If not a minister of righteousness, then preachers are
ministers of unrighteousness, and they preach not the gospel of Christ, but the
gospel of Lucifer. Not that they realize they are, but their minds are deluded
by the cunning of the Devil just as Adam and Eve had been. The greatest worry
today is not socialism nor the Deep State but ministers of unrighteousness.
Apparently, the Corinthian Church in apostolic times had that same problem:
13 Such (those who glory in themselves) are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. 14 And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. 15 Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works. (2 Cor 11:13-15)
How would ministers of unrighteousness know they are ministering to
Lucifer? They would probably not because, “As the serpent beguiled Eve through
his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in
Christ” (2 Cor 11:3). They have been beguiled to misunderstand what is right
and what is wrong, or they fail to recognize the evil from the good from the
Tree of Knowledge.
In other words, they do not know the Body of Christ but the body of knowledge.
From my experience, seminary trained ministers have a great body of knowledge but
know little about the Body of Christ. Too much knowledge confuses, and the
person who dwells on knowledge rather than the Spirit of God may be in danger
of confusion.
As I have studied intensely for twelve years daily, sometimes I wonder if
I miss the point, the simplicity of scripture, by knowing too much. I pray that
the knowledge that I gain will be the simplicity of Christ. Although I know and
understand much, Christianity remains simple. Paul taught to the all-knowing
two things: (1) the gospel of Christ and (2) the resurrection of the dead, to
wit: “He preached unto them Jesus, and the resurrection” (Act 17:18). What was
it that Paul taught about Jesus? That Jesus IS God, that Jesus died for the
sins of everyone, and that only by Him can anyone be saved. What is salvation?
Resurrection from death.
The gospel is that simple, but theologians make it complicated. Nowadays, “salvation”
is walking to the altar in most churches, if even that, and once that short
work is over, “liberty” gives them the freedom to live as they please.
For others, “salvation” amounts to getting entirely wet in a baptismal as
they short-change the need for repentance, as they trust more in the water than
the blood.
Then it gets worse! For some churches, the Way of Jesus was nothing more
than the way of a good man, and not a virtuous Man who IS God, and still
is. For them, scripture is a good way of living in this world, and not a
prescription for eternal life.
Mainstream denominations have neglected the Way of Christ for the ways of
the world. The Great Commission was to go unto the world and convert, but
nowadays the church has brought the world into the sanctuary of God, and God’s
temple is again, a den of thieves. Many churches no longer are on Holy Ground,
but a circus for fun. Worship of Jesus should not be fun but joyous, and there
is a difference. “Fun” is an emotional response to outside stimuli, and “joy” is
inner peace because of the hope of salvation.
How can anyone discern between ministers of righteousness and those of
unrighteousness? By knowing the Word. They test everything according to the Words
of Jesus: “Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.” (1 Thes 5:21). “Proving”
is by testing to a rigid standard. That is to the truth of God by Holy
Scripture. “Hold fast” is to remain stedfast in the faith. “Good” is only the
knowledge of God from the Tree of Life whose fruits were entirely good.
The Body of Knowledge of both good and evil is overwhelming, and knowing
evil is the cunning of the Serpent. To know “good” only requires knowing God.
Knowing evil is experiencing the law of sin. The best way to shun evil is to
never know evil.
What is wrong with the modern Church. Like Corinth, its people know evil.
Every type of sin exists within the “saints” of the Church because of antinomialism
— that Christians are freed from the Law because of grace. Technically, they
are freed from the Law of Moses, but there are other “Laws” that are still
binding. Calvinists fail to recognize the perpetuity of what confused Christians
call the “Ten Commandments.”
Theologians perceived the Ten Sayings of God as “Commandments”
because they seemed to be declarations of law. Rather than “Ten Commandments” a
better description is the “Decalogue” (Greek; deca logoi — 10 Words). Theologians
surely were inspired by the Jews; how they considered the Ten Words — that they
were Commandments rather than a list of God’s Wills for His heirs.
Rather than Mosaic Law, the Decalogue is the appendix to the Abrahamic Covenant.
It is how God expects His heirs to be righteous. They are ways to revere
Him. It is a list of ten righteous behaviors, and to be righteous
requires God’s Will be done according to the bequest of Jesus.
Antinomialism has allowed sin to run rampant in the Church. Calvinistic churches,
like the Jews before them, see them as strict Commandments. The Jews thought
they must be done, and the Calvinists that there is no need for them to be
done. What are they for? Righteous people are willing to do God’s list from His
Will as, “Faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness” (Rom 4:9).
God desired that Abraham sacrifice his son like He would someday. He did
not “Command” anything. God merely “said” what He wanted for Abraham to do (Gen
22:2). Abraham never took that saying as a command, but God’s Will for
Him to do. Abraham was willing because He trusted God. He said, “God will
provide himself a lamb” (Gen 22:8). The “lamb” was not the “ram” that God
provided, but Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God. Rams are grown sheep. Lambs are
innocent young animals.
Isaac may have seen the ram and believed it was his scapegoat, but
Abraham knew that Jesus would be the Lamb. All the patriarchs knew the Lamb of
God, but it was too complicated for the Jews. They only saw the ram as
the sacrifice and misunderstood both the ram and the conditions of the
Abrahamic Covenant. Moses saw circumcision of the foreskin as the seal of the
Covenant. All along, Abraham’s willingness sealed the deal with God, and the Decalogue
are ways to circumcise the heart of evil doings.
I call the Decalogue the “Ten Prescriptions for Eternal Life.” Those who
desire a long life honor their Father (RX #5. For what? “That thy
days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee” (Exod
20:12). And they thought it was “land,” but the Promises Land is Paradise. The
Jews misunderstood that too and still do!
What I am implying is that unrighteous people may not know they are
unrighteous. They just, “Know not what they do” (Luke 23:34), according to
Jesus. At the end of days, few will know not what they are doing, and they will
commit all kinds of sins as in the days of Noah — predominantly sexual sins,
the most numerous of the fruits of the Tree of Knowledge (Gal 5).
The Corinthian Church was much like the modern Church. They allowed about
anything to go on. Paul was chastising them by God’s Ten Prescriptions, and so
am I. Not that I am perfect and virtuous, but that I understand God’s meaning
of righteousness. The Decalogue consists of the “Ten Words” that Jesus said
(Exod 20:1) and they were written by His Finger (Deut 9:10).
Of all the unrighteous teaching is that the Decalogue is no longer the
Will of God, and that Jesus came to break those stones a second time. Out of
anger, Moses broke them all, but then God emblazed them on stone again to
endure forever.
The Decalogue is all about different types of “fornication.” The obvious
one is “adultery” but others are less obvious. For instance, “Thou shalt have
no other gods before me” (Rx #1) could be rewritten, Thou shalt
not fornicate with other gods. That was the sin of choice for the Hebrews. The
second Rx is not to fornicate with anything in the entire universe, including
and mainly ourselves, which we are taught to esteem highly by confused
preachers. In other words, the Decalogue are “Ten Ways of Fornicating Against
God” and fornication, as Paul wrote, is sinning against ourselves. Why is that?
Because fornicators condemn themselves (1 Cor 6:18).
How can we know? Know that the Decalogue is not Ten Commands but Ten Prescribed
and Transcribed Ways to be right with God for eternal life. Why are churches so
imbued with sin? Because they fail to understand that Jesus is the Good Doctor
who came to fulfill those Prescriptions, as is written: “Think not that I am
come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to
fulfil” (Mat 5:17). Jesus did not do away with the Law but fulfilled all His Rx’s
written by His own Finger!
Above all things — his calamities and persecutions — what did Paul care
most about? Not himself but the churches! “Beside those things that are
without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches” (2 Cor
11:28). Why would I chastise the modern churches? Because like Paul, I care for
all the churches. My seed depends on us Christians. We must never accept an
unrighteous church where anything goes; where church service is for fun or profit
— a den of thieves — who steal from God His Glory. Paul was worried that the Church
would come to what it is today, and I share Paul’s concern.
(picture credit: Pinterst; "Moses Breaking the Ten Commandments)
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