If You Hear Your Pastor Preach False Doctrine or Error, Does Matthew 18:15-18 Apply?

Here is a question. Consider this well-known passage: "Moreover if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother. But if he will not hear, take with you one or two more, that 'by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.' And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church. But if he refuses even to hear the church, let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector. Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven" (Matthew 18:15-18).

Now consider this situation. Suppose you are listening to your pastor give a sermon, and you hear him say something that sounds like false doctrine or doctrinal error. Does Matthew 18:15-18 apply? And if it applies, is it the only correct way to handle the situation? Is your only option to count the pastor as being a brother who has "sinned against you" by teaching something wrong, and then go through the steps of Matthew 18:15-18, starting with talking to your pastor alone about the issue?

Suppose your pastor tells you something like this: "If you hear me teach or say something that seems like false teaching, your only right option, according to Matthew 18:15-18, is to first talk to me privately about it. You are wrong if you keep silent and you are wrong if you leave this fellowship or congregation. Your only option is to talk to me personally - anything else is contrary to the Bible."

Is that correct? Does the process in Matthew 18:15-18 apply to the teaching of error by a minister? And if it does, are the steps in Matthew 18:15-18 the only right response or does the Bible allow for other options?

That is my question. Or, I should say, those are my questions, plural.

I will admit I have not studied or thought about this very much until recently. For most of the years I have been in the Church of God, I had not considered Matthew 18:15-18 in relation to doctrinal error taught by ministers in the Church. I never thought of applying Matthew 18:15-18 to the wrong teachings in Worldwide from the time Mr. Tkach began to make changes until the time I left Worldwide. I didn't decide against using the procedures in Matthew 18:15-18. It just never occurred to me.

When I first learned about the process in Matthew 18:15-18, I understood it to primarily apply to personal offenses between members, like, "he borrowed my lawnmower but never returned it", or "he keeps flirting with my wife and I told him to stop and he won't", or "he has been talking behind my back, spreading lies about me" - that sort of thing.

So can it apply to a minister teaching false doctrine?

I don't say I have every answer, but I will share my thoughts about this so far and point out what some other scriptures say that may have a bearing on the question. Hopefully, this may give food for thought to anyone struggling with this issue.

Matthew 18:15-18 describes a three-step process for resolving differences and offenses between brethren in the Church of God. It is only potentially three steps, because the process can end with the first or second step if there is success and the matter is resolved. The three steps are, talk first to your brother alone, then if that doesn't work take witnesses, and finally if that doesn't work take it to the "church", and I think most members understand that taking it to the church does not mean spreading it around but taking it to those in authority for a decision and ruling. After the description of the three steps comes this statement: "Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven" (Matthew 18:18).

That statement, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, helps to show the context of "tell it to the church", that telling it to the church means telling it to the ministry and leadership who have the authority to make binding decisions. Telling it to the church does not mean gossiping and spreading your complaint to everyone in the congregation. Most members understand that, or should understand that.

But this also shows that the primary application of this and the context is resolving disputes and wrongs committed by one member against the other, not doctrine. Why? The ministry and leadership can make binding decisions about resolving disputes, wrongs, and sins committed by one member against another. They can make judgments about remedies, about making amends. They can say, "return the lawnmower you borrowed", "stop flirting with that man's wife", and "stop spreading lies about that man and apologize publicly for what you have done."

But they cannot make binding decisions about what the truth is. They cannot, for example, say, "God is a trinity", and make that binding truth, to use an obvious example. God is not going to suddenly become a trinity just to make binding what the minister has taught based on Matthew 18:18. They can't say, "you have immortal souls" and suddenly God makes all our souls immortal to make binding in heaven what the minister has bound on earth. Nor does the ministry have the authority to do away with or change God's law, otherwise the Catholic Church could say, we used the binding authority given in Matthew 18:18 to change the Sabbath to Sunday.

To some degree the ministry has binding authority over the work of the Church including preaching the gospel and feeding the flock, or in other words, teaching. They have the authority to determine official doctrine that will be taught. That doesn't condone heresy, but there are smaller points of detail about doctrine that different people in the Church may have different opinions about, and the leadership has the authority to make binding decisions about what the official teaching of the Church is.

But truth is still truth and error is still error, and Matthew 18:18 cannot be used by the ministry to change truth to error or error to truth.

So the fact that Matthew 18:18, the verse giving binding authority to the ministry and leadership, directly follows the passage about the three steps for resolving disputes in Matthew 18:15-17, shows the context of Matthew 18:15-17, that it is not primarily about doctrinal truth, but about resolving sins and wrongs committed by one member against another. The ministry has the binding authority to determine if an accusation is fair, if the offense has been committed, and what the restitution should be.

And yet, the whole three-step process in Matthew 18:15-17 does not necessarily exclude the possibility that the "brother" who sinned against you may be a minister who sinned against you by teaching you false doctrine. I am only saying, that does not seem to be the main context. But it is not complete excluded either.

So if you consider that the minister has "sinned against you" by teaching wrong doctrine or error or heresy, yes, it can apply, but with qualifications.

First of all, is every mistake in speaking or doctrinal error a "sin against you" that requires that you talk to the minister about it? I don't think so. Even in personal matters between brethren that have nothing to do with doctrine or with a minister, you always have the option to overlook a matter, to forgive and forget, to put it behind you. If everyone applied Matthew 18:15-18 to every minor offense, you would have chaos in the Church. If I applied Matthew 18:15-18 every time I passed a member and he didn't say "hi", that would not make for peace in the Church of God. We may be offended, we have our feelings hurt, but we should try not to be easily offended. We don't have to count every small thing as a "sin" against us, especially when we consider that the person who slighted us may have had no intention of doing so. Accidents, misunderstandings, and misinterpretations happen all the time.

There is a larger principle behind Matthew 18:15-18, and that principle is peace based on love in the Church of God. "Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things" (1 Corinthians 13:4-7). If you go through this list, you will find a number of reasons why love will often overlook a small matter and not try to seek justice through Matthew 18:15-18.

The objective of Matthew 18:15-18 is to resolve conflicts that cannot be overlooked and must be resolved to have real peace. The objective is never to stir up strife over small matters by magnifying something tiny until it becomes something big. Matthew 18:15-18 should never be a battle-plan for warfare. Satan would like to see Matthew 18:15-18 misused. He would like to use it as a lever to stir up strive and division between brethren. And it is not hard to imagine how it can be misused that way.

Yes, if you have a problem with your brother, if you need to use Matthew 18:15-18, use it. But you don't always have to use it. You have to judge whether to use it or not. And keep in mind Christ's words, "Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets" (Matthew 7:12). So put yourself in the other member's situation. If you committed the offense to him, accidentally, would you want him to apply Matthew 18:15-18? Well, maybe you would, at least the first step. You might want him to talk to you so you could resolve the misunderstanding or apologize if you were wrong. But look at it from his point of view before you make a decision.

For scriptural proof that Matthew 18:15-18 must be set in the context of the overall objective of promoting peace in the Church of God, consider these scriptures: "Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men. Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, 'Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,' says the Lord. Therefore, 'If your enemy is hungry, feed him; If he is thirsty, give him a drink; For in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head.' Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good" (Romans 12:17-21). "For God is not the author of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints" (1 Corinthians 14:33). "Finally, brethren, farewell. Become complete. Be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you" (2 Corinthians 13:11). "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law" (Galatians 5:22-23).

Also, "Be at peace among yourselves" (1 Thessalonians 5:13). "Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord" (Hebrews 12:14). "But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace" (James 3:17-18). "For 'He who would love life and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips from speaking deceit. Let him turn away from evil and do good; Let him seek peace and pursue it" (1 Peter 3:10-11).

Also, "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God" (Matthew 5:9).

Peace is the objective. Matthew 18:15-18 is one of the mechanisms, one of the tools for achieving peace when an offense cannot be overlooked.

Do you have the option to overlook an offense, or would it be contrary to Matthew 18:15-18 to overlook an offense? Consider this well-known passage about lawsuits in the Church. In 1 Corinthians 6:1-6 Paul rebukes the Corinthians for going to this world's courts in lawsuits against each other. Now notice verse 7 which follows: "Now therefore, it is already an utter failure for you that you go to law against one another. Why do you not rather accept wrong? Why do you not rather let yourselves be cheated?" (1 Corinthians 6:7). So according to Paul, it is not a sin to let yourself be wronged, to accept that you have been cheated and forgive the offender without seeking redress. He says this in regard to filing lawsuits, but he could not have said this if it was a sin to overlook a wrong, if we are required to apply Matthew 18:15-18 to EVERY sin against us whether we feel we need to or not.

So overlooking a sin against you, forgiving it, not counting it, is always an option, provided you can do it from the heart (Matthew 18:35). There can be no room for grudges. If you cannot completely forgive unless the matter is resolved, then go through the steps of Matthew 18:15-18.

Now, back to the matter of doctrinal teaching by a minister.

Can the steps in Matthew 18:15-18 be applied to a minister teaching false doctrine? If you feel he has sinned against you by what he says, I think you can go through those steps to try to resolve the situation, or at least the first step. Certainly you can go to the minister privately and see if you misunderstood what he said or if he just made a verbal mistake, a "slip of the tongue", and the words that came out of his mouth were not what he really was trying to say. That can happen to anyone who speaks frequently. Maybe he just used a bad choice of words to try to express what he was thinking. And as with personal offenses, you have the option, if the matter is not critically important, to just overlook it and count it as a human mistake not worth making an issue about. If I went to my pastor for every case where I heard him say anything I didn't fully agree with, he would have to kick me out or he wouldn't have time for anyone else - I could argue with him 8 hours a day if I wanted. When to talk to the minister and when to keep silent is your judgment call for each situation.

But when it comes to taking witnesses with you to talk to minister a second time, and if that doesn't resolve it to report him to headquarters for something he has said to everyone in the congregation from the podium, additional factors come into play that are not involved in simple disputes between brethren. I don't rule those steps out, but you should think some things through first.

First of all, is his teaching consistent with the headquarters of the Church of God fellowship you both attend? What if what he says is wrong, it is error, it is false doctrine, but your fellowship's headquarters is teaching the same error, the same false doctrine, and he is only following the error of headquarters in his teaching? It's not going to do much good then to "report him" to headquarters, in which case headquarters will only be glad to learn he is teaching what they want him to teach. You will actually be "reporting" yourself to headquarters. Are you ready to leave that fellowship? Maybe so, and maybe this is the way to do it. But if you already know that headquarters, the leadership of that Church of God organization, is itself teaching the error, why put it on the minister? After clarifying with your pastor what headquarters actually teaches, you can write to headquarters and say, "why do YOU teach such-and-such in light of these scriptures...?". There would be no need to take witnesses with you if both your pastor and headquarters are openly teaching the doctrine - headquarters knows what it teaches. Talking to other members to gather "witnesses" for a second discussion with the pastor can be construed as promoting division over the issue, as it well might be.

God does teach that we are to speak the same thing and not sow division (1 Corinthians 1:10). I have long taught in this blog in many posts that members should not contradict their pastors and ministry in conversation with other members in that same fellowship. It would be kind of hard to gather witnesses without getting into conversation in which you would tell other members why you think the pastor, and headquarters, are wrong.

But if it really seems that the minister is departing from headquarters in his teaching, that he is going out on his own, teaching wrong doctrine and departing from the sound teaching of headquarters and the leader of the fellowship, and if this seems to be confirmed by your private discussion with him, then a second discussion with witnesses can be a useful step before reporting his words to headquarters. But when you write to headquarters, use wisdom and be polite. State your pastor's words as accurately as you can and say, "is this the teaching of the Church?", or something like that.

Always consider the consequences of what you do. "Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves" (Matthew 10:16). I don't say that being in the Church is like being among wolves. Most of the time it is not (but sometimes it can be). The context of Christ's words may be different than the context we are talking about here. But this is based on a general principle, think before you act - consider the outcome. Here is that general principle stated: "A prudent man foresees evil and hides himself, but the simple pass on and are punished" (Proverbs 22:3). There is a time to remain silent (Amos 5:13) and there is a time to contend (Jude 3).

If things are not clear, time will sometimes bring things out in the open and make things more clear. Study it, pray about it, and give God time to make it clear what you should do.

So if a pastor says, you are wrong to keep silent, that is not necessarily true.

But as to whether you can leave the fellowship you are in to attend a different fellowship, that is not about Matthew 18:15-18 at all. The Church of God today is divided into competing fellowships, and Matthew 18:15-18 is not intended to make division more workable. We are in the Laodicean era - all the fruits of the scattered condition of the whole Church of God show this.

Matthew 18:15-18 is not intended to address the issue of where to attend when the Church is divided.

When you were baptized, your commitment was to God the Father and to Jesus Christ, not to any denomination or organization. You don't need your pastor's permission to go to the Church of God fellowship Christ leads you to. Christ is your head in matters of your salvation, not any Church leader. If you began attending the fellowship you are in because you thought they were doing the best job of feeding the flock and preaching the gospel, and now Christ shows you that He wants you elsewhere, that the fruits are not good where you are now, either because the organization has changed or you were mistaken when you began to attend with them, I know of no scripture or passage in the Bible that says you cannot go to a fellowship that is doing God's work most faithfully, or that you cannot leave a fellowship without your pastor's permission, when the Church is scattered as it is now.

Although Matthew 18:15-18 does not address where to attend, other scriptures do.

"If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him into your house nor greet him; for he who greets him shares in his evil deeds" (2 John 10-11). This is a scripture that helped me to see that I had to leave Worldwide, when I saw that their errors were so many and so serious that they were in effect teaching a false gospel.

"And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them" (Ephesians 5:11). This is not talking about ordinary human mistakes of converted ministers who are basically teaching the truth. This is talking about serious false teaching to the point that the overall message is a "work of darkness". If error becomes this serious, get out fast, don't take the time to wave good bye. When this becomes the character of the whole organization, you don't need to talk to the minister before you obey Christ.

"But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers....And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd" (John 10:2-16). When error reaches a point where you are hearing the voice of a stranger from the podium and from headquarters more than the voice of Christ, that would be a good clue that it is time to look for a fellowship where you will hear the voice of Christ, not strangers. Sometimes you can sense if the ministry is helping or hurting your relationship with God. When things reach a point where you feel the ministry is pulling you away from God, hurting your relationship with God, making it more difficult for you to believe, trust, and obey what God says in the Bible, that is a good time to leave. It's up to you whether to talk to your pastor first or not.

"Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: 'I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they shall be My people.' Therefore 'Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you.' " (2 Corinthians 6:14-17). There is a time when we must separate ourselves from those who try to lead us to sin. Christ even told Peter, "Get behind Me, Satan", when Peter tried to dissuade Christ from being a sacrifice.

You should also be able to love your neighbors as yourself and have zeal for the gospel by supporting the preaching of the gospel and the Ezekiel warning as much as you can, including by fellowshipping with a group that is zealously doing that work, even if it means leaving where you are at. Again, if Christ leads you to see this, you don't have to talk to your pastor first, though you can if you want to.

I will repeat my previous question.

Suppose your pastor tells you something like this: "If you hear me teach or say something that seems like false teaching, your only right option, according to Matthew 18:15-18, is to first talk to me privately about it. You are wrong if you keep silent and you are wrong if you leave this fellowship or congregation. Your only option is to talk to me personally - anything else is contrary to the Bible."

As far as I can see from the Bible, a pastor who says this would be wrong on two counts. For one thing, there is a time to keep silent, to just pray about it, study it, and wait for Christ to resolve things. You can certainly do this over minor errors, and there can be scriptural grounds for choosing to not bring your disagreement over errors to the ministry. Matthew 18:15-18 does not bind you to discuss every issue with him that you think he is in error about. Matthew 18:15-18 is primarily about resolving disputes with a brother who sins against you. But whether you discuss your disagreement with the pastor or not, do not discuss it with the brethren, do not contradict him, and do not stir up division. Respect the office. Discuss it with the pastor, or keep it between you and God in prayer, but don't bring your disagreement to the brethren.

Secondly, he is wrong to say that Matthew 18:15-18 requires you to stay in the fellowship you are in if you see that God wants you in a different fellowship. And helping you see that the teaching of your pastor about a major doctrine is false may be a way Christ is showing you that He wants you in a different fellowship.

It is natural for someone baptized by a minister in a particular fellowship, either because he grew up in that fellowship or because he came into that fellowship from hearing the truth preached on TV and in publications by that group, to feel a special loyalty to that fellowship. But it is God who has really brought you into the Church and called you. Your loyalty should be towards God, and you need to seek his will first through Bible study and prayer and seek where Christ is working most effectively, and you need to seek that fellowship that is most faithful to God, if there are serious problems in the fellowship where you are at. And after you get all the facts and seek God's will, it may be that you discover that His will is for you to remain. At least then you will know.

And for those who were baptized in Worldwide before it split apart, how did you come into the fellowship you are in now? Did you not walk in of your own free will because you thought that this fellowship was where God wanted you to be? And if God now shows you differently, are you not free to walk out just as you walked in?

I know of no scriptures that endorse the principle of primary loyalty to only one part of a divided Church of God that is competing with and hostile towards other parts of God's Church, such as is the case when the Church of God is scattered and divided as it is today. Your loyalty should be to God and Christ, and wherever you attend, it should be because it is God's will you attend there, not because a minister commands you to stay.


Here are links to related chapters or sections in Preaching the Gospel:

When and How to Judge, Chapter 5

Should Each Member Promote His Own Opinion?, Chapter 6

Proving the Truth, Chapter 6

The Twelve Apostles, Chapter 8

Organization of the Church and Limitations on the Authority of the Ministry, Chapter 8

Don't Demand Old Covenant Blessings if You Are under the New Covenant

Many traditional mainstream churches have emphasized the forgiveness of sin through the sacrifice of Christ, and they have minimized the importance of obeying God's law, saying the law is done away. Mr. Armstrong was raised in mainstream tradition, and after he learned the truth and began to preach the true gospel to the world and to the Church of God, he emphasized that which was not emphasized in the mainstream tradition he and many of us have come out of, and needed to be emphasized: obedience to the spiritual law of God.

He repeatedly taught that God's law defines a way of life that leads to happiness and everything good. He taught that the violation of that law, sin, results in suffering, destruction, and death. He taught God's law as a matter of cause and effect. Like the law of gravity, God's law works automatically, producing good results when obeyed and bad results when disobeyed. If you break God's law, it will break you, Mr. Armstrong would often say.

As a general principle, this is true.

In God's kingdom, obedience to the law of God by all of us in God's family will bring happiness to all. The way of life expressed by God's law, when universally practiced, results in universal happiness and peace.

But whether a person obeys or disobeys God's law affects not only that person but also those around him. One who sins can bring suffering to those who are obeying God's law. Thus, you may obey God's law, yet suffer because of the disobedience of others.

Moreover, in this life even converted members of God's Church have carnal, human nature to fight, and we do not win every battle. We have two natures within us, our carnal nature infused in our minds by Satan and God's nature given to us through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, and these two natures war against each other in our minds. "I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members" (Romans 7:21-23). "For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish" (Galatians 5:17). "For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good. But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me" (Romans 7:14-20).

So we are not perfect yet in this life, and thus we do not obey God's law perfectly.

This is Satan's world, and it is a mixture of good and evil, with evil predominating.

Not only do we suffer in this life because of the sins of the world, we suffer because of our own sins, even if we are mostly obeying God. You might be obeying God 98%, but the 2% sin you commit may bring suffering upon you that might seem all out of proportion to the righteousness you practice. Why? Because God is teaching us lessons. God can bring the consequences of the 2% sin in our lives in a strong way to teach us to get rid of that 2% sin.

Let 20 cars go speeding 20 miles per hour over the speed limit, and they will get away with it. Let me try it, and I'll get caught and ticketed at the worst time of my life when I don't have the money to pay the fine. Others in the world seem to get away with a lot of sin, but I can't get away with anything. Why? God is teaching me, and He wants me to suffer so I learn.

So we may suffer in this life, even if we mostly obey God.

And sometimes we might think this is unfair. But it is not. Believe it or not, God does not promise a happy life in this world, Satan's world, if we obey God's law. Instead, God has given us the better promises of the New Covenant: God's Holy Spirit and eternal life.

Often a newly baptized member or soon-to-be-baptized prospective member will have the following expectation about his or her future Christian life: "I will obey God's law and I will be blessed in this physical life. Sure, I'll have a few trials along the way, but for the most part, I will be happy because I will live the way of life, God's way according to God's law, that produces happiness. I will find a good wife (or husband) in the Church, I will have a happy marriage, I will have happy, healthy children. I myself will be healthy because I will obey the laws of health, and I will prosper in my career because I will work hard and pay my tithes."

It is certainly not wrong to expect blessings to come because of obedience. Those blessings will certainly come, either in this temporary physical life or in God's kingdom to come. But there is no guarantee God will give us a happy life now in this world during our physical life. What God promises is the gift of His Holy Spirit and the gift of eternal life in His kingdom. That is where we will find the true blessings.

Look at the parable of Lazarus and the rich man. "There was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day. But there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, full of sores, who was laid at his gate, desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. So it was that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died and was buried. And being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. Then he cried and said, 'Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.' But Abraham said, 'Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted and you are tormented" (Luke 16:19-25).

Did Lazarus obey God's law? He must have, or how could he be in God's kingdom with Abraham? Did his obedience lead to happiness in this physical life? No, for in the words of the parable, Lazarus received "evil things" in this life.

Did Paul have a happy life in this physical life? Was he physically blessed in the here and now? Speaking about Saul (to be renamed Paul), Christ said to Ananias, "For I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name’s sake" (Acts 9:16). Paul later wrote, "Are they ministers of Christ? - I speak as a fool - I am more: in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequently, in deaths often. From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep; in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness - besides the other things, what comes upon me daily: my deep concern for all the churches" (2 Corinthians 11:23-28). "If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable" (1 Corinthians 15:19).

God can bring suffering on us in this life for several reasons: to teach us lessons, to correct us for our sins, or to test our faith. Will we have faith that God is good, fair, just, and merciful, even if we suffer after obeying God? Job had to learn the lesson of believing in God's righteousness more than his own, even when he suffered.

Yet we may have a tendency to question God's fairness when we suffer even when we are obedient. "I fasted, but things became worse." "I made progress in overcoming sin, yet I am suffering worse trials than before." "Why won't God answer my prayers? Doesn't God care that I am obeying His law?" Then, finally, we can be tempted to say to ourselves, "God isn't fair. He promised me blessings for obedience, and I am obeying, but God has not blessed me."

In effect, we can be looking for Old Covenant blessings under the New Covenant. But the promises of the New Covenant are not the same as the promises of the Old Covenant. In fact, as members of the Church of God, we are not entitled to the promises and blessings of the Old Covenant. That is actually good for us, because the promises of the New Covenant are far far better.

What does God promise for obedience under the Old Covenant? National and physical blessings in this life: health, prosperity, and safety. "Then it shall come to pass, because you listen to these judgments, and keep and do them, that the Lord your God will keep with you the covenant and the mercy which He swore to your fathers. And He will love you and bless you and multiply you; He will also bless the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your land, your grain and your new wine and your oil, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flock, in the land of which He swore to your fathers to give you. You shall be blessed above all peoples; there shall not be a male or female barren among you or among your livestock. And the Lord will take away from you all sickness, and will afflict you with none of the terrible diseases of Egypt which you have known, but will lay them on all those who hate you" (Deuteronomy 7:12-15). "Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today, that the Lord your God will set you high above all nations of the earth. And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of the Lord your God: Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the country. Blessed shall be the fruit of your body, the produce of your ground and the increase of your herds, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flocks. Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out. The Lord will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before your face; they shall come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways. The Lord will command the blessing on you in your storehouses and in all to which you set your hand, and He will bless you in the land which the Lord your God is giving you" (Deuteronomy 28:1-8).

What does God promise under the New Covenant? CORRECTION and TESTING! For what purpose? To prepare us for eternal life as His sons in the Kingdom of God. "And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons: 'My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him; For whom the Lord loves He chastens, and scourges every son whom He receives.' If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten? But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons. Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live? For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness. Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it" (Hebrews 12:5-11). "Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you; but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy" (1 Peter 4:12-13). "In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ" (1 Peter 1:6-7).

Why must we suffer in this life? Because God is making us perfect for eternal life as His sons in the Kingdom of God. And it is in the Kingdom of God that we will have the real blessings of happiness for eternity.

But too often, in our minds or emotions, we demand physical blessings in this life for our obedience, and we become discouraged when we do not receive them, wondering why God doesn't bless us.

Sometimes it is good to ask ourselves why God is withholding blessings, because God may want us to examine ourselves to learn our faults so we can repent and go to work on them, and withholding blessings or putting us through trials can be a way of getting our attention.

But we should never question or doubt God's fairness, justice, or righteousness as Job seems to have done (Job 27:1-4, 34:5). Nor should we become discouraged and think, "what's the use of obeying?" Notice again, "And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons: 'My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him'...Therefore strengthen the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees" (Hebrews 12:5-12). "Do not fret because of evildoers, nor be envious of the wicked" (Proverbs 24:19).

We must learn the lesson of faith, and we must trust God that if we learn our lessons and continue to overcome and believe, trust, and obey God, and endure to the end, we will be rewarded and blessed in the Kingdom of God.

The spiritual law of God is the basic law and requirement of both the Old Covenant and the New Covenant. Both covenants promise blessings, and since God's law defines the way of life that produces blessings, the law of God must be a requirement of both covenants. You can't have a covenant that promises blessings without the requirement of obedience to the way of life that produces blessings. It is obedience to the law that produces the blessings promised in both covenants.

But the specific blessings and promises of the two covenants are different. The Old Covenant promises physical blessings in this life for the nation of Israel. The New Covenant promises the Holy Spirit now and eternal life of glory, honor, and joy in the Kingdom of God for Christians.

God teaches us lessons in this life. He tests us, teaches us, corrects us, and shapes our character. That is His number one priority at this time. If He gives us blessings now, it is to teach us. If He gives suffering and trials, it is to teach us. Under the New Covenant, our real blessing and reward will be in the Kingdom of God, not in this physical life in Satan's world.

Sometimes, in times of trial and suffering, we may feel we are not receiving the blessings we should have for obedience. When we think this way, we are looking for Old Covenant promises of physical blessings in this life, but we are not under the Old Covenant.

For us in the Church, it is in God's kingdom that our reward and blessings for obedience await us.

Give God Thanks

In the United States, Thanksgiving is a national holiday. The tradition had its start in the early years of our people's history when settlers gave God thanks for a good harvest. The purpose of Thanksgiving is in its name, to give thanks to God.

Yet, in our increasingly secular society, many Americans do not keep it in the spirit of its name. Atheists and agnostics often observe the day as simply a day to have a big dinner with family or friends, watch football, and enjoy a day off from work. Even among those who believe in God, the actual giving of thanks often takes a backseat to other activities. Thanksgiving is also used by many to mark the beginning of the Christmas shopping season, almost as if Christmas shopping is a game or race and the day after Thanksgiving is like the firing of the starting gun - a signal to begin - "on your mark, get set, go."

Some people even call Thanksgiving, "Turkey Day", as if eating turkey is the main purpose of the day. Maybe they can't stomach calling it "Thanksgiving" when they don't feel thankful to God for anything. Maybe some are embarrassed by the name of the holiday, as if they don't want people to get the idea that they take giving thanks to God seriously.

If you watch TV, notice how often in the programming, announcements, news, and commercials the words "holiday" or "Thanksgiving" are mentioned. Then notice how often anyone actually gives thanks to God on TV for the many blessings He gives us. Very little, except in religious programming.

God does not command Thanksgiving as a day of observance. It is a national holiday, invented by men. In the United States, it may be compared to Mothers Day or Fathers Day. These days are not wrong because they do not come from false, pagan religious traditions. God does not forbid men from observing national days as long as the purpose of the day is not wrong and as long as the observance does not borrow from or mimic false religious customs and traditions. The Jews made a certain day an annual day of observation in the book of Esther as a memorial of their deliverance from destruction (Esther 9:18-32). God neither commands nor forbids such days.

For the Church of God therefore, the observance of Thanksgiving Day is optional. You aren't sinning if you keep it and you aren't sinning if you don't.

But if we want to observe Thanksgiving, we should observe it differently than many in the world observe it. We should really focus on giving thanks to God more than we focus on football, food, and recreation.

We should certainly give God thanks every day, just as we should honor our fathers and mothers all through the year, not just on Fathers Day and Mothers Day. But can make Thanksgiving Day a special day for giving thanks to God if we wish.

Some of us are blessed more than others. If you are blessed in this life, there may be many things to give God thanks for. If you have family, you can thank God for your family - not everyone has family. If you have a job or steady income, you can give God thanks for that - not everyone has a steady income. If you are in good health, you can give thanks for that. If there is a Church of God congregation you are able to attend, give thanks for that. And if you do not have these blessings, you can thank God for giving these blessings to many members of the Church of God, for we are to love our neighbors as ourselves and rejoice in the happiness of others in the Church. "And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it. Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually" (1 Corinthians 12:26-27).

Most of all, give thanks that God has given you the opportunity to know His truth and enter His kingdom.

God teaches the giving of thanks to Him in the Bible. "Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men" (1 Timothy 2:1). "Sing praise to the Lord, you saints of His, and give thanks at the remembrance of His holy name" (Psalm 30:4). "Oh, give thanks to the Lord! Call upon His name; Make known His deeds among the peoples!" (Psalm 105:1). David appointed men to give thanks to God on a regular basis (1 Chronicles 16:4-36). Many of the Psalms are expressions of praise and thanksgiving towards God (Psalm 136).

God promises to hear our prayers in time of trouble if we make the giving of thanks to Him our way of life and if we pay our vows to Him. "Offer to God thanksgiving, and pay your vows to the Most High. Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me" (Psalm 50:14-15).

I have many things to thank God for. Here are some of them.

I thank God, as Mr. Armstrong did, for God's goodness, that the greatest power in the universe, God Himself, is a power for good and not evil. God's nature is infinite righteousness, love, and truth, and I thank Him for that.

I thank God for creating mankind, all of us, giving us life out of nothingness.

I thank God for creating this awesome universe of such immense size, complexity, and beauty, including the earth itself and all the plants and animals in it. I thank Him for creating in the human mind the ability to enjoy all the beauty and good things in the earth.

I thank God for His wonderful plan and purpose for mankind's salvation. Not only does God save us in the Church, but He has provided a way, in the general resurrection of mankind and the white throne judgment period, for everyone to have a chance for salvation. And what is that salvation that God offers us? Nothing less than entry into His divine family as His very sons and daughters, sharing in His joy, glory, and power forever, ruling the universe with Christ. How could God give us more?

I thank God and Christ for their love towards me personally and all mankind, expressed in the willingness of God to give us Jesus Christ as our sin bearer, savior, teacher, head, and high priest so we can be saved, and expressed in the willingness of Christ to die a torturous death for us. Again, how could God give us more?

I thank God for His word, the Bible, for the Church and God's true ministry, and for opening my mind and the minds of all of us to understand the truth and for calling us to salvation in this life so we can be God's firstfruits in the first resurrection.

And I thank God for working with me personally, correcting me, testing me, and teaching me, even with trials that cause me mental and physical pain, because I am determined to trust that God has a good reason, motivated by love, for the trials and sufferings He puts me through.

Bob Thiel and Dreams

Dr. Robert Thiel has posted about a dream he had a few years ago and about a dream one of his supporters in New Zealand had about a month before he left LCG. He seems to think these dreams are prophetic dreams from God and are supporting evidence that he is a prophet or that his leaving LCG to form a new Church of God fellowship is a right action endorsed by God. He compares his dream with Loma Armstrong's dream that Mr. Armstrong relates in his autobiography, which seems prophetic.

Here is a link to his post:
http://www.cogwriter.com/news/doctrine/dreams-and-the-continuing-church-of-god/

I won't cover the dream of the woman in New Zealand. To me it is a bit of a stretch to connect this dream with Bob Thiel at all. It is one of those things that require a great deal of "interpretation", and I suppose it could be interpreted more than one way. Things in her in her dream seemed to make her think she should leave LCG, and there is a reference in her dream to the Old Testament "ark of the covenant". Dr. Thiel seems to connect this with his practice of reading from the book of Deuteronomy during the 2013 Feast of Tabernacles.

But in Dr. Thiel's own dream, he dreamt that there were two lines, one representing Dr. Meredith and one representing himself. These were parallel horizontal lines, one above the other. Dr. Meredith's line was above Dr. Thiel's line. Then in his dream, the lines crossed and his line was above Dr. Meredith's line. Dr. Thiel said he had this dream a few years ago, when he was 50 years old, but does not give the date. I do not know how old Dr. Thiel is now, so I cannot say how many years ago this dream occurred. But at the time it occurred, Dr. Thiel said he had good relations with Dr. Meredith and did not understand the dream. Now that things have come to pass as they have and Dr. Thiel has left LCG, he seems to think the dream was prophetic.

But there have been indications of a parting of the ways between Dr. Thiel and Dr. Meredith long before he actually left LCG in December 2012, almost a year ago. For example, around February 2012 and earlier, Dr. Thiel was posting about his view that Church of God members should not watch football while Mr. Wally Smith, an LCG minister, was posting that it is not wrong for Church members to watch football. I sent an email to Dr. Thiel February 14, 2012 about that and another matter in which he contradicted LCG, telling him that I did not think he was doing a good job of representing LCG in his blog and he should not be contradicting his own Church of God organization he attends and their ministry while he is with them. So the disagreements with LCG had started before he left, by about a year, possibly more.

As I say, I do not know the year of Dr. Thiel's dream. But if it occurred at a time when he already disagreed with LCG about some points of doctrine or Christian living or Bible prophecy, it could easily be explained as the result of natural causes even before Dr. Thiel thought about leaving LCG. I am no expert on dreams, but I understand that things can come out in a dream in various ways that a person has been thinking about subconsciously, but has not yet consciously faced and thought out.

I will use myself as an example. I will tell you one of my dreams I had while I was in Worldwide. I do not regard it as a prophetic dream, just a dream.

Some people dream more than others. I have dreams almost every night. I usually don't remember them very clearly when I wake up, but sometime I do. Usually they are just crazy dreams. I could probably entertain you with some of them, but I won't waste time on that.

While Mr. Tkach was making changes, at first I was not upset by the changes, but researched them with an open mind. Eventually I proved from the Bible that the changes were not according to the Bible, and I left Worldwide. During this time, before I thought about leaving Worldwide, I had a dream that I was in a kind of building that was also a machine. It is hard to describe. The best comparison I could make would be with something like the Starship Enterprise in Star Trek, but this "building" was on the earth. I was inside, in a passageway, with about 5 or 6 other brethren. And in this building or machine, I felt a strong sense of uncleanness about the place, a feeling of dread, of corruption, of revulsion about the place, like the building was a bad and dangerous place to be in, or that there was an evil presence in it. It was a strong emotion. Then I woke up.

Later, after I left Worldwide, I thought that the dream could have been about Worldwide, that the building or machine I was in was Worldwide and I needed to get out.

But I never assumed it was a prophetic dream from God. Why? Because my mind and brain already had enough information at that time to know that I needed to get out of Worldwide at some point - I just didn't consciously arrive at that conclusion yet. It could easily be explained as my subconscious mind telling me something in my dreams that I was not yet ready to face when I was awake.

I don't think that kind of thing is unusual.

Now, could God have inspired the dream? It is possible, but I never assumed that and I don't assume it now. I do not regard it as a prophetic dream, and it definitely does not make me a prophet. It can be explained as the natural workings of the human mind, and I leave it at that. Even if God did inspire the dream, that does not make me a prophet, and I know that I am NOT a prophet.

The same kind of thing could have happened with Bob Thiel and his dream. At some point, while he had disagreements with Dr. Meredith and the LCG ministry over this point or that of Bible doctrine, prophecy, or Christian living, points that may have seemed minor to Dr. Thiel at the time, yet points that suggested to Dr. Thiel that he had a better understanding of these things than LCG, these points of disagreement and the sense that he knew better than LCG may have motivated and caused this dream long before Dr. Thiel was ready to face, while awake, the possibility of leaving LCG over these disagreements. So his dream could easily be explained by natural causes. If he disagreed with LCG about anything when he had this dream, or if he felt he had a better grasp of prophecy and doctrine than LCG, then the seeds for this dream were there in his mind. It does not require any supernatural cause.

In the case of Loma Armstrong's dream, this was not the case. According to Mr. Armstrong's autobiography, Mrs. Armstrong had a dream that an angel appeared to her and said that Christ had important work for Mr. Armstrong to do. It was an unusually vivid dream. This dream occurred in Chicago (where the Armstrongs were living at the time), and this occurred long before either Mr. or Mrs. Armstrong learned the truth. Mr. Armstrong was working in advertising at the time. There was not a hint of information available to Mrs. Armstrong that would have suggested to her the possibility that her husband might become a minister. In retrospect, after Christ did begin to use Mr. Armstrong to do important work, it became clear that this dream probably was from God. It cannot be easily explained by natural causes. Mr. Armstrong was not religious and Mrs. Armstrong did not even know about the Sabbath at that time.

But I will raise the question, what if Bob Thiel does receive a dream from a supernatural source, one that cannot be explained by natural causes? What if he has a dream that an earthquake will occur in a certain place at a certain time, and he is told in the dream to use his blog to warn the Church? And what if he does post a message in his blog stating that he had a dream that there would be an earthquake, stating a specific date and time in the future, maybe to the very day, hour, and minute, and then stating a specific location by degrees and minutes of longitude and latitude, even specifying the exact strength of the earthquake on the Richter scale, and then a few days or a few weeks later it happened EXACTLY AS HE PREDICTED! Would that make him a true prophet or prove that he is a true prophet of God?

EMPHATICALLY NO!

I believe it would clearly put him in the category of Deuteronomy 13:1-4: "If there arises among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams, and he gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder comes to pass, of which he spoke to you, saying, 'Let us go after other gods'-which you have not known-'and let us serve them,' you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams, for the Lord your God is testing you to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. You shall walk after the Lord your God and fear Him, and keep His commandments and obey His voice; you shall serve Him and hold fast to Him."

Notice we are to obey God's voice.

How would Dr. Thiel fall into the above category? He does not obey the instruction to give no heed to prophecies from pagan or non-biblical sources that do not follow the Bible. In teaching and spreading prophecies from non-biblical sources, as he does in his books and his blog, I believe he is violating the clear intent of God's voice in these scriptures: "Give no regard to mediums and familiar spirits; do not seek after them, to be defiled by them: I am the Lord your God" (Leviticus 19:31). "When you come into the land which the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominations of those nations. There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, or one who practices witchcraft, or a soothsayer, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, or one who conjures spells, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. For all who do these things are an abomination to the Lord, and because of these abominations the Lord your God drives them out from before you. You shall be blameless before the Lord your God. For these nations which you will dispossess listened to soothsayers and diviners; but as for you, the Lord your God has not appointed such for you" (Deuteronomy 18:9-14).

"If there arises among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams, and he gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder comes to pass, of which he spoke to you, saying, 'Let us go after other gods'-which you have not known-'and let us serve them,' you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams, for the Lord your God is testing you to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul" (Deuteronomy 13:1-3). "And the person who turns to mediums and familiar spirits, to prostitute himself with them, I will set My face against that person and cut him off from his people" (Leviticus 20:6). In other words, do not give regard to "prophecies" or messages from the spirit world given by those who do not teach the truth. Do not regard spirit-inspired messages, possibly Satan or demon inspired, from a Satan-deceived world. Don't look to these pagan prophecies, publish them, spread them, in order to know or teach details of the future that God does not reveal in the Bible. That is not for God's people, as God says, "the Lord your God has not appointed such for you" (Deuteronomy 18:9-14).

When we seek out, publish, and try to learn from so-called "prophets" of this deceived world, who themselves receive messages from the occult, from mediums, etc., it is the same as if we tried to make contact with Satan and the demons themselves, for they are the source of the prophetic messages they inspire.

If Dr. Thiel has a dream which he regards as inspired from a spirit source, I hope for his sake that he is wrong, that it is just the natural workings of the human mind, not supernaturally inspired at all. For how can God use Dr. Thiel as a true prophet as long as he teaches and spreads pagan prophecies contrary to scripture?

After Dr. Thiel left LCG, I published a series of posts showing why we should not give heed to this world's non-biblical prophecies. Here is a link to one post, and in that post are additional links to posts that go into more detail about this:
http://ptgbook.blogspot.com/2013/04/do-not-cause-others-to-sin.html

If Bob Thiel stops using pagan prophecies in his publications, I do not rule out the possibility that God could use him as a prophet in the future. It seems unlikely to me, but I can't rule it out. But I believe there is NO chance God will use Dr. Thiel as a true prophet while he continues to publish books filled with pagan prophecies and publishes blog posts with pagan prophecies. Rather, if he continues on the path he is on, I think there is a danger God may allow Satan to use him as a false prophet.

David's Prayers for Vengeance

Christ teaches us to love our enemies and to forgive them.  This is the teaching of the New Testament.

"But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you" (Matthew 5:44).  "For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.  But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses" (Matthew 6:14).  "Then Jesus said, 'Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do' " (Luke 23:34). 

"Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse" (Romans 12:14).  "But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.  With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the similitude of God.  Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so.  Does a spring send forth fresh water and bitter from the same opening?  Can a fig tree, my brethren, bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs?  Thus no spring yields both salt water and fresh" (James 3:8-12). 

"He who does not love does not know God, for God is love" (1 John 4:8).  "God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him" (1 John 4:16).  "For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.  For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die.  But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:6-8).  "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life" (John 3:16).  "And they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying, 'Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.'  Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, 'Lord, do not charge them with this sin.'  And when he had said this, he fell asleep" (Acts 7:59-60).

Yet many of the Psalms of David and other Psalm writers pray for God's vengeance against the wicked.

Here are some examples:

"For there is no faithfulness in their mouth; Their inward part is destruction; Their throat is an open tomb; They flatter with their tongue.  Pronounce them guilty, O God! Let them fall by their own counsels; Cast them out in the multitude of their transgressions,
For they have rebelled against You" (Psalm 5:9-10).  "Let those be put to shame and brought to dishonor Who seek after my life; Let those be turned back and brought to confusion Who plot my hurt.  Let them be like chaff before the wind, And let the angel of the Lord chase them.  Let their way be dark and slippery, And let the angel of the Lord pursue them.  For without cause they have hidden their net for me in a pit, Which they have dug without cause for my life.  Let destruction come upon him unexpectedly, And let his net that he has hidden catch himself; Into that very destruction let him fall" (Psalm 35:4-8). 

"Let them be ashamed and brought to mutual confusion Who rejoice at my hurt; Let them be clothed with shame and dishonor Who exalt themselves against me" (Psalm 35:26).  "Let death seize them; Let them go down alive into hell, For wickedness is in their dwellings and among them" (Psalm 55:15).  "Let their table become a snare before them, And their well-being a trap.  Let their eyes be darkened, so that they do not see; And make their loins shake continually.  Pour out Your indignation upon them, And let Your wrathful anger take hold of them.  Let their dwelling place be desolate; Let no one live in their tents.  For they persecute the ones You have struck, And talk of the grief of those You have wounded.  Add iniquity to their iniquity, And let them not come into Your righteousness. Let them be blotted out of the book of the living, And not be written with the righteous" (Psalm 69:22-28). 

"Set a wicked man over him, And let an accuser stand at his right hand.  When he is judged, let him be found guilty, And let his prayer become sin.  Let his days be few, And let another take his office.  Let his children be fatherless, And his wife a widow.  Let his children continually be vagabonds, and beg; Let them seek their bread also from their desolate places.  Let the creditor seize all that he has, And let strangers plunder his labor.  Let there be none to extend mercy to him, Nor let there be any to favor his fatherless children.  Let his posterity be cut off, And in the generation following let their name be blotted out.  Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered before the Lord, And let not the sin of his mother be blotted out.  Let them be continually before the Lord, That He may cut off the memory of them from the earth; Because he did not remember to show mercy, But persecuted the poor and needy man, That he might even slay the broken in heart.  As he loved cursing, so let it come to him; As he did not delight in blessing, so let it be far from him.  As he clothed himself with cursing as with his garment, So let it enter his body like water, And like oil into his bones.  Let it be to him like the garment which covers him, And for a belt with which he girds himself continually.  Let this be the Lord’s reward to my accusers, And to those who speak evil against my person" (Psalm 109:6-20). 

"By the rivers of Babylon, There we sat down, yea, we wept When we remembered Zion.  We hung our harps Upon the willows in the midst of it.  For there those who carried us away captive asked of us a song, And those who plundered us requested mirth, Saying, 'Sing us one of the songs of Zion!'...Remember, O Lord, against the sons of Edom The day of Jerusalem, Who said, 'Raze it, raze it, To its very foundation!' O daughter of Babylon, who are to be destroyed, Happy the one who repays you as you have served us!  Happy the one who takes and dashes Your little ones against the rock!" (Psalm 137:1-3, 7-9). 

"Do I not hate them, O Lord, who hate You?  And do I not loathe those who rise up against You?  I hate them with perfect hatred; I count them my enemies" (Psalm 139:21-22).

Also see Psalms 28:4-5, 40:14-15, 58:6-8, 59:5, 12-13, 70:2-3, 71:12-13, 83:9-18, 101:3-8, 104:35, 140:9-11, 141:10, 143:12, 149:5-9.

We know that the Old Testament is as much God's word as the New Testament.  Christ, in referring to an Old Testament scripture, said scripture cannot be broken (John 10:34-35).  Paul wrote, "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness" (2 Timothy 3:16).

How can we reconcile the harshness of some of the Psalms with the mercy taught in the New Testament?

Both are true and right teachings, and both reflect the mind of God.  David is called a man after God's heart (1 Samuel 13:13-14, Acts 13:22).

David's prayers for vengeance against the wicked are a true reflection of God's thinking toward sinners who never repent and towards sin itself. 

People in the world, in mainstream religion, and some in the Church, say that God hates sin but loves the sinner.  This is true, as long as there is the possibility that the sinner will repent.  God loves the sinner in the sense that He desires that he repents (Ezekiel 33:11, 2 Peter 3:9).

BUT, if the sinner permanently chooses the way of Satan, the way of sin, if he refuses to repent, then the severe nature of God applies to that person (God has a severe side - see Romans 11:22), and God will hate the sinner who refuses to put away his sin with a permanent hatred, and God will, in wrath and fury, destroy the sinner in the lake of fire forever.

God is both loving and vengeful.  His love is towards those who will repent and choose His way of life.  His vengeance is towards those who refuse to repent.

Vengeance is not, in principle, always wrong, but it is wrong for man to take vengeance because it does not belong to us.  "For we know Him who said, 'Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,' says the Lord. And again, 'The Lord will judge His people.' It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God" (Hebrews 10:30-31).  See also Deuteronomy 32:35, Psalm 94:1, Romans 12:18-21, 1 Thessalonians 4:6.  Vengeance is the result of God's judgment against sinners, and only God has the right to exercise that kind of judgment.

God teaches us lessons in the Bible in a certain logical order.  The lessons of the Old Testament come first and prepare us to understand the New Testament.

In Worldwide, when Mr. Tkach began to change doctrine to become more like mainstream Protestant doctrine, they used to say that the Old Testament can only be understood in light of the New Testament, implying we should study the New Testament first to prepare us to understand the Old Testament.  But that is backwards.  God inspired the Old Testament to be written first, then the New Testament.  Studying the Old Testament first prepares us and helps us to understand the New Testament.  That is the order in which God revealed His truth.  The New Testament was written in the context of the knowledge of the Old Testament, and it can only be rightly understood in the context of what we have learned in the Old Testament.

The Old Testament teaches God's wrath and punishment for sin, and it also teaches God's mercy.  The New Testament also teaches both God's wrath and God's mercy.  Yet the emphasis is different between the two halves of the Bible.  In the Old Testament, God teaches His wrath, vengeance, and punishment against the wicked with greater emphasis, while the New Testament places greater emphasis on God's merciful side.  This is fitting, because the sacrifice of Christ is only fully revealed in the New Testament, and it is through that sacrifice that God's mercy and love is most fully expressed.  "For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ" (John 1:17).

David had God's Holy Spirit (Psalm 51:11).  David was therefore living under the terms of the new covenant as well as the old.  He understood what he needed to know about the sacrifice of Christ and the resurrection to eternal life.  He understood God's mercy.  Yet God inspired David to write many of the Psalms emphasizing God's wrath towards sin and toward sinners because it was God's time to place emphasis on that aspect of God's judgment and thinking.

God hates sin.  And God also, in a sense, hates sinners who do not repent.  He hates them enough to inflict a torturous death upon them and destroy them forever.  This aspect of God's thinking is what the Psalms teach.

God loves sinners in the sense that He desires them to repent.  "Say to them: 'As I live,' says the Lord God, 'I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of Israel?' " (Ezekiel 33:11).  "The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance" (2 Peter 3:9).  But once that option is rejected permanently, when a sinner has the option to repent but finally, in the end, rejects that opportunity to repent and turn from sin, then God's hatred is not just towards the sin but towards the sinner who refuses to part with his sin.  The sinner and the sin become one in God's sight, and He hates them, both.  Either that, or I don't know what the word "hate" means.

Yet, even as God shows His wrath towards the sin and the sinner He hates by casting them into the lake of fire, His wrath is tempered by mercy in that the sinner's torment does not continue forever but ends as the sinner is destroyed and ceases to exist forever.

What about the sinner who still has time to repent in the future, but has not done so yet?  This, in principle, applies to the majority of the world which has not been called to salvation yet.

God's wrath, His vengeance, hangs over their heads.  They are still in their sins (1 Corinthians 15:17).  They are children of wrath (Ephesians 2:3).  They have not yet passed from death to life (John 5:24, 1 John 3:14).

God's will is that they repent, and in that sense, God loves them, conditional on that future repentance.  But until they actually repent, God's wrath hangs over their heads, proportional to their sin, the greater the sin, the greater God's wrath that hangs over them.  God may from time to time show mercy by answering prayers of the sinner, to show His mercy, to teach lessons, to encourage the future repentance He desires.  But God's love and mercy are not fully given till actual repentance occurs.

And because God is a true witness, He sometimes demonstrates the ultimate consequences of unrepentant sin by punishing the wicked very harshly in this life.  When He does that, He is giving them a taste, enough to let them know that they are in trouble if they keep going the way they do.

The prayers for vengeance against the wicked in the Psalms are a true reflection of the mind of God towards sinners who do not repent.

God's mercy is towards those who repent and turn from their sin and learn to believe and obey God as a way of life.

 

Inflation Isn't Here Yet, BUT...

Inflation isn't here yet, but it's coming.

The government of the United States is creating money, inflating the money supply in various and complex ways, in order to pay for its deficit spending. Yet, price inflation has not been great, up to now. Why?

Normally, when the money supply is inflated, prices and wages go up. Money becomes worth less than before because there is more of it, so prices increase as people are willing to spend more dollars because they have more to spend.

But there is another factor involved. It is not just how much money exists that counts, but also the speed of the money, how fast it trades hands and moves through the economy, that can cause price inflation.

If the government printed a million dollars for every person and gave a million dollars in printed currency to every person in the United States, prices would go through the roof as people spend the money, competing for a limited supply of goods. But suppose everyone put their million dollars in shoe boxes under their beds and did not change their spending habits. If no one increased his or her spending, the extra printed money would have no effect on prices.

It is the increased spending of money that increases prices as much as the increased supply of money. And people are not spending, not in proportion to the increase in money.

There is also increased capacity to produce goods and services that helps to keep prices from increasing.

People are worried about the future and are, to some degree, holding back their spending, preferring to save money for their future and for emergencies. That may be one reason interest banks pay on savings accounts is so low. They do not have to pay high interest to attract savings.

Many young people do not expect social security to be around by the time they reach retirement age.

There is a mood and sense in this country that we are in trouble. It is deep-seated and goes beyond each person's estimation of his own personal circumstances.

People are not totally blind to what is happening. They are blind spiritually. They are blind to the true spiritual causes of what is happening. They are carnally minded and do not believe, understand, or submit to God's word and law. They do not know what Bible prophecy says is coming upon the United States.

But everyone is not blind to physical cause and effect. A large segment of the population knows, consciously or subconsciously, that the government is spending itself into bankruptcy and that the consequences will be disastrous if this trend continues. And that sense of impending doom makes people nervous, not willing to spend as before.

So people are postponing purchases to a degree they have not done before.

But this cannot last indefinitely. At some point, people will start spending more of the money they have saved. At some point, price inflation will kick in. When that happens, there will likely be no stopping it. As prices go up, people will be motivated to buy now before prices go up even more, and that will increase the rate of inflation even more.

And the increase in the money supply that has already occurred will make it impossible to rein in that inflation once it starts.

This is the calm before the storm. How long it will last, I do not know.

When high inflation kicks in, the dollar will likely begin to collapse and no longer be the primary world reserve and trading currency as it is now. It will be replaced with something else, probably the euro or some German backed and controlled European currency.

When that happens, the prices of every internationally traded commodity and type of goods will become more expensive for Americans. That includes food, gasoline, automobiles, computers, various manufactured goods, whether produced in the United States or not. Not just more expensive in dollar amounts, but more expensive in relation to wages. Wages for Americans will go up with inflation, but prices of food, fuel, and internationally traded manufactured goods will go up faster. Your hourly wage may double from $14 an hour to $28 an hour, but gasoline will triple from $4 a gallon to $12 a gallon. We will be working as hard, and maybe longer hours, but our incomes will not keep pace with living expenses. We will experience a lower standard of living.

This will also affect our ability to afford to maintain a strong military, and that will weaken us and make us vulnerable to attack from foreign enemies.

The fundamental causes of this mess are spiritual. Our wickedness as a nation and people is increasing, as God said it would (2 Timothy 3:1-5, 13), and God is taking from us capable leaders who could lead us out of this situation so we could avoid disaster (Isaiah 3:1-5). Instead, God is going to let us fall victim to our own foolishness (Jeremiah 2:19). God is going to let Satan weaken us and eventually devastate our nation in the great tribulation as punishment for our sins. This is not because God hates us but because He loves us and wants to bring us to repentance for our good. Then after Christ returns, we will be re-gathered from captivity and blessed as never before.

This is the calm before the storm.

Did Jesus Christ Teach Carelessness about God's Law in Matthew 12:1-8?

Matthew 12:1-8 is the account of the Pharisees accusing the disciples of breaking the Sabbath by picking grain to eat as they walked through the grain fields and Jesus reminding them of the example of David eating the showbread when he was hungry.

There are lessons here about how we should exercise authority and how we will exercise authority in the millennium and white throne judgment.

"At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. And His disciples were hungry, and began to pluck heads of grain and to eat. And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to Him, 'Look, Your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath!' But He said to them, 'Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him: how he entered the house of God and ate the showbread which was not lawful for him to eat, nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests? Or have you not read in the law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath, and are blameless? Yet I say to you that in this place there is One greater than the temple. But if you had known what this means, "I desire mercy and not sacrifice," you would not have condemned the guiltless. For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath' " (Matthew 12:1-8). See also Mark 2:23-28 and Luke 6:1-5.

Was Jesus saying that it was ok for David to break God's law because he was hungry, and therefore it was ok for the disciples to violate the fourth commandment because they were hungry? If that is what Jesus was saying, then that raises the question, if it is ok to break the fourth commandment to satisfy our hunger, then is it also ok to break the eighth commandment to satisfy our hunger?

I do not think that is what Jesus was saying.

Before covering the Sabbath issue, let me first say that the disciples were not stealing even if the grain field belonged to none of them. That is because God's law at that time allowed one to eat food from his neighbor's crop as long as he did not harvest the food and save it in a container to eat later (Deuteronomy 23:24-25).

The issue was whether, by plucking the heads and rubbing them in their hands to remove the husk before eating them, they were "working" contrary to the fourth commandment not to work on the Sabbath.

The Jews understood that it was lawful to serve oneself food to eat on the Sabbath. The question was one of interpretation of the law - was plucking the grains and rubbing the grains in their hands to remove the husks a kind of "work" that the fourth commandment prohibits or was it just a form of minimum preparation of food required to eat a meal, which was allowed on the Sabbath?

The Pharisees interpreted the law to say that it was work and therefore prohibited. Not all Jewish authorities agreed with the interpretation of the Pharisees, according to an article by Mr. Dexter Wakefield (see link below). But the Pharisees regarded themselves as an authority to interpret God's law.

The Pharisees did have some authority. "Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to His disciples, saying: 'The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. Therefore whatever they tell you to observe, that observe and do, but do not do according to their works; for they say, and do not do. For they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers' " (Matthew 23:1-4). But they used their authority in a wrong manner. They neglected the weightier matters of the law, which includes mercy (Matthew 23:23).

They should have used their authority to interpret the law in a merciful manner, realizing that some men might be hungry and may need to do this on the Sabbath. But they did not. They used their authority to interpret the law in a harsh manner, which was not God's intent. By doing this, they made the Sabbath a burden, which also was never God's intent.

There are lessons about government, about law, about authority, and about mercy in this passage.


God's government is hierarchical. I am not saying that to make a point about governance in the Church of God. I am pointing out a fact about the kingdom of God and how we will be part of a governmental structure during the millennium and for eternity in the kingdom of God, and we will have those above us in authority and those under us in authority. There will be a chain of command. Authority will start at the top with God the Father, then flow to Jesus Christ, then branch out from there. It is important to understand how that authority will work and how we should make decisions within that governmental structure. We have to learn in this life two basic principles: obedience to authority of God above us and mercy towards those under our authority.

At each level in the structure, decisions are made in finer detail. This is true in any organization. Major decisions are made at the top. Those who have the responsibility to implement those decisions work out the details.

Here is an example of what I am talking about. Suppose you are put in charge of five cities in the millennium. Perhaps Peter is your boss in charge of an entire tribe in Israel, and you are given authority over five cities in that tribe. David will be king over all twelve tribes, so David will have authority over Peter. Christ will rule the earth, all nations, not just Israel, so He has authority over David, and God the Father has authority over Christ. Perhaps you will have five leaders, spirit-born saints in the first resurrection, over the five cities you rule. So when you want something done in those cities, you give the instruction to the five leaders and each one carries out your instructions in the city he rules, and you rule over all five. Perhaps I will have authority over one of those cities, so you will be my boss. I might have district leaders over different neighborhoods in my city if it is a large city.

So Christ makes a decision for all nations. David, as king of Israel, receives the command from Christ and implements it for Israel. He does this by giving instructions to the twelve apostles who rule over the twelve tribes of Israel. If you have five cities in the tribe Peter rules, he gives you instructions, and if I have one of those cities, you tell me what to do. But at each level, the instructions become more detailed. Each leader takes what he has been commanded, and fills in the details as needed for his particular responsibility. Thus we have to exercise judgment and wisdom.

We can see that process in the Church of God. Headquarters can decide the format of the services. Perhaps headquarters gives the field ministry instructions that sermons should be no shorter than 50 minutes and no longer than an hour and 15 minutes. Every pastor must stick to those limits. But it is up to the pastor what to speak about. Headquarters does not give him a script. Even if headquarters sets limits on what the pastor may say, the pastor has to think out and prepare what he will actually say.

Headquarters may give guidelines and rules for handling various situations with members, but it is up to the pastor to implement those rules in dealing with actual situations, and he has to decide certain details as he goes.

Headquarters may tell the field ministers to train qualified members for leadership responsibility and to delegate the giving of announcements, sermonettes, and song leading, but it is up to the pastor to decide who will do each of those things locally.

This is where the two lessons come in. If we are to operate effectively within that structure, we must learn these two lessons now. The first is obedience. We have to build the habit of doing what we are told to do by higher authority. We have to obey God. When God tells us what to do, we should not think of it as a option or suggestion.

But when we make decisions to carry out what God tells us to do, we have many details to decide. Some of those details affect other people. We should decide the details based on certain principles, including mercy. That is the second lesson.

So God teaches us two things in this life that will help prepare us to make right decisions in the kingdom of God. He teaches us obedience towards Him in the things He tells us to do, such as, "Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work" (Exodus 20:9). But He also teaches us general principles that should guide our decisions in working out the details of what he tells us to do, such as, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself" (Leviticus 19:18).

So in the kingdom of God, when Christ tells us to do something with our cities and our responsibilities, we will faithfully carry out everything He tells us. And when we work out the details of how to implement those commands for our particular area, we will do so guided by love and compassion for the people our decisions will affect.


But the Pharisees missed the mark!

They felt they had authority to interpret how God's command to rest on the Sabbath should be carried out, and to a certain extent they did. "Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to His disciples, saying: 'The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. Therefore whatever they tell you to observe, that observe and do...' " (Matthew 23:1-3). "And you shall come to the priests, the Levites, and to the judge there in those days, and inquire of them; they shall pronounce upon you the sentence of judgment. You shall do according to the sentence which they pronounce upon you in that place which the Lord chooses. And you shall be careful to do according to all that they order you. According to the sentence of the law in which they instruct you, according to the judgment which they tell you, you shall do; you shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left from the sentence which they pronounce upon you. Now the man who acts presumptuously and will not heed the priest who stands to minister there before the Lord your God, or the judge, that man shall die" (Deuteronomy 17:9-12).

Their problem was, in interpreting God's law, in this case the Sabbath, in trying to make decisions about how the people were to "rest" on the Sabbath, what constituted "work", they were not guided by mercy and love in their decisions. They acted harshly. They did not consider that some poor people would have to eat grain from grain fields on the Sabbath because they had no other source of food, or go hungry. The Pharisees did not have to go hungry because they had money to buy food ahead of time. "For they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers" (Matthew 23:4). "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" (Matthew 23:23). "But if you had known what this means, 'I desire mercy and not sacrifice,' you would not have condemned the guiltless" (Matthew 12:7).

Yes, they did have authority to make certain binding decisions. But they misused their authority because they did not follow God's principles and guidelines (love, mercy, truth, justice, faith) in making those decisions. How could Christ trust them to rule cities in the millennium? He can't. They would take the decisions Christ made for the whole world, then administer them harshly, not in love, in the cities they ruled. Christ will not have that. "Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it" (Matthew 21:43).

God does not give any man authority to abolish His law and commandments. We have to do what He says. But in interpreting how to put God's laws into effect, we should base our decisions on godly principles, the weightier matters of the law, justice, mercy, and faith (Matthew 23:23).


I always wondered about something in the account in Matthew 12:1-8. After describing the incident of David eating the showbread, Christ said, "For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath". I always wondered what the connection was between Christ being Lord of the Sabbath and the example of David eating the showbread. Now I think I understand.

Christ was asserting His authority, greater than the authority of the Pharisees, to interpret the Sabbath law, and He interpreted it the way God intended it to be interpreted - with mercy.


Let's go back to the example of David eating the showbread. Christ gave this example to show how the law should be interpreted, with mercy, as the priest in David's day did. This example is more about the decision of the priest than it is about David. I learned some things about this from a sermon and article by Mr. Dexter Wakefield of Living Church of God.

"So David said to Ahimelech the priest, 'The king has ordered me on some business, and said to me, "Do not let anyone know anything about the business on which I send you, or what I have commanded you." And I have directed my young men to such and such a place. Now therefore, what have you on hand? Give me five loaves of bread in my hand, or whatever can be found.' And the priest answered David and said, 'There is no common bread on hand; but there is holy bread, if the young men have at least kept themselves from women.' Then David answered the priest, and said to him, 'Truly, women have been kept from us about three days since I came out' " (1 Samuel 21:2-4). What does being kept from women have to do with this? The priest used the precedent of Exodus 19:14 just before God gave the ten commandments on Mount Sinai: "So Moses went down from the mountain to the people and sanctified the people, and they washed their clothes. And he said to the people, 'Be ready for the third day; do not come near your wives' ". The priest interpreted this as a precedent that allowed him to consider David and his men ceremonially clean and therefore able to eat the showbread.

Was this a stretch? The point Christ was making is that the priest took every opportunity, within the law, to make a ruling that showed mercy to David and his men. No doubt the Pharisees would have said to David, "Sorry, you are not a priest so I can't give you the bread." But the priest in David's day understood the importance of mercy. He found a way, within the law as he saw it, to administer the law based on mercy. In referring to this example, Christ is commending the priest's desire to show mercy to David and his men, and He is saying that if the Pharisees understood the importance of mercy, they would not have condemned the disciples for doing something that Christ ruled, as Lord of the Sabbath, was lawful: eating grain from the grain fields on the Sabbath.

David was not guilty of breaking the law because the priest who gave him the showbread had the authority to make the ruling, and the priest ruled that it was ok for David and his men to eat the showbread. Likewise, the disciples were not guilty of breaking the Sabbath by plucking and rubbing grains in their hands to eat on the Sabbath because Christ, as Lord of the Sabbath, with authority from God to teach the law, ruled that they could do so, or else He would have stopped them. In effect, Christ ruled that plucking grains and rubbing them in their hands to eat them as they were walking was not "work".

Nothing in this example indicates it is ok to break the law based on mercy, or as some might put it, that mercy overrides the law. If that were the case, we could steal to show mercy on our children to feed them. We could lie to show mercy to someone to not hurt their feelings. We could take a job on the Sabbath to show mercy to our family to support them. That is not the case. We must obey the law. But in the details of how to obey the law, where those details are not spelled out by God, we have to make decisions and apply the intent of the law to the circumstances we find ourselves in, and when that occurs, we should base our decisions on the broad principles of God's way of life, the weightier matters of the law: justice, mercy, and faith. The priest in David's day understood this, but the Pharisees in Christ's day did not.

This is how we will administer God's law in the millennium. We will obey and carry out the commands and instructions that come to us from above. And when we have to decide details of how to administer those instructions for our particular area, we will base our decisions on the principle of love.


Here is a link to a related sermon by Mr. Dexter Wakefield (LCG):
http://www.lcg.org/cgi-bin/lcg/sermons/lcg-sermons.cgi?category=Sermon1&item=1379743201

Here is a link to the September-October 2000 issue of the Living Church News in pdf format with a related article by Mr Wakefield. Look for the article titled, "Did Jesus Profane the Sabbath?", starting on page 14:
http://www.cogl.org/media/lcn//lcnsep00.pdf