Trust and Obey

Posted by Lou Poumakis on May 11, 2015 in Articles | 0 comments

Why is there no other way to be happy in Jesus? What’s so important about trust and obedience? What is so special about these particular requirements? Well, first, without trust in God there is no peace and no rest. God gave us the Sabbath day, one day of rest in seven, a day in which we can forget all our many problems and learn to rest in the assurance that ultimately everything is in His hands. Those that He has chosen and given the faith to believe in Him can enjoy this day of rest and feel its effect every other day as well. Unbelievers do not have this rest (Isa. 57:20). For them there is no God that exercises total control over the universe. Their problems are either solely their own or in the hands of fallible men and true rest is impossible.

God made man to be free, with which came a wide range of responsibilities. He gave him intelligence, a valuable tool he could employ to fulfill those responsibilities. The Fall, though, impaired man’s ability to use his skills responsibly. In choosing to follow Satan’s suggestion that he could live without God’s laws, he placed a greater burden on his intelligence than it could bear. Intelligence is only a tool and cannot be a determiner of right and wrong (Jer. 10:23). The history of mankind since the Fall depicts man’s inability to govern himself on his own and his need for God’s government.

In Christ man is freed from Satan’s bondage and has the ability to choose which master he will follow. The Spirit leads him to God’s word and gives him a desire to obey. His old nature, although diminishing in effect over time, is still there and he often sins through disobedience. He must continue to either remind himself, or be reminded through error, to obey God. The hymn that calls the believer to trust and obey sounds a note that needs to be repeated often, to remind us of our dependency on God’s law and keep us on track. Without obedience, man is left to his own devices and soon goes astray. He finds himself going against the reality of God’s creation and life becomes more and more difficult. Obedience brings blessings and disobedience sorrow and frustration (Psalm 1). The latter not so much because God judges him but because he is going against his own created nature.

Trust and obedience though need to be balanced. It is possible to lean too heavily toward one or the other. When trust is lacking or weaker, the Christian can feel overwhelmed and frustrated by the sometimes seeming impossibility of the tasks he has taken upon himself. To the extent he pursues this kind of thinking; to that extent he joins the unbeliever in his loss of rest and peace.

When trust is stretched too far, obedience can be compromised, not so much by overt disobedience but by a tendency to leave things “in God’s hands.” There was a picture that appeared in a Christian magazine some years ago. It depicted a mountain climber, together with all his equipage, falling down the side of a cliff. The caption at the bottom was, “Let Go and Let God.” The point was well made; We cannot just assume we know His will for us but must study and learn it from His word. God has given us responsibilities and will not do for us what He has commanded us to do.

The consequences that flow from such thinking can be serious. Today almost the entire Christian population is in disobedience to God, guilty of leaving the world “in God’s hands.” The world is suffering because of the failure of Christians to be salt and light (Matt. 5: 13-16). On a grand scale and with tragic results, “Let Go and Let God” has become an excuse for disobedience.

Yes, we need to trust and obey but let’s be careful to not use trust as an excuse for shirking duty to God.

Adam McManus Interview’s Lou for Generations Radio

Posted by Lou Poumakis on Apr 22, 2015 in Updates & News! | 0 comments

A Divided World

Posted by Lou Poumakis on Apr 4, 2015 in Articles | 0 comments

Is the world divided? Yes, in many different ways but the most basic division has been with us for all of history. It occurred as a consequence of the Fall when Adam and Eve decided to believe the Tempter and declared their independence from God. Immediately afterward, God, speaking to the Serpent, said:

And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.  (Gen. 3:15)

God spoke here of the division of mankind into two seeds (or offspring). The Seed of the woman is Christ and all that are “in Christ,” all His elect, all true Christians. The Seed of the Serpent are all unbelievers, all they that desire to be their own gods and reject the lordship of Christ. This great division of mankind is the unavoidable consequence of Adam’s decision and God’s purpose to rescue man from his self-destructive choice.

God emphasizes the division by placing enmity between the two bodies. They are not to be friends but must always be in opposition to one another. Why? Why would a loving God make them enemies, forever in conflict with each other? He did so because good and evil are fundamentally opposed and can never be reconciled. He knew our propensity to seek peace through compromise; but any such attempt can only result in something imperfect, something sinful, something that always falls short of God’s standards. The struggle between good and evil must not end in compromise but must continue until one or the other is vanquished.

Christ

The Serpents head was bruised (or crushed) when Christ came. His death paid the sin-debt of all His elect and made possible their release from Satan’s grasp. It began the population of the Woman’s Seed and insured the eventual demise of the Serpent’s Seed. His head was crushed in principle at this point but is yet to be accomplished in fact. Christ has given this task to His Body, to all Christians:

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)

With these words, Jesus clearly states that Satan’s power is broken and He is now the rightful ruler of all the nations of world. He directs those that believe in Him, His Body, the Seed of the Woman, to teach His nations to obey Him. They are to do this, not by the use of physical force but through teaching. The tools they are to employ are God’s law and the Gospel. The nations are to be converted, as nations and as peoples. The laws of the nations are to come into conformity with God’s law and the hearts of the people are to turn to God. Jesus here spoke the doom of the Serpent and his Seed. In time, His commission will be fulfilled and the entire world population redeemed. The Serpent’s Seed will be no more, its entire population either having been converted or died off. The world, divided by Satan’s work at the Fall, is now united in principle and will, in time be fully restored in fact to God’s intended unity (Num. 14:21; Psa. 72: 8-11; Isa. 11:1-10; Eph. 1:19-22; Acts 2:29-30).

Today

Our problem today is that almost all Christians are not aware that this work is their responsibility. They have been taught in their churches that Jesus is not really Lord of all things but that there are two kingdoms in this world, the kingdom of God and the kingdom of man. The kingdom of God they say is limited to the church, Christian families, Christian schools and perhaps a few other Christian institutions. The world outside these rather limited boundaries is then the domain of unbelief. This is a direct negation of the Great Commission. It denies Christ’s claim to universal lordship and tells Christians that Satan is the rightful lord of most of the world. This misleads Christians into believing that working for the adoption of His law as the law of the land is not their responsibility and has brought the work to bring the cultures and laws of the nations into conformity with God’s law to a virtual halt.

Although much progress has been made in the past, the Western World, once the strong bastion of Christianity, is now regressing back toward the paganism from which it came. If this generation of Christians does not wake up to its responsibilities, in time another that truly obeys their Lord will arise; they will represent an insurmountable and irresistible force that will accomplish the task Christ set before us. The nations will be taught to observe His commandments and the Serpents head will have been crushed, in fact as well as in principle.

Because God’s Word says so, these things must come to pass but we see also that Christians are responsible to do their part. It won’t just happen on a fixed timetable regardless of what we do. Until we truly obey, and put our hands to the task, the work will continue to languish. It may seem to be an impossible task but with God, all things are not only possible but certain. It doesn’t matter if it seems that little is actually being accomplished; God will employ every good work to realize His final goal and we will have the satisfaction of knowing that we played a part in mending a divided world.

Be Persuaded!

Posted by Lou Poumakis on Mar 16, 2015 in Articles | 0 comments

The pages of Bible are full of gems, pearls of wisdom that seem to be without end. Many are right on the surface but others lie deeper and take some effort to uncover. One gem that was unusually deep was found in the book of Hebrews. It says:

Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves:  for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief:  for that is unprofitable for you. (Hebrews 13:17, KJV)

The key words here are: obey, rule and submit. They are given as a guide for the relationship between Christians and pastors or teaching elders. It appears to give the pastor considerable authority. He is to be obeyed, he rules over the congregation and they are to submit to him. These words hark back to the priesthood of medieval Catholicism and seem to be in conflict with the general tone of Scripture where we see that leaders are told to be servants. Consider for example Jesus’ own words and actions:

25 And he said unto them, The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and they that exercise authority upon them are called benefactors.   26 But ye shall not be so:  but he that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger; and he that is chief, as he that doth serve. (Luke 22)

13 Ye call me Master and Lord:  and ye say well;  for so I am.   14 If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet;  ye also ought to wash one another’s feet.   15 For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you. (John 13)

5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:  6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:  7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: (Phil. 2)

Consider also the Apostle Paul’s instruction to pastors and his own attitude toward a difficult church:

24 And the servant of the Lord must not strive;  but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, 25 In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves;  if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; (2 Tim. 2)

We then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain. (2 Cor. 6:1)

Now I Paul myself beseech you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ…(2 Cor. 10:1)

How can we reconcile this tone of service, meekness and gentleness with the wording of Hebrews 13:17? The answer lies in the translation. When we look at the original Greek in the Textus Receptus, from which the King James was derived, we see that “peithesthe,”¹ the word translated obey, is not in the active voice that would justify “obey” but is in the middle/passive voice and should be translated as “be persuaded.” The word translated “rule” is best taken as “ones-leading” and the word translated “submit” means “be ye deferring.” ² The verse with these words substituted then reads as follows:

Be persuaded of them that are your leaders and defer to them: for they watch for your souls…

Implications

This change of words puts a very different light on the meaning of the verse and has some significant ramifications:

First, when “obey” becomes “be persuaded,” more is required of the church member; he can no longer just listen and simply accept what the pastor says. Rather, he must first get a good grasp of the biblical basis of the pastor’s teaching. He cannot just acquiesce to what he is told but must actually “be persuaded” of its truth. It’s too easy for Christians today to settle for a skimpy, superficial knowledge of Scripture. Obedience to this commandment would require greater attentiveness to what the pastor has to say and would also necessitate the expenditure of some effort. Bible study becomes more important; the member might need to do some serious study, especially to understand the more difficult concepts. There might also be a need for questions and a desire for discussion with other members. It would seem that this approach could substantially increase both the member-pastor and the member-member interaction as they check with one another on various points of the sermon. This kind of interaction is encouraged in Scripture (see Hebrews 10: 24-25

The point here is not to encourage criticism of the pastor; “be persuaded” doesn’t mean “be critical.” It means studying to understand what is being taught in sufficient depth to be able agree with it. Christians are not permitted to just get by; they are required to know God’s word. This is something every believer can do, some will go to greater and some to lesser depth, but all are required to learn (Col. 1:9-10).

There is good precedent for this. Remember the Bereans:

These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so. (Acts 17:11)

These men of Berea were serious students of Scripture and had to “be persuaded” of the truth of the apostle’s preaching. Compare them with today’s churches where the discussion following the Sunday service is typically on any subject but the sermon and there is little Bible study done all week.

Second, the pastor is affected; he cannot just tell his audience what the passages of Scripture mean and expect them to believe him. He must work to “persuade” them, a much broader and more difficult task! He must take care to make his sermons, not only scripturally accurate, but coherent and understandable. He must spend the time and effort needed to get to know the capabilities of his congregation as well as to prepare sound and relevant sermons. He knows he will pay for any lapses when the questions come. So pastor as well as member is motivated to improve his abilities and the quality of his sermons.

Third, the pastor-member relationship is materially affected. The pastor doesn’t rule, he leads. The member doesn’t submit as to a “ruler,” he defers; that is, when there is a difference of opinion, he respects his pastor’s greater knowledge and yields the benefit of the doubt. Deference though, is not the same as submission. It is between equals and does not imply a status or class difference. Although the pastor is the teacher and presumably has a better overall grasp of Scripture, the member is not an inferior that must obey him. Both see the Lord as their only master and can communicate as equals, each respecting the other’s particular skills and tasks. The pastor leads in the church but both are responsible only to God.

In addition, the pastor must realize that he cannot be the only teacher. His audience is not monolithic; there is often a considerable range of understanding in the congregation and he needs the help of the more mature and more knowledgeable to teach the others. For this to be effective, he must be seen as a leader, one of the congregation, and not as their ruler.

Fourth—and perhaps most important—the member’s relationship to Christ can be affected. Scripture tells us that “the head of every man is Christ…” (1 Cor. 11:3). The pastor must take care to encourage and not interfere with this one-to-One relationship. Too many church members tend to see their pastor as someone that is closer to the Lord, a higher spiritual authority, one they should obey. When this is not discouraged, the believer-Christ relationship is compromised. To some extent, the believer sees the Lord’s commands as coming through the pastor; to that extent he becomes a father figure and the believer’s progress to full maturity as a Christian is impeded. This is commonly the case in Catholicism where the priest is typically such a figure but it is also true whenever obedience replaces persuasion.

When the pastor restricts himself to being a teacher (or persuader) and not only refrains from issuing orders but explains that it is not his place to do so, he precludes the development of this unbiblical condition. The believer can go to his pastor as to an advisor but must understand that he answers only to his Lord and there are no intermediaries. When this sinks in and the believer sees that his responsibility is to the Lord and not his pastor or anyone else, God’s commandments become personal, immediate and therefore more urgent. This coupled with a greater freedom to act on his own, can empower him in a way that no human authority figure ever can. His highest priorities become: first to understand and then to complete, his God-given assignments. He becomes a powerful force, one that stands on the Rock and strongly influences his world.

Obedience

We see that changing the message from “obey” to “be persuaded” is significant and has consequences. It could represent a step toward an active, informed laity, something sorely needed in today’s churches. But where does obedience come in? What constitutes legitimate, godly obedience?

Scripture clearly tells us that everyone is to obey God and submit to church and civil authorities. Children are to obey their parents, slaves are to obey their masters, and wives are to obey their husbands. For the Christian, obedience to officials in church or state is actually obedience to God, who requires it only when it doesn’t conflict with God’s law (Acts 5:29; Romans 13:1-6). The fact that disobedience is required whenever there is a conflict, demonstrates that it is only God that is actually obeyed!

This freedom from bondage to any earthly power is one aspect of the freedom Christ spoke of when He said:

“And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:36).

The knowledge and firm belief of the truth that I have only one master and He is in heaven brings freedom. This freedom from all earthly masters is a key factor in the Christian dynamic. It is the freedom the early saints expressed when they refused to acknowledge Caesar as lord and instead chose the arena. It is the freedom all Christians should be expressing today in opposition to the humanism that pervades society. One reason they do not do so is because they are not truly free. They have been taught to obey instead of to be persuaded.

Conclusions

We saw that at Hebrews 13:17, there is a marked contrast between the language of the KJV and that of the original Greek (Textus Receptus). We know that the English language has changed considerably over the centuries since the King James Version was written; but for some reason, the newer English translations (NKJV, NASB, RSV, NIV, and others) have adopted essentially the same wording. A study into why they elected to depart from the original is needed. It may be related to what R. J. Rushdoony called “Church Imperialism.”³

At first glance, the mistranslation of a single verse may seem unimportant but it has a greater significance than immediately meets the eye. It is an indication of a much deeper issue; a distortion of the intended nature of the inner workings of the body of Christ is involved. It was never meant to be a top-down order comprised of a pastor class and a member class where one rules and the other obeys. It is a single body without class distinctions where all cooperate to bring it to maturity. All exercise their unique God-given talents and all benefit thereby.

The churches need to get back to where they were in the early centuries, when they had a more biblical internal structure. The pastors, then called bishops, typically serviced several churches and could not preach at any one very often. Most of the preaching and teaching was done by local elders that, while they were in charge, were not authority figures from a central governing agency but were seen as fellow members of the congregation. The true meaning of Hebrews 13:17 was reflected in those assemblies.

The Church (the body of Christ) will not pull out of its current doldrums until Christians begin once again to recognize that Christ has given them, in a very personal sense, the responsibility to be salt and light and to assert His authority over every aspect of man’s life in this world (Matt. 5:13-14; 28:18-20). The reestablishment of a biblical environment in the churches would represent a step toward getting Christians back to doing the work they were commissioned to do.

———————————-

¹ Had the author of Hebrews intended this verse to reflect obedience, another Greek word (hupakouo), which clearly means obey, could have been employed. It appears at Hebrews 5:9 to reflect Christ’s obedience and at Hebrews 11:8 for Abraham’s obedience.

² See Hebrews 13:17 in the “Greek Interlinear Bible” at:             http://www.scripture4all.org/OnlineInterlinear/Greek_Index.htm

Also see, “peitho in Hebrews 13:17” by Jason Dulle
http://www.onenesspentecostal.com/peitho.htm

³ See “Law and Society” R. J. Rushdoony. 339-342

The Great Commission

Posted by Lou Poumakis on Jan 18, 2015 in Articles | 0 comments

What is the Great Commission? Not too many years ago, the average Christian could explain it and cite the Bible reference for it. Today, that is far from the case; it is an almost forgotten item. Those that have heard of it will probably say that it is Christ’s call for missionaries and pastors to evangelize the world. This, though, is only a partial truth. The Commission is far more than a call to evangelize and it isn’t directed primarily to the clergy; all Christians are called to participate in it.

What Is It?

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)

This passage tells us:

1. Jesus has unlimited authority in heaven and earth. He is the supreme and rightful ruler of all the nations in the world.
2. His disciples, and with them all Christians, are instructed to teach and baptize the nations of the world.
3. The nations are to be taught to obey all Christ’s commandments.
4. The nations are to be baptized in the name of the Triune God.
5. Jesus will be with His obedient followers until the world ends.

The passage does not say:

1. The world belongs to Satan.
2. Only missionaries and pastors are involved in this effort.
3. Only the people of the nations and not the nations themselves are to be taught and baptized.
4. The baptism may be done in the name of any other god or gods.
5. Christians involved in the Commission are on their own.

Let us consider these points. First, what is the nature of this authority that Jesus asserts? He spoke these words soon after His resurrection. He had just defeated Satan by giving His life on the cross to atone for the sins of every Christian believer. Satan’s power was broken and transferred to Jesus. Mankind was no longer entirely under Satan’s control as it was since the Fall. The Seed of the Serpent now faced a formidable enemy, the Seed of the Woman, one that would eventually crush the Serpent’s head. There remained the working-out of these tasks but the outcome was assured. Christ was the new King and the world was His in principle and will be His in fact in the course of time.

Second, all Christians, with the promise of an eternal future, are His emissaries that are here sent to claim His kingdom. They are sent to bring the laws of the nations of the world into conformity with God’s law (Jesus’ commandments).

Third, this is to be done through teaching and baptizing, not just the people but the nations. It is the nations, as nations that are to be taught and baptized. But how is a nation to be taught and how is it and not just its people to be baptized? Is this just a foolish statement or is it not meant to be taken literally? Doesn’t it mean that we are to teach and to baptize the people of the nations? This, of course, must be done but God does not speak to us in riddles. When our Lord says that the nations are to be taught and to be baptized He means just that.

What, after all, is Christian baptism? It is the ceremony that celebrates the entry of a new member into the Christian community. It is an action that is taken by a congregation that by it declares that this new person is now a member of this congregation. The ceremony is usually conducted by an elder or pastor but it is the congregation as a whole that accepts and welcomes the new member. The official performing the ceremony does so, not as an individual but as a representative of the congregation. It is not the official that performs the ceremony so much as the entire congregation that is responsible to God for each individual it baptizes.

When a nation as a nation in its official decisions declares itself to be a Christian nation and makes its laws conform to the law of God, we can say that that nation has been taught to obey Christ’s commandments. When the people of that nation affirm their acceptance of this decision and pledge their allegiance to that nation, that nation can be said to have been baptized into the Christian faith. As with the congregation, God holds the people of the nation and not its officials responsible for the maintenance and purity of the newly baptized nation. This is precisely what Jesus has commanded all believers in the Great Commission. This surely is a GREAT commission; it is a commission to restore, not just a portion of the people but the entire world to what God created and intended it to be.

The Track Record

Why though has it not yet been fulfilled? Is it so great a task that it requires more than 2,000 years of effort, effort replete with continual setbacks? The early church with all its imperfections accomplished much; the Roman Empire declared itself Christian in three centuries. The church went on to correct much of its earlier heretical influences in the ecumenical councils. It seems, though, that its success was too much for it to handle. The church became more and more an institution and less and less the Body of Christ that it was earlier. The institution usurped the name “church” for itself instead of the Body of Christ that it stands for in Scripture. The institution came to be dominated by power-seeking men that elevated themselves above the common believers. A hierarchy formed culminating in the establishment of the Papacy.

The Great Commission was reinterpreted to be an activity of the clergy and not what they termed “lay” Christians. The kingdom of God of which Christ was the head was narrowed to include only the church and not the nations of the world. A new head of all Christians was created in the Pope of Rome.

The institution became so corrupt that the Reformation was inevitable. The Reformers corrected much of the pernicious evil that was introduced earlier but it did not correct all. Most significantly, it did not correct this view of the Body of Christ as being associated with and responsible to an institution. It attempted at first to restore the original meaning of the Great Commission but this did not last. The institution, now many institutions, retained its position of control, and clerical superiority over lay believers was soon almost universal. The Body of Christ, subjugated by these institutions, was rendered almost impotent and progress on the Commission languished.

The Status Quo

The 19^th century saw the introduction of some major doctrinal changes. As a result, most of today’s churches now see the Christian life through eyes colored by a dualistic philosophy, one that has its roots in the Ancient Greek philosopher, Plato. He taught that man’s spirit or mind was good but his body, consisting of matter was evil. This philosophy, viewing man as consisting of conflicting elements, influenced Scriptural interpretation in almost all of today’s churches. It sees Scripture, especially the New Testament, as speaking to man primarily in spiritual, rather than physical terms. The Gospel is seen purely as a message of personal salvation that affects man’s mind or spirit and not the surrounding material world. The life-work of the Christian is then inwardly directed to protect himself and his faith from a) the sin tendency that lurks within his material physical being and b) the evil influences of the sinful surrounding world. The only outward direction remaining then is to do what he can to save others. There is no place here for the work of saving the nations and the Great Commission is narrowed down and limited to evangelistic activity. The nations are seen as a mission field outside the realm of Christ’s kingdom.

The result, as one would expect, is that secular humanism, having an open field, has so infiltrated and taken control of the nations that the Christian faith is now under attack and is being systematically removed from every area of public life. In America, for at least a century now, each generation has become less Christian than its predecessor. The nation is retreating back to the paganism that permeated the Ancient World.

What Next?

There is a bright side to the above sad story. America, despite its theological decline, is still the home of many Christians. They have been marginalized by the media and the educational establishments and discouraged from action by their churches but they still remain a force to be reckoned with. They are steadily growing more and more uncomfortable with the direction they see society taking. They do not yet see the connection between the cultural decline and their failure to do the work of the Great Commission; but they know something is fundamentally wrong and are beginning to feel anxious about doing something to halt the current trend. The Holy Spirit is working in their hearts and making them uncomfortable with their passive inactivity. They represent a currently latent but potentially powerful force for cultural change, one that once unleashed would rapidly reverse the current trend.

Sadly, most of America’s 300,000+ pastors, while very upset with the cultural decline, have not made the connection between it and Christian inactivity. They should be at the forefront but are too steeped in their limited view of the church to take the lead. To the extent they can be encouraged, provoked or driven by their congregations to begin teaching the truth about the Great Commission, they can do much good. Christians need to hear this message.

What is needed now, for those of us that do see this vital connection, is to pass the word on to others. Our numbers, while growing, are still quite small and the most urgent need is to expand the base. God’s truth and God Himself are on our side. He has promised us success but also requires us to take action. He will not do for us what He has commanded us to do but He will bless us when we obey and will be with us to the end of the age. The day will come when the Great Commission will be fulfilled and the nations of the earth will have been baptized. Our task today is to get the ball rolling.

Freedom and God’s Kingdom

Posted by Lou Poumakis on Jan 5, 2015 in Articles | 0 comments

The Christian’s Freedom

31 Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;  32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free… 36 If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.” (John 8:31,32,36).

Just how, though, does Christ and the truth make us free? We would seem to be bound in many ways. Don’t we need to obey those that have the rule over us? Yes, but we must obey God rather than men (Acts 5:29), which means we must disobey anyone and everyone that tells us to do anything contradictory to God’s law. The truth that makes us free is the truth that the God that created and controls all things is our only true master. We obey others only in obedience to God. Our actions are governed by God and we have no masters in this world. Christians are the only truly free people in this world! With this extensive freedom, though, as we will see presently, comes significant responsibility.

God’s Kingdom

Jesus commanded His disciples and all Christians to make the establishment of the kingdom of God on earth the highest priority in their lives. In Matthew 5:33 we are told that this goal should come even before concerns for food, clothing and shelter. The Lord’s Prayer places God’s name, His kingdom and worldwide obedience to His law before personal petitions for daily bread, forgiveness and our susceptibility to temptation (Matt 6: 9-13). Jesus, in The Great Commission instructs us to teach the nations of this world to obey all His commandments (Matt. 28:18-20). The establishment of the kingdom of God was clearly foremost in Jesus’ message to His followers. Christians, made free by Christ, were given the responsibility to carry out this kingdom-building program.

This message though has been played down and its true intent distorted. The outward focus on the nations and the world as a whole has been redirected inwardly to relate to personal instead of worldwide salvation. The “God so loved the world” of John 3:16 has become God so loved me that He sent His Son to die for me. Yes, Christ did die for individual believers but what was in view was much greater. It was the kingdom of God and the salvation of the entire world. This broad perspective of the Gospel message has been all but lost. It has been narrowed down to the salvation of individual souls. The salvation of the world at large has been abandoned and the world has been left to the Devil and his children. Christian responsibility has been reduced from “seeking first the kingdom of God” to living a godly life, setting a good example for others, and telling people about Jesus. These are all good deeds but to reduce the Christian message to such things is only partial obedience, which is disobedience. Even more, it represents a focus on self instead of on God, which borders on the kind of idolatry we see in humanism.

The consequence of this diminution of Jesus’ message has been the abandonment of Christians from public life and the rise of humanistic power throughout the Western World. America in particular, once a strongly Christian nation, is now dominated and ruled by unbelievers and atheists. Its government, its schools, its media, indeed almost every aspect of its public life can no longer be called Christian but is rather, anti-Christian in character.

The Church

Scripture uses the word “church” as a reference to the entire Body of Christ, all born-again believers (Col. 1:18; Eph. 5:3) or to groups of believers in various places (e.g. the church of God which is at Corinth: 1 Cor. 1:2). The word ecclesia, translated church, never refers to an institution; this is in keeping with its meaning in the original Greek, “a body of men.” Where Scripture speaks to the church, it addresses the entire assembly of believers (the ecclesia). Its instructions are not given to an institution of which the believers are members but rather to the believers themselves. They, God’s freemen, not an institution above them, are held responsible for interpreting, understanding, and carrying out God’s instructions.

Over the centuries, though, the meaning of the word “church” was changed; it gradually came to be associated with an institution, the Roman Catholic Church. God’s word was twisted and the institution called the “Church” effectively interposed itself between Christ and His Body. This corruption of God’s word was not corrected by the Reformers, whose expressed intent was not the overthrow but the “reformation” of the then existing church.

Christians may and, in fact, are told to form institutions (governed by pastors, elders, deacons) in keeping with God’s instructions for them. But, as God’s freemen, they are not permitted to absolve themselves of the responsibility for any actions these institutions may take. They are free under God and must obey God rather than men; this includes pastors as well as civil magistrates. They may not hide behind their pastor’s skirts; God holds Christians responsible regardless of what they were told or taught by their leaders. That this is the case is well evidenced by God’s judgment of the people, and not just the rulers, of Israel, even though it was those rulers that led the people into their apostasy. God’s commandments, God’s law, and all of God’s word are given directly to His people and never to or through an intermediate institution.

Now What?

So where are we now? We Christians have been given the responsibility to implement God’s plan for a Christian world (Matt. 28:18-20). Instead of obeying His command, we listened to our church leaders who countermanded God’s word and told us that this was not possible and not really God’s plan. If, as true believers, we wish to obey God and not men, we must disassociate ourselves from such teaching begin to take corrective action.

We should, first of all, study the Scriptures to make sure we understand just what is expected of us. Then, whenever we see God’s law violated in any area where we have authority or influence, we should take appropriate action to correct it or prevent its recurrence. It is the cumulative effort of many believers, each working in a particular sphere, that will one day tip the scales in favor of God’s righteousness.

In addition and perhaps more importantly, we should do whatever we can to convince other Christians of their responsibilities in this regard. This would include correction of false teaching in the churches. The more pastors and elders that can be brought to realize their error, the more rapidly the Christian population can be alerted and our national culture be redirected toward a biblical society. One day “the kingdoms of this world [will] become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ” (Rev. 11:15) and it is the efforts of Christians like you that will bring it about.

Christmas Carols

Posted by Lou Poumakis on Dec 27, 2014 in Articles | 0 comments

The better Christmas carols carried a distinctive message, one of joy and celebration of a new world in the making.

The Republican Zugzwang on Immigration

Posted by Lou Poumakis on Dec 5, 2014 in Reviews | 0 comments

What is Obama trying to do?

Why is he deliberately provoking the republicans?

Here’s the real story.

The Two Worlds

Posted by Lou Poumakis on Dec 3, 2014 in Articles | 0 comments

There is the world that God made and there is the world that man made of it. In the beginning it was perfect, perfect in every respect. Man lived in perfect harmony in the environment God had provided but he wasn’t satisfied with it. He listened to the tempter and decided he wanted to see how things would be if he declared his independence from God and God’s law. This independence proved to be the curse God said it would be. Man’s attempt to live without God’s law and under the assumptions he made for himself, was disastrous. He had rejected God’s law and decided to live as if he were god himself and make his own laws. This meant that each would-be god made his own laws and the world was populated with eventually millions of individuals, each out to get whatever he could for himself. This, though, is a lawless world, a world without any rules, anarchy. It was, of course, intolerable and impossible to sustain and eventually was reduced to law by force. The strong imposed their will on the weak until someone stronger or a consortium of individuals with even greater combined strength came along. In time this led to the Pagan state.

Paganism

In this society, the state was seen as a divine-human order that governed every area of life, including the religious. There was no division of church and state as we see today. Both were subject to the power of the ruler or rulers. In order to lend credibility to their assumption of power, most kings or emperors claimed divinity. They knew that the people would resist them if they were seen as mere equals and needed this elevated status to gain the respect and awe they needed to retain power. These power seekers claimed to be the earthly embodiments of whatever god or gods the people wished to worship. To deny this claim was seen as treason and punishable by death.

Christ

Into this pagan world, during the time of the Roman Empire, came Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God with a whole new outlook on government and law. He was born an Israelite, of the nation God had established through Moses, who gave them God’s law two centuries earlier. Israel failed to obey that law and drifted further and further into the same man-centered society characteristic of the other nations.

Jesus reaffirmed God’s law but He was misunderstood by the Jews and even by His disciples at first. They were so accustomed to the pagan form of government that they couldn’t comprehend His words. They welcomed Him as their new king on Palm Sunday but because He didn’t conform to their idea of what a king should be, they rejected Him and called for His crucifixion, a week later.

Jesus said that His kingdom is in this world but not of this world. It is located here but it unlike any other kingdom that existed in this world at that time. It is from heaven and not from any earthly source. Jesus came into the world to establish a new humanity, one that would obey Him and obey God’s law.

Jesus rose from the grave with salvation in His hand. His death paid the sin penalty of all that would believe in Him. All these are released from Satan’s bondage, are able to see God’s kingdom and willingly obey Him. They are the new regenerated humanity in Christ that will eventually replace the old fallen humanity in Adam. The world will be repopulated, the new replacing the old and a new world will gradually come into existence.

God’s Law

When God’s law is obeyed, the need for civil government is minimized; government shrinks in size and in power and freedom is maximized. The tithe provides for the needs of the poor and because the people are obedient to God’s law, the law enforcement, courts and military agencies become miniscule in comparison to what we see today. Robert Winthrop explained this:

All societies of men must be governed in some way or other. The less they may have of stringent State Government, the more they must have of individual self-government. The less they rely on public law or physical force, the more they must rely on private moral restraint. Men, in a word, must necessarily be controlled, either by a power within them, or by a power without them; either by the Word of God, or by the strong arm of man; either by the Bible, or by the bayonet.

This is the essential difference between the two worlds; one is populated with willing subjects, the other by a rebellious people that must be forced to obey, not just God’s law, but a grievous and heavy burden of man made laws.

The new world that Jesus brought is characterized by truly free individuals living in harmony with each other and governed, not by men but by the law of God. Their allegiance is to God who tells them that they must obey their leaders, but only to the extent those leaders are faithful to God. These free people represent a constant check on the tendency of rulers to aggregate power to themselves and increase their hold on others. Freedom reigns throughout this world; the only restraints are God’s statutes which do not represent a burden because they are obeyed from the hearts of the people. Human government is almost entirely exercised within the family where the next generation is taught to love and obey God. Civil government is present only to restrain the unregenerate and decreases as these pass out of existence.

History

This is the world that Jesus inaugurated with His coming. It began with a very few but it grew and made rapid progress in the early centuries. Sadly, it bogged down as pagan influences entered and gradually increased in significance, particularly in the church. Instead of recognizing that the church is only a portion of God’s kingdom and limiting itself to the teaching function as God commands, it grew more and more into a centralized hierarchy and came to see itself as the totality of God’s kingdom on earth. As a consequence, the world outside the church was left to man. God’s law was set aside and replaced by what was called natural law or the law of the nations. Kingdom growth was stunted and the earlier rate of progress toward the goal of the new world that Jesus set was greatly reduced.

The Reformation did much to correct the doctrinal error that was introduced in this period but it did not fully reinstate the whole life aspect of the faith that Jesus taught. Instead of standing firmly behind God’s law, they permitted the natural law concept to continue. Progress was improved, particularly with the Puritans in England and in America, but these eventually succumbed to pietism, a reintroduction of pagan philosophy that effectively moved the Christian faith out of this world and into the next life. The world that Jesus brought was abandoned and man-centered humanism was given a foothold.

More recently, a new doctrine of Scriptural interpretation, called Dispensationalism, was introduced and widely accepted by the English speaking churches. It gave impetus to Premillennialism the idea that the kingdom of God promised by Jesus could not and would not come about until His personal return at the end of history. This, of course, virtually halted all kingdom-building effort on the part of a great majority of otherwise conservative Christians and humanism was given free reign.

Today

Today we see almost all the churches, Catholic and Protestant, out of the kingdom-building business and humanism in virtually total control of the kingdoms of this world. The world Jesus brought has been either put on the sidelines or abandoned altogether. His gift of salvation is seen as one that will only be fulfilled in the next life. The governments of the world are moving steadily back to what they were before He came. The freedoms gained during the Christian era are being taken back and the effect of this on individuals, due to the great advancements in technology, is felt far more intensely than it was in Ancient times. Today’s governments are far more intrusive and probe far more deeply into people’s lives than they could ever do before.

So, there we have world history in a nutshell! There are two worlds, the world that God gives and the world that man on his own makes. Scripture tells us that God’s world will prevail but it doesn’t tell us when. It also tells us that it won’t be handed to us on a platter; we need to work to bring it about. More, it tells us that it is the responsibility of Christians to do so. They are promised eternal life, something that cannot be earned; it is an entirely free gift. But they are also told that they have responsibilities in this life. They are told to “seek first the kingdom of God” and to do so first—before food, clothing or shelter (Matt. 6:25-33). They are told to teach the nations to obey all Christ’s commandments (Matt. 28:18-20). When they get back to doing as their Lord commanded, His kingdom, the world He gave us, will begin to take shape.

Keep Satan from Us

Posted by Lou Poumakis on Oct 17, 2014 in Articles | 0 comments

These words or their equivalent are often heard in pastoral prayers. It is a prayer for God to intervene and prevent Satan from overwhelming the believer. It underscores the presumption that Satan is so powerful that, without God’s divine intervention, he could never be resisted. While it is certainly the case that there are times of great stress when such a prayer is appropriate, it is just as certainly inappropriate as a regular, routine prayer for Christians. It is a contradiction, a complete reversal, of what Scripture tells us of the relative roles of believers and Satan. The Christian is chartered by Christ, not to fear Satan, who was defeated by Christ on the Cross. Rather, he is to wage war against him and tear down the gates of hell (Matt. 18:18). He is to be actively on the offensive against Satan’s entrenched power wherever it appears on earth.

The prayer itself is often an indicator of a much more sinister theological perspective, one that exaggerates Satan’s power and makes the Christian’s life an ongoing defensive battle, one of continual introspection and self-examination. Instead of freeing the believer of the burden of sin, it tends to instill guilt feelings for such things as, failure to pray often enough or long enough, not spending enough time in Bible reading or study, not paying close enough attention to the sermon, etc. It is reflected in today’s evangelical churches where one often hears that “the Christian’s life-long enemies are: sin, the world and the Devil.” The sin enemy is his Old Man, the sin-nature he had as an unbeliever prior to his conversion that continues to plague him. The world is the sum of all the evil influences that surround him. The Devil is the spiritual power that constantly tries to subvert the unwary Christian’s faith. This kind of preaching tends to bind the believer to the church, increasing its power over him and stripping him of the freedom and assurance God gives all true believers. He becomes a captive of the church instead of a productive worker involved in building God’s kingdom on earth.

This type of preaching carries an element of truth but, when it is presented as the norm for the Christian life, it represents a gross distortion of the truth. It may well be typical of unbelievers that have not yet come to true faith but the born-again Christian is called to put all such fears behind him and to walk by faith (Rom. 1:17; 2 Cor. 5:7). He is told in very definite terms that there is “no condemnation” for the true believer (Rom. 8:1). He is called to wage war against evil in any and every form it assumes (2 Cor. 10:3-6). His goal is to do whatever he can, within his sphere of authority and influence, to make this world a Christian world, one in which the nations are taught to obey all Christ’s commandments (Matt. 28:18-20).

So what we see expressed in this simple prayer is a false theology. Unfortunately, it is one that is widely prevalent in today’s churches. It has been characteristic of Catholicism since its inception in medieval times and is present today in both reformed and evangelical, protestant churches. It has been employed as a tool to increase the power of the church by binding Christians but has more often been taught in ignorance with the best of intentions. In either case, it negatively impacted the power of the Body of Christ and thereby has severely impaired the progress of the Great Commission.