today. Some are beginning to awaken but most appear unconcerned, just sitting back and living life as it comes. Very few of today’s church leaders appear have any answers at all; most, attempting to please as many donors as possible, simply ignore the problems. Why such a universal apathy? Where is the energetic social interest and involvement that was there in generations past?
There are really just a few factors that, taken together, underlie and are responsible for this awful transformation. It began with the introduction of a wholly novel theological perspective, a new way of understanding Scripture. This perspective, known as Dispensationalism, was originally devised by a Catholic priest as a way of protecting his faith from the vigorous Protestantism that prevailed in the Western World two centuries ago. This utterly new interpretation of God’s Word was adopted and subsequently very actively promulgated by a few radical thinkers.[1] It differed from the older, prevailing faith as follows:
Dispensationalism vs Truth[2]
| Dispensationalism | Truth – God’s Word |
| God has instituted a new age that was signaled by His judgment of first, Europe in the French Revolution and later, America in its Civil War. | We are now in the Christian Era. It began when Christ rose from the grave and will not end until He returns. |
| He gave Satan much greater freedom in this world and a new dark age has begun. | There has been no change in Satan’s power in the Christian era. He was bound by Christ and remains bound until Christ returns.[3] |
| We are now in the last days of the current age in which, because God has ordained it so, no matter what we do, the world will become increasingly evil until Jesus returns. | Christ has all power in heaven and earth (Matt. 28:18-20). |
| Prior to the worst of it, Christ will “Rapture” His elect and then return to take control Himself. This will begin a thousand-year period in which He will rule, in person, here on earth. These events have already begun to unfold (as of a century ago | Christ is seated at God’s right hand and will remain there until He returns to judge the nations. We are in the millennium today.[4] |
| The Great Commission (Matt, 28:18-20) is just a call to evangelism. The current responsibility of God’s people is to spread the Gospel message and get as many saved as possible before the end comes. | The Great Commission (Matt, 28:18-20) is a call to evangelize and also to teach the nations to obey God’s commandments (that is: to make this world a Christian world) |
This entirely new doctrine was promoted and spread widely by a number of individuals. C. I. Scofield (1843-1921) incorporated it as notes in his very popular “Scofield Bible.” The notes were embedded within the biblical text which many readers came to see as, not just an explanation, but an actual part of God’s Word. Large numbers of God-fearing (but theologically weak) Christians felt that they at last had a Bible they could read and understand without the help of an educated pastor.[5]
The “Scofield Bible” promoted and played a significant role in the subsequent widespread acceptance of Dispensationalism. It appealed, not to the pastors, but to the biblically weak Christian population at large. So effective was this new Bible that many of the pastors that attempted to refute, or even just failed to teach, Scofield’s doctrines were either restricted or replaced by their congregations.
Scofield’s teachings gained much support. A close associate and student of Scofield, Dr. Lewis Sperry Chafer (1871-1952), founded Dallas Theological Seminary. This institution, first accredited in 1944 and still in existence today, claims to have taught and graduated over 15,000 pastors, all thoroughly steeped in Dispensational Theology.[6] This institution and these men have played a significant role in leading God’s people astray. Their promotion of this false doctrine has significantly contributed to its spread throughout the Christian landscape.
The Effects
Through the work of these men and others like them, huge numbers of America’s faithful, God-fearing but theologically weak, citizens were deceived. They were led to believe that their previous hope of bringing about a Christian world was never any part of God’s plan. Their anticipation of a gradual but certain and final establishment of a Christian world was dashed. This change, almost an about-face from the previous optimistic outlook, severely impacted the attitude of Christians toward the future and to their responsibilities as Christian citizens.
Everything that energized their previous long-term oriented, evangelistic activity, was lost. It was replaced by a false, short-term hope: Jesus is coming soon! any time now! Forget working to bring about a future Christian world, there won’t be one until after Jesus returns. This is Satan’s time now, they say, and all we can do is try to get as many saved as we can before the Rapture.
This debilitating outlook swept through the country, eventually permeating virtually all the fundamentalist, as well as many other conservative congregations, with it. The world-wide Christian dominion outlook and its evangelistic perspective changed radically. Its previous purpose and drive to prepare the world for Christ’s second coming, was lost
Consequences:
- Evangelism became more urgent and short-term rather than long-term oriented. Get as many saved as we can before the sky falls!
- The Christian population has in great measure retreated from its previous view, that of seeing God as governing in every walk of life.
- A two-layer philosophy of life has developed and is widely accepted by Christians today.
- Dr. Joseph Boot has perceptively described thistwo-layer philosophy of life.[7] In it, life is divided and pictured as a bus with upper and lower decks. The upper deck containing all things spiritual: God, church, Scripture, prayer, etc. The lower deck containing everything else in life, everything unrelated to the spiritual, that is, most of life.
- God and His law, came to be seen as belonging only in the upper deck of life and was gradually excluded from the lower, the great majority of life’s concerns and activities. The latter were seen as being worldly and outside the area of God’s concern.
- This is how most of today’s Christians see and conduct their lives. For them, God and His Word are only really involved in a small portion of life! Some reflection should confirm the truth of this. It explains much of the change we have seen take place in this country: the lack of any true outcry against abortion, homosexuality, exclusion of the Bible in the schools, and much more, Godlessness is rampant everywhere and God’s chosen people don’t seem to care.
- God’s people of course do care but their care is misplaced….
- An outcome of the adoption of this philosophy has been that Christian monitoring of and influence in the civil government has greatly diminished in significance and importance and is now seriously neglected.
- Abortion was legalized and is now declared by many to be a woman’s right.
- Homosexual “marriages” are legal, protected by law and may not be criticized.
- Education moved from the family to the state
- Public schools (employed by many Christians) are actively anti-Christian in character.
- Worship is reduced to singing, adoration emphasized, and obedience abandoned. The Holy Spirit is only active when singing, and not in the rest of life
- Hymns like “This is my Father’s World” are either no longer heard in the churches or have taken on a very different, an “upper deck” meaning in the hearts of most Christians today. Although they may deny it, for all practical purposes, they appear to believe that this is not God’s world any longer.
The Future
The above is a truly sad story but the question is: what do we do about it? We cannot look to “the pulpits” nor the “denominations” to fix this as they are fundamentally a part of the problem.
- We must dispense with the clergy/laity split …
- Christ is the head of every man and every man must put on the armor of God and stand firm.
- Permanent babyhood must be denounced.
- The family must be strengthened.
- We must go to God’s Word and see what we should do. He says:
Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. (2 Cor. 6:17-18)
God commands us: “Come out from among them and be ye separate.” We must demonstrate true obedience by forming and joining ecclesia communities as God has shown us. As external conditions deteriorate, it may well be an uphill battle that lies before, but God is above and is ready to give His infallible support to all who faithfully follow Him and obey His command/instructions.
With God’s help these ecclesia communities will grow and prosper. As external conditions worsen, an increasing number of God’s elect will see that this is the path they too must take. The number of communities will grow with ever-increasing rapidity and will eventually cover the earth.
[1] See: “Death of the Church Victorious” by Ovid Need, Jr.
[2] See: “Comparing Covenant Theology and Dispensational Theology,” by Richard Belcher https://www.monergism.com/comparing-covenant-theology-and-dispensational-theology
[3] See: The Binding of Satan” by Douglas Kelly, https://www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/binding-satan/
[4] See previous note
[5] See: “Refuting the Scofield Bible” by Clement Pulaski http://truesonsofabraham.com/refuting-scofield-bible.htm
[6] See: Dallas Theological Seminary, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dallas_Theological_Seminary#History
[7] See YouTube presentation… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5evg5lA376o
The Great Commission
And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying: “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.” (Matt. 28:18-20)
This passage and others as well (Isa. 11:4; Ps. 2:9; Micah 4:2; Mark 16:15; Acts 1:8; 2 Thess. 1:9) tell us that Christ has been given and now has “All power … in heaven and in earth.” He is now the Ruler and King over all things. His word is Law, the Law Word that all are commanded to obey.
Much of the world today, though, is in rebellion against their King and does not obey Him. This must be corrected but how and by whom? Jesus here assigns two tasks to all His disciples, not just the eleven that were present as He spoke these words. He speaks to all that have been blessed with the greatest gift anyone could receive, the gift of faith. If you have this gift and truly belong to Him, He speaks to you!
There are two commandments here that Jesus gives to His disciples. First, we are told to teach the Gospel, baptizing all that believe. Second, we are told to teach (!) the nations to obey all His commandments.
The key word in this passage is the word that is mis-translated “teach” in our English language Bibles, the Greek: mathetuesate. The correct translation of this Greek word is “make disciples of.” God tells us here that the nations are to be made disciples of Christ.[1] This is a far greater and more time-consuming task than just teaching.
All Christ’s disciples, His followers, those that have been born again, are told here that there are two tasks to be done. In addition to spreading the Gospel message, the nations are to, not just be taught but be made disciples of Christ. Jesus spoke these words to His eleven disciples telling them that their responsibility was, not just to teach and make converts but to make more disciples. They were being told that they couldn’t just teach, they needed to make teachers.
There is a significant difference between teaching and making teachers; one leads to linear growth and the other leads to the far more rapid, exponential growth. The latter is a much more difficult and time-consuming task, one that may seem to be less effective in the short term. In the longer term, though, as the number of teachers increases, it catches up and eventually far surpasses the former approach.
Conclusions:
- The growth of the Christian faith is far more rapid when more Christians spend the additional time needed to make teachers of their students.
- Making teachers should be a priority for all Christians.
- All Christians should be teachers of teachers. (Christ spoke to all when He spoke to the Eleven)
In reflecting on this passage, Professor Jerald Plitzuweit explains: “The word all plays a key role in all three verses of this text under our consideration.
Jesus has been given all power; He commands us to:
- Baptize all nations
- Make disciples of all nations;
- Teach them to observe all things He has commanded us.”[2]
These are the tasks that lie before us. All, all, all: God is not satisfied with partial obedience. All nations, the entire world is to be converted to faith in Christ.
We know
that God does not use words lightly and this repetition here of the word all,
has significance. His command is nothing less than to make this world a
Christian world. Even more it is a command to make every person in the world a
Christian. This might seem excessive but it is in keeping with God’s character;
He is perfect and requires perfection. (We are made perfect in Christ.) This is
not universalism but an endpoint that is realized only after all unbelievers have
died off.
[1] Lenski (1943): “The heart of the commission is in the one word μαθητεύσατε. This imperative, of course, means, ‘to turn into disciples,’ and its aorist form conveys the thought that this is actually to be done. The verb itself does not indicate how disciples are to be made, it designates only an activity that will result in disciples. It connotes results not methods and ways. The translation ‘teach’ is, therefore, unfortunate and even misleading to those who are not able to examine the original.”
[2] For a more thorough discussion of the translation of μαθητεύσατε, refer to a paper by Prof. Jerald Plitzuweit presented at the Northern Wisconsin District Convention (WELS), Appleton, WI, June 18, 1996, concerning the topic: The Great Commission (Matthew 28:19,20) with special reference to μαθητεύσατε and the translation, “make disciples.”
Dedicated
God clearly places two possibilities before His creatures for the next life, heaven or hell:
I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live: (Deut. 30:19)
Christians understand this quite well and have made their choices for the next life. But what of this life? What does God expect of His highly blessed children in this world, in the here and now? Do we just do the best we can and manage to get by? Or has He given us real work to do for Him while we remain here in this sin-filled and wicked world? One thing He asks for is that we take time for Him.
Time for God
Should we focus to such a great extent on everyday issues that thoughts of the future become seldom, incidental, rare and dim? Does the future really have so little effect on the present that so many of God’s people only give it any real attention on Sunday mornings? Is it or should it be, of little or no importance for the remainder of the week?
God tells us that we always need to very near to Him:
But it is good for me to draw near to God: I have put my trust in the Lord GOD, that I may declare all thy works. (Psalm 73:28)
The LORD is nigh unto all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth (Psalm 145:18)
Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. (Prov. 3:5,6)
Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you…. (James 4:8)
What does this mean? What is our Creator telling us here? These are very clear and precise statements and commandments. Clearly, our loving God is explaining to us, His beloved children, that we need to lean on Him and should not trust our own understanding. He tells us that He is always near when we call on Him.
Why must we question and not rely on our own understanding? One reason is because we are still sinners, still bearing in our hearts the effects of past and present sin and continually in need of God’s correcting hand. We should be looking to Him in all we do. We may be adults, but before Him we are as little children having only the barest comprehension of the realities that comprise the world we live in. The truly mature believer is one that is constantly aware of these, his own personal limitations and, even in seemingly benign situations, is in almost constant communication with his Lord.
For many of us today, though, this kind of Reliance on God is typically present either under unusual circumstances or when something causes us to shift our attention to the next life. Let’s face what might be an unpleasant truth: faith in God is too often a thing “we took care of” in the past, a decision that was made, perhaps years ago. Faith is still there but moment by moment dependence on, and communication with God is not an active and ever-present part of our everyday life in this world.
God is very concerned, though, with the details of how we live and what we do every minute of every day in this present world. His desire is that we develop the habit of going first to Him with all questions that arise and that we recognize and resist any tendency to make decisions without this kind of reliance on Him.
We are His creatures; everything we are and everything we have are gifts from Him. He created us, not to live just as we please, but to please Him by obeying this: His wish that we lean on Him for even the seemingly mundane decisions we make all day, every day.
Every minute of every day of our entire lives are His gifts to us and He tells us here that wants to share them with us. Why? It it is because He knows how weak we really are, how prone to leave Him out of the decision process, and how easily we make poor or hurtful decisions. Most believers today don’t appreciate either their own need, or the great benefit to be gained by truly leaning on our loving Lord in everything they say or do.
It’s not the amount of our time that is in question here; it is the center of our lives that God asks to be involved in. He loves us, knows our true needs, and wishes to always be close to us and give us the help we constantly need. Do we deny Him this?
This is a difficult question indeed and must be addressed with care. First, dear fellow believer, it should be viewed from an eternal perspective. We may picture ourselves before our Lord in eternity future discussing things and assessing them, perhaps in preparation for work He has for us elsewhere in His universe. This perspective, if not continually present, is one that should never be too far way. It should be a permanent aspect of life in Christ, the background in which all His children live. Time for God is not just an occasional thing; it is always.
Do we now just brush all this aside, put it out of our minds, and go on with life as it was? Please don’t, instead take the question of the proper relationship with the Lord seriously, and seek His will. Put God to the test; get into really close contact with Him for a day or two and see for yourself that He keeps this as well as all His promises.
Regardless of your decision, He will bless you in many ways, beginning now, for the remainder of your time in this world, and for the eternity that lies beyond.
Transformed and Sanctified
We considered previously the great significance of God’s Choice and Justification of His most blessed beneficiaries. This though, was not all God did. God Transforms and Sanctifies all those that He first Chose and Justified.
Transformed
God’s gracious choice of us and our being declared just in God’s eyes, are great blessings indeed; but they are just the beginning. Every one of these chosen people of God is so changed that He describes them as new creatures:
Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. (2 Cor 5:17)
For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature. (Gal. 6:15)
This is indeed a sweeping transformation, one so great that God chooses to describe it as a change in nature. We retain the same outward appearance but are so different inwardly that God identifies us as new creatures. We are the same as others externally but, because of the presence of the indwelling Holy Spirit, we are radically different internally.
It is all too easy to minimize the force of these passages, especially in an environment that has already minimized much of the power of Scripture. All too commonly, Christians play down the significance of this change. “All things” become “some things” and soon is demoted to “a few things.” A “new creature” becomes a “changed person” and then, a person with a “new outlook,” and so on. This tendency to detract from God’s declaration is sinful; it demeans God’s word and, if practiced habitually, can seriously limit the Christian’s personal development and his impact on the world. The believer that has a realistic appreciation of the vast difference between what he has become and what he was before, is a far more dedicated and powerful influence on his surroundings than is one that lacks this comprehension.
God sees His chosen people as having been remade. They are so very different; the old is gone, passed away. All things are become new; an entirely new life lies before them.
- He gave them new hearts and a new spirit:
A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. (Ezek. 36:26)
New hearts, a new spirit, a new kind of desire. It is no longer the old hard and stony heart that desired the things that gratify the sinful nature. It is a heart of flesh, a heart that has feeling and compassion, that shuns evil and desires only what is good and righteous.
- They are God-created workers:
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. (Eph. 2:10)
This enormous change within them is something God did. They are created in Christ Jesus, unto good works, works that the infinite eternal God beforehand ordained that we should walk in them.
- They are created in righteousness:
And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. (Eph. 4:24)
Surely God expects much of His creatures: they are to put on this newness of character, as we would an item of clothing, something to wear. Righteousness and true holiness are to characterize their lives.
- They are a peculiar people:
…Jesus Christ; Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. (Tit. 2:13-14)
Christ gave Himself to make the beneficiaries of His sacrifice a peculiar people, very different from unbelievers. He expects them to be zealous, desiring from deep-down inside themselves (from their inner hearts) to do good works. They are a highly blessed and privileged people that will spend all eternity with their Lord and Savior.
These are huge and deeply penetrating changes but there is more yet to come. Is this a new experience for you dear reader? Hold fast to it; don’t let the feeling of newness and difference slip away; it is precious beyond measure!
Sanctified
Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? … but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God. (1 Cor. 6:9 11)
It is typically assumed that one is sanctified (made a saint) when he or she is born-again, that is, at the point that the Holy Spirit first indwells the person. That is so, but there is also more to sanctification than being born-again—great as that is! Rebirth is after all, a birth, a beginning, with growth and development to follow. Sanctification is the process that begins with the new birth, and goes on from there to produce significant changes deep within the individual.
The differences between believers and unbelievers are real and huge, but to begin with they are not clearly evident. There is usually an immediate recognition of a change within. The new believer feels and knows he is somehow different. The immense magnitude, though, of the changes that have begun and can continue to take place is not immediately grasped. There is a potential for more, much more to follow. The new birth is a real change internally but it is also the beginning of a development process. This requires time and effort as the individual gains insight and the differences become more and more evident, first to the believer himself and then to others.
There is a renewed outlook on life and a new mind-set is developing, one very different from the typical attitude of an unbeliever. In principle, it is becoming more and more God-centered as opposed to the previous self-centeredness. The believer’s mind-set is gradually conforming to God’s original and ultimate plan for His special creature, mankind.
This process, though, is often interrupted, sometimes very early. God, in the book of Hebrews gives us an example of the frequent lack and great need for maturity:
For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. (Hebrews 5:12-14)
These Hebrew believers should have been teachers but were still babes in Christ. So it is, with so many Christians today that are satisfied with, and go no further than, the most basic understanding of merely the salvation process. God is pleased with all that come to Him but He asks for more:
When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. (1 Corinthians 13:11)
That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: (Ephesians 4:14-15)
The rate at which this transformation progresses is strongly dependent on the environment the new child of God experiences. Fellowship with unbelievers distracts and retards it; fellowship with other, especially more mature believers enhances it. Without the kind of protective and nurturing environment, as is best provided within an ecclesia community, growth is likely to be limited to much less than its full potential.
With godly support, the residual sin nature present in every believer is soon overcome and personal development in righteousness and godliness can progress rapidly. Spiritually as well as physically, we begin as children and then grow into adulthood. God is never satisfied with halfway measures and desires to see His chosen creatures grow to full maturity.
As we do so, we become more like Jesus and more like the believers of the first century who were first called Christians (little Christs) because they lived out their faith, demonstrating it to all around them. (Acts 11:26).
When more of God’s people begin to recognize the extent to which God is depending on their efforts in this world, change will come. When they begin to apply themselves more diligently to both their personal development and His work, we will see real change. A new world, one patterned after His Word, a world very different from what it is today, a world that has already begun to take shape, will become more and more visible.