Notes on Essay
3,700 words
This is a partial discussion.
Because this section is 3,700 words and the other part is just as long,
I am publishing in two parts. The other part will be published next
week.
The Word of Truth Ministries
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...............The
Sovereignty of God .......................... |
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sovereignty of God is a subject not much understood and therefore
not much preached on, taught on, or talked about. Yet it is a
subject that needs to be raised and clarified because many ministers
and Christians have taken a few scriptures and placed God in their
limited mind by which they understand him, and they will not see
God beyond their paradigm. But
those who would move higher in understanding the things of God
must see this sovereignty of God as a paramount principle of scripture.
There are a number of reasons many have not attempted to look
at Romans 9, as clearly delineated by the Apostle Paul.
They do not understand the things of God because it is not given
to them to know the mysteries of the kingdom; [Matthews
13]
they cannot therefore go into their treasures and bring forth
those things that are new and old. They are not teachers of the
mysteries of the kingdom. Second, for those who are honest
and diligent teachers of the things of the kingdom, this principle
of the sovereignty of God has troubling questions they cannot
answer with any degree of satisfaction. And since they cannot
answer, they avoid the questions to avoid the issue. Jesus
chided Nicodemus for his deficiency in the knowledge of heavenly
things, yet he stoutly represented himself as a leader of God’s
people. God has called upon all of His ministers and leaders to
study and to seek wisdom. [Prov.
4]
How strange is the prize sought by the supposed leaders of His
people today from what God commanded them to seek after. This
apostasy is ripe in God’s house, among God’s ministers, resulting
in a falling away of God’s people. God
has surely equated the failure of ministerial leadership with
the failure of His people. He has said, The leaders have caused
my people to err, and they who are led of them are
destroyed. [Isa.
3:12; 9:16]
Leadership is not feeding God’s people because much of the present
leadership of God’s house has gone into captivity in search of
strange flesh and not after the things of God; so they cannot
properly feed God’s people. To
feed God’s people a leader must have the knowledge of God. Without
the knowledge to feed God’s people they will go into captivity.
[Isa. 5:13]
Most ministers in established Apostolic, Pentecostal, Evangelical,
and standard denomination churches have gone into captivity the
same way the early church went into Roman captivity after the
apostles died. To get the good things of God’s word, the man of
God must consecrate himself to God and diligently study. Paul
instructed Timothy to study to show thyself approved unto God,
a workman that needs not be ashamed, rightly dividing the word
of truth. [2 Tim.2:15]
But since most ministers have gone into captivity of worldly possessions,
they have no desire to study and no knowledge of the process. Many
ministers busy themselves justifying corruption in the present
leadership, while corrupt leadership busy themselves justifying
their pursuit of sin in the form of this world’s goods. The gospel
of wealth is the new gospel that is preached, and those who don’t
preach it still vigorously engage in it through almost commanding
congregants to PAY tithes to them. The tithe doctrine was never
intended for the New Testament church, but these ministers of
greed have not studied the word long enough to know the difference.
[See The Truth of Tithe] So they offer
their dry and moldy bread to fools. [Jos.9:3-6]
God
told Peter to feed His sheep and feed His lambs. [John 21:15].
That is done by feeding them every word that proceeds from God’s
mouth. But if ministers cannot receive a word from God, how can
they feed His people? Paul
wrote to Timothy, saying, study to show thyself
approved of God, a workman that needeth not be
ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
The highlighted words reveal several reasons many are not studying
God’s word. Many
ministers attempting to lead God’s people have little understanding
of how to study. They have demeaned those who went to school and
acquired knowledge and developed their intelligence because they
were afraid of that intelligence disabling their naïve and beguiling
utterances. Intelligence discouraged in others is surely not found
in them, so they are the victims of their own lack of knowledge
and grope about, unable to find a way to understand God’s word. Linger
with me a moment in a focus on the discouragement of intelligence
in others. Most of those who discouraged the schooling of our
young did so out of their own ignorance and insecurities; some
did it out of a naïve sense of protecting our young from the evils
of this world. One was of bad intentions and the other of good
intentions; both resulted in the same end—breeding ignorance in
God’s people. And ignorance has never been a quality God ever
wanted in His people. As a matter of fact, He has said He would
destroy His people because of their ignorance. [Hos. 4:6]
He has also prompted His people to be the most intelligent of
all people. Sadly, many ministers, flourishing in ignorance, have
bred a culture of ignorance among the congregants that has harmed
a significant segment of our young and the Christian body. Had
these leaders themselves engaged in academic matters, or even
a keen engagement in spiritual things, they would have seen that
the more knowledge of earthly things one acquires, the more one
understands spiritual things. [John
3]
Paul admonished the Roman Church to see the invisible things of
God by seeing and understanding things that are visible. [Rom. 1:20]. God
has made natural things and spiritual things on a similar pattern
so that we can know spiritual matters though they are invisible
by seeing and understanding those things that are visible. When
the insecure or naïve minister forbids the young or the old saint
of God to pursue knowledge and intelligence, he goes in direct
contradiction to God’s word. [Prov.
4]
Even ancient King David of Israel recognized that in all languages
and in all knowledge God’s voice is heard. [Psa. 19] God
is woven throughout every fiber of His creation. There is no speech
or language where God’s voice is not heard. David said one need
only look up and the heavens declare God. He is everywhere! To
be afraid of knowledge is to be afraid of knowing God. It
becomes clear, the ministers who forbid knowledge and education
in others are not men who have ever engaged universal reasoning
and logical discourse; they have not considered the great ideas
and wisdom of Egypt, Greece, and the various cultures of the world;
they have not sharpened their minds through long, dreary hours
of intellectual toil to acquire the slow unfolding of truth within
them. They do not know this pleasure, this value, this reward
of work. For had they known this experience, having been chastened
by the wearying of their flesh to the enlightening of their minds,
they would hasten others to buy this gift at great cost. But still
being babes, their flesh controls them; still being alive in the
ways of death, rioting in ungodly behavior and ideas, they allow
their flesh to march them into perpetual darkness and perdition. Therefore,
they can never understand how the great Apostle Paul, a man educated
in universal reasoning and tutored in the various languages of
other tongues and thoughts, was able to hear God’s voice in ungodly
Greek poets. They cannot understand how Paul could actually take
their words and write them, as he did, into holy writ: For
in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also
of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.
[Acts
17:27-28]
Yet
they shamelessly lead God’s people without the basic understanding
that God’s voice is found throughout His creation. We are the
creation of God! There is no speech nor language wherein God’s
voice is not heard. Even the heavens and the very elements of
this world declare God’s glory, His power, His eternal existence.
[Psa.19]
But one cannot see the glory of God unless he is able to
understand God’s creation! That is part of what Jesus meant when
he said, You shall know the truth and the truth shall make
you free. [Matt. 8:32] My
heart yearns for Christians bound and seduced by unlearned and
ignorant ministers who sport themselves in their own ignorant
deceptions. For while Christ is made unto us wisdom and righteousness,
they make merchandise of God’s people, and the only reference
they have to intelligence is the falsity found in a $25 fake degree.
[I
Cor. 1:30] But
the wisdom of God allows us to see, whenever mankind looks up,
God is there; when we look around, God is there; when we see the
vast thoughts and universal archetypes present in all men, God
is always there. He is there in the essence of His creation; His
fingerprints are all over and throughout His creation, as He says
to any investigator with eyes that are sighted, This is my
creation, I am in it. See my glory. When we do, we, understand
the reason He commanded Moses to make all things according
to the pattern I had shown you in the mountain. He has created
this earth and the visible things therein after the pattern of
the spiritual and invisible things He has also made. To understand
this principle is to increase one's faith. To
know these earthly things, one must go through the same process
as one goes through in knowing spiritual things—one must study.
It was Solomon who said much learning—study—is weariness to the
flesh. [Ecc.12:12]
As a result of this reality, many ministers do not discipline
themselves to study, so they have nothing from God to feed God’s
people. And God’s people can only be fed properly with Godly food.
Other types of food will retard and kill His sheep and lambs.
[Man shall not live by bread alone…] Notice
further what Paul tells Timothy: The minister of God studies
to show himself approved of God. Without that study a minister
can never show himself approved of God because he is not. His
very speech, much like Peter’s speech, belies any claim of God’s
approval. When they open their mouths, they do not bring forth
that which is new and old from any treasure they have acquired
of God. As they open their mouths, one can see who is inside
their house. Jesus said that a teacher of the kingdom would bring
forth things that are new and old. [Mat.
13] By
study one shows he is approved as a workman unto God. Paul
here says, even as Solomon said, that study is work. A workman
is one who works; since Paul said study and show
yourself a workman, the pronoun workman
is the resultant attribute of one who studies; it is also
the process of study; simply said, study is work. Anyone who studies
knows the work of study. Isaiah
has informed and warned us in saying the enemy’s prophets are
lazy dogs who love to slumber, and not study. [Isa.56:10-11]
Paul tells us to be aware of these dogs. [Phil.
3:2]
They pose a danger. Workmen
of God need not be ashamed because they are rightly dividing
the word of truth. This is what the great Apostle is saying,
but today many ministers are doing everything but rightly dividing
God’s word. These are ministers who should be ashamed of the hideous
teaching, the lack of teaching, the wrong, self-serving and corrupt
teaching with which they abuse God’s people. Paul said when they
aught to be teachers, they need someone to teach them the rudimental
elements of the doctrine of Christ. [Heb. 5:12-13]
Today,
many church leaders are themselves babes in Christ, and many are
not in Christ at all. Long ago they left Christ to use the church
and its members for their own fleshly and financial desires. To
many, the elements and riches of this world are more attractive
than the riches of Christ. Instead of being ministers of God,
they have become ministers of greed. These are workmen who need
to be ashamed because they have made a shame of the ministry and
the things of God. To
feed God’s people, a minister must rightly divide God’s word.
Much like a child has to be fed in evolving portions, because
no child eats solid food from birth, he/she must have milk, saints
must also be fed as lambs and then as sheep. But if a child of
10-years old still is fed with milk, that child is retarded or
arrested in his/her development. Likewise, if a saint in this
saintly way for years is still fed with milk and not meat, that
saint is arrested in his development. This retardation has occurred
to many of God’s people because their ministers are arrested in
their development and can carry them no farther. Many
ministers have been in the church for years but are babes in Christ.
They have not grown in the word or in the life of Christ; they
have just been in the church. God says walk ye in it. [Jer. 6:16-17].
Simply being associated with a church will not cause one to grow.
Saints must be properly fed the proper word of God to grow.
Instead of growth, retardation has overtaken many. When
I was saved, I sat under the ministers and teachers and learned
everything they had, proving all things as I went. I did not allow
them to make claims without proof simply because they were the
leaders—I questioned portions of scripture and their interpretations.
When I realized that I had grown beyond their abilities to carry
me on in Christ, I moved on to learn more things of God. And at
each juncture, I learned until I had gotten all the teachers were
able to give. Finally, God had prepared me to stop the mouths
of gainsayers and take those who had stopped growing into Christ
on their sojourn through this life. [Eph.
4:15] Saints
must grow into Christ, [be perfect—Mat. 5:48]
and the only way we can be perfect is to eat every word that comes
from God, rightly divided. Only the rightly divided word of
God is what God is saying. And as we grow into him,
we will understand his sovereignty. By understanding God’s sovereignty,
we understand how He has chosen us in him before the foundation
of the world. And we are thankful and will glorify God more. Romans
9: The Sovereignty of God I
have not seen or heard discussions of Romans 9 in Apostolic
Churches or the scarce literature they present. Instead, we have
lingered in the shadows of ignorance with money discussions, meaningless
matters that do not move us into perfection, and lengthy discussions
of the divinity of Christ, euphemistically called the Godhead.
And although many linger on the Godhead as if they really know
it well enough, most of the discussions I have heard are weak
and rudimental and do not betoken the breath of God or a well-prepared
exegesis on that subject. A discussion of the sovereignty of God
does not occur in the vast majority of Apostolic, Pentecostal,
Evangelical and Fundamentalist churches at all. In
Psalms 19, David said that there is no speech nor language
where God’s voice is not heard. With that scripture in mind,
I embark on a discussion of the Sovereignty of God by looking
at it through the eyes and allegory of the Greek philosopher and
playwright Sophocles. In his most noted work, Oedipus Rex, Sophocles looks at this concept of God’s sovereignty through a trilogy of plays—The Oedipus Trilogy. These plays have a number of archetypes; the one this discussion is concerned about is the plight of Oedipus the King. Before Oedipus was born, a prophecy went forth that King Lauis and his wife would have a child that would kill him and marry his wife, the child's mother. Upon having that child, the king took it and gave it to a servant to kill. Upon seeing that the child was a proper child, instead of killing him, the servant gave it to a traveler from afar who was going back afar. So instead of being killed, the child was raised up by a king on the other side of the world, so to speak--in the kingdom of Corinth. And life continued well for King Lauis and his wife in their kingdom of Thebes. When Oedipus became a young man, the word came to him that his supposed parents were not his real, biological parents. He confronted his supposed parents on this matter and they stoutly protested that they were indeed his biological parents--they lied. On another occasion, Oedipus was out and the word of the prophecy reached his ears. When he heard it he went far away from his supposed parents to avoid its occurrence. And as he traveled outside the range of this prophecy's possibilities, he walked along a narrow road, and a man traveling in a carriage disregarded Oedipus's right to walk thereon, and a fight ensued. Oedipus killed the man in the carriage and other men with him, except one who got away. Having defended himself, he traveled on toward Thebes and found a man-beast character called the Sphinx terrorizing Thebes. He solved the riddle of the Sphinx and killed him, thus, saving the town. When he came into town, that town made Oedipus their new king, since Thebes was without a king. He ruled Thebes, marrying the wife of the former king. When he was in Corinth, upon hearing the prophecy of his life and seeing the horrors of it, he summoned all that was within him to flee that immoral fate. But as he tried, the gods would not allow his escape; he was compelled to this madness. Unknowingly and unintentionally, Oedipus had killed his real father along the way into Thebes and married his real mother once he arrived in Thebes. Oddly, his reason for going to Thebes was to escape the fate declared upon him before his birth, and that righteous act brought him to this immoral end. This play shows us a man diligently seeking to free himself from a fate universally accepted as immoral, but without the strength to change it, he runs from a lion into the arms of a bear and performs the prophesied fate. Yet in his actions, we see the behavior of a man who would be moral, but the gods were sovereign in what he would and would not do and be. []
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