Biblical Review of Important Topics
On Divorce and Remarriage
People often cite Jesus’ words in the Gospels about divorce and remarriage to try to say all divorce, or at least all divorce and remarriage, are forbidden by the Bible. They will also cite where it says in the Book of Malachi that God hates divorce to try to claim that divorce is never a righteous option. Clearly though the context in both of those cases is rebuke of people who are dealing treacherously against their spouse and forsaking their marriage covenant for wicked reasons (i.e. reasons that don’t line up with the Law of God’s narrow provision for divorce). Neither Malachi nor Jesus in the Gospels was saying that the innocent party doesn’t have a lawful recourse when there is adultery, serious perversion, or other serious abuse on the part of their spouse. When Jesus spoke on this topic in the Gospels He was saying that a man is still an adulterer even though he gets the paperwork done in divorcing his wife so he can leave her to marry another woman. Just having the divorce paperwork done regarding the first marriage, before the second marriage takes place, doesn’t mean he’s not guilty of adultery in initiating the second marriage. The Jews of His time were notorious for abusing the provision the Law of God made for divorce in Deuteronomy chapter 24 to allow divorce for any cause at all. Jesus never broke or spoke against the Law of God (Matthew 5:17-20, Matthew 7:12, Matthew 15:1-9, Matthew 23:1-3 etc all prove this). In the Gospels Jesus was clearly rebuking the abuse of God’s provision for divorce in the law, not the righteous application of it! The Law of God provides a narrow provision for divorce, not a broad one. It is thus wrong to deny that there is indeed a narrow provision for divorce that ought to be applied sometimes. Those who deny this narrow provision are speaking contrary to God’s Law like the people who promote divorce contrary to God’s Law (both groups are in violation of God’s Law) and are putting themselves on very dangerous ground.
In 1 Corinthians chapter 7, as the Apostle Paul taught on the same subject, you see that divorce is never an option when there are two faithful Christians in the marriage who would indeed remain faithful Christians. But then there are also other marriage situations, such as when an unbeliever is present (which includes those who call Jesus Lord but do not do what His Word says). We see there how there is a time to let such an one depart if they aren’t pleased to dwell with the faithful believer peaceably (i.e. if the unbeliever should leave or if the unbeliever should seek to impede their spouse from faithfully obeying God’s Word). And you also see there how the believer in Christ isn’t bound to the marriage in that case. When one’s spouse chooses a course where they are unwilling to dwell peacefully with them as they are a faithful Christian, the Bible also says clearly in 1 Corinthians chapter 7 that they are not under bondage. That means they ought to let the divorce happen; and they are then free to remarry in the Lord. Whenever there has been a divorce which a person righteously initiated, or which they had no control over the other initiating, there is freedom to remarry. Obviously a couple which has already divorced for reasons which are not righteous should reconcile if possible. But desire for reconciliation is not always mutual; and reconciliation is neither righteous nor practical if one or both of the parties have already remarried. The concept that God only recognizes first marriages is false. Jesus acknowledged in John 4:18 that the Samaritan woman whom He conversed with at the well had had five husbands.
God hates divorce, yet that doesn’t mean it’s never necessary and it doesn’t mean there isn’t such a thing as an innocent party who is blameless in the divorce. He hates it when man’s unrighteousness necessitates a divorce as much as He hates it when man’s unrighteousness initiates a divorce when there was no righteous necessity for it. Wicked people can abuse God’s Word out of context to threaten a victimized spouse not to divorce them just as wicked people abuse God’s Word out of context to justify a divorce so they can remarry to gratify their lust or for some other unrighteous reason. There are people who have gone through years and years of constant abuse at the hands of a lunatic or otherwise impossible to bear heathen (who might also be a professing Christian) believing that divorce is never, ever righteous. This can also expose children greatly to physical and emotional abuse. Wavering, sloppy Scripture application, and overall bad understanding on this matter throughout Christendom can toss someone getting counsel on this matter to and fro. Often so much that they will be utterly confused and driven further towards insanity.
Even one act of adultery is potential grounds for a righteous divorce, though it is good for the offended to forgive the offender and move on if/when there is reason to believe that there is true contrition over this and a resolve to not do it again. I wouldn’t advise someone to initiate a divorce without much prayer and showing as much patience as is reasonable. There still might come a time though when it is absolutely necessary due to adultery or some other wicked pattern of behavior which might make living with a spouse in a godly, peaceful way to be impossible. God Himself doesn’t show unlimited patience. He will cast people out of His covenant eventually who provoke Him and resist correction, in spite of good will and much merciful patience exercised on His part.
Very often those who contest these things point to 1 Corinthians 7:39 and Romans 7:1-3 which speak about the woman being bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives. And yet they are unwittingly proving the point that there is a narrow provision made by God for divorce and remarriage. You have to reference God’s Law to know and understand that! That is the very point and the key to handling this issue. It will never involve justifying the person who made up some shallow excuse to leave their spouse for someone else. It will never leave someone to be continually terrorized by an adulterer or an otherwise heathen spouse, whose heathen ways interfere with Christian principles being followed in their home. And it will also never leave one who has been divorced, with no reasonable hope of ever reconciling their marriage, waiting for their first spouse to die before they can ever even think about remarriage. And the fact that all of these foolish things, and many other foolish things in relation to this topic, are commonly practiced throughout Christendom is proof in and of itself that the churches now (in general) have departed from God’s ways and lack the knowledge of Him (reference Hosea 4:6).
Unconditional Eternal Security/Once Saved Always Saved Doctrine is Evil
Abiding in Christ and walking in His Spirit causes one to fulfill the law of God, as Romans 8:4 proves. 1 John 3:4 says that sin is the transgression of the law- and we sure do not have a right to continue in sin that grace may abound. God forbid! (see Romans chapter 6). We are not under the law in the sense that we are not under the ceremonies of the Law of Moses (and only because these were shadows of Christ who has now come as the ultimate substance of these things). A faithful believer who is abiding in Jesus and being saved from their sins (i.e. transgressions of the law) is also not under the law in the sense that the law no longer condemns them because they are rightly related to Christ. In being under His Lordship (i.e. righteous government) they are submitted to His Law; and since He is their redeemer and High priest, God no longer counts their previous transgressions against them through His blood atonement. Hence they are reconciled to God and His Law.
Every passage in the New Testament about not being under the law is dealing with these things. Jesus upheld and vindicated the morality in the law of Moses and the Old Testament as a whole. The Law of Christ is the moral law of God plus whatever ceremonial ordinances God has ordained for New Covenant Christians (like baptism and the Lord’s Supper). To seek the real Jesus means seeking His grace to do right in God’s eyes; and that means coming in agreement with and striving to be faithful to God’s Law. Jesus said that workers of lawlessness will be shut out of His kingdom (Matthew 7:21-27, Luke 13:23-27, etc).
Revelation 22:13-15: “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city. For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.” Romans 3:31: “Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.”
Surrender to God’s authority (i.e. walking in the light) is necessary to have Jesus’ atonement applied to us. What Jesus did on the cross did nothing to change the fact that people go to hell for rejecting God’s authority and choosing to pursue sin. By God’s grace we can overcome sin and not yield to it, but if we should sin we need to confess it for what it is and do whatever is appropriate to show repentance. This means restitution for the harm done which is in our power to do. “He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.” (Proverbs 28:13) Christians need to relate to God the Father through Christ our High Priest to remain in His covenant and have their justification maintained. The concept that a believer in Christ’s future sins are forgiven is not found in the Bible. Taken logically, this concept leads to lawlessness and removes our current and continual need for Christ. If one was forgiven forever unconditionally when they first believed in Christ, they would no longer need Jesus as their High Priest nor need to follow Him as their Lord. We have a sure salvation in the sense that Jesus will never fail to do His part. He will cleanse our record as our Advocate before the Father when we approach Him with a broken, contrite heart that is repentant over how we have fallen and is intent on going forth in the Light in obedience to His Word. All this is seen in 1 John 1:5 to 2:6. Don’t rob God and yourself by taking anything for an answer here which negates these glorious truths and their many weighty implications.
Jude 20-25: “But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. And of some have compassion, making a difference: And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh. Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, To the only wise God our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.”
Hebrews 7:24-25: “But this man, because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood. Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.”
How can those who believe that a Christian can never fall away from Christ ignore the warnings in the New Testament? Matthew chapter 24:9-13 proves that obviously the elect can be deceived if, and when, they do not take heed and watch. And how do they not account for the obvious, that the New Testament epistles were written to truly born-again, baptized Christian church members; and are filled with warnings and exhortations for them to continue in the faith lest they fall away from Christ unto their own damnation? The following were all spoken to true Christians.
Revelation 3:2-5: “Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before God. Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee. Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with me in white: for they are worthy. He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.”
James 5:19-20: “Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him; Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.”
Hebrews 3:12-15: “Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. 13 But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. 14 For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end; 15 While it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation.”
Romans 11:20-22: “Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not high-minded, but fear: 21 For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee. 22 Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.”
Many other Scriptures, from most any book in the Bible, prove that a person who has really been in God’s grace has the potential to harden their heart in sin and so fall from God’s grace. 1 Corinthians 10:1-12, 2 Peter 2:20-22, and Jude 3-7 are other notable Scripture texts which prove this. When someone denies the obvious from such passages, they have to be high from the illicit spiritual drugs which are the false theological systems, sloppy and out of context Bible interpretations, and the many misleading cliches which abound in Christendom to pave the way for such delusional hallucinations which set the Christian up for spiritual destruction and perdition. An easy strategy for Satan to defeat those who believe in OSAS: Just let them believe they are unconditionally elected to salvation like they already believe.
The Darkness and Error of Calvinism
Calvinism is indeed very dark. If true, it would be very sad. Calvinism actually vastly underestimates God’s power and exalts man too highly- the very things it claims to do the opposite of! A sovereign king does not control the actions of everyone in his realm nor do the people in his realm necessarily do what he says. A sovereign king is one who is powerful enough to make just laws for his kingdom and to deal with his citizens in accordance with their deeds and attitude towards those laws (and by extension towards him). God is powerful enough to allow man’s free will to take course; and yet still be fully in control. Calvinism basically teaches that God’s sovereignty means everything happened by his decree. That falsely limits God’s actual power and is also the most man-exalting doctrine that could be conceived. This gives every sinner an excuse to blame their sin on God. Calvinists will usually deny this, but their doctrine logically followed leads to this conclusion- and some do admit it.
Salvation being a gift of God does not mean that it is unconditional. A free gift can have terms to it. God’s justification does indeed have terms, as the many “if”s in the Bible in relation to man’s response to the Gospel of Christ prove. And God moving powerfully in one’s life to turn them to Himself doesn’t mean they cannot refuse; and even if they yield to God’s workings and are born again through faith in Christ, there is no guarantee that they won’t turn away from Him in the future in spite of God’s work in them to keep them faithful to the end. If God worked to irresistibly overpower some to faith and salvation and yet not in others (like Calvinism blatantly teaches), He would be a respecter of persons. The Bible says over and over that God is no respecter of persons.
Ask the Calvinist who pushes Calvinism to you if you have free will to believe in Calvinism; and why he/she is so frustrated that you won’t receive it. Watch how they evaluate you and expect you to respond positively to them- the very thing they deny that man is able to do with God’s Truth! They don’t logically follow their own doctrine in this way- and likely in several other ways too.. They also love to say how man is nothing- and yet if you call one of their prized, revered teachers anything negative they often take great offense. It is a system filled with false assumptions, faulty logic, gaping holes, bad Bible scholarship, and subtle or blatant hypocrisy.
The Bible has answers which make God the author of salvation; and also yet leave man with responsibility to cooperate with God’s grace- grace which he did not earn, cannot replicate, and cannot please God without. This grace necessarily tests and tries man to come into line with his Creator, the One whom heeding and aligning with composes the essence of righteousness. This heeding and alignment are, when exercised, proper reception of the great moves He has already made to reconcile man to Himself. There is a Biblical solution that leaves all men with a valid, realistic opportunity to partake of God’s grace which none did earn; and which simultaneously leaves the blame fully upon those who do not enter into this grace, and remain in this grace, by virtue of the fact that they really could have done so. God made the same offer to them and worked on them the same as He did with those who obtained His grace and remained in it. If this were not the case, then God Himself would be a partial respecter of persons who showed favoritism. Anyone who ended up condemned to hell on Judgment Day could then call Him out with the just charge that, if He had only done for them what He had done for the saved, then they would not be receiving condemnation to an everlasting lake of fire.
Calvinism essentially makes God not only the primary obstacle, but in reality the only obstacle, to man getting right with Him and attaining righteousness. No logical person who fears Him should be comfortable meeting Him on Judgment Day holding to such a dark doctrine which paints the Righteous Judge of all the earth in such a morally ugly, unfavorable way. And by morally ugly and unfavorable, that is not a reference to the world’s corrupt definition of these things. If Calvinism were true, then God’s ways would be morally ugly and unfavorable by the definition of His own Law. We know that Satan wants to slander and portray God as a hypocrite- and we know that he is subtle.
Calvinists also must face the fact that their theology essentially originated from a Roman Catholic (Augustine, whom John Calvin basically got his theology from). Augustine was not shy in making known his belief that there is no salvation outside the Roman Catholic Church. This means that if Calvinism came from a man led by God’s Spirit in his theological judgments, most Calvinists would be going to hell anyways.
Just imagine also if Jesus had spoken the messages to the seven churches (in Revelation chapters 2 & 3) in a way that attempted to be theologically sound from a Calvinist viewpoint. Any theology which would involve any altering of Scripture, let alone mass altering of Scripture to align it with the truths of Scripture, ought to be rejected and cast away as evil.
The Deceit of the Pre-Tribulation Rapture
I remember once speaking to a man who strongly believed in and proclaimed his hope in the pre-tribulation rapture. He boasted “I’m getting out of here!” regarding how thought he’d be getting out of the world before things got too hard for him. When I asked him about the Christians in other countries already facing great tribulation through persecution and/or poverty, he had no answer.
I don’t think it’s reasonable to expect that every honest person will necessarily see the timeline of the end-times exactly the same. Yet it’s a deadly error to believe that God will rescue Christians from having to go through great tribulation, whether that be in the very final years before Christ returns or any other time. Therefore it’s not hard to see that pre-tribulation rapture belief is usually accompanied by a shallow gospel which tells people they can accept Christ as their Savior, yet not require and insist that He be obeyed as Lord and followed in all things that His Word teaches. Such a gospel is false, as well any gospel which doesn’t teach the inevitably of suffering in order to faithfully do this. These produce Judases which betray Jesus with a kiss as opportunity for unrighteous gain presents itself; and produce people like the Roman soldiers who bow to Jesus with their knees while going about to crucify Him in the hour of trial. Pre-tribulation belief goes nearly, if not altogether, hand in hand with a lawless gospel and unconditional eternal security/once saved always saved doctrine. Pre-tribulation teachers typically don’t teach the need to be faithful unto death for Christ’s sake. How could they logically do so? Who could do this when their belief about God’s ways makes it necessary that God would rescue Christians from having to face great tribulation?
The widespread belief in the pre-tribulation rapture may very well be more of a symptom of some form of a false,easy-believism gospel, as well as the overall disregard within Christendom of what the Bible actually says. It is also heavily related to the false gospel of prosperity, which abounds en masse. Just (supposedly) have faith and God will take away your sicknesses, your problems, and give you your best life now until He takes you to heaven. This is a pathetic falsehood, yet it is popular. One trip to a Christian bookstore, or to a book section of a major store, will prove this. And of course this fits very well with the belief in the pre-tribulation rapture too.
Yet consider how these false gospels and concepts are refuted, even in and through the Scriptural evidence that there will be Christians on earth at the last trumpet who do go through the tribulation at the end of time. The Bible gives evidence of these things rather than teaching a Pre-tribulation rapture. And even more evident is the fact the Bible teaches that Christians need to live faithful to the Lord, that the faithful will face tribulation in the Lord, and only those who endure tribulation faithfully in the Lord will inherit salvation and enter the kingdom of God. The veracity of these principles matters more than someone’s belief about the timeline in the last years before Christ’s coming, but wrong suppositions about God’s ways can cause someone to not adequately believe these principles; and these suppositions can be derived from an especially corrupt understanding of the end-times.
John 16:33:“These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.”
John 17:14-15: “I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 15 I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.”
Matthew 24:9-13: ““Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake. 10 And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. 11 And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. 12 And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. 13 But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.”
Acts 14:21-22: “And when they had preached the gospel to that city, and had taught many, they returned again to Lystra, and to Iconium, and Antioch, 22 Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.”
I will then let Scripture speak for itself below on the timing of the rapture and whether God’s people will be on earth during the tribulation or not.
1 Corinthians 15:51-52: “Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.” And then Revelation 11:15-18: “And the seventh angel sounded (the last of the seven angels sounding his trumpet couldn’t be anything besides the last trumpet); 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. 16 And the four and twenty elders, which sat before God on their seats, fell upon their faces, and worshiped God, 17 Saying, We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come; because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned. 18 And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth.”
Revelation 16:15-17: “Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments (only truly born-again Christians have garments before God that are worth keeping), lest he walk naked, and they see his shame. 16 And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon. 17 And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done.”
The All Too Common Denominators
Whether we’re talking about denominations labeled as Christian or churches labeled as non-denominational Christian churches, there are several common problems among modern churches which misrepresent Christianity. It is hard to find a church today without at least one of the following errors. The vast majority have several.
Unconditional Security Doctrine: This goes hand in hand with the OSAS (once saved always saved) concept which tells people that if they’ve ever been a partaker of Christ they can never ultimately fall from grace. True Biblical salvation on the other hand remedies man’s rebellion against God and never promises salvation to anyone who is heeding the ancient lie of the serpent that we can transgress against God and “not surely die” (see Genesis 3:4 & Romans 8:13). It is no wonder that so many churches are plagued by immorality, lusts of the world, lukewarmness, and hypocrisy when the church’s own doctrine offers God’s grace without emphasizing our need to be diligent to prove ourselves as His faithful worshipers whom it would be fitting to have in His kingdom for eternity (Rev 21:8, Rev. 21:27, Rev 22:14, etc). Judas was hand-picked by Jesus Himself to be one of His Apostles- and yet he turned and fell away from Jesus to his own damnation.
Lack of Preaching on God’s Wrath and the Fire of Hell: The God of the Bible sent a flood which killed everyone on earth besides eight people who were righteous before Him, He destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah with fire and brimstone, and He has done many other terrifying acts as examples to preview and warn us of the severe eternal judgment which He will bring to those who are transgressors in His sight. God is holy, God is wrathful, God is a consuming fire- but few churches want to spend much time dealing with this. They know preaching God as He is, a Great King who ought to be feared, will not be good for business.
Church as a Business: Though the Bible teaches that there is a rightful place for church leaders to be recompensed financially for their labor, church is not supposed to be a business which one plans to make a career out of and use as a means of financial security and material comfort. The fact that most church leaders see church as a business is proven by how they do not faithfully teach and enforce even the Bible truth that they know. This isn’t even considering their lack of openness to correction and more light concerning what faithful Christianity entails in God’s eyes. They know such would cause them to lose membership- and thus lose income, which is of course essential for a business. Jesus Christ gave a great display of His anger in His public ministry when He cast the money-changers and merchants out of the Temple of God. These are the spiritual ancestors of Christendom’s clergy class today.
Prosperity Gospel and Birthright Privileges: It is no wonder then that man’s happiness and prosperity is often inordinately spoken of and Scripture is twisted to justify this. And it is no wonder that many of the most popular preachers now are Prosperity Gospel preachers. People are taught that God owes them because they are (supposedly) Christians and they (supposedly) have the privilege to claim from God whatever their heart desires. It is no wonder also that the nation of modern Israel is blessed in the majority of churches, with the assumption that its present prosperity must be a sign of God’s favor. Likewise, since the emphasis is on what God owes man and not on what God requires of man, unconditional security is usually taught in the same churches as a form of birthright privilege. As they claim the Jew who rejects Christ hasn’t lost God’s favor, the so-called born-again Christian (they claim) is in God’s favor due to the status he may have had at some point in the past. The truth though is that Jews who reject Jesus Christ, and the modern nation of Israel mainly composed of the same, are under God’s wrath; and likewise the professing Christian who doesn’t abide in Jesus Christ and bring forth the fruit of righteousness through Him is also under God’s wrath (Romans 11:21-22).
Entertainment and Emotionalism: Rather than faithfully doing God’s work and seeking to be pleasing to Christ, the trend in churches is to entertain man and to satisfy him emotionally. Music that emulates the world’s music, elaborate sound systems, concert environments, carnal hype, and fun rule the day. No honest person acquainted with the Bible could imagine its faithful men so catering to the demands of the Pagan society around them. But actually, it was this very thing happening which caused the corruption in the early Christian churches and led to the decline of the holy testimony that was established by the churches which Christ’s Apostles founded.
Yoking with the Roman Catholic Church: The harlot church which was, and still is, the chief product of the compromise between Christian churches and Pagan society is not called out as being such. It is rather emulated in its compromise to a significant degree; and quite often it is justified and involved in interdenominational fellowship of some kind. The current Pope is only a manifestation of the blasphemy, deceit, and fornication with the darkness of this world which his office and church have represented since at least the 4th century AD.
Jezebel Spirit: Often the Bible’s prohibitions against women spiritually leading and teaching men in the church are blatantly disobeyed. Even more often the Bible truth that the wife ought to be subject to her husband is mocked while men who try to instill reasonable rules and order in their homes are labeled as harsh and unloving. Women lecture men in and out of church, flaunt their bodies in immodest clothing, wear make-up, and are feared by male church leaders if they should think about preaching about how wrong any of this is in God’s eyes from the straightforward instructions of Scripture. Men who do their duty and appropriately exercise their God-given strength in any form are labeled as harsh, unloving, unchristlike, and are lumped in the same category with men who are truly abusive.
Fake Long Hair Hippie jesus: Even though many acknowledge that the image whereby Jesus is commonly portrayed in modern times must be false for obvious reasons, the modern churches seem to be the slowest to get this. That must have something to do with how the soft, effeminate man with long hair is much more compatible with the above points than a holy, masculine 1st century Jewish man with short hair. The modern jesus is an idol and a counterfeit of the real Jesus. We are warned in Scripture to be aware of fake jesuses and to not bear with them (2 Cor 11:3-4). Having a salvation that is real, and no counterfeit, comes only by believing in and obediently following the true Jesus of the Bible who is “the true God, and eternal life.” (1 John 5:20b)
On Modesty and the Deceit of Culture
Everyone can see that a culture having a common practice does not make that practice right. There have been unspeakably horrible things such as cannibalism and the ritualistic killing of the elderly which have been considered normal in societies throughout history. Another example would be the cultures which have normalized sacrificing their infants to pagan gods (not that our society is that bad- sarcasm). It is also evident that mankind is not progressing morally. Mankind’s deadliest wars have been fought in recent centuries. There has also not been a continual decrease in violent crime nor a steady increase of peace. The concept that mankind has been steadily evolving morally has been proven foolish, especially in the 20th century by the two great world wars and the many experiments of the practice of Leftist ideology (Communism) which has consistently resulted in mass oppression and murder.
Applying these things to today: Our society has come to accept as normal (and even label as progress) many evil things which the Word of God condemns. One example is the acceptance of immodest dress. Even though today it is considered normal to dress sensually in tight and/or revealing clothing, this is not right in God’s eyes nor in line with common sense. This tempts good people, while pleasing impure people in unclean pursuits. This corrupts those who take pleasure in it, while making those who practice it objects in their eyes. And you can bet that immodest dress has always been associated with many other evils.
There is coming a Day of Judgment when God will judge the world by HIS standards and condemn all who lived in violation of them. “Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.” (Jude 14-15) No one will be able to hide behind their society then. The norms of society should not dictate proper Christianity. Rather, Biblical Christianity should dictate how we respond to our society. If you are involved in the sin of immodesty, or are in any way taking pleasure in the immodesty of others, repent and cast it from you! Make the best effort you can to get it out of your life and read the Bible for better understanding of God’s will (which we should do anyways concerning every every issue). We ought to seek God with our whole hearts to align with His prescription for righteousness, which is His eternal moral law. Heaven is only for those who do this and hell is for those who don’t.
On Church Leadership and Church Membership
- You can’t have a pure church without church doctrine that demands purity and Biblically righteous standards for the church.
- You shouldn’t be part of a church that you don’t trust with your monetary offerings..
- You can talk much about accountability, but unless there’s a definite standard to hold the members accountable by, accountability is a vain concept.
- Deut 32:12 is proof that God alone leading does not negate human leadership. God’s order being followed in a church necessarily involves human leadership.
- 1 Timothy chapter 2 lesson: If the women are not in subjection and dressed modestly, then it could not be a faithful church; and if they are truly in subjection, they’ll put on head-coverings (1 Corinthians chapter 11). 1 Corinthians 11:7 shows how the head-covering is prescribed as an eternal principle of God, not as a matter of conformity to 1st century culture. 1 Corinthians 11:5, considered with 1 Corinthians 14:34, shows that the women’s head-covering represents God’s order outside of the church meeting as well as within the church meeting.
- The very concept of “I follow God and not man” is a man-made concept (when it is said in the context of disregarding the authority of faithful church leaders).
- You can be sure that Jezebel wanted the Bishop in Thyatira’s hands to be tied.
- It is not godly to care what no one thinks of you. A person who cares not at all is only concerned about him/herself. It is another thing to do good to others, treat others as you’d reasonably expect others treat you, seek to not stumble anyone from pursuing God and righteousness, and be an overall faithful Christian- and from there not care about others’ criticism and/or misunderstanding and/or lack of appreciation which isn’t due to failure in these things according to the judgments of the Bible.
- Oftentimes to obey God we have to dedicate ourselves to a work which the world not only doesn’t appreciate, but even downright despises.
For any questions or clarification on this study, contact bro Aaron at [email protected].
D5 Creation