Straining Out a Gnat and Swallowing a Camel - Self-Examination for Passover

Many of the principles God teaches in the gospel accounts involving Christ's interaction with or instruction about the scribes and Pharisees may apply to the Church of God and some of the ministers today.

One lesson has to do with the hypocrisy of the Pharisees in being meticulous about small things but neglecting more important things.

Christ compares this with straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel.

"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone. Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!" (Matthew 23:23-24).

Can this apply to some ministers or members in any of the Church of God fellowships today?

Let me describe a scenario.  You judge if it applies to any fellowship today.  In my opinion, it may apply to several Church of God fellowships today.  If not, then you can judge the scenario as hypothetical.  But it may be useful for self-examination.  Let each person judge if there are lessons that apply to him.

We are approaching Passover, and prior to Passover we need to examine ourselves, so this is an appropriate season for asking ourselves these kinds of questions.  Does the lesson of straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel apply to any of us today?

Let's say you have a group of ministers and members that are part of a Church of God fellowship that is doing a work of preaching the gospel and the Ezekiel warning to Israel and the world.  It may not be a perfect organization, and their work may be small or large, but they have an open door for preaching the gospel and the Ezekiel warning to the nations, even if that door is only open a little, not wide-open as needed.  They are doing a work that is effective and bearing fruit even if only on a small scale.  They are getting baptisms of new people brought in from the work.

This group of ministers and members becomes offended with that organization over some minor matter.  Of course, it doesn't seem minor to them.  But it is small compared to the preaching of the gospel and the Ezekiel warning.  So they leave that organization and form a new fellowship over whatever minor issue offends them.

And, oh, how zealous they are!  They make that issue a test of loyalty to God.

They have high hopes for their new group.  They may even have high hopes that they will do a better job of preaching the gospel than the old organization they came out of.

But as time goes on, the new group does not preach the gospel effectively.  The old organization did better.  Even the issue that caused the split may disappear.  If it was a personality conflict with the leader of the old organization, that leader may depart from the scene.

But though the new group is not effectively preaching the gospel and Ezekiel warning, giving it the priority it should have, and making changes as needed to see to it that they are living the way of life that Mr. Armstrong lived that produced the positive results and fruits he had from God when he preached the gospel, do any members or ministers who have their hearts in the gospel consider leaving, once again, to form a group that really will preach the gospel effectively and give it high priority?  Or do they consider going back to the first organization they left, an organization that is preaching the gospel more effectively than their current group?

Whether they consider it or not, they stay with the statis quo.  They neither go back to the old organization nor leave their current group to form a new group to do God's work.  But why?

For the sake of a minor issue, they separate from a group that is effectively, though on a small scale, getting a warning message out to the nations.  And they form a new group that is effectively doing nothing or at least much less than the first organization.  There is a great unfulfilled need to warn millions of people about a punishment coming that is so severe, 90% or more of the people will die and some will be so hungry that they will eat their own children.

But the ministers in the new group are unmoved by this.  Ninety percent or more dead, parents eating their children?  People not trusting God's love, justice, and fairness because they were never warned till it was too late?  So what?  Who cares?

And what does the new fellowship do with the tithe income they pulled out of the first organization they left?  Preach the gospel?  Or spend it on social activities?  They are ok with tens of millions or hundreds of millions suffering in agony and dying and doubting God's fairness because they were never warned that Christmas and Easter are wrong.  That is ok, as long as the new fellowship can have its social activities now.  We have to give our young people an opportunity to get to know each other and marry in the Church, right?

In this context, the original issue they left over, which seemed important at the time, fades into insignificance.

But what about the big things, the weightier matters of the law, justice, mercy, and faith (Matthew 23:23)?  Justice means you do everything you can to warn someone so they are not punished for something they do that they don't know is wrong, and mercy means the same thing.  Faith is believing God's word, and that means believing God about the Ezekiel warning He requires we deliver and also believing the Bible about any new knowledge Christ wants to teach us.

And are any of the ministers in the new fellowship, who now see what they did not see when they started, that the new organization is doing almost nothing to get the message out to the nations, willing to step out and stand up for what needs to be done?  No, not so far.

They quit the old organization over a minor issue.  Oh, how courageous they were!  How brave, how fearless, like David with Goliath, when they had a leader who made decisions for them.  What faith they had!  How vigorously they stood up for small things!

But when it comes to something important, like warning the nations, something that can affect if someone enters the kingdom of God eventually or stumbles over not understanding why God did not love them enough (or the Church of God did not love them for that matter) to give them a warning - when it comes to that, where is their bravery?  Where are their guts?  You mean if you step out to do a work as Mr. Armstrong did in 1934, you won't have someone to make decisions for you?  You will have to rely on Christ to guide you as Mr. Armstrong did?  Is that what you are afraid of?

You boast in that you were willing to stand up for the minor issue that incited you to separate from the first organization, but are you willing to stand up for the gospel?  You glory in yourself, but you don't glorify God by getting a warning message out, is that it?

You quit one organization when it was easy, but are you willing to do it again when it is hard?

We must be courageous to do God's will (Revelation 21:7-8, Matthew 25:25-30).

To him who knows to do good, but does not do it, it is sin. "Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin" (James 4:17).

Whether my description of the scenario above accurately applies to any fellowship, you judge.  I can see certain patterns, but I don't know all details and I cannot read minds to know intents and motives.  But it provides food for thought.  Count it as hypothetical if you want.  But it illustrates a point.

Let each individual who reads this examine the matter in light of his own circumstances and things he knows.  None of what I say is based on insider knowledge or correspondence, only on the Bible and the same public information all of you have access to.  Everyone can draw his own conclusions and form his own judgments.

And if someone decides to separate, the separation can be peaceful.  It should be, if possible.  That is the best way.  Leaders can simply agree to disagree and agree to peacefully pursue different approaches.  God even endorses the idea of trying different things to see what works.  (Ecclesiastes 11:6).  So you can have two groups that have two different views and policies on how to do the work, and they can be peaceful with each other, each trying the way that they think is God's will.  Paul even indicated that people with different views on eating meat offered to idols should not judge each other, but let each man be content in his own opinion.  "Who are you to judge another’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. Indeed, he will be made to stand, for God is able to make him stand.  One person esteems one day above another; another esteems every day alike. Let each be fully convinced in his own mind" (Romans 14:4-5).

So let's say you have a group with a leader that says, "The best approach to preaching the gospel is to not consider any changes in doctrine, we'll just stick to what Mr. Armstrong taught and what the Church has taught for years - that is the simplest and best way".  And let's say a minister or elder in that group says to the leader, "God will bless us more and we will be more effective in preaching the gospel if we consider changes in doctrine so we can follow the example of Mr. Armstrong and practice what we preach when we tell the public to learn new things from the Bible".  Now let's say, the minister says to the leader, "I want to peacefully separate and raise up a new group so I can try the approach I think will work best".  The leader, if he is willing that the separation be peaceful, can say, "Go ahead, and let me know if I can help you with any information or advice. I hope and pray that one of us is successful, maybe both of us. Let there be peace between us, and may God show us His will".

That would be characteristic of brotherly love, right?

This doesn't usually happen in the Church of God.  Why?  Because we do not have the brotherly love that is supposed to be characteristic of Philadelphia.  Why not?  Because we are in the Laodicean era, and most leaders and ministers are not Philadelphian in character.

But I think such a peaceful parting of the ways, with each party trying the approach they think is best and letting God bless the approach that is right in His eyes, is biblical and the right thing to do (Numbers 17:1-9).

Remember, Peter and Paul peacefully agreed to a division of labor between them (Galatians 2:7-10).  

But it takes both parties to make peace, but only one to make war.

"If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men" (Romans 12:18).

If we are to be faithful in small things, we better also be faithful in big things.  If we are zealous over things that do not affect our neighbors, we better be zealous over things that have a tremendous effect on our neighbors and the mental and physical suffering they will endure, and even their eternal lives.

If we are faithful in easy things, we should be faithful in hard things.

This is a very appropriate subject to think about and to use to exam ourselves between now and Passover in preparation for taking Passover in a worthy manner.  The principles of straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel, even apart from the scenario I described, can be a good subject for self examination for everyone in all COG fellowships.

In your life, what major matters, weightier matters of the law, are you ignoring for the sake of small matters, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel?

Jonah tried to run from his responsibilities.  God dealt harshly with him and made him do it.  When words don't work, God sometimes uses action to prod us to action (Hebrews 12:5-14, Revelation 3:19).

Let us fear God and do His will early.  That is the best way.


For further reading on the subject of the need for an ordained minister or local elder to raise up a faithful fellowship, if there is no faithful fellowship right now, read section "Have Zeal for the Gospel and the Ezekiel Warning" in my last post dated April 2, 2025 titled, "How to Protect Yourself from Deception".