20 But ye have not so learned Christ; 21 If so be that ye have heard him, and have
been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus:
The Christian must ask him or herself if they have been
taught by humanistic reasoning or if they have been taught by Christ through
the Holy Spirit. I have had discussions with fundamentalist Christians where
they denied the Bible upon which their convictions are supposed to be based.
For instance, one Baptist argued with me that Adam wasn’t
with Eve when she was tempted by Satan because no man would have allowed that
to take place. However, the Bible says;
Genesis 3:6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good
for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to
make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto
her husband with her; and he did eat.
He literally refused to accept it because, one, he had not
been taught that was true, and, two, he could not conceive of it being
possible. Had he learned this from Christ or a person, to deny the Bible?
Another Baptist argued with me that although the phrase,
“taken out of the way,” most likely meant killed in Job 24:24;
Job 24:24 They are exalted for a little while, but are
gone and brought low; they are taken out of the way as all other, and cut off
as the tops of the ears of corn.
It couldn’t mean that the only other time it is used.
2Thessalonians 2:7 For the mystery of iniquity doth already
work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.
What he had always been taught that this was a reference to
the Holy Spirit. And yet, this same person would insist that cross referencing
verses, phrases, and words is the way to let the Bible define itself and could
not explain why God would remove His Holy Spirit from a world He was about to
judge when David himself said,
Psalm 139:8 If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there:
if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.
There is a popular preacher on television today who has said
that Jesus did not come to be the messiah neither claimed to be in spite of
this verse.
John 4:25 The woman saith unto him, I know that Messias
cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things.
26 Jesus saith unto her, I that speak
unto thee am he.
People like this celebrity preacher will say that Jesus did
not claim to be God in spite of these verses;
John 14:9 Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long
time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me
hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?
John 10:30 I and my Father are one.
They will claim that Jesus never said that he was the Son of
God, God in the flesh, having the same authority as God in spite of;
John 9:35 ¶ Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and
when he had found him, he said unto him, Dost thou believe on the Son of God?
36 He answered and said, Who is he,
Lord, that I might believe on him? 37
And Jesus said unto him, Thou hast both seen him, and it is he that
talketh with thee.
So, how do you know you are being taught by Christ or if what
you are learning is from the spirit of man?
1John 4:1 Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try
the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out
into the world.
John 5:39 Search the scriptures; for in them ye think
ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.
We know that Jesus is truth, and by extension His word with
which He speaks to us is truth.
John 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the
truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
Christians have a difficult time following the truth of
Jesus. We tend to follow the world more than Christ and be taught by the world
more than the Holy Spirit. We respect and support the things of the world that
Christ specifically said were not of Him, for example, the economic system.
Luke 16:13 No servant can serve two masters: for either
he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and
despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon [Syriac word for the personification of riches, the god of riches and wealth].
Paul tells Christians about the love of money or greed.
1Timothy 6:10 For the love of money is the root of all
evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and
pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
And yet, Christians in America lust for the very things that
God has condemned in us. This is the reason why the Anglican Church’s, “Society
for the Propagation of the Gospel,” or SPG, owned more slaves in the 1700’s
than they had missionaries in the field, a lust for money and wealth. It’s also
the reason why so many preachers in the 1800’s tried to use the Bible to justify
racial slavery, as long as they treated their kidnap victims and their descendants
bred like livestock as the Hebrews in the tenth century BC were supposed to
treat their prisoners of war. Why do you think the Baptists were so against
slavery in the 1700’s but justified it from the pulpit in the 1800’s? Money was
to be made and approval of the rich and powerful garnered.
Who taught Christians this? It wasn’t Christ. Christ’s Bible
removes all distinctions of ethnicity, social standing, and gender from the
church.
Galatians 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is
neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in
Christ Jesus.
Who teaches the brethren to be racist, to look down their
noses at the poor, and to hate women? It’s not Christ. Christ didn’t teach
that.
Paul said several times in Romans and Galatians that
Christians are not under the Law given to Moses. So, who teaches Christians
that they must follow the Law given to Moses or they aren’t saved? It wasn’t
Christ.
Are you taught by Christ, or is it someone else you’ve been
listening to? Is it Satan, your own flesh and fears, bigotry, paranoia, and
prejudice? Come to God’s word and swim in it, read it and hear it, and hear it
preached faithfully. Reject what it doesn’t say and relish what it does say, to
whom it says it, when it is said, and under what conditions. Learn the context
not just the verse. Be a faithful ambassador of Christ and not a corrupter. The
word of God not only teaches you but it judges your heart.
Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful,
and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of
soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the
thoughts and intents of the heart.
Will you be taught by Him? We hear preachers say that when a
man or woman gets saved they must put everything on the table, that if they
hold anything back they won’t get saved. They usually mean that about people
who engage in homosexual behavior or smoke cigarettes or something like those
things. But, what about them? Did they put the errors with which they were
raised, the fear, paranoia, and bigotry of their parents’ generation, their
slavish devotion to human government, war, and cultural chauvinism on the
table? If not, are they truly saved?
Are you willing to give up everything you believe outside of
the Bible if Christ teaches you that it is not of Him or are you so sure that
you’re right in all particulars of politics and society that you refuse to be
taught by Christ if He teaches something contrary to what you now think?
Are you really taught by Christ?
No comments:
Post a Comment