How Can We Recognize the Difference between God's Inspiration and Satan's Temptations and Deceptions in Our Minds?

The Question


Think about this question as it may apply to you.

How can we know the difference between God's thoughts in our minds, our own human thoughts, and any thoughts from Satan that Satan may put into our minds to tempt or deceive us and lead us into error or sin? To put it another way, if a thought enters your mind, how do you know if it is your human thought coming from your human nature or human reasoning only, or if it is Satan's thought he is pumping into your mind to mislead you, or if it is God's thought inspired in your mind by God's Holy Spirit?

I am talking about thoughts relating to choices we have to make regarding doctrinal or moral issues. I am not talking about choices we must make that are not related to the principles the Bible speaks about.

So, for example, I am not talking about thoughts regarding a choice we have to make between buying a Jeep or a Volkswagen, or having pot roast or chicken for dinner, or taking a job with one company or another. In the matter of which job we take, we may indeed want God to give us wisdom and to guide our decision according to his will. But this is not very much a doctrinal or moral decision, in most cases. The best choice as to which company we work for may depend on information we do not have, but God does, such as what the environment will be like, what the opportunities may be with one company versus another, etc. For example, maybe the boss who is hiring us is planning to quit and will be replaced by a harsh, inconsiderate boss - we don't know that but God does. So we may ask God to guide the circumstances or let us know somehow what choice we should make, according to His will.

But I am talking about decisions we must make in regard to principles of God's way of life - the application of God's law and truth - understanding God's view of right and wrong and submitting to God's will in such cases.

This may be in regard to doctrine. It may be in regard to avoiding a sinful or unwise course of action. It may be a matter of understanding God's will in the matter of His righteousness and how He wants us to live.

Suppose a new member asked you this question because he wants to know how he can know what thoughts God may be inspiring in his mind through the Holy Spirit and what thoughts Satan may be putting in his mind to deceive him and lead him to sin. Perhaps he is thinking of a doctrinal issue he has thoughts about, or a decision he has to make. He is asking you, a long-time member, because he is looking for good advice. How would you answer?

And if you ask this question of yourself in your own mind, how would you answer yourself?

Stop reading this for a moment, maybe a few minutes if necessary, and think how you would answer this. Then continue reading after you have tried to answer this.

Here is my answer, and I think it is the only right answer possible. If you know a different answer, I would encourage you to submit it in a comment to this post.

My answer is this.

We can know this by the Bible. That is the only sure way. The Bible is God's word, God directly speaking. The Bible is the only infallible, direct word of God. And in the Bible, God gives us direct instruction in all matters of doctrine and in matters of the understanding of and application of the spiritual principles of God's law and way of life.



Finding Answers by Believing What God Says


The Bible is God's mind in print. By reading or studying the Bible we can know God's thoughts, God's purpose, and God's desire. The Bible teaches us what pleases God.

We understand God's word, the Bible, by reading or studying it, believing what God says, and striving to live by what God says. Then, understanding God's word, we can know God's will and way and thoughts. That is a learning process that may take time, but as we consistently study God's word and put it into believing action, we learn more and more accurately God's will and how to apply the principles of God's way of life to the decisions we have to make.

We must have a right attitude towards God and His word when we read the Bible. We must want to please God and both know and do His will in everything. We must have an attitude that includes willingness to believe what God says in the Bible and live by it.

God helps those who approach His word, the Bible, in this way to understand His thoughts and will (Isaiah 66:2).

Then, when a thought about a spiritual or doctrinal issue comes into our mind that is wrong, from Satan or from our sinful human nature, or simply in error, we can check God's word to see if our thought is right. We can check our thoughts against what God directly says to us in His word the Bible. Anything that is contrary to God's word is in error, not from God's Holy Spirit. It may or may not be from Satan - it may be simply a sincere human mistake - but it is not from God.

But checking the Bible is not always easy. Sometimes it takes work. We may have to search for and find and study all passages that relate to the subject. We may have to seek counsel from others to see what they find in the Bible to add to what we find for ourselves.

But God made us for work. He gave us minds and bodies to work with. He did not make us to be idle and have good things handed to us without our effort. This is illustrated in the Old Testament. The poor would provided for, but they had to make the effort to glean the fields that produced food (Leviticus 19:9-10) - read the book of Ruth, chapter 2. When God brought the Israelites into the promised land, they still had to fight for the land. God gave them the land by giving them the victory in battle, but they still had to make the effort.

Work and effort are good because they not only show God where our hearts really are, more so than just our emotions and feelings, but because they help to reinforce and develop our commitment to what we are working for. If you work for God's truth, you will appreciate it and retain it better. You will value it. It is God's gift, but sometimes He wants to see our effort to seek God's will and truth. He does not always make it easy. And so it is with Bible study to learn God's will, thoughts, and truth.

Of course, not everyone has the same ability to dig out and study truth in the Bible. Some people read faster and some read slower. Some people remember more detail, some less, some are more analytical, some less. But God knows our abilities and can make allowances, giving extra help to understand the Bible to those with less natural ability.

But what God wants of those whom He calls in this age to be the first fruits is an attitude of mind that is simply willing to believe and obey what God directly says to us in the Bible. And God tests us on that. It seems simple to state that. And it is simple, but that does not mean it is easy. In practice, it is hard. But it is necessary.

To have this attitude, we must be called by God, drawn by God to Christ (John 6:44). The majority of the world cannot come to this attitude, or cannot come to an understanding of God's truth, for Satan deceives them. They may think they are willing to believe and obey God, but Satan deceives them and they deceive themselves. "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; Who can know it?" (Jeremiah 17:9). They are not really willing to believe what God says. You can show them what God says very plainly in the Bible, but they will not believe it. God knows that He has not opened their minds to the truth, and He makes allowances for that, allowing them to come up in a general resurrection when Satan will be put away or to live into the millennium when Satan is put away, and they will have their chance to be tested and to believe what God says at that time. But our time is now.

But if we are not willing to believe God's word, we can deceive ourselves again just as the world is deceived. God's calling gives us the opportunity for salvation, but we must seize the opportunity, respond to God's calling, and believe what He says.

When we get ideas about doctrine, or when we are considering a matter of controversy in the Church of God on policy or doctrine about which various fellowships might disagree, even in cases where we must try to resolve such a difference to know where God wants us to attend, we can search the Bible to know the truth.

And as we think about these things, as we form opinions, and as thoughts come into our minds relating to the question at hand, we can search the scriptures to know if those thoughts are right thoughts, thoughts inspired by God's Holy Spirit in our minds, or if they are Satan's deceptions and temptations or our own human error.



Is Having a Right Attitude Sufficient?


One man I heard seemed to think that all we have to do, after repentance, baptism, and conversion, is to have an attitude of earnestly desiring to know God's will and to please God, and if we do, we will know God's will and his thoughts. He seemed to think that Bible study is secondary.

I suppose he means, if you desire to please God, God will give you a sense of sureness about what thoughts in your mind are from Him.

Not a very good answer, in my opinion.

There are many in the Church of God who have not grown up in a strong religious background other than the Church of God. Some have grown up in the Church and some have grown up in a secular, non-religious background. Some may have had parents who were atheists, and some may have had parents who were agnostics or only nominal Christians with no strong religious commitment or feelings.

Many such members may have no experience with family members or even their own thoughts and emotions in a household that was deeply religious, yet deeply deceived. They do not know what it is like in a family that is strongly Catholic or strongly religious in a Protestant faith.

They may imagine that the people from such a background do not think they have a strong desire to please God. But that is absolutely wrong. Protestants and Catholics can feel a very strong desire to please God. They may feel they have a very strong desire to know God, to know His will, to know what pleases Him, and to do His will to please Him.

They have the desire. Like Saul the Pharisee before he became the apostle Paul, they have zeal but not according to knowledge (Romans 10:1-2). Why? Why, with their zeal and desire to know and please God, does God not give them true knowledge of His will? Paul gives the answer from his own experience.

"And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who has enabled me, because He counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry, although I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man; but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief" (1 Timothy 1:12-13).

Did you catch that? Paul persecuted the Church ignorantly in unbelief.

Paul was ignorant concerning God's will and God's thoughts and his zeal was not according to true knowledge because Paul, at that time named Saul, did not BELIEVE.

Whom did Paul not believe? He did not believe God.

It is not those who have zeal to please God and know His will, or who think they have zeal to please God and know His will, to whom God reveals truth, but those who are willing to believe WHAT GOD SAYS.

God, in His mercy both towards Paul and towards those in the world He would call into the Church through the preaching of the gospel by Paul, took hold of him and by a great miracle and trial shook Paul up, then named Saul, so that he was then able to believe. Christ spoke to Saul out of heaven and struck him blind. It was a bit easier then for Saul to believe God.

Even then, I do not for one minute think God took from Saul freedom of choice. Saul could have refused God's calling - God forces His salvation on no one - but Saul did not refuse.

But the reason Saul was ignorant of God's truth, God's will, and God's thoughts before then was not because of a lack of desire on his part to know God and God's will and thoughts and to please God, but he was ignorant because of his unbelief. He did not believe God.

The scriptures were there for Saul. He knew the passages that we read on Passover, passages in the Old Testament that predicted the suffering of Christ (Isaiah 52:13-15, 53:1-12, Psalm 22:1-31). He also knew the prophecy of Daniel that gave the timing of the coming of the Messiah (Daniel 9:24-27). He could have easily put two and two together to know that Jesus must be the Christ. And there were plenty of witnesses both of the miracles of Jesus and his resurrection, if Saul's mind was open to do an honest investigation.

But before Christ struck him down, Saul was content to believe the traditions he was raised in, the traditions of the Pharisees, more than he was willing to believe what God said in the scriptures (Philippians 3:3-6).

He didn't check his thoughts and doctrines about the prophesied Messiah against the scriptures with an open mind to let God's word tell him if he was right or wrong. Yet apparently he had a zeal to please God, but only according to his traditions of the Pharisees.

So it wasn't a lack of zeal to please God, to know God's will, or to do God's will that prevented Saul from knowing God's thoughts. It was an unwillingness to compare his thoughts and doctrines against the scriptures to see if they were right and an unwillingness to believe what God's word says.

Was the proof of Jesus being the Christ in the Old Testament scriptures? Yes, absolutely. Saul could have found it if he were willing to believe God's written word. He was not.

The proof that Saul could have known that Jesus was the Christ from scripture, if he had been willing and able to believe the scriptures, is that after Paul's repentance and conversion, after he became willing to believe the scriptures he had previously not believed, he and others at that time showed from the scriptures that Jesus was the Christ.

Apollos was able to prove from Old Testament scriptures that Jesus is the Christ.

"Now a certain Jew named Apollos, born at Alexandria, an eloquent man and mighty in the Scriptures, came to Ephesus....and when he arrived, he greatly helped those who had believed through grace; for he vigorously refuted the Jews publicly, showing from the Scriptures that Jesus is the Christ" (Acts 18:24-28).

Paul also was able to prove that Jesus is the Christ. "But Saul increased all the more in strength, and confounded the Jews who dwelt in Damascus, proving that this Jesus is the Christ" (Acts 9:22). "Then Paul, as his custom was, went in to them, and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and demonstrating that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and saying, 'This Jesus whom I preach to you is the Christ' " (Acts 17:2-3).

And God commends the Bereans for being more noble or fair-minded to check the scriptures to see if the things Paul said were true. "Then the brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea. When they arrived, they went into the synagogue of the Jews. These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so. Therefore many of them believed, and also not a few of the Greeks, prominent women as well as men" (Acts 17:10-12).

So the proof of Jesus being the Christ was in the scriptures, but Saul, despite his desire to know and please God, refused to believe the scriptures.

Maybe he thought, as some members of the Church think today, that as long as he had zeal to know and please God, God would make sure that he knew the truth, and thus there was no need for him to check his beliefs with an open mind against the Bible.

Do you think that many deeply religious Catholics and Protestants do not want to please God, to know God's thoughts, and to do God's will? They do, or they think they do.

But try to show them, in the Bible, what we can plainly see (if we grew up in the Church or if we are willing to believe the Bible), about the Sabbath, the holy days, the soul not being immortal, etc., and they will not believe it. They will use every mental and argumentative trick to twist the scriptures, and they don't even realize they are doing it. "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; Who can know it?" (Jeremiah 17:9).

God's test for His people has always been whether we will believe and obey His word.

Abraham was the example of believing God's word. Time and again, the Bible speaks of Abraham's willingness to believe the word of God.

"For what does the Scripture say? 'Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness' " (Romans 4:3). "And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, 'Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.' And he was called the friend of God" (James 2:23). "And he believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness" (Genesis 15:6).

"Listen to Me, you who follow after righteousness, you who seek the Lord: Look to the rock from which you were hewn, and to the hole of the pit from which you were dug. Look to Abraham your father, and to Sarah who bore you; For I called him alone, and blessed him and increased him" (Isaiah 51:1-2).

"Therefore He who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, does He do it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? just as Abraham 'believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.' Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, 'In you all the nations shall be blessed.' So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham" (Galatians 3:5-9).

The test is the same for us. Will we believe God? Will we have faith to believe the Bible? Not just, do we have a good attitude, or, do we desire to know God, or, do we desire to know and do His will. Catholics and Protestants may have that. Saul had that, but it didn't help him before he finally believed God's word.

Herbert W. Armstrong was able to give us the truth because he was willing to believe God, to believe the Bible in other words. He always checked his thoughts and doctrinal ideas against the Bible to test if they were true.

After Mr. Armstrong began to preach on radio, thousands of people who heard him accepted the truth because they were willing to do what Mr. Armstrong said, "Don't believe me, believe your Bible". And believing their Bibles, they became willing to support Mr. Armstrong with their tithes and offerings so the work could expand and so we could have the truth we have today.

Your knowledge of God's truth today is a direct result, a direct fruit, of thousands of people believing what they read in their Bibles more than their opinions, more than their traditions, and more than their ministers. You probably wouldn't know what you know today if they just felt that because they have an attitude of wanting to know God's thoughts and please Him that God would somehow reveal His truth to them apart from the Bible.

What is wrong with saying, "Just have the right attitude, and you will know. Just be zealous to have a stong desire to know God and please Him and internalize His thoughts - cry out for that - and you will know God's thoughts"?

The problem is, without the Bible as a mirror, we cannot see ourselves clearly. The Bible is the only objective check. Anyone can deceive himself into thinking he has a good attitude, that he wants to please God, that he is zealous to know God's truth and will and thoughts. But the only real test, for ourselves, for others who face the same questions, and for God to see where our hearts really are, is the Bible.

In other words, only by the Bible do we have any chance of correctly measuring our attitude to know if it is right. And if we are not willing to search and believe the Bible for the answers to all questions of doctrine and the application of God's spiritual law, that unwillingness itself is evidence, to God first of all, and should be to ourselves, that our attitude is not right.

"For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart" (Hebrews 4:12).

What is wrong with saying, "The key to knowing the will of God is to do what it says in Romans 12:1-2: 'I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God' "?

There is nothing wrong with that, providing we understand that it must be the Bible that shows us how to present our bodies as a living sacrifice. It must be the Bible that shows us what is holy and what is not. It must be the Bible that shows us what is acceptable to God. It must be the Bible that shows us what the principles of this world are that we should not conform to. And it must be the Bible that we use to prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. We also prove God's way of life, which we learn from the Bible, by living it. We learn of God's way from the Bible, then we live it, and by living it we prove that God is telling the truth and that His way of life works.

It is God's word that defines all these things for us.

There have been Catholics and Protestants who thought they were presenting their bodies as a living sacrifice, some of them missionaries, some being willing to die or be tortured for their beliefs. But they didn't know the will of God because they didn't believe what God said. There are Catholics and Protestants who think that God is transforming their minds, but without believing the Bible, they have no way to measure that transformation or really know if it is from God.

Moreover, the only way we can preach the gospel and the Ezekiel warning to the world is to say, as Mr. Armstrong said, "Don't believe us, believe your Bible". If we try to preach the gospel by saying to the world, "Make sure your heart is right and that you desire to know God's will, and then you will (somehow) know the truth", that will go nowhere. Catholics and Protestants will just be confirmed in their minds in their own false doctrines.

And we cannot successfully preach what we don't practice. If we teach the world to live by every word of God, the Bible, as Jesus taught (Matthew 4:4), we better live that way ourselves.

The Bible MUST be the final arbiter and test of truth in matters of doctrine and the application of God's law in the decisions we must make.

We should also not make the mistake of thinking that we are immune to deceiving ourselves about our own attitude and desire to know God and please Him because we are baptized. We may think we earnestly desire to know and do His will, but if we are not checking and believing the Bible and doing what God says, we are showing God that our attitude towards Him is NOT right, even if we think it is. God is our judge, not ourselves.

If we need a reminder that those in God's true Church can deceive themselves about their spiritual attitude and condition, we only need to consider Christ's message to the Laodiceans. They did not know that they were spiritually blind, poor, wretched, miserable, and naked (Revelation 3:17).

Are ministers and members of the Church of God able to know God's thoughts, God's will, God's truth? Yes, absolutely. But we know God's thoughts and truth by the Bible. God's Spirit helps us understand the Bible and escape from Satan's deceptions, but we still must make the effort to search out the answers in the Bible. We have our part to do. Then God, by His Holy Spirit, will help us to reason correctly about putting scriptures together to know God's will, provided we are willing to believe and do what God says.

Yes, we can know God's thoughts and counsel because He reveals them to us through His word, the Bible.

But if we will not make the effort to look for the answers in the Bible, or if when we find the answers we give the scriptures a twist in our interpretation of the Bible according to our pre-conceived beliefs, not letting the Bible interpret the Bible, that lack of effort or lack of willingness to believe God's word shows God that our attitude is not right, that we are kidding ourselves, that our apparent emotional desire to know His thoughts and will is just a false emotion, not based on reality.

Moreover, not all who attend in the Church of God, either as lay members or ministers, are necessarily actually converted. Some may be tares (Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43). We should have learned this from the experience of Worldwide in the decade after the death of Mr. Armstrong.

There have been false ministers among us in the past, and there can be false ministers among us in the Church today. The only protection against deception taught by a minister on any point of God's truth is the Bible.

Ministers and members of the Church of God are NOT immune to deception. I heard someone talk about his experience searching for the term "barley harvest" and finding some teachings from someone who claims to be Church of God that were, shall we say, "surprising". That is just a reminder that there is much doctrinal confusion, controversy, and disagreement in the scattered Church of God, and this among those who have been baptized.

One might say, "Yes, but the same thing can happen in our reading of the Bible. We can deceive ourselves about what we read, twisting scriptures unconsciously without realizing it, deceiving ourselves".

Yes, that is possible. But we have a better chance of not deceiving ourselves if we are searching the Bible for answers than if we are not looking to the Bible. At least with the Bible, we have something more objective than our own thoughts. We have infallible words direct from God Himself. We can learn to believe God one verse at a time if necessary. We will be faced with choices, to believe God or not, and we have the opportunity to make right choices, to believe things God tells us even when we do not want to believe.

The Bible is the only objective measuring stick to determine if the thoughts we have about doctrine, about right and wrong, and about God's law and the application of His law to our decisions are right. And it is the measuring stick God can use to test our attitudes towards Him, if we really desire to know and do His will.



A Lesson in Jeremiah


There is an incident in the book of Jeremiah that may illustrate this. The people came to Jeremiah to inquire of God's will, promising to do what God said. Here is the story:

There was a group of Jews who were left in the land of Judah after Nebuchadnezzar took most of the Jews captive to Babylon. The governor of the Jews that Nebuchadnezzar had appointed was murdered, and the Jews were afraid that Nebuchadnezzar would hold them responsible. They wanted to flee to Egypt. You can read of their story in Jeremiah chapter 41.

Then, in chapter 42, as they started on their way to Egypt, they asked Jeremiah to inquire of God the way they should go, promising to do whatever God said, to go to Egypt or not go.

"Now all the captains of the forces, Johanan the son of Kareah, Jezaniah the son of Hoshaiah, and all the people, from the least to the greatest, came near and said to Jeremiah the prophet, 'Please, let our petition be acceptable to you, and pray for us to the Lord your God, for all this remnant (since we are left but a few of many, as you can see), that the Lord your God may show us the way in which we should walk and the thing we should do.' Then Jeremiah the prophet said to them, 'I have heard. Indeed, I will pray to the Lord your God according to your words, and it shall be, that whatever the Lord answers you, I will declare it to you. I will keep nothing back from you.' So they said to Jeremiah, 'Let the Lord be a true and faithful witness between us, if we do not do according to everything which the Lord your God sends us by you. Whether it is pleasing or displeasing, we will obey the voice of the Lord our God to whom we send you, that it may be well with us when we obey the voice of the Lord our God' " (Jeremiah 42:1-6).

"And it happened after ten days that the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah. Then he...said to them, 'Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, to whom you sent me to present your petition before Him: "If you will still remain in this land, then I will build you and not pull you down, and I will plant you and not pluck you up....Do not be afraid of the king of Babylon, of whom you are afraid; do not be afraid of him," says the Lord, "for I am with you, to save you and deliver you from his hand...." But if you say, "We will not dwell in this land," disobeying the voice of the Lord your God, saying, "No, but we will go to the land of Egypt where we shall see no war, nor hear the sound of the trumpet, nor be hungry for bread, and there we will dwell"....Thus says the Lord...."If you wholly set your faces to enter Egypt, and go to dwell there, then it shall be that the sword which you feared shall overtake you there in the land of Egypt; the famine of which you were afraid shall follow close after you there in Egypt; and there you shall die" ' " (Jeremiah 42:7-16).

" 'The Lord has said concerning you, O remnant of Judah, "Do not go to Egypt!" Know certainly that I have admonished you this day. For you were hypocrites in your hearts when you sent me to the Lord your God, saying, "Pray for us to the Lord our God, and according to all that the Lord your God says, so declare to us and we will do it" ' " (Jeremiah 42:19-20).

"Now it happened, when Jeremiah had stopped speaking to all the people all the words of the Lord their God, for which the Lord their God had sent him to them, all these words, that Azariah the son of Hoshaiah, Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the proud men spoke, saying to Jeremiah, 'You speak falsely! The Lord our God has not sent you to say, "Do not go to Egypt to dwell there." '....So they went to the land of Egypt, for they did not obey the voice of the Lord...." (Jeremiah 43:1-7).

The people may have thought they were willing to obey God. But when God's word came, it was apparently different from what they expected, and they did not believe and obey God's word, though they had promised they would.

The problem with just trying to work up a good attitude, a burning desire to know God's will and to please Him, and then wait for God to make us sure that the thoughts in our mind are from Him, is that without the objective and infallible word of God, the Bible, we cannot rightly judge ourselves and our thoughts and our attitudes. We might think we have a right attitude, but maybe we don't. As with the Jews who asked Jeremiah to inquire of the Lord for them, the real test of our attitude is not a feeling that we want to know God's will, but actually believing God when He speaks to us directly through His word.

Did the Jews think they wanted to know God's will? Of course they did! Why else did they ask Jeremiah to inquire of God for them? But they didn't know their own minds.

And if we are not willing to let God's word judge and test our thoughts by diligent Bible study, working hard at it if necessary, that right there I think is a pretty good indication that our attitude towards God is not right and that we are deceiving ourselves if we think we really want to know God's will and please Him with all our hearts.



An Example of Finding the Answer in the Bible


Before I end this, I want to give an example of the kind of question and decision about the application of God's law this may apply to. I have discussed this before, but it bears repeating (and repeating, and repeating, and repeating).

Suppose a man in the Church of God has a thought about preaching the gospel. His thought is, "We should not preach the gospel to the world until we draw closer to God, and that is a process that takes time, and we cannot rush God, so this may take years". Then he asks himself, "Is this thought from God's Holy Spirit, or is Satan trying to deceive me and keep me from supporting the preaching of the gospel by pumping this thought into my mind?"

How can he know if this thought, that we should wait with preaching the gospel to the world, is from God or from Satan? If it is from God, he must accept it and stay in the fellowship he is in, which also follows this thought as policy. But if it is from Satan he must reject this thought and find a fellowship that is preaching the gospel to the world. So the question is important. From God or from Satan - how can he know?

One man might say, "Desire with all your heart to know God's mind and His will and please God, and God will cause you to know the answer".

Is that practical? The problem is, it only raises another question. "How will I know if I really desire to know God's will and please Him and I am not just kidding myself? How can I judge my own attitude objectively?"

Moreover, it assumes God will be pleased with that approach and will not require the work and effort to search out the answer in the Bible. For how can we really live by "every word that proceeds from the mouth of God", as Jesus said (Matthew 4:4), if we take that approach? And how can God know if we are willing to believe His word, as Abraham did, if we won't even take the trouble to study His word for the answer?

Rather, that man should search the Bible for the answer. He may also seek a multitude of counsel, speaking with members and ministers to see what scriptures they have found that apply to this question, and he can add those scriptures to the ones he has found on his own. And by making this effort, he is showing God that he is willing to take the first step to really know God's thoughts and God's will.

Then putting scriptures together, he can find this.

Christ said we are to get the beam out of our eye before correcting our brother (Matthew 7:3-5). This, at first, may seem to support the idea that we as a Church should get our own act together before preaching to the world.

But then he will also find that God directly commands us to deliver His message to warn the people (Ezekiel 3:17-18). See also (Matthew 22:39, Matthew 7:12, Proverbs 24:11).

So this narrows the question a bit. Should we think of the gospel and the Ezekiel warning as correcting our brother, something we should not do until we get the beam out of our own eye? Or should we think of the gospel and Ezekiel warning as delivering God's message, with God doing the correcting, and we are just the postman delivering God's message, which we are commanded to do or the people's blood will be on our heads and God will count us as murderers?

God has no beam in His eye. God can correct the world and use us as the postman, delivering the message, and the postman does not have to be perfect before he can deliver the mail.

So how does that man find the answer? Again, in the Bible. He can look at the examples God gives us. The Bible is full of examples that show God's law in action. The Bible will show if the "beam in the eye" principle applies to preaching the gospel and the Ezekiel warning.

And here are examples from the Bible to answer the question.

Example one. God sent Jonah to warn Nineveh. Yet, if the beam in the eye represents spiritual or moral faults, Jonah certainly had one or more beams in his eyes. He did not have an attitude of obedience to God, for after God commanded him to deliver the message, he ran from God (Jonah 1:1-3). Then, even after repenting of that, his hatred for the Ninevites seemed to be so bad he was sorry and wanted to die because they repented (Jonah 3:1-10)! Yet, not only did God use Him, but his mission was successful! Jonah's preaching bore good fruit because Nineveh repented, yet Jonah had a beam in his eyes before and after he preached the message. Now, if God does not want a man with a beam in his eye to preach God's message (not his own) of warning to sinners to repent, HOW COULD GOD HAVE SENT JONAH TO DELIVER THE MESSAGE?

Example two. Jesus sent out His twelve apostles to preach the gospel. They were successful. They preached the gospel. They evidently baptized (John 4:1-3). They healed the sick. They cast out demons. Yet James and John had beams in their eyes. They were unconverted. They sought the best places in the kingdom in competition with the other apostles (Mark 10:35-41). They wanted to call fire down from heaven to burn up a village, and Jesus said they did not know what spirit they were of (Luke 9:54-56). Now, how could Jesus have sent men with beams in their eyes to preach the gospel if He intended those with faults and sins NOT to preach the gospel till they get the beams out of their own eyes?

Example three. Judas. Need I say more? Judas was a thief who stole money from the money box (John 12:4-6). Jesus said that among the apostles, Judas was not "clean" (John 13:10-11). He also said that Judas would have been better off had he never been born (Matthew 26:24-25). That sounds like the bottom to me. The only thing that compares is the scripture in Revelation that says the beast and false prophet will be cast into the lake of fire. To say that Judas had a beam in his eye would be an understatement. Yet Jesus sent him, along with the other apostles, to preach the gospel. And he must have been successful in healing and casting out demons, same as the other apostles, because he didn't seem different to them - they didn't know who the betrayer was until Christ told them (John 13:21-29).

So how could Jesus send out Judas to preach the gospel if Jesus did not want His disciples to preach the gospel with beams in their eyes? The answer: Jesus never intended His "beam in the eye" lesson to apply to preaching God's message of the gospel and the Ezekiel warning to the general public. He was only talking about personally taking the initiative to correct a brother. Taking God's message and delivering it to a mass audience as God commands is a different matter entirely.

Why is it different?

I mentioned this before, but the true gospel and the Ezekiel warning are not our message of correction to a brother, but they are God's message, God's correction to the nations. Since God crafts and shapes the message, and He also commands that we deliver the message, it is HIS responsibility, not ours. God is the author of the message, and we are the delivery man, that's all. God does the correcting, not us. It is God who says to the nations, through us, "Let me get the beam out of your eye", and He has the right to do this because He can see clearly - He has no beam in His eye.

IT IS NOT OUR MESSAGE.

But God commands we deliver it, whether or not, like Jonah, James, John, and Judas, we have beams in our eyes at the time we deliver it.

Besides that, the gospel is not all correction. Some of it is just positive, encouraging information about how God will save the world.

In any case, even the warning can be delivered as simply a sharing of information. You don't have to accuse the reader or listener of wrong doing. You can simply share what you know - God is going to punish those who are doing such and such, and the tribulation is coming for those who do not repent. Then Christ will come and save the world and set up the Kingdom of God. It is up to the reader or listener to examine himself to see if he is guilty or not based on the scriptures we quote for him. We don't have to set ourselves up as his judge - we let God do that - we just share with the reader or listener what we have discovered in the Bible, and he can do with that what he pleases.

And if our man who is doing the Bible study is willing to believe these examples in the Bible, he can know that his thought, "We should not preach the gospel to the world until we draw closer to God, and that is a process that takes time, and we cannot rush God, so this may take years", is NOT from God's Spirit, but is from Satan or from his own mistaken human reasoning (or the mistaken reasoning of another person he got this from).

Then replacing that wrong thought with what God through the Bible has taught him, he can put into practice Christ's teaching, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God" (Matthew 4:4). He can further put that into action by supporting the preaching of the gospel and the Ezekiel warning to the world, even knowing that he has faults he needs to work on himself. And if he cannot do that in the fellowship he is in, he can do that in a fellowship that preaches the gospel.

He might also consider this, that if his pastor or human leader or leading ministers in the fellowship he attends think they are not qualified to preach the gospel and the Ezekiel warning to a world that desperately needs it, what makes them think they are qualified to preach to the Church of God on the Sabbath?

In other words, if they have beams in their eyes that prevent them from preaching to the world, why doesn't that prevent them from preaching to the Church? And if they have to draw closer to God and be reconciled to the Father before they can preach to the world, why do they not have to do this before they preach to the Church?

Moreover, if we claim we believe God when God says, love your neighbor as yourself, what right do we have to hold the truth we have only for ourselves, using it to try to be reconciled with the Father, but not sharing it with our neighbors so they can have the same chance to be reconciled to God? What right do we have to use our resources of time and money to make ourselves ready for the coming trials, the great tribulation, the Day of the Lord, and the return of Christ without using some of those resources to enable others outside the Church to have the same opportunity to make themselves ready for the coming end-time events?

If we behave selfishly in this matter, we are like the priest and the Levite in the parable of the good Samaritan who, when they saw the man left almost dead in the road, passed by on the other side (Luke 10:29-37). If we act selfishly, trying to achieve closeness with God but without also helping our neighbors find a relationship with God and without obeying what God directly says to us in His word, I don't think we will be reconciled with God because I don't think God will accept us on those terms. We have to go to God the way God tells us, not our own way contrary to the Bible. We are like members of traditional Sunday-keeping churches of this world, who when you show them what the Bible says about the Sabbath, say, "Well, here's the way I look at it".

This is a perfect example, I think, of God's warning, "There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death" (Proverbs 14:12, 16:25).

Do you really think God will accept that kind of worship?

He who rejects love towards neighbor is also rejecting love towards God. He who thinks he loves God is kidding himself if he does not love his neighbor as God commands.



Preaching the Gospel by Example


A pastor or teacher may excuse not preaching to the world by saying, we must preach the gospel by our example.

Certainly we should be a light and an example to those around us. But one who believes that this is sufficient for preaching the gospel and the Ezekiel warning to the public should consider two points.

The first one, which is pretty obvious, is that our example, apart from preaching the gospel with a direct message to a mass audience, only reaches a few people around us. And even most of those people do not know why our example is good. A person might see you open the door for someone or show unusual kindness, but how many learn the gospel and the Ezekiel warning from you because they saw your good deed? Very few will even ask you about your beliefs, and the few that do will probably not discuss it further than a very small number of points, not enough to get the full picture.

But the second point may be one that the "preach the gospel by example" crowd usually do not consider or do not talk about.

The very preaching of the gospel and the Ezekiel warning is a good example to show the world. For the Church of God, which is small, to sacrifice and labor to get the gospel and the Ezekiel warning out to a mass audience is an example of love towards our neighbors that people will notice. But if we do not preach the gospel, we are showing by our failure to do so, by our bad example in this case, that we do not love our neighbors enough to sacrifice for them.

And then, when those of us who go through the tribulation with the world (and there will be many of us I am sure), when the masses find out that we knew what was coming but didn't make the sacrifice to warn them, they will likely say, "Why didn't you do more to warn us?" They will notice our bad example of selfishness in that case. That is not being a light to the world.

Catholic and Protestant missionaries sometimes show a better example of love than some Church of God fellowships by sacrificing to bring what they think is the truth to a world that needs it. They show more zeal for their mistaken message than some of us show for the truth. That is NOT a good example on our part.

Showing a willingness to sacrifice our time, our money, and our very lives to bring the gospel and the Ezekiel warning to a world that needs it is one of the ways we let our light shine. When we do this, we are testifying to others that we have an outgoing concern for others and that we are so committed to the truth of God that we are willing to sacrifice for it.

And while we are preaching the gospel and the Ezekiel warning to the world, if we ourselves have faults to overcome (and who among us doesn't?), we work on overcoming those faults at the same time as we preach the gospel. And as we grow in grace and knowledge, as we overcome our sins more and more, as we draw closer to God and experience a greater reconciliation with the Father, our preaching of the gospel to the world will become more effective as God blesses us. And the desire to finish God's work, as Christ in us inspires us with the same zeal to finish the Father's work as He had (John 4:34-38), should add to our motivation to overcome and draw closer to God so God will bless our efforts to preach the gospel.

In other words, love towards our neighbors that leads us to share the gospel with them should motivate us to overcome our sins just as our love for God motivates us. And it was this way with Jesus also. Christ's motivation to sanctify Himself was not just to please the Father or be saved Himself but for our sakes also. Jesus said, "And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth" (John 17:19).



Sitting on the Fence


Some in the Church of God are still undecided on the Bible issue. They haven't made up their minds if God's word is to be their absolute primary guide in their life. They haven't really made a commitment, 100%, to believe God, to believe what He says absolutely in everything. They are sitting on the fence. And as they sit on the fence on the Bible issue, they also sit on the fence on the gospel issue. "Yes, I want the gospel to be preached", they may say. But they do nothing. They show love to God and their neighbors with their mouths but not in action, and their hearts are undecided.

They remind me of the words of Elijah, "How long will you falter between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him, but if Baal, follow him" (1 Kings 18:21).

So I will challenge the undecided to make up their minds. The Church of God since Herbert W. Armstrong started on radio has always stressed the Bible, the Bible, the Bible. Why? Because the Bible is God speaking. Mr. Armstrong proved that, and many members, including myself, have proved it.

The one thing that makes the Church of God different from Catholic and Protestant churches is our commitment to live by every word of the Bible. It is one of our defining characteristics. It is our heritage, our culture, our roots, and our history. Yet some ministers and members in the Church of God do not take it seriously.

Make up your minds. Do you believe the Bible or not? You attend with a Church that claims to follow the Bible. Does that mean anything to you? Do you think this is something inconsequential, minor, secondary? Do you put the Bible only on the level of Church articles, minister sermons, and Church tradition? Or do you tremble before its authority?

The stakes couldn't be higher. God says, if we don't deliver the warning to the nations, we are murderers in His sight. There is blood guilt upon the heads of every man and woman in the Church who is not supporting the preaching of the Ezekiel warning to the world by whatever means lawfully available to that person, with whatever opportunities and resources God give us (Ezekiel 3:16-21). God Himself shows in the Bible, when we put the scriptures together, that there is no excuse for waiting while we "draw closer to God" or "become reconciled with the Father".

And the root of this thinking, that we are somehow excused from delivering God's message to the world while we try to get closer to God our own way, is our casual attitude towards God's word. That slack attitude towards the Bible is getting many Church members in trouble with God. There is a price to pay, and that price is building up. The longer one waits before believing and obeying God's word about the gospel, the harder it may be to repent, and there may be less chance a person will be able to do it.



Conclusion


Here is the conclusion.

We need to have a repentant attitude and a right attitude and respect for God as we study the Bible. But having that attitude will not make God's thoughts and God's will known to us apart from sincerely looking for answers in the Bible. It takes both, not one or the other. We need a right attitude, an attitude of faith in God and His word, a willingness to believe God's word the Bible more than our own opinions, more than our ministers, and more than our traditions. We need to earnestly desire to please God and know His thoughts. If we don't have that right attitude, our understanding of the Bible will be hindered. But having that right attitude is not enough if we do not look to the Bible for answers. We have to have a right attitude AND we need to get seek the answers to our questions in the Bible.

" 'For all those things My hand has made, and all those things exist,' says the Lord. 'But on this one will I look: On him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, and who trembles at My word' " (Isaiah 66:2).

"Deliver those who are drawn toward death, and hold back those stumbling to the slaughter" (Proverbs 24:11).

"When I say to the wicked, 'You shall surely die,' and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life, that same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at your hand" (Ezekiel 3:18).

"To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them" (Isaiah 8:20).


Here are links to other posts in this blog on related subjects:

"Unbelief Is Sin, and We Must Put It Out of Our Lives", dated April 8, 2015, link:
http://ptgbook.blogspot.com/2015/04/unbelief-is-sin-and-we-must-put-it-out.html

"Showing Mercy", dated April 9, 2015, link:
http://ptgbook.blogspot.com/2015/04/showing-mercy.html

"Why Does God Communicate to Us through the Bible Today, More than through Miracle-working Apostles and Prophets as He Did in the First Century and Before?", dated August 14, 2015, link:
http://ptgbook.blogspot.com/2015/08/why-does-god-communicate-to-us-through.html

"Incorporation of Church of God, The Father's Call", dated December 21, 2015, link:
http://ptgbook.blogspot.com/2015/12/incorporation-of-church-of-god-fathers.html
(At the bottom of this post is an extensive list of related post links.)

"Did God Put You Where You Are in the Church, and Should You Stay There?", dated February 18, 2016, link:
http://ptgbook.blogspot.com/2016/02/did-god-put-you-where-you-are-in-church.html


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

CHAPTER 3 - THE EZEKIEL WARNING

CHAPTER 4 - WHY PREACH THE GOSPEL? - A LESSON FROM THE HOLOCAUST

CHAPTER 5 - SHOULD THE CHURCH FEED THE FLOCK ONLY?

CHAPTER 6 - OBTAINING GOD'S HELP -- PRACTICING WHAT WE PREACH

Should Church of God Members Sue Other Members or Fellowships?

One of the long standing doctrines of the Church of God, based on the Bible, is that we do not file lawsuits against each other.

This is based on what Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 6:1-10: "Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unrighteous, and not before the saints? Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world will be judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters? Do you not know that we shall judge angels? How much more, things that pertain to this life? If then you have judgments concerning things pertaining to this life, do you appoint those who are least esteemed by the church to judge? I say this to your shame. Is it so, that there is not a wise man among you, not even one, who will be able to judge between his brethren? But brother goes to law against brother, and that before unbelievers!

"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? No, you yourselves do wrong and cheat, and you do these things to your brethren! Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God."

Let's go through this a bit.

Paul first of all rebukes the Corinthians for going to this world's courts to settle disputes between brethren instead of going to the Church for judgment. They were placing more faith and trust in this world's judges than in converted brethren and elders to give them justice. But that is wrong. It is the Church that has God's truth, God's Holy Spirit, and God's authority to judge between brethren.

Christ gave authority to settle disputes to the Church. "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).

It is evident in this that when He says, "tell it to the church", he is talking about the leadership, for the telling it to the church is followed by, "whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven", and it is the leadership that has the authority to make binding decisions (Matthew 16:18-19, 1 Corinthians 12:28).

Notice Ephesians 4:11-16: "And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head - Christ - from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love".

Do these positions of apostle, evangelist, and pastor carry decision making authority? Of course. There could be no organization without authority to make decisions. And those decisions should be obeyed. Paul recognized both his own authority and the authority of evangelists and pastors, as his letters to Titus and Timothy show and even his first letter to the Corinthians shows. He gave the Corinthians a binding decision to put out a sinner. He gave Titus and Timothy particular commands to do certain things and to appoint elders.

"Obey those who rule over you, and be submissive, for they watch out for your souls, as those who must give account. Let them do so with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for you" (Hebrews 13:17-18).

I won't rehearse here all of God's teaching in the Old Testament, in the examples of Israel in the wilderness, of what God thinks of rebellion against His government, and the examples of those who rebelled against Moses, not only of Korah but also Miriam and Aaron who spoke against Moses. I will quote this one passage. "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. So you shall put away the evil from Israel. And all the people shall hear and fear, and no longer act presumptuously" (Deuteronomy 17:12-13).

And notice that this authority particularly applies to doctrine, for one of the purposes of the offices in the Church, according to Ephesians 4:11-16 which I quoted earlier, is to make sure the brethren are not tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine.

This authority also applies to putting people out for sin until they come to repentance (1 Corinthians 5:1-5). And it applies to putting people out for causing division to protect the rest of the flock (Romans 16:17, Titus 3:10).

Going back to Paul's teaching against brethren suing brethren in the Church in 1 Corinthians 6:1-10, notice that Paul rebukes the Corinthians for appointing those least esteemed by the Church to judge, that is, this world's courts. Why are they least esteemed? They are not converted. They have not repented. They do not know God and His truth. They are part of this world's system led and deceived by Satan. The court system that exists in the United States, for example, is the very court system that rules that women have the right to murder their unborn children and that men can sexually unite with men and women with women and call it same-sex "marriage". Does it make sense for converted members of the Church to go to these people to resolve disputes with others members?

If the courts of this world do not have the discernment to know that it is wrong for a mother to have her child murdered in her womb by having its limbs torn apart with a vacuum pump or forceps or killed with the injection of a salt solution, or if they do not understand that marriage is between a man and a woman, how could they possibly have the wisdom to resolve matters according to God's law in the Church of God?

And as Paul points out, we in the Church are being trained to judge the world. To the degree we are converted and have grown, we are vastly more qualified to render judgments than courts in Satan's world.

But it doesn't stop there.

For some might say, "Yes, but this principle is based on having a single authority in the Church of God that really follows Christ, and in the absence of such authority, members must go to the courts".

But keep reading. After rebuking the Corinthians for choosing this world's courts instead of the Church to resolve disputes, Paul goes on to say, "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).

Did you get that?

Paul switches gears here.

First he rebukes them for choosing this world's courts rather than the Church.

But then he rebukes them for not letting themselves be wronged. We are not talking about going to the Church for judgment in that case. We are talking about letting ourselves be wronged, not seeking judgment against our brother at all. This applies even if and when there is no central authority, faithful to Christ, in the Church to render judgments.

In other words, even if there is no one in the Church trusted to make a right decision, it is better to accept the wrong than to sue our brethren in this world's courts.

Isn't that clear?

This is just an application of a broader principle Jesus Christ taught, of not resisting evil done to us. "You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.' But I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. If anyone wants to sue you and take away your tunic, let him have your cloak also. And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two" (Matthew 5:38-41).

I do not say that we should fail to protect ourselves from bodily harm or even spiritual harm by avoiding physically or spiritually dangerous situations. Women should avoid dangerous situations. Wives in the Church have a right to seek physical protection if their husbands beat them. We have a right to flee temptation, as God commands (1 Corinthians 6:18). We are not expected to give what we have no right to give because it is reserved for other purposes (Matthew 20:23). An application of this is that a man is not necessarily required to give thousands of dollars to whoever asks when he needs that money to take care of his obligations to his children, or to the Church, or whatever. We should anticipate problems and dangers and avoid them (Proverbs 22:3).

Nevertheless, there is a principle involved in Christ's teaching, that we avoid disputes, even if that involves our own suffering to a degree, and not escalate them. "A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger" (Proverbs 15:1).

"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 12:18-21).

And Paul applied this principle specifically to filing lawsuits against brethren in the Church of God. We are not to do that. Rather, we are to put our trust in God, following the example of Christ.

"For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps: 'Who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in His mouth'; who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously; who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness— by whose stripes you were healed. For you were like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls" (1 Peter 2:21-25).

Notice, Christ committed Himself to God who judges righteously, and we should do the same. It is God who will obtain justice for us, not ourselves.

Some may consider filing a lawsuit not just against an individual member of the Church of God, but against an entire Church of God fellowship and leading ministers in the Church. If a member of the Church of God were to do this, seeking to obtain damages because he feels his reputation has been harmed, I wonder if he considers the consequences.

Who would he be hurting?

He would hurt the whole work of God's Church, the work of preaching the gospel to the world as a witness, the work of giving the Ezekiel warning to the nations of Israel, the work of making disciples of all nations, and the work of feeding the flock.

Lawyers are expensive, and a lawsuit can be costly for both parties no matter who wins. Tens of thousands of dollars, tithes and offerings made by the hard work and sacrifices of many brethren whose hearts are in the work, may be lost to the work just in lawyer fees, and if the case is won by the suing member, the damages can be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars or more. That is a lot of money down the drain, taken away from doing God's work.

How many people might not hear the gospel or the Ezekiel warning, who otherwise would have heard it, if such a lawsuit takes place? How many TV stations would not air the telecast, or how many magazine subscriptions would not be filled? How many brethren would be without a local Church of God congregation because the money is not there to employ a pastor? Just the legal fees could easily pay a pastor's salary for a year, or fund a TV broadcast on several small cities that do not currently have the broadcast, or pay for several thousand magazine subscriptions.

In short, how many people will be hurt who had nothing to do with the alleged wrong?

Christ died to pay the penalty for our sins. He suffered a humiliating death, put to death as a criminal was killed, but He did it because of His love for others. A member of the Church who believes the doctrines of the Church, but contemplating a lawsuit against the Church, should consider that his love for his neighbor and for other members of the Church of God should override his self-concern for his personal reputation or his desire for revenge or for money.

Consider the mind of Christ, which should be in us. What was He more concerned about, His personal suffering, or preaching the gospel? What did He love more, His neighbors, the people of this world, or His personal reputation?

"Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name" (Philippians 2:5-9).

And when it comes to our relationship with the ministry and leadership of the Church, consider the example of David. He was persecuted unjustly by Saul, who sought to murder him, yet he did not strike back at Saul even when he had the power to do so. And David was a man after God's heart.

From time to time, the Church makes certain judgments to disfellowship someone, and often the person disfellowshipped may feel that his disfellowshipment was unjust. He may feel it is too hard for him to stay home for an extended period of time if he is told to do so.

But sometimes, to be faithful to God, we must learn to practice God's way of life even when we are alone with no local congregation to attend. In some ways, that is a greater test of our faithfulness than when we are blessed with a Church of God congregation we can attend. God may require that of us for a period of time.

Is that unreasonable?

"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service" (Romans 12:1).

"Listen to Me, you who follow after righteousness, you who seek the Lord: Look to the rock from which you were hewn, and to the hole of the pit from which you were dug. Look to Abraham your father, and to Sarah who bore you; for I called him alone, and blessed him and increased him" (Isaiah 51:1-2).

There was a time, around the early 1950s, when the work that Mr. Armstrong was doing was new and there were not a lot of Church of God congregations. So ministers were sent on baptizing tours. They traveled the country, counseling and baptizing prospective members who heard the radio program, studied the literature, proved the truth in their own Bibles, and wrote in requesting to be baptized. So many all over the country were baptized long before there were enough members in a particular area or enough trained ministers and money to hire them to set up local congregations. So these newly baptized members had to wait, sometimes many years, until a local congregation was set up in their area. And during this time, they had to obey God and live a Christian life alone, without the support and the comfort of a local congregation in the Church of God.

But they did it. They made the sacrifice. And they sacrificed financially and supported the work of God with their tithes and offerings at that time. And since they were newly baptized, they did not have any prior experience with the Church, the memory of which could guide them. They were really alone, except for the literature and the broadcasts.

But it was because of their courage to stand alone and their sacrifice and faithfulness that the work grew, and we have the knowledge we have today because of their sacrifice.

If such men and women obeyed God alone for years without a local Church of God congregation, faithfully supporting the work of the Church so that we in our time can enjoy the truth that we have, should we not be willing to practice our faith alone without a local congregation for a period of time, if necessary?

If you have been disfellowshipped and told to stay home for a while, and if you do not understand the reasons, humble yourself before God. Put your trust in Him. Wait for Him. You may think you are not at fault, but if your attitude is right before God, He may reveal things to you that you need to change, and when you have made needed changes He can bring you back into the Church.

But don't strike back at the Church. Don't seek personal revenge. Don't try to hurt the work of preaching the gospel and giving the Ezekiel warning. Don't love your own self and your reputation more than the millions of your neighbors in this country who are about to suffer and die in the great tribulation, the greatest time of trouble in world history, and who need a warning. Be willing to sacrifice yourself so others can have the truth, just as others in past years have sacrificed themselves so you can have the truth today. That is God's way and the example that Jesus Christ has set for us to follow.

Satan is fully against God's gospel and truth. He fights it at every opportunity. He no doubt is glad any time lawsuits between brethren or lawsuits against any fellowship that preaches the gospel reduce the funds available for preaching the gospel to the world.

The job of the Church includes preaching the gospel. Satan, our enemy, tries to stop that preaching any way he can. Let's not be Satan's ally by causing funds to be diverted from preaching the gospel because of lawsuits. Let's not go to this world's courts, which are deceived and led by Satan in Satan's role of ruler of this world, for judgment. Let's not, in effect, accuse our brethren or our ministers before Satan's courts and ask Satan to give his judgment on how much money should be taken from preaching the gospel, which he hates.

Let's rather humble ourselves before God and trust God to work things out His way, not our way.


Here is a link to a post on a subject similar to the subject of this post:

"If You Hear Your Pastor Preach False Doctrine or Error, Does Matthew 18:15-18 Apply?", dated December 14, 2013, link:
http://ptgbook.blogspot.com/2013/12/if-you-hear-your-pastor-preach-false.html


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

CHAPTER 3 - THE EZEKIEL WARNING

CHAPTER 4 - WHY PREACH THE GOSPEL? - A LESSON FROM THE HOLOCAUST

Did God Put You Where You Are in the Church, and Should You Stay There?

Speakers in the Church of God giving sermons, Bible studies, and sermonettes sometimes say, "God put you here". Members in conversation with other members sometimes say, "God put me here".

This is usually in reference to 1 Corinthians 12:18: "But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased."

Ministers who tell members, "God has put you here", often are trying to encourage members to stay in the fellowship they are in. The implied message can be, "God put you here, so you should stay here". Members who tell other members, "God has put me here", often are justifying why they stay in a fellowship and at the same time encouraging the members who are listening to also stay. The implied message is, "God has put me here so I should stay here, and God has put you here so you also should stay here".

But is that a right use of 1 Corinthians 12:18? Should we necessarily stay in the fellowship we are in because God placed us there?

Did God place us in Worldwide? Yes. Yet many of us have left Worldwide. Has God placed some members in United Church of God (UCG) after they left Worldwide but while Mr. David Hulme was in UCG? And if so, have some of them including Mr. Hulme left UCG to form Church of God an International Community (COGaic)? And did some of them leave COGaic to form Church of God the Father's Call (COGFC)?

If God places us where He wants in the body of Christ, does He also sometimes change where we are, move us to a different place in the body, as He pleases and as circumstances require for the working out of His plan?

And does this placing and moving happen apart from our participation and free moral agency? Does it happen without our involvement in the process?

God placed Herbert W. Armstrong in Church of God Seventh Day. Whether or not Mr. Armstrong acknowledged membership in that fellowship, he attended there on a regular basis for some years and received a salary from them during some of that time. Yet, when it was God's time, He moved Mr. Armstrong totally out of that fellowship and used Mr. Armstrong to raise up the Radio Church of God later named Worldwide Church of God.

But while God did the placing and moving, Mr. Armstrong had his part in the decision making process. He had free moral agency. He was called by God, and he responded with repentance, faith, and conversion, but God didn't force him to do anything. God led him to Church of God Seventh Day brethren, but Mr. Armstrong had his part in doing research and learning and accepting the truth.

Later, after a period of testing and training, it had come time for God to use Mr. Armstrong to do a work that was independent of the control of the Church of God Seventh Day leadership. God led Mr. Armstrong through circumstances and through the principles taught in the Bible, as well as by giving Mr. Armstrong, through the Holy Spirit, the wisdom and discernment to know God's will, to refuse further salary from COG7D and to start a separate work. But also here, Mr. Armstrong had his part in this. God did not force Mr. Armstrong to do this. Mr. Armstrong could have refused. But God led him to understand God's will and Mr. Armstrong chose to believe God's word, the Bible, and to submit to God's will.

That is often how God places us where He wants us. He opens our minds to understand His truth. He helps us understand the Bible and gives us the discernment to understand how to apply the principles in the Bible to the circumstances of our lives. He puts us in situations where we have to make choices. And God places us in the body according to our choices.

In other words, if we make a good choice, God may put us in one place in the body of Christ. And if we make a bad choice, God may put us in a different place in the body of Christ. And the choice we make may be the very means by which God puts us in a particular fellowship. He puts us where we can learn lessons.

But not every choice we make leads to where God would prefer us to go.

And as we learn lessons or as circumstances change, God can also move us from one place to another.

God placed many of us in Worldwide, but He did not want us to stay there when circumstances changed.

To say that we must stay in one place because God placed us there does not justify staying where we should not be once God helps us grow and learn the lesson that the place we are in is not faithful to God and the Bible or once spiritual conditions in that fellowship change for the worse.

It certainly does not mean we should stay with a fellowship that has proved itself to be unfaithful to God and the Bible by disobeying God's command to love our neighbors as ourselves and to preach the gospel and a warning to our neighbors who need it.

It may suit God's purpose for us to be in such a fellowship for a time, till we learn certain lessons and till we learn the nature of such a fellowship, but once we understand that it is God's will that the Church of God be zealously preaching the gospel now, and when we learn that the fellowship we are in is disobeying the God of the Bible in this matter (and saying we have to get closer to God before we preach the gospel is not an excuse, according to the Bible), then God has placed before us a choice and a test. It may feel comfortable to stay an unfaithful fellowship if it is a "feel-good" fellowship, if there is camaraderie among the members, and if it provides a false sense of spiritual progress, but God may require us to make a choice to leave that fellowship for the sake of our love towards God and our neighbors.

If that is the case, we have to make the choice. God will not make it for us. And God will place us where He wants us to be after we have made our choice. If we make the wrong choice, if we choose the comfortable atmosphere of staying put, He lets us stay in the unfaithful fellowship and we will reap what we sow sometime down the road. If we make the right choice, if we choose to separate from such a fellowship to be faithful to God, then God provides a place for us to go, a better place, leading us to that place as He sees fit.

In this scattered state of the whole Church of God, God is testing us by providing and allowing a variety of fellowships to choose from. Where we choose to attend and who we choose to support tells God where our hearts are. And one of the ways He places us where he wants us in response to the choices we make, to believe and obey God or not, is by providing and allowing every type of fellowship we can go to. God does not force members to be in a fellowship that preaches the gospel if their hearts are not in it. For such members, He allows fellowships that do not preach the gospel.

I know of no excuse for a man to stay with a fellowship that is deceiving its members about the priority of preaching the gospel and the Ezekiel warning to the nations and is doing nothing to support the gospel.

There are fellowships that call themselves "Church of God" that make it a policy not to preach the gospel to the world and the Ezekiel warning to Israel at this time. Typically, they excuse it by saying, "Now is not the time, but we will do it sometime in the indefinite future". Often they justify waiting by saying, "We have to get closer to God first", or some variation of that theme.

The Bible commands that we preach the gospel and the Ezekiel warning. It is God's message, not ours, but He commands that we deliver it. We are not correcting the world - God is doing that - but He is using us as a tool to deliver His message, if we believe and obey God's command to deliver His message. We are like a postman delivering a letter. We are not the author of the letter, but the one who delivers it at the author's command.

And the Bible teaching is clear, through the examples of the apostles before they were converted and still carnal enough to want to call fire down from heaven to burn up a village, through the example of Judas whom Christ sent out to preach the gospel along with the other apostles but who was a thief and a betrayer of whom Christ said he would have been better off if he had never been born, and through the example of Jonah who was so carnal he was sorry Nineveh heeded his message and was spared destruction - through all these examples - that God intends us to deliver His message and not use the excuse, "We are not spiritual enough"!

But some groups, some pastors and leaders of groups, do not preach the gospel and the warning. Only God knows the hearts of the ministers who lead such groups, if they are sincere. Perhaps they are concerned that they will not have enough income if some of the tithe money is used to preach the gospel. Yet they could be sincere in their reasons, but mixed up, mistaken in their understanding of the Bible. They could be sincere and simply deceived by Satan.

But ministers of such groups (and there is more than one group like this) must justify their lack of preaching the gospel to the members, and they use a variety of arguments.

It doesn't matter as far as the brethren are concerned. Whether a minister is sincere is not something we have to judge - that is God's business not ours. But we should recognize false or mistaken arguments.

A common theme used to justify keeping all tithe and offering income for the ministers and not spending much or any of it to preach the gospel and the Ezekiel warning to the world, as I mentioned, is the theme that the ministers and members need to concentrate on growing spiritually, getting closer to God, and improving their spiritual condition as a necessary prerequisite to preaching the gospel. Ministers will say, "The Church is spiritually sick and we need to be spiritually healed before God can use us to preach the gospel". Or they might say, "We need to be reconciled to the Father before we can preach the gospel". Or, "We need to get our own act together before we preach to others".

And of course, in this context, they will say, "And this will take time. We cannot rush the process. We must be patient with what God is doing with us."

Or how about this one. "We must not get ahead of what God is doing." Sound familiar?

And of course, "We preach the gospel by our example".

How much time till they are ready to preach the gospel? They dare not say. I know of one group that seems to have been trying to heal itself spiritually for about 25 years since they left Worldwide. I guess, as soon as they are healed spiritually, they will start to preach the gospel to the world. But I think that group has started to claim that they are preaching the gospel. However, their effort is so small it is virtually nil. They preach to their own members, not the world except in a token manner.

What the ministers claim is an indefinite period of time of spiritual healing and waiting for God to make His will known for preaching the gospel turns into "forever". The problem is, God makes His will known in the Bible, but the ministers and members of such groups do not believe God.

And the longer they follow that road, the more deceived they probably will become and the less likely it is that they will repent. Why? Because they are showing themselves to God to be unworthy of His truth. They are not willing to share the truth with others. They have the truth because others sacrificed to share it with them, but they in turn will not sacrifice to share it with others. Thus, they are not worthy of the truth and can lose it.

So if you have it in your heart that you want to see the gospel being preached to the world, and if you are in a group that is claiming to be getting closer to God before they preach the gospel, how long do you imagine this will take, and when will they preach the gospel? In a year? Two years? Five years? How about twenty-five years? How about forty or fifty years? How about never?

And if you stay in such a group because they tell you, "God put you here" (after you left group after group after the death of Mr. Armstrong to arrive "here"), what will you say to God when He counts you a murderer because the blood of the people you didn't warn for years is on your head (Ezekiel 3:17-18)?

The very idea that we should not obey God by preaching the gospel and the warning to the world as He commands until we get closer to Him, or more spiritual, is ridiculous on its face. I am amazed any Church of God member would fall for this line. Do we say, "I am not going to keep the Sabbath and holy days until I am closer to God"? Or, "I am not going to obey God's command to honor my father and mother until I become more spiritual"?

And if the ministers think they are not spiritual enough to preach the gospel to the world, what makes them think they are spiritual enough to preach to their congregations every Sabbath?

Does a minister ever say, "I am not going to preach sermons to the Church members until I am reconciled with the Father, until I am spiritually healed, until I am closer to God and more spiritual, until I am setting a better example in my personal life, even if this takes many years"?

What is the difference for a minister in not preaching the gospel to the world till he becomes more spiritual and not giving sermons to the members until he becomes more spiritual? Well, there is this difference: if he does not give sermons, he does not get paid. But he can still get paid without supporting the preaching of the gospel if he can persuade those who pay him (the members) that this is not the time to preach to the world.

Obviously I am not talking about preaching ministers in groups that preach the gospel. There is a division of labor in such groups, with some men and about half the money going to preaching to the world and other pastors and about half the money for giving sermons to members. I am talking here about leaders and pastors of small groups that do nothing or almost nothing to preach the gospel to the world.

We are to be wise as serpents and harmless as doves (Matthew 10:16). While judging motives is God's responsibility, we can at least be aware of the possibility of deception and protect ourselves. Paul had harsh words for those who allowed themselves to be spiritually victimized, who should have known better. "For you put up with fools gladly, since you yourselves are wise! For you put up with it if one brings you into bondage, if one devours you, if one takes from you, if one exalts himself, if one strikes you on the face" (2 Corinthians 11:19-20). "They zealously court you, but for no good; yes, they want to exclude you, that you may be zealous for them" (Galatians 4:17).

I recently heard a sermon about the message to the church at Ephesus in Revelation 2:1-4. Here is what Christ says. "To the angel of the church of Ephesus write, 'These things says He who holds the seven stars in His right hand, who walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands: "I know your works, your labor, your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil. And you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not, and have found them liars; and you have persevered and have patience, and have labored for My name’s sake and have not become weary. Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love" ' " (Revelation 2:1-4).

The speaker contrasted Christ's praise for the work Ephesus was doing (labor, patience, etc.) with His rebuke of them for losing their first love.

The point the speaker seemed to try to make was that Ephesus lost their first love BECAUSE they labored and persevered and had not become weary. In other words, it was the doing good that Christ commended them for that was the cause of their losing their first love, according to this speaker. But this passage does not say that.

The speaker's real purpose seemed to be to say that if we become too focused on God's work, such as preaching the gospel, we can lose our first love because of that, and that keeping or regaining our first love is more important than doing the work.

But read the Bible passage carefully. Not only does Christ not say that their doing good works was the cause of their losing their first love, He does not even say that losing their first love is worse than if they had not labored. Christ does not say in this passage that whether one loses his first love is a more serious issue than whether he labors, does good works, has patience, does not become weary, and tests those who are false teachers and finds them liars.

The sermon was about priorities. The speaker seemed to be trying to convince his audience that having a first love with Christ should be higher priority than doing what God says, that is, preaching the gospel. That is not how he worded it, but he does seem to think a first love should have higher priority than doing any kind of work.

The speaker asked this question several times in a variety of ways: is it possible that the Ephesians were so busy doing a work that they lost their focus on Christ? Since the speaker asked the question, I will answer it for him (he may be reading this post).

No, it is not possible. They may indeed have lost their focus on Christ, but being busy doing God's work was not the cause. It could not possibly be the cause.

He said that he has witnessed people doing the work in the past and equating that work with righteousness and spiritual growth.

Yes, that is possible, and it is a danger. We should never equate doing the work with having a close relationship with God. One can do the work for wrong motives, such as pride, status, vanity, self-image and justification, personal ambition and self-seeking, etc. That is wrong, and we deceive ourselves if we think we will automatically be close to God just by doing the work even if our motives are wrong. Moreover, even while doing the work we can neglect our personal relationship with God and Christ, and a person who does this may deceive himself into thinking he is ok with God because he is doing the work even while he neglects prayer, Bible study, and loving God with all his being.

Doing the work does not justify or save us. We are justified by the sacrifice of Christ, and we are saved by God and Christ working in us and with us.

But God commands us to preach the gospel and the Ezekiel warning to a world that needs it, and if we are not doing that, we are sinning, are we not?

It is the very love towards God that we express by seeking Him that should be our motivation for doing the work, that plus love for our neighbors, which God commands.

In other words, we should focus on our personal relationship with the Father and Christ by seeking a deeper repentance, by exercising faith, by appreciating the sacrifice of Christ and all that God does for us, by prayer, by giving of thanks, by meditating on God and Christ and their goodness, by Bible study, etc., but also by doing what God says.

"If you love Me, keep My commandments" (John 14:15).

"He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him" (John 14:21).

Christ equates love towards Him with doing what He says. And that includes preaching the gospel just as it includes everything God commands, including keeping the Sabbath, avoiding idols, honoring our father and mother, not stealing, not murdering, etc.

It is the world's concept of love that love towards God is only an emotion. Many in the world "love" God, they think, but they do not do what He says. "But why do you call Me 'Lord, Lord,' and not do the things which I say?" (Luke 6:46).

"He who says, 'I know Him,' and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him" (1 John 2:4).

Is it possible for a person to substitute strong engagement and focus on doing a work for a close relationship with God and Christ, thinking that their doing of the work makes them right with God when it does not? Yes. Can a person fall into this trap without realizing they are in the trap? Yes. Has it happened in the past? Probably it has.

But, it is not the intensity of the engagement, focus, and effort in doing the work that causes this problem, as the speaker implied or stated. It is simple neglect of drawing close to God that causes a neglect of our relationship with Christ and the Father and can cause us to lose our first love. Not the effort we put into doing the work.

But neglect of the work is a sure sign that one has not drawn close to God and in fact is not even in the process of drawing close to God. It is evidence that one is on the wrong track. For one who thinks he does not need to be supporting the preaching of the gospel and the Ezekiel warning to the world at this time has not even taken the first basic step of drawing close to God, which is simply believing what God says and submitting to His will.

Everyone in the Church of God is being tested on this issue, and it is a major test. We are being judged by what we do.

The speaker in this sermon kept reiterating that he is not saying we should not be preaching the gospel or doing the work. Yet, ironically, by his actions, that is exactly what he is saying because he is not preaching the gospel and doing the work. His example says it.

I am amazed that members are taken in by these arguments against the gospel. But apparently some are.

The speaker said that a number of members of his fellowship have come to him and said that they have found a new enthusiasm for God and Christ over the last couple of years. Perhaps they have. But this new found enthusiasm, if not accompanied by obedience to God's commands to preach the gospel, must be false, a kind of euphoria that seems pleasant but is deceptive, like a false conversion. Many people in traditional religions of this world have that kind of feeling. They feel an enthusiasm for their faith and their concept of God, but they are deceived. They do not know the real God. They do not know God because they do not believe and obey Him, and the same can be true in the Church of God as it is in the world. And for someone in the Church of God who has been called by God and whose mind has been opened, it can be a deadly danger, for such a person has no excuse. Such a person deceives himself, and he is responsible for his own self-deception in a way that the uncalled of the world are not.

Our priority must be to seek closeness with God by believing and doing what He says in the Bible, and that includes preaching the gospel, NOT by seeking God some other way. If we try to seek closeness with Christ and God by disbelieving what the Bible says, we will fail.

The speaker actually suggested that Satan gets us distracted by focusing our minds on doing the work of preaching the gospel or on organizational issues.

I think the idea that Satan wants us to preach the gospel to the world as a witness and the Ezekiel warning to Israel, as God commands, is ridiculous. Rather, I think Satan goes all out to use anything to distract us from preaching the gospel. Preaching the gospel is the last thing he wants.

I am not sure why the speaker said that Satan distracts us with organizational issues when it seems that this speaker left a "former association", as they say, over organizational issues and has spent a lot of time focusing on organizational issues.

God is testing the whole Church of God in a major way over the gospel issue. He is testing our willingness to believe and obey what He says in the Bible. He wants to know if we are really different from traditional, mainstream Christians in the world. He wants to know if we view the Church as a social club and are just looking for a "feel-good" church or if we are serious about serving Him and believing and doing what He says.

We are being tested on our love for our neighbors. We are being tested to see if we will sacrifice to share the truth with others as others before us have sacrificed to share the truth with us. And if we do not, God can take the truth we have away from us. If we are unwilling to share it, we are unworthy of it and we can lose it. For what we sow, we shall reap (Galatians 6:7).

Isn't that basic? Isn't that God's justice?

If God or someone extends a benefit towards us, should we not extend the same benefit towards others?

Look at the parable of the unforgiving servant. "Therefore the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. And...one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents....The servant therefore fell down before him, saying, 'Master, have patience with me, and I will pay you all.' Then the master of that servant was moved with compassion, released him, and forgave him the debt. But that servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii; and he laid hands on him and took him by the throat, saying, 'Pay me what you owe!' So his fellow servant fell down at his feet and begged him, saying, 'Have patience with me, and I will pay you all.' And he would not, but went and threw him into prison till he should pay the debt....Then his master, after he had called him, said to him, 'You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me. Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?' And his master was angry, and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him. So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses" (Matthew 18:23-35).

You might think this parable is only about forgiveness, but think again. Forgiveness is the main lesson here, but this parable also teaches a larger principle, the principle of reciprocity. It is the essence of justice, and justice is one of the three weightier matters of the law, the first that Christ mentions in Matthew 23:23 before even mercy and faith.

This parable is an illustration of the principle that what we sow, we shall reap. What did the unforgiving servant sow? Unforgiveness. What did he reap? Unforgiveness.

What do we sow when we hold back the gospel from the world? We withhold the truth that can save them. What will we reap? God can take from us the truth He gave us, the truth that saves us.

Look at the parable again, not from the point of view only of forgiveness, but of how God's justice works, and see the parallel with preaching the gospel and how one who refuses to preach the gospel to the world is like the unforgiving servant.

What did the king give to his servant in the beginning? Forgiveness. What has God given us? The truth.

Did the servant forgive his fellow servant as the king forgave him? No. Does one who refuses to preach the gospel give the truth to others as God gave it to him? No.

Did the king, when he saw this, take away his forgiveness? Yes. Will God who sees the man who refuses to share the truth with others take it away? I think yes, unless that man repents of not preaching the gospel.

What do forgiveness and the gift of the truth of God have in common? Both are blessings.

And the principle is the same: If we are given a blessing, we should give the same blessing to others. We should bless as we have been blessed. But if we are given a blessing but refuse to bless others, God can take away our blessing.

Just as the king in the parable took back his forgiveness when he saw the servant refuse to forgive, so God can take away from our minds the truth he has given us through the sacrifices of others to preach the gospel to us if we do not make those same sacrifices to preach the gospel to others.

And consider not just the sacrifice of others before us to bring the gospel to us, but God's sacrifice. Look at the price Jesus Christ had to pay to free us from Satan's deceptions. He paid His life. If Christ so sacrificed for us so we could know the truth, should we not sacrifice our time and money so others can also know the truth?

Love towards God and our neighbor is not just an emotion. Real love is active. It expresses itself by believing and obeying God and by doing the work to help others with the same truth with which God has helped us. And doing the work should be motivated by love, not vanity, ambition, or pride.

And if love is our motivation for doing the work, doing the work can never be a cause for losing our first love. If we lose our first love, it is not because we are doing the work. If we lose our first love, it is not because we are obeying God by doing what He says. It is because we are neglecting some other aspect of our walk with God.


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

CHAPTER 3 - THE EZEKIEL WARNING

CHAPTER 4 - WHY PREACH THE GOSPEL? - A LESSON FROM THE HOLOCAUST

CHAPTER 5 - SHOULD THE CHURCH FEED THE FLOCK ONLY?

Are Scientists Always Honest?

How much do you trust used car salesmen to tell you the truth? How about politicians running for office? How about door-to-door salesmen? How about top management of the company you work for? How about false ministers?

How about scientists?

I am not just talking about honest mistakes. I am talking about outright lies.

Some of us might trust scientists more than the others I have mentioned. We should not. They have the same human nature as used car salesmen and politicians. A scientist can lie about scientific evidence. He can falsify evidence. He can lie in his research papers. Some have done so - I have read accounts of scientific dishonesty in their research and papers.

Don't make the mistake of thinking that well-educated people are somehow more honest and less likely to lie than poorly educated people. Science and college or university based education does not make men righteous and honest. Righteousness and honesty are matters of individual choice and are also affected by how a person is raised in the home from childhood. Before a person enters higher education, his basic character is formed. If he built the habit of lying as a child and carried that habit into adulthood, he is likely to lie as an adult no matter how great his later "education" may be. He could win the Nobel Prize in science, but he may still be a liar.

Scientists like money and prestige the same as people in other occupations. Their reputation with other scientists is their life-blood. If they can "get ahead" by lying and if they think they can get away with it, some of them probably will.

So why should we trust them more than what God says in His word, the Bible?

God says He cannot lie. "...in hope of eternal life which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began" (Titus 1:2). "...that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us" (Hebrews 6:18).

The Bible is inspired by God. "...knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit" (2 Peter 1:20-21).

Since God inspired the Bible and He cannot lie, that means that every word of God is true and the Bible cannot be broken. "If He called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken)..." (John 10:35).

Moreover, believing God is a test. God requires that we believe what He says. Obedience is not enough.

Faith without works is dead (James 2:20). But what about works without faith? Is that not dead also?

We are to obey God, that much is clear, and the Church of God has taught this and emphasized it very much over the years and decades. But we must also believe what God says. Faith must be a motivation for our obedience.

Faith, that is, believing what God says and trusting God, what we may call "faith in God", is commanded and is therefore part of the law. So to obey God, we must believe Him, for if we do not have faith, we are not obeying the law. The law COMMANDS faith.

Want proof that faith is a matter of law, that the law requires faith in God and His word? Jesus said that faith is one of the three weightier matters of the law, along with justice and mercy. "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).

And since sin is the transgression of the law (1 John 3:4), to disbelieve what God says is sin.

It is a sin for you or I to read God's word and decide about some verse or passage, "that is not true". It is a sin for us to willingly doubt God's word, the Bible, or any part of it. Doubts may enter our minds because we are human, but we are to fight those doubts and strive to put doubt out just as we are to put other wrong thoughts out of our minds such as thoughts of revenge or thoughts of sexual lust.

We must be committed to God to believe everything He says.

God did not count Abraham righteous because of his obedience only. He counted Abraham as righteous because Abraham believed God when God told him his descendents would be as numerous as the stars of heaven.

"Then He brought him outside and said, 'Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.' And He said to him, 'So shall your descendants be.' And he believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness" (Genesis 15:5-6).

"For what does the Scripture say? 'Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness' " (Romans 4:3).

"And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, 'Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.' And he was called the friend of God" (James 2:23).

"Listen to Me, you who follow after righteousness, you who seek the Lord: Look to the rock from which you were hewn, and to the hole of the pit from which you were dug. Look to Abraham your father, and to Sarah who bore you; For I called him alone, and blessed him and increased him" (Isaiah 51:1-2).

And just as we can lose our salvation through lack of mercy and justice (the other two weightier matters of the law), so we can lose our salvation through unbelief.

"Now with whom was He angry forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose corpses fell in the wilderness? And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who did not obey? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief" (Hebrews 3:17-19).

"You will say then, 'Branches were broken off that I might be grafted in.' Well said. Because of unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith. Do not be haughty, but fear. For if God did not spare the natural branches, He may not spare you either. Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise you also will be cut off. And they also, if they do not continue in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again" (Romans 11:19-23).

Can you see how important it is to God that we believe what He says?

Science, that is, the scientific community, culture, and tradition, is secular and atheistic. Secular science teaches evolution, which is the theory that all species came into existence through random, natural causes only. The scientific method does not allow consideration of supernatural causes as explanations of any evidence. The idea that God created the species of life on this earth is not acceptable to science.

Not all scientists are atheists. But the scientific community as a whole and the scientific method they use in their work is, in general, atheistic. It has an atheistic viewpoint. It looks at the world as if there is no God.

Any scientist who rejects evolution in his work as a scientist is likely to lose his job. Would a scientist be motivated, or tempted, to publicly lie in his work and scientific papers about physical evidence he has found that might support creation or intelligent design in order to protect his job and his reputation with other scientists? Yes, I think if he found evidence for creation, he would be tempted to lie about it, to omit it, to cover it up. Would he yield to the temptation to lie under such circumstances? I think that is very possible. It would take self-sacrifice and courage to tell the truth in such a situation, and if he did, it would be very likely his work would not be published by established scientific journals, nor would he find it easy to get a teaching job in the main colleges and universities.

I do not say that all scientists are liars, nor do I say that all their false statements about evolution are deliberate lies. Probably, most scientists are sincere, and most of the false statements they make regarding evidence or the interpretation of evidence are mistakes, not necessarily deliberate lies.

But we should not assume that scientists never lie about the evidence they uncover or their interpretation of the evidence.

Anyone who has read the Bible and who strives to live by every word of God and who also is informed and well read on science will notice many cases where the secular, atheistic scientific community directly contradicts what God says in His word. And when he finds that, what does he conclude? Does he believe the Bible or secular science? Does he trust God or man to tell the truth?

God knows our thoughts. We better trust God more than man.

What a tragedy for any Church of God member to lose his salvation because he believed and trusted men more than God.

"Indeed, let God be true but every man a liar" (Romans 3:4).


Here is a link to a related post in this blog:
"Theory of Evolution vs. Faith in God's Word", dated December 25, 2015, link:
http://ptgbook.blogspot.com/2015/12/theory-of-evolution-vs-faith-in-gods.html


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

Evolution versus the Creation Account in Genesis, Chapter 1

Was Acts 15 an Example of Unanimous Decision Making?

Was the conference of apostles and elders in Acts 15 an example of unanimous decision making and a model of governance for the Church of God?

No.

First of all, they did not gather for the purpose of making a decision. They gathered for discussion, to consider the matter. A decision resulted, but that was not the stated purpose of the conference according to the biblical text. Here is what the Bible says. "And certain men came down from Judea and taught the brethren, 'Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.' Therefore, when Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and dispute with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas and certain others of them should go up to Jerusalem, to the apostles and elders, about this question" (Acts 15:1-2). "Now the apostles and elders came together to consider this matter" (Acts 15:6).

Notice, they came together to consider the matter, to discuss it in other words, not necessarily for the purpose of making a decision. Peter and Paul could have made the decision - they had authority, and Peter's authority was actually greater than Paul's. But Peter, being wise, did not want to make the decision without counsel and advice. He wanted to hear what many others had to say, not just Paul. "Where there is no counsel, the people fall; But in the multitude of counselors there is safety" (Proverbs 11:14). "Without counsel, plans go awry, but in the multitude of counselors they are established" (Proverbs 15:22). "For by wise counsel you will wage your own war, and in a multitude of counselors there is safety" (Proverbs 24:6).

Perhaps they hoped to also reach a decision after discussing it. Probably they did. But the way God inspired the text of Acts, the purpose according to God's word was to "consider" the matter. God does not say, "the apostles and elders came together to decide this matter".

You can read the whole story in Acts 15:1-29. There was "much dispute" (verse 7), so they certainly did not start out from a position of agreement. Then Peter spoke, and after that, the discussion stopped. "And when there had been much dispute, Peter rose up and said to them: 'Men and brethren, you know that a good while ago God chose among us, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. So God, who knows the heart, acknowledged them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He did to us, and made no distinction between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith. Now therefore, why do you test God by putting a yoke on the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved in the same manner as they.' Then all the multitude kept silent and listened to Barnabas and Paul declaring how many miracles and wonders God had worked through them among the Gentiles" (Acts 15:7, 12).

Notice, there was no more "much dispute" after Peter spoke giving his decision. This gives the impression that after a point when Peter felt he had enough input to make a decision and the "much dispute" had gone on long enough, he gave a decision and everyone else shut up. Once he made the decision, there was no more need for dispute. This was not a group decision.

Paul and Barnabas spoke, expounding on the reasons for Peter's decision and supporting it (verse 12). Again, the multitude was silent. Then James formalized the decision and added that they would write to the Gentiles informing them of the decision (verses 13 through 21).

Did the multitude agree with the decision? They supported it. Once Peter, who had authority, made the decision and James confirmed it, they supported it. They did not rebel against the decision made by those who had authority.

But that doesn't mean that God led them to agree with it in their minds apart from the decision of those who had authority, mainly Peter. The multitude did not make the decision.

And there is no statement in this account that everyone agreed with it unanimously. The closest you can find is this: "Then it pleased the apostles and elders, with the whole church, to send chosen men of their own company to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas, namely, Judas who was also named Barsabas, and Silas, leading men among the brethren. They wrote this letter by them: The apostles, the elders, and the brethren, To the brethren who are of the Gentiles in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia: Greetings" (Acts 15:22-23). The letter goes on to explain and announce the decision (Acts 15:24-29).

Does the fact that it "pleased" the whole Church to send chosen men to Antioch with Paul and that they wrote a letter explaining the decision mean they agreed with it and consented to the making of the decision? No. It does not mean that everyone was persuaded that the decision was best. But they supported it. They understood government in the Church. They submitted to top-down government, and once the decision was made, they got behind it and supported it.

Perhaps they all were persuaded. But whether they were or not, it is evident that their unanimous consent was not required for Peter to make a decision and for James to back up that decision.

There was no unanimous decision making in Acts 15. This was an example of a leader getting free discussion from a multitude of viewpoints before making a decision, then making the decision and the multitude submitting to that decision, supporting it, and backing it up. Why did they back it up? They understood top-down government. They knew it would be wrong to rebel against the authority God has placed in the Church.

This was a policy decision as much as a doctrinal decision, maybe more. It was a decision about what to require of the Gentiles.

There are many analogies to teach the principle of support for authority among those under authority. In a football team, the quarterback calls the play. Other members of the team may not agree with the call that it is the best call, but once the quarterback calls the play, the whole teams tries to make it work. They support the call.

Mr. Armstrong no doubt asked advice of the evangelists and ministers who were under his authority about various decisions Mr. Armstrong had to make, and they may have had various opinions, but once Mr. Armstrong made the decision, they were expected to support it, back it up, and try to make it work.

Is Acts 15 a model of governance in the Church of God by unanimous decision making? No. The whole Bible, teaches top-down governance. There is example after example after example of God appointing a man to lead from the top down and that man making decisions without necessarily the consent of those under him.

There is a problem with group decision making. Not everyone in the group will necessarily obey God.

Suppose you set up a Church of God organization with four leading ministers to make decisions. Every decision they make must be unanimous.

But each man is a free moral agent. Christ is the head of the Church, but He will not force anyone to submit to His lead. So Christ might lead the leader of the group, the chairman, to make the right decision. He might lead that man through the Bible and through the Holy Spirit. But all it takes is one other man in the four to exercise his free moral agency to make a bad decision, not following Christ and the Bible, but following the dictates of his own heart, maybe even deceiving himself, and by withholding his consent render a unanimous decision impossible, thus preventing the leader from following Christ.

For such a leader to consent to an organization that only allows him to make decisions as three other men agree with him is putting more trust in those three men than he puts in God and Christ. He trusts those men to follow Christ, but by doing so he puts limitations on his own ability to follow where Christ leads.

"Thus says the Lord: 'Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart departs from the Lord. For he shall be like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see when good comes, but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land which is not inhabited. Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, and whose hope is the Lord. For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, which spreads out its roots by the river, and will not fear when heat comes; But its leaf will be green, and will not be anxious in the year of drought, nor will cease from yielding fruit' " (Jeremiah 17:5).

What if the leader, the chairman of the group, decides not to follow Christ? Is it not better to have three other men to moderate his error, to prevent him from making the bad decision, to restrain him in other words? No. That is not God's way. They can advise him to do the right thing, but the decision must be his, because only in that way can his fruits be fully known not only to God but to the Church.

If he is not following God, then other Church members will see his bad fruits and will not follow him. In this way, he will become known.

Setting up an organization that requires unanimous consent of a group of people for decision making weakens the group, tends to promote compromise between the right way and the wrong way, and confuses the whole issue of who is following God and who is not.

That is not the structure of governance in the Church of God that the Father and Christ teach in the Bible.

Acts 15 does not justify a handful of ministers breaking away from a fellowship that practices top-down governance because they are unable or unwilling to get along with the leader. It does not justify trashing two major, biblical, and successful doctrines of Herbert W. Armstrong - top-down governance and preaching the gospel to the world - and trying to build a new model of governance according to their own opinions, imagination, and dictates of their human hearts but not according to the Bible. It does not justify ministers keeping almost all the tithes and offerings of the members for their own salaries while spending comparatively nothing to bring the gospel and the Ezekiel warning to the world that needs it.

It does not justify members who support such a fellowship by sending all their tithes and offerings to such a fellowship, knowing that they are not doing anything to warn the Israelite nations of the tribulation to come. It does not justify the ministry of such a fellowship from bringing blood-guilt, the sin of murder in God's sight, upon their own members according to God's warnings to the Church for our time today in Ezekiel 3:17-21.

There can be legitimate reasons why ministers must leave a fellowship. The failure of the fellowship they leave to preach the gospel to the world and the Ezekiel warning to Israel can itself be sufficient reason. Unfaithfulness in doctrine can be another reason.

But not Acts 15 used against top-down governance. If anything, Acts 15 supports top-down governance, for it shows the authority of Peter to make a decision. And there was no unanimous voting in Acts 15, and any Church of God fellowship that builds a corporate structure to collect and disburse the tithes of the people with unanimous voting as a structure of governance that controls that corporation is mistaken if it tries to justify this by Acts 15.


Here is a link to a related post in this blog:

"Incorporation of Church of God, The Father's Call", dated December 21, 2015, link:
http://ptgbook.blogspot.com/2015/12/incorporation-of-church-of-god-fathers.html


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

CHAPTER 8 - GOVERNMENT IN THE CHURCH OF GOD